Sunday Morning Quarterback - All PostsSecond guessing college kids under extreme physical duress.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/50087/smq-fav.png2013-01-08T16:42:57-05:00http://www.sundaymorningqb.com/rss/current/2013-01-08T16:42:57-05:002013-01-08T16:42:57-05:00OFI: Welcome (Back) To the Machine
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<p>At Football Outsiders, the final wrap-up of the season marvels at Alabama's machine-like success, along with other bowl notes, a final top 25 and the Lowsman Trophy Watch.</p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b><a href="http://www.footballoutsiders.com/one-foot-inbounds/2013/ofi-welcome-back-machine">One Foot Inbounds: Welcome (Back) to the Machine</a>:</b></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Like last year's suffocating, <a href="http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/worksheet.jsp?year=2011&game=201100000036520120109.xml">shutout win</a> over <b>LSU</b>, Alabama made claiming a national championship look so easy that Notre Dame – a blue-chip outfit that finished the regular season with a 12-0 record, the No. 1 scoring defense in the nation and a No. 1 ranking in every major poll – look like it didn't even belong on the same field. Against a defense that had yielded nine touchdowns all season, the Crimson Tide scored six, all on drives <a href="http://www.footballoutsiders.com/one-foot-inbounds/2013/espn.go.com/ncf/drivechart?gameId=330070333">covering more than 60 yards</a>. Four seconds into the second quarter, Bama had more touchdowns (three) and more points (21) on its first three offensive possessions than the Irish had allowed in any game. At the same juncture, Notre Dame's offense had one first down and had not crossed midfield.</span>
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<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Against a team that often thrived on time of possession, Alabama held the ball for more than 38 minutes. Against a front seven that allowed two 100-yard rushers in twelve games, Alabama produced two 100-yard rushers in a little over three quarters. Against a secondary that allowed eleven passes of 25 yards or longer, fewest in the nation, Alabama completed five. Against an offense that averaged 202 yards per game rushing, Alabama allowed thirty-two. Opposite a defensive front touted as a match for its own, Alabama's offensive line owned the line of scrimmage and rendered the most decorated player on the field, <b>Manti Te'o</b>, <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21512815/manti-teo-a-nonfactor-in-bcs-blowout">utterly irrelevant</a>. On the bright side, the Irish's freshman quarterback, <b>Everett Golson</b>, did not embarrass himself in a flurry of turnovers. End bright side.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">When they're at their best, as they were on Monday, watching the Crimson Tide under <b>Nick Saban</b> can seem about as much fun as lining up against them. Alabama is such an efficient, well-oiled machine, it's only interesting on the rare occasions when someone like <b>Johnny Manziel</b> manages to <a href="http://www.sundaymorningqb.com/2012/11/10/3629160/texas-a-m-29-alabama-24-burn-baby-burn">glitch the system</a>. But for Saban, a restless perfectionist who preaches means over ends so relentlessly that his philosophy of <a href="http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/saban-is-keen-to-explain-process/">emphasizing "process" rather than results</a> has become as iconic as Bear Bryant's houndstooth cap, there can be no greater compliment. His assembly line, more than any other would-be "dynasty" in the BCS era, is built to last.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.footballoutsiders.com/one-foot-inbounds/2013/ofi-welcome-back-machine">Read the whole thing.</a></span></p>
https://www.sundaymorningqb.com/2013/1/8/3852336/one-foot-inbounds-welcome-back-to-the-machineMatt Hinton2013-01-07T15:29:38-05:002013-01-07T15:29:38-05:00SDA: Heavy is the Tide that wears the crown
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<figcaption>Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>At Football Outsiders, advanced stats, analysis and predictions for Alabama-Notre Dame.</p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b><a href="http://www.footballoutsiders.com/7th-day-adventure/2013/sda-championship-edition-heavy-tide-wears-crown">7th Day Adventure, Championship Edition: Heavy is the Tide That Wears the Crown</a></b>:</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Which brings us to Alabama, a team with history within its grasp despite a <a href="http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/worksheet.jsp?year=2012&game=201200000000820121110.xml">late loss</a> to Texas A&M and harrowing finishes against LSU and Georgia. Unlike its predecessors, whose repeat bids were all built around the same core of (mostly offensive) headliners that had claimed the title the previous season, the Crimson Tide "dynasty" is a triumph of a finely-honed system that transcends individual icons. The cornerstones of last year's championship team were only pups during the 2009 run, and subsequently <a href="http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?abbr=A&collegeName=Alabama&abbrFlag=0&type=school">left en masse</a> for the NFL Draft. The defense alone lost six starters, four in the first two rounds, and the offense lost a Heisman finalist. Yet the 2012 Tide still led the nation in total defense, finished second in scoring defense, and improved its scoring average on offense by nearly a field goal per game. In <b>Nick Saban</b>'s program, a revamped cast is no incentive to change the script.
