Ed's Sports Corner

College Basketball - Get Ready for a Phenomenal March Madness Run This Year

2008-02-13T10:41:00.002-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

They do not pay Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar the big bucks because he is stupid. Romar made another in a long line of smart decisions Friday (2-8-08)—he took the blame for his team's 4-game losing streak.

Romar has praised his players all season long because they have been willing to do whatever he asks. He has now shouldered the blame because what he was asking of them did not work.

He was rewarded two days later when his Huskies played their best game of the year, upsetting No. 5 UCLA at home 71-61 before a sellout crowd at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Romar, tired of losing, pulled starting guard Venoy Overton just 57 seconds after the opening tipoff. Overton, a true freshman with outstanding potential, opened the game with a turnover, but then did not hustle back on defense. In came junior guard Justin Dentmon and responded with 20 points off the bench on 7-of-12 shooting, and the Huskies were off and running.

Jon Brockman grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds (including his 800th career rebound) and added 12 points for his Pac-10 leading 16th double-double of the season. Ryan "Dead Eye" Appleby added another dozen points and sank his 200th career 3-pointer, 12 short of the U-Dub record.

Washington even played some defense as Artem Wallace held UCLA freshman center Kevin Love to 13 points, and true freshman Justin Holiday put the "D" on UCLA's Josh Shipp when he was mounting a comeback for the Bruins.

Even UCLA coach Ben Howland was impressed. "They were more physical," said Howland. "They outrebounded us by 8. Brockman had 9 offensive rebounds alone."

The Huskies, now 13-11 overall and 4-7 in Pac-10 Conference play, must play 5 of their remaining 7 games on the road. Washington still is probably going to be watching the NCAA and NIT playoffs on television, but they showed Sunday just how great parity is in the Pac-10 and around the country by being ranked No. 82 by Sagarin and upending No. 5-ranked UCLA.

Despite its lackluster record, Washington did jump to No. 74 in Sagarin's Ratings by beating such a high-ranked team. The Sagarin Ratings change daily during the basketball season because, unlike football, games are played during the week as well as the weekend.

As of Sunday (2-10-08), No. 2 Memphis remains the only unbeaten team in the country (23-0) among 341 Division 1 teams. There were only 3 teams left with a single loss—No. 1 Duke (21-1), No. 3 Kansas (22-1) and No. 13 Drake (20-1).

Heck, there are just 3 more teams left with only 2 losses—No. 4 North Carolina (22-2), No. 6 Tennessee (20-2) and No. 25 Butler (21-2).

Here is another interesting fact to note: Three of these top 7 best-record teams have poor strength of schedule standings—Memphis (124th toughest), Drake (105th) and Butler (88th). Unless they start playing tougher teams, they are not going to go deep into the NCAA tournament.

Compare their strength of schedule to Duke (21st toughest), Kansas (60th), North Carolina (18th) and Tennessee (10th).

To highlight the competitiveness of the Pac-10 this year, the Washington Huskies, who are 9th in the Pac-10 standings with a 4-7 mark, are ranked 25th by Sagarin in strength of schedule. And you have to ask how Washington could upset such a good team as UCLA? Be thankful your team is not playing in the Pac-10 Conference this year.

All of this bodes really well for the networks who will televise March Madness, and for any team that makes the cut to play in the NCAA tournament. Because upsets happen even when there is little parity among teams, when there is a lot of parity like this year, we are going to see some shockers.

Editor's Note: Read my other articles on the Washington Huskies, including "Lorenzo Romar's Washington Husky Recruits Are Among Top 15 Classes", "Huskies Earn Spot in NIT Season Tip-Off Semis, Head to the Big Apple", "How Can Losing Still Be a Positive? When You Are Playing Good Teams" and "We Love Our Dawgs with Bite, Not Our Dogs With Bark".

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 145 Movie Reviews, 112 Sports Articles, 61 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (406 total articles) plus 685 Famous Quotes.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 80,000+ authors and 972,000+ articles.

College Football: Brian White, former National Assistant Coach of the Year, Joins Husky Staff

2008-02-11T16:49:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Slowly, hopefully inexorably, the misguided loyalty on the University of Washington football staff is getting a facelift and some actual competence.

The defensive disaster that has permeated the U-Dub campus could actually improve next season with the recent addition of defensive coordinator Ed Donatell and now former offensive coordinator Brian White.

White was the latest addition to Ty Willingham's Husky staff. The powers to be lit a fire under Willingham's backside after last year's season of promise degenerated into an unacceptable string of losses.

The message was short and to the point: you can stay another season but fix the defense, and for God's sake, win more games than you lose before we all forget the great football tradition you inherited. Willingham, whose 3-year coaching record at Washington is 11-25, somewhat reluctantly got the message.

Being a college football coach today is not much fun when you are not winning. Willingham is one loyal person who sincerely believes in the goodness of everyone he hires. Unfortunately, one can go "blind" in this effort to succeed.

In the real world, the lesson that Willingham has to learn is that there is no reward for good. You can be the best person in the world and the best coach in the world, but being good does not mean that you win football games. Think about how many GREAT pro players have no Super Bowl ring.

The reality of life dictates that there can be only two outcomes as a coach at the end of each game: results or excuses.

Just because the CEO of a Fortune 500 company makes more decisions does not mean that he makes better decisions. Loyalty does not translate to the bottom line. This is a really tough lesson for Ty, but if he wants to achieve his potential as a coach, he will learn or be gone.

That is why Ty's slow, methodical, unemotional move to shore up his defense has resulted in the hiring of Ed Donatell as defensive coordinator and Brian White as an assistant coach, perhaps handling tights ends and special teams, or running backs.

Nowhere in Brian White's coaching resume do I see special teams coaching experience, which suggests that he would be better placed as the running backs coach.

White spent 11 years as the running backs coach and offensive coordinator for Barry Alvarez at the University of Wisconsin. During his tenure, White was selected as the Division 1 Assistant Coach of the Year in 2004 by the American Football Coaches Association.

As Wisconsin's running backs coach and offensive coordinator, he helped coach Wisconsin in 9 bowl appearances, including Rose Bowl selections in 1999 and 2000. He mentored 1999 Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne, 2001 NFL first-round draft choice Michael Bennett, and 2001 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Anthony Davis.

White has spent his last 2 years at Syracuse as its offensive coordinator and tight ends coach with little or no success. His lack of accomplishment may have had more to do with Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson, who came to the Orangemen with a terrific record as an NFL defensive coordinator with the New York Jets, Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs.

Since arriving at Syracuse, Robinson has gone 7-28 in 3 years, the worst 3-year record in Syracuse football history. Nonetheless, Syracuse athletic director Daryl Gross is bringing Robinson back for a 4th season.

All you really need to know about Robinson at Syracuse is that he serves as the head coach AND defensive coordinator, a really dumb idea whose time has yet to come. Syracuse is Robinson's first head coaching job and it shows. Big egos like to micromanage everything and everyone; they have not figured out why they have assistant coaches to make them look better.

Gross' judgment may be worse than Robinson's. Some outstanding coordinators are simply not good head coaches; they may lack the talent, temperament, media skills and organizational skills to run an operation without screwing it up.

Brian White did spend 2 years as a graduate assistant for Lou Holtz at Notre Dame, and White was there when the Irish won the 1988 national title with a Fiesta Bowl victory over West Virginia. Two years of experience in ANY capacity with Lou Holtz is worth at least 10 years at Syracuse with the best the current Orangemen have to offer.

While coaching the receivers at Nevada, White helped the Wolf Pack offense lead the nation in total offense (582+ yards per game) and passing offense (401 ypg).

For whatever it is worth, White is also more highly qualified—education-wise—than almost all NCAA football coaches. He has a bachelor's degree from Harvard, a master's degree from Fordham and another master's degree in business administration from Notre Dame.

While there is no direct correlation between education and success as a football coach, White is apparently no stranger to learning and is capable of getting 3 degrees from three academic powerhouses. Let's hope it rubs off on his fellow Husky staff members and players. Until the Huskies can once again win a lot more games than they lose, they (staff and players) need all the help they can get.

Read my other Washington Husky articles, including "Ed Donatell, NFL Veteran, Becomes Defensive Coordinator for Washington", "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi, Knute Rockne and Lou Holtz During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season as well as wrap-up articles on all 32 College Bowl Games.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 80,000+ authors and 972,000+ articles.

College Football - Ed Donatell, NFL Veteran, Becomes Defensive Coordinator for Washington

2008-02-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Washington Husky head coach Ty Willingham has hopefully improved his defense next season by recently hiring Ed Donatell, a veteran NFL defensive coordinator with both the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons.

Washington's inept, pathetic excuse for a defense last year needed to be cleaned up and clicked up about 20 notches.

The Huskies ranked 94th nationally last year in scoring defense (giving up 31+ points per game), 99th in pass defense (261+ yards per game and 27 touchdowns) and pass efficiency defense, and 102nd in total defense. These rankings were among the NCAA's 119 Division 1A teams.

In other words, the Huskies did not have a defense. They lacked speed, talent and experience. I said last year that the Washington defensive secondary could not cover my grandmother on their best day. I was not kidding.

Donatell should be congratulated for being willing to try and clean up this sorry mess. He just might be able to turn it around based on his experience and performance. To wit:

1) As the defensive backs coach for Denver's Mike Shanahan, he helped the Broncos win back-to-back Super Bowls in 1997 and 1998 by taking over a secondary that ranked last in the NFL and led them to a Top 10 ranking for 5 consecutive years.

2) As the defensive coordinator for Green Bay's Mike Sherman for 4 years, Donatell's leadership helped the Packer defense lead the NFL with 144 takeaways, averaging 36 a season, and lead the league with 2.25 forced turnovers per game.

3) As the defensive coordinator for 3 years for Atlanta's Jim Mora (a University of Washington grad and new designated coach of the Seattle Seahawks when Mike Holmgren retires after the 2008 season), Donatell piled up more success.

His 2004 Falcon unit led the NFL by holding its opponents to a league-low 30% on 3rd-down conversions. His Falcons also led the league in sacks for the first time in team history, and in 2005 his defense ranked 3rd in the NFL with only 28 passes allowed of 20-or-more yards. In addition, Atlanta won the club's 3rd division title and advanced to the NFC championship game.

Donatell also had ties to Washington before arriving. In addition to coaching for Jim Mora, he was a graduate assistant for Don James, the legendary Dawgfather and Washington's greatest coach. Donatell also was the defensive backs coach for 3 years at Idaho under former Washington coach Keith Gilbertson.

Donatell said his style of defense will be "based on speed and explosion, high energy, enthusiasm, (an) attacking style." Heck, I already like the guy. So Donatell can not only talk a good game, he can back it up.

I remember another guy named Jim Lambright whose legendary defenses were fast, furious and swarming; he experienced quite a bit of success as well, like a 1991 national championship as a defensive coordinator. The 1991 Huskies were 2nd in the nation in rushing defense (67.1), total defense (237.1), scoring defense (9.2) and turnover margin (+1.73); they led the Pac-10 in virtually every defensive category.

Let us hope that Ty Willingham and Ed Donatell go on to great success next year and in the following years. What Willingham and Donatell will have to do is start winning, and keep winning. When they do, they will have to get in line behind a couple of other guys with really great success records as Huskies—Don James and Jim Lambright.

For the record, Don James won a national title, went to 6 Rose Bowls (4-2 mark), won an Orange Bowl title and went to 15 bowl games (10-5 record) in 18 years.

Oh yeah, James was 153-57-2 (72%), including a then-record 99 wins in Pac-10 conference play, and Washington won 22 consecutive games from 1990 to 1992.

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi, Knute Rockne and Lou Holtz During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season as well as wrap-up articles on all 32 College Bowl Games.'

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 80,000+ authors and 972,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 145 Movie Reviews, 112 Sports Articles, 61 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (406 total articles) plus 685 Famous Quotes.

College Football Recruiting: Look Out SEC - Alabama Rates No. 1 as Nick Saban Prepares to Go to War

2008-02-08T23:06:00.002-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

If you think football in the Southeastern Conference is just a game that generates a ton of money for the schools and the NCAA that regulates it in a highly publicized environment, you do not understand what success is about in the SEC.

SEC games are not battles between teams, they are outright warfare with a fight to the last man standing won by heavy artillery (talent). That is why Wednesday's (2-6-08) first day of signing letters of intent by high school seniors was so significant. According to several analysts, Nick Saban and Alabama ranked No. 1 with the nation's best class of talent.

Among Rivals.com Top 50 prospects, Alabama picked up No. 4 Julio Jones, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound wide receiver from Foley (AL); No. 28 B. J. Scott, a 6-foot, 195-pound wide receiver-super athlete from Vigor (AL); No. 30 Tyler Love, a 6-foot-7, 290-pound offensive lineman from Mountain Brook (AL); No. 34 Jerrell Harris, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound linebacker from Gadsden (AL); and No. 35 Alonzo Lawrence, a 6-foot-1, 190 pound defensive back from George County (MS).

Add to that distinguished list No. 55 Mark Barron, a 6-foot-2, 202-pound athlete from Mobile (AL) and No. 60 Barrett Jones, a 6-foot-5, 271-pound offensive lineman from Memphis (TN), and no school in America had 7 of the Top 60 Rival.com prospects except Alabama.

Southern Cal had 6 in the Top 60, Ohio State had 5 and Notre Dame had 5. Notre Dame's recuiting class was rated No. 2 by Rivals.com, Ohio State's No. 8 and Southern California's No. 10.

Nick Saban, the highest paid college coach at about $4 million a year, earned his pay. Saban was able to sign 7 of the top 11 prospects in Alabama. Auburn did not have a single recruit among Rivals.com Top 100 prospects; the Tigers came up sucking pond water.

Look for Saban and the Crimson Tide to start a concerted march to a higher place as a current Division 1A powerhouse and national title contender. Should the Top 60 picks stay injury free and reach their potential on the college turf, they will most certainly be playing in the NFL on Sundays.

If you are not stoked about Alabama football you need to live in another state.

Three other schools catch my personal attention because I have ties to Washington, Arizona State and Michigan State.

