The Heisman was historic and bowl season is upon us! Congratulations to Johnny Manziel on lifting the 25-pound trophy Saturday night. One of the things I found impressive when looking at the breakdown of votes was that JaDeveon Clowney and Jordan Lynch combined for seven first-place votes. Clowney was easily the best defensive player in the country and Lynch, who is still relatively an unknown, led the country in total yards. One of the things I found quite unimpressive was the ballot of Jason White (Heisman winner in 2003) and even more so that he announced it. White’s ballot didn't have Manziel on his ballot at all, for one thing. He voted Collin Klein(1st), Manti Te'o (2nd), and Landry Jones(3rd). I understand Oklahoma quarterbacks have to stick together, but Landry Jones over Johnny Manziel? I'm glad you're taking your vote seriously, Jason. Can I petition the Heisman Trust to have his vote next year? On a brighter note, bowl season is upon us and we have two games on Saturday. Nevada vs. Arizona in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl (12pm CST on ESPN) and Toledo vs. #22 Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (3:30pm CST on ESPN). We don't even have to change channels, folks! The first game will likely be a shootout as they both average 37 points per game, but I like the Wildcats to pull out the win hoping they can play like they did against Stanford rather than like they did against Oregon. The second game seems to lean towards Toledo in my view. They beat Cincinnati and nearly beat Northern Illinois, although the Aggies did pull off a win against high-scoring Louisiana Tech. Watch Toledo running back David Fluellen who was eighth nationally in rushing yards per game (132.7 yards). I'd like to also offer my congratulations to Kliff Kingsbury who took the head coaching job vacated by Tommy Tuberville. Kingsbury was Texas A&M's offensive coordinator this past season after holding the same position under Kevin Sumlin at Houston. He played for the Red Raiders and held 7 NCAA passing records when he left school (2002). If one combines his playing career at TTU, his having coached Case Keenum and Johnny Manziel, and his having a Super Bowl ring (reserve in 2004 for the Patriots), it shouldn't be hard to see that Kingsbury could be a force on the recruiting trail. He's the second youngest head coach in the FBS (33) behind Toledo's Matt Campbell (32).
1. Congrats to Johnny Football: I didn't think it would happen, mainly because I didn't think the voters, particularly former Heisman winners, would allow a freshman to win. However, not only did they prove me wrong, but Manziel received 153 more first-place votes than runner-up Te'o. Remember when Michael Vick was a redshirt freshman at Virginia Tech and the talk was that he may actually win three or four Heismans? He ended up not winning any after coming in third that year and leaving for the NFL following the next season (and didn't get any Heisman hype due to several injuries). It will be difficult for Manziel to repeat, despite winning it as a freshman. He's losing two All-American offensive linemen (Joeckel and Matthews) and the school's all-time leader in receptions (Ryan Swope). Additionally, he'll have the proverbial target on his back next season with more teams designing game plans specifically around his game. We also have to consider the fact that next season has the potential to be his last season for the Aggies as he would be eligible to leave for the NFL (it will be his third year out of high school) if he decides he wants to do that. I don't know if he'll want to do that given his size, but look at the success Russell Wilson (less than 6'0") is having as a rookie in the league. Does he have Vick's speed or Wilson's arm strength? No. However, he has underrated speed and above average arm strength and he's only going to get better in terms of reading defenses. Losing Offensive Coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury, could hurt him as well, but that’ll be tough to judge until Kevin Sumlin announces his replacement. Manziel also became the first freshman to be named first-team All-American quarterback on Tuesday, so the bar for his game is set very high. It will be very difficult for voters to judge his game on next season alone rather than comparing it to this year (despite it not being a career award). I'm impressed with the kid so far, and I selfishly hope he plays for three more years.
2. The most surprising hire of the week is … Cincinnati's hire of Tommy Tuberville. It's not surprising from the Bearcats' point of view, but instead from Tuberville's. Athletic Director, Whit Babcock, was the assistant AD when Tuberville was at Auburn, so it's no surprise he'd reach out to him after Butch Jones fled for Tennessee. What's surprising is that Tuberville would leave the Big 12 for a Big East conference that has been seemingly constant fluctuation the past few years (and it just got worse, as I’ll describe below). He chooses a school that begged the ACC to take them a few weeks ago. I've read that "Tubby" has never really fit in with the Lubbock community and perhaps that was a contributing factor. That, of course, could have something to do with his wife running a red light and killing a man in the small town. Perhaps it is just that he feels like he has a better chance at a conference championship or a BCS bowl in Cincinnati. That may be true in 2013, as winning the Big East will earn a berth in a BCS bowl, but when 2014 comes around that won't be the case. Winning the Big East won't be enough as the Big East will be a part of the "Group of Five", which consists of the Big East, the MAC, the MWC, Sun Belt, and Conference USA conferences, the highest ranked of which will be eligible for one of the six major bowls (the current five BCS bowls plus the Cotton Bowl). (Side Note: if this system would have been in place this year, Northern Illinois would still have been chosen for a BCS bowl). In other words, next year will be the last year that the Big East Champion gets an automatic BCS bowl bid. Tuberville may have hurt himself in terms of recruiting as well if the story from JUCO transfer recruit Devonte Danzey turns out to be true. Danzey claims that Tuberville avoided a direct answer when asked how long he planned to be at TTU during a recruiting dinner at a restaurant on Friday night and then excused himself to go to the bathroom and never returned. Tuberville, of course, was announced as Cincy's new head coach on Saturday (the recruits were still on Tech's campus being given a tour at the time). I don't know if Danzey's account is true, but I'm thinking coaches who are pursuing recruits that "Tubby" also wants, will be recounting it going forward nevertheless. I can hear it now, "Beware of the Tubby Dine 'N Dash kids!" Honorable Mention: Butch Jones to Tennessee.
