| 11 September 2011
Let’s get right to it, with this week’s recap:
Michigan-Notre Dame: Quite frankly, I don’t know how we’ll look back on Michigan-Notre Dame in time. I don’t know if in a month, or a week, or a season from now, we’ll remember it as an instant classic, or just another football game between two decent to fairly decent teams. I really have no idea.
But what I can tell you is this: After everything that’s happened in the last few months, all the scandal and off the field controversy, college football needed this game. It needed the excitement and suspense, and Brian Kelly turning 11 shades of purple while looking like a McDonald’s drive-thru attendant with his headset on. For all that can be sometimes wrong about college football, my God was that game everything right about the sport.
Now obviously, I don’t think anyone is ever going to argue that Michigan-Notre Dame was the most well-played gave they’ve ever seen. That doesn’t happen when one team gives up 28 fourth quarter points, and allows the opposing quarterback to throw for over 30 yards per completion, like Notre Dame did. It also doesn’t happen when most fans spend the first 40 minutes of the game watching Denard Robinson sail the ball over receivers heads, and say to themselves “Wait, isn’t Brady Hoke misusing his offensive personnel just like Rich Rodriguez did three years ago?”
Yes, all that happened. But just like your 42-year-old uncle that can’t hold down a job, aren’t all the goofy imperfections and warts of college football, what makes it so darn endearing?
Notre Dame-Michigan truly showed us everything we love about the sport: It had emotion and excitement, the crowd with their pom-poms, the ridiculous stat-lines where Robinson threw for 338 yards on 11 attempts and Notre Dame just couldn’t figure out how to defend a simple back shoulder fade. It had the thrill of victory for Michigan, even though they’re just an average football team, and the agony of defeat for Notre Dame, whose season all of a sudden kind of feels over, even though it’s only Week 2. Honestly, name me another sport quite like this one. You can’t. It’s a sweet symphony. An imperfect symphony, yes. But a sweet one none the less.
Go ahead and keep your NFL and NBA and NHL. Take Major League Baseball, and even college hoops and the LPGA Tour if you please. From September to December, there’s nothing like college football. Notre Dame-Michigan proved it last night.
Notre Dame: So now that we got all the mushy stuff out of the way, what are we to make of Notre Dame?
When I looked at this team before the season, looked at their talent and schedule, I saw a scenario where they could win 10 games. And even after their loss last week, it seemed like a club that could make a run after their quarterback change. As I’ve written repeatedly, there really does seem to be something about Tommy Rees (and that’s “Reese,” not “Reeze” Brent Musberger), that just seems to elicit confidence in his teammates. We saw it last week against South Florida and last year in all those wins he piled up late in the season. Because of it, I really did think Notre Dame would turn the corner with him under center.
My, how two games can change your perception huh?
Let’s start with the obvious, and start by saying, “What the hell is up with those turnovers?” Seriously, I’ve seen bachelor parties less sloppy than Notre Dame has been in these two games. They fumble the ball in the red zone and on the goal line, and throw interceptions at the most inopportune times. It doesn’t matter who is playing at quarterback (Rees or Dayne Crist), who is playing running back, or who is catching passes, this team just can’t seem to get out of their own way. Even worse, is that while a few of the turnovers have at least been excusable, some have just been straight up unexplainable. Take the last turnover by Rees last night…nobody even touched the guy! How does this stuff even happen! At this point, is there anything Brian Kelly and his coaching staff could even be doing right now? It’s an all-out epidemic of bone-headedness for the Irish.
Speaking of which, if this Notre Dame team has proven anything, it’s the following: It doesn’t matter how much talent you have, or who your coach is. You can’t teach winning.
I’ve written about it before with Baylor and Arizona State, and it seems like it’s the same with Notre Dame. All those winning plays, the little things that we take for granted at places like Alabama, Wisconsin and TCU where winning is a culture, that’s just not there at Notre Dame right now. Those teams would never, ever make the dumb mistakes Notre Dame does. Let alone do them repeatedly like the Irish have over the last two games. It’s actually kind of like the old saying goes: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. Well that’s Notre Dame. You can put them in position to win, but it’s up to them to execute.
Look, I could go on and on, but I’m just going to stop. You don’t have the time, and I don’t…well actually, I do have the time.
But right now, Notre Dame simply isn’t worth wasting our breath on.
Michigan: A few weeks ago over at my other site Crystal Ball Run, the other writers and I debated the following topic: With Ohio State set to take a step back this year, which was the team that was most likely to benefit? While most of my colleagues argued on behalf of Wisconsin, I couldn’t help but think it was Michigan.
