College football teams on the "better do something" list
Michigan
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in Sports Talk
Let's hear it for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They're No. 1.
In the Bowl Championship Series rankings? Nah. The BDS rankings.
As in … Better Do Something. And we don't need computer printouts or algebra formulas to figure it out.
Let's be clear. College football brings demands and expectations everywhere. They don't like to lose at Utah State any more than at Southern California.
But current conditions have some places carrying more urgent burdens than others. So here's the BDS preseason top 10, all of them accomplished programs but with assignments they really, really need to get done.
•No. 1: Notre Dame. Isn't it hard to fathom? Charlie Weis, NFL offensive guru, coached a team that was last in the nation in offense. Another statistic to shake down the thunder: Eighty-nine other schools have won a bowl since Notre Dame last won one Jan. 1, 1994. The Irish, with a softer schedule, need to do a lot better than 3-9. They need to get to a bowl. One of these decades, they need to win one. With such modest requests, it's easy to forget sometimes this is Notre Dame we're talking about.
•No. 2: Clemson. Nothing less than an Atlantic Coast Conference title will do for Tommy Bowden. His reputation, fair or unfair, is he builds fine records but seldom survives the big games that separate the true contenders from the Chick-fil-A Bowl. There's one way to do something about it.
•No. 3: Michigan. The school chipped in to help pay the $4 million needed to finalize Rich Rodriguez's divorce from West Virginia. For that alimony, his new offense had better work.
•No. 4: Ohio State is returning so many key ingredients, I think even the tuba section is back intact. It's not that Jim Tressel doesn't have a hugely successful program. But two things keep happening in Columbus in January: low wind chill factors and the Buckeyes limping home after a BCS title game walloping. The onus is on them to convince people they can truly play with the elite from outside the Big Ten. Like on Sept. 13 at Southern California.
•No. 5: Louisville. The more reasonable Cardinals fans — all nine of them, if Louisville is like everyplace else — will be willing to give coach Steve Kragthorpe a first-season mulligan. But not if the Cardinals go 6-6 and lose to Syracuse again.
•No. 6: Oklahoma. Bob Stoops owns a fine record, but the Sooners have lost four of their last five bowls. Norman is one of those places where each season they remember longest what you did last.
•No. 7: Florida State. It is uncomfortable and sad when the masses turn on a civic treasure when the championships stop. Who wants to see someone's grandfather raked over the coals? Bobby Bowden will soon turn 79, and his pride keeps him going. But the price in being blessed with a coaching wonder is that it is often impossible for everyone to agree when enough is enough. Then things can turn ugly. Bobby could use a big year.
•No. 8: Penn State. So could Joe Paterno. His program has encountered recent turbulence. If this is it, the college football gods owe him a proper farewell tour, so he will not be remembered as the legend who stayed too long. We should pause and remind ourselves how astounding this is — that an 81-year-old man is still trying to coach a major-college football team.
•No. 9: Washington. For a decent guy who needs a good season as desperately as Tyrone Willingham needs one, you'd like to see early games against Army, Duke and New Mexico State. Instead, the Huskies get Oregon, Brigham Young University and Oklahoma. USC is on the road. No mercy for the embattled.
•No. 10: USC. The Trojans are loaded. Again. But they need to keep sprinting forward, because if they slow down and look behind — or get upset by Stanford again — the unanswered Reggie Bush questions might be gaining on them.
Also receiving votes:
•Nebraska. Bo Pelini need not perform acts of human levitation this first season. But in the name of Tom Osborne, don't give up 76 points to Kansas anymore.
•Miami. The Hurricanes went 5-7 and closed down the Orange Bowl by losing 48-0 to Virginia, as all the former players who came back cringed on the sideline. Miami quickly grows restless when it has no reason to swagger.
•Georgia. As the Bulldogs finished fast last season, the accolades poured in, suggesting the Bulldogs were as good as any team in the nation. The downside, of course, is that the next season everyone expects them to prove it.
•Arkansas. No coach in America took more abuse from talk shows than Bobby Petrino, concerning his quick eye for the exit. He needs to show he's worth the trouble.
•Iowa. Mediocre records and a messy sexual assault scandal. Bad combination.
Florida. Two things the nation has never seen: An African-American man with a chance to be president, and a junior quarterback already owning a Heisman. The highest point in the state of Florida is the expectation put on Tim Tebow and the Gators. But the Southeastern Conference is tough to live in when your goal leaves you no margin for error.
