National Championships

Courtesy of research over at wikipedia, here are the active D-1A coaches who have won a national championship:

Howard Schnellenberger, 1983
Joe Paterno, 1986
Dennis Erickson, 1989 and 1991
Bobby Bowden, 1993 and 1999
Steve Spurrier, 1996
Phil Fulmer, 1998
Bob Stoops, 2000
Nick Saban, 2003
Pete Carroll, 2004
Mack Brown, 2005
Urban Meyer, 2006

Getting to that second one puts you in rare company.

Ray Gundy's Blackberry

searching text messages across the globe, I was able to locate this message. More info on Pistols Firing!

Orange Bowl Limerick

Rock Chock Jayhawk takes on Hokies
There’ll be an absence of Okies
We’re licking our wounds
And listening to tunes
'cause last night we were Chokies.

Couple More West Virginia Items

Congrats to Bill Stewart and WV for promoting from within. Stewart certainly looked more than capable last night, though big time donor Ken Kendrick has his doubts. West By God Virginia is optimistic, but appears to have some doubts. It's a little natural to be a bit reserved on the unproven assistant getting a promotion thing.


Second, here's an interesting item on the RR lawsuit. I've been following that with a little bit of morbid fascination and haven't commented on it. I'm rooting hard for WV to win this. I think if the coaches - whether it's RR or our own HeadVisor - want the security of the multi-million dollar long term deal, millions more thrown into facilities, free tix for coaches and books for kids so that every obstacle is paved over so they can recruit, the coaches need to abide by their end of the deal also.

Now back to work.

At Least we beat 'em in Basketball...

First of all, congrats to the Mountaineers. They played the better game tonight and there was no question about the outcome.

On to various thoughts I had during the game.

• If I never saw another Prison Break preview, I would be fine.
• The sideline reporter was wearing WVU colors, which I thought was a nice touch.
• Fox is awful doing college sports. The teams in the booth have no chemistry. There should be some sort of requirement of the BCS broadcasters that they use teams that have worked together throughout the season. I'd never heard of the dude doing play-by-play. I've seen Donahue do studio work. Pat Haden, lackey for NDBC, hadn't seen that much offense all year.
• OU has an All-American left guard, Duke Robinson, flanked by a 350 pound mountain named Phil Loadholt. We ran right ALL NIGHT. I don't know who is on that side of the 'eer defense, or if they were just loading up that side to force us to the right, but it worked.
• The onside kick was not a good call. Completely killed the momentum...we'd had two three and outs defensively to start the half. WVU's onside recovery not only recovered the ball, but it recovered the momentum and OU never got it back.
• I've begun to despise two point conversions. I disagreed with both choices.
• The Sooners alloweed 349 yard rushing. 8.9 yards per carry. Even if you take out the 4TD runs totalling 169 yards, the 'eers gained 4 per carry on the other 35 runs.
• The Sooners have now lost four straight BCS games.
• Stoops teams just don't play the favorite that well. I don't know why, but if the opposition says something to disprespect the Sooners, or if the foes higher ranked, Stoops can work with that. But an underdog that keeps their mouth shut seems to end up with the advantate.
• I thought Brody Eldridge made a phenomenal catch, but it didn't matter.
• The Sooners had 13 penalties for 115 yards. That's unbelieavable. Several of the penalties negated positive plays. I'd love to say the refs jobbed us, but there were at least two blatant holding calls that the stripes missed.
• Quentin Chaney played well tonight, subbing for an injured Malcolm Kelly.
• I thought Devine's two TD scampers were where I saw the impact most clearly of an injured Reggie Smith and an ineligible Lendy Holmes. Both times DBs overran the play and allowed Devine to cut back for scores. That young man is talented, you don't need to help him out like that.
• As poorly as the Sooners played in the first half, I thought they were in good shape to be down ONLY 20-6 at half. I thought it could have easily been more than that. And it was later.
• The Sooners are 1-3 at the Fiesta Bowl, with their last victory coming in 1976. Old timers will remember the loss in 82 to the Sun Devils. Marcus Dupree was running wild until he pulled a hamstring/blew a tire.
• The Sooners have been notoriously slow starters in bowl games of late. The last time the Sooners led at halftime of a bowl game was 2002 at the Rose Bowl against Washington State.

Fiesta Bowl Preview - we have a coach and you don't

Meth labs: Oklahoma
Moonshine Production: West Virginia
Suing former coaches for millions: West Virginia
Embracing past coaches who brought us years of probation: Oklahoma

Overall Edge: Oklahoma. West Virginia, aside from the moonshine thing, seems to be a fairly law abiding place. You can’t win like that people! West Virginia thinks coaches should honor contracts. Oklahoma thinks tables should be elevated, so it’s easier to pass payments under them.

Official football elements review:
Running game: West Virginia. Sooners will be hampered somewhat by Granger’s bus ride.
Passing game: Oklahoma. Bradford is the leading passer in the country. West Virginia’s pass defense is ranked 12th in the country. The best passing attack the Mountaineers faced this year was…Marshall.
Defense: Oklahoma. West Virginia allows fewer points, and gives up fewer yards. They’ve also only played one team with a top 25 offense. OU has played four games against top 10 offenses. The WV defense does a good job of creating turnovers. Which may help them stay in this game.
Intangibles: Oklahoma. We have a head coach and you don’t.

Prediction: Sooner W.

Fiesta Bowl Limerick

DeMarcus got a bus ride home
‘Cause he ventured out of a dome
Dude needed a coat
For less than a c-note
He’s going where Greyhounds roam