SB Nation - Jacory Harris

Badger Bits: Plowing through awards, rankings and respect

Adam Hoge — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:12:05 -0000

More photos » by Chris O'Meara - AP

Miami quarterback Jacory Harris (12) has a ton of talent but has been prone to turnovers this season. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

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There's been a lot of debate the last couple days about matchup vs. location when it comes to bowl games. Which one is more important?

It's a good question, but I think the answer is obvious: the matchup is more important. Tuesday, December 29 two up-and-coming teams will square off in a bad stadium that is located in a bad city, but the winner will hardly care. It's likely the victor will be ranked in the top 15 next season and either Miami or Wisconsin will be thrilled about getting a win over a good program.

The atmosphere won't exactly be electric and the upper deck might even be closed, but the game should be a good one. Both teams have a ton of young, exciting players that are on the brink of stardom. You want two Heisman candidates for next season? Look no further than Miami's Jacory Harris or Wisconsin's John Clay.

Quite frankly I think bowl games have more of an impact on the following season than the current one and both of these programs could use a win like this to spark an important 2010 campaign.

Looking at the bowl slate, it appears the Champs Sports Bowl is one of the better matchups, but ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach disagrees, ranking the bowl No. 17 out of 34. Confused? I sure am. He's got the Hawaii Bowl ranked No. 16. Do you know who is playing in the Hawaii Bowl? Nevada and Southern Methodist. Ouch.

As we move on to some links, Matt Lepay agrees with me about the matchup and looks back on his first road trip he ever took with the Badgers -- to Miami to face the Hurricanes.

Last week was certainly an exciting week to be a Badger fan and I don't think my inbox has ever been more flooded with news releases about Badger players winning awards. Yesterday I was getting a tweet or an e-mal every five minutes about awards that had been won. Trevon Hughes won Big Ten Player of the Week, while John Clay, J.J. Watt and David Gilreath were also awarded weekly honors by the conference. Meanwhile, Barry Alvarez will be inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.

Finally, the UW men's basketball team is headed up to Green Bay today around 2:30 p.m. to get ready for the Phoenix. Snow is a big issue, but according to SID Patrick Herb's tweet today, I don't think Bo Ryan cares much about the weather:

BadgerMBBall: Bball team will snowplow its way to Green Bay around 2:30 p.m. today. Snow or no snow... we've got practice tonight at the Resch Center.

And in case you didn't realize it, this rare trip to Green Bay is Wisconsin's only true non-conference road game this season. The team will play five straight home games after Wednesday's contest and won't return to the road until Jan. 3 when the Badgers play at Penn State.

Beggars Can Be Choosers: Champs Sports Bowl

Rodger Sherman — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:15:08 -0000

Big Ten Season is over, but errbody else is still playing and whatnot. So with our eyes on December and plane tickets, here's a look at who we might play, why we want to play them, and all that good stuff.

So, if the world keeps spinning the way it should, Northwestern is going to Orlando to play in the Champs Sports Bowl. (However, I'll preview our other game opponents eventually. Don't you worry, people.)

Anyway, the Champs Sports Bowl features the #4 team from the Big Ten not in a BCS bowl, and the #4 team from the ACC.

So y'all are all like, hey, I wonder what teams could potentially be the #4 team from the ACC? But luckily for you fools, I got widgets on my side:

Atlantic Coast Conference Standings

(updated 11.22.2009 at 2:34 AM CST)

Atlantic Division	Conf		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Clemson Tigers	6	2	8	3
Boston College Eagles	4	3	7	4
Florida St. Seminoles	4	4	6	5
Wake Forest Demon Deacons	2	5	4	7
N.C. State Wolfpack	1	6	4	7
Maryland Terrapins	1	6	2	9

Coastal Division	Conf		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	7	1	10	1
Virginia Tech Hokies	5	2	8	3
Miami Hurricanes	5	3	8	3
North Carolina Tar Heels	4	3	8	3
Duke Blue Devils	3	4	5	6
Virginia Cavaliers	2	5	3	8

Admittedly, I don't know much about ACC football this season, although people in the know assure me that it does, in fact, exist. I don't watch their games, I don't know their players, and I don't read their respective SBNation blogs. (Yet. But that's what the next 7 or 8 weeks are for.) So here's my opportunity to take a quick peek at all these teams and figure out who I want to play.

So right now, Georgia Tech is 10-1, and then there's four 8-3 teams and a 7-4 team. As far as I can tell (and I can tell very little), despite being 8-3, Clemson is guaranteed to be either the #1 or #2 pick in the conference by virtue of the fact that they've already booked a spot in the ACC Championship game, so, we don't have to worry about playing the Tigers. That leaves Virginia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, and Boston College as people we could play in the Champs Sports Bowl, should we be selected. So let's take a look at them there teams, in that random order.

North Carolina Tar Heels (8-3, 4-3 ACC, #24 BCS)

Left on the docket: @ North Carolina State (4-7, 1-6 ACC), Saturday @ 12, ESPN2. They'll probably win.

Season thus far: Looking at their team stats, there's a lot of lacklusterness going on, but after dropping three in four weeks, including losses to mediocre at best Virginia and Florida State, the Tar Heels got it going. They've won four straight, including W's @ then No. 13 Virginia Tech and against then No. 14 Miami. So things turned around fast.

Pros to playing them: North Carolina's second leading export behind tobacco is post-basketball season college football apathy, so you can count on there being as much if not more purple than powder blue in Orlando if this goes down.

Quite frankly, I always like North Carolina, regardless of the sport. I contemplated applying there. It's probably because it's ovewhelmingly easy to dislike Duke, and the enemy of your enemy is your friend.

Big fans of raising up.