In the Bowl Championship Series rankings? Nah. The BDS rankings.
As in … Better Do Something. And we don't need computer printouts or algebra formulas to figure it out.
Let's be clear. College football brings demands and expectations everywhere. They don't like to lose at Utah State any more than at Southern California.
But current conditions have some places carrying more urgent burdens than others. So here's the BDS preseason top 10, all of them accomplished programs but with assignments they really, really need to get done.
•No. 1: Notre Dame. Isn't it hard to fathom? Charlie Weis, NFL offensive guru, coached a team that was last in the nation in offense. Another statistic to shake down the thunder: Eighty-nine other schools have won a bowl since Notre Dame last won one Jan. 1, 1994. The Irish, with a softer schedule, need to do a lot better than 3-9. They need to get to a bowl. One of these decades, they need to win one. With such modest requests, it's easy to forget sometimes this is Notre Dame we're talking about.
•No. 2: Clemson. Nothing less than an Atlantic Coast Conference title will do for Tommy Bowden. His reputation, fair or unfair, is he builds fine records but seldom survives the big games that separate the true contenders from the Chick-fil-A Bowl. There's one way to do something about it.
•No. 3: Michigan. The school chipped in to help pay the $4 million needed to finalize Rich Rodriguez's divorce from West Virginia. For that alimony, his new offense had better work.
•No. 4: Ohio State is returning so many key ingredients, I think even the tuba section is back intact. It's not that Jim Tressel doesn't have a hugely successful program. But two things keep happening in Columbus in January: low wind chill factors and the Buckeyes limping home after a BCS title game walloping. The onus is on them to convince people they can truly play with the elite from outside the Big Ten. Like on Sept. 13 at Southern California.
•No. 5: Louisville. The more reasonable Cardinals fans — all nine of them, if Louisville is like everyplace else — will be willing to give coach Steve Kragthorpe a first-season mulligan. But not if the Cardinals go 6-6 and lose to Syracuse again.
•No. 6: Oklahoma. Bob Stoops owns a fine record, but the Sooners have lost four of their last five bowls. Norman is one of those places where each season they remember longest what you did last.
•No. 7: Florida State. It is uncomfortable and sad when the masses turn on a civic treasure when the championships stop. Who wants to see someone's grandfather raked over the coals? Bobby Bowden will soon turn 79, and his pride keeps him going. But the price in being blessed with a coaching wonder is that it is often impossible for everyone to agree when enough is enough. Then things can turn ugly. Bobby could use a big year.
•No. 8: Penn State. So could Joe Paterno. His program has encountered recent turbulence. If this is it, the college football gods owe him a proper farewell tour, so he will not be remembered as the legend who stayed too long. We should pause and remind ourselves how astounding this is — that an 81-year-old man is still trying to coach a major-college football team.
•No. 9: Washington. For a decent guy who needs a good season as desperately as Tyrone Willingham needs one, you'd like to see early games against Army, Duke and New Mexico State. Instead, the Huskies get Oregon, Brigham Young University and Oklahoma. USC is on the road. No mercy for the embattled.
•No. 10: USC. The Trojans are loaded. Again. But they need to keep sprinting forward, because if they slow down and look behind — or get upset by Stanford again — the unanswered Reggie Bush questions might be gaining on them.
Also receiving votes:
•Nebraska. Bo Pelini need not perform acts of human levitation this first season. But in the name of Tom Osborne, don't give up 76 points to Kansas anymore.
•Miami. The Hurricanes went 5-7 and closed down the Orange Bowl by losing 48-0 to Virginia, as all the former players who came back cringed on the sideline. Miami quickly grows restless when it has no reason to swagger.
•Georgia. As the Bulldogs finished fast last season, the accolades poured in, suggesting the Bulldogs were as good as any team in the nation. The downside, of course, is that the next season everyone expects them to prove it.
•Arkansas. No coach in America took more abuse from talk shows than Bobby Petrino, concerning his quick eye for the exit. He needs to show he's worth the trouble.
•Iowa. Mediocre records and a messy sexual assault scandal. Bad combination.
Florida. Two things the nation has never seen: An African-American man with a chance to be president, and a junior quarterback already owning a Heisman. The highest point in the state of Florida is the expectation put on Tim Tebow and the Gators. But the Southeastern Conference is tough to live in when your goal leaves you no margin for error.
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