Gators could be on their way toward another title next season
FORT LAUDERDALE - Florida coach Urban Meyer wrapped both hands around the crystal football Friday, started to lift it off its stand and then nearly fumbled the whole trophy.
He might have an easier time holding on to the championship next year.
Just hours after the Gators celebrated their second national title in three years, Meyer made it clear he expects them to be in contention again this fall.
A run for the roses? Florida could spend the next seven months as the preseason favorite to reach the Bowl Championship Series title game at the Rose Bowl, especially if quarterback Tim Tebow, receiver Percy Harvin and linebacker Brandon Spikes return for their senior seasons.
"I'm not sure what the word dynasty means," Meyer said Friday, about 10 hours after the Gators beat Oklahoma 24-14 in Miami. "I'm very confident now. I see a program that's set. We're good. I didn't feel that way two years ago. ... Next year is going to be a very good senior class, but behind them is another group, another group. We don't have that void is my point."
There could be huge void if Meyer's three stars turn pro. Tebow, Harvin and Spikes submitted paperwork to the NFL's advisory counsel last month in hopes of getting a better feel for their draft status. None of them gave any new insight their decisions after the game.
Harvin, considered the most likely to jump to the next level, said it was possible that all three of them might to return and go for a repeat - much like former Florida basketball teammates Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green did after winning the title in 2006.
Meyer joked that he might mention what happened on the hardcourt to try to sway his guys.
"In all honesty, I'm not going to start using angles because I don't want to ever influence a guy to make a decision," Meyer said. "Whenever you make a life-changing decision, place of employment, having a family, getting married, all those big decisions you have to make, you put it all on the table and you make sure you're doing it for the right reason."
That wasn't necessarily the case in recent years. Meyer said some players made decisions without his input.
"Some uncle told me to do this and my peoples can get me in the second round," Meyer said. "I look at him going, 'What peoples are you talking about?'
"I love this team because they're very professional. I don't have any idea what the decision is yet. But they'll make it the right way, and that's family, coaches, people that know what they're talking about, not some guru or some peoples. That will not be part of the discussion."
The Gators will lose three senior starters - all on offense. Receiver Louis Murphy and offensive tackles Phil Trautwein and Jason Watkins will be gone.
The rest of the team could be intact, and Meyer has another strong recruiting class on the way. But can he ever find another Tebow or Harvin?
Tebow completed 18 of 30 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns against the Sooners. He missed a few open receivers and threw two interceptions in Florida's first three possessions.
"Tim came in at halftime and said, 'We're not playing our game and I'm not playing mine,'" tight end Tate Casey said. "He said, 'I'm not going to do anything but make this team better in the second half.' He came out and lived up to his word - just like he did after Ole Miss."
Tebow delivered a passionate promise after Florida's 31-30 loss to Mississippi in late September, vowing to work harder than anyone else in the country. Teammates called him "prophet" leading up to the title game, and he made good on his word again in the second half Thursday night.
Copyright (c) 2009 NewsChief.com
Steve Sarkisian, DeWayne Walker leave on the best of terms
Two of this region's sharpest football coaches found themselves at the Rose Bowl this week, both soon to leave us, both bound for fresh responsibility, both moving to far-away schools mired in the sticky muck of losing.
Coaching his last game from the USC sidelines was Steve Sarkisian, for the last few years the architect of the Trojans' offense.
Not far away, up in the stands, was DeWayne Walker, for the last few years the defensive guru at UCLA.
As we turn the page on another season, Sarkisian now moves north to Washington, where he was recently named head coach, inheriting what has been one of the worst college teams of the last several years.
Walker, meantime, heads east, to New Mexico State, where this week he, too, was named head coach, inheriting what has been one of the worst college teams of the last several decades.
These two face long odds, and I'm sad to see them go. I know both to have keen football minds, sharp instincts, firm guts, and the determination to stick with their vision despite the critics. Both have the intangibles needed to be a great head coach.
In what was tantamount to a pair of exit interviews, the day following USC's 38-24 suffocation of Penn State, I spoke separately with Sarkisian and Walker about what went coursing through their minds during the 95th version of the Rose Bowl.