Cons: They're disturbingly hot, pause. It's way better to play a team that came into the year with high expectations and started to fizzle than it is a team that just won five straight and people are pumped for the bowl game.

We're 1-1 in the past three years against teams from North Carolina. Oh, and they were both Duke, so we shoulda been 2-0.

Also, not a slight against NC, since they probably have a better team historically than we do, but what this program needs is a bowl victory against a school that people associate with football. If we UNC, people will see that matchup and think "awww, it's sorta cute that those two schools are in bowl games! I hope they both win!" On the other hand, if we play a school people associate with football, people look at that matchup and say, "damn, NU got into a bowl game? They're going to get smoked by (insert school name)!" (See our two-touchdown spread last year against Missouri.) And then when we win, people will actually notice, and that's what we want. Even if NC is better than those other schools, we want to play someone with football tradition. Just sayin'.

Likelihood of playing them: Mad high: CBS, Stuart Mandel of Sports Illustrated, the College Football Network, and Hail to Purple have us facing the Tar Heels.

Three other teams and other stuff, after the jump!

Miami Hurricanes (8-3, 5-3 ACC, #17 BCS)

Left on the docket: South Florida, at 3:30 on ABC. I'm not ready to put this away as a win for the Hurricanes, as the Bulls have already beaten ranked FSU and West Virginia squads, so, they can play. (They also actually beat Syracuse, so, that's a step up from us.)

Season thus far: Jacory Harris and co have put together a decent year. They started out by beating No. 18 FSU and No. 11 Georgia Tech (the only loss for the Ramblin Wrecks so far this year), then after losing to Virginia Tech, they went out and beat No. 8 Oklahoma. Their only losses on the season come to decent teams - VT, UNC, and Clemson.

Pros: To follow up on that last thing I said, the U is one of those schools with one of those big names that looks good when you beat them.

Nobody likes traveling north for a bowl game.

As long as we're posting rap songs from my youth as pros for teams, it should be noted that Miami is a city where the heat is on and where we party all night until the break of dawn.

NU currently 1-0 on the season against teams named "Miami".

Cons: Playing Miami wouldn't be good for my lifelong fear of getting mutted by the whole crew. (I hope that song made up for linking to a rap song with no dirty words in it. Thanks, G-Reg!)

NU hasn't really beaten a team with a grade-A offense like the one the Canes got so far this year. Jacory could do unspeakable things to our secondary, and they have three guys with 75+ carries who average more than 5 yards per carry. Those are numbers, fellas.

Likelihood of playing them: Decent. Mark Schlabach has us playing them, and if every team listed in this preview won next week, Miami would be the fourth selection on the ladder, so, that's damn likely.

Virginia Tech Hokies (8-3, 5-2 ACC, #14 BCS)

Left on the docket: Virginia, 3:30 on ABC. (That Miami game up there is supposedly also on ABC, so, chances are at least one of those is a lie in the area you live.) The Commonwealth Cup is one of the least interesting football rivalries in the world, especially because I just had to look up what the name of the rivalry is, and the Hokies should romp.

Season thus far: A loss to now No. 2 Alabama in the season opener and now No. 7 Georgia Tech is nothing to be ashamed of, and that loss to UNC sort of is, though. All things told, not a poor season, including wins over Nebraska and a demolition of then No. 9 Miami. Since dropping two straight to GT and NC, the Hokies are outscoring opponents 90-22.

Pros: Still not sure what a Hokie is. Y'all know how I feel about confusing mascots.

Pre-dog fighting, I loved me some Vick brothers. I still play as Mike in Madden, and Marcus was just the greatest person ever.

Cons: Virginia Tech is the best team we could theoretically play in this bowl. And that's bad. Remember that "grade-A offense" thing I said about Miami? Well, Tyrod Taylor has ten more touchdowns than interceptions - 10! - and can run, too, and Ryan Williams might have 1500 yards rushing on the year by the time we play them, so, that's bad.

It's not a good sign for NU's chances that I can name two of Virginia Tech's ex-QB's off the top of my head, even if they are brothers. The only reason I can do that for any other team we'd theoretically play against is because Vinny Testaverde was the Jets QB for like 40 years and I saw Brock Berlin's name in a sporcle quiz earlier today.

Likelihood of playing them: Relatively low. The only plausible scenario in which Virginia Tech wouldn't be the third ACC team selected would be if they lost this week to Virginia, and that in and of itself is implausible. But theoretically, if they lost, allowing, say, Miami to be third, and UNC lost as well, they'd be fourth in the standings.

Boston College Eagles (7-4, 4-3 ACC)

Left on the docket: Maryland, 3:30 on ESPNU. The easiest of W's.

Season thus far: Playing in the easy-peasy ACC Atlantic, the Eagles had only one game against a ranked opponent this year, against No. 5 Virginia Tech, and they lost it. By 34. The Eagles season took a huge hit last week when they lost to NC, who, as you saw, is the team most likely to play us in the Champs Sports, while BC would need a lot to go right for them to make it in.

Oh, and they lost to the Team from South Bend, so, they're hella mediocre. Although I'll give them a pass there on the whole "same helmet" thing that I'm sure resulted in like seven picks.

Pros: Playing BC would give me another opportunity to unleash my undying hatred on the Boston sports world. Because Tom Brady and the Celtics aren't enough to tide me over until pitchers and catchers report, and I sure as hell am not picking up hockey just to hate the Bruins.

It's winnable. Just sayin'.

People like to play up the whole "academic-focused private schools in metropolitan areas that prefer pro sports" connection between us in BC, so, there's that. (Never mind that UNC's a better school. Just go with it.)

Cons: One game against the Wildcats would probably be enough for the Eagles to steal all of our gameplans so they could easily defeat us when we face them in 2011 and 2012.

