Dave Sez

Tom O'Brien To UNC?

David Glenn has a post up today with the details that he knows about the early stages of the UNC coaching search. The most interesting section is the one where he talks about the coaches who have initiated contact with Carolina. Two names stood out on that list - Rich Rodriguez, who talked about the Carolina job in a puzzling press conference yesterday and Boston College coach Tom O'Brien.

Rodriguez is intriguing simply because he is a hot name and would be such a great get. I mean, the man is coaching the #3 team in the country right now!

O'Brien is a different story altogether. While he's not as sexy as Rodriguez, he has established himself as a very good coach and he's built a very solid program. It would be highly unusual, especially in the new ACC for a head coach to leave one program for another. It would be especially strange if he were leaving one of the good programs. I think folks would understand if a coach jumped from Wake Forest or Duke to one of the power schools, but Boston College to UNC?

Why would O'Brien consider such a move?

The most plausible explanation is that he doesn't really want the job at all. What he wants is the appearance that he could get the job. Being sought after gives you leverage. Leverage gets you a raise. It's a standard part of the coaching game these days. Frank Beamer used the UNC job (intentionally or not) to get a huge bump at Virginia Tech. NC State earned raises for about half of the Division I basketball coaches in the country last year with their wide-ranging coach search. O'Brien may just be looking to line his pockets a bit with some of that extra cash the school picked up by jumping to the ACC.

Another possibility is that O'Brien feels that he's done as much as he can at BC. Maybe he's a bit tired of the job and wants a new challenge. Similarly, he may worry that the fans feel the same way. He's certainly improved the program, but like a shark, fans always want their team moving forward. Have a losing record? The fans want to get to .500. .500? The fans want a bowl. Getting to bowls? The fans now want conference and national championships. O'Brien has BC consistently getting to pretty good bowls and on the fringes of the conference championship race. Maybe he's worried that his efforts are now being taken for granted. A move to a new school would lower the bar and allow him to keep doing what he's doing, but be appreciated more for it.

The only other explanation I can think of is that maybe O'Brien honestly feels that he has a better chance at going to the next level - national prominence - at UNC. If so, that's a tough argument. As I've debated before, I believe that UNC is a first-tier national athletic program with the potential to be great at any sport. They have the resources, support and reputation. On the flip side, with Duke, Wake Forest, NC State and East Carolina around, there is a ton of competition for local talent. Sure, the northeast may not have the athletes that the southern states do, but BC doesn't have too many schools to fight with for the players that are there. Recruiting is fertile, but extremely competitive down south. I think someone could turn UNC into a consistent power - Mack Brown was on his way there - but it won't be easy. If that's what O'Brien is thinking he can accomplish, he might want to reconsider. The grass isn't always greener.

ACC Roundup - 10/30/06

Boston College - The Eagles are very quietly having an outstanding season. With all the turmoil in Miami, Tallahassee, Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Charlottesville, it seems like BC's 7-1 record just isn't interesting enough. Or maybe it's because they are - you know - in Boston. Either way, BC's win down in Tally was easily their most impressive and most important ACC win yet. The Atlantic division is all jammed up with three teams at 3-1 and Clemson at 4-2 and several game left between those teams. It should be a hell of a finish. Hopefully we can start to focus on that and not as much on the flailing and failing teams (although it's hard to avoid watching a car wreck).

Clemson - That loss in Blacksburg just seemed so predictable, didn't it? Clemson was riding high after whipping Georgia Tech on national television and everyone said they were the league's best team. Then they had to go to Lane Stadium on a Thursday night to play a Hokie squad that was angry and looking for a big win. Talk about your trap games.

Still, I didn't expect that the Tigers would have so much trouble running. James Davis definitely didn't look healthy. When he's on, he and CJ Spiller are a ridiculously good tailback tandem. Spiller has the best acceleration I've seen in college since Marshall Faulk. That kid is going to be special.

The Tigers should be able to handle Maryland and NC State at home in their next two games, leaving only South Carolina between them and a 10-win regular season (although any talk of such things should always point out that the prestige of a 10-win season was earned in the days when seasons had eleven games, not twelve.).

Duke - I guess at this point, Duke fans (chuckle) should be happy that the Blue Devils are at least scoring points. And it's pretty amazing that they were in the game late against both Alabama and Miami. But moral victories are really all you can look for with this program. Well, that and the inevitable win over Carolina to end the season.

Florida State - It's a measure of just how dominant the Seminoles were for so long that I just can't get used to them being mediocre. It shouldn't shock me that they lost at home to Boston College and then on the road at Maryland. I mean, what have they done this year that suggested they wouldn't lose those games? But yet, as much as intellectually know they aren't very good, I have a hard time convincing my instincts. It still seems like they should be winning.

That said, even with Wake Forest, Virginia and Western Michigan left on the schedule, all at home, it's not a sure thing that FSU will finish above .500 this year. Every one of those teams could beat them. Oh, and Florida will beat them sideways to end the year.

Georgia Tech - I started watching the Miami game thinking that Reggie Ball might be the worst quarterback in the ACC. Then, on the very first play of the game, he was sacked and fumbled and Miami picked it up for a touchdown. 25 seconds into the game - a game where the Yellow Jackets received the kickoff - and Georgia Tech was down 7-0. Needless to say, I felt vindicated in my assessment of Ball.

Then, over then next 59.5 minutes, he proved me wrong. Sort of. He and the rest of the Jackets never really looked spectacular, but they quickly stopped Miami's momentum and grinded out a nice 30-23 win. Maybe that said more about the Hurricanes than the Yellow Jackets, but either way, Tech proved (again) that they are one of the 3-4 best teams in the conference. And I guess Reggie Ball isn't really that bad.

Maryland - See, here's why I can't get my mind around this team. For some reason, their games are either never on here or I've just missed them, so that the only game I've seen them play was that disaster against West Virginia where they looked like a bad Division III team. Well, now the Terps are 6-2 with three straight conference wins. They staged a big comeback against Virginia, held off a big comeback from NC State and then beat Florida State last weekend. The Terps must be pretty good, right? They better be, because their last four games are against Clemson, Miami, BC and Wake. I have a hunch that they won't win more than one of those games.

