Coaching Big-Time College Football

  Yes, I did watch some college football. Not a lot, mind you. But enough to get a flavor of the day. 

There were three games which caught my attention. Alabama at Georgia, Rutgers visiting Minnesota and Oregon coming East to play Penn State.

Each game was close. Each game had riveting play. But in the end, the outcomes were predictable.

Why would I say that? First, Rutgers can’t seem to get over the hump in important games in this incarnation of Greg Schiano on the banks of the Raritan. If Rutgers was to show signs of improvement, a road win at Minnesota would have been the perfect vehicle to demonstrate that RU isn’t anybody’s complete patsy.

What ails the Scarlet Knights is something which hadn’t betrayed the team in the past. The defense. The offense put up 28 points in a conference game—usually that would be good enough to win many games if the defense was stout. 

But the defense has not been good in the three non-conference games and against Iowa in the Big Ten opener. That was a winnable game, just like Minnesota was. 

RU is on a bye this week. Fixing the defense isn’t quite like repairing a leaky tire. With a trip to Seattle to play the Washington Huskies, followed by a very good Oregon squad coming to Piscataway, then games at Purdue and at Illinois before ending the season with Maryland at home, at Ohio State and then with Penn State in New Jersey, the chances for wins are diminishing rapidly. 

As for Schiano, I personally am prejudiced. I have met the man twice at Rutgers basketball games and he was affable and engaging. Still, he clearly reminded me of a football coach, not unlike the late Bob Curtis, whom I knew very well while he was at Franklin and Marshall College and before he moved on to Bucknell. Which isn’t a knock on him or his profession. 

Football coaches are a no nonsense breed of person. They strive to put the best team possible on a football field with the clear objective of winning games. 

It once was a simple process of recruiting a kid with the promise of a scholarship and a fine education. Any pretense of that has gone out the window with the advent of Name, Image and Likeness. NIL has permeated even the Division III level, where 58 year old Tom Cillo, on the roster at Lycoming College, has signed a deal to promote Aspercreme. (Cillo receives a four year supply of the product plus an undisclosed amount of money) 

And as we know, there are the monied schools and the poorer sisters. In the Big Ten, we know that there is a dichotomy and Rutgers is not in the top echelon. Which doesn’t help Schiano in picking off the top talent. 

Then again, Schiano was great at finding under-the-radar players and developing them into NFL talent. When RU wasn’t in the Big Ten. 

I am not faulting the man. He has done a marvelous job elevating the facilities at the school. He still is locating players he can develop. It’s just that it is plain that his staff along with  Schiano are not good game coaches. Which, with decent talent, is what is needed to win more games. 

Rutgers has  a new administration at Rutgers. Both the President and Athletic Director were at LSU in their last jobs, a place which values athletics more than education. In addition, the new RU President received a large salary, earning more than he did in Baton Rouge. LSU’s coffers are enriched with NIL money that RU can can only dream of. Which is why LSU is in the discussion for the playoffs while the guys in Piscataway can only dream about it. 

That might be an admirable goal at Rutgers. Which, if the right revenue streams can be tapped to bring in the necessary impact players, there is no reason that RU cannot jump into a higher tier in the Big Ten. 

But there are pitfalls with that kind of thought. Last season, Steve Pikiell lured two big time basketball talents to his program. They received very significant NIL money then bolted to the NBA after a year. And the team didn’t make it to the NCAA Tournament. 

Not winning will be unacceptable if one uses LSU as a measuring stick. Both Schiano and Pikiell could be out if the teams aren’t better. It’s not their fault that the previous AD was not a big supporter of NIL. It’s all about the wins. 

Which is how we assess James Franklin at Penn State and Kirby Smart at Georgia. Both ended up on the short side of the score after Saturday night’s games. 

Smart gets some free passes since he won back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022. Yet Smart gets plenty of heat about his 1-7 record versus the Crimson Tide, where he was a highly valued assistant coach under Nick Saban at Alabama. P.S. That one win secured a National Championship for the Bulldogs in 2021. 

With Franklin, he has a miserable record against Top 10 opponents. His Nittany Lion squads are 4-18 against quality opponents and 1-18 versus Big Ten Top Ten teams, including the excruciating double OT loss Saturday at home to then #6 Oregon. 

