Triple Option Attack: College Football Review

Music to listen to: MakeMeBetter by Little People

Things I learned from this past week of college football:

 

-Nick Saban is going to mentally pay Johnny Manziel to go pro: Let’s see…Johnny Football has dominated Alabama’s highly regarded for two games in a row and had 562 total yards (look at that again 532 total yards) on Saturday before the Aggies fell 49-42. If you’re reading this post I don’t have to rehash the entire offseason of drama for Manziel but it was one of the most impressive performances from a player on a losing team in a long time. The last time I saw a performance like that was Michael Vick as a redshirt freshman against Florida State in the national title game years ago.

 

-Manziel is going to not only be a pro player, he’ll start for multiple years: With the proliferation of the internet and unprecedented television viewing access in 2013, most college football fans have become junior Mel Kipers or Mike Mayocks when evaluating the skills of a player. When evaluating a player such as Manziel, we factor in his professional skill sets of how he will be when determining how good of a college player he is, especially with quarterbacks. Tim Tebow was the first of the modern generation to become the polarizing figure and Manziel has taken the mantle.

 

Manziel will have one of the best two-year runs ever for a college quarterback and he’ll have his moment in the NFL. We just saw Chad Henne, Geno Smith, Christian Ponder, Terrelle Pryon and Jake Locker start NFL games this past Sunday. I’d take Manziel over all of them.

 

-Mike Evans needs to give Manziel a cut of this first-round draft pick money when the time is right.

 

-I’m still sticking with my thought that Ole Miss will beat either Alabama, LSU or Texas A&M this year.

 

-The “Mack Brown should be fired” talk should have happened years ago. When you win only two Big 12 conference titles in 12 years and you’re Texas, that’s unacceptable. Critics like to mock Bob Stoops and his bowl record, which is another debate for another day, but at least Big Game Bob GETS to the game.

 

After giving up 550 yards rushing to BYU two weeks ago, Brown fires Manny Diaz as defensive coordinator and replaces him with Greg Robinson who was a failure at TWO institutes (Michigan and Syracuse) and was previously the television announcer for the Longhorn Network. Against Ole Miss this past week, the Longhorns only gave up 272 yards rushing but still lost at home 44-23. When you’re outscored at home 27-0 in the second half against a slightly above-average SEC team (and that’s being generous), the players have quit on the coach…and we’re not even into Big 12 play yet.

 

-Dan Mullen is fine but you HAVE to win the Auburn game. Mississippi State is currently 1-2 and still has Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M and a suddenly upstart Ole Miss on its schedule. That means the Bulldogs can’t afford to lose games like Auburn, Arkansas, Kentucky and such. That wasn’t a good look for the Bulldogs but the stories of them getting rid of Mullen are unfounded. He’s the best coach that the Bulldogs have EVER had and yes, I’m aware that Jackie Sherrill and his baseball cap walked the sidelines of Starkville.

 

-AJ Derby was the leading passer for Arkansas in its win over Southern Mississippi last Saturday. He finished the game 4-for-6 and with 36 yards passing. Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson would have that in one drive under the Bobby Petrino-era. How times have changed in Fayetteville.

 

-Connor Shaw should NEVER have more rushing attempts than Mike Davis. I said after South Carolina’s season opener against North Carolina that if the Gamecocks insist on using an offensive plan where Shaw runs the ball more than 10 times in a game, he’s not going to last the season. The reason that Vanderbilt was able to make the game slightly interesting against South Carolina on Saturday was the lack of a running game from the Gamecocks and that’s the team’s game planning fault. You can get away with that against the Commodores but not against top teams.

 

My Top-10:

 

1) Alabama

2) Oregon

3) Clemson

4) Ohio State

5) Stanford

6) Texas A&M

7) Florida State

8) LSU

9) Georgia

10) Louisville

 

Just missed: UCLA, South Carolina, Miami, Oklahoma State and Northwestern

 

-It’s time for Jerry Kill to retire. He’s a solid coach and trying to rebuild the Minnesota program but seizures and epilepsy are scary issues and go beyond football. Coaching a major college program in stressful situations can’t help his health and its naive to believe that he can continue to survive these attacks without a major catastrophe happening and we all know what that is.

 

-Bo Pelini, the two things you can’t alienate as a football coach are the fan base and alumni, especially former players. You accomplished both in one week. Furthermore, consistent eight and nine-win seasons would be outstanding at most programs but Nebraska is a different breed. They’ve fired coaches who’ve accomplished more and been with the program longer.

 

-I don’t care how it’s spun by the national media. Notre Dame is barely a top-25 team. Like the defense but the offense doesn’t inspire any hope for a double-digit win season.

 

-I see your four touchdown passes Vad Lee for Georgia Tech against Duke.

 

-Which Florida team is worse? South Florida just lost badly to Florida Atlantic and were humbled by McNeese State. Florida International got defeated by Bethune-Cookman 34-13.

 

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?