Ty Willingham's Washington Huskies had the highest Rivals.com pick among these 3 teams with No. 57 Kavario Middleton, a 6-foot-6, 250-pound tight end from Lakewood (WA). Middleton was joined by his teammate, Jermaine Kearse, a 6-foot-2, 175 pound wide receiver.

Washington also signed Everrette Thompson, a 6-foot-6, 255-pound defensive end from Burien (WA); Alameda Ta'amu, a 6-foot-4, 330-pound (yes, 330 pounds!) offensive guard from Seattle; Allen Carroll, a 6-foot-3, 290-pound offensive guard from Oakland (CA); Chris Polk, a 5-foot-11, 195-pound running back with 4.5 speed from Redlands (CA); and Jordan Polk, 5-foot-10, 170-pound wide receiver with 4.46 speed from Portland (OR).

Washington's catch is being called the best recruiting class since Reggie Williams and Charles Frederick in 2001.

The Huskies also picked up some speed with linebacker Kurt Mangum (4.59), cornerbacks Adam Long (4.45), Anthony Gobern (4.4) and Justin Glenn (4.5), safety Johri Fogerson (4.55), and running backs Demitrius Bronson (4.5) and David Freeman (4.4). Let me be the first to dub Kurt Magnum as Magnum P.I. (Personal Intimidator) and Demitrius Bronson as Death Wish Bronson.

All of this comes as a surprise as Ty Willingham, unlike Nick Saban, does not have a rep as a recruiter. The fact that redstart freshman quarterback Jake Locker started last year and impressed almost everyone with his agility, speed and savvy probably did not hurt a lick.

Scout.com rated Washington's recruiting class as the 14th best among the NCAA's 119 Division 1A schools. Look for the Huskies to finally win more games than they lose next year. If they do not, Willingham may be looking for another job.

Scout.com rated Dennis Erickson and his Arizona State Sun Devils class as the 17th best nationally. Among Erickson's top prospects was Jack Elway, none other than the son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway.

Jack Elway has his father's arm but apparently not his speed. Nonetheless, he comes from an excellent gene pool. In addition to his dad, his mother Janet was an outstanding college athlete as a swimmer for Stanford University.

Here are two facts you may not know about John Elway. 1) He may have played football at Stanford University but he was born and raised in Port Angeles (WA). 2) He had 47 career game-winning or game-tying drives in the 4th quarter, an NFL record.

Mark Dantonio and his Michigan State Spartans (my alma mater, Class of 1966) did not fare as well as Washington or Arizona State. Other than any local coverage in Michigan and a little among Big Ten teams, the Spartans received zero national attention.

That tells me they ended up with the short end of stick, and that is indeed bad news.
Dantonio knows that Jim Tressel and his Ohio State Buckeyes are only going to get better; Dantonio was the defensive coordinator for Ohio State's undefeated (14-0) national championship team in 2002. Tressel also won 4 Division 1AA national championships at Youngstown State, and his won-loss record as head coach at Ohio State is a stunning 83% (73-15).

If Ohio State is not enough competition for Michigan State, Michigan will cause the Spartans headaches as well since Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia to coach the Wolverines next year.

Michigan has won more games than any other team in college football history, and now along comes Rodriguez, who spent 7 seasons at West Virginia compiling a 60-26 record (69%) with 4 Big East titles.

Rodriguez, 1 of only 2 Hispanic head coaches in Division IA football, went 32-5 (86%) his last 3 years at West Virginia. Rodriguez is great for Michigan; for Michigan State he is two legs and bad news. The Spartans may get the snot kicked out of them by Michigan for the next 5 years.

I am praying that Dantonio can find a couple of nuggets among the scrap heap of players that are left over after all of the good programs have used up their scholarship allotments. The Spartans need talent and speed immediately, they do not have nearly enough at the moment.

The justified enthusiasm among Crimson Tide fans at Alabama does need to be tempered by the knowledge that recruiting is not an exact science. While we know that the sun will come up tomorrow, we do not know how these recruits will play out.

What we do know is that coaching can make average players better; Rich Rodriguez is an example. His recent West Virginia recruiting classes were rated mid-30s to mid-50s yet he led the Mountaineers to 2 BCS bowl wins in the last 3 seasons, and he came within 1 win of playing for last year's national title.

We also know that a position player like a quarterback, who touches the ball on every play, can make a team much better. An example this year was Todd Reesing of Kansas who led the Jayhawks to a 12-1 record and an Orange Bowl victory. Reesing was rated a 2-star to 3-star player by the rating services (5 stars is best) yet he became a 5-star player when given the opportunity to do so.

Since many of these kids will become redshirts (meaning they will not play their freshman year) and become redshirt freshman (like Jake Locker of Washington) when they start playing their sophomore year. It may take all of 5 years to determine who among the many players just signed will become tomorrow's stars and NFL draftees.

In the meantime, I will be praying for Mark Dantonio and my Michigan State Spartans. I view myself as an important intercessor as the Spartans have continued to disappoint in recent years. Wherever they have been I do not want to go.

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi, Knute Rockne and Lou Holtz During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season as well as wrap-up articles on all 32 College Bowl Games.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 80,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 105 Sports Articles, 61 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (394 total articles) plus 656 Famous Quotes.

College Basketball - Love Him or Hate Him, Bobby Knight Was as Much an Educator as a Coach

2008-02-06T23:05:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Count me among those who were saddened by the news that Bobby Knight had stepped down as head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders Monday (2-4-08).

It is unusual if not unheard of for a major college basketball coach to quit during the middle of the season, but perhaps such an occurrence was business as usual for Bobby Knight.

It is doubtful that any major college coach in America was as passionate, as demonstrative and as committed as Bobby Knight was to basketball and his players.

Many pundits would not agree with me when I say that Knight was more interested in doing things right than in winning games, but let me make the case for the Bobby Knight haters.

While no coach in his right mind likes to lose a game, I believe that Knight was at least as interested in how his "kids" played as he was in whether they won or not. If his players applied what they learned from him, played their hearts out, left everything on the court and lost, I think Knight would have been better able to tolerate a loss.

Knight was no stranger to winning. When you win 902 games in a 42-year coaching career, you have little competition. Dean Smith of North Carolina has 879 victories to his credit, Adolph Rupp of Kentucky has 876 and Jim Phelan (Jim who?) of Mount St. Mary's in Maryland has 830. Smith is 76 and retired, Phelan is 78 and retired, and Rupp died 20 years ago.

The next most wins—800—belong to the new first active coach on the list, Eddie Sutton, the 71-year-old coach of San Francisco.

Knight had 102 wins in 6 seasons at Army, where he became coach at 24. He had 662 victories and 3 national championships in 29 seasons at Indiana. He had 138 victories in 7 seasons at Texas Tech. He coached the USA to Olympic team to gold in 1984 at Los Angeles.

It is possible that thousands of basketball followers will now seize the opportunity to torch Bobby Knight for his well-known outbursts over the years. There must be enough licensed Bobby Knight haters to fill the largest Super Bowl venue. I am not one of them.

Knight's son Pat, an assistant on his Texas Tech staff, has replaced him. Pat Knight was named the Red Raiders coach-designate in 2005.

Indiana University kicked Bobby Knight out for "a pattern of unacceptable behavior", but only after his Knight-trained players had won 3 national titles for Indiana and the 1975-1976 club went 32-0, the last Division 1 men's team to finish undefeated (something even the New England Patriots could not accomplish this year).

Bobby Knight's "antics" are well documented for those who want to revel in his shortcomings as a public relations agent.

Less well documented is the fact that in 42 years of coaching he never got into trouble by breaking any NCAA rules and regulations, and trust me when I say that the NCAA rule book rivals the Internal Revenue Service code for picky, annoying crap.

Less well documented is the fact that Bobby Knight's players always had a high graduation rate; Knight made them toe the mark. Show-offs and prima donnas had no place on Knight's teams. Knight was all about playing the game right and teamwork.

Less well documented is the fact that Bobby Knight gave his salary back a few years after he arrived at Texas Tech because he did not think he had earned it.

Some pundits and fans have already said that Bobby Knight was a great coach and a poor role model, and offer John Wooden of UCLA as a great example of a great coach and a great role model. Do I think Wooden was a better role model than Knight? Yes I do.

Wooden's success at Pauley Pavilion has made him the gold standard among America's most successful coaches in basketball and really any sport. Wooden's teams won 10 national championships—7 in-a-row from 1967 through 1973—and from 1971 to 1973 won an unprecedented 88 consecutive games, a record many sports pundits consider unbeakable.

John Wooden is the real deal, and he is also a very big deal. So let's weight in on what he had to say when hearing about Bobby Knight's surprise resignation Monday:

"I guess you can never be surprised at some of the things Bob does," said Wooden. "I don't think there's ever been a better teacher of the game of basketball than Bob. I don't always approve of his methods, but his players for the most part are very loyal to him. I would say that no player that ever played for him would not say he did not come out a stronger person."

Another of the nation's most respected coaches, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who played for Bobby Knight at Army, said this about Knight's departure:

"Outside of my immediate family, no single person has had a greater impact on my life than Coach Knight. I have the ultimate respect for him as a coach and a mentor, but even more so as a dear friend. For more than 40 years, the life lessons I have learned from Coach are immeasurable. Simply put, I love him."

Bobby Knight not only won more games than any other coach in history, he also made his players better people and better able to cope with the challenges of life when they left the university with their degree in hand.

So why am I saddened? Because Bobby Knight he will be more vilified than honored for what he did accomplish both on and off the court.

I say let him who has won 900+ games and never been in violation of the NCAA rules cast the first stones. The rest might consider the side of Bobby Knight that failed to get really positive coverage because his few failings were so dramatic and so public.

Bobby Knight is the kind of person people either like or dislike. I like Bobby Knight and respect him.

I believe his chief failing in some people's eyes is that he likely would have called a butt end by name, whether it was a critical university president, the meddling parent of a player, a disrespectful student or an unhappy janitor. I would do the same; I just would not do it as publicly, and I have not won a single game as a coach.

Editor's Note: Read my 5-Part series on Running: "Wheat Products and Sugar Can Be the 'Kiss of Death' When Trying to Lose Weight – Part 1", "How Lectins (Proteins in Foods) Are Very Negative in O Positive Blood Types – Part 2", Gluten in Wheat Products Bind to the Small Intestine Lining and Turn to Fat – Part 3", "How Popular Running Magazines Are Constantly Giving Very Poor Diet Advice – Part 4" and "There Is an Inescapable Correlation Between Weight and Cardiovascular Efficiency – Part 5".

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 80,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 105 Sports Articles, 61 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (394 total articles) plus 656 Famous Quotes.

About Super Bowl 42 - Here's a Different Slant on the Giants' Upset Win to Become Wrold Champs

2008-02-06T00:02:00.001-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

There is a reason why the winner of the Super Bowl earns the Vince Lombardi Trophy as a symbol of excellence in the football world. Lombardi encouraged his Green Bay Packer players to pursue perfection so they might catch excellence.

As it turns out, Lombardi and his players caught a lot more than 5 National Football League titles and the first 2 Super Bowl titles. They developed a bond among themselves that lasted a lifetime for those who have passed on, and still survives for those who continue the memory of Lombardi's great leadership and their great work ethic.

Perhaps some years from now the New York Giants will experience that same kind of bond that comes with such a great triumph as their conquest of the New England Patriots and the NFL world this year.

There is no way the Giants could have lived and played through the last 5 weeks of their season without becoming "one" with a purpose bigger than the odds they faced.

New York started by traveling to Tampa Bay and defeating the NFL's second-ranked defense on the Buccaneers home turf. Then the Giants traveled to Dallas to upset the Cowboys on their home field, becoming the first team to defeat a No. 1 seed in the NFL playoffs.

New York then played through a wind chill factor of 23 degrees in Green Bay to turn back the Packers and win the National Football Conference championship, earning the right to play the Patriots in Super Bowl 42. After upsetting New England 17-14 they walked away with the Lombardi Trophy and became the first NFC wild-card team to do so.

Perhaps Vince Lombardi said it best: "If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?" Lombardi was a winner and now the Giants are too.

New England, which won Super Bowl 36, Super Bowl 38 and Super Bowl 39, will now be remembered as the team that was the first to go 18-0 and then lose in Super Bowl 42 to the Giants. Coach Bill Belichick's jaws were so wired after the defeat he barely uttered 10 words.

The 1972 Miami Dolphins remain the only undefeated NFL team in its 88-year history with their 17-0 record and Super Bowl 7 victory over the Washington Redskins, 14-7.

Embedded in the hard-drive of my mind 40 years from now (assuming I live to be 103) will be two memories:

1) Eli Manning, seemingly surrounded by Patriot rushers, breaking away like a magician from the grasp of an arm not strong enough to rip off his jersey, coming clear in desperation to heave an arcing pass down the field and a heretofore nobody named David Tyree leaping upward over rivals to catch the ball over his head, falling backward, and hanging on even though he was viciously hit in his arm on the way down by Patriot safety Rodney Harrison in an attempt to knock the ball free.

Tyree's 32-yard catch against all odds on 3rd-and-15 with 1:15 left on New York's game-winning drive has to be one of the greatest catches in the history of championship football at any level. Incredible is a weak description of just how good his catch and hold was. He will likely never have such a great moment if he plays another 15 years in the NFL.

Almost forgotten in all of this is just how close Manning was to being sacked and the Patriots going on to preserve their then 4-point lead and possible victory.

New England's great run to an 18-0 mark now becomes a lot less with their Super Bowl loss to the Giants. It is too bad for the Patriots; the Giants could not be happier.

2) Manning's 13-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Plaxico Burress in the corner of the end zone with 35 seconds left happened because 6-foot-5, 232-pound Plaxico Burress was left isolated one-on-one with 5-foot-9, 195-pound cornerback Ellis Hobbs. Hobbs was at least 2 steps behind Burress and in no position to even contest for the ball, which would probably have been useless anyway with Plaxico's tremendous leaping ability, kind of like 5-foot-9 me going one-on-one against Michael Jordan.

