Posts tagged BrianKelly at FanHouse

The Orange Bowl already has one team locked up -- again, the anti-climatic downside of the BCS Selection Show -- because Virginia Tech beat Boston College for the ACC championship and guaranteed themselves a spot in the Orange Bowl.

The thing that stinks for fans of this game is that the Orange Bowl gets the last pick of all the BCS games, meaning that they get the "leftovers." That's not to take a shot at Cincy, who did win the Big East ... which, um, is somehow worse than the ACC.

On the bright side, the two worst major conferences do get to play each other, so we'll know by the beginning of 2009 which conference really was the most mediocre this past season.

Cincinnati did lose two games -- albeit one to Oklahoma -- and theoretically took care of business.

However, the Bearcats will likely be in trouble come New Year's Day, when whatever analysts FOX assigns to this game will suffocate their ability to perform by reminding them that they have to go head-to-head with "BEAMER BALL!" for four quarters. And when people yell that at you for 60-plus minutes of football, even from the booth, it's a total nightmare.

There was a ton of speculation this week that Charlie Weis, after meeting with his boss on December 8, might be out as the head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Of course, that didn't stop Weis from telling potential recruits that he would still be in charge of the football team.

Turns out ... he was right.

Sources have told Irish Eyes that athletic director Jack Swarbrick will publicly announce, most likely within the next 24 hours, that Weis will be back for his fifth season in South Bend.

There has been some uncertainty about Weis' future since the 38-3 loss to USC, but it appears Swarbrick will be sticking behind Weis.

"Uncertainty" is a nice way of putting it I suppose; it seemed almost guaranteed that there would at least be some sort of ultimatum put on Weis regarding win totals in the future, at the very least.

But there's been no official word of that and presumably, Sportscenter's reporting of this information can count as "confirmation", right? (Assuming, of course, that Scoop Mortensen isn't behind this story, in which case Weis is almost assuredly fired.)

The fact of the matter is that it would be incredibly difficult for the Irish to actually let Weis go given the, ahem, weight of his contract, and the best case scenario -- with potential replacements Skip Holtz, Tom O'Brien and Brian Kelly all staying put -- seems to be letting the big man ride out his whale of deal.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: Jon Kitna -- man of God, man of many passing yards, man of many lapses in judgement. With Kitna, Mike Martz found a quarterback who could air it out appropriately in his offense. Appropriately, in this instance, means bombing away with little regard to risk, and the interception and sack totals with Kitna under center reflect that. Martz is gone and the Lions are shifting to a more conservative offense. Kitna isn't the right man to helm it, and, turning 36 early this season, should be on his last tour in Detroit. The problem is that the Lions aren't sure if they have anyone behind him to take over, with Dan Orlovsky and Drew Stanton possessing exactly zero starts and only 17 passing attempts between them, all Orlovsky's. Heat Index: 5

Running back: That conservative offense will put more work at the feet of the team's tailbacks. The Lions' running game in 2007 was 31st in the league and lost their best runner in Kevin Jones. Still, they're going about improving in the right way. They kept Tatum Bell and Brian Calhoun from last year and tailored their attack to a one-cut zone blocking system that suits their skills. Bell had almost 2,000 yards and 10 touchdowns running in that system in 2005 and 2006. Assuming he stays healthy, he should bring a big-play punch. But the biggest impact will be made by the biggest unknown -- rookie Kevin Smith. He also excels in a zone system, and the wildly productive college back is one of the players I think is going to absolutely turn heads this year. Heat Index: 7

Rod Marinelli has accepted the torch from Bill Parcells and now can officially be referred to as Mr. "My Guy." Meaning, he likes players he knows and who he knows he can trust in the locker room and in his system. That's why you've seen so many ex-Bucs -- Jon Bradley, Chuck Darby, Brian Kelly, Kalvin Pearson, Corey Smith, Dwight Smith, and Dewayne White -- migrate north to join the coach in Detroit. It certainly wasn't for the city's majestic scenery.

So the natural question, when you see John Lynch -- who played the prime of a very good career with Marinelli watching from the sideline -- being freed from Denver, is whether he'll join that list.

Whether Lynch decides he wants to play again in the NFL or not, it seems as if he has a soft spot in his heart for Marinelli. Which isn't to say Lynch has interest in playing in Detroit. Which is good, because the Lions aren't interested in him.

Marinelli cites the team's depth at safety for staying away, which is sort of a valid excuse; the Lions actually do look good at that position. But if Lynch was still the even half of the Lynch that Marinelli used to watch everyday (or even half the Lynch of two years ago), the Lions would do whatever they could to find a way to get him on the field.

The truth is, Marinelli has turned away a couple of ex-Bucs (SEE: Rice, Simeon), so he's not sporting pewter blinders. At 36 and with an almost completely diminished skillset, Lynch simply has nothing of on-field value to offer the Lions.

