Dennis Dodd

For now, the BCS bowl pairings come down to this week's Oklahoma State-Oklahoma game

If Oklahoma State wins ...

Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. TCU
Sugar Bowl: Alabama/Florida loser vs. Cincinnati/Pittsburgh winner
Orange Bowl: Clemson/Georgia Tech vs. Iowa
Rose Bowl: Oregon/Oregon State vs. Ohio State
BCS title game: Texas vs. Florida/Alabama winner

If Oklahoma wins ...

Fiesta Bowl: Iowa vs. Boise State
Sugar Bowl: Florida/Alabama loser vs. Cincinnati/Pittsburgh winner
Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech vs. TCU*
Rose Bowl: Oregon/Oregon State winner vs. Ohio State
BCS title game: Texas vs. Florida/Alabama winner

*-In this scenario if Clemson wins the ACC it cannot meet TCU in the Orange Bowl. That would be a rematch. If that's the case, the Orange most likely would pick the Big East winner, especially if it is Pittsburgh. That would put TCU in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama/Florida loser.

When is the last time a Heisman winner wasn’t the all-conference quarterback?

Time to do the research if Tim Tebow wins another Heisman becaus isn’t going to be the all-SEC quarterback. That honor goes to Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett who threw five touchdown passes for the third time this season.

Mallett set a school record throwing his 28th touchdown pass to go along with 313 yards in a 42-21 victory over Mississippi State.

More evidence that TCU can play: It won at Wyoming by a more impressive score (45-10) than Texas (41-10).

In the last six games, all blowouts, the Horned Frogs have won a cumulative score of 278-63.

“Two dominant defenses, two different offenses,” Wyoming coach Dave Christensen said comparing the Frogs and Longhorns. “TCU can play with anybody.”

TCU has played three teams currently ranked in the top 25. Texas and Florida have played one.

Don’t assume anything, Boise: Nevada is attempting trying to become the first team with three 1,000-yard rushers. It will attempt to do so in a WAC showdown Friday at Boise.

Tailback Vai Tua has 1,059 yards, quarterback Colin Kaepernick has 1,015 and running back Luke Lippincott has 866 yards.

Facing the nation’s leading rushing team could pose a problem for the Broncos. If Nevada can run its stuff, it would keep Kellen Moore off the field. The teams are tied atop the WAC at 6-0 each.

<>Georgia meltdown:<> The cries you hear are from Athens where Georgia has slipped to 6-5 going into the Georgia Tech game.

Kentucky won in Athens, 34-27, for the first time in 32 years.

The book should sell well: Oregon’s season is reaching epic proportions. From The Punch to being within one game of the Rose Bowl.

The Ducks survived Arizona 44-41 in overtime to remain in first place in the Pac-10. Kicker Morgan Flint tied it for Oregon 24-24 midway through the fourth quarter on a kick that the crossbar and dropped through the uprights. It’s been that type of season the Ducks who need to beat Oregon State on Dec. 3 to go to Pasadena.

Bonehead move of the year: Yale coach Tom Williams’ team lead Harvard 10-0 with seven minutes left. It had dominated all day in “The Game.”

Still leading 10-7 with 2:25 left, Williams somehow decided to go for it on fourth-and-22 from his own 26. It didn’t work, Harvard cruised in for the touchdown and won 14-10.

Somewhere, Bill Belichick thinks Williams deserves to be fired.

The right-now, not-what-they-did last year, no B.S. Heisman list: Got my ballot in the mail last week. Holding onto it until after the games of Dec. 5 are played. (Sorry Army-Navy. You can do on with your Dec. 12 game without worrying about having a winner.)

1. Colt McCoy, Texas: The Horns absolutely cannot run the ball. You wonder how they’ll do against the defense of Florida or Alabama. Fortunately, they have McCoy who threw four touchdowns Saturday and has at least one in 47 of his 50 career games.
As of this moment, the 2008 runner-up deserves the 2009 hardware.

2. Mark Ingram, Alabama: Steady performance (102 yards, two touchdowns) against Chattanooga. His chances will be decided in the SEC championship game.

