College Football Playoff Preview

In the preseason I picked two of these teams to be here, Alabama and Florida State. Although, I did predict that Alabama would lose 3 games if it went with Blake Sims at QB and was proven wrong. I also said that I was expecting Ohio State to lose one of their opening two games with their true freshman QB. The Buckeyes lost to Virginia Tech and were playing even with Navy until their athletes pulled away. That loss I thought would knock them out of the hunt, but they rebounded nicely to make it. Before the Braxton Miller injury I considered the Big 10 a toss-up between Ohio State and Michigan State. Post injury I saw that loss and maybe a few more. Great job by the Buckeyes this year at handling adversity. The Pac 12 race I predicted to be the tightest because I thought UCLA would be a tad better and picked the Bruins to win. However, I realized the Ducks would be good and thought they would just miss out. Those Ducks had a great season and will be playing my Noles in the Rose Bowl.

After weeks of controversy and predictions from the committee and college football fans everywhere, I think the committee mostly got it right. While I would have liked to see Baylor over Ohio State, Baylor did not play a conference championship and was a co-champion while Ohio State won the Big 10 outright. The order of the teams is not right as the only undefeated team is #3, but the teams are fine and I like every other fan am excited for this playoff.

Let's start with the Rose Bowl...

Rose Bowl

Jan. 1 5 PM ESPN

Oregon v. Florida State

The Seminoles are undefeated and have won 29 straight games. No matter how you slice it, what they have done in this run is incredible. This team has not lost in the calendar year 2013 or 2014 and there is nothing anyone can do about that. Every Florida State fan should live in the moment and enjoy that fact. These Noles are on one of the most historic runs in college football history and a win in this game would be their 30th straight victory.

Interesting note in this one is that the Noles first game in 2014 was at the Rose Bowl and their second game was in Dallas. If the Noles win the Rose Bowl on New Years Day, their first game of 2015 will be at the Rose Bowl and their second game will be in Dallas. It is funny the cycles that exist in college football.

Now, to the game....Marcus Mariota has had an outstanding season and nobody is arguing with his Heisman run, but let's not forget the teams he has done it against. This guy faces very poor pass defense in the Pac 12. In fact, there is only one top 86 pass defense on Marcus Marriota's schedule. The Stanford Cardinal is ranked #7 in pass defense. In that game he wasn't having a 300 yard game and threw an interception. Every other defense he faced was ranked 87 or lower against the pass. Yes, he had a great season, but those numbers were inflated a little bit and FSU has a better secondary than this team usually faces. It should be interesting to see how this offense matches up with the Seminoles defense. Oregon's offense is basically Georgia Tech's with a passing threat and if Mariota can get the linebackers in coverage, he can have a big day. The secondary though is better than that of what Oregon has faced so they will have to exploit the lack of depth FSU has at linebacker. This is huge for the Heisman trophy winner's draft stock. Decimate the Seminoles D and guarantee a top 10 pick. Struggle and have teams second guess themselves on selecting you.

When FSU has the ball, they get to play Oregon's defense which is inferior to most that they have played. FSU has played 5 top 15 defenses (Clemson, Louisville, Florida, Boston College, and Miami) while Oregon is not even close to that. In fact, Oregon's defense is ranked 81 behind pretty much every team Florida State has played. This is not to mention that Florida State has had 3 weeks to prepare for Oregon and Jameis Winston skipped the Heisman ceremony to prepare and watch film. From the awards circuit last year, Winston gained 20 pounds and wasn't able to prepare as well as he has this time. Now, while Marriota is doing all the traveling, Winston is plotting and getting ready. He also got that look in his eye during the Georgia Tech game that had been missing the rest of this season, but was apparent last year. This guy is ready. His WRs are healthy and he got 3 weeks to work out with the true freshmen receivers and gain a little chemistry. Winston is ready to go off. Add in the emergence of Dalvin Cook and it will be very tough for Oregon to stop this offense. FSU really wants to get to 30 and Jameis Winston just wins. You have to kind of expect him to win again at this point. I know I am not betting against him.

