- First things first, I wanted to highlight a really good then happening over at Mountain West Connection, an SBN blog that has developed a nice niche. The head blogger, Jeremy Mauss, has a three year-old son with high functioning autism. He's attempting to get a service dog to help his son (cost: $13,000). Apparently this service dog would help his son to be more social, stop wandering, and basically improve every aspect of his life. Picture of the kid is below and go here to retweet, donate, or just leave a message. I appreciate it very much and I know Jeremy does too. Through SBN, he's been able to raise over $4,500 in just a few days, which just speaks to the power of this blog community.
- Ladies and Gentlemen..Onto football discussion! Tell ESPN to stop the constant updates! Stop refreshing the OTE homepage! That's right folks, Indiana picked a head coach! Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson will be taking the job in Bloomington and let me tell you, I couldn't be more exci -
- Minnesota hired a new coach also, the wonderfully named Jerry Kill. We've been inundating you with coverage, here and here, but the main focus is this: Kill is obviously experienced, can coach in the Midwest, and most likely doesn't have an Idiot Cannon mounted on his shoulders, firing stupid statements onto the unsuspecting people below. One quote from OTE: "Whenever you read something about the guy, he comes off as an anti-Brewster: low key, blue collar guy that loves to coach, gets the most out of his talent, and wins."
- See what I did earlier? I purposely cut that sentence off to downplay the importance of this hire and Indiana football. It's called "comedic timing" or "irony", and if you're dating a girl who doesn't understand it, let me tell you now there are going to be some awkward silences during your dinner conversations. If it is in fact conversation you are pursuing. Anyways, I like Wilson, I like his Miami OH roots (cradle of coaches indeed), I like his Spread offense, and I assume his Midwestern background will help him fit seamlessly at Indiana.
Many questions are still to be answered. Who really pull the trigger on this hire? Was this Jacobs and Gogue's decision alone or did the Board of Trustee have input? Can Gogue and Jacobs survive what many are calling the most inept hire in college football history? Will Tiger fans ever really embrace a coach that's short on personality and is perceived as Auburn's version of Mike Shula?
As we've said all along, there's a massive leadership vacuum at Auburn University. Auburn people need a leader to emerge, someone who can wrestle power from those who've torn down the place we all love. It won't be easy. It won't be pretty. But now is the time to act. It's time for Auburn to take back their University. Let's hope and pray on this Sunday that a leader emerges that can move Auburn forward.
- If that doesn't serve as a constant reminder to exercise caution before yelling angry things during coaching searches, I don't know what will.
- Reader TalonK (Indi Band? Dinosaur aficionado? I can't tell...) totaled up the preseason predictions of all the OTE writers. We're not paid enough to make predictions for ALL 11 teams, but to sum his piece up...I won (see below). /Pats self on back, again. Everyone. and I mean everyone, missed badly with their Iowa pick.
OOC record exact = 3 points, +/- 1 = 1 points, anything more = 0 points
|
|
Wisc |
OSU |
MSU |
Iowa |
PSU |
Ill |
UM |
NW |
Pur |
Minn |
Ind |
Total |
|
Graham |
8 |
8 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
8 |
6 |
- |
6 |
8 |
56 |
|
Hilary Lee |
8 |
8 |
3 |
1 |
- |
3 |
8 |
6 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
48 |
|
talonk |
6 |
8 |
6 |
1 |
8 |
1 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
8 |
48 |
|
Jonathan |
8 |
8 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
8 |
1 |
4 |
6 |
47 |
|
Greg Go Blue |
8 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
8 |
6 |
- |
3 |
3 |
46 |
|
Paterno Ave |
6 |
8 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
46 |
|
Bama Hawkeye |
6 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
39 |
|
Jerdogg1 |
8 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
- |
4 |
6 |
8 |
- |
- |
3 |
39 |
|
Ted Glover |
6 |
6 |
3 |
- |
- |
- |
3 |
- |
- |
- |
6 |
24 |
|
JDMill |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
3 |
- |
3 |
|
Robert Barga |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
3 |
- |
- |
3 |
- I'm running out of energy, so let's go all lightning round on these bowl games. When you see the bowl matchup, give me the first thing you think of and who you think will win....go:
- Mizzou-Iowa: Uh, yellow-goldish school colors, disappointing 2nd halves of season. How will the slow developing Mizzou run plays react to Clayborn being in the backfield so quickly? Mizzou should be the favorite.
- Illinois-Baylor: Lots of yards given up. Baylor should be favored.
- NW-TT: No Persa, no chance. TT favored.
- Florida-PSU: Inexperienced, incomplete teams. Florida favored.
- Bama-Sparty: Lots of good hittin, homecoming of sorts for Mark Ingram. Bama favored over somewhat middling Sparty.
- Miss State-Michigan: Ugly passes, Denard v. SEC. MSU is favored here because Mich makes any offense look good.
- Wisky-TCU: God I love football. Undersized, mobile Southerners versus Big, plodding Northerners...civil war-ish. Wisky is the favorite.
- OSU-Ark: God I love football again. Ryan Mallett versus the Buckeyes, Part II. OSU favored.