"This was a special game, maybe the best in all my time here," said Sarkisian, driving home from the team hotel. All year, he said, his young and inexperienced squad had struggled to rein in its immense talent and play with discipline and consistency.
But the USC offensive coordinator said that during December preparations he felt a growing, steadying sense of maturity from his players, none more than from quarterback Mark Sanchez, whose season-long string of erratic performances ended on the highest of notes. Sanchez conducted the Trojans like Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic.
"Mark was just electric, not only his performance throwing the ball but his mentality... This football team just fed off that."
It didn't hurt that Penn State, statistically among the nation's stoutest defenses, had a secondary with all the zest and creativity of stale margarine.
What did Sarkisian see from studying them?
"That there were big plays that could be made... This was a defense that had not given up yards in chunks all year. We needed to do that, we thought we could... Fifteen-yard gains, 20, 25 yards... and we did it."
Did it, indeed. Sarkisian recounted a cascade of great plays. He stopped for a while to lament a missed opportunity: a rare Sanchez mistake, the quarterback failing to spot a wide-open Damian Williams for what looked to be another touchdown. Instead, the Trojans got a field goal. Sarkisian laughed at how, on the sidelines, the first thing he and Sanchez spoke of after the game was that one error.
Sarkisian said he left the field with his heart heavy and his mind spinning through Trojans highlights at the Rose Bowl: Carson Palmer's last game against UCLA; Mike Williams' catches against Michigan; Penn State crumbling.
He recalled looking at this year's team, this game's stars -- Sanchez, Stafon Johnson and Co., some of whom struggled mightily early on at USC. He remembered thinking of what he'd learned from them: the beauty of patience, the importance of letting young athletes find their way.
Now Sarkisian moves to Washington, winless this season. Huskies fans, as rabid as they come, expect a miracle turnaround and pray for the second coming of Don James. In all the losing, patience is one thing they've lost.
"I've turned down jobs because I didn't feel they were right," he noted. "This one, I wouldn't have taken it if I didn't think we could turn it around... and we will."
"It was a sentimental game," said DeWayne Walker, who watched the Rose Bowl with his wife, sitting just behind the Trojans' sideline.
This makes perfect sense. Walker attended high school in Pasadena, played football at Pasadena Community College, and coached many fine games at the Rose Bowl for the Bruins, the most exhilarating of which was the 2006 Bruins upset of the Trojans, which took place on his birthday.
Aside from that upset and others, Walker said he thought deeply about Pete Carroll during Thursday's game. Walker served as assistant head coach during Carroll's opening foray with the Trojans, a year spent trying to turn the tables after a spate of lost Trojans seasons.
"I'm at the game and I'm just going back in my mind farther than this game," he said. "I'm thinking to how Pete started it. How he just came in and changed a culture. How he just changed a mind-set. How he had a vision and got everyone to see it."
Walker says he is convinced he can do much the same, even at New Mexico State, which has not been to a bowl game since 1960.
(In the overall scheme of things, it's a sliver-thin sign of progress that UCLA's former defensive coordinator landed a head coaching job at a major college -- making him part of a group of seven black head coaches out of 119 total following recent hires -- but I do wish Walker had landed at a school that didn't require an absolute miracle. Now, however, is a time for brighter thoughts.)
"You know, I'm feeling just great about this new job and our time here," Walker said. "I said to my wife after the game, 'This may be the last time we step foot in that great stadium.' It was a great place to coach, a real pleasure... we won't forget."
Copyright 2009 Los Angeles Times
A look at what NMSU football team should hope for in 2009
The New Year is upon us and a new coach will soon be in place for the New Mexico State football team.
As 2009 approaches, here's a look from my perspective at what the program needs as the calendar turns.
10. Extermination of all ghosts of Aggie football past: It seems as if anytime the Aggies get some infusion of hope in their program, a gift bag of injuries, bad luck and bad play is delivered straight to their doorstep. Maybe the team should invest in a witch doctor or find a doctor somewhere with a secret potion that will kill all the old ghosts.
