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Urban Meyer is the next Notre Dame head coach

Attention Florida Gator fans: you're days of 'Urban renewal' are numbered. Meyer is headed to Notre Dame the next chance he gets, so says Florida Times-Union columnist Pete Kerasotis.

And the weird thing is... Kerasotis makes a damn fine case for Meyer leaving Florida for Notre Dame.

A common contention in my e-mail in-box is that in 2004, Meyer turned down Notre Dame in favor of becoming Florida's coach. Why, then, would he leave a school he once chose over Notre Dame to go to Notre Dame?

Why?

Because things change.

After winning the 1996 National Championship, Spurrier went to bed prepared to wake up the next morning and take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' job. He didn't. But five years later, he did jump to the NFL. Things change.

In his authorized biography "Urban's Way," written with former FLORIDA TODAY sports editor Buddy Martin, Meyer refers to his Big Three coaching jobs, the only three his wife Shelley has no veto power to block him from taking a job at. They are Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan.

Of those three, Meyer's self-proclaimed "dream job" -- his quote, not mine -- is Notre Dame, where he was once an assistant under Lou Holtz, spending five years with the Golden Domers.

OK. Things change, people change. For everything there is a season. Turn, turn, turn... and all that.

But what things?

Kerasotis explains that Shelley Meyer talked Urban into the Florida job because he go out recruiting and be home within a couple hours. Notre Dame, as Irish fans will remind you, recruits nationally. The Meyers' young family won out. Urban consented and the rest is Gator football history.

"I wanted to go to Notre Dame," Meyer admitted, "but my family wanted to talk about going to Florida."

Shelley knew how tough the decision was for her husband because "he left his heart at Notre Dame when we left there last time -- he really, really, really loved Notre Dame."

That's "really" loved three times, if you're scoring at home.

...

Oldest daughter Nicole is 18, getting ready to leave the nest and head to Georgia Tech on a volleyball scholarship. Next oldest is Gigi, 15, a high school sophomore. Then there's Nathan, who turns 10 Monday. Soon, he'll only have one child at home, which makes it much easier for him to balance his professional and personal life -- i.e. the rigors of coaching the Fighting Irish.

All of this is relevant, of course, because Charlie Weis continues to struggle at Notre Dame. You just know that if Notre Dame could trade Weis for Meyer, they'd do it in a heartbeat.

If you're the Fighting Irish, you must have a short list of candidates in mind if you do make a coaching change. And if you're the Fighting Irish, Urban Meyer absolutely has to top that list.

Without question... you take Urban Meyer over Charlie Weis seven days a week and twice on Sunday. There's no comparison in what the two have accomplished. Meyer's cabinet was arguably more full than Weis's; however, you can never question the talent level at Notre Dame. It's Notre freakin' Dame.

And make no mistake... it still is Notre freakin' Dame -- the #1 coaching job in college football, period. Meyer could win 5 national championships in Gainesville... and UF will never be Notre Dame, ever.

Kerasotis explains that Notre Dame's dream coach -- Meyer -- longs for his dream job -- Notre Dame. Can a move be far off?

For what it's worth, I discussed the topic yesterday with Buddy Martin, author of "Urban's Way." Buddy's gotten closer to Meyer than any journalist I know, and he reiterated to me that "Notre Dame is Urban's first love."

Will it be his last love?

Martin said he doesn't see Meyer coaching the Gators beyond the length of his current contract, which has five years remaining.

Me?

I don't see him lasting that long.

One word of advise to Notre Dame: Take that big truck full of money and back it up at Meyer's doorstep. Give him the keys to the castle. Let him thrown down green uniforms any time he wants.

Whatever it takes... he's worth it.

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VaTech to offer coach-in-waiting to Foster?

Hot on the heels of Will Muschamp's coach-in-waiting announcement at Texas comes an ESPN.com report that Virginia Tech may be exploring a succession plan for Frank Beamer.

Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver said Wednesday that he is intrigued by Texas' coach-in-waiting arrangement and has reached out to their athletic director, DeLoss Dodds, to discuss it.

The Hokies have a defensive coordinator, Bud Foster, who recently interviewed with Clemson, and who could possibly one day succeed Frank Beamer in such an arrangement.

