1) Urban is one the best 3 coaches in college football. Give a good coach ample time to prepare and their teams win. Maybe Stoops’ offense was his best yet this year, but his halftime adjustments will come a half too late.

2) Bob Stoops is 0-4 in BCS games, and he is not playing Boise State this year. He is also not playing a team coached by Bill Stewart in his overalls and straw hat.

3) The rhythm the offense showed down the stretch for Oklahoma will have a harder time finding their groove than a defense will. Time and time again, a great offense that is slowed down will ultimately derail that team’s success as Florida will frustrate and attack Sam Bradford.

4) A good offense will look outstanding versus a terrible defense. That is exactly what Oklahoma has been doing all year in racking up absurd numbers. Florida’s offense is also a good offense, but they get to play possibly a defense that is worse than Florida’s last 4 opponents when they were absolutely throttling teams.

5) Is it not a coincidence that the SEC is 3-0 in BCS title games. When a team represents the SEC conference they are pretty darn good. (the SEC has also never had to play a Pac-10 team for the title.) Tonight they go to 4-0 as Oklahoma becomes the 1st team to be 0-3 in BCS Championship games.

6) Pull tape from the Orange Bowl in 2004 and you will see all the Gators employ a similar game plan to that of the Trojans versus Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s huge offensive line will look slow and have trouble protecting Bradford as he matches Jason White for most time spent looking into the South Florida night sky from his back. Speed killed Oklahoma in losing to Pat White and West Virginia, in losing to LSU, and USC and tonight will be no different. They are not playing a fast team, but probably the fastest team they have seen all year.

7) Percy Harvin is playing, DeMarco Murray is not. Don’t let talk of no Murray not affecting Oklahoma fool you. Harvin was missed versus Alabama who would have been a much needed asset in stretching the field against Alabama. Tebow’s favorite weapon comes back tonight.

8) Tim Tebow is not an NFL quarterback, but he is a college quarterback and he wants to prove that he will not be upstaged by Sam Bradford. He will take what the Sooners will give him whether its with his arm or feet. Playing in Florida, its his stage and Tebow is not relinquishing his microphone tonight.

I guess Southern California has survived without a NFL franchise

While the outlook for the Trojans is always sunny, the inside of Mad Martz’ head will prove to be the most interesting development for the 49ers. Frank Gore is also worth mentioning as he plans on being my fantasy workhorse. (I think he could fall to late 1st round in many drafts, and prove to be quite valuable) I’m hoping the 49ers, the “sleeper” pick of so many pundits and experts from last year, really do wake up for the 08 season; and maybe that awakening will include a quarterback.

It will be interesting to see if Norm Chow has as an immediate impact with rival Bruins and their depleted quarterbacking unit, as he did with Carson Palmer. While losing to UCLA is not an option, surely a consistently good UCLA team makes the college football landscape in Southern California that much more interesting.

Finally this will be my first fall season with full time access to Fox Soccer Channel. The couple of ESPN Champions League broadcasts and internet reading just does not quite fulfill all that there is soak up in European football. This summer’s Euro Cup definitely got my now increased soccer viewing off to a good start. “Goodnight Vienna!”

Kwame Brown starts on my NBA team?

Although this rating is a bit high, their strength of schedule and quality wins in the early part of this season contribute to this placement in third position. ESPN’s Marc Stein has the Lakers currently at 8th in the league right now in his weekly power rankings which corresponds to their fifth place standing in the west as Stein has three Eastern Conference teams ranked ahead of the Lakers. While a title is not won in December, the Lakers are showing many signs that this team will finish much stronger and with a much more significant role in the playoffs this season.

The Lakers young supporting cast is another year older and the cohesion is much more evident. While many of the plays still consist of ball-watching Kobe Bryant, though he has an ability to make defenders look silly, there is an air of confidence developing among the younger players on display. Farmar plays with an added aggression factor as he attacks the rim more, evolving from the style molded by Howland’s college system. Ronny Turiaf has become much more than just a cheerleading Mark Madsen from the bench. He’s now a guy you depend on for his crunch-time rebounds, blocks, and hustle plays. Walton has become more instinctual in his ability to distribute within the flow of the offense. Radmanovic’s three-point shooting is coming along at almost 43% now, forcing opposing team’s big men to step out on the perimeter and guard him. I am even pleasantly surprised by what Sasha has brought to the table just as long as his minutes stay closer to 13 than 20 a game.

