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Urban Meyer

Urban Meyer shocked the college football world yesterday by announcing that he will step down as head coach of the Florida Gators after the Sugar Bowl on January 1^st.  What is not so shocking is the reason why.  The stress of being a head coach is causing him health problems that he can no longer ignore. 

 

Napoleon Hill said, “Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.”  Meyer’s commitment to this principle has earned him the highest honor in the college coaching profession – two national championships.  Unfortunately, this sacrifice brought a health issues penalty that was beyond his control.

 

Give Meyer some credit for recognizing that his health is a higher priority than coaching football.  Anyone who is a competitor knows the difficulty of saying I can no longer give elite level effort.  Looking in that mirror and admitting vulnerability is painful.  Meyer’s acceptance took some time to occur, but he finally realized could not coach his way out of the problem. 

 

College football needs more Meyer’s in the profession.  He’s innovative, a teacher and a motivator.  The game will move on, but his style will be missed beyond the Florida Gators.  Hopefully he will recover and return to the sidelines one day. 

Bowl Season Rocking Already

Bowl season is starting off with a bang.  Memo to the PAC 10…the Mountain West Conference knows how to play football.  Though I believe that most conferences are pretty much the same outside of the top two teams, there is no excuse for the poor performances by Cal and Oregon State.  These losses only add fuel to the fire about the BCS system lacking integrity when it comes to non-automatic qualifier conferences.

 

Expect fireworks tonight in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.  Nevada and SMU love to score points, and do not play defense.  SMU is in their first bowl game since the 1984 Aloha Bowl.  SMU head coach June Jones is returning to Hawaii after stepping down as Hawaii head coach after the 2007 season.  While his Mustangs’ offense is a mere shell of his Hawaii high octane offenses, you can expect them to score often against the Wolfpack tonight.  Unfortunately, Nevada will just score more.  Nevada wins 52-38. 

 

North Carolina and Pitt square off in the Meineke Car Care Bowl on Saturday.  The two head coaches know each other very well.  Dave Wannstedt and Butch Davis were on Dallas Cowboys staff in the early 90’s.  Wannstedt was the Cowboys defensive coordinator and Davis was the defensive line coach.  Not surprisingly, both Pitt and NC have good defenses.

 

Pitt is coming off a heart breaking, regular season ending loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats.  North Carolina has underachieved this year.  This is usually a great bowl game.  I like Pitt to win a close game, 27-24. 

 

Happy Holidays. 

College Bowl Top Five

Seems fitting that college football bowl season is beginning today with DC getting about a foot of snow right now.  A lot of stories have been written, but here are my top five games.

Alabama vs Texas.  Hard to not love the match up against two of the most storied programs in college football history.  Texas slept walked through the regular season, barely cracking a sweat except against Texas in the Big 12 Championship game.  Bama had a few close calls, but pretty much dominated the SEC.  Tide running back Mark Ingram became the first Alabama Heisman Trophy winner last week.  Recent history suggests this favors Texas though. 

The key to the game will be Texas' offense against Bama's phenomenal defense.  Can McCoy and Co. deliver?  I think they do.  The stage is set for a great game.  Texas wins 24-21.

Oregon vs. Ohio State.  Oregon has a high powered offense led by QB Jeremiah Masoli.  Ohio State is led by a quick, opportunistic defense.  PAC 10 has dominated the Big 10 in the Rose Bowl this decade.  Ohio State has not won a big non-conference/bowl game since 2005.  Can the Buckeyes get back on track?  Can Pryor deliver on the big stage, and set up the high expectations for 2010?  The winner will likely be a top 3 preseason pick next year.  Defense wins championships, right?  Go with the Buckeyes, 27-23.

TCU vs. Boise State.  Forget the talk about this being a charity bowl game to appease the non-automatic qualifier conferences.  Forget the conspiracy talk about the BCS not matching TCU or Boise against an automatic qualifier.  The Fiesta Bowl almost always delivers fireworks, and this game will be phenomenal.  TCU wins a high scoring game, 45-37.

Arizona vs. Nebraska.  I love the Holiday Bowl.  The scoring is generally high, but not this year.  Nebraska has a great defense which will keep the scoring in the teens.  Give Mike Stoops some credit.  His first few seasons in the desert were abysmal.  He is starting to deliver.  Similar to the Rose Bowl, the winner of this game will be a high preseason pick in 2010.  The game will go down to wire.  Nebraska wins 18-17.  

