BCS Coaching Boards

On Fridays of each week, the coaches of BCS conference teams will be evaluated for their previous week's game (along with the season-to-date) and ranked against the other coaches of his conference. The preseason rankings will be based off the coaches past performance, but weighted more heavily to their recent seasons, though some get more respect for their success in the distant past.

Quick link to each conference:

Atlantic Coast Conference
Big East Conference
Big Ten Conference
Big XII Conference
Pacific 10 Conference
Southeastern Conference

Note: These were completed prior to the opening week games, and do not reflect any of the first week results. Results of the opening weekend will be posted Friday, Sept. 5.

SEC Coaching Board

The coaching rankings for the SEC. Each week, the rankings will be updated to reflect each coaches game and season-to-date performances.

Urban Meyer
Florida
Beginning with his time at Bowling Green, Meyer has been a winner everywhere, with an undefeated season in 2004 at Utah, and the 2006 National Championship at Florida. The only knock on him was that he had not stayed at a school long enough to see the effects of his recruiting; now in his fourth season at Florida and with top notch recruiting classes thus far, this appears to have been a needless concern. Now, the only concern is that Richt is going to change the course of the rivalry and emerge as the top contender of the SEC.

Les Miles
LSU
Les is more... More confusion, more bonehead plays and more wins in three seasons at LSU then Nick Saban. The most bizarre thing that happened last season wasn't that App St won in the Big House, or Stanford in the LA Coliseum, it was that Miles' bonehead calls actually lead him to the national title game, and that the month off gave his very talented team (that he has to thank Nick Saban for?) to get well enough to trounce Ohio St. Sure he couldn't have beaten UGA in the SEC Championship game, but he has gone 34-6 over three years. While that is sure to change, Miles has earned the number two position in a very stacked deck of amazing coaches. I look to him to fall to the middle of the pack by year's end.

Nick Saban
Alabama
Once anointed the new king of the SEC prior to his LSU departure, Saban resides this high only due to his time in the Bayou and his ability to get top-notch recruits. The 6-6 campaign means that Saban holds the No. 3 spot by a thread and is likely to be the quickest to fall, especially with Richt on his heels.

Mark Richt
Georgia
Richt's tenure at UGA has been nothing short of astounding. While there were initial growing pains during his early years, Richt has won 3 conference championships and has fallen short of a national title twice. Since 2002, UGA's averaged final ranking has been No. 9, and is the only team to be ranked in the final poll every year for those past six years, and finished No. 3 in 2002 and No. 2 in 2007.

Tommy Tuberville
Auburn
Tuberville's time has been amazing at Auburn, leading the Tigers out of the SEC West cellar and into a perennial SEC West power, not to mention getting them out of the shady Pat Dye/Terry Bowden recruiting scandals. While winning 50 games in the past 5 years with numerous victories over Top 10 teams, Tuberville's biggest knock is losing the game his team is suppose to win, outside the loaded 2004 team.

Phil Fulmer
Tennessee
It has been 10 years since Tennessee won a conference championship, and over that 10 years, UT had an amazing opportunity to take control of the SEC East, if not the SEC itself, only to flounder away the opportunities. His archnemis left Fulmer alone as the big gun in the East, only to see Richt raise UGA from a perennial No. 3 to the top dog of the conference. Fulmer's team has played in the championship game 3 times since 2001, but have found little success without Peyton or David Cutcliff.

Steve Spurrier
South Carolina
The King of the SEC in the '90's; the new Bear; the Ole Ball Coach returned to the SEC in 2005 and has only had marginal success with the Gamecocks. Receiving far less credit for success at his previous position than Saban has, Spurrier was close to a breakout season in 2007, taking USC to No. 6 before losing the final 5 games of the season. And while he has been able to defeat each of the big 3, it's the S.Carolina losing mentality that Spurrier has yet been able to change.

Houston Nutt
Ole Miss
For what he did at Arkansas, Nutt would be a top 2 coach in almost any other conference. In the SEC it puts him at numero ocho. He's coached two Razorback teams to SEC championship games, and after getting little love in 10 seasons in Fayetteville, finally decided to march off, to possibly a better position. The question is whether he can get away from his ultraconservative ground game and create a more balanced team in Oxford. My guess is that he's going to make the Rebels a very formidable team, and possibly begin to cherry-pick the talent in Texas and Louisiana. I wouldn't be surprised if Ole Miss became the No. 3 team in the West (ahead of LSU or Auburn), similar to a position it almost claimed in the mid-to-late 90's.

Sly Croom
Mississippi State
After a rocky start in his first few years, Croom took MSU to its first bowl game since 2000. Named the 2007 SEC Coach of the Year, Croom defeated Ole Miss, Auburn and No. 14 Kentucky, and holds a two game winning streak over Alabama. Like Tuberville, Croom has considerably cleaned up the image in Starkville (which is partly why he receives the nod over Petrino), but with the current coaching SEC line-up, Croom will have to continue to fight just to hold this spot.

