I tell ya' Herbie:
Florida State started the silly season early with their firing of Willie Taggart after just a year and a half.
The Taggart buyout was large (expected to be between 18 and 20 million, which won't be a small sum for Taggart to move to his likely next job at a group of five schools) and Florida State has always been a school with large budgetary issues.
I've heard several names from coaches with national championships (Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops), group of five schools (Memphis' Mike Norvell, Cincinnati's Luke Fickell) heavy hitters from power five schools (Penn State's James Franklin, Washington State's Mike Leach), program builders from power five ( Minnesota's P.J. Fleck, Kentucky's Mark Stoops) and even the off the wall ideas (Deion Sanders?) are being tossed around.
Some of those names will be interested and some are pipe dreams in Tallahassee, but one thing is for sure-Florida State needs to get this right.
Two bad hires in a row and Florida State could find themselves in a hole that takes quite a while to be able to dig out.
I tell ya' Herbie:
Going into this season, one narrative was about Jim Harbaugh and Michigan and how this is the year that they have everything in their favor against Ohio State with the addendum "If they can't beat them now, when?".
I'll put the Buckeyes and Wolverines aside until the end of the month, but it seems like the same narrative can be applied to LSU and Alabama this Saturday,
LSU has a Heisman candidate in Joe Burrow and even though the game is in Tuscaloosa, the Tigers have plenty going their way in trying to snap an eight-game (the streak includes the 2011 season's BCS title games) losing streak to the Crimson Tide.
When you look at some of the scores of those losses, even in games with larger scores, LSU hung tough in those games and gave Bama in some cases their toughest game of the season.
Alabama has a Heisman candidate of their own in Tua Tagovailoa, but he may not play and if he can play he won't be at top form.
This may very well be the best shot that the Tigers have for a while, even on the road, so if there is a chance for even a brief change at the top, it needs to be now.
I tell ya' Herbie:
USC hired a new athletic director in Cincinnati's Mike Bohn and with Clay Helton holding onto the Trojans head coaching job by a quickly fraying rope, one name that suddenly jumped to the front as a candidate is Bohn's head coaching hire at UC, Luke Fickell.
Fickell's squad hasn't lost since being rolled by Ohio State 42-0 in the second week of the season and is in a position to possibly win the group of five position in the New Years' bowl games.
Could Fickell land the USC job? Fickell does seem to have an inside position for the job and he'll be mentioned for many openings with his success with the Bearcats.
Still, Fickell lacks a West Coast connection, didn't recruit there often with Ohio State and he might be waiting for a Big Ten job to open (Michigan State would make sense if Mark Dantonio decides to move on) rather than tackling the attractive yet troubled USC program.
I tell ya' Herbie:
There's plenty of hype around Minnesota and the P.J. Fleck row the boat routine, but the Golden Gophers 8-0 record is softer than a defrosting Icee machine and I think Penn State is going to puncture that balloon quickly and in my eyes-Penn State is so much better than Minnesota that their game isn't the game of the week in the Big Ten.
That goes to the battle for the Heartland Trophy between 13th ranked Wisconsin and 18th ranked Iowa in Madison.
Both teams are 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the Big Ten, two games behind Minnesota and even though you would normally think that being two games out in November is a tough hill to climb, this is a special season in the Big Ten Western Division.
Minnesota's 8-0 start was aided by a weak schedule both in and out of the league as only two of their eight opponents have a winning record (Illinois 5-4 and the Sun Belt's Georgia Southern at 5-3), but their slate is back-loaded with Penn State, Iowa, and Wisconsin waiting as three of their four opponents to close out the season.
The winner of the Heartland Trophy is my pick to travel to Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game.'
I tell ya' Herbie:
The Heartland Trophy game is one of the most fun games that I watch each season.
I usually root for both Wisconsin and Iowa, when they aren't playing the Buckeyes, both recruit the same type of players in the same region, usually have strong offensive lines and running games, play a physical brand of football and both team almost always have a quarterback that drives their fan base crazy.
The Hawkeyes could be undefeated had they received decent quarterback play with their losses at Michigan by seven and by five to Penn State at Kinnick Stadium.
The Badgers lost at the gun to improving Illinois and lost big at Ohio State, but gave the Buckeyes their toughest game to date, playing them close for two and a half quarters.
However, put all of that aside because what makes this game so enjoyable for me is when I can watch this one with Ryan and Jeff and watch the fireworks fly!
I'm sure if you are even a casual reader that you have to know Ryan is the biggest Badger booster around, but you may not know that my nephew Jeff is a huge devotee of the Hawkeyes.
Take that fandom and combine it with the genetics involved in rooting for your team and you have a great day of fun in watching both the game and those two going at it for three hours as the Badgers and Hawkeyes pound it out on the gridiron.
I'm not sure if they plan on watching the game together on Saturday, but if so, I want in!
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