Pac-10 teams begin their second week of play on Saturday, highlighted by No. 3 USC's trip to Columbus to play Ohio State. It means nothing but consensus leans heavily towards the Trojans despite it being a cover of darkness road game before what Eleven Warriors calls 105,000 of college football's best hooligans, despite starting a true freshman quarterback in Matt Barkley and despite Ohio State having the tiebreaker of all tiebreakers in Terrelle Pryor.
Yeah, USC's loaded. The rest of the conference lineup Saturday is a mixed bag filled with one big road trip to SEC country, a couple middling names and a handful of regional cupcakes. Mmm, cupcakes. Wait, no, bad Pac-10. Time to bag some fresh game out of say, Knoxville? Hmmm, maybe not.
Michael Lewis's opus The Blind Side is currently filming in Atlanta and slated for release on November 20, 2009. The book recently received a jolt of interest when the primary subject of the story, Ole Miss offensive tackle Michael Oher, who rises from a hardscrabble existence in Memphis to become the top offensive tackle in the nation, was drafted in the first round by the Baltimore Ravens. A major portion of the story focuses on the top-ranked Oher's recruitment by three men: then-LSU coach Nick Saban, then-Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer, and then-Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron. It's a recruiting battle for the ages.
Two weeks ago Bruce Feldman reported that Orgeron would play himself in the movie. Now I can report that Phil Fulmer will be playing himself, having traveled down to Atlanta this past Friday to film his scenes with Sandra Bullock. All that remains to be determined is whether Nick Saban is playing himself. And wouldn't that be great if Saint Nick donned the purple and gold to reprise his role for the film?
Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September. The Obvious -- The 2009 NFL Draft is now in the books and what's emerged from countless hours of coverage is a recurring theme of late: USC and SEC dominance. The Trojans had 11 players chosen in this year's draft, including a kicker and eight total defensive players from one of the better collegiate defenses of this era.
Meanwhile, 37 SEC players were chosen, topping last year's 35 and besting the second-place ACC's 33. USC also tied a draft record with four linebackers selected in a single draft. Their 11 overall selections bested last year's 10-player performance and again paced all colleges in the draft.
The LSU offer was reportedly worth $500k, while Tennessee reeled him in with that shiny $850k offer.
Being that his former employ was in the NFL, Ed Werder style gossip soon followed.
Apparently, some within the organization felt Orgeron was more focused on his coaching future than his current job, and Payton grew tired of Orgeron juggling phone calls from LSU and Tennessee. The source also suggested that [Saints' coach Sean] Payton was not very pleased with the progress of the defensive line under Orgeron even before the LSU-Tennessee tug-of-war began, and he is looking forward to the opportunity to bring in a veteran defensive line coach with NFL experience.
Meeeeowwwwwwww. This isn't all that surprising, we are talking about the gossipy NFL here where if somebody isn't ticked at something they might as well stop breathing.
As FanHouse previews each BCS conference, the college football songbook will cast an unflattering light on each conference in the only way we know how. Next up the SEC.
The College Football Songbook is a weekly feature in which we'll be making as much fun as humanly possible of the most embarrassing moments in college football. Through words, music, and related video we'll leave a lasting memory implanted on the brains of the vanquished that they are not soon to forget.
It's everyone's favorite time of year, when coaches drop like flies mere days after getting the dreaded vote of confidence from the administration. I'm actually going to miss Ed Orgeron. But still, you let the program down, you gets the pink slip. Just don't let that door hit you in the ass.
Hat Tips:
Special hat tip as always to Pete Holiday for putting the video together.
(BTW: Totally ignoring firecoachnicksaban.com because... well because you people are just nuts)
Back in August, Fanhouse tabbed three SEC coaches in danger of losing their jobs during or after this season. And with the season nearly 1/3 of the way over(!), some have cooled off, while others are squarely in the frying pan. So, it's time to check those coaches' status thus far. I see three levels of heat on the seat of these guys:
1. Hog-roasting, doughnut-glaze-melting heat of a million angry fans: Houston Nutt and Phil Fulmer. Nutt is kind of obvious: he was in trouble before the season (trouble that was completely avoidable), and that was coming off an SEC West title. Dropping games to Alabama and Ken-freakin'-tucky hasn't cooled anything. Plus, he's bat-crap crazy. As for Fulmer, in August I wrote "barring complete and total disaster, Fulmer will be the head coach at Tennessee for awhile, probably as long as he wants it." Yeah, well... the 39-point loss to Florida might not qualify as complete and total disaster, but it's as close to it as Fulmer's been outside of the Season of Which We Do Not Speak. For the first time in his career, Fulmer has lost a significant portion of the fan base and needs some quality wins this year to re-cement his spot on Rocky Top.
