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 Friday, December 13, 2002
Some teams looked good, but there's still work to do
By Terry Bowden
Special to ABC Sports Online
Early in the season there are going to be a lot of problems on special teams. There are so many things to get ready for the first game, coaches are working on so much, that quite often the one thing that isn't polished is the kicking game. All the years I was coaching I made sure my staff would sew up the kicking and make sure it was polished because that can get you in trouble early.
That's what happened to Washington and Michigan. Obviously it was a great game, and these two teams played so hard and showed so much potential that you hate to bring up the negative, but the one area where there could be improvement is the kicking game. And although everyone might think we're talking just about Michigan, which missed three out of four field goals, Michigan also blocked one of Washington's field goal attempts and that could have been the difference in the game.
But regardless of the special teams errors, this game probably ended exactly like it should have with Philip Brabbs redeeming himself in the perfect ending to a hard-fought battle.
|  | | Despite the loss, Cody Pickett showed he can help Washington contend in the Pac-10. |
I thought the quarterbacks looked like they're going to be good enough to complement their teams and have successful seasons. I'm not sure that John Navarre is a great quarterback, and his problem is he's always compared to his predecessor Drew Henson, but he did nothing to disappoint.
After last season I felt the Michigan running game was so poor that that was what they needed to work on because the worse the running game is the more they depend on the quarterback. If they wanted to make Navarre a winning quarterback they had to run the ball better so that he wasn't forced to throw in difficult situations, and in this game we saw the big run by Chris Perry early that really got things going.
Folowing that run they began to get people open with play-action passes, and in one of the series just after he threw a deep ball and missed a wide-open receiver on what would have been a touchdown. But what I saw from Navarre that I really liked was that instead of getting down on himself he came back a series or two later and hit beautiful pass on a deep ball for a touchdown, showing that he hung in there.
Believe it or not, Michigan still needs to run the ball a little bit better. Washington was bringing in a rush defense that had not been that good, so they need to be better there to make John Navarre a better quarterback.
Cody Pickett also played well and not only threw the ball but showed that he can move well enough. I don't believe they can run the option as well as with Marques Tuiasosopo, but he does move well enough to make some things happen with his feet. He probably had to throw too much in this game and as you could see Washington's offense is in even worse shape that Michigan's in that they are very unbalanced and couldn't run the ball at all. But without a doubt Pickett can run their offense.
I think both teams leave the field having shown that they are very capable and will contend or their conference championships. The fact that Michigan played at home may have been the difference, but without a doubt these two teams showed so much potential that they should go back feeling strong about their performance.
I was a little bit surprised with Michigan's defense, though. I was expecting a little more out of them because they were a top-10 defense last year with eight people coming back, and they thought this unit might be as good as their Charles Woodson-led 1997 defense. But they gave up more than a championship defense would allow, and they need to come on strong and be a dominant defense.
Florida State's win over Virginia was definitely a step in the right direction for them on defense. After a close call against Iowa State the FSU defense needed to dominate against a team that scored 29 points the week before against Colorado State and that's exactly the kind of performance we got.
If Virginia has not scored a couple of touchdowns late in the fourth quarter against the backups I would have given the Seminole defense an A-plus. But letting them add points late still left a little bit of a bad feeling in that I wanted to see FSU's defense dominate for four full quarters in a game that they should.
If you look at the Florida, Miami or Texas games, the fact is you don't see a lot of points being tacked on national championship-type teams. The one stat that a national championship team always has is scoring defense. Teams that win national titles will almost always have a top-five scoring defense, just as Miami did last year, Oklahoma the year before and Florida State in years past.
That's the one thing that leads you to championships and if you get in the habit of letting teams score points, nine times out of 10 you're not going to be in the national championship game.
On the other hand, the FSU running game is the best I've seen since my dad has been there. Greg Jones led a rushing attack that ran for nearly 400 yards and with a veteran offensive line this is something that is much better than myself and others expected it to be.
And with the talented receivers they have there'ss no reason Chris Rix shouldn't be able to have a great year, but after this game that becomes my question mark: will he Rix play with the maturity and poise they need from him.
Twice against UVA I saw him throw two foolish interceptions into coverage that kept FSU from getting scores. Neither cost FSU the game but they showed a real lapse in poise that will get Florida State beaten against Florida or Miami, or even a good team in their conference. In the next few weeks I'll be watching closely to see if Rix can control the foolish interceptions that must be eliminated.
Regardless of what people say there's always a wait-and-see attitude when you're a new coach at an institution like Notre Dame, and it was huge for Tyrone Willingham to get a win in his first game. You never really know what you have until you see it on the field, and for Ty to come out an pitch a shutout against the defending ACC champs, a team that got into the BCS last year, was a great way to start.
|  | | Tyrone Willingham and ND may end up squeezing the 'Horns out of the BCS bowl mix. |
Offensively the big question was whether Carlyle Holiday could throw the ball well enough to run Willingham's offense, and without a doubt he has the tools to do it. He has plenty of arm strength and sits in the pocket well, and I was especially impressed that he made things happen with his feet when nothing was there.
I'm sure the only disappointment that Notre Dame has with their offense is that they have to do a better job of getting it in the end zone. Their schedule is so difficult the they're going to need more than field goals to beat most of the teams they play.
The other great thing about this Notre Dame team is that their defense played so well. Although Maryland lost Shaun Hill to graduation and lacked Bruce Perry at tailback, shutouts just don't come along everyday. This was a solid defense last year, and if this game is any indication Carlyle holiday and the rest of the offense are not going to have to score as many points as we might have thought to win football games.
There are only two kinds of coaches at Notre Dame: those who win championships and those who get fired. Since defense is required to win championships and championships are required to keep your job at Notre Dame I think Ty did a good job in his first game of moving in that direction.
As far as Maryland is concerned I believe they have go to go back and really regroup these young men. Everybody was wondering if last year was a fluke, and after getting beaten so badly by a rebuilding team there's a chance for these players to really doubt themselves. The coaches have to get in their heads and get them to forget about the Notre Dame game.
The issues they have to deal with as soon as possible are is Scott McBrien the answer at quarterback and can they get the running game clicking again. Ralph Friedgen needs a QB that can run and throw in his offense and I'm not sure McBrien can do that. And Bruce perry needs to get healthy because I'm not sure they have another one like him in the backfield.
Another interesting game was the border war between Missouri and Illinois. I was watching this game for the same reason I was watching Maryland, to see if Illinois could prove that it was not a fluke last year and contend again for the Big Ten title. Obviously they're not the same team without Kurt Kittner.
However, the big story of this game was not the QB replacing Kittner but redshirt freshman Brad Smith of Missouri. This guy was phenomenal. He has made as big an impact on this team as Seneca Wallace has at Iowa State. The Tigers were 4-7 last year and did not beat one solid football team. Gary Pinkel was another year away from getting this program going the right way, and all of a sudden Smith steps up and runs for 138 and passes for 152 to lead Missouri to a big upset.
Not only did he give them a higher level of play at quarterback but I also began to see others around him play at a higher level. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but it looks like this one player can take a 4-7 team and give it a chance to be a 7-4 team. If theres on thing that can turn the fortunes of an entire program around its a great quarterback.
There were a lot of other great performances this weekend. The top five teams all did what they had to do. Miami and Florida scoring a ton, Oklahoma stuffing Tulsa and Texas shutting out North Texas. But only until we begin to see the big matchups, like we will next week with Miami and Florida, will we be able to tell if these teams are still going to be there when it comes time to put two teams in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
Terry Bowden is ABC's college football analyst and a regular contributor to ABC Sports Online.
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