Bobby Petrino
Arkansas
Yes, yes Petrino is god's gift to offense; everyone's been told how amazing he is, and how wonderful Louisville was when he was there... But was it really? He coached in the Big East with little other competition, and had the talent and schedule to make an annual run at the national title, but almost came up short. The win in 2005 over Miami might have been a signature win, but looking back, was it really that impressive. Not to mention that the guy is about as sleazy as you can get, and has the worst stench of any coach in football.

Rich Brooks
Kentucky
People say that Rich Brooks has had success wherever he's gone. I guess that's true, as long as success means mediocrity, and I guess it does in Oregon and Kentucky. Brooks' team has been ranked in the final AP Top 25 once in his 30+ year career. Once. In a conference like the SEC, being an average coach means that you're outside the Top 10.

Bobby Johnson
Vanderbilt
Bobby Johnson has kept Vanderbilt very competitive over the past few years, but that's always been Vandy - keep it close and perhaps find a way to win one out of 10. Johnson gets a lot of credit, especially with recent victories over UGA, Tenn and No. 6 S.Carolina, but with this success, he has yet to get Vandy that elusive sixth win. Also, it appears that it will be under Johnson's watch when Vandy finally slips under .500 all-time.

Pac-10 Coaching Board

To begin the season, here is my ranking of the coaches in the Pac-10. Each week, I'll evaluate their previous game, and adjust the poll accordingly.

Pete Carroll
Southern Cal
Arguably the best coach in the country, Carroll has been amazing since 2002. On the downside, he's mostly coached in a depleted PAC-10, and has had several opportunities to play for a national championship, only to lose to lesser quality teams - '03 Cal, '06 UCLA and Oregon St, '07 Stanford. Still, six consecutive PAC-10 Championships makes Carroll head-and-shoulders above the rest of the conference.

Mike Bellotti
Oregon
Bellotti has had a great run at Oregon, making Autzen Stadium a daunting place to play in the Pac 10, and prior to Carroll's arrival in LA, he was much closer to the top coach in the conference. He still holds the No. 2 position, fairly firmly, but has not been to a BCS bowl game since 2001, and has yet to make a Rose Bowl appearnce. Still, Bellotti doesn't seem to be losing ground in the Pac 10; prior to the unfortunate injury to QB Dennis Dixon last season, the Ducks were on a path for the BCS National Championship game, and probably a Heisman Trophy for Dixon. I don't see Bellotti falling too low in these rankings.

Dennis Erickson
Arizona State
Erickson has had success at pretty much all of his collegiate stops, and the general opinion is that he will continue to have success at ASU. The Sun Devils won 10 games in Erickson's first season, and are ranked No. 15 in the preseason poll. Not mentioning his great success at the U, take notice that Erickson took Oregon State to a BCS Bowl in 2000. Oregon State.

Jeff Tedford
Cal
Tedford, similar to Ferentz at Iowa, was the soon-to-be, up-and-coming, next-sure-fire NFL star, who has begun to flounder at Cal. His teams have become a major factor in determining the conference pecking order, but whenever Cal is about to take control of the conference, they typically lose their nerve, and this reflects on Tedford. Some of this might be that Tedford is losing his drive and focus due to the administration's inability to upgrade facilities, and realize Cal students care more about living in trees than going to games.

Rick Neuheisel
UCLA
Slick Rick is back in the Pac-10 after being dumped by Washington in 2003 for participating in a NCAA Basketball pool, which is something he would have never gotten in trouble for at Colorado, but unless you kill someone, evidently no one really cares what goes on in Boulder. In 2000, Neuheisel took Washington to the Rose Bowl and had a claim to the national championship game, but was edged out by Florida State. Kind of hard to believe that Washington was relevant as recently as 2000, and I'm betting most people at UW wish that Slick Rick were still in charge. Given that Neuheisel is not afraid of slipping a Benjamin or two to let a recruit have a good time, I see him getting good talent in LA. Prob good enough to compete with Carroll.

Mike Riley
Oregon State
Mike Riley has made a career at Oregon State, coaching the Beavers in 1997 and 1998, before going to a horrible stint at the San Diego Chargers, and then back to Corravllis. Unfortunately for Riley, the best times for the Beavers occurred when he was with the Chargers, with Dennis Erickson taking them to a BCS Bowl. Riley, who almost had the Alabama job in 2002, went back to Oregon in 2003, where his only real claim was defeating USC in 2006 on the way to a 10 win season. While not a horrible coach, each year is a struggle for OSU, and Riley will find it hard to move up with the bigger names ahead of him.

Jim Harbaugh
Stanford
Perhaps coaching the victor in the biggest college football upset since ND lost to a community college back in the '20's, Harbaugh appears to be an on-the-rise coach, but that adulation needs to wait. While the USC win was spectacular, Stanford and Harbaugh have a long way to go to be competitive in the Pac10. Stanford has had little success since Ty Willingham left the Cardinal. It will be interesting to see if Harbaugh can build in his 2nd season.

