Alright, we are almost there. Just about a week until the big Division 1 teams kick off the 2014 college football season (I refuse, on principle, to refer to schools as FBS or FCS or whatever else the NCAA comes up with).
At this point, you have gotten through most of your summer agenda so that you can justify spending sun up to sun down watching games at least for the next few Saturdays. This is where I brag that I chose wisely when it came to my marriage. My wife, being a SEC girl, is just as much about college football as I am. Seventeen years ago, we actually planned the wedding and honeymoon so as to be back in time for Week 1 of the season. And if you believe I really chose who to marry, as opposed to simply realizing I had a golden opportunity to marry way out of my league, just ask anyone who knows me. They still can’t explain my extraordinary luck.
Soon enough, it will be time to delve into specific matchups and take a look at the upcoming week and entrench ourselves in every bit of minutia. But as we have a week left, this is a good time to lay down one last primer before the chaos begins; a sort of guide for things to keep in mind throughout the season just before we start mentally hanging coaches in effigy for the play they called on fourth and short at midfield. Let’s get to our final notes before the season starts.
New Rules for the Season
There are a few points that were a bone of contention for fans, and confusion for players and coaches last year that the NCAA is hoping to clean up. They have laid out some revisions for officials with regards to targeting and helmet-to-head fouls. Last year, there was a lot of inconsistency in players getting ejected for things that turned out not to be penalties. This year, all of it is reviewable at the time the penalty is called. The penalty and any player ejection can be reviewed by the replay booth and overturned.
There are also new fouls in place for a defender who hits a quarterback below the knee while they are in the passing stance. Memo to quarterbacks: Be smart. Stand in the stance until it’s time to huddle up again.
Lastly, officials are being told to tightly monitor player conduct. The NCAA is apparently concerned that we are on the precipice of returning to the 1980 Miami Hurricanes era. Expect to see a lot of flags for taunting, sideline infractions, and unsportsmanlike conduct.
Coaches on the Hot Seat
With the pressure to win for the financial benefit of a school, there are more and more coaches who find themselves on this list. This isn’t the pros, where quarterbacks get traded. This is major college football where coaches take all the blame. Any gathering of names has to begin with Will Muschamp of Florida. The Gators had a devastating number of injuries last year and no one in Gainesville cares. Florida went 4-8 and no matter the reason, that doesn’t cut it. Muschamp probably needs to improve by at least four games this season in order to avoid needing an updated resume.
Michigan’s Brady Hoke had a one-year honeymoon period and now in his fourth season, he is fighting to save his job. Things are not easy in Wolverine land for those who follow in the long shadow cast by Bo Shembechler. Gary Moeller had personal indiscretions that cost him his job as head coach. Lloyd Carr won a lot of games, but very few were against Ohio State so he had to go. Rich Rodriguez came in with a new style of offense that produced the lowest winning percentage in school history over three seasons. In came Brady Hoke, a Michigan guy through and through. He went 11-2 in his first season, with Rich Rod’s players, but has gone 15-11 since. Not good enough in Ann Arbor.
One-time offensive legend Norm Chow is 4-20 in two seasons at Hawaii, but Hawaii, along with many mid-major schools in the coming years, is likely to drop football if they can’t financially compete with the big boys in the five major conferences. Chow probably gets to keep his job since hiring a coach for a program that is not likely to be around in a couple of years is a tough human resources pull.
Sonny Dykes at Cal had the worst season in school history last year with no wins against a Division 1 school. Not a big future without a big turnaround.
Charlie Weiss is 4-20 in two seasons at Kansas. Now, winning football games at Kansas is a rare occurrence, but sooner or later, someone is going to realize Charlie is more hype than reality.
The Polls
Every week you will be shown various polls with the rankings. As we noted in this space a few weeks back, don’t get all hot and bothered if you don’t like what you see. None of the historic polls matter at all anymore. All that matters in the new playoff format is the 13-person committee choosing the four playoff teams at the end of the season. The committee doesn’t release its first poll until October 28th. Unless you are Brady Hoke or Will Muschamp, you have a little breathing room until then.
TV Misses Nothing
Over the last few years, the networks have expanded the number of games shown, either by adjusting starting times for games or moving some over to Thursdays. Throw in the conference networks and the viewing schedule is huge. Now, because there could have been a game we might miss, ESPN and the Southeastern Conference have partnered to form the SEC Network, to add to ESPN’s already large stable of college football broadcast abilities. Once the season kicks off next week, they will show live games on weekends, replay them 4-5 times over the following week, and in between, they will provide about 20 hours of the Paul Finebaum Show. If you are not familiar with Paul’s show, he is the foremost authority on all things SEC, and his show mostly consists of Auburn and Alabama fans calling in to challenge the voracity of each other’s gene pool. Rational perspective has no place here.
Okay. I think you are set. We covered the new playoff system a couple of weeks back. Now you have some things to be on the lookout for this season, regardless of which game you are watching. Television is providing you with potentially more viewing hours than can possibly be healthy for any of us. You are now ready to be turned loose on the new season. So we will meet back here next week for a unique look at some of the more compelling story lines for Week One.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @tonybruin. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld and “liking” our Facebook page.
For more on sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Football fans… check out our two partnered NFL podcasts – Thursday Night Tailgate Radio and Overtime Ireland. Both shows bring you interesting commentary, critical analysis and fantastic guests including former and current NFL players, coaches and personalities.
