Greener Pastures

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Another head coach has tendered his resignation to take on a new role at a higher level.  After nine years as the Eastern Washington head coach, Beau Baldwin has accepted the offensive coordinator job at Cal.  He led the Eagles to the 2010 FCS Championhip, and compiled a 85-32 record with five Big Sky titles.  Baldwin claims that it is an incredible opportunity for his family and his career.

It's a funny thing, just last month he signed a new five year contract starting at $240,000 a year.  It is believed that Cal doubled his salary.  I guess with that kind of money and living in the Bay area, it is an incredible opportunity.

Davenport Panthers

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Lou Esposito, the inaugural coach of Davenport, resigned yesterday to take another job that has not been released yet (is his destination Western Michigan?).  The Panthers had a record of 6-5 in their first season last year in the NAIA, and this fall they will move up to Division II and play in the reconfigured Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athleic Conference.  The current offensive coordinator, Steve Casula, will serve as the interim head coach.

2017 Schedule: Richmond Spiders

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Russ Huesman’s debut with the Spiders will come on the road against perennial national contender Sam Houston State on August 31.  Richmond will then travel to Patriot League power Colgate on Sept. 9, before hosting MEAC member Howard and new coach Mike London on Sept. 16. London and Huesman won the FCS national title together at Richmond in 2008, with Huesman serving as London's defensive coordinator.

Richmond will face another former head coach on Oct. 21st when they visit Delaware, whose new coach, Danny Rocco, was the Spiders' head coach the last five seasons.  The Spiders round out their schedule with a three-game stretch against three of the CAA’s perennial contenders with back-to-back road games at Villanova (Nov. 4) and national champion James Madison (Nov. 11) before they renew their rivalry at home with William & Mary on November 18th.

Seven great matchups that are worth keeping an eye on next fall...

Early Entries: Monday Evening

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Just one more quick post on early entries for the NFL draft because I am not a fan of this in regards to the college game.  Since there are over 80 players who declared themselves eligible for the draft, some of these kids are not going to be selected until the 3rd round or later.  What advice do these kids get because there will be some sad faces the day of the draft in April.

As for the college teams that lost a player or players, in my eyes they fall into three buckets.  

  • Little or no impact
  • Significant setback potential
  • Hurts

Teams like Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, USC, and Florida seem to just reload after significant defections (harsh word I know) because they are built on great depth and great recruiting. Each of these teams will again contend for their conference title or the national title.

Other schools such as Washington, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech were teams on the rise, but have now taken a step back after losing some key pieces to their program.  They have been dealt a blow that might take them a year or two to recover.

Lastly, we have the teams that lose a superstar that helped them gain a division title or a bowl bid that will be hard to attain again in the near future.  Two key examples would be Wyoming, who lost their great running back Brian Hill, and Vanderbilt, who lost their All-American linebacker Zach Cunningham.

A couple of teams that I can't decide about at this time is the defending national champion Clemson Tigers and the Sooners of Oklahoma.  In years past they have had the depth to replace their key personnel, but I'm not so sure this year.  They will probably be ranked near the top 10, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them drop in the rankings. 

 

 

Early Entries 2017: As of Sunday Evening

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There is one more day to declare for the 2017 NFL Draft, but I figure that I will get this out since there should be very little change.  For the record, as a big fan of the college game, I don't like this list at all - well, except for those declaring from Ohio State...

Alabama (3):  Cam Robinson (OT), Marlon Humphrey (CB), ArDarius Stewart (WR)

Auburn (1):  Carl Lawson (DE)

Baylor (1):  KD Cannon (WR)

Cal (1):  Chad Hansen (WR)

Clemson (3):  Deshaun Watson (QB), Wayne Gallman (RB), Mike Williams (WR)

Florida (4):  Caleb Brantley (DT), Teez Tabor (CB), David Sharpe (OT), Quincy Wilson (CB)

Florida State (2):  Dalvin Cook (RB), Roderick Johnson (OT)

Kentucky (1):  Stanley Williams (RB)

LSU (4):  Jamal Adams (Safety), Leonard Fournette (RB), Davon Godchaux (DL), Malachi Dupre (WR)

