It was the fluke catch of the week. Sunday night at the Meadowlands, Giants rookie receiver Hakeem Nicks caught a tipped pass that had been intended for Mario Manningham and carried it all the way to the end zone for a 62-yard touchdown against the Cardinals. It was a shake-your-head play -- the kind the defense can write off as an excusable miracle, a bizarre bounce, nothing more than pure luck.
But they say luck is the residue of design, and the people who know Hakeem Nicks say that design is a huge part of his game. Coaches and teammates past and present describe Nicks as an intensely studious, hyper-prepared player who obsesses over his playbook and game scripts and would rather talk about route-running than anything else. Knowing Nicks means knowing that the seeds of that Sunday night play were planted years ago at Independence High School in Charlotte, N.C., where a coach named Tommy Knotts drills 16- and 17-year-old kids on something even NFL coaches struggle to get across -- the importance of film study.
East Carolina coach Skip Holtz is a believer. North Carolina is built around defense with nine returning starters. The unit, ranked sixth nationally in total defense, also has allowed the Tar Heels valuable time to develop their young offense.
"I said going into this that I think from a defensive standpoint," ECU coach Skip Holtz said, "the gaudy numbers they put up in the first two weeks, they are going to lead the country if they continue with those numbers."
Let's roll out those numbers, now after three weeks. UNC ranks sixth nationally in total defense (198.7 yards), sixth in third-down conversion defense (22.2 percent) and seventh in rushing defense (52.3 yards) as it prepares for Saturday's game at angry Georgia Tech.
FanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from Bowl Season '08.
Pat White will go out pretty high up in West Virginia football history -- h'es somehow the only player in the history of the NCAA to win four bowl games, and in his final outing as a Mountaineer, he set a career high for passing yards (328) and tacked on three touchdowns to boot.
Hakeem Nicks -- who became a star wide receiver at North Carolina after Brandon Tate was injured -- picked up a hat trick too, registering three touchdowns and a ridiculous 217 yards, the 20th player to cross the 200 yard plateau in NCAA history.
Naturally, his blowup was aided by the absence of West Virginia cornerback Brandon Hogan, who was absent for "personal reasons" (it appears as if someone in his family is sick, because he's not suspended and there are "thoughts and prayers" being tossed around).
The game itself was equal parts insanity (i.e. offensive firepower) and poor decisions; two fourth down attempts -- the Tarheels near the goal line and the 'Neers on a fourth and one late in the fourth quarter -- encompass the latter. The former was more or less made up by the first quarter, which ended with West Virginia up 21-14 on the 'Heels. It's only insane, point totals aside, because it seemed like it happened on exactly five plays: Nicks with two huge touchdown catches and White throwing darts all over the field.
NC State football has not been what you would call "great" this year; Russell Wilson has been a pleasant surprise and the team is showing some improvement under Tom O'Brien, particularly as the year closes out, but, yeah, it hasn't been the greatest season for Wolfpack fans.
But that doesn't mean that the game this week against North Carolina has lost any importance -- it actually gives State, with wins already over Wake Forest, Duke and East Carolina -- a shot at "sweeping the state." But, please don't try and tell Tarheel coach Butch Davis that it really matters.
"At the end of the season," North Carolina coach Butch Davis said Monday, "they're all insignificant, it's just the number [of wins]. During the course of the season, certainly there's games -- home games take on more importance than road games sometimes, conference games take on more importance than other games. Marquee games against Notre Dame take on a certain amount.
See, I tend to disagree ... but then again, I'm not a hired gun just looking for the next marquee job Butch Davis, so how can I really know? The truth is that for as much as someone like Davis would like to downplay the idea that State and Carolina aren't rivals (there's a distinctly elitist and somewhat delusional approach to this rivalry from the Chapel Hill side), such a meme only exists in the basketball world.
In football, this is very much a huge game, and while it probably hurts to admit as much coming off a loss to Maryland, Butch should probably own up to the fact that Notre Dame would be the worst team he's played all season if he hadn't been so full of foresight as to schedule McNeese St. instead of App.
In this edition of Answers to Questions Nobody Asked, the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Tony Grossi writes that the Browns and Cowboys aren't working on a trade that would send one of the myriad cornerbacks on Dallas' roster to Cleveland to fill the gaping (but slow developing) hole left by Kenny Wright.
Apparently, the two front offices have a wonderful working relationship due in part to last year's Brady Quinn deal, so with that in mind, Grossi asks, "what's the holdup on sending one of those cornerbacks the Browns' way? He then answers his own question:
First, the Cowboys are not yet comfortable counting on [Pacman] Jones. Although they are protecting him from getting into more trouble with a squadron of security people working round-the-clock, they don't want to risk totally depending on him. And [2007 first-round pick Mike] Jenkins, after all, will be a rookie, so they don't want to rush him into the starting lineup.
They also have plans on moving [Anthony] Henry to safety in certain packages as a precursor to an eventual permanent position switch.
For the longest time -- basically 1999 to 2003 -- the Cleveland Browns made some dreadful decisions with their first-round draft picks. Obviously, it all starts with Tim Couch (1999). And then there was Courtney Brown (2000), and Gerard Warren (2001). Who could forget William Green over Clinton Portis (2002), and Jeff Faine (2003).
But with the dark days of Chris Palmer and Butch Davis behind the franchise, things have picked up in recent years. Kellen Winslow, Braylon Edwards, Kamerion Wimbley, and now, Joe Thomas and Brady Quinn. While it's easy to point to Quinn as the team's most important pick -- possibly in this version of the Browns' short history -- it may be the other 2007 first-rounder that ends up having the better career.
