Although a few league championships still haven't been decided yet, I decided to get a jump on some things and weigh in on the best coaching jobs of the season.
- Nick Saban, Alabama: You don't have to like him, but you must respect what he can do for a college team. He has transformed this program in two years from being pretty good to great again. Saban is a master at putting together a defense and demanding a physical brand of football. The Tide's bruising ground game has become its trademark. No team is more physical, and a team that was 7-6 and had just 13 returning starters now has an outstanding shot at the national title -- if Saban can somehow slow down the vaunted Gators. Few people outside the state of Alabama have given the Tide a chance. Then again, few people would've thought three months ago that the Tide would even play in the SEC championship game.
- Chris Petersen, Boise State: Don't get the wrong idea just because Ian Johnson is still a Bronco. This extremely young Boise State team ran the table and should be playing in a BCS bowl. Everywhere you look on the team's depth chart are freshmen and sophomores, but it doesn't seem to matter. BSU keeps rolling. A whopping 30 men on their two-deep are either freshmen or sophs. It's amazing to see how well-prepared Petersen and his staff have made those kids. Usually, coaches lament a psychological wall that young guys hit that triggers coverage busts, turnovers and costly penalties. Not here. Boise State's win at Oregon, led by redshirt freshman QB Kellen Moore (a guy the Broncos had to beat only Eastern Washington for), was huge. In fact, coupled with the rest of the flawless season, it should trump anything that Ohio State -- the program that likely will receive the BCS slot that Boise won't get -- has accomplished this season.
- Brian Kelly, Cincinnati: I wonder whether this guy could have Notre Dame ranked by his fourth season if he were to coach the Irish. Kelly is a winner and one of the rising stars in the business. He gets everything out of his squad and always has his players well prepared. This season, Kelly's Cincy team has flourished despite playing roughly 14 different quarterbacks in the first half of the season. It all started when oft-injured Ben Mauk's sixth-year appeal was denied by the NCAA. Then Dustin Grutza broke his leg in the loss at Oklahoma. Then, Chazz Anderson, one of two redshirt freshmen used at quarterback, injured his knee in the loss at Connecticut. Somewhere in all of that, Notre Dame transfer Demetrius Jones also was injured. Lanky Tony Pike, who has taken the job and really shone, has been playing with a broken non-passing arm. Perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised because back in 2001, when Kelly was a Division II coach, he lost his starting quarterback (Curt Anes) for the playoffs. Kelly simply plugged in a converted wideout, and Grand Valley State just kept winning.
- Paul Johnson, Ga. Tech: Still doubt whether the triple option can work at the major college level? Johnson's potent ground attack has blindsided the ACC -- and archrival Georgia. Johnson has incorporated many guys who weren't recruited into this scheme and has transformed them into stars. Tech is third in the country in rushing and has been at its best against the fastest defenses it has faced (UGA, FSU and Miami). Better still, Johnson got most of former coach Chan Gailey's players to buy into his system. Who knows? You may see some more teams mixing in some triple option plays to keep defenses off balance next season.
- Jeff Jagodzinski, Boston College: First he lost the best quarterback in college football (Matt Ryan). No problem. Then, Jagz lost the guy who replaced the guy (Chris Crane) and replaced him with a very green freshman, Dominique Davis. The Eagles kept winning and sailed right into the ACC title game. BC relies on freshman backs Montel Harris and Josh Harris to spark the offense, and a young, improving O-line has emerged to keep some heat off a very stout defense that has overcome a rebuilt secondary.
- Kyle Whittingham, Utah: Good teams often take on the personality of their coach, and these Utes have the same toughness that Whittingham's former college teammates say made him a standout player. The Utes had to replace the bulk of their front seven from last season, but they managed to do that just fine. They have won 13 consecutive games and are headed to a BCS bowl. And that toughness was especially evident in tight games. The Utes were 5-0 in games decided by a touchdown or less, and three of those wins came on the road.
- Houston Nutt, Ole Miss: True, Nutt inherited a very ripe situation: a team loaded with outstanding D-linemen, speedy playmakers at receiver and a gifted quarterback who was just about to become eligible. Still, give Nutt his due. His staff helped change the mindset of a team that was winless in SEC play the year before and had become notorious for "almost" big wins that turned into heartbreaking defeats. The Rebels still squandered too many tight games, as they lost all four of their games by a touchdown or less. But it doesn't get much sweeter than knocking off the past two national champs, Florida and LSU, at their places the way the Rebels did.
