After watching just bits and pieces of last night’s predictable beatdown at the hands of USC’s Trojans (I was surfing between that game, Oregon vs Oregon State and Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State), I was suddenly jolted with a dose of perspective … or maybe it was more like being hit squarely in the jaw with the cold, hard reality. Whatever it was, ND fans, I’m here to talk you off that ledge you’re about to jump off of. Don’t do it! Think of your friends and loved ones … there’s so much more to life on autumn weekends than whether the Irish win or lose a football game. Besides … Notre Dame doesn’t even have a major college football program … so why be upset in the first place?
That’s right, fans, ND doesn’t have football anymore. Somewhere post-Holtz, university leaders lost the recipe for football. Since ND 
almost invented college football … or at least winning college football … this is akin to the Canadians losing the recipe for ice. It just doesn’t make any sense at all. But it is what it is, and you just need to accept it. Meanwhile, fans of the university can take pride in the fact that there are other successful sports on campus. Notre Dame teams in the Top 10 currently include hockey, both men’s and women’s basketball … and last but certainly not least … the #1 women’s soccer team is going for another national championship. Even baseball flirts with the Top 10 occasionally. So … who needs football anyway?!?!? Duke has gone without a football team for a couple hundred years and they still have fans.
Okay. So you’re not into this denial thing. Instead, YOU want to know how ND football is gonna be fixed and will they fire Coach Weis. Well, Dr Wally is here to tell ya what ND should and should not do. They should take their sweet time to find THE RIGHT GUY who will take the job. This won’t be easy and ND’s batting average at hiring football coaches is terrible since Dan Devine stepped down. Faust, Davie, Willingham, and Weis were all mediocre to crappy. Since 1981, only Lou Holtz was a home run hire. ND cannot afford another mistake, but they better not fire Weis without having a willing and QUALIFIED coach to take his place immediately. So what makes a coach qualified and who might be out there fitting this description? We need someone who has HEAD COACHING experience coming in, preferably with success at the college Div 1 level, or with success in the NFL. It must be somebody who can connect with and motivate 17-22 year olds. But being a successful HEAD coach before getting to ND is precisely where the ND administration has failed in the past (Faust, Davie, Weis). Connecting with young athletes is where the successful part of “successful head coach” comes into play.
So who fits this description and might be tantalized by the opportunity to put ND back on the football map? Well … Dr Wally is not heading up an executive search firm, so research here is weak or incomplete at best. Here’s a short list of coaches who might qualify: Chris Peterson (Boise State), Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern), Bill Cowher (former Steelers coach), Mike Leach (Texas Tech), Jeff Jagodzinski (Boston College), Brian Kelly (Cincinatti) and Paul Johnson (Navy, now Ga Tech). Please send more nominations … we can have a lottery!
Now, what ND should NOT do is fire Weis without having a very capable person ready to take the job and step in essentially immediately. ND has got to keep the recruiting pipeline going, and this is about the ONLY thing Weis is doing well. Even for only one more season of good recruiting and poor playing, if that’s the time it takes to lock-in Charlie’s qualified successor, at least the new coach will inherit a roster full of talent. This was not the case when Charlie took over. Just make sure you get the right guy this time … don’t hastily pull the trigger and succumb to outside pressures … do your homework and ace this test.
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Now … onto the BCS mess. All the talk yesterday was about the apparent likelihood that Oklahoma would jump Texas in the BCS standing to be released later today. That will certainly happen unless the pollsters (Harris poll and Coaches) come to their senses and move Texas ahead of Oklahoma with their votes. Ever since Texas beat Oklahoma (on a neutral field), then Texas should always be ahead of Oklahoma in the polls if they both have identical records … and play similar schedules. Of course, the Big 12 screwed up when they failed to proclaim that head to head results should be the tie-breaker to determine who goes to the conference championship game. But the point remains that, in a system without true playoffs, head to head games have got to carry the day when it comes to ranking similar teams. Right now, Texas and OU have identical 11-1 records while playing essentially the same schedule. Texas beat Oklahoma 45-35 in October. Texas should be ranked one spot higher than OU. Case closed. Why does the rest of the world not see this logic?
Other injustices about to be committed: Boise State has just completed another 12-0 season … it’s third 
undefeated season in the last 5 years. When the BCS rankings come out later today, they will be ranked about 8th or 9th. Not sure why they are so far behind Utah, but that’s another issue. If anyone saw Oregon spank Oregon State in Corvaliss yesterday, you should note that Boise State went into Eugene and beat the 9-3 Ducks earlier this year. BSU is one heckuva team and should be awarded a trip to one of the big 5 BCS bowls. And they should certainly go ahead of a two loss Ohio State team!!! Unfortunately, BSU will likely get snubbed.