When you're going up against the Hokies, the Hurricanes (whose mascot is an Ibis) and the Tar Heels (which isn't a real thing, but whose mascot is a bighorn ram for some reason), you're going to need to step your mascot game up. "Eagles" just isn't cutting it.

Likelihood of playing them: Low. They'd have to win and at least two of the other teams would have to lose for them to be in the fourth selection spot without jumping anybody.

So, there's the teams we could play in the Champs Sports Bowl. Now, I'ma rank each of them in a few metrics to decide which team I'd most like to play if we do get selected to this bowl. It should be noted that all my rankings are off the top of my head, probably incorrect, so feel free to disagree.

Mascot: Not that important, but still.

The U
VT
UNC
BC

Program Prestige: Who does it look the coolest when we play against/beat?

The U
BC
VT
UNC

Traveling: Who's likely to bring the least people, and therefore, giving NU the best chance of having a semi-home field advantage? (then again, you could argue that we'd want the other team to bring as many fans as possible so it looks like NU travels well for future bowls. But screw that.)

UNC
The U
BC
VT

Hateability: How easily do they inspire hatred? Arguably the most important factor.

BC
The U
UNC
VT

Winnability: The actual most important factor. YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME.

BC
UNC
The U
VT

So the winner of the Sippin' on Purple Champs Sports Bowl Team I'd Most Like To Play Award (the prestigious SOPCSBTIMLTPA, as they call it in the streets) goes to the #17 Miami Hurricanes.

Congrats, Sebastian!

via www.bio.miami.edu

Poll

Who you wanna play?

UNC

7 votes

Tha U! Niversity of Miami

22 votes

Virginia Polytechnical Institute

4 votes

Boston College

7 votes

40 votes | Poll has closed

Five Good Minutes: Testudo Times

Brian @ BCI — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:42:32 -0000

More photos » by Phil Coale - AP

24 days ago: Maryland running back Davin Meggett, center, runs for fourth-quarter yardage as Florida State defensive tackle Everett Dawkins, left, and linebacker Nigel Carr, right, move in to make the tackle during an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009, in Tallahassee, Fla. Florida State won 29-26.(AP Photo/Phil Coale)

Browse more photos »

First, a programming note: posting will slow over the next five days for the holiday. We wish everyone safe travels this week and hope you all have a great holiday!

To preview this weekend's regular season finale between the Eagles and the Terrapins, we welcome the SBNation Maryland blog Testudo Times for Five Good Minutes.

In exchange, we also answered some questions for Testudo Times and they will be posted later today. Welcome!

BC Interruption: Eagles fans are very familiar with Chris Turner (having faced him in 2007 and 2008) but know virtually nothing about Jamarr Robinson. What can you tell us about him, and what current college or pro QB does he most resemble?

Testudo TImes: James Franklin, poor decision maker though he may be, made a lot of sense when he said that Jamarr Robinson should've been playing well before Chris Turner's injury. Turner is the superior QB, but with this wet paper bag OL, he was entirely ineffective. Robinson has literally all the physical tools to succeed: he's quick on his feet, can make guys miss, and has a great arm - he's been inches away from long TDs on more than half of his deep balls. The problem with his is mentally; he has trouble with decision making sometimes, and tends to get nervous easily, leading to overthrows and underthrows. When he has a clear purpose - like in a two-minute drill - he's tough to beat. He deals well with a thing like making two reads and taking off if the they aren't there, but he's not a pro-style, pocket passer.

Everything about him, from that hint of swagger and confidence when he's comfortable, to his athletic ability, to his slightly big windup, reminds me of Jacory Harris, especially the freshman version of Harris. Robinson needs more experience to fully match up with Harris and does't have Harris' talent, but that's a good comparison.

BCI: How did Da'Rel Scott perform last weekend after being out for five weeks with a broken wrist? Was Davin Meggett a suitable replacement for Scott, or did the Terrapins rushing game suffer in Scott's absence? Do you expect the Terps rushing attack of Scott + Meggett to have success against a BC defense that is very tough against the run?

TT: Scott was surprisingly great, actually. It's not very surprising he was so good against FSU's almost non-existent run defense, though; Davin Meggett's average went up in that game, too, no doubt partially due to FSU's weak front 7.

Maryland's running game most definitely suffered in those five weeks, but not particularly because of Scott's absence - believe it or not, there's a group of sensible Maryland fans that think Meggett is better than Scott, and they might be right. The problem has been the offensive line.

They'll continue to mix the two, like they did last year, and you might even see some Caleb Porzel and Gary Douglas as change-of-pace backs.

BCI: Maryland almost pulled out the win in Tallahassee last weekend. How were they able to hang with Florida State? Do you expect the Terps to be motivated to play in an otherwise meaningless regular season finale?

TT: Even I was surprised by how well Maryland played against FSU. A combination of three interceptions and FSU's poor defense kept Maryland in it; Jamarr Robinson had a career day off quick passes and Maryland's running game easily ran over the Noles. Really, though, that's not a surprise - FSU hasn't had a great defensive performance all year, and their freshman QB was due for mistakes. Maryland made the most of them, and almost won thanks to them. In reality, though, Maryland's defense was pretty bad, and that was the killer.

Maryland's motivation depends on how much the players like Ralph Friedgen and James Franklin. Neither have been able to motivate or connect to the players at all this year, so I'm not sure why it would change now. The players that really like Fridge or Frank might try to save their jobs with a convincing end of season win, but I don't think too many do. They'll fight because it's what their supposed to do, but I'm not expecting to see any emotion.

BCI: What do you think will happen to Maryland football in the offseason? Will the program buy out Fridge? Will James Franklin take over, or will the school conduct an external coaching search? Handicap the coaching search for us.