3. Toby Gerhart, Stanford: The rest of the Cardinal stunk against Cal, not Gerhart who remained in the top five by averaging almost seven yards per carry against the Bears.

4. Case Keenum, Houston: I’m still on my crusade to at least get Case to New York for the ceremony. Keenum threw for 405 yards and five touchdowns against Memphis in a 55-14 victory.

5. Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska: Glanced at the TV and noticed Nebraska’s All-American tipping passes and harassing the quarterback. Good enough for me after the Huskers’ Big 12 North-clinching 17-3 win over Kansas State.

How do we evaluate Tebow and Ingram today playing against air? Tebow threw for a couple of touchdowns and ran for another against Florida International. Ingram ran for 102 yards and two touchdowns in limited action against Chattanooga.

Good Lord, it looked like a Utah State game at Doak Campbell. Not FSU playing Utah State, a game AT Utah State. There have to be at least 30,000 empty seats. Florida State survived Maryland 29-26 meaning Bobby Bowden will probably return in 2010 for a grandiose farewell tour.

Rich Rod will be back too at Michigan. You give him another year after the 21-10 loss to Ohio State. Then you let the new AD, whoever that is, make the decision. Bill Martin won't be gone until June and is on record as supporting Rodriguez. The problem is, Michigan most likely is going to have change cultures again if it makes a change. Summary: Don't look for the Wolverines to be in the national picture for at least the next four years.  

It's that insane time of year when we have been asked to pick the best players in the country -- before all the games are played.

Some awards are narrowing their lists of semifinalists to finalists after Saturday's games. That would be with two weeks left in the regular season. Those kinds of deadlines are particularly unfair especially at  quarterback and running back where there are multiple candidates.

(I never understood the whole semifinalist-finalist thing anyway. It’s just a way to string out and hype the award.)

The Heisman has always been a pet peeve for me. So much can happen in bowls that sometimes the winner is diminished (see Oklahoma’s Jason White in the 2004 Sugar Bowl) or the person who should be the real winner emerges (see Vince Young in the 2006 Rose Bowl).

But at least the Heisman gives voters enough time to wait until after all the regular-season games are played. Not so for most of the other awards, of which there are way too many.

A couple of pieces of information came across SOWWL's desk this week. The list of three finalists for the Davey O'Brien Award (best quarterback) are expected by 1 p.m. ET on Sunday. How, on Sunday, are we supposed to pick between Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow, Case Keenum, Kellen Moore, Jimmy Clausen, Andy Dalton and Bill Stull? Those are seven names that come to mind at the moment . There might be more.

Consider that McCoy and Tebow still have to play conference championship games. Moore is the nation’s most efficient passer working on an undefeated season. Dalton and Stull are among the most improved quarterbacks in the country.

I'm considering waiting at least another week to vote. If the O'Brien folks don't approve, tough spit.

The  Doak Walker Award’s list of the 10 semifinalists was released this week. The list did not include the nation’s fourth-leading rusher Bernard Pierce (Temple), the SEC's second-leading rusher Anthony Dixon (of Mississippi State, eighth in the country) or the Pac-10’s second-leading rusher (LaMichael James of Oregon).

It did include the nation’s No. 46 rusher, C.J. Spiller of Clemson who should be considered the best all-purpose runner in the country, not the best running back. 

Missouri’s Danario Alexader is fifth in catches per game and third in receiving yards per game after catching 10 balls for 200 yards against Kansas State. You won’t find him on the list of the 10 semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award (best receiver). Three of the 10 players have been injured or left their team.

There is a safety net. Candidates can be written in, however voters are a group are traditionally lazy. They tend to vote for what is in front of them. One exception was 2007 when the Biletnikoff process was so off the mark in 2007 that Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree won as a write-in candidate.

The main reason for these incredibly early lists is college football’s awards show. It airs the Thursday after the end of the regular season. If the awards committees want to be seen on national TV, then they have to cow tow to ESPN deadlines.

Here’s another idea: How about setting yourself apart and waiting until after the bowl season? Somehow I think some network or another would still televise the Heisman ceremony.

