Open Letters: Michigan, Go Blue!!

Hello Wolverines.

Yes, I'm one of your own.  Not a native son, I doodled around in High School and ended up attending a local Junior College and a school with no intercollegiate sports, but an adopted son. Whether or not you claim me is up to you.

I am a Wolverine fan. I have been since High School when I saw Bo Schembechler roaming the sidelines in his shades and big, burly offensive linemen plowing gigantic holes for running backs to gash through. A High School acquaintance of mine, who today would probably have no memory of me, attended there and the bond was sealed.  Jarrett Irons was one of the great Michigan linebackers of all time, and I had a couple of high-school classes with him.

Prior to adopting Michigan as my team I sort-of rooted for who my parents did. I was a (sort-of) Sooner fan because me father rooted for them and I was a (sort-of) Oklahoma State fan because my grandfather went there and played basketball for them under Iba. (Back when they were Oklahoma A&M).

I then dabbled in UH fandom, when I attended a university in their system, but I never could 100% get behind the Coogs because of my love for the Maize and Blue.  Add to that the fact that UH fans are..what's the word?.....interesting sorts, and I fell out of the pattern of rooting for them as quick as I fell in. As a sports free agent I settled back in with Michigan, knowing this was the pattern when UH went to the Big House and got walloped 50-3.  My UH fan friends were despondent, I was giddy.

All of this was before Appalachian State.

During that game I was sitting in an Austin bar watching everything unfold on TV.  I won't rehash it, we know what happened. Then a UT-Austin fan sitting next to me started screaming at me that I should "find a real team to root for" before he was ushered out of the bar by the biggest bouncer I have ever seen. The bartender apologized and gave me a free whiskey for my sorrows.

I married an Ohio State fan.  Which makes me somewhat odd among Michigan fans in that I don't hate Ohio State, I don't like them but I begrudgingly respect them, but instead reserve my rival vitriol for Sparty.  In fact, I've had way more intelligent (and friendly) sports conversations with Buckeye fans than I have with Sparty fans. I even get along with them.

Read into all of the above what you will.  I think my fan bonafides are solid but your mileage may vary.  But pulling for the Wolverines is one of the reasons writing this open letter was so difficult. It's much easier to pen an even-headed letter to a fan base when you're not a fan yourself.  When you are a fan, you need to ensure that the fog of disappointment has fully cleared.

So, here we are. Year 3 of the Harbaugh era and things are not progressing exactly as we hoped. Granted, the first year was pure job.  Harbaugh took a team that got progressively worse under Brady Hoke and went 10-3 with a Citrus Bowl win.  Next year he matched that record but lost the Orange Bowl.  Now this year, and we're sitting at 8-4 with a bowl coming that probably won't be what we want, and there's still the issue of losing all but one game in three seasons to Michigan State and Ohio State.

Now is not the time to panic. Now is certainly the time to take a few things into consideration however.


1. Year Four for Harbaugh will be key.

Don't listen to the Paul Finebaum's of the world, Harbaugh is doing just fine as Michigan's coach. Finebaum is a troll who's sole goal is to see the SEC dominate the football landscape. Harbaugh leaving Michigan would be bad for the B1G.  that said, if Coach Harbaugh doesn't improve on his 3rd and 4th place division finishes in year 4 it will be time to show some concern.

We're not paying Harbaugh to finish behind Ohio State, Michigan State or Penn State, we're paying him to beat them, if not routinely then a majority of the time.  So what's happened so far is discouraging, but it's not a crisis.....yet.


2. We need a quarterback.

I would argue that Michigan's skill position players are as good as they ever were. On defense they might even be better. But the glaring hole for this team is the signal caller, and we're not sure if what's on the roster is the long-term fix.

I think we know what we have in Peters, but the unknown is Dylan McCafferey. IF McCafferey is the quarterback we all think he is things will be OK.  If he's not?  Then Peters had better develop because with Speight transferring to another school it's all in on the youth movement.


3. Recruit. Speed.

Harbaugh needs to continue along his path of recruiting fast, athletic players and big-guys on the lines.  It really is that simple.  He's rated high in the mythical recruiting rankings so far and he needs to keep that up and show results on the field.



