Koo’s Corner

Thought I would chime in with some commentary on the bowl games, recruiting news, thoughts on 2008, etc.

Implications of Bowl Games on 2008

As I mentioned earlier this week on my blog, these bowl games will have a big impact on the 2008 pre season rankings. By building up the perception of your team with a big bowl win (LSU last year for example) you can get bumped to the head of the line amongst your peers. Going into bowl season I had two sets of five teams. My top tier for 2008 in no particular order was….

Florida, Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and USC

With my second tier of top teams being

West Virginia, Missouri, Texas, Illinois, and Virginia Tech

A lot will change these early ranking like who will declare early, how 2008 recruiting wraps up, transfers etc.

However their have been a lot surprises and lop sided victories that will really weigh on perception of some these teams.

USC, Missouri, West Virginia, and Georgia all logged impressive wins while Oklahoma, Florida, and Illinois looked pathetic.

Look for Georgia to jump over Florida in terms of 08 pre season rankings mainly thanks to their Sugar Bowl performance. West Virginia’s win was momentous as the program was and still is in turmoil with Rodriguez leaving, the recruiting class wary of WV, and the WV lawsuit against Rodriguez. The win may have kept the program from completely derailing as I blogged about earlier.

Illinois’ loss was one of the few times fans really saw them all year which will hurt their public perception. For Oklahoma, that Big 12 will be nasty in 2008 so it will be interesting to see how the voters stack up OU, Texas, Mizzou, and Kansas. The middle of the Big 12 will be pretty lethal as well with Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and Colarado returning some firepower as well.

Tough Road Bowl games for the Big Ten

Weather in Big Ten Country this time of year excludes the region from hosting any big name bowl games. Because of this, Big Team teams hit the road come bowl season in hopes their fans will want to join them in a warmer more touristy destination. However this year the stars lined up for a pretty ridiculous slate of bowl away games.

Purdue vs Central Michigan in Detroit, Michigan (Purdue win a squeeker)

Penn State vs Texas A&M in San Antonio, Texas (Penn State victory)

Illinois vs USC in Pasadena, California (Illinois got torched)

Michigan vs Florida in Orlando, Florida (Michigan beats Florida in best bowl thus far aka the Who Do I hate more bowl)

Ohio State vs LSU in New Orleans (TBD)

Saturday= Recruiting Cram Session

This upcoming Saturday their will be two High school football All American games. This will allow those college football nuts to take a look at the next wave of big talents . The Under Armor All America game will be on ABC at 2PM ET with the more established US Army All American Bowl airing on NBC at 12 ET.

I really hate trying to get excited about next year’s freshmen by looking other “experts” rankings and really poor quality internet videos of highlight plays. These games will give you a glimpse of how these guys stack up against high level competition. Also many of the undecided participants will make a decision live at the games which adds quite a bit of suspense at this game.

I am disappointed as I will be traveling during these games as I wanted to check out a lot of Ohio State commits who are reported to be the most impressive group during practice and the most tight knit bunch after practice for the US Army game.
This game always gives you a handful of names you can be confident will be first round picks down the road. Rivals actually has great All time offense and All time defense participants of late. Tedd Ginn and Chris Wells I believe were MVPS of their respective games.

Rise Mag has a good brief writeup on each game which can be found here.

Intrigue Surrounding Terrelle Pryor Recruitment

Terrelle Pryor is considered by most to be the number one high school player in America and will be playing on Saturday in the US Army game. Pryor has not picked a college and is also considered a top basketball recruit as well. Many compare Pryor to Vince Young with many claiming Pryor will be even better.

Pryor was rumored to be an Ohio State lean with Florida, West Virginia, Penn State, Oregon, Michigan, and Florida in pursuit. Of late Pryor has been very vocal in denouncing any favoring of Ohio State, giving many fan bases a lot of hope they can land the big time recruit. Michigan fans were ecstatic in hearing the news that Pryor actually checked in to Army game hotel wearing a Michigan swearshirt.

However many believe that was just a ploy to annoy his OSU commit friends who he has been rumored to be spending all of time with on and off the field at practice this week. Below is a recent video of him outside of practice. You be the judge.

