Spec's College Nickel Package -- Week 2
Hot young coaches cool off quickly ...

 

1. Lane Kiffin

Why did I always have the sneaking suspicion that Kiffin was another Mike Shula or David Shula or [sorry to bring up the name, Washington and UCLA fans] Rick Neuheisel.

As in: the "hot coach" who's more sizzle than steak.

Isn't USC supposed to roll out NFL bodies up and down the field?  Isn't Marqise Lee one of the top talents in the land?

54 yards passing?

Longest pass play: 8 yards?

Give credit to the Washington State defense, but ... wow ...

[Cougars won, 10-7, by the way, in LA.]

 

2. Hurricane Warning?

Are those orange-clad Miamians back in your face?

Or are the Will Muschamp Gators just nuttin' special?

Maybe some of both: Miami 21, Florida 16.

Muschamp and Kiffin might both join Neuheisel in a TV studio somewhere soon.

 

3. Longhorns Stampeded

Wasn't it just yesterday that everyone feared the big, bad, huffing, puffing Longhorns who were just going to create their own conference and their own TV network and laugh all the way to the bank?

Well, now that we're well into President Perry's first term ...

Oops.

BYU was turned down by the Tex-o-centric Big XII in favor of West Virginia, but the Cougars from Utah were doing the laughing on Saturday after pushing the visitors from the Lone Star State up and down the field for 550 yards rushing [679 yards total -- thanks Brent!] in this 40-21 romp.

Yes, this same BYU team lost to Virginia in their opener.  Which reminds us ...

 

4. Oregon 59, Virginia 10

I don't know if any of our Charlottesville friends who follow Hultzen, Taylor, Hicks and company, carry over into these reports, but ...

INNNNNNN-coming!

Ducks were flying all over Scott Stadium, for 557 yards.  The Mark Helfrich era begins with 125 points in two games, and no beats have been skipped so far.

Marcus Mariota had 199 yards passing and 122 rushing, but the ESPN Heisman Watch still has him third behind Clemson's Tajh Boyd and Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater.

 

5. Aaron Murray & Todd Gurley

With Georgia's back to the wall after losing to Clemson in Week 1, the Bulldogs needed to defeat South Carolina.  The nation's top QB-RB combo got it done, with Murray providing 17-of-23 passing for 309 yards and four TDs and Gurley adding 134 yards on the ground.

Don't be surprised to find both teams from the Week 1 Clemson-Georgia classic in the Top 5 by the end of the year.

 

Also receiving votes:

-- If Nebraska beats UCLA this week, emerging defensive end Randy Gregory may be the key.  The guy's earning raves everywhere even though he hasn't registered an official sack.

-- Alabama vs. Texas A&M in the week of the 100th anniversary of Bear Bryant's birth.  Would've been a great game for Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles to broadcast drenched in down-home aphorisms.  They're both still alive in their 80s, by the way.  I checked.

Comments

1
Brent's picture

That 550 yards is just the RUSHING yardage. Total offense was 679. I watched the game, and watched it again on replay because I didn't believe my eyes. You just expect Texas to have the better, faster athletes. Maybe they do, on a neutral field at sea level. No way did I expect this result. Oh, I expected that BYU might win in a squeaker if they forced some turnovers for points, but to dominate the game? No.

2
blissedj's picture

I always enjoyed Neuheisel. UW alum and lifelong Husky fan. He was a darn good coach with great passion. Always a pleasure listening to his interviews. Seemed to relate very well to the players. Won us a Rose Bowl. Crazy he went down for a final 64 brackets. Nothing but good memories for me, much better than Lambright or Ty.

3

From my perspective (not a UW or Northwest person) Neuheisel always seemed full of himself and wildly overrated.
But I guess that 11-1 season looks pretty good in retrospect compared to what came after, now that I look at it.
 

4

So no, I don't have any love for the man.  Like you said, a lot of talk about how smart he was, and a lot of puffed-up arrogance, but not enough to show for it and now he can't find a take for his skills on the sidelines.
I've never liked Lane, and I hope for the same path for him unless he finds some humility and actual talent along the way.  A man has got to know his limitations, as Dirty Harry once said.
Lane and Rick didn't know theirs.
~G

5
blissedj's picture

In thinking that Neuheisel was a decent coach. He left the UW program in good enough shape. Don't know the specifics on the CU situation, but can understand bad feelings if he hurt the program. Even though I enjoyed his personality and usually don't like cocky guys like that can see how easy it would be for him to be despised like Harbaugh.

6
Brent's picture

The 11-1 season was done with players recruited by Lambright and his staff. Neuheisel recruited "skill" positions fairly well, but didn't pay any attention to the offensive or defensive lines.
He is quite good at analysis. No question on that. Yes, he has an ego. I would think that most who become head coaches at that level do. Rick just let his show more than others. The reasons for his dismissal have been debated ad nauseum. Both sides did dumb things, and the NCAA violated its own rules during the investigation. The fact that the NCAA and UW requested a settlement rather than a trial shows they knew they'd be toast. The NCAA just does not admit they are fallible at all.
After his dismissal from UW, before he took another coaching job, he helped coach his son's junior football team. I refereed a couple of those games and found him to be no different than the other coaches. Passionate about the game, vociferous in his commentary about what was happening on the field. Never even came close to flagging him for unsportsmanlike, and I wasn't shy about reminding a coach that we were here for the kids, not his ego. I did have to remind him about a particular rule interpretation, but high school rules are different from NCAA or NFL. It was a rare week that I didn't have to remind a coach that what he saw on TV Saturday or Sunday didn't apply.
Would I hire him as a coach? No. But I certainly don't have the animosity for him that some do. I just never thought he should have been hired in the first place - I'd have kept Lambright at least one more year. Barbara Hedges caused far more damage for the UW than Neuheisel.

Add comment

Filtered HTML

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd><p><br>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

shout_filter

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.