I'm a believer in Harbaugh, even after year three.  I saw the holes in Rich Rod's game early, and I was never a huge fan of Brady Hoke, but Jim is one of ours, he's a Michigan Man through and through, a native son, not an adopted scoundrel like myself.

So, my advice to the Big Blue Nation is this:  Don't panic.

The program is in MUCH better shape now than it was 3 years ago, and it's infinitely better than it was 10 years ago, when Appalachian State happened.

What people forget however is that the Michigan team that lost to App State went on to finish 9-4 and win the Capitol One Bowl.

Their opponent?

The Tim Tebow led Florida Gators.

Go Blue!!

Sincerely,

Cory

College Football: The Problem with the College Football Playoff

Here we go again.

Another year another in a long list of confusing interim Top 6 rankings from a CFP committee that continues to re-write the rules week-to-week depending on how it thinks it can generate the most controversy.

And it's a sham.

We're constantly told that "body of work" is important with the "eye test" being used (by supposed experts who watch a 'lot' of college football) only to intervene in situations where it's close between two teams.  They say they have criteria, and then they toss them out the window when Auburn beats a pedestrian Alabama team.

Here's the current Top 6

1. Clemson
2. Auburn
3. Oklahoma
4. Wisconsin
5. Alabama
6. Georgia

How you can justify Auburn being in the top 2 is beyond me, especially when you consider that they've lost two games, one to Clemson and one to LSU.  I'm OK with Clemson at number one. Their loss was on the road to Syracuse on a Thursday night when their quarterback was out with injury.  That's an excuse, Auburn doesn't have one of those.

Granted, using the "eye test" Auburn looks pretty good right now.  They boat-raced Georgia right out of the building and they handily beat Alabama.  Those are two quality wins.

But Wisconsin is undefeated, and Oklahoma's one loss is better than Clemson's one loss. If we're going on "body of work" then how in the world can you justify placing UCF at 14?

In short, you can't.  Because UCF's win over USF is much better than Wisconsin's win over Michigan. Ohio State (at 10-2) has a better body or work than Alabama (who, to be honest, have beaten nobody very good this year) and Stanford coming in at 12 is just mind-boggling.

Were I to rank the teams it would be as follows:

1. Clemson - I have no beef with this.  As I said, they're the defending champions and their only loss has a ton of asterisks around it.  Clear number 1 in my mind.

2. Wisconsin - Again, undefeated is undefeated folks and that's hard to get around. In retrospect, the win over FAU is looking pretty good, and they do have wins over Michigan, Iowa and ranked Northwestern to crow about.

3. Oklahoma - I don't see really any other place for them. Their loss to Iowa State looks worse after Farmageddon, but Iowa State is still a bowl team and it was on the road. They also have quality wins over Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Texas (a bowl team) and TCU.

4. UCF - You should not underestimate what they've done this year. Wins over Maryland, Memphis, USF and Navy are quality wins. Discounting those is difficult to do.

5. Alabama - While I'm not a fan of the Tide this season, they have the "best" one-loss of the year is much better than any other team's one loss.  They fall behind OU because they really haven't beaten anyone really good.

6. Memphis - I know, I know, but their only loss is to UCF and they have quality wins over UCLA, Navy and a pretty good Houston team. Their one loss was to UCF by a lot, but they get a chance at revenge this Saturday.

A lot of the rankings come down to how you view the American.  I view them as the single best group of five conference and the gap is not small.  In fact, I would argue the gap between the Pac-12 (the lowest rated Power 5 conference in my estimation) and the American is very, very small.  Compare the resumes and Memphis and UCF are right in there with the big boys.  Plus, my agenda does not include keeping the Group of Five out of the playoff as the CFP committee's obviously does.

Can you leave the SEC champion out of the CFP?

Of course you can.  Especially when they're having a down year such as this one.

It won't happen though, and either Auburn, Georgia, Alabama or (stunningly) two of the three might get in should OU & Clemson both lose.

A big part of me hopes for that latter scenario, so people can see just how corrupt and stupid this entire system really is.  We're not better off right now than we were under the old bowl system, which I think we should go back to.

If for no other reasons than to restore the primacy of New Year's day.

Open Letters: Dear Houston, Dominating the American is going to be harder than you think.

