In a trend that seems to be sweeping through this potentially-heated offseason hiring period like a jam band through downtown Eugene, Mike Bellotti of Oregon announced on Tuesday his plans to step aside as Oregon head coach and pass the reigns to current offensive coordinator (and rumored head coach candidate for a couple open jobs) Chip Kelly.
According to UO President Dave Frohnmayer, the changes will take place when current Ducks athletic director Pat Kilkenny steps down. However, no one actually committed to when exactly that sequence of moves would happen. Bellotti will still coach the Ducks in 2009, and potentially, well past that point.
The announcement of future plans in Eugene comes just a couple weeks after Texas head coach Mack Brown announced that current defensive coordinator Will Muschamp would take over as head coach when he ended his storied career in burnt orange -- at an undetermined point somewhere in the future.
Both Kelly and Muschamp have been rumored as potential candidates for one or more of the open jobs this offseason, be it Tennessee, Clemson, Washington or a handful of other open coaching spots -- not to mention the inevitable NFL coordinator positions that would presumably open up with the annual pro-level coaching musical chairs routine. In theory, these moves help to keep those sought-after coordinators around at a lower pay grade. But it's a relatively safe bet that any of these deals can and will be thrown/bought out, if the right money opportunity comes along.
Notre Dame came into tonight's matchup against #5 USC at the L.A. Coliseum with nothing to lose. While nobody was bold enough to predict an Irish upset, plenty were predicting that Charlie Weis's team would show some fight against Pete Carroll's Trojans. And they were right -- at least as far as the pregame festivities went.
In a scene worthy of You Got Served (or perhaps Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo), Notre Dame took the field with the zeal you'd expect from a team who's beaten the likes of Washington, San Diego State and Navy, hellbent on showing Southern California who's the man.
The Irish proceeded to interrupt the Trojans' pregame warmups, and the most evenly-matched showdown of the night ensued. Verbal barbs were traded, punches were thrown (but from the looks of things, mostly not landed) and coaches -- and eventually police officers -- had to step in and restrain players on both sides. Fighting extended all the way to midfield, where players from both sides were still trying to get at each other as authorities attempted to separate the two warring factions.
As for the game action, well, through the first half it's fallen vastly short of the pregame festivities. Through two quarters USC leads Notre Dame 24-0.
We've already spent a good chunk of FanHouse real estate covering the Golden Bears and the likelihood of their mediocrity in 2008. But in the interest of equal time (and bet hedging), it seems only fair for us to explore the other side of the argument as well. After all, this team has spent their fair share of time in Top 25 the past few seasons, even if they have managed to lose more than a few seemingly winnable/gimme games.
Jeff Tedford's team enters this season as the prototypical wild card: (a) they've been successful the past few seasons but have seemed to struggle under the weight of high expectations, and this year will have a decidedly lower profile than they did the past couple; (b) they have some key departures, but several of the replacements for those who left could actually prove to be a substantial upgrade by the time everything shakes out; and (c) they have a schedule that sees all but one of their tough games take place at the comfy confines of Berkeley's Memorial Coliseum.
Let's take a closer look at how Cal might manage to shock the "experts" and contend in 2008.
If Mediocrity had a football team, its mascot would most likely wear a giant foam Mike Stoops head
Ahhh, mediocre college football. Three words that go together like turkey, gravy, and stuffing.
While the majority of space here at FanHouse and on every other college football publication will be focused on the Top 25, season after season a huge slice of the college football fan pie (mmmm...fan pie) find themselves supporting a team who would most aptly be described as thoroughly mediocre, at best. I'd venture to guess that for every legit contender, there are probably three teams with a couple of flaws so glaring that only those blinded by the partisanship of homerdom can pretend their team's downsides won't inevitably sabotage any hopes of playing in a bowl of even moderate respectability.
And therein lies one of the most cruel realities of the college football landscape: winning 6 or 7 games is no small feat, and yet every year coaches and players around the country will be abused for achieving that very milestone. Of course, when you play in a conference like the Pac 10 -- who rewards its third place finisher with a December 31 game in El Paso's Sun Bowl -- can you really be that surprised when fans and pundits are critical of barely topping out above .500?
