Today, All Football Recruiting Classes are Full of Class

 

Every college football program in America got much better this week.

The headlines tell the tales.

Cardinal crop is as deep, talented as any in years — San Francisco Chronicle

Spartans excited about recruiting class — Detroit Free Press

UCLA joins USC among nation’s top recruiting classes — Los Angeles Times

Then I read The Gazette’s Page 1C headline about Iowa’s recruiting. It was stunning and troubling.

Iowa’s recruiting not in the stars

Apparently the Hawkeyes didn’t land a ton of five-star recruits. And that’s just sad.

Not really, of course. It would be tedious to list the many few-star signees that went on to become All-Big Ten players for Iowa in the last decade.

(Les) Miles wins recruiting national championship for LSU — Monroe News-Star

(Jim) Leavitt glowing after USF recruiting haul — Sportingnews.com

(Bo) Pelini’s staff finds rich recruiting soil far from Midlands — Omaha World-Herald

Hard-core Hawkeye fans won’t soon forget the winter of 2005.

Seven of Iowa’s 2005 signees-to-be played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio for high school standouts.

Ryan Bain, Tyler Blum, Jake Christensen, Dan Doering, Tony Moeaki, Dace Richardson, Trey Stross.

Bain and Christensen are no longer with the program. The other five are still Hawkeyes, but have had injury-plagued careers. Maybe one or all of them will have big senior seasons.

Only two members of Iowa’s 2005 recruiting class started for the Hawkeyes at the end of the 2008 season, linebacker Pat Angerer and offensive lineman Kyle Calloway.

When Bettendorf’s Angerer committed to Iowa in August 2004, it rated six paragraphs in The Gazette. That’s no criticism of our coverage. Angerer wasn’t a recruiting “name.”

Angerer had a terrific junior season in ‘08, and figures to be a defensive anchor as a senior.

Calloway wasn’t a nobody in Recruiting World, but he wasn’t one of the 5-star/gold-star guys that had Hawkeye fans frothing at this time four years ago.

Iowa has 19 signees this year. Pick one of those with a shorter bio and fewer stars. Tell your friends this is the guy to watch in a few years.

You’ll eventually look like a football genius.

Lane Kiffin (right): Rage Against the (Gators) Machine

Recruiting doesn’t make everyone look good, though. New Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin certainly rattled some Southeastern Conference cages Thursday.

They do things differently in the football-mad SEC: Tennessee held a “recruiting celebration” at the Knoxville Convention Center, and almost 1,000 fans showed up.

Referring to an alleged recruiting violation by Florida Coach Urban Meyer in pursuit of eventual Tennessee signee Nu’Keese Richardson, Kiffin told the gathering:

“I’m going to turn Florida in right now in front of you. Nu’Keese was here on campus (on his recruiting visit) and his phone kept ringing.

“One of our coaches said, ‘Nu’Keese, who’s that?’ He said, ‘Urban Meyer.’

“Just so you know, when a recruit is on another campus, you can’t call him. I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn’t get him.”

The response of Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley:

“There was no rule violation and we have confirmed this with the Southeastern Conference.

“(Kiffin’s) comments not only slandered our coach, but he violated SEC rules by publicly criticizing another coach and institution.”

But not all is unpleasant with the Gators. Meyer signed a receiver from Sanford, Fla., named Andre Debose.

“I don’t want to single any guy out,” Meyer said, “but he is as good as there is. I think he is the best player in America.”

Sometimes, as Florida quarterback Tim Tebow has proved, the most-touted recruits do turn out to be special players.

So tell your friends Debose is the guy to watch in the next two years.

You’ll eventually look like a football genius.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hlist: President-elect Obama, Please Don’t Let Nick Saban Get Nuclear Capability

 

Opening kickoff

“If we can come out and beat O-State that would clear everything up.”— Michigan senior safety Brandon Harrison about the 3-8 Wolverines’ upcoming game at Ohio State.

Everybody has a dream.

First downs

1. Cool Cats: The Big Ten’s Coach of the Year will probably be Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald.

The Wildcats are 8-3, and will go to a very good bowl with a home win Saturday over decaying Illinois.

In rain, sleet and snow, Northwestern gutted out a 21-14 win at Michigan. That was its first win in Ann Arbor since 1995, when Fitzgerald was the Wildcats’ star linebacker.

“All of a sudden you come out in the second half and it’s snowing,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s a beautiful Big Ten football weather day.”