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<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">All that's left now is to take the final step against a heavy underdog that no one (save maybe Lou Holtz) expected to be in this position. The Fighting Irish are the first team in BCS history to make the final game despite beginning the season unranked. They're also built in Alabama's image, around a disciplined, hard-boiled defense that compensated for a lack of firepower offensively by yielding fewer points than any other team in the nation. Seven of Notre Dame's twelve opponents in the regular season failed to score an offensive touchdown, and none scored more than two. Saban often talks about judging his team by its own standard of excellence rather than the scoreboard, and in this case the message is quite literal: To etch its name among the sport's true dynasties, his team must defeat a version of itself.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.footballoutsiders.com/7th-day-adventure/2013/sda-championship-edition-heavy-tide-wears-crown">Read the whole thing.</a></span></p>
https://www.sundaymorningqb.com/2013/1/7/3846712/7th-day-adventure-championship-edition-heavy-is-the-tide-that-wearsMatt Hinton2012-12-14T19:23:12-05:002012-12-14T19:23:12-05:00SDA Bowl Extravaganza: Justify Your Existence
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<figcaption>Tim Heitman-US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>At Football Outsiders, we break down the first round of bowl games with advanced stats, analysis, picks and reasons you should actually care</p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b><a>7th Day Adventure Bowl Extravaganza: Justify Your Existence</a></b></span></p>
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<img style="float: left;" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1879359/Baylor_vs._UCLA.jpg"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b>Justify Your Existence:</b> Regardless of the calendar, watching Baylor is the gridiron equivalent of a sugar-coated holiday binge. The Bears openly mock the idea of "moderation": In last year's Alamo Bowl, they sent Robert Griffin III out in a <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/34091645">67-56 track meet</a> against Washington that set bowl records for combined yards (1,397) and touchdowns (18), which turned out to be prelude rather than an epilogue. In the absence of RGIII and his top target, All-American Kendall Wright, the 2012 Bears still <a href="http://www.cfbstats.com/2012/leader/national/team/offense/split01/category10/sort01.html">led the nation</a> in total offense on the indefatigable arm of senior <b>Nick Florence</b> and a rotating cast of backs and receivers who combined for nearly 7,000 yards from scrimmage. At the same time, they finished <a href="http://www.cfbstats.com/2012/leader/national/team/defense/split01/category10/sort01.html">next-to-last</a> nationally in total defense, the perfect combination for another outrageous post-Christmas confection. The average Baylor game this season featured 82 points on 1,093 total yards.</span>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Now the part where I remind you all to brush your teeth. Offensive fireworks notwithstanding, the difference in the final score of those games always came down to the much more practical matter of which side took better care of the ball: When the Bears won the turnover margin, they were 7-1; when they finished in the red, they were 0-4. Their unexpected November surge to close the season was first and foremost a result of <a href="http://www.cfbstats.com/2012/team/51/turnovermargin/gamelog.html">flipping the turnover margin</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b>For Future Reference:</b> 2012 belonged to the precocious quarterback class of 2011, which produced the <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21332937/why-johnny-manziel-will-never-win-another-heisman-trophy">Heisman Trophy winner</a>, the <a href="http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2012/11/06/miller-cant-avoid-heisman-talk.html">undisputed star</a> of an undefeated team, and five of ten starters in BCS games, including <a href="http://www.csnchicago.com/ncaa/notre-dame/irish-talk/Rees-pleased-with-Golson-even-if-it-mean?blockID=813459&feedID=661&awid=9079438536584118020-914">the championship game</a> itself. Long-term, though, the most promising of the lot may be UCLA's <b>Brett Hundley</b>, a versatile, 6'3" prototype who completed 68 percent of his passes and accounted for more than 61 percent of the Bruins' total offense as a redshirt freshman. At this stage, Hundley compares favorably to West Virginia's <b>Geno Smith</b>, who just so happened to ascend <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/prospectrankings/2013/QB">to the top of draft boards</a> after reducing Baylor's secondary to a <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/20406910/">smoldering heap of ashes</a> back in September.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b>Watch, Scan or Pass?</b> If you only tune in to one game this bowl season prior to New Year's Day, the Holiday Bowl should probably be the one, and that includes games in which your alma mater happens to be participating. Set aside those nagging feelings of guilt and <b>WATCH</b> while devouring an entire gingerbread house.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a>Read the whole thing.</a></span></p>
https://www.sundaymorningqb.com/2012/12/14/3768466/7th-day-adventure-bowl-extravaganza-justify-your-existenceMatt Hinton2012-12-12T15:47:37-05:002012-12-12T15:47:37-05:00CBS: Another year another identity crisis at Texas