3. The most controversial hire of the week is ... Western Kentucky’s hire of Bobby Petrino. He may now be leader of the Hilltoppers, but this is not the peak for Petrino, but merely a stepping stone. One could soundly argue that he has viewed every head coaching job he's held as such, however. Fans of various teams secretly wished their team would hire Petrino even while they may despise the events that led to his dismissal from Arkansas a mere eight months ago. Those fans may not admit it now because their team have already hired a new coach and Petrino is now taken and out of reach. However, in private they'll admit that the bottom line is that he wins games and that's what they want for their team, especially given that their team is obviously in need of them if it was also on a quest for their next head coach. I think the reason major programs passed on Petrino this go around is because they felt it was too soon and the athletic directors didn't want to be in the position of having to answer all of the questions that Todd Stewart (WKU AD) had to face during the initial press conference. Stewart did his best to take the brunt of that barrage by focusing on the importance of second chances, that none of us are perfect, and that we all make mistakes. What he was really saying? Willie Taggart did a great job of turning this program around and we needed someone to keep that trend going, this man can bring us wins and wins translate to dollars. Truth be told, we didn't think we had a shot at a guy with this kind of coaching resumé -- and look at the terms we got him for! Truth is, Stewart got a great deal: 4 years at $850,000 per year and if Petrino terminates this deal at any time he is required to pay the school $1.2M in 6 monthly payments starting the month after he leaves. There are many people who feel strongly that Petrino deserves no such chance to coach again after the motorcycle/Jessica Dorrell spectacle and those people might well feel that way forever. Some may feel as strongly as Jeff Pearlman of CNN and I say that all of you are free to feel as you do. However, the reality is that there was no way he wasn't going to get another head coaching job despite his moral failings because at the end of the day college football is about money and anytime you forget that ask yourself why 70 out of 120 schools get to play in a bowl game -- voila! Honorable Mention: Not Applicable at this time
4. Sad to see Marcus go: He's been my favorite running back over the past three seasons and I hate that I won't get to see him suit up for the Gamecocks again. After his injury during the Tennessee games this season, when doctors said it wasn't a career-ending injury, I had hope. When Steve Spurrier said that he'd let Lattimore use his medical redshirt for the 2013 season so that he can take as much time as he needed to rehabilitate, I thought it would be great to see him play in a historical season (the first year of the playoff system) in 2014. I know it must sound a bit weird for a Buckeyes fan, for a guy who some think is absolutely anti-SEC, to be a fan of a South Carolina running back. He has speed and power, he can catch out of the backfield, and he does a great job of picking up a blitzer in pass protection. Lattimore almost joined Michael Dyer in the Auburn Tiger backfield to give Cam Newton a ridiculous freshman duo behind him. He was lured to SC because Steve Spurrier convinced him that despite his reputation as a "gunslinger" kind of coach that he'd run his offense through him and the running game. I think he's making a mistake entering the NFL Draft, but I understand why he's doing it. He's afraid that if he sits out a year and it turns out the rehabilitation doesn't work out, that he's out of a chance to get a paycheck and at least right now his name is still on the minds of NFL General Managers. He's counting on at least one of them taking a chance on him -- and I hope he's right. Maybe his buddy Alshon Jeffrey can talk the Bears into spending a late draft pick on him. Maybe The Ol' Ball Coach can use his connection in the league to talk someone into it. I hope not only that he gets picked up by an NFL team, but that he has a successful rehabilitation and career at the next level. Good luck, Marcus!
Bye, Bye, Big East! Seven non-football schools (DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova), at least in terms of the FBS, have defected from the Big East due to the instability that the conference is currently enduring. Word is that it worried these schools, which are primarily basketball schools, when Connecticut and Cincinnati fought hard for acceptance by the ACC recently (they chose Louisville instead). Cincinnati reportedly went so far as to enlist the help of alumnus Urban Meyer in an effort to make their case more compelling. With these seven schools leaving, it severely weakens the Big East as a basketball conference (11 times since 1999 a Big East team either won, or played for, a title in Men's or Women's basketball). Especially if one takes into account that Syracuse, Louisville, Notre Dame, and Rutgers are all leaving as well. If we look at all the basketball revenue the Big East is losing with all of these departures, and almost definitely the agreement with Madison Square Garden for the Big East tournament, who would blame the football schools that are joining the conference over the next three seasons to second guess that decision? I wouldn't blame Boise State, for example, for rescinding and returning to the Mountain West Conference where it would have seemingly just as good a chance to come out of the Group of Five starting in 2014 as it would in a diluted, or possibly extinct, Big East. It's unclear right now what will happen to the Big East brand name (or even who would keep it) or its media deal which expires next season. The seven basketball schools are rumored to be possibly stealing some schools from the Atlantic 10 (there are some catholic, basketball-centric, schools therein as well). All this is very interesting in terms of the possibility that the Big East may not exist, or it may not be a football conference anymore. Whatever happens, I think this will spark a lot more movement in the FBS conference landscape. Let's keep an eye out ...
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