Cajuns putting finishing touches on 2009 class
With college football's recruiting season entering the final stretch, UL appears to be on the verge of completing its 2009 signing class.
The Cajuns, expected to have 15 available scholarships for next season, had secured 10 public commitments coming into this weekend.
NCAA rules prohibit college coaches from commenting about unsigned recruits. But UL coach Rickey Bustle says the Cajuns are putting the finishing touches on their recruiting class in the next few weeks leading up to National Signing Day, which is Feb. 4.
"The chess pieces are moving," Bustle said of the Cajuns, who finished second last season in the Sun Belt Conference and narrowly missed out on a bowl bid. "We have several recruiting weekends all the way until recruiting is over.
"Kids will be making decisions over the next few weeks."
With a small departing senior class, UL's recruiting numbers will be down this season. Bustle has said for the past few months that the Cajuns will have 15 scholarships to sign recruits this year - 10 fewer than NCAA FBS teams are allowed each year.
One or two additional scholarships might become available depending on other roster moves in the spring.
"They are all good players (we're recruiting), so I wish we had more scholarships," said Bustle, who signed 23 prospects last February. "But on the other hand I'm glad we've got a lot of kids coming back."
Included among UL's 10 public commitments are two junior college wide receivers - Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College's Andrew "Rico" Joseph and Hinds (Miss.) Community College's Vernon Wolfe. Both signed national letters of intent in mid-December and plan to enroll at UL before spring semester classes begin on Jan. 14.
With Joseph and Wolfe enrolling this semester, both players will be eligible to compete in spring practice. That will give them a chance to see how they will fit into UL's offensive game plan next season after seniors Jason Chery and Derrick Smith exhausted their eligibility in 2008.
Joseph, who has three years of eligibility left, led the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference last season in receiving yards and yards per catch in league action. Wolfe, who has two years of eligibility remaining, topped the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges Athletic Association last season in receptions per game.
"I think both of them are going to help us immediately," Bustle said earlier in the week. "They're both big-play potential guys.
"Obviously being here in the spring is going to be tremendous for them."
oseph is excited about coming to UL.
"I've been lifting and running routes back home (in Florida)," he said. "I'm ready to get on campus and get started."
A familiar name among the current commitments is 2008 signee Melvin White, a defensive back from Brazosport (Texas) High who sat out last season to become academically eligible.
Two Texas recruits - Friendswood High tight end Austin Fitzpatrick and Beaumont Ozen offensive lineman Daniel Lemelle - are among UL's current targets. According to multiple sources close to the program, both players are expected to publicly commit to the Cajuns in the upcoming weeks.
Fitzpatrick, who has 4.62-second speed in the 40-yard dash, also holds offers from Florida Atlantic and New Mexico. Lemelle, rated the nation's 93rd-best offensive guard by Scout.com, took an unofficial visit to UL in December but is still considering Lamar.
With the remaining available scholarships, Bustle said UL is searching for help at defensive tackle, defensive end and safety. The program added two public commitments last week at those positions in Foley (Ala.) High defensive end/linebacker Justin Anderson and Woodlawn High defensive back Winston Burnette.
Anderson - who also had offers from UAB, South Alabama, Northern Illinois and Arkansas State - garnered all-county, all-region and all-state honors as a senior after logging 80 tackles for a Class 6A playoff team. Burnette, also offered by Southern and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, earned second team all-district honors after making 85 tackles this season.
The Cajuns are still looking hard at Josh Johns, an all-state safety from Central High in Baton Rouge. Expected to visit Louisiana Tech this weekend, Johns plans to make an official visit to UL's campus next weekend.
While the Cajuns are basically set on offense, they have offered Mamou High all-state running back Robert Walker. The speedy back recently got a qualifying ACT test score, but Scout.com reports that Walker has also received interest from Tulane, Texas A&M, McNeese State and Southeastern Louisiana.
While Walker would be a nice catch, UL coaches have been impressed with 2008 running back signees Yobes Walker and Draylon Booker. Both Texas natives redshirted as freshman last season.
Copyright (c)2009 The Daily Advertiser
Pirates lose thriller to Kentucky: Late fumble return too much for ECU to overcome
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- East Carolina finally ran out of magic, and a season that began with so much promise ended with so much heartache.
Ventrell Jenkins returned a fumble 56 yards for a decisive late touchdown, and the Pirates, for once, didn't have an answer as Kentucky pulled off a 25-19 come-from-behind win in the 50th AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Friday.
