On College Football: Time For The Bob Stoops and Mark Richt Talks
By Ty Duffy
The 2015 season’s leitmotif has been overturning consensus wisdom. Week 6 saw some anxious moments, but, for the most part, consensus reigned. Ohio State pulled away from Maryland. TCU came from behind at Kansas State. Michigan State squeaked past Rutgers on the road. Utah forced turnovers and held Cal’s wee hours upset bid at bay.
Narrative shifts were well trodden. Oklahoma lost to Texas, the same Texas that lost 50-7 to TCU. UT coaches were back on Twitter, with cigars. Bring on the Bob Stoops debate.
The Sooners have three or more losses, seven of the past 10 years. They have just one Top 5 finish since 2004. Though, most schools would relish that “malaise.” While Stoops has lost big games, he has also won them. His inexplicable losses remain inexplicable, but they occur less often than one thinks. This defeat follows a different pattern. Bob Stoops has a Texas problem. Let’s look back at the last three years.
2013: Oklahoma rolled in 5-0 and ranked No. 12. Case McCoy and Texas, 3-2 with two ugly losses, jumped all over them winning 36-20. A late TD made it look closer than it was.
2014: Oklahoma was 4-1 and ranked No. 11, after a narrow road loss to TCU. Texas entered a disappointing. 2-3. Oklahoma escaped with a 31-26 win. A kickoff return for a touchdown and a pick six overturned a similar box score ass kicking.
2015: The Longhorns were 1-4. The Sooners came in 4-0, ranked No. 10. Texas scored two quick touchdowns, played great defense and ran over Oklahoma for a 24-17 win.
Three underwhelming Texas teams. Three unacceptable performances by Oklahoma staff and players. It’s a rivalry game. Texas may not have been as bad as their record indicated. Still…
Mark Richt lost control again. Alabama tattooed the Bulldogs last week. This week, like clockwork, Georgia let down in a classic spot on the road to reeling Tennessee. The score was 38-31. Though, a fumble return TD and a punt return TD made the loss look more presentable. No one was more grateful than Butch Jones.
The Richt debate gets dismissed by anti-reactionaries. He’s a good football coach. He puts out a good football team. Lord forbid anyone has strong opinions about a sport. That argument has held more sway in the three of the past six years Georgia finished within the Top 25. The question that’s lost is whether “good” is enough, or should be at Georgia.
Mark Richt may have the nation’s best college football job. Georgia is a close fourth in states producing FBS talent, behind Florida, Texas, and California. UGA is the only major recruiting power in that state. Georgia Tech getting one kid in the state’s top 40 is a coup.
The Bulldogs have everything, almost every year. It never comes together. Georgia has not won the SEC since 2005. The last few years have been a string of labored wins over mediocre Dooley and Muschamp teams, not to mention the losses to Steve Spurrier.
Georgia can’t fire Mark Richt. The risk of becoming bad at football may not be worth the reward of slight improvement. But, that won’t stop fans from fantasizing.
USC was wildly overrated preseason and lost its second home game as a double-digit favorite. Though, that’s a minor point given the sad extenuating circumstances.
One narrative that did not hold true was the “Clemsoning.” Dabo Swinney’s Tigers beat Notre Dame and did not come out flat the next week against mediocre Georgia Tech. Dabo Swinney thinks we should retire the term.
Credit Clemson for handling a soft opponent at home. But, “Clemsoning” is a universal term, describing any team building up hype before a humiliating let down. It reflects what Clemson has done, not what they will do.
Perhaps the term warrants reconsideration. Clemson has not “Clemsoned” since losing to GT after starting 8-0 in 2011. Though, the season is long. Clemson has multiple, mediocre games left on its schedule. There’s a stout BC defense coming to town next weekend.
SWIPE RIGHT
The Jim Harbaugh Era: Michigan shut out No. 13 ranked Northwestern 38-0. The Wolverines have outscored opponents 157-7 over their last 19 quarters of football. They’ve stopped 39/46 third down attempts their past three games. Michigan rhetoric, in a matter of weeks, has gone from “Be patient, it’s going to be a long season” to “OH MY GOD, THEY’RE GOING TO MAKE THE PLAYOFF.”
The Jim McElwain Era: Florida had a sandwich game. Let down after the Ole Miss win. Look ahead to LSU. The Gators were unaffected, manhandling Missouri 21-3 on the road. We’re not sold on the Gator offense sustaining an undefeated record. But, Florida is 6-0. The schedule does not look that imposing after LSU. In year one under McElwain, the Gators are favorites to return to Atlanta for the first time since 2009.
UConn: The Huskies announced the Civil Conflict trophy game with UCF. Far superior UCF had never agreed to a trophy game. Most found it funny. A decidedly uncivil UConn smashed UCF 40-13 in Orlando, dropping the Knights to 0-6. And, yes, the Huskies brought the trophy with them.
SWIPE LEFT
Oregon: The Ducks dropped their second Pac 12 game in Autzen, losing 45-38 to Mike Leach and Washington State in overtime. Oregon is now 3-3. Their remaining schedule is at Washington, at Arizona State, Cal, at Stanford, USC, Oregon State. Do the Ducks find three wins to reach a bowl game?
Syracuse: The Orange traveled to 1-3 USF following the bye week. It did not go well for them, in a 45-24 loss. The Bulls averaged eight yards per play in the process. It was almost enough to get USF fans clambering back on the bus. Syracuse is not doing their conference member part to help Clemson’s schedule strength.
FASHION STATEMENT OF THE WEEK
This West Virginia fan opted for some overall jorts. Sort of a Matt Millen summer look.