Mike Stoops
Arizona
Surely Arizona has realized by now that they hired Mike Stoops and not Bob Stoops from Oklahoma.

Paul Wulff
Washington State
Paul Wulff is in his first year at Wash St; that's honestly all I know about him. Still, it puts him at number 9.

Ty Willingham
Washington
Ty Willingham should've been fired by Stanford. Then his coaching career would be as irrelevant as his Husky teams have been.

Big Ten Coaching Board

The coaching rankings for the Big Ten. Each week, the rankings will be updated to reflect each coaches game and season-to-date performances.

Jim Tressell
Ohio State
Yeah, he's lost two back-to-back national championship games. Yeah, he coaches in a league that appears to be on a downturn, and it's become Ohio State and their 10 little bros, but the teams that Tressell has put together have really been top 5 worthy, and the talent around Columbus right now is unreal. This team is said to be better than any team Tressell has had, and with a victory in L.A. will mean another BCS Championship Game, which would mean Tressell would be strung up in SEC country. Win or lose that Championship Game, Tressell has come to dominate the Big Ten, and that doesn't look to change.

Bret Bielema
Wisconsin
Bret Bulimia has not missed a beat since taking over for Barry Alzarez, and many forget that Wisconsin was not too far away from taking on Ohio State in the 2006 National Title Game due to the Big Ten scheduling. Bieliema's teams have been competitive, which has moved him slightly ahead of Paterno, who is on his last leg through the conference.

Joe Paterno
Penn State
Tough to put the all-time coaching leader (I don't count Bowden's wins at Stanford against Berry High and Alabama Women's Institutional College for the Blind) at third in the Big 10. But Paterno has gone 32-32 in Big Ten play, and other than the 2005 Orange Bowl season, the feisty old coach has not had extreme success in the twilight (evening?, dusk?) of his career. I hope he dies on the field.

Rich Rodriguez
Michigan
RichRod is getting credit for his success at WVU, Clemson and Tulane, but I wonder if he really knows what it's going to be like coaching in a conference like the Big Ten. Sure, it may not be the SEC, but the Big Ten will offer much more competition annually, than the Big East did. Also, it will be interesting to see how Michigan recruits for the spread. Obviously the loss of Tyler Pryor to Ohio State was a huge blow. Michigan's coach should never be lower than third on this list.

Joe Tiller
Purdue
Tiller is in the twilight of his career and has done an admirable job at Purdue, becoming the face of the Boilermakers, which I think puts him on a liquor bottle somewhere in Indiana. Prior to his arrival in '97, Purdue had been to five bowl games - ever. Since he arrived, the Boilermakers have attended 11 bowl games, including a 2000 Rose Bowl appearance. This is Tiller's final season at Purdue, with a succession plan in place, so not only will he not really care about where he's ranked (like all the other coaches do), but I don't really care either.

Kirk Ferentz
Iowa
Ferentz continually declined NFL job after NFL job, with most thinking it was only a matter of time. Now Ferentz is looking to hang on to his job in Iowa City. Long gone are the days of Brad Banks; Iowa has sunk to mediocrity, and it's only because of the little depth of quality Big Ten coaches that Ferentz hangs on to No. 6. It won't be surprising though for Zook, Dantonio, and even Brewester to jump Ferentz; possibly even this season.

Ron Zook
Illinois
The Zooker lead Illinois to a BCS game in 2007. He's always been known as a good recruiter, and laid the foundation for the 2006 National Championship Gators, but he also was unable to win in a powerful conference like the SEC and, other than the Ohio State game, he didn't really win big games with the Illini. Plus, if the Rose Bowl weren't such big dillholes, UGA would've played USC in that game last year, and Illinois would've played in the Alamo or Citrus or Sun Bowl, so I can't give him too much credit for an antiquated ruling by a group that doesn't care to see a competitive game. Not to mention that USC kicked his ass.

Mark Dantonio
Michigan State
Dantonio left for MSU from Cincinnati before last season, and I have a feeling that he's a Schiano type that has the ability to do good things in East Lansing. The only problem is that, even with Michigan flailing, the Spartans have that SouthCarolina-esque mentality of losing any game that it's suppose to win and squandering any lead that it might have. It's not so much of coincidences, as that MSU now seems to believe that they will eventually lose. I don't think Dantonio can change that, but if he can, he'll earn a top 3 position in these rankings, because i think he can get talent there.

Pat Fitzgerald
Northwestern
Pat Fitzgerald is in a similar boat to Bill Lynch, as Fitz became the NU coach following the sudden death of Randy Walker. While he has not had great success at Northwestern - tallying a 10-14 mark in two seasons - Fitzgerald has received praise from the administration, and has been able to lead the Wildcats to victories over mediocre Big Ten teams. Sure that doesn't sound like much, but a string of those will get Northwestern into a bowl game, and that's all they can really ask for in Evanston.

