Podcast: Episode 59

Back after a week off and both Phil and Tom are delighted National Signing Day has come and gone. It's not a national holiday for us like it is for so many other bloggers and podcasters. We watch the trends and understand the appeal, but neither of us will lose sleep over the decision of an 18-year-old. There are always some interesting story lines, though.

There's the recruit at Michigan who had some legal issues when he was a minor. With all of the problems facing RichRod, was this really the best decision? It was also interesting to see many of the top recruits from the Midwest bolt the area for Texas, USC and elsewhere. Is this a one-year trend or a bigger problem?

And why is golden boy Tim Tebow become everyone's punching bag? Joe Theismann and some back-up offensive lineman are dissing the former Heisman Trophy winner. We also look at the future of Minnesota prep star Seantrel Henderson and a 13-year-old who is going to USC.

Enjoy another show.

Recruting Rule #1

- Do not believe anything anyone says. Ever. Seriously. We mean it.

The smiling, happy fellow above is George Edwards. He was one of Florida's most successful defensive coordinators. Undefeated. Great recruiter too, if you believe this year's recruiting rankings. Sadly for the Gators Edwards left for a job in the NFL - before he ever coached a single game for UF.

Amazing timing, though. Edwards didn't announce he was returning to the NFL after his less than one month stint at Florida until the day after signing day.

Weird how that works, getting offered a job the day after national signing day. What a coincidence. I mean, if he knew he was leaving, I'm sure he and all of the Florida staff were completely upfront about that fact with all the incoming recruits.

OSU, WVU give fans something to smile about

It's National Signing Day and while we believe it's way overhyped and fans get too worked up about it. But we feel it's our obligation to at least publish what we know to be the high school and JC players who signed today with Ohio State and West Virginia.

We don't know enough about them to say much, but I'm sure a bunch of them are 3-, 4- and 5-star recruits. The most notable rejection happened to the Buckeyes as Minnesota prep stud Seantrel Henderson chose the flash, but no substance of Lane Kiffin over the more stoic aproach of Jim Tressel.

Ohio State's 2010 class
Darryl Baldwin, DL, Solon, Ohio
Drew Basil, K, Chillicothe, Ohio
Corey Brown, ATH, Springfield (Pa.) Cardinal O'Hara
Christian Bryant, DB, Cleveland (Ohio) Glenville
David Durham, LB/DE, Charlotte (N.C.) Christian
Taylor Graham, QB, Wheaton (Ill.) North
Chad Hagan, DB, Canonsburg (Pa.) McMillan
Johnathan Hankins, DT, Detroit (Mich.) Southeastern
Carlos Hyde, RB, Fork Union Military Academy
James Louis, WR, Delray Beach (Fla.) Atlantic
Scott McVey, LB, Cleveland (Ohio) St. Ignatius
J.T. Moore, DL, Youngstown (Ohio) Boardman
Andrew Norwell, OT, Cincinnati (Ohio) Anderson
Verlon Reed, ATH, Columbus (Ohio) Marion Franklin
Bradley Roby, DB, Suwanee (Ga.) Peachtree Ridge
Rod Smith, RB, Fort Wayne (Ind.) Harding
Jamel Turner, LB/DE, Fork Union Military Academy
Tyrone Williams, WR, East Cleveland (Ohio) Shaw

West Virginia's 2010 Class
Travis Bell, S, Glades Central (Fla.)
Barry Brunetti, QB, Memphis (Tenn.) University School
Dante Chambers, WR, Miramar (Fla.)
Trevor Demko, DE, Mount Carmel (Pa.)
Mike Dorsey, LB, Warren G. Harding (Ohio)
Qudral Forte, ATH, Booker T. Washington (Ga.)
Troy Gloster, LB, Olney (Md.) Our Lady of Good Counsel
Jeremy Johnson, ATH, Silsbee (Texas)
Trey Johnson, RB, Varina (Va.)
Quantavious Leslie, WR, Callaway (Ga.)
Deon Long, WR, Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy
Ivan McCartney, WR, Miramar (Fla.)
Doug Rigg, ATH, Bergen (N.J.) Catholic
Jewone Snow, LB, McKinley (Ohio)
Quinton Spain, OG, Petersburg (Va.)
Wes Tonkery, ATH, Bridgeport (W.Va.)
Marquis Wallace, OG, Varina (Va.)
Avery Williams, ATH, Calvin Coolidge (D.C.)

Criminy ... if you want a playoff

As one of the few (if only) college football blogs that opposes a playoff to decide the national champion, we have contemplated how a playoff might work to our liking. We didn’t spend days researching every half-baked idea that’s been reported over the past decade. Instead, the ‘Eer came up with this plan at work one day and then ran it past the ‘Eye for his approval (OK, he doesn't like everything, but the overall concept works).

Now that President Obama and his Administration is looking into whether the BCS system is legal, and the NCAA is considering expanding the basketball tournament to 96 teams so naturally the playoff wave is moving fast. So we want to get our playoff plan out to the masses because it’s clearly the best option because it still incorporates the bowl games, doesn’t require the addition of too many more games than are already played, and it builds in another level of bowl games that will help alleviate some of the frustration by teams on the bubble.

The two teams that reach the title game will play two more games than each would play under the current system.

