On the same day that Boston College puts itself in the news for a good reason — knocking off the #1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels in basketball — they also were put in the news for a bad reason. I had heard the Jets planned to interview BC head coach Jeff Jagodzinksi for their head coaching vacancy, but I didn’t know the BC brass was going to get all possessive-girlfriend on him. ESPN says that BC informed Jagodzinski that he’ll be fired if he does interview with the Jets. Lending credence to the story is the Boston Globe report where Jagodzinski denied he’s spoken with the Jets, most likely because he doesn’t want word getting out. Oops! Too late for that.

I understand that BC took Jagodzinski away from the Packers where he was their offensive coordinator and made him a head coach where he’s had success, but schools and teams usually allow their staff to interview elsewhere when it’s a step up. For Jagz, leaving BC for the Jets would be a step up, as long as it’s in the same capacity (which it is). To threaten Jagodzinski with a backup plan that the offensive coordinator at BC would get his job should he interview with the Jets seems pretty childish to me. What kind of message is that sending to your coach? What will his feelings be towards you if he ultimately remains at BC? Perhaps he won’t be as motivated as before, or at least he won’t have the same type of loyalty he may have had before. Bad P.R. move by BC, as long as the report is true. I guess we’ll see what happens.

After beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl 31-17, Utah was tooting its own horn about achieving perfection. The Utes finished the year at 13-0 becoming the only undefeated team in Division-I. Not helping matters is coach Kyle Whittingham’s claim that he’s voting his team #1 in the Coaches’ Poll.

“This is a great football team,” an elated Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said to Utah fans chanting “Num-ber One, Num-ber One” in a postgame celebration. “I know where I’m moving us [in the coaches' poll]. I’m voting us No. 1.”
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“I don’t know why [the Utes] wouldn’t deserve consideration,” Whittingham said. “Somebody explain it to me why they wouldn’t. There is only one undefeated team in the United States of America in Division I football, and it’s these guys right here.”

Not to get all major conference snobby on you, but I’d like to see Utah play Clemson, Ole Miss, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, and Auburn and live to come away with an unblemished record (like Alabama did). Until they play that tough a schedule and win all their games they don’t deserve to be #1. Beating Wyoming, Weber State, and New Mexico just doesn’t cut it in my book. Beating Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Missouri all in succession — like Oklahoma did — gets my respect. Finishing undefeated is a great accomplishment, and beating Alabama is a nice statement and a fantastic win for the program. Unfortunately, beating one major team soundly does not mean you’re entitled to the top ranking in the country.

This was easily one of the worst years for the Pac-10. Outside of USC (no surprise), there wasn’t a legitimate contender. Cal, Oregon, and Oregon St. all had pretty good squads but lost several games. The Washington schools were amongst the worst the conference has ever seen, while UCLA and Arizona State had seriously down years. In the past, at least the conference has seen a second team get to double-digit wins and a major bowl. That was not the case this year. Perhaps it also explains the conference’s perfect bowl record. The Pac-10 went 5-0 in bowls with USC hammering Penn State in the Rose Bowl, Cal beating Miami in the Emerald Bowl, Oregon State shutting out Pitt in the Sun Bowl, Oregon defeating Oklahoma State in the Holiday Bowl, and Arizona beating BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl.

The perfect record might make people stop to question how down of a year it was for the Pac-10. Don’t be fooled: the conference was still garbage this year. Like I said, the Washington schools were historically bad, and no team outside of USC posed a real threat in the rankings (except for Oregon once they beat Oklahoma State). That’s part of the reason the conference performed well — since the schools had down years, they were excited and pumped up to get to bad bowl games unlike years past when a Las Vegas Bowl berth or Sun Bowl berth was considered a disappointment. That’s the exact reason I dislike picking bowl games; you never know who’s going to be excited to play in the game and who will be disappointed.

Do you really think Utah’s a better team than Alabama? No, but Utah was pumped for the chance while Bama had its season come to an end with the loss to Florida. Was Vanderbilt better than BC? Not definitively, but Vandy was excited to actually be in a bowl game — something new for the school. As for the Big 10 bowl record of 1-5, that’s pretty indicative of their conference strength. At this point they’re only a step or two above the Big East.

LSU crushed Georgia Tech with ease in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, 38-3. The team was up 35-3 at the half after outscoring the Yellow Jackets 28-0 in the 2nd quarter, getting short fields on several Tech turnovers. The vaunted Georgia Tech triple option was held in check almost the whole game, with LSU smothering them all night long. So when the 4th quarter rolled around and LSU was hammering Tech 38-3, I had to wonder why they continued to throw deep passes and run trick plays. On two occasions in the 4th quarter, LSU threw deep passes — one fell incomplete. They also had the gall to run a trick play on special teams:

As if to affirm its mastery of special teams, LSU pulled off a successful fake punt in the fourth quarter, with punter Brady Dalfrey running for 21 yards for the first down. LSU led 38-3 when coach Les Miles called for the fake, and Georgia Tech fans booed the decision.

It was a well-designed play that did further delineate Miles’ special teams genius. Problem is, what are you running that for in a 38-3 game in the 4th quarter? Save it for when you need — a close game. I really thought some of Miles’ tactics were unnecessary. Does he have some bad beef with Paul Johnson of which I’m unaware? Sure seemed like it. I hope these teams meet again so Georgia Tech has the chance to turn the tables.

Just when I thought you couldn’t get any worse than the Corey Hill broken leg in the MMA fight a few weeks ago, DeAndre Brown snaps his femur in the New Orleans Bowl. The poor guy had just set the Southern Miss record for most receptions in a season with 67 — not too shabby for a freshman. A few plays later, this horrible injury happened. Warning, the video contains graphic material. Make sure you can stomach it.

I just hope the kid will be able to heal and bounce back to continue the great start his career got off to. I also hope he wasn’t in too much pain for very long because that looked brutal. Poor guy.

The first question I always ask when a team fires a coach is, “Who are they going to hire that’s better than what they have?” It’s the same reason I criticized Mississippi State’s firing of Sylvester Croom — what good is it to hire Florida’s offensive coordinator if he can’t bring Tebow along with him to Starkville? And that’s the same reason I thought it was a bad idea for Auburn to fire Tommy Tuberville. If you’re Auburn, how can you possibly convince yourself and your fans that bringing in Gene Chizik — he of the 5-19 record with Iowa State the last two years — is better for your program than having Tuberville as the coach?

OK, so Chizik did some really good things when he was Tuberville’s defensive coordinator at Auburn from ‘02-’04 (including the 13-0 season), but what was so special about the Texas defense he led the two years after that? If I remember correctly, it was the Vince Young-led offense that was so impressive, not the Longhorns defense. And then at Iowa State, going 3-9 and 2-10? How is that a sign of doing a good job? I’m just left here scratching my head, as apparently were many Auburn fans. Check out the greeting they gave athletic director Jay Jacobs when he returned from signing Chizik.

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