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Think maybe Davie can coach?
Two weeks ago, an outmanned Notre Dame team pushed No. 1 Nebraska into overtime with two kick returns for touchdowns. Last week Notre Dame beat Purdue with one defensive touchdown and 10 more points set up by special teams defense. But to listen to Irish fans, this can't be possible. After all, only well-coached teams score points on defense and special teams. And we all know from the Irish fans that Bob Davie can't coach. Think they could be wrong? Me, too.
Hats off to the Pac-10After all the potshots the Pac-10 endured last season, let the league brag. UCLA has beaten two No. 3s, Alabama and Michigan, Washington beat No. 4 Miami and Stanford beat No. 5 Texas.But pardon me for suspecting that Nebraska and Florida State aren't exactly quaking in their cleats. The losers all travelled at least two time zones. The Crimson Tide was clearly not worthy of a No. 3 ranking. And quarterbacks John Navarre of Michigan and Ken Dorsey of Miami both made the first starts of their careers on the road. Congratulate the Pac-10, sure. Declare it the best league going? Hold on there.
Ref was in right spotTwo weeks ago, Vanderbilt filed a protest after quarterback Greg Zolman's goal-line sneak against Alabama was ruled no touchdown. The problem is that the NCAA manual places the head linesman and the line judge, the officials who flank the line of scrimmage, at the sideline, a long way from where quarterbacks sneak.Last week, SEC supervisor Bobby Gaston directed his linesmen to move up, to eight yards outside the widest player. Right or wrong, line judge Al Matthews was right on top of the play when he ruled Florida receiver Jabar Gaffney made the game-winning catch this past Saturday against Tennessee.
LaDainian reads his pressYou ever wonder what graduate assistants do? Last week TCU G.A. Joe Rogers went online and found a Chicago Tribune story in which Northwestern defensive end Dwayne Missouri said, and I'm paraphrasing, that in the Big Ten, Horned Frogs tailback LaDainian Tomlinson would be just another back.Gee, I always thought you needed a high SAT score to get into Northwestern. TCU put a copy of the story in every player's locker. Tomlinson ran for 243 yards. Horned Frogs 41, Wildcats 14. Mr. Missouri has no future as an NFL scout. Sports Illustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel covers the college football beat for the magazine and appears each Saturday on CNN's "College Football Preview." Click here to send a question to his mailbag.
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