Bill Lynch
Indiana
I know very little about Bill Lynch, but under the circumstances, there really hasn't been much time to get a handle on him. He lead the team to a bowl game in his first year, completing the goal of the late Hoosier coach Terry Hoeppner of 'Playing 13.' He lead Indiana to a 7-6 season and their first bowl since '93. This was enough for the administration to sign him on to a 4 year contract, but I have my doubts that he will be able to do anything with Indiana in the Big 10. For the record, Hoeppner would've been around No. 6 in this poll.

Tim Brewster
Minnesota
Brewster is down this low after a horrible first year with the Gophers, but he will probably shoot to the middle of the pack this season. People around Minnesota are content with Brewster, despite the 1-11, and as my grandpappy used to say, if people are content in Minnesota, you'd better make sure they're not frozen to death.

Big XII Coaching Board

The initial rankings of the Big XII Coaches. Each week these will be updated based on their previous game and the season-to-date.

Bob Stoops
Oklahoma
Stoops and Mack Brown are the twin stars of the Big 12, and right now Bob is burning brighter. He has won five conference championships, a Big XII South title, and has pretty much owned the series, going 6-2 since the 2000 National Championship season. Oklahoma has lost two BCS Championship games since then and if Stoops expects to stay at the top of the conference he will need to remain on the national scene.

Mack Brown
Texas
Call Mack 1B. A more recent national title than OU, but other than that '05 season, Texas has vastly underachieved during Brown's era. Similar to '90s UGA, the past 10 years have been marked by numerous high recruiting classes, but UT only has 1 Big XII Championship to show for it. This season, not only are the Sooners thought to be vying for the national championship, but Texas Tech is getting more pub than Texas.

Gary Pinkel
Missouri
The fact that Pinkel was close to being run out of town makes him a curious pick and shows just how much the Big XII is the Big 2 and Little 10. Pinkel has a loss to Troy State on his record, but is this high based on a great year from Chase Daniel and a high prediction this year. To an extent, Pinkel has been able to take advantage of the downturn at Colorado and Nebraska, but with those teams appearing to be back on the rise, Pinkel's stay at No. 3 is shaky at best.

Mike Leach
Texas Tech
The pioneer of the spread offense in the Big XII, Leach has done amazing things on offense at Texas Tech, and in recent years the Red Raiders have become more of a Big XII player than ever, but they have yet to get over the hump, mainly due to their defense. This season, for the first time, Texas Tech has a defense, while not equal to the star-studded offense, that may keep people from hanging 30-plus each week.

Mark Mangino
Kansas
Yeah, Mangino, along with Weiss and Friedgen, make up the Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus and Bruhathkayosaurus of college football, but he has created an above average team that stole attention away from basketball, at least until March. Mangino gets the No. 5 slot only because of the Orange Bowl victory (a loss there would've put him around No. 8, which is prob were he deserves), but with Texas Tech, Texas, and OU on the schedule, I doubt he'll stay here for long.

Dan Hawkins
Colorado
The former Boise State guru has had limited success in Boulder, and you have to wonder how much it irked Hawkins when his former team made headlining news with the victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, building on the foundation he layed, but unable to reap the rewards. Plus, Hawkins still hasn't beaten Oklahoma and it's no reason to think that his teams will be competitive anytime soon. He does recieve a break due to the horrible quagmire that had become Colorado football.

Bo Pelini
Nebraska
It's funny how Pelini gets credit for the amazing defenses at LSU, but Miles gets no credit for the W's because those are Saban's players... Isn't that one in the same? Anyway, I think this will be a good fit. NU has lost a lot of it's identity with the Callahan regime, but the Pelini-hire should bring back the Blackshirt Defense. Plus, he'll have a much larger grace period as he's not completely overhauling 60 years of Cornhusker tradition. I expect that he'll be atop the North within two years, esp with a unified Nebraska base.

Mike Gundy
Oklahoma State
Alright, we know, he's a man; he's 40+. He's still not brought OSU anything more than a win over Texas in '06, and, I guess, a somewhat noteworthy victory over Alabama in the Independence Bowl. The Cowboys are going to have to fight annually to rise above No. 4 in the South, and with A&M surely to become more competitive ($$$) in the future, it's going to be tough for OSU to being anything above number five.

Ron Prince
Kansas State
Ron Prince is in a similar (though less sleazy) situation as Sly Croom - come in to a team that had no success until the '90s, after the head coach jumped on the JUCO bandwagon, and began to compete annually within a division dominated by one or two national title contenders. Prince is trying to do things the right way; building up a team from the bottom up, but the Wildcats have had little success under his tenure. His teams will do well in the years he misses Texas and Oklahoma, but getting in the top 3 of the division will be an annual struggle.

Mike Sherman
Texas A&M
I honestly don't remember much of Sherman, other than him in ugly green fleeces. Apparently A&M is really excited about this hire, which isn't much of a surprise. They always get excited during the honeymoon then upset when they can't beat Texas annually; Sherman's No. 10 here, and no matter if he's the re-incarnation of R.C.Slokum, I'm guessing he'll either be run out of College Station in 5 years, or retire in the same amount of time.