Miami - As I wrote above, Miami scored a defensive touchdown just seconds into their game against Georgia Tech. A few minutes later, they forced the Jackets to punt and then drove down for a field goal. Now, back in the day - oh, like two years ago - a Hurricane start like that meant a blowout. They 'Canes would be jacked up, the other team would be intimidated and basically the game would be over. Not anymore. That alone probably explains better than anything why Miami fans are howling about Larry Coker's performance.

North Carolina - I'm going to change things up and write something positive about the Tar Heels who managed to not rise up and support their coach with a home win the week after he was fired (well, now I will write something positive). I love watching Ronnie McGill run. That dude is a football player. He's not terribly fast and he doesn't have a lot of moves, but you better hit him with two or three guys or he's not going down. I have to chuckle every time I see him dragging two or three clinging defenders for a few extra yards. If the rest of the team had just half of his toughness (and about twice his endurance, McGill seems to tire too easily) they'd have actually won some games this year.

NC State - Here's the thing with State (and I know, I'm hardly the first to critique their offense) - they need to rethink what they are doing when they have the ball. For most of the year, they've sucked on offense, yet somehow they've managed to put together several late charges as well as an impressive full game against Florida State. They have two outstanding running backs, a very good group of receivers and a serviceable quarterback. So why are they failing? Watch for just a few minutes and you'll see. They're constantly dinking and dunking the ball around, throwing screens, running sweeps and short outs and it's just not working. Yet when they go vertical, their receivers make plays and generate yardage! So why not go to an old-style pro offense? Pound the ball inside the tackles with their two studs and then when the defense puts eight men in the box, throw it over the top. Sure, they'll suffer through some three and outs, but give those backs, especially Andre Brown, enough runs and they'll eventually bust some big ones (and to me, Brown looks better between the tackles anyway). Play the whole game with the game plan you use when you're behind. Sure, Daniel Evans will throw some picks, but hell, he does anyway! At least this way you'll score some points to counterbalance the slew of mistakes your offense is sure to make (because changing the play calling isn't going to make them more disciplined) and maybe those mistakes will happen on your opponent's side of the field.

Virginia - I said it in the last roundup, Al Groh and his staff is doing a very good job with this team and their performance is just getting better and better. The offense is still very conservative, but they are making fewer and fewer mistakes and therefore holding the ball longer. That has allowed their excellent defense to stay fresher throughout the game and so they can play their field position battle for the whole four quarters. While this Cavalier squad isn't going to win any titles or awards, it certainly has been fun to see them grow up and improve.

All that said, it could be a tough last three games. UVA closes out with Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech, with only Miami at home. Sure all three of those programs are down this year, but if Virginia wins even one of those games, it will be a notable accomplishment.

Virginia Tech - There they are! I've been looking for the Hokies all season. I hadn't seen them until I watched the Thursday night game last week. The team that throttled Clemson for 60 minutes looked much more like the Beamer squad I'm used to seeing than the disjointed, mistake-prone group that's been wearing maroon all year. The question is, was that just because it was a TV game at home against a ranked foe? Can they keep that up? If so, all four of their remaining games are winnable and the Hokies could turn this rebuilding season into a 10-2 masterpiece and possibly take another crack at an ACC title.

Wake Forest - Go Deacs! Sure, my Cavaliers are playing better these days, but I'm not hopping off the Wake Forest bandwagon. No sir. It wasn't pretty, but that win in Chapel Hill against and emotional Tar Heel team was a big one. If Wake is going to keep this dream season up, they needed to get that W headed into this final stretch of games. The last four include three against foes with a combined 19-5 record, and that doesn't even include a road game in Tallahassee!

Can Wake keep it up against the better teams in the league? I think so. I certainly hope so. A 2-2 split would be acceptable to me (obviously real Wake fans would like better, but come on) and would put the Deacs at 9-3 on the season and 5-3 in the conference. That's a hell of a year!

You're Kinda Fired

If it weren't for YouTube, no one would have ever heard this tree fall, as it fell in ESPNU's forest. An announcer, evidently Brian Kinchen, was talking about how you have to use your soft hands to catch a football when he decided to punctuate his lesson be observing that "that's kinda gay."

Whoops? Am I on TV right now? Oh, it's just ESPNU and no one can actually hear me? Whew!

Chris Fowler's Diary

Dear Diary,

Tonight was a tough night. And I really thought things had been getting a lot better with Kirk and the play-by-play job. I try so hard, and Kirk is a nice enough guy most of the time, but sometimes he just makes me feel like I'm two inches tall!

More of that genius can be found here.

I need to remember to read EDMBS more often. I get to that site rarely, but everytime I do I'm impressed. Funny, funny stuff. (More good Chris Fowler (and others) stuff here).

Thanks to StateFansNation for the find.

What Could Have Been

This story has to sting Tar Heels a bit. Six years ago, when Carolina hired John Bunting, Pete Carroll, who has built a dynasty at USC, was available and very interested in the UNC job. Dick Baddour never called him.

Ouch.

In fairness, Carroll was hardly a juicy prospect at the time. Sure, he had been an NFL head coach, but he was fired after floundering in New England. He had never been a college head coach.

But then, John Bunting had never been a head coach at any level.

Oops.

Carolina Going Butch?

Caulton Tudor wrote an article today about how Carolina could conceivably make a strong play for Butch Davis and hire him now instead of waiting. Since Davis isn't currently working, there's nothing stopping him from accepting a job now. If UNC goes after an active coach, they'll probably need to wait until the season is over to gain approval from that coach's athletic director to talk to him (not that that's required, per se, but it's expected these days).

