I should probably begin by offering my congratulations to the Alabama Crimson Tide, Nick Saban, and RTRNation on becoming National Champions, the first BCS back-to-back champions, and the first to win three titles in four years since the Cornhuskers of the nineties. I thought about writing about the game afterwards but realized that it could be summed up in two sentences: The Tide's offensive line play was dominant in both run blocking and pass protection in a manner that moved the line of scrimmage sometimes 4 or 5 yards downfield. Brian Kelly had a poor game plan going in and did a poorer job of making in-game adjustments. What I don't agree with is the idea, which many people have expressed since the clock hit triple zero that night, that the outcome of the game was evidence that Notre Dame didn't deserve to be there. They absolutely deserved to be there, they were undefeated, they played no FCS teams, and they beat some top teams. The outcome of the game is not evidence of whether they deserved to be there -- it is only an indication of their performance once they got there. It is just as Alabama's win last year over LSU in the BCS Championship wasn't evidence that they deserved to be there -- only that they performed well once they got there. I always like to say that facts and statistics can always be spun in a manner that makes anything a positive for a team of choice, so I wanted to see if I could find a way to turn this championship into a positive for Buckeyes fans. There have now been 15 BCS Champions (although 1 has been vacated); 9 of the 15 winning coaches were Buckeyes assistants prior to winning a BCS Championship! The only exceptions being Philip Fulmer, Bobby Bowden, Bob Stoops, Mack Brown, Les Miles, and Gene Chizik, in that order. Look at that … I was able to do it.
So as we head into our last grasp at on-field college football this Saturday (3pm CST on NFL Network) until the Spring, let's look at a few things that's been going on:
1. The Not-So-Senior Bowl: This year, for the first time, there will be two juniors (Alabama's D.J. Fluker and Syracuse's Justin Pugh) playing in the Senior Bowl. You read that correctly. The executive director of the Senior Bowl, Phil Savage (former GM of the Cleveland Browns), announced that the new rule allows fourth-year juniors who have graduated to participate in the game. He also said that he tried to get this rule passed last year, which would have allowed players like Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, and Donta' Hightower to participate, but couldn't get enough support. While I understand the thinking behind the change -- it gives the NFL a chance to see more players that are eligible for the NFL draft one more time in a game atmosphere -- I don't like the direction in which this seems to be leading. What’s next? All fourth-year juniors? Do they have to have already declared themselves eligible for the draft? If so, why not let third-year sophomores play? Let’s rename the game if we’re going to let non-seniors play. The bright side for fans is that they'll get to see at least one of the member of the Alabama offensive line play in the game as Barrett Jones is nursing an injury and Chance Warmack simply chose not to participate. The Tide lead all teams in participants in this game with 5 players (OL Fluker, TE Michael Williams, LS Carson Tinker, LB Nico Johnson and DB Robert Lester). Interestingly enough, an injury this week allowed a former Alabama player to participate as well. Former 5-star all-purpose player, B.J. Scott, who now plays safety for South Alabama, was a member of the highly-touted 2008 class for the Tide. He started his career as a wide receiver, then moved to corner where he was slated to play opposite Dre Kirkpatrick, but after an injury lost his job to Dequan Menzie and then slid down the depth chart as then-freshman Dee Milliner passed him. Word is that former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson has been practicing exclusively at wide receiver, which seems like a good move. For those who like the story of small schools getting some television time, several will be represented in this game: Chadron State (famous football alum: Danny Woodhead), Cornell (famous football alum: Pop Warner), Harvard (famous football alum: Ryan Fitzpatrick), and Missouri Southern (famous football alum: James Thrash).
2. Let’s look at the SEC: As expected, something that has consumed telecasts, t-shirts, tweets, and Facebook posts is that the Southeastern Conference has now claimed seven consecutive BCS National Championships. That got me thinking about how much we really know about the SEC outside of recent success and famous former SEC players (e.g. Bo Jackson, Herschel Walker, Bart Starr). The SEC was established in 1932 and had 13 charter members; 3 of those members are no longer a member of the conference: Tulane, Georgia Tech, and Sewanee. Georgia Tech left in 1964 due to a feud between GT coach Bobby Dodd and Alabama coach Bear Bryant which was fueled by a play involving a punt that was fair caught by Alabama in which Dodd contended a Tide player, Darwin Holt, intentionally injured a player of his named Chick Granning after Granning let up upon seeing the fair catch signal. After watching film and still believing it was intentional, Dodd requested, via a letter, that Bryant suspend Holt for the play. Bryant refused and Dodd began the process of withdrawing from the SEC. Tulane left two years later to become an independent despite having success in the early years of the conference that included several unbeaten seasons. Sewanee, currently known as University of the South, left in 1940 after leadership at the school never having wanted to join the conference in the first place, decided the game was tarnished. Perhaps they knew it wouldn't work out: the Tigers never won a conference game in their eight years and were shutout in 70% of their games played. Alexander Guerry, who withdrew the school from the SEC because of his and his predecessor’s belief that it was inappropriate to offer scholarships to athletes, is often given credit for the eventual creation of Division III (no such scholarships are allowed). A random side note about this school: I was at this school years ago to watch a friend compete in a tennis match and it had one of the best cafeterias at which I have ever eaten. After Tulane's departure, the SEC remained a ten-team conference until 1990 when Arkansas and South Carolina joined from the Southwest and Metro Conferences respectively and this established the creation of the SEC Championship Game (as they then had 12 teams). It remained a 12-team conference until 2011 when it was announced that Texas A&M and Missouri would leave the Big 12 and compete in the SEC beginning the 2012 season. A&M went 10-2 in its inaugural season behind the play of a redshirt freshman and first-year head coach (formerly of Conference USA) and was the only team to defeat the eventual national champions. There has to be something in there that you didn’t know about the beloved SEC, right?
