What I Learned This Week, Part II

Here are my closing thoughts to the weekend, and what I'm looking forward to next week.

1) Bob Stoops is a great coach. I can't believe I even have to write this, but since people like Pat "Updates on Bobby Petrino Leaving Every" Forde "Minutes" have been bashing him for the past three years, it needs to be said. Bob Stoops is one of the five best coaches in all of college football and he proved it again last night. Much has been made against he recent results against Texas and in bowl games, but both of those can be misleading. Guess what, Heidi Klum has had a kid and is in her mid thirties, but I'd still sacrifice a limb for a night of intense passion with her. First of all, Mack Brown has shown the last four years that he is a much better coach than people gave him credit for his first five years in Austin, myself included. He is a great recruiter and a great coach, so Stoops losing recently against him is not a travesty. It is also not a travesty considering he happened to go against Brown when he had arguably the greatest QB in college football history (Vince Young), and also arguably one of the best QBs in Texas history not named Vince in Colt McCoy. In the last two Fiesta Bowl appearances, he had to run into a team that could play the ultimate underdog card in Boise State and another team that could play the "Your Coach Ditched You" card in West Virginia. These are not normal circumstances. He is an amazing coach and he proved it by eviscerating the team that was hands down the #2 ranked team in the country last week.

2) Sam Bradford is the best pro prospect at quarterback available in the draft next year. While I will not question that Matthew Stafford has a better arm than Bradford, I have to say Bradford has never ceased to amaze me every time I watch him play. What is most striking is that when he's in the pocket, even in what is this year clearly the best conference in college football, he genuinely looks bored looking downfield. He is not daunted to throw it downfield, he has no problem quickly checking down to a RB if his WR are covered, and he gets his tight ends involved in the offense early and often. He is mobile, much more mobile than Stafford, but still always seems to make the right decisions on the field. He is not running a traditional spread offense, so he has to actually read defenses after the snap and make decisions, and yet he still has the absurd TD-INT ratio of 42:6. Stafford tends to force throws as Todd McShay has pointed out ad nauseum, which was put on display perfectly during the Florida game. If he can be read that easily by Florida for INTs, how on earth will he last against Ed Reed and the Baltimore Ravens? Bradford also completes 68% of his passes even with a large number of downfield passes each game, so he's incredibly accurate. While I don't know how strong his arm is, especially on the always critical 15 yard out from the far hash, but mentally he is the best option for an NFL team next year.

3) Michigan is not one year away from turning it around. Much has been made about how Michigan's offensive woes are, at root, a quarterback issue. Also, people point out that in his second year, RichRod has gone 9-4 at WVU, 12-0 and Tulane, and 9-3 at Clemson after losing first seasons. While this is certainly true, bringing in two 4 star recuits in Tate Forcier and Shavodrick Beaver are not going to immediately change things in Ann Arbor. Michigan will have to play with a first year, true freshmen QB again next year which is never a good sign for instant success, and they might open with a QB who possibly did not get any reps in spring practice as well (since Forcier is not listed as starting in January). On top of that, Michigan will most likely loose 3 out of 4 staring members of their D Line, which was about the only unit that didn't embarrass itself this year, as well as it's #2 cornerback. This means the defense is getting younger and more experienced at the same time the offense will basically be starting from scratch with a new signal caller in the huddle. The hopes of next year leading to a Capital One Bowl game run just seem unrealistic. Hoping for 7-5 seems much more likely.

4) Florida State has a chance next week, although it's unlikely. FSU showed again this week against Maryland that they can play defense. They forced 4 turnovers and held a ranked team to only 3 points while playing in College Park. This is a good sign for the hope that these two teams could play a decent game next week. FSU knows Florida extremely well, and as Miami showed earlier this season, teams that know Florida can slow down the Gators offense. I fully realize that Miami slowed down a Florida team without a healthy Percy Harvin for only three quarters, and that Florida State has been terribly inconsistent the past month, and that FSU has not shown that it has an offense that scores on the Gators. What I do know is that FSU at least has the talent to give the Gators problems which means the game is actually worth watching on Saturday.