Hello Coogs,

Year one of the Applewhite experience was interesting yes?

Of course, your stated goal of dominating the American Athletic Conference and gaining entry into the P5 seems to be just a little further off than you thought.  Not that you had a BAD season, quite the contrary, but it's not the domination that you envisioned when you moved to the (then) Big East with the hopes that you would be able to beat the USF's and UCF's of the world.

Again, I'm not a fan, nor am I inherently against you. I'm just a schmuck who blogs in the Houston area so I thought you might, or might not, want to read some initial thoughts from a local whose not either a UT-Austin, or aTm fan.

With that said, let's take a look at a few things.

1. The book is still out on Applewhite.

I don't think he did a BAD job coaching this year, but the question of why it took him and his team so long to realize that King should have been the guy at QB all along is puzzling.  With the offense you are running a mobile QB is almost a must, and neither Postma or Kyle Allen were never going to be those guys.  In fact, I hate to say this but Kyle Allen is not a good QB, and his starting at ALL was almost as bad as the Texans decision to start Savage over Watson.  It's fair to ask yourselves that question when looking at the season.

2. Those bad losses will haunt you.

Just like in the Herman era, the Cougars ability to pull a loss from the jaws of victory sting.  Losing to bad teams from Texas Tech, Tulsa and Tulane has to sting, and the inability of your defense to stop Memphis should sting even more.  At this point it's a good thing that early season game vs. UTSA was cancelled because you might have lost that as well.

This continues a recent trend of the Cougars winning bigger games that they're not supposed to win and losing games where they should dominate.  That has to be something Applewhite fixes going forward.  Memphis is a coin flip either way, they're a good team, but the other losses, had they been wins, might have placed you in a position to win the American and go to a New Year's 6 bowl game (again).  You're not in a position to miss out on opportunities such as that.

3. Let's talk talent.

You have some DUDES on this team Houston.  We all know about Oliver but Nick Thurman, Matthew Adams, Duke Catalon, Mulbah Car and your two WR's (Linell Bonnar and Steven Dunbar) are next-level talent guys.  You've basically wasted the Sr. season of the latter two, but with the others you still have a window (minus Adams) to achieve great heights.

There's no reason that a team with the type of talent Houston possesses should have 3-4 loss years. Except coaching.

Now, granted, this was Applewhite's first year and some things changed from the Herman program which is natural. I would have expected struggles in the first of the year (see: South Florida) but I would have expected the team to pick it up significantly by games 3 or 4.  This SHOULD have been a team that challenged for the AAC championship.  You might want to be more than a little concerned that it did not.

This is not to say that Applewhite isn't the right guy.  The truth is you don't know.  But I do think you'd be right to get worried after next year if the results stay the same. Also, if recruiting starts to fall off.  Still, give Major some time and see what happens.  You should be in contention for the AAC title almost every year.  You haven't really been there for two-years straight now, mainly due to bad losses to inferior teams.

You have a right to expect that.

Good luck in your bowl game.

Sincerely,

Cory

Open Letters: Dear Texas A&M, About those expectations.

Hello Aggies,

Well, you've gone and done it. You've messed around and fired a coach who did the following:

Had a record of 51-26 (.662) as the coach of your football program.
NEVER had a sub .500 season.
Went to 5 bowls in five years and lost two of them.
Had players selected in the 1st round of the last six NFL drafts.
Had a player win your school's 2nd Heisman.

Granted, some of those wins and players (including the Heisman winner) were recruits of the last regime, and since Sumlin started playing a majority of his own players things seemed to stagnate at around 8-5. He also had difficulties winning games against a.) Conference opponents and b.) teams with winning records.

I say all of this to say "I get it". Sumlin had to go, at least you were more welcoming of him into your ranks than UT-Austin was of the first black coach in their history.

Of course, and I'm going to say this often in these little letters, I'm not a fan. Nor am I someone who really hates aTm and all things Aggie. I think Kyle Field is one of the best home-game advantage stadium in all of college football and I think your traditions, and the embracing of them, is good.  I think it's a little silly that UT-Austin is in your fight song, (which is really odd when you sing it and you're playing say....Ole Miss) and the whole #BTHO [Insert Team Name Here] seems excessive to me but overall you and I are on neutral terms.