While the product on the field might be pretty good this year for the Cincinnati Bearcats, I have to say that this advertisement for Cincinnati season tickets is a new low in music even remotely associated with football. I don't think anything this bad has been produced since San Diego Super Chargers came out in the 70's. I guess it is understandable, though. They did build that new all sports facility, and have done their best to keep Brian Kelly as head coach. But apparently, that left like 25 cents and a bag of donuts for the advertising department.



WOOOOOOOOO! The claws are out Cincinnati!

Along with 21 other College Football Stars, Pat White is going to write a weekly article for Sporting News Today.

White is among 22 college football players who will write weekly columns in Sporting News Today, the nation's first digital daily sports section. The players will cover topics on the field and off it, from the big game of the week to the life of a student-athlete.

It's not exactly a ground breaking move, as pro athletes like Chris Cooley have written for national publications and Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly wrote a daily blog during summer camp last year. A blog that was remarkably honest and informative. But these are amateur athletes that have been trained to give canned responses to questions since they were put in front of reporters. So it will be interesting to see how many come out of their box. I think we've seen that with White and he can be quite entertaining when he wants to be.

Also of interest will be the weeks that have these budding journalist facing each other on the field. White has four future opponents on that list including Hunter Cantwell of Louisville, George Hypolite of Colorado, Sen'Derrick Marks of Auburn, and Scott McKillop of hated rival Pitt. If the smack talk is flowing at all, those last two could be epic!

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet The ...
Adam Sandler movie of the NFL: always entertaining, yet never really winning anything notable. Whether it's drafting a WR in three consecutive first rounds (slapstick/unrealistic comedy like Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore), putting together a highly productive offense in terms of fantasy football (funny, yet quasi-legit Big Daddy or Wedding Singer? Maybe?), or guaranteeing ten wins ("I'm gonna go legit with Spanglish!"); you'll always be entertained and they'll always avoid the playoffs. This year is no different. The former laughingstock of a division is now somewhat of a powerhouse, and the Lions are still a step behind even the obviously third-best Bears. If you want entertainment, though, they won't disappoint.

The Breakout
Calvin Johnson is ready to take the next step after becoming acclimated to the NFL in his rookie season. I love it when people proclaim a rookie to have freaky mad skills and then if he doesn't perform to expectations he's an afterthought one year later. That's a year of experience, man. Never a bad thing. He's ready to make the leap into fantasy stud-dom. You'll see.

Adam Schefter of NFL Network and John Clayton of ESPN are reporting that the Detroit Lions have signed free agent cornerback Brian Kelly, formerly of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to a three-year contract.

Lions coach Rod Marinelli, a former Bucs defensive assistant, is clearly trying to turn his team into the Buccaneers-North, as Kelly is now the fourth different defensive player to go from Tampa Bay to Detroit this off-season. Previously, the Lions signed defensive tackle Chuck Darby, safety Dwight Smith and safety Kavlin Pearson.

The Lions are serious about fixing their secondary, with Kelly, Smith, Pearson and Leigh Bodden, who arrived in the Shaun Rogers trade, all coming aboard. But at some point, you look at the Lions and you feel like they're just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Every off-season the Matt Millen-led front office has a new top priority, and every off-season the Lions make several moves that, on paper, look like they should improve the team. And every season the Lions still end up with a losing record. I wonder what big moves they'll be making at this time next year.

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Brian Kelly spent the day the day in New Jersey visiting the Giants, but was sent home without a contract. And by all accounts, he is not likely to return.

The ten-year veteran, who exercised a player option in his contract earlier this month that allowed him to become a free agent, didn't really seem to fit in with Steve Spagnuolo's defensive scheme anyway.

Although New York's secondary performed well throughout the playoffs, General Manager Jerry Reese still acknowledges it as an area of need. In addition to Kelly, the Giants have expressed interest in several other free agent cornerback, and recently signed Sammy Knight to replace the departed Gibril Wilson.

Kelly is expected to reunite with his former position coach, Rod Marinelli, in Detroit, whom he visited yesterday.

To get you ready for week 13, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers/New Orleans Saints preview.

2007 Records:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7-4 (1st in NFC South)
New Orleans Saints 5-6 (2nd in NFC South)

Last Game:

Bucs 19, Redskins 13
Saints 31, Panthers 6

When the Bucs have the ball: Or, shall I say, when Joey Galloway has the ball. If the Bucs want to win, they don't have to study a whole lot of game tape or devise a brilliant strategy. All they have to do is throw to Galloway. The ageless one has nine touchdowns in his last six games in New Orleans, and victimizes the New Orleans secondary more than maybe any other receiver in the league (considering how many receivers have victimized the Saints secondary, this is saying something).