ECU, which received an automatic bid to the bowl by virtue of its first-ever Conference USA championship, finished the season with a 9-5 record after missing an opportunity to reach double-digit victories for the second time in school history.
The Pirates won six times this season by fewer than six points and showed a flare for the dramatic from beginning to end. But their chance for one last comeback ended when their vaunted defense couldn't get the ball back in the final minutes.
ECU, which began the season with wins over eventual Atlantic Coast Conference champion Virginia Tech and Big East powerhouse West Virginia to become the darlings of college football, came up just short against the Wildcats, who play in the high-profile Southeastern Conference.
"I think they showed that physically, athletically and everything else, they belonged on that football field," fourth-year Pirates coach Skip Holtz said.
"I'm just really proud of them. I just hate that it ended the way it did."
With the game tied at 19-19, Jenkins, a 6-foot-2-inch, 285-pound defensive end, scooped up a Norman Whitley fumble, stiff-armed Pirates quarterback Patrick Pinkney in front of ECU's bench and crossed the goal line with 3:02 remaining.
It was the last in a long line of second-half miscues that ultimately cost the Pirates a chance to be fitted for new bowl rings a second straight year.
"As a running back, your job is to hold onto it," said Holtz, the architect of the program's remarkable resurgence over the past four years. "You've got to turn and protect it. That's the No. 1 part of the plan."
The plan appeared to unravel after halftime. The Pirates held a seemingly comfortable 16-3 lead at the break but crumbled under the weight of their own mistakes.
The Wildcats (7-6) silenced the rowdy ECU faithful when David Jones opened the second half with a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Less than 7 minutes later, Kentucky tied the game on a 19-yard Mike Hartline pass to Kyrus Lanxter. The touchdown followed a 36-yard punt by the Pirates' Matt Dodge -- who was kicking from deep within his own end zone after a costly penalty -- and put the momentum squarely on Kentucky's side.
The teams traded fourth-quarter field goals to tie it at 19-19 before Whitley, a sophomore who led ECU with 667 regular-season rushing yards, appeared to simply drop the ball. Jenkins, who was named the game's Most Valuable Player, did the rest.
"It was unbelievable," Jenkins, a senior, said. "I just saw the ball on the ground and scooped it up.
"I just stiff-armed (Pinkney) and high-stepped, and the next thing I knew I was lying on the ground with the rest of my teammates on top of me."
The play came mere moments after Kentucky had a defensive touchdown overturned. Linebacker Micah Johnson returned a Pinkney fumble for an apparent score, but replay officials ruled that Pinkney was down before he lost the ball.
On the kickoff after Jenkins' touchdown, things got worse for the Pirates. Return man J.R. Rogers was ruled to have touched his knee to the ground on the 1-yard line as he fielded the kick, negating a 24-yard return and putting 99 yards between ECU and the end zone.
A quick three-and-out forced another Dodge punt, and the Pirates, who began the season 3-0 and achieved a national ranking as high as No. 14, were all but done. Kentucky sealed it when running back Tony Dixon converted a third-and-4 with 21 seconds left. ECU, out of timeouts and out of chances, could only listen as Wildcats fans chanted, "SEC! SEC!" and the clock ticked away.
"They outplayed us," senior linebacker Pierre Bell said after his final college game. "We still think we're the better team. We just made some key turnovers and mistakes, and it turned out to bite us in the butt."
Holtz said his resilient team never lost faith, even after Jenkins' untimely gift of a touchdown put the Pirates in a hole.
"Nobody hung their head," he said. "They kept competing.
"If anybody realizes in a game that you've got to play 60 minutes, it ought to be us because of how many games we've won in the final minutes this year."
ECU senior tight end Davon Drew caught five passes for a career-high 120 yards, including a thrilling 42-yard reception in the first quarter to set up a field goal for the game's first points.
Facing third-and-8 on his own 49 midway through the period, Pinkney patiently found Drew open in the right flat. Drew, a 6-foot-4-inch, 260-pound NFL prospect, shed a pair of tacklers like layers of winter clothing and rumbled his way to the Kentucky 9 for a 42-yard pickup.
Like his team, he was stopped short.
"We competed," Drew said, "but we didn't get the job done."