Here’s my Top 5 (what the BCS rankings should be based on “body of work” this season):
1) Alabama
2) Texas
3) Oklahoma
4) Florida
5) USC
Here’s who I think the 5 “best teams” are right now in order:
1) Florida (with a healthy Percy Harvin)
2) USC
3) Texas
4) Oklahoma
5) Alabama
Have a great week and send me your nominations for the next Notre Dame coach!
Wally,
A Helmet Sticker effort! Kel had to find out what I was laughing at. Hey – it’s only been a few decades since Duke had a competitive football team – not centuries. 🙂
Add Skip Holtz to the list of potential candidates. Maybe he can get his pa to serve as an adviser.
No arguments from me with your top 5 teams, but head to head SC would probably take Florida.
Excellent point about head-to-head ruling the day in such an imperfect system, Wally.
The Big 12 does use it as a tiebreaker, it’s just that it can’t break the three team tie between Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech: Tech beat UT, UT beat OU, OU beat Tech.
I agree that Texas got screwed. With Texas Tech getting routed, they get thrown out of the argument. Therefore, Texas over Oklahoma should be enough in the voters’ eyes.
I think Utah deserves to be ranked higher than Boise State. Their conference is tougher, and they beat TCU and BYU…two impressive wins vs. BSU’s one.
Wally – Completely agree with Texas getting screwed in the BCS standings. I am sorry, but if you have the same record and Texas BEAT Oklahoma – how can they not be ranked ahead. This makes about as much sense as Al Davis returning from the dead.
Speaking of Al Davis – how the rumors that Monte Kiffin will join his son Lane at Tennessee? Can you imagine SEC quarterbacks trying to solve his defensive schemes? That sudden becomes a HUGE recruiting toll for young Kiffin. You want to learn how to play defense under a successful NFL coordinator. Come to Knoxville.
Perhaps it was my outdated TV with its curved screen that cannot properly capture the formatting of all the graphics. But did anyone else find the scores on the ticker at the bottom of the screen a little difficult to comprehend yesterday. I don’t know how many double takes I did trying to figure out if the score was from a football game or a basketball game. 100 points in a football game? Why would any AD in his right mind hire a defensive coordinator from the Big 12?
I did a “little” write-up on my BCS playoff idea over on my blog. I’d be interested in what you guys think:
https://left-field.blogspot.com/2008/11/my-bcs-solution.html
So as not to take the discussion away from here, if you have feedback, make your comments here.
Thanks,
Chas
Chas —
I love talk of a real CFB playoff, so my general feedback to your scheme is positive. However, I’ve thought about this a lot and have always come to the conclusion that an 8 team format is “best” for now. Here’s why:
1) it’s the easiest to implement because it involves the least amount of “extension” to the season for the fewest number of teams, which perhaps solves the university presidents’ biggest beef with a playoff.
2) you can essentially maintain the tradition of the bowl system by staging the 4 big playoff games at the traditional sites … all on New Year’s Day. Imagine a NYD the way it used to be … wall to wall football with 4 games that really mean something: Rose, Orange, Cotton, & Sugar Bowl. 2 games the following week at the Fiesta and Gator Bowl in the Semi’s. Winners of those play for the title during the off-week before Super Bowl.
3) Although it’s not a bad idea using the current BCS system to select the top 8, why not do what the NCAA basketball committee does … shack up 13 guys in a smoke filled room to select and seed the teams based on actual merit from performance during the season.
4) you could have automatic eligibilty based on 5 conference winners from SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10, ACC. Then select 3 at-large teams from the best of the rest.
My thoughts for now. Great topic!
Wally,
You’re probably right about the 8-team format, but I guess I liked the idea of a conference championship getting you a bye.
I love the idea of using 4 New Year’s Day bowls as the quarter-finals. Maybe those should be the only bowls used? That way it doesn’t cut into the # of teams who get to play in bowls. The semi-finals and finals could just be the semi-finals and finals.
I thought about the idea of a selection committee, but I like a more scientific approach, but one that already incorporates people’s opinions.
No automatic eligibility for the Big East? I know they don’t deserve it right now, but they might later. The top conferences are always shifting. What about using a composite BCS rating for each conference, and awarding an automatic bid to the champions of the top 4 conferences, plus 4 at large bids?
Like you said, great discussion.
Chas —
Great idea in your last paragraph, and yes I guess I feel the Big East, right now, isn’t up to snuff. But your idea would solve such biases.
Or, as you say, we could simply have 8 conference champions (BE, MAC, Mtn West, WAC now included), but there would definitely be 2 “deserving” big conference runner-ups left out.
What’s unavoidable is that some deserving team or two gets left out. It doesn’t matter how large you make the field. March Madness selection always has about 3 teams *****ing … #66, 67 and 68!
