Tennessee: Done!

Great news from New Orleans, where I'm getting ready to cover Friday's Sugar Bowl between Alabama at Utah. I just finished the final draft of the Tennessee version of the Huddle Up guide series, except for a couple of small details I can't add yet (like the new coaching staff which has yet to be hired).

FYI, it's 35,000 words. That's about a third the size of my usual books. Since I'm doing nine editions this year, that'll give you an comparative idea to the scope of the entire project.

Personally, I'm thrilled with how it looks, and relieved for two reasons: 1) It's done, and 2) The amount of time I planned to finish it was dead on, which means I should be able to wrap up the other eight versions on time.

Very cool.

Oh, and yes, the title is a reference to Monster House. I miss that show, it was fun.

Nine and done! (well, sort of)

I'm happy to announce that I finished the first draft of the ninth, and final, book in the "Huddle Up!" series that will come out next year, Texas.

I find it kind of funny that after the Longhorns defeated Oklahoma this season I decided to do Texas last because I thought it would be playing for the national championship. Oops.

Anyway, somehow I'm a week ahead of schedule, which is terrific, but that doesn't mean I can slow down. I'll be trying to wrap up the Tennessee book this next week, and then move on to Notre Dame while attending the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

Now THAT will be a challenge.

Merry Christmas everyone.

You're not going to believe where I saw the book on sale ...

Whenever I have a book come out, the No. 1 question I get is, "So how’s it doing?"
The thing is, most publishing houses only notify authors of sales numbers twice a year, and for the previous six months. So for "100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die," which came out in August, I’ll probably get my first official idea in March.
Unofficially, I think it’s doing well.
- For the past few weeks, Amazon.com has had it listed among its best-selling book in the state of Alabama.
- The local Barnes & Noble ran out of copies this week, despite getting in an order Dec. 9 (I’m been assured more are on the way).
And here’s my favorite:
- I actually saw it on sale at Sam’s Club (FYI, I'm a HUGE fan of Sam's Club) last night. Before I could pick my jaw up off the ground, people grabbed three copies (and I wouldn’t be surprised if they already sold out of what they had - which means another order).
I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone.

Return to sender

As many of you know, in late November I sent a copy of my book "Who's No. 1? 100 Years of Controversial Champions in College Football," to President-elect Barack Obama after he stated on more than one occasion that he was in favor of a playoff.

At least I thought I did.

A couple of days ago, the beat up Priority Mail envelope came back, marked with two stamps and a sticker. The stamps were: "Screened by the Senate Post Office, Nov. 25, 2008" and "Return to Sender."

The sticker, which I love, reads: "PLEASE RETURN TO SENDER: President-elect Barack Obama cannot accept mail at this address. Please accept our apologies."

So a phone call later, I found out that even though his Senate office is still open, it's not accepting mail. Apparently the place to send it is PO Box 8102, Chicago, IL 60682, which is what I did.

I'm writing the $4.80 for postage, twice, off my taxes.

By the way, yes, that is the President-elect driving past Tyler Hansbrough during a North Carolina scrimmage a few weeks after the Heels made the Final Four. The way UNC is playing, I'm expecting a summer rematch at the White House.

Best book signing yet

Memo to book-store managers everywhere: If you want to have a good book signing, call Maggie Clark, the community relations manager at the Barnes & Noble in Huntsville (Jones Valley location), and ask her how to do it.

Friday night was the store's annual "Pep Rally" signing with regional authors of sports-related books. I couldn't make it last year, so was glad my schedule was open for this one. It was me,
Chette Williams ("Hard Fighting Soldier: Finding God in Trials, Tragedies and Triumphs") , Richard Scott ("SEC Football: 75 Years of Pride and Passion"), and David White ("Leadership Lessons for Life: Alabama High School Football Coaches Favorite Quotes & Inspirational Stories"). FYI, Williams is the Auburn football team chaplain, and I'm in the acknowledgements in Scott's book (thanks).

So after getting lost in Huntsville and arriving a few minutes late (sorry again about that), I saw an impressive stack of my books, but not "100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." No one, including myself, had told Maggie that I had a new book out, yet somehow, while we were at dinner, they came up with 15 copies.