While I get the reasoning, why would Davis go for this? Clearly he's a man who thinks highly of his abilities - I mean he felt that Miami wasn't a big enough stage for him when he ditched a great team to head to the NFL. Wouldn't he want to wait to see if he couldn't land a first tier job, possibly back at the U? On the flip side, there may not be any first tier jobs open this year. Miami is really the most likely opening and even that's not a sure thing.

All that aside, would it really be a good idea for Carolina to go after Davis? For one thing, I have a hard time believing he'd be happy in Chapel Hill. If he is as successful as some folks think he'd be, he'd probably bolt for the first better opportunity he saw. I'd bet that Davis would like another crack at the NFL.

And has he really proven that he's that great of a coach? Can't anyone win at Miami? I'm convinced that they could hire me has a head coach and I could find enough good assistants and great players to go at least 7-5. Davis' records at Miami - 8-3, 9-3, 5-6, 9-3, 9-4 and 11-1. Now they were on probation for a few years there, including that 5-6 debacle, but I'd bet that Miami on probation can still recruit talent about equal to what UNC can land now. The two years after Davis left Coral Gables, Larry Coker went 12-0 and 12-1, missing out on consecutive national championships by just one pass interference call. Sure, those were mostly Davis' players, but does that say good or bad things about Davis that another coach did better with his players? As a point of comparison, the folks in Miami are ready to lynch Coker, but yet he's won more games than Davis did and lost about half as many.

So I don't know, there's no way to know for certain what will happen with the Carolina coaching search, but I bet they don't end up going Butch.

Bad Ad

We've all grown tired of the ever-increasing presence of advertising in our sporting events. First it was signs and then logos on the field/court and now even digitally-superimposed annoyances. But this may be a first, advertising that
actually seriously injures a participant and very nearly seriously affects the outcome of the event - in this case the Chicago Marathon.

But hey, there's no such thing as bad publicity, right?

Who's The Fourth?

I concede that this may not be the most original question in the world. This argument has probably been slobbered about in hundreds of bars and I bet if I Googled it, I'd find at least a dozen blog articles on this very topic. Regardless, the thought popped into my head - God knows why - and I can't get it out.

If there were a Mt. Rushmore for sports figures, who would the four heads be?

Right off the bat, I came up with three no-brainers. It would have to include Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan. All were arguably the best ever in their sports (well, maybe not Ali) and all three were larger than life. Iconic. That's what you need to be to have your face carved 60-feet high in granite - iconic. Simply being great isn't enough.

So who would be the fourth? Wayne Gretzky is one idea, but Mt. Rushmore is American and Gretzky, despite his years playing in the states, is a Canadian who played a Canadian sport. Who else? An all-time-great like Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Jack Nicklaus or Bill Russell? Or an athlete who left his (or her) mark in other ways like Jackie Robinson, Arthur Ashe, Najeh Davenport or Jesse Owens? What about someone who excelled in multiple sports like Jim Thorpe or Babe Didrikson? Would we need to include a football player and who would that be in a sport where individuals are rarely recognizable? Jim Brown? Joe Montana?

I honestly don't know who the best choice would be. If I had to make the call right now, I'd probably go with Tiger Woods for the fourth spot. His accomplishments may not qualify him just yet, but in my lifetime the only other athlete who's been as dominant was Michael Jordan. And Woods is still going strong.

So who would you pick? Who are your four? And no, you can't pick a damn horse.

UNC Punting Bunting

Give Dick Baddour credit, he didn't make John Bunting suffer any more than he had to. After UNC's crushing 23-0 loss on national television to the mediocre Virginia Cavaliers, it was no longer a question of if but of when Bunting would be let go. By doing it now, Bunting might just get a sympathy win when his team steps up in his honor. I've said it before, and I'll repeat it now - UNC will beat State and they'll do it for their coach. Then they'll remember who they are and who's coaching them and they'll lose to Duke.

But back to Big John. Caulton Tudor has a nice (well, "nice" if you aren't a member of John Bunting's family) piece running down some reasons why and how Bunting failed.

Now comes the fun part, guessing who the next Tar Heel coach will be. I think Baddour learned his lesson - picking a guy just because he's an alumnus is a bad idea. Being an alum is nice, but in the long run it's completely irrelevant. Bear Bryant didn't go to Alabama, Bobby Bowden didn't attend Florida State, Mike Krzyzewski didn't go to Duke and Dean Smith graduated from Kansas. Instead, Baddour needs to find a guy who's been a head coach for a while, had been very successful and is ready to step up to a bigger program. No, UNC is not a major football program but they are big name overall in college athletics. The ingredients are there to be successful.

The N&O has a preliminary list of potential candidates (see the sidebar here). I'm guessing they they made this list up themselves without any inside sources to Baddour's list. Of the N&O's list, I'd say that Bobby Petrino would be the #1 candidate if they can land him. The one concern would be whether he could deal (or would want to deal) with the higher academic standards in the ACC and at UNC. At Louisville, he can pretty much bring in anyone he wants.

A more realistic get might be Paul Johnson of Navy, but I think he'd be a bad choice. He's won at Navy by basically running an option attack that is successful in part because it's so rare these days. That's not going to work at a big-time program, because you'll have a hard time landing top-flight quarterbacks and receivers. Also if conference coaches see it every year, they'll figure it out quickly. I'd stay away from Johnson.

Whoever UNC goes after and gets, it should make for a very interesting soap opera over the next few months. I can't wait to watch.

p.s. I'm an idiot. Bear Bryant did go to the University of Alabama. I got a bit overzealous there. You can substitute Tom Osborne if you'd like or maybe Ara Parseghian, Bobby Knight or John Wooden.

Party Over

Do you guys remember Dave Stewart, the former MLB pitcher, most famously of the A's? He was a bad ass, one of my favorite players at the time.

These days, Stew is doing some online video work with a website called NBX.com. In this clip, he tells an awesome story about how former Texas Rangers manager Doug Rader ended a party with Rangers players. Did Rader tell the guys to wind it down because they had a game the next day? Or maybe steal the keg? Nope. Skip decided to do it the Najeh Davenport way - he took a dump in the corner of the room. In front of everyone.