The most obvious factor for the potential Lakers fans are seeing in this year’s team, aside from Kobe Bryant, the league’s best all around player, is the accelerated development of Andrew Bynum. There was a reason that almost any trade the Lakers were going to try and make this summer was not going to involve Bynum, and almost every trade offered to the Lakers had to include Bynum. In just one offseason Bynum has become such a relevant piece to the success of this Lakers team. Last year Kwame Brown and Bynum could have worn the same number and most people would not have noticed who was in the game. You would see a brilliant play from Bynum here or there but never believed it would turn into a game long effort this quickly. This year Andrew Bynum is averaging a double-double with 11 points a game,ten rebounds, two blocks, most importantly 27 minutes and is his most recent effort completely upstaged the best Clipper on the floor this year, Chris Kaman.

On Bill Simmons most recent column he ranked the 50 highest trade values in the NBA where Lebron is one and so highly valued that he is thus the most untradeable player. Including such factors as age, contract, and degrees (which is explained by in the overall scheme of things would a team make that deal if it involved two particular players), Andrew Bynum has vaulted to number 22 in the 2007 annual edition. Simmons explains, “His ceiling: The NBA’s best center not named ‘Dwight Howard’ or ‘Yao Ming’. He’s just too talented: light feet, great hands, quick ups, superb timing as a shot-blocker … there’s too much to like.”

So the question becomes does Andrew Bynum make the Los Angeles Lakers a legitimate playoff contender? Not yet, but the early season returns look very good. I have not even mentioned Lamar Odom or the leadership and stability Derek Fisher offers. Right now San Antonio is still the elite of the Western Conference, with Phoenix a close second. I cannot see the Lakers beating either of these teams right now in a seven game series. Utah and New Orleans are both certainly viable players and Golden State looks just fine without Richardson. Barring injuries, if the Lakers continue to beat teams they should handily, like the Clippers on Sunday, and stay competitive with the top tier teams, like they have all this year, they should be a significant factor come playoff time. Oh yeah and they have Kobe Bryant. Who else would you want with the ball at the end of the game?

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

(Originally written Dec 10, 2007)
The Mid-Majors in college basketball have been slowly gaining steam as a whole. They have been closing the gap between themselves and major conference teams with the most notable performance in the NCAA tournament of late from George Mason who advanced to the final four two seasons ago. In college football the same can be said of the parity that continues to grow and the discrepancy closing between the top and bottom teams. Appalachian State starts off the college football year shocking Michigan in their own Big House. The Kansas Jayhawks, most known as a basketball school, earns a BCS bid after a one-loss season, and upset after upset of top 10 teams losing to a handful of unranked opponents throughout the season never stopped, as West Virginia become the final victim in losing to unranked Pitt.

A football program cannot be turned around quite as quickly as a basketball team where a rotation of seven or eight guys can be quite effective. The basketball season starts garnering increased media attention now that the college football regular season has ended and now there is a new mid-major to keep an eye on now.

While Dixon might have been the most valuable player in America, as evidenced by his team’s monumental collapse during the last 11 quarters of football without him, missing almost three games makes it difficult to place him in among the finalists for New York. The Heisman Trophy should go to the best player in the country, but in a team sport that player’s abilities should be measured on the effect they have on their team’s overall performance.

My ballot would go: Colt Brennan, Darren McFadden, Chase Daniel, Tim Tebow

Say what you want about systems and inflated statistics, but Brennan executes June Jones’ sophisticated passing offense to near perfection leading his Hawaii team to the only unblemished record and a Sugar Bowl berth out of the WAC. Only once did Hawaii not score at least 35 points this year, and in that game an injured Brennan only had 2 pass attempts. With a shaky defense, the Warriors relied on Brennan’s arm time and time again to keep them in close games as he finished the year with 35 TDs and the 3rd best QB rating in the country. As Brennan’s receivers might have as many as four options on each route they run, his ability to read the defenses in his four and five wideout sets prove he is a quarterback that could possibly run any coaches system in America. He would get my vote for the Heisman just barely edging out Arkansas’ DMC.

