Finally....An Update

Been real busy lately, so pardon the lack updates. But nothing has really happened, at least football-wise, until now. And what happened? Stanford went and got itself a new football coach. They came down to my neighborhood and snatched up Jim Harbaugh from the University of San Diego. USD is a 1-AA team, but they could probably beat up on their neighboring 1-A brother, San Diego State. Not sure if that says Harbaugh is a really good coach or if SDSU is just a really bad football team. Either way, Harbaugh gets a chance to prove himself at a higher level. Is it a good hire for the Cardinal? Well, he can at least coach pretty well, but recruiting is the name of the game. And at an educational institution like Stanford, it's going to be a tougher go. Just to avoid embarrassment for the Pac-10, lets hope he gets the team turned around quick. And at this point, there is nowhere for Stanford to go but up.

In other Pac-10 news, Idaho lost their head football coach to a Pac-10 team, then replaced him with another Pac-10 coach. Robb Akey, WSU's defensive coordinator, is taking over the reins from Dennis Erickson. Don't know much about Akey, but the WSU defense was average at best last season. We shall see how that translates to the WAC. At least Erickson left the Vandals in good shape for Akey.......

This just in....UCLA has a really good basketball team. And they're recognized as the #1 team in the country. Arizona has looked pretty solid too, and they're #9. But where is the love for the Ducks at? They're undefeated at 10-0 and only #21 in the AP poll. There are six(!) teams with two losses ranked ahead of Oregon. I realize they haven't played the greatest schedule, but neither have any of the other schools aside from Butler. Did I mention the Ducks are undefeated? There are only four other schools who have yet to record a loss. #21 AP? Really? I call shenanigans.

It's Official

Dennis Erickson is the new head coach at Arizona State. Sun Devil fans should be looking forward to seeing some victories soon, then a new head coach in a few years when Erickson runs off to ruin another NFL franchise. Idaho is none too happy that Erickson decided to cut and run after only one year back with the Vandals and I can't blame them. The House of Heat is looking forward to an aggressive new team and a whole lot of personal foul and excessive celebration penalties. Oh, and maybe a victory in the state of California.

Erickson to ASU?

ESPN is reporting that Dennis Erickson has accepted the head coaching position at Arizona State per the Idaho AD. Interesting that there is no official announcement from either ASU or Erickson himself. Erickson loves to coach, no matter where, as evidenced by the roughly 71 head coaching positions he has held around the country. Is this a good move for the Sun Devils? Well he won two national titles at Miami and turned around the decrepit Oregon State program. How much easier is it to convince recruits to come to Tempe instead of Corvallis? Pretty damn easy I would think. Given the success the man has already had in the Pac-10, look for the Sun Devils to move up to the top of the conference very soon.

Heisman to Troy Smith

Surprise, surprise. Troy Smith won the Heisman on Saturday. The bigger surprise was that Brady Quinn only finished in third place. The second place finisher and 2007 Heisman frontrunner was Arkansas tailback Darren McFadden. Always glad to see the Irish get less credit. Kinda disappointing to see ND in the BCS, but at least they'll get killed by LSU. And I hate pulling for SEC teams, but I suppose it's the lesser of two evils in the Sugar Bowl.

Basketball

So we have been a football blog all year, but with the football season winding down and basketball starting to pick up, its time to start talking about it. First thing, congrats to UCLA for being #1 in the polls and taking out Cal State Fullerton last night. Their first big test comes Saturday against Texas A&M. And how did the Bruins get no road games this month? I don't think I've ever seen a team have a ten game homestand in college basketball before. Arizona is also doing pretty well and they beat Louisville last night. Chase Budinger has been everything Wildcat fans were looking for and more. But the biggest congrats have to go to the Cougars for beating up on #18 Gonzaga last night. They are playing some good ball right now, albeit against mostly lousy teams. Hopefully everyone keeps up their pace and we see seven or eight teams in the dance.

Walt Harris is Out

After a miserable 1-11 season in a brand new stadium, Walt Harris was fired as Stanford's coach. While it's not that surprising to see a guy fired after such a dismal year, it's a little surprising they only gave him two years at the helm. They lost their three best offensive players early in the season and couldn't recover. He probably should have gotten at least another year, but I guess a one win season isn't enough to keep a head coaching position in the Pac-10. Bummer to all the Pac-10 teams that were looking forward to an easy W next year.