Gotta say I haven't seen that move. I've seen a lot of people do stupid, drunk things at party, but crapping in the corner pretty much one-ups any of my stories.

Thanks to the Sports Frog for that find.

BTW, this reminds me of my favorite didn't-really-happen headline from earlier this year when the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Davenport because they weren't getting enough production from backup running back Deuce Staley : "Steelers Sign Najeh Davenport, May Drop Deuce." (This real headline was pretty decent though.)

Virginia! North Carolina! ESPN! Be There!

Wanna bet that this isn't exactly what the suits at ESPN had in mind when they contracted with the ACC to show a bunch of Thursday night games? 2-5 Virginia hosting 1-5 UNC? Between them, the Cavaliers and Tar Heels have beaten two 1-A teams and lost to nearly every direction, West(ern Michigan), East( Carolina) and South( Florida).

The most intriguing aspect of the game is the status of each coach. Both are under a ton of fire from fans but only Bunting is in real danger of losing his job. As Dave Glenn has pointed out a couple of times on the radio, it would only cost UNC about $1M to let Bunting go at this point, which is probably chump change compared to the money they'd make with a competitive program.

Al Groh was lucky enough to have done well in his first few years and have a sucker for an AD. Repeating the mistake they made with Pete Gillen, UVA signed Groh to an excessively long contract that makes his buyout untenable at this point. He'll be back for at least one more year to try to get things going in the right direction again.

So other than to laugh at just how bad the teams are, why should you watch this game? How about this one - and this really only applies to fans of either - this is probably the worst team you're going to play for the rest of the year (Duke excepted). Someone has to win this game!

Thank You John Swofford

Over the years, I don't think I've worked hard enough to express my thanks to John Swofford and his visionary leadership of the ACC.  Why, a few years ago, the ACC would never have been associated with this sort of excellence.

We're all literally stomping up and down and swinging our arms with excitement over the new ACC. It's been a riot.

Bravo, Mr. Swofford, bravo.

Let's Go Wake!

Climb aboard everyone, it's time for the Wake Forest bandwagon to get rolling! There's room for everyone, so don't be shy. Come on, it's fun!

I don't care which ACC team you root for, you need to make Wake your second favorite team right now. Hell, if you pull for UNC, UVA or Duke, you can even make the Deacons your number one choice this season. You have my permission! Trust me, it'll be good for your health. It's not like your team deserves your adulation.

If you don't understand why I'm saying this, you need to watch Wake Forest play. This is a team full of second-rate football players, guys the big programs didn't want. When kicker Sam Swank was asked about this after the game, he mentioned that yeah, some other schools wanted them, but they'd have to walk-on. For the record, Swank nailed three (three!) 50-plus yard field goals in the Deacons' road win over NC State today. And he had a 49-yarder doink off the upright (about two-thirds of the way up, mind you - kid's got a leg!).

Coach Jim Grobe has taken this squad full of misfit toys and forged them into a hell of a football team. After today's win over hot NC State, Wake is now 6-1. Their one loss came last week to the ACC's best team, Clemson and that was pretty much only because of one miraculous play in the Tigers' favor. It's perfectly reasonably to say that Wake should be 7-0 at this point.

The thing is, most times when a lesser program makes a Cinderella run, they do it with a combination of trickery and extreme good fortune. Not this team. They line up run the ball right down your damn throat. Sure, they'll throw some misdirection at you, but they'll also smack you in the face. If they had worn Clemson or Penn State uniforms today, no one would have noticed the difference.

And good luck? Please. Wake's only big name player is quarterback Benjamin "don't call me Ben" Mauk and he was lost for the season in the first game. Running back Micah Andrews was leading the ACC in rushing before blowing out his knee in game three. Starting left tackle, possibly the second most critical position on the team, Arby Jones is also gone for the season. Wake is doing this with backups!

Wake's execution is nearly flawless. When Florida State or Miami run a reverse, it works because they get the ball into the hands of a high school state champion sprinter. When the Deacons run a reverse (like they did over and over against the confused Wolfpack today), it works because they run it perfectly. The receivers seal a lane and quarterback Riley Skinner gets out there a sticks somebody. It's hard to watch that and not be impressed. I think even the dejected Wolfpack faithful would agree that the team that beat them today (and they did beat NC State) was worthy of everyone's respect and admiration.

So climb aboard. Join the Deacon nation. ACC fans have to find something good about this year.

The Rocky Balboa of English Football

Grant Wahl has an outstanding article in this week's Sports Illustrated about Jay DeMerit, an American playing in the English Premiere League. If you're thinking to yourself "DeMeritt? I've never heard of him," there's a good reason. He's never played for a US team at any level. He played his college soccer at Illinois-Chicago. He wasn't drafted and never played in the MLS. He started out playing in the ninth-division in England and worked his way up.

I don't want to write too much about this, because Wahl did such a good job with the article and anything else I say can only hurt. It's an incredible story and you'll thank me for reading it. I just finished and I'm so pumped up right now I'm ready to go run some laps and pump some iron!

Bunting Beats Amato!

Remember last summer when Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated ranked the worst college football coaches in the country and put our lovable Chuck Amato at #1?  Well, times have changed and so have Mandel's rankings.  Amato is officially off the Mandel Hot Seat and he was replaced by none other than arch-rival John Bunting. I wonder what Mandel will do later this year when UNC pulls off another upset against State?



Hat tip to State Fans Nation for the find.

Thank God For Sideline Reporters

So I'm watching the Virginia Tech - Boston College game tonight, amazed at just how much the Hokies were screwing up. They brought to mind that Dave Chapell skit - Man, the Hokies are f****ing up! But my thoughts on that topic were completely diverted by a second-half piece of reporting by sideline cupcake Erin Andrews. Now, normally Ms. Andrews achieves this sort of attention-grabbing by simply, well, being there. She's a fine looking lady! But no, this time it was her unforgettable exchange with the parents of BC walk-on kicker Steve Aponavicius (a very cool story by the way. The dude's never played a single game of college or high school football and there he was handling the Eagles' kicking duties in a big conference game on national TV).