That said, we need to talk about some things.

1. Beware the curse of Nebraska

Back in the olden days of college football, when Keith Jackson was still calling games and when players still sported half-shirts un-ironically on the field, Nebraska decided that they weren't getting what they wanted out of a coach and pulled the trigger on Frank Solich, who had just finished 9-3. We all know what happened next.

My worry is that you're doing the same thing here, that you've decided, despite facts, that Texas aTm is a Top 5 job and that you deserve a top-flight coach to get it done. It's more likely that you're going to end up with a string of Bill Callahan's and Bo Pellinis which won't get you where you want to be.

2. Too-high of expectations.

This is not going to be easy for you to hear, and some of you might react to it in a negative way, but let's just get it out in the open:  Texas A&M is not now, nor has it ever been, a Top 5 (or 10 to be honest) college football job.  Go ahead, repeat that to yourself several times, go outside and holler at the heavens.  I'll wait......

Back?  Good.  Now before you start sharpening Revile's fangs to come after me hear me out. I'm not saying that Texas aTm is a BAD job, only that's its not one of the top jobs in the country.  Yes, you have money and some resources and a sweet conference alignment, but you're at the middle-bottom of a division that features Alabama, Auburn and LSU.  All of those are top 10 locations. In my mind you're Mississippi State, the two programs are so similar it's startling.  And your expectations should be about there as well.

3. What should those expectations be?

Here it is simply: No worse that 7 wins annually, with a couple of years in every 5 year period that you finish with double digit wins and challenge for (and sometimes win) the SEC title, which puts you in the conversation for the CFP as it currently stands.

From that perspective, Sumlin failed because he never came close to the latter.

While not a bullet point I would also encourage you to talk to UT-Austin, revive your Friday after Thanksgiving series with them. I would also caution that a lot of coaches who were a good fit in other places might not be the best of fits in College Station given the culture you have developed.

Yes, I might include Jimbo Fisher in this list.

Good luck in your coaching search and in your upcoming bowl, should you decide to play in one.

Sincerely,

Cory

Open Letters: Dear Rice, What a mess.

Hello Owls,

That was quite the disappointing year eh? As a matter of fact it was so bad a very good man, but probably so-so football coach David Bailiff got shown the door.  He'd been your coach for 11 seasons, many of them pretty good and, to your credit, you didn't do the same thing that you did with good man, and also so-so football coach Ken Hatfield the time before.

You didn't hang onto him for too long.  Good on you.

Now comes the real problem, who are you going to hire next?

Houston wants you to be good.  Because Houston sports are much better when you are, and when you're going to bowl games and distracting the lot of us from sub-par Texans football in December. Houston can't take up all the slack alone (I've got some things to say to them later) so you need to step in and fill the gap sometimes.

I get it, Houston is a terrible college sports town. You feel like you toil and try and, especially in 2013, do some great things and nobody notices. That's true, but you still need to keep trying for the same reasons you keep getting your brains bashed in by UT-Austin.  Here are some things though that you need to consider.

First, I'll tell you the same thing that I told the Longhorns. I'm not a fan. Neither am I someone who roots against you. I live in Houston and write a sports blog, that's my only connection to you. Like the Longhorns when it comes to your athletics I am ambivalent.

1. This next hire is pretty important.

I've a feeling that whoever runs the program next could be the key to determining where you end up once the next round of realignment shakes out.  And, make no mistake, it's coming sooner rather than later. The age of the P5 is destined to fail under the new "CFP" system as is the myth that the so-called "Group of 5" teams have any chance of getting into the playoff.  Don't believe me? Look at UCF.  Once that happens there's going to be a sea-change in college football and where Rice stands in it.

2. Your resources, it's all about your resources.

Let's admit it, you don't prioritize college football nor should you. Rice is an academic institution first and foremost, one that just happens to participate in collegiate sports.  Even when your team was good and winning championships you had problems drawing fans to the games.  Some would say your ceiling should be that of Stanford, but that ignores the fact that the Cardinal place way more emphasis on sports as a front door to the university than do you.

