2013-10-01 06:30

And the first TWO coaches are gone after their teams suffered again embarrassing losses (one did lose 41-62, the other one 12-41).

Granted, the football business is a brutal one. As every sports business where millions if not billions are to win or to lose.

The simple rule in any sport league is: If you win, someone has to lose.

The power ranks of teams are always changing, because of the always changing team members including of cause players, coaches and all other stuff members.

Much more stable is the economical and facility aspect of a team.

The problem with that is, if you have everything possible to have in that part of the business, the expectations are: You have to be top of the class on the field.

There are not many teams as big and excellent suited than the University of Southern California, bettern known as USC.
Probably TOP 5 regarding money, facilities, recruiting pool and so on.

So it doesn't surprise anyone for sure, that after a 7-6 season in 2012, which was supposed to be a National Title run season, the expectations for THIS season are even higher, to keep Lane Kiffin safe. Kiffin would have to win almost every game to stay safe.

After a 41-62 loss last weekend against Arizona State and a 3-2 start so far did the AD push the eject button and fired Kiffin.
Interims coach is Ed Orgeron, a long-time assistant coach, who served for a few season as head coach of Ole Miss (he sucked).
The reason for this move was probably the long term effect of having Kiffin the whole season and THEN fires him. Recruiting would have probably taken a dive and that would make it harder for the next coach.

Now, the team will probably play as bad as it has so far, but now the search for the next coach can start right away and maybe he will make some splashy recruiting right away.

Who might be the next coach? Don't know.
There could be two paths to take.

One: Get the next BIG coaching hope. A coach from any non BCS team getting it done so far. Even a coach in a BCS conference with not so big budget might be in scope.
I'm not sure if this would be the way. They did that with Lane Kiffin and it backfired.

Two: Get a NFL coach who was fired or who is willing to get back to school. (to be fair, this also fits for Kiffin ....)
That worked with Pete Carroll very good and there are several ones available. Even Coordinators who once were HCs could be in the mix.

Money is not an issue at USC, so everything is possible.

The other fired coach is Paul Pasqualoni. His UConn Huskies did really play horrible the last 4 games and they did start the season with 0-4 because of that.

UConn is not USC, so it will be interesting which coach they will get.

They can offer a team in the American Conference, which is at the moment still a BCS conference, and there are several NON-BCS-Coaches willing to take that paycheck.

For the rest of the season will T.J. Weist, the offensive coordinator take the interims HC position. It might happen he gets the real deal, depended on his results.

Let's have a look at the BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 5:

Saturday, September 28 3:30 PM ET
#6 LSU @ #9 Georgia
Close game? Check.
LSU win? Nope.
But nobody can deny that this was not an entertaining game.
Both teams did play 100% and then some.
Scoring on almost every drive.
Tied in the 4th Quarter.
Why did Georgia win at the end?
After the last Georgia scoring drive did LSU suck on offense. Or Georgia did shine on defense.
What every suits you best.
Almost 2 min. left on the clock and LSU was not able to get into Georgia territory.
Game over.
Next SEC games will be fun to watch and Georgia looks like the leading candidate for the division title, after South Carolina did lose his QB and Florida did the same a week before that.
Not everything is fixed, but it Georgia can enjoy the place in the sun at the moment.
For LSU: Get back on track and show some claws against the Tide.
LSU 41 - Georgia 44 -> Jacks Score: 15-9

Saturday, September 28 3:30 PM ET
#14 Oklahoma @ #22 Notre Dame
There is not much to say here.
I picked Oklahoma, and I was right.
The game got a bit exciting, when Notre Dame scored in the beginning of the 4th quarter for a 27-21 score. 6 Points behind.
But Oklahoma did not only answer, they did score also the 2-point-conversion and that was that.
After that it was just 3-and-out on both side and the game lost its momentum.
Notre Dame dropped out of the TOP 25 and will have to settle for a smaller Bowl this season.
Oklahoma will get back into the BIG 12 circus next week.
Oklahoma 35 - Notre Dame 21 -> Jacks Score: 16-9

Saturday, September 28 6:30 PM ET
#21 Ole Miss @ #1 Alabama
THIS was impressive.
If you are able to shut out a SEC team, it's big.
Alabama did basically everything right on both sides of the ball.
Ole Miss got a message this weekend: You are not on our level.
But some might ask, which team is, and maybe the answer is: NONE.

