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Two of the 10 undefeated I-A coaches in the country have fallen from the Bobby Bowden coaching tree. Meanwhile, Bowden and Florida State have just been falling -- in the rankings, in self-esteem, you name it.
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| There's no doubt Florida State misses Chuck Amato's defensive guidance.(AP) |
Whatever the case, Georgia's Richt and North Carolina State's Amato have been quick studies after spending most of their careers on Bowden's staff. Amato was in Tallahassee for 18 years. Richt was there for 12 years before leaving for Athens. Their current teams are a combined 13-0 coming into the weekend.
Meanwhile, No. 12 Florida State is missing something, even if it isn't necessarily the expertise of Richt and Amato. While his two treasured former assistants are undefeated this season, Florida State is 13-7 since the 2001 Orange Bowl. That was Richt's last game and a year after Amato left.
"They leave and understand so fully what you want and this and that," Bowden said this week. "When you lose them, and bring somebody in to take their place that person has to learn all over again."
Richt was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach who coached two Heisman winners in Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke. Amato was the defensive line coach who tutored a load of NFL talent.
More than coincidentally, Florida State is struggling at their old positions. Quarterback Chris Rix has had an inconsistent start to his career. Florida State tied Duke for last in sacks last year in the ACC.
"You lose a guy like Chuck you lose a step; you lose a guy like Mark you lose a step," Bowden said. "I look at Florida. You lose Steve Spurrier, lose the whole staff. I see what's happening. It's kind of unfair.
It was hard to believe that Bowden actually expressed sympathy this week for Florida, which has brought in an entirely new coaching staff. The FSU staff was merely reshuffled. Son Jeff Bowden moved from receivers to offensive coordinator in 2001. Daryl Dickey, a former Tennessee quarterback, was hired that year to coach the quarterbacks.
Existing staff members Jody Allen and Odell Haggins took over the defensive line. Joe Kines took Amato's spot on the staff, coaching linebackers.
No. 13 North Carolina State is 7-0 and off to its best start since 1967. No. 5 Georgia is 6-0 and off to its best start since the last SEC championship in 1982. Both teams figure to stay undefeated this week with Duke playing at Raleigh and Vanderbilt going to Athens.
Amato jumped at the chance to coach at his alma mater three years ago. The Wolfpack were coming off three non-winning seasons in the past five. But since then they are 22-9 and are heading to their third straight bowl.
Richt, offensive coordinator under Bowden, has worked his magic at Georgia. Quarterback David Greene was SEC offensive freshman of the year in 2001. Richt also was able to land blue-chip quarterback D.J. Shockley.
Amazingly, both teams are excelling at the opposite end of their coaches' specialty. Quarterback Philip Rivers leads the country in passing efficiency. Georgia is second in the SEC in scoring defense (15.0 points).
Meanwhile, Rix is 35th nationally in pass efficiency and the Seminoles defense is 72nd in total defense. They get the week off to figure things out.
"They're learning it together," Bowden said of his son and Dickey. "I'm very pleased with what they've done."
Ready for battle: Notre Dame has Rudy. Air Force has its own ugly runt, the A-10 Warthog. Notre Dame has the West Coast Offense. Air Force reigns death from above. Notre Dame has a good running game. Air Force does OK on the ground too -- with napalm.
Notre Dame is ruled by Ty. Air Force rules from the sky. Notre Dame is located in the Midwest. Air Force pilots will be glued to radios in the Middle East.
If it's possible, Air Force is a bigger feel-good story this week than Notre Dame. As much tradition as Notre Dame has, we're guessing it doesn't have many Stealth bombers doing flyovers before big games. The Irish don't have combat-hardened pilots giving pep talks.
The battle of unbeatens features Air Force's option, inspired by the mentor of coach Fisher DeBerry. Former Wofford and Appalachian State coach Jim Brakefield died this week after using the wishbone to turn around the programs in the 1960s and 1970s.
DeBerry has used the antiquated offense himself for 19 years to keep the Zoomies competitive. Meanwhile, Army and Navy have done significantly worse than Air Force in football than the troops they represent.
The problem at hand: It's official, Rex Grossman is confused by Ed Zaunbrecher's offense. The latest clue came after a simple wiggle of the hand against LSU last week. Florida's quarterback claimed the hand signal meant one thing in Steve Spurrier's offense and another under the Gators' new offensive coordinator.
No telling what receiver Taylor Jacobs thought. He ran a long route after the Grossman wiggle. Meanwhile, the pass went short into the hands of Tigers' cornerback Corey Webster, who returned it for a touchdown.
Grossman told reporters that several times this year he has inadvertently called "Spurrier's" audible but that the receivers always caught on.
All Grossman needs going into Auburn this week is some film study. Only $39.95 will buy you Zaunbrecher's video, The Basis of the Thundering Herd Offense. Zaunbrecher was the offensive coordinator at Marshall in 2000 and 2001.
Magic eyes of the Tigers: How in the name of Charlie McClendon is LSU 5-1? Former minor-league catcher Matt Mauck was the quarterback. Now backstop, er, backup Marcus Randall gets the start against South Carolina with Mauck out indefinitely with a foot injury.