Etc: Cincinnati is one of the few teams that could afford having a quarterback in jail. No biggie, there’s always Tony Pike …  A loss to Ohio State would doom Michigan to its worst Big Ten finish since 1962 … Iowa (vs. Minnesota) and Penn State (at Michigan State) both need to win to stay in BCS consideration … Connecticut’s Zach Frazer has a chance this week to become one of the few players in history to play both for and against Notre Dame. Frazer transferred from ND in 2007 … Receiver Jordan Shipley will replace the suspended D.J. Monroe for Texas on kick returns this week against Kansas … Texas has scored 10 non-offensive touchdowns this season (defense and special teams). That leads the nation and is a school record … Miami’s Jacory Harris (at home vs. Duke) has thrown 16 interceptions, the most of the top 100 passers rated by the NCAA.

We all know that the SEC rules our lives. So what are we to make of the release this week of The Blind Side, the much-hyped movie adaptation of the famous book?

To me, it's free advertising for the coaches and schools involved. Free recruiting advertising.

Think that other coaches aren't jealous? The movie features Nick Saban (as LSU's coach), Houston Nutt (as Arkansas' coach), Tommy Tuberville (as Auburn's coach), Phil Fulmer (as Tennessee's coach) and, uh, Lou Holtz.

Sure, they're at other jobs, or out of jobs, but think about what they represent. When they watch the movie potential recruits will see the current coach of Alabama (Saban), the current coach at Ole Miss (Nutt) and a couple of out-of-work coaches who will be getting free advertising -- Tuberville and Fulmer.

I'm all for Tubby and Fulmer getting new jobs. Holtz, well, I think you know my stance on him. This is not the economy of health care, I just wonder if the rest of the SEC coaches, or the rest of college football will be so thrilled about Friday's premier.

Fiesta frolic: The Fiesta seemingly holds the fate of Boise State in the BCS. The bowl would get the second pick after the Sugar Bowl if the rankings remain the same -- Florida or Alabama at No. 1 and Texas at No. 2.

The Sugar Bowl would take the Gators-Tide loser because it would have lost its anchor team, the SEC champion, to the BCS championship game. The Fiesta would pick second because it would have lost its anchor team, the Big 12 champion (Texas). In that scenario, the only threat to the Broncos -- unless Texas is upset – is Oklahoma State. It could finish 10-2 and qualify as an at-large team.

Qualify is a relative term. It was communicated to me this week that the Fiesta Bowl considers its relationship with the Big 12 similar to that of the Rose Bowl with the Pac-10 and Big Ten. In other words, the Fiesta isn’t passing up a BCS-eligible Oklahoma State to take Boise State.

A lot has to happen: The Cowboys still have to beat Colorado and, more significantly, win at Oklahoma to finish 10-2. The Pokes would be going to Glendale having finished second in the Big 12 South with no wins over currently ranked teams.

Boise, then, has to be big Oklahoma fans on Nov. 28. If not, the at-large teams look like this: TCU, Big Ten (Iowa/Wisconsin/Penn State), SEC (Florida/Alabama) and Oklahoma State. The six other slots are taken up by the six major-conference champions.

TCU search: Sometimes you just get lucky. Nine years ago, the TCU coaching search’s was kept  small and secret. Dennis Franchione was going to Alabama. Then-TCU AD Eric Hyman was joined by NFL personnel guru Gil Brandt and TCU trustee Malcolm Louden.

They climbed into a private jet, hitting as many candidates as possible in as short a time as possible. Your loyal blogger recently obtained that candidates list:

Sonny Lubick, former Colorado State coach and former assistant at Miami
Rick Minter, former Cincinnati coach
Watson Brown, former coach at Alabama-Birmingham and current coach at Tennessee Tech
Jeff Bower, former coach at Southern Miss
Dave McGinnis, former head coach of the Arizona Cardinals and TCU grad. McGinnis is now an assistant with the Tennessee Titans.
Dan McCarney, former Iowa State coach and current defensive line coach at Florida

After running through that group, The Thoughtful Three came back and found their guy in their backyard. They picked Dennis Franchione’s defensive coordinator, a guy named Gary Patterson. Things seem to have worked out.