9. An investment in the program that will give the new coaching staff hope: The Aggies need to go all the way in terms of giving the program everything it needs in terms of funding. If NMSU won't make this happen, then I don't care who the coach is, the Aggies will always be a never-was and never-will be program.
8. Keep Joe Lee Dunn: The Aggies need to keep the venerable defensive coordinator, whose knowledge of the that side of the ball is among the best.
7. Find a consistent running game: This is a must if the team to have a chance at success. One of my biggest complaints of Hal Mumme's Air Raid offense was that it neglected the running game way too often. I like it when a team can keep it close and then finish off a team with a good running attack. I still like the back who can rush for 180 yards on 30 to 40 carries.
6. Get more depth and pure ferocity on defense: The Aggies always seem to lack depth on defense and also seem to lack enough players who want to go and hit people. Good teams have defensive players willing to put their lives on the line to stop the other team and get the ball back for the offense.
5. Some luck: While I am no defender of Mumme in many respects, I did sympathize at times with some of the injuries he faced. The Aggies were ravaged at times with key losses. Maybe with a little luck, the Aggies would have won a few more games with a few of those players.
4. Another Chris Williams: Losing the wide receiver from Rio Rancho will hurt the Aggies. When Williams was healthy, he was fun to watch and an absolute playmaker. He often had to face double and triple teams and still found it in him to earn All-Conference and All-American honors in his time as an Aggie.
3. Find a replacement for Chase Holbrook: The Aggies will need to work hard in the offseason to either find someone already on the team or identify a recruit who can come in and replace the three-year starting quarterback Holbrook.
2. Get the community behind the program: Fans in Las Cruces seem to be interested in two games all season: The rival games with New Mexico and Texas-El Paso. College football is one of the most exciting sporting events on a week-to-week basis bar none. There are great upsets, great rivalries and big-name players. Fans should want to be part of that every week in Las Cruces.
1. The new coach must be a winner, a friendly representative of the university and must have an outlook that will make the Aggies a proven commodity: New Mexico State hasn't made it to a bowl since 1960. I have to figure that must end at some point.
(c)Copyright 2008 Media News group
Utah QB Brian Johnson relishes 12-0 year, Sugar Bowl berth
Like he has so many other times, Brian Johnson was trying to make a play.
It was fourth down in a late-season game against New Mexico in 2005. Johnson, in his first season as Utah's starting quarterback after spending a year as an understudy to Alex Smith, was scrambling, trying to find a way to get the first down. As he tried to make a cut, a defender hit his leg and Johnson knew something was wrong.
The torn ACL ended his 2005 season. As it turned out, the injury also cost him all of 2006.
"It was very frustrating," Johnson said. "I'm a competitor and I want to be out there. But I think it was not only in my best interest but also in the team's best interest not to force my way back."
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Johnson said he was "probably about 85 percent" when he returned for fall practices in 2006 and possibly could have played through the season with pain, but he and his coaches took the opportunity to look ahead to the possibilities of the future.
"Look what you have coming back your senior year," Johnson recalls thinking. "It's kind of set up to be everything we thought it could be, so it's all working out for the best."
Because Johnson chose to take a medical redshirt season in 2006, he still had a year of eligibility remaining when a strong senior class returned to Salt Lake City for the 2008 season. Thanks to that foresight, Johnson was still around to lead that class to a 12-0 record and No. 7 national ranking this season. He'll end his college career in the Sugar Bowl against fourth-ranked Alabama on Jan. 2.
Johnson is a big reason the Utes have gotten this far. He's completed 241 of 353 passes for 2,636 yards, 24 touchdowns and 9 interceptions, completing 68.3 percent of his passes.
Under his guidance, the Utes are averaging more than 405 yards and 37 points per game.
"He is our team leader. There's no question about that," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said of Johnson. "He sets the pace. Everybody feeds off of him. He's done a tremendous job in a leadership role this year. Really, a fifth-year senior at quarterback is a huge luxury for a football team, and particularly when he's got leadership skills and capabilities like our guy has."
