Week 1: College Football

The opening weekend of college football offered initial impressions that might linger through the season.

Best Starters Ever?

Conventional wisdom dictates that college football powers should begin each season with a cannon-fodder opponent at home, i.e. Ohio State, Oklahoma, Georgia, LSU, among others, hosting 1-AA teams this past weekend.

USC has seldom adopted this policy, yet it has a penchant for being extremely well-prepared and in mid-season form in challenging debuts. Five years ago it opened at No. 6 Auburn and manhandled the Tigers, 23-0. A year later in Landover, Troy was tested by a Virginia Tech team that finished in the top 10 before prevailing, 24-13, and the next year June Jones’ Hawaii team, seldom an easy out at home, was trounced 63-17. In 2006, USC opened at Arkansas, which would be in the national title hunt later that November. The Trojans romped, 50-14.

Granted, Virginia isn’t a revered power, but it’s still a road game against a program that consistently is competitive, has recruited relatively well under Al Groh, and even won 48-0 at Miami last year. Yet again, though, Pete Carroll’s Trojans squad makes it look like child’s play in a 52-7 dismantling.

Never has a program competed so well in openers on the road against decent to stellar foes. Every one of USC’s defensive starters is projected to have an NFL career – several of them as first-round prospects – and Carroll himself has acknowledged this might be his best defensive unit he’s had.

With two weeks to prepare for Ohio State (Sept. 13), and hosting Oregon, Arizona State and Cal as well, plus two more weeks to prepare for a trip to Oregon State (Sept. 25) as well as a home game with Notre Dame (Nov. 29), a USC victory over the Buckeyes would likely leave only one vacancy for the BCS title game…because it would be difficult to envision the Trojans not being there.

The Son Also Rises

East Carolina head coach Skip Holtz has always been referred to as “the son of Lou Holtz.” The elder Holtz has said it won’t be long before he will be referred to as “the father of Skip.”

The younger Holtz will be in his 96th game as a head coach this weekend when the Pirates host West Virginia – where he was reportedly a serious candidate (some would tell you the front-runner) to succeed Rich Rodriguez as head football coach until Mountaineer interim coach Bill Stewart was promoted to the spot with a Fiesta Bowl trouncing of Oklahoma.

The 44-year-old Holtz became a head coach for the first time at age 30 when he took the reins at 1-AA Connecticut in 1994. The Huskies were only 14-19 the previous three years, but Holtz’s five-year tenure produced a 34-23 ledger – highlighted a 10-3 mark and the school’s first 1-AA playoff win in his final season (1998). He then resigned so he could be hired as offensive coordinator for his father at South Carolina in 1999.

The two thrived for several years and a succession plan seemed in place for Skip at South Carolina. Instead, he was demoted after a disappointing 2003 campaign and at the conclusion of 2004, and Skip Holtz wound up as the head coach of a different Carolina.

The Pirates were 3-22 in their previous 25 games, but under Holtz they went from 5-6, to 7-6 and a bowl loss, to 8-5 last year with a Hawaii Bowl victory over Boise State. This year, the surge continued with the opening-week upset of Virginia Tech.

The iron is as hot as it will ever be for Holtz, and if he continues his current ascent, a job will likely await at a BCS-school this year.

And who knows…way down the road he might have a chance to duplicate “The Son Also Rises” career of John Thompson III at Georgetown by coaching at the same place as where his father received most of his fame (and we’re not talking William & Mary).

Contract (In)Security

Is there a news item in college football or basketball more worthless than trumpeting an up-and-down head coach’s contract extension? They generally are 1) a promotional spin to serve as either a temporary reward or as short-term damage control in recruiting, or 2) terms of a buyout, if needed.

For example, in February of 2005, Alabama’s Mike Shula was given a six-year “extension” at a reported $1.8 million a year. Nine months later he was fired. The public is not privy to all the contingencies written into “extensions.” It’s no different than Notre Dame’s Bob Davie receiving a five-year extension in 2000 through the 2005 campaign – and then getting fired less than a year after inking the deal.

So when Pitt’s Dave Wannstedt was given an extension through 2012 after his 4-7 Panthers upset West Virginia in the regular-season finale last year, my thought was “kiss of death,” especially after three-straight sub-.500 seasons with mediocre schedules.

By all accounts, Wannstedt is a salt-of-the-earth individual and an excellent right-hand man. Questions about his ability as the No. 1 man, though, always seem to shadow him. The Panthers still could be viable contenders for the Big East crown this year, but it will depend somewhat on how much the residual effect of the opening-game loss to Bowling Green hovers over the program.

Unlikely Repeat

The top upset was Arkansas State stunning Texas A&M at Kyle Field, 18-14, in Mike Sherman’s debut as the Aggies head coach.

The Sun Belt team, which joined Division 1-A in 1992, rallied from a 14-3 halftime deficit to hand the Aggies their first loss in a home-opener since 1987 versus LSU. Texas A&M recovered to trounce Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl that season, 35-10. A similar dramatic recovery appears unlikely this time.

Games Of The Week

A pretty light fare, especially compared to Week 1 and what’s coming up on Sept. 13:

Miami at Florida – Normally, this should have national title implications, but Miami head coach Randy Shannon’s inauspicious debut in 2007 (lost six of the last seven games, finished 2-6 in the ACC and was crushed 48-0 at home to Virginia) has the Hurricanes merely fighting to regain respectability. The Gators haven’t defeated Miami since 1985, but the series was suspended in 1987 before getting renewed in 2002-03.

Georgia Tech at Boston College – First-year Tech head coach Paul Johnson’s always creative, productive spread offense versus a defensive front seven that ranks among the nation’s finest.

West Virginia at East Carolina – Can the Pirates steal a second straight victory against a ranked foe?

Stanford at Arizona State – The Cardinal has displayed some moxie under second-year head coach Jim Harbaugh, but the Sun Devils might be too tough at home.