Who from the Pac 10 will slide to the middle of the pack in 2008? Here's a quick rundown of the leading candidates for Pacific time zone mediocrity this season.
Following last year's exodus of NFL-caliber talent (Sedrick Ellis, Keith Rivers, Dennis Dixon, Jonathan Stewart, and DeSean Jackson -- just to name a few) and a handful of preseasoninjuries, the start of 2008 in the Pac 10 brings a number of new faces whose ability (or inability) to step up and replace their predecessors will hugely impact the outcome of conference standings. From blue chip recruits to high-profile transfers and new coaches, here are five(ish) new faces in the Pac 10 that you'll want to keep an eye on.
1.) Rick Neuheisel, Norm Chow, and whoever survives being named starting QB - UCLA: Neither of the most-discussed new faces in the Pac 10 are actually new faces at all. The return of Neuheisel and Chow gives UCLA fans hopes of returning to regular college football relevance after the roller-coaster that was the Karl Dorrell era. But after an offseason that saw the Bruin quarterback spot turn into the most dangerous place this side of a Madden cover or Spinal Tap drum kit -- hobbling the two UCLA QBs with any game experience, Ben Olson and Patrick Cowan -- Neuheisel and Chow's baby blue debuts hinge largely on the ability of either Kevin Craft, a junior college transfer and/or redshirt freshman Chris Forcier to step in and lead the offense.
Your ex-husband's team is in BCS contention, playing a heated conference rival who they haven't beaten since 2001. Despite a relatively close score, they're pretty thoroughly dominating said rival and are well on their way to a key victory for the program. Your mind is focused on the celebration plans for that evening, maybe occasionally wandering to thoughts of good hotels in the New Orleans area to start researching.
Not if you're Colleen Bellotti.
The ex-wife of Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti spent her fourth quarter laying into reporter John Canzano for his coverage of her son Luke (who happens to play for the Ducks) and his two DUIIs in the local paper, The Oregonian.
Amanda Beard has accumulated more than her share of impressive accolades in her relatively short life -- two-time Olympic gold medalist, NCAA champion, Playboy cover girl -- but her latest accomplishment elevates her to the upper echelons of pop culture royalty: she's been added to Bob Parsons's illustrious stable of Go Daddy Girls.
From her new blog on GoDaddy.com, Amanda talks about the thrill of joining fellow female sports personalities such as auto racing darling Danica Patrick and motorcycle drag racer Valerie Thompson as the "face" of the .com sales outfit:
"I know what it takes to be a champion in the pool and a cover girl in front of the cameras. But it took some help from GoDaddy.com to make me a winner on the Internet."
The question I know you're all asking -- where does Amanda go from here? If you look at the career trajectory of Go Daddy Girl #1 Candice Michelle, perhaps WWE's Monday Night Raw or Skinemax Cinemax features are next up for the seven-time Olympic medalist.
Like my mom always tells me, when you're a winner on the Internet, you can pretty much write your own ticket. Sorry, No PhotosSorry, No Photos
A fumbled snap, a host of (questionable) unsportsmanlike penalties, two interceptions (including one returned for a touchdown), and some simply awful announcing by the dreadful duo of Musburger and Herbstreit, and Pete Carroll's Trojans are still up three points at the half at Washington.
When his receivers weren't batting the ball into the hands of Huskies, John David Booty looked his usual self, throwing laser beams that seem to overshoot his wideouts about 30% of the time and impressively find their mark the other 70. And Stafon (for the Musburgers out there, that's STA-FON, not Stefan) Johnson and Chauncey Washington kept USC's running game looking sharp like any 9 All-American backfield corps should.
On the other side, the Huskies' Jake Locker -- the man that ABC's announcing team called "the most accurate passer they've seen" -- did his best to live up to the "he looks like the next Vince Young talk", but didn't get much help from the rest of his throwback uniform-clad U-Dub offense.
Assuming USC can keep the turnovers in check in the 2nd half, it's probably an understatement to say the Huskies face an uphill battle in the next 30 minutes. But if the Trojans decide to play butterfinger again this half, there's certainly a chance that Ty Willingham's team could join the Saturday upset parade.
