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I had a chance to interview Rafael Priest at TCU’s Media Day for Pegasus News.  I enjoyed visiting with Rafael, and he came across as very grounded and smart.  Rafael is going to be a big part of the TCU defense this fall for the Horned Frogs as there will be so many new players on the field for the Frogs on defense.

Check out the article at PegasusNews.com.

I sat down with Marshall Newhouse at TCU Media Day for Pegasus News.  He
was gracious enough to answer my questions.  If you get a chance, check out the article.
Q & A With Marshall Newhouse

What does Phil Steele’s college football preview and TCU’s Jerry Hughes have in common?  Aside from the fact that they are both passionate about college football, Steele has put Hughes on the cover of his Texas addition.  I picked up my copy on Friday at Borders Books, and have began the annual pilgrimage through the pages of Steele’s masterpiece preview.

Last year I reviewed four of the college football previews, but this year, I am just buying Steele.  Phil Steele’s magazine is full of numbers.  There is a misunderstanding that Steele’s magazine is a better’s magazine, but it really is not.  He uses a complicated system of numbers to create power rankings in several different areas which means when the season is through, you will see he is pretty accurate.

True, the sports betters use his magazine, but that is because he is so accurate.  If you want to pour through numbers and facts, Phil Steele’s magazine is for you.  Just a word of warning.  When he has a “read here first” to understand what he is doing, you need to follow instructions.  Without the preface readings, you might be lost.

On the Texas cover with Hughes is Texas Longhorns QB Colt McCoy and Baylor QB Robert Griffin.

I love to read other bloggers as we all get ready for the BCS Title Game.  I have to give kudos to The Wiz for his post which lists the predictions of different writers in the sports world.  Check out his prediction post.

The Wiz also has an article written by Wendell Barnhouse who used to be a writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and now writes for Big12sports.com.  Barnhouse addresses all of the numbers and motivations and other interesting tidbits for the big game.

You can also check out the Fanblogs post.  Also, Adam at Inthebleachers.net posted his thoughts following the ITB Podcast.  I think we all want to see a good game not another SEC blowout.  Of course, some Oklahoma fans have already claimed a national championship.  I think “Superman” will have something to say about that.

With the FedEx BcS National Title Game being played Thursday night in Miami between Oklahoma and Florida, I thought that I would offer the obligatory word or two about the upcoming game.  Since I am a college football blogger, I am supposed to talk about these things.  So, I thought I would title the post, “Passing the Crystal Ball.”  You know that piece of “hardware” they give to the winner of the so-called national championship game.  Of course, the crystal trophy may be in short supply.

Oklahoma and Florida passed whatever test that voters use these days to choose numbers 1 and 2 in the BCS and get the rip to Miami to see who should be ranked number 1.  I seems that voters don’t really know who they are voting for or have any real standards.  Consider this from Dan Wetzel

“The BCS has no set rationale for how or why a school should be ranked – is it record, strength of schedule, whom it beat, whom it lost to, how it won, how it lost? The decision is up to each voter.”

Huh?  No real standards.  Surely that is how they do it in Division I basketball.  Well, the committee who selects the 64 team tournament has a lot of work to do, and they don’t rely on the voters.  Here is more from Wetzel.

“In contrast, the 10-member NCAA men’s basketball selection committee meets throughout the season to compare notes and stay on top of hot teams. It demands comprehensive scouting, sets common criteria and even asks committee members to get out and see teams in person. Then they all meet and hash it out.”

There you have it, it is simply a beauty pageant (check out my comments).  Sure, the computers have something to do with it, but when voters don’t have standards and a full time job, they simply don’t watch teams such as Utah play games until the bowl season.  They are relying on Sportscenter, Sports Illustrated, ABC or CBS for all of their input.  These great media outlets are going to “hype” the teams they cover.

Now that I have gotten beyond my rant, let’s move on to the game.  This game will feature two of the most explosive in modern history.  Florida runs a spread offense, but it is an Urban Meyer specific.  Now, Chris at Smart Football says it is not innovative because he employs concepts and elements that existed before Meyer started using them.  That is true, but the

meshing together of the concepts and the extreme flexibility of Meyer’s offense makes it explosive.  He has merged a myriad of spread concepts making his offense difficult to defend, particularly when you consider the speed and talent on the field.

Oklahoma has set a record for points scored this year.  Much of that can be attributed to the move to a hurry-up, no-huddle offense.  The Sooners seem to score 21 points on every opponent in the first quarter.  They get teams in a hole, and they “pin their ears back” defensively the rest of the game.  The Sooner offense really took off later in the season when running back DeMarco Murray began to feel more comfortable with his knee after an injury last year.

