Sorry I’ve been out all day. Newsday is doing this cool project on Sunday about the greatest New York athletes to ever wear the numbers 1-99. I was working on the website version of it all.freakin.afternoon.
By now everyone’s heard Rich Rodriguez is staying in Morgantown. I think it’s great for the school and I’m not sure how I feel about it for him. The chance to coach in the SEC is pretty big…but I definitely respect the decision. One of the biggest winners is the Big East…could you imagine losing three of your best head coaches (RichRod, Greg Schiano and Mark Dantonio).
Another thing…reports came out that the school offered Nick Saban $57 mil over 10 years but Rodriguez was offered $12 mil over 6 years? That’s quite a slap in the face…“Yeah, we want to hire you, but we think you’re less than half as worthy as the guy we talked to a few days ago.”
As for Miami, they have Randy Shannon. My guy down in Coral Gables says this is actually a bad hire because Shannon comes with a lot of personal baggage I can’t really get into. I think he’s a fine Xs and Os coach, but Miami is reeling from the PR nightmare that was the 2006 season. Shannon better work on restoring some credibility to the U as well as win ball games. I think this will be a tough task though, it’s not like Larry Coker was trash or anything…
To answer what was asked earlier today…Have I heard rumors about BC going back to the Big East?
No, I haven’t. From the surface, this would seem like a tough move probably because there is so many legal hurdles. Would it make sense for BC to return to the BE? I think if the conference can maintain some football prowess, then yeah, sure. I’ll call around and ask some people if they’ve heard of anything solid.
Finally, I thought about Brady Quinn winning the Maxwell last night when and I started to think more and more that the award was strictly for Troy Smith. What did Brady Quinn do more than Smith to deserve the award? As Erik Boland said today, “Did they forget his three-interception performance against Michigan?” Troy Smith threw 5 INTs…all season.
As for tonight’s Montana-UMass game, I’m going with the underdog Minutemen. Call it East Coast bias, I don’t care. UMass’ one loss came in a 21-20 game at Navy. They topped Northeastern twice, Lafayette, Maine, Hofstra and a couple of other I-AA guys. They’re getting 3.5…TAKE IT!!
I’ll talk to you all tomorrow starting at about 6 p.m. live from Times Square.
Comments (4)
and another Notre Dame-hater heard from. You idiots just can't stand Notre Dame winning anything, can you? You failed to mention that Quinn also threw only 5 interceptions ALL YEAR, with more attempts than Smith, more TDs (35-30) and more yards. Smith has a much better team around him (defense, o-line and running game) that helped him a lot more than ND's team helped him. Quinn has had a spectacular career at ND and deserved the award, if not the Davey O'Brien...
Boston College going back to the Big East, while clearly just internet rumors, makes zero financial sense for BC. While they have gotten the short end of the stick with regards to their bowls bids, that isn't because they're the "red headed stepchild" of the ACC. It's because Boston College fans do not travel well.
Bowls are about filling seats in stadiums, filling rooms in hotels, and about TV revenues. Maryland and Clemson fans (the two teams picked "ahead" of BC) will take care of the first two for the Champs and Music City bowls.
That aside, why does going back to the Big East makes zero financial sense for Boston College? Because of two reasons:
1) Boston College would have to pay a buyout equal to their last year's cut from the conference. I'm not sure of the specifics of this, but I believe it's around $11mil.
2) The ACC has EQUAL revenue sharing, where as the Big East tiers its payouts based on the bowls the teams go to. This year Boston College will receive the same about of money as Wake Forest, the ACC BCS representative.
I think these rumors are the results of the sour grapes that caused Tom O'Brien to head to NC State. While I was initially surprised about the move, after some thought, I can't blame him. His fan base doesn't travel well, which means they have gotten relegated to lower-tier bowls, and he was underpaid at Boston College, with the university seemingly unwilling to pony up on his contract to keep him.
What would you do?
Just to respond to your response to my comment on Quinn winning the Maxwell: I'm really getting tired of this false notion of Notre Dame's "weak" schedule. The constant mention of "the service academies," as if Ohio State didn't play 3 "weak" teams as well (let's remember Air Force is a legitimate team that came within 1 point of beating Tennessee at Tennessee). Compare ND's schedule to Ohio State's. It's just as strong.
Look, I'm not trying to say Quinn was the better player this year. I'm just saying it's nice that they didn't give Smith every single award. Quinn has had two incredible seasons and deserves some recognition too.
I disagree with the comment about Brady Quinn deserving the Heisman. Troy Smith simply had a wonderful year. There were many deserving candidates this year - including McFadden, Colt Brennan from Hawaii (spelling?), Rice, and Slaton.
I agree - Smith had much more support than Quinn but ultimately, Smith's team went undefeated and it all starts at the QB position. He was very deserving of the award and earned it. He shouldn't be penalized for Notre Dame once again underachieving and making their QB not look so good.