NOTES: The announced attendance was 56,125 in a stadium that seats more than 63,000. ... Pinkney completed 18-of-36 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown. ... The Pirates converted just 3-of-15 third-down chances, an Achilles' heel much of the season. ... ECU receiver Darryl Freeney scored a second-quarter touchdown on an 80-yard pass from Pinkney and was named the Pirates' Outstanding Offensive Player. He left the game with a concussion late in the first half, and his condition was unknown after the game.
(c)2009 The Connors Group, Inc
ACC bowl rewind
One final edition of picks at the wire to wrap up the ACC football season.
After this set of picks --- and a promising 3-1 start --- things spiraled on me this week, leading to a 4-6 finish.
The reason it's difficult to forecast bowl games is it's hard to know exactly how each school is approaching matters. Is it serious business or just a week-long trip at the end of the season? Is everyone satisfied with the regular season, or eager to show off in what is essentially a glorified exhibition (albeit one with the possibility of injury)?
That's why it's hard to even assess leagues in the postseason. You can look at the ACC and see the No. 2 team lost to the SEC's No. 6 team, that the nominal No. 3 team fell to what amounted to the Big 12's No. 6 team, and the nominal No. 5 team (though as a division winner, Boston College was a bit better) get bumped by the SEC's No. 7 or No. 8 team.
Oops.
At least North Carolina (which got Pat Whited) and N.C. State (which was reminded Russell Wilson was a vastly better quarterback than his backups when he went down around halftime) have legitimate excuses for their close losses.
The assessment of the ACC should remain the same regardless of either the losing postseason record or actually collecting a victory in a BCS game (as Virginia Tech did against Cincinnati).
This was a league with a lot of solid teams, but no one was either imposing or atrocious. Neither Florida State's rout of mediocre Wisconsin nor Georgia Tech's no-show at the Georgia Dome against Louisiana State changes it in the slightest.
Another thing that didn't change: The reality most of the league is getting better. Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech should all get better next year. Ditto for Duke and N.C. State. North Carolina might get better but not have it reflect in its record. Clemson, as always, is a wild card. I would have included Miami in that group, but who knows how the effects of the Robert Marve saga will linger in Coral Gables.
So that wraps up another enthralling ACC season, an unpredictable journey that led to this bit of predictive work:
Season record: 70-39 (28-20 conference)
Copyright (c)2009 The Washington Times, LLC
Ellerson is in at Army now
The U.S. Military Academy officially hired Cal Poly football coach Rich Ellerson official Friday, and the school administration is working quickly to find a replacement.
As speculated since Monday, Ellerson will leave the Mustangs to take over at Army, where his father, two older brothers and nephew were graduates.
Cal Poly Athletic Director Alison Cone said she began fielding interest for the Mustangs job once news of the potential opening hit this past week and said she has already met with two candidates.
Though she declined to give names, Cone said one current assistant on Ellerson's staff has applied and multiple candidates from major Bowl Championship
Series-level schools have expressed interest. She said she'll continue meeting with candidates over the weekend and into next week to replace Ellerson, who came to San Luis Obispo in 2001 and was the head coach for eight seasons.
"While it's hard for us to lose him, he's brought our program along so far that we're getting interest from unbelievably qualified applicants," Cone said.
"While it's bittersweet, his success has allowed us to attract some great people to the program."
Ellerson has many ties to West Point. His father, Geoffrey, graduated in 1935 and ultimately rose to the rank of colonel; and his older brother John was a three-year letterman on the Army football team and served as team captain in 1962 before later rising to major general. His nephew Geoffrey III is currently serving in Iraq.
Ellerson has said he grew up as a typical "military brat," and the opportunity to coach at Army is one he's long coveted.
Ellerson deferred comment until Tuesday, when he will be introduced in a news conference at the university in West Point, NY.
"Cal Poly has been so good to me and to my family that leaving is very difficult," he said in a news release.
"I could have only left for a job like Army, which is more than a great coaching opportunity. It is as important a coaching job as exists in college football. I will always consider myself part of the Mustang family."
Cone stressed the importance of having a coach in place for the program's recruiting weekends in January. National letter-of-intent signing day for football is Feb. 4.
A quick decision would also ease the minds of the returning players, more than 20 of whom have experience as starters on offense, defense or special teams. Only five of the returners started on offense, but the defense only loses three senior starters and returns nearly intact.
"I think for most of the guys, it's that kind of surprising thing," said linebacker Carlton Gillespie, who'll be a senior next season. "We understand what's going on, but at the same time, you're just not sure how it's going to affect you."
Gillespie said he expects offensive coordinator Ian Shields to accompany Ellerson to Army, and Cone said her understanding was that Ellerson would take much of the current coaching staff as well.