Miami (FL) (3):  Brad Kaava (QB), David Njoku (TE), Joe Yearby (RB)

Michigan (1):  Jabril Peppers (S/LB)

Michigan State (2):  Malik McDowell (DT), Montae Nicholson (S)

Mississippi (1):  Damore’ea Stringfellow (WR)

Missouri (1):  Charles Harris (DE)

Northwestern (1):  Anthony Walker (LB)

North Carolina (3):  Eiljah Hood (RB), Nazair Jones (DT), Mitch Trubisky (QB)

Notre Dame (1):  DeShone Kizer (QB)

Ohio State (6):  Noah Brown (WR), Gareon Conley (CB), Malik Hooker (S), Marshon Lattimore (CB), Raekwon   McMillan (LB), Curtis Samuel (RB)

Oklahoma (3):  Joe Mixon (RB), Samaje Perine (RB), Charles Walker (DT)

Oklahoma State (1):  Vincent Taylor (DT)

Penn State (2):  Chris Godwin (WR), Garrett Sickles (DE)

Pitt (1):  James Conner (RB)

South Florida (1):  Marlon Mack (RB)

Stanford (2):  Christian McCaffrey (RB), Solomon Thomas (DE)

Tennessee (2):  Derek Barnett (DE), Alvin Kamara (RB)

Texas (1):  D’Onta Foreman (RB)

Texas A&M (2):  Myles Garrett (DE), Ricky Seals-Jones (WR)

Texas Tech (1):  Patrick Mahomes (QB)

UCLA (1):  Eddie Vanderdoes (DL)

USC (3):  JuJu Smith-Schuster (WR), Damien Mama (OG), Adoree' Jackson (CB)

Utah (2):  Garett Bolles (OT), Marcus Williams (S)

Vanderbilt (1):  Zach Cunningham (LB)

Virginia Tech (3):  Jerod Evans (QB), Isaiah Ford (WR), Bucky Hodges (TE)

Washington (4):  John Ross (WR), Budda Baker (S), Sidney Jones (CB), Elijah Qualls (DT)

Wisconsin (2):  Ryan Ramczyk (OT), T.J. Watt (OLB)

Wyoming (1):  Brian Hill (RB)

Division II Coaching Changes

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The two teams that met for the Division II Championship back in December, Northwest Missouri State and North Alabama, have named new head coaches for the 2017 season.  Adam Dorrel left the champions of NW Missouri State to join the FCS ranks at Abilene Christian in Texas after winning back to back FCS championships - and three overall.  While Bobby Wallace retired at North Alabama after two successful runs with the program that spanned 15 years and netted himself three Division II championships as well from 1993 thru 1995.

Ironically both schools stayed in house, and both named their defensive coordinators as head coach.  Rich Wright has been the Bearcat's defensive coordinator for the past six years, and he has been a part of three national championships with NW Missouri State.  Meanwhile the Lions elevated Chris Wills who has been their DC for the last five seasons, and his defenses has helped UNA win four straight Gulf South championships.

Defense does win championships...

 

Football at Fenway 2017

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With the Red Sox announcing yesterday that Fenway Park would be hosting three college football games this year, how could I not make an entry - especially since one of the games is an Ivy League matchup.  In fact, I have already broached the subject of going to two of the games - and I received a resounding "You are not going to Boston!"  lol

I find all three games intriguing.  The first game on Friday, November 10th will feature Dartmouth vs. Brown - who will be meeting for the 95th time in their history that dates back to 1894.  One day later, UMass will be playing UMaine in a matchup of former Yankee, Atlantic 10, and CAA Conference opponents.  The two to teams played every year from 1958 to 2011 - a period of 53 years.  

The third and final matchup pits the ACC vs. the AAC the following Saturday, Nov. 18. The UConn Huskies are giving up their home game in East Hartford to play host to the Boston College Eagles.  BC and UConn first met in 1908 and played most recently in 2016 in Chestnut Hill. The Eagles won that game 30-0 to extend their lead in the overall series to 11-0-2.

