The Blue Workhorse

It was announced on Black Friday former USC offensive coordinator and Oakland Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin will take over the reins at the University of Tennessee for the departing Philip Fulmer.

Even though I was not shocked at the announcement, I was rather suprised that Mike Hamilton settled on Kiffin, making him the youngest coach in major college football. In terms of success, all we know about Kiffin is that he was the co-offensive coordinator at USC with Steve Sarkisian, where the offenses posted great numbers in 2005 and 2006, with the likes of NFL talent like Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Lendale White, Dewayne Jarrett, and Steve Smith.

Al Davis then took a gamble on the young Kiffin, naming him the youngest coach in the history of the National Football League when he led the 2007 Oakland Raiders to a 4-12 season, and was 1-3 at the time of his firing this season.

Now, that we know a little about who Lane Kiffin is, let’s examine his hiring:

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My selections last week were pretty good. I only missed two games. Of course, I did miss the big one. I thought Texas Tech would at least put on a better showing in Norman.

This week, however, I’ve got all the winners with a couple of unexpected upsets during Rivalry Week:

(all rankings from are from The Blue Workhorse College Football Top 25)
#3 Oklahoma at #12 Oklahoma State

There will be Bedlam in Stillwater this year. This year’s rivalry game may have the most riding on it in the history of the series. Oklahoma comes into the game with the apparent advantage and fast track in the Big XII South. With a win, the Sooners should be have the advantage in the BCS standings and, therefore, win the tiebreaker between themselves, Texas, and Texas Tech.

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A lot of shakeup in the Top 10 after two huge battles in the Big XII saw the underdogs win with Texas rallying to take down former #1 Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry and Oklahoma State upending previous #4 Missouri.

Another week means another re-evalution, and thus, we give you our new The Blue Workhorse College Football Top 25 after Week 6. Some things to note from this week’s rankings:

* Of the top 11 teams, only Alabama remains in the same spot as last week. The idle Crimson Tide were jumped by Texas but remained ahead of the rest in the #2 spot.

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Week 5 was a week of upsets with six of the AP’s Top 25 falling victim.

Week 6, however, was relatively tame. Only three teams fell, and none were major national contenders.

The major story of Week 6 came out of Nashville as Vanderbilt came back to defeat Auburn and get their first win as a ranked team in over half a century.

Another week means another re-evalution, and thus, we give you our new The Blue Workhorse College Football Top 25 after Week 6. Some things to note from this week’s rankings:

* Last week, every single position in the Top 25 saw a new name beside it. This week, the top 11 remain the same except for USC and Texas Tech switching spots.
* With a 4-1 record, Michigan State bounds into the Top 25 at #18. Also moving into the Top 25 for the first time is North Carolina after their 38-12 win over Connecticut. Both teams have an opportunity to prove their new rankings with games against tough opponents: MSU heads to 5-0 Northwestern while UNC hosts 4-1 Notre Dame.

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Last week, almost every favorite won. This week…college football became a world of upsets.

The craziest part: besides Georgia’s loss to Alabama, the six other upsets were all by teams outside the Top 25! Who would’ve expected an Oregon State squad that lost to Stanford and was hammered by Penn State to upend USC or Wisconsin to blow a 19-point lead to a Michigan squad that hasn’t had an offense all season?

Another week means another re-evalution, and thus, we give you our new The Blue Workhorse College Football Top 25 after Week 5. Some things to note from this week’s rankings:

* With all of the upsets, there is not a single team that is in the same position as last week.
* After a week hiatus, Oregon and Fresno State return to the Top 25.

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The 7-11 PM (EST) time slot on Saturday had the best collection of games on national television since the midday (3:30-7) slot on September 16, 2006 when #3 Auburn won a 7-3 battle with #6 LSU, #12 Louisville blew out #17 Miami, #11 Michigan put it on Brady Quinn and the #2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and #18 Oregon scored in the last minute to beat #15 Oklahoma.

That September day was a great day to be a college football fan. Along with these four games, there were 3 other games that featured matchups of two teams in the top 25. While there were only two top 25 battles this weekend, both games (LSU/Auburn & Wake Forest/Florida St) were featured in the evening along with a big-time Pac-10/SEC battle between Arizona State and Georgia.

The favorites won in each of those games, but East Carolina and Oregon weren’t as lucky as both were upset.

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Everyone ballyhooed the USC/Ohio State “Collision in the Coliseum” (yea, naming individual games is dumb) as perhaps the biggest and best game of the year.

Whoops! Yea, not so much. Let’s try Georgia/Florida or Oklahoma/Missouri.

Another whoops involving the Pac-10: The conference went 0-4 against the Mountain West in Week 3 including Arizona State losing any title hopes.The Sun Devils must have been looking ahead to their impending game against Georgia this Saturday. How in the world did they lose to UNLV?

Another week means another re-evalution, and thus, we give you our new The Blue Workhorse College Football Top 25 after Week 3. Some things to note from this week’s rankings:

* The last four teams are all joining the Top 25. Utah and Vanderbilt make their first appearances while Clemson and Virginia Tech both rejoin the rankings.
* Biggest gainer: South Florida gained 6 spots after a come from behind victory over Kansas on Friday night.
* Biggest loser: While the Bulls leaped up 6 spots, Ohio State, who is currently tied at #12 with South Florida, fell 6 spots after being thrashed by USC.

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Every Saturday, after a hard week’s work, I just want to be able to sit on the couch and flip back and forth through college football games for the entirety of the day. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be able to do so.

I watched several games that were televised throughout the day on Saturday (as well as Friday night’s game), and unlike last week there were some big matchups and some true battles. Here are my observations about certain players and teams from the games I was able to see:
Kansas v South Florida (USF 37, KU 34)

* South Florida cornerback Jerome Murphy missed multiple tackles because all he was concerned with was loading up and using the hit stick on ball carriers. He made a couple of good hits but the few “Ooohh”s he’ll get in the film room won’t make up for the coaches’ yelling that is due him for his missed tackles.

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