Wolverines to the Rose Bowl

Once again, the BCS screws someone out of a spot in the national championship. I personally didn't want to see a rematch, but I don't know how you can tell Michigan they aren't the second best team in the country. At least this gives the Rose Bowl the conference matchup they wanted. Michigan fans have a right to be upset, as does every college football fan, because there is no playoff. At least get the plus one format going, so we only argue about who the fourth best team in the country is. Including the top four and having a playoff will mean the champ is actually decided on the field, instead of in the minds of the voters. Way to go BCS, another year year with a controversial national championship. Last year the matchup was real easy, not so much this time around. We may not even get a consensus champ from this game. If Michigan kills USC and Florida squeaks by OSU in a low scoring game, I wouldn't be surprised to see some AP voters put the Wolverines on top of their ballots.

So with that out of the way, lets take a look at the bowl picture for the Pac-10:

Las Vegas Bowl, Dec. 21 – Oregon vs. Brigham Young

Hawaii Bowl, Dec. 24 – Arizona State vs. Hawaii

Emerald Bowl, Dec. 27 – UCLA vs. Florida State

Holiday Bowl, Dec. 28 – Cal vs. Texas A&M

Sun Bowl, Dec. 29 – Oregon State vs. Missouri

Rose Bowl, Jan. 1 – USC vs. Michigan

Aside from the Emerald Bowl, all these games look like pretty good matchups and we should see lots of points. The Pac-10 probably won't be favored in most of these games (I'm guessing we'll be favored in the Holiday, Emerald and possibly Sun), but there's nothing wrong with being the underdog. Let the month long, 32 game, playoff-less postseason begin!

Returning to Pasadena

Bravo USC. Bravo. On a national stage, you go ahead and tank one for yourselves and the Pac-10. Nicely done. You also made my previous post completely irrelevant. Thanks for that. And not to take anything away from UCLA, who played good D, but nine points!? Really? Thats it? You couldn't take advantage of the mismatch in the secondary on a single drive? You could have secured a spot in the title game against Ohio State, instead you will just be playing in Pasadena again. But that's what happens when you lose twice. Hopefully Florida moves up to #2 so Michigan can restore the Pac-10 and Big Ten tradition at the Rose Bowl. Not that USC would win that game anyways.

Why USC Should Be #2 & Michigan Should Not

I bleed cardinal and gold and know that I wouldn’t miss a minute of sleep over seeing the Wolverines in the title game. Granted, I would much rather see the Trojans in Glendale (if they beat UCLA) against Ohio State, but if all the components of the BCS put Michigan at #2, so be it. With all this controversy over who really is the second best team in the country, the voters and computers have already decided. While you can have an issue with one poll and who the voters are, you can’t take issue with all of them. The Trojans are #2 in the AP poll, #2 in the USA Today poll, #2 in the Harris poll, #2 in the Master Coaches poll, #2 in the BCS computers and #2 in the BCS. That’s just about everyone who is relevant to NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision rankings agreeing with me and my fellow alumni that USC is the rightful #2.

Ok, I admit Michigan has two things they can lord over USC. Number one, the Wolverines have a “better” loss. Michigan just happened to lose to the #1 BCS team by three points, while USC decided to lose to the #24 BCS team by two points. Can’t deny that Michigan’s loss is “better,” but do you really want to say you deserve the #2 spot because you lost better than another team? I wouldn’t. Number two, you can point out the Notre Dame games and that the Wolverines’ win was more impressive. USC was pretty even with ND in terms of turnovers, total yards and time of possession, at the Coliseum. Michigan had a significant advantage over the Irish in all those categories, and did it in South Bend with a six point larger margin of victory.

But that UM-ND game was two months ago. College football, and the postseason in all sports, is always about what have you done for me lately. Lately, USC has beaten Notre Dame, Cal and Oregon. Meanwhile, up in the Wolverine State, Michigan has beaten Ball State, Indiana and LOST a game. Beating Wisconsin is Michigan’s only other quality win besides Notre Dame. But it’s not as impressive as a Top 10 win should be when you factor in that the Badgers didn’t play OSU and scheduled Bowling Green, Western Illinois, San Diego State and Buffalo.

So what can USC lord over the Wolverines? Let’s take a look at who USC scheduled aside from Notre Dame. When the NCAA added the twelfth game, the Pac-10 mandated that each team play each other. In other words, USC couldn’t add a MAC or 1-AA team to their schedule, they had to play a Pac-10 team. And for those of you that are unaware, not a single team in any of the six BCS conferences played all of their games against teams from BCS conferences...except...wait for it…the University of Southern California.