Despite throwing for 2,900 yards and rushing for 540 more during his senior year at Robert E. Lee High in Baytown, Texas, Johnson was not highly recruited. He had started only one season at Lee after waiting his turn behind Drew Tate, who went on to play at Iowa.
Johnson accepted one of the few Division I offers he received - an offer from a University of Utah assistant coach named Dan Mullen, now the offensive coordinator at Florida and newly hired head coach at Mississippi State.
When he got to Utah, Johnson found an offense very similar to the one he ran in high school and a role model in Smith, who went on to become the top pick of the 2005 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers.
"I think the biggest thing I learned from Alex was what it takes to prepare for a game, the time and sacrifice it takes to be successful," Johnson said. "I take pride in the way I prepare for a game. If you want to be successful, it's something you really have to do. At the end of the day, that's what separates you."
Johnson will have plenty to study before he and the Utes take on the Tide at the Superdome. Alabama enters the game with the third-ranked defense in the country in terms of yardage allowed (256.9 per game).
"They have very good personnel and they do a nice job with schemes, trying to confuse people," Johnson said of the Tide. "They do a good job of disguising fronts. You've got to do a great job of staying patient, try to get a bead on their coverage and make a good read."
Johnson has the advantage of running a spread-option offense similar to the one Florida used to hand Alabama its only loss of the season - a 31-20 setback at the SEC championship game on Dec. 6. Florida coach Urban Meyer installed the offense during his tenure as head coach of the Utes, and Whittingham, who had been Meyer's offensive coordinator, has kept it intact, adding a few pro-set wrinkles.
"In basic philosophy as far as spreading people out and the option-game element and things of that nature, we are very similar to Florida," Whittingham said. "But (Florida quarterback Tim) Tebow, he's a very, very viable ball-carrier. Brian is more of a passer first."
Johnson and the Utes are taking full advantage of their ties to Meyer and Mullen, who will coach in the BCS championship game on Jan. 8 before moving to Starkville full-time, looking for tips on how to attack the Alabama defense. "I talked to coach Mullen a couple of days ago," Johnson said. "Obviously, he's been very busy, but I'm sure we'll talk a little bit more."
Johnson hopes it'll all result in a happy ending to this extra chapter in the story that is his collegiate career, more evidence that the decision he made back in 2006 was the right one.
"I think everything we've worked for is finally coming to fruition for us," he said. "It's just a matter of remembering what got us to this point."
(c) 2008 Alabama Live LLC
Fix college football system? Yes, we can
President Bush used the bully pulpit to shine a spotlight on steroid use in baseball. Not to be outdone, Barack Obama has his eyes on reforming sports, too.
He wants to eliminate college football's flawed BCS system, which is designed to choose the best college team in the land.
Yes, we can.
Sure, there are more pressing matters in the world that we could be discussing. But if no less of a man than President-elect Obama thinks the BCS system is worthy of a good, robust debate, who are we to disagree?
For those of you who spend your autumn Saturdays doing something more productive than watching college football, BCS stands for Bowl Championship Series. It's a matrix of polls and computer ratings that eventually picks the two teams that play for the national championship.
But a decade into the BCS, controversy still simmers over whether the two best teams are playing for the title. Schools with perfect records, such as Utah this year, and those with as many wins and losses as those teams in the title game are often left at home to watch the big game on TV.
Twice in recent weeks, Obama has said he favors creating a playoff system where eight teams would play over three rounds to crown a national champion. "It would add three extra weeks to the season," he said in an interview. "You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do."
The NCAA has been fighting such a playoff and, really, this is their decision to make, regard- less of Obama's weight-throw- ing. But we think the answer is the much simpler "plus 1" system. Allow the No. 1-seeded BCS team to play the No. 4-seeded team, and the No. 2 to play the No. 3 in a pair of bowl games. The two winners would play for the national championship.
The bowl system stays intact, and the host cities continue to make money. And, quite possibly, the NCAA would crown the real champion.
Now, back to discussing the world's other problems.
Copyright 2008 The Denver Post
Navy Midshipmen Battles Army Black Knights in 109th Annual Army-Navy Game
Navy Midshipmen will battle the Army Black Knights in the annual Army-Navy game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Saturday.