Another factor that has come up that will aid the chances of FSU's success is that Oregon's top DB had a season ending injury in bowl prep practice. All-American Ifo Ekpre-Olomu suffered a devastating knee injury and will not play. While that really sucks and I wish he was okay it does effect the game. Oregon cannot cover Florida State without him and this game could get ugly. It will absolutely be a shootout and Oregon needs to hope Florida State either has a slow start or has just as much trouble stopping their offense. I am very excited for this one tomorrow night...
Florida State 63 - Oregon 42

Sugar Bowl

Jan. 1 8:30 PM ESPN

Alabama v. Ohio State

Alabama is the favorite in this one and the favorite to win the title period. They have been there before and had success. The Crimson Tide have also dominated recruiting in recent years. Just based on their recruiting success and always being #1 in recruiting, one would expect the Tide to be in the top spot. However, there are some factors that make this game not as much of a sure thing as you would think. Alabama is 5-8 against the spread this season while Ohio State is 8-5 against the spread. The Tide is favored by 9.5 points and Ohio State could cover easily. The question is will they? More importantly the question is, can they win it outright? For that answer we need to look deeper into the match-up.

This is about as good as it gets in college football. You have the two coaches that most consider the best at least in the x's and o's department. Meyer won 2 National Championships at Florida and Saban has won 4 (3 at Bama, 1 at LSU). The incredible 6 National Championships between these two coaches is an absolutely amazing job at coaching by each. The two have met up 3 times against each other with Meyer winning the first match-up and Saban winning the next two. In fact, Saban is only one of 4 active coaches who has bested Meyer multiple times. However, Meyer is one of very few coaches able to prepare with multiple weeks as well as Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide. Urban Meyer is 7-2 in bowl games for a .772 Winning Percentage. He is 4-1 in BCS level bowls, with his only loss coming to Clemson last season. Meanwhile, Nick Saban has a 8-7 record in bowls for a .533 winning percentage. He is 5-2 in BCS level bowls. While it is true that you don't want to face Nick Saban with multiple weeks to prepare, it may be more true to say that about Urban Meyer. With multiple weeks to prepare and coming off of bye weeks, Meyer has been absolutely fantastic.

Sure, Meyer can flex his muscle as a coach, but the key here will be whether his team has anywhere near the talent to compete with Alabama. At the end of the day, they just don't have the horses and I don't think the extra prep time will be enough to compete with the much more talented Alabama squad. The Buckeyes are down to their third string QB and have an offensive coordinator that is leaving for a head coaching gig at Houston. Those are tough things to overcome when you are playing a squad this talented. Any distractions are negatives in a game of this magnitude and that is not good for Ohio State.
Don't underestimate Meyer coming up clutch in the big game. There is also the chance that they get to Blake Sims and force him to make mistakes. If Ohio State can force Sims to make mistakes and make Sims beat them, they have a good shot. That is their chance. Sims plays well and it is a blowout, but if he plays poorly, the Buckeyes have a chance. At the end of the day, expect Saban to pull out the victory.

Saban and the rest of the country will get what they want....The FSU-Alabama showdown is coming. Saban against his former offensive coordinator.
Alabama 35 - Ohio State 24

National Championship Game

Jan. 12 8:30 PM ESPN

Florida State v. Alabama

This game is one that has seemed destined to happen for about 3 years. In 2012, the Seminoles choked blowing games against NC State and Florida. The following year it was Alabama's turn blowing a game against Auburn. FSU was much better than Alabama in 2013, but it was still the match-up everybody wanted to see. Now, this season it will finally happen, assuming both teams win their semi-final match-ups on their superior talent. Everybody wants the Saban-Fisher match-up and we should finally be getting it. This game will get serious ratings and everyone wants to see how Fisher does against his former boss.

