End Game
I watched Summer of 42 on Turner Classic Movies a couple of nights ago, which led me to do a Google search of Jennifer O’Neil, which led me to a search of Ali McGraw, which reminded me of the opening line of Love Story starring Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neil. By the way, for any of you who haven’t seen Love Story, if you’re interested in the epitome of maudlin, kitschy movies and pop culture of the early 1970s, you should watch it. Ripping good stuff, in my opinion. Ali McGraw is kind of cute too. Anyway, the line is, “What can you say about a 25-year-old girl who died?” Paraphrasing that line, “What can I write about a football team that stinks that I haven’t written already?”
Well, here goes.
If I Were a Rich Man …. or Mike Perrin
If I were the athletic director, Charlie Strong would get a third year to turn his team around; not that there is any real chance that the real athletic director would fire Strong on Sunday anyway. My instinct – informed by experience – tells me that ultimately he will fail. His decisions to keep Shawn Watson in January and to roll with Tyrone Swoopes to start the season were monumentally bad. His total misconception in August about how good this team was calls into question his ability to effectively lead a program in a Power 5 conference. My instinct aside, I believe Perrin has to know for sure that Strong can’t be successful, and he won’t know that for sure without giving Strong one more year.
Looking for precedents
To bolster the argument that it’s the right thing for the program to give Strong an extra year, I went searching for examples of other good college football coaches who had bad starts while reviving a program.
Nick Saban
Saban’s first year record at Alabama in 2007 was 7-6. In 2008 his record was 12-2. The rest is history.
No help there.
Urban Meyer
Meyer’s first year record at Florida in 2005 was 9-3. In 2006 his record was 13-1 and Florida won the National Championship.
Still no help.
Brian Kelly
Kelly’s posted 8-5 records in his first two years at Notre Dame in 2010 and 2011. He went 12-1 in 2012 losing to Alabama in the BCS Championship game. Not what we’re looking for.
Jim Harbaugh
Harbaugh is having great success at Michigan in his first year. Let’s take a look at his first years at Stanford.
In 2007 he was 4-8; in 2008 he was 5-7. He had his first winning season in 2009, his third, year going 8-5. In 2010 Stanford went 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl.
So there’s our precedent. Here’s an early Holiday toast to Charlie Strong becoming the Texas version of Jim Harbaugh.
The Chris Warren Show
With Foreman out and Gray questionable, it looks like Chris Warren will get the start again against Baylor. The only interesting thing about this game might be seeing how Warren performs against a real defense as opposed to the Texas Tech defense. I hope Charlie Strong doesn’t diminish Texas’ hopes in this game by insisting on giving the hobbled “J Gray” more than a 2-3 token carries. Or how bout none?
Bookends
I started out on movies, but no, I’m not veering into music here. It’s kind of ironic that Tyrone Swoopes gets the start in Texas’ last game of the season, his only other start in 2015 having come in the first game. Texas lost that on 38-3.
I’m thinking the point spread will be about the same in Waco tomorrow. Let’s call it Baylor by 59-24.
Texas Tech Over/Under Results
I’m sorry to be so tardy in reporting on the results of the Texas Tech Over/Under. My excuse is about like my son Robert’s when I asked him why he didn’t do an eighth-grade English assignment, “I didn’t feel like it.”
Jeff Otto posted his second W of the season with seven correct answers. The man seems to be getting the hang of Over/Under. That’s two wins for Jeff in only four total lifetime starts.
Wade Wallace, Mark Adams and Rick Mosher tied for second with six correct.
The scores were low for this one with a 4.6 average.
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By the way, Summer of 42 is in excellent movie and it’s not kitschy or maudlin
HooK ‘eM,
W.E.
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