Players wonder whether some semblance of Ellerson's flex defense or option offense will survive the new regime at Cal Poly.
"It's not necessarily so much the philosophy but the fact that the schemes that we ran, in particular on defense, were designed for smaller players," Gillespie said. "It's pretty obvious whenever we step on the field, we're the smallest defense they've ever seen.
"It will be interesting to see what will happen when you do change that defense, which has shown a lot of success with smaller players. We've been successful and whether someone comes in and changes it, will it be successful? We don't know."
Ellerson watched former defensive lineman Chris Gocong break the Football Championship Series record for sacks in 2005 and coached three straight winners of the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the defensive player of the year in the FCS.
Cone said keeping in line with Ellerson's thoughts on recruiting and strategy would play some role in the hiring process.
"I think that's one of the things that you consider," Cone said. "Would I make that a limiting factor in the search? No, but do I think that's one of the factors to consider? Absolutely."
"While I think the schemes that Rich ran were very successful here and will be in the future, there are probably several ways to skin a cat."
Ellerson definitely brought the program to a new level of success since arriving in 2001.
He guided the Mustangs to an 8-3 record this past season, which was his sixth straight winning season, and a third Great West Football Conference title. He also led Cal Poly to only its second NCAA Division I FCS playoff berth and the first home playoff game in program history.
He's led the team to upsets of FBS conference schools UTEP and San Diego State, beating the Aztecs in consecutive meetings in 2006 and 2008. In a late-November matchup, Cal Poly did not trail at Wisconsin and led for most of regulation before falling 36-35 to the Badgers in overtime.
Ellerson had a record of 56-34 at Cal Poly, his second head coaching job in a career that has included stops at Arizona, Southern Utah, Cal State Fullerton and Hawaii - his alma mater - as well as two different teams in the Canadian Football League.
While with the Mustangs, Ellerson has seen the on-campus stadium expanded to hold 11,075 seats.
He watched four players taken in the NFL Draft and expects senior All-American receiver Ramses Barden to make it five next spring.
Ellerson won at least seven games in each of his past six seasons. Before his arrival, the Mustangs had not had a winning season since 1997 and had only three winning seasons since 1990.
"I'm very confident that we'll get a successful and good coach in the position," Cone said. "I can tell you already about the quality of the people that are interested. It's easy to hire a great coach when you have great applicants. And that's one of the things that Rich has done, showing the potential of Cal Poly football."
sanluisobispo.com
Success against Wisconsin begins with stopping the run
In between a season that fell short of ACC championship aspirations and an another important offseason on the recruiting trail, there is a Champs Sports Bowl game for the Florida State football team to play.
That means facing a challenging Wisconsin team that is drawing comparisons by FSU players and coaches to a Boston College team that physically manhandled the Seminoles in a 27-17 defeat in mid-November.
The Badgers running game that led the Big Ten with 212 yards per game ranks foremost among those challenges.
"They're one of those teams you're always concerned about - can you get the ball back?" FSU coach Bobby Bowden said. "They are a big, strong, north-south running football team. And they are kind of like Boston College. I think the big concern is can you get the ball away from them. They'll take the stinking ball and eat up the clock."
Georgia Tech ran against FSU but did so out of the option. Boston College finished with 176 rushing yards and Florida, with three players over 80 yards each, rushed for 317 yards.
But FSU cornerback Patrick Robinson and linebacker Toddrick Verdell said this Wisconsin team, from what they've seen on film, pounds the ball more than any they've faced.
That puts a premium on tackling - a big part of FSU's focus during practices in Tallahassee that ended on Friday.
"Arm tackles are not going to take this guy down," linebacker Dekoda Watson said of leading Wisconsin rusher P.J. Hill. "They are just like old school football team. They are going to power and I bet you they are going to come the first couple of plays... try to run us down and see what we got."
The Seminoles begin final preparation for Wisconsin, 7-5 after ranking No. 8 early in the season, this afternoon in Orlando. Top on the defense's to-do list is stopping, Hill a junior who joined Ron Dayne as the only Badgers to rush for 1,000 yards in each of their first three seasons. Listed at 5-foot-11 and 236 pounds, Hill has rushed for 3,828 yards in three seasons.
To put that in perspective, before FSU's renewed emphasis on the running game this season, the Seminoles had 4,136 combined rushing yards as a team in the previous three seasons.
