college football 2006 primer

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for the young guys

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CHRIS DUFRESNE / ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL

College Football Title Race Is Wide Open

Unlike last season, several teams have a serious shot at the national championship, but each has weaknesses

Chris Dufresne

August 31, 2006

One final thought on last January's tremendous Rose Bowl …

"That championship is done!" Texas Coach Mack Brown said over the telephone between portrait sittings, knighthood paperwork, pork 'n' bean commercials and department-store appearances. "We've got it forever."

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Fair enough.

Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and LenDale White have moved on  why shouldn't we?

But why, why, why didn't Pete Carroll punt on fourth and two?

Shouldn't ESPN be doing a "Five Reasons … " on this?

It is?

(OK, that's it pundit, leave it alone).

The best thing about college football seasons is that no two are alike.

Texas and USC led dawn-to-dusk through last year's campaign but expect this year to be more open-ended than a Bobby Bowden answer.

It's so wide open that Ohio State lost nine starters on defense and enters the season ranked No. 1 in both major polls.

Had they lost 10 starters, the Buckeyes might have been picked to win the Super Bowl.

"How legitimate is it?" Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel wondered about the preseason hype. "I don't know if we know the answer to that."

So there you have it.

Every would-be contender  and they are lined up 10 deep at the kickoff kiosk  could stand a dab of blemish cream.

Some experts fancy Notre Dame, with its clean-cut quarterback and crew-cut coach.

But this is a franchise that has lost eight straight bowl games and returns meaty portions of a defense that gave up 617 yards to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Safety Tom Zbikowski, in a retaliatory act, turned pro as a fighter in June and knocked out a boxing Buckeyes fan in 49 seconds.

What part of Zbikowski's off-season game needed work?

"His left jab," Irish Coach Charlie Weis quipped

USC has to re-chisel the Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt (Teddy) faces in its Mt. Rushmore backfield, but it does have Washington (Chauncey).

The last time USC lost a Heisman Trophy quarterback, Carson Palmer after 2002, it sputtered, bumbled and leg-dragged its way to … a share of the national title.

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Brown cried three days at the Austin train station when quarterback Young boarded the 5:15 for Nashville, and now the Texas coach is staring at two quarterbacks who have never taken a meaningful snap.

But Texas still has enough talent to beat Oklahoma State's Cowboys  and maybe Dallas'.

In a sport without a playoff, though, and in a year with no clear favorite, always bet the schedule.

West Virginia, out of the Big East Conference, has the best chance to go 12-0 and starts the season ranked high enough in the polls to off-set opponent odiousness. The Mountaineers' toughest opponents are at Pittsburgh, at Louisville and at Overconfidence.

West Virginia players, normally left alone, have become stars in their own state.

"You walk into a grocery store as an offensive lineman, people know who you are," said Dan Mozes, the team's star center. "You get that second look."

Auburn gets Louisiana State, Florida and Georgia at home and could, unlike in 2004, go undefeated and actually get a chance to play in the national title game.

"I think about it every day," Coach Tommy Tuberville said in reference to the 13-0 team that watched USC and Oklahoma play for the crown.

So that's it, West Virginia vs. Auburn for the title, ugly as that may sound, although you never know what's going to tip the balance.

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Some championships are lost and won in the off-season.

Oklahoma may have kicked the can in July, when quarterback Rhett Bomar was shown the showroom door.

USC may have won it when the NCAA declared receiver Dwayne Jarrett eligible to split out wide against Arkansas on Saturday.

Miami may have lost it when Larry Coker suspended two star players for the team's opener Monday against Florida State.

Sometimes an academic outbreak can knock you off stride. A fishy sociology class at Auburn drew the New York Times' interest, which some conspiracy zealots thought interesting because the Times owns the Tuscaloosa News, hometown paper of archrival Alabama.

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Bloggers, if you're not careful, can be home-field wreckers. At Oklahoma, news of Bomar's pay-for-play car dealership job first appeared on a Texas A&M post.

Florida Coach Urban Meyer is so fed up with the Internet  "it just horrifies me," he complained at Southeastern Conference media day  he banned it from his house.

