SOD’s One-Sided Interview with Scooby Wright

Some Other Dude is proud to present our second in a series of One-Sided Interviews with key College Football figures. Being that we are just Some Other Dude with no access to anyone who has anything at all to do with FBS college football programs, the only kind of interviews we can do are one-sided. But, hey, why should we let the fact that our intended subject is not, and never will be, available to us stop us from asking the questions and letting you, the reader (yes, singular, maybe someday that can be plural) fantasize about his or her or its answer?

So, here is the second in our series of many one-sided interviews.

SOD: I am not joined today by the University of Arizona’s highly acclaimed linebacker, Philip “Scooby” Wright. Scooby, thank you for not joining us today and before we even get started on football, you’ve got to tell us the story behind “Scooby”. When did people start calling you Scooby and how did that name get saddled on you? Does everyone call you Scooby or are there some circles in which you are Philip?

SCOOBY WRIGHT: Not available for comment.

SOD: So, regarding football, we wish to congratulate you on the successes you have enjoyed so far in your college football career. Coming into the 2015 season you are one of the few consensus Pre-Season All-Americans appearing on just about everybody’s pre-season lists, yet, coming out of High School in 2012, you were not that highly touted. Even though your high school resume is quite impressive, being a league co-MVP and Cal State All-Star Team selection, just to name a few accomplishments, many of the recruiting services had you labeled as a 2 or 3 star prospect. Now, obviously, they got that wrong, but, looking back on it, do you think they were being stupid and overlooking your potential or do you think that you still had some growth and development to go through to reach the level at which you perform today?

SCOOBY WRIGHT: Not available for comment.

SOD: I think that’s terrific personal insight, Scooby, thank you for your honesty. Being that you are a pre-season All-American, that indicates you have already reached a level of high performance and are recognized as one of the best linebackers in the game today. This also indicates that you probably had a good chance of being a relatively high draft pick in last year’s NFL Draft. What was behind your decision to return to Arizona for your junior year and what do you hope to accomplish?

SCOOBY WRIGHT: Not available for comment.

SOD: Terrific, well we certainly wish you the best of luck in achieving those goals. Now, you mentioned your team a lot; Arizona has recently undergone a kind of revitalization and is once again becoming a relevant program in College Football; what can we realistically expect from the Wildcats this year? And do you see yourself playing in the FBS Playoffs before venturing on to the pros?

SCOOBY WRIGHT: Not available for comment.

SOD: Well, you do do battle in one of the toughest divisions in the FBS with a number of teams vying to become the Pac 12 South Champions. What has it been like being a part of this Arizona program as it becomes relevant once again? What role has Coach Rodriguez played in this revival and what role has contributions from players such as yourself played?

SCOOBY WRIGHT: Not available for comment.

SOD: Now, at the same time that the Wildcats have gotten better, so, too, has your in-state rivals the Arizona State Sun Devils gotten much better. Does that fact add to the fun and excitement and what do you think this rivalry does for the entire state of Arizona?

SCOOBY WRIGHT: Not available for comment.

SOD: So then, what’s next for Scooby Wright? Do you have a plan for your future? Is there any chance you are a Wildcat in 2016 – or is that not even on your radar at this time?

SCOOBY WRIGHT: Not available for comment.

SOD: Well, Scooby, that was fun. It was a pleasure not talking with you and we wish you the best of luck in 2015 and beyond.

So this concludes our second interview in the series. Thank you for reading. If you have any people or topics that you would like to see us cover in future interviews, please let us know. And, remember, … if you can’t spike the football, then spike the lemonade.

The College Football Crisis Management Award

The “Some Other Dude’s College Football Blog” spawned from a weekly college football promotion I was writing for Safe Harbor Consulting (SHC), a Management Consulting Firm specializing in crisis management.  SHC ran a two-year promotion recognizing the FBS Team that overcame the largest deficit to win its football game each week.  They call this the “College Football Crisis Management Award”.  SHC will still sponsor this award in 2015, but the weekly articles will be posted on SOD’s College Football Blog.  This is a fun promotion to write about.

In 2013, many of the weekly winners came from games played outside of the Power 5 conferences.  Most of the weekly, largest comebacks came from obscure, low profile games.  Still fun to write about, but not as big of a draw.  2014 saw a little bit of a change in that trend.

The 2014 weekly winners of the SHC College Football Crisis Management Award are shown in the Table below.