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<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21379083/">Another offseason, another offensive identity crisis at Texas</a>:</b></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">The Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29 will mark the end of Texas' 15th season under head coach Mack Brown, the best of which have been defined by an unmistakable identity on offense. Initially, he lifted the Longhorns back into the national elite on the indefatigable legs of two traditional, I-formation workhorses, Ricky Williams and Cedric Benson. Vince Young took the offense to another level operating out of shotgun spread sets, the catalyst for a 20-game winning streak, back-to-back BCS wins and, in 2005, Texas' first national championship in nearly four decades. Adapting the spread from Young's legs to Colt McCoy's arm produced a nearly identical run in 2008 and 2009. Williams won the Heisman Trophy, Young and McCoy both finished as runners-up and Texas <a href="http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/records/calc-wp.pl?start=1998&end=2009&rpct=30&min=5&se=on&by=Win+Pct">won more games</a> in Brown's first twelve seasons than any team in the nation.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Brown's offensive coordinator for all twelve of those seasons was an old colleague, Greg Davis, who – adaptability and winning percentage notwithstanding – was routinely maligned for his lack of imagination, and eventually <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/26187939">fired</a> on the heels of a shocking, 5-7 disaster in 2010. (He's now being <a href="http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/football/2012/10/31/3579192/the-offensive-philosophy-is-not-a-fit-2012-iowa-football-greg-davis-offense">maligned for his lack of imagination</a> at Iowa.) As of Tuesday night, Davis' successor in that role, Bryan Harsin, is <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/bruce-feldman/21367614/harsin-leaving-texas-to-take-over-at-arkansas-state">on his way to Arkansas State</a> to take over as head coach. But despite the ostensible promotion, he's leaving with the reconstruction in Austin only half-finished, at best: After two years, nine losses and countless quarterback changes, the offense Harsin bequeaths to <a href="http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/longhorns/entries/2012/12/12/harsins_out_so.html/?cxntfid=blogs_bevo_beat">his successor</a> as the primary play-caller, former Longhorn quarterback Major Applewhite, is as far from a coherent identity as it has ever been.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21379083/">Read the whole thing.</a></span></p>
https://www.sundaymorningqb.com/2012/12/12/3759914/texas-offense-back-to-the-drawing-board-bryan-harsin-major-applewhiteMatt Hinton2012-12-11T18:19:47-05:002012-12-11T18:19:47-05:00Superlatives: The All-SMQ Team
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<p>Counting down the best (and worst) of the year. Today: The players of the year.</p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">As always, all snubs are arbitrary and malevolent.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1864551/11-All-SMQ_Team.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="border: 1px solid white;" alt="11-all-smq_team" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1864551/11-All-SMQ_Team.jpg"></a></p>
https://www.sundaymorningqb.com/2012/12/11/3756502/superlatives-the-all-smq-teamMatt Hinton2012-12-10T13:49:58-05:002012-12-10T13:49:58-05:00Around the Scorn: Portrait of a Petrino in Exile
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<p>Lattimore is out, Petrino is back, Tuberville is on the move and Letterman is stuck in the eighties, all in today's roundup</p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21346976/report-marcus-lattimore-to-enter-nfl-draft">•</a> <b>WE HARDLY KNEW YE, PART ONE.</b> It's still in the air whether Marcus Lattimore will ever play football again, or how effective he can be after his <a>second major knee injury</a> in as many years, but if he does it won't be at South Carolina: At some point this week Lattimore reportedly plans to announce his <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21346976/report-marcus-lattimore-to-enter-nfl-draft">entry into the 2013 draft</a>, ending his college career as the latest of many sobering entries in the "What If?" Hall of Fame. At his best, Lattimore was the best running back in the country, a svelte, 25-carry-per-game workhorse who was nearly as good as a receiver or blocker on passing downs as he was between the tackles. If Carolina had any inkling that his freshman breakthrough in 2010 (1,609 yards from scrimmage, 19 touchdowns) was the only full season they were going to get from one of the most hyped recruits in school history, they would have relished it all the more.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1862295/11-Marcus_Lattimore.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="float: right; border: 6px solid white;" alt="11-marcus_lattimore" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1862295/11-Marcus_Lattimore.jpg"></a><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">The goal from here, of course, is to rehab the most recent injury with an eye toward becoming the next Willis McGahee, who submitted his equally mangled knee for the draft in 2003, went off the board in the first round and nearly a decade later continues to command a million-dollar salary with the Denver Broncos. Lattimore was a lock for the first round before his leg was turned into a Jenga tower on national television; after, considering the best-case scenario for his return is 2014, and no one has any idea yet what to expect at that point, matching McGahee's position in April seems out of the question. Right now, all he can hope for is that he still has some say in the answer. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21348818/ohio-states-johnathan-hankins-declares-for-nfl-draft">•</a> <b>WE HARDLY KNEW YE, PART TWO.