Art Briles
Baylor
Art Briles should probably get more respect than I'm giving him, but then again, his work did come at Houston in C-USA, and my knowledge of CUSA is lacking. It's difficult to find a worse BCS coaching position than Baylor, as Guy Morriss, who had garnered moderate success at Kentucky, went for the million dollar paycheck and the boot from Baylor within 4 years (of course, a little drunken alcohol scene didn't carry well in the Baptist stronghold). All of that was to say I know nothing of Briles, but there's little reason to think that any good coaching ability that he possesses won't be slowly squeezed out of him by the Bears .

Gene Chizik
Iowa State
A star as a defensive coordinator, Chizik may have leapt too quickly for a head coaching job. Somewhat wonder if Chizik just signed up to be a HC and didn't realize he'd be shipped off to Ames. His time at ISU has been poor at best, but there's no reason to think that Iowa State will ever reach the top 3 of the North, especially with Mangino forming a competitive team annually in Kansas.

ACC Coaching Board

The preseason positioning of the coaches in the ACC. Each week, I'll evaluate their previous game and post an updated poll.

Frank Beamer
Virginia Tech
Beamer slides ahead of Bowden mainly due to Bobby's inability to do anything with Florida State since 2000. Beamer was given tons of leeway when he took over in 1987, and steadily built a foundation of a great program at Va Tech, which culminated in the 1999 National Championship Game appearance. With the growth of the ACC, VaTech jumped up and took both the 2004 and 2007 Conference Titles and the 2005 Coastal championship. The Hokies appear to be the most competitive of the ACC teams, and with a conference on the decline, it seems that Beamer has a tight hold on the rein of the ACC.

Bobby Bowden
Florida State
Bobby is here because of what he did over his long career, but is dropped to number 2 for the horribly uncompetitive teams he's put together for almost a decade. Sure they've won the ACC Championship twice since 2002, but it's not like they're having problems because of the entrance of Miami, B.C. or VaTech. Bowden has moved to a caricture of his former self, which began during his 2000 Sugar Bowl interview during the game. Since Jimbo Fishcer has already been named the coach-in-waiting, the only real question will be if this is his last season or is next? And, of course, how far will he slip this year with his purely average team.

Tom O’Brien
N.Carolina St
Tom O'Brien gets the high ranking on this list mainly due to his time at Boston College, because N.C. State is going to drop him like a stone. There's not much that he can do about the lack of talent this season in Raleigh, but he is going to be penalized for bailing on B.C. when they were becoming relevant. A Tom O'Brien coached 2007 B.C. team might have been able to compete for the national title; instead, he was going 5-7 with the Wolfpack. O'Brien took B.C. to eight straight bowl victories, and is known for his very disciplined teams.

Jim Grobe
Wake Forest
Grobe took Wake to the 2006 ACC Championship. Was it because he was an exceptional coach or because the ACC had become a bargain basement CUSA-style conference. Either way, it was impressive, and Grobe should get some respect. While he won't be able to annually compete for the title, he has put a good team together in Winston-Salem. The Deamon Deacons will stay relevant, and as long as they do, I can't see Grobe falling much on this. If he were to win another title, he would enter the top 2 on this list (possibly number one).

Paul Johnson
Georgia Tech
Paul Johnson made a service academy competitive in the modern era of college football and lead Navy to their first victory over Notre Dame since the Moors kicked the Catholics out of Spain. That's right, a Moors reference. It'll be interesting to see whether he can bring the triple option to the ACC and have his quarterback hit 20-30 times each week by a MLB would will eventually play in the NFL. I see GA Tech being a little more consistent, but still average, and still not capable of beating UGA without the Dawgs providing some help. Fun how even mediocrity gets Johnson in the top half of ACC coaches.

Tommy Bowden
Clemson
Tommy has been notorious for his big-game blunders, and probably should have been ousted from Clemson years ago. While his team has not always had superior talent, there have been countless situations where the Tigers only need to win a game or two to take control of the ACC, and even with a depleted FSU and Miami, Clemson and Bowden fail to take advantage. This isn't just a Michigan State-type mentality for failure; this is Clemson's inability to show up for any big games, and their ability to choke whenever the pressure is on. Eventually this reflects right on the head coach. This must be an ACC Championship season for Bowden, because his team appears to be talented enough, that only he stands in the way. If the Tigers aren't in the chase for the national title (let alone the ACC), then heads need to roll.

