2009 College Football Predictions

[guru]

It's my understanding that Notre Dame's tightening of the academic standards is one of the reason Lou Holtz left, and their subsequent rigidity in this area is why so many other coaches have turned them down. Supposedly, that was the deal breaker for Urban Meyer in 2004.

Some very interesting Notre Dame scoop, from Someone Who Knows. Explains what very well may be happening with Kelly.



"Bob Stoops talked with the Irish a few weeks ago. He wanted to be allowed eight academic "exceptions'' a year. The school said no. He wanted eight JuCos, over a four-year period. The school said only if they meet the same requirements as everyone else.

Notre Dame doesnt have a training table for football players; everyone eats in the same place. Stoops wanted one, simply because the dietary needs of a 300-pound lineman differ from those of a 110-pound swimmer. Stoops wanted to be able to monitor his players' weight. No again.

Internal discipline at Notre Dame is handled by the Office of Residence Life and Housing. A football player gets in trouble on campus and it's not a criminal matter, the football coach can't get him out of it, or determine his own discipline. Stoops supposedly wasnt crazy about that, either.

Stoops said see ya later. "

[Marlow]

As an educator, I am all about the academics and keeping high standards. BUT if the PTB at ND don't see that their overall institutional health is best served by having a winning football team, they simply haven't been paying attention. Florida's fortunes as a school have skyrocketed in the last decade in the wake of football and basketball programs near the top of the heap. Applications have been flooding in, raising the standard of acceptances greatly. Money has been pouring in, so much so that the school doesn't need to give athletics much money, which means more goes to academics. It's a win-win (literally) situation if you grant 'exceptions' for football players. Stanford has turned the corner in this regard (but looking at people like Gerhart, they don't always need it!)

[guru]

Somewhat surprising(but good) news - Cincinnati has already sold out it's allotment of Sugar Bowl tix(17,500).

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2009 ... 0062/1062/

[TrackDaddy]

Clausen #1? Bahahahaha. There's at least 3 QB's ahead of him alone(McCoy, Bradford, Pike).

And if Mortensen says it, you can be SURE it's wrong.

Still think so? 8-)

[Avante]

USC isn't at all excited in playing in the Rinky Dinky Bowl. Florida will struggle trying to get up for Cinncy while Cinncy will be jacked up to play a big time opponet. How do you back the Trojans/Gators in this "spot"...?

The problem is that USC/Florida have way too much talent for BC/Cinncy so you leave those games alone. A winner will be Alabama over Texas. There motivation will be no problem.

[Daisy]

Stanford has turned the corner in this regard

What is their current strategy?

[guru]

Clausen #1? Bahahahaha. There's at least 3 QB's ahead of him alone(McCoy, Bradford, Pike).

And if Mortensen says it, you can be SURE it's wrong.

Still think so? 8-)

Yes.

[jazzcyclist]

Notre Dame's dilemma:

High-powered college football coaches are well aware of the difficulties in winning and the demands of winning at a school like Notre Dame. They will not be naive; they know what they need to get to a BCS bowl and beyond.

In 2004, all-time Notre Dame great Paul Horning made it clear that the school should ease up on academic restrictions. Horning told ESPN's Dan Patrick that former coach Lou Holtz showed him a list of the top-50 recruits and explained that the university's admissions office would only allow him to recruit three players on the list.

Horning felt in the late 1980s, when Notre Dame won its last national championship, that academic standards were eased. He used Tony Rice, the quarterback of that team, as an example.

Horning explained that Rice, at that time, was one of only two Prop 48 players to ever play for Notre Dame. He told Patrick, "Tony Rice honored himself and graduated in four years". . . .

Regarding the calculus requirement for all freshmen, Gopal said, "It prevented Bob Davie from recruiting T.J. Duckett and David Terrell, both of who wanted to go to Notre Dame but couldn't pass calculus."

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2960 ... -standards

It was an innocent statement to an inquisitive newspaper reporter, but in saying what he did, Urban Meyer's father may have summed up the entire dilemma facing Notre Dame football.

"Unless he's still drawn to the aura of Notre Dame," Bud Meyer told the Palm Beach Post prior to his son's decision to spurn the Irish, "the better job is Florida. ... If you go where you can't win, you won't be coaching long.

"I told him," continued the elder Meyer, "if he wants to win, go to Florida."

One can only wonder how many similar conversations have taken place these past few years in the home of blue-chip recruits across the country.

"Well, son, Touchdown Jesus sure was impressive when we visited, but if you want to win go to Florida."

Or Michigan. Or Ohio State. Or USC. Or Miami.

Of all the humbling moments in recent Notre Dame history, losing Meyer to Florida on Friday may just be the biggest wake-up call of them all. Here was a guy who has made no secret of his undying adulation for the Golden Dome, a Catholic, a Midwesterner, a Lou Holtz disciple. If Meyer doesn't want to be at Notre Dame, who does?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/w ... index.html

I wonder how many of the players on the Florida, Alabama or Texas rosters could have passed calculus when they entered college? I may be going off on a tangent, but I remember when Sonia Sotomayor was being interviewed after her nomination to the Supreme Court, she said that if not for affirmative action, her SAT scores would have prevented her from getting into Princeton. However, they let her in and she ended up graduating #1 in her class.

[TrackDaddy]

...having a storied judicial career and being appointed to the Supreme Court.

On a smaller scale that reminds me of a friend of mine who attended junior college, was barely hired into the fire department, scored dead last in his class in the fire academy as a young recruit, and was so introverted that in mixed company he rarely spoke.

You guessed it...he now has an MBA, too many ceritifications/accommodations to count and has become the first black fire chief in the history of that large metropolitan department-among other accomplishments.

[TrackDaddy]

Clausen #1? Bahahahaha. There's at least 3 QB's ahead of him alone(McCoy, Bradford, Pike).

And if Mortensen says it, you can be SURE it's wrong.

Still think so? 8-)

Yes.

So you still think Pike, McCoy and Bradford among other position players-will go ahead of Clausen?

He may end up as the #1 overall pick-regardless of position.

[robert5744]

No surprise here. Brian Kelly the new man at Notre Dame.

[guru]

No surprise here. Brian Kelly the new man at Notre Dame.

That's what we're hearing here in town. Let's see - no Jimmy Clausen, no Golden Tate, total shipwreck of a program, and Stanford/Northwestern-type entry requirements. Oh, and Notre Dame's normal murderer's row schedule. Good luck to him - he'll need it.

Considering Cincinnati will be loaded next year, it should be easy to attract a top notch coach. But undeniably it will negatively affect preparations for this year's Sugar Bowl, and that's what stinks.

[mcgato]

But undeniably it will negatively affect preparations for this year's Sugar Bowl, and that's what stinks.

Possibly another argument FOR a playoff. A number of other teams are having their coaching staffs picked over prior to the bowl season.

[jazzcyclist]

Possibly another argument FOR a playoff. A number of other teams are having their coaching staffs picked over prior to the bowl season.

And how would a playoff prevent that from occurring?

[mcgato]

It wouldn't totally prevent it, but the four week gap in games gives too much of an opportunity for downtrodden programs to raid other coaching staffs. If there is an 8 team playoff, Cincy would likely have a game this weekend or next, and the coach would probably be more interested in the playoff game than finding a better job. The playoff game could lead to a national championship, the bowl game won't.