</b> Also making the leap on Monday: Ohio State defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins, a no-brainer given his prototypical size (6'3", 325 pounds), accolades (he was voted <a href="http://btn.com/2012/11/26/your-2012-all-big-ten-conference-football-team/">first-team All-Big Ten</a> by league coaches) and unanimous projections as a <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/mock">likely first-rounder</a>. A colossal defensive tackle who racks up <a href="http://www.cfbstats.com/2012/player/518/1033345/tackle/gamelog.html">55 tackles</a> for a team that doesn't lose a game is going to get paid sooner or later; Hankins has opted for sooner, and opposing offenses heartily applaud the decision.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1862127/10-Coaching_Map.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="border: 1px solid white;" alt="10-coaching_map" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1862127/10-Coaching_Map.jpg"></a></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21347707/">•</a> <b>RETURN OF BLOODY FACE.</b> Just when you thought your daughters were safe, Western Kentucky has added to its menagerie of <a href="http://www.wkusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5400&ATCLID=1568617">grotesquely fascinating freaks</a> by naming Bobby Petrino <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21347707/">its new head coach</a>, thereby ensuring the most gripping run of blood-and-guts camp this side of <i>American Horror Story</i>. In three decades in the business, Petrino has made pit stops at more than a dozen different schools/franchises, never remaining longer than four years at any of them; eleven of his gigs have lasted two years or less, including his <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/eye-on-football/18353600/former-falcons-db-lawyer-milloy-on-bobby-petrino-thats-karma">infamously abbreviated</a> administration with the Atlanta Falcons. One way or another, this is going to end badly, because Petrino is a kind of sociopath and people never really change.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">In the meantime, it should be pretty fun. In <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/coaches/bobby-petrino-1.html">eight years as a head coach</a> at Arkansas and Louisville, Petrino's teams won two conference championships, played in two BCS bowls and finished in the top ten three times – again, at <i>Arkansas</i> and <i>Louisville</i>. The Razorbacks count Petrino's last two years in 2010-11 as the best since they joined the SEC 20 years ago; U-of-L counts Petrino's tenure as the <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/louisville/coaches.html">best in school history</a>, by far. The Hiltoppers will win, probably big, at which point Petrino will either be gone to the first big(ger) job that bats its eyes in his general direction, or some new bit of bad behavior once he can afford a comfort zone. I'd bet on the former at WKU, but also the latter again, eventually.</span></p>
<p><img src="http://gif.mocksession.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/TOMMY-TUBERVILLE-IS-PISSED.gif" width="560px"></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21321201/">•</a> <b>PINE BOX BUSINESS IS BOOMING.</b> How badly did <a href="http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/sports/125490698160650.xml&coll=1">Petrino's old friend</a> Tommy Tuberville want out of Lubbock, Texas? He's voluntarily <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21321201/">defecting to a Big East school</a>, Cincinnati, thereby becoming the first head coach on record to spurn a Big 12 job for one in the Big East. Tuberville is also becoming something of an itinerant circuit-rider: Since famously <a href="http://archive.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/sports/columns/071026c.shtml">promising Ole Miss fans</a> he'd have to be carried out of Oxford "in a pine box" in 1998 – two days before flying out on a jet to become the new coach at Auburn – he's changed jobs three times. (Although there is still uncertainty about whether he resigned at Auburn, as the school claims, or he was fired, as his hefty buyout suggest.) Does anyone in Cincinnati think it's going to be his last stop if he has another opportunity to move back south?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">The one possible incentive of moving from a "Have" conference in the forthcoming playoff format to a "Have Not" conference is Cincinnati's (apparently high) prospects for being absorbed by the expansion-drunk ACC, or possibly even the Big 12. Or maybe the Bearcats are just down with November collapses and <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/20922465/">slapping around graduate assistants</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZFiLzODue8&feature=youtu.be">•</a> <b>AND NOW, FOR YOUR MID-ROUNDUP ENTERTAINMENT…</b> …here's David Letterman asking newly crowned Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel if Barry Switzer is still the head coach at Oklahoma:</span></p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wZFiLzODue8?rel=0" frameborder="0" height="305" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">For the record, Barry Switzer has not been the head coach at Oklahoma in Johnny Manziel's lifetime.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">(On a side note: Am I the only person slightly bothered by Manziel's marketing to the mass public as a "freshman quarterback" ? This is technically accurate, if you're referring to him as a freshman for a football-literate audience that can be reasonably expected to understand the concept of redshirting. He's a <i>redshirt</i> freshman, a term that exists because of the obvious difference between a traditional, "true" freshman right off the farm and a guy like Manziel who's been on campus and a part of the team for a full year. When it comes to the vastly expanded exposure accompanying the Heisman Trophy, though, that difference is not so obvious: To an audience that doesn't get redshirting, a freshman is just a freshman.