FSU vs. WVU.  Bobby Bowden's last game and he's playing against the school he coached before Florida State.  Florida State lack speed and WVU has speed.  That should be the difference.  A remarkable career will end in a loss.  WVU wins 35-28.

In today's games, in the New Mexico Bowl, Fresno will soundly beat Wyoming, 42-21.  Ryan Matthews will run wild against the Cowboys.  In the St. Petersburg Bowl, Rutgers will be Central Florida 35-14. 

Title Weekend, Bama Should Roll

Championship weekend got off to a hot start Thursday night as the Oregon Ducks beat the Oregon State Beavers 37-33 in the Civil War sending the Ducks to the Rose Bowl.  Oregon versus Ohio State should be a great game.

 

Today’s slate brings us the CUSA, SEC, Big 12 and ACC Championship games, and technically the Big East championship game since the winner of the Pittsburgh/Cincinnati game wins the Big East.  Central Michigan beat Ohio University to win the MAC last night. 

 

SEC

 

A rematch of last year’s SEC championship game.  Undefeated #1 Florida against undefeated #2 Alabama.  Tim Tebow is seeking his second SEC championship (as a starter) and his third BCS Title trip.  The Heisman Trophy is also on the line.  Bama is trying to get to their first SEC Championship since 1999.  Running back Mark Ingram is also a legitimate Heisman candidate.  A strong performance against the Gators might propel him to the top.

 

Both defenses are elite. There are few, if any, weaknesses on this side of the ball for both the Tide and Gators.  Bama’s defense might have the edge now that Florida defensive end Carlos Dunlop was suspended for the game following a DUI earlier this week. 

 

The key for Bama, stop Tebow from being Tebow.  If Bama can get to Tebow and put pressure on him, the Tide will win this game.  This is a huge if considering no team has really been able to get to Tebow this year, but no other team has had Bama’s defense either.  Saban will have his team ready to attack.

 

The keys for Florida is stop Ingram and disrupt Tide QB Greg McElroy.  Again, no other team has yet to do this for an entire game this year, but Florida has the defensive talent to stop Bama’s offense.  The loss of Dunlop will hurt though.

 

The money says to go with Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow.  I am going to side with Bama though.  The loss of Dunlop is going to impact the Gators ability to stop the run.  Bama wins 21-17. 

 

Big 12

 

Texas vs. Nebraska.  Two great programs collide once again.  Texas is led by Heisman Trophy candidate Colt McCoy.  His offense is clicking at the right time of the season, and is clearly the favorite in this game.  Under second year head coach Bo Pelini, Nebraska is back playing for the championship.  As expected, the Cornhuskers’ defense is ranked in the top 20 in the FBS.  The defense is led by Ndamukong Suh who is a beast in the middle of the Dline. 

 

This game will be close until Texas opens up a comfortable lead in the third quarter.  This will force Nebraska to press on offense and make mistakes.  Nebraska is still a season or two away from being in elite again.  Texas wins 42-21 and goes to the BCS title game again.

 

ACC

 

Talk about a downer.  Georgia Tech and Clemson were riding high before last weekend when an average Georgia team beat the Yellow Jackets and an average South Carolina team throttled the Tigers.  These two defeats did not help the image of the ACC.  That being said, Clemson is playing for their first ACC title since 1991 and Georgia Tech is looking for their first title since 1998. 

 

These teams collided in the second game of the 2009 season.  Georgia Tech won 30-27 in a back and forth game.  Look for more of the same tomorrow.  Clemson will exact revenge this time.  Tigers win 34-27.

 

Big East

 

Cincinnati vs. Pitt.  Amid the Notre Dame coaching controversy is Cincinnati’s quest for a Big East title and an undefeated regular season.  Head Coach Brian Kelly is the obvious leader for the open position at ND, but has this impacted his Bearcats’ preparations for Pitt?  Probably a little. 

 

Amazingly, Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt has turned his team into a winner.  They slipped a little last week against rival West Virginia, but the Panthers are solid and should give the Bearcats a tough game.   Cinci will win the game, but they’ll have to come from behind to do it.  Bearcats win 28-24. 

 

Conference USA

 

Houston vs. East Carolina.  Houston is explosive.  With wins over Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Mississippi State, the Cougars have proven they can run with the big boys.  East Carolina has played well down the stretch, but the Pirates lack some of the power they has last season.  This will be a close game with a lot of offense which favors Houston.  Cougars win 45-42, and get their first league title since 2006. 

 

All the games should be good this weekend.  The upset will be Bama over Florida, but don’t be surprised if Pitt beats Cinci.