The Doldrums and the Schedules

A while back (meaning "February") I posted on how the 2 weeks leading up to the Super Bowl are the most boring in all of football. I stand corrected.

Look, I love college football. Love it. But, seriously, why do we care about any of this? I'm glad to see Tony Franklin got a job, but do we really need to know where he stands on religion? I care on a personal level, but not on an entertainment level. And entertainment is why I would read a college football blog in the first place...

Meanwhile, schedules have been out for a bit. Nothing's terribly different from the last few years: A few good nonconference games coupled with atrocious 1-AA cupcakes. Let's take a look at some of the intriguing matchups while we're here, shall we?

Ohio State, perpetually overrated as they are, looks to open with a win against Navy. They'd best pray for bad weather when USC shows up in Columbus, or we'll see a repeat of last year's demolition in LA.

Since we're on the subject of a team I hate with a passion, it was pretty refreshing to see the USC Trojans not being hailed as an invincible juggernaut in this article from Yahoo/Rivals news. Still, I have a problem with their schedule being treated as though it's a challenge. The teams USC is playing that might be "threats" aren't exactly high-class football squads: Notre Dame beat Hawaii and people treat them as though they're back to being a perrenial power in college football. Trust me, they're not. Ohio State is in a conference that's not that good, and they probably don't stand a chance against the Trojans. Oregon might be a tough road game, but I'm not gonna say they can beat the Trojans. In fact, I would be totally unsurprised to see the USC Trojans go undefeated and play in the title game. Their biggest pitfall? Honestly, probably the road game at California.

NC State (a bowl team last year only because there are 753 bowls) has 8, count 'em, 8 home games on its 12 game schedule. All 4 of the road games are going to be tough, so I guess the 'Pack feels the need to pad its schedule with the home crowd at their back. Since 3 of their home games are pretty much guaranteed wins (Murray State, Gardner-Webb, and Duke) the 3rd most popular school in North Carolina only has to beat 3 other teams to be bowl eligible. Sad, isn't it?

Speaking of 8 home games, anyone else notice that two of last years awesomely underachieving teams (Auburn and Michigan) are on the cowards list of travel-wary teams? Now I know that schedules are made years in advance, but it's nice and convenient that these two schools on the rebound are going to have friendlier schedules than most other teams.

Hats off to Georgia, who has to play a tough non-conference schedule in addition to their murderous conference. (Yes, they have Tennessee Tech one week. They also have the defending national champs the week before.)

Negative points to Nebraska (who starts off a season in which they could grab headlines playing tough teams and proving that they're back) by playing one non-Sun Belt conference member in their first 4 games. Yes the non-member is a tough game at Virginia Tech, but it's a little sad to see a team with a shot at a powerful opening statement opt instead to play 3 mediocre schools and one good one.

Crazy schedule of the year award goes to Georgia Tech who plays 3 games in 12 days. Admittedly, 1 is against Jacksonville State (no colored letters for 1-AA teams yet), but the other 2 are against conference foes who are definitely worthy of attention. If the Jackets win all 3 games, you can bet that'll be a confidence boost that will help their season. I wouldn't be surprised to see Georgia Tech win the ACC this season

Aaaaand that's all for this (the first post with content in quite some time). We'll see you later, hopefully someone will write something stupid soon!

If at first you don't succeed...you're fired

Well, at least that's the way it works at Auburn. The second-best team in Alabama (This is an insult to Auburn fans. And to UAB, whose offense is better (statistically) than the Tigers) have dropped their offensive coordinator after 7 games. These 7 games include an overtime win against Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, two losses, and the ugliest win in college football history (yeah, that last one might be an overstatement).

However, let's not throw the (former) coordinator Tony Franklin under the bus just yet. While I think the spread offense is something that is touted far too highly in comparison to the actual results it yields, I also think that this is Auburn's mistake. They chose to hire this man after NOT running a spread. That meant the tools necessary to run a spread offense weren't there, which meant the offense wasn't going to run perfectly this year. (See also: Michigan) They're blaming a man who had no chance of succeeding this year with the corps of players he had. This is like handing someone a hammer and saying: "OK, I need you to change the oil in my car and rotate the tires. I'll be back in 10 minutes. If you're not done you're fired."

By far my favorite quote in the ESPN article on the firing is this gem from Tommy Tuberville (my comments in parenthesis): "This is a good offense. (No it isn't) Our guys like it. (This does not help win games) They understand it. (Uhhhh...) They're getting better at it. (Auburn points per game this season: 34, 27, 3, 21, 14, 14. I'm not sure that's "better")"

The Tuberville quote also makes for some intriguing reading. I mean, the guy is saying "Yes, the spread offense is new. Yes, it's difficult. Yes, we just fired our coordinator who brought it. No, we are not going to stop doing this!"

So Tony Franklin is jobless, and Auburn needs a new offensive coordinator. No one wins in this situation. Well, except for Alabama fans. Perhaps this was part of Nick Saban's deal with the devil: High pay, private jet, top recruits, and chaos at Auburn. All for the price of his soul! Now that's a deal most SEC fans can get behind.

But I digress, Franklin will get re-hired somewhere, and I sincerely hope that his new place gives him the opportunity to get the right group in place before they give him the ax. As for Auburn: It'll be interesting to see former defensive guru Tuberville trying to run a train wreck offense this weekend.

In other news, Arkansas might get that elusive SEC win!