It wasn’t so lovely to Michigan fans. Most fled their stadium long before the game ended.

They didn’t want to see the Wolverines clinch their first eight-loss season in the program’s 129-year history.

Harrison, so optimistic in the “Opening Kickoff” comment, wasn’t as cheery about the game that had just ended.

“I’m sick to my stomach right now,” he said.

2. Empty Win: LSU’s Tiger Stadium also was emptied out in the fourth quarter of the Troy-LSU game. Those who stayed witnessed the biggest comeback in Tigers history.

LSU rallied from a 31-3 hole for a 40-31 triumph.

The Baton Rouge Advocate’s Randy Rosetta called it “a comeback that will survive as the stuff of legend for years to come in front of the sparse but hearty few thousand fans who stuck it out.”

LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee was booed and benched in the first half. For the seventh time this year, he had an interception returned for a touchdown. But he completed 11 fourth-quarter passes and last year’s national champs awakened in time to avoid an embarrassment.

“Not one time in our minds did we think we were going to lose this game,” Lee said.

Which is more than you could say for LSU’s fans.

3. Band Goes Digital: At halftime of the USC-Stanford game, the ever-irreverent Stanford band formed the number “24,” on the field, referring to the Cardinal’s point total in its shocking 24-23 win at USC.

The band formed the letters “OJ” for its opening number, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”

O.J. Simpson won the Heisman Trophy when he played at USC, you see. Forty years ago!

The Trojans won this time around, 45-23.

“There was a lot of talk about revenge coming into the game,” said Stanford Coach Jim Harbaugh. “That’s a word I don’t use in college football.”

“It was revenge,” said USC tailback C.J. Gable.

Stanford, for some odd reason, lined up for a field goal on the game’s last play. USC Coach Pete Carroll, for some odd reason, called a timeout. Stanford changed its mind, and Alex Loukas threw an 18-yard touchdown pass.

“Loukas wanted to go for the end zone,” Harbaugh said. “So I said, ‘Let’s go for the end zone.’ . . . I just wanted to get the last points.”

Carroll’s reaction to Harbaugh’s decision-making: “He can do whatever he wants. I don’t care.”

“If Harbaugh stays at Stanford a while rather than going off to the NFL,” wrote Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News, “this could turn into quite the snarky annual kickoff appointment.”

Fumbles

1. Axed: A not-so-funny thing happened to Minnesota (7-4) on its way to a New Year’s bowl. It lost to Northwestern and Michigan at home, then fell 35-32 at Wisconsin Saturday after holding a 21-7 halftime lead.

The Paul Bunyan Axe remains in Madison.

“We’re going to lay on a sword for the next couple days,” Gophers Coach Tim Brewster said. “We’re going to bleed this one out hard. This will be tough to let go.”

Iowa hopes he’s right. The Hawkeyes will try to extend Minnesota’s misery Saturday night in the Metrodome.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, will try to get to 7-5 by beating Cal Poly Saturday in Madison.

“I really don’t know how the bowl system works,” Badgers center John Moffitt said. “I feel like there’s three guys in a room and they flip a quarter. I’m trying to go every game, one game at a time — just try to win out.”

The Hlist questions why it takes three guys to flip quarters, but not as much as it wonders why Wisconsin is playing Cal Poly in mid-November.

2. Coldcocked: Florida’s 56-6 win over South Carolina was Gamecocks Coach Steve Spurrier’s worst loss in his 309 games as a head coach in college and pro football.

“A loss is a loss, whether it’s by one point or 50 points,” Spurrier said. “Sometimes getting your butt beat real good is better than a one-pointer or two-pointer.”

Sunday, Spurrier sounded more like an apologist than the brash Ol’ Ball Coach who directed Florida to six SEC titles and the 1996 national championship.

“We’re not the first team they’ve ever scored 50 on lately and may not be the last team. But we are 7-4,” he said.

The Orlando Sentinel’s Mike Bianchi: “Seeing Spurrier coming back to The Swamp and getting clobbered was like watching an aging Sinatra returning to the Sands and forgetting the words to ‘My Way.’

“Urban Meyer came to Florida and wanted to be like Steve Spurrier.

“Now Steve Spurrier’s at South Carolina and wants to be like Urban Meyer.”

3. No, Prez, No!: We don’t need our presidents worrying about sports, unless Alabama Coach Nick Saban is close to nuclear capability. Even if he isn’t, he needs to be watched closely.