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Not that it diminished his achievement in any way, but it seems to me a general, non-sports-obsessed audience would be better served if Manziel was described as a sophomore, which would come closer to the reality than giving the impression he still has unpacking to do. Again, I realize I must be the only person on earth who cares about this.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><i>We now resume our regularly scheduled coaching carousel…</i></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a href="hhttp://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21350958/">•</a> <a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1862255/11-Todd_Monken.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="float: right; border: 6px solid white;" alt="11-todd_monken" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1862255/11-Todd_Monken.jpg"></a><b>EVERYBODY'S GOT SOMETHING TO HIDE EXCEPT FOR ME AND MY MONKEN.</b> After its one-year misadventure with a defensive coach, Ellis Johnson, Southern Miss has found its new boss in a familiar breeding ground: With the pending <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21350958/">arrival of Todd Monken</a> from Oklahoma State, three of USM's last four head coaches – Jeff Bower, Larry Fedora and now Monken – have come to the job directly from stints as offensive coordinator in Stillwater, which has proved to be a productive pipeline so far. Between them, Bower and Fedora produced three top-25 finishes, five Conference USA championships and 18 consecutive winning seasons in Hattiesburg before this year's 0-12 collapse under Johnson, who will be happier <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21293542/auburn-starts-staff-makeover-by-hiring-ellis-johnson-as-d-coordinator">overseeing the defense at Auburn</a>, anyway, <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21192118/report-southern-miss-gives-up-home-game-to-pay-ellis-johnsons-buyout">six-figure buyout</a> in hand.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Monken has never been a head coach, and probably hasn't come in for the credit he deserves for the seamless transition at Oklahoma State from his predecessor, Dana Holgorsen, who initially installed the up-tempo, "Air Raid" philosophy Monken was charged with learning and replicating after Holgorsen's departure for the top job at West Virginia. This year, faced with a rash of attrition from the best team in school history in 2011, the Cowboys still finished among the top five nationally in both total and scoring offense, churning out nearly 45 points on 549 yards per game despite a revolving door at quarterback. (Ironically, the only defense that <a href="http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/worksheet.jsp?year=2012&game=201200000032820121013.xml">held OSU below 30 points</a> was one of the worst in the league, Kansas.) On paper, the only significant difference between the 2011 outfit that came within a few votes of the BCS title game and the 2012 team that slumped to 7-5 was the former's penchant for thievery: The 2011 Cowboys led the nation in both takeaways (44) and overall turnover margin (+21). Despite slightly <i>improving</i> on that front offensively, from twenty-three giveaways in 2011 to twenty-two, the 2012 Cowboys only took the ball away 17 times and finished –5 for the season.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">The complete picture isn't quite as simple as that, but it's close enough to assume that if the defense had held up its end, Monken would have been in line for a far more high-profile promotion. As it is, Southern Miss hopes it has a bridge to Fedora's last team in 2011 – arguably the best in school history – that will allow it to traverse the black hole of the Johnson administration like it's not even there.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/BretBielema/status/278355973167517698">•</a> <b>SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN, CLUTCHING YOUR HOG HAT TIGHT.</b> If you think new Arkansas coach Bret Bielema is above fact-checking some random heckler on Twitter about his record at Wisconsin, well sir, <a href="https://twitter.com/BretBielema/status/278355973167517698">you thought wrong</a>:</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>"@<a href="https://twitter.com/brettgaydos">brettgaydos</a>: @<a href="https://twitter.com/bretbielema">bretbielema</a> cant win big ten games but you think you can ompete in the SEC??? Yea right"Check stats, and go back to sleep.</p>
— Bret Bielema (@BretBielema) <a href="https://twitter.com/BretBielema/status/278355973167517698" data-datetime="2012-12-11T04:30:10+00:00">December 11, 2012</a>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Say what you will about Bielema's abrupt defection to the SEC: The guy was 39-19 in Big Ten games with three consecutive conference championships. QED, bitch.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Oh, and about that abrupt departure: Maybe it <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21351473/">wasn't quite as abrupt</a> as everyone thought it was.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a href="newsok.com/article/3736427/http://newsok.com/article/3736427/">•</a> <b>MAGIC MIKE.