I tell ya' Herbie

Things I think, our weekly column on college football has been proven to be popular thus far (OK, one person has mentioned it) and I'm enjoying it, so it stays for at least as long as I remember to write it. that is!

Why the new name?
Well, Ryan and I often break into full Brent Musberger mode and usually use the phrase most often associated with Brent and his former boothmate Kirk Herbstreit- "I tell ya, Herbie", so being that college football should be in full Musberger I thought the phrase was a perfect fit.
Even if Musberger never actually said it that way (Keith Jackson never actually uttered Whoa, Nellie, you know) it sounds like Brent and what better way to salute one of the announcers that make college football great as well as my son, with whom I've shared so much in sports.

I tell ya, Herbie:
                           Jim Harbaugh's gimmick has once again worn out its welcome at a coaching stop and even though it's not a firm conclusion, Michigan and its fans are at least thinking about life after Jimbo following the Wolverines dismal effort in a 35-14 loss to Wisconsin that was not as close as the final score indicates.
It's more than Harbaugh though, as his Alabama import for offensive coordinator Josh Gattis has had his bumpy spots this season and the once renowned defensive coordinator Don Brown has never recovered after Ohio State slapped 62 points on his defense last November.
Entering this season, most figured that this was Michigan's year to beat Ohio State with OSU using a new head coach, a freshman quarterback and getting the Buckeyes in Ann Arbor with the notion that if they couldn't do it under those conditions, when would they?
Suddenly, that looks less likely a month into the season than when it started and Harbaugh could need that game to keep his job, should this season continue to spiral downward.

I tell ya, Herbie,
                          I'm not sure where Michigan goes, should they decide to part ways with Mr. Harbaugh.
The last three hires have been an "Offensive Guru" (Rich Rodriguez), "Old School Michigan Man"  (Brady Hoke) and now the "Michigan Man Savior" in Harbaugh and even though Michigan hasn't become Minnesota under any of these coaches, none of them have brought the program to what it once was.
Put Harbaugh's hefty salary (7.5 million a year, second only to Nick Saban) aside and the cost of buying him out of his contract at the end of this season would be a heavy fifteen million more off the grid and ask-Just where do they go?
A big name coach might be leery after watching Harbaugh and a smaller level coach might cost the school donations, so I'm not sure what would make the fan base happy unless they try what they did in basketball (hiring Juwan Howard without head coaching experience) and throw the hail mary with a former big-name star off television like Charles Woodson and pray for the best.
I don't like saying this, but keeping Harbaugh around might be their only hope.
Who has it better than them, indeed?

I tell ya, Herbie,
                           The transfer portal with its accompanying new rules isn't working either and needs to be tuned up or rehauled completely.
I'm not against players being allowed to play four games without it counting against a players eligibility and a resulting redshirt, but we have moved from a system that was totally controlled by the schools (forcing players to sit out a year and controlling what schools the player could transfer to) to one totally controlled by the players.
Let's take the case of D'Eriq King, the quarterback for Houston, who recently announced his intention to redshirt as a senior after the Cougars stumbled to a 1-3 start under new coach Dana Holgorsen.
King stated that he will return to the Cougars for next season, but there is nothing to hold him to that decision and should we continue to travel down the road of players cashing in seasons because the team is not playing well?
If Houston signs off on this and King does return, I suppose it wouldn't be totally bad, but still, I wonder how fair it is to the seniors that aren't the marquee players that have to trudge through a bad final season without that option?
When you add the issues of players in the transfer portal that get approved for transfer to avoid sitting a season that doesn't seem to be always viable reasons for immediate eligibility, you have a system broken differently than the previous one.
Ohio State profited from this as much as anyone in enabling Justin Fields to eligible for this season, but that still doesn't make it the right thing.
The NCAA really needs to do some corrections for next season or for 2021 at worst.

I tell ya, Herbie
                          Bowling Green for years has been one of the better teams in the MAC along with Northern Illinois and rival Toledo, but at the group of five level, if you make one poor decision in coaching as Billy Beane said in "Moneyball" you hit the floor with a thud and not a bounce.
After two successful seasons under Dino Babers throwing the football using his version of the Air Raid, the Falcons hired Mike Jinks, who was an assistant at Texas Tech but had never been either head coach or coordinator at the college level.
MAC schools often have to hire first-time head coaches, but the coaches are usually from the midwest where MAC schools have to thrive in recruiting, so relationships and connections with high school coaches, etc are perhaps more important than in any conference in the country.
Jinks lacked all of those with his entire coaching career being spent in Texas and it's going to be a tough sell for Texas high schoolers to play for any Ohio school that isn't named Ohio State.
Jinks was fired midway through last season with a record of 7-24 and the Falcons with new coach Scott Loeffler are still paying for the hiring and mistakes of the Jinks era.
BG whipped I-AA Morgan State in their opener, but since was shutout at Kansas State 52-0, came home to face Louisiana Tech for a 35-7 homecoming loss and a humiliating 62-20 loss to Kent State, who entered the game with one win- an overtime win at home over Kennesaw State.
And who waits next for Loeffler's Falcons- Notre Dame in South Bend on national television.
Bowling Green will cash the check and pray Irish coach Brian Kelly is merciful as after all if you give up 62 to Kent State what will you allow to Notre Dame?
It will take time for Loeffler to turn things around and if he can't, it could be quite a while before the Falcons return to MAC prominence- A thud, not with a bounce.

I tell ya, Herbie,
                          And then there's Arkansas.
A once-proud program that looked to have a good hire before 2018 with Chad Morris.
Well, the Morris era isn't looking too hefty right now as his Hogs lost to another Mountain West team in San Jose State at home.
Arkansas fell behind 24-7 before rallying to tie the game and then allowing the Spartans to march down the field for the winning score with less than two minutes to play.
Arkansas was a 21 point favorite and one final kicker?
Arkansas paid San Jose State 1.5 million to come to Fayetteville and beat them.
Arkansas always says they have nothing to gain in playing Arkansas State, they could have played them and kept that 1.5 million in-state.

I tell ya, Herbie,
                           I ripped the ACC last week for being weak and Pittsburgh did give the ACC a big win with their late one-point victory over Central Florida but ranked Virginia struggled with Old Dominion, Boston College didn't dominate Big 10 doormat Rutgers and once-powerful Miami wobbled to a 17-12 win at home over Central Michigan.
At least those teams won though, as Mack Brown's Tar Heels lost to Appalachian State 34-31 in Chapel Hill.
Appalachian State is the perennial bully of the Sun Belt and looks to be a school that will likely be a possible chip that moves to a higher conference (still group of five) when the next shuffle of realignment occurs, but still, Appalachian State shouldn't be defeating North Carolina at home.