ScoutTV: USAAB Terrelle Pryor Video Interview

Benkoo.com hitting the road Heading to New Orleans As previously mentioned I will be heading to New Orleans to watch the Ohio State LSU game. I will be devoting a lot of time and efforts to blogging about the experience and my thoughts on the game in the coming days. I am bubbling with anticipation for this great game but am a little worried about being in LSU country.LSU fan’s have earned the reputation of being some of the roughest and agressive fans in all of college football. I really hope that ends up being not the case. Here is one of many examples that were listed on Bucknuts of pretty scary LSU fan behavior.

LSU Athletic Director Urges Better Behavior

I have personally endeared a lot of good and bad fan bases during my college football road trip prime and must say I usually am able to navigate out of trouble and enjoy the game. However its one of the worst things to be harassed, assaulted, and taunted endlessly just because of your college affiliation. Ohio State is no angel either.

Why can’t we all just get along? Here’s too hoping for a peaceful and victorious trip.

First I just wanted to say that I will be attending the BCS Championship game and plan on blogging about the experience (maybe even some video and pics to go along). Sinking in the time and money on this trip is always a gamble. Some of my fondest memories in life are of hitting the road for a highly anticipated game, soaking up a new city, watching a closely contested game, and soaking up the thrill of victory.However when traveling into enemy territory (that’s what it can feel like) the harassment, travel time, ticket/trip costs, coupled with a painful defeat can make the experience a complete nightmare.

Many Buckeye fans are weary of going this year, espicially with the game being in LSU’s backyard in New Orleans. Factors making the decision tough for Buckeye fans include

- Buckeyes being 4 1/2 point underdogs

- Pricier than normal prices on flights and hotels

- Thoughts of last year’s debacle in the desert, which hurt all Buckeye fans heart’s while burning a hole in other’s wallets.

- Fear of a very hostile pre game and post game atmosphere with LSU fans having a reputation for being very enthusiastic, vocal, and full of bravado

I was on the fence about making the trip but am optimistic it will turn out for the better. Only time will tell. I am also on the hook for convincing 2-3 friends to make the commitment as well. The saying applies, “In Tressel We Trust”

Other Interesting Items

- On a somber note, starting CB Donald Washington has been suspended for the championship game for the Buckeyes for violating team rules. Washington had an absolutely stellar year and will be missed come January 7th. Many believe Chimdi Chekwa will start in his place with Jamario O Neal filling in the Nickel Defense.

- Florida State will be without the services of about 1/2 of their starters due to an academic cheating scandal (23 players suspended.. This news leaked yesterday and many shrewd betters were able to use this information before the line was pulled until the formal announcement was made.

- This football recruiting season has had a disproportionate amount of early commitments. While not really newsworthy all the coaching changes and reshuffling of staffs has caused a sizable amount of committed players to re open up their college recruitments as well.

The case of DJ Woods is an interesting one as Woods opted for Nebraska in early September over Ohio State. By October, Woods was looking at other schools as Nebraska started to implode, with OSU rumored to have pulled his scholarship offer. Bill Callahan was fired and Woods was back on the free market not wanting to be part of the program rebuilding efforts in Lincoln. Woods settled on West Virgnia only to have head coach Rick Rodriguez move onto Michigan. Woods has not heard anything from the West Virginia staff about his standing with the program and has yet to hear anything from Rodriguez and his new regime in Michigan.

Woods’ case is one of many interesting story lines on the national recruiting scene where the coaching shuffle and other fluid moving scenarios have stirred up the recruiting landscape. Although not affected by major coaching changes, Florida State and Miami’s woes have caused some of their commits to re evaluate their options.

- There are some absolutely wild rumors circulating about West Virginia regarding Big name recruits, the current coaching staff, the possibility of Rodriguez returning, and who his replacement will be. Very interested to see what materializes.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAbW-jMvPU8]

- Lastly its being reported that regardless of Brian Billick’s man crush on Kyle Boller, Troy Smith is likely to get his first NFL start on Sunday. Smith is a legend in Buckeye lore, with many believing that the NFL has turned a blind eye to his potential. Baltimore fans, media, and players have seemed to embrace Smith (and have soured Boller and Billick) so it will be very interesting to see what unfolds on Sunday.

- My colleague at Bucknuts, Jeff Rapp, wrote a fantastic article about Nader Abdallah, a New Orleans native on the Buckeyes whose family actually moved in with him at OSU due to be displaced because of Hurricane Katrina. Great story.

I have some future bucknuts articles in the works so stay tuned.