</b> After being publicly spurned last week by Tennessee-bound Butch Jones, Colorado has <a href="newsok.com/article/3736427/http://newsok.com/article/3736427/">settled on San Jose State's Mike MacIntyre</a> to oversee the radioactive crater that is Buffalo football, coming off the worst of seven consecutive losing seasons. The only longer droughts without a winning record in the FBS ranks: <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/north-texas/">North Texas</a> (8 years), <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/alabama-birmingham/">UAB</a> (8), <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/new-mexico-state/">New Mexico State</a> (10), <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/tulane/">Tulane</a> (10), <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/washington-state/">Washington State</a> (10), <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/nevada-las-vegas/">UNLV</a> (12), <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/easter-michigan/">Eastern Michigan</a> (17) and <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/duke/">Duke</a> (18, pending the result of the Belk Bowl).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">What should you know about Mike MacIntyre, other than his readily apparent masochism? <b>a)</b> He's the son of a former D-I head coach, <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/coaches/george-macintyre-1.html">George MacIntyre</a>, who was the last coach to deliver a winning record at Vanderbilt before the Commodores slipped into a 25-year coma between 1982 and 2008; and <b>b)</b> He's coming off a <a href="http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?year=2012&org=630">10-win season</a> at San Jose State, which is San Jose State. If he can win there, he can win…well, <i>almost</i> anywhere. At Colorado, his first year will qualify as a smashing success if he can slash the average margin of defeat to two touchdowns.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b>QUICKLY…</b><br><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21332937/why-johnny-manziel-will-never-win-another-heisman-trophy">•</a> Why Johnny Manziel <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21332937/why-johnny-manziel-will-never-win-another-heisman-trophy">won't win another Heisman</a>.<br><a href="http://www.kentucky.com/2012/12/10/2438775/neal-brown-returns-to-uk-as-football.html">•</a> Mark Stoops picks Neal Brown to <a href="http://www.kentucky.com/2012/12/10/2438775/neal-brown-returns-to-uk-as-football.html">return the "Air Raid"</a> to its Kentucky roots.<br><a href="http://bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/12/09/michael-lombardi-may-line-take-over-browns/QEk6Ol66p7NUvd4tCyFA0H/story.html">•</a> Another week, another rumor <a href="http://bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/12/09/michael-lombardi-may-line-take-over-browns/QEk6Ol66p7NUvd4tCyFA0H/story.html">linking Nick Saban to the Cleveland Browns</a>.<br><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21353826/big-easts-non-football-members-meet-discuss-possible-breakaway">•</a> The Big East's basketball-only members met to discuss <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21353826/big-easts-non-football-members-meet-discuss-possible-breakaway">breaking away from the league</a>.<br><a href="http://www.clarionledger.com/viewart/20121211/NEWS/121211004/Richard-Dickie-Scruggs-out-prison-appeal-pending-judicial-bribery-case">•</a> And something tells me <a href="http://www.clarionledger.com/viewart/20121211/NEWS/121211004/Richard-Dickie-Scruggs-out-prison-appeal-pending-judicial-bribery-case">Ole Miss' next recruiting class is going to be awesome</a>.</span></p>
https://www.sundaymorningqb.com/2012/12/10/3751432/around-the-scorn-12-12-10Matt Hinton2012-12-07T11:16:48-05:002012-12-07T11:16:48-05:00Butch Jones, Volunteer of last resort
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ze4_gG1SDHMK-gPirlH8M2D4_Ds=/219x241:3999x2761/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/4646191/20121201_tjg_sv3_509.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>Butch Jones is the first new coach in decades who has to confront the fact that, under present conditions, <i>it is hard to win at Tennessee</i></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b>1.</b> I never got to write a proper obituary for the Derek Dooley administration, which is fitting, actually, for a tenure that often seemed like one long, loopy funeral procession. Even at the time, most of what I've written about Tennessee Football since January 2010 felt like a piece of a three-year dirge.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">That wasn't only the case at the end: <a href="http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Somebody-agrees-to-coach-Tennessee-at-last-Now?urn=ncaaf,213916">From the beginning</a>, Dooley had all the marks of an earnest but overmatched captain who just happened to be the only guy who stepped forward to steer the ship through a hurricane. He was an on-the-fly, fourth-choice hire, better known for his last name than as a sought-after candidate in his own right, left to hold together a recruiting class that was still being <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/14/sports/la-sp-usc-recruiting14-2010jan14">wooed by the outgoing staff</a>. Within days of his first spring practice, the team's <a href="http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Where-is-Bryce-Brown-As-of-now-not-on-Tennes?urn=ncaaf-228901">most high-profile player</a> and <a href="http://www.chattanoogan.com/2010/3/25/171958/Aaron-Douglas-Decides-To-Leave-Football.aspx">only experienced offensive lineman</a> were on their way out, followed by the <a href="http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/ap%20r/08/nick-stephens-leaves-ut-football-program/">only experienced quarterback</a> on the roster. Dooley's first summer was highlighted by a <a href="http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Vol-brawl-puts-off-duty-cop-in-E-R-Tennessee-i?urn=ncaaf-254968">wild bar brawl</a> involving <a href="http://www.govolsxtra.com/photos/galleries/2010/jul/09/vols-questioned-bar-brawl/?partner=popular">at least eight players</a> that left a patron <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5378061">bloodied and bruised</a> and an off-duty cop <a href="www.govolsxtra.com/news/2010/jul/09/kpd-officer-suffers-head-injury-while-trying-to-br/?partner=RSS">unconscious in the street</a>.