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Ex-Hawaii football coach June Jones has agreed to a five year deal worth about 2 million per year to coach the Southern Methodist University Mustangs of Conference USA. It wasn’t news that Jones was going to leave and on such a high note as a BCS appearance. There is no denying Jones did a great job at Hawaii after taking over a team that went 0-12 and turning that around to several winning seasons and a BCS appearance. June Jones brought that crazy pass game that seems to work in college football against teams with less speed and athletic talent and Hawaii excelled at it with lots of big yard passers and record breakers along the way.

What he brings to SMU is the same passing attack but the team already has that with sophomore quarterback Justin Willis already throwing for over 2,900 yards and 25 touchdowns. The June Jones’ passing attack will still work here as he already has a pass happy offense and is in Conference USA where the whole league is really offense minded with the exception of maybe Southern Miss. The only question is, can Jones’ offense outscore other high scoring teams in the league like Tulsa, Houston, East Carolina, Central Florida, and Memphis. Jones should definitely improve on the teams record but that is not hard as the team went 0-8 in conference play and 1-11 overall.

The hard part will be tweaking the offense to be more productive and getting a decent defense that can stop big plays and third down conversions and that will all depend on recruiting. Jones did a great job of getting some decent players from Hawaii and the closest states to him. With Texas being a football goldmine for coaches, Jones should be able to recruit some talented players. SMU definitely hired the right coach but should limit it’s expectations as Conference USA is not a two team league like the WAC where only Hawaii and Boise State are very competitive. A BCS bowl berth is most likely not in the cards but seasons of winning records and Bowl appearances could definitely be seen.

Rick Neuheisel, former coach for the Washington Huskies has been named head coach of his alma mater UCLA in a 5 year deal worth about 1.25 million annually. Neuheisel was a quarterback for UCLA in 1984. He has been spending the last couple of years in the NFL and is currently the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens.

For those who don’t know,  Neuheisel was a very good coach in Washington with a 33-16 record, 4 bowl trips, and a Rose Bowl title. What ended his career there and what upset many fans was his participation in a betting pool on the NCAA basketball tournament. He sued for wrongful termination and left Washington and coaching with a messy ending.

UCLA has a good coach in Neuheisel as shown by the numbers in his tenure at Washington and could bring the team to some prominence. So he played in an NCAA basketball tournament pool, that is not a big deal and many people do it everywhere. It is not like he bet on college football or basketball, it was just a pool. Rules are rules but to tarnish the guys name is not fitting. Neuheisel should make nice comeback to the coaching in the PAC 10.

After a controversial season, Joe Paterno, one of the greatest coaches in college football, has done it again by beating Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl 24-17, which makes it his 23rd career bowl win and 372 career victory. I do not know how this man does it. He is 81 and still has he energy and stamina to coach this young kids and run along the sideline through the plays as well. He is truly a legendary coach like Bear Bryant and Bobby Bowden.

Paterno has coached 500 games and has won over 320 games which gives him a winning percentage over 75%. That is a great record and it is going to be a sad day in Happy Valley if he decides to retire. Football is one of those sports where great coaches are never forgotten and JoePa will always be mentioned whenever there is talk about college football coaches or Penn State. Congratulations coach and keep on rolling.

The Michigan Wolverines have been looking for a coach and Rich Rodriguez has been selected. Rodriguez brings a winning record from West Virginia and has made two BCS bowl appearances in the last 3 years. His vaunted spread offense has made the Mountaineers a dominant force in the Big East conference. However, it probably will be as easy in the Big Ten where there are great teams and teams that are improving quickly like Illinois. Rodriguez brings a spread offense that requires speed and talent but with highlight of playing for Michigan, it should be hard to recruit some talented players.  The bad thing about Rodriguez coming to Michigan is timing as he leaves players he recruited in West Virginia without a coach in 2008 Fiesta Bowl.

Atlanta Falcons Coach Bobby Petrino has resigned and it is about time as it did not seem that he could effectively coach at the NFL level with or without Vick. Even though he did not have the players to finish great, he just didn’t seem comfortable leading the team and made some terrible decisions. The news is Petrino is set to take over the Arkansas Razorback head coaching job from former coach Houston Nutt and is set to make somewhere around 3 million per year.