"We're a long way from any arrangement or anything like that," Weaver said. "But it's a trend that's intriguing to me. Before we even considered it we'd have to talk to Coach Beamer and others more. I'm really just interested to find out more about it, to find out more about the mechanics of it."

If Foster is the guy the Hokies want, then a coach-in-waiting tag is an absolute no-brainer. Foster seems to be itching for the next step, as evidenced by his interview with Clemson. If nothing else, it would take Foster off the table for several years.

Personally, I don't see it happening, unless Foster wants it to happen. He's holding all the cards right now, at least as far as I can see. Foster is a strong candidate at Clemson, and could easily be a top name at Tennessee, Syracuse, and even Auburn (which doesn't have a vacancy, yeah, yeah, I know).

Jimbo Fisher, Joker Phillips, Danny Hope, Will Muschamp... bright young coaches whose future is all but assured.

Is Foster next to join that C-I-W fraternity?

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Big 12 could have 3 BCS teams.

The BCS has conviened to determine what happens if a conference has two teams #1 and #2, neither of whom are the conference champion. It had been my assumption that the two teams per conference rule would prevail, but the BCS has ruled that all three would get an automatic BCS bid.

The scenario is as follows:
Florida and Alabama both lose a game, either Florida losing to FSU then beating Alabama or Alabama losing to Auburn then beating Florida. (Florida losing to the Citadel is about as remote as Utah making the NC game.)

Oklahoma beats Texas Tech, who remains ahead of USC and Utah (who may jump USC with a win over BYU). Missouri then wins the Big 12 championship game.

The team Missouri beat, likely Oklahoma as they could pass Texas after a second win over Oklahoma State, would be out. 2 teams from the Big 12 South would be #1 and #2, and Missouri would have the Fiesta Bowl bid.

Under this scenario the BCS bowls would look like:
NC: Texas Tech vs Texas
Rose: Oregon State vs Penn State/Ohio State/Michigan State
Fiest Bowl: Missouri vs Alabama/Florida loser
Sugar Bowl: Alabama/Florida winner vs Utah/Boise State/BYU
Orange Bowl: ACC Champion vs Big East Champion

With no at large spots available USC would go to the Holiday Bowl.

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Fanblog's Pick'em - Reminder/Results

The Fanblog's College Pick'em, hosted by Yahoo!, is ready for week eleven. The deadline is 5 minutes before each game. If you make your picks now you are able to change them at anytime before then, say if the lines change. The lines given Thursday are the final lines for the Pick'em.

The season results are as follows:

1) 110 Points
ou-ron90

2) 109 Points
Clemson_Joe

3) 106 Points
The Fresh Catch Shuffle

4) 104 Points
KSR1

5) 103 Points
Porcine

6) 102 Points
War Eagle B'Ham

7) 101 Points
Ludwig's Losers 114

8) 100 Points
Lennie Collins
Kevin @ Fanblogs

10) 99 Points
Hotty Toddy
The U
utesfan100
Oslo
Kodi Todd
The Prophet

This Weeks Results are as follows:

1) 13 Points
War Eagle B'Ham

2) 11 Points
Beamer Ball 08
orangejack

4) 10 Points
The Fresh Catch Shuffle
Kevin @ Fanblogs
utesfan100
Oslo
mitch_cumstein

9) 9 Points
Clemson_Joe
KSR1
The U
bama4429
War Eagle Atlanta
GA_Boy
Wlvernenslowmo

** I think I messed up, where is ou-ron this week?

If you did not already know this, the picks are against the spread. Games vs FCS (aka I-AA) teams appear to be given a line of 0, so all games should end up with a line before it is over.

With 215 total games so far, 16 throw aways and 4 pushes, you would need 118+ total points to beat a 10% commission. This is your points above plus the two weeks you have thrown away. If you have picked every game and have 93 points or less, try picking the opposite of the team you like.

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Inside the BCS Headquarters

The good folks at Global Sports Fraternity present their take on what goes on inside the BCS headquarters.

Enjoy.

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Oregon vows more uniform chaos to come

Oregon Ducks football is an enigma. To some, the Ducks are among the upper crust of the Pac10 elite. To others, Oregon is the team responsible for the Nike-ification of college sports... and thus a blight on football.