Butch Davis
North Carolina
Bucth Davis probably needs to be higher with his success at Miami, and the fact that he can lay claim to the 2001 National Title (and prob should have had an opportunity for the 2000 one as well), but he did go 4-8 in his first season in Chapel Hill, and, while I do believe he'll turn around the Tar Heels, I can't honestly think it's anytime soon. He's brought in some good recruits, but UNC, similar to Virginia, is never that good. Sure every once in a while they'll jump up and have a 10 win season, but that'll be followed up by 6-wins, and a possible bowl game. Similar to Spurrier at S.Carolina, Davis is trying to change a culture of losing, which is much more difficult than X's and O's or getting a 5 star athlete to attend your school.

Jeff Jagodzinski
Boston College
There's not too much to go off of for Jagodzinski. He's never been a head coach prior to the 11-3 2007 season at BC, but he had a very talented team with a NFL-starting QB. Now the question is whether he can win without Matt Ryan. Interesting that after winning in Blacksburg during the regular season, Coach Jag wasn't able to get the victory again to win the ACC Championship. It'll take more time to get a handle on where exactly Jag rates.

Al Groh
Virginia
The former NFL coach has done little to make Virginia competitive annually in the ACC, with his overall record being 55-37. The Cavaliers, for some reason, have never been much of a dominant football power, even within their own conference, and Groh was expected to bring a Pete Carroll swagger to the program. Instead it seems that UVA hired the wrong former-Jets coach. Groh has done little to make UVA relevant, and it's only a matter of time before Virginia looks to upgrade, espeically with competing in the underwhelming ACC.

Ralph Friedgen
Maryland
Friedgen took Maryland to the Orange Bowl and an ACC Championship in 2000, and everything has been downhill since. Other than protecting his underarmour, the Fridge has done little to get Maryland back to the top of the ACC, finishing no closer than 2nd in the division since 2002, along with two bowl invites. The main shocker is how drab the Maryland offense has become after Friedgen was heralded as an innovative offensive mastermind in 2000.

David Cutcliffe
Duke
While Cut receives a lot of credit for the success at UT and a few average years at Ole Miss, his coaching career was made only by having a Manning under center. I don't think he'll be at Duke long enough to have a Peyton or Eli's spawn suit up for the Devils.

Randy Shannon
Miami
Should Shannon be No. 12? No,probably not, but he hasn't done anything especially amazing other than accruing a nice recruiting class in '08. Of course, some of you are asking why he is No. 12 and Saban (who's done only the same thing at Bama) is No. 3, well i think that reason is obvious. Have You Seen Randy Shannon??? Seriously, do I have to say it... Fine I will... He's a first year head coach and his claim is a good D during the Larry Coker era of squandered all Butch Davis' talent. Seriously though, i believe Shannon will shoot up these rankings.

Big East Coaching Board

To begin the season, here is my ranking of the coaches in the Big East. Each week, I'll evaluate their previous game, and adjust the poll accordingly.

Greg Schiano
Rutgers
With the loss of Petrino (No. 10 in the SEC) and RichRod (No. 4 in the Big Ten), Schiano rises to number 1 in the Big East. That's really all I have to say Schiano and the state of Big East coaches.

Jim Leavitt
South Florida
Sure Leavitt is a cheater, but in the Big East, who cares? He takes No. 2 in the Big East because there honestly isn't anyone else.

Brian Kelly
Cincinnati
I know little about Brian Kelly, other that he kept letting Ben Mauk whine to the NCAA about being reinstated. He's had a great run, but I'm not sure whether last year's 10 win season was due to good coaching or good recruiting left behind by MSU coach Mark Dantonio. I've given Brian Kelly the benefit of the doubt, as he at least has done something with talented teams, unlike Wannstedt.

Dave Wannstedt
Pitt
Everyone's jumped on the Panther bandwagon, claiming that Wannstedt is finally coming along with a good team at Pitt. While he has been able to attract quality recruits (which I can't see to be that difficult, since he is in Pennsylvania and should have good relations in the area, since he grew up there), this is still the man who set the Dolphins back ten years, not to mention handing the New Orleans Saints two first round picks for Ricky "Don't Forget to Brink a Towel" Williams. While he appears to be a heavyweight in a depleted big-name conference, The 'Stash has received too much credit for the win over WVU, especially when his DC Paul Rhodes bolted for Auburn.

Bill Stewart
WVU
Talk about your knee-jerk reactions. WVU administrators were so upset at RichRod for dropping them for AnnArbor that they weren't even thinking about the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma. With a sudden dominating victory, WVU hands the reins full-time to the interim Stewart. Honestly, I know very little about him, other than he's old and was given a very talented team in a mediocre conference... so right now, let's call him Larry Coker II. I suspect his team will be in the top 2 in the conference, but unless he leads the Mountaineers to an undefeated season, I don't see him rising to high on this list; not until I can see him without RichRod's players.

Steve Kragthorpe
Louisville
Did Bobby Petrino leave the cupboard bare? Following the 12-1 2006 season, Petrino bolted for the Falcons, but many suspected that the Cardinals would keep turning out good season after season. Instead, the team went 6-6, 3-4 in league play, and missed out on a bowl game for the first time since '97. After many said that he had lost control of the team, Coach Krag almost bolted for the SMU job. He has been a somewhat success as a head coach, winning a CUSA title in 2005.