3. Hire someone young.

I would suggest either a young, up and coming coordinator or a young head coach at the FCS level. I know you might be thinking of K.C. Keeler at Sam Houston, but at 58 he's not what I think you need. I'd take a look into Louisiana at McNeese State, Lance Guidry is a fine coach who had a down year but who might be able to bring some energy and excitement into your program. He's only making around $180,000 at McNeese so you should be able to offer him a half-a-Million.

4. If this doesn't work, you're going to have to consider FCS.

I realize that this is going to make you fairly angry but, if things don't turn around soon you might need to consider dropping to FCS for football and trying to get a decent conference affiliation for basketball only.  Rice in the Southland conference would be ideal, would lessen your travel budget, as well as your athletic-scholarship obligations.  Just something to think about, in case this C-USA, no-rival FBS thing starts to wear thin.

Whatever you do don't be tempted to stop the Bayou Bucket rivalry any time soon, as long as you're in the FBS. Playing Houston, and admitting they are your rival, is going to be a key step in generating interest in your program.  Why does Rice play Texas?  Because every once in a while they pull a massive upset.  Why does Rice play Houston?  Because they are rivals.

Here's hoping you get this hire right, to the 100 or so hard-core Rice football fans still out there.

Good luck in your coaching search.

Sincerely, 

Cory

Open Letters: Dear UT-Austin, Mack left a mess.

Hello Longhorns,

Rough year. Not at all what you were expecting.

After being ran over by Maryland your fighting Hermans rebounded against a pretty bad San Jose State team then proceeded to take you on a roller coaster ride for the rest of the year.

The USC game provided hope, as did good wins over Iowa State and Kansas State.  You came into the Red River Shootout Rivalry feeling pretty good about yourselves at 3-2 but then hit a rough patch with close losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in successive weeks. True, you beat Baylor and Kansas, but so did pretty much everyone else. You also had a good win against West Virginia which was book-ended by a loss to Texas Christian and a bad loss to Texas Tech.

The end result? 6-6 which is one measly game better than all but one of the Charlie Strong years. You're paying Tom Herman a lot of money to be better, and this season has to hurt a bit. I get that.

First off, I'm not a fan. Neither am I a 'hater' of your program. In fact, when it comes to UT-Austin Football the best way to describe my feelings toward you is ambivalent.

That said, I live in Texas, and you consider yourself to be Texas' "premier" football program so I think we need to talk.

Mack Brown left the program in shambles.

I realize that this is not what you want to hear right now but it's true.  What Charlie Strong inherited was a dysfunctional, disorganized pile of dung with talent deficiencies at key positions due to questionable recruiting decisions by coaching, odd business decisions by the old leadership, and a proud program that needs to look in the mirror and realize that the long road back to championship glory is going to require some needed changes.

1. It's time to let the Longhorn Network die.

I realize that this was viewed as your salvation and that it's pumped a lot of money into your program but right now it's still a laughingstock and it's prevented the Big XII (X) Conference from pursuing any meaningful network. It's also estranged you from the rest of the FBS and has lessened your attractiveness for any new conference.  Your current administration needs to return to the bargaining table with ESPN, admit failure, and move on.  Maybe next time you'll remember to include your conference partners in any TV deal?

2. Talk to Texas A&M.

I realize there's a ton of sore feelings there but last Friday we all looked at the football schedule with a gaping hole in our hearts that the annual game between you two was dead, and has been for several years.  UT-Austin needs to play Texas A&M annually in the same way Georgia plays Georgia Tech.  And the game needs to be on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

3. Give Herman some time.

I realize that you're impatient. That you want to win and you want to win NOW.  But there are some serious talent holes that need to be filled, especially at WR, Oline, DLine, and QB and those will take more than one recruiting class to fill.  I think Herman will win there, but I don't think it's going to be a sudden turn like he did at UH. Part of the reason for this is that UH had excellent talent for him to work with.


Here's the thing Texas, even though a lot of people dislike you most of them WANT you to be good.  Because the Big XII(X), and college football in general, are better products when UT-Austin and OU are both playing at a high level.  We all want the Red River Shootout Rivalry to be meaningful, and we really do want you competing for the Big XII(X) title.

The only thing holding you back.......is you.

Enjoy the Texas Bowl.

Sincerely,

Cory