Well, after last night, I can’t say I was totally right. But I do think the Wolverines are headed in the right direction.
There’s no doubt that for whatever this team lacks in talent, there aren’t many teams in college football that play harder than they do. The offense is coming along with Denard Robinson (seriously, how much better did he get just over the course of yesterday's game?), and the defense absolutely leaves it all on the field. Yes Michigan gave up a lot of points last night, but it was also a lot less than they ever gave up under Greg Robinson the last two years. And they definitely never played as hard, or as fundamentally sound as they did against Notre Dame either.
Granted, at the end of the day, I still think that this is, at best, a football team that will hover right around seven wins. I don’t think they’ll beat Nebraska or Ohio State, and could struggle with Michigan State and Northwestern too. And for all the excitement about this one win, it’s easy to forget that Michigan actually beat Notre Dame in the Big House two years ago, in what was thought to be the turning point in Rich Rodriguez’s time at the school.
Still, this just seems different.
Only time will tell if it actually is.
Alright, let’s switch gears entirely and quickly discuss a few teams in the SEC:
Alabama: Yesterday, Alabama pulled off the rarest of feats: They were as dominating against Penn State as I expected them to be…and yet, it also surprised me just how dominating they were. Sound weird? Let me explain.
Entering the year, I understood, in theory, why everyone liked Alabama so darn much. They had a sick, skilled, nasty defense, that was quite literally the most talented in the country entering the season. Sure there might be some teams with more experience, but none with more apples-to-apples talent than the Tide. And on offense, Alabama had a running game to take the pressure off whoever was going to be named the quarterback, and enough wide receivers to make that quarterback not look totally inept when he actually did have to throw the ball. In other words, the 2011 Alabama Crimson Tide were more or less a Nick Saban dream come to life. That is, if Nick Saban had dreams, or even chose to sleep. Which he doesn’t.
But the problem is, that was all on paper. For as talented as the defense was entering the year, the truth is, they were kind of an empty calorie unit last year. In other words, they put up amazing numbers statistically, but they could never seem to make stops when the team truly needed them to. They were a team that was especially susceptible to getting burned deep, as not only Auburn proved late in the year, but LSU too. I mean really, how the hell do you let Jordan Jefferson complete a 75-yard bomb on you? Add all that in with that previously mentioned unproven quarterback, and the fact that Trent Richardson wasn’t totally Trent Richardson the last few games of the year, and I was kind of worried coming into the year.
And that’s also what created the paradox yesterday that I mentioned above. Everything that Alabama was capable of being actually came to life yesterday.
Let’s start with the obvious, and say this: The quarterback debate is over. A.J. McCarron has this job in Tuscaloosa, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, as long both he and Alabama should live (or unless he gets hurt. But you get the point).
Really, I don’t know if Nick Saban was trying to play mind games into this week, or if neither he nor Philip Sims pulled away during fall camp, but after watching two games, there’s no doubt that McCarron is the better player. Yesterday he proved it. I was amazed at how in control, poised and confident he was, not only when Alabama had a comfortable lead, but early on in the game too. Sure he was out of sync for a possession or two, but still. From about halfway through the first quarter on, there’s no doubt who had control of that team or game. It was McCarron. Also, I’ve got a news-flash for anyone still doubting the Tide as a legit title contender (which probably isn’t many): McCarron is better than Greg McElroy was at this point two years ago. Just trust me on that one.
While we’re here, let’s go ahead and give a shout out to Penn State too. Entering the game I got a lot of grief from Penn State fans, and to be honest, some were fair. But with that said, the Nittany Lions absolutely exceeded my expectations as well. They came out poised and under control, and from the beginning you could tell that they actually thought they could win that game, which was something that definitely wasn’t the case last year. Their lines (especially defensively) weren’t dominated nearly like I expected them to be, and Rob Bolden played pretty well too. Much like the situation at Alabama, Penn State shouldn’t have a quarterback controversy going forward. Bolden is so much better than Matt McGloin it’s laughable, like comparing the looks of Kim Kardashian to Khloe. As long as Penn State isn’t worried about anything other than hurting McGloin’s feelings, Bolden should be the starter from now on.
Going forward, Penn State should be fine in the Big Ten, and with the right breaks, maybe can even compete for a division title. But yesterday, they just ran into a team that was simply better than them.
Alabama finally proved to me that they’re capable of backing up their immense promise.