Darren McFadden like Colt Brennan is another excellent college player pilling up the statistics in his collegiate career. He is the most explosive back in the country and might become the best pro entering this draft. With a lack of passing game his entire three years, the Razorbacks have relied on him to carry the load. He is definitely a close second as his numbers could have been even better if not for sharing the backfield with another excellent running back in Felix Jones. While McFadden still had 1725 yards and 15 TDs, Jones still contributed to the rushing attack with 1117 yards and 11 TDs. His performance against LSU, taking almost all the 4th quarter snaps at QB, should have vaulted him to the first or second choice for Heisman on everyone’s ballot as McFadden surrounded by a clearly inferior team looked anything but that against his SEC competition this season.

Chase Daniel of the Missouri Tigers just kept winning. With their only two losses coming to Oklahoma, and Daniel’s 4170 yards passing and 33 TDs, he gets my third place vote. Until their loss in the Big 12 championship, Missouri had scored at least 30 points in every game this year led by the arm and leadership of Daniel.

As Tebow getting much of the media hype thus far, I feel obliged to explain why Tebow should finish last of the finalists. There is no doubt he is a great quarterback, and with his ability to run the ball as well as throw, makes him a perfect fit for Urban Meyer’s spread offense. Still his rushing TD numbers are very inflated due to the amount of goal line carries he receives in that offense. A big deal is made about his rushing numbers but this much more so than Brennan is a product of his system. Florida surrounded by better athletes than any of teams of the 3 other candidates suffered three losses this year which cannot be overlooked when voting for a quarterback from that team.

The voting could be summed up by paraphrasing June Jones’ quote in support of his quarterback for the Heisman and level of sophistication of their passing offense. He said he didn’t think Tebow could run Hawaii’s system, but was confident that Brennan could effectively run any coaches system the country.

Ohio State is rewarded this year for playing one of the weakest out of conference schedules of any major football program while in one of the nation’s weakest conferences. While it’s not their fault that the Big Ten might have been the most down we’ve seen in awhile, they also scheduled three in state teams in Youngstown State, Kent State, and Akron whose recruits only dreamt up getting an email from a graduate assistant on the Buckeye coaching staff. I would love to see how the Ohio State defense matches up with anyone in the country, but I could not see anything but Todd Boeckman running for his life if matched up in a playoff game versus the likes of the Hokies or Trojans.

Oklahoma might have the most to complain about as their dismantling of Missouri didn’t sway voters nearly as much as LSU just skating by Tennessee. An early season loss at Colorado shouldn’t doom the Sooners, and a second loss coming at the hands of the offensive machine of Leach’s Texas Tech, while Bradford goes down in the first quarter, results in a resume as good as anyone. The problem becomes the perception of a very weak Big 12, as evidenced by one-loss Kansas getting a big payday in a BCS bowl, while losing to the one good team they played in Missouri. Where is Missouri playing? Missouri’s consolation for beating the Jayhawks is the Cotton Bowl versus unranked Arkansas.
This year’s bowl games are a mess, and the BCS could not even come up with some intriguing bowl matchups so save face for their disaster. Maybe there is one, because Hawaii winning the Sugar Bowl looks like the argument to stir up even more controversy if they were to beat the best team in the SEC LSU never had to play.

Have Daniel put in game film of Rudy Carpenter getting bloodied up on Thanksgiving evening. The Sun Devil offensive line was thankful USC is not on their schedule again this year and I’m sure Daniel likes a potential match-up with West Virginia much more than one with Pete Carroll’s defense stocked with guys possessing the athleticism to play on Sundays. While Gary Pinkel might say otherwise because of the dynamic spread option attack of Slaton and White, I bet Chase Daniel would look forward to a game with the Mountaineers over one with the Trojans, unless of course the Sooners have anything to say about that.
___

It’s a shame we won’t get the opportunity to see USC, Georgia, or even Hawaii in a playoff because this year’s winner will not be the consensus Florida team that everyone truly believed was the nation’s best team last year.