Randy Edsall
UConn
Randy Edsall is UConn football... Let that one sink in. The former Orangeman (or I guess just its Orange-ian now) led Uconn from I-AA to FBS. He's taken some lumps in getting the Huskies to their first bowl game in their history (a 39-10 victory over Toledo last season), but he is still 50-54. Apparently the biggest news in the offseason was getting a home-and-home series with Notre Dame... with UConn's home games to be played in Mass. or New Jersey.

Greg Robinson
Syracuse
The worst coaching job of all BCS schools has been done by this former Texas coordinator. Absolutely disgusting.

One Southern Fan Pollster's Predictions

Annually, Nix4Six provides his predictions for every SEC team's schedule. Sometimes he's right, mostly he's wrong, but never do we hear about those. Claiming to be a lazy Phil Steele, N4S has actually been pretty accurate. Last season, he correctly picked LSU and Tennessee to win their divisions, and had LSU winning it all.

For 2008, this is the way he sees things shaping up.

2008 Nix4Six SEC Prediction

West	Overall	SEC	East	Overall	SEC
Auburn	11-1	7-1	Florida	11-1	8-0
LSU	9-3	5-3	Georgia	10-2	6-2
Ole Miss	8-4	5-3	S. Carolina	9-3	5-3
Alabama	6-6	3-5	Tennessee	8-4	4-4
Miss St.	6-6	3-5	Kentucky	5-7	2-6
Arkansas	3-9	0-8	Vanderbilt	3-9	0-8

Auburn plays Florida for the SEC Championship, and (drum roll please) Auburn wins.

Around the Southern Fan Blogs

Auburn John

Nix4Six provides a detailed plan for those Clemson/Alabama fans planning on tailgating before this weekend's mega-matchup at the Georgia Dome. Also, the standard service announcement in case no one heard - Atlanta in its infinite wisdom decided to shut down the I-75/85 Connector on Labor Day weekend, with the third biggest game of the year being played in Downtown.

Also, in case you don't have enough to drink on Saturday, Nix4Six provides an interesting new drink recipe that probably won't kill you. I'm suggesting that every poster should try it at least once this season.

Also, Coach Hal does a great job with keeping up with Alabama sports, a good job of reporting anything anti-Auburn, and a marginal job with the SEC. The site below gives some of Coach Hal's pre-Celmson thoughts, some obscure Olympic ramblings, and his prediction for the Bama-Clemson game.

Looking Inside the Preseason Poll

Staff Report

For the initial poll, the following is a look inside each voter’s preseason poll. Each individual poll was compared to the consensus and the largest discrepancies are listed per voter, along with the pollster’s gameday leaning. Also, any team within the preseason top 10 that was not included in a voter's poll is included.

Obviously all voters are free to vote how they see fit; this is only to show each pollster’s initial outlook towards certain teams as compared to the entire voting pool.

Auburn John
Auburn
Most Over-rated Team: Penn State (Ranked 7 spots higher than in Consensus Poll)
Most Under-rated Team: Oklahoma, Auburn (Ranked 4 spots lower than in Consensus Poll)

Nik Mahrt
Auburn
Most Over-rated Team: Duke (+10)
Most Under-rated Team: Missouri (-5)

Big Temp
Auburn
Most Over-rated Team: Florida, Arizona St, BYU (+4)
Most Under-rated Team: Clemson (-3)

Chadha I
Alabama, Georgia Tech
Most Over-rated Team: Illinois (+12)
Most Under-rated Team: LSU (-8)

Chadha II
Alabama, UAB
Most Over-rated Team: Alabama (+8)
Most Under-rated Team: Texas (-4)

Chadha III
Georgia
Most Over-rated Team: Texas Tech, Kansas (+3)
Most Under-rated Team: USC, Auburn, Texas (-2)

Afleet Alex
Georgia
Most Over-rated Team: Kansas (+4)
Most Under-rated Team: Clemson (-5)

NixforSix
Auburn
Most Over-rated Team: Penn State (+6)
Most Under-rated Team: West Virginia (-4)
Top 10 Team Conspicuously Absent from Poll: LSU

Dalt Carlton
Auburn
Most Over-rated Team: Wake Forest (+5)
Most Under-rated Team: West Virginia (-3)

Red Ross
Auburn
Most Over-rated Team: Florida (+4)
Most Under-rated Team: USC, Virginia Tech (-2)

The Rail Bird
Georgia
Most Over-rated Team: South Carolina (+10)
Most Under-rated Team: Clemson (-7)

Coach Hal
Alabama
Most Over-rated Team: Virginia Tech, Tennessee (+9)
Most Under-rated Team: LSU (-6)

Sparkle Markle
Georgia
Most Over-rated Team: Kansas (+7)
Most Under-rated Team: Clemson, Texas Tech (-3)