Do not blame Hobbs for the loss. Patriot quarterback Tom Brady, who had the snot beat out of him from taking hits all afternoon by the Giants' much faster defensive rushers, did his usual come-from-behind last minute drive to give New England back the lead, 14-10.

Even linebacker Teddy Bruschi, the heart of the Pats defense, had embraced fellow backer Junior Seau on the sideline after the Pats went ahead and prior to the fateful drive, acknowledging that Seau was about to earn his first, long-awaited Super Bowl ring. Somebody forgot to stop Eli Manning and the Giants during the last 2 minutes of the game.

Burress, who had predicted a Giant victory amid the laughs and derisive remarks of almost everyone, caught the winning TD pass. He is a Michigan State University product just like myself. I could not be happier for Plaxico. It pains me to acknowledge that Plaxico was born 11 years AFTER I graduated from MSU.

Last fall I made up my mind to cover college football in my blog and did not even attempt to cover or comment on the NFL. It has now proved to be an excellent decision. I cannot imagine following the New England Patriots all year, fawning over their perfect record run, and being so let down in the Super Bowl.

All hail to the Giants, well, at least until the first NFL kickoff next season, then it will be go Seattle Seahawks for me. What was the name of that almost perfect team? I seem to have forgotten already.

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Lou Holtz During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season as well as wrap-up articles on all 32 College Bowl Games.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 80,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 105 Sports Articles, 61 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (394 total articles) plus 656 Famous Quotes.

College Basketball - Sagarin Ratings Provide Statistics to Identify Overrated Top 25 Teams

2008-01-20T18:04:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

The most recent weekly college basketball AP Top 25 Poll (1-18-08) and the most recent Sagarin Ratings (1-17-08) provide some clues about which teams are likely overrated.

Sagarin's Ratings give you a bird's-eye view of identifying teams that have played a bunch of weak sisters to build up an impressive, early season won-loss record and now must face the music of playing in league competition.

You can learn a lot by noting the strength of schedule for top-rated teams. My method is to divide the 341 total Division 1 teams in 5 categories (literally, 340 divided by 5 equals 68). This creates a Top 20% (1-68), 2nd Tier (69-136), 3rd Tier (137-204), 4th Tier (205 to 272) and the Bottom 20% (273-340).

The Top 20% is top-flight competition. I think of the next 3 tiers as 2nd string, 3rd string and 4th string competition. The 20% at the bottom I consider bottom dwellers who feed on the crumbs that fall off of the tiers above.

Here are 4 teams in the AP Top 25 Poll that are probably overrated and will prove it in the near future: No. 25 Villanova, No. 16 Vanderbilt, No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 21 Miami (FL). These 4 are given a much higher ranking in the AP Poll than by Sagarin is his ratings.

The most exaggerated example is No. 25-ranked Villanova that is rated 57th by Sagarin. Villanova sports an impressive 12-3 record but its strength of schedule (SOS) is 240. In other words, Villanova earned its record playing 4th-tier (or 4th-string) competition.

Vanderbilt is ranked 16th by the AP and rated 36th by Sagarin. Vandy has a 12-3 record but its SOS is 164 because of playing 3rd-tier (3rd-string) competition.

Texas A&M is ranked 10th by the AP and rated 24th by Sagarin. A&M has a 14-2 mark but its SOS is 290 because of playing among the bottom 20% of competition. Texas A&M, true to my prediction, just got upset by none other than Bob Knight and his Texas Tech Red Raiders, 68-53. The victory was Knight's 900th. Knight is No. 1 on the NCAA Division 1 career wins list.

Texas Tech is rated 80th by Sagarin with a 9-6 record but its SOS is 104 because of playing 2nd-tier (2nd-string) competition. The Red Raiders clearly played much better competition before meeting the Texas A&M Aggies and it showed.

Miami (FL) is ranked 21st by the AP and rated 33rd by Sagarin. Miami has a 13-2 mark but its SOS is 281 because of playing among the bottom 20% of competition. You get the picture.

Here is another outstanding example from the Pac-10 Conference. Oregon is not ranked in the AP Top 25 but is rated 31st by Sagarin with a 12-5 record and its SOS is 24 because of playing top-flight competition.

Washington is not ranked in the Top 25 but is rated 65th by Sagarin with a 10-7 record and its SOS is 50 because of playing top-flight competition. Washington just beat Oregon 78-70 at home. Notice that both teams are rated among the Top 20% of teams and are used to playing top-flight competition.

Here is what will not work 99% of the time. North Carolina A&T is rated 268th by Sagarin with a 2-9 record and an eye-popping SOS of 2. They have played the 2nd toughest schedule in the country so far this season, but will not be upsetting anyone soon because they are rated too low to begin with, only 5 spots from being in the bottom 20% nationally.

Editor's Note: Read my articles on "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season, and my 32-game bowl season wrap-up series. The bowl wrap-up is strictly for hard core football junkies; it goes on for 17 pages.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 105 Sports Articles, 61 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (394 total articles) plus 656 Famous Quotes.

College Football 2007 - A Football Junkies Paradise - The Final Sagarin NCAA Football Ratings

2008-01-20T17:57:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

There are some huge differences between the final AP Top 25 College Football Poll, and the Final Sagarin College Football Ratings.

For openers, here is the AP Top 25 Poll as voted by the nation's sportswriters and sports broadcasters: 1 Louisiana State, 2 Georgia, 3 Southern California, 4 Missouri, 5 Ohio State, 6 West Virginia, 7 Kansas, 8 Oklahoma, 9 Virginia Tech, 10 Boston College and Texas (tie), 12 Tennessee, 13 Florida, 14 Brigham Young, 15 Auburn, 16 Arizona State, 17 Cincinnati, 18 Michigan, 19 Hawaii, 20 Illinois, 21 Clemson, 22 Texas Tech, 23 Oregon, 24 Wisconsin, and 25 Oregon State.

Here is the Sagarin Ratings: 1 Louisiana State, 2 Kansas, 3 West Virginia, 4 Southern California, 5 Oklahoma, 6 Missouri, 7 Georgia, 8 Oregon, 9 Virginia Tech, 10 Florida, 11 Ohio State, 12 Texas, 13 Auburn, 14 Arizona State, 15 Tennessee, 16 Oregon State, 17 Brigham Young, 18 Kentucky, 19 Cincinnati, 20 South Florida, 21 Michigan, 22 Clemson, 23 Boston College, 24 Texas Tech, and 25 Arkansas.

Comparing the Sagarin Ratings to the AP Poll, notice these differences:

1) Sagarin rates Kansas much higher (2nd rather than 7th), Oregon much higher (8th rather than 23rd), and Oregon State much higher (16th rather than 23rd).

2) Sagarin rates Georgia much lower (7th rather than 2nd), Ohio State much lower (11th rather than 5th) and Boston College much lower (23rd rather than 10th).

3) Sagarin has 3 teams in the top 25 that the AP Poll does not—Kentucky at 18, South Florida at 20 and Arkansas at 25. The AP Poll replaces these teams with Hawaii at 19, Illinois at 20 and Wisconsin at 24.

Which poll is more accurate? Well, the AP Poll is based on one's opinion of a team, its record and the strength of its opponent. Sagarin is based on a mathematical formula involving statistics compiled by an MIT grad (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). You decide.

By studying the Sagarin ratings, here are some facts I have uncovered that could impress your friends, and win you some bets (or drinks) at your favorite pub:

1) The team that played the toughest schedule this year was UCLA. The next 4 in order were Washington, Florida, Nebraska and Oregon.

2) The lowest rated 1A team with only 1 loss was Hawaii (12-1) at No. 35 among 119 1A teams.

3) The highest rated 1AA team with only 1 loss was Northern Iowa (12-1) at No. 62 among 242 1A and 1AA teams.

4) The highest rated 1AA team was Appalachian State (13-2) at No. 44.

5) The lowest rated 1AA team with at least 11 wins was Dayton (11-1) at No. 134.

6) The highest rated team that was winless this year was 1A Southern Utah (0-11) at No. 204.

7) The lowest rated team among all 242 1A and 1AA teams? That would be1AA La Salle (0-10) at No. 242. The lowest BCS Standing of No. 242 also belonged to La Salle, which just missed a "hat trick" by playing the 241st weakest schedule.

8) Playing the weakest schedule this year and in last place at 242 was 1AA Wagner (7-4), rated at No. 222.

Editor's Note: Read my articles on "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season, and my 32-game bowl season wrap-up series. The bowl wrap-up is strictly for hard core football junkies; it goes on for 17 pages.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 105 Sports Articles, 61 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (394 total articles) plus 656 Famous Quotes.

2008 College Basketball - We Love Our Dawgs With Bite, Not Our Dogs With Bark

2008-01-16T12:40:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

The University of Washington basketball season is well underway as Pac-10 league play has started and it appears that the Huskies are in for a very long season.

Two months ago in mid-November head coach Lorenzo Romar said, "We're still trying to get our defense right.

"We're not as far along as I thought defensively . . . Some are trying to sort it out. We did play four freshman," he continued, referring to an earned victory that led to Washington's NIT Season Tip-off action at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where the Huskies promptly lost by 14 points to Texas A&M and by 6 points to Syracuse.

Two months later in mid-January, Sagarin's latest ratings today (Tuesday, 1-15-08) have Texas A&M at 14-1 and rated No. 16, and Syracuse at 12-5 and rated No. 51. Washington is 9-7 (scary close to .500) and rated No. 72.

All 9 of Washington's victories have come against average to bad teams (average includes Washington). These include such powerhouses as New Jersey Tech (rated No. 340 among 341 NCAA Division 1A teams), Utah (#52), Eastern Washington (#263), Long Beach State (#279), Portland (#228), Portland State (#140), Cal State Northridge (#56), LSU (#153) and Idaho State (#294). In other words, the Huskies do not yet have a quality win.

In mid-December Lo-Ro (Lorenzo Romar) was at it again, reminding his hotshot freshman that defense would get them onto the floor faster than fancy offensive moves. It is rarer than 3 feet of snow in Seattle to see a kid coming out of high school who even knows what defense is, much less playing it.

They never played defense in high school and got an athletic scholarship with dunks and press clippings, so they must figure it is not important to winning at a higher level. This, of course, is why every good team and every championship team plays no defense whatsoever. Let us hope that if they cannot understand defense, they can at least understand sarcasm.

It seems that every high school kid who gets a shot at NCAA basketball today dreams of being the next Michael Jordan or LeBron James. Jordan and James are exceptional competitors who will not to be duplicated anytime soon. Even the most talented of these young Husky players could not begin to match the work ethic of Michael Jordan, who became an intense student of the game.

One could argue that 4 of Washington's 7 losses have been quality losses. You might point out that UCLA is now 15-1 and rated No. 5, Washington State is 14-1 and No. 7, Pittsburgh is 14-2 and No. 9, and Texas A&M is 14-1 and No. 16. I do not consider Southern Cal a quality loss as the Trojans are 10-6 and No. 41.

The Huskies have improved a little on defense, but still all but collapse late in the game when it matters most.

So what does it all mean? Just this: The Washington Huskies are likely to lose more games than they win in their remaining Pac-10 play, which would put them below .500 with no invitation to the NCAA or NIT playoffs.

This is not about Lo-Ro, who went 10-17 his first year and then improved to 19-12 in 2004 and a spot in the NCAA tournament. His 2005 team went 29-6, won the Great Alaskan Shootout, won the Pac-10 Tournament and made it the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.

His 2006 team went 26-7, won the BCA Classic, and returned to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. Last year the Huskies went 19-13 and assumed they would at least get invited to the NCAA or NIT Tournament. They made a bad assumption.

Lo-Ro is the right guy in the right place at the right time. Those who think he should play freshmen who can't play defense are dead wrong.

A pretty successful guy in another sport—Knute Rockne at Notre Dame—was asked why he was not playing his 11 best players. He responded by saying, "The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach I play not my 11 best, but my best 11."

In effect, Rockne was saying his 11 most talented players were not on the field; he chose to play the 11 players who worked best together as a team. In basketball, that includes defense as well as offense.

Washington is fortunate to have a workhorse in the paint like Jon Brockman and a pure shooter like Ryan Appleby, but that is not nearly enough to win at the level that will lead the Huskies into postseason play.

There are 10 other guys on the Husky team that need to step up and experience some serious personal growth (deciding to become a leader and a champion) as well as professional growth (learning to play team defense as well as increasing their offensive effectiveness).

It takes no talent to lose. It takes a lot of talent to win consistently. If you think you are talented and God's gift to basketball and are still losing, you need to shut up and work 5 times harder. We will figure out who you are when you win.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best, "This time, like all times, is a very good one, when we know what to do with it."

Editor's Note: Read my movie review on "Coach Was Color-Blind, He Only Wanted to Know If You Could Play Basketball", "Coach Carter Sends an Outstanding Message About a Coach with Integrity, Honor and Goodness" and my 4 basketball articles on the 2007 NCAA Basketball Tournament detailing Florida's National Championship run.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 80,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 105 Sports Articles, 61 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (394 total articles) plus 656 Famous Quotes.

2007 NFL Playoffs - Seattle Seahawks Croak as Packers Kick Them Silly in the Snowflakes, 42-20

2008-01-15T18:36:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Mike Holmgren's Seattle Seahawks did absolutely nothing to disturb the greatness of the NFL's most historic venue at Lambeau Field Saturday (1-12-08) in Green Bay, Wisconsin, home of the advancing Green Bay Packers.

Packer Quarterback Brett Favre (pronounced Farve) had a 7-2 postseason record at home that is now 8-2. He had a 4-2 record in the playoffs against Seattle that is now 5-2.

Favre is statistically the greatest signal-caller in National Football League history with a record 253 consecutive regular-season starts (second best in history at ANY position), a record 61,665 career passing yards, a record 442 career touchdown passes, and a record 160 career wins, the most by any starting QB.

And, oh yeah, Favre is the only 3-time NFL Most Valuable Player. He won in 1995, in 1996 when Seattle coach Mike Holmgren coached the Packers to the Super Bowl 31 title by beating New England, 35-21, and in 1997 when the Holmgren-led Packers lost Super Bowl 32 to Denver, 31-24.

