Jerre Haskew
To begin his epoch masterpiece, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens penned, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness…."
And so it was with embattled college football coaches Charlie Strong of Texas and Butch Jones of Tennessee last Saturday afternoon.
The ebb and the flow, the ups and the downs, the depression and then the ultimate elation. From the agony of another heart-breaking defeat to relief and then the pure joy of victory, the pictures and video worth a million words. As the iconic Voice of the Vols, John Ward, might have again opined, "Nothing more need be said."
Beleaguered underdogs Texas and Tennessee rose from the ashes like the Phoenix of old and defeated mighty Oklahoma and Georgia in hard fought border rivalry games. Strong and Jones went from the burning hot fire of near coaching hell to jubilant post-game celebration and back to the proverbial frying pan, while Georgia's Mark Richt and USC's Steve Sarkisian went from that warm frying pan into the hot coals of being on the edge of extinction- Richt- and summarily fired- Sark. Such is the life in big time college football. And why not? These guys are paid several million a year not only to produce big rivalry wins but also win conference and national championships.
Bravo and hats off to Strong and Jones. They and their victory starved fan bases can at least take a collective deep breath this Monday morning, dreaming realistically of a modest victory streak over the lesser lights remaining on their schedules. Save their encounters with their remaining schedule monsters- the # 2 blazing Bears and the # 10 mighty Red Elephants- all other games suddenly seem winnable to the point each could conceivably finish 2015 with eight victories. Richt's and Sark's teams on the other hand are staring disaster in the face, their once high College Football Playoff and SEC and Pac 12 championship dreams suddenly dashed. With as much talent as anyone in the nation, CMR again underachieved, blowing a 24-3 late second quarter lead against Tennessee, the same old, same old gut-wrenching story for UGA IX and his title starved Bulldog fans. He still doesn't understand that close only counts in hand grenades and horseshoes.
Sark on the other hand was first placed on an "undetermined leave of absence" and just a few hours later summarily fired, having coached the once proud Trojan program to a disappointing 3-2 record with only one decent win in a drunken stupor, with USC AD Pat Haden looking the other way until his coach was a no show for Sunday's practice after an embarrassing home loss to the double digit underdog and toothless Washington Huskies. With Notre Dame and Utah coming next back-to-back on the schedule, Sark has coached his last game at Troy, while Richt has enough accumulated capital to survive another bitterly disappointing season- but barely. Lose again to upstart Florida and/or bitter in state rival Georgia Tech and he could be at Dawg death's door with UGA IX biting him in the butt on the way out.
On the other hand, there are clearly two new "hot shots" of 2015 college football's half season, Jim Harbaugh of Michigan and Jim McElwain of Florida. The Maize & Blue has surprisingly rolled out of the chute 5-1, the only loss being a nail-biter to undefeated and 4th ranked Utah on the road to open the season. Since then the guy who previously resurrected the former doormat Stanford Cardinal and took the moribund San Francisco 49ers to two NFC finals and a Super Bowl, has reeled off five straight winds, the last three being shutouts. And folks he did this with Brady Hoke's recruits! He gets the # 10 and undefeated Michigan State Spartans at the Big House next saturday and Urban Meyer's # 1 Ohio State Buckeyes also in Ann Arbor to finish the regular season. Win those and he likely goes to the CFP in his first year! Much like the hire of Nick Saban at Alabama in 2007, this guy is a huge ego who's won big at other places and is obviously a bargain and sound investment at $6 million a year! Also like "Nicky Satan," he's hated by rival coaches and fans and is big time cocky to boot, but why not? That combo worked pretty well for the G.O.A.T, Muhammed Ali. What do his Stanford and Michigan teams have in common with Saban's at Bama? They both run an out of fashion pro set/shotgun combo offense, pounding their opponents into submission with a sledgehammer north/south running game and winning with a disciplined, slobber-knocking defense and outstanding special teams.
Jim McElwain, the rookie head coach at Florida, comes from the Saban coaching tree, having been the offensive coordinator on two of the Tide's national title teams. That's a championship pedigree folks and he's been there, done that. His first half season as the head Bull Gator has been amazing and almost miraculous. Taking a modestly talented and inexperienced group on offense and the nucleus of an outstanding defense, he's waved his OC's magic wand and transformed a previously less than awful offense into a scoring machine, performing better and better each week. After snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in the Swamp against bitter rival Tennessee, he's coached up a talented but inexperienced redshirt freshman quarterback and run off impressive blowout wins against then 3rd ranked and undefeated Ole Miss at home and a one loss and two time defending SEC champ Mizzou team on the road. At 6-0 he's an official "hot shot" like Harbaugh and now faces the gauntlet of # 5 and undefeated LSU in Death Valley and the hated Dawgs at the world's largest cocktail party in Jacksonville. Win just one of those and he'll all but claim the SEC East title. Win both and defeat bitter rival Florida State and it's a great shot at the CFP. That's the good news. But Holy Gator, stop the presses! In a shocking revelation today, In a shocking revelation today, the NCAA suspended the aforementioned star QB Wil Grier for a calendar year for using performance enhancing drugs. Of couse Florida is appealing. Come to think of it his performance has been "enhanced" big time the past three weeks! And to think, prosperity was just around the corner. Oh well, that's the life on the coaching carousel of big time college football. It's getting crazy around here, fellow fanatics. Stay tuned.
Jerre R. Haskew
Chattanooga