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20. A BMOC Soapbox Moment
No one will confuse Paul Pasqualoni with Joe Paterno, even though Pasqualoni is a Penn State grad. Ask someone to list the top 20, 30, maybe 40 coaches in the game and who knows if they'd stick the Pasqualoni's name on the list. Truth is, Pasqualoni's program is about as flashy as Syracuse's uniforms, which is to say, not very. But the guy has a 94-45-1 record during his 12 seasons at the 'Cuse and he's the only SU coach to lead the Orangemen to three 10-victory seasons. Last season they finished 10-3 and dominated Kansas State in the Insight.com Bowl. So naturally there's a "Fire Pasqualoni" campaign alive and well at Syracuse these days -- or, at least, there was until our new favorite athletic director, Jake Crouthamel, conducted a Tammy Wynette seminar on how to stand by your man. Syracuse is 3-6, and it took a come-from-behind win against Central Florida to get that many. It hasn't had a sub-.500 season since 1986, but the Orangemen are likely headed that way, thanks to a schedule that finishes with Virginia Tech, at Boston College, and Miami. So that sort of explains why the Syracuse yahoo faction wants heads to roll, preferably Pasqualoni's. Crouthamel is having none of it. "That kind of season [in 2001] just seemed to be an irritant to the people who wanted to have Paul fired," Crouthamel said in a recent State-of-Pasqualoni address. "Now they're jumping on the bandwagon -- 'Wow! Isn't this great! We can get him fired.' Well, he's not going to be fired. This [season] is an anomaly." This is how you put out a coaching grease fire. Spray the foam directly into the yahoos' faces until they can only sputter in disbelief. Crouthamel didn't give a standard-issue vote of confidence. He basically told the critics to stick their pink-slip demands where the sun don't shine (which, if you've ever been to Syracuse, is pretty much between late November and March). Good for Crouthamel. Good for Pasqualoni. And whether its fans know it or not, good for Syracuse.
19. The Carson Show On losing to Utah in last year's Las Vegas Bowl: "That bowl was a disappointment. If we don't go to the Rose Bowl, everything else is kind of blah. Going to Las Vegas is, oh, all right. . . whatever. We definitely overlooked Utah."
On his expectations for the 2002 Trojans: "We win every game. I think this whole team expects to win every game. We definitely have the personnel. This is the best team I've been on since I've been here." The win-every-game part ended with a loss at Kansas State in September, and the Rose Bowl dream is iffy because of an October loss at Washington State. Otherwise, Palmer and USC are doing themselves proud this season, especially given the wins against Auburn, at Colorado, Oregon State, Cal, Washington and at Oregon. The Trojans were off Saturday, but if Washington State stumbles down the stretch, USC's final four games could help determine who represents the Pac-10 in Pasadena. USC travels to The Farm this week, then faces much-improved Arizona State, then plays UCLA at the Rose Bowl, then ends its regular season schedule at home against Notre Dame (possible tiebreaker?). Too bad that Trojans-Irish game took it in the kilt Saturday, thanks to ND's loss to Boston College. What could have been a game with national championship implications now becomes a neat little intersectional matchup. This much is sure: this won't be the same USC team -- or the same Palmer -- the Irish beat last year at South Bend.