As neat as that was, I later found out that most of the copies on the table, more than 100, had already been purchased. They had been promoting the event for weeks, even on local television stations.

Maggie, whenever you want me back, I'm there. Thanks.

Texas backlash

Not only are fans frustrated with the Bowl Championship Series, but so are a few Congressional leaders, who are about the propose legislature to essentially force a playoff.

Someone get these guys a copy of my book "Who's No. 1?" please, I sent my last copy to the President-elect.

Here's the story from the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON - Taking aim at a BCS system he said "consistently misfires,'' a member of Congress planned to introduce legislation Wednesday that would force college football to adopt a playoff to determine the national champion.
Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, didn't specify what sort of playoff he wants — only that the BCS should go.
"In some years the sport's national championship winner was left unsettled, and at least one school was left out of the many millions of dollars in revenue that accompany the title,'' Barton said in a statement released ahead of the bill's introduction. "Despite repeated efforts to improve the system, the controversy rages on.''
He said the bill — being co-sponsored by Reps. Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democrat, and Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican — "will prohibit the marketing, promotion, and advertising of a postseason game as a 'national championship' football game, unless it is the result of a playoff system. Violations of the prohibition will be treated as violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act as an unfair or deceptive act or practice.''
Florida (12-1) and Oklahoma (12-1) will meet in the BCS title game Jan. 8 in Miami.
Barton cited Southern California in 2003 and undefeated Auburn in 2004 as examples of worthy teams left out of the BCS national championship game.
"This year, we again have two teams with one loss each playing for the 'championship,' while two undefeated teams and four additional teams with only one loss will play in bowl games, but none can become 'champion,''' he said.
When an Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing about the BCS in 2005, lawmakers said they weren't going to pursue legislation.
"The BCS method of determining who is No. 1 consistently misfires,'' Barton said Wednesday. "Simply exposing the flaws and subjecting them to discussion ... hasn't led to improvement by those who run the system.''

... followed by an interesting weekend

As I wrote for Monday's newspaper, anyone who didn’t appreciate Saturday’s SEC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome simply isn’t a fan of college football.

Yeah, it was that good. In fact, I can't remember the last time I was at such an amazing game.

On top of it, I finished the first draft of the Oklahoma handbook (and this photo is from the Sooners' website). So I'm down to the last one, Texas, and then spend two months tweaking, writing and updating, so they can hit stores in time for next football season.

Since this is a blog about writing books, here's my timetable:
December: Finish the first draft of Texas. I'm actually off to a really great start.
Dec. 28-Jan 3: Finish Tennessee edition.
Jan 4-10: Michigan
Jan. 11-17: Notre Dame
Jan. 18-24: Georgia
Jan. 25-31: New York Giants
Feb. 4: Turn in Tennessee, Michigan, Nortre Dame, Georgia editions
Feb. 1-7: Ohio State
Feb. 8-14: Texas
Feb. 15-21: Oklahoma
Feb. 22-28: Alabama
March 1: Turn in the other five editions ... maybe go on vacation

Two other final notes: I think it's safe to say we'll be doing a Florida version asap, assuming the series takes off, and the series now has a catchy title phrase that they will all use, "Huddle Up: The 2009 Guide to (Whatever) Football." Me? I'm going to call them the "Guides."

It's been an interesting week ...

For Monday, I wrote an article about how Alabama's opponents have done much worse after losing to Alabama. Specifically, the 12 opponents were a combined 23-17 (.600) before facing the Tide. After losing, those same teams went 31-39 (.442).

In reponse, "Every Day Should Be Saturday" has a little fun with the story (very funny), the link for which and the original story are below.

Tuesday, I received a host of emails, especially from Florida fans, calling me a homer and saying I was basically full of you-know-what. You have to love the SEC.

Wednesday, Tommy Tuberville "resigned," which makes me think that six-game winning streak Auburn recently had against Alabama might suddenly be matched by a losing streak.

Combined with thousands of my colleagues getting the axe from Gannett this week, and that's not an exaggeration, these kinds of things bother me, especially just couple of weeks before Christmas.