TT: If Maryland buys out Fridge, the only sensible thing to do would be buying Franklin out with him. The problem is that Franklin has a very long, very expensive contract, and if Maryland's anything less than certain that he'll do well, it would be ridiculous to put him in charge because the buyout would be gigantic. Right now, it's about $1mil; it would be $10mil if we tried to fire him after a year or two of being HC.

That being said, there are a couple of names that Maryland fans are extremely interested in, mostly Brian Billick and Mike Leach. Billick lives in the area, and Ravens owner (and still Billick friend) Steve Bisciotti is a Maryland donor. If he wants to get back to coaching, this would be a logical place to start, and he could build an absolute monster of a team with players just from the area by name-dropping Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Randy Moss, etc - all people he coached. There have been rumors of his interest, and his possible hire have Maryland fans dreaming of Pete Carroll-level teams. That said, they're nothing more than rumors.

Leach wants out of Texas Tech bad and would probably be option 1A if Billick isn't available, but his price tag might be too much. Other possibilities are Mike London (Richmond's HC), Charlie Strong (Florida's DC), Turner Gill (Buffalo's HC), and Ken Nuimatalolo (Navy's HC). Not to be too out there, but there's a reason all are minorities - few places are as racially aware as the DC/Baltimore corridor, and firing a black coach "before giving him a chance" wouldn't go over well. Billick and Leach could fix that up quick because they're charismatic, but otherwise, Maryland will probably need a minority coach to avoid a controversy.

BCI: While the rest of the ACC faces in-state rivals this weekend, Maryland draws ... BC. Do you like the conference annually force feeding a late November game between the Eagles and Terps? If Maryland could schedule any program it wants to wrap up the regular season, who would it be and why?

TT: Maryland has no football rival. We don't like UVA, but they have Tech. I hate Duke basketball, but have no emotion for their football program. West Virginia would probably be the most sensible one, but they have Pitt. We just don't have a rival. We could start up a rivalry with you guys, but Maryland and BC are kind of like the in-laws of the conference - the "real family" just keeps to themselves, so we just huddle together and commiserate. Unless there's a fight, on the field, I just can't dislike Boston College, because they feel like Maryland's biggest ally in the deal.

I'd just like a bye week, please.

BCI: Last one ... prediction time. Who you got in this one? What's the final score?

TT: Boston College 31-20. Maryland goes through the motions, except for Jamarr Robinson, who's fighting for his job next year. Robinson will run for a score and pass for another, but no one else gets involved much.

BCI: Thanks for joining us!

For more information on the Maryland Terrapins, be sure to check out Testudo Times.

Florida State Football Performance Report 11.17.09

FSUncensored — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:43:29 -0000

More photos » by Chuck Burton - AP

about 1 month ago: Florida State's Jermaine Thomas (38) runs against Wake Forest during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Winston-Salem, N.C., Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009. Florida State won, 41-28. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

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Let's start out with something different for a moment. My best friend is serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Xerox is sponsoring a project that will send free cards to all of the soldiers. You can fill our your own personalized message and choose from 15 cards drawn by elementary school children across the united states. Here is the link for the project: http://www.LetsSayThanks.com/Home1024.html It takes less than a minute and you'll make a soldier's day.

Now for the offense. FSU went on scoring drives of 81, 79, 68, 68, 43, and 27 yards. 4 offensive touchdowns and 2 field goals. Get some, Wake Forest! Let's break down the offensive performance. As with all photos here, click them to enlarge.

7.2 yards per play is outstanding. In a normal game where FSU gets 70 plays, that's 500+ yard pace. Excellent job EJ. And the gameplan was ridiculously simple. FSU ran some version of the Veer 9 times. Don't tell anyone, but that's basically UF's offense. When they threw the ball it was a screen or a crossing route. I counted 5 passes that traveled more than 8 yards downfield. E.J. Manuel managed the game well and did exactly what FSU asked him to do.

Inside we have more charts, recaps of the press conferences, and highlight videos!

Want to settle your QB down and let him have a nice day? Own 1st down. And that's exactly what FSU did. Of 30 1st down plays, FSU only had two for 20+ yards, but they were successful a superb 53% of the time, and were only held to 1 or fewer yards on 6 of 30 1st down plays. Of those 16 successes, 10 of them were accomplished via Jermaine Thomas. That's important because we're dealing with a young quarterback.

Mmmmm The best offense in the conference kept on hummin'. And there's no scheduling quirk here. FSU has faced 7 of the conference's best 9 defenses.

Oh, and Jeff Cameron of 1270TheTeam Sports Radio had Jimbo Fisher on with him yesterday. Have a listen.

As for individual player breakdowns, I thought the right side of the offensive line did a tremendous job. That's guard David Spurlock and Tackle Zebrie Sanders. This offensive line is already very good, but they might be incredible next year. I really think they surprise teams, and especially opposing linebackers, with their quickness. It messes up the angles opposing backers must take. Ryan McMahon was his usual solid self. He doesn't dominate but he does what we ask him to. Rodney Hudson, until he got injured (and they are expected to hold him out until the UF game with his mild knee sprain), looked good. And maybe most impressive because of his injury was Andrew Datko (separated shoulder). I thought he did a great job and a shoulder injury is not all that easy to play with.

As for the backs. Thomas ran hard and was decisive. He made the right cuts almost all of the time. Ty Jones was not impressive at all. Anyone could have run through those huge holes.

My player of the game might be Rod Owens. He blocked his butt off and also ran some great rotues for Manuel. Twice on 3rd downs, Manuel was very late making his read and Owens slowed down knowing he could get killed but wanting to give his QB an open target. A big +1 for Rod Owens! Bert Reed didn't screw around and got upfield quickly.

I like the idea of flipping the ball to Jarmon in space. It somewhat limits what coverages the opposition can play and he is an athletic freak.