3 Weeks ago, West Virginia a 29 point favorite lost to a lowly Pittsburgh team thus costing them a birth in the national championship game. It was a shocking development thast has only been amplified as a domino affect has taken place all over the college football landscape. Years from now this upset may be looked upon as a huge turning point for multiple programs all over the country. Although some of this is pure speculation lets take a brief look at the implications of this game.
Pittsburgh-

Pittsburgh had a signature win to sell to big time recruits and rallied in the coming weeks to ink some of the nation’s best players who took notice of the upset win while choosing to ignore the 5-7 record. Sine the game Pitt has secured verbals from highly touted players such as QB Zach Stoudt, OL Robb Houser, RB/CB Cameron Saddler , with rumors of Saddler’s teammate DE/LB Shayne Hale close behind. These verbals have really given the program some momentum and will likely elevate the program in a mediocre Big East over the years to come.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=0QAWLXBAQiA]

LSU-

It is my belief that Les Miles has tentatively accepted to leave LSU to fill the Michigan head coaching vacancy. Although he denied this rumor before the WV loss, I think he was just buying some time so he could announce it on his own terms down the road hoping to avoid a John L Smith Louisville incident. However Miles count not anticipate the WV loss nor the subsequent vaulting of his Tigers to the national championship game. It was unfathomable that the Tigers could make such a dramatic leap up the rankings and it threw Miles for a curveball.

You can’t leave a head coaching position in the weeks leading up to a national championship game and Miles and Michigan knew it. Miles laid low and signed an extension with LSU hoping Michigan would get the message. Michigan didn’t and finally they made one final run at Miles when the spoke 2 weeks later. Probably a “so your leaving us at the alter?” conversation. Miles is now entrenched at LSU having to have turned down his dream job at his alma mateur.

Nebraska-

This one is even more of a stretch so take this one with a grain of salt. LSU defensive coordinator, Bo Pelini, was either going to take the potential LSU coaching vacancy or the empty Nebraska position. With Miles believed to be a done deal to Michigan, Pelini was confident he would be named the new LSU head coach (the job he preferred over Nebraska). With the WV loss locking Miles into LSU, Pelini accepted the Nebraska job in the days after. Although its possible he would have taken the job anyways, I think Pelini was willing to wait it out for a shot at the LSU job and was confident the Nebraska offer would stay on the table for the duration.

Michigan

With their top choice for the job out of play, Michigan recommenced their coaching search which settled on Rodriguez today. Obviously if WV wins against Pitt, there is no way Rodriguez can walk away from WV (his alma matuer) in the weeks leading up to the championship game. With the Michigan job now open thanks largely in part to his ‘nightmare’ and potentially realizing that he might not get as good of shot at a championship game in Morgantown, Rodriguez succumbed to Michigan’s sales pitch and took the job.

Michigan now will run a spread offense which has many thinking that QB incumbent Ryan Mallett will transfer to Arkansas or elsewhere as he is the polar opposite of a typical spread offense QB. Essentially its possible the WV loss switched head coach of Michigan from Miles to Rodriguez and may have changed their next quarterback as well. However the news inst all bad on the quarterback front as now number 1 player in the country, QB Terrelle Pryor is now looking at Michigan instead of West Virginia due to Rodriguez’s spread system.

Below is some good analysis from a Michigan fan friend of mine, Aaron, who did not approve the hiring of Rodriguez.

“1. his teams always tank in big games
2. his schemes put up big points but don’t produce nfl stars at qb which will eventualy hurt recruiting in my opinion
3. this is the guy that recruited and covered for both pacman jones and chris henry, nuff said
4. he flirted for two years with leaving his alma mater, you think he’d hesitate to leave if he got a better offer? $2.4 mill isn’t t hat much”

West Virgina-

The loss of Rodriguez is going to hurt. I am hearing that Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster is likely the next coach which I would think would be a pretty shrewd hire. Regardless, Rodriguez built the program from the ground up and put West Virginia on the map. More than likely your going to see a significant drop off from a program that was just settling in as a perennial power. Only time will tell if this will be a Nebraska/Miami fall from grace or just a small drop off.

On the recruiting front West Virginia was “in” on the recruitment of several high profile recruits including Pryor (think Vince Young) . Pryor has already dropped WV from consideration and many believe Rodriguez’s departure will cost them top ranked guard Josh Jenkins as well.

Great article on Pryor, DJ Woods, and Jenkins implications.