Anyway, Barack Obama really doesn’t need to pander to the masses by pushing for a college football playoff.

“I don’t know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this,” Obama said on “60 Minutes” Sunday. “So, I’m going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it’s the right thing to do.”

“Certainly it’s an important issue for college football and colleges,” said Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany. “Where does it stand in the list of challenges we have in America today? I would say it’s not very high.”

If only the Big Ten Network’s ghastly “Friday Night Tailgate” used that kind of common sense.

“I look forward to talking with (Obama) and explaining to him that it’s not in the best interest of the academic integrity of our institutions,” Ohio State Chancellor Gordon Gee said.

The Hlist thinks that would be useful.

Because in these challenging times, our new president will need all the laughs he can get.

Final gun

“If 35-7 against Kansas on the road isn’t good enough for someone, we’ll just go wherever they tell us to go.” — Texas Coach Mack Brown on a suggestion the Longhorns’ latest win might not have wowed pollsters.

The Hlist: Terrelle Pryor is the Man

Opening kickoff

“This was billed as a statement game at Pitt, but the only statement one could decipher afterward was this: ‘We’re not as bad as Iowa.’” — Joe Starkey, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

First downs

1. Pryor Engagement: So this is how the Terrelle Pryor era began as Ohio State’s starting quarterback. Four touchdown passes and 66 yards rushing in a 28-10 win over Troy.

“I’ve been making plays all my life,” said the freshman.

But Pryor doesn’t sound like a total braggart.

“I thought I messed up a lot,” he said. “When we sit down in the film room, I’m going to get yelled at a lot. That’s a good thing.”

Even with Illinois’ Juice Williams, Purdue’s Curtis Painter and Penn State’s Darryl Clark, Pryor may already be the Big Ten’s best quarterback.

2. Excess of SEC-cess: The Southeastern Conference plays a little football.

This week in the AP rankings: 3. Georgia, 4. Florida, 5. LSU, 8. Alabama.

Florida mauled conference rival Tennessee in Knoxville, 30-6. Gators head coach Urban Meyer lauded his defensive line coach, someone well-known to Iowans.

“I just look at our D-line and they hung with a very good offensive line,” Meyer said. “Dan McCarney is a special coach. He’s energetic and you see it translating onto the field.”

Vanderbilt (4-0 overall, 2-0 in the SEC) hasn’t had a winning season since 1982. It climbed into the AP poll at No. 21, its first appearance in the rankings since 1984 and second since 1958.

“I think it’s a pretty good reward for a good start,” Vanderbilt Coach Bobby Johnson said of the ranking. “Our guys are pretty smart. They realize it won’t help you win games.”

3. JoePa Can’t Kick: Penn State is 4-0 after a 45-3 drubbing of Temple. The Nittany Lions have beaten the Owls the last 26 times they met.

PSU Coach Joe Paterno watched the second half from the Lions’ coaches’ box in the press box. He hurts. His right leg has been sore since he made an onside kick to close the Thursday practice before his team’s first game. That’s a ritual Paterno had long had, for fun. No more.

The media wanted news about the leg after Saturday’s game.

“I’ve got a bunch of guys out there fighting all kinds of adversity with different lineups, hanging in there together, all right?” Paterno said. “And you’re worried about my leg. Now, if you were a bunch of good-looking girls, I’d feel better about it.”

4. Ball of Fire: Ball State had lost all 43 of its games against teams from the six BCS conferences. Then it won at Indiana, 42-20, to improve to 4-0.

Sadly, Ball State receiver Dante Love’s football career is expected to be over because of the back fracture he suffered in the game. Love entered the game as the nation’s leader with 144.3 receiving yards a game.

The good news is, according to a Ball State spokesman, that Love is expected to be able to live a normal and healthy life after rehabilitation.

Fumbles

1. Peanut Gallery is Nuts: Booing college quarterbacks has become a national phenomenon.

Ohio State senior quarterback Todd Boeckman took just two snaps against Troy in a reserve role. He got loudly booed at Ohio Stadium when his lone pass was incomplete. This was the guy who threw 25 touchdown passes for last year’s Big Ten champions.

“Hey, we’re just kids,” said Buckeyes defensive lineman Lawrence Wilson. “We’re not professionals. There is no way adults should treat us that way.”

Boston College quarterback Chris Crane got jeered in the second quarter in his team’s home game against Central Florida.