The important thing is that the winner should be decided on the field with a real playoff. Not by opinions. Versus the way things are today, I don’t think anyone would complain too much if we just let the BCS system determine the top 8 and go from there. I want a meaningful New Years Day back!!!
I like the plan except for the fact that there are 11 conferences in D1A. Either take some of those conferences and remove them from 1A or include them in the picture. Those conferences / teams are at a disadvantage when it comes to selling recruits on the possibility of playing for a title.
Wally has suggested in the past that we need to take baby steps. I understand that, but baby steps widens the gap between the haves and have nots.
11 conferences – each gets a team in the tourney – 5 at-large. 16 teams – 15 games played at 15 different sites. That leaves about 30 more bowls that could be dispersed throughout the usual bowl season for teams that do not qualify for the tournament.
I like Casey’s idea too, maybe even better than my own ideas.
This is well worth the read:
https://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news;_ylt=AqPwz4F4VBlLm0KK7ekeg5ocvrYF?slug=dw-playoff120208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Loved the article. Another upside to a playoff – teams wouldn’t have that inordinate amount of time between games. Someone help me here – didn’t Ohio St. have more than 50 days between games a couple of years ago?
Why don’t you do the Pickin’ Splinters Championship that way? Take the 11 conference champs, let us vote on the 5 at-large bids and the seedings.
hmmmmm…..wow! How does everyone feel about that?
Fantastic article! I’m up for this format for the Pickin’ Slinters Championship…
Wally?
Smitty?
Crossword Pete?
Rey?
ZDubbz?
Whaddya all say?
I’m in. Sounds good to me.
So, if we do it this way, we’ll obviously have to wait until after this weekend’s conference championships: BC – Va Tech, Missouri – Oklahoma, E Carolina – Tulsa, Buffalo – Ball St, Florida – Alabama. USC has to beat UCLA to clinch, right? Does that covers it?
Can you imagine if this scenario were real, and Buffalo upset Ball St, then had to play Bama, Florida or Oklahoma? How long has Buffalo been D1?
So, already in are Cincinnati, Penn St, Utah, Troy, and Boise St.
Good timing. I was just beginning to think of the scenarios.
We will have to vote to seed the teams.
Will we vote on the at-large bids first, then, when we have the 16 teams vote to seed them? The other alternative is to do both at once: tell people to submit their 16 teams in order, subject to the constraint that the 11 champs have to be among the 16.
The only drawback to the latter is that the 5th at-large should probably be seeded higher than 2-4 of the conference champs, but if they’re left off a ballot or two, will this hurt their seeding? That (hypothetical) team is probably one that we could conceivably pick to upset a #5 or #6 seed, but probably not a #1 or #2. Am I making sense or am I over-analyzing?
I need a chalkboard to follow this.
Count me in!! I like the idea.
Anyone notice that Charlie Weis will continue on as ND’s coach? I’m not surprised … they obviously didn’t have the “home run hire” readily available … like Urban Meyer, Jon Gruden, Chris Peterson, et al. The one good thing about this, as previously stated, is that the bountiful recruiting pipeline should continue.
We should all expect a significant shake-up on the coaching staff. The OC will be out, probably the O-line coach is gone and maybe one of the defensive coaches … but not Corwin Brown … he’s good. Oh and maybe the ever popular Strength and Conditioning coach will get the axe too.
We’ll probably never know what Charlie’s “continued employment conditions” are, but you can bet ND better go AT LEAST 10-3 in ’09, including winning a bowl game) and actually compete with USC in that Oct home game. Here’s the ’09 schedule:
S05 NEVADA
S12 @ Michigan
S19 MICHIGAN ST.
S26 @ Purdue
O03 WASHINGTON
O17 SOUTHERN CAL
O24 BOSTON COLLEGE
O31 Washington St. (SA)
N07 NAVY
N14 @ Pittsburgh
N21 CONNECTICUT
N28 @ Stanford
This is not that tough of a schedule … sure there’s 5 very challenging games in there, but there’s also almost 5 that should be gimmees if the coaching staff is doing anything right (big doubt here, right?). With a veteran and talented team next year, they should definitely win 10 regular season games … with good coaching. So here’s the battle cry for ’09:
BETTER WIN 10, YOU BIG FAT HEN. IF YOU LOSE MORE THAN 3, GO STRAIGHT TO THE FIRST TEE. THEN … YOU’LL FOREVER BE JUST AN OC.
Hey, poetry is not my thing …
Wally
Your theory on Charlie’s job security is proving true.
Actually your poetry has merit. 🙂
My Charlie comments are on Tuesdays with Smitty. Let me add, Charlie has the horses, so it’s “produce next year or gone forever I fear” (my lame attempt at poetry, not Wally-esque by any means)! I think 10 wins (including a bowl) is reasonable.