THE WORLD OF BAX: Bye, Bye, Bowden: The Axe Falls

We’ve reached the halfway point of the season, which in college football, unlike the NFL, doesn’t mean that coaches are getting the axe. Unless, of course, you’re Clemson’s underachieving virtuoso, Tommy Bowden, who was fired on Monday. Bowden’s ten year tenure came to a close as simmering tensions exploded into a veritable volcano of anger from the fan base and honestly, he shouldn’t have lasted this long. Of course, he wasn’t getting through to his players and had his team massively underachieving so I suppose this week was as good of a time as any to make a change.

However, Bowden’s firing got me thinking: What other coaches this fall have done a job worthy of getting fired? Not which coaches will be fired, mind you, but which coaches’ performances have been terrible enough that they had better watch out in the not-so-distant future. Here is my Shameful Six:

• Rich Rodriguez, Michigan. Granted, it is a transition year and his history shows his teams being utterly miserable in his first season at a school (3-8 at West Virginia in year 1). However, none of those schools are the University of Michigan, college football’s all-time wins leader and oozing with talent every season. Michigan was in for a rebuilding year even if a coaching year hadn’t occurred, but a rebuilding year would have looked like 7-5 or 6-6. Rodriguez is staring 4-8 in the face after losing to Toledo. Rodriguez hasn’t adapted his offense to his personnel and is quickly wearing out his welcome in Ann Arbor. My dad, who is a Pitt alum, even tried to defend him but Rodriguez’s coaching decisions haven’t changed my original opinion on the hire, which was that he was a square peg in a round hole and wouldn’t last more than four years.
• Bill Stewart, West Virginia. Rodriguez’s decision to leave West Virginia seems to have hurt two programs. Bill Stewart’s hiring process can be best compared to a teenage girl who just was dumped by her boyfriend then jumped at the first person who showed her some affection just because she felt so miserable after the dumping. Bill Stewart let Rodriguez’s coaches coach in the Fiesta Bowl last year, said he loved WVU and was the head coach within 24 hours. He has since misused Pat White, shown a complete inability to use his timeouts properly, and has WVU at a disappointing 3-3 mark halfway through the season. That’s a fireable performance, folks, even though Stewart’s job is safe because his girl is still on the rebound and is explaining away her new boyfriend’s flaws to everyone who asks.
• Ty Willingham , Washington . I felt bad for Willingham before the season because I felt he was being unfairly attacked in the Pacific Northwest before a season which could bear out to be a bowl year for the Huskies. Well, I was very wrong. The Huskies haven’t really been competitive outside of the BYU game and are winless. Willingham hasn’t coached or recruited well outside of Jake Locker, who is now hurt, and even a win over Notre Dame, which would surprise and delight me at the same time, probably won’t save his job.
• Phil Fulmer, Tennessee. Fulmer is perhaps the worst culprit on this list. His team was my preseason pick to win the SEC East and has rewarded me with an uncoached quarterback, a regressed offensive line and a series of inexplicable calls which cost Tennessee at least two games this season already. The Volunteers are wasting a talented defense and Fulmer’s last decade in Knoxville has been marked by underachievement. After last season’s surprising division title win, Fulmer barely has control of his very talented team and could find himself out of work soon. At this point, he deserves it.
• Tommy Tuberville, Auburn. When you make a coaching decision to hire an offensive coordinator whose system isn’t the easiest to adapt to and then don’t even give him time to fix the growing pains, that’s called poor decision making. When you waste an excellent defense by having an absolutely terrible offense full of players you recruited, that gets you in trouble. But when you lose to an absolutely terrible Arkansas team that could easily have lost to Sun Belt teams, you’re coaching like a coach who wants to get fired. Tuberville has wasted a team which I thought was the SEC West’s best in the preseason. That’s a fireable offense and he had better hope he figures things out by the Iron Bowl, which has been his saving grace throughout his tenure on the Plains.
• Greg Robinson, Syracuse. Robinson is probably the worst culprit of poor coaching on this list, because he’s taken the last 4 years and driven Syracuse into the ground. This season his only win was over D-1AA Northeastern. Once a very good program and a northeast power, Syracuse is a laughingstock in the weakest BCS league. Robinson’s team is 1-5 and he has six games until his coaching career is over at Syracuse. That program is an absolute grease fire right now.

Last week was a decent week for me, as I went 5-3 to improve my season record to 37-23. The Big XII games were my nemesis as I picked wrong on both Missouri and Oklahoma. The other game I picked? Clemson to win its traditional ‘Win or Bowden is fired’ game. Well, I was right about the game, just not the score. Bowden got fired because they didn’t win. I love being right. Let’s see how this week’s picks go………….