18. The Carson Show -- Part II Chow isn't big on blowing smoke. He has coached, among others, Steve Young and Heisman winner Ty Detmer at BYU, and Philip Rivers at North Carolina State. If he says Palmer is better than Jason Gesser, Cody Pickett, Jason Fife, Kyle Boller and Derek Anderson, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt (though, Gesser is tougher than an IRS audit, and Pickett, Boller and Fife, in particular, have played well for much of the season). And if he says Palmer deserves Heisman consideration ("No question," said Chow), then consideration he gets. In the last two games alone, Palmer has thrown for nearly 800 yards and nine touchdowns. Palmer was recruited by John Robinson (and considered signing with Colorado after Robinson was fired), and has played for Paul Hackett and now Pete Carroll. He's had more quarterback coaches and offensive coordinators than the USC song girls have white and tight sweaters. For the first time in his college career, Palmer has the same coordinator two years in a row. You don't think that makes a difference? Chow can remember a USC practice when Palmer checked off, but did it by using Hackett's offensive terminology, not Chow's. "The poor kid has been through so much," said Chow. "He's a tremendous talent. He's 6-5, has a rifle, is accurate, kids like him. He's had some bad luck, whatever. Karma." He's also played stiff at times, as if he were afraid to venture outside the exact game plan or play call. "Carson's kind of a rep guy," Chow said. "He's a product of those [football] camps: 'Put your right foot here, your left foot here. . .' My whole deal to him has been, 'Just go play like you're out in the park. Just go out and enjoy it. Play.' That way when he's dropping back, he's not worried about where his left foot is planted." Earlier in the season USC coaches weren't entirely sure of the Trojans' offensive identity. Chow took care of that. "I told him, 'Hey, Carson, you take us where we want to go.'" Palmer wants to go to the Rose Bowl and, who knows, maybe even to New York for the Heisman ceremony. Stranger things have happened. Just ask him.
17. Rix Is Tomahawk Chopped Bobby Bowden won't -- or can't -- say it, but you don't have to be Dr. Phil to figure out why Rix was benched earlier last week in favor of fellow sophomore Adrian McPherson. In short, the Seminoles like McPherson more than they like Rix. It's as simple, and as cruel, as that.
Rix's fate might have been sealed long before Bowden made his announcement last Monday night. Just as the media entered the FSU locker room after the Oct. 26 loss to Notre Dame, several Seminoles defensive players could be heard chirping about making a change -- and they weren't talking about shoelace colors. And FSU's wide receivers were growing tired of Rix's inconsistencies, which is partly why the offense had evolved into a run-first, pass-second offense. (Of course, FSU's receivers also dropped five catchable Rix passes in the Notre Dame loss.) Rix was doomed. Bowden stood by him during a trying freshman season and through the first eight games of this season. But faced with something approximating a team mutiny -- and the fact that McPherson led FSU to two late (and mostly meaningless) scoring drives against the Irish -- Bowden didn't have much of a choice. Stick with Rix and he risked losing his team, to say nothing of more games. So he reluctantly pulled the plug. McPherson did a nice job in the important 34-21 win at Wake Forest. He completed 28-of-44 passes for 278 yards and two TDs. Those 28 completions went to nine different receivers, which tends to make teammates happy. He also rushed for 53 yards. But he also threw an interception and fumbled once. But thanks to Georgia Tech's upset of NC State, the Seminoles remain the only team without an ACC loss and now control their BCS bowl destiny. And Rix has to watch it unfold from the sidelines. Rix has talent. Lots of it. You don't become the 2001 ACC Rookie of the Year by accident. But for whatever reason, his personality rubs some of his teammates the wrong way. It isn't anything malicious, and nobody would have said a peep if the Seminoles were winning games like they did a few years ago. But they aren't, so Rix has to take the heat. Rix probably didn't help himself either when he commented about the benching. "I know a lot of people were frustrated," Rix told reporters. "I was frustrated. But I think people should look in the mirror and see what they are doing before they start judging other people because I know one word has not come out of my mouth criticizing a player on either side of the ball. "If someone plays a perfect game then they can start talking about other people." On this point, Rix's completion rate is 100 percent. FSU's 8-4 record of a year ago and its three losses this season aren't all Rix's fault. Fingers can be pointed at some of those same defensive players who were yakking after the Notre Dame game, or at a receiver or two with butterfingers. So Rix sits and, knowing his competitive personality, he's hot enough to steam clams. He brought some of this on himself, but not all of it.
16. Tomahawk Chop -- Part II Bowden is 72 (he turns 73 on Friday), but has often said only two things would cause him to call it quits: poor health, too many losses. His health is fine and, said Bowden, so is the health of his FSU program. Bowden and his staff were convinced they were going to beat Notre Dame. Bowden put on the aw-shucks thing for ABC, but deep down he thought his team had the size, speed, game plan and motivation for defeating the Irish. When it didn't happen, Bowden was forced to re-evaluate his team. Thus, the switch from Rix to McPherson. Bowden is frustrated, but not exasperated. Has he been hurt by the departure of such longtime and valued coaches as Mark Richt (now at Georgia) and Chuck Amato (now at North Carolina State)? Of course. But to think FSU is at the brink of becoming a Division I-A has-been is laughable.