Petrino belongs in college as his offense and coaching fit more at that athletic level. It will be hard for him to run the same scheme he had in Louisville as Arkansas does not have any potential quarterback that can throw the ball well. Since Matt Jones left, the Razorbacks have relied heavily on the run and the teams passing game is very weak. It will be interesting what Petrino can do with a team that will loose both of its top runningbacks and receiver to the NFL.

The 2008 BCS National Championship Game features the 11-1 Ohio State Buckeyes and the 11-2 LSU Tigers. This is interesting as LSU was expected out of the championship game after the overtime loss to Arkansas but the team managed to jump past Georgia and fend of hot teams like Oklahoma, USC, and Virginia Tech. LSU has one of the tougher schedules in the nation and has played some quality opponents. Ohio State has used a weaker schedule which includes teams like Youngstown State, Kent State, and Akron but has won the games it needed to win to be in the BCS National Championship by beating Purdue, Penn State, and Michigan. A playoff would definitely show the weakness of the Buckeyes but for now they are contenders for the BCS championship. This games is about the LSU speed and defense versus that powerful Ohio State offensive line and the hard, powerful Ohio State team.

For those that think LSU should not be in the championship game, you have to look at the intangibles. A playoff system would allow red hot teams to win or teams who are coming back from injuries like USC to show how good their teams really are which makes it more fair. However for BCS numbers, LSU deserves a spot by playing 7 ranked teams, losing only against one. The team has had some coaching issues but with Les Miles announcing he will come back, the team was able to win the SEC conference championship and bounce back into the BCS title game, giving its fans a crazy roller coaster ride of ups and downs. Matt Flynn and the LSU defense has been a cornerstone for the team but Ryan Perrilloux was able to win the SEC title for them. LSU is all about speed and a fast game with lots of talent at all positions. The team has great speed, talent, and a good defense and should make this game very interesting.

Ohio State is questioned for its schedule and has not beaten anyone ranked under #20 in the polls at the time. Jim Tressel has his offense and defense playing tough and did not let down against Michigan after the loss to Illinois which gave the team the opportunity to play after some major upsets in a college football year full of them. Ohio State is still a powerful team that hits hard and plays hard. Todd Boeckman and that outstanding offensive line have allowed the offense including runningback Chris Wells and wide receiver Brian Robiskie to reach the endzone. The Ohio State offensive line should control the line of scrimmage in this game as well.

The 2008 All State Sugar Bowl will feature a WAC team in the Hawaii Warriors and a SEC team in the Georgia Bulldogs. The Bulldogs went into the final week ranked #4 behind Ohio State but was surpassed by LSU who was behind them in the polls but won the SEC conference championships. Georgia fans might be upset at this movement as the team was ahead of LSU in the polls and has been extremely hot. The fact that Georgia didn’t play in it’s conference championship probably is what kept them out of the national championship game. The Warriors on the other hand are undefeated in the season and claimed a BCS bowl by ranking #12 or less in the polls.

For the Hawaii Warriors, there is still something to prove even by going 12-0 for the season. Many people are still questioning if the team deserves a spot in a BCS Bowl. This is because the team has the weakest schedule of all BCS teams and many teams in the top 25. Their only quality win is over Boise State who is not as good as they were last year when the team beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. Hawaii has many questionable games where it let opponents score at will and the team was sub-par at best. What the team does have is Colt Brennan and a good corp of receivers who have scored plenty of points. The reason being is that June Jones’ team throws the ball like crazy and has played plenty of weak defense teams. None of the teams they played probably have a defensive rank under 100 except for maybe Boise State.

Georgia on the other hand is one of the hotter team in college football who had a chance to be in the national championship but were denied with the loss to Tennessee and not being able to play in the SEC championship game. The team’s two losses came in a close game against South Carolina and 14 point loss against Tennessee. However, after the Tennessee loss, Georgia has just been red hot by winning the next 6 games with three ranked opponents including #9 Florida. Mark Richt has his players playing with passion after the Florida game field run and Matthew Stafford and Thomas Brown have been playing great.