The Packers record for playoff wins at Lambeau Field was 14-2 before Saturday. Now it is 15-2, thanks to Seattle. In a 2003 survey by ESPN The Magazine, the Packers ranked as the No. 1 franchise among the 121 major sports teams in North America.

The Seahawks also did absolutely nothing Saturday to advance their chances of getting into their second Super Bowl appearance in 3 years. After jumping out to a 14-0 lead by converting two fumbles by first-year running back Ryan Grant into touchdowns during the first 4 minutes of the game, the Seahawks laid down and died a slow death among the falling snowflakes at Lambeau Field.

The (we thought) vaunted Seahawk defense allowed the Packers to get back into the game and dominate it by giving up 6 straight touchdown drives to Green Bay. It was game, set, match, period, end of season.

Oh, the guy that fumbled twice to start the game, he finished with 201 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. Favre? He was 18-of-23 for 173 yards and 3 touchdowns. Seattle put on a pathetic rushing display with a total of plus 28 yards to 235 for the Packers. Same field, same snow coming down, same slippery turf, same clogged cleats.

Green Bay will now advance to play the New York Giants (21-17 winners over the Dallas Cowboys Sunday) in the NFC Championship Game next Sunday. I hope the Packers dominate the Giants the same way they did the Seahawks.

The Seahawks will be watching television from here on out, wondering why they could not handle the snowflakes in Green Bay. The answer, of course, was Brett Favre in snow-crazed conditions having the time of his life playing football.

In short, the Seahawks defense did nothing but lose, 42-20. They did not fight off blocks. They did not tackle. They did not cover. They did not react. They did not bring their A Game against Green Bay's "hogs" up front who dominated the line and the game. Forget the charity trip. If the 'Hawks did anything at all, why did Green Bay score touchdowns on 6 STRAIGHT possessions?

Mike Holmgren, the Seahawks, the Seattle fans, the owners, the brain trust, the Seattle media and myself did not get what we wanted. I asked for too much. I wanted a game in which no one gets hurt on either side of the ball that comes down to the last play in a classic confrontation between two worthy teams.

Watching this playoff game was painful for me. After suffering through an entire season watching the Washington Husky defense raise ineptitude to an art form, I had to endure the Seahawks' supposedly much improved defense get demolished. This is not how you increase your fan base.

In the meantime, the San Diego Chargers waltzed into the Indianapolis Colts' playground Sunday and walked away with a 28-24 victory against the defending Super Bowl Champions on the road to advance to the AFC championship game against the New England Patriots (31-20 winners over the Jacksonville Jags Saturday).

Do not give me all of this crap about how hard it is to win on the road. Tell it to the San Diego Chargers, who had injuries to their stars, played some scrubs and won anyway. That is called desire. That is called attitude. That is called guts. That is called, "I do not want to win this game, I NEED to win this game."

And now for two disclaimers: 1) Brett Favre has been my favorite NFL player since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Favre is a gamer. 'Nuff said. 2) I am one of the few Green Bay Packer stockholders who was not totally uphappy when Holmgren moved from coaching Green Bay to coaching Seattle.

I was born and raised in Michigan and distanced myself from my family by following the Green Bay Packers closer than the Detroit Lions. Let me say that the Packers have let me down less over the years than the Lions.

I moved to the Puget Sound Area of Washington 34 years ago and so, of course, I have become a follower of the Seattle Seahawks. The only difference is that I am a fair-weather follower of the Seahawks, as you can tell. I do not apologize for it, I take pride in it. I hate losing. It takes no talent to lose, it takes talent to win. Any no good can lose.

Holmgren has done well in Seattle. He has taken the Seahawks to the playoffs 5 straight seasons, has won 4 consecutive NFC West titles, and has taken them to the Super Bowl in 2005, winning an NFC title along the way.

Seattle needs more and better players, and it is not Mike Holmgren's job to get them. That chore falls on the shoulders of President of Football Operations Tim Ruskell and Seattle Seahawk Owner Paul Allen.

Read my 11 Washington Husky articles including "Meet the Nation's Most Statistically Incredible Team – The University of Washington Huskies", "Anatomy of a Team on the Rise: Washington Will Get Over Freshmanitis and Really Thrive" and "College Football Mayhem: Flagrant Helmet-to-Helmet Shots Need to Stop Before Someone Gets Killed".

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 105 Sports Articles, 61 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (394 total articles) plus 656 Famous Quotes.

LSU Rips Ohio State 38-24 to Become First Two-Time BCS Champion - Part 8

2008-01-13T23:11:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

BCS National Championship Game – LSU Rips Ohio State 38-24 to Become First Two-Time BCS Champion

It speaks volumes about the state of college football in 2007 when a team gets into the BCS national championship game with two losses. Louisiana State University became the first team to make it with two losses. Ohio State made it with 1 loss.

Should the Tigers have been there? Georgia, Southern Cal, Missouri, West Virginia and Kansas all thought they should have been selected over LSU. Every one of them had it wrong in the end. Any one of them should have replaced Ohio State, not LSU.

The LSU Tigers kicked the snot out of Ohio State for the second year in a row. The Buckeyes started quick and could not even begin to finish what they started. It wasn't even a decent street fight. After going up 10 to zip early on, Ohio State's No. 1-ranked defense gave up 31 straight points to lose 38-24.

Early in the second quarter, LSU blocked an Ohio State field goal attempt before marching for a touchdown, and then intercepted a pass to march for another score.

Last year Ohio State started with a 7-0 lead against Florida before suffering an even more lopsided 41-14 loss. The legacy for Ohio State in its 9 bowl games against Southeast Conference teams is terrible, the Buckeyes have yet to win a single, stinking victory.

Ohio State's loss to LSU made it the 3rd team to lose 2 BCS title games. Oklahoma and Florida State have also lost 2 BCS title games.

It is not that the Jim Tressel-led Buckeyes cannot win a national championship. They beat Miami 31-24 to win the title in 2002. They just cannot seem to get it done against SEC teams, which are 4-0 in BSC title games, making the SEC the ONLY undefeated conference among the 6 major conferences.

To me the game was a huge disappointment in that it was not competitive for a national championship. One snapshot during the game says it all for me. The television crew pans in on a close-up of 3 Ohio State players conferring about their misery.

I look intently at the numerous stars on their helmets and think to myself, geez Louise, between them they must have more than 100 stars on their helmets. These are for individual efforts in logging a 100-yard rushing game, scoring a touchdown, intercepting a pass, recovering a fumble, or whatever. Who really cares? Stars on helmets cannot block and tackle.

I am thinking, "This must be the brain trust for individual glory at Ohio State." Here these guys are big shots with stars all over their helmets getting the snot kicked out of them on national television in the title game. Good grief. Football is a team sport.

Given their sorry performance, I believe Jim Tressel and the Ohio State glory brigade need to give it a rest before even the stars on their helmets get embarrassed. I do not really give a crap how many stars Jim Laurinaitis has on his helmet. As far as I am concerned, LSU knocked them off.

Having spent the entire college football season doing weekly wrap-ups and numerous articles on statistics few want to believe, I would like to note for the record that Ohio State piled up an 11-1 record by playing not a single top 20 team while LSU played 8 game-time top 20 teams and beat 7 of the them, losing only to Kentucky on the road in triple overtime.

Did LSU deserve to be in the national championship game? Absolutely. Are they the real national champions this year? Absolutely. Bring any other argument to the field and settle it there. Ohio State found out who is this year's top team.

Who can say with a straight face that if they played LSU next week, they would put a whipping on them like LSU did on Ohio State?

(Editor's Note: This is the 8th and final article of a series on the 2007 bowl game results.)

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Lou Holtz During Football's Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season.

Biggest Wins in Next Four 2007 Bowl Games: West Virginia and Kansas Jayhawks - Part 7

2008-01-13T23:06:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Here are the next 4 winners of this year's 2007 college football bowl game results:

BCS Fiesta Bowl – West Virginia Stomps a Mud Hole in Oklahoma, 48-28

Anyone who thought that Southern Cal or Georgia was mean-spirited in their resounding bowl victories did not see West Virginia slap around the Oklahoma Sooners 48-28 in the BCS Fiesta Bowl.

The 11th ranked Mountaineers lost their head coach Rich Rodriguez to Michigan before the Fiesta Bowl, lost their star tailback Steve Slaton to a first-quarter leg injury, had to pull together under interim coach Bill Stewart, and managed to do it all and then some.

Quarterback Pat White ran for 150 yards and threw for another 176 yards and 2 touchdowns. Noel Devine stepped in for Slaton and ran for 108 yards and 2 touchdowns, one for 17 yards and another for 65 yards to clinch the game in the 4th quarter.

Oklahoma's powerful offense, which averaged 43+ points per game, was stuck in neutral against West Virginia's 4th ranked defense. The West Virginia offensive players—White, Devine and Darius Reynaud—seemed to run past Sooners who appeared to be watching them rather than tackling them.

Clearly, some of the bloom has come off of Bob Stoops and his Oklahoma players, who now are a lot less impressive with all of their carping. They were embarrassed last year in the same Fiesta Bowl when Boise State made them look silly with trick plays and a stunning upset. The Sooners need to shut up, regroup and start playing football again.

For a team that was ranked 9th in scoring defense and 8th in rushing defense, the Sooners looked slow when it mattered most. They saw the backs of a lot of jerseys. Give the West Virginia Mountaineers credit; they got it together when it mattered.

It took all of about a day for the West Virginia brain trust to decide that maybe their national search for a new coach should end up in their own locker room as Bill Stewart was named new head coach.

BCS Orange Bowl – Kansas Takes Down the Mighty Virginia Tech Hokies, 24-21

So who was it that said that Kansas was a paper tiger? A 6-6 team last year that had no business in a BCS bowl game. All the Jayhawks did this year was field the 6th best total offense in the nation and the 2nd best scoring offense nationally on their way to a heady 12-1 record after polishing off Virginia Tech 24-21 in the BCS Orange Bowl.

If Kansas coach Mark Mangino was in a crowded subway station in New York City, he would not be the guy complaining and shouting. He would be the guy you would not notice except for his big presence, no where more so than on the sideline when Kansas plays football. People are beginning to learn that Jayhawks can fly, they are not chickens.

So here comes Kansas into their BCS game and how do the Jayhawks win? With their defense. The Jayhawks picked off 3 passes and turned them into 17 points to take down the No. 5-ranked Hokies. It was sweet for Kansas, which won its first BCS game and set a school record with 12 wins. Virginia Tech, which lost its 4th consecutive BCS game, dropped to 11-3.

It was a cold and windy night for both teams and the Hokies stayed in the game, but the Jayhawks jumped out to a 17-0 lead and they finished what they started. They played like their future depended upon it, and because they did, they have a brighter future. It is my understanding that practically every player on the team is returning next year. Like they say in the entertainment business, this could be the start of something big.

International Bowl – Rutgers and Ray Rice Run by Ball State in 52-30 Rout

Ray Rice created some history for an historic school by running for 280 yards and 4 touchdowns in leading Rutgers—which played the first college football game—past Ball State 52-30.

Rutgers, in Toronto, Canada for the International Bowl, marked its second postseason win in the school's 138-year history, and second consecutive win in two years with their 37-10 blowout victory over Kansas State in last year's Texas Bowl.

Rice, whose 25 TDs this season and 2,012 rushing yards are both school records, also became the first Big East player to crack the 2,000-yard season rushing barrier. He is in some pretty good company as former Big East players with an NFL impact include Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis and Willis McGahee, all graduates of Miami (FL). Quarterback Mike Teel helped Rutgers along by going 16-of-25 for 303 yards and 3 TD passes.

Among Rice's runs was a career-long 90-yard TD scamper. Rice, a junior, must now decide to go NFL early or return to Rutgers for a senior season. He must announce his plans for the NFL draft by Jan. 15.

While Rice's performance was great the Ball State rushing defense was not. Ball State was ranked 99th nationally in rushing defense. Ball State is not a real killer in bowl games either, having played in 6 and won none. Such is the state of college football today when 32 bowl games are played involving 64 teams and there are only 119 to pick from. Rutgers finished its season at 8-5 (not THAT big of a deal) and Ball State dropped to 7-6 (at least it was not a losing season).

GMAC Bowl – Tulsa Capitalizes on Stupid Bowling Green Mistakes, 63-7

Give Bowling Green some props for making it to the GMAC Bowl. They did not destroy the vehicle they used to get to the stadium. They managed to get dressed by themselves. But that was about it. When it came time to show up, the Falcons managed to fumble 4 times in the first half and their opponent, Tulsa, quickly scored 4 touchdowns to take a 35-0 halftime lead.

The rest was all downhill for Bowling Green as they lost 63-7 to finish the year at 8-5 (at least it was a winning record, that is more than some bowl losers can say). The result was the most lopsided (56 points) in this year's 32-game bowl schedule. Before the GMAC Bowl, Bowling Green had won its last 4 consecutive bowl outings.

"We were out of it before we were in it," said Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon.

Tulsa brought 3 things to the GMAC Bowl: the nation's 10th best scoring offense, the nation's 3rd best passing offense and the nation's No. 1 total offense. They showed why the Golden Hurricane can score 63 points in a game.

Quarterback Paul Smith passed for 312 yards and 5 touchdowns while rolling up his 14th consecutive 300-yard passing game, breaking Ty Detmer's record for Brigham Young. En route to the blowout win, Tulsa became the first team in NCAA history to have a 5,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher and 3 (count 'em) 1,000-yard receivers. Tulsa only racked up 562 yards of offense in the game.

First-year Tulsa coach Todd Graham led the Golden Hurricane to a 10-4 record, the first 10-win season for Tulsa since 1991, 18 years ago.

(Editor's Note: This is the 7th article of a series on the 2007 bowl game results.)

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Lou Holtz During Football's Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 105 Sports Articles, 61 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (394 total articles) plus 656 Famous Quotes.