Sunday College Football Hangover is a (hopefully) regular feature from a groggy FanHouse writer recovering from 16+ hours of watching as much college football as humanly possible. The Big Story
What else but perhaps the greatest upset in college football (sports?) history. As our own Ryan Ferguson wrote, Appalachian State is a very good lower division football team. They're the defending I-AA national champs, in fact. But Michigan's loss is absolutely inexcuseable and mind-bending in its implications.
A I-AA team beat Michigan. This shakes the foundation of my comprehension of the world to such a vastly greater extent than any upset, sighting, conspiracy theory, apparition, miracle or act of nature I could possibly cite. This is frogs raining from heaven. This is physically impossible
Indeed. I don't know whether this is a good or a bad thing for the sport. On one hand, we have a celebration of the underdog and further proof of why style and scheme matters so much in college football. The NFL is a robotic operation with 32 teams all doing the same thing over and over again with people paying them hand over fist to see it. College football's got soul, though, and it's expressed in Appalachian State's defensive effort and utilization of overlooked athletes.
On the other hand, this is clearly the story of the season. How does college football come down from this? There is simply nothing that can happen in the next 14 or so weeks that will come close to matching this upset. Nothing. USC could lose nine times and yet the event everyone will first recall from this season is Appalachian State's upset of Michigan.
Sometimes seemingly insignificant stories reveal hidden gems. Normally while trolling for stories I scroll right past a headline like this - Durham: Meet Butch Davis' Assistants.
Foolish indeed is the man that doesn't turn over a few rocks every now and then. Look at what was underneath.
Butch Davis was John Blake's biology teacher in high school.
No way.
I mean, Butch Davis looks young and John Blake has been around college football seemingly forever. Yet Blake is the younger of the two. Weird.
The unanswered question: what grade did Davis give Blake?
Video below: Billy Madison. "Chlorophyll? More like BORE-o-phyll!" Somehow I have the feeling Blake was a little more respectful to his teachers.
Spring: when flowers, love, and the positions switches of hilariously incompetent quarterbacks all bloom in a symphony of fragrant interceptions. Or something like that. North Carolina/Nebraska saboteur par excellence Joe Dailey is no longer suffered to toss wounded ducks gently into triple coverage:
For the second straight spring, North Carolina quarterback Joe Dailey finds himself competing for a starting position -- this time at wide receiver.
The next paragraph goes on to describe Dailey as "fleet footed," but the really deeply hilarious quotes come from Dailey and Davis. He shows remarkable perception for an athlete:
"I just wanted to contribute and do so without hurting this team,'' Dailey said.
"...by not ever ever ever throwing the ball ever again," everyone within earshot, including Dailey, mentally appended. Butch Davis, on the other hand, is insanely optimistic:
If he could have a 50- to 65-catch year and score 18 or 20 touchdowns for us, that would be a big help,'' Davis said.
18 to 20 touchdowns? North Carolina scored all of 27 the entirety of last year; The national leader in receiving touchdowns, Jarrett Dillard, had 21, and he plays at Rice; Butch Davis might be on meth.
There will be 23 new head coaches this year in college football. With 119 teams in DIA, my shaky math tells me that means nearly one in every five schools has a new head coach. I don't have numbers from previous years but that's an incredible turnover rate and will mark 2007 as a year of transition in college football.
So what goes along with the whole "year of transition" tag? Well, sloppy play perhaps. Obviously not every coach will fall on his face in his first year, but many teams are bound to take an early performance hit as they reshuffle their lineups, learn a new system and compete against more cohesive opponents.
It also effectively eliminates these 23 teams from a legitimate chance to win the national championship. I simply don't see a Larry Coker type situation where a coach inherited a team at Miami's mini-dynasty level who could simply pilot the goodship S.S. Championship for a year and then put his stamp on things later.
However, we do have a few championship type coaches now in the ranks. The splashiest and most controversial hire this offseason was Dolphins (and former LSU) coach Nick Saban to Alabama. Butch Davis, who created the Miami monster that Larry Coker so capably led to a championship has found a home at North Carolina. And then there's Dennis Erickson who led Miami to a pair of titles and has traveled to the desert to revive Arizona State.
For more on these 23 coaches, I recommend taking a look at this article by Olin Buchanan at Rivals.com. It lists all 23 coaches with short bios and a blackjack theme on whether to double down, hit, or stay with the various coaches.
It was the fluke catch of the week. Sunday night at the Meadowlands, Giants rookie receiver Hakeem Nicks caught a tipped pass that had been intended for Mario Manningham and carried it all the way to the end zone for a 62-yard touchdown against the Cardinals. It was a shake-your-head play -- the kind the defense can write off as an excusable miracle, a bizarre bounce, nothing more than pure luck.
East Carolina coach Skip Holtz is a believer. North Carolina is built around defense with nine returning starters. The unit, ranked sixth nationally in total defense, also has allowed the Tar Heels valuable time to develop their young offense.
NC State football has not been what you would call "great" this year; 
In this edition of Answers to Questions Nobody Asked, the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Tony Grossi writes that the Browns and Cowboys aren't working on a trade that would send one of the myriad cornerbacks on Dallas' roster to Cleveland to fill the gaping (but slow developing) hole left by 
Sometimes seemingly insignificant stories reveal hidden gems. Normally while trolling for stories I scroll right past a headline like this - 
Spring: when flowers, love, and the positions switches of hilariously incompetent quarterbacks all bloom in a symphony of fragrant interceptions. Or something like that. North Carolina/Nebraska saboteur par excellence Joe Dailey is 
There will be 23 new head coaches this year in college football. With 119 teams in DIA, my shaky math tells me that means nearly one in every five schools has a new head coach. I don't have numbers from previous years but that's an incredible turnover rate and will mark 2007 as a year of transition in college football.
