Good Jones / Bad Jones & Other Week 1 Musings

The importance of coaching in college football is paramount. Consider the stunning comeback victory by South Alabama against Miss St. South Alabama started off as a 31.5 point dog in this game, a remarkably high number against an MSU team that has been gutted by graduation the past 2 years. Even more surprising than the outcome was the manner in which the shocker occurred.

The Bulldogs were leading at the half 17-0. Usually, when a huge underdog can triumph, they start off fast against an overconfident favorite. While USA’s defense did shut down the Bulldog O in the early going (which prompted Dan Mullen to replace Nick FItzgerald with a more mobile QB in Damien Williams), a QB switch energized the home side.

A USA loss seemed inevitable at halftime. Somehow, USA Coach Joey Jones, galvanized his forces for a resounding 2nd half against an SEC team. This is the 2nd time in 12 months that Jones pulled a rabbit out of his hat. Last year, he managed to lead an underwhelming USA squad (the Jaguars finished 5-7) to an improbable upset in San Diego against an excellent Aztec team. Has any coach recently had two more improbable upsets in a year’s time??

Now, let’s vent about another Jones: Butch. Amid all the pre-season hoopla surrounding the Vols, fans were eager to overlook Jones’ 4th quarter pratfalls in 2015. But there is NO excuse, NONE, to be out-physicaled by a SunBelt team, even one as strong as App State. If you watched the Vols’ O Line against App State’s D Line, and been color blind as to the color of the uniforms, you would have sworn that App State was the SEC team. O line play requires a lot of coordination, which, in turn, relies on good coaching. Tennessee’s O Line was in NO way ready to win the SEC.

Lest you think I am being unfair to Butch Jones, two other SEC coaching staffs did not distinguish themselves in the opening weekend: LSU’s erratic QB, Brandon Harris, has still not progressed. His feetwork is often terrible and his game-ending interception was yet another indictment both on him and the coaching staff (pains me to say that, since Les Miles is a breath of fresh air). With the exception of the one Zach Mettenberger year, the QB play at LSU over the past 7-8 years speaks volumes.

Derek Mason, the Vandy head man, is a hell of a defensive coach. And that is where he belongs. For the 2nd time in 3 years, he has made inexplicable QB changes in the opener which made little sense and, worse, sapped the confidence of his QBs….Vandy got off to a 10-0 lead last Thursday against the Gamecocks. No need to panic. He makes a QB change. While his QB decisions were not as atrocious as his 3-QB change-a-thon in the 2014 opener against Temple (a 37-7 travesty), he should not be allowed to be in the same zip code as his QBs.

Now on to much more positive stuff!! In addition to the kudos already accorded legendary Eastern Washington receiver, Cooper Kupp, in a previous post, two other kudos are so well deserved:

College Football Odyssey is far from infallible in our predictions. We thought Western Kentucky’s offense was going to fall off with the graduation of phenominal QB, Brandon Doughty. Sure did.. Led by new QB, Mike White, WKU only threw for 517 yards against Rice (355 in the first half!!!!), 10th best mark in Conference USA history. Part of the beauty of college football openers is that they continually make fools of the experts.

Kalani Sitake, the new BYU head coach, made a courageous decision at game’s end against Arizona in the first Cactus Classic.After seeing the Cougars’ starting kicker miss both a PAT and a field goal, he sent out his backup freshman kicker for a 33-yard field goal. Arizona had rallied to take a 16-15 lead and this kick would be the difference between victory and defeat. The freshman, Jake Oldroyd, nailed his first field goal attempt, cementing his name in Cougar lore.