The 109th annual matchup between the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, the nation's oldest service academies, has been lopsided over the last couple of years. Navy became the first team in the series to win six straight after last year's 38-3 victory in Baltimore.
The Midshipmen (7-4) are 52-49-7 against Army (3-8), their biggest lead in a series that began in 1890. The two teams will battle for the esteemed Commander-in-Chief trophy, which is awarded to the game's winner.
The game will be the last time that President George W. Bush will be in attendance at the game as a sitting president as President-elect Barack Obama begins to take office.
Navy has the nation's top rushing offense (292 yards per game). Their duo of running backs Shun White and Eric Kettani have rushed for 1680 yards on 258 carries.
Army is ranked ninth in rushing offense and are led by Colin Mooney. Mooney has rushed for 1,285 yards on 214 carries and is closing in on the 1,338 yards rushing set by Mike Mayweather in 1990.
Army began the season on a four-game losing streak and is currently on a three-game losing streak.
Copyright 2008, TransWorldNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Defense unable to hold up offense
TEMPE, Ariz. - The UCLA defense was as dominant as it has been in recent years on Friday night. But even with the stellar defensive performance, the football team was unable to keep its hopes for bowl eligibility alive.
The Bruins allowed only 122 total yards - the lowest since giving up a total of 42 against Arkansas back in the 1989 Cotton Bowl.
The same defense that gave up more than 200 yards rushing five different times this season held the Arizona State running attack in check, giving up only 21 yards on the ground. Aside from stopping the run, UCLA was effective in holding ASU to a 2-of-13 conversion rate in third-down situations.
Yet, it will be the Sun Devil defensive unit who receives all of the recognition for its record-breaking performance.
ASU set defensive school records with the most interceptions returned for touchdowns in one game (three) and the most defensive touchdowns scored in a game (four), which also ties them with Houston for the NCAA record.
"Their defense certainly was the key," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said. "Our inability to keep from turning the ball over, which has been the nemesis throughout the season, bit us again tonight."
UCLA's defense had its best showing of the year on Friday night, building off the 135 total yards it allowed only two weeks prior against Washington.
"I think we're finally starting to click," senior cornerback Michael Norris said. "We're playing in sync, more in sync than we've played all year. We have a lot of confidence."
"We've all been stepping up," junior cornerback Alterraun Verner said. "We just realized that we've got to perform week in, week out. It starts at practice. We've been working hard, going over film, trying to mesh as a team. It came out (Friday night)."
The Bruins have been steadily improving since giving up a season-worst 323 rushing yards against Oregon. Since then, they allowed 250 yards on the ground to Stanford, 232 to California, 201 to Oregon State, and just 96 to Washington.
"Our run defense has been getting better and better - that was one thing that was harming us," Verner said. "Now (other teams) can't run the ball and they have to throw (the ball). Everything is coming together."
While the defense is peaking at the right time, the offense suffered a setback by failing to score even a single touchdown.
Going into the game, the Bruins were 3-0 when totaling more yards than their opponent. But even with a 306-122 edge in total yards on Friday, the mistakes on the offensive side of the ball proved to be much too costly to overcome.
Even with the disparity in production, Neuheisel does not sense division amongst the players of the offensive and defensive units.
"I'm thrilled with the way they've responded to it," he said. "I believe that they'll respond in the correct way again even though it is as difficult as it's ever been. ... That's the kind of character we have in this program."
That character was evident with just under a minute left, when freshman running back Derrick Coleman, who unknowingly fumbled during ASU's first defensive touchdown, walked over to apologize to Norris.
"It was one of those things, as a senior, it's your last away game," Norris said. "I wasn't down, but you want to win. (Coleman) was just telling me that they've got my back."
When it was evident that UCLA would be eliminated from bowl contention for the first time since 1999, Verner leaned next to senior defensive tackle Brigham Harwell and whispered in his ear.
"I was playing this game for all the seniors," Verner said. "I'm going to keep working and try to help (Harwell) get a win (on Saturday). And I said, 'We've still got one more to go out and show off against 'SC.' "
(c) 2007 ASUCLA Student Media
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