In what could only be described as "saving the best for last", we conclude our Pac-10 team previews with the highly anticipated 2007 USC Trojans. A team for whom most offseason debate has centered around whether they'll be "thoroughly dominant" or "all-time great." A team whose biggest challenge seems to be not getting buried under the weight of ludicrously high expectations. Oh, and that schedule, which, despite the assertions of Les Miles, is yet again one of the toughest in the nation. Here's how we break down the Trojans in '07...
WHY THEY'LL WIN
Considering Pete Carroll made his name on defense, it's high time that he field a squad that's actually more talked about for its D than it's O.
With returning starters galore and an athletic, experienced linebacking corps of Rivers, Cushing and Maualuga (the latter two pictured, left) that surely gave Pac-10 offenses nightmares all offseason, the Trojans defense more loaded than the guests at a Matt Leinart birthday party.
The '07 Trojan defense is so loaded in fact, it's managed the impressive feat of making people forget about the USC offense, which returns a Heisman hopeful quarterback and has a fleet of ten nine former high school All-American running backs. The Trojans can kill you on both sides of the ball, and plan to -- early and often.
WHY THEY'LL LOSE
As the Trojans experienced last season, upsets in college football can lurk around any corner, where you least expect them. (In case you forgot, the '06 team lost not to their highly-touted opponents like Cal, Oregon, Notre Dame or Michigan, but to Oregon State and UCLA.)
With the offseason hype this year, not to mention last few seasons of Trojan dominance in the Pac-10, there's a target on the Trojans backs that's visible from space. Teams can go out and stink it up all season, and one win against USC will make the whole year a success.
The Trojans are going to see a lot of teams working to bring their A-game, and will have little room for first half slumbers like last year in Corvallis.
The FanHouse standards & practices board won't let me publish it verbatim, but I'll do my best to sanitize it down to PG-13 levels, using the same approach my local TV affiliate used on their recent rebroadcast of Die Hard II:
"The SEC, we done played Arkansas last year Les, tore they ass up by 40 Les, they won your division last year, Les, bitch-ass motherfalcon."
If you want to hear the two-drinks-before-9:30am Snoop's candid, unedited thoughts on Coach Miles, LSU, and his own beloved Trojans (you'll especially want to hear his thoughts on the ease with which USC racks up the Heismans), Gump 4 Heisman has the mp3 (WARNING: contains language that would make your mother, and for that matter, your motherfalcon, ashamed of you).
In a trend that seems to be sweeping through this potentially-heated offseason hiring period like a jam band through downtown Eugene, Mike Bellotti of Oregon announced on Tuesday his plans to step aside as Oregon head coach and pass the reigns to current offensive coordinator (and rumored head coach candidate for a couple open jobs) Chip Kelly. 
Notre Dame came into tonight's matchup against #5 USC at the L.A. Coliseum with nothing to lose. While nobody was bold enough to predict an Irish upset, plenty were predicting that Charlie Weis's team would show some fight against Pete Carroll's Trojans. And they were right -- at least as far as the pregame festivities went.
1.) 
Your ex-husband's team is in BCS contention, playing a heated conference rival who they haven't beaten since 2001. Despite a relatively close score, they're pretty thoroughly dominating said rival and are well on their way to 
Amanda Beard has accumulated more than her share of impressive accolades in her relatively short life -- two-time Olympic gold medalist, NCAA champion, 
A fumbled snap, a host of (questionable) unsportsmanlike penalties, two interceptions (including one returned for a touchdown), and some simply awful announcing by the dreadful duo of Musburger and Herbstreit, and Pete Carroll's Trojans are still up three points at the half at Washington.
Considering Pete Carroll made his name on defense, it's high time that he field a squad that's actually more talked about for its D than it's O. 
As the Trojans experienced last season, upsets in college football can lurk around any corner, where you least expect them. (In case you forgot, the '06 team lost not to their highly-touted opponents like Cal, Oregon, Notre Dame or Michigan, but to Oregon State and UCLA.)