I love that picture of the three coaching legends. These guys are close, but make no mistake about how badly these two want to beat each other. Not just to be National Champion, but this game has a tremendous effect on the future of college football. Alabama will be expected to win and if the lines opened today are a projected 9 point favorite. FSU will be riding a 30 game winning streak if they get to this one.The storyline entering this game couldn't be much better. There is only one thing that could make this more interesting and that would be if Jakob Coker beat out Blake Sims at QB.
Speaking on Blake Sims and QB, the QB position is by far FSU's biggest edge. The Seminoles have a guy that has never lost a game and is considered historically great by many. While the Crimson Tide have a guy that is their biggest chance of losing. There is absolutely no comparison of the QBs in this game. Jameis is simply much better. FSU also has more talent in the secondary than Alabama so I would give that edge to the Noles as well. The passing game edge has to go to FSU.

They may have the edge in the passing game, but Alabama has an edge up front. Many believe that Alabama has a huge edge here, but I don't think it is that big. FSU will likely have Eddie Goldman and Nile Lawrence-Stample back for the playoff and that difference should not be understated. The Noles also have allowed only 2 sacks in the past four games. Since, the switch of Cameron Erving to center and Roderick Johnson to LT this line has been fantastic. Johnson hasn't been going against scrubs either, in the Florida game, he face Donte Fowler. Playing in just a handful of games, Roderick Johnson was able to be named to the Freshman All-American Team. While I give Alabama the edge here, it is a very small edge.
I also give Alabama an edge with their running game. That edge is very small though as well because FSU has been running the ball much better lately. Dalvin Cook is an absolute superstar in the making and will likely be a huge factor in this game.
Alabama is much better at linebacker, but the Noles have a solid starting group. FSU just seriously lacks depth at the LB position.
At the end of the day this will be a dogfight and will be what everyone is hoping for, but I just can't see Alabama stopping Jameis Winston. I don't see anyone denying this kid his destiny. He is supposed to win out in college football. He is the best there is in college football and he will not lose a college game. The supporting cast is too strong and the Noles have been too disrespected to fail. Sure, they could lose due to all the parity this year, but this is the best team and it seems to be their destiny. The most talent, the best team, the most battle tested, these Noles are ready. Jameis Winston is ready and I cannot wait. This passing game is too good to be denied.
Florida State 56 - Alabama 42

Finish the mission. Add to the hardware. Make it 31 straight and leave no doubt. Florida State Football. Go Noles!

-Noland

100 Greatest Coaches of All-Time (100-91)

A few days ago, I outlined the criteria for my countdown of the 100 greatest coaches of all-time. You should check that out if you have not already so that you know how I would be calculating this impressive list of coaching candidates. While it is difficult to compare different eras, sports and levels of competition, it is a very interesting debate and everyone has their opinion. Here you can see mine and justification for it. So, enjoy the list of 100 greatest coaches. 

Today, we start with our first ten coaches on the countdown.

100. John Calipari

Career College Coaching Record: 548-171 (.762 winning percentage)

NBA Coaching Record: 72-112 (.391 winning percentage)

Coach Calipari was one I struggled a lot with whether or not he belonged on the list. Cal was a complete failure in the NBA and has had numerous sanctions everywhere he has won other than Kentucky. He has never finished below second though in the SEC at Kentucky and has a championship and a runner-up. He might be the best recruiter in any college sport as well. So, it was difficult to figure out where Calipari belonged on the list.

Ultimately, I decided to include him because of his college success. He is by far the hardest coach to measure on this list because of the previous sanctions and his failed NBA career. Absolutely, he belongs on this list though. He made UMASS and Memphis threats to win the National Title. There may have been some shenanigans involved, but he still did it. Nothing has been proven at Kentucky and they are always a threat to win currently. That says something. He belongs, but because of the sanctions and lack of success at the NBA level he will stay here at number 100. If it turns out he is dirty at Kentucky than he doesn't belong on the list.

99. Buck Showalter

Career Record As Manager: 1,167-1,100 (.515 Winning Percentage)
That record is through April 9 of this year. The Orioles are currently in 1st Place of the American League at 55-45 which is 10 games above .500.

