AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2009 > January > 02
Friday, January 2, 2009
One Man’s Opinion: Moreno stays; Stafford goes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Looking back on Jan. 1 and ahead to today’s games:
1. One man’s opinion: Moreno stays. Stafford goes: David Greene has to get the nod as Georgia’s best quarterback ever because he won an SEC championship and more games than any QB in history. But there has never been a Georgia quarterback more talented than Matthew Stafford. He was magnificent in the second half of yesterday’s Capital One Bowl, making every big throw that Georgia needed to pull away and win. Stafford has everything the NFL is looking for in a quarterback and, I believe, will soon learn that he will be the first quarterback taken in the draft should he decide to come out. Selfishly, I would love to see him come back because I’m a college football guy and we don’t see that many truly great quarterbacks come along. But I’m betting the sheer numbers involved tell Stafford to go. Hope I’m wrong.
Running back Knowshon Moreno will be a star in the NFL as long as he stays healthy. But there are going to be a bunch of really good running backs in this draft. Iowa’s Shonn Greene has already announced that he is leaving. Ohio State’s Beanie Wells may also go. If Stafford goes out there is no question that next season’s Georgia offense will be built around Moreno. I think he comes back and makes a run at the Heisman Trophy.
2. It’s painful watching South Carolina and The Ball Coach: I did not think it was possible for a team coached by Steve Spurrier to look so bad. We all knew that South Carolina really didn’t belong in a New Year’s Day bowl (the Outback) because the Gamecocks were so disjointed at the end of the season. Part of me thought Spurrier would rally his troops and put forth a really good effort against a decent Iowa team. Instead what South Carolina fans got was a pretty embarrassing performance. Iowa kicked South Carolina’s butts in just about every possible way and the Gamecocks finished 7-6. Now we get word that two of South Carolina’s best players—cornerback Captain Munnerlyn and linebacker Eric Norwood—are going to leave school early and turn pro. There needs to be a lot of soul searching in that football program in the offseason because something is not right.
3. Southern Cal could be the best team in the country: I thought Penn State’s defense was good enough to keep yesterday’s Rose Bowl with Southern Cal reasonably close. But the Trojans just steamrolled Joe Paterno’s team and the final score (38-24) did not reflect USC’s dominance. After the game coach Pete Carroll said his team could compete with anybody in the country and I think he is right. Southern Cal paid dearly for a road loss to Oregon State on Sept. 25. This would have been a really good year to have a four team playoff, or “Plus-One,” as SEC Commissioner Mike Slive likes to call it. Think there would have been any interest in semifinals that matched No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 4 Southern Cal and No. 2 Florida vs. No. 3 Texas?
Yes, Alabama fans, I know your team finished No. 4 in the BCS standings. But I believe very strongly that if the voters knew they had to put four teams in a playoff instead of just two, they would have voted USC at No. 4 and Alabama No. 5. Is that fair to Alabama? Of course not, but that is what I believe would have a happened.
4. Frank Beamer did his best coaching job ever: When Virginia Tech lost its opener to East Carolina, there were people—seemingly intelligent people—who thought that Frank Beamer was losing his touch. It looked bad for the Hokies because they had the worst of all worlds: a young defense, inconsistency at quarterback, and uncertainty at running back. But Virginia Tech’s defense improved every week, as it usually does under Bud Foster, and Beamer held his team together. The Hokies won their third ACC championship in the five seasons since they joined the league. And with last night’s 20-7 win over Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl, Virginia Tech has won 10 or more games in five straight seasons. Only Southern Cal and Texas can make that same claim. And speaking of coaching, when will one of these schools wise up and hire Foster as a head coach? There is no way this should have been a dominating defense this season at Virginia Tech. The man knows how to coach.
5. The SEC will go 3-0 today: Am I the only person on the planet who thinks Ole Miss will beat Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl? Based on the ESPN surveys there aren’t many of us. I know Texas Tech throws the ball all over the place but I also know that Ole Miss has some athletes up front and is fifth in the nation in quarterback sacks with 37.
It will be an ugly game, but remember that Kentucky has a chance to make history in today’s Liberty Bowl against East Carolina. The Wildcats have never won three straight bowls in the history of the school but could do exactly that today. In fact, this is only the second time that Kentucky has even PLAYED in three straight bowl games. The ‘Cats did it back in 1949-51 under Bear Bryant.
Alabama will prevail over undefeated Utah tonight in the Sugar Bowl. It will happen through the sheer force of Nick Saban’s will. Now this is not going to be an easy game for Alabama. Utah is a solid, well-coached football team. And the Alabama offense may be a little disjointed early because OT Andre Smith is gone. But over the course of 60 minutes Alabama will wear Utah down and pull away in the fourth quarter. Alabama will finish 13-1 and ranked in the final top five. That’s a pretty remarkable achievement in Saban’s second year.
