Mallett's transfer opens door for star QB recruit in Michigan; Double-digit losses in Hawaii

According to ESPN, freshman QB Ryan Mallett has decided to transfer from Michigan. Mallett, the second best QB prospect in 2007 according to Scout.com, is not mobile enough for incoming coach Rich Rodriguez's spread option offense. The Wolverines' two best receivers, juniors Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington, also feel like now is the time to leave, as both have declared for the NFL draft.

Mallett's transfer opens the door for this year's #1 QB prospect, Terrelle Pryor to step in and start right away for Michigan. Rumor has it that Pryor wants to play as a freshman, and has his eyes set on the NFL in three years. Michigan, and Rodriguez's spread option offense, would be the perfect stage for Pryor to display his skills.

According to Scout.com, Duke is now in the mix for Pryor's services, along with Michigan, Florida, Ohio State, and Penn State. Pryor wouldn't start at QB right away in Florida or Ohio State, but the other three teams all have openings. New Duke coach David Cutcliffe would love to kick things off with Pryor, and he'd definitely be the big fish for the Blue Devils.



Double-digit losses in Hawaii

Things haven't been very good for Hawaii in 2008. They inconceivably lost the best coach they'll ever have in June Jones (with no replacement in sight). That cost their Athletic Director his job. Star QB Colt Brennan is graduating. On top of that, both star receivers Ryan Grice-Mullen and Davone Bess are jumping to the pros early.

The way things are going, next season the Hawaii Warriors could reverse the amazing turnaround June Jones accomplished in his first season as coach. In 1998, a pre-Jones Hawaii team went 0-12. In '99, Jones' first year as coach, the Warriors went 9-4. With what Hawaii has been going through so far in '08, I wouldn't be surprised to see the team fall from double-digit wins to double-digit losses. The Warriors have to travel 4500+ miles to play a road game against the Florida Gators, road games against Boise State, Fresno State, and Oregon State, plus non-conference games against Washington State and Cincinnati.

College Football: Arizona, Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida, Washington (9/8/07)

Err-izona Wildcats

I went to the Arizona Wildcat's home opener against Northern Arizona Saturday night. I won a pair of tickets in a poker game (thanks Pete, Iris, et al).

The local paper would have you believe that the Wildcats have solved their offensive problems in one week's time. They can only hope. Arizona was inept in the first half, and QB Willie Tuitama routinely over threw receivers and threw the ball into coverage. If NAU was any other PAC-10 school, the Wildcats would have been in trouble.


Football Championship Subdivision strikes again

The former I-AA scored a few more victories over the former I-A this past weekend. Northern Iowa beat Iowa State (of the BIG 12) and the Southern Illinois Salukis scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to beat Northern Illinois 34-31. Neither upset is as monumental as Appalachian State's victory over Michigan, but still embarrassing none the less.


Someone has to win

Next Saturday Notre Dame travels to Michigan. Has this rivalry ever looked so pathetic in the past as it does now? Notre Dame has been outscored 64-13 in losses to Georgia Tech and Penn State. Michigan has been outscored 73-39 in losses to Appalachian State and Oregon. Don't expect either offense to rebound next week. The "Fighting" Irish are starting freshman QB Jimmy Clausen and the Wolverines may have to start freshman Ryan Mallett. Clausen was the #1 ranked QB of the 2007 Class and Mallett #2 according to Scout.com.


The first big game of the year

We'll get an idea next week on the shape of this year's SEC. Tennessee travels to Florida and Arkansas goes to Alabama. The Vols struggled with Cal's speed in their season opener, and will have their hands full in the Swamp. Other notable games include USC at Nebraska and Ohio State at Washington.


Is Washington for real?

The Washington Huskies are 2-0. Who would have thought? The Huskies snapped Boise State's 14 game win streak on Saturday. The team has found an identity under redshirt freshman QB Jake Locker. Against Syracuse and Boise State, Locker has completed over 60% of his passes and rushed for 3 TDs. We will find out just how good the Huskies are next weekend when the Ohio State Buckeyes come to town.

Sayonara Lloyd Carr: I-AA Champs shock Michigan

Good bye Lloyd Carr. It was nice knowing you. You may not be fired during the season, but Saturday's loss to Appalachian State guarantees that this will be your last season in Ann Arbor.