Regardless of how you feel about the Ducks, one thing is certain: Oregon will continue to trick up its uniform with more colors, accents, and doo-dads courtesy of Nike.

Bud Withers: Mike, since your game last week wasn't on TV, as you pointed out, did you guys wear the black helmets, or are those still in the box?

Mike Bellotti: We did, we wore 'em. We wore the black helmets and the black uniforms. Too bad you didn't get a chance to see it, it looked awesome.

Withers: Huh, OK. Are these things, these innovations, just gonna keep on coming, or is there a limit to this?

Bellotti: No, they’re gonna keep on coming. You know, our tradition is innovation. So that's become the buzzword, and I think the new uniforms are the lightest ever made, they’re reinforced in the shoulders, because of the lightness, to allow them to be usable over a longer period of time. The uniform we unveiled [this past Saturday] was sort of a special uniform. I think we’ll have this set for one more year, and then we'll go into production for some new — y'know, a whole revamping for 2010. And now we have four helmets to choose from.

Withers: Can you explain what the process is? Does someone from Nike come to you and say, "Here's the latest thing we’re looking at," and then you screen them or something?

Bellotti: Yeah. We actually, uh - y'know, this was kind of a surprise to everyone. This was more of a one-shot deal that Nike wanted to do, and we had a chance to have input to it. And this was not with our players - this was just me as a coach. And we, I said some certain things, suggested this and that, and they came back with a prototype, and we said, "Yeah, that's awesome, let's go with it." But when we go to the full uniform line, we involve our players. There's a group right now, of younger players, freshmen and sophomores, who are meeting with the design people at Nike on a regular basis to kind of put ideas together for our future uniforms. And that's a combination of color ideas, style ideas, just the whole look. And that will be the geneis, or - the next wave.

Withers: And your sense, I think, in the past has been that this is important to the players, correct?

Bellotti: Yeah - well - yeah, I think it’s imp... - they, they love having some ownership in it. They love having some creative input. The reality is that they're helping to design what they're gonna wear, sort of like picking your own clothes. The other thing is that it does appeal to other people out there. And even if it doesn't [appeal] to some, they're talkin' about it.

So... not only is Oregon going to unveil yet another completely new uniform design this year, they're ramping up with even more options for the future seasons. GRRRREEEAAAAATTTTT!!!!!!!

Is there a method to all this madness? Yes, because -- believe it or not -- a large number of recruits pick and/or eliminate schools based on the way their uniforms look.

"With a few schools, I would just look at their uniforms and be like, I don't think I could see myself playing there," said Ohio State senior cornerback Malcolm Jenkins.

...

"They were the first people to send me a letter," Jenkins said, "and I looked at it and said, 'I can't go there, I don't like their uniforms.'"

...

"I heard a guy say on my team," said Illinois quarterback Juice Williams, "that he didn't pick a school because they didn't have names on the back of their jerseys."

...

"They're definitely not the flashiest ones I've ever seen," said Penn State senior receiver Deon Butler, who grew up admiring the green and orange swagger of the Miami Hurricanes' jerseys. "But I like that fact. You don't have to put a lot onto for it to say something. You can say plain white helmet and blue stripe, and people know who you're talking about. Plain black shoes and white socks, and people know who you're talking about.

"It means something, and I take pride in that. It's one of the few uniforms that means so much to so many people."

...

Over the years, it's become more and more important for the athletes, and I think they're more visual and design savvy than previous generations," said Van Horne, who has been with Nike for 18 years.

As long as the kids care, and the kids pick the schools and win the games and determine whether coaches succeed or fail, then everyone cares.

"Kids are kids," Under Armour's Jones said. "When you ask them what the key factor was in picking their school, they don't want to say uniforms. They want to lead with academics and coaching and playing time, but in the back of their mind, you better believe it's, 'What are they wearing?' That's what catches a kid's eye on TV."

In other words, while Penn State uses its uniform to represent tradition and team unity, Oregon uses its uniform to represent a little flash... a little sizzle... a little personality. And, its working. Much to my chagrin, the Ducks have vastly improved their recruiting classes every since moving to the Nike redesigns in the mid-90s, coincidence or not.

