College Football ToughCalls Week 4

[Lesson]

Meyer won the 2005 Fiesta Bowl when he was at Utah, Kelly lost the only BCS bowl he coached(the 2009 Orange Bowl).

Utah beat a three loss Pittsburgh team in a crappy year for the Big East. Also the same program TT used to take a shot at Kelly. Kelly didn't actually coach that game, he'd already left for Notre Dame. Not that it would have made a ton of difference since Florida was a [expletive] good team. But thanks for trying.

You're right about Pitt being an 8-3 team then. You're wrong about Kelly not coaching in a BCS Bowl game. Cincy has gone to two straight BCS Bowls, the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The 2009 Orange Bowl was against Va. Tech, which they lost 20-7. He didn't coach in the Sugar Bowl, like you said, but he's still 0-1 in BCS Bowls.

[phins]

It looked to me like the pressure got to Arkansas. In the late 3rd it seemed like the Ark players said to themselves, "we're gonna win this, just don't screw up."

Then they went out and screwed up a bunch of times. Mallet has a lot of talent, but seems to make a lot of dumb decisions.

[cardsfansince82]

Wouldn't the same thing apply to Dan Hawkins at the start of his Colorado tenure? I'm not trying to say Brian Kelly is a fraud, but the early returns have not been promising, and while he's got a new QB and such, he's not inheriting a bare cupboard.

Not really apples to apples. Hawkins racked up a ton of wins in a crappy WAC but was only 2-2 in mediocre bowls. He inherited the job at Boise by default and never did much of note besides dominate a terrible schedule. He was 9-4 his last year before Colorado hired him. Colorado isn't even close to the same level of prestige as ND so he's at a disadvantage there, although I don't particularly think he was a great coach to begin with. He's recruited pretty well at Colorado but hasn't turned that into on-field results. Letting his son play for way too long didn't help. Based on Boise's continued success, I'd say a lot of Hawkins cred is owed to great coaches under him like Peterson.

Kelly took Cincinnati to heights it had never seen in a pretty solid conference. They had never finished a season ranked before he got there. And they had recruiting classes ranked dead last or next to last in the conference to work with. He turned dudes that no one had ever heard of like Tony Pike and Ben Mauk into studs. He'll get top talent at ND. No, the cupboard wasn't bare, but it wasn't great either. They haven't had talent on defense in a long time and from stories I've read their strength and conditioning under Weis was appallingly bad. I would have thought his offense would be better than it has been but didn't expect them to win 10 games or anything this year changing systems and coaches.

Pop psychology: Kelly seems to embrace the pressure and challenge of coaching there, unlike the past few. He also seems to have that "it" factor where you can tell he can coach and you can tell he can inspire players. I don't see that in Hawkins.

[cardsfansince82]

It looked to me like the pressure got to Arkansas. In the late 3rd it seemed like the Ark players said to themselves, "we're gonna win this, just don't screw up."

Then they went out and screwed up a bunch of times. Mallet has a lot of talent, but seems to make a lot of dumb decisions.

I wouldn't say they choked, just that Alabama's experience and ability to close games was the difference. I'm sure Arkansas fans are sick right now though. Alabama made some uncharacteristic mistakes too so I'd call it a wash. Arkansas impressed me that they showed they can play with just about anybody. I would agree about Mallett...he's got all the physical tools but not the composure.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

[expletive]

[obucard]

It looked to me like the pressure got to Arkansas. In the late 3rd it seemed like the Ark players said to themselves, "we're gonna win this, just don't screw up."

Then they went out and screwed up a bunch of times. Mallet has a lot of talent, but seems to make a lot of dumb decisions.

I wouldn't say they choked, just that Alabama's experience and ability to close games was the difference. I'm sure Arkansas fans are sick right now though. Alabama made some uncharacteristic mistakes too so I'd call it a wash. Arkansas impressed me that they showed they can play with just about anybody. I would agree about Mallett...he's got all the physical tools but not the composure.

Small consolation now that we're looking at a 21 year conference title drought, tying the longest in team history.

[cardsfansince82]

Jeez, now OU is in trouble against Cincy. That Red River Shootout next week is looking less glamorous by the minute.

[JL21]

Texas lost to a school coached by Rick Neuheisel, OU is struggling yet again, KU had an embarrassing loss, Mizzou squeaked by San Diego St., Nebraska is fiddle [expletive] around against Corn Palace A&M, Texas A&M struggled with Florida International, and TCU made Baylor look horrible. It could be a really ugly down year in the Big X-II this year.

[stlouie_lipp]

Halftime.

NIU-20
Min-13

[slide_into_first]

I thought Az St was underrated, Badgers beating them will help their ranking.