McGinnis never was a head coach after the Cardinals. Bower was let go at Southern Miss a couple of years ago. Brown had a mostly mediocre stay at Alabama-Birmingham. Lubick is retired. Minter left Cincinnati after 2003 and is currently the defensive coordinator at Marshall.

“I watched Gary coach the defense and I knew he was a genius,” said Hyman now the South Carolina AD.

Goodbye, Dick Tomey: The classy, accomplished San Jose State coach retired this week (effective at the end of the season) reminded of the biggest tragedy of his career.

In 1995 while coaching at Arizona, Tomey endured the death of Damon Terrell. During a preseason workout Terrell collapsed due to sickle cell trait and died about a month later. A hospital technician removed a tube leaving an air bubble in Terrell’s bloodstream. He died not from a disease but because of hospital error.

Tomey was given the news during a game that year against Georgia Tech.

“That was gut wrenching … Damon was out of the woods, he was going to recover,” Tomey said. “At halftime of the game they told me that Damon had passed away. They weren’t going to tell a anyone else, because people were watching on television. The hospital had made an error.

“I knew it and I couldn’t tell anybody. I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to be anywhere …  I went in the lockerroom after the game. I was about to explode. I had to tell the guys their teammate had died. It was the most gut-wrenching thing. The outpouring of affection for that young man was amazing but the circumstances were clearly the most difficult thing I ever had to deal with.”

The next week at Illinois, Arizona called timeout before the opening kickoff. They formed the letters “D” and “T” with helmets held to the sky.

Most improved: So far it’s Idaho and SMU. They’re tied. Each is five games better than last season.

Idaho has gone from 2-10 to 7-4. SMU has rebounded from 1-11 to 6-4. Iowa State’s Paul Rhoads is the most successful first-year coach to this point improving the Cyclones, 6-5, four games from last season.

Kansas has spent most of the second half of the season being pushed around. Who knew it was coming from the Jayhawks’ coach?

This does not bode well for Saturday’s game at No. 2 Texas. If certain Kansas players are whining about coach Mark Mangino planting one whole finger into the chest of senior linebacker Arist Wright, you can imagine them practically cowering for the Longhorns.

As mentioned, though, that cowering has been going on for a while.

None of the accusations made Tuesday by anonymous players (Wright himself was not quoted) doesn’t add up to much. The coach is mean. So what? The coach is abusive? Prove it. A finger to the chest somehow doesn’t do it for me.

Maybe that’s the point in the swirl of Tuesday’s much-ado-about-nothing claim.  Mangino made a point by putting his finger of death into the frontal area of an unprotected Wright. I’m trying to make this sound as bad as possible, because when I first read it I laughed.

Mark Mangino is going to lose his job because he jabbed a finger? Really? That’s all we know right now because no one with a set has come forward to attach their name to these claims. AD Lew Perkins confirmed he met with players Monday night to hear their concerns. They were apparently upset at the way Mangino was treating them. If you read the message boards, Mangino choked/hit/abused (pick one) a player. If you read the message boards, Mangino wasn’t going to make to Austin this week without a job.

So already, we’re out in the knee-jerk stratosphere with this one.

Where was this two years ago when Mangino was the national coach of the year leading the Jayhawks to their best season ever? Either it didn’t exist or the entire Kansas program – players included – were enablers. As long as they were winning, it was easier to put up with Mangino’s “abuse.”

So if you’re going to run to the AD you better have some solid proof and you better prove this isn’t the result of a five-game losing streak. Once again, if this was going on two years ago, where were the critics then?

Something like this has happened before. Indiana enabled Bob Knight for decades. It was only, coincidentally, when Knight began winning less that it became convenient to fire him. There was plenty of proof going back years that Knight had abused players and bullied administrators. The sad thing is there are still those today who support Knight.

I’m not comparing Mark Mangino to Bob Knight. Rather Mangino’s players look weak for doing this a few days after the fifth loss in a row. Losing breeds anger, distrust, bad moods. Mangino, like everyone else, has his bad days. Does he have a temper? Absolutely.

Once he came out of the stands to berate officials after a late hit on his son in a high school game. I’m not saying I wouldn’t do the same thing, but I’m not saying I wouldn’t if my kid was being cheap shotted. I’ll agree that the coach at Kansas can’t become the news in that situation but I’m also willing to cut him a break as a parent.