Maybe my wife will change her mind between now and November...after all it is 10 months away.

Teams and Games

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Being that there are approximately 640 teams across 3 divisions, it is my hope to mention at least 500 of those tems this year (I'll have to keep a tally starting with my first entry of this year) in one or more of my sections.  It is also my hope that throughout this year, I mention and talk about 800 different games that are being played this year.

It will be a challenge, much like my hope to make an entry each day of this year (14 for 14 so far!), but with so much material available on the games and teams, it should be feasible...

Newly Scheduled Series

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Have to admit that I got excited when I visited FBSchedules.com and saw that former ACC rivals Maryland and Virginia agreed to play a home-and-home series in 2023 and 2024.  I know that it is a ways out there, but seeing these two foes play again is great news to their schools and their fans.  In case anyone is wondering, the Terps won the last meeting in 2013, 27-26.  :)

Virginia also announced that they will be playing VMI in 2020.  These two former Southern Conference teams played their first game against each other in 1893, and have competed 83 times over the years.  Unfortunately, they have only played three times in the last 30 years.  The most interesting tidbit in this series is that the Keydets quit the first game against UVA because they felt that the game was fixed.

There was one other home-and-home series that was announced yesterday.  Two former WAC opponents, Arizona and Colorado State agreed to play in 2027 and 2028.  They have met 17 times on the field dating back to 1926.

Samaje Perine

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Shortly after Samaje Perine played in the Sugar Bowl against Auburn, he announced his intention to forgo his senior year at Oklahoma so that he would be eligible for the 2017 NFL Draft.  Here are a couple of his accomplishments as a Sooner:

  • Rushed for 242 yards and four touchdowns in his fourth game as a freshman
  • Gained 427 yards on 34 carries, along with six touchdowns, to break the FBS single game rushing record
  • Broke OU's career rushing yard record against Auburn on January 2nd,  passing Billy Sims with a total of 4,122 yards
  • In the Sugar Bowl, he also passed three other spectacular Oklahoma running backs:  Steve Owens (4,041), Adrian Peterson (4,045), and Joe Washington (4,071)

 

 

2016's Top Ten Stories in College Football

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Here are my favorite stories from College Football in 2016:

  • A great rematch in the FBS Championship game between Clemson and Alabama
  • Army beating Navy for the first time since 2001
  • Seeing USC climb to #3 in the final AP poll after a 1-3 start
  • Colorado winning the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference
  • Eastern Michigan playing in a bowl game for the first time in almost 30 years
  • Watching a lot of Wyoming games at War Memorial Stadium
  • Penn State coming out of nowhere to win the Big Ten championship
  • Western Michigan rowing all the way to the Cotton Bowl against Wisconsin
  • Idaho finishing 6-2 in the Sun Belt and beating Colorado State in the Idaho Potato Bowl after being served eviction papers from the conference
  • James Madison ending North Dakota State's FCS Championship run at five years

Bonus:  UMaine coming within 3 points of making the FCS Playoffs in Joe Harasymiak's first year as Head Coach at the age of 30

Sam Darnold's Grandfather

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USC's freshman quarterback Sam Darnold helped lead the Trojans to a #3 final ranking in the AP poll - after a slow 1-3 start.  Surprisingly, he has quite a way to go before becoming the number one celebrity within his own family tree.  His grandfather, Dick Hammer, had the following achievements:

  • USC Athlete
  • Participated in the 1964 Olympics (Volleyball)
  • A retired Captain in the LA County Fire Department
  • An actor in the hit series, "Emergency!" - he played a Captain at Station 51
  • Lastly, he was a Marlboro Man actor - when cigarette commercials were hot

Unfortunately, he passed away at the young age of 69 from cancer...

 

WOW

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I didn't think that this year's rematch would live up to last year's game between Alabama and Clemson, but I was wrong.  What a great game!  This brought back memories of the Texas and USC championship game a decade ago.  Can't think of a better way to wrap up the 2016 college football season.  Congratulations Clemson Tigers - you certainly earned this title!

A couple of postgame bullets can be found under my Game Day Notes Tab...