When Rich Rodriguez bolted West Virginia for Michigan two years ago, I was convinced he'd make the Wolverines a powerhouse again while shaking up the Big Ten with his version of the spread offense.
Rodriguez has since lost 16 of 24 games in Ann Arbor, and the load of NCAA scrutiny he's drawn has cost him the benefit of the doubt in the eyes of a lot of Michigan folks.
In this lengthy Q&A with Mitch Albom, Rich Rod is candid about a lot of the stuff that's gone on under his watch.
The most compelling part of the Rodriguez saga at this point, at least with the on-the-field developments, is whether his offense will ever start lighting it up to the extent that I and others expected when he arrived there.
To be fair, offense hasn't been his biggest problem thus far. Last year, the Wolverines finished 41st nationally in scoring offense, 59th in total offense and 25th in rushing offense.
The defense finished 82nd in total defense and 77th in scoring defense.
Turnover margin has been awful the last two seasons. Michigan finished 115th nationally in 2009 (16 gained, 28 lost), and 104th in 2008 (20 gained, 30 lost).
Still, for those of you who watched Rodriguez at work here at Clemson in 1999 and 2000, raise your hand if you thought the guy would be this mediocre on offense.
It raises the question of just how much he has suffered by his offense, once so cutting-edge and different, becoming so common across college football.
As we see just about every offense out there using some form of the zone-read -- including Clemson's opponent this week, North Texas -- it's easy to forget just how funky the approach looked when Rodriguez was running it at Clemson, and in the earlier years at West Virginia.
Maybe he just doesn't yet have the talent he needs to make Michigan's offense a juggernaut. You have to think things would be much better with a Pat White type (as if Pat White types are all over the place).
Then again, hasn't greatness on offense typically been built on innovation and doing stuff that's different from everyone else?
Steve Spurrier did revolutionary stuff at Florida in the 1990s. Not so much at South Carolina, whose offense has been the weakness in his five years in charge.
Mike Leach did revolutionary stuff at Texas Tech, and I'm eager to see what happens when a school has the guts to hire him.
Paul Johnson would probably be the first to tell you that his triple option is so difficult to stop in part because it's so different from what defenses are accustomed to seeing. Couple that with Johnson's play-calling abilities -- the best anywhere, in my opinion -- and you get 20 wins and an ACC title in two years at Georgia Tech.
At Alabama, the Crimson Tide has benefited from going to power-based stuff and taking advantage of defenses that have gone small in an attempt to stifle the spread formations that are all the rage.
And right here at Clemson, offensive coordinator Billy Napier wants to juice up the tempo of the Tigers' no-huddle approach because defenses in the ACC aren't often presented with that scheme.
At a select few places -- say, Florida -- the tactics aren't as important as the talent. With all the horses Urban Meyer is collecting in Gainesville, the guy could run the wishbone and win 10 games a year.
But so much of high-level offensive success is based on doing stuff that's different, and Rich Rod's stuff just isn't different anymore.
Maybe he's capable of adapting and throwing in some innovative wrinkles. That notion certainly shouldn't be written off.
But he'd better hurry.
Speaking of Spurrier, Ron Morris says the Gamecocks will win the SEC East this year.
Here's his premise:
The Gamecocks' tore it up on the ground against Clemson last year, and they can ride similar rushing dominance to a trip to the SEC title game.
A physical, plodding offense combined with dominant defense. Sound familiar?
If you want an example of how that works, look no further than Alabama a season ago. The national champion ranked 12th in the nation in rushing and had possession seven minutes more per game than its opponents. Alabama was second in the country in scoring defense (12 points per game) and second in total defense (244 yards per game).
Sakerlina looks like a formidable team this season, but you'll have a hard time convincing me that the Gamecocks can run-run-run their way to 10 wins. Way too shaky on the offensive line.
So now Bobby Bowden said he wanted to stick around at Florida State not to chase the record for career victories, but to have kids listen to him.
It is no secret that I wanted to coach at Florida State for one more season. The biggest reason I did not want to retire was that I feared people would no longer want to listen to me. I have always believed it was my calling to become a football coach, just like a pastor or minister has a calling to preach. I have always wanted to influence young men to become better husbands, fathers, professionals and people.
We won a lot of games at Florida State — and lost our fair share, too — but I always believed my most important job was teaching my boys how to live their lives the right way. If I was not coaching, I always feared I would not have an opportunity to have an impact on young people.
Everything Bobby Bowden has said since his forced departure has pretty much justified said forced departure.
I've said this a million times: The guy might be the best coach in college football history, and he's one of my favorites. But it was way past time for him to go.
Georgia Tech is getting ready for S.C. State, and this writer says the Yellow Jackets' defensive front has five big problems to worry about.
If nothing else, the Bulldogs’ line, which includes Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference honorees Johnny Culbreath (310 pounds), Josh Harrison (310), Sam Timothy (280) and Juavahr Nathan (290), will provide the Yellow Jackets a good test for the the FBS teams upcoming. Tech will host S.C. State at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Is an average of 304 pounds really that big?
In Boston, Mark Herzlich is back on track.
Down in Miami, Randy Shannon seems really optimistic.
Shannon said this is the best vibe he’s had coming out of fall practice in his four seasons. “It’s a different team,” Shannon said. “We’re a bigger team, a faster team and we’re so much more competitive now because we have so much [depth]. It’s almost like my first two years (2001-02) as a coordinator – have fun, no distractions, just coach. That’s what it’s like now.”
Here's an injury update from North Texas.
In Winston-Salem, Jim Grobe plans to use one quarterback as his Demon Deacons prepare to take on mighty Presbyterian.
Ralph Friedgen talks about the difficulty of facing Navy's triple option and says the Middies -- gasp! -- run it better than Paul Johnson's Yellow Jackets.
LW
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