So I wrote the following for my newspaper blog:

Being the Alabama football beat writer for the Tuscaloosa News, my job usually requires me to be objective about the Crimson Tide. Part of that means I can't cheer for the team, one way or the other, and my focus is supposed to be on reporting.
However, since the following issue is about college football as a whole and Auburn, I think I can get away with expressing an opinion.
Although I can't help but remember that Saban replaced a coach who went 6-6 his final season, I think his comments Wednesday are dead on.
Here's the lead note in Thursday's paper:

TUSCALOOSA University of Alabama coach Nick Saban appeared to be clearly unhappy and disappointed, perhaps even borderline angry, about Tommy Tuberville no longer being the head football coach at Auburn.
Of the Crimson Tide's final five regular-season opponents, Tuberville's the third coach to be out of a job, joining former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer and Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom.
"There have been several coaches who have been let go in our league who have a pretty good body of work behind them, who are really good coaches and are really good for the game," Saban said about all three coaches during his weekly Wednesday press conference. "They've been good for a lot of players, and they've had very, very good programs.
"Those guys are really good coaches. They've done a good job for a long tome and have a tremendous body of work. I really question some of the judgment relative to how it is for our game, that people who have those kinds of relationships and have done that kind of job, affecting so many people in such a positive way, and have had a reasonable amount of success relative to their circumstances, would not be given more respect and consideration.
"I guess we're 5-7 away from the same thing."
The initial reports of Tuberville's resignation broke while Saban was holding practice in preparation for Saturday's SEC Championship Game.
When asked if he thought his success at Alabama, both in terms of record and in recruiting, affected the decisions at the other schools, Saban said: "It shouldn't have.
"When you see a program start to lose toughness, discipline, those types of things, that's one thing. That's not the case. It wasn't the case at Tennessee, it wasn't the case at Mississippi State, it wasn't the case anywhere."
Tuberville was 85-40 over arguably the best 10-year span in Auburn history, including the 13-0 season of 2004 when the Tigers won their first SEC title in 15 years and finished No. 2.
"No one's ever satisfied," Saban said. "It happens all the time, and that's too bad."

http://www.tidesports.com/article/20081202/NEWS/812010216/1016/NEWS?Title=Wake_of_destruction

http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2008/12/02/alabamas-secret-radiation-poisoning/

I'm off to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game. Hope you like the Christmas colors, and buy the people you love something nice.

I'm going to have to think about this ...

When I wrote “Who’s No. 1: 100-Plus Years of Controversial Champions in College Football,” one of the things that struck me was the number of different ways a title chase could be controversial. However, in true BCS form, the 2008 season found a completely new and different way of having things messed up.
Of course, I’m talking about the Big XII, which had a three-way tie atop the South Division standings, and used its fifth tiebreaker, best BCS rating, to determine which team will play North winner Missouri on Saturday in Kansas City.
To remind you, it all started with Texas beating No. 1 Oklahoma 45-35 at the neutral-site Cotton Bowl on Oct. 11. After jumping to No. 1, the Longhorns lost at Texas Tech 39-33 on Nov. 1. The Red Raiders, No. 2 at the time, in turn lost at Oklahoma 65-21 on Nov. 22.
All three teams finished 11-1, but Oklahoma has the inside track to the national championship. Considering Texas’ only loss came on Graham Harrell’s touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree with 1 second remaining, and it was the fourth of four consecutive games for the Longhorns against teams ranked in the top 11 of the Associated Press poll, Texas has a huge, and justifiable, beef (no pun intended ... Ok, maybe a little).
Making it worse was that the humans who participated in the polls that counted opted for Texas, and in combined voting of the USA Today coaches poll and the Harris poll the Longhorns went from 63 points behind the Sooners to five points ahead.
However, the BCS’s six computers sided with Oklahoma.
“Going into the last couple of weeks, we knew that a good team was going to be left out of the Big 12 championship,” Texas coach Mack Brown said in a statement. “Unfortunately, in this situation, it was us. It is what it is. We don’t like it, we don’t agree with it or think it’s fair, but, like anything else, we'll handle it and move forward.”
Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe said the conference will revisit its tiebreak procedure after the season, which is the same response we've heard every other time there’s been a major controversy, which has happened just about every other year (give or take).
We’ll all have to wait and see if this ends up being the catalyst to some sort of playoff, but in the meantime I’m going to have to start thinking about where this ranks in the top 10 most controversial titles.
It might be in the top five already no matter which team comes out on top.