This was a PSU team which was supposed to contend for a national title. They still are highly ranked this week at #7, but conference foe Indiana is #8; the two tangle in State College on November 8—a week after PSU travels to Columbus to meet #1 Ohio State. 

As great a record as Franklin has amassed (104-43), it isn’t close to enough to satisfy those who remember the glory years under Joe Paterno. How much more of a leash does he have before he needs to move on? 

Look, head coaches receive big salaries. Sometimes they are the highest paid state employees. They are expected to deliver wins. Dabo Sweeney, head man at Clemson with two national titles under his belt (2016 & 2018) and the winningest coach in school and ACC history, is receiving inordinate heat for his team’s 1-3 start. Now he faces the legendary Bill Belichick and North Carolina in Chapel Hill this weekend (UNC is playing maybe even worse than Clemson?). A loss here and Sweeney might as well pack his bags for his next destination. (Rutgers? UCLA? Oklahoma State? Arkansas?)

And add Kalen DeBoer, the Alabama head man to this list. Succeeding Saban, the greatest coach ever, was no easy chore. Along with the legacy of Bear Bryant lingering in the shadows. The Week 1 loss at Florida State drew jeers and complaints from the Tide fans. 

The win over Georgia may have given DeBoer a momentary reprieve. For upstart Vanderbilt is in town this week. Vandy upset ‘Bama last year in Nashville and has a legitimate Heisman Trophy QB leading the unbeaten Commodores into Bryant-Denny Stadium. ESPN thought enough of this game to make it its Game Day stop. This is no gimme. 

Losing again to Vandy won’t sit well with the faithful. Even if the schedule is a good one for the Tide starting with a win this week to allow them to make it into the SEC Championship game and the College Football Playoffs. That still might not be sufficient to keep DeBoer’s seat comfortable. 

And so it goes at Florida, Texas (where QB Arch Manning has not performed to the unreasonable hype and expectations set upon him), Oklahoma, Colorado (Deion Sanders has not elevated Buffaloes football to prominence), Kentucky, Wisconsin and any Power 5 school where the alumni and boosters expect great things. 

Such is the nature of coaching big-time college football.

College Football Vs Baseball

  I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the Name-Image-Likeness aspect of the game. Perhaps I find the NFL more entertaining. Or maybe the MLB races in the last week of the regular season have been more compelling. 

I’m just not into college football right now. Which is surprising for me. 

Sure, I am aware of the comings and goings of the sport. Between CBS Sports, ESPN and DIII Football, I am keeping abreast of the games and related news. 

Yet there is something keeping me from watching more of the many televised games. Maybe because I know how things will turn out. 

Example number one was Rutgers hosting Iowa in the teams’ Big Ten opener. RU battled the Hawkeyes hard, even maintaining a lead into the fourth quarter. Yet, when faced with a choice to continue watching or going to sleep, I chose the latter. Why? Because I knew that as talented as this Scarlet Knights team may be offensively, the defense wasn’t stopping Iowa. Which meant that RU was destined to lose again to a team it should beat at least once (RU is now 0-5 versus Iowa). 

My second example was the Arkansas-Memphis contest on Saturday. I was watching it while doing some indoor cycling at my gym. Largely because I didn’t choose to take the remote and channel surf. 

This was an interesting matchup between a middle of the road SEC team and a top tier American Athletic Conference squad. A back and forth affair, Memphis was ahead when I left the gym. 

But I didn’t turn the TV on to ESPN to see the end of the game when I returned home. Largely because the announcer said that the Tigers have been winning against SEC teams when playing them in Memphis. I felt the outcome here was a foregone conclusion in favor of Memphis. Which I was correct.

In fact, I was more intrigued about the renovations to the Simmons Liberty Bowl Stadium. It was clear that luxury suites were being built and a new scoreboard was in place. The changes won’t be completed until prior to the 2026 season. I that looked up when I came home. 

To be competitive, the market demands seemingly require updates to facilities. The stadium was first used in 1965. But even with these changes and a 4-0 record with the Tigers running the table against a strong AAC schedule which includes Tulsa, Tulane, USF and Navy at home—all schools which have quality programs—and getting into the College Football Playoffs,  this will not necessarily be enough to move Memphis to the Big 12, as the school had made major financial sacrifices in a bid that was rejected by the Big 12 schools. 