As inexplicable as Notre Dame's season is, LSU's is approaching that level. It has lost its quarterback, its tailback (LaBrandon Toefield) and still is charging toward an SEC West title.
Bizarro world: Once again the wackiest league in the country is the Pac-10. Four of last week's five games were decided by four points or less. There have been seven 400-yard throwing days by quarterbacks, matching the league record for a season. Three teams are still unbeaten in conference play (Oregon, Washington State and Arizona State). Cal, the darling of September, is now 4-3 having lost its past three by a combined 14 points. Washington is likely to roll up and give up 400 yards each every game. Southern Cal is Tailback U. again with Sultan McCullough.
Injuries should make it interesting in the second half. Eighteen Washington State players won't practice during this week's bye. Arizona will be without seven key players when it plays at Stanford.
Hokie Pokie: Virginia Tech's depth chart is becoming more the rule than the exception in college football. The Hokies have attained their No. 3 ranking while playing 23 true or redshirt freshmen.
Hokie Pokie II: The Hokies are trying to figure out a way to promote running back Lee Suggs, the more productive of "The Untouchables" that also features sophomore Kevin Jones. The problem is that Suggs is averaging only 97.4 yards. But as a pair, The Untouchables, if they were one person, would lead the country averaging 180.6 per game.
Suggs is a fine back but the school will get more attention (media, recruiting and otherwise) from promoting the pair instead of Suggs. They've got a chance to pad those numbers in the next two weeks against Rutgers and Temple.
PlayStation 2 Game of the Week: The dream is over for Iowa State. No. 2 Oklahoma runs up 590 total yards and squashes the Cylcones 56-3. Nate Hybl, rebounding off the Texas game, completes 28 of 47 for 451 yards and six touchdowns. Two of the touchdowns go to Antwone Savage, who catches six passes for 198 yards.
Seneca Wallace accounts for 226 yards in total offense but the Sooner defense keeps him under wraps. Wallace completes 15 of 30 for 200 yards.
At least that's what NCAA 2003 (now 3-2) said.
Meanwhile, in the real world: The Sooners are concerned about keeping Wallace under wraps. They more than struggled with Missouri's Brad Smith two weeks ago, who plays a similar game. Smith accounted for 391 yards in total offense.
Break out the Prozac: The House of Bevo seems like it was burning to the ground this week. Not only is there the depression over losing to Oklahoma, the Longhorns somehow have to rally to play at Kansas State. Texas hasn't beaten the Wildcats in Manhattan since 1942.
The week started with receiver Roy Williams dropping a couple of bombs during Monday's media session. Williams, Texas' best receiver, revealed he had played most of the season with a pulled hamstring and wished he could have redshirted.
Then there was this, which should tick off Texas loyalists everywhere:
"We've lost to Oklahoma three years straight, so what?" Williams told reporters. "It's not like we lost to Baylor ... Oklahoma is a good football team. We're a good football team. But every time we lose in this state, we've got to take something from somebody."
Another sticky Web: As if that wasn't enough GregDavisSucks.com launched on Monday. Davis is the Texas offensive coordinator. The site was created, according to its handlers, for those "who want their beloved team live up to its potential."
The owners of the site have covered themselves nicely too. The site's opening page contains a disclaimer warning against a lawsuit because the owners "don't have any money you can take."
Not the same bite: A victory over Florida doesn't mean what it used to. Auburn meets the Gators this week a year after upsetting what was then the No. 1 team in the country. The 23-20 victory over Florida seemingly was pushing the Tigers to the next level.
Not so. Since then, Auburn is only 6-6. The average score of the losses is 29-13.
Scare tactics: Let's see, so officials from Michigan shouldn't work Penn State games, according to Joe Paterno. With that level of paranoia, Joe, you'd better worry about linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden who played high school and college football in Michigan. Not only that, he was a grad assistant under Bo 22 years ago.
We're also smelling a rat at defensive tackle, where Detroit native Anthony Adams probably is hatching an evil scheme with his brother officials right now.
You play Northwestern this week, which the last time anyone checked is in Illinois, which shares a border with Indiana, which shares a border with, gulp, Michigan.
If you think they're out to get you, they probably aren't Joe. Uncork a cabernet and relax with some Ray Coniff for gosh sakes.
Toughest man alive? We'd like to nominate Washington State quarterback Jason Gesser, who has played while recovering from a cracked rib suffered Sept. 21 against Montana State. In the subsequent three games, Gesser has thrown for 16 touchdowns and completed 61 percent of his passes.
Fittingly, he and the Cougars get to rest this week.
Eight is enough: There can be no more than eight undefeated teams at the end of this season. There are only two games left between undefeated teams -- Notre Dame-Air Force and Miami-Virginia Tech on Dec. 7.
It's not likely but eight undefeated teams wedging into the BCS would be a nightmare. That reminds us, the first BCS ratings will be released on Monday. Assuming these teams win (Miami is off), this should be the top six: 1. Miami; 2. Virginia Tech; 3. Oklahoma; 4. Ohio State; 5. Notre Dame; 6. Georgia.