YouTube posted a video of Mangino berating a player on the sidelines. But that’s the point in the internet age. It was only an issue – just like Brandon Spikes’ eye gouge – because it was on YouTube.

It seems to me that Woody Hayes had a temper too. I’m sure Jim Tressel has one, Urban Meyer too. Oh, and Bill Self too. We just never hear about them because they win. That’s the sad thing about the whole deal. If Kansas was 8-2 instead of 5-5 would this be an issue? I’m taking bets right now that it wouldn’t.

Catch more passers, make better blocks. Practice harder, boys. If not, there’s a new name for the “team” in Lawrence. 

The Kansas Rats.

Rumors are blowing up about Mark Mangino's job security at Kansas. It was reported earlier Tuesday that the Kansas coach had been the subject of a players-only meeting with AD Lew Perkins Monday night.

KUsports.com reported that senior linebacker Arist Wright first went to Perkins to express "concerns" about Mangino. During his weekly press conference on Tuesday Mangino said, "I may have lost some people around here but it's not the players." That was in answer to a question whether the coach had lost the team.

Mangino is in his eighth season at Kansas. The Jayhawks started 5-0 but have lost five in a row headed No. 2 Texas this week.

Wright is a three-year letterman from Houston. I tried reaching his former coach and parents but had no success. Stay tuned, this could get really ugly for a program that won the Orange Bowl two years ago. It certainly doesn't look good coming on the heels of the dispute between the football and basketball players.

Here is a copy of Mangino's contract. There are some conduct clauses in it.

The latest from the coaching rumor mill is that there is a mutual interest between Texas Tech coach Mike Leach and Louisville.

It is almost a certainty that Cardinals’ coach Steve Kragthorpe will be relieved of his duties after this, his third season. Louisville is 4-6 with games left against South Florida and Rutgers. It needs to win those to have a chance to go bowling for the first time since 2006. Kragthorpe is 15-19 at Louisville.

The school is already assured of its first consecutive non-winning season since 1987. 

Leach just went through a bitter contract extension negotiation earlier this year. But he emerged with a who’s-your-daddy chip after a battle with AD Gerald Myers. Leach owes no buyout if he leaves. The Red Raiders are 6-4 which ties for their worst 10-game start since 1999, the year before Leach was hired.

The colorful coach is known to have a wandering eye. He interviewed with Washington last year and was reportedly interested in the opening at UCLA  before Rick Neuheisel took over in 2008.

"If there are communications [from Louisville], it's not been with us," said a Leach representative on Tuesday.

Louisville AD, Tom Jurich, is one of the more aggressive ADs in the country. He got Rick Pitino to coach basketball and moved quickly after Bobby Petrino left to coach the Atlanta Falcons after the 2006 season. At the time, Kragthorpe was one college football’s hottest coaching properties.

Such a move would make sense. Texas Tech is coming off its best season in Leach’s decade-long stay. It went 11-2, losing to Mississippi in the Cotton Bowl in 2008.

The Big 12 South Division is one of the most rugged in the game with annual powers Texas and Oklahoma in control. A move to the less competitive Big East would allow Leach better access to a conference title and BCS bowl.

Leach is in the first year of the extension which pays him $2.8 million this season. That includes an $800,000 bonus he will be paid on Jan. 1 if he is still at Texas Tech.

A person familiar with the process says that Michigan's compliance department might be to blame for failing to monitor the filing of practice logs.

The Detroit News reported Monday that Michigan coaches failed to file the required monthly logs that keep track of time spent practicing and working out. Michigan is being investigated by the NCAA for possible violations of the maximum 20-work week for football players.

The person, a veteran major-college administrator, said that it is typically the duty of a compliance person to keep track of each players' time spent playing, practicing and working out.

"That's on compliance. If it's Auburn, LSU, Florida or some other school if you didn't have practice logs filed then that's on compliance," the person said. "It's compliance's job to make sure to get them in."

The person said that he was personally responsible for counting the individual hours of each player, by month, then turning the documents into the compliance department.