15. Rumor Of The Week If Texas A&M (translation: assorted big-money Aggie power brokers) decides to dismiss R.C. Slocum at season's end, the talk within coaching circles is that Alabama's Dennis Franchione would be on the A&M short wish list.
Another thing to consider: Alabama has discussed a new long-term contract with Franchione, but at last check, Franchione hasn't signed a thing. That doesn't mean he isn't going to re-up, but first everyone has to dot the i's and cross the t's on such items as buyout terms and guarantees. Franchione has heard his name mentioned before (remember Kansas?. . . remember he wasn't pleased?), and he'll hear his name mentioned again. It goes with being a damn good coach at a place on NCAA probation. The first part of the rumor is equally interesting. All Slocum has done at A&M during his 14 seasons as head coach is win 122 games. In all, he has spent 30 years of his life at College Station. But his critics say he doesn't play for national championships, that he doesn't win enough bowl games, that he can't even crack the most recent Top 25 rankings. Maybe not, but he's been incredibly loyal to A&M, and his won-loss record is enough to make other coaches drool on their whistles. This is a fluid situation. With the loss to Oklahoma State, the Aggies drop to 5-4 and still have Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas left on their schedule. And not to be forgotten: A&M has a new president (former CIA director Robert Gates) and a new athletic director on the way.
14. Fawn Liebowitz And Tragic Kiln Accidents JoePa runs the Referee Forty in 4.28. . . Ohio State true freshman Maurice Clarett says he's considering all his career options, including a possible challenge to the NFL's Early Entry rule. . . Michigan State quarterback Jeff Smoker is suspended under mysterious circumstances. . . Northwestern senior offensive lineman Jeff Roehl all but calls out his teammates for giving up in games. . . Big Ten officiating crews botch some crucial calls. . . Minnesota reschedules games because the Twins make the playoffs. . . Washington can't count to 11, so Michigan wins. And then there's Purdue freshman quarterback Brandon Kirsch, who mixed it up during a recent frat-rat party at the local Sigma Nu house -- and has a broken bone in his throwing hand to show for it. Kirsch's version: He got into a shoving match, tried to defend himself, swung, missed, hit his hand against a wall. A wall usually wins these kind of bouts. So if you're keeping stats, Kirsch is now 55-of-92 in passing attempts, 0-of-1 in punching attempts. To his credit, Animal House Boy issued a statement apologizing to Purdue, his family, his teammates and the wall. "The last couple of days have been very hard for me because of how embarrassed I am about this incident," he said. Not to worry. Here's guessing the entire student sections of opposing Big Ten programs will remind him of the incident no more than a million times between now and the end of his Purdue career.
13. Players Of The Week A ton of tackles and an 71-yard interception return for a TD against Notre Dame that he'll remember the rest of his life. So will the Irish.
Runners-up Here come the e-mails. The guy runs for 377 yards and four TDs and he's not even the Player of the Week?
Runs for 187 yards and 2 TDs in win over Rutgers.
Johnson broke his own school record with 279 yards against Illinois.
Wallace set a school record with 493 total yards -- including 425 passing -- and led a late rally to lead ISU over Missouri to make the Cyclones bowl-eligible for the third straight season.
Talk about making an entrance. Making his first start, Whitehurst set school records with 34 completions and 420 yards passing. He also tied a Clemson record with four touchdown passes, and his 52 attempts were the third-most in school history.
Griffin rushed for 128 yards on 21 carries as OU remained undefeated with win over CU.
Wright has 219 yards and 4 TDs in rare Wildcats win.
Career-high 419 yards passing as 'Horns hand Nebraska just second home loss since Oct. 19, 1991. (FYI -- Texas was also responsible for the other home loss in this streak when it knocked off Huskers on Oct. 31, 1998.)