Being a coach in the SEC can be lucrative (just ask any coach at Alabama). But because of the insanely high expectations each fan base has for its team, it can also be a pressure cooker (just ask any former coach at Alabama). Coaching in the SEC is kind of like being a salesman in Glengarry Glen Ross: first place, an SEC championship; second place, a set of steak knives; third place, you're fired.
Alright, so maybe third place isn't grounds for immediate dismissal, but it makes the barbecue circuit in the spring a little more uncomfortable. More than half the coaches in the league have been with their teams for less than five years, so turnover isn't unusual. Before we take a look at coaches who need to impress this fall to remain on their respective sidelines, let's be clear about who most likely isn't worried about losing his job anytime soon.
1. Urban Meyer -- current king of college football 2. Nick Saban -- even if he's not Bear Reincarnate, Bama's got a lot of money tied up in him. 3. Steve Spurrier -- If you can charge $100/year for access to your website, you've got job security. Click clack. 4. Tommy Tuberville -- Steadily maintains one of the best programs in the SEC this decade. 5. Mark Richt -- see also Tommy Tuberville 6. Les Miles -- Goofy hat, goofier comments, but wins.
Surprisingly, Bobby Johnson still isn't on the hot seat. He's managed to do something that nobody else has done since George McIntyre in the early 80s: hold the Vandy job for more than five years. And whether or not he also becomes the first coach to lead the 'Dores to a bowl since McIntyre, he's well-liked in Nashville and should be around for awhile. Also, Rich Brooks has gone from fans wearing "Rich Brooks Farewell Tour" t-shirts to writing songs about him, and could take the 'Cats to back-to-back bowl games for only the third time in 25 years.
So which of the four remaining coaches are on the hot seat? After the jump...
As reported pretty much everywhere today, audio was released of Alabama coach Nick Saban using a derogatory slur.
During a meeting with Florida reporters, Saban relayed a story about a phone call from a friend on the LSU board of trustees who had an unusual encounter with a cajun-accented LSU fan (full audio here).
"He was walking down the street yesterday before the Sugar Bowl," Saban said on the taped comments. "He calls me. There was a guy working in the ditch, one of those coonass guys that talk funny.
"I can't talk like them, but he can. Most people in Louisiana can."
Continuing to tell the story, Saban then quoted the worker's vulgar comment about Saban going to Alabama.
Saban has since apologized, asking that it be understood he was merely relaying the friend's story and that he himself finds the term offensive.
Expect this to get a lot of play the rest of his career. And a beatdown from one Ed Orgeron. And maybe The Waterboy as well as I think they're both offended.
"Mama says alligators are ornery cause they got all them teeth and no toothbrush. Mama says Nick Saban's the devil."
But we all know he's not really the devil, it's just his medulla oblongata.
So far the Tasmanian Devil of a coach is just 7-16 in two full seasons, but this can be mitigated by 1)it's Ole Miss, 2)he's The Orgeron, 3)it's the SEC, 4)it's Ole Miss.
And he can totally beat the crap out of Urban Meyer. No official word yet from the man, but I think it'll sound something like this:
I just have one question, however. Can a statement of fact be editorializing? When it comes to ESPN's reportage of the story, I think it can. You be the judge (headline):
Pac-10 teams begin their second week of play on Saturday, highlighted by No. 3 USC's trip to Columbus to play Ohio State. It means nothing but consensus leans heavily towards the Trojans despite it being a cover of darkness road game before what Eleven Warriors calls 105,000 of college football's best hooligans, despite starting a true freshman quarterback in Matt Barkley and despite Ohio State having the tiebreaker of all tiebreakers in Terrelle Pryor.
Michael Lewis's opus The Blind Side is currently filming in Atlanta and 
Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, 
Former Ole Miss head coach 
(BTW: Totally ignoring firecoachnicksaban.com because... well because you people are just nuts)
As reported pretty much everywhere today, audio was released of Alabama coach Nick Saban using a derogatory slur.