In 2014, 8 games, recognized in the 15 full weeks of FBS play, included teams from one of the Power 5 Conferences.  Some of these games were very notable and you probably remember watching a few of them.  With so many games being played at the FBS level, you can usually count on at least one game with a notable comeback, although you do get a few dud weeks along the way.

The largest comeback on the year occurred in Week 6 when Miami (OH) overcame a 27 point deficit to beat Massachusetts, 42 – 41.  Both teams came into the game 0 – 5, looking for their first win of the season.  The Minutemen seemed to have the game won, but, apparently, they weren’t 60-minute men.  This is what makes the promotion so much fun – every game has a chance to be recognized.

There were a few weeks where the largest comeback was from only 14 points down (Week 16 doesn’t count – there was only one game, Army/Navy).  And, in Week 13 a full 5 games tied for the weekly honor at that 14 point mark.  Interestingly enough, Florida State, one of the teams that made the 4-team playoff at the end of the year, was in contention for the honor, on what seemed to be every week, and won the award with their 21 point, come-from-behind victory over Louisville in Week 10.

SOD is honored to be able to carry this promotion in our blog next year.  If you want to check out last years’ articles you can find them by clicking on the links included below.

Week 1.  Week 2.  Week 3.  Week 4.  Week 5.  Week 6.  Week 7.  Week 8.  Week 9.  Week 10.  Week 11.  Week 12.  Week 13.  Week 14.  Week 15we.

Trivia Tuesday – Power 5 Conferences

In recent years, there has been a lot of shuffling of College Football Conferences. And, if you believe Some Other Dude, there is more yet to come as we advance upon the age of the Mega-Conferences. But, SOD wonders, how well do you know the history of the current Power 5 Conferences?

THE TRIVIA CHALLENGE

Name the original teams in each of the current Power 5 Conferences.

THE BUFFER ZONE

THE ANSWERS

The Atlantic Coast Conference.  Even though we appear to be headed to 16 team Mega-Conferences, back in history there was an even mega-er conference; the Southern Conference.  The Southern Conference, at one time, consisted of 23 teams and eventually splintered into other, smaller conferences.  One of those splinter conferences was the ACC which officially formed as a conference in 1953.  The 7 charter members of the ACC were: Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest.  Only South Carolina no longer calls the ACC home as they eventually joined the other splinter conference with former Southern Conference brethren.  Link to information source.

The Big 12.  The history of the Big 12 is a little more convoluted than that of the other conferences.  The Big 12 itself wasn’t formed until 1994 when teams from the Big 8 merged with teams from the Southwest Conference.  The Big 8 Conference was originally chartered in 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association and eventually became known as the Big 6 and then grew up to become the Big 8.  The original members of this conference were: Iowa (two-timing with the Big Ten), Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Washington University in St. Louis.  Only Kansas remains as a current member of The Big 12.  Link to information source.  The Southwest Conference was first formed in 1912, consisting of: Arkansas, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Rice, Texas and Texas A&M.  Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas remain as current members of the Big 12.  Link to information source.

The Big Ten.  The name “The Big Ten” was actually not officially incorporated until 1987, but the conference referred to as the Big Ten has been around since 1905.  The original conference was made up of 7 teams in what was known as the “Intercollegiate Conference Athletic Association”.  In 1917, when the conference had expanded to 10 teams, it was labeled the “Big Ten” by members of the media.  The original members of this so-called Big Ten Conference were: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, University of Chicago and Wisconsin.  Only the University of Chicago is not a member of that conference today.  Link to information source.

The Pac 12.  The Pac 12 Conference started off as a little seedling conference that eventually grew up into the Pac 12.  Forming in 1916 as the Pacific Coast Conference, its original members stood at only 4 schools: California, Oregon, Oregon Agricultural College (later known as Oregon State) and Washington.  All four schools still remain in the conference today.  Interestingly, Idaho and Montana were one time members of this conference and the conference was disbanded and re-assembled in 1959 due to a pay-for-play scandal.  The re-formed conference was called the Athletic Association of Western Universities, commonly known as the Big 5. After growing once again, the conference started being referred to as the Pacific 8 in 1964 and officially became the Pacific 8 in 1968, the Pac 10 in 1978 and the Pac 12 in 2011.  Link to information source.