So... fear not Duck fans (and potential recruits), if you don't like what Oregon is wearing... just wait a week or two - it's bound to change.

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Who needs a life: Rich Rod or Michigan fans?

Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez... err... make that coach Rich Rodriguez of the 3-8 Michigan Wolverines... told UM fans upset over the team's performance this season to "get a life".

Heading into his first Michigan-Ohio State game—where the Wolverines are expected to extend their dubious record with a ninth loss—he tried to deliver a message to fans who have lost touch.

"It's amazing some of the things that people would say (on a message board) or yell at you of a personal nature," Rodriguez said Monday. "You almost want to tell them, 'Get a life.'

"There's a whole lot bigger problems. Look at the economy."

I have just four letters for Coach Rod: STFU.

Is it unthinkable to this college football fan that the one guy who cashed in more than anyone else in this sport in the last twelve months would dare question the passion of fans. Hey d-face, you are where you are today BECAUSE fans care about this game.

I'm not even a Michigan fan... and this pisses me off BIG TIME.

You wanted this stage - now prove you deserve it.

Michigan is in chaos - man up and fix it.

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Conspiracy theories haunt Auburn fans

Apparently Auburn fans aren't all that fond of former Tigers OC Tony Franklin. Not that he's all that fond of them, but... I digress.

So, in that light, I present to you a viral e-mail that’s making the rounds on the Plains and was forwarded to me today. I doubt it all, but it’s a hilarious read nonetheless.

from a player in my lab…i had befriended one of the senior lineman…he was responsible for signaling in plays…he said that this past week was the hardest preparation week they have had all year…the reason…all of the signs that are used had to be changed…apparantly after the utm game, one of the utm coaches came up to tubbs and told him that his signs had been known by every team he’s played since franklin left…not only that, but mark richt called tubbs the week before the uga game (btw mark richt may be my new favorite coach because of this) and told tubberville it was in his best interest to change all of his signs because he knew all of them…wonder why we started going to a huddle now???…from everything i gather, coach tony franklin put those bad boys out there for the world to know…it can be traced back to arkansas is what coach richt said…so for the past however many weeks, every team we played either knew our signs, or had the opportunity to know them…i’m not saying that that’s an excuse for our offensive woes, but it could explain how we looked so predictable and how kodi makes a majority of his completions after the play has broken down…i knew franklin was a snake, but if this is true, i hope he never coaches again…i hope he has to go door to door selling his books and video’s…he’s dead to me…

So... every since Franklin left... every team has known the Tigers offensive signals. (da-da-dum)

That **might** help explain why Auburn has sucked as of late, but... what explanation would you offer for why they sucked BEFORE Franklin got there??

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Will Muschamp Named Longhorns' Coach-in-Waiting, Coach On Deck, ETC...

An announcement out of Austin this afternoon that Texas DC Will Muschamp has been offered a multi-year contract extension that will nail him down as DC for the forseeable future and will lead to him eventually supplanting Mack Brown as the Longhorns' head coach. Details of the contract are still being ironed out, but so far include a bump in Muschamp's salary to $900,000 beginning in January.

It's still unclear as to how long this grooming process will last as Brown has 8 more years left on his contract and is "not thinking at all about moving on." Obviously, Texas is looking to secure the hot coaching prospects' services before waves of other schools come calling in a year where there is a dearth of existing rising stars. His name is probably the most mentioned prospect that has never held a HC position and Texas rightfully wanted to see that he stayed put.

Muschamp served as DC for LSU under Nick Saban, then promply left with him when Saban jumped to the NFL Dolphins. After that 2-year stint, he returned to college football and served as DC with Auburn for two years before making the jump to Texas this past winter after rumored dubious contract negotiations involving Tommy Tuberville. Known for his 'enthusiastic' demeanor, Muschamp has had mixed success in his first year with the Horns teaching his brand of defense.

This announcement today follows a nascent trend in CFB of naming successors way in advance. The best known example was the naming of OC Jimbo Fisher late last year to be the coach-in-waiting at Florida State, a moved seemingly designed to keep a quality coordinator in place rather than have him poached by other teams in need of a new HC. Other examples have occured at Kentucky with Joker Phillips and at Purdue with Danny Hope.