So while Michigan may want to argue the quality of the loss, it’s equally important to look at the quality of the wins. USC beat four Top 25 BCS teams to Michigan’s two.

Look at where USC’s out of conference opponents are in the BCS: #9, #10 and #20. Each of them still has a chance at making a BCS game. Three of Michigan’s OOC opponents (Vanderbilt, Central Michigan and Ball State) do not.

Have you heard enough yet Michigan fan?

Three of the BCS computers rank the Pac-10 as the best conference in the NCAA. Only one ranks the Big-10 as the best. Also, your team didn’t even win its own conference. How can you attempt to lay claim to a title shot when you don’t even automatically qualify for the Rose Bowl? (Pssst, the Trojans and Buckeyes did) Remember what happened to the other teams in the BCS title game that didn’t win their conference? Nebraska lost by 23 in ’02 and Oklahoma lost to LSU in ’04. If you don’t win your conference you don’t belong in the title game. Also, considering Michigan’s highly vaunted defense and USC’s loss of two Heisman winners on offense, it is interesting to note that the Trojans had a better point differential than the Wolverines this season.

But don’t cry for Michigan. At worst they have to play in the Rose Bowl, which is a pretty nice fallback. And if they had just beaten Ohio State, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. So enjoy Pasadena and if USC loses on Saturday, forget you ever read this.

Week 14 Previews

Well this is it. The final weekend of college football before the bowls start. And even without a championship game, the Pac-10 still has important games left.

Oregon State vs Hawaii (-8)
Since the Pac-10 season is over and both teams have accepted bowl bids, this one is just for pride. Warriors QB Colt Brennan needs four TD passes to set the all-time single season record. In case you haven’t seen his stats this year, they are insane: 4589 passing yards, a 71.9% completion rate, 51 TD passes and only 9 INTs. Add it all up and his QB rating is a staggering 186.68. Basically Hawaii loves to throw the ball and they do it better than anyone else. They are number one in total offense, passing offense and scoring. But it isn’t a one man show. They have six players with more than 600 receiving yards! June Jones has perfected the run and shoot with Mr. Brennan and the Beavers better be on the lookout. They have a decent pass defense, but they haven’t seen anything like this. Luckily for OSU, Hawaii has a pretty bad defense. So even though they score a ton, they give up a lot of points. If the Beavs want to win, they need to keep the Warriors offense on the sidelines. That means a heavy dose of Yvenson Bernard. Hopefully Riley doesn’t get all caught up with what Hawaii is doing and try to get in a shootout. If they win, they may even take Hawaii’s place in the top 25.

Brian's Pick: Hawaii (-8)
Mike's Pick: Oregon State (+8)

The Big Game
Stanford vs Cal (-29.5)
This game is big in name only. Stanford’s season has been nothing short of dreadful. At least this gives the Bears a chance to win a game before they play Texas A&M. There isn’t much to preview since Cal is going to win this, but it should be fun to see how many points the Bears will score. But their success in the Holiday Bowl will basically come down to how well Longshore plays. When he throws more picks than touchdowns, Cal is 1-3. If he gets back on track against the Cardinal, hopefully Cal will have some momentum heading into the Holiday Bowl.

Brian's Pick: Cal (-29.5)
Mike's Pick: Cal (-29.5)

The Victory Bell
USC vs UCLA (+13)
This is the game that will decide who goes to Glendale. If USC wins, they are in. If UCLA wins, the Trojans have to settle on a return trip to Pasadena. The Trojans are on a roll, but lots of the other top ranked teams have seen trouble in their rivalry games (See: Texas, Michigan, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech) this year. But this matchup goes beyond just one game. USC has beaten UCLA seven times in a row, following an eight year winning streak by UCLA, which is the longest in the rivalry’s history. It also could decide the fate of Karl Dorell, who is under fire from almost every Bruin fan. Never beating USC isn’t good for your resume. These are the Pac-10’s two best defenses, which in theory means a low scoring game. But USC’s offense has come alive lately, with most of the damage coming through the air. The run D is UCLA’s strength (their 14^th nationally) while their passing defense is in the bottom half of the NCAA (75^th). USC likely isn’t threatened much by the UCLA secondary, but Justin Hickman and Bruce Davis rank 2^nd and 3^rd nationally in sacks, which means Sam Baker and Kyle Williams will have their hands full. If the Bruins can get to Booty, it could mean trouble for the Trojan offense.

Brian's Pick: USC (-13)
Mike's Pick: USC (-13)