Here's Jimbo's Notes from the press conference that I took down yesterday:

We had some complexity in the offense and we were fortunate to hit our plays when we called them. E.J. was doing the things that he needed to do. He executed the gameplan very well. Stayed in good down and distance, fortunate to have the plays be open (implying Wake's plan was dumb). No delay penalties. Changed protections, routes, etc.

Every play is from a family of plays so when the QB checks down they have to know what they are looking to attack. Jimbo teaches conceptually. What are we trying to attack. If we know it we can change on the fly. Harder to learn at first but better in the long run.

E.J. and Christian both understand the concepts of football and I think this is the reason they pick things up so quickly.

These are good emotions this week. They have great futures ahead of them. We do have some upper classmen who have grown up and they will go off the right way.

Never had this small of a senior class before. FSU loses only Goodman, Piurowski, and Owens, to graduation (on offense).

E.J. has a lot of instincts to play football. Jermain Thomas did a nice job to help E.J. with the pitches by being where he needed to be. Did a great job of maintaining the pitch relationship.

You have to have the dependability of a running back who adds the dimension of a consistent running back.

Tavares Pressley could see some PT this week.

Brandon Davis did a nice job coming in for Rodney

I think the whole group (WR's) played the best game they have from blocking to running routes.

Jarmon Fortson doesn't realize how much time this game really takes. I am not down on him but he can get to another level of greatness if he gets all of the details. I am really looking forward to seeing how he progresses. (Jimbo challenges Fortson every week.

Maryland blitzes like crazy and they are hard to prepare for." "They do it all." "As tough to prepare for in terms of blitzing as anyone we have played. This could be a game where we mix incompletes with big plays because of the blitz. When you blitz the YAC yards, yards after catch are there to be made then our receivers have to make plays. I thin Joe Montana did a very good job of getting his receivers the ball where each of them needed it. E.J. will understand the concepts but he will need to put in a lot of study time this week.

I told E.J. the other day that Christian had a lot of success each week because he prepared for every game the same way. E.J. has had some success now he just needs to play the game. This is bigger than anyone who has ever been involved with it. E.J. is very self motivated and I tell him that the hardest job in football is being the backup QB. He did a great job and he prepared to play and it showed. If you think I am waiting and not going to play is not the way to prepare for a game. E.J. and Christian are very similar in a lot of ways."

We are looking forward to having Chris Thompson back this week." (Thompson's grandfather passed away and they had a close relationship.)

If good enough is ever good enough then we have a problem. "Good enough is never good enough to me."

Fisher then talked about a question regarding the running game not being as good as people expected. Said a lot of that run game went from the QB's legs to the qb's arm. I think people were shocked to see that we could throw as well as we did this year. I want to see how efficient we are on each play. Pass blocking has been much better this year than we were a year ago. "I don’t care how many yards we run or throw for, I care about how efficient are we each play."

Receivers are getting into their routes better, breaking them off better, catching it better. We are making quick decisions. Everything on offense is doing better.

Jimbo smirked when told this offense is the best since 2000, then said he wasn’t aware of that. Said he is much more comfortable as a playcaller.

We are learning to play with more consistency.

We are getting better but I still think we leave a lot out there. Not just yards but more great runs, more great throws, more great catches.

When things aren't just like you coach them up these guys are making the adjustments to keep the play moving and that is a good sign.

Fisher said when he is going through grading the offense, there are consistent pluses rather than a big play then a minus.

On Mickey Andrews: I don’t know if anybody played any better defense during any time during any era of college football than during Mickey’s 20 years. Until you are a great defensive team you’re not a great team. Defense keeps you in games. FSU used to win 41-39 until Mickey got here. Nobody’s legacy is above Mickey Andrews. How would you attack a mickey andrews defense? had to be balanced, had to recruit a lot better "I mean they rattatattattd them now I tell ya. (fsu hitting weurffel)"

Then he talked for a while about how having big hands and long arms helps in play-action.

On Goodman- trying to get him back.

Owens, EJ, and Jermaine players of the game. Owens had some great blocks and showed great patience in his routes. Great feel for that.

On Greg Reid returning punts and not kicks… not sure, said Pat is good too. (It's not his call)

Can’t afford to lose Cas, Christian, Rich, Rodney, but we have to have other guys step up. give someone else the chance to be a hero. guys keep stepping up keep competing keep battling great traits for the future

We are recruiting guys to fit our mold and practicing better than before. Then (2007) they were memorizing plays now they get the concepts to what you teach which allows you to make adjustments. the older guys never got that and it was unfair to ask them to get it.

The Streak Is Over!

Our regular readers know that we had been tracking a rather embarrassing streak. Florida State's defense had allowed every opponent to post their best offensive game of the season in either Points, Total Yards, or the most important measure of performance, Yards-Per-Play. That is no longer the case. FSU held Wake Forest to only their 3rd best offensive performance of the year. Now, don't get too excited. Wake still gained 20% more than they had been averaging in conference games. Also, the streak would have come to an end thanks to UNC finally cracking the 5 yards-per-play barrier against someone (Miami, haha), and Clemson racking up an insane performance against NC State, both of which pushed FSU's defensive efforts down some.

For more on that Clemson game, which should make you feel a bit better about losing to those guys (they are a top 10 team this year, bank it), go here Clemson - NC State film review - Shakin The Southland. Also, want a fun stat? Sure you do. Miami's Jacory Harris leads the country in interceptions. And before Miami fans feed you some tired line about how their offense throws for more yards per pass and are thus more likely to throw an INT, don't believe it. Miami is 4th in conference in yards per pass, behind FSU, a team that doesn't try to go deep on every play.