"They've got a very talented and very big back," Verdell said. "Their smallest back is like 230 pounds so we've been practicing on being aggressive."
In addition to Hill, Wisconsin also will turn to freshman John Clay aplenty. Clay, named the team's top rookie, added 845 yards rushing and finished the regular season with nine rushing touchdowns to Hill's 13.
Clearing the way for Hill and Clay is 260-pound fullback Chris Pressley and a starting offensive line that according to the official roster averages 318 pounds. All five starting linemen weigh more than 300 pounds and three are seniors.
"Their linemen's focus is on running the ball and playing smash-mouth football," Robinson said.
Bowden had that line partly in mind last week when he said: "They are a very good, tough, aggressive, physical football team."
The Badgers aren't just about the ground game. Starting quarterback Dustin Sherer's favorite target is All-Big Ten first-team tight end Garrett Graham who caught 37 passes for 478 yards and five touchdowns. That's not good news for an FSU defense that struggled again this year in defending the tight end. Graham led Big Ten tight ends with 4.2 catches a game and 52.5 receiving yards per outing.
"I've talked about it with (FSU defensive coaches), about that tight end slipping out in that opposite flat," Bowden said. "Somebody has got to stay home."
Copyright (c)2008 Tallahassee Democrat.
UA fans still live in the past
I pulled for the Gators during the SEC Championship Game. Why? I am sick to death of obnoxious Alabama fans constantly rubbing their previous titles in the faces of all other fans.
These titles were achieved during the domination of one of America's greatest coaches and also during a time when scholarships were passed out like candy at Halloween. All but one of these championships came more than 30 years ago when everything was different including the rules, athletic ability and even the members of the SEC.
i am glad to know that this January, I will not have to hear about Alabama's 13th national title. Michael White, -- Calera --
Bama returns to the elite:
Hey, Ray Melick, your column Sunday after the SEC Championship Game was baloney. The really only good news about that Saturday afternoon is not how the Tide players showed class in defeat, but rather how they got the chance to play for an SEC championship and an invitation to the Big Dance. Elite football teams play every season for a chance to play for the championship rings. This year Alabama rejoined that circle of elite teams. Alabama fans can celebrate because they have moved beyond being mediocre.
Having goals such as winning the SEC West and beating Alabama do not cut it for an elite football team. Unfortunately, Auburn does not understand that reality. Pity. Arthur Steckel, -- Crestline --
Tacky act at Toomer's Corner:
Just in case the most pathetic act of the entire college football season goes unnoticed, Toomer's Corner was rolled after the SEC Championship Game. Not because Auburn won (it didn't even play, nor will it until the 2009 season kicks off), but because Alabama lost to Florida in the SEC Championship Game.
Never has the Auburn fan base's inferiority complex been more glaring, or more pitiable. It's one thing to root against your archrival every chance you get, but it's quite another to attempt to extend your season by vicariously living through Alabama's.
Now I know that it only takes a few overzealous teenagers to roll Toomer's Corner, but after the number of Gator chomps I witnessed over the weekend, I'd assume that it is safe to say that the majority of AU fans have nestled back into their little-bother niche where their own inadequacies are buoyed, even atoned for, by an Alabama loss.
And don't go telling me that Toomer's was rolled because of the AU men's basketball victory. That would be a lie not even Jay Jacobs could tell. Robert Douglas, -- Birmingham --
Danielson overhypes Tebow:
It's ridiculous that CBS has an announcer like Gary Danielson. You could tell during the SEC Championship Game that he has a man crush on Tim Tebow. All he did all game was brag on Tebow. Even with Tebow's pedestrian numbers, Danielson sounded as if he was drooling every time he said Tebow's name, which was just about every time he spoke.
I hope CBS will use someone else next year. Then Danielson will have some spare time to just sit around and dream about Tebow. Homer Haynes, -- Sylacauga --
Insult to Prattville:
A "Best of the Super 6" item last Sunday about "Best turnout" said Prattville had a great turnout and that many friends and family members came to support their team and city because they must be "too cash poor" to buy SEC Championship Game tickets. That comment is a slap in the face.
These people are proud of their team and the accomplishments they have made over the past three years.
(c) 2008 Alabama Live LLC
It's almost a semifinal Saturday
Reporting from Atlanta -- It's a shame Texas couldn't be in the Big 12 North or this year's Missouri couldn't be last year's Missouri.
Otherwise, what we'd have today in college football is, dare we say... a playoff (and it's still pretty close to one).