Biggest Wins in Next Three 2007 Bowl Games: Michigan, Southern California and Georgia - Part 6

2008-01-11T00:34:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Here are the next 3 winners of this year's 2007 college football bowl game results:

Capital One Bowl – Michigan Outlasts Florida, 41-35, as Lloyd Carr Wins His Last Game

If the Michigan Wolverines had wrapped it up and put it under the tree, outgoing coach Lloyd Carr could not have received a better Christmas gift from his players as they overcame 4 turnovers to turn back No. 9 Florida, 41-35, in the Capital One Bowl.

The longtime, popular Michigan coach announced his retirement after another loss to Ohio State in November. Had he not retired, he would probably have been asked to leave. Michigan hired Rich Rodriguez who bolted from his head coaching job at West Virginia to take over Michigan's storied football program.

The win was huge for Michigan's seniors as they won their first bowl game in 4 tries. Chad Henne threw for 373 yards and 3 touchdowns and Mike Hart pounded out 129 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Gators kept the game close thanks to Michigan's 4 turnovers and plenty of big plays by sophomore Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and his speedy teammate Percy Harvin. Tebow was playing with a broken bone in his non-throwing hand and was under constant blitz pressure yet was still 17-of-33 for 154 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also ran for 57 yards and another score.

Harvin picked up 165 yards on 13 carries (12.6 yards per carry), scored once, and also caught 9 passes for another 77 yards and a second touchdown. In the end, it was not enough as Michigan won one for Carr.

The Gators failed to convert a 4th-down play at its 25-yard line and K. C. Lopata's 41-yard field goal put Michigan ahead 41-35 with only 2:21 remaining. Florida got another shot but Tebow threw 4 straight air balls. Both Michigan and Florida finished the season with 9-4 marks.

BCS Rose Bowl – Southern California Crushes Illinois, 49-17, to Make a Statement

Pete Carroll and his Southern Cal players still are thinking BCS national championship game, but the Trojans are going to have to wait another year for that to happen. They might have finished at 11-2, the same as Louisiana State that will play in the title game, but the Trojans lost at the wrong time to the wrong team—Stanford at home.

In a display of frustration and unrest, Southern Cal literally stomped Illinois 49-17 in the BCS Rose Bowl game to make a statement. Freshman tailback Joe "Where Do They Find These Guys?" McKnight ripped through the Illini defense for 170 yards (125 yards rushing and 45 yards receiving). McKnight's output was part of the Trojans' 633 yards of offense.

The output set a Rose Bowl record and the Trojans' 49 points tied the record. The blowout game gave Southern Cal 11 wins for an unprecedented 6th straight year. Illinois Coach Ron Zook still finished the year at 9-4, an unreal turnaround after a 2-19 record in his first two years at Illinois.

Do not be confused here, Illinois was a 13.5 point underdog going in. Remember that it was Illinois which dealt Ohio State its only loss, 28-21, and the Buckeyes will be facing LSU in the national championship game. Hats off to Zook and his players for an incredible year.

BCS Sugar Bowl – Hawaii's Unbeaten Streak Ends as Georgia Wins Easily, 41-10

Georgia's Bulldogs were hopping mad that they were not invited to play in the BCS national championship game, and Hawaii's Warriors were on the receiving end of their displeasure, losing 41-10 as their dream of a perfect season ended in the BCS Sugar Bowl.

Hawaii came into the game at 12-0, the only undefeated team among the NCAA's 119 Division 1A schools. They did it with coach June Jones' run-and-shoot offense that averaged 46+ points a game, the arm of junior quarterback Colt Brennan and some great receivers.

Brennan is the real deal. He has set more NCAA passing records than Carter has liver pills, but nothing seemed to impress Georgia, and especially Marcus Howard, who became the game's MVP as he had 3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and a tipped ball that teammate Dannell Ellerbe intercepted.

The truth is Georgia was simply too big, too fast and too strong for the Islanders this time around.

Howard and his defensive mates lived in Hawaii's backfield as Brennan was sacked 8 times, threw 3 interceptions and lost 2 fumbles, one of which Georgia recovered for a touchdown. Georgia's defensive line pushed Hawaii all over the field; Brennan was lucky to get out of New Orleans alive and well enough to be drafted for Sunday duty in the NFL.

"It was the fastest team I've probably ever seen," said Brennan. To be fair, they would not have been so fast in the Warrior offensive line had played better and given Brennan more protection so Hawaii's offense could be effective.

It was a good but difficult game for Hawaii to swallow, but the Warriors will live to fight another day. They had to know that their 12-0 record was against much weaker competition than every other BCS team faced. They had their way in the Western Athletic Conference, even taking down Boise State, which also lost its bowl game to lowly East Carolina 41-38. Even the Washington Huskies, who had a 21-point lead on Hawaii, could not beat the Warriors as their game ended with Hawaii on top.

The citizens of Hawaii fell in love with their Warriors and well they should have. Hawaii had a signature year. Other teams are now trying to steal June Jones away from Hawaii. It was worth the defeat when you know that Hawaii figures to make a $4 million payout for its appearance in the BCS Sugar Bowl. For a team whose recruiting budget was a paltry $50,000 a year, that is a lot of moola. Hawaii can now afford to recruit talent on the mainland.

June Jones has become an opportunity for some other teams. His run-and-shoot offense has resulted in a 76-41 record (64% win percentage) in 9 seasons, including this year's 12-1 mark and BCS bowl appearance. Jones took over a Hawaii team that was winless in 1998 and went 9-4 in his first season. Translation: You do not need to stay awake nights praying for Hawaii's success; the Warriors and doing just fine, thank you.

(Editor's Note: This is the 6th article of a series on the 2007 bowl game results.)

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Lou Holtz During Football's Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.

Biggest Winners in Next Four 2007 Bowl Games Were Kodi Burns and Tony Temple - Part 5

2008-01-09T21:58:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Here are the next 4 winners of this year's 2007 college football bowl game results:

Chick-fil-A Bowl – Auburn Tops Clemson 23-20 in Overtime

Freshman quarterback Kodi Burns made the most of his expanded role in Auburn's new spread offense, scoring on a 7-yard run in overtime to give the Auburn Tigers a 23-20 overtime victory over the Clemson Tigers. The game ended at 17 up and Clemson kicking a successful field goal on its first OT drive and taking a 20-17 lead before Burns became an instant hero.

Burns, who shared QB duties with senior starter Brandon Cox, also threw a 22-yard TD pass and led Auburn with 69 yards rushing on 13 carriers (a 5.3 yard average). Guess who's going to be Auburn's starting quarterback next season? The spread offense produced for Auburn as the Tigers gained 423 yards on 90 plays.

If you are wondering, Chick-fil-A is apparently the second largest fast-food chicken restaurant chain in the United States with 1,340 locations in 37 states doing $2+ billion in business a year. Near as I can tell, there is not a single location in the Pacific Northwest.

Outback Bowl – Tennessee Outlasts Wisconsin, 21-17

Phillip Fulmer's Tennessee Volunteers overcame injuries, academic suspensions and the impending departure of two key assistant coaches to beat Wisconsin, 21-17, in the Outback Bowl, giving Tennessee its first 10-win season since 2004.

The Volunteers' quarterback Erik Ainge was 25-of-43 for 365 yards and two touchdowns in his final game to win MVP honors. Tennessee's defense stepped up when it had to, stopping Wisconsin on downs when the Badgers were10 yards from scoring in the last quarter.

Tennessee ended the season at 10-4 and Wisconsin dropped to 9-4.

Fulmer and Tennessee fans were happy enough, but Fulmer will have to find replacements for offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe, who will be Duke's next head coach, and receivers coach Trooper Taylor, who will become co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State.

Cotton Bowl – Missouri Routs Arkansas, 38-7, Behind Tony Temple

Tony Temple rushed for 281 yards and 4 touchdowns as Missouri routed Arkansas 38-7 in the Cotton Bowl. Coach Gary Pinkel's crew finished at 12-2 and the Razorbacks dropped to 8-5. Missouri should have won this game and did. Temple's 281 yards and 4 touchdowns were the best performance in the 72-year history of the Cotton Bowl.

Mizzou was ranked No. 1 after beating Kansas in their regular-season finale, but they lost badly to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game, so badly that the Jayhawks ended up with an at-large berth in the BCS Orange Bowl game against Virginia Tech.

Missouri's Heisman Trophy-finalist quarterback Chase Daniel went 12-for 29 and a season-low 136 yards passing with an interception, but thankfully Tony Temple had a career night on cue.

Temple's final run of the night broke the Cotton Bowl rushing record of 265 yards by Rice's Dicky Maegle in 1954 (now there is a name from the past that I remember!). Maegle had 3 touchdowns in that game as did Texas' Bobby Layne in 1946 and Syracuse's Jim Brown in 1957.

Layne would go on to quarterback the Detroit Lions and Jim Brown would be the unstoppable running back for the Cleveland Browns. Many believe Jim Brown was the greatest running back in the history of football. In 2002 The Sporting News named Brown as the greatest professional football player ever, regardless of position.

Gator Bowl – Texas Tech Rallies to Beat Virginia by a Field Goal, 31-28

Texas Tech, the nation's top passing offense, took its sweet time overcoming a 14-point deficit but hung in there to stun Virginia, 31-28, on a late, 41-yard field goal by senior Alex Trlica with 2 seconds remaining. It was Trlica's third game-winner of his career.

Red Raider quarterback Graham Harrell went 44-of-69 for 407 yards and 3 TDs while setting Gator Bowl records for yards, completions and attempts.

Virginia's tailback Mikell Simpson ran for 170 yards on 20 carries, including a NCAA bowl-record 96-yard TD dash, and caught a touchdown pass, but Virginia could not recover after losing its quarterback Jameel Sewell at the start of the 4th quarter. Both teams finished the year at 9-4.

(Editor's Note: This is the 5th article of a series on the 2007 bowl game results.)

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Lou Holtz During Football's Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.

Biggest Wins in Next Six 2007 Bowl Games Belong to Alabama and Oregon - Part 4

2008-01-08T22:36:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

Here are the next 6 winners of this year's 2007 college football bowl game results:

Independence Bowl – Alabama Hangs on to Outlast Colorado, 30-24

First-year coach Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide jumped to a 27-0 lead against Colorado and then let the Buffaloes back into the game before winning, 30-24. John Parker Wilson was 13-of-15 for 185 yards and 3 touchdowns in the early going, and Alabama piled up 285 yards of offense in the first half.

Both teams made enough mistakes to lose, but Colorado was able to make a game of it when the Buffaloes figured out that they could not beat Alabama's linebackers to the corner. Once Colorado spread out the Tide's defense they were able to run the ball.

Alabama started the season at 6-2 before dropping its last 4 games—including a horrific home loss to Louisiana-Monroe—and ending the season at 7-6 to avoid consecutive losing seasons for the first time in 50 years. Colorado dropped to 6-7, a losing season.

Armed Forces Bowl – California Rallies to Overcome Air Force, 42-36

After spotting Air Force a 21-point lead, coach Jeff Tedford let his California Bears loose and they responded with a 42-36 victory over the Falcons in the Armed Forces Bowl. Tedford held 3 of his starters out of the game for disciplinary reasons as Air Force ran up its lead, then he let them play and they responded big time to bring the Bears back.

California was ranked as high as No. 2 this season before losing 6 of its next 7 games. The win gave the Bears their 6th straight winning season as they finished 7-6 while Air Force dropped to 9-4.

Air Force quarterback Shaun Carney, who picked up 108 yards on 15 carries and scored a touchdown, seriously injured his right knee in the second half, probably suffering both an ACL and an MCL. That did not help the Falcons a bit.

Sun Bowl – Oregon and Jonathan Stewart Run Over South Florida, 56-21

Oregon's junior Jonathan Stewart set a Sun Bowl record with a career-high 253 yards rushing, and redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Roper threw 4 touchdown passes as the Ducks crushed the South Florida Bulls, 56-21.

Things really exploded for Oregon in the 3rd quarter as the Ducks extended an 18-14 halftime lead by scoring 4 touchdowns to take control of the game. Roper completed 17-of-30 passes for 180 yards and had no interceptions.

Oregon had lost 3 straight games after losing Heisman Trophy candidate Dennis Dixon to a knee injury that ended his season. With Dixon, the Ducks were in the hunt for the national championship. Both teams ended the year at 9-4. Stewart has not decided if he will return for this senior year, but Oregon has to be excited about its redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Roper.

Humanitarian Bowl – Fresno State Beats Georgia Tech 40-28

Clifton Smith rushed for 152 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Tom Brandstater threw for a score and ran for another as the Fresno State Bulldogs beat Georgia Tech 40-28 in the Humanitarian Bowl.

The bowl victory capped a turnaround year for Fresno State. The Bulldogs were 4-8 last season and watching bowl games rather than playing in one. Coach Pat Hill guided his Bulldogs back from obscurity this season and ended up with a 9-4 record and real hope for next year.

Georgia Tech jumped to 7-0 lead but Fresno State score 27 unanswered points and rolled up 571 total yards, the most allowed by the Yellow Jackets all season. Georgia Tech also led the nation in sacks with 47 but never got a single one against Fresno State.

Music City Bowl – Kentucky Wins 35-28 Over Player-Depleted Florida State

After years of success, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden suffered through a tough day against Kentucky in the Music City Bowl. Florida State suspended 36 players in an academic cheating scandal prior to the bowl game and it showed as Kentucky won 35-28 behind senior quarterback Andre Woodson, who lit up the scoreboard with 4 touchdown passes. Woodson was named Most Valuable Player.

The loss was the first ever December bowl loss for Bowden, dropping his December bowl record to 7-1-1. Bowden's has taken his Seminoles to 26 consecutive bowl appearances on the way to 2 national championships and 12 Atlantic Coast Conference titles.

Kentucky ended the year at 8-5 and Florida State dropped to 7-6.

Insight Bowl – Oklahoma State Beats Indiana 49-33

The Oklahoma State Cowboys built a 35-10 halftime lead and never looked back en route to a 49-33 victory over Indiana. The Cowboys' Zac Robinson was 24-of-34 for 302 yards and 2 interceptions but also threw 3 touchdown passes and ran for 2 more.

