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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Tebow deserves strong look for Heisman Trophy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nobody asked me but….
1. Tim Tebow deserves a strong look for the Heisman: Florida quarterback Tim Tebow won the Heisman Trophy last season with the best individual performance I have seen by a football player since Herschel Walker or Bo Jackson. The numbers were staggering. But the fact is Tebow is playing the best football of his career right now.
When Florida lost to Ole Miss (31-30) Tebow pledged that no one would play harder that he would for the rest of the season. He’s made good on the promise. Since that game Tebow has completed 64 of 92 passes (69.5 percent) for 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. Florida has turned into a scoring machine with 243 points in five games because Tebow has managed the offense brilliantly. The numbers that are being put up by the Big 12 quarterbacks are staggering. But let’s put them into context of the caliber of defense being played in that league. The highest ranked defense in the Big 12 is Oklahoma at 51. There are seven SEC defenses ranked ahead of Oklahoma and Florida has faced five of them. And by the way, Florida’s next three Division I-A games will come against defenses that are ranked No. 3 (South Carolina), No. 5 (Florida State), and No. 4 (Alabama). If Tebow plays at this same level in those three games, he deserves more than just token consideration.
2. Auburn needs to make a decision before the Iron Bowl: Athletics director Jay Jacobs and president Jay Gouge need to have a meeting of the minds after Saturday’s game with Georgia. If Tommy Tuberville is not going to be your coach in the future, then you need to tell him before the Iron Bowl with Alabama on Nov. 29. If not the entire next two weeks will be dominated by media speculation about Tuberville’s future and the recruiting class that he and his staff have put together could be in trouble. After 10 years, Tuberville is either good enough to be your coach or he isn’t. It shouldn’t come down to one game. It’s not fair to him and his staff and it’s not fair to the players. There is enough drama in that game without Tuberville’s future hanging in the balance.
3. Phillip Fulmer would be a good fit at Clemson: Fulmer’s friends are telling him that he should take a year off to recharge his batteries. But when I talked to Fulmer last week he told me it is hard to imagine not coaching somewhere for the first time in 40 years. Fulmer has heard that Clemson might be interested. It’s just my opinion but Clemson could use a coach like Fulmer to instill some toughness into that group of players. Fulmer can still recruit. He just needs to hire a great offensive coordinator and turn it over to him.
4. Tommy Tuberville would also be a good fit at Clemson: Contrary to what was posted on some chat boards last week, I did not say that Tuberville was a done deal at Clemson. But it is an intriguing thought. What would be interesting is if Auburn tells Tuberville he can stay but he has to make a whole bunch of staff changes. It’s a pretty good guess to say that Tuberville would let his new offensive coordinator at Auburn bring in some of his own guys. That was one of the mistakes he made with the Tony Franklin hire. But Tuberville’s not going to gut a staff that has been loyal to him for 14 years. If the powers that be press him, Tuberville can dig in his heels and take the $6 million buyout and his agent, the talented Jimmy Sexton, can find another place for him to land. Understand that Tuberville’s buyout is not like Fulmer’s, which will be paid out over 48 months. Tuberville gets the first $3 million within 30 days after he is fired. The next $3 million has to be paid out within 365 days. That’s a lot of money to go out the door in a year.
5. Mike Leach is not a good fit at Tennessee: I like Mike Leach. I like to watch his Texas Tech teams play. I was very impressed with the way the Red Raiders dominated a very good team from Oklahoma State. I love his irreverent style. College football desperately needs guys like Mike Leach to give it some flavor. Having said all that, I just don’t see Leach as the next head coach at Tennessee. Oh, the football part of the equation would be fine. His quarterbacks throw for about 400 yards a game and he’s gotten to the point now where he has a solid running game and a pretty decent defense. Leach has a law degree from Pepperdine. He is known to take his post-game media sessions off on tangents that few can follow. In short, we in the media would love the guy. After 17 years of having an offensive lineman as their head coach, I know Tennessee fans want something new and exciting. Leach would certainly be that. It would certainly be entertaining. But it should be noted that before this season Leach was 65-37 in eight seasons at Texas Tech without a division title. Under Leach, Tennessee would play entertaining football. But would it play championship football?
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