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1856925/10-Dooley_Screenshot.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="border: 1px solid white;" alt="10-dooley_screenshot" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1856925/10-Dooley_Screenshot.jpg"></a></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b>2.</b> Two months later, Dooley's second game in Neyland Stadium was the <a href="http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/worksheet.jsp?year=2010&game=201000000069420100911.xml">most lopsided home loss</a> in school history. Not just <a href="http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/What-s-worse-than-Les-Miles-clock-management-T?urn=ncaaf-274100">once</a>, but <a href="http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Vols-crushed-again-by-cruel-and-unusual-clock-ma?urn=ncaaf-301991"><i>twice</i></a> that season, the Vols rushed the field in apparent triumph after watching an opposing offense butcher the final seconds of a two-minute drill in a stunning, chaotic lapse as the game clock expired, only to be called back from the celebration to have defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. At one point, the starting offensive line was manned <a href="http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Tennessee-s-offensive-line-is-going-to-the-fresh?urn=ncaaf-271868">entirely by underclassmen</a>; later, the starting quarterback job was handed over to a true freshman. By the time Dooley signed his first full recruiting class, the much-hyped 2009 crop assembled by his short-lived predecessor – and that should have formed the cornerstone of Dooley's second team in 2011 – was <a href="http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Janzen-Jackson-sends-Tennessee-s-Kiffin-class-?urn=ncaaf-318407">up in smoke</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Unlike his predecessor, Dooley was a likable, sympathetic enough guy that for two years, the Vols' dismal record was belonged to the circumstances – youth, attrition, relentless schedule – rather than the coach. If there was a single moment when that changed, it was in the last game of his second season, a <a>10-7 loss</a> at Kentucky that forced Dooley himself to admit, <a href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/Sports_News/story/Tennessee-loses-to-Kentucky-for-first-time-in-27-years-id-018079">"our biggest fears were realized."</a> Tennessee had just lost to a reliable November whipping boy for the first time in 27 years, assured its first <a href="http://preseason.stassen.com/final-conference-standings/2011.html#sec">last-place finish</a> in the SEC East and clinched back-to-back losing seasons for the first time in a century. For the first time Dooley had lost the benefit of the doubt. The 2012 team was entirely his own, immune to the excuses that followed the departures of Phillip Fulmer and Lane Kiffin, and limped to the finish line as the worst in Knoxville in <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/tennessee/">at least 50 years</a>.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1857155/10-Bray_Fumble.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="float: right; border: 6px solid white;" alt="10-bray_fumble" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1857155/10-Bray_Fumble.jpg"></a><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b>3.</b> That's another way of saying the 2012 team is the one that extended the decline of one of the SEC's most stable, bankable programs beyond the Fulmer/Kiffin spiral, from a temporary slump into a defining malaise. Dooley's Vols of 2011-12 were not only worse than the 5-7 flop that got Fulmer fired in 2008 – they were much further behind the pack relative to their peers. In 2008, Tennessee was outscored in SEC play by 2.5 points per game; in 2012, the average margin was 9.2 points, including a humiliating, <a href="http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/worksheet.jsp?year=2012&game=201200000073620121117.xml">41-18 collapse</a> at Vanderbilt in Dooley's last game. The defense finished dead last in the conference in both yards and points allowed. Tennessee hasn't played for an SEC championship since 2007, finished in the top ten since 2001 or played in a BCS bowl since 1999. High school recruits in 2013 remember none of the above.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b>4.</b> Like Dooley three years ago, Butch Jones was <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/bruce-feldman/21305455/how-butch-jones-landed-at-tennessee">at least the fourth choice</a> for the job, following surprisingly public rebuffs by Jon Gruden, Mike Gundy and Charlie Strong, and those are only the ones we know about. Unlike the search that produced Dooley, this one did not get a late start in January, a few weeks before signing day. Dooley's ouster was announced on Nov. 18, and was obvious to everyone <a href="http://www.sundaymorningqb.com/2012/11/3/3596038/reaction-time-12-11-03">at least two weeks before</a>, when his team gave up 721 yards in a <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/gametracker/recap/NCAAF_20121103_TROY@TENN">narrow escape</a> against Troy, a double-digit underdog from the Sun Belt. What all of those would-be targets saw when they looked at Tennessee is not just a proud program temporarily down on its luck: Beyond the prestige of the "Power T," they saw a program that faced as steep an uphill climb as ever re: the absence of a reliable in-state recruiting base, and has been steadily ceding ground in that climb to South Carolina, especially, as well as Arkansas, Clemson, even North Carolina. (UNC coach Larry Fedora is another reported target who may, or may not, have <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2012/12/6/3735594/larry-fedora-tennessee-coaching-search">backed out</a> after interviewing.) And suddenly there are more peers: Westward expansion has added two new taps to an already crowded pipeline, one of which, Missouri, is less than a year removed from signing the No. 1 recruit in America; the other, Texas A&M, just produced the Heisman Trophy winner a few weeks after upsetting the No. 1 team in America. Tennessee hasn't beaten a team ranked in the top 25 in three years, or a team that finished there in five.