The loss was bittersweet for Indiana, whose coach Terry Hoeppner died of complications of a brain tumor in June. Current coach Bill Lynch led the Hoosiers to a 7-5 record and bowl appearance only to run smack into Oklahoma State's unstoppable offense.

The Cowboys scored on their first 5 possessions, mounting drives of 67, 53, 54, 57 and 63 yards. The longest of these drives lasted 3:07. Yikes! It had been Hoeppner's goal to lead Indiana to a bowl appearance; in the end, the players and Lynch made it happen. Despite the loss, it was a great year for Indiana football.

If you have been a die-hard Hoosier fan for years, you know what I am talking about. Indiana has been on Ohio State's and Michigan's list of automatic wins for years. Indiana basketball, however, is another story.

(Editor's Note: This is the 4th article of a series on the 2007 bowl game results.)

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Lou Holtz During Football's Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.

Biggest Wins in Next Six 2007 Bowl Games: Boston College and Wake Forest - Part 3

2008-01-07T22:49:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

Here are the next 6 winners of this year's 2007 college football bowl game results:

Champs Sports Bowl – Boston College Beats Michigan State by a Field Goal, 24-21, to Win Its 8th Consecutive Bowl Victory

Senior quarterback Matt Ryan went 22-of-47 for 249 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead Boston College past Michigan State, giving the Eagles their 8th consecutive bowl victory and an 11-3 record for first-year coach Jeff Jagodzinski. It was the first 11-win season for Boston College since 1940, 67 years ago.

The Eagles started their season 8-0 and rose to No. 2 in the polls before dropping 3 of the their last 5 games, including a loss to Virginia Tech which cost Boston College the Atlantic Coast Conference championship.

The Eagles' All American safety Jamie Silva had two interceptions, one in the end zone, and was named the Most Valuable Player. Boston College played 17 fifth-year players and will have some rebuilding to do to match this year's success.

Michigan State, which amazingly made the game close, made no excuses. The Spartans, who finished at 7-6, lost their 6 games by a combined 31 points under first-year coach Mark Dantonio.

The bowl game was Michigan State's first in 4 years. The Spartans played without 4 players who were academically ineligible and another who was suspended for breaking an unspecified team rule. They included their best pass rusher and a linebacker. Spartan quarterback Brian Hoyer had a long night with 4 interceptions and a fumble.

Texas Bowl – Texas Christian Beats Houston 20-13

Texas Christian took its first lead early in the last quarter to move by Houston 20-13 in the Texas Bowl. Justin Watts got the go-ahead score. The win gave the Horned Frogs their 3rd consecutive bowl victory in 3 years. The fans were not exhausted from excitement watching this hum-drum match-up. Both teams finished the year at 8-5.

Emerald Bowl – Oregon State Runs Past Maryland 21-14

Oregon State senior Yvenson Bernard rushed for 177 yards and a touchdown, and freshman James Rodgers rushed for a career-best 115 yards, caught an early touchdown pass and recovered Bernard's fumble for the second half's only score to lead the Beavers past Maryland 21-14.

Oregon State's crack rushing defense (rated No. 2 nationally) gave up exactly 2 yards to Maryland for 3 quarters and 19 total yards for the game to seal the victory. The win by Oregon State (now 9-4) extended the Pac 10's longest bowl winning streak to 4 and snapped Ralph Friedgen's 3-game postseason winning streak at Maryland, dropping the Terrapins to 6-7, a losing season.

Meineke Car Care Bowl – Wake Forest Beats Connecticut 24-10

Connecticut scored all of its 10 points in the first half, and Wake Forest scored all of its 24 unanswered points in the second half as the Demon Deacons proved that Connecticut was not that big and that bad, winning 24-10. Wake Forest did it with defense and its speedy receiver Kenneth Moore, who caught 11 passes for 112 yards.

Wake Forest has for years endured the moniker "Weak Forest" for its ineptitude, but that nickname may go away as the Demon Deacons rolled up their second most wins ever, topped only by last year's 11-3 mark. Both Connecticut and Wake Forest finished at 9-4 this year.

Liberty Bowl – Mississippi State Slips by Central Florida, 10-3

In what may turn out to be the lowest scoring bowl game this year, Mississippi State's Anthony Dixon broke up a 3-3 tie by scoring the winning touchdown on a 1-yard run with 1:54 remaining in the game to beat Central Florida 10-3.

The Bulldogs held Central Florida's Kevin Smith to only 119 yards rushing, stopping Smith only 61 yards short of Barry Sanders' single-season rushing record of 2,628 yards for Oklahoma State in 1988. The bad news for Central Florida's opponents next year is that Kevin Smith is a junior and will get another shot at Sanders' record. Mississippi State finished the season at 8-5 while Central Florida fell to 10-4.

Alamo Bowl – Joe Pa and Penn State Down Texas A&M, 24-17

Evan Royster broke a 17-17 tie with a 38-yard touchdown run and Joe Paterno's Penn State Nittany Lions overcame an early 14-point deficit to beat Texas A&M 24-17 in the Alamo Bowl. Penn State finished its season at 9-4 while Texas A&M dropped to 7-6.

"Joe Pa", college football's leader in bowl appearances with 34, led his Nittany Lions in a thriller that gave him his record 23rd postseason win. Penn State's victory over Texas A&M was its 3rd straight bowl victory and 9th in its last 11 appearances.

Paterno, the 81-year-old Happy Valley icon, now has 372 career victories, exactly one win behind Florida State's Bobby Bowden for the most wins in major college football.

Bowden, who is 78 years old, lost his bowl game this year 35-28 to Kentucky. Like Paterno, Bowden is no slouch. He has won 2 national championships, 12 Atlantic Coast Conference titles and is the only coach to have his Florida State Seminoles finish among the top 5 teams nationally for 14 consecutive seasons in the AP Top 25 Poll. Florida State has also played in a bowl game for the last 26 consecutive seasons.

It will be interesting to see whether Joe Pa or Bobby Bowden will be fired or retire first. Both coaches are obviously two of the most competitive people on planet Earth.

(Editor's Note: This is the 3rd article of a series on the 2007 bowl game results.)

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Lou Holtz During Football's Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.

Biggest Wins in Next Four 2007 Bowl Games Belong to East Carolina and Texas - Part 2

2008-01-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

Here are the next 4 winners of this year's 2007 college football bowl game results:

Las Vegas Bowl – Brigham Young Nips UCLA 17-16 on a Blocked Field Goal

Brigham Young, which led UCLA 17-13 at the half and went scoreless in the second half, barely managed to hang on to win 17-16 against UCLA in a game the Cougars should have lost.

After allowing the Bruins a 4th quarter field goal to make it 17-16, BYU's defense went into the dumper behind K-Mart by allowing UCLA to drive 87 yards in the last 2 minutes to give the Bruins a chip-shot field goal on the final play of the game.

Unfortunately for UCLA and fortunately for Brigham Young, a 280-pound Cougar lineman—Eathyn Manumaleuna (I think his last name is Hawaiian and 6 syllables)—who could not jump out of paper sack, got his right mitt up and became an instant hero. He will go into the BYU folklore history if he is not already there.

The win was the 10th straight for the Cougars who finished the season at 11-2, not too shabby by any standard. BYU dodged a bullet earlier this season against Utah, converting on a 4th-and-18 play in their winning drive to seal a 17-10 victory.

The Bruins only lost 2 games in their first 7, one to Utah 44-6 on the road (gag, gag and gag) and the other to Notre Dame 20-6 at home in the Rose Bowl (good grief). UCLA then lost 4 of its last 5 games plus the Las Vegas Bowl to end at 6-7, a losing season. No wonder UCLA coach Karl Dorrell was pushed out the door before the Las Vegas Bowl even started.

Hawaii Bowl – East Carolina Beats Boise State by a Field Goal, 41-38

Speed killed Boise State's magic this year as East Carolina, which motored to a 38-14 lead early in the 3rd quarter, darn near sent the game into overtime when their star and the game's Most Valuable Player—Chris Johnson—fumbled while the Pirates were ready to ice the contest.

Johnson's fumble was picked up and returned for a 47-yard touchdown to tie the game at 38 with 1:25 left to play. East Carolina managed to drive to the Broncos' 17 yard line and a last play field goal by Ben Hartman sealed the deal.

All Chris Johnson had done up to his inadvertent fumble was set a NCAA bowl record with 408 all-purpose yards for the Pirates. He rushed for 223 yards, caught 3 passes for 32 yards and returned 6 kickoffs for 153 yards. Boise State, a 10.5-point favorite, managed just 3 yards in the 1st quarter while East Carolina racked up 181 yards behind Johnson's 106 rushing yards.

If you saw this match-up, Chris Johnson ran by Boise State Broncos as if they were standing still. The Broncos looked like they had lost a saddle and were watching their horse run away. It was Don James, the Dawgfather, who said "speed kills" while he built the University of Washington into a powerhouse in the 1980s and early 1990s as the Huskies' most successful coach.

Boise State had cruised to a 13-0 mark last year and stunned Oklahoma with a miracle 43-42 overtime victory in the Fiesta Bowl. This year was the 6th straight bowl appearance for the Broncos, who dropped to 10-3 while East Carolina rose to 8-5. If Hawaii wins its bowl game against the SEC's Georgia Bulldogs, Bronco mania could be in trouble. I hear it is cold in the winter in Idaho.

Did I mention that Boise State was ranked 24th in the final AP Top 25 Poll, 24th in the final BCS Standings, and rated 28th by Sagarin? Sagarin rated East Carolina 75th in its final poll; this is why Boise State was a 10.5-point favorite.

Motor City Bowl – Purdue Beats Central Michigan by a Field Goal, 51-48

Purdue was lucky to get out of Dodge a winner when the Boilermakers traveled to Detroit to face the Mid-American Conference champion Central Michigan Chippewas in the Motor City Bowl. Thankfully, the Boilermakers' Chris Summers put his foot to the pedal to kick a 40-yard, last play field goal as Purdue drove out of town on top, 51-48.

This was an exciting game for fans to watch unless you care about defense. The combined 99 points tied the second-highest total ever for a bowl game in regulation play, topped only by California's 52-49 victory over Virginia Tech in the 2003 Insight Bowl.

The game showcased the quarterbacks. Purdue's Curtis Painter set a school-record 546 yards passing on a 35-for-54 effort (65%) with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, both of which went off of receiver Dorien Bryant's hands. Central Michigan's Dan LeFevour completed 17 of 34 (50%) for 292 yards and 4 touchdowns, and picked up another 114 yards on 33 carries.

LeFevour's 19-yard scoring pass to Bryan Anderson with 1:09 remaining tied the game at 48. LeFevour, a sophomore, finished the year with 27 passing touchdowns and 19 rushing touchdowns, almost matching Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow of Florida as the only major college player to have 20 each in a season.

Purdue, which has risen folding in important games to an art form, blew no less than three 21-point leads before Summers decided to win one for a change. The Boilermakers were favored to win by 9 points. Purdue finishes the year at 8-5 and Central Michigan dropped to 8-6.

Holiday Bowl – Texas Beats Arizona State 53-34 for 4th Straight Bowl Victory

Texas quarterback Colt McCoy fumbled 4 times but it was still not enough to slow down his Longhorn teammates as they outlasted Arizona State 53-34 to win the Holiday Bowl. McCoy was helped by the Sun Devils committing 5 turnovers.

Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter had a horrible night, going 18-of-32 for 187 yards and being sacked 4 times. McCoy threw for one score, ran for another and fumbled into the end zone and his teammate Jermichal Finley recovered for another score. McCoy was 21-of-31 (67%) for 174 yards and ran for 84 yards on 16 carries.

A stupid mistake by Texas coach Mark Brown's stepson, Chris Jessie, marred the game but did not affect the outcome. Jessie touched an errant fumble by Arizona State that was a live ball and the Sun Devils capitalized on the error to score a touchdown. "That's the most unusual play I've ever seen in college football," ASU coach Dennis Erickson said.

Texas led 28-10 at the half and was not about to be denied a victory. The win by Texas was its 4th straight in bowl competition and lifted its final record to 10-3 as Arizona State dropped to 10-3.

(Editor's Note: This is the 2nd article of a series on the 2007 bowl game results.)

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Lou Holtz During Football's Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.

Biggest Wins in 1st Four 2007 Bowl Games Belong to Utah and Florida Atlantic - Part 1

2008-01-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Coming into the 2007 college football 32-bowl game extravaganza that men love and women generally hate, here are some interesting facts to impress your friends:

Which team playing this year has made the most bowl game appearances? Here are the Top 10: 1) Alabama with 54, 2) Texas and Tennessee, both 46, 4) Southern California 45, 5) Georgia 42, 6) Oklahoma 40, 7) Penn State 39, and 8) Louisiana State, Michigan and Ohio State, all three at 38.

Which team playing this year has the most bowl game victories? Here are the Top 8: 1) Alabama with 30, 2) Southern California 29, 3) Penn State 25, 4) Oklahoma and Tennessee, both 24, 6) Georgia and Texas, both 23, and 8) Georgia Tech, 22.

Which team playing this year has the best bowl game won-loss percentage? Here are the Top 7: 1) Utah 9-3 at 75%, 2) Boise State and Hawaii, both 5-2 at 71%, 4) Penn State 25-12-2 at 67%, 5) Boston College 12-6 at 66%, and 6) Oklahoma State 11-6 and Southern California 29-16, both at 64%.

Here are the first 4 winners of this year's 2007 college football bowl game results:

Poinsettia Bowl – Utah Beats Navy by a Field Goal, 35-32

Navy led Utah 10-7 at the half, fell behind 35-24 in the 4th quarter, and then roared back to score on a 58-yard touchdown pass and 2-point conversion, making it 35-32. Navy even recovered the expected onside kick, but Utah's Joe Dale intercepted a pass on the ensuing drive to seal the victory.

Utah's win should have come as no surprise because among the 64 teams that competed in 32 bowl games, Utah came into the game with the best bowl game winning percentage—75—with a 9-3 record that is now 10-3 (77% rounded). Utah finishes its season at 9-4; Navy drops to 8-5.