Franklin and Marshall College has a football program which is the ninth-winningest all-time in Division III (although a thorough analysis of the teams F&M has played will show a number of Ivy League schools, the service academies, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia, Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette, Delaware, Villanova and the Carlisle Indians of Jim Thorpe fame; F&M did not fare well in most of those contests), hasn’t been at the top of the Centennial Conference since 2017; the Diplomats have won seven CC titles and when a member of the Middle Atlantic Conference, they also won seven championships. Five teams went undefeated; the last was in 1974.

F&M has been to the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series seven times, which includes wins in the past two seasons. Overall, F&M has an 11-6 record in bowl games. Not too shabby. 

Yet I find that my present college football disassociation extends to my school. Normally, I check out the games via computer. Which I did when the Diplomats traveled to Annville, Pennsylvania and secured a win over local rival Lebanon Valley. 

For the home opener, F&M hosted Westminster (PA). The schools had never played each other, largely because the Titans resided in the NAIA, and crossover games with NCAA teams were few and far between. Westminster has a rich football tradition from the NAIA, where it won numerous titles, to its memberships in the Presidents Athletic Conference since joining the NCAA in 2000.

That should have piqued my interest. If nothing more than to see the colors and uniforms  and how F&M would match up against a squad which went 8-3 last season with a bowl game victory over Marietta College. But I didn’t find the time to check in on the game, which the Titans won in a romp. 

Up next was Catholic University, which came to Lancaster as the Homecoming opponent. I had never seen F&M play Catholic, which has a winning record against the Diplomats. Once more, I didn’t find the time to watch the game, which F&M won handily. 

My school has a winning record. The teams have had some reasonable recent success. 

Nonetheless, it makes me feel cheated. Why? The two large elephants in the room—Johns Hopkins University and Carnegie Mellon University. Larger schools with great academics and a penchant for winning even better than F&M. 

Because F&M has never gone to the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs, while JHU is a fixture representing the Centennial Conference. When F&M won the title in 2017, the CC didn’t send its championship to the playoffs.

Moreover, new conference member (for football only) CMU went to the NCAA playoffs last season, falling to Mount Union in the third round. The Tartans are ranked #20 and are 2-1. Oh, and by the way, Hopkins is 3-0 and ranked #3. 

There is a good likelihood that both schools will make it into the NCAA playoffs, although CMU may need to defeat the Blue Jays when they tangle in Baltimore on October 11. Moreover, with the conclusion of non-conference play, Muhlenberg and Ursinus sport unblemished records, with Dickinson 2-1 like F&M. 

F&M would have to run the table to make it to the big dance. They face a bigger whammy in that they play CMU in Pittsburgh on November 8 and JHU visits Shadek Stadium the next week to conclude the regular season. Do I hear maybe the Centennial-MAC Bowl for a  third year? 

Instead my focus has been more on pro sports. I watched the New York Jets come from behind to take a late lead against Tampa Bay, only to let QB Baker Mayfield exact one of his patented late game rallies to overcome the Jets defense and eke out a win. NYJ is 0-3 and headed nowhere—fast. 

I let the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Giants put me to sleep on Sunday Night Football. Patrick Mahomes isn’t playing to his previous exceptional level and the team is barren without reliable wideouts and getting the ball more to Travis Kelce, who once more had words with fatherly Head Coach Andy Reid on the sidelines. 

As for the Giants, it is a good move benching Russell Wilson and installing rookie Jaxson Dart at QB for the rest of the season. The G-Men may not win much, but if Dart is the QB of the future, the time is right for him to get experience. Maybe the Giants will strike lightning again with an Ole Miss QB—Eli Manning wasn’t too shabby playing for them. 

Thankfully I won’t have to upset myself with the Jets until Monday night when they play at Miami. Early night for sleep?

Maybe some upcoming games will get me watching college football. Two highly-ranked squads, Oregon and Penn State, meet on Saturday night in a “White Out” game at State College. Perhaps. 

Or would I want to see Notre Dame play in Arkansas versus the Razorbacks? Alabama going to Athens to play the Georgia Bulldogs—we’re not going to see this game every season with the new SEC schedules starting in 2026. That might pique my curiosity.