Being thankful during a down time

It's Thanksgiving Eve, and although I have a ton to be thankful for this past year, it's partially offset by the concern I have for what's going on in journalism, especially the newspaper business.

Here are some of the closing stock prices from today:
Tribune 16.09
Gannett 8.28
NYT 7.25
Scrips 2.88
Belo 1.93
Media General 1.95
McClatchy 2.02
Lee 1.00
Sun-Times 0.06
Gatehouse 0.04
JRC 0.008

To put it into perspective, after 13 years I left Gannett in 2003, when the stock was hovering somewhere around 90. Yes, 90. That's not a typo.

Which reminds me, I am SOOOOO thankful I cashed in my 401K, because a lot of it was in Gannett stock (yea me even with the huge tax hit, but I used the money to survive while beginning my book ventures).

Anyway, sometime over the next two weeks Gannett is going to lay off 3,000 employees, and I'm probably going to know more than a few of them. What a horrible way to go into the holidays, but my thoughts and prayers are with those who are stressing out about what December may bring.

What are the odds?

I'm going to backtrack a moment here because, well, I can, and because Steve Spurrier is one of my favorite people to quote in college football.

Remember this quote from last week's coaches teleconference?
“A lot of people don’t think it’s going to happen, but I sort of believe it will happen if President-elect Obama pushes it hard enough. It would be very interesting, but I think there’s a chance it could happen. Maybe it’ll take four years or so, but I think there’s a chance.”

So what are the odds? I'm glad you asked.

According to BetOnline.com, the chances of it actually happening during his presidency are 9-to-4.

Granted, I don't gamble, so I can't really get into how good that is, but if Vegas is taking odds, you have to admit there's something to all this.

“We have playoffs in every sport in the world, I think, except (FBS) college football,” Spurrier said. “I used to say, ’How can we be right and everybody else be wrong.” ’

Hey, that was my idea ...

So I walked into the office Thursday and one of my colleagues, Aaron Suttles, said, "Hey, did you see Stewart Mandel stole your idea about sending a book to the President-elect?"

What?
Really?

Here's what he wrote for the SI.com mailbag (the link is at the bottom):

I have requested that my publisher send you a copy of my 2007 book, "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls: Tackling the Chaos and Controversy That Reign Over College Football." (Incidentally, if anyone from the Obama staff is reading this, we could sure use your help with an appropriate mailing address.) The first chapter describes in detail the deeply entrenched stalemate that exists among college football's various power-brokers, resulting in the current, admittedly flawed BCS system. It is a situation with which you are presumably all too familiar.

In the book, I compare college football's eternal postseason debate to "... the political stalemates of Capitol Hill. You have your congressmen (the conference commissioners and athletic directors), your senators (university presidents and chancellors), your lobbyists (the bowl games, the smaller-conference schools), and your fundraisers (the television networks), each exercising their respective influence on the decision-making process while at the same time seeking to protect their own best interests."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/11/19/cfb.mailbag/index.html

What can I say, great minds think alike.

Stewart, if any of your people are reading this, here's what you do: Send it to his Senate office, which will remain open for another month or so and aid with the transition. The address is: United States Senate, 713 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington DC 20510-1305.

I encourage you to mail it yourself if for no other reason the look you'll get at the post office for sending something addressed to "President-elect Barack Obama."

The pros and cons of a playoff

Anyone who doesn't think the debate over a playoff in college football isn't going heat up after President-elect Barack Obama's suggestion for a eight-team format may be fooling themselves.

"A lot of people don't think it's going to happen, but I believe it will happen if President-elect Obama pushes it hard enough," South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said. "Those running college football will have to respond to, 'Why not? Why not an eight-team playoff?' It would be very interesting to see those top eight teams play it down.

"We have playoffs in every sport in the world but college football. How can we be right and everyone else is wrong?"

However, Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino doesn't see it that way.

"I think he ought to call us so the head coaches can figure out how to get the price of gas down," he said, adding that he was kidding.

"I think it's a good system now," Petrino said. "We play a lot of games and miss a lot of school and do a lot of extra things to make sure we keep our players eligible. It's not something I believe in."