Auburn: On the opposite end of Alabama is Auburn. They were a team that I had absolutely no expectations of coming into the season, and definitely none of coming into Saturday. And you know what? They just did what Auburn continues to do, and that’s just find ways to win.
Now obviously, there’s no comparing this year to last, but at the same time, yesterday’s game showed a lot of traits that reminded me of last year, especially on the defensive end. What’s interesting is that yesterday reminded me of what an Auburn fan told me about their defense early last season, which was the following: “Our defense may not make every play, but we make the big play when we really need it.” Go ahead and go through the archives on this site, and you’ll see that I probably wrote that motto down at least seven or eight times last year.
Well obviously, that happened yesterday too. Yes there was the amazing goal line stand, which obviously, was helped in large part by some questionable play-calling by Dan Mullen. Still, say what you want about Mullen, but Mississippi State had five chances to tie the game inside the Auburn 10-yard line, and the defense barely budged. And really, that’s how the defense played most of the second half yesterday; bend but don’t break, make the big stop when you absolutely need it.
While we’re here, I’ve got to once again give Gene Chizik credit. In the past, I’ve questioned his pure x’s and o’s ability, and wondered how much of Auburn’s success was predicated on some combination of Cam Newton, Gus Malzahn, Nick Fairley and luck.
Well, if anything, these two games to start this season have proven to me, that any of Auburn’s successes go well beyond just luck or talent. Simply put, there isn’t a team in college football that is better prepared week in and week out for everything thrown their way than Auburn is. No scenario confuses or overwhelms them. And at some point, that stops being about luck, and starts being about coaching. Andre Ware kept repeating it on yesterday’s broadcast, but it’s worth repeating: No team is routinely prepared to handle every single scenario quite like Auburn is. It shows in these wild, come from behind wins.
But at this point, are they really even "wild," anymore?
Mississippi State: And while Auburn is the team that is most routinely prepared to handle any and all scenarios that come their way, I’ve got to ask you this, Mississippi State once again fell on their face. To that point, let me ask you this: Is Dan Mullen becoming the Rex Ryan of college football?
Think about it. For all the talk, all the jabs about “the school up North,” and cheap shots at everyone else along the way, what has Mullen really done during his time in Starkville? Sure he got nine wins last year, and should be commended for that. At the same time, what exactly was his best win? A victory over Georgia when they didn’t have A.J. Green? A win over Florida when Urban Meyer had one foot out the door? Beating Michigan in a game that Rich Rodriguez’s team literally quit on him? Go ahead, what’s his best win? Name it. It’s certainly not against Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn or LSU, which his teams are now a combined 0-9 against. At some point, Mullen needs to either crap or get off the pot. In other words, he’s got to win one of these games against elite teams.
And that’s what was most frustrating about yesterday’s game: Auburn wasn’t elite. Auburn was a good, sound, well-coached team, with the advantage of playing at home. At the same time, they were also playing a quarterback making his second career start, and against a defense that literally got run over by Utah State the week before. That was a game that on paper, Mississippi State should’ve won. Yet from the start, you could tell that Auburn was the more prepared and confident team for this game. It showed in the quick 14-0 lead they took.
Look, I like Mullen and ultimately think he’s good for the game. It takes a special guy to believe he can win at Mississippi State, and Mullen does believe that.
Still at some point, the talk has to stop, and the wins have to start. Maybe that happens Thursday night against LSU, I don’t know.
But it needs to come soon.
A couple more thoughts as we wrap up:
Tennessee: When all is said and done, the Vols may end up being my favorite team in college football this year. Really, they’re everything that’s great about the sport. They’re young and fun and play hard for Derek Dooley, almost like a slightly more talented version of Michigan. And there really does seem to be something special about Tyler Bray. If there was any doubt entering the weekend, there is none now: The guy is the best quarterback in the SEC.
I would talk more about the Vols (much like my mom’s new puppy, I just can’t get enough of them), but I’ll hold back. I may be writing an entire column about them later in the week.
Of course on the flip side, there’s….
USC: Which seems to just get continually worse by the week.
It also seems as though Lane Kiffin is trying to disprove my theory that he’s actually a half decent coach. It’s becoming harder, and harder to defend him every waking day.
Finally, I know most of you are wondering, “Aaron, where the hell are your thoughts on Georgia-South Carolina. Well unfortunately, I have commitments over at Crystal Ball Run, but I’ve already written about them over there. Click here to check it out, and also be sure to check back tomorrow as I reveal my new Top 25 for the OnsideKick.com Poll.
Until then…
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