Due to winning percentage alone, you probably don't think Buck Showalter belongs on this list, but you would be wrong. Look at what the guy has done to turn around teams. The Yankees were last place before Showalter arrived. If you can believe it, Showalter brought the historic Yankees back to prominence. During the 1994 season, Showalter had the Yankees in 1st place and as the World Series favorites, until the baseball strike happened which unfortunately caused some damage for Showalter in New York. The strike not performance eventually lead to Showalter being fired from the Yankees. He made the playoffs in 1995 with New York as a wild card.

Showalter then managed the expansion Diamondbacks who had the NL West's top record in his second season with the team (1999). That team won 100 games in its second year of existence and went 250-236 in its first 3 years due to Showalter's leadership. Somehow though, he was fired again and the Diamondbacks won the following year.

He had another short layoff from the game before taking the job with Texas in 2002. The Texas Rangers also were last place the year before Showalter took over. The team traded Alex Rodriguez after his first season with the team and they had a massive improvement surprising everybody. Showalter won the Manager of the Year in that second season. He was fired after 4 seasons in Texas though and this is considered his least successful managerial stint.

Finally, he started coaching the Orioles and fans like myself are still thrilled to have Buck. When Showalter took over midseason 2010, the Orioles were a joke. The record was 32-73 and by far the worst in baseball. Once Showalter came in the Orioles turned the tide. During the stretch where Buck was in charge, the Orioles had the 2nd best record in baseball at 34-23. That is one dramatic turnaround. The 2011 season was okay, but it was the 2012 season that Orioles fans will never forget. I will never forget it because my son wasn't even a year old yet and got to see the Orioles win playoff games! That's right Buck Showalter ended the Orioles streak of 14 losing seasons and got them into the playoffs. This was a job that nobody wanted and Joe Girardi turned down. Buck not only took the job, but did the impossible.

Now, Buck doesn't have a ring which prevents him from being higher, but his success at turning teams around has been remarkable. Also, his team is currently in 1st place.

98. Don Nelson

Career Coaching Record: 1335-1063 (.557 Winning Percentage)

Don Nelson has the most wins all-time of any NBA Coach, so he has to be on the list somewhere. The debate comes about where to put him. Winning all those game made him a three time coach of the year which absolutely helps his case. However, the guy never coached a serious contender. Nelson never went past the conference semifinals and had a playoff winning percentage of less than .500. This guy clearly belongs on this list because of the long successful career with the most wins in NBA history, but he belongs no higher than 98.

97. Urban Meyer

Career Coaching Record: 128-25 (.837 winning percentage)

Urban Meyer has won two National Championships and came dangerously close to another one at Utah. Recently, while Ohio State was on probation he led that team to a 12-0 record as well. The man is a heck of an X's and O's coach. Perhaps the best in the country today. He made Utah a great program that eventually led that team moving to the Pac-12. He also has appeared in 5 BCS Bowl Games in just 13 years of coaching. Only one of those BCS games was a loss (the most recent Orange Bowl against Clemson). A fantastic resume that includes more championships and a higher winning percentage than John Calipari. We all know the SEC is much tougher in football than basketball too.

However, I have to knock Urban Meyer down for the program he ran at Florida. He literally let players get away with anything and may have covered up some serious crimes. One Tim Tebow does not change all of that. From all indications, Aaron Hernandez murdered people while in school at Florida and there is some discussion as to whether or not Urban Meyer may have interfered with that investigation. Besides that though, just look at Riley Cooper and the Pouncey brothers and the poor examples they became under Urban's leadership. At least 31 players were arrested in five seasons at Florida for Urban Meyer. Since he let the inmates run the asylum in a fashion never seen before in major athletics, he has to be knocked down a few pegs.

96. Tom Coughlin

College Career Coaching Record: 37-28-3
NFL Career Coaching Record: 158-130 (.549 Winning Percentage)

If I had made this list prior to 2007 there is no way that Tom Coughlin makes this list. He would not even come close, but the guy has been a consistent winner everyone he has gone. Coughlin didn't win championships in college, but he was very successful at Boston College. An upset of #1 Notre Dame happened during Coughlin's tenure at BC. This guy is credited by many as being the coach that turned Boston College into the consistent winner that it was for the 90s and much of the 2000s.