New Orleans Bowl — Florida Atlantic Beats Memphis Easily, 44-27

Florida Atlantic University, its 73-year-old coach Howard Schnellenberger, and the Owls' players have officially and emphatically answered the question, "F-A-who?" by whipping Memphis 44-27. The New Orleans Bowl victory was the first bowl game for Florida Atlantic, which has only had a football team for 7 years and did not become a Division 1A team until 2005.

None of this was new to Howard Schnellenberger, who build the Florida Atlantic program from scratch. Schnellenberger's New Orleans Bowl victory was his 5th straight. He remains a perfect 100% (5-0) in bowl games during his 23 years as a head coach. It would be difficult to fault Schnellenberger on this bowl game preparation.

Schnellenberger led Miami (FL) to the 1983 national championship with an Orange Bowl triumph over Nebraska. He also won the 1980 Peach Bowl with Miami, and another two bowl games with Louisville, the 1990 Fiesta Bowl and the 1993 Liberty Bowl. Schnellenberger may be the only college coach in history with a 5-0 record when playing in only 5 bowl games.

Rusty Smith threw for 336 yards and a New Orleans Bowl-record 5 touchdowns to lead the Owls to victory. That was excellent news for the Owls, but even better news for Florida Atlantic was this: Smith finished the season with 3,688 yards passing and 32 touchdowns, and he is a sophomore. Florida Atlantic finished the year at 8-5 while Memphis dropped to 7-6.

Papajohns.com Bowl – Cincinnati Beats Southern Mississippi 31-21

Shifty Ben Mauk passed for 334 yards and 4 touchdowns, and DeAngelo Smith intercepted 3 passes to lead the Bearcats to a 31-21 win against Southern Mississippi. The victory gave Cincinnati its second 10-win season at 10-3, its first 10-win season since 1951, and virtually assured the Bearcats of a spot in the final rankings for the first time.

Outgoing Golden Eagles coach Jeff Bower, who has coached Southern Mississippi for 17 seasons, had to endure a last-game loss after being pushed out the door after a disappointing season. The Golden Eagles were 7-6, hardly golden but all eagles.

"We played extremely hard," said Bower after the loss, "but obviously we didn't make enough plays to win the game." Bower and his Golden Eagles were done in by first-year coach Brian Kelly and his spread offense.

It has been all offense this year with a lot of teams. Some college football fans mistakenly thought that defense had been cut out of the game by the NCAA. Actually, defense was allowed this year, but most teams did not play defense all season. That includes Southern Mississippi that was 1 of 93 among 119 Division 1A teams (78%) which gave up at least 3 touchdowns a game (21 points).

Cincinnati gave up an average of 18 a game to rank 11th nationally in scoring defense.

New Mexico Bowl – New Mexico Shuts Out Nevada 23-0

Paul Baker ran for 167 yards in his first start, Donovan Porterie threw for a career-high 354 yards, and the New Mexico Lobos defeated Nevada 23-0 for their first postseason victory since 1961.

After a long 46-year wait, Lobo fans saw their team win another bowl game and hold the vaunted Wolf Pack—which averaged nearly 500 yards a game and 36+ points—to zero, zip, nada. New Mexico sprinted to a 20-0 halftime lead and never looked back. New Mexico finished the year at 9-4 while Nevada dropped to 6-7, a losing season.

(Editor's Note: This is the 1st article of a series on the 2007 bowl game results.)

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Lou Holtz During Football's Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season.

Ed Bagley's articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.

Famous Quotes by Lou Holtz During Football's Annual Bowl Season

2008-01-04T17:45:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

College football's annual bowl season is full of surprises and spectacular moments. Famous coaches have had some memorable remarks about American's most popular sport, and here are some of them by Lou Holtz, who some consider to be the best of the best college coaches and for good reason.

It is true that Knute Rockne won 5 more national championships at Norte Dame than Lou Holtz did at Notre Dame (Holtz led the Fighting Irish to 1 national title in 1988).

It is also true that Knute Rockne has a regular season won-loss percentage of 90% (105-12-5) at Notre Dame, and that Lou Holtz has a regular season won-loss percentage of 77% (100-30-2) at Notre Dame.

However, Lou Holtz is the only coach in NCAA history to lead 6 different programs to bowl games (William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame and South Carolina), and the only coach to guide 4 different programs to final top 20 rankings (North Carolina State, South Carolina twice, Arkansas 5 times and Notre Dame 7 times).

Lou Holtz became known for his quick wit and ability to inspire players. Both Knute Rockne and Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi became legendary for their ability to inspire players.

In addition to his coaching career, Holtz has gone on to author 5 books and become both a motivational speaker and television commentator.

Here are some of Lou Holtz's best known quotes:

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it."

"Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated."

"The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it."

"When all is said and done, more is said than done."

"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it."

"No one has ever drowned in sweat."

"On this team, we're all united in a common goal: to keep my job."

"Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I'll show you someone who has overcome adversity."

"The problem with having a sense of humor is often (the) people you use it on aren't in a very good mood."

"In the successful organization, no detail is too small to escape close attention."

"It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test."

"If you're bored with life—you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things—you don't have enough goals."

"If you burn your neighbor's house down, it doesn't make your house look any better."

"You'll never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with him."

"I think everyone should experience defeat at least once during their career. You learn a lot from it."

"I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions."

"If he's got golf clubs in his truck or a camper in his driveway, I don't hire him."

"How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser."

"Coaching is nothing more than eliminating mistakes before you get fired."

"A lifetime contract for a coach means if you're ahead in the third quarter and moving the ball, they can't fire you."

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."

"You're never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you're never as bad as they say when you lose."

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.

Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football's Annual Bowl Season

2008-01-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

College football's annual bowl season is full of surprises and spectacular moments. Famous coaches have had some memorable remarks about American's most popular sport, and here are some of them by legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne, who many consider to be the best of the best.

Knute Rockne's head coaching record in college football was second to none, and his won-loss percentage is better than any other college or pro coach ever.

In 13 years with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Rockne's regular season won-loss percentage was 90% (105-12-5), his winning percentage among all games was 86%, and he led Notre Dame to 6 national championships, winning titles in 1919 (9-0), 1920 (9-0), 1924 (10-0), 1927 (7-1-1), 1929 (9-0) and 1930 (10-0). Five of his 6 national championships came from undefeated teams.

Along the way he coached the immortal George "Gipper" Gipp, whose multiple skills lifted Notre Dame to national fame, and the "Four Horsemen" backfield of Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley and Elmer Layden that led the Fighting Irish to a 28-2 record.

While covering a Notre Dame football game, sportswriter Grantland Rice penned the famous opening story line—"Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again"—that has become legend in sports history.

Rockne's influence on the game of football was immense. He is credited with helping popularize the forward pass, initiating intersectional rivalries, building a national schedule, and instituting the "Rockne Shift", a backfield T formation that quickly shifted into a box formation to the right or left as the ball was snapped.

Rockne was also the first coach to realize the market potential of football as an entertainment medium and openly promoted Notre Dame football by courting the media for free advertising so Notre Dame's football program would be financially successful.

Knute Rockne was a Norwegian immigrant who graduated magna cum laude from Notre Dame in 1914, played end for the Fighting Irish that defeated the highly-ranked Army team for the first time in 1913, and was a graduate assistant in chemistry before eventually becoming Notre Dame's head coach in 1918. A Protestant, he converted to Catholicism later in life.

Following his undefeated, 6th national championship team in 1930, Rockne died at age 43 as a passenger in a tragic Fokker airplane accident that would help revolutionize the transportation business and lead to the all-metal Boeing 247 aircraft. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 as a charter member.

Here are some of Knute Rockne's best known quotes:

"Four years of football are calculated to breed in the average man more of the ingredients of success in life than almost any academic course he takes."

"At home we're the hosts, and I never liked the idea of being embarrassed in front of our friends."

"On the road we're somebody else's guests – and we play in a way that they're not going to forget we visited them."

"We count on winning. And if we lose, don't beef. And the best way to prevent beefing is – don't lose."

"Let's win one for the Gipper."

"I've found that prayers work best when you have big players."

"It isn't necessary to see a good tackle. You can hear it."

"One loss is good for the soul, too many losses is not good for the coach."

"Show me a good and gracious loser and I'll show you a failure."

"Yes, I know that you feel you are not strong enough. That's what the enemy thinks too. But we're gonna fool them."

"The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven."

"One man practicing sportsmanship is better than a hundred teaching it."

"Most men, when they think they are thinking, are merely rearranging their prejudices."

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season", "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season.

My articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.

Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season

2008-01-01T18:02:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

College football's annual bowl season is full of surprises and spectacular moments. Famous coaches have had some memorable remarks about American's most popular sport, and here are some of them by legendary Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi, who many consider to be the best of the best.

Lombardi's head coaching record in the National Football League was second to none. In 9 years with the Green Bay Packers, Lombardi's regular season won-loss percentage was 73% (96-34-6), his postseason was 90% (9-1) and his total was 75% (105-35-6).

He took a 1-10-1 team in 1958 to an NFL title in 3 years, and went on to win 5 NFL titles in 9 years (1961, 1962, 1965, 1966 and 1967) and three titles consecutively. He led the Packers to the first two Super Bowl titles in 1966 and 1967.

Lombardi's discipline was legendary. A lifelong Catholic, he spent 4 years in Cathedral Preparatory Seminary to become a Catholic priest before becoming a standout football player at St. Francis Preparatory High School.

An undersized guard at 5 foot 8 and 185 pounds, he was offered and accepted a football scholarship to Fordham University in the Bronx to play for "Sleepy" Jim Crowley, one of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame in the 1920s. He would become part of the "Seven Blocks of Granite" that held Fordham's opponents scoreless several times during a 25-game winning streak.

After coaching at Fordham, Lombardi became the offensive line coach for West Point under another legendary head coach, Colonel Red Blaik. Lombardi then became the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants, working with defensive coordinator Tom Landry and head coach Jim Lee Howell, before becoming Green Bay's head coach in 1959.

Lombardi was 59 years old when he died of cancer in 1970. Grown men and Hall of Fame football players openly wept at his funeral.

Here are some of Vince Lombardi's best known quotes:

"If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?"

"I firmly believe than any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle—victorious."

"There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game and that is first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay and I never want to finish second again."

"Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."

"Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence."

"The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender."

"Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser."

"Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit."

"If you can accept losing, you can't win."

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

"Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."

"Success demands singleness of purpose."

"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up."

"It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you're a winner, when you're number one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you're not a winner."

"We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time."

"Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers are all about. They didn't do it for individual glory. They did it because they loved one another."

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."

"Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate."

Here are some quotes by Lombardi's players:

"When Lombardi said 'sit down,' we didn't look for a chair." – Forrest Gregg, Hall of Fame tackle.

"He prepared us so well, and he motivated us so well, I felt he was a part of me on the field." Fuzzy Thurston.

"He pushed you to the end of your endurance and then beyond it. And if there was reserve there, well, he found that too." Henry Jordan, Hall of Fame defensive tackle.

"He made us better than we thought we could be." Jerry Kramer.

"Coach Lombardi showed me that by working hard and using my mind, I could overcome my weakness to the point that I could be one of the best." Bart Starr, Hall of Fame quarterback.

"The fear in my mind was not him but that for some reason I would not be a part of the team and be with this man." Forrest Gregg.

"He made you a believer. He told you what the other team was going to do, and he told you what you had to do to beat them, and invariably he was right." Willie Davis, Hall of Fame defensive back.

(Editor's Note: I have read and studied one of the best biographies on Lombardi: When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss, I highly recommend his book as a great read.)

Read my articles on "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season.

Ed Bagley's articles can be published with no charge by newsletters, newspapers and magazines through EzineArticles.com, the largest articles directory on the Internet with 73,000+ authors and 900,000+ articles.

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.

Michigan State's Nicole Bush Finishes 5th at NCAA Nationals, Best Spartan Run Ever - Part 2

2007-12-29T22:15:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

It is important to understand that there is no need for any coach to announce a leader, leaders announce themselves by moving on instinctively. They will not tolerate running with the pack, nor should they.

Steve Prefontaine is the perfect example. Pre never allowed ANYONE at ANYTIME—in practice or competition—to best him. If you wanted to race him in practice two days before an important meet, he would run you into the ground and then do it again on race day, only by a bigger margin.

Pre made it clear who the leader was and why he was the leader. He was not the fastest runner, but he was almost always the best runner. No one had his heart and guts, and if they did, they could not tolerate his work ethic.

Did you know that Pre never missed a single practice or competition during his entire athletic career at Oregon? Did he ever have a cold? Did he ever have the flu? Did he ever run injured? Of course he did; he just never bothered to tell anyone and would not allow himself to show any obvious stress. Pre was, and is, one of a kind.

Probably at least half if not three-quarters of all running coaches in America will tell you that leaders are made and not born. Imagine taking a runner who has never run faster than 13 seconds for 100 meters and trying to make him into a world class sprinter. I never believed this nonsense 45 years ago and I do not believe it today. I believe, and always have believed, that leaders are born and not made.

A lot of runners who appear not to be leaders (and a few very select Michigan State men may be among this group) actually are leaders. They just do not know it. They are not leading today because they have not been required to lead.

Their instinct will click in when faced with a life and death situation in a foxhole during wartime. Or maybe they are 16 and the oldest of 7 siblings, their father and mother are killed instantly in an accident, and they are left with nothing and the responsibility to raise 7 children or the family will be separated by a state agency with the children in 7 different homes.

When it really counts in life, people in danger do not want to know what you think, they want to know what you know because their life may depend upon your experience, courage and wisdom. That is why with every fiber in my body, my life experience tells me leaders are born, not made.

I know from personal experience that it is much easier to find a winner than to try and develop a winner. Trust me when I say that eagles fly, not chickens. You can coach a chicken for 100 years and if they have no talent and no leadership ability, the result will be the same.

If you want to see a winner, go watch Nicole Bush run. When it counts the most, the leaders will surface. If you want to see another winner, go watch Rita Arndt-Molis coach.