Let's go comprehensive on the game:

Where did FSU succeed on defense? They used a variety of run blitzes on 1st down. Sometimes they worked and Wake was stopped for 1 or fewer yards. Other times they didn't and FSU was in the wrong gaps and hit for a big gain. Andrews talked about this some in his press conference.

I thought Kevin McNiel played better. Perhaps he is now in shape. Everette Dawkins played a very nice game from what I saw (#93).

FSU is definitely playing more zone defense now and they played it well on Saturday. Mangum is not as bad covering half a field as he is covering a whole field.

Our backers still do not read their keys and I'm not sure they know them. Chuck Amato is a horrible coach. Really puzzled as to why Wake didn't run more misdirection. I like Nigel Carr's energy. Bradham is progressing slower than I'd like but he is coming around.

Upon watching again, we did have some guys running free in the secondary who were not accounted for and that is a problem. Skinner just didn't hit them.

Andrews said it was a team game. Everyone pitched in.

Aays they won 1st down and aoccomplished the goal (didn't state the goal)

3rd and long did not win (we might have forced more, it's a step in the right direction)

How many yards did they make after contact? few longballs but lots of short plays that went long. (We played a lot of cover-2)

4th down not good, (but honestly, those are 4th and short’s, it's not a big deal)

Happy he didn’t have to face skinner again and they didn’t win 4 in a row

When they pull, it creates a new gap, you have to maintain gap integrity and re-adjust your leverage. (Mickey is right here, FSU did not go a good job of this. Said they got 100+ yards doing this).

Mickey said they are only doing the ceremony stuff because they were asked. (He is incredible humble)

When you’re a committed football coach, sometimes you have to do things you don’t wanna do, even when your priorities should be elsewhere, like if your family needs you. (Mickey clearly hinting that he was begged to come back but probably shouldn't be here). Thanks to Mickey for 25+ great years.

Greg reid has come along and been rewarded with more PT.

Mickey really looks better today, seems happy.

Highlight Videos!

UNC 33, Miami 24

T.H. — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:12:03 -0000

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Jacory Harris is a good quarterback. He has a tremendous arm, the ability to scramble, and great presence to get the ball off as he's being crushed by an oncoming blitz. Unfortunately, you only have so much control once you let that ball go while being pasted into the turf. And today, that ball kept headed towards Carolina blue jerseys.

Specifically, Kendric Burney's jersey, as he intercepted three of Harris' passes, ran one back, and started another, one of the most convoluted defensive touchdowns I've seen in quite some time. Toss in a fourth interception from Da'Norris Searcy and it was a rough afternoon for the most intercepted quarterback in the conference.

It helped that the second most intercepted quarterback kept the ball out of the Hurricanes' hands, even if he put it in the turf a little too often. The Tar Heels were turnover-free, and although half their drives were three-and-outs, managed to consistently drive into Hurricane territory, resulting in four Casey Barth field goals and beautiful touchdown pass to Greg Little. More importantly, after Miami came back in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 6 at 30-24 managed an eleven-play, five-and-a-half minute drive to the Miami 16 and a game-clinching field goal. John Shoop called a great game, putting the ball in the hands of twelve different players, and ending with Ryan Houston, who ground out 24 carries for 76 yards.

But this was the defense's game, constantly plowing through the Miami line and snatching the ball from opposing receivers every time the game was in doubt. And as a result, UNC is bowl eligible, the same week a quarter of the conference had their postseason hopes dashed. With the remaining two games on the road against hapless Atlantic teams, the Heels have a good chance of getting their highest win total since 1997. So, there's that.

There's Still Football to Be Played: Miami

T.H. — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:40:58 -0000

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So while we've been obsessing over the play of the freshmen basketball players and the plans for next year's freshmen basketball players, there's still a football season going on. I know, it's a little strange for me, too. It doesn't help that the Senior Day game is so early in November and against a team UNC has never played this late in the conference season; it's all a little discombobulating. But Miami is coming into Chapel Hill tomorrow, with an outside chance to win the division. Also, I've heard rumors they have a history with the Carolina coach.

Miami has probably the most balanced offense UNC has faced this season. The Heels are familiar with half of it, the running tandem of Graig Cooper and Javarris James. The duo has totaled 214 yards in their last two meetings with the Heels. Actually, it was mostly Cooper, as James was injured last season (and is coming off another injury this season). They've added a few other backs as well, resulting in three 150+ rushers in last week's game UVa game. The running game is strong and even against the Heels' defense is usually good for at least one touchdown series.

The passing game is a surprise however. After losing three quarterbacks to transfer before the season, I was expecting weakness there, but Jacory Harris has come in and become the 4th best passer in the conference as well as leading two fourth quarter game-winning drives over FSU and Wake. (The opponents were more impressive at the time.) He is tied with T.J. Yates in interceptions thrown, however, and the team is second only to Virginia in allowing sacks.

The Hurricanes' defense has been plagued by injuries, but is the middle of the road in most defensive categories. They will be able to put more pressure on the offensive line than Duke or Virginia Tech did, but aren't prone to picking the ball off, which may be a bit of a consolation. To be honest, I don't know what to expect when UNC has the ball. The rushing game is now Draughn-less, most of the offensive line has returned to health, and their playing a team that's given up 30+ points three times this season. UNC has been good for roughly twenty points a game since the Virginia debacle, and that'll probably be enough to win here - but will the offense that faced GT or UVa come back for Senior Day as well?

apparently you're not allowed to do that

lt.winslow — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:28:03 -0000

The Conversation: Talking the Clemson Tigers with Shakin' The Southland.com

FSUncensored — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:56:17 -0000

More photos » by Lynne Sladky - AP

C.J. Spiller has a chance to win major Heisman votes against FSU on national television Saturday night. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

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This week our guest is Dr. B of Shakin The Southland.com We really like what these guys do and since it is one of the ACC blogs we recruited over to SBNation (parent network), I read them every day. Dr.B has some coaching or playing experience and if you enjoy our writeups on scheme and strategy, you'll really enjoy his work over there. I always feel like I learn something when I read their articles. Our answers to his questions there. Our questions first and their answers follow in the shaded text boxes.

