Hopefully we get some good bowl games on New Years’ Day. Last night was an abomination…although I have to admit I smiled seeing the Big 10 embarrassed to the extent they were last night.
What we saw was a vivid reminder of why the SEC now owns the exclusive rights to the top tier level of Division 1 college football. The Big 10, the ACC, the Big 12, and PAC 12 are all just filler as long as Nick Saban is ruling not only the SEC, but the entire landscape of college football….minus perhaps Georgia with Saban U graduate Kirby Smart running Bulldog Nation.
And I would guess this to a certain degree is why Lincoln Riley and his agent scurried out West to avoid the blitzkrieg of physical SEC football.
If one simply looks at the tenures of SEC West coaches the past five years… one would observe every other school in the SEC West minus Alabama has fired their football coach at least once in this time frame with LSU and Auburn bordering on the insane in this regard. You think Lincoln’s agent more than once mentioned this to his client?
The one thing I like about OU’s chances in pulling this off is they have the best AD in the country in Joe C who knows what has to be done.
So in essence…Joe C just collected $4.5 million from USC to take Lincoln Riley off his hands and make the necessary changes to his football program two years before entering the SEC. Has anyone even considered the possibility Joe C was glad he didn’t have to fire Lincoln Riley?
Don’t get me wrong…I think Lincoln would have continued to be wildly successful in the Big 12 or the PAC 12, but in the SEC it’s complmentary two-way football where you have to be able to recruit beyond just the offensive skill positions.
This is also why OU with Brent Venables and Jeff Lebby now give OU a much more reaslistic chance to assimilate the OU program to the interior physicality of which will be needed to become relevant beyond just being the third best team in the SEC.
So it’s New Years’ Day and I’ll be pulling for O State to win the Fiesta Bowl in what I think is a pick ’em game. Jaylen Warren should provide much needed relief to the turnover prone Spencer Sanders.
In the Rose Bowl…I have no idea. I’m not sure who is and isn’t playing for the Buckeyes. But I still believe the Big 10 was the most overrated Power 5 conference this season. I’ll be curious to see if Utah can bring sustained physicality in this game.
The Sugar Bowl with Baylor vs. Ole Miss is a game I’m acutely interested in because Jeff Lebby will be coaching the Rebel offense against Dave Aranda’s stingy defense which basically shackled Lincoln Riley’s offense three times in a row.
If I’m Caleb Williams and his father…. I’m sitting down together and watching this game while taking notes as to how Ole Miss, with Matt Corral the first QB expected to go in the NFL draft, attack Dave Aranda’s defense.
I would probably be inclined to take Ole Miss in this game. But I think it could be a great game if Baylor can control the tempo somewhat.
Ice on the roads in Deer Creek, Oklahoma with a searing wind chill. A great day to eat black-eyed peas, cornbread, and maybe sip on a New Years’ Jack Daniels coffee.
You see these three games would be part of my Junior Heavyweight college football national championship tournament. My other two teams in a normal setting if their coaches hadn’t bailed would have possibly been OU and Oregon. Maybe Iowa or Kentucky. I’d have to think about it some more. Think how much fun this eight team tournament would have been.
So there you go.
Spencer Sanders…run the ball, dude. That’s what you do best besides handing off the ball to Jaylen Warren. Play a clean game and give your guys a chance.
And a shout out to Georgia’s offensive coordinator Todd Monken for getting his offense untracked and into the national championship game. El Prez loves Todd Monken because he says f–k a lot more than I do and that makes feel better about myself.. Good luck, Todd Monken.
I actually love Todd Monken as a coach. Anyone who’s ever played or coached sports understands how it is you say f–k now and again in the heat of the moment.
Coach Monken was O State’s offensive coordinator in 2011. Then became head coach at Southern Miss. Then became offensive coordinator at Tampa Bay faced with the arduous task of figuring out how to make Jamesis Winston an NFL quarterback. Then Coach M became the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns. Now… he’s the guy running Kirby Smart’s offense in Athens.
I love this video. O State agreed to let ESPN have access to the team to do a mini docu of sorts. Coach Monken said f–k a few times with the camera rolling. I thought it was great. If you think college football is a gentle passive activity….you might want to rethink that one.
Hope you have a great New Years’ watching football.