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CBSSports.com's Dennis Dodd and J. Darin Darst provide analysis on weekly college football topics. | Dennis Dodd | J. Darin Darst | | Which team has accomplished the most in the postseason and which team has the most to lose going forward? |  Notre Dame goes into the offseason on an endorphin high. It ended its nine-game bowl losing streak and its coach gets to, well, stay. A loss in the Hawaii Bowl for Charlie Weis would have started the clock ticking early on 2009. Notre Dame's coach knows he has a year left to prove himself. Forget that 10-year contract. If he doesn't get the Irish to a major bowl next season, he is likely out. That's why the 49-21 victory in the Hawaii Bowl was so meaningful. For one night, all the promise was fulfilled. There is no question that Alabama has the most to lose. That's because it can't win -- in the court of public opinion. 'Bama is supposed to beat Utah in the Sugar Bowl. Bad. Anything less and there are raised eyebrows all over the country. If it loses to Utah, there is a pall cast over the entire season. I'm not saying it's fair, it just is. | Notre Dame, but I'll give you one more -- California. The Pac-10 desperately needs another team to fight USC for the conference title and next year Cal is just the team to do it. The Golden Bears will return eight starters on offense, including running back Jahvid Best and quarterback Kevin Riley (who is better than Nate Longshore). Best averaged more than eight yards a carry, running wild the final four games of the season. Assuming cornerback Syd'Quan Thompson stays for his senior year, the entire secondary returns, which will come in handy against the pass-happy conference. As for the teams that have the most to lose, it's the Big Ten duo -- Ohio State and Penn State. If they both get blasted in their bowl games, talk of the Big Ten's weakness won't end anytime soon. If they lose close games, that's fine, but if we see scores like 40-14 in the Rose and Fiesta, it's the same old story: The Big Ten can't complete with the better conferences. One of these teams must win or play a close game. | | Which team will be hurt most by a coach it lost? | | Tyrone Willingham. How does Washington move on without him? Just kidding. Now that I've got your attention, let's state the obvious. Auburn shot itself in the foot, head and any other body part you want to name. Getting rid of Tommy Tuberville was the stupidest decision since Shelley Long left Cheers. You don't trade an average of 8.5 wins per season for ... anyone. That the Auburn brainchildren in the administration replaced Tubs with their fourth (or was it fifth?) choice is even more laughable. Who wouldn't want Gene Chizik and his five victories in two years to take over an SEC power? Everyone except Auburn. |  I'm going with Ron English. Sure, he didn't transform Louisville's defense into one of the best, but he was only there one season. I have no doubt that he would have made the Cardinals pass defense into one of the best in the conference in a few years. In his last year at Michigan, the defense was the nation's eighth-best against the pass. And in 2006, the Wolverines ranked first against the run and 10th in total defense. Great hire for Eastern Michigan and big loss for Louisville. | | Which team will be hurt most in the national championship game ... Oklahoma losing tailback DeMarco Murray to injury or Florida losing offensive coordinator Dan Mullen to Mississippi State? | | Florida. I've seen these coaching change things become a giant distraction. It didn't hurt LSU last season when defensive coordinator Bo Pelini spent the month shuttling back and forth between Baton Rouge and his new job in Nebraska. Mullen is a different story. He is staying to call plays in the title game but how much of the full Danny will Florida be getting? Part of his mind has to be back in Starkville, where he is still assembling a staff and recruiting. In some small way, the brains behind The Fastest Team in America has to be distracted. Sure, Tim Tebow could beat some teams by himself, but this is Oklahoma. Florida will need all the help it can get outscoring the highest-scoring team in history. Murray is admittedly Oklahoma's home-run hitter, but it doesn't lose much having to lean on fellow 1,000-yard rusher Chris Brown and Mossis Madu. |  Oklahoma. Mullen will still be calling plays and I don't buy the fact he will be distracted by the Mississippi State job. It isn't going anywhere, and he'll have plenty of time to assemble a staff and get focused to try to get the Bulldogs to a bowl game next year. Meanwhile, Murray has done everything for the Sooners. For those Gators fans that don't know much about him -- he averages 167 total yards a game, more than Percy Harvin (103.0). Murray had 1,002 yards rushing, 18 total touchdowns while also ranking 12th in the nation in kick-return average (27.6). You can't just take a guy like that out of your lineup and expect not to see some drop-off. Sure, Oklahoma has plenty of offensive weapons, but that still hurts much more. | | Should Utah get No. 1 consideration if it beats Alabama in the Sugar Bowl? | | It probably won't happen but, sure, Utah should be considered No. 1 if it beats Alabama. Maybe not the No. 1, but a No. 1. Somewhere. If they win, the Utes will have 1) won the toughest non-BCS league (the Mountain West was certainly better than the Pac-10 this season); 2) beaten the only team to beat USC (Oregon State); 3) beaten two teams that are likely to finish in the top 10 (TCU and Alabama); 4) finished as the only unbeaten team in the country. Please, tell me a team that has accomplished more? Florida and Oklahoma both lost a game. And don't talk to me about strength of schedule. It's basically a push in the non-conference between the Gators, Sooners and Utes. Utah's defense can hang with anyone. It's their sometimes-erratic offense that gets the Utes in trouble. But if they beat the Tide, no one will care. |  Sure, why not? If they beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, the Utes will have beaten four Top 25 teams -- Oregon State, TCU, BYU and one of the teams in the SEC. And they will be the only team in the nation to finish the season undefeated! Now, we all know they won't finish No. 1 in the major polls, but you could see them getting some first-place votes. The problem will be just what happened when Boise State beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl ... we'll never know how they would have done in a playoff system. We'll just be left with playing the guessing game. Of course, if the Utes lose, it's all moot, but if they beat Alabama by more points than Florida did, let the debate begin. |
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