#22 Florida State at NC State

Thursday, 7:30 PM EST

This game is a dangerous one for the Seminoles. NC State has proven that they can beat good teams at home (their upset of ECU is a testament to that) and Florida State is still a relatively unknown commodity after the Miami game. I think that Florida State’s offense probably won’t put up 40 points again and I have to like their defense in this matchup but I think NC State keeps it closer than FSU fans will expect. The Seminoles pull out the win in a close game.

Florida State 27, NC State 21

#12 BYU at TCU

Thursday, 8:00 PM EST

Going all the way back to my preseason Mountain West preview, I said that TCU had an excellent defense and that they had a very strong chance of knocking off BYU during a home Thursday Night Game. Well, the Horned Frogs have only lost to Oklahoma and BYU has underwhelmed recently. I’m going for the upset pick in a close one and BYU’s BCS bowl hopes will fade in the face of an excellent TCU defensive onslaught.

UPSET ALERT:TCU 23, BYU 20

Vanderbilt at #10 Georgia

Saturday, 12:30 PM EST

Vanderbilt had reality finally catch up last week at Mississippi State. Simply put, Vandy’s offense is pretty bad and their defense is only good enough to slow down some of the SEC’s weaker offenses. This week, they visit Georgia, whose offense is one of the few groups in the SEC that can put up points on anyone. Furthermore, Vanderbilt’s putrid offense isn’t going to get healthy against this defense. While Georgia is going to struggle down the stretch with all the injuries on offense, the Bulldogs will own this game by a healthy margin.

Georgia 31, Vanderbilt 10

#15 Kansas at #5 Oklahoma

Saturday, 3:30 PM EST

This is a very interesting game. Oklahoma comes off of a very tough loss to Texas while the Jayhawks took Colorado apart. However, I think that Oklahoma’s defense is going to have a chip on its shoulder after giving up 45 points last week and their offense will continue humming. Oklahoma has too much talent for the Jayhawks to overcome, especially playing in Norman. Oklahoma stays alive in the Big XII South with a win.

Oklahoma 34, Kansas 23

 

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#9 Ohio State at #13 Michigan State

Saturday 3:30 PM EST

This is an absolutely huge game for both teams. Both are 3-0 in Big Ten play and sit at 6-1 on the season with their only losses coming in road games across the country. Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio is very familiar with Ohio State, as he was Ohio State’s defensive coordinator for three years, including the 2002 National Title season. Michigan State has a solid defense and relies heavily on a strong running attack on offense. Meanwhile, Ohio State’s defense has played very well in Big Ten play and dominated Purdue last week. However, the offense is still a work in progress so the Buckeyes will definitely be in for a tough game in East Lansing. I expect Ohio State’s defense to slow down MSU’s power run game and the Buckeye offense will improve with better play from the offensive line. That means that Ohio State comes out of East Lansing with a big win.

Ohio State 23, Michigan State 13

Michigan at #2 Penn State

Saturday 4:30 PM EST

This game really isn’t in doubt considering how bad Michigan looks and how great Penn State has played. The only thing going for Michigan is that the Wolverines hold a 9 game winning streak over the Nittany Lions. However, Penn State is going to win this game in dominating fashion and Michigan’s season will essentially be over at 2-5. Penn State won’t score 50 because the Wolverines are actually decent on defense but it will be ugly and Rich Rodriguez is going to start hearing calls for his head in Ann Arbor.

Penn State 38, Michigan 6

#11 Missouri at #1 Texas

Saturday 8:00 PM EST

Missouri can’t lose two games in a row, can they? Well, I fully expect them to fall at the hands of the nation’s number one team in Austin so yes, they can. Missouri’s defense isn’t good enough to slow down the Longhorns offensive attack led by Heisman frontrunner Colt McCoy and Texas’ defense will definitely pay attention to Oklahoma State’s defensive gameplan from last week and attack the Tiger O-Line. I expect this game to be a fun game to watch but I would be very surprised if Texas didn’t win this one and continue Colt McCoy’s Heisman candidacy.

Texas 38, Missouri 27

#17 Louisiana State at South Carolina

Saturday 8:00 PM EST

LSU is coming off of a butt-kicking in Florida last week and now has to travel to South Carolina to face a rejuvenated South Carolina team. While new quarterback Stephen Garcia needs to stop bragging to the press that the Cocks are back in the SEC East race, his team is my surprise pick in this game. I don’t like LSU’s offense, something I’ve been saying for a while, and I think South Carolina will put some points up on the Tigers. This should be a close game but I think that the Gamecocks win this one in an upset.

UPSET ALERT: South Carolina 23, LSU 16

By Matt Baxendell
CollegeSports-fans.com Staff Writer

Matt Baxendell is collegesports-fans.com’s newest staff writer. If you’d like to join his college football therapy group, email him at matt.baxendell @ gmail.com with all your questions, comments, and anything else you would like to share. Also be sure to check out Matt's 2008 conference previews and college football Top 25 rankings here at CollegeSports-fans.com!

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