This game really is two teams with something to prove as the Hawaii Warriors try to prove that they deserve a spot in the BCS bowl and can hang with the big name teams and the Georgia Bulldogs who should feel a little cheated from losing the chance to play in the national championship game and what to prove that they are one of the best teams in college football right now. This could result in Georgia coming out attacking strong and if Colt Brennan does not have time to throw, this game could be a blow out.

The 2008 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will feature a red hot team in the Oklahoma Sooners and a team coming off and upset and knocked out of the national championship game in the West Virginia Mountaineers. I don’t like this matchup because West Virginia is over rated. The team is extremely talented with Pat White and Steve Slayton but the only quality team they have played are South Florida, Cincinnati and Rutgers only of whom South Florida ranked in the top 10. I still do not know how South Florida ranked so high.

West Virginia struggled in both it’s losses and manged only 13 points in it’s first loss and only 7 points in it’s second loss. Their final score in the second loss was 9 points but 2 points came to a safety give to them to end the game. Pat White is also injured but should have enough time to recover before the bowl game. Slayton however is a different story as he only managed 13 attempts for 54 yards against South Florida and a horrible 9 attempts for 11 yards against Pittsburgh. The Mountaineers just cannot throw to win a game and against a daunting Oklahoma defense, this game might be over quickly.

Oklahoma is a 2 loss team but could really be considered a 1 loss team as it lost it’s quarterback in a set back to Texas Tech.  There other loss was a let down to Colorado before the big game between the Texas Loghorns. Sam Bradford is back, Allen Patrick is running as well as he has been, and the Oklahoma defense is picking it up. Oklahoma has been beating teams in a dominating fashion and should have no trouble stopping Pat White. The lack of a great throwing game should allow the Sooner defense to focus on stopping White and Slayton from running all over them which should lead to an easy victory for the Sooners. Rich Rodriguez better have his team ready to play because he is not facing a South Florida, UConn, Pittsburgh, or Rutgers defense but are playing a very tough Sooners defense that can play against some of the higher power offenses.

The 2008 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will be fun to watch as long as Oklahoma does not kill West Virginia. I would have rather seen Oklahoma versus Virginia Tech and Kansas versus West Virginia. That would be two hot dominating teams who both won their conference championships playing against each other and two teams with let downs for the national title playing each other with something to prove.

The 2008 FedEx Orange Bowl will feature a matchup between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Virginia Tech Hokies. This is a weird selection to start as #1 Missouri coming into the week lost it’s conference championship game but beat the Jayhawks. How are the Tigers not playing in this spot?!?!? This is crazy because the #1 team coming into the final game of the season lost to a very good team but gets bumped back to a team they dominated. Sorry Tiger fans I feel your teamed got cheated by the BCS system.

Back to the matchup, this should be a good game as well but with a slight edge to the Hokies who are coming off 5 straight dominate wins against quality opponents while Kansas is coming off a let down against the Missoui Tigers. The two quarterback system seems to be rolling for the Hokies with Sean Glennon and Tyrod Taylor and the defense seems to be ready to play again.

As for Kansas, coach Mark Mangino has done an outstanding job with the team and Todd Reesing always comes to play. Kansas’s schedule has not been the toughest in the nation but it did string together an 11 game winning streak before losing to Missouri. The team should have enough offensive juice to keep up with the Hokies for the first half but may letup if Glennon and the Hokie defensive does a job like it did against it’s last 5 opponents.

This should be a good matchup but the BCS definitely should have the Missouri Tigers here unless the computers would rather not have two similar mascots playing in BCS bowls.

The 2008 Rose Bowl will feature the classic matchup between the PAC-10 and Big Ten when USC plays against Illinois. This should be an interesting game as a very hot USC team with J. Booty and the improved USC defense will face Ron Zook, Juice Williams, and Rashard Mendenhall. Illinois took down Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin and can definitely take down the Trojans in this game. Juice has the talent to make this game interesting and you can be sure Ron Zook will have the team pumped up but. The question is will they have enough juice to beat a USC team who is red hot and running on all cylinder. This was a good choice for the Rose Bowl with Ohio State going to the Championship game.