Here is are playoff scenario in a nutshell:

• Using the BCS Rankings (we would like to see the rankings improved) take the top eight teams. However, only one team per conference and they can come from any of the 11 Division I-A leagues.
• All independent programs (currently Notre Dame, Navy and Army) can be included in the playoffs at the same time.
• The teams are seeded based on the BCS Rankings. In the first round, the top four teams host a game.
• All first-round games are played on Saturday (of course they’ll be on ESPN).
• Second-round games are played at either the Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, or Sugar Bowl. Each game will be played on the same date.
• The Championship Game site will be decided at least four years in advance (similar to the Super Bowl).
• The next eight teams in the BCS rankings play in the Cotton and Gator bowls, and whichever of the Sugar, Orange, Rose and Fiesta bowls that weren’t included in the playoffs that year.
• The consolation bowl matchups will be decided by a committee (similar to the NCAA basketball tournament) to achieve the best scenario for each site.

Here’s how a playoff would have worked this year:

Rankings (BCS Ranking)

1. Alabama (1)
2. Texas (2)
3. Cincinnati (3)
4. TCU (4)
5. Boise State (6)
6. Oregon (7)
7. Ohio State (8)
8. Georgia Tech (9)

First Round Schedule
Game 1: Georgia Tech (ACC) at Alabama (SEC)
Game 2: Ohio State (Big Ten) at Texas (Big 12)
Game 3: Oregon (Pac-10) at Cincinnati (Big East)
Game 4: Boise State (Western Athletic) at TCU (Mountain West)

Second Round Schedule Game 5: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 4 in Orange Bowl
Game 6: Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3 in Fiesta Bowl

Championship
Game 7: Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6 in Pasadena, Calif.

Other Bowls (BCS Ranking) Florida (5) vs. Miami (15) in Sugar Bowl
Iowa (10) vs. Virginia Tech (11) in Rose Bowl
LSU (12) vs. Brigham Young (14) in Cotton Bowl
Penn State (13) vs. West Virginia (16) in Gator Bowl

To offer a bit more context to this system, let’s look at 2008 and 2007 to see how it would have worked.

2008 Rankings (BCS Ranking)

1. Oklahoma (1)
2. Florida (2)
3. USC (5)
4. Utah (6)
5. Penn State (8)
6. Boise State (9)
7. Cincinnati (12)
8. Georgia Tech (14)

First Round Schedule
Game 1: Georgia Tech (ACC) at Oklahoma (Big 12)
Game 2: Cincinnati (Big East) at Florida (SEC)
Game 3: Boise State (Western Athletic) at USC (Pac-10)
Game 4: Penn State (Big Ten) at Utah (Mountain West)

Second Round Schedule Game 5: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 4 in Sugar Bowl
Game 6: Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3 in Rose Bowl

Championship
Game 7: Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6 in Miami, Fla.

Other Bowls (BCS Ranking)
Texas (3) vs. Ohio State (10) in Fiesta Bowl
Alabama (4) vs. Texas Tech (7) in Orange Bowl
Oklahoma State (13) vs. Oregon (17) in Cotton Bowl
Georgia (15) vs. Michigan State (18) in Gator Bowl

2007 Rankings (BCS Ranking)

1. Ohio State (1)
2. LSU (2)
3. Virginia Tech (3)
4. Oklahoma (4)
5. USC (7)
6. West Virginia (9)
7. Hawaii (10)
8. BYU (17)

First Round Schedule
Game 1: BYU (Mountain West) at Ohio State (Big Ten)
Game 2: Hawaii (Western Athletic) at LSU (SEC)
Game 3: West Virginia (Big East) at Virginia Tech (ACC)
Game 4: USC (Pac-10) at Oklahoma (Big 12)

Second Round Schedule
Game 5: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 4 in Fiesta Bowl
Game 6: Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3 in Orange Bowl

Championship
Game 7: Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6 in New Orleans, La.

Other Bowls (BCS Ranking)
Georgia (5) vs. Kansas (8) in Sugar Bowl
Illinois (13) vs. Arizona State (11) in Rose Bowl
Missouri (6) vs. Boston College (14) in Cotton Bowl
Florida (12) vs. Clemson (15) in Gator Bowl

Poor Mark Mangino

It's not bad enough poor Mark gets mocked constantly for his weight, or that he got the axe from Kansas (Kansas!) just for being verbally and physically abusive to his players (yeah, he's the first one to do THAT)... now Mangino tops this Top 1 list from The Bleacher Report:


The 10 Coaches You Shouldn't Let Recruit Your Son

Ah, I just love lists. Top 10 this, top 5 that. whatever. Listen up - if your kid is good enough to play major college football his coach will be:

A) father figure
B) complete asshole
C) self-serving jerk
D) great human being
E) All of the above.

The answer is E. And that's probably all in the same day.

Cryogenically preserved JoePa

Not that we meant to go back-to-back on the JoePa posts, but after reading this cover how pissed is Bobby Bowden right now? Probably not as mad as his wife.

Are Penn State fans pleased with this proclamation? They can't be surprised. Seriously, the guy is kept alive through some crazy cryogenic lab in State College anyways, so who's to say he won't be coaching at 100.

Start the bidding at ...

Does anyone really need to (or want to) see the world through Joe Paterno's eyes besides JoePa? Then why would anyone want to see it through a pair of his glasses?

According to reports, Joe and his wife have donated a pair of the coach's signature thick glasses for an auction put on by PSU's public broadcasting. The auction takes place Feb 20 ... in case you want to make a bid.

To whet your appetite a bit more, JoePa autographed the glasses with a Sharpie. On second thought, the glasses might look good next to my Jerry Tarkanian towel and Bum Phillips cowboy hat.

I'll start the bidding at ...