Maybe the tipping point was Meyer's wife, Shelley, finishing third in a blog of "Top Wives of the SEC."

Coaches are apoplectic about 3-2-5-e, a rule that stipulates, after a change of possession, the clock will start on the official's mark instead of the snap. Some fear as many as 20 plays may be lost as a result.

If you hacked 19 plays off the end of last year's Rose Bowl, USC would have been leading, 38-33, a down before LenDale White was stopped short on fourth and two at the Texas 45.

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New rule II: To prevent coaches from having to burn timeouts to beg for replays on controversial plays, each coach this year will be allowed one replay challenge a game. If the play is upheld, he loses the timeout. If overturned, he is not charged.

Rogers Redding, the SEC's coordinator of officials, explained: "My hope is the coaches will not need the challenges because the replay officials will be doing their job in terms of stopping the game anyway."

My hope is that Redding was joking when he said this.

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This year's title game moves from Pasadena to Glendale (Arizona), to a new stadium that looks like something that might have once dropped in on Roswell, N.M.

Cardinals Stadium has a retractable roof and a retractable floor. The playing field, a 12-million-pound tray that is 234 feet wide by 400 feet long, is 45 inches thick  the deepest dish this side of Rush Street.

The field rolls in and out on hundreds of wheels. Tony Hawk wants to ride it if he can find a big enough skateboard park.

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Let's go over the new championship procedures again:

The Fiesta Bowl gets first crack at the new-fangled "double-host" plan. There are five Bowl Championship Series games this year instead of four, but this is not a playoff.

The extra bowl was created to open up two additional at-large access passes in a successful effort to fend off a possible lawsuit.

The Fiesta has the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1 and then, on Jan. 8, the BCS title game between the top two teams in the final BCS standings.

The Rose Bowl remains a Pacific 10 Conference-Big Ten Conference romance unless either champion is ranked Nos. 1 or 2 and makes the BCS title game.

The Rose will have two games in 2010  but only one parade.

"There still remains substantial confusion in the public about the change to the format and what it really means," said Mike Slive, SEC commissioner and new BCS coordinator.

You think?

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New rule III: This year, any non-BCS team ranked in the top 12 gets an automatic berth into a BCS game; before it had to finish in the top six. Any team that finishes in the top 14 of the BCS standings is eligible for at-large consideration.

Notre Dame is an automatic take if it ends up No. 8 or better.

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New rule IV: If a non-BCS school finishes in the top 16 and ranks higher than one of the six BCS conference champions, the non-BCS school gets an automatic bid.

Had the rule been in effect last year, Texas Christian at No. 14 would have been BCS bound and Atlantic Coast Conference champion Florida State would have been out.

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Other odds and ends:

•  The Fox Network, home of Bart Simpson, takes over the bulk of the BCS package, televising the Fiesta, Orange, Sugar and BCS title games.

Fox has promised you won't need 3-D glasses to view the bowl games  at least not this year.

ABC keeps the Rose Bowl but loses Keith Jackson.

•  A new 12-game season means you get to a bowl game with a 6-6 record, so dream big out there.

•  The Pacific 10 Conference is playing a round-round schedule so the only "misses" necessary this year will be in properly addressing your head coach's wife.

•  Folks in Columbus, Ohio, are already comparing Chris Wells, a true freshman tailback from Akron, to Jim Brown. Thank goodness they're not comparing him to Maurice Clarett.

•  Penn State Coach Joe Paterno turns 80 in December, and doctors have told him he's fit enough to coach 10 more years. Which means 75-year-old Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden may have to coach another 11.

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INSIDE COLLEGE FOOTBALL

THE TIMES' TOP 25

CHRIS DUFRESNE

August 31, 2006

CHRIS DUFRESNE'S RANKINGS AND COMMENTS:

1 WEST VIRGINIA

2 AUBURN

Can't allow two-bit academic scandal to interfere with the important things in life.

3 TEXAS

Colt McCoy is starting quarterback but Mack Brown isn't afraid to bring in Major Applewhite.

