NC State Head Coaching Search

Today NC State fired Head Football coach Tom O'Brien after six seasons. During O'Brien's tenure the team averaged 6.6 wins and 5.8 loses a year, which is very average. Many people were surprised by the firing, but it was time for a chance.

And now on to who's next. I have compiled a list of ten head coaching candidates that the University should consider. Other open or potentially open head coaching position are Auburn, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Boston College, USF, Cal, USC, Michigan State, Iowa, and any schools who's head coach is hired away.

1. James Franklin – Head Coach, Vanderbilt

The name that has been tossed around most is Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin. Franklin knows NC State AD Debbie Yow from his time as OC at Maryland. He has been the head coach of Vanderbilt for two years and has complied a record of 14-11. A couple of red flags with Franklin: he has only been the Vandy head coach for two years meaning that most of the players weren't recruited by him, this isn't saying that he can't recruit just something to be weary of. Also with some of the prominent open head coaching position listed above he may have better offers than NC State. Update: James Franklin is not a serious candidate for the NC State job.

2. Sonny Dykes – Head Coach, Louisiana Tech

The second name to look at is Sonny Dykes who replaced Derek Dooley as the Louisiana Tech head coach. Under Dooley La Tech was 17-20 and under Dykes, who's father is legendary Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes, the team is 22-14 with a bowl game to go. Dykes runs a throwing spread offense similar to Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. Dykes doesn't have any really big red flags but could be tapped for a prominent position similar to Franklin. If he can win with the talent he has at La Tech, he should be able to win at NC State. Sonny Dykes is my choice for head coach at NC State. 

3. Kriby Smart – Defensive Coordinator, Alabama

Who better to hire as your new head coach than the Coordinator of one of the top defenses on one of the top teams in the country. Kirby Smart has been the DC at Alabama since Nick Saben was hired in 2007. Alabama has had a great defense during Smart's tenure including being #1 overall this season and has lead to two National Championships and maybe a third. The biggest flags with Smart as that he has never been a head coach and he is the highest paid assistant in the country. Tom O'Brien only made a little more this year than Smart did so it may to hard to lure him away from Alabama.

4. Chad Morris – Offensive Coordinator, Clemson

Fourth on my list is someone who NC State fans should be familiar with, Clemson OC Chad Morris. Most of us saw Clemson's offense put up 62 points on NC State two weeks ago. The offense is top ten in years per game and averages 42 points a game. Morris has been the OC at Clemson for two year and he spent one year at Tulsa before that. That is his only experience in college football having been a high school head coach in Texas for about 15 years. Not only would hiring Morris add excitement to our offense it would weaken, in my opinion, our second biggest football rival.

5. Mark Helfrich – Offensive Coordinator, Oregon

More offense, Mark Helfrich has been the OC at Oregon for four years. Most people are familiar with Oregon's offense which is one of the most explosive offenses in the country. The concerns with Helfrich are that he has never been a head coach and he doesn't call plays at Oregon. The other larger concern is that Chip Kelly could leave Oregon for the NFL and Helfrich would be the favorite to replace him.

Here are the next five potential candidates. I'm not going to detail each one, but each of them would make an excellent head coach for NC State.
6. Mark Stoops – Defensive Coordinator, Florida State
7. Charlie Strong – Head Coach, Louisville
8. Darrell Hazell – Head Coach, Kent State
9. Bob Diaco – Defensive Coordinator, Notre Dame 
10. Kliff Kingsbury – Offensive Coordinator, Texas A&M


I expect the coaching search to take about three weeks and I wish AD Debbie Yow good luck in her search. If she wants any help, she knows where to find me.

College Football Playoff Quarterfinals

Yesterday I picked winners for the 1st round of my college football playoff. Today I will pick the winners in the quarterfinal games.

December 30 Quarterfinal games:

• West #4 Oregon vs. West #1 Alabama, at the Rose Bowl
• West #3 Boise State vs. West #2 Oklahoma State, at the Fiesta Bowl

Alabama vs. Oregon:
Tough choice, two great teams and Alabama does have to travel cross-country to the Rose Bowl. Oregon has speed, but Alabama has speed and power. Alabama is very similar to LSU who beat Oregon at the beginning of the season. The key is can Bama's offense put up enough points to compete with the high powered Ducks.