Even F&M at Gettysburg might get a view. F&M didn’t play them when I was in school, as the Bullets were in the MAC University Division and didn’t join DIII until 1974, two years after I graduated.

It’s just that the baseball season is winding down and the games this weekend will have meaning for a number of teams, especially the New York Yankees, currently tied with Toronto for the AL East lead. I find that to be far more captivating. 

College football vs baseball. I guess I haven’t completely really lost my interest in college football. But right now, baseball seems to give me more.

Such Is The Lot Of A True Jets Fan

  This past Sunday, I made my first visit to Met Life Stadium. To see my long-time team, the New York Jets, host a rival that goes back to the start of the American Football League where both teams began their journey. Buffalo came out a winner in this clash. 

I am in my 49th year as a season ticket holder for the Jets. I have seen them play at Shea Stadium in Queens. The Jets shared the facility with baseball’s New York Mets, who had a sweetheart deal with the building’s owner, the City of New York. To preserve the turf and not move the mechanical lower tier seats, no football would be played in the ballpark until the baseball season concluded. 

That clause was eventually modified, but the infield dirt would remain in place until at least mid-October or once the Mets finished the post-season. Then sod would be hurriedly put in place to make the field look more like a football field rather than a football field superimposed on a baseball diamond. 

The trip to Flushing was onerous—whether it was from Highland Park, Avenel or West Orange—where I lived when the Jets called Shea home. Driving was hellacious, and taking the subway on the interminable 7 train was no pleasurable excursion after taking the bus to the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Eighth Avenue or parking my car on the streets of Midtown Manhattan. 

But these were the New York Jets—still somewhat respectable with Richard Todd as the quarterback. And only ten or so years removed from the team’s historic upset win over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. 

Yet I should have realized that my introductory year at Shea Stadium would have produced a woeful 3-11 record. Maybe that was how the team might trend now that they were full-fledged members of the National Football League. 

Another signature moment was the day after I met my future wife. On December 27, 1981, I watched the Jets host the Bills in a noontime Wild Card game. Which they lost 31-27 in excruciating fashion. 

Then in 1983, just after we were married, the Jets won big over Cincinnati in the first round, then followed up the road success with a win in Oakland by a score of 17-14. We settled in to watch the AFC Championship game in Miami as newlyweds—only to see hope vanish by a final score of 14-0.

At the end of the 1983 season, the Jets were ready to vacate Queens for New Jersey, where they would become a co-tenant with the New York Giants at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford. I was present for the final Jets game at Shea Stadium—a loss to Pittsburgh when the fans ripped out seats and bleachers along with turf as the game concluded. 

The 1984 season gave me tremendous promise, It was close to home—no more treks to Flushing and arriving home at a reasonable hour. Or so I thought. 

The traffic pattern to and from the Meadowlands were not made for thousands of automobiles descending onto Route 3 and towards the New Jersey Turnpike. Unless you were prepared to fight your way through drunken and crazed fans—it didn’t matter much if the team had won or lost—you might sit in the parking lot s darkness fell and overwhelmed the area until you could finally make a break for home. When you would hope that the traffic had receded enough to move at a 30 mph clip on the aforementioned highways or the Garden State Parkway. 

That 1984 season produced my first home playoff win, as the Jets pounded the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card game. Only to bitterly end the season by losing at Cleveland in double overtime.

From 1984 to 1997, there was only one playoff appearance—a loss at Houston. 1996 might have been the worst year, with a 1-15 record. It was not a ton of fun going to the games during that stretch. 

Then there was 1998. Incredibly, this moribund franchise actually finished first in the AFC East, compiling a 12-4 record. The Jets romped over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Divisional Game. The cold at the game was made bearable by the result. 

My euphoria increased when I won a season ticket holder lottery for Super Bowl tickets. The Jets went out to a halftime lead in Denver and I began to think, Florida, here I come as I consulted airline schedules while thinking of how far away I would have to stay to get to the Super Bowl site in Miami. 

That’s when my hopes and dreams were crushed. Final score: Denver 23 New York Jets 10. That would be the closest I would ever come to see my team in person playing in the biggest championship game. 