“You hate to see that,” said BC Coach Jeff Jagodzinski about the booing. “Especially at home. But I guess it’s all part of (the game).”

Crane proceeded to play very well in the second half, leading the Eagles to 31 points in their 34-7 win.

Presumably, the fans cheered him.

2. Rocky Top Rocked: Losing 30-6 at home to Florida isn’t playing well in Tennessee.

Volunteers Coach Philip Fulmer is 5-12 against Florida. Since winning the 1998 national championship, he’s 20-25 against ranked opponents.

The booing was loud at times in Knoxville on Saturday. “There’s probably not anybody happy with me right now,” Fulmer said.

Jimmy Trodglen of the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle is one unhappy Tennessee sports editor.

“The Vols lack discipline, there’s no leadership on or off the field, play-calling is questionable and Fulmer continues to be outcoached,” Trodglen wrote.

“It’s time for Fulmer to pull onto Cumberland Avenue with his belongings carefully packed and not stop until he reaches his home.”

3. Irish Lapped: Notre Dame got caught with a laptop computer in the coaches’ box during its game at Michigan State.

Irish Coach Charlie Weis said the incident was a matter of an improperly located student manager recording down-and-distance information for game-tape dubbing.

“You’re allowed to do that,” Weis said. “But the one area where you’re not allowed to do that is in a coaching area.”

Michigan State caught the violation during the game, but Spartans Coach Mark Dantonio shrugged it off.

“I’ve never seen a computer or a camera make a tackle, catch a ball or anything,” Dantonio said.

No computer and few Irish defenders slowed MSU back Javon Ringer. He had 39 carries, 201 yards and two touchdowns in MSU’s 23-7 win.

4. Dark Knights: Rutgers was the feel-good story of college football when it went 11-2 in 2006. But the Scarlet Knights are again lousy. They fell to 0-3 for the first time since 1999 after a 23-21 loss to Navy, and looked stupid doing so.

Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel threw a punch at teammate Glen Lee as Teel came off the field late in the game.

“I apologize for losing my cool,” Teel said. “He was telling me to keep my head up and to get off the field. He was doing the right thing and what I did was so totally wrong.”

“It’s just in-house family stuff,” Lee said.

To which Tom Luicci of the Newark Star-Ledger replied, “Maybe if the family is Archie and the rest of the Bunkers.”

OK, the reference is a bit dated.

Final gun

“Call it whatever you want: courage, guts, confidence, arrogance, fearlessness, stones. Doesn’t matter what you call it, only that LSU Coach Les Miles has it.” — John DeShazier, New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Miles’ Tigers used a halfback pass for a TD and recovered an onside kick in the third quarter in their 26-21 win at Auburn.

The Hlist: Week 1

OPENING KICKOFF

“They’re so athletic. It just wore on us. They didn’t play like Michigan. They played like LSU.” — Appalachian State Coach Jerry Moore after his team’s 41-13 loss at LSU. His Mountaineers won at Michigan last year.

FIRST DOWNS

1. Eye-Opening Opener: Illinois and Missouri join most of the rest of the bloodthirsty FBS cabal in plucking the FCS for some easy pickings this week with Eastern Illinois and Southeast Missouri State, respectively. But they sure started the season the right way.

Playing each other in St. Louis, the teams combined for 13 touchdowns. Mizzou won, 52-42, despite the brilliance of Illini sophomore QB Juice Williams, who threw five TD passes.

“I try not to look at the numbers, but I see the interceptions before I see the touchdowns,” Williams said. “I hope I have zero next week.”

In the fourth quarter, a member of ESPN’s broadcast team suggested Missouri might be Illinois’ best foe. Interesting,since the Illini play Ohio State in November.

“Missouri is a very good team,” Illinois Coach Ron Zook said. “It’s not a sin to lose to a team like that one.”

2. Covering the Spread: OK, Florida International didn’t fully succeed in covering Kansas’ spread offense. Passing 52 times, the Jayhawks rolled over FIU, 40-10.

Iowa won’t throw 52 times Saturday when it hosts the Golden Panthers, unless Kirk Ferentz’s body is taken over by Kansas Coach Mark Mangino. If you’ve seen Mangino’s girth, you know he’d make that trade in a heartbeat.

But FIU did cover the 36-point spread Nevada oddsmakers set for the game. Iowa was a 27-point pick over the Golden Panthers at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as of Monday noon.