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b>5.</b> And so the burden falls on a grown man named "Butch," who is willing to call a program in extended, existential crisis <a href="http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2012/dec/07/butch-jones-stood-podium-neyland-stadiums-peyton-m/?partner=RSS">his "dream job."</a> Jones has been a winner at his previous stops, Central Michigan and Cincinnati, but in the context of a coaching search defined by rejection, his apparent <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516590&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fsports%2Fncaaf%2F2012%2F12%2F07%2Fbutch-jones-tennessee-football-coach-climer%2F1755047%2F&referrer=sbnation.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sundaymorningqb.com%2F2012%2F12%2F7%2F3740006%2Fbutch-jones-marked-for-death" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">enthusiasm for the project</a> qualifies as a credential in and of itself:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Butch Jones went the extra mile to get the Tennessee football coaching job.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Actually, he went the extra 83 miles. That's the driving distance from Cincinnati, where Jones previously coached, to Lexington, Ky., where he met UT Athletics Director Dave Hart for an interview.<br> […]<br> "It was not 20 minutes into our conversation that lasted through the night that I could see genuine passion," Hart said at a press conference on Friday afternoon. "It wasn't artificial when he said, 'Dave, this is my dream job.' I knew that was coming from his heart."</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">At the same press conference, Jones cited Tennessee's facilities and instantly recognizable, "national brand" as major assets, which is certainly true compared to, say, Central Michigan and Cincinnati. The reality he faces is a division in which equally accoutered Florida and Georgia have just surged back into the national elite after short-lived crises of their own, and South Carolina continues to prove its staying power. The Volunteers also gets the short end of the stick in cross-divisional scheduling, thanks to a guaranteed date with Alabama every October. Butch Jones is the first coach to arrive in Knoxville in decades who has to confront the undeniable fact that, under present conditions,<i> it is hard to win at Tennessee</i>, at least on the level Tennessee has traditionally expected. Those conditions are not going to get any friendlier in the foreseeable future. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Which is not to suggest progress is impossible; to some extent, after two conference wins in two years, it's inevitable. But even more so than usual, it will have to be measured step by step in an unforgiving environment, each one a little steeper than the last.</span></p>
https://www.sundaymorningqb.com/2012/12/7/3740006/butch-jones-marked-for-deathMatt Hinton2012-12-06T09:34:48-05:002012-12-06T09:34:48-05:00Lowlights: The Worst of 2012
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/m_MM-ZVD8mfyAVqxXryqTscNieY=/0x0:1000x667/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/4582211/134134639.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Otto Kitsinger III</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At CBS, I count down the lowest lows of the season.</p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21293621/">Lowlights: The Worst of 2012</a>:</b></span></p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><b>10. <a href="http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?year=2012&org=657">USC's Long November</a>.</b><br><img width="40" height="40" style="border: 4px solid white; float: left;" src="http://sports.cbsimg.net/images/collegefootball/logos/50x50/USC.png">USC closed 2011 with a flourish, and began 2012 with such high expectations that even their head coach <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/19768415">picked the Trojans</a> as the best team in the country to open the season. Instead, they failed to beat a ranked opponent, dropped four of their last five games and became the first team since 1964 to begin the regular season <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/19821976/usc-brushes-off-sanctions-to-lead-ap-top-25-for-first-time-in-five-seasons">ranked No. 1</a> and end it <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/rankings">outside of the polls</a> altogether. Out of seven FBS teams in the state of California, USC received fewer votes in the <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/rankings/ap">final Associated Press poll</a> than all but one (Cal), finishing well behind San Diego State, San Jose State and Fresno State as well as the two in-state rivals that beat the Trojans in the regular season, Stanford and UCLA.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Lane Kiffin, do you <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/20248457">have anything to say</a> in your team's defense?</span></p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="305" frameborder="0" showinfo="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VFTJ_SdXm4g?rel=0"></iframe></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;">Okay then. Good luck <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/bowls/predictions">in the Sun Bowl</a>.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21293621/">Read the whole thing.</a></span></p>
https://www.sundaymorningqb.com/2012/12/6/3735440/lowlights-the-worst-of-2012Matt Hinton