Said Alabama coach Nick Saban, who is in favor of a plus-one format: "We certainly appreciate the President's interest, that's for sure, and it's nice to have someone that's leading the country that's interested in college football."

FYI, for those who care, I found out that the President-elect's Senate office will be open for 60 days after his resignation. A copy of the book will go out in Thursday's mail.

Anyone know how to get a book to the President-elect?

I'm not about to turn this blog into a political forum (we have enough of those), but President-elect Barack Obama isn't backing down at all about his statement that he would like a college football playoff.

"If you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear decisive winner. We should be creating a playoff system," he told 60 Minutes reporter Steve Kroft.

Obama would like an eight-team playoff, four more than what the SEC is plugging.

"It would add three extra weeks to the season," he said at the conclusion of a wide-ranging interview. "You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do."

The BCS' response was predictable.

BCS coordinator John Swofford said in a statement: "First of all I want to congratulate newly elected President Obama and I am glad he has a passion for college football like so many other Americans.

"For now, our constituencies -- and I know he understands constituencies -- have settled on the current BCS system, which the majority believe is the best system yet to determine a national champion while also maintaining the college football regular season as the best and most meaningful in sports."

Swofford added: "We certainly respect the opinions of president-elect Obama and welcome dialogue on what's best for college football."

Book signings

This photo kills me. It's from Gump 4 Heisman, http://www.gump4heisman.com/my_weblog/, in regards to a mock 70s-style ad campaign for Alabama football. Too funny.

Last night I had a book signing at Waldenbooks in Jasper, and want to thank everyone there for having me. Saturday I'm doing two signings before the Mississippi State game, 1 p.m. at the Bryant Museum, and 3 p.m. on the Quad.

I'll also be at the "Pep Rally" signing at the Barnes & Noble in Huntsville on Dec. 12.

If you can't make it, today I'm heading to Birmingham and signing every book I can find. Seriously.

A controversy that just won't end

With the college football season entering the home stretch, the topic of titles is obviously on everyone’s mind.
That’s titles, as in both conference and the big one.

We’ll go in order.
Unless either team falls apart, Alabama will be facing Florida in the SEC Championship game, which will likely remind many people of the conference’s inaugural title game at legion Field in 1992.
“It would be an interesting matchup,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said Wednesday. “Certainly a contrast of styles offensively. One is more predicated on a power running game and play-action and the other is predicated off speed. Defensively, both teams are very fast, very solid in what they do. They play very hard. Both teams’ special teams are outstanding.
“I’d flip a coin on it right now.”
As for the national championship, many high-profile coaches are aligning themselves with the SEC, which actively supports a four-team playoff.
“I haven’t got the slightest idea what the BCS … is it the BCS or the BSC? I don’t know,” Penn State coach Joe Paterno said during a press conference this week. “They are going to do what they are going to do and it won’t make any difference what I say or comment on.”
Southern California’s Pete Carroll took it another step, saying the BCS “stinks” after the Trojans (7-1) dropped from fifth to seventh in the BCS standings after crushing Washington 56-0 for their third shutout in four games.
“What is the criteria of the process?” he asked reporters Tuesday. “Is it to pick the team that has the best season, that has the season that you like the most and feel best about voting for? Or is it the best team at the end of the year, the team that would win a playoff system if you did have it?”
For those who don’t know, here’s a quick look at how the five BCS bowls are aligning, featuring the champions of the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC conferences, along with four other selections, with no conference getting more than two teams.
Unless teams qualify to play in the national championship game, the champions of various conferences are contractually obligated to play in the following games:
Orange Bowl: ACC;
Rose Bowl: Big Ten and Pac-10;
Fiesta Bowl: Big XII;
Sugar Bowl: SEC.
For each bowl that loses a team to the national championship game, they get to select a replacement before the other bowls. The bowl losing the No. 1 team selects first.
Afterward, the bowl played on the date nearest to the national championship game, this year that’s the Fiesta Bowl, has the next selection, followed by the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl.

By the way, the person who really put the spotlight on the national championship again was none other than Barack Obama, who had a pretty big week.

“I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football,” Obama said Monday on ESPN. “I’m fed up with these computer rankings and this and that and the other. Get eight teams – the top eight teams right at the end. You got a playoff. Decide on a national champion.”

