48 hours after firing his defensive staff, Sark just hired Tennessee’s defensive coordinator and their linebacker coach, both of whom are very well regarded. Tennessee ranked 28th in defense, which is a helluva lot better than what Washington ranked, and Tennessee did that in the SEC. Vol fans are PISSED, especially since their defense was probably the only good thing on their team despite their youth, and the DC is a great recruiter. They can’t understand why these guys would leave the SEC to go to Washington, but a big reason is probably they’re both Pacific Northwest guys, so this gives them the chance to go home. That and Sark has a bigger mountain of money to play with than Tennessee. Thank you, Larry Scott!
sluggo
1782
As a quick reference, New Year’s Bowl Action!
12PM ET - ESPN U
TicketCity Bowl (nee Cotton Bowl) - Arlington, TX
(20) Houston vs (24) Penn State
Houston -6.5 (55.5)
1PM ET - ESPN2
Gator Bowl - Jacksonville, FL
Ohio St vs Florida
Florida -3 (43.5)
1PM ET - ESPN
Capital One Bowl (nee Tangerine/Citrus Bowl) - Orlando, FL
(21) Nebraska vs (10) S Carolina
S Carolina -3 (45.5)
1PM ET - ABC
Outback Bowl (nee Hall of Fame Bowl) - Tampa, FL
(12) Michigan State vs (18) Georgia
Georgia -3 (48.5)
5PM ET - ESPN
Rose Bowl - Pasadena, CA
(9) Wisconsin vs (6) Oregon
Oregon -5 (72.5)
8:30PM ET - ESPN
Fiesta Bowl - Pheonix, AZ
(4) Stanford vs (3) Oklahoma St
Stanford -4.5 (74)
Tue 8:30ET - ESPN
Sugar Bowl - New Orleans, LA
(13) Michigan vs (17) VA Tech
Michigan -3 (50.5)
Wed 8:30ET - ESPN
Orange Bowl - Miami, FL
(23) W Virginia (14) Clemson
Clemson -3 (6.5)
Lorini
1783
So who’s winning the Rose Bowl?
sluggo
1784
Man, Houston is going to win this game by 30.
Correction: Houston is going to win the FIRST QUARTER by 30.
sluggo
1786
Keenum had a good game. 30/46, 3 TDs, 380 yards.
Wait, that was the first half? (Tunes in for the second half)
I want to see if he breaks 700 yards for the game.
Sarkus
1787
So, SEC and Vols fans: what’s the story with DC Justin Wilcox? The University of Washington fired their DC and some other defensive coaches two days ago after a bad year (and the Baylor thing) and reports say Wilcox is jumping from the Vols to the Huskies for the same job. Is this guy any good?
The Oregon marching band uniforms are worse than the football team’s. Marching around in sweats and a ball cap just seems way too casual.
robsam
1789
He did a decent job this year, with a couple of notable exceptions. (I’m looking at you, Arkansas!)
Outside of USC, I didn’t realize they still had Defensive Coordinator positions in the PAC, so Washington might shock the rest of the league next season.
Tennessee has a huge pile of money to spend on a coach, the problem is all of the bitter in fighting among the big donors. There are still some major ego bruises preventing them from working together to get their collective shit together, dating all the way back to when Phillip Fulmer took over for Johny Majors (Majors was betrayed they say!!) to when Fulmer was fired and replaced by Kiffen (Fulmer was betrayed! Fuck you, he betrayed Majors! Suck it!)
So I glance to the north and see the smoke from the smoldering crater that used to be a perenial top 5 program, and weep. Thank God my Dallas Cowboys are still kicking ass…Oh…
I hate you Sarkus.
Lorini
1790
What’s the over/under on this Rose Bowl game, 150?
robsam
1791
Okay, I hope to see some good stuff from Andrew Luck tonight. I honestly don’t believe he will be more successful as an NFL QB than Cam Newton when their pro careers are over.
I haven’t seen enough of the teams in it, but I wasn’t expecting a track meet to break out in that one.
I have never seen a player tackle another player on his own team for a touchback until the Stanford-OSU game.
Great games tonight…
How fantastic would they have been as first round playoff games…
As soon as I saw Stanford’s kicker in the Tebow position I knew he was going to shank it… Stupid 1950’s haircut…
Kickers man… Imagine being a Division I coach and having your fate determined by the awkward kid who wasn’t athletic enough to play soccer…
Blackmon is going to make a fantastic pro…
That guy tackling his own kick returner on the goal line was a hell of a scene alright.
I thought Stanford’s playcalling in OT was odd. Their kicker had just missed a kick, the other team has just steamrolled right over their defense, and yet they looked like they were trying to get in position for a field goal attempt on those first couple of plays. Certainly that was a time to go for broke if there ever was one.
Also, I bet everyone in that stadium and watching on tv knew that fourth down play was going to #81, he was killing Stanford…but apparently Stanford’s defense didn’t get the memo. They had one guy on him on that play, what the hell?
Stanford looked like a very average team with an awesome QB…and well, I guess that’s what it was.
Imagine what Luck could have done with better wide-outs.
Instead they had to play a grinding power-running dink and dunk style to try to protect their defense.
Reminded me of how I play Madden…
I think if Newton doesn’t get hurt he could win a super-bowl. And not in a Trent Dilfer just don’t make mistakes way.
corsair
1799
82 degrees at the Rose Bowl - Ahhhhhhhh, SoCal! Great game, the Pac 8/10/12/whatever won in an exciting fashion - you even got into the spirit of the thing and wore sunglasses, no doubt (those Oregon uniforms more than the sun). It would have been nice if Stanford’s field goal kicker didn’t blow it in the following game, but the Rose Bowl is the one that counts. We could even hear the B2 rumble overhead as it passed on it’s way down the arroyo to the stadium.
The funny thing about those Oregon helmets was they didn’t seem as blinding in the sun as Wisconsin’s pure white uniforms.