I'm still a little iffy on this effeminate 'coach-in-waiting' terminology. I think we've had this discussion before...

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Notre Dame is going to the Gator Bowl

The Gator Bowl folks won't say it outloud, but its almost a lock that Notre Dame is headed to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville to face off against not-even-Nostradamus-can-predict-who from the ACC. (Actually, that ACC opponent isn't much of a secret either, but I digress.)

The reason I can be so certain, even though I have no affiliation (real or imaginary) with the Gator Bowl and/or Notre Dame? It's two-fold.

#1 - The Gator Bowl had it's 39th best (read: 24th worst) attendance last year for the Virginia - Texas Tech game. The announced crowd was more than 17,000 short of capacity... and that was the ANNOUNCED attendance. The bowl, with just two games remaining on existing contracts, needs to guarantee some attendance & viewership and -- in college football -- that means Notre Dame.

On a side note, this is also why the Gator Bowl may make any deal necessary to ensure Florida State or Miami ends up in Jacksonville, as well. Remember, the bowl committee still harbors some issues with the ACC for moving the championship game. There's an undercurrent there and the ACC needs to make nice with the Gator Bowl committee. A deal will get done for the Noles or Canes. I'm almost certain of it.

#2 - The Gator Bowl's crazy love-triangle conference affiliations (Big East, Big 12, & Notre Dame) provide for the Gator Bowl to take a Big 12 team and a Big East/Notre Dame in the two remaining years of its contract. Since the Big 2 of the Big 12 aren't available this season, the Gator Bowl would take a bowl-eligible Notre Dame over any team from the Big East, as per reason #1 above. There's no doubt that the Gator Bowl would love to get a Texas or Oklahoma in the game, but they can roll the dice this year and hope to get lucky in 2009.

So... while nothing is official until... it's official, I'm here to tell you it's official, for all intents and purposes.

For the complete 2008-2009 college football bowl schedule, see our bowl games page.

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Don't even think about praying at UofL

I didn't see it live, but I've since seen the highlights of what nearly turned into a fight before last week's Cincy - Louisville matchup.

Apparently the Louisville players didn't think to kindly of the Bearcats meeting at midfield to pray before kickoff. While the Cards may not have minded the praying, they certainly took exception to Cincinnati's choice of geography.

The incident prompted a nice little exchange between the two head coaches before the game had even begun.

Brian Kelly said today that Kragthorpe "confronted" him about it before the game.

"It turned into a situation where a couple of their players came down onto the field and had to be restrained by some of their players," Kelly said. "Steve and I talked about it before the game. We disagreed about the manner in which it was handled but kept it professional and moved on.

"The kids played the game with a lot of emotion, but you had no taunting, no personal fouls, none of that baloney."

Asked what he said to Kragthorpe after the Louisville coach confronted him, Kelly said,

"Let's just put it that we disagreed on what happened."

Kelly and Kragthorpe did shake hands after the game.

"I think the sportsmanship thing to do was to shake hands," Kelly said. "I can't tell you it was the warmest of handshakes, but I think we have to set a good example for our players. Our disagreement had nothing to do with how our kids play and how it should go at the end of the day. The game was much more important than the pre-game."

In their defense, the Bearcats have held this same practice for two seasons under Kelly. That didn't do much to assuage the Cards, who still recall the mid-field logo stomp that Cincy put on 'em in 2004.

Kelly insists that those days are behind the Bearcats, though.

"Everything that we do, every day we talk about respecting our opponent," Kelly said. "We're not going to taunt. I'm not going to tolerate that kind of behavior from our football team. It's talked about every day. It's just unfortunate the way it was perceived."

A couple of thoughts:

- This is probably something that Kelly should have discussed with Kragthorpe beforehand. I don't think UofL would have taken exception had their coach known it was going to happen.

- This is just one more little thing that is likely to add a little spice to a growing Ohio River rivalry.

- What kind of reaction would be acceptable for the Cincinnati players if someone had thrown a punch during the prayer. I mean, it's a prayer, so... turn the other cheek?

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What is the state of Georgia fandom?

Senator Blutarsky digs into David Ching's thoughts on the state of the Georgia Bulldogs football fandom and finds that almost every fan emotion - optimism, depression, and even rage - may very well be justified.