Yes, another one done

Obama in, Fulmer out, and the Crimson Tide No. 1. It's been an interesting couple of days, with me in Baton Rouge early for Saturday's game between Alabama at LSU.

More Cajun food for me, so no complaints.

While watching the election results I finished all the preliminary work on the Ohio State handbook, which will be coming out next summer. All that's left is a week updating and editing at season's end, and then it's off to my publisher.

That leaves Oklahoma and Texas. Funny, I was thinking the Longhorns might make a serious run here for the national championship, and still might, so I decided to hold off on that edition until next month. So it's Sooner time for me. Hopefully I can get it done in November despite the distractions that come with covering the top college football team in the land.

At least this week.

The never-ending story in the SEC, and I don't mean Rocky Top

At the end of the 1998 season, I was fortunate to cover my first national championship, which turned out to be Tennessee vs. Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl. I had seen the Seminoles play a couple of times before (including the Orange Bowl against Notre Dame), but it was my first experience with the Volunteers.
After Tennessee won, and I struggled to get Al Gore to answer a question, I left Sun Devil Stadium with two things on my mind:
1) If I never hear the song "Rocky Top" again, that would be fine with me (talk about overkill).
2) How much job security does a national title provide?
If you believe some of the speculation coming out of Knoxville, the answer is apparently about a decade. The vultures are clearly circling both there and Auburn, even though Phillip Fulmer and Tommy Tuberville have been incredibly successful.
Last time I checked, both had been named national coach of the year. Tennessee was in the SEC Championship game last year and Auburn has won six straight against Alabama, right?
I jokingly suggested here once before that the programs may just want to trade coaches, but what the probably need the most are new offensive coordinators.
Nevertheless, fickle fans calling for their coaches' heads might want to take a peek at the rest of the league and realize how tough it really is.
They should then be careful what they wish for.
In many ways Alabama was incredibly fortunate to land Nick Saban, who is already a huge source of angst for both schools - after years of filling the void caused by the Crimson Tide's struggles. He's beating up on them in recruiting and in just his second year has the Crimson Tide at No. 2.
That, in turn, reminds me of Charlie McClendon. LSU's all-time winningest coach, with 137 victories, was fired in part because he couldn't beat Paul W. "Bear" Bryant, who won six national championships at Alabama.
It prompted Auburn's Shug Jordan to say: "You go by that and they'll have to fire us all."
It isn't fair to compare Saban to Bryant yet, but there's no denying Saban already has the competition concerned about the future, and the Tide's two biggest rivals reeling.
"In football and life, you've got to keep proving yourself," McClendon said. "If you're looking back, you're in trouble."

Some new, and some old

Most of you will notice the new look to the blog. I just felt like jazzing it up a little, especially since I seem to be attracting more hits of late. Hope you enjoy it, and please feel free to provide feedback (there's also some fun stuff near the bottom). FYI, the blue is a tribute to my alma mater, the University of New Hampshire.

That reminds me of something that pertains, in a way, to one of my books. Last week for my day job with the Tuscaloosa News I did a blog on whether a team from the Big Ten or Pac-10 should be viewed differently in the title chase because their conferences don't have a championship game.

What got me going on it was an online interview I did with a college football/sports journalism legend, Dan Jenkins, for a story I did on if Alabama is a legit contender (Note, I wrote the story before Alabama beat Kentucky. Here's the link if interested: http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20081004/NEWS/810030213). Dan made the point, and I think it's a good one.

Anyway, here's the blog entry:

