Real Kato Blog: College Football Recap

Michigan falls to #3; N.C. State coach Chuck Amato ousted.

Michigan falls to #3. With USC's rout of Notre Dame on Saturday, voters and computers were sufficiently impressed to put USC in second place behind Ohio State in the BCS rankings. If USC defeats unranked UCLA next week, their trip to the national championship game is all but assured.

Watching USC play, I think they'd give Ohio State a good test. Both teams have high-powered offenses that would be difficult for the other team to stop. I'd expect a shootout, with scores in the 40s. I think the more interesting question, though, is could USC beat Michigan? Having seen USC in several games, I still believe Michigan is a better team. But we'll never really know the answer to that question.

Meanwhile, Arkansas lost to LSU, ending their national championship dreams. Arkansas will still play against Florida in the SEC championship, but with two losses (including a blowout against USC), their chances of playing in the national championship are zero. Suddenly, LSU is ranked #5 in the BCS, and could very well be Michigan's opponent in the Rose Bowl.

Florida eked out a 21-14 win against unranked Florida State, keeping their slim national championship hopes alive. But unless USC implodes against UCLA and/or Florida wins impressively over Arkansas, it seems unlikely that Florida would pass both USC and Michigan to reach the title game.

In the Big East, West Virginia lost to South Florida 24-19, eliminating them from contention for the Big East championship. Even if West Virginia beats Rutgers next week, their head-to-head loss against Louisville means Louisville would win the Big East and go to the BCS.

Texas A&M defeated Texas 12-7, suddenly eliminating Texas from the Big 12 championship. With Oklahoma defeating Oklahoma State, Oklahoma now will play Nebraska for the Big 12 title. The odds of an at-large bid for the Big 12 have gone way down.

Boise State beat Nevada 38-7. Boise State wraps up its regular season undefeated (12-0) and will go to a BCS bowl game.

Wake Forest won the ACC Atlantic division by defeating Maryland 38-24. Wake Forest will meet Georgia Tech for the ACC title game.

Meanwhile, Georgia Tech lost to Georgia, 15-12. Also, South Carolina beat Clemson 31-28. These games will make for a lot of water-cooler conversation about the caliber of teams in the SEC versus the ACC.

Miami rallied around fired coach Larry Coker to upset Boston College 17-14.

Hawaii defeated Purdue 42-35. Hawaii's quarterback Colt Brennan is the real deal: 33/48 for 434 yards and three touchdowns? Dang. Hawaii is ranked in the top 25... you won't see that very often.

N.C. State coach Chuck Amato ousted. With N.C. State's loss to East Carolina 21-16 on Saturday, N.C. State loses its last seven games of the season. Sunday, N.C. State announced that Amato was out.

I don't fault Amato for his enthusiasm, and the way he brought some fire to what was a tepid program. But his successes came largely on the backs of quarterback Philip Rivers and former offensive coordinator Norm Chow. And looking back through the years, we saw teams that failed to play consistently, teams that were among the most penalized in the league, and teams that had negative turnover ratios. And most critically, we saw teams that lost to mediocre opponents. With three straight losses against bad squads from crosstown rival UNC, I think Amato's fate was sealed.

Now, who to replace Amato? My choice would be Norm Chow, who is now the offensive coordinator for the Tennesee Titans. Chow is the guy who built the program at BYU, who took N.C. State to national prominence, and who most recently built the dominating offenses of USC. Look at this list of names: Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Ty Detmer, Philip Rivers, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart... these are the quarterbacks that Chow turned into superstars.

BCS Bowl Projections

BCS Championship Game: Ohio State vs. USC.

Sugar Bowl: Arkansas vs. Notre Dame

Orange Bowl: Wake Forest vs. Rutgers

Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Boise State

Rose Bowl: Michigan vs. LSU.

Permalink 4 Comment

Posted by Ken in: sports

Comments

Comment #1 from Phil (Guest)
2006 Nov 29 - 2:01 am : #

Dang, you know a lot about football.

But no report on the wacky UNC-Duke game? (Or NCCU's first loss of the year, in the 2nd round of the NCAA Div II tourney?)

Coincidentally, I spent a lot of time around Wolverines during the holidays. And one Trojan (fortunately at a different time). Oh, and several Ohioans who don't really care about the Buckeyes.

Comment #2 from Chip (Guest)
2006 Nov 29 - 5:47 pm : #

Ken, I am going to agree with your thoughts on Amato. I wish to add that I think Amato's troubles started when he couldn't replace Norm Chow with an offensive coordinator. NC State was able to recruit under Amato and usually had good defenses.

They should have fired Amato last year. I think this year, even with their poor performance ending the season, that Amato should have stayed for another year.

If Amato could have convinced, say, Steve Logan to replace Norm Chow, I don't think we would be having this conversation. Amato would have an offense to match NC State's previous defenses.

Comment #3 from Phil (Guest)
2006 Nov 30 - 2:09 am : #

Speaking of a Wolfpack firing, check out this cartoon:

http://www.gocomics.com/inthebleachers/2006/11/29/

Comment #4 from JohnC (Guest)
2006 Nov 30 - 8:02 pm : #

The buzz up here in A-squared supports your Rose Bowl projection

Comments are closed for this post.

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