In general, teams win when they can run the football and stop the run with only a rare exception (see Sugar Bowl, Utah).  That should play in Florida’s favor.  They have all of their rushing weapons available, but Oklahoma will

have to without DeMarco Murray.   On the flip side, Florida will have speedy receiver Percy Harvin for the national title game.   What’s more, OU will have to stop Tebow and Company without 315 pound DT  DeMarcus Granger who had back surgery.

Oklahoma still has the passing game, and that should keep the game interesting.  Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford has had few problems staying upright this year as he had a fanatastic year.  But, as in the Texas and TCU games, a pass rush can give him enough problems to be almost average.  You can bet that Florida Defensive Coordinator Charlie Strong has studied those games closely.  My pick is Florida.  Let’s see how it turns out.

The 2008 edition of the Armed Forces Bowl was pretty good.  Houston led

Anybody need a t-shirt?

the whole game, but Air Force was never far behind.  You can check out my write up at Pegasus News here.

This was the first time that I have gone to a bowl game of any kind either as a fan or media member.  I received press credentials to work the game for Pegasus News, and I have to say that I enjoyed the experience.

Both coaches gave the “thumbs up” to the city of Fort Worth and the Armed Forces Bowl officials for a great bowl experience.  I was very impressed with Air Force coach Troy Calhoun and Houston coach Kevin Sumlin.  The two teams played hard, but you could tell that the long lay off for both teams affected their play.

I was happy for Houston’s Phillip Hunt who became the all time sack leader

Fort Worth's Phillip Hunt had two sacks

for the Cougars during the bowl game as well as seting a few bowl records.  Hunt is a Fort Worth native and a senior.  Air Force kicker Ryan Harrison, who is from Keller, TX, almost broke his own Armed Forces Bowl record for the longest field goal.   He hit a 55 yard field goal, but Houston had called a time out.  On the second attempt, he hooked it just to the left.

I hope that I get that opportunity again.  It seems there is some question about where the game might be played in the future.  Hopefully, Fort Worth can hold on to this bowl for a long time.  At least until we start having a playoff.

By the way, I posted a photo gallery at Flickr.  Check it out.

I posted an All-DFW College Football Team at PegasusNews.com.   TCU had

the most players, naturally, since they won more games.  But, I tried to get a decent representation for North Texas and SMU.  The Media Relations Department in the respective Athletic Departments were helpful in me picking some of the players.  As far as I know, it the first time anyone has done an All-DFW College Football Team.

Check out the article.  It is the lead story today at PegasusNews.com.  Congratulations to all the players who made the team.

The Galloping Ghost:  Red Grange An American Football Legend by Gary Andrew Poole.

If you asked a 2008 high school recruit who the “Galloping Ghost” was, it would be interesting to see if they knew.  I knew who the Galloping Ghost was, I had seen those old videos of him running with the ball.  That seemed to be what defined him, running with the ball.  The Ghost, ran with the ball throughout the 1920’s and the early 1930’s.  Red Grange, the “Galloping Ghost”, was named the greatest college football player by ESPN.

In some ways football today is like football when Grange played, but in other ways, it is an entirely different world.  In The Galloping Ghost by Gary Andrew Poole, we get a history lesson in what is was like to be a football player during the 20’s and 30’s, and Poole doesn’t disappoint.  Mr. Poole was kind enough to send me a copy to read, and I will grateful for a long time.  It was one of the best sports books I have read a very long time, maybe ever.  His prose rates right up there with Jim Dent’s Twelve Mighty Orphans.  Indeed, Poole doesn’t just tell us about the facts of Grange’s life, he illustrates it for us describing in detail and taking us to the very scene as if we are standing there next to Grange and his never ending following of colorful characters including “Cash and Carry” C. C. Pyle.

As someone who has done graduate work and having had to write academic papers, I appreciate Poole’s style of detailed notes listed at the end of the

book.  Often in the popular reading world, publishers and editors decide to leave the notes off because, I am sure, they don’t think readers are

interested in that kind of work.  Well, I am.  Poole’s book uses a casual style of notation to list the notes in the back, but something, even casual, is way better than nothing for me.  He even includes a section in the

acknowledgments about his sources as well as a very detailed bibliography.