The exchange went like this (I'll insert my comments where I feel some snark is warranted):

Andrews: Steve Aponavicius has been the story tonight. The walk-on kicker getting his start and what a night he's had. Two PATs, one field goal [uh oh, we're already in trouble. She has it exactly backwards, which is surprising since he kicked his second FG just seconds earlier to give BC 13 points. But hey, we all make mistakes. Let's go on.] and like Kirk Herbstreit said, some great kickoffs [I'll let this one go as a difference of opinion, but to me, landing balls on the 12 yardline isn't terribly great, but hey Kirk said it, not Erin, right?]. Mom and Dad joining me right now. I know you drove down from Pennsylvania tonight [evidently they went the long way to Boston] What was your nerves like in the car? [Oh boy. Well, it is an irregular verb. And hey, our President has a hard time with that one too, and you know, he's the President!] How were you doing in the car tonight?

Mom and Dad: some sort of muttering ...

Andrews: And Dad, I know your son had played some football before, [wait a minute! We've been hearing over and over tonight about how this is his first organized game ever! Is she talking about pick-up two-hand touch in the neighborhood cul-de-sac?] but how are you doing pregame? [That twist of tense just confused me. Evidently, I wasn't the only one, as Mr. Aponavicius seemed to have no idea how to answer her. He was just silent for seconds before muttering something.]

Dad: muttering

Andrews: (later) The team has nicknamed your son Sid Vicious. Do you have any idea who that is?

Mom: No

Dad: something about how he'd heard the name a long time ago

[Go on Erin - fill them in. Just who is this Sid Vicious that all the kids are talking about?]

Andrews: Punk rock band.

So, there you have it. Sid Vicious is a punk rock band and Erin Andrews is an idiot.

But in her defense ...

ACC Roundup - 10/12

There are really only two games of much note this weekend - Virginia Tech at Boston College tonight and Wake Forest visiting NC State on Saturday. Both games could be critical in deciding who will play in the ACC Championship at the end of the year. How weird is it that I'm writing that and neither game involves a team from Florida, yet Wake Forest is involved. Not only that, but the two best ACC teams not involved in those games are Clemson and Georgia Tech. I guess that explains why coaching staffs at both Miami and Florida State are doing their best not to listen to the radio or read the paper much these days.

Boston College - Tonight's ESPN game against the Hokies might be the fulcrum on which the good vs. very good battle swings for BC. It seems like they have that battle every year, doesn't it? And they always teeter down on the good side, don't they? Hokies by a touchdown.

Clemson - What, tonight's game against Temple isn't on ESPN? What an outrage. I guess technically this is a "road" game for the Tiggers, since it's in Charlotte. How many Owl fans will make that trip, do you think?

Duke - The Blue Devils led Alabama 14-10 at the half in Tuscaloosa. The Blue Devils led Alabama 14-10 at the half in Tuscaloosa. The Blue Devils led Alabama 14-10 at the half in Tuscaloosa! That has to be the highlight of the year for this Duke team, doesn't it (well, until they beat UNC at the end of the year)? They haven't been that close to a big win since the year Ted Roof took over and they inexplicably played Tennessee close in Knoxville. Maybe Duke should join the SEC when the ACC kicks them out.

Florida State - The Seminoles didn't just lose to NC State last week, they got whupped. In the second half, the Wolfpack turned into the Noles-of-old, dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and getting big plays out of both their running and passing games. Meanwhile, the real Seminoles seemed to just wince and cover up. It's like they were resigned to the beating they were taking. It was confusing, especially when you consider that just a few weeks earlier that same Wolfpack squad had been spanked by a Conference USA squad.

Things get easier for FSU this week when they take on Duke, but no margin of victory can be big enough to wash out the taste of back-to-back ACC losses.

Georgia Tech - After squeaking by Maryland, the Jackets jumped five spots in the AP poll this week, from 18 to 13. Is that really justified? Are they really that good? Sorry, I'm still not sold. I guess 13 isn't an unfair ranking, but I'm still not convinced that this team is really that great. They had a nice comeback against the Terps, but does that say good or bad things about them? Should they have been down to that team at home in the fourth quarter?

GT is off this week and then has a three-week stretch that will answer my questions - at Clemson, Miami and then at NC State. If Tech can win two or three of those, then I'll agree that they're a top-fifteen caliber team.

Maryland - I mentioned last week that I just didn't know what to think of the Terps. One week later and I still don't know for sure. They probably aren't as terrible as they looked against West Virginia, but that's the only time I've actually seen them play, so that's all I have to go on. They put themselves in position to win that game in Atlanta last weekend, so they must be pretty decent. If they are actually pretty good, they'll beat Virginia by 10 or more this weekend in Charlottesville.

Miami - They did what they needed to do against UNC. Sure, their fans would have liked a blowout, but they had to settle for a solid and safe win. The Heels were never in the game in the second half.

Here's what I wondered while watching that game. I know that Frank Coker is under all kinds of pressure and there are fans flying hateful anti-Coker banners above the Orange Bowl during games, but if there's really that much passion about Hurricane football, where are these people hiding? There couldn't have been more than about 15,000 people in that stadium. Now I know UNC is no power, but they are a marquee name and it was a conference game. Hell, Wake Forest pulls better crowds than that. That school and its fan base confuse me.

North Carolina - I think John Bunting is down to one or maybe two chances to save his job. He absolutely needs to beat NC State and he probably needs to knock off Notre Dame as well. If they don't win those two, they probably aren't going to finish with more than three victories this year, and for a school with UNC's advantages, that's ridiculous. I expect that a large chunk of the Ram's Club is secretly hoping that the Heels don't pull off any upsets this year. Just end it.

