Clemson's lofty expectations, Cal's QB controversy and more (cont.)

Les Miles won a national championship in just his third season at LSU.

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Stewart, I've been a college football fanatic for quite some time now. One thing that I never quite understood, however, is the trend of newly anointed coaches winning national titles within two or three years of taking the job. Specific examples from the BCS era would be Pete Carroll at USC, Jim Tressel at Ohio State, Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, Larry Coker at Miami, Urban Meyer at Florida and Les Miles at LSU. Each coach won the title with players recruited by his predecessor. Can you explain this trend in our sport?
-- Matt, Cleveland

Actually, I think you answered the question yourself when you said, "Each coach won the title with players recruited by his predecessor." If there's a common theme among the coaches listed above, it's that they all took over prestigious programs that don't have a whole lot of trouble reeling in blue-chippers, regardless of the coach, but for whatever reason that coach can't get it done on the field.

USC may have been mediocre in the decade-plus prior to Carroll's arrival, but it wasn't for a lack of SuperPrep All-Americans. John Cooper couldn't beat Michigan but was practically unbeatable on the recruiting trail. Ditto for Ron Zook at Florida. And Coker and Miles took over programs that were already contending for titles.

The only coach out of the group that truly walked into a rebuilding situation was Stoops, and it's no coincidence that his team's 2000 title run was by far the most surprising. However, over the past few years, Stoops' predecessor, John Blake, has earned a reputation as one of the nation's most renowned recruiters as an assistant at Nebraska and North Carolina. It would seem to make sense that he did much the same in Norman, even if the recruiting rankings didn't reflect it at the time.

To me, the more interesting tidbit is this: Despite all of the aforementioned coaches' early success, none of them have yet followed it up with a national title team consisting solely of their own, more-decorated recruits. (Obviously, Meyer and Miles have not yet had a chance, and Coker won't get his.) So which is more important -- the coaching or the talent?

Hey Stewart, as a Cal fan I remember watching Arizona State self-destruct a couple of years ago when Dirk Koetter had a talented senior QB (Sam Keller) and a talented sophomore QB (Rudy Carpenter) competing for the same starting job. I don't expect Tedford to pick a QB and then change his mind, like Koetter did, but I'm still nervous -- do you think the same disaster will happen to Cal with Nate Longshore and Kevin Riley? Or could this all work out?
-- Luke, Huntington Beach, Calif.

The only thing I know for certain about Cal's unique quarterback derby is that there's absolutely no chance Tedford will botch it as badly as Koetter did. Nobody could. Still, I certainly don't envy his decision, which figures to be one of the most intriguing in the country come August.

It's times like these that I'm reminded of yet another refreshing difference between college and the NFL. In the pros, a coach doesn't think twice about demoting a guy, regardless of seniority or circumstances. The players are hired guns for the coach to do with what he pleases. On the other hand, college kids are still college kids and deserve to be treated more delicately. When it comes to a lot of these prolonged quarterback competitions, I'm guessing the coach knows deep down which is the better candidate but can't help but be loyal to the older player. In the case of Longshore, who's entering his fifth and final season, a potential pro career is at stake.

From the outside, it might seem like that's exactly what's going on with Cal. Considering how badly Longshore struggled the second half of last season while battling an ankle injury, and considering just how electrifying the sophomore Riley was when he replaced Longshore in the Armed Forces Bowl (going 16-of-19 for 269 yards and three touchdowns in leading a 21-point comeback), you would think Riley would be the clear-cut favorite by now, but Tedford insists that is not the case. You have to remember: Longshore was a pretty darn good quarterback for a season-and-a-half prior to his injury, and Riley's breakout performance came against Air Force, not USC.

Whichever guy Tedford pegs, I just hope he has the guts to stick with him if he has a bad game along the way. If it's clear to the team which guy is their leader, they'll be more likely to weather whatever setbacks may come their way. However, if it devolves into a situation where the coach starts yo-yoing the QBs from week to week, or within the same game, that's when overall confidence tends to implode.

Stewart, you didn't do your homework very well. Don Nehlen didn't leave his alma mater, Bowling Green, to take the West Virginia job, he left to take an assistant coaching job at Michigan. He then left Michigan to take the head coaching job at WVU.
-- Shawn, Parkersburg, W.Va.

You are correct, sir. I apologize for the error and will use it as a reminder to avoid (whenever possible) writing about events I'm too young to remember.

Stewart: Missouri ended the 2007 season at No. 4 in the AP Poll and No. 5 in the Coaches' Poll. How do some preseason rankings have the Tigers ranked below 10th, when they have Heisman candidate Chase Daniel returning along with stars Jeremy Maclin and Chase Coffman, plus nearly all the defensive starters?
-- Justin, St. Louis

Once again, I have to ask, which preseason publications you people are looking at it? Chris Stassen has a great site where he's not only archived all the major preview magazines' rankings since 1993 but compared them to the final rankings to determine which was most accurate. Of the six publications he has listed for this season, none have Missouri lower than seventh, which is just about right in my mind.

On paper, the Tigers should be even better than they were last year. Daniel runs that offense like a machine, and while he lost a couple key receivers in Will Franklin and tight end Martin Rucker, coach Gary Pinkel will surely plug a couple of new ones in to complement the explosive Maclin. Meanwhile, the defense, which ranked just 59th nationally last season, will be much more experienced.

At the same time, there's definitely a ceiling when it comes to projecting Missouri. I can't imagine any sane person picking the Tigers ahead of Oklahoma in the Big 12 after the way the Sooners dismantled Missouri twice last season. The good news is, Missouri does not face Oklahoma during the regular season. So all they have to do is win the North division and pray someone besides the Sooners wins the South.