Poole retells the story of Grange, from the beginning, in a narrative style which most readers will appreciate.  Part I takes us from Grange’s birth to the beginnings of his pro career which was orchestrated by Pyle.  Part II tells of the whirlwind “barnstormer” tour in which Pyle arranged for Grange and the Chicago Bears taking them all throughout the country playing multiple games in a week to several sold out stadiums generating more profit for George Halas’ Bears than the NFL had ever seen up until that point.  The reader will understand the struggles in which the NFL had in its early years including the lack of respectability by most of the country including the college football world.  Most All-American caliber players went on to lucrative business careers forsaking anything the NFL had to offer as an un-pure reflection of the sport.

Poole works hard to bring us the story of Grange, the good, the bad, the dark.  Grange had a simple wisdom, but at times was a little too naive.  Grange’s professional career seemed to be too tied to Pyle’s shenanigans.  Later in life, Grange did separate himself from Pyle, worked hard to regain his respectability and get out of debt.  He married Margaret “Muggs” Hazleberg, a wonderful lady who helped Grange straighten out his affairs and took care of him at the end of his life.   If you still have someone on your Christmas list, and he or she is a football fan, Poole’s book, The Galloping Ghost, may be the right gift.  You buy a copy from the Collegefootballtopten Bookstore.

In case you haven’t heard, the BCS Bowl selections came down this evening in a, almost, basketball tournament-esque type announcement on Fox.  We saw the Cincinnati fans jumping up and down as if their team was sent to the East Regional as a number one seed.  Not quite.  It seemed as the BCS Machine wanted us to believe it was as big as the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Show, but it wasn’t.  I mean, Virginia Tech, while a good team has four losses.  Maybe Boise State should take their place.

In news closer to home (Fort Worth, TX), TCU has been matched up against those Boise State Broncos led

by senior (what year?) Ian Johnson and his cheerleader wife in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.  I had to make sure I got that sponsorship in there as they payed me an undisclosed amount of money to mention it (not really).  TCU is number 11 and Boise is 9th.  This match up may be better than some of the BCS Bowl games!

The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl also made an announcement.  They have decided to match up Case Keenum and the high flying Houston Cougars against the wicked option oriented Air Force Falcons in a rematch of a game played in early September when the kids from Houston were really thinking about their homes in Houston with Hurrican Ike making an appearance.  Nevertheless, it was a close game.  This one should be fun.

The Collegefootballtopten.com Top Ten should be out either Monday or Tuesday.  I wonder who will be number one.

He may not win the Heisman Trophy this year, but Tim Tebow has more than impressed me with his leadership.  I get kind of skeptical when a college player has a ton of hype, legends, fan sites, myths and

even a Wikipedia page surrounding him.  But Tebow has shown his worth.  I think he is able to play in the NFL in spite of the Spread Offense he has played in at Florida.  He has the arm strength and the leadership to as well as the intelligence to play in a pro style offense.

Last night in the SEC Championship, Tebow led the Florida Gators to a 31-20 upset victory over previously undefeated and number 1 ranked Alabama.  I say upset because Alabama was ranked higher and was undefeated, and yes I am aware that Florida was a favorite going in to the game by the Vegas odds makers.  Tebow actually had to lead Florida from a small deficit in the final quarter to win the game, something he has never done.  Now Tebow has a national title, a Heisman Trophy, two SEC Championships (one as a starter), and some think, a second Heisman Trophy to come with a shot at a second national championship.  Is Tebow Superman?

Some players are great players.  Some great players are good leaders.  And, some great players are great leaders.  Tim Tebow is a great player and a great leader.  A good quarterback can get his offense to play hard for him, but getting the whole team to play hard for him is another matter.  Tebow is able to get his entire team to elevate their play for their quarterback.  You saw it on full display twice in the SEC Championship game.  First, after a touchdown, Tebow ran, not trotted, down to his kick off team to challenge them to make a play on the coverage.  The result, Alabama was tackled at the 15 yard line immediately putting their offense in a hole.  Second, during the second half, Tebow approached linebacker Brandon Spikes on the sidelines with a challenge to the defensive leader to get a stop.  Spikes and the defense delivered.  Tebow has that kind of leadership.  Rarely is a quarterback able to take command of the entire team, all areas, and challenge all of them to rise to the occasion.  It’s the kind of leadership that was seen in Vince Young when he was a Texas.

Tebow is a one of a kind.  He has the character, the athletic ability and the intelligence to be the nation’s premier player, and, despite how good the Big 12 quarterbacks have played, no other player means more to their team, the entire team, than Tebow does to the University of Florida Gators.  Tebow has a vote in the Heisman Trophy race, and he probably won’t vote for himself.  He is just that kind of person.  I think he will be more interested in a National Championship than a Heisman repeat.  However, if Tebow never makes in the NFL, and I think he will, he will be a great leader for some organization, church, country, etc.