Continued from Part 1

5.  June Jones signs with SMU–After leading Hawaii to the greatest season in history, and launching the Warriors all the way to the BCS promised land, a rout at the hands of Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, the Run and Shoot Guru himself was lured away by the SMU Alumni who were willing to Pony Up the cash.  Jones inherits a fairly talented, but downtrodden program which he will make a contender in the Conference USA.  Jones, after moving to SMU, moved Katy, TX QB commit Bo Levi Mitchell to Dallas as well (from a commit to Hawaii), and he, subsequently, went on to be named the starter for the opener against Rice.  June Cometh.

4.  Interesting Coaching Changes–Every year coaching changes happen.  Many happen before the bowl season, therefore, they are not technically offseason.  However, the consequences are felt throughout the offseason as the new staff comes in to their first Spring practices, first recruiting class, etc.  Some of the more interesting hires this year are Houston Nutt from Arkansas to Ole Miss, Rick Neuheisel to UCLA, Paul Johsnon from Navy to Georgia Tech, Bobby Petrino from Atlanta (NFL) to Arkansas, Art Briles from Houston to Baylor, June Jones (see Above) and Rich Rodriguez from West Virginia to Michigan (see Below).

3.  Terrelle Pryor signs with Ohio State–Every year it seems as some kid is the coveted prize of the recruiting world.  Pryor seemed to be wined and dined by the programs and fans who wanted him to sign with their school.  A photo even surfaced of Pryor at a Michigan basketball game talking with Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez.  Pryor delayed his signing, he remained uncommitted, until after he finished his basketball season which went deep because his team won the state championship.  Pryor considered Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State where his father lobbied for him to play.  In the end, the Buckeyes won the prize.  Think Vince Young, only bigger.  Buckeye fans are thinking National Title!

2.  Ryan Perrilloux dismissed from LSU–The highly recruited QB who waited his turn at LSU struggled with off the field probelms.  No need to rehash all of that.  Head Coach Les Miles gave him several opportunities to remain on the team.  Perrilloux showed his abilities last season leading LSU to a win over Tennessee in the SEC Championship game with starting QB Matt Flynn injured.  Without Perrilloux, the Tigers go from defending national champions with a proven QB to defending national champions with no proven QB.

1.  Rich Rodriguez to Michigan and Saga–Rodriguez bailed on the Mountaineer fans.  At least that is how they feel about it.  Rodriguez, a West Virginia Alum, was poised to stay for many years in Morgantown and lead them to the elusive national title.  However, when it was all over, Rodriguez took the Michigan job feeling as if he had been cheated by his employers.  The Hawaii athletic director apologized to fans when June Jones left, no such action from the West Virginia AD.  He and WVU sued Rodriguez for the $4 Million buy out in his contract which Rodriguez claimed was void due to an oral agreement between he and the AD to take out the clause.  Of course, we know, contracts don’t mean anything.  Meanwhile, in Ann Arbor, Rodriguez wasn’t a hit with every player.  QB Ryan Mallet decided to transfer to Arkansas to play in Spread Offense that doesn’t need the QB to run the option like in Rich Rod’s offense.  And, Michigan lineman Justin Boren transferred saying that the “family values” have left under Rich Rod.  And that was only Spring!

I am delaring a new feature at Collegefootballtopten.com.  Stewart Mandel has his famous Mailbag feature and others do the same.  In the name of reader participation, I here by declare a CFTT Inbox.  That’s right, I said Inbox.  In this day of emails and electronic communications ( I still don’t use text messaging), it is only appropriate to have an Inbox.  So, I will have an Inbox feature at CFTT.  I would like to do it every week, but it will be dictated by the number of emails I receive.  The first Inbox will be today.  Here goes.

Did you see this?
Georgia Tech is going to run the triple option!

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=831054
Lee Cochenour, Fort Worth, TX

It seems my friend Lee is excited about the return of the triple option.  Paul Johnson is the new coach at Georgia Tech, and he is known as an expert in running the option out of, what we used to call, a broken wishbone.  The halfbacks will line up at wing back spots or in the slot, etc.  Johnson used it successfully at Georgia Southern, Navy and now has his chance at Georgia Tech, a true BCS School.  I first remember a Johnson coached team at Georgia Southern, where he was the Offensive Coordinator, led by QB Tracy Hamm who seemed unstoppable.  Tech fans are hoping that the triple option works in the ACC.

Hi, MainStreet.com just put out an article about the college football teams that are deserving of attention this upcoming season. It is an informative article for college football fans and I think you and your readers will enjoy it, so I am providing you with a link to the piece!

http://mainstreet.com/college-football-teams-youll-need-watch

Amanda Beals

Thank you Amanda for your suggestion.  I will send readers over to check it out.  I looked to try to find out what MainStreet.com had to do with college football, but I really couldn’t tell.  Apparently, one of there writers writes about sports, so you might go over and check them out.  It looks like they have a lot of other kinds of articles too.

