BACK TO THE LAND OF PURPLE
So despite the arrival of a new bio lab in Manhattan, defensive line coach Joe Bob Clements is heading back to coach the defensive line at KSU. I respect the fact that he is loyal to his school. That's what makes college football fun. The interesting thing to me is debating whether or not it is a good career move. If Bill Snyder coaches for another five years, most will view that as a miracle. Three sounds like a good number to me. So, I guess Clements can expect a promotion or another job search in very short time. That's the coaching game I suppose -- but it seems like an un-necessary gamble.
From the KU perspective, some fans are indicating they didn't see much improvement on the d-line anyway, so no big deal. I'll point to the last two games as examples. Not flawless, but definitely their pressure factored into both games. Also, if you check the sack totals, we're up this year (23 vs 21) despite a big time schedule and the loss of James McClinton plus Todd Haselhorst. No, I think Clements was making progress. However, it does present an opportunity to upgrade and if any assistants are out there looking at this position, with the experienced young talent we have on the front four, you can walk in and look like a genius.
One thing we do have to watch though is the recruits that Clements had on board. We've had enough defections this year. Here's the list:
Gavin Howard (OL)
Julian Jones (LB)
Prinz Kande (DB)
Huldon Tharp (LB)
TOM OSBORNE WAS SCARED
The KC Star's Blair Kerkoff presented some Big 12 history that I was unaware of this morning. Evidently, Tom Osborne rallied the coaches during the formation of the Big 12 to vote 11-0 against (apparently R.C. Slocum was working on his e-newsletter) the concept of football championship game. According to Kerkoff the coaches were comfortable with the divisions and just wanted the division winners to head to the bowl games? Boy, I'd love some clarification on that because that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
It always amazes me to hear Texas, OU and Nebraska whine about the Big 12 Championship Game (B12CG). I can remember every Big 12 football champion, but I can't remember the national champion unless it was a Big 12 team. In fact, I have a hard time remembering the basketball conference champion -- generally I just assume it was KU. You've heard me say it a million times -- the Big 12 Title game is the only game that matters. The rest is just some sort of crazy post-season exhibition fantasy pageant built to support tourism.* You may get lucky and do all the right things to get in but often times it's not based on merit, so why worry about it. The B12CG is earned, logical and played on the field. Sure the south division is a mess this year, but the fact the two that tied and got left out held their own fate and didn't deliver. I can think of a better tie-breaker, but OU earns the spot according the rules. Done and done.
*I do like how the bowl system rewards players on something like 64 teams for sacrificing their bodies during a 12-game regular season. They get a nice trip and tons of swag even in the small bowls. I think that's the least the NCAA can do for those guys.