Friday, December 19, 2008

In other news, water is wet

For some reason, the information Tim Tebow would get an evaluation of his draft status from the NFL committee set up to do that was treated as BREAKING NEWS Thursday. Why wouldn't he do that? For that matter, why wouldn't any player who's being mentioned as an NFL prospect? There's no charge to get the feedback from the league, and even if someone has zero intention of declaring for the draft it may help the player know what he needs to do to improve for next year. I assume that's Georgia CB Asher Allen's angle for asking the NFL what they think about him along with his teammates Knowshown Moreno and Matthew Stafford. One of these things is not like the others, one of these things doesn't belong...

Two of the SEC's top defensive tackles didn't need to hear from the NFL before they make their choice, as Georgia's Jeff Owens says he'll stick around. Considering he's recovering from a torn ACL, that's probably a good call. I'm surprised that Alabama's Terrence Cody isn't even asking for an evaluation after having that injury scare. His girlfriend apparently decided to scare Bama fans by putting up a Facebook message saying he was going pro, but he says he's staying.

Mack Brown says he may give up his coaches poll vote after the way things worked out for Texas this season. He should - all of them should. The poll is a farce and should never have been allowed to become a part of the BCS. I'm not a huge fan of Brown as a gameday coach, but he's a class act as a person. Not a lot of guys in his situation this year would have voted his own team second behind Florida, but Brown did. It's one of a number of things he's done that have impressed me over the years.

The one semi-prominent open job in college football right now is at Iowa State, and all kinds of rumors are swirling. The afternoon guys on KXNO radio in Des Moines claim Arizona's Mike Stoops is the guy and will be announced soon after the Wildcats play in the Las Vegas Bowl. Others claim Phillip Fulmer is a possibility. Bobby Bowden knows who they really need, though: Terry Bowden. The Bowdens pulled every string they could to get Terry the West Virginia job last year, including having the governor pushing for them, and it still didn't happen. It's not going to anywhere else either. If Terry really wants back in, he needs to go to a D-2 type of program and show he's serious about coaching for a couple of years. Maybe then someone will give him the shot in D-1 again, but with the pressure to succeed right away higher than ever no AD's going to roll the dice on a guy who's been out of the game for a decade. Terry left Auburn under extremely odd circumstances, which only makes it tougher for him.

Miami starting quarterback Robert Marve is suspended and will not play in the Emerald Bowl. (That's intended as a punishment, not a reward.) Canes coach Randy Shannon says he hasn't heard any rumors about Marve transferring, which makes him the only person in college football who hasn't. The current rumors seem to focus on Tennessee, but I can't see why any BCS conference program other than possibly USF would want the guy. If Marve transfers he has to sit out until 2010 and will have only two years to play at that point. USF will lose Matt Grothe after next year and Marve is a hometown kid, so maybe they could use him. For everyone else, what's supposed to be the selling point that makes Marve (9 TDs, 13 INTs) special?

Speaking of transfers, at Oregon there's a stud freshman from Wichita named Chris Harper who's supposed to be considering leaving for Kansas State. If he wasn't before, he should be transferring now after sharing insights like this in an interview...

“The girls at K-State and Kansas are way, way better than here,” Harper says. “I don’t know. There are so many different types here — environmental types, weird types. That’s not attractive to me."

Good call, Chris! The next time you're out and about in Eugene, hopefully you can find a girl who hates the environment and doesn't have computer access to read that story.

There's two weeks to go in the NFL season, and for some reason I'm not feeling it this year. Sure, I'd like Tampa Bay to do well but I just can't get too worked up about a team that's likely to have another first round playoff loss. Hopefully they take care of the Chargers Sunday. Miami should have a relatively smooth road trip to Kansas City, although the Chiefs have played well lately. As for the Jaguars, they blew a ten point fourth quarter lead and fell to 5-10. Supposedly Jack Del Rio's job is safe - we'll see. Enjoy your weekend and I'll see you back here Monday.

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