I Tell Ya' Herbie

    Last week "Herbie" enjoyed Thanksgiving but our favorite long-range kicker returns for his thoughts on college football as we enter conference championship week.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            One of the things speculated about Michigan's upset over Ohio State is where it ranks in the rivalry's history.

I'm not going to answer that in detail (I'd rate it second to the 1969 loss) but I will pick the upset that it most resembles and it's not one against Michigan.

The 2015 home loss to Michigan State was the only blemish on the record of the defending national champions and cost the Buckeyes a chance to defend their title.

It reminded me of this loss as in both cases, the coach (Urban Meyer then, Ryan Day now) stubbornly refused to allow his best players (Ezekiel Elliott then, the wide receivers now) to decide the game, deciding instead to play into the opponent's strengths, losing a home game to an inferior opponent.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             I wonder just how things are going to play out at North Carolina, which fired Mack Brown after finishing 6-6 and has several big-name coaches reportedly interested including Steelers offensive coordinator and former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith, UNLV's Barry Odom, Tulane'a Jon Sumrall, and wait for it... Bill Belichick?

I would have thought Belichick was mentioned by a writer attempting to grind out a column but it's being reported that Belichick has actually interviewed with the Tar Heels!

North Carolina has often been mentioned as a football-sleeping giant, if Belichick actually wants to coach college football (and I'm not sure he really will), UNC would make sense as a place where Belichick could be successful quickly and wouldn't have the expectations that many schools would.

I Tell Ya Herbie:

                               It will be interesting to watch who will earn the fourth seed and the first-round bye between Group of Five qualifier Boise State (assuming they defeat UNLV in the Mountain West Championship) and the Big 12 championship winner between Arizona State and Iowa State.

For now, Boise State would earn the bye but I look for plenty of lobbying from the Big 12 for that position because it would be humbling for the conference to be surpassed by the G-5 entry in the first-ever playoff.

Will this be decided on the field or in the boardroom, where there really wasn't a lot of interest in a G-5 automatic bid to start?

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             I was asked earlier this week how I felt about Michigan signing the top-rated quarterback in this recruiting class, Bryce Underwood. My answer was that I felt great!

First, if Michigan paid the rumored fifteen million for Underwood, good for Underwood and his family, and Michigan is playing by the rules, how often can I say that of late!

As much as I'll love responding to Michigan supporters about the "Michigan way" regarding NIL spending, what I am excited about is this- Michigan signed the top-rated quarterback in the class and he is a homegrown product, Ohio State inked the second-rated passer in the class, Tavian St.Clair, who is an Ohio resident.

For the first time that I can remember, Ohio State and Michigan will have two home-state players leading their team at quarterback, while Underwood could be the starter at Michigan as early as next season and St. Clair will be behind Julian Sayin for a while, that matchup could be very special when it happens.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             I noted a few weeks ago that Neal Brown faced two games that could decide his future with West Virginia against Baylor and Texas Tech.

Two wins might get him an extension, a split could go either way, and two losses might mean his job.

WVU lost both, including a thirty-seven-point loss to Texas Tech and Brown is leaving Morgantown.

Former head coach Rich Rodriguez and West Virginia native Jimbo Fisher are being mentioned as potential replacements should the Mountaineers take a big swing but a Group of Five coach that I might think about hiring is Marshall's Charles Huff, who knows the state from his Marshall tenure, would not cost West Virginia a buyout since his contract is expiring, and has led the Herd to the Sun Belt title game this weekend.

I'm not saying Huff gets the spot but if the bigger names aren't in the picture, he would be a good choice to consider.