I’ve had my heart broken repeatedly by this franchise. The possibility of a domed stadium on the West Side of Manhattan where the Jets would be the sole tenant seemed to be surreal. It never became a reality due to the greed of politicians and the angst over the facility from community groups protecting the area, and  MSG head James Dolan’s  not wanting any competition from events merely blocks away from his building. 

The Jets experienced much success in the early part of this century. An AFC East crown in 2002. A pair of trips to the AFC Championship game—losses. The last loss—in Pittsburgh in 2011 to end the 2010 season, was the last playoff game this franchise has seen. 

There hasn’t been a home playoff game since 2002 when the Indianapolis Colts were shut out by a score of 41-0. That’s 22 seasons since I last attended a playoff game. I have never seen an AFC title game in any of the three stadiums the Jets have called home in this 49 year span. Let me repeat that: NEVER have I seen an AFC champion crowned in person. 

Of course there have been plenty of players and coaches whom I have liked. And maybe more whom I have never liked. Yet one of them has found the winning combination to even make it back to the Super Bowl after Joe Willie Namath boasted how his team was going to defeat the big, bad Colts from the NFL. 

I’ve had to put up with the superiority in New England during the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick years. As philanthropic as the owners of the Patriots are, I cannot stand to see the Kraft family gloating over another Super Bowl win or Belichick ’s smugness and I don’t see hope through the leadership of Jets owner Woody Johnson. 

Home games are in a sterile facility which does not have a roof because the cost would have been astronomical and the partners—Jets, Giants and New Jersey—couldn’t agree to that kind of expenditure without greater promise of recouping the money with Super Bowls and other events. Additionally,, there was the misplaced belief that the cold weather would favor the home teams in the late season and playoffs; a fallacy if I ever heard one. Why is it that all new stadiums seem to be designed with roofs? Kansas City, Chicago, Washington and Cleveland all have unveiled plans where games can be played inside when the weather isn’t cooperative or cold.

I thought this might be a promising year with a new head coach (former Jets DB Aaron Glenn) and new management. Plus acquiring the young QB Pittsburgh jettisoned (Justin Fields) to upgrade the offense.

However, a part of me worried that if I selected the season opener versus Pittsburgh, where former QB Aaron Rodgers landed, the Jets would find a way to lose. Which they did. 

So I took the second game—against a seasoned Buffalo team which hungers for an AFC title and a Super Bowl win. With the Bills eking out a late win over Baltimore, another AFC powerhouse, it made me foolishly think that the Jets could be competitive last Sunday. 

Dumb thought there. I should have known better. This a franchise which has compiled a 445-572-8 all-time record. The playoff record is 12-13. 

While NYJ was flat on Sunday, Buffalo converted its opportunities. 

Fan X, a loyal Jets fan like me, muttered about how there was no spark. He asked me when was the last time we saw the Jets win, given that we always go to an early season game (I think it was in 2017).

So here I am, holding onto what could prove to be worthless (and expensive) tickets for a number of remaining games, now that Fields suffered a concussion in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s debacle. At least I didn’t choose to see the team play Denver in London on October 11, nor did I buy a seat license anywhere in the stadium. That is money better not spent. On the Jets. 

I want to see the team play on the road once—maybe this year or next. Because I am looking for closure as 50 years of being a season ticket holder fast approaches and I won’t want to schlepp to East Rutherford as I age and trips will be that much more difficult. 

Do I want the chance to freeze for an AFC title? Yes. But unless there is a dramatic change in the culture in Florham Park, it isn’t going to happen as soon as I would like.

I will be watching on Sunday when the team visits Tampa and old NYJ head coach Todd Bowles, a genuinely nice man whom I root for. QB Baker Mayfield won a game his team shouldn’t have won on Monday night in Houston. The odds aren’t in the Jets favor with backup QB Tyrone Taylor under center. 

I will take it one game at a time. Even if, besides Buffalo, the AFC East is a weaker division and the chances to win are ever present. 

I may have become accustomed to losing. I never said I liked it. I will wear my hats, jerseys, T shirts and continue to root for the Green and White. Maybe, after all of these years, I still haven’t realized that there are better things to do on a Sunday…Thursday…or Monday night in the Summer, Fall and into the cold weather. 

Unfortunately, such is the lot of a true Jets fan.