In Coughlin's pro career, there is similar success. He has been to the playoffs 9 times in an 18 year career averaging a playoff appearance every other season. The guy has two rings and a .632 playoff winning percentage. With the Giants, that playoff winning percentage increases to .727. He remains the only coach to knock off Belichick and Brady in the Super Bowl. All of that is quite impressive. What is more impressive is that his success with Jacksonville was with an expansion team. Coughlin had 4 playoff appearances in his 8 years with the Jacksonville Jaguars. During the 11 seasons since Coughlin has left, the Jaguars have managed only 2 playoff appearances. There is a consistent trend of success with Tom Coughlin when it comes to coaching.

95. Davey Johnson

Career Managerial Record: 1372-1071 (.562 Winning Percentage)

A career winning percentage of .562 is quite good especially when you consider where Johnson has been. While Johnson was a member of the Orioles, they enjoyed their only success of my lifetime until very recently. The Orioles were awful from 1984-2011 with the exception of the two years that they had Davey Johnson and one additional season. During those two years, the Orioles actually made the playoffs. Only one other time during that time did they have a contending team and that was in 1989.

In 2012, Davey Johnson led the Nationals to their first division title since 1981 (while the team was still the Montreal Expos). The fact that he was able to break the string of dominance by the Atlanta Braves was quite remarkable. He really helped to turn that franchise around.

However, Davey's greatest success came managing the New York Mets. When Johnson took over the Mets, they had not won a pennant in 11 seasons. He won 90 games in each of his first five seasons in New York. No other National League manager has ever accomplished that feat in their first five seasons with a team. He even led the Mets to the 1986 World Series Title (yes, in the Buckner series). Johnson is still the winningest manager in Mets history.

94. Nolan Richardson

NCAA Head Coaching Record: 508-206 (.711 Winning Percentage)

Younger people today might know Richardson for his three positions post retirement. When he finished with the Arkansas Razorbacks, he coached the Panamanian National Team from 2005-2007, followed by a stint with the Mexican National Team from 2007-present. Richardson also coached the WNBA's Tulsa Shock from 2009-2011 upon request. However, this brilliant coach most success came while coaching the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Richardson was fantastic with the Razorbacks. This team won the 1993-1994 National Championship and made several deep runs in the tournament. He would coach Arkansas for 17 seasons and make tournament appearances in 15 of those seasons. The only seasons he did not make the tournament were his first and last seasons (he was replaced mid-season during his last season). 13 of those 15 tournament appearances were for the big dance the NCAA tournament. Richardson would also make a final four and an elite eight appearance with Arkansas. Since his departure in 2002, Arkansas has yet to make it past the second round of the NCAA tournament. They have only made the tournament three times post-Richardson.

Before he coached the Razorbacks, Richardson also had success with Tulsa of the Missouri Valley Conference. During his first season as a major college coach, Nolan Richardson won the NIT championship with Tulsa. He made a postseason tournament in each of his five seasons at Tulsa. These postseason appearances included three trips to the NCAA tournament. He won the conference regular season title twice with Tulsa including a season where he won the regular and post-season titles. Richardson would win three conference tournaments in addition to all this other success at Tulsa eventually leading to him getting the Arkansas job.

In total during 22 seasons of coaching, Nolan Richardson made the postseason 20 times. One of those 22 seasons wasn't even a full season either.

93. Vince Dooley

Career Coaching Record: 201-77-10 (.723 Winning Percentage)

Coach Dooley had an extremely successful run with the Georgia Bulldogs from 1964-1988. It was a run filled with winning as the Bulldogs had only one losing season under Dooley and that was a 5-6 campaign. This run also included a 104-42-4 record in the incredibly difficult SEC. The Bulldogs won that conference 6 times under Dooley. Georgia has won 14 conference championships total, so Dooley has nearly half of those championships. Two of those championships came before 1920 and before Georgia was in the SEC. You take those two out and Dooley has half of the SEC championships won at Georgia. He also has half of Georgia's National Championships. Dooley led Georgia to the 1980 National Championship over Notre Dame. The only other championship from Georgia came during the 1942 season. Dooley really turned Georgia into a college football power.