4 USC

Rankman wary of quarterbacks with three names ever since he took flier on Billy Joe Hobert.

5 OHIO STATE

Putting school No. 1 in another poll would put too much pressure on the student athletes.

6 LOUISVILLE

This team also has a tailback named Bush (Michael) who could win the Heisman.

7 NOTRE DAME

This year's big plans include snacks after games and getting to a bowl it can win.

8 CALIFORNIA

Not too sure how Berkeley at Tennessee would have worked out in the 1967 opener.

9 FLORIDA

Turnaround artist Urban Meyer claims even the second year of his marriage was better than first.

10 IOWA

Rankman was either a year early hyping these guys last year or 20 years late.

11 LOUISIANA STATE

ADVERTISEMENTCelebrating 75th anniversary of first lighted night game in which Tom Edison threw out first switch.

12 MICHIGAN

All folks are really asking for is a turnaround similar to the Detroit Tigers'.

13 MIAMI

"Bowden, remember when we didn't need a Sherpa to help us excavate a college poll?"

14 FLORIDA STATE

"Funny, I just got a letter suggesting we hire Jon Krakauer as offensive coordinator."

15 GEORGIA

Top-dog Uga asks to look at the film one more time before naming the two-deep rosters.

16 OKLAHOMA

Folks, Big Red Auto/Imports has the best financing in town; just ask the former QB!

17OREGONOK with the new uniforms but that "Ponderosa Pine" scent has got to go.

18 CLEMSON

Love a place that has tiger paws painted on the street to help you find stadium.

19 PENN STATE

School says death this week of world's oldest person, at 116, has no effect on Paterno's future.

20 NEBRASKA

You know old days are over when quarterbacks are transferring to you from Arizona State.

21 UCLA

Bruins first to take advantage of Rankman's Preseason Poll Licensing Purchase Plan.

22 VIRGINIA TECH

Blacksburg law enforcement celebrates Marcus Vick's departure by selling out Policemen's Ball.

23 TEXAS CHRISTIAN

Would have made BCS game under this year's rules but tough luck, now just go out and play.

24 ALABAMA

May he RIP, but here's hoping "The Last Coach" is the last book written about Paul Bryant.

25 ARIZONA STATE

To demonstrate damage control skills, coach pours water on training camp grease fire.

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INSIDE COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Four Games to Watch

PETER YOON

August 31, 2006

NO. 9 CALIFORNIA

AT NO. 23 TENNESSEE

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•  Kickoff: Saturday, 2:30 p.m. PDT.

•  TV: ESPN.

•  Line: Tennessee by 1 1/2 .

•  California update: The Golden Bears are touting junior running back Marshawn Lynch as a Heisman Trophy candidate. He rushed for 1,246 yards in 10 games last season. Receiver DeSean Jackson adds a deep threat for an offense that averaged 36 points a game. Nate Longshore, who suffered a broken leg in last season's opener, is the starter at quarterback, but Joe Ayoob, who took most of the snaps last season, is also expected to play.

•  Tennessee update: The Volunteers ranked second in the nation in run defense last season and returning tackles Justin Herrell and Turk McBride pose a significant challenge to Lynch. The secondary returns all four starters. On offense, new coordinator David Cutcliffe will try to spark a unit that averaged only 18.6 points a game last season. He'll feature Arian Foster, who ended last season with five consecutive 100-yard rushing games.

•  Story line: The season's first matchup of top 25 teams is also a matchup of teams with something to prove. Cal is looking to quell any doubts about its highest preseason ranking since 1952; Tennessee is looking to prove it belongs in the ratings after a 5-6 season in 2005, the Vols' worst record since 1988.

•  The pick: Tennessee. The Vols' defense is too good for an untested quarterback.

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NO. 2 NOTRE DAME AT GEORGIA TECH

•  Kickoff: Saturday, 5 p.m. PDT.

•  TV: Channel 7.

•  Line: Notre Dame by 7.

