2015-10-13 17:54

Prügelknaben (means fall guys)

After week 6 of the 2015 season we have the 1st 3 fired coaches.

The 1st guy was the HC of North Texas.

In my preview for that team I had:
'Dan McCarney is now in his 5th season and 2013 season was great with a 9-4 season and a bowl win.
But 2014 did the team drop to 4-8.
So, was that a recharging or the beginning of the end of the McCarney area?
He had similar up and down seasons on his first HC-gig with the Iowa State Cyclones.
It did cost him his job.'
Well, it didn't take long to decide he had to go.
The final push came after a 66-7 loss against Portland State, a FCS team.
It's not only bad to lose against a FCS team, but 66-7 is so far over the edge that it's no wonder McCarney was gone the last whistle did blow, literally.
Interim coach will be Mike Canales, who did once already served as interims coach for North Texas in 2010, going 2-3 at that season.

The 2nd guy I did not really see coming at that moment.
Maryland did fire their HC after the 49-28 loss against Ohio State.

For the Terrapins I had:
'... His successor (in 2012) at Maryland became Randy Edsall, at that time a long time UConn HC.
He started 2-10 and brought Maryland up to 7-6, including a bowl loss, in 2013, their last season in the ACC.
In 2014 the finished with the same result, just a different bowl and with 1 more win in the conference and 1 less win against non conference teams.'
I had him not on a hot seat.
Granted, Maryland did not look that good so far in the season, with a 2-4 record, but was that enough to fire him.
I think there are plenty of other coaches I would see go 1st, but it happened and Maryland did name Mike Locksley, the OC.

The 3rd guy does not fall into that lose-and-get-fired-category.
USC headcoach Steve Sarkisian did leave the team for an undefined period of time on Monday, stating health problems.
On Tuesday I heard that he was fired by the Athletic Director and Clay Helton, the USC OC, will be interims HC.
Sarkisian had prior the season some bad moments, which did hint an alcohol problem, so it might come down to some therapy for him.
But that's not sure.

And another gone HC, but on his own terms, is South Carolinas Steve Spurrier.
He did announce his retirement on Monday and is gone from the team.
Shawn Elliot, the OC, was named interims HC there.
Spurrier was asked prior the season when he will go and his response, even after the 1st few losses was always: 'I will stay'.
Well, it looks like he did change his mind, somehow.
I don't want to spread rumors, but honestly, I doubt he did wake up on Monday and thought about quitting.
There must have been some talks before that and it might be a nice move of the school to let the great Spurrier get away that way, not being forced to fire him.

You remember by short text regarding depressions?

Hell, I wish the people would be a bit more open with those issues.
Not to have them marked as 'weak', but to make it clear that human beings can not handle all that stress equally and that schools have to give their athletes AND stuff the right environment to deal with it.
At the moment it looks more like 'you can't get it done, you are done ...'.

Back to the gameday.

It had some stunning upsets and lots of surprises.


Now let's have a look at the BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 6

Sat. Oct. 10 - 3:30 pm ET
#13 Northwestern @ #18 Michigan
That one was totally onesided.
It was so onesided, that the country is talking about weather Michigan is the new favorite for the BIG10.
Yes, that might be, but there are at least 2 big games still to play, Michigan State and Ohio State.
Still, Northwestern was finished at the half, trailing 28-0 and did never recover.
One thing is clear, Michigan will be the talk of the season as long as they keep on winning.
Might be until season final (THE GAME, against the Bickeyes) or even beyond.
Northwestern 0 - Michigan 38 -> Jacks Score: 13-8

Sat. Oct. 10 - 3:30 pm ET
Navy @ #15 Notre Dame
Until halftime this was more or less an open game.
Navy was just 3 behind.
Then did Notre Dame adjust and did keep on scoring, while they held Navy to just 3 points in the second half.
It looks like Kelly has that series back on track in Irish favor.
Believe it or not, but that win did impress me more than the close loss to Clemson.
I still don't see Notre Dame in the playoffs, but when they keep on playing that way, a big bowl is worth it.
Navy 24 - Notre Dame 41 -> Jacks Score: 14-8

Sat. Oct. 10 - 3:30 pm ET
Wisconsin @ Nebraska
That must have hurt.
For the Huskers.
Nebraska did take the 21-20 lead late in the 4th but Wisconsin came back and did kick a FG-try about 2 min. to go.
The ball did hit the post and was no good.
Over?
NO!
With 3 and out did Nebraska punt and Wisconsin had less than 1 min. to go.
They went over the field and tried another FG. The kicker did already miss 2! (he also miss one in the 1st half) and this time he barely made it for the Badgers win.
Wisconsin 23 - Nebraska 21 -> Jacks Score: 15-8

Sat. Oct. 10 - 10:00 pm ET
#23 California @ #5 Utah
I had the feeling that Cal was a bit hyped, but the did stay in the game despite 5 picks by their QB.
Normally you would expect a blowout with those turnovers, but until the end it was still an open game.
At the end did Utah win, but I think Cal can still hope for some losses of some other contenders, including Stanford.
This season it looks like everyone can win in the PAC12, sometimes.
California 24 - Utah 30 -> Jacks Score: 16-8

More interesting results:
Washington did beat USC on the road 17-12, which might had some impact on all the USC drama the past few weeks. Sarkisian was Washingtons HC 1 and a half seasons ago.
TCU did beat Kansas State, on the road, 52-45. Granted, if TCU can win all games like this, they will win a national championship, but somehow I doubt a streak of luck of that dimension.
Michigan State did barely beat Rutgers 31-24. Rutgers at the moment under interims coaching, since the HC has to serve a 3 game suspension. He will be back next game.
Texas did beat Oklahoma, at home, 24-17. Oklahoma did basically sleep in the 1st quarter and did lose against a up-to-now bad Texas team.
Florida did best Missouri 21-3, but lost their QB afterwards, because of a doping suspension of 1 year!
Tennessee did win against Georgia 38-31, which does give Georgia a nice tough sliding down the power ranks.
Wake Forest was able to score 1 FG to beat Boston College 3-0.
South Florida bests Syracuse 45-24. Not a good sign for Syracuse, since South Florida is not even a power house in the American Athletic Conference, far from a good team to challenge an ACC team, so why did they lose?
UConn did score plenty in their win over UCF, 40-13. Biggest news here. The HC of UCF was also the interims AD and THAT job did he left, yesterday, staying so far the HC of UCF.
As mentioned did Portland State blast North Texas 66-7. North Texas was a slightly underdog according to Vegas, but not like that!
Washington State did beat Oregon, on the road, 45-38. Oregon looks horrible at the moment and there are rumors of a very hot seat.



'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

Tags: Block of Granite