While the 9-2 Bulldogs are on the cusp of going to one of the better non-BCS bowls, there's no mistaking that the fanbase is emotionally battered. Everyone in red & black expected to be playing in Florida in January; however, everyone expected it would be in the National Championship, not the Capital One Bowl. And that has Georgia fans... in a tizzy.

The "What the hell is wrong with this team?"-itis has engulfed the UGA faithful.

Blutarsky offers perspective for the Dawg faithful:

1. The psychology of being the preseason #1.
In hindsight, this didn’t do the coaches, the team or the fans any favors. Richt tried to walk a fine line between embracing the opportunity and warning about being too big headed, but it seems clear at this point that many didn’t heed the latter. The team and its fans knew Georgia was talented; the outside validation may have altered the mindset of the kids. It was apparent early on that the level of intensity for this season had diminished from how the prior one had finished.
2. The schedule.
It’s funny. We looked at the schedule prior to the start of the season as both a badge of honor and as an incredible burden for the team to overcome. As the year wore on and it’s become apparent that some of the schools the Dawgs have played have gone on to disappointing seasons, it seems that we’ve discounted this. Well, guess what - Sagarin says this is still the sixth toughest schedule in the country. Nobody ranked ahead of Georgia has played a harder one. Lost in the sloppiness of the Auburn win is the fact that the Dawgs went 3-1 on that long stretch away from Athens, which turned out about as well as we probably hoped before the year started.
3. Youth must be served.
If nothing else, it’s clear from the way the season has gone that Richt and his coaches have recruited extremely well from a talent standpoint. That’s been both a blessing and a curse. There’s a perception - in my opinion, one that’s justified - that this team has coasted too often on its athletic ability this year at the expense of focus. Given that, plus the injuries and the expectations/burdens put on true freshmen to contribute significantly, it’s been quite the accomplishment to be where we’re at with this team. Maybe we’ve taken a little too much for granted here.
4. Failing to show up on the biggest stages of the season.
This is the one that bugs me the most. I can live with losing to Alabama and Florida this year. In both cases, the better team won. It’s the complete absence of being competitive for a half at a time that’s hard to stomach. We fans have been sensitive for a long time about how this program is perceived nationally (the whining about the drop of Georgia’s national ranking to #2 early in the season is cringe-worthy now, isn’t it?); complete meltdowns like the first half against ‘Bama and the second half against Florida don’t help our self-esteem. And, as I’ve posted before, this is becoming a troubling habit with this team - troubling not from some sort of negative style points perspective, but rather as an indication that focus and motivation are seriously lacking.

It's number four that can absolutely wreck a fanbase and cost a great coach his job. And Blutarsky is right, in the big games this year the Bulldogs have taken whole quarters (and whole halfs!) off - just not even looked like they cared that a football game was taking place.

More than anything, I think the fans are taking exception with the team not "showing up". If that doesn't improve, it's going to be a very long offseason for the Dawgs.

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Robinson out at Syracuse

Syracuse coach Greg Robinson was fired today, just two games before the end of his fourth season with the Orange.

"I have made the decision to move our football program in a new direction and have informed Greg Robinson that his tenure as Syracuse's head coach will end at the conclusion of this season," Gross said in a statement.

"Coach Robinson worked very hard to try to establish a winning program, one that could eventually compete for the conference championship on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the progress we expected to see has not occurred."

ESPN.com's Brian Bennett says Robinson never understood what he was getting into at Syracuse and it eventually caught up to him.

When Greg Robinson accepted the Syracuse job in January 2005, he did so without ever setting foot on the campus or in the city.

Robinson was so happy to land a head coaching job after 30 years as an assistant that he felt no need to check out his future home first.

...

In the end, Robinson's undoing might have been his unfamiliarity with Syracuse. The program has been arguably the dominant football program in the Northeast throughout much of its history, and its coaches -- from Ben Schwartzwalder to Frank Maloney, from Dick McPherson to Paul Pasqualoni -- maintained intimate ties with the best East Coast high school programs.

Robinson spent most of his career west of the Mississippi River, many of those years in the NFL. Instead of filling out his initial staff with veteran college assistants who knew the area, he brought in a bunch of coaches from the NFL, including his first offensive coordinator Brian Pariani. They attempted to install a West Coast offense that was as out of place as its geographic nickname would suggest.