But what’s the over/under for FIU total yards at Iowa? It mustered just 139 at Kansas.

“We’re getting better,” said FIU Coach Mario Cristóbal. Which is a relief, since the school has lost 24 of its last 25 games.

3. Wolves Are No Sheep: The Hlist vows to make no snide remarks about Iowa putting Arkansas State on its 2009 schedule. Ever.

The Maine Black Bears were teddy bears for the Hawkeyes, and Florida International appears little better. But the Red Wolves of Arkansas State play football. They topped Texas A&M, 18-14, before 78,691 horrified fans in College Station.

It was Arkansas State’s first win over a team from a BCS conference, and first in 16 tries against a Big 12 team.

“Just to be part of the new Red Wolves, and the way for us to start it off, at Texas A&M, oh my goodness,” said receiver Jahbari McLennan.

The Red Wolves were called the Indians until this year. Had they remained the Indians, Iowa couldn’t have played them under the UI’s policy.

4. Race for the Ages: Penn State’s 66-10 win over the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers put Nittany Lions Coach Joe Paterno in a tie with Florida State’s Bobby Bowden for the all-time lead in wins with 373.

“I haven’t even thought about it, and I’m not going to,” the 81-year-old Paterno said. “I can only say it so many times, it’s not a big deal to me.”

Coastal Carolina Coach David Bennett called Paterno and Bowden “American heroes.” Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun-Times saw nothing heroic in Penn State playing an FCS team.

“Shame on you, Penn State, for even scheduling the Chanticleers,” Telander wrote. “JoePa, couldn’t you have just ordered a cherry for your flaming cake instead of a 66-10 forest fire, or has senility kicked in?”

FUMBLES

1. Bigger is Better: The bigger-school FBS teams crushed the not-as-big FCS teams last week. No shock there.

But that doesn’t make it right. There were 32 FBS-FCS “clashes,” and the FBS won all but one. Only eight of the games were settled by less than 24 points. That’s absurd.

Oklahoma beat Chattanooga, 57-2. It was 50-0 at halftime, then they had a 72-minute delay because of a thunderstorm. Which gave The Oklahoman’s Barry Tramel all the material he needed.

“After the most lopsided half of football in 30 years at Owen Field,” Tramel wrote, “and the second-most lopsided since anyone was paying attention, and the most embarrassing ballgame any of us hopefully will ever have to witness, God saw all that college football had made. And it was bad. It was very bad.”

2. Long Comes Up Short: The sole FBS team to fall to an FCS club was Chuck Long’s San Diego State, which fell to Cal Poly, 29-27.

“It’s time for Aztecs Nation to unite!” former SDSU star Marshall Faulk urged the crowd in a pregame announcement. He would have had few takers after the game.

Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune isn’t smitten with Long’s program. After Saturday’s game, Canepa wrote “It should be better than this. At the very, very, very, very least, State should beat Cal Poly. And it didn’t. Again it didn’t.”

3. The Pitts: Pittsburgh closed last season with a stunning 13-9 upset win at rival West Virginia to ruin the Mountaineers’ chance of playing in the national-title game.

How not to build on that momentum: Lose 27-17 at home to Bowling Green.

Pitt slipped to 16-20 under Coach Dave Wannstedt, and 13-20 against FBS teams. Saturday was the ninth time the Panthers lost under Wannstedt when they were favorites. It’s a good thing Wannstedt got a contract extension through 2012 at the end of last season. A good thing for Wannstedt, anyhow.

Iowa is at Pitt on Sept. 20. Somehow, the Hawkeyes need to persuade Las Vegas to make them the underdogs.

4. Jumping to Wrong Conclusion: Duke officials were caught off-guard when two men parachuted into Wallace Wade Stadium and landed at the 35-yard line with a game ball an hour before the Blue Devils’ game against James Madison in Durham, N.C.

The skydivers were a bit surprised, too. Their jump site was meant to be eight miles away, at the McNeese State-North Carolina game in Chapel Hill.

The jumpers had decided to cancel the leap because of a severe weather front. But when the clouds eventually opened, the pilot thought they were over the correct stadium.

“In about five years, maybe this will be funny,” said UNC associate athletics director Rick Steinbacher after he apologized to Duke officials. “Right.”

FINAL GUN

“Rich Rodriguez’s spread offense is supposed to score all sorts of points, and after one game of the Rich Rod Regime, I must ask: for which team?” — Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press after the Wolverines fell to Utah, 25-23.