College Football Notebook

[WorkHorse]

TULSA
Tulsa has won 8, 10, 11, 5 and 10 games over the past five years. Last year, Tulsa finished ranked No. 24 in the final AP poll with a 10-3 record. Strong on offense with a ranking of No. 5 in total offense and weak on defense with a rating of 111th. Eight starters are back on an offense that averaged 505 yards per game and 41.4 points per game. Senior quarterback G.J. Kinne, a transfer from Texas is back for his third consecutive season. Last year he passed for 3,650 yards and 31 touchdowns. Tulsa faces a tough road to get back to ten wins this season...mainly a non-conference schedule that includes Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Boise State. With a new head coach coming in, ten wins might be a huge stretch. One thing about Tulsa is they can score points....the other is they are not good at stopping their opponent from scoring (30.3 PPG.) If you like games with a lot of points, keep an eye on Tulsa this season....just might be the ticket.

9/3 at Oklahoma
9/10 at Tulane
9/17 Oklahoma State
9/24 at Boist State
10/1 North Texas
10/15 UAB
10/22 at Rice
11/3 at Central Florida
11/12 Marshall
11/19 at UTEP
11/26 Houston

My take is Tulsa is looking at a 7-8 win season.

[WorkHorse]

SBR has a full press on to promote SOCCER this summer. Hell, I'm a company man and see no need for AMERICAN FOOTBALL to compete with their baby.

Going to take some time off for awhile......see you down the road friends. WH

[BigdaddyQH]

O.K. Workhorse. I will try and run the show. SBR really has no choice. Soccer is the only thing they have going for them this summer. I think there is some kind of big international competition going on, or something like that. The books are getting desperate, and with so many of them being shown the door by U.S. officials, they have to depend more and more on non U.S. players to survive. Remember, SBR is NOT a U.S. Company. I beleive they are now owned by 5 Dimes.

[Wrecktangle]

What the heck? I'm just now starting to ramp up my CFB db effort to capture data from last year for 2011 and now I find WH is vacating because of Soccer? Right now, in two of the "fotbol" forums SBR has started, they have ZERO (as in none, zip, zilch, nada, null) viewers while this forum has 24 and we are still approx. 2 months away from the season opener.

WH, your college football notebook is, hands down, the best college football forum thread on the internet. Please don't leave.

[BigdaddyQH]

I have to agree with Wreck here, Work. Just take a day or two off, and then jump right back in. Do not allow what others do at SBR to influence you. Personally, I would much rather talk about college Football with 10-15 solid posters than 100 people who do not have a clue. Hang in there. If there is anything I can do, just let me know.

[Wrecktangle]

Thanks BD. We need to keep this notebook going.

BTW, this may have been covered earlier but Cal will be playing in AT&T Park (SF Giants baseball park) this season while their old stadium is being renovated. This will be grass turf vice the artificial rug they normally play on. As a result, and with the chaos of adjusting to an unfamiliar park, I don't expect their normal HFA to hold this season.

[Wrecktangle]

One other point, Cal's first "home" game (Fresno State) will be at Candlestick Park a "neutral-site" location since the Giants will be playing at AT&T.

[BigdaddyQH]

It is being rumored that Ohio State Head Coach Fickell will NOT allow the other players involved in "tattoogate" to play for the team this season. According to unconfirmed reports, Fickell told Pryor not to bother coming back.

[jwbama23]

Good for Fickell, at least he is going in and taking a strong stance and gonna try to secure his "dream job" for as long as he can. I like to see a guy like him promoted from within and hopefully go on to do good things.

[valaub04]

just a recruiting update from the state of Alabama. Both AU and bama are poised for MONSTER classes. AU with top 100 player today (TJ Yeldo - RB) and will get another top 100 tomorrow (Ja'quay Williams - WR).

Also - serious, serious chatter that Russell Wilson (former NC State QB) will be in AU soon.

[BigdaddyQH]

The trouble with that is that 80% of thewe kids never make it. Many cannot cut it scholastically. Others will leave on their own accord. Some will get arrested. Some will simply not be very good. These high school rankings mean absolutely NOTHING.

[valaub04]

80% is way WAY too high. I'd rather sign a group of studs than sign a group of mediocre guys who would be decent. Recruiting matters. See: USC, Alabama, FLA, LSU, etc. etc. etc.

[Wrecktangle]

Unfortunately, most types of aggregate evaluation of incoming players turns up little in college and is of marginal value in the pros. I've tried all sorts of systems to little effect. What really seems to matter is the coaching system these kids play in, so evaluation of the head coach and years on the job makes a difference. What does matter is how many returning starters a team has coming back each year. Offense is more important, but you might be surprised how weak the relationships are.

[BigdaddyQH]

Exactly. It is the coaching that matters, not the recruiting. Look at how many 5 star players fail at schools withoout good coaches. Look at former Michigan QB Forcier. He was a #1 can't miss prospect that does not even have a team now. That happens all of the time. Coaching is much more important than what some rag ranks a kid.

[daneblazer]

Mitch Mustain?

[chunk]

Anyone that thinks size and speed doesn't matter in this sport, simply hasn't been paying attention. Generally speaking they are going to be your higher rated recruits and the coaches know exactly where these kids are. There will always be exceptions and surprises.....most of these kids are still developing physically and mentally.

It is, however, very difficult to meld good talent into a cohesive team and it often doesn't reach expectations. Team chemistry(players know and accept their roles) and working together as a unit is huge. Talent doesn't always overcome desire, discipline, and team work. The military academies are a good example of this.

High school football in the south is huge where most of the highly touted recruits come from and guess who gets most of them? There is a reason that the SEC is the top college football conference in the land.