•  Notre Dame update: Quarterback Brady Quinn enters the season as the leading Heisman Trophy candidate after setting school season records with 3,919 yards and 32 touchdowns. His supporting cast includes a line that returns four starters, 1,000-yard rusher Darius Walker and receiver Jeff Samardzija, who had 77 catches for 1,249 yards and 15 touchdowns. The question for Notre Dame: How improved is a defense that gave up an average of 396.9 yards a game?

•  Georgia Tech update: Quarterback Reggie Ball isn't impressive on paper  he completed only 48% of his passes and 12 of them were intercepted  but he won games at Auburn and at Miami and has as a target Calvin Johnson, who made 54 receptions for 888 yards and nine touchdowns. Linebackers KaMichael Hall and Philip Wheeler and a solid line must keep the pressure on Quinn to ease the pressure on an inexperienced secondary.

•  Story line: This is a booby-trap game for the Fighting Irish, who could see their national-title hopes go down the drain if they get caught looking past Georgia Tech. They play No. 19 Penn State and No. 14 Michigan in their next two games.

•  The pick: Notre Dame. The Irish are deeper all around and should pull away in the fourth quarter.

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WASHINGTON STATE AT NO. 4 AUBURN

•  Kickoff: Saturday, 4:45 p.m. PDT.

•  TV: ESPN2.

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•  Line: Auburn by 14 1/2 .

•  Washington State update: The Cougars were 4-7 last season, but five of the losses were by four points or fewer. Quarterback Alex Brink passed for 2,891 yards and 24 touchdowns, ranking second in total offense in the Pacific 10 Conference behind USC's Matt Leinart. Jason Hill is the first Cougar to have consecutive 1,000-yard seasons as a receiver. He is the school's all-time leader with 25 touchdown receptions.

•  Auburn update: The Tigers had the SEC's top offense last season and two of the main reasons are back. Running back Kenny Irons led the conference with 1,293 yards rushing, and quarterback Brandon Cox passed for 2,324 yards. "A lot of people that are predicting us to do real good are unfortunately just looking at those two positions," Auburn Coach Tommy Tuberville said. On the flip side, the defense has to replace five of last year's front seven and two starting linebackers are suspended for this game because of off-season underage drinking incidents.

•  Story line: Based on last season, this should be a mismatch, but don't believe it. Auburn has lost three of its last four openers despite being nationally ranked each time.

•  The pick: Auburn. The Tigers won't take Washington State too lightly.

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NO. 11 FLORIDA STATE AT NO. 12 MIAMI

•  Kickoff: Monday, 5 p.m. PDT.

•  TV: ESPN.

•  Line: Miami by 3.

•  Florida State update: Speed abounds on offense, with running back Lorenzo Booker and receivers Chris Davis, De'Cody Fagg and Greg Carr. Quarterback Drew Weatherford passed for 3,208 yards and led the Seminoles to the Atlantic Coast Conference title as a freshman. Linebacker Buster Davis is among only four returning starters on defense.

•  Miami update: Receiver Ryan Moore and running back Tyrone Moss are suspended for disciplinary reasons, which leaves the Hurricanes shallow at the skill positions. Quarterback Kyle Wright had a 2,403-yard sophomore season. His favorite target is tight end Greg Olsen, who is projected as a first-round NFL draft pick. The Hurricanes will rely on a defense that returns five starters, including star safety Brandon Merriweather, from a unit that was ranked No. 4 in the country last year.

•  Story line: It doesn't get much bigger than Miami-Florida State and the winner will be poised for a national title run since both have favorable schedules the rest of the way. They could, however, meet again Dec. 2 in the ACC title game.

•  The pick: Florida State. A tight game might well be decided by a fourth-quarter drive, and the Seminoles' offense is better equipped to rally.

â€â€PETER YOON

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J.A. Adande:

They're Much More Than Fifth Wheels

August 31, 2006

The sophomore quarterback is the one with the movie ad-sized picture in the school paper, the junior class is the group the coach calls "the core of the team," so where does that leave UCLA's fifth-year seniors?

They arrived in 2002, in what turned out to be Bob Toledo's last year as coach.