NC State - I love Chuck Amato. I love the way his career has gone. Has any coach or program ever been through so many highs and lows? You just know that that the Pack will follow up their back-to-back wins over ranked teams (following their back-to-back losses to small-time programs) with a loss at home to Wake. It has to go that way, doesn't it?

As for Daniel Evans, you can add me to the list that was impressed with the way he handled himself last Thursday. He never looked rattled against Florida State's pressure. That said, his receivers bailed him out A LOT in that game. I'm not sure I've ever seen so many great catches in one game. It's not going to be like that every week.

Virginia - Sigh. I covered a lot of my thoughts on the Cavaliers here. The most disappointing thing about UVA's big road loss to East Carolina? That it wasn't even an upset. The best thing about it? I couldn't see it on TV.

The next three weeks see Maryland, UNC and State visiting Charlottesville. Maybe it's just the eternal optimist in me, but those all look like winnable games. If the many Cavalier youngsters somehow figure things out, they could actually right the ship in this stretch. Of course, even if they do, they finish up at FSU, home against Miami and then at Virginia Tech. It's not going to be pretty.

Virginia Tech - The Hokies have a had a shaky start to the season, but tonight could be the start of their climb back to the top. It might be a bit tougher after their Hyman was busted last week, but I have a hunch they'll be up to the task.

Wake Forest - The Deacons were thisclose to having a really special start to the season. 5-0 and with number 15 Clemson in the house, the Deacs led 17-3 through three quarters. The first play of the fourth was a field goal attempt that would put them up by three touchdowns. Given how they had shut the Tigers down, that would have been a nearly insurmountable lead. But it didn't work out that way. The holder bobbled the snap and then went all Garo Yepremian on us. He tried to run, got crushed and coughed the ball up. Clemson linebacker Gaines Adams grabbed it out of the air and took it all the way for Clemson's first touchdown. Just like that, a ten point play. Wake Forest followed that up with a comical sequence of turnovers and just like that, their big win became a crushing loss.

So how will Wake respond this week? Will that one play cost them two games or will they remember the execution that put them in that situation and take out their frustration on a cocky Wolfpack squad? It's hard to say for sure. Jim Grobe always gets his teams prepared, but they've had a bad habit over the years of making critical mistakes at bad times. I'm not sure what's going to happen (despite what I wrote above), but I'm really interested to see how it plays out. I really think this is a game where anything could happen. Either team could win in a blowout or it could be a five-overtime thriller.

Football Numbers

Today's Dave Sez entry is brought to you by the number 10.  Ten.  The percentage of the reduction in the number of plays and points in college football this year.

That's one of many interesting numbers you'll find when you click here and read this excellent post over at StateFans Nation.  Be sure to click on the various links in their article - they'll take you to several other posts and sites containing interesting college football stats.  One site in particular that I'd never seen is this beauty - cfbstats.com. Go check that bad boy out and get back to me in an hour or so when you've had your fill.

OK, now that you're back, we can get back to our number of the day - ten. I waited a while to pass judgment on the new college timing rules, specifically the one that stipulates that the clock will start as soon as the ball is set after changes of possession. Many astute folks ripped this rule as soon as they learned of it, but I'm not that clever. I didn't really get it until I saw it in action. Even then, I decided that I'd wait a few weeks to see what I think. Well, now I know for sure - it sucks. As the numbers linked to above show, the new rule that was supposed to speed games up basically chopped 10% off of the true length of games - not the actual time between the beginning and end of the game (by all reports, that number hasn't really changed much), but the total number of plays in a game. Not only that, but some of the plays we do get, the ones that should be the most exciting, are botched because teams don't have time to get set and run a proper play late in a close game.

What's most obnoxious about this to me is the ridiculous claim that this is being done to help fans, yet they made no effort whatsoever to trim time during halftime, the quarter breaks or during the 483 TV timeouts we have to sit through. God forbid we only watch 40 Geico commercials instead of 47 during a typical game. So instead, we get less football and a higher commercial-to-football ratio. Thanks, NCAA. Good work as always.

ACC Roundup - 10/6/2006

I haven't done one of these things for two weeks now (damn job!), so I've got so many thoughts that I just can't write them all. I'm no Bill Simmons; I can't crank out 10,000 word entries. Hell, I think I could write 5,000 on NC State alone, but I'll go ahead and see if I can contain myself enough that I can get this finished today.

Boston College - With a bye tomorrow and the Maine game last week, the Eagles will have plenty of time to think about how they screwed up that NC State game. BC had no business blowing that game. About a half dozen things needed to go wrong in the last minute-and-a-half and every one did. At first, I thought that Jim O'Brien made a huge mistake going for that fourth down, but after further reflection, I changed my mind. Convert that one play and the game's over. Even if they didn't get it, they were still in very good shape. The two key mistakes were going with such a predictable play and not running the play clock all the way down to 1 before hiking the ball (my apologies if I'm wrong here. I'm just going on what I remember the announcers saying at the time). Those seconds were absolutely critical at that point. Still, even giving the ball back to State should have been OK. It wasn't. And now BC has to avoid losing at home to an angry Virginia Tech team on national TV. They head to Tallahassee the next weekend. I think it's fair to say that their game against the Hokies could make or break the BC season.

Clemson - Back in the day, before Florida State joined the ACC, Clemson ran things. They won the league most years and put occasional whippings on pretty much every team in the league every few years. The Seminoles changed all that. The 'Noles came in and not only knocked the king off his throne, but bedded down with his wife (and daughter), ate his food and killed his dog. FSU dominated the ACC in a way that even Clemson never did. At the same time, the Tigers were starting to lose to nearly everybody. Not only were they no longer #1, they weren't #2 either. And that's what made their last two ACC games so satisfying to the Tiger faithful. First Clemson went down and smacked around Florida State in their own house, and then they came home and put a woodshed job on one of the ACC's historically premier programs, UNC. It was like old times in Death Valley.