The Mountaineers, the champions of the Subdivision non-Bowl Championship Conference (or whatever the former I-AA wants to be called), pulled off the college football upset of the century Saturday.

Its one thing for Central, Eastern, or Western Michigan to lose to a I-AA school. But The Michigan Wolverines, ranked #5 in both the AP and Coaches' preseason polls, losing AT HOME to a I-AA school is unheard of and unacceptable.

The Wolverines have allowed 108 points in their last three games, all loses. While Wolverine RB Mike Hart ran for 188 yards and three touchdowns, Michigan's defense was torched by Appalachian St WR Dexter Jackson for two touchdowns. The Mountaineers owned the Wolverines in the first half, and showed some grit and determination in blocking Michigan's game winning field goal attempt to end the game.

Lloyd Carr will be gone from Michigan after this season. He has been Michigan's answer to Ohio State's former coach John Cooper. Now Michigan needs to find their own Jim Tressel.

The Only Accurate Preseason Top 25

Lets face it, a preseason college football Top 25 is ridiculous. No games have been played. At this time of year it is all about reputation and appearances. Voting should not be done until after at least four or five games have been played.

Teams like TCU are punished for their low early ranking, while a team like USC will be rewarded. What happens if USC, ranked #1 in the newly-released Coaches' Poll, loses one out of their first five games while TCU, ranked #22, wins their first five? Lets say USC loses to Nebraska and beats Idaho, Washington St, Washington, and Stanford. TCU's first five games are against Baylor, Texas, Air Force, SMU, and Colorado St. Chances are USC will still be ranked higher than TCU based on where the teams started the season. I would argue that TCU's five victories (especially the one over Texas) would make them a more impressive team than USC.

My general disdain for preseason poll's aside, I feel compelled to release my own College Football Preseason Top 25. I think it is the most accurate one you will find anywhere.

God Loves The Gators Preseason College Football Top 25
1. (TIE) Florida, USC, LSU, Michigan, West Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma
According to Bodog.com, these seven teams have the best odds to win it all. On paper they definitely look like the best teams in the country. Florida and LSU play each other this season, as does Texas and Oklahoma. USC, which starts the season #1, is trying to go wire-to-wire. Ohio State proved last season how hard that is to do.

8. (TIE) Everyone else.
Well maybe not everyone else. Even I can't make a case for a team from the Sun Belt, at least half of the teams in the MAC, Conference USA, WAC, and Mountain West, Stanford, or Duke. But you get my point. Let the kids on the field determine who the best team is. Of course that would probably require a playoff, huh?

College Football Playoffs Coming In 2011?

According to a report by Lenn Robbins of the New York Post, we could see a four team playoff system in Division IA college football by 2011. The full article can be read here: A Football Final Four.

Robbins reports that the playoff would seed the top four teams (most likely using something like the current BCS), with the winners playing in a newly created bowl game for the national championship. This idea has floated around for a few years under the "Plus-1" moniker.

I am a big proponent of a playoff system in college football. I favor an eight team playoff, but I think a four team one would work just as well. Any type of playoff system is definitely favorable over the old and busted BCS.

If this system was in place last season, the match-ups using the BCS formula would have been: #1 Ohio State vs #4 LSU and #2 Florida vs #3 Michigan.

Would the results have been any different? In theory, less time would have elapsed between the Buckeye's season ending victory over Michigan and the final game against Florida (50+ days). Certainly too much time off was a factor in their performance against the Gators.

It would be erroneous to assume that Michigan's poor performance in the Rose Bowl loss to USC would have translated over to the playoff game against Florida. Michigan was demoralized after being passed over for the BCS game, and therefore did not play their "A" game against a Trojan team looking to prove that their season ending loss to rival UCLA was an aberration.

Florida definitely played with a chip on their shoulder in the BCS title game. Would they have played with the same intensity under the four team format?

It would also be a mistake to overlook LSU. The Tigers won their last six games of the regular season and demolished Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. They had similar team speed (specifically on defense) as the Gators did and would have matched up well against the Buckeyes.

My complete and unbiased view: Ohio State wins a tight one against LSU, and Florida struggles early against Michigan before pulling away at the end. The Gators would then go on to beat the Buckeyes in what I believe would have been a closer, more exciting national championship game.

The timing of this report is great, as I was just about to write an article on how to revolutionize college football's postseason. That article should be up sometime this week.