J. Renna
Fresno State
Most Over-rated Team: Illinois (+7)
Most Under-rated Team: Ohio State, Missouri (-9)
Top 10 Team Conspicuously Absent from Poll: West Virginia

Penn State Eddie
Penn State
Most Over-rated Team: Penn State (+9)
Most Under-rated Team: Oklahoma, Clemson (-5)

Ed Sweeten
Auburn, the Citadel
Most Over-rated Team: Kansas (+5)
Most Under-rated Team: LSU (-4)

Gregarious Frayser
Vanderbilt
Most Over-rated Team: Ohio State (+2)
Most Under-rated Team: Missouri (-2)

GT Jarad
Georgia Tech
Most Over-rated Team: Kansas (+3)
Most Under-rated Team: USC, Missouri (-3)

J. Perry
Clemson
Most Over-rated Team: Kansas (+8)
Most Under-rated Team: Georgia, Clemson, Virginia Tech (-2)

J. Renfro
Virginia Tech
Most Over-rated Team: Oregon (+8)
Most Under-rated Team: LSU (-7)
Top 10 Team Conspicuously Absent from Poll: Auburn

Max Renfro
Tennessee
Most Over-rated Team: Tennessee (+12)
Most Under-rated Team: LSU, Auburn (-6)

OK Bendinger
Oklahoma, Auburn
Most Over-rated Team: Auburn (+5)
Most Under-rated Team: Florida, LSU (-3)

Brian Smith
Georgia, Florida State
Most Over-rated Team: Clemson, Virginia Tech, Arizona State (+4)
Most Under-rated Team: West Virginia (-6)

S. Carpenter
Alabama
Most Over-rated Team: West Virginia, Arizona State (+3)
Most Under-rated Team: Auburn (-6)

Rich Brothers
Most Over-rated Team: Ohio State, Missouri, Texas Tech (+2)
Most Under-rated Team: Florida (-4)

J. Mehaffey
Auburn
Most Over-rated Team: (Oregon +8)
Most Under-rated Team: Missouri (-4)

D. Howard
Tennessee
Most Over-rated Team: Ohio State (+3)
Most Under-rated Team: Georgia (-3)

J. Boyd
Georgia
Most Over-rated Team: Auburn (+6)
Most Under-rated Team: Texas Tech (-3)
Top 10 Team Conspicuously Absent from Poll: Missouri

Also, after computing every voter's entire poll against the consensus, the following are the most and least consistent voters.

Voter most consistent with consensus poll: Red Ross
Voter(s) most inconsistent with consensus poll: Chadha II and Coach Hal

UGA anointed Preseason No. 1

For Immediate Release

Hand the 'Dawgs another Preseason No. 1 Ranking. This time the honor comes via the Southern Fans' College Football Poll.

The Georgia Bulldogs, the runner-up in last year's poll, received 13 of 28 first place votes. UGA returns 16 starters from a team that finished the season 11-2 with a blowout victory of previously undefeated Hawai'i in the Sugar Bowl. Quarterback Matthew Stafford and Running Back Knowshon Moreno are already receiving Heisman consideration. But everything has not been smooth this off-season for the top-ranked Bulldogs; the team has been plagued by suspensions - with five players out for this week's opener against Georgia Southern - and lost starting Offensive Tackle Trinton Sturdivant.

USC, with only two first place votes, will hold the number two position, followed by Oklahoma (3), Ohio State (4), and Florida (5). The Buckeyes, which closed last season with another national championship game loss to an SEC team, is ranked lower in the Southern Fans' poll than in any other national preseason poll.

LSU who was named the poll's 2007 National Champion, received the remaining first place vote, and holds the No. 6 ranking. The Tigers are followed by Missouri, West Virginia, Clemson and Auburn. Clemson faces off in, perhaps, opening weekend's most anticipated contest, when the Tigers face off against Alabama and Nick Saban in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

Texas, which is one of four Big XII teams ranked in the poll, comes in at No. 11, followed by Wisconsin, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, Arizona State and Tennessee. The Volunteers are the fifth SEC team in the poll.

2008 Preseason Poll

The Southern Fans' College Football Poll
August 26, 2008
28 Voters

Ranking	Team	Points	Previous
1	Georgia [13]	421	N/A
2	Southern Cal [2]	393	N/A
3	Oklahoma [3]	371	N/A
4	Ohio State [4]	368	N/A
5	Florida [5]	358	N/A
6	LSU [1]	255	N/A
7	Missouri	239	N/A
8	West Virginia	218	N/A
9	Clemson	213	N/A
10	Auburn	204	N/A
11	Texas	157	N/A
12	Wisconsin	147	N/A
13	Texas Tech	108	N/A
14	Virginia Tech	84	N/A
15	Arizona State	73	N/A
16	Tennessee	71	N/A
Other's Receiving Votes: Kansas 44, Illinois 29, Penn State 19, BYU 13, Wake Forest 9, South Florida 4, Oregon 4, Alabama 3, South Carolina 2, Duke 1