I think that's the most fair & accurate assessment of Robinson's chief failure at Syracuse. Robinson didn't have the right perspective on the Orange's place in the Northeast and -- in turn -- he was never able to parlay that reputation into talented recruits.

Syracuse fell behind the Big East... and the rest is history.

Robinson - who had one year remaining on his contract - will coach the remaining two games this season before leaving the team.

As far as potential replacements, I think Syracuse has its hands full in finding a coach who is ready to get the Orange back to the top. I would love to see SU hire Ty Willingham, but Ty's (undeservedly) soiled reputation might put him on the untouchable list.

UConn head coach (and Syracuse alum) Randy Edsall is reported to be "very interested" and would be a solid hire. At least Edsall has some track record of success on and off the field in the Big East. If you can't hire a Ty Willingham, then Edsall is a great second choice, IMO.

Another name being mentioned is former Syracuse assistant Steve Addazio, Ubran Meyer's OC at Florida. But... given the troubles Robinson endured as a first-time coach, the Orange might be wary of going with an untested commodity, even if a guy like Addazio might be just what is needed at Syracuse.

Syracuse wants to put Lane Kiffin and Skip Holtz on their wish list, however, cash could be a problem at SU. A report in the Syracuse student newspaper showed that the football program was running a deficit during Robinson's tenure for the first time since the school began reporting department profits. Syracuse might be a good stop for Skip Holtz (and make no mistake, it would *just* be a stop over for Holtz), I just can't prove that the Orange can afford either Kiffin or Holtz.

Should be an interesting search.

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BCS Standings - Nov. 16th 2008

The new BCS Standings have been released.

BCS top 25
Breaks used to highlight gaps over 0.06 in the standings. Number in parenthesis is the ranking represented by the formula above baised on the BCS points.

1) 0.9787 Alabama (11-0)
2) 0.9698 Texas Tech (10-0)

3) 0.8911 Texas (10-1)
4) 0.8755 Florida (9-1)
5) 0.8388 Oklahoma (9-1)
6) 0.7873 USC (9-1)
7) 0.7643 Utah (11-0)

8) 0.6957 Penn State (10-1)
9) 0.6559 Boise State (10-0)
10) 0.6154 Ohio State (9-2)
11) 0.6129 Georgia (9-2)
12) 0.5672 Oklahoma State (9-2)
13) 0.5600 Missouri (9-2)

14) 0.4393 Brigham Young (10-1)
15) 0.4021 Michigan State (9-2)
16) 0.3858 Texas Christian (9-2)
17) 0.3673 Ball State (10-0)

18) 0.2867 LSU (7-3)
19) 0.2594 Cincinnati (8-2)
20) 0.2171 Pittsburgh (7-2)
21) 0.2027 Oregon State (7-3)

22) 0.1329 North Carolina (7-3)
23) 0.1023 Miami (Fla.) (7-3)
24) 0.0630 Oregon (8-3)
25) 0.0550 Maryland (7-3)

Automatic Qualifications
The automatic qualifications are listed at the official BCS website.

No teams have secured an automatic qualification at this time.

Alabama will play Florida for the SEC Championship.
Missouri will play in the Big 12 Championship.
Utah, Boise State or BYU will earn a BCS berth, as BYU and Utah end their season next week in the Holy War.

The following teams have the 9 wins needed for BCS at large eligibility, listed by conference:

Big 12: Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri
SEC: Alabama, Florida, Georgia
Big 10: Penn State, Michigan State, Ohio State
MWC: Utah, TCU, BYU
WAC: Boise State
MAC: Ball State, Western Michigan
PAC 10: USC

Conference Reports
The number of top 25 teams and the rank of the conference champion are two of three components used to determine future automatic qualification, as described in the final section of this page. The data below is for the current year only, rankings reflect the current leader for each conference. The BCS uses a 4 year window.

Big 12: 5, #2
SEC: 4, #1
PAC 10: 3, #6
MWC: 3, #7
Big 10: 3, #8
ACC: 3, #22
Big East: 2, #21
WAC: 1, #9
MAC: 1, #17

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