During a recent national television show about college football, one of the network’s experts was asked if in the unlikely event Texas, Alabama and Penn State were to all finish undefeated which would likely get the snub for the BCS championship game?
The answer given was incorrect, Alabama, because the person didn’t consider that the Crimson Tide would have to beat Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU, Auburn and then win the SEC Championship game to finish undefeated. Granted, Joe Paterno would get some sympathy votes, but there’s almost no way that the Nittany Lions can leapfrog either Texas or Alabama in the BCS standings.
Here’s a better question, when are the voters going to wise up about the Big Ten and the Pac-10 and stop voting those conferences up?
“What we have entered into is a stupid BCS setup where the Big Ten and Pac-10 have an unfair advantage,” said Dan Jenkins, legendary sports writer and current historian for the National Football Foundation. “No conference playoff. Beat two good teams and sleepwalk past the infirm and go to the title game. The shame is that more sportswriters aren’t screaming about it. Loudly and consistently.”
Consider me a convert, especially this year.
Penn State’s lone Top 25 victory is against No. 22 Illinois (Sept. 27) – the same team that just lost at home to Minnesota. Still to go are at No. 12 Ohio State on Oct. 25, and No. 20 Michigan State on Nov. 22.
Meanwhile, Southern California could soon be a factor again if at least two of the top three undefeated teams lose. The only ranked team the Trojans will see is No. 25 Cal on Nov. 8
Compare that with the SEC, where Alabama has the clearest road to the national championship:
1) Obviously, it needs to keep winning.
2) If LSU loses to Georgia next week, the Tide could conceivably lose twiceand still land in the SEC title game. Otherwise, Alabama at LSU will essentially be a playoff game.
3) Win the SEC Championship.
Meanwhile, in the East the Nov. 1 meeting between Florida and Georgia has all the makings of being the deciding game in that division.
Something similar is going on in the Big XII, and if the teams keep knocking each other off like last weekend one loss will still likely mean a shot at the title.
“When you lose two games, you’ve really lost your right to considered a BCS champion in my opinion,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “To even be where we were was pretty wild. Just to have a two-loss team play in the game was pretty odd.
“I thought after LSU won our league I didn’t think we were going to get in (the BCS), period.”
Imagine for a moment that Alabama is undefeated heading into the SEC Championship, but falls to a two-loss team? Then what?
Never mind for now, the BCS has caused enough headaches for one day.

So what was the reaction to the blog? Well, not surprisingly I was called a homer and an idiot by some Big Ten fans, which caused me to laugh. Not only did they not know I've written a book about controversial national championships, but I'm originally a Big Ten guy from Minnesota.

The Third Saturday in October

It's mid-to-late October, which to me means three things:
1) I'm probably fighting the flu (which I am);
2) Hockey season as started (which I love);
and 3) Tennessee week.

This year, it also means I'm done with all the preliminary work on the Tennessee version of the handbook series that will be coming out in 2009. With a little bit of luck, I'll finish Ohio State around Nov. 1, leaving only Oklahoma and Texas to go until the season updates. Considering I may have another project in the works (which I'm keeping a secret for now), the sooner I get them done the better.

1996 Texas

Well, I'll hopefully be announcing finishing all the prelim work on another handbook over the weekend. This time, it's Tennessee, which is great because then I can go back and try and finish Ohio State. That will leave me just Oklahoma, and, yes, Texas.

Here, Texas begins to celebrate after upsetting No. 3 Nebraska in the first Big 12 Championship game, 37-27. The outcome propelled Florida into the national championship game, a rematch with Florida State at the Sugar Bowl. Courtesy of the Big 12 Conference.

Finished another one

I'm a little behind schedule, but thankfully finished all the preliminary work on the Georgia handbook, which will be updated in January or February and hit stores in time for next season. Fittingly, I also got to finally attend a game at Sanford Stadium, in one of my favorite college towns, Athens, but the bad news for Bulldogs fans was that it was for the Alabama game.

I made sure to purchase a "blackout" shirt on my way out of town because it might be a while before Georgia has another one. Besides, it's now a really cool collector's item.

Today I start working on Tennessee, and I'll be heading up to Knoxville in a couple of weeks. That will leave Oklahoma and Texas, and I have to finish Ohio State.

Things appear to be going very well with "100 Things" sales, and the feedback continues to be terrific. I'm doing a little more plugging on radio shows, etc., and a number of T-town bars and restaurants have autographed posters I hope they'll start putting up.

For those of you who wonder what my day job is like, you may want to check out the following story. Yes, I'm crazy. http://www.tidesports.com/article/20081010/NEWS/810090214

1979 Southern California

I haven't done one of these in a while, but I have a few photos left over so I'll finish them up over the rest of this season.

Charles White had six carries for 70 yards on the key possession of the fourth quarter, when the Trojans went 83 yards for a 17-16 victory that cost Ohio State the national championship. Courtesy of the Tournament of Roses archives.