Anyone who runs for the Spartans should understand who they represent and Michigan State's running tradition. There is exactly one school among the 299 NCAA Division 1 Men's Cross-Country programs that has won more national championships than Michigan State, and that is Arkansas with 11 titles in 17 years between 1984 and 2000.

Michigan State has won 8 national titles—the first in 1939, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1958 and the last in 1959, 47 years ago. That is too long ago. From 1948 to 1959, Michigan State won 7 titles in 12 years before anyone ever heard of Oregon, Bill Bowerman or Steve Prefontaine. That is dominance.

For the record, UTEP (yes, THAT University of Texas at El Paso) has also won 8 titles while no other school, including Oregon and Stanford, has won more than 4.

On the women's side of the ledger, Villanova has won 7 national titles and 6 consecutively from 1989 to 1994. Stanford is the current power, winning the last 3 national championships. It is axiomatic that Stanford can be beaten, just as surely as night follows day.

Those almost silent footfalls that the Stanford runners hear behind them are the Michigan State Spartan women getting closer and closer.

(Editor's Note: This is Part 2 of a 2-Part Article.)

Read my other articles on Michigan State University runners, including "Walt Drenth Becomes Director of MSU's Cross-Country and Track & field Programs", "Meet Michigan State's Newest Dynamo: Associate Head Coach Rita Arndt-Molis" and "What Makes a Person Want to Run and Why Few Will Ever Know the Joy of Running".

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.

Michigan State's Nicole Bush Finishes 5th at NCAA Nationals, Best Spartan Run Ever - Part 1

2007-12-29T22:11:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

Senior Nicole Bush put the finishing touch on an outstanding cross-country season by finishing 5th in the NCAA National Championship meet, earning All-American status with a 6000-meter time of 20:13.4, missing the school-record for the meet by a scant 3-10ths of a second. The 6K is roughly 3.84 miles and Bush's mile pace was roughly 5:16.

Her 5th place individual finish led the Michigan State women to a 5th place team finish, the second best showing ever for the Spartans, topped only by the 4th place finish in 1981 at the first-ever NCAA women's championships.

The improvement by Bush from last year to this year's All-American run was dramatic. She finished 3rd among the Spartan runners last year in 78th place with a time of 22:09, only 4 seconds shy of a full two minutes slower.

Bush was followed by junior Alissa McKaig (50th in 21:22), junior Sarah Price (82nd in 21:37), senior Lisa Senakiewich (90th in 21:44) and sophomore Emily MacLeod (94th in 21:45). Not scoring this year were two more sophomores—Becky McCormack (115th in 21:54) and Ashley Casavant (199th in 23:12).

It is important to note that the difference between the finish of McKaig and Price amounted to 32 places but only 15 seconds. Missing from the race was the Spartans' strong 5th runner, senior Katie Kelly, who was out with a back injury. Had Kelly been available, the Spartans could have done even better.

Things are getting better and better for Michigan State's running fortunes, especially when you know all of the women team members will be returning next year.

Anita Arndt-Molis continues to impress as Michigan State's Associate Head Coach in charge of all middle distance and distance runners. Last year the Spartan women were 12th in the NCAA Championship run.

Can the Spartan women improve even more? You decide with just the knowledge of these three facts:

1) Last year Alissa McKaig finished 9th overall in 21:07; this year was not her day as she was 50th in 21:22.

2) Sarah Price was 137th last year and 82nd this year.

3) Nicole Bush was only 3 seconds behind the eventual winner—Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech—at the 2K mark, only 20 seconds behind her at the 4K mark and 43 seconds behind her at the end. More strength training, increased confidence from this year's showing, and increased experience and maturity can close the gap to an individual national championship considerably.

Clearly, Nicole Bush must now be considered among the emerging elite middle distance runners nationally, and a prospect for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

For the record, Stanford won the 2007 NCAA women's title followed by Oregon, Florida State and Arizona State. With their 5th place finish, Michigan State's women left Big Ten champion Minnesota (12th) and Great Lakes Regional runner-up Michigan (21st) in the dust.

The Spartan men's team, which finished 17th at last year's NCAA Championships, did not quality for this year's final run. Their season ended with the Great Lakes Regional Championships and a 6th place finish behind Michigan and Wisconsin (which tied for 1st), Notre Dame, Indiana and Ohio State. Sophomore Max Goldak led Michigan State with a 23rd place finish.

The Spartan men ran well as a pack (about a 64 second spread between the 1st and 5th runners) but not fast enough to push their way to NCAA qualification.

The Spartan women refused to run behind by successfully defending their Great Lakes Regional title, besting Michigan by 3 points led by Nicole Bush's runner-up finish. All five Spartan scorers were among the top 25 finishes, a precursor to their outstanding NCAA performance.

For the record, Michigan State's women were 2nd at the 2007 Big Ten Conference finals, barely nipped by Minnesota by a single point. This kind of finish underscores the importance of all 7 runners on the team, not just the first 5 finishers who figure in the team scoring. When a team's 6th and 7th place runners finish ahead of another team's 5th scorer, the impact is more than significant.

The men placed well out of the money at the Big Ten finals, finishing 7th. They run well in a pack but either the entire pack has to get faster or someone needs to separate from the pack and become the leader, pulling the others along faster. The speed of the group benefits from the speed of the leader.

The Wisconsin Badgers won the men's 2007 Big Ten title for the 9th consecutive year by placing their first 5 finishers among the top 15. You read it right, 9 consecutive titles; Wisconsin did it by recruiting winners. They have created a winning environment that attracts successful prep runners. Period, end of story.

(Editor's Note: This is Part 1 of a 2-Part Article.)

Read my other articles on Michigan State University runners, including "Walt Drenth Becomes Director of MSU's Cross-Country and Track & field Programs", "Meet Michigan State's Newest Dynamo: Associate Head Coach Rita Arndt-Molis" and "What Makes a Person Want to Run and Why Few Will Ever Know the Joy of Running".

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.

Meet Michigan State's Newest Dynamo - Associate Head Coach Rita Arndt-Molis

2007-12-28T22:03:00.000-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

During the changing of the guard for Michigan State University's cross-country and track & field programs, Rita Arndt-Molis was named Associate Head Coach following Walt Drenth's appointment as director of the programs.

Arndt-Molis will coach both men and women middle-distance and distance runners in both cross-country and track. She spent her first two years as head coach of the women's cross-country team and as an assistant coach in track and field.

Her impact was immediate. The 2004 cross-country team was 14th at the NCAA National Championships, led by All-American Danette Doetzel's 12th place finish. The women were also 3rd at the Great Lakes Regional Championships and tied with Illinois as runners-up in the Big Ten Championships.

Arndt-Molis provided the leadership, encouragement and motivation to lead her runners to success in both competition and in the classroom. Her 2004 cross-country team recorded a team GPA of 3.52 to earn Academic All-American recognition.

The 2005 track team set a school-record 11:29.69 in the distance medley relay and was runner-up at the Big Ten Indoor Championships.

Arndt-Molis guided the 2005 cross-country team to its 5th consecutive trip to the NCAA National Championships where the Spartans were 30th. Before qualifying for the nationals, the team finished 5th at the Great Lakes Regional Championships. The team's overall 3.61 GPA earned them Academic All-American recognition.

The 2006 track team finished 4th at the Great Lakes Regional Championships with 4 runners—Nicole Bush, Emily Adams, Michelle Rafferty and Aimee Keenan—qualifying for the NCAA National Championships. Bush was 5th in the 3000-meter run at the nationals in a school-record 10:01.04, and she became an All-American with the 5th fastest 3000-meter time in the nation.

Prior to Michigan State, Arndt-Molis spent two seasons as an assistant coach for cross-country and track with the University of South Florida Bulls, where she helped develop 43 all-conference athletes, 10 all-regional performers and 3 NCAA qualifiers.

The personable and energetic Arndt-Molis coached up Christa Benton, South Florida's first-ever All-American in cross-country, and Andrew Smith, the Bulls' first conference men's cross-county champion. In track, the men's 4x800 relay team set a school record. Arndt-Molis became part of the 2003 Conference USA Coaching Staff of the Year.

Like Walt Drenth, Rita Arndt-Molis had tremendous coaching success prior to ever arriving on the Michigan State University campus.

Arndt-Molis ran for the Spartans' cross-country and track teams for 2 years before finishing her collegiate career at South Florida, where she became a 6-time NCAA qualifier, 3-time Academic All-American and helped the Bulls' to their first-ever Conference USA Championship, and first-ever berth to the NCAA Championships in 1998.

In her 5-year cross-country and track & field coaching career, Rita Arndt-Molis has directly helped create:

Sixty All-Conference athletes, 4 individual Conference champions, 1 Conference championship team, 24 All-Regional athletes, 4 Academic All-American teams, 2 Academic All-American individuals, 2 NCAA Cross-Country Championship team qualifiers, 11 NCAA Regional qualifiers, and 3 All-Americans.

You could call Rita Arndt-Molis personable, spunky, energetic, positive or upbeat, but the best name to call her is winner. She is a winner first, last and always, and Michigan State University and its athletes benefit from it every day she is coaching the green and white.

Read my 4-Part series on Mead Mania: "The Golden Era of Prep Distance Running in Washington – Part 1", "Pat Tyson's Arrival Starts a Run of 9 Consecutive Titles – Part 2", "How About a State X-Country Title Where the First 3 Finishers Are Your Runners – Part 3" and "2 Mead Runners Crack 9 Minutes at the State 3200 Meter Championships – Part 4".

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.

Walt Drenth Becomes Director of MSU's Cross-Country and Track & Field Programs - Spartans Go With a Winner

2007-12-26T21:25:00.001-08:00

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

Michigan State University's cross-county and track & field programs have taken a really positive step forward with the appointment of Walt Drenth as the director.

Just as Tom Izzo has led the Spartan basketball program back to national prominence, and new first-year coach Mark Dantonio has already dramatically improved Michigan State's football fortunes with a bowl appearance, Walt Drenth will create a winning tradition among Spartan runners.

Drenth arrived on campus as a proven winner about to become a more successful winner at Michigan State. He had spent 7 years as Arizona State's head cross-country coach, turning a failing team into one of the premier performers in the West.

When he arrived at Arizona State, neither of the men or women cross-country runners had ever made a team appearance at the nationals nor earned a national ranking. The women had never even produced one All-American runner.

Under Drenth's leadership, encouragement and motivation, the Arizona State women have been to the NCAA Championships 5 years in a row, including a school-record 6th place finish. They have also been two-time regional runners-up, 3-time Pac 10 runners-up, posted a program-best No. 3 national ranking, and produced a woman All American 4 years in a row.

The Arizona State men made their first appearance at the nationals, were nationally ranked, and logged a school-record 3rd place finish at the regionals. Drenth also made a difference by coaching the distance runners in track as they produced 12 school records in distance events and 14 became All-Americans.

Not too shabby considering that there are 299 NCAA Division 1 Men's Cross-Country programs at last count.

None of this was new to Walt Drenth, who led the College of William & Mary to 5 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) cross-country titles and 2 track and field titles in 6 years, and was named CAA Cross-Country Coach of the Year 5 times. William & Mary was also a District II champion in cross-country and Drenth was District II Coach of the Year twice. His William & Mary track teams won 2 CAA titles and he tutored 5 All-American runners.

Prior to coaching at William & Mary, Drenth was the head cross-country and assistant track and field coach at his alma mater, Central Michigan University. He won a District IV title there and was named District IV Coach of the Year. Drenth also won 2 Mid-American Conference titles and was named MAC Coach of the Year twice.

In short, Drenth has won team titles and produced individual champions at every coaching stop in his 20-plus-year career. He will not be stepping up at Michigan State as much as stepping up Michigan State's running programs because winners win and losers don't.

In examining Michigan State's 2007 roster of men and women runners, I find that 35 of the 45 runners (77%) are from Michigan. Rule 1 is to dominate recruiting in your state. Do not let good runners get away to other schools and beat you. This is doubly important for Drenth because among the 50 states, Michigan has the 8th largest population.

An insider has told me that Drenth does not play psychologist with his athletes. In other words, his program is performance-based. I really like Drenth's approach. Apparently he does not hand out scholarships like candy. Talking a good game will get you nowhere; you must perform to reap any rewards for your effort.

It does not automatically follow that a state champion distance runner in high school will enjoy the same success level at college. College races are longer, the competition is much better, and the academic and social adjustments at college level are more difficult.

You must have some talent to succeed at a higher level. You must be willing to work hard by training consistently and effectively. You must have personal growth emotionally to withstand the ups and downs of performance and improvement. You must also develop a mental toughness to separate yourself from the pack.

A runner or athlete who wants to be a champion must announce himself or herself by separating from the lead pack. There is a reason why Steve Prefontaine was a front runner. Trust me when I say it was not because he planned on losing the race.

Getting to the top is not so much about having the will to win—everyone wants to win—but having the will to prepare to win. Preparation is everything that will is not. Having the will to win is a want, but preparing to win is a need. What is opportunity without preparedness? Nothing but an opportunity wasted.

It is only when preparedness meets opportunity head on that an explosion happens and something exciting takes place. Look for an explosion of running success at Michigan State University as Walt Drenth is prepared to make it happen.

Editor's Note: Read my 5-Part series on Running: "Wheat Products and Sugar Can Be the 'Kiss of Death' When Trying to Lose Weight – Part 1", "How Lectins (Proteins in Foods) Are Very Negative in O Positive Blood Types – Part 2", Gluten in Wheat Products Bind to the Small Intestine Lining and Turn to Fat – Part 3", "How Popular Running Magazines Are Constantly Giving Very Poor Diet Advice – Part 4" and "There Is an Inescapable Correlation Between Weight and Cardiovascular Efficiency – Part 5".

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
Discover 140 Movie Reviews, 87 Sports Articles, 57 Articles on Lessons in Life, 18 Jobs and Careers Articles, 26 Internet Marketing Articles, 44 News and Comment Articles (372 total articles) plus 629 Famous Quotes.