Honorable mention
12. Coaches Of The Week Topple an unbeaten, win the prize.
Runner-up
11. Just For Fun BMOC won. Sort of.
Allowing for the Apples vs. Oranges argument that comes with applying the BCS formula to hoops, Edwards went to work. He factored in poll rankings, computer rankings, schedule strength and the number of losses -- just like they do with the BCS -- and here are the results: Your 2002 Final Four at Atlanta -- No. 1 seed Duke, No. 2 seed Kansas, No. 3 seed Oklahoma, No. 4 seed Cincinnati. Maryland, which actually won the whole One Shining Moment thing, finished No. 5 in the analysis. Please don't tell Gary Williams. He yells really loud and uses bad words.
10. See You In 2005 Meanwhile, heralded true freshman quarterback Ben Olson announced he will leave BYU, probably in January, to serve a two-year LDS Church mission. "He told me he has always wanted to serve a mission," BYU coach Gary Crowton told reporters. "After thinking about it for some time and praying about it, he decided now was the time to go. We are excited for him and support his decision. He's a great young man and will be a great missionary." Good for Olson; he followed his heart. But from a football standpoint, Olson might be gone three years -- two on his mission, one to physically and mentally acclimate himself again to Division I-A football. We've talked with coaches who have had players go on Mormon missions and generally speaking, they say it takes an athlete at least a full season to make the transition. Missionary work can be rewarding, but it's also difficult and time-consuming. Put it this way: Olson won't have any time to run skeleton drills. Olson, a Parade and USA Today all-American, isn't the first highly recruited BYU quarterback to take a mission. Matt Berry served a two-year mission in Panama City, Panama, and returned to Provo in time for the Cougars' 2002 spring drills. He made his third start in the win against SDSU Saturday. Olson will have four years of eligibility when he comes back. And all things considered, the timing makes the most sense. It's obvious he didn't want to leave during the middle of his college stay, or at the end, when a pro career might be a possibility. That meant he had to bolt now, while BYU has some depth at the position.
9. BCS Aftershocks Sure, it helps a lot that four of the top nine and five of the top 12 teams in last week's BCS Standings took a big whiff on the gas pipe. But there are still four undefeated teams, three (Oklahoma, Miami, Ohio State) with legitimate claims to a Fiesta Bowl berth. Right now, it looks as if the Buckeyes are going to be on the short end of the BCS's rock-paper-scissors contest. If that happens, BCS director Mike Tranghese can expect his share of hate mail with Columbus postmarks. Turns out some of the Buckeyes followers know how to write a nasty letter or two (if you can read crayon, that is). If OU wins out, nobody can say a word. The Sooners will have played a killer schedule, won 13 games, including the Big 12 Championship. If Miami wins out, it will have beaten Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, BC, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech. Not bad. An unbeaten Ohio State season means wins against Texas Tech, Washington State, Penn State and Michigan. Nice, but enough to overcome Miami's BCS lead? Doubtful -- and we don't necessarily have a problem with that. But there remains another scenario, this one even messier than three perfect records. What happens if OU loses one of its four remaining regular season games (remember, the Sooners finish at Oklahoma State), or drops its first game in the Big 12 Championship? Then let's say Pitt or Va. Tech beats Miami. Then Michigan beats the Buckeyes in Columbus. Now what? Bowling Green vs. Texas in the Fiesta? This is the BCS's worst nightmare. The last thing Tranghese wants is a football huddle's worth of one-loss teams all bitching about the Man keeping them down. But it could happen with OU, Miami, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Virginia Tech, Texas, Washington State, NC State and Iowa (and, yes, we know that Boise State and TCU also have just one loss).
8. Quote Of The Week Final score: Florida 20, Georgia 13. Poor Georgia. This is actually the second time the Bulldogs have been called out this season. First it was Pat Dye, the former Auburn coach and Georgia player. Then it was Snell. UGA is 1-1 in proving their doghood.