The SEC.  The SEC preceded the ACC in splintering away from the huge Southern Conference when 13 schools left in 1932 to form their own conference.  The 13 schools that made up the first version of the Southeastern Conference were: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Sewanee (University of the South), Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt.  Georgia Tech now resides in the ACC; Tulane, although still an FBS school is no longer a member of a Power 5 Conference; and, Sewanee, after having decided to de-emphasize sports in 1940, currently competes in Division III athletics.  Link to information source.

2014 – A Look back at the Hail Marys

Arguably, there is no play in football (college, pro or ortherwise) more exciting than the Hail Mary pass. Although the term “Hail Mary pass” is largely attributed to Roger Staubach when he said, in an interview following a Dallas Cowboy’s last second touchdown pass to Drew Pearson in a 1975 playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings, “I closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary”, the term can be traced back to the 1930’s, used mostly by Catholic schools, to refer to any desperate play that had little chance of success.

Regardless of the origins of the term, the 2014 college football season seemed to have more than its fair share of these miraculous, game tying or game ending plays. SOD takes a look back at some of those 2014 Hail Marys. (Click on the links provided to see them for yourself.)

August 30 – Jackson State v Florida A & M. No penalty for not knowing about or remembering this one that occurred on the first week of the season between to FCS schools. In this game, FAMU took the lead in the 4th quarter with just 46 seconds remaining in the game to set up Jackson State’s game winning 60 yard Hail Mary from LaMontiez Ivy to DeSean McKenzie. Watch it here.

September 20 – Arizona v California. In an early season in-Conference football game between these two Pac 12 teams, Arizona capped off an amazing 4th quarter comeback with a 47 yard prayer from Anu Solomon to Austin Hill which soon became known as the Hill Mary pass. Watch it here.

October 4 – Arizona St v USC. In another Pac 12 contest, Arizona State’s Mike Bercovici completed a Sun Devil 4th quarter comeback when he heaved a 46 yard pass to Jaelen Strong as time ran out, to defeat then #16 ranked USC 38 – 34. Watch it here.

December 4 – UCF v East Carolina. Central Florida ended an amazing East Carolina, 4th quarter comeback with some amazement of their own when Justin Holman launched a game winning, 51 yard bomb to Breshad Perriman to pull off a 32 – 30 victory over the Pirates. Watch it here.

December 24 – Popeyes Bahamas Bowl – Central Michigan v Western Kentucky. This amazing Hail Mary pass, multiple laterals and run, was followed up by a failed two-point conversion that ended in a loss for Central Michigan. A Hail Mary followed by a Hail No, if you will. It deserves mention any way because of the spectacular nature of this particular play and surely must qualify as a Hail Mary pass, despite the outcome of the game. The Chippewas could have capped off an unbelievable comeback in this game by tying it and going into OT, but, decided to tempt faith and missed the conversion. Because it was a bowl game, SOD can live with the decision. Watch it here.

There were a few other spectacular Hail Marys that ended first halves in 2014, but those listed above are enough to make 2014 the year of the Hail Mary. SOD can hardly wait to see what 2015 has in store.

2015 Week 1 – Too Soon?

So, here it is, February 12; Week 1 of the 2015 College Football Season is still over 6 months away, and, I wonder, is it too early to start looking forward to the Week 1 schedule? … HELL, NO!

Besides, what else do good, respectable, young college football fans have to do? Well, I might not be good, respectable or young, but I am a college football fan, so, here goes – the look ahead to Week 1.

The 2015 FBS College Football Schedule kicks off on a Thursday Night, September 3, with a couple intriguing match-ups.

The Carolinas, North and South will tangle at a, somewhat, neutral site, Bank of America Stadium, in Charlotte, NC, to get things started. Both teams are trying to get back into the thick of things in their respective conferences and this game should be a good indication of which team is poised to make a move. Steve Spurrier will be debuting a new signal caller in this game and the Tar Heel defense is a tough first-game assignment. The Tar Heels are currently ranked #35 in the ESPN PreSeason FPI Rankings and the Gamecocks weigh in at #40.

Jim Harbaugh will debut as the Head Coach for Michigan in Utah as the Wolverines try to pay back the Utes for embarrassing them in the Big House in 2014. A pretty tough assignment, to go on the road for your first game with a new program, and Wolverine expectations will be through the roof, but the Utes will be in no mode to be gracious hosts. An interesting match-up, indeed. Michigan currently stands at #28 in the ESPN PreSeason FPI Rankings while the Utes hold down the 38th spot.