3. Chip Kelly leaves for The League. Last Thursday, it was announced that Chip Kelly left Oregon and became the new head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. When the news broke, I was sure that was going to be the big news of the next few days, or at least of the rest of that day. I had even planned to release a "5 Things" exclusively about the move (I still may). However, that news got blown away later that afternoon when Deadspin broke the story about the fiction that was Manti Te'o's girlfriend. Not only had she not died within hours of his grandmother (who was real) prior to his monster game against Michigan State, she hadn't existed at all. Chip Kelly who? (ha-ha) Gilbert Gottfried was fired as the Aflac duck and Kelly decided to leave Phil Knight's money and move up the food chain to become a bird of prey. The shocking part about the move was that the move to the NFL seemed all but dead after him announcing he was staying at Oregon after being interviewed extensively by Cleveland and Philadelphia and then over a week later leaving. I've been a fan of Chip Kelly's way of doing things since he came to Oregon. Consider the fact that in 2006 Kelly was the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire, spent one year at the same position at Oregon, then reeled off four years as head coach of the Ducks that included four BCS bowl appearances and a national championship game appearance (don't get me started on that game). I know one of the reasons that he didn't take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers job after last season is because he didn't feel assured that his offensive coordinator, Mark Helfrich, would succeed him. This season, even during the bowl season, Oregon announced that should Kelly decide to leave, Helfrich would take over as head coach and I'm sure that was one of his deciding factors to leave. Of course, the 5-year, $32 million contract probably didn't hurt either. I don't really think it was all about money, but more about the challenge. I say that because I know that if he decides to come back to coaching, he'll have his choice of jobs and the school he chooses will open it's wallet wide to get him (the only thing that could possibly hinder that is if, as part of the forthcoming NCAA sanctions, he is assessed a show-cause penalty). Some people think Chip Kelly's biggest challenge in transitioning to the NFL will be the inability, particularly in his first year, to get players conditioned well enough to play his high-speed game both offensively and defensively. I disagree, I think it will be adjusting from having 85 available players to 53 on game day, particularly on the defensive side of the ball where he likes to do hockey-style line changes. We shall see, though.
4. More troubles for, not from, the NCAA. I am on record as being against Mark Emmert's sanctions against Penn State as I believe he overreached his authority, circumvented the NCAA's own due process procedures, and punished an institution despite violating no NCAA rules. At the time, I was also concerned that the severity of the punishments handed down would forever impact the NCAA's ability to punish actual violators. First on my mind, was the Nevin Shapiro Fiasco at the University of Miami which involved a booster providing all sorts of "improper benefits", from prostitutes to abortions, to current players and the use of such benefits in an attempt to steer recruits to the programs (football and basketball). It's been over two years since the news of this scandal broke and the NCAA has still not even sent the school its notice of allegations. Miami has self-imposed postseason bans each of the last two seasons in attempt to soften the forthcoming punishments. This week Mark Emmert announced that the NCAA is having its enforcement program investigated because of a "severe issue of improper conduct" regarding their investigation of the Miami-Shapiro scandal. Allegedly, members of the enforcement program "improperly obtained information through a bankruptcy proceeding that did not involve the NCAA", referring to the bankruptcy case of Shapiro. When this scandal was first released, I was sure that the Hurricanes would receive as close to the death penalty as had been handed down (since SMU received it). Now, what can the NCAA do? They can't very well hand the appropriate severity of sanctions because the natural comparison will be to the sexual abuse of children. On top of that, the integrity of the NCAA's investigation will now forever be questioned. Great job, Mr. Emmert. Hurricane Mark -- the weakest in history.
5. Ever heard of Nathan Noble? I'm guessing you've not heard of him and for at least three reasons. First, he's a kicker ... enough said. Second, he's a 29-year-old Iraq veteran who has never played football. Third, he's going to play at Wyoming. I know you have to be intrigued by now though, right? He was discovered by a television news report on him because of his veteran status (it was entitled Gridiron Soldier) in Kentucky kicking field goals after a fellow soccer coach got him to kick some footballs (because as a goalkeeper in high school he was known as being strong-legged) to see if he could do it. He only has one year of eligibility and has been contacted by major programs like LSU, Michigan, USC, and Oregon. He chose Wyoming because he was already a student there and wanted to finish school and because he had a better chance at playing time (he reached out to former Buckeyes kicker Devin Barclay who was a professional soccer player before playing one season for Ohio State for some advice as well). He became a Youtube sensation (check him out) and is said to have once kicked a 68-yarder. So as signing day approaches and we follow all the big names, like Robert Nkemdiche to see where they go (I think he’ll follow his brother to Ole Miss), I think one of the more interesting team additions will be a 29-year-old, walk-on kicker for the Cowboys.
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