I've thought all year that the hype behind the "parity" in college football this year was a general lack of talent, or an abundance of youth.
Proof is in the BCS pudding. Of the 10 teams, here are the starting QBs.
Georgia - Matthew Stafford (Sophomore)
Hawaii - Colt Brennan (Senior)
West Virginia - Pat White (Junior)
Oklahoma - Sam Bradford (Freshman)
Southern California - John David Booty (Senior)
Illinois - Juice Williams (Sophomore)
Virginia Tech - Sean Glennon (Junior) and Tyrod Taylor (Freshman)
Kansas - Tood Reesing (Sophomore)
Ohio State - Todd Boeckman (Junior)
LSU - Matt Flynn (Senior) and Ryan Perrilloux (Sophomore)
12 names on that list, a quarter of which are seniors. How about last year?
Michigan - Chad Henne (junior)
USC - John David Booty (junior)
Boise State - Jared Zabranski (senior)
Oklahoma - Paul Thompson (senior)
Wake Forest - Riley Skinner (freshman)
Louisville - Brian Brohm (junior)
LSU - JaMarcus Russell (junior)
Notre Dame - Brady Quinn (senior)
Florida - Chris Leak (senior) and Tim Tebow (freshman)
Ohio State - Troy Smith (senior)
5 of 11 are seniors, and one junior who was the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.
Russell was one of the juniors who should have been a top senior in college football this year. So was Adrian Peterson out in Oklahoma. Same with Calvin Johnson down at Georgia Tech. Not that these three would have transformed the outlay of college football, but there were a fair amount of juniors in this class that could have been impact players (LaRon Landry, Ted Ginn, Marshawn Lynch, Darrelle Revis, etc).
Yes, this happens every year, but it just feels like college football needed those guys to be seniors this year. The Heisman will likely be won by a sophomore, and if not him, a junior.
Looking at this year's class, all signs point to a lot of offense in 2008. Defense? Well, we'll see. This is a pretty good defensive class and many teams are going to be taking some hits.
Just something to feast on...
And BNG, I know your pain. Watching No. 3 Virginia Tech lose 28-7 in West Virginia was one of the tougher nights I've had as a football fan. Same with No. 3 Tech losing to Miami 27-7 (Marcus Vick had 5 TOs) in 2005.
It's not the magnitude of Saturday night, but I've had a taste. It's not sweet. You can only hope that the group matures and guys like Noel Devine become integral parts in reaching that ultimate level while White and Slaton are in town. But, I was curious, what did you think of those holding calls on #88?
Comments (2)
Adam,
Excellent observation regarding the youth at QB. I've been talking about the length of tenure of the head coaches. Maybe it's just because I'm getting older but I seem to remember that back in the 60's, 70's and early 80's college football coaches seemed have more time in position (T.i.P.) than than they do today. I don't know how you'd verify that, but it would be interesting. Certainly some of this can be attributed to the continual turnover of H.C.'s.
As for the penalties on Pitt. Yeah, Pitt got some bad calls. It's been going on all year in the Big East. Remember the fake fair catch call earlier this year? Now *that* was a bad call. A couple of years ago (2004?) Pitt beat WVU on a ball that skipped into the Pitt WR's arms for a TD. It goes both ways.
Having said that, Pitt and Wanny have been publicly complaining all year. Particularly in regard to calls involving Turner (#88). This may have been a bit of payback. Isn't that the ultimate condemnation of Big East Football officiating?
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/college/pitt/s_538810.html
I dont think it's coaching turnover that is behind all the craziness this year. Other than Ty Willingham, what other coach hasnt been given a decent term to be evaluated?
You certainly dont have NFL standards in coaching, thus why the Wannstache just got an extension.
So, on the topic of your post on the BCS games. If Hawaii and these other non-BCS conference schools dont deserve a shot at the title game (and Hawaii seriously got hosed this year considering LSU blew their chance at #1 twice to now unranked teams) then why are they playing in the FBS? If you start out with basically no shot at a title, why play in this level of football?
And why would this not be the perfect year to give a non-BCS conf. team a shot at the title? You dont have a definitive #1 or #2 team. And the two previous non-BCS conf. BCS qualifiers have beaten their conference champion opponents. It's a joke that a 12-0 team gets past up for a team that had two opportunities at #1 and blew both.