I'm still waiting for the team to show up and get the Crimson Tide back on the floor.
Might happen I have to wait until the BCS-Championship game.
But the season is still long; we might get some surprising results.

Ole Miss on the other hand can mark the day as "we got only 25 from Alabama".
So far the lowest scoring game of Alabama.
The down side of that game is, they were not able to score even once.
Ole Miss 0 - Alabama 25 -> Jacks Score: 17-9

Saturday, September 28 8:00 PM ET
#23 Wisconsin @ #4 Ohio State
To be fair, Wisconsin did play tough football.
They trailed the whole game, but were always able to close the gap.
Only 1:30 before the half did they score for 14-17, but the Buckeyes did basically marched down the field and had a final big play for a 14-24 lead in the half.
In the 3rd quarter it looked like a done deal, 14-31 is a very comfortable lead.
But Wisconsin came back for a 24-31 in two scoring drives and was not lucky to get the on-side kick.

But they stopped Ohio State and got the ball back, with 1:30 left, deep in their own half.
They were not able to get anything done and that ended the game.
Ohio State is now in the driving seat to win the division; Wisconsin has to hope for a Buckeye mistake (or even two) and has to win the conference games.
Wisconsin 24 - Ohio State 31 -> Jacks Score: 18-9

Saturday, September 28 10:00 PM ET
#5 Stanford @ Washington State
Unfortunately this game was a big statement of Stanford.
It said: CARDINALS WIN!
Wazzu never had a chance and it did show the levels the Cougars have to climb to get back into the PAC 12 elite, or national elite. (yep, Wazzu had that time in the limelight for a few seasons ...)
Stanford will have to battle it out with Oregon for the PAC 12 finals and then they might have to battle UCLA or Arizona State for the PAC 12 title.
That team does not have to fear anyone.
Stanford 55 - Washington State 17 -> Jacks Score: 19-9

Saturday, September 28 7:00 PM
Arizona @ #16 Washington
That was a nice pick for a game.
Interesting matchup and at the end I also picked the winner.
Washington looked impressive. Maybe not worth the high ranking, but definitely better than Arizona.
I was disappointed by the Arizona offense, I expected more of a Rich Rod Offense, but maybe the Washington defense was too stingy.

Anyway, I love it how the PAC 12 did evolve over the past 2 seasons and I think there are some nice seasons ahead of us.
THIS season will not be the season of the Wildcats, and we will see, if Washington can stand the test against Stanford and Oregon.
Arizona 13 - Washington 31 -> Jacks Score: 20-9

Games of Interest

Virginia Tech did beat Georgia Tech - A defense battle I did not expected. On paper is VT now 4-1, but when the next ACC games coming, we will see if Beamer got his boys ready.
West Virginia upsets Oklahoma State - That's a very big upset. The Cowboys were supposed to battle for the Big 12 crown and West Virginia did look like dead meat. Well, not in this game.
South Carolina was almost upset by UCF - The Gamecocks lose their QB for unknown time but were able to beat UCF in a nice comeback.
Northern Illinois beats Purdue - NIU now 4-0, Purdue is 1-4. Darrell Hazell has a tough start at Purdue, while Rod Carey took over a well-oiled machine as it seems.
Tennessee did almost fall to South Alabama - The Vols were lucky to win against that team.
East Carolina beats North Carolina - If you lose 55-31 as an ACC team to a CUSA team, something is wrong.
Western Kentucky tops Navy - The Hilltoppers look like on and off from gameday to gameday. They better get in synch.
Iowa wins against Minnesota - That's why I like the Hawkeyes and why I hate them. Count them out and they win. Expect them to win and they lose.
Army beats Louisiana Tech - I wonder if somebody in Bulldogs territory already thinks about a new coach? Is Skip Holtz save in his first year? LT is used to win.
Idaho beat Temple - What's the big deal? Idaho was a bad team last season, was NOT invited for the big conference movements and went Indy. Temple is part of a BCS conference. Sounds like an upset? It is.
Texas A&M overcame Arkansas - Not bad by the Razorbacks. Texas A&M is definitely a team on a high note, so staying in the game for almost the whole game is a good sign.
Texas State wins against Wyoming - Texas State now 3-1. Not bad for a former FCS team, 2 seasons ago.
Tulane beats ULM - ULM loses his senior QB for the season. Looks bad in Louisiana and for Kolton Browning. We will see, what his draft status will be.

‘Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

Tags: Block of Granite