The Tigers have to hope they can keep the clock turned back to the 80s this weekend when they play at Wake Forest. Recent history between the two teams hasn't favored Clemson as much as you might think. Plus, Wake is 5-0 and as confident as they've been since ... uh, well probably forever. I have to think that given the attention this game has gotten and the reminders about how they lost in Winston-Salem last time, the Tigers will be prepared and will handle the Deacs. But you never know.

Duke - I think I pretty much covered the current state of Duke football here. They were simply awful against Virginia. Actually, "awful" might be kind. Somehow I don't think they are going to go down to Tuscaloosa this weekend and beat Alabama. Their next two games after that? FSU and Miami. The over/under on Duke points in that three game stretch? I'm going with 8.

Florida State - If it wasn't obvious before (it was), then there's no denying it now the era of Florida State dominance is officially over. When they beat Miami to start the season, it seemed like maybe they were back, but that was a mirage. NC State recently lost at home to Akron and was blown out at Southern Mississippi - and the Pack dominated FSU for most of the second half last night. After the Noles scored to go up 20-10, State shut them down. The Pack ran down their throats when they had the ball and controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. And again, NC State is NOT a very good team (more on them later).

Maybe it's time for Papa Bowden to think a bit more about what kind of gold watch he wants.

Georgia Tech - After they won convincingly in Blacksburg last weekend, everyone is high on the Yellow Jackets. Everyone but me. Don't get me wrong, I think they are a solid team, but I'm not completely sold that they are a very good team. Good, sure, but not yet very good. Maybe it's Reggie Ball that underwhelms me. He makes some great plays here and there and Calvin Johnson can make any QB look good, but Ball always looks to me like he could throw three consecutive picks at any time. I don't trust him. Of course in the ACC in 2006, he may just be good enough.

Maryland - I have no idea about this team. How could anyone? They've played three patsies and one very good team. They squeaked by all the easy games and got destroyed in Morgantown. We'll learn a whole lot more this weekend when they visit Georgia Tech, but as I wrote above, I don't think the Jackets are that great. Don't be surprised if the Terps keep it close or even pull the upset. Of course, don't be surprised if GT wins by 40. I have no inkling of what to expect from Maryland.

Miami - Poor things. With all the heat that Larry Coker's getting after starting 2-2, you almost want to feel sorry for him and Miami. But not really. I mean, it's Miami! Who doesn't hate Miami? Fortunately for the Canes, as poorly as they may be playing, the schedule's being pretty kind right now. They had a bye and then Houston (whoops, that was supposed to be easy!) and now they UNC, Florida International and another bye (Duke) before they have to play a good team. That's when things get interesting. Larry Coker will earn or lose his job in the back-to-back games against the two Techs in late October, early November.

North Carolina - I was listening to David Glenn on the radio a couple of weekends ago, before UNC played Clemson and State hosted BC. Glenn was arguing that as badly as things had gone for the local teams, he believed that at either UNC or State would probably still go to a bowl game. I believed him. I just didn't know who the most likely candidate was, considering they were a combined 2-4 at the time with no 1-AA wins. A few hours later, the answer was clear. UNC lost 472-3 to Clemson and State won that miracle against the BC. State has since tacked on a W against FSU. Carolina gets their chance tomorrow to beat Miami, just like they did two years ago to save that season. Can they do it again? Sure because Miami sucks, but they probably won't.

NC State - There's not enough time to talk about all the storylines here. One thing I will say to all Wolfpack fans, take it easy with Daniel Evans. I know you all like to get excited about your saviors, but remember that you have a tendency to get a bit carried away. He seems like a good kid and he's played pretty well so far, but he hasn't proven that he's that good yet. Last night, most of the highlight plays in the passing game were not by Evans, but by his receivers. That was one of the greatest collections of outstanding catches you'll ever see. It reminded me of the old days of Florida State and Miami when they would just lob the ball down the sidelines and have their big, athletic receivers just outjump the defenders. I don't think that's going to work for the Wolfpack every week. That said, if they could bottle the energy and execution they display each year against the Seminoles and break it out each weekend, NC State would have that top-ten program they've been dying for ever since Chuck Amato arrived in Raleigh.

Virginia - The Cavaliers aren't good. But they aren't terrible. Not anymore. They were terrible in the first half of their Thursday night game against Georgia Tech, but they've been improving steadily (and slowly) since then. Their defense has actually been quite good (outside of two long touchdowns to Calvin Johnson), but their offense has been abysmal. Freshman QB Jameel Sewell really seemed to settle in once the game in Atlanta was out of hand though, and he kept it up against Duke (yeah, yeah, I know). They still aren't letting him throw the ball downfield much, but if he can stay steady and not make mistakes, Virginia could still salvage a winning record in the depleted ACC. But with games left against NC State, Miami, FSU and Virginia Tech, it won't be easy.

Virginia Tech - The loss to Georgia Tech last weekend was fairly shocking, but in hindsight, it really shouldn't have been. The Hokies really didn't look that great in their big wins against UNC and Duke (and they struggled against Cincinnati), but most people, myself included, sort of "rounded up" those performances, because we just assume that Virginia Tech should be really good. But they aren't. Not yet. They are too young this year. By the end of the season, they might well be a top-fifteen caliber team, but they aren't yet. Games in the next three weekends against BC and Clemson will probably show just how much the Hokies learned in their loss. Given Coach Beamer's recent successes, I have to assume that the Hokies we see in those games will be much better than the ones that took it on the chin against the Yellow Jackets.

Wake Forest - Hands down, Wake is the best story in the ACC so far this year. Not only are they 5-0, but four of those wins came against teams in BCS conferences. Wake went on the road and blasted an SEC team without their starting QB or running back - and they did it by running the ball nearly every play! That just blows my mind, that a team like Wake could go into the SEC and destroy a team using a power running attack. How is that possible? How is it that Jim Grobe is still in Winston Salem? How many ACC schools wouldn't trade their coach for Grobe, straight-up, right now? One? Two?

I kind of wish Wake could just end their season now before reality hits and they start losing games. But then, maybe they won't start losing games. It's been that kind of year in the ACC.