It wouldn't be the eight-team format Barack Obama may have to amend the Constitution to get implemented, and it would exclude USC (sorry) and Utah ("U" deserved better). But it could have looked remarkably like the seeded "plus-one" model Bowl Championship Series commissioners rejected at spring meetings in Hollywood, Fla.
Imagine a national semifinal game between BCS No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Florida in the Southeastern Conference title game.
You don't have to imagine it, that's the game being played Saturday at the Georgia Dome.
And if Texas was 11-1 and in the North Division, the No. 3 Longhorns would be playing No. 2 Oklahoma for the Big 12 title and a berth in the Jan. 8 championship game.
But Texas is not so geographically aligned, and Missouri (9-3) is not the Missouri that entered last year's Big 12 finals needing only to defeat Oklahoma to earn a title-game berth.
What we have today is what we have, which is pretty good -- call it a three-out-ofFinal Four:
Alabama (12-0) vs. Florida (11-1) is bigger than an elephant's ear.
Two SEC schools, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the Associated Press media poll, are playing each other for a 99%-certain berth in the national title game.
It marks the 40th matchup of 1-2 in the AP poll and the first time it has happened in a conference title game.
Wouldn't you like to see the BCS screw it up like this every year?
The players involved are top-of-the-linebacker and the style contrast could not be more intriguing: Florida's speed against the girth of blue-collar Alabama -- Crimson Tide defensive lineman/forklift Terrence Cody's nickname should be "The Human Eclipse."
Except Alabama, as a team, isn't exactly carrying a piano on its back.
Toss in that the game is being played on spring-loaded artificial turf and what we see may look like the Olympic trials.
"That's going to be a fast track," Florida Coach Urban Meyer said this week, "but the team we're playing is going to be fast as well."
Florida is championed by junior quarterback Tim Tebow, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, who stood up after the Gators' lone loss against Mississippi and said you would never see a player play harder than he was going to play the rest of the year.
He has since led Florida to eight straight wins, crushing opponents by an average of 28 points, Tebow playing so inspirationally he is back on a very short list of Heisman candidates.
The post-Mississippi speech was lifted right out of a movie, with Tebow promising only maximum effort, not victories.
Tebow stayed in the locker room for an hour just to make sure his carefully crafted words struck the right tone.
"I didn't want to make any brash statements or anything just on emotion," he said.
Florida vs. Alabama also features Meyer and Nick Saban, coaches of impeccable quality. Both have already won national titles and both may eat nails for breakfast.
Even though Alabama is undefeated and No. 1, oddsmakers have listed Crimson Tide as 10-point underdogs against Florida, which resides three floors down in the BCS standings.
Oklahoma (11-1) vs. Missouri (9-3) in Kansas City is the bookend national semifinal -- at least for Oklahoma.
The caveat is that the other deserving participant, Texas, is watching from Austin, a casualty of a tiebreaker rule that had nothing to do with the BCS and everything to do with the Big 12.
Justice in Burnt Orangeville can still prevail, but only if Missouri wins. Note: Missouri hasn't beaten Oklahoma since 1998.
Many will insist Oklahoma, if it wins, lucked its way in to the BCS championship because it lost to Texas, even though Las Vegas says Oklahoma would be favored if the schools played tomorrow.
"I still think that we have to go out there and prove something to everyone and prove to them that we do deserve to be at this game," Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford said. "So I think it felt like it'll give us some extra motivation this week."
An unfortunate, yet interesting, sidebar is that Bradford -- billed "Fantastic Sam" by Oklahoma's publicity machine -- will probably clinch the Heisman Trophy with a strong performance against Missouri.
And he would win it over Texas quarterback Colt McCoy. The BCS standings weren't meant to break a Heisman tie.
There remains open, though, an escape hatch that could prevent a postseason fist fight.
Texas could win the Associated Press national title.
The Longhorns are No. 3 this week behind Alabama and Florida, and could move to No. 2 after the SEC title game.
Texas could then hope that Oklahoma beats the SEC champion in the BCS title game and voters see the merit in offering Texas a piece of the prize.
How could anyone in Norman complain?
USC and Utah would be left behind wondering what might have been; in the BCS there is usually collateral damage.
But the Trojans had their chance at Oregon State, while Utah could make a People's Choice case if it could beat Florida or Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
If Utah can't pull that off, as Hawaii couldn't against Georgia in last year's Sugar Bowl, then what was all shouting about?
Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times
|