- Mike Riley, Oregon State: The Beavers may not play in the Rose Bowl, but that shouldn't detract from the great job Riley and his staff did in improving this team dramatically this season. Although the Beavers had to replace their entire front seven on defense and had the second-fewest returning starters in the Pac-10, they overcame another dismal start and knocked off USC. Then, they kept on rolling, overcoming injuries and inexperience to an 8-4 regular season.
- Brady Hoke, Ball State: The Cardinals unleashed a dynamic offense on the MAC and ran the table to go 12-0, but it wasn't all easy. Early in the season, BSU had to overcome the heartbreaking loss of star Dante Love. Not bad for a team that went 7-6 last season.
- Tim Brewster, Minnesota: With all due respect to Joe Paterno and Pat Fitzgerald, no one took a program that was worse off a year ago than Brewster. He made a key move bringing in defensive coordinator Ted Roof to overhaul the defense. Brewster, a guy who has a solid reputation as a recruiter, was able to plug in a crew of gifted junior college transfers to infuse more speed and playmakers into the defense. Obviously, Brewster would be higher on this list had his team not dropped its final four games of the season.
Random stuff
• Washington interviewed Pat Hill, Bob Condotta reports, and might reach out to Texas Tech Mike Leach this week if he's interested.
Note to U-Dub brass: Call Leach. He probably would like to speak with you. Maybe you could dock a pirate ship outside the stadium and let him put his offices in there.
• So who were the two coaches who gave Oklahoma first-place votes to help the Sooners stay ahead of Texas? Because the votes are kept secret until the final ballots are in Sunday, we might never know. Jake Trotter surmises:
"But here's a guess: Texas Tech's Mike Leach and Nebraska's Bo Pelini, two former assistants under Bob Stoops who were blown out by the Sooners this season and had votes in the coaches poll. Leach said after his team's 65-21 loss to OU that he would vote the Sooners ahead of Texas. Another possibility is South Carolina's Steve Spurrier, who was the head coach at Florida when Stoops was the Gators' defensive coordinator. Spurrier was the only coach other than Stoops to vote OU No. 1 at the end of the 2007 regular season."
I was sorry to see Sly Croom step down at Mississippi State. Sources say he was being forced to make staff changes but didn't want to, so he resigned. Croom leaves the program better than he found it. It was an absolute mess when he took over. It's at least stable now, although there simply weren't enough playmakers around, and Croom never landed a star quarterback to spark the offense. Truth is, Ole Miss went from mediocre to very good in large part because the Rebels have a standout quarterback (Jevan Snead). If he were to play in Starkville, I think MSU might be in a bowl game.
Whoever takes over has to recruit better in the region than Croom did. In terms of talent, State is near the bottom of the SEC. I can say from having been inside the Ole Miss war room that State beat the Rebels for only a few players in the two years I was down there, and OT Derek Sherrod was the biggest one. After that it was DT LaMarcus Williams, juco DT Jesse Bowman, juco WR Co-Eric Riley, RB Robert Elliott and DB Charles Mitchell.
• Speaking of Ole Miss, anyone who watched the Rebels' romp in the Egg Bowl saw why DT Peria Jerry should be an All-American. No interior lineman has been more dominant this season.
• The point that bowl-businesspeople haven't hit on is the hefty cost of air travel, as former colleague Darren Rovell explains:
"When you look at the attendance for these second-tier bowls, you are going to see one thing that's going to be interesting. While you'll still be able to correlate size of fan base to butts in the seats, you'll notice that the bowls that will do better will be the bowls in which at least one of the teams is within a 12-hour drive. That's probably the max someone is willing to drive, even with cheap gas prices."
• I have to give my colleague Rece Davis credit. When I referenced that few people gave Bama any shot of winning the SEC title this season, it would've been no people, at least as far as I read, heard or know. However, at ESPN's preseason meetings in early August, I remember having a conversation with Davis before dinner, and he was right on target predicting that the Tide would win the SEC West because of their toughness.
• I know Va. Tech's D has been very good (again), but where would the Hokies be had Frank Beamer opted to redshirt Tyrod Taylor this season?
• Might Al Groh be in trouble? Virginia didn't roll over another year on Groh's contract, Doug Doughty reports.
Groh is left with three years on his contract for the first time since his second contract with UVa in 2005.
Bruce Feldman
