One Week To Go

I decided to start posting my thoughts on the 'ship since we are officially just a week away and Iowa is turning this Outback Bowl into a yawner.

This post was inspired by this Bill Simmons column.

Basically, the 2008 Oklahoma Sooners are college football's version of the Mike D'Antoni/Steve Nash led Phoenix Suns from the middle of this decade. They score a lot of points. They're fun to watch. They never made it to the NBA Finals.

Yes, this Sooner team made it to the college football equivalent of the NBA Finals, but only because they played in a conference full of other Suns type teams.

Most NBA fans are familiar with those Suns teams. They won 55-60 games while scoring a bajilion points, but then ran into the defensive minded San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs. The Spurs slowed the game down and Phoenix's inability to play a slow tempo, half court game became their undoing.

No doubt, the Florida Gators are going to slow the game down. They're going to run. And run. And run. And run. Oklahoma is down a defensive tackle and might have to start their third string middle line backer. If Urban Meyer has his way, Tim Tebow will put the ball in the air 15 times at the most.

The ingenious part of this strategy is it takes OU's biggest offensive advantage (their fast paced offense) and turns it against them. If Florida is going on 12 play, seven minute scoring drives, can OU afford to run the up tempo offense and risk putting the OU defense back out on the field? Oklahoma is going to have to slow down to give their defense time to rest.

Most people believe that the OU offense vs. the UF defense is the key matchup, but in reality this game will be decided by how well OU defends UF's rushing attack.

Team Marve vs. Randy Shannon, Round One

Starting (kind of) University of Miami quarterback Robert Marve has decided to transfer from Da U.

It seems like the main reason for the transfer is Randy Shannon's refusal to promise Marve the starting job for the 2009 season. And you know what? Shannon has every right to do that. Marve did not exactly separate himself from backup QB Jacory Harris. The two were rotated all season and Harris finished with more TDs, less INTs, and a higher QB rating.

The only thing that really makes this transfer noteworthy is the Marve family's questioning of Shannon's character. They were upset that Shannon decided to wait 8 months to suspend Marve for the 2008 season opener. No one knows where Marve will transfer to because Shannon has pretty much barred him from playing anywhere in the Southeast.

Here are the Marve family quotes:

"(Randy Shannon) is preventing Robert from playing for any team in the ACC and also trying to prevent him from playing for any SEC team and any team in Florida, all the teams," said Marve's father, Eugene. "It's vindictive. If he's that worried about the talent of Robert Marve he would have treated him with better respect.

"I had to get out," Marve told the AP from his family's home in Tampa. "I just decided that I can't play for Coach Shannon."

``Shannon gave him the release with that stipulation. I've never heard of that before. The ACC [ban] is reasonable. The SEC is ridiculous. There are a lot of schools in the SEC that never see Miami. This has gone to a personal attack against my son, and it will not go without challenge. This is a shameful day that Shannon has brought to the University of Miami. This is a shameful day for Randy Shannon and what he represents, and every recruit should watch out for what you're seeing happening to Robert Marve."

Some quotes from Marve's coach, including his vow that no player of his will ever play for UM again, can be found here:

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/83434-tampa-high-school-coach-rips-miamis-shannon

So what does this all mean? Probably nothing. I can't really see UM's offense ever reaching a championship level under Randy Shannon no matter who he benches, promotes, whatever. Shannon is a defensive guy and it seems like he doesn't have any idea how to run an offense.

When he took over the UM job he tried to get Mike Shula and Dirk Koetter to run his offense. They both turned him down and he had to settle for Patrick Nix. Of course, Nix was a complete flop and now Shannon will have to go through a couple more candidates who will most likely turn him down before he settles on another offensive coach no one else really wants.

Excuse me sir, I could use your assistance.

Looks like we have some coordinator moves to go over.

#1 - Gus Malzahn / Auburn OC

Love the pick here.  Malzahn was the OC for Arkansas when they went to the SEC Championship game in 2006 and he called the plays for a Tulsa team that ranked second in the nation in points and yardage per game this season.  

He is one of those guys who can adjust his system to the talent that he has.   This should setup some interesting Malzahn vs. Houston Nutt battles in the future.  I didn't think it was going to happen, but if Urban Meyer wanted to hire him as UF's OC I wouldn't have complained.  Speaking of that job...

#2 - Steve Addazio / Florida OC

Not a new hire, but a promotion.  Addazio serves as the offensive line coach and will now be the head play caller also.  Really, Meyer could have hired my dog as the new OC and I wouldn't be able to argue with the selection.  His track record is pristine.  Every OC Meyer has had has gone on to a head coaching position.  Considering Addazio was already in consideration for some head coaching spots (Syracuse most notably) I think Addazio will do just fine.  

#3 - THE CHIEF John Chavis / LSU DC

This is either going to be a great or disastrous hire.  LSU flourished under Bo Pelini's aggressive defensive game plans, but then everything went to hell this year when they tried to run Pelini's (Pelini is now the head coach at Nebraska) scheme using a co-coordinator system.

Chavis is the opposite of Pelini, he'd rather sit back in a zone and eliminate the possibility of the big play.  Chavis has been very successful when he had dominant defensive lineman like Albert Haynesworth at Tennessee, but his defenses have become very average when he has lineman who can't get in the backfield.  

You'd think Chavis would be a great fit for LSU with the recent talent LSU has had on the defensive line, but unfortunately it seems like the talent well is drying up.  Les Miles has had some highly ranked recruiting classes, but so far they have not lived up to their ranking.  If LSU can find itself another Glenn Dorsey or two they'll be ok, if not... Chavis and Miles will both probably be out of a job in the next two years.

PLAYOFFS

I know this is a college football blog but I have to acknowledge what the Dolphins did this year.  From 1-15 to 11-5 and AFC East champs.  Chad Pennington goes into Jersey and whoops up on Favre and the Jets.