7. Stat Of The Week
6. Mea Culpa We (meaning, me) incorrectly said that even if Alabama finishes in the top 10 of the final BCS Standings, Oklahoma -- a team very much in the national championship mix -- wouldn't receive quality bonus points for beating the Crimson Tide earlier this year. (Georgia also beat Bama.) Upon further review, teams with victories against programs on NCAA probation that finish in the top 10 of the BCS final standings will receive quality win points. Confused? It happens -- we know. This quality win thing is important because, who knows, it could be the deciding Fiesta Bowl factor. Where it gets squirrelly though, is how the BCS is going to figure out Bama's numbers. Here's the deal: Bama is eligible for the media poll, but not the coaches' poll. So in calculating the final BCS Standings, the folks who brought you this wonderful system of determining a national championship matchup will take Bama's AP ranking and pretend the coaches voted them in the exact same spot. Then they'll crunch the rest of the numbers and see where the Tide finishes. Let's say Bama finishes 10th in the final BCS Standings. OU would receive the appropriate bonus-point bump. The BCS is doing the right thing by making sure no one gets cheated out of quality-win points. But the BCS also opens itself up for more potential controversy if the quality-win bonus is the deciding Fiesta Bowl component. Think about it: The AP and coaches' poll differ all the time. There were five differences in the top 10, and 17 in the top 25, between the two polls last week. But the BCS takes a leap of faith, and says -- and we're using Bama as the example again -- that there wouldn't be a difference between where the AP voters and the coaches had the Tide in the poll. Dangerous stuff. The solution? If we were the BCS organizers, we'd ask the coaches to reconsider their stance against not ranking teams on probation. First of all, the BCS is the coaches' championship, not the AP's. Second, what's the real harm of ranking a probation team? The NCAA has already levied its penalties, right? And finally, it would prevent a possible season-ending controversy.
5. Hurricane Warning Miami trailed at halftime, and trailed going into the final period. Sure, it scored 28 consecutive points in the fourth quarter, but big whoop. Rutgers, with its freshman quarterback, its undersized lines, its undersized home crowd, and its lone victory against winless Army didn't have any bada-bing business being within 40 points of Miami. But there it was, making the Hurricanes look like football mortals again -- the third consecutive game that's happened to UM (vs. Florida State, vs. West Virginia, vs. the guys with the Radio Shack helmet logos). Maybe the Hurricanes were looking ahead to this Saturday's game at Tennessee, where there will be about 75,000 more fans than there were at Rutgers Stadium. Maybe they were pacing themselves. This was supposed to be the game Miami proved a point -- to itself, to poll voters, to any other team that thought the Hurricanes were vulnerable. Remember all that cautionary-tale chatter coming out of Coral Gables last week? "Some of the guys are just sitting back, letting their helmet and shoulder pads sit on the field and hoping we win football games," said UM center Brett Romberg, in a story by the AP's Mark Long. "It's not going to get done if we keep playing like that. We have to realize that now, and if we don't, it will be too late. "The guys last year knew what it took to win football games and knew what it took to be national champions. This year, if we don't fix what we need to fix, we'll find ourselves talking about come Jan. 3 while we're watching the [national championship] game." Or as UM strength coach Andreu Swasey said: "You're trying to talk to these guy about fire and many of them have never been burned." True enough. According to Long's numbers, about 50 of Miami's players have never lost a game. Nearly 20 other players haven't lost since the early days of the 2000 season. The Hurricanes shouldn't need Come-To-Jesus talks this late in the season. They shouldn't lead the Big East in penalties. They shouldn't need 28 points in the fourth period to beat Rutgers. Best team in the country? Not right now, they aren't.
4. Shorties
Bring a coat and tie to the Yale Club: Miami RB Willis McGahee, Colorado RB Chris Brown, Marshall QB Byron Leftwich. Moving up: Iowa State QB Seneca Wallace, Penn State RB Larry Johnson On the radar: Iowa QB Brad Banks, Washington State QB Jason Gesser, USC QB Carson Palmer, Miami QB Ken Dorsey. Slipping: Oregon RB Onterrio Smith, West Virginia RB Avon Cobourne, Arizona State DE Terrell Suggs. Thanks for stopping by the booth: North Carolina State RB T.A. McLendon, Ohio State RB Maurice Clarett.
2. Whatever Happened To. . . The 10-team Conference USA had exactly one league game: Houston at Memphis.
One Hack's Weekly Elite Gene Wojciechowski is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He can be reached at gene.wojciechowski@espnmag.com. |
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