We'll start with the program. What's going on with Clemson. Do you think Swinney has his ship on the right course? I've heard talks that the administration is concerned with improving Clemson academics, no matter the consequence to the athletic department. Is that true, and if so, does it change the way you evaluate Swinney?

There has been considerable press amongst the fans about certain bloggers and their opinion of the program and AD Terry Don Phillips' leadership of it. There have been some off-the-field issues among the staff and the higher-ups in the AD as well. Also, a fight on the field amongst the coaches that seems to have been overblown. But, I think these bloggers could've put their opinions and the facts they used out there in a better way. I dont necessarily disagree with them either however.

Academics has always been a battle with athletics here. The Admin wants us to be Top 20 (public) nationally and they have kinda skewed the relevant stats to get us up there in the Top 25 now. It means my degree is worth more, but I dont really care about the Top 20 goal. I would rather us be good at football, get our program established, and then tighten up academics. Theres no reason you can't do well at both, and I want Clemson to be great at both, but I think its easier to do with lower standards for football to start.

Leaving that aside, I think the AD has given Swinney considerable support in some areas. We've added many administrative/support positions to the staff with good people that were not here previously. That will help pay off long-term.

My opinion of Swinney and Napier is still wait-and-see. Tammy looked like chicken salad one week, and chicken shit the next against teams we should beat. See Miami and Maryland for examples of how it has continued. I just want to see a trend of us playing well against good AND bad teams to say he's not Tommy-lite.

I've said all along, he gets 3 full years from me to improve the program. Not 4 because he was from the old staff and he recruited these guys, but it takes time to overcome terrible coaching. I'll critique, but I won't call for his head til then.

I've been big on trying to get FSU fans to have realistic expectations for Florida State. For instance, I proffered that when operating at reasonably peak efficiency, FSU should expect to win the Atlantic 3 of 5 years (as for the championship game, that's a bit of a tossup unless I know which program FSU would face). All fan bases will have their nut jobs who think their team should be favored to win the MNC every year, but what do you think a reasonable goal for Clemson should be for a 5 year period?

I expect Clemson to compete for the division every year, to win it at least every other year, depending on graduation, losses, etc. In a 5 year period, I'd say we should win it 2-3 times and it should come down to the two of us. The other teams will sneak in every few years. I don't think 3 ACC titles in a decade for Clemson is asking too much.

We know we can recruit, especially with this all-star recruiting staff, and with the facilities improvements done and another endzone construction possible in a few years, that should get even better. FSU and Miami will always have an advantage in recruiting, but we can be consistently a Top 15 team in those recruiting rankings, and that means that we should be right there fighting for the division/ACC.

Continue reading for more, and some Hank!

I have to say I am quite impressed with your defense. Steele is an excellent coach and you've held everyone well under their season average. (Including Georgia Tech in Atlanta, considering the Yellow jackets scored on a punt return and a fake field goal pass play). FEI currently ranks you guys 6th, but pretty much on par with Bama, Florida, BC, Iowa, and UNC. In fact, they've held that lofty ranking for most of the year. Do you think they've improved as the season has progressed? Why/ Why not. And do you think they will continue to improve, stay the same, or take a step back? Also, since we'll be getting a new DC, probably from Alabama (Smart/ Sunseri), how has the implementation of the pattern reading gone?

We're still playing more man-free and 2-Man than matchup, but I expect this defense to be even better next year at pattern reading. Its really difficult to tell, with our DL eating up pretty much everyone we've faced, how good our secondary really is playing, but we still get alot of coverage sacks. WF's guys never got open. Maryland basically got 2 or 3 big plays on them and that was it. BC, well....that was the most horrible offensive performance i've ever seen. Andy Dalton (TCU) was probably the most efficient QB we faced, and his receivers were great at catching the ball. Jacory Harris is very good, but I think our defense did well to limit him. Still 280 of UM's 400+yards came on 10 plays. Even had we lost that game, I don't think I'd have blamed the secondary coverage, they really ate us up running the ball more than anything.

DL has gotten better inside, more than at End. The inside guys use their hands really well and Jenkins can be unstoppable if properly motivated. They got a bit sloppy against Coastal Carolina at times, but I have been nothing less than ecstatic about our line play this season.

Our LBs have been the weakness. They are fast but dont play with great instincts, and overpursue, and take angles that get them blocked out on plays. Maye is a mean and extremely fast player at MIKE, but sometimes he does the stupidest things and runs right into a blocker square, instead of driving the shoulder into his chest.

Our safeties are both going to be All-Americans next year if DeAndre McDaniel doesnt leave for the NFL. I really Rashard Hall could be that good, the other two play a lot but arent as good as he is, he never misses assignments. They could take better angles at times on run plays, but otherwise they are outstanding.

Overall, opposing drives here and there this year have gotten scores almost entirely because the D took a drive off when it came to tackling.

Perhaps overlooked because of their poor start and the excellent play of the defense and a top ten special teams unit, the offense has really improved, from something like 65th best a few weeks ago to 34th as of the last measurement. With a Freshman quarterback, how have they done it? I know the line played poorly early in the year, as did Parker, but what has been the major catalyst behind this improvement, or has it been a combination? Has there been a new approach?

The changes post Maryland: Attack the underneath with backs and TEs, use less motion, not change personnel as often, and throw fewer screens and passes to the WRs.

