Talking points: What? No national championship this year?

by Joel on Apr 21, 2009 7:46 AM EDT in Rocky Top Talking Points Comment 14 comments

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Whaddya mean no national championship this year!?

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Tennessee Football

John Adams cautions fans that it will take years of solid recruiting to turn Tennessee into a championship program. Likely true, although, and I don't have the link for it handy, but Bruce Feldman has the evidence to show that most national championships occur in a new coach's first four years. Generally not the first, though, and Mike Griffith thinks the safe pick for the Vols next season is third in the SEC East with an over/under of eight wins in the regular season.
Lane Kiffin spoke at a fan rally yesterday -- and took no shots at any rivals or otherwise made any inflammatory comments. Dude's losing his touch already! He did say this about the Vol Walk, though:
I've been in three Rose Bowls, two Orange Bowls. Halfway through that Vol Walk, I kind of blanked out a little bit and didn't know where I was. I was really feeling like I was at a national championship or something because of all the energy. I got in the locker room and had to remind myself that this is only the spring game.

They've been at South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama and Ole Miss and they said they'd never been a part of anything like that. I don't think it was just the sheer numbers, because I think they've been a part of the numbers. But the energy that was there, the emotion that the fans were pouring out was really special.

That's almost certainly an overexaggeration, but it tastes good going down.

SEC

Alabama fans are mighty proud of their new promotional ads.
War Eagle Atlanta made his first A-Day game in 24 years as a fan.
Former LSU WR Demetrius Byrd has been hospitalized following a car accident. It's sounding like he's going to be okay.

NCAA

Rumor alert. SEC Live News says they're hearing that Home Depot is insisting on a shakeup of the ESPN GameDay crew, which, if true, is really dumb. According to the rumor, Corso is out and Holtz is in, and Fowler is out, to be replaced by ESPN Baseball Tonight and Sports Center anchor Karl Ravech.

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Comments

Caravan

I’ll be at the one in Chattanooga tonight, and I’ll get something up about it. Check us later to see what Kiffin didn’t say haha.

by Oskie on Apr 21, 2009 10:09 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If Holtz is on Gameday

I will no longer watch Gameday. Nothing personal, he’s just an idiot.

by rblakeh on Apr 21, 2009 11:13 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

ESPN has a long history of messing up a good thing

Like having Mike Patrick talk about Britney Spears on Saturday night instead of Ron Franklin talking about football.

Lou Holtz is entertaining, and I’m sure that’s what the Home Depot folks are going for. I hope ESPN stays faithful to putting the best product on TV, and not the most entertaining – say what you will about Corso, but compared to Holtz he’s a genius. And Karl Ravech is great…on Baseball Tonight. If anyone ever replaces Fowler, it needs to be Rece Davis.

by Will on Apr 21, 2009 11:40 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

ESPN seems very capricious to me.

They keep Berman on for NFL coverage until the end of time (which I approve). That shows stability with a proven product. Then they play Wheel-O-Talking-Head with feature programs like Gameday. That’s ADD at best, and internal corporate power-playing at worst.

by Hooper on Apr 21, 2009 11:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I thought the Mike Patrick joke was hilarious

It was an extremely intense part of the game. There was like a 30 second break while the teams changed sides of the field before the start of the OT period. I think I’m the only one… but I thought it was really, really funny.

by rblakeh on Apr 21, 2009 12:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I did too.

At least it showed he was aware of the situation. Too often, the tangents that announcers get on are from boredom and they’re not paying any attention. He went on the tangent specifically because of the situation.

by Hooper on Apr 21, 2009 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

And on Kiffin and first year coaches:

No coach has come into a BCS school from the outside (as opposed to being promoted from within) and won a championship (conference or national) in his first season since the inception of the BCS. And no coach has come into the SEC from the outside in the modern era (since ’92) and made it to the SEC Championship Game in his first year. If Kiffin made Atlanta, he would be the exception, not the rule.

by Will on Apr 21, 2009 11:45 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Great point.

A part of that is that you don’t see internal promotions for programs that aren’t in great shape. If UT were dominating the world and Fulmer was voluntarily stepping down, then you might have seen an internal promotion (say, Chavis to HC). As it is, the change at the head is a change to a different direction. I bet that has something to do with those trends.

We need to push the team with the goal of winning it all (Atlanta and the BCS), but we have to remember at the end of the season that not doing so doesn’t necessarily constitute a failure.

by Hooper on Apr 21, 2009 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'll be really dissapointed if they mess with the gameday crew.

They all have a genuine appreciation for college football and interact well with the fans. I can’t see Holtz working the crowd and making it fun. Him and Mark May are the less fun version of Corso and Herbie that tries too hard.

"The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it."

by Getoffmyvols on Apr 21, 2009 11:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreed.

by Hooper on Apr 21, 2009 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If they did that, it might actually be the dumbest shakeup to one of its crews ESPN has ever done.

Fowler, Corso and Herbstreit are College GameDay. They have marketed so ingeniously over the years that it’s ingrained in everyone’s mind. It might actually be the most successful product ESPN has from that standpoint. And now they’re gonna blow it up because they’re bored. It doesn’t even matter if you like Fowler, Corso and Herbstreit. That’s beside the point. And Lou Holtz would be a horrible choice. I have no doubt that Karl Ravech would do fine, but that’ s also beside the point. They can get any number of corporations to sponsor them if The Home Depot backs out because of this, as well. There’s no reason to let them dictate the whole program.

Also, on a bit of a side note, why in the world do they constantly blow up every single program and announcing crew that’s working, yet Sunday Night Baseball keeps the same horrible announcing pair and only adds superficial changes here and there for the last 25 years?

by nirwin on Apr 21, 2009 11:55 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Because baseball's all about TRADITION!!!

And not the Fiddler On The Roof kind, either. In baseball’s case, it means: don’t change anything that might improve the game, lest some 96-year old in Wisconsin complains that their precious game just isn’t the same anymore.

MLB has been dead to me for many years. Minor league ball is fine if I want to enjoy a sunny afternoon with a hot dog and nothing to do.

by Hooper on Apr 21, 2009 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs