Coaches of football powerhouses not stepping up
The ancient Greek king Odysseus was a wise man.
After a long war with his enemy, the Trojans, he decided toretreat from the city of Ithaca and offer his rival a giant horseon wheels as forgiveness.
The Trojans were so happy and cocky about winning the war thatthey thought nothing of the gift.
Surprise!
Hundreds of Greek soldiers emerged from inside the horse andcaptured Ithaca solely because of the Trojan’soverconfidence.
History is doomed to repeat itself.
The USC Trojans fell victim to the California Bears lastweekend, not because they were overmatched, but because they toowere overconfident.
Clearly the better team on paper, USC head coach Pete Carrolldid not get his team ready to play. The result: a 34-31 overtimeloss.
Cal is unlike the upstart Mid-American Conference teams thatpulled off major upsets last week; they are just plain bad. Earlierin the season, they were blown out by Kansas State 42-28 and alsolost to hapless Utah 31-24.
The Trojans had no business losing the game.
When will the so-called powerhouses of college football realizethat due to decreased scholarships, there is now parody in thesport?
You can’t just show up and win every week simply becauseyou have a Wildcat, Trojan or Longhorn sticker on your helmet. Youactually have to play well.
These upsets are not the fault of the players; they are thefault of the coaches.
You don’t see a Bob Stoops-coached team playinglackadaisically. Ohio State head coach Jim Tressell always has histeam ready to play.
Instead, it is teams with suspect coaches that seem to getupset. Lloyd Carr didn’t have his Michigan team ready to playat Oregon last week. Marshall walked into Manhattan and left withan upset because Bill Snyder is a terrible game-day head coach.
As if that is not enough proof, the two best recruiters in thecountry are also the two worst coaches, and their teams playuninspiring football every single week. I am talking about MackBrown of Texas and Ron Zook of Florida.
Brown has never won a big game in his entire coaching career.When he was at North Carolina, he couldn’t beat FloridaState. Now that he is at Texas, he can’t beat Bob Stoops andhis Oklahoma Sooners. Big 12 and ACC titles combined: 0.
Moreover, Ron Zook makes Mack Brown look like a coaching genius.He has taken a Florida team that won the Orange Bowl in SteveSpurrier’s final year by 33 points and turned it into thelaughing stock of the SEC. They should have lost to the Baylor ofthe SEC, Kentucky, last week and they will be lucky to make a bowlgame this year.
Taking coaching ability into consideration, here are some thingsyou can expect to see on the field this weekend.
Kansas State at Texas
Quarterback Ell Roberson is returning to action for theWildcats, but that might not be enough. KSU will also have to get abig game from running back Darren Sproles and receiver James Terryif they are going to waltz into Austin and leave with a”W.”
Texas will have to establish the run with Cedric Benson and thenlook to open things up with play action passing. If the Longhornscan run the ball well early, look for receiver Roy Williams to havea huge game, as he might find some single coverage on theperimeter.
It will be interesting to see what kind of success Sproles hasagainst the Texas run defense, which is suspect at best. Theyallowed 265 rushing yards to Arkansas in their only loss of theyear.
Prediction: Texas wins 27-24
Michigan at Iowa
The Hawkeyes were startled last week as John L. Smith’sMichigan State Spartans doubled up Iowa 20-10. This week, they lookto avoid getting swept by the entire state of Michigan.
In order to come away with a victory, Iowa will have to get agood game from quarterback Nathan Chandler. Chandler is mostsuccessful when he is out of the pocket, so look for head coachKirk Ferentz to call a lot of bootlegs and sprint out passes.
For Michigan, the formula is easy. Give it to Chris Perry earlyand often. If he gets 30 carries, the Wolverines will win by twotouchdowns. Once they have established Perry as a force,quarterback John Navarre can go to work and find his group oftalented young receivers.
Prediction: Michigan wins 35-10
Notes
Tennessee will have trouble at Auburn this week; in fact, theyare two- point underdogs. However, Auburn head coach TommyTuberville will find a way to lose the game somehow. Look for a biggame from Volunteer running back Cedric Houston.
Minnesota could have a let down game at Northwestern after a bigwin against Penn State last week. The Gophers should win but theunderrated Wildcats will keep it close.
USC will have all sorts of trouble this week at Arizona State asthe Sun Devils sport Andrew Walter as one of the nations topquarterbacks.
And finally, in the upset special, Alabama will go in”Between the Hedges” and beat Georgia by 10 points.