At Maryland and prior, it was Jacoby Ford and our young WRs as the focus. For Wake and afterward, we've hit TE Michael Palmer over the middle and CJ Spiller in the backfield/flats much more. Last week we tried shifting back to the WRs and it showed in poor execution (Spiller was kept out to heal his turf toe, and Palmer had a concussion).

The OL has improved a little, but I'm not thrilled with their run blocking at all. I would not say they are the reason we've done better offensively. Pass blocking, aside from one half against GT's Derrick Morgan, has been very good. Parker is progressing, but still does stupid things that you'd expect from a freshman, at times. We've done our best against man/man coverage teams, not so well against zone.

I've only been to Clemson once (the game Bobby threw to save Tommy's job in 2003). Top row, sandals and shorts, 35 degree weather, pneumonia, etc. That place is louder than the Swamp. I've never been to LSU, however, and I know you have. Which Death Valley is louder?

I wrote this http://clempsonfootball.blogspot.com/2009/07/what-gameday-at-lsu-is-like-from-eyes.html over the summer on the old site to describe what LSU is like. I love our Valley, but given the football success at LSU and the much-more-raucous student section, on average I would say LSU is louder. They'll go nuts playing Tulane; Clemson doesnt go nuts playing Furman. Now, Clemson is capable of being louder by a good bit, when our fans are into it. Its kind of hard to get so totally into Noon games, and thats all we seem to get. Since we haven't had a meaningful night game in Death Valley lately, this saturday should really be rocking.

Thanks again to Dr.B and Shakin The Southland.com Make sure to head over there later for our answers to their questions.

Tricked: Miami steals a victory over Wake Forest

MRickman84 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:28:02 -0000

You all didn't think they'd hold on, did you? Show of hands: who thought the Deacs had any chance to win after Devon Brown fumbled the punt and Miami got it at the one? Thought so. It's just amazing how many different ways Wake Forest can lose games. I wish I had that kind of imagination.

Today's was a new story, same result. After that fumble, Wake was up 6 and stayed there for awhile. The defense continued to hold strong (and played a great game despite the fact that they had about a dozen chances at INTs and couldn't hold onto the ball) behind Dominique Tate, Kenny Okoro, John Russell and company. But when the Deacs got the ball back, Riley Skinner threw a pick and later went out with what is probably a concussion.

That gave Miami QB Jacory Harris a chance to put the 'Canes up. The Deacs got it down to 4th and long, but Harris completed an insane pass for the first...yadda yadda yadda, and Miami went up one. Backup QB Ryan McManus had a chance with a minute to go and got a 60 yard FG attempt that was way right. Hurricanes: 28, Demon Deacons 27. Final.

It's nothing new to lose to Miami, but I don't know whether to laugh or cry right now. And I'm used to this stuff...I'm a Cleveland sports fan.

Lobo called a much better game today and the Deacs completely dominated. I mean it wasn't even close. But penalties, mental mistakes and missed opportunities continue to plague the Demon Deacons like they have all year.

And that's why instead of being at around 6-3, this team is at 4-5 and on the outside looking in right now at a bowl bid.

ACC Blogger Roundtable, Week Nine

Ben Broman — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:16:39 -0000

More photos » by Lynne Sladky - AP

Still my ACC player of the year? Yep.

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It's a good thing most of these questions aren't about Maryland; good respite from thinking about this team. Joe Ovies is hosting this week.

1.) Now that we're in the home-stretch of college football, we have enough material to begin campaigns for ACC coach of the year and player of the year. Who ya got and why?

At the moment, I have Paul Johnson as ACC coach of the year, but if Miami runs the table the rest of the way, I have to give Randy Shannon the edge. Johnson is a great coach, and he's proved it. I really didn't think Georgia Tech was a top 15 team this year, but they seem to be, and I have trouble believing they'll lose another game this year. That said, Miami was even more unexpected than Georgia Tech, and has arguably been better. Shannon has completely turned around and revitalized that program.

In that vein, I'm still giving POY to Jacory Harris. He's tenth in the nation in passing efficiency, and has a much bigger sample size than Tyrod Taylor, who's 4th in the nation and 1st in the conference. Excluding the rainy, fluky VT game, he's yet to truly have a bad game.

2.) Would your 2009 ACC coach of the year stand a chance in the SEC battlefields of recruiting and gameday management against the likes of Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, and Lane Kiffin?

Randy Shannon could definitely recruit and coach with these guys; I don't doubt that all. Paul Johnson could coach with them, but he'd probably get killed in recruiting...just a hunce. I'm not that confident about the triple option in the SEC, either...they've got better athletes than the ACC does. Until it's proven wrong, though, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I'd still rather have Shannon, though.

3.) Getting away from the breathless week-to-week win/loss reactions such as "OMGZ!1!JUAN! WE WON, BCS NEXT!" or "WTF, WE'RE DA SUX. FIRE COACH!", where is your head coach in 5 years. If no longer with your school, how does the exit go down?

Ralph's definitely gone five years from now, probably at home eating cheeseburgers, to quote Charlie Weis. And the departure will be plenty ugly, I have a feeling. He either leaves the program in a state of shambles, or we kick him out, and you can bet that won't go over well.

4.) Coffee is for closers only. Which means plenty of ACC teams are walking around with empty cups after failing to finish off opponents or lock up divisions. As the worst offender, who gets the steak knives?

I'm saying Miami. They had a great chance to put themselves in a good spot to win the ACC if they just...beat...Clemson. They had a chance, too, until the defense fell apart on that last drive.

5.) Bob Griese wants to take you and Juan Pablo Montoya out for tacos. Where's the best joint in town?

Probably Santa Fe Cafe. Really, I'm just using the pretense of "Mexican food" (hey, they serve quesdillas and fajitas!) to recommend it as a bar, of which it might be the best in CP (second to Bentley's of SVP fame, of course).