92. Paul Mainieri

Career Coaching Record: 1224-641-8 (.656 Winning Percentage)

The LSU baseball coach has also had success at Notre Dame, Air Force, and St. Thomas. He has been coaching since 1983 and won more than 1000 games. LSU won Coach Mainieri a much deserved national championship in 2009. This team and this coach really earned a championship. He has only been to the College World Series 4 times, but he has captured that elusive championship. Mainieri has 2 regular season titles at LSU and 5 tournament titles. At Notre Dame, he captured 4 regular season Big East and 5 postseason titles. This guy has also won numerous coach of the year awards and is considered one of the best in the country. He also produces a great deal of MLB talent including the future ace of the Baltimore Orioles, Kevin Gausman.

91. Bob Stoops

Career Coaching Record: 160-39 (.804 Winning Percentage)

I actually feel like I may have underranked Stoops given the performance of Oklahoma football, but we will see. Stoops has another title contender heading into 2014 as well and he could shoot up this list with a championship. However, we have to go on the body of work at hand and not predict the future when talking about all-time greats.

Bob Stoops won the National Championship in 2000 beating my beloved Seminoles. That Oklahoma team started a downward trend for Florida State that they did not recover from until Jimbo Fisher took over as head coach. However, despite that they unfairly get labeled as choke artists in big games. They do have a losing record in BCS games, but they have been to the 2nd most BCS games. They are actually tied for the most technically since Ohio State was forced to vacate one of their appearances. Stoops also is the first and only coach to ever win all 4 BCS bowl games. You cannot be a choke artist and accomplish that feat. Finally Bob Stoops has 8 Big 12 championships in 15 years as Oklahoma head coach. More than half of his seasons have resulted in championships in the conference that holds the richest athletic program in the country. Texas has the most money and the biggest budget, but they could only manage to go 5-9 against Coach Stoops. Texas has never had back-to-back Big 12 titles in this period of time and neither has any other Big 12 school. Heck, Texas A&M won a Big 12 title in 1998 (the year before Stoops) and hasn't won since, they even left the conference eventually. Oklahoma has dominated the Big 12 under Stoops.

-Noland

Why the Florida Gators Stink

That is not the actual title of the sportingnews article, but I like it better. The once popular magazine and website had an article about why the demise of the Florida football program happened. They seemed to place most of the blame on Urban Meyer. It is a pretty interesting read so I recommend you check it out.

Several things stand out. You cannot let the inmates run the asylum and that is apparently what happened. You also can't sell your soul for winning. If winning is all that matters, you will lose yourself along the way. This could be why Meyer had so many health problems towards the end in Gainesville. It also is a horrible reflection on Urban Meyer if true. Especially if he is trying to negatively recruit against Florida and a mess he helped create in order to get recruits at Ohio State. If Meyer is truly doing that than it shows a complete lack of class.

It also shows that for some reason certain schools do not seem to get negative attention. Can you imagine if FSU had at least 30 players arrested in just 6 seasons? Before you go insulting Bobby Bowden think about how long he was at FSU. Meyer was at UF for 6 seasons and had over 30 players arrested, that is deplorable. He had special rules for some athletes, that is also deplorable.

This article also makes Percy Harvin out to be the biggest prima donna in the NFL. Harvin looks like the most selfish brat to put on a football jersey in this article. There is no justification for how he acted if true. It helps allow you to see one reason the Vikings have gone downhill since Harvin's arrival.

The faking injuries to cover up failed drug tests is the biggest blow to UF if true. That is just blatant disregard for the law and the student body of Florida. Absolutely horrible. You need to read the article it is crazy stuff. Somehow I don't see ESPN giving this one too much coverage though. Don't think ESPN will do too much investigating.

-Noland