[cant call it]

Players leaving SEC programs (continued)
OLE MISS

• WR Jesse Grandy- The rebels top kick/punt returner will be leaving due to family illness.
• LB Clarence Jackson- After being dismissed in May after being charged with public drunkenness, Jackson is transferring to Jacksonville State, ironically enough. Jackson saw his first bit of playing time when the rebels lost to Jax state.
• DE Delvin Jones-He was also booted for public drunkenness , and I am not sure where he is going.
• QB Nathan Stanley- He is leaving ole miss after finding himself 4th on the depth chart.

[cant call it]

SOUTH CAROLINA

• WR Demario Bennett- He is transferring to Coastal Carolina after not seeing the amount of playing time he thought he was worth.
  

• TE Mike Triglia- I can't find this kid anywhere.

[cant call it]

TENNESSEE

• DT Montori Hughes-Academic issues, violation of team rules.
• CB Ted Meline--I am getting mixed messages here about this kid leaving or staying.
• RB David Oku- Not sure where he is headed but turned out to be not nearly as talented as he was regarded when coming out of high school. Quote from dooley “I’ve seen nothing from him,’’ Dooley said, “other than an inability to make yards.”
• C Cody Pope- I think health problems is making him quite football. Have not seen much info on him this year.
• OL Kevin Revis-He is going to the university of Chattanooga.

[valaub04]

I didn't search long for this but it's a pretty strong correlation. Sure coaching matters, but if you put Vince Lomardi as coach of Vandy they are still going to stink.

http://blog.al.com/solomon/2009/02/reexamining_recruiting_high_te.html

[cant call it]

Valauab , I agree, recruiting matters , but I believe developing(coaching) that talent has more bearing.

Are you in auburn valaub, I will buy you a beer.

[Wrecktangle]

I didn't search long for this but it's a pretty strong correlation. Sure coaching matters, but if you put Vince Lomardi as coach of Vandy they are still going to stink.

http://blog.al.com/solomon/2009/02/r...g_high_te.html

Thanks for the article. I'm going to drill out the data throw it into a correlation scheme and see how high the index is.

I will differ on putting a good coach on a bad team, I have at least 100 examples over the years where good identified coaches moved in and radically improved teams, many times the same season.

[BigdaddyQH]

I think that article clearly shows that coaching, not where some magazine may rank a kid, is what determines success.

[Wrecktangle]

In the next week or so I'm going to regress these rankings at rivals.com along with prior years win%, coaching change and maybe a few other factors I can't think of right now against this year's win%, to see how much of a factor recruiting ranking is.

[BigdaddyQH]

Check the current odds at the Golden Nugget compared to the openers for their College "Games of the Year". I have posted them in that thread. Some huge changes, two being Boise State going from -6 down to -1.5 against Georgia, and Notre Dame going frome +2 to -3 at Michigan.

[cant call it]

espn reporting Minnesota's leading rusher has decided to leave the team. DeLeon Eskridge rushed for 698 yards and 7 td's last year starting 5 games for the gophers. Family issues are the reason he decided to leave.
Minny also loses Senior TE Tiree Eure who played in 11 games last year after transferring from junior college.
Coach Jerry kill said "things just didn't work out for Tiree"

[BigdaddyQH]

The loss of Eure is no big deal, but the loss of Eskridge could be, even though he waw listed as the #2 TB behind Senior Duane Bennett. I wonder if that was the "family issue" that made him decide to leave. Minnesota will be lucky to win more than 3 games this season.

[chunk]

I must admit the outlook for Minny is bleak this year, but I hope that Kill can get them back to respectable in the near future. I like his style.

[WorkHorse]

Men...Thankyou for one hell of a ride. College Football Notebook came a long way because of you guys. (you know who you are). Lack of interest and stupidly by some 'Mods' have us just wanting to go another direction.

Look at the College Football Forum from January 14 til now....hell men, we all did something special and worthy of attention....people were reading us. When you have penny Mods who have agendas navigating something that could be special for a network.....shit happens.

Again, thanks....if you see the name Cloverleaf at another site...say hello.

(some Mods were against College Football from day one)

[chunk]

I can't say that I know the politics behind this, but it's too bad. I felt that once the season got closer that it would have gotten even more interesting here.

[BigdaddyQH]

Well, I guess Workhorse has moved on, so I will attempt to carry this thread forward. It seems as if Oregon paid $25,000 for some useless information to someone named Will Lyles. The information they received for the 2011 season was really for the 2009 season. Oh yea. Did I mention the fact that one of Lyles guys signed with Oregon? Hello Oregon? This is the NCAA calling.

[HoldEmHook!!]

What happened to the contest WH was having

[BigdaddyQH]

Hook, I will try to find out for you. Meanwhile, back to College Football, it is time for North Carolina to take the NCAA hot seat. They are in major trouble, looking at as many as 9 potential major violations. They have received their notice of allegations, and they go before the NCAA infractions committee (firing squad) on October 28th.

[HoldEmHook!!]

Hook, I will try to find out for you. Meanwhile, back to College Football, it is time for North Carolina to take the NCAA hot seat. They are in major trouble, looking at as many as 9 potential major violations. They have received their notice of allegations, and they go before the NCAA infractions committee (firing squad) on October 28th.

Rather have WH back than a contest, sounds like Death Row for UNC

[valaub04]

Well, I guess Workhorse has moved on, so I will attempt to carry this thread forward. It seems as if Oregon paid $25,000 for some useless information to someone named Will Lyles. The information they received for the 2011 season was really for the 2009 season. Oh yea. Did I mention the fact that one of Lyles guys signed with Oregon? Hello Oregon? This is the NCAA calling.

Lache Seastrunk.