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It's a group whose greatest accomplishment to date is just making it this far. They're a mostly anonymous bunch and don't even have a collective nickname.

"Uh, the Few?" center Robert Chai suggested. "I guess you could say that. There's not many of us left."

There were 22 incoming freshmen listed in the 2002 UCLA media guide. Over the years some transferred because they wanted more playing time. Some quit football because they wanted more time to study. Some didn't study enough, so they got the boot. Some violated team rules.

Five played the first year and finished their four years of eligibility last season: tight end Marcedes Lewis, linebacker Justin London, quarterback Drew Olson, safety Jarrad Page and linebacker Wesley Walker.

And now the only ones remaining are Chai, tight end J.J. Hair, safety Eric McNeal and kicker Justin Medlock. (Two walk-ons from 2002, long snapper Riley Jondle and defensive lineman Will Peddie, have stuck around as well.)

And for all their service, they don't get much more than first crack at the chicken.

"When it comes down to mealtime, the seniors get to go to the front of the line," Hair said.

They don't ask for much more. They're happy just to be part of the group. If the strength of the Bruins is team unity, the fifth-year seniors have come to embody it.

"We just have that respect," Chai said. "We've been through so much together. I'll be there for them, they'll be there for me."

Coach Karl Dorrell's approach was to put the team through the centrifuge, whisking away those that didn't fit his vision of the program. Part of it was an arduous first training camp in 2003, before NCAA changes reduced the amount of padded contact per week.

Chai remembers competition at every station, with the losing team having to do 10 "up-downs"  dropping face-first to the field and hopping back up. One time his team lost every contest, which meant 200 up-downs. Then there were the "fourth quarters," when the team had to run 12 perfect 40-yard sprints. If anyone left early or didn't run all the way through, they ran again.

"The first week, at least five or six people quit," Chai said. "Just couldn't take it. When we look back now, we know we did this. We did this together. That's really important for a team."

After doling out punishment, the next year Dorrell tried listening. He instituted "Football 101," which encouraged open discussions among everyone in the program.

"There's really no breakdown in communication between coaches and players and players and players," Hair said. "Everything's more open now."

Said Dorrell: "I think right now we have so much more of a team attitude compared to what it was my first year. We were pretty separated as a program my first year. There were high-profile guys that were treated differently. There was favoritism. It took some time to transform that attitude into buying into the team concept."

Last year it all clicked in a 10-2 season filled with miraculous comebacks and topped off with a victory over Northwestern in the Sun Bowl. If the team can meet the challenging-but-possible target of eight victories this year it would mark the first consecutive eight-win seasons for the program since 1987 and 1988.

"They get a chance to end their careers the way they anticipated their careers would be when they first got here," Dorrell said of the seniors.

By sheer numbers, they won't have much say in the outcome. Juniors occupy 13 of the top spots on the depth chart and quarterback Ben Olson, the 23-year-old sophomore who transferred from Brigham Young after serving a Mormon mission, hasn't thrown a pass in a competitive game in five years. Plus they need to overcome the loss of last year's senior group and running back Maurice Drew's early departure for the pros.

(USC lost an All-American team's worth of talent, but the implication is that the Trojans are so rich they can afford to lose Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and LenDale White while the Bruins can't spare anything. It's like the Chris Rock joke about giving your ex-wife half your salary for alimony: "You got $20 million, your wife wants $10 million, you ain't starving. But if you make $30,000, and your wife wants $15,000 … ")

The one thing this team has is belief, which shouldn't be underestimated.

"It's just a sense of confidence that we have," receiver Joe Cowan said. "I don't know where it comes from, but we have it."

Part of it comes from the oldest group of players that's also the toughest. No one else had it so bad and is still around to talk about it.

"At the time it was rough," Chai said. "I was friends with a lot of people and a lot of people had to leave the program. Now I look back, I think it was the right thing to do. A lot of the players, Coach Dorrell did give them a lot of chances, but they kept on messing up. I look at it, I think it was right.

"Hopefully, people can look back and say we've been through thick and thin together and we're still here. They tried to break us apart, and they couldn't do it."