Alabama 31 Oregon 30

Oklahoma State vs. Boise State:
Five years later Boise State returns to the scene of one of the greatest games in college football history and they get to play none other than Oklahoma's instate rival, Oklahoma State. This is Boise's chance to prove that they can hang with the big boys. This game should be an offensive shootout with Boise unable to match-up with Justin Blackmon and Oklahoma State unable to control Kellen Moore.

Boise State 42 Oklahoma State 38

December 31 Quarterfinal games:

• East #5 Wisconsin vs. East #1 LSU, at the Outback Bowl
• East #3 Arkansas vs. East #2 Stanford, at the Capital One Bowl

LSU vs. Wisconsin:
Undefeated LSU faces Big Ten champ Wisconsin in a game with two grind it out teams. Both teams seem to find a way to score 30-40 points in every game. LSU has the better defense and couple that with an offense that improved as the season went along could mean a long game for Wisconsin. Two Heisman trophy finalist will add intrigue to this second round game.

LSU 37 Wisconsin 21

Stanford vs. Arkansas:
The final quarterfinal game features the best quarterback in the country against a dynamic offense lead by Tyler Wilson. A long trip for Stanford should help to balance out the game. Ultimately the balanced attack of Stanford takes advantage of a weak Arkansas defense and helps the Cardinal advance to the Semifinals.

Stanford 34 Arkansas 28

The semifinal games feature two SEC teams, three of the top four teams and Boise State with a chance to show everyone they belong.
January 6 Semifinal games:

• West #5 Boise State vs. West #1 Alabama, at the Fiesta Bowl
• East #1 LSU vs. East #2 Stanford, at the Orange Bowl

College Football Playoff Round 1

Last week I laid out my ideas on how to fix the BCS. Now I am going to go over the match-ups in my tournament start with the 1st round match-ups.

December 22 1st round games:

• West #8 Northern Illinois at West #1 Alabama, at Bryant-Denny Stadium
• East #7 West Virginia at East #2 Stanford, at Stanford Stadium
• East #6 Southern Miss at East #3 Arkansas, at Reynolds Razorback Stadium
• West #5 Clemson at West #4 Oregon, at Autzen Stadium

Alabama vs. Northern Illinois:
This one is pretty straight forward. With the exception of the LSU game no team has gotten within 16 points of the Crimson Tide.  Alabama has beaten four top 25 team while the only top 25 team Northern Illinois played beat them by 42.

Alabama 49 Northern Illinois 10

Stanford vs. West Virginia:
Stanford is the only one of the top four seeds to be facing a team from one of the big six conference, and I use that term with the Big East loosely. West Virginia played 2 top 25 beating Cincinnati by 3 and losing to LSU by 26. Regardless of their schedule they are a quality team and will give Stanford a run for its money. Stanford's only lose was to Oregon and their key wins were against Washington, USC, and Notre Dame. Overall Stanford will come out victorious but the game will be closer than you would expect from a 2-7 match-up.

Stanford 24 West Virginia 21

Arkansas vs. Southern Miss.:
Arkansas really fly under the radar this, but that was more due to the fact the the top two seeds were from the same division in the SEC. Despite that Arkansas still beat three top 25 teams and used their potent offense to beat everyone else except Alabama and LSU. Southern Miss came on late and despite a lose to UAB was able to finish 11-2 including and upset over undefeated Houston in the CUSA championship game. You would think that their recent experience would give them a chance for the stunner but losing their coach to UNC negates all of that.

Arkansas 41 Southern Miss. 30 

Oregon vs. Clemson:
Overall the best game of the first day of the Bowl Championship Tournament featuring two of the countries most explosive offenses. The biggest factor in this game is the fact that it is in Oregon and Clemson has two travel across the country. Both team get healthy with the two week break but in the end the home field advantage and long travel distance proves two much so Clemson.

Oregon 52 Clemson 42

December 23 1st round games:

• East #8 Louisiana Tech at East #1 Louisiana State, at Tiger Stadium
• West #7 Arkansas State at West #2 Oklahoma State, at Boone Pickens Stadium
• West #6 TCU at West #3 Boise State, at Broncos Stadium
• East #5 Wisconsin at East #4 Kansas State, at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium

LSU vs. Louisiana Tech:
The most intriguing thing about this game is the fact that both schools are in Louisiana and tickets will be hard to come by. On the field LSU is undefeated and has dominated in every game but one and Tech has 4 losses on the season.