Brian Davis Is The Man

You've probably seen the story by now, former Duke basketball players Brian Davis and Christian Laettner are teaming up (again) to buy the Memphis Grizzlies. Davis and Laettner are putting up $40 million of a $252 million purchase of 70% of the club. The two found other investors to fill out the rest of the money, but Davis will be considered the owner.

Now, I remember Brian Davis as a player on those legendary Duke teams. He was a bad ass. A small forward, he could guard four positions and could score when the team needed it. In fact, it was Davis who scored the final critical basket in Duke's famous 1991 upset of undefeated UNLV.

Davis went on to play one season in the NBA and probably a few more overseas, but he really excelled in business. He and Laettner founded Blue Devil Ventures, a real estate company that has successfully rebuilt large chunks of Durham's downtown. Clearly that development was not just good for Durham, but profitable for Davis and Laettner.

We all know that Dukies are supposed to be flops in the NBA. Now it turns out that maybe they can't dominate it on the court (although that myth has largely been shattered by Elton Brand, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer and others), but they can literally own the league.

That says some pretty good things about Duke University and Mike Krzyzewski's program doesn't it? I know they hardly need any more good news and it's much more fun to hate on the Blue Devils, but you can't deny that this story is impressive.

Unfortunately for me, Davis' success says some things about my career as well. You see, I graduated from college the same year that Davis did... Let's just say I'm a few paychecks away from buying any pro sports franchises.

WRGPT 16!

It looks like it's once again time for everyone's favorite email-based poker tournament, the World Rec.Gambling.Poker Tournament 16, also known as WRGPT16.

Now, it may sound a bit weird or lame to do a poker tournament through email, but I'm telling you, it's fun.  It's also very competitive.  Quite a few pros play.  In the past, Chris Ferguson (see where he finished back in 4) and Greg Raymer (see where he finished three years ago) played, and I know that there were a few Tiltboys in last year's tourney (See if you can find me in that Tiltboys blog entry!).

I played last year even though it was my first no-limit tournament against actual humans.  I surprised myself by doing quite well, finishing in 29th place out of nearly 1300 entrants. This year, I plan on winning the whole thing!

So sign up! And after you sign up, leave a comment here saying what your playing name is. I can keep track of who's in and we can see who lasts the longest.

What To Do About Duke

Caulton Tudor has a very good, interesting article up today lambasting Duke's football program.  Tudor says that it's time to end the charade and that Duke should just drop to 1-AA.

If you watched Duke's thrilling 37-0 loss to Virginia on Saturday, you'd understand why Tudor wrote this.  Well actually, Duke's pretty much been at this point for a while, but that game was a particular travesty.  UVA is NOT a good team, but they completely dominated the Blue Devils without really trying very hard.  Worse, the game was apparently Duke's homecoming, but nobody came home.  Or if they did, they skipped the football game.  The seats in the endzones were frighteningly empty.  I'm sure if I paused my TiVo, I could have literally counted the folks sitting in those seats.  The only sections that looked largely full were filled with folks in orange shirts.  I'm pretty sure those weren't Duke alumni.

I did disagree with one section of Tudor's article.  He wrote:

The good news is Duke doesn't care about the steady financial drain. There's that much money in the endowment fund. Most schools try to raise donations by the millions. Duke rakes it in by the billions. The football program can be compared to owners of some professional sports franchises. It's an expensive hobby, but so what?

I think Tudor's missing an important aspect for why Duke and AD Joe Aleva don't push harder for a better football program.  It's not because they have a huge endowment and don't mind wasting money on football.  Not at all.  It's that they simply don't lose money.  Take a look at a post I wrote back in May, 2005, looking at athletic department earnings from the 2003-04 school year.  Duke made an amazing $21 million in profit that year, best in the ACC by $15 million!  Why change anything?  They don't spend that much on football, but still reap in their share of the ACC's television contracts, bowl earnings and now the ACC championship game.  While their paltry attempts at winning on the field may look pathetic, to an accountant, Duke's football team is a perfect business.  But not trying, they pretty much can't lose.

Another reason is that it's very likely that Aleva is trying to avoid killing the Golden Goose.  Mike Krzyzewski and the basketball program are a HUGE part of Duke's success, not just athletically, but academically.  The winning attitude that Coach K brought to that program (and it's not like they were chopped liver before) permeates the entire school.  Nearly every student and alumnus is a rabid college basketball fan.  It's probably very fair to say that Coach K is responsible for a huge chunk of that huge endowment that Tudor wrote about.  Joe Aleva's a smart man.  He knows that if he is to build a successful football program, he's going to need to spend a lot of money on facilities and coaches.  Top football coaches earn more than top basketball coaches.  Do you dare pay someone, anyone, more than Krzyzewski?  No way.  Not a chance.  It's much easier to build up all of the other programs in the athletic department, and Aleva's done a great job of that.  If you take football out of the picture, Duke might just have the most successful department in the league.

So what can be done?  What should be done?  The only thing that makes sense to me is for the rest of the ACC to step up and try to force Duke's hand.  Maybe set some sort of minimum standard that all ACC programs need to meet to stay as a full conference member.  I don't think it would be crazy to consider kicking Duke's football team out of the conference, but keep the rest of their teams in.  A better solution might be to penalize them for their failures.  If they can't compete with the rest of the conference, why should they get an equal slice of the pie?  They aren't going to bowls, they aren't an attractive TV team and they certainly aren't going to be playing the championship game anytime soon.  Maybe if the ACC said you must average at least 2 1-AA wins per year over any 4 year period or you only get a half share in the conference.  If you average under 1.5, you get a third.  Less than one per year?  One fourth and so on.  At some point, it would no longer be financially advantage for Duke or any other program to slide by.


p.s. The Duke Basketball Report, as you might expect, had their take on Tudor's piece.  They brought up some good points, but mostly I'm linking because of the last line of the article.  It's a nice setup.