If you have something that you think readers might be interested in, or just a question, or comment for the CFTT Inbox, drop me an email.

inbox@collegefootballtopten.com

According to Phil Steele, SMU’s schedule ranks #82, ahead of neighbors UNT (#92) and TCU (#84).  If you consider their opponents’ winning percentage, then SMU is ranked #53.  SMU plays 8 teams in 2008 who went to a bowl game in 2007.  That’s not an easy start for the June Jones era in Dallas.  Also on tap for SMU is a trip to Lubbock to face a team some are giving preseason buzz to for a run at the Big Twelve Title and maybe greater.  Without further ado, here is SMU’s schedule.

@ Rice, August 29, 2008, 7 PM
Only once did Rice hold a team to less than 29 points, and that was FCS Nicholls State.  Rice will be looking to get better on defense, but the offense returns 9 starters.

Texas State, September 6, 2008, 7 PM
The Bobcats are a member of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (you know, IAA), and this should be a good game for the Mustangs to work out some kinks before they go to Lubbock.

@ Texas Tech, September 13, 2008 6 PM
Texas Tech returns their top offensive play-makers, QB Graham Harrell and WR Michael Crabtree who is from Dallas.  Crabtree and Harrell both should be on most people’s Heisman list.  Most people refer to Coach Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense as a spread, but it contains elements of the Run and Shoot.  In the Air Raid, one can see where the Spread meets the Run and Shoot.

TCU, September 20, 2008, 7 PM
With 14 starters back, the Frogs appear headed for another bowl game.  The offense should be much better as it improved under the guidance of Andy Dalton.  Dalton became TCU’s primary weapon at times last year with the injuries to RB’s Joseph Turner and Aaron Brown.  Both backs seem to be back and ready to go.  Defense is led by Jason Phillips and Stephen Hodge and should be another stellar TCU defense.

@ Tulane, September 25, 2008, 7 PM
The Green Wave return 15 starters from a team that was 4-8.  Gone is Tulane’s number two Career Rushing Leader, Matt Forte, who ran for 2127 yards and 23 TD’s in 2008 including 342 against SMU.  The Green Wave return 4 of their 5 top tacklers from a year ago.

@ UCF, October 4, 2008, 2:30 PM
After rushing for 2567 yards and 29 TD’s, UCF’s Kevin Smith entered the draft, and the feature back duties will be in someone else’s hands.  The Knights won last year’s C-USA title beating Tulsa in the Championship Game 44-25.  UCF returns their top 7 tacklers from 2007 and a total of 9 starters on defense.  The offense will spend its time trying to find an identity with the departure of Smith and QB Kyle Israel.

Tulsa, October 11, 2008, 7 PM
Tulsa had basically the best offense in the country last year with about 543 yards of total offense per game. It should be a battle against one of the best hurry up, no huddle, Spread Offense gurus, Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn at Tulsa, versus the premier Run and Shoot Offense guru, June Jones from SMU.  First team 60 wins.

Houston, October 18, 2008, 7 PM
The Cougars had another good year in 2007 going 8-5 earning Coach Art Briles a shot at being the head coach at a BCS program, Baylor.  Replacing him is Kevin Sumlin who was Co Offensive Coordinator at Oklahoma.  Summlin brought with him Dana Holgorsen from Texas Tech to create a high octane attack of his own.  Holgorsen and Sumlin inherit QB Case Keenum who is a natural play-maker for the Cougars.  Houston returns 7 on a defense that gave up just 366 total yards per game.

@ Navy, October 25, 2008, 2:30 PM
In Paul Johnson’s final year as head coach, Navy was the best among the service academies (5 straight) defeating Air Force (31-20) and Army (38-3) along with the long awaited victory over Notre Dame (46-44, 3 OT).  Johnson moved on to Georgia Tech, and now Navy will turn to Ken Niumatalolo.  His defense should be solid returning 8 starters, but they need to improve after giving up 36.4 points per game and 439 total yards per game.  Niumatalolo doesn’t have to replace QB Kaipo-Noa Naheaku-Enhada who accounted for 1786 total yards and 20 TD’s.

Memphis, November 8, 2008, 2 PM
The Tigers have big holes to fill at QB and RB.  If they can find someone to get the ball to their WR’s, Memphis could be a surprise contender.  The WR’s are deep and talented, but the Tigers have to find a help as they lose Martin Hankins (3220 yards, 25 TD’s) and RB Joseph Doss (806 yards, 5 TD’s).  On defense, Memphis returns 8 starters including 4 of their top 6 tacklers from a year ago.

@ UTEP, November 15, 2008, 8:05 PM
Last year the Miners were 4-8, and in 2008 they return 5 starters on offense and 7 starters on defense.  Returning QB Trevor Vittatoe passed for 3101 yards with 25 TD’s and only 7 INT’s.  Vittatoe will need all the help he can get as the top two RB’s from last year are gone leaving UTEP with with a battle between Sr. Terrell Jackson and So. Donald Buckram.  While the defense returns 7 starters, the Miners hope to leave the numbers behind.  UTEP gave up 302 yards passing per game along with 203 yards rushing per game.

Southern Miss, November 29, 2008, 2 PM
The Golden Eagles just return 10 starters for new head coach Larry Fedora but one of them is RB Damion Fletcher (1586 yards, 15 TD’s).  Southern Miss will have to replace its QB and 8 starters on defense and should consider this a rebuilding year using a lot of young, inexperienced players.

Conference USA Championship Game, December 6, 2008