Goodbye to All That

Hey y'all, holler at the farmer, 'cause the chicken laid another egg.

At the outset, congratulations to the supremely opportunistic Bulls, without question, they will warrant Top 10 status in the next round of polls. Florida kids, it goes without saying, have no peer for speed and quickness--and there are a whole lot of youngsters in the Sunshine State that can play football. Are they a national title contender? Well, we could say that a hypothetical OSU/WIS v. RUT/USF poll battle would prove quite interesting, especially if also matched against a one-loss USC team for the right to play the SEC champion (the winner of the nation's best conference is always guaranteed a title shot, didn't you know that?). In order...

1) A one-loss USC team
2) An undefeated Rutgers or South Florida team
3) An undefeated Wisconsin or Ohio State team
4) An undefeated Oklahoma team, unless Texas wins out

Of course, an LSU/FLA split would create quite a bit of chaos, even if USC--the greatest team that we will ever see until 2008--runs the table. Nonetheless, I can tell you, with absolute certainty, which team is no longer part of the title picture.

Jerry Glanville and Jack Pardee's Houston Oilers... err... Rich Rodriguez's West Virginia Mountaineers. Look, before suitably blasting WVA for emulating Virginia Tech post-#7, a few words on my pick. It had all the possibility of becoming true, had Pat White not dinged up his knee and had alleged All-America Steve Slaton had better hands. Aside from a pick-six to open the proceedings and a Louisville-esque busted coverage on a long TD pass, the incompetent execution at the USF 2 summed up the night rather well. That botched snap likely cost the Mountaineers a TD and only a 7-14 deficit.

On the highlights, it sort of looked like Greg Montgomery muffing a snap on a field goal in a playoff game long ago... Last year, a lack of discipline cost West Virginia on the road at Louisville followed by a lack of focus against these very same Bulls when a BCS berth seemed theirs for the taking (because, you know, beating an SEC champ in the Sugar Bowl--barely--is worth ten years of goodwill, not quite ND-like, but almost). White and Slaton starred as freshmen on a Top 5 finisher in 2005... now it's 2007, and we're still waiting for something resembling an encore.

Coach Rodriguez has a good program, yet the aforementioned stars are not the usual crop received by Morgantown: they've cashed in to some degree, but more has been expected these last two years. If Slaton stays, they'll have one more chance, if not, well, it may not get this good for awhile.

Upon reflection of last night's WVA debacle, my thoughts wandered back to one of the most talented teams in NFL history--the late 1980s/early 1990s Houston Oilers. A cool bunch with charismatic players and speed to burn, so great... they never played in an AFC Championship Game. We need not remind you their entire "reign" witnessed the NFC hold the Lombardi Trophy every time. To borrow a line from the legendary SNL performer, it was always something, from gagging a thirty-two point lead in Buffalo to playing the foil for yet another Joe Montana moment, as their #2 seed and visions of finally reaching the Super Bowl, dissipated in the cavernous Astrodome artificial air. Soon, the brass chose a "promising" young QB over a future Hall of Famer, and the ride ended, literally, with the relocation to Tennessee.

Now, Rich Rodriguez is a better coach than either Houston gent, yet the results, troublingly, seem the same: they always find the banana peel. Remarkably, this time it wasn't the defense, but injuries and an ineffective offense. Oh, like a certain Run-and-Shoot crew from days gone by, they can return to piling up the points on questionable competition, and perhaps even win in New Jersey later this year. We may even say it goes back to old ruler of Morgantown, and the 1988 and 1993 undefeated Mountaineer squads pummelled in two major bowl games--or the potential squandered in the form of a seventeen point opening loss to the (albeit #1) Buckeyes in 1998. Or allowing a certain Virginia Tech freshman quarterback to drive his team to a game-winning field goal with seconds to play on the Blue Ridge in 1999.

The Bulls are a nice story and have a leg up in the conference race, yet they're not a serious championship contender (yet), West Virginia was supposed to be one, even as their sole accomplishment remains holding off one of the worst SEC champions (Georgia, 2005) in many seasons.

Yet, perhaps it is best for WVA to look on the bright side: at least they didn't blow a double-digit lead against a mid-level opponent in a conference title game mere minutes from a once-fathomable destination: the Fiesta Bowl and the chance to play for all the marbles. That 1998 Kansas State edition, piloted by the Heisman runner-up, a terrific defense, and superb special teams, owns the dubious distinction of losing the most.