After a nice double-dose of intriguing games on an opening Thursday night, football fans will get a couple of days rest to prepare themselves for the first Saturday of the new season and a handful of additional games that will merit some attention.

After leaving the program in 2013, Chris Petersen will head back to Boise State with his new team, the Washington Huskies. The Broncos will be anxious to show that his old, non-Power 5 program is still better than his new, PAC-12 squad. There will be a new gunslinger for the Broncos tossing footballs on the blue turf, but Boise State returns a good team coming off of their Fiesta Bowl victory over another PAC-12 team in #10 Arizona. Boise State is likely to be ranked in the Top 25 and Washington is likely to be one of those, “also receiving votes” teams coming into the game. Both teams will enter with a chip on their shoulder and one team will have it knocked off. Boise State is currently ranked #31 in the ESPN PreSeason FPI Rankings and Washington sits at #46.

The first Saturday also has Virginia travelling coast to coast to complete the home and home series against UCLA. The Cavaliers played a close, but losing game against the Briuns in their Virginia home in 2014. Going out west, however, the Cavaliers will be facing a Briuns’ squad that has a new QB at the helm, replacing the early departed Brett Hundley. It’s not easy going coast to coast for your first game of the season, as UCLA discovered last year; it will be interesting to see how this game kicks off the 2015 season for both teams. UCLA is currently ranked #12 in the ESPN PreSeason FPI Rankings while Virginia is ranked #56.

In what might be dubbed the Brainiac Bowl, the B1G Ten’s academic leader, Northwestern will make a trip out west to meet the PAC-12’s academic leader, Stanford. The Cardinal is likely to be a heavy favorite in this game, but an interesting matchup nonetheless between two of the finer educational institutions that happen to also field pretty good football teams. Stanford sits at #17 in the ESPN PreSeason FPI Rankings and Northwestern is down at #68.

The Badgers of Wisconsin are proving that they like to start off their seasons with a bang and do not shy away from tough scheduling challenges. Last year the Badgers started things off in a high-profile game against LSU, blowing a big lead in eventually losing the game, and will start off the 2015 season back in SEC country against the reigning SEC Champs in Alabama. The Crimson Tide does turnover a large portion of their starting lineup, but this seems to be something that Alabama does well. A good test for both teams to start the new year and a game that is sure to get most of the first Week spotlight going into the season. Alabama is currently ranked #2 in the ESPN PreSeason FPI Rankings and the Badgers fall in at #36. But, preseason polls are likely to have both teams in the Top 25.

In another intriguing contest with an SEC powerhouse, Louisville squares off against Auburn in the Georgia Dome. The Tigers will be replacing Nick Marshall at QB while Louisville brings in an experienced Will Gardner. Another early season measuring stick for two programs poised to make a run at their respective conference championships. Auburn is currently ranked #18 in the ESPN PreSeason FPI Rankings and the Cardinals sit at #44.

In a contest between two of the better teams in two of the best conferences, Arizona State and Texas A&M match up in NRG Stadium in Houston.  This is another good match-up that could be an early indication of which team is ready to vie for a top spot in their respective conferences.  Texas A&M is currently ranked #11 in the ESPN PreSeason FPI Rankings and Arizona State is a respectable #20.  All in all, a pretty good Week 1 for the SEC West top teams to send a signal to the rest of the college football world that they are still the cream of the crop.

And, the first week of the season is capped off with a Monday Night affair between the Buckeyes of Ohio State and the Virginia Tech Hokies. Last year, the Hokies hung an albatross around the Buckeyes’ necks almost big enough to keep them out of the playoffs. Ohio State overcame that “bad” loss on their journey to the National Championship, but will be looking to avenge the loss in Blacksburg. One thing for sure is – whichever QB is under center for the Buckeyes this time, it will be one with a lot more experience than JT Barrett had going into last years’ game.  Ohio State currently sits atop of the ESPN PreSeason FPI Rankings at #1 while Virginia Tech is ranked #25.

So, yes, it is over half a year away, but the intrigue these games promise will only grow brighter and brighter as the season gets closer and closer. There will also be some interest in games that appear less fairly matched as the nation watches to see how new QBs perform under center – like the Eastern Washington vs Oregon game in which Oregon’s new QB just might be Eastern’s old QB; and, the Texas State vs Florida State game in which famous Jameis will likely be watching from an NFL camp somewhere.

For now, however, its nearing time for college football fans to go into their summer hibernation, dreaming of the sounds of whistles to ring in an interesting Week 1.