LSU 45 Louisiana Tech 6

Oklahoma State vs. Arkansas State:
Arkansas St is a great story, coming from out of nowhere to win 10 games and getting Hugh Freeze the Ole Miss job. Losing their head coach and the inability to cover Justin Blackmon allows the Pokes to move on to the next round in a romp.

Oklahoma State 35 Arkansas State 13

Boise State vs. TCU:
This is the only match-up of conference teams as well as the only the rematch of the 1st round. Once again the game takes place at Boise and if it is anything like the first game we should be in for a thriller. Both teams are evenly matched but the weather in Boise give the Broncos a small advantage which is all that it take to make sure the Boise's deficiencies in the kicking game don't show up for at least one week.

Boise State 35 TCU 31

Kansas State vs. Wisconsin:
A Midwest match-up taking place at the home of one of the surprising teams in college football this year. Kansas State lost both of their games against top 10 team and only narrowly beat Baylor and Texas. Wisconsin on the other hand only lost games within the last minute so as long as they have at least a one score lead they should be fine. Ultimately the more all around team pulls off the only upset of the 1st round.

Wisconsin 31 Kansas State 20

This sets up the next round of games to be:
December 30 Quarterfinal games:

• West #4 Oregon vs. West #1 Alabama, at the Rose Bowl
• West #3 Boise State vs. West #2 Oklahoma State, at the Fiesta Bowl

December 31 Quarterfinal games:

• East #5 Wisconsin vs. East #1 LSU, at the Outback Bowl
• East #3 Arkansas vs. East #2 Stanford, at the Capital One Bowl

College Football Playoff

Every year around this time everyone from casual fans to coaches discuss the problems with the Bowl Championship Series(BCS) and how they would fix it. Of course I have an idea and here it is:

A 16 team tournament featuring the conference champions from all 11 conferences, yes even the WAC and Sun Belt, plus the top 5 at-large team in the Bowl Championship Tournament rankings. The difference between these ranking and the current BCS standings is the fact that my ranking have no human polls which takes that element out of the rankings.

2011 Final Rankings:
The teams highlighted in yellow are the at-large teams.

Based on the rankings the teams in the 2011 Bowl Championship Tournament are:
LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma St., Stanford, Arkansas, Boise St., Oregon, Kansas St., Wisconsin, Clemson, TCU, Southern Miss., West Virginia, Arkansas St., Northern Illinois, Louisiana Tech
The at-large team come from the SEC(2), Big 12, Pac-12, and Mountain West.

The teams are ranking based on their place in the poll and matched up just how they should be in a 16 team bracket. The 1-16, 4-13, 5-12, and the 8-9 match-ups are in the East bracket while the other four game are in the West. The brackets swap each year and defined by the location of the 2nd and 3rd round games. The East bowl games are Outback, Capital One, and Orange and the West bowl games are Rose, Cotton, and Fiesta. The seventh bowl game is the Sugar bowl which this year is hosting the championship game. They rotate around each year so each bowl gets the championship once every 7 years and a semifinal game every 3-4 years. The 1st round game take place at the home of the highest ranked team which encourages team to play well during the season to get an extra home game.

Here is the bracket with the 1st round match-ups.

December 22 1st round games:

• West #8 Northern Illinois at West #1 Alabama, at Bryant-Denny Stadium
• East #7 West Virginia at East #2 Stanford, at Stanford Stadium
• East #6 Southern Miss at East #3 Arkansas, at Reynolds Razorback Stadium
• West #5 Clemson at West #4 Oregon, at Autzen Stadium

December 23 1st round games:

• East #8 Louisiana Tech at East #1 Louisiana State, at Tiger Stadium
• West #7 Arkansas State at West #2 Oklahoma State, at Boone Pickens Stadium
• West #6 TCU at West #3 Boise State, at Broncos Stadium
• East #5 Wisconsin at East #4 Kansas State, at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium

A number of intriguing games and over the next couple of day I will be making predictions for all of these games and eventually crowning a BCT champion.