The book front is picking up as we're doing more promos and marketing. As for the handbook series, I'll be finishing up the Georgia book, minus this season's updates, over the next few days and then turning my attention to Tennessee. Hopefully I can wrap up the Ohio State book soon as well.

An early lead for Miami

Those of you who have followed this blog know that every year I do a ranking of the best college football programs featuring 10 categories, half all-time and half based on the previous season. Well, the first category for next year's rankings are in, NFL players on opening day.

Here's the Top 25, according to the NFL:

1. Miami 44
2. Florida State 37
3. Georgia 36
(tie) Michigan 36
(tie) Ohio State 36
6. Louisiana State 35
7. Tennessee 34
(tie) Texas 34
9. Southern California 32
10. Florida 30
11. Notre Dame 28
12. Auburn 27
(tie) California 27
14. Virginia Tech 25
15. Nebraska 24
16. Maryland 23
17. Boston College 22
(tie) Michigan State 22
(tie) Penn State 22
20. North Carolina 21
(tie) Purdue 21
22. Iowa 20
23. Arizona State 19
(tie) Georgia Tech 19
(tie) Louisville 19
(tie) Texas A&M 19

Just out of the Top 25 with 18 were Alabama, Kansas State, North Carolina State, Oklahoma, UCLA and Virginia.

Another handbook finished (sort of)

Week 1 of the college football is over, and I have to admit that I'm already tired. Granted, a night game in Atlanta is a little unusual, not to mention Alabama destroying Clemson (it's been a while, you know?), but I shouldn't be this fatigued already, should I?

Regardless, I finally got the Notre Dame handbook done, at least until I need to add all the 2008 updates in about four months. The Fighting Irish open their season this week against San Diego State, which quite honestly shouldn't be much of a challenge, but you never know.

Ok, with five handbooks to finish by the end of the year, that works out to roughly one every three weeks. So this month I'm going with a different plan, work on Ohio State for two weeks and then finish Georgia by the end of the month. I did a ton of preliminary work on Georgia and with road trips at the end of September (at Arkansas, at Georgia) it shouldn't be a problem.

Of course, the bad part of that is I probably will be spending very little time in Athens, one of my favorite college towns.

It's up!

As I posted on here a few days ago, The Tuscaloosa News is going to do a video series based on the book, and the first one is up. It's on No. 73: Own Something Bearing No. 12.

(Bearing, get it)?

Links are at the bottom of this post.

I also have my first book signing to announce, Saturday, Sept. 6 (that's when Alabama plays Tulane) I'll be at the Bryant Museum from 1-3. There's a chance I could get moved to the Quad on campus, but I'll post it if that's the case.

I also did a phone interview on ESPN SportsCenter on Wednesday morning, and I do a regular appearance on 1420 The Tusk in Tuscaloosa at 5 p.m. Wednesdays.

p://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1620670543/bclid431782885/bctid1759768814 or tidesports.com.

Now this could be pretty neat ...

For those who don't know, my day job is covering Alabama football for the Tuscaloosa News. Well yesterday, I was asked if it would be ok if the paper did the 100 Things in "100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Need to Know or Do Before They Die" as an Internet series.

Would it be ok? It would be more than ok, it would be great.

Not only could this be a huge plug for the book, but also a lot of fun.

I'm not sure which one we're going to do first (we're thinking of going in random order), but I'll let you all know and post a link.

P.S. Thanks to training camp I've fallen way behind schedule on the Notre Dame handbook. Time to pick up the pace.

August update ...

Greetings all, from the press box at Bryant-Denny Stadium, where I'm watching practice for Fan Day. We're not supposed to report on anything that actually happens, so I thought I would take a moment and give an update.

Unfortunately, I'm behind where I want to be on the Notre Dame handbook. After playing in a weeklong tennis tournament in 100-degree heat for work (yes, you read that correctly), there was SEC Media Days followed by a trip to River Falls, Wisconsin, where I spent a couple of days with the Kansas City Chiefs for a short series. The day I returned, Alabama reported for fall practices. So it's been a busy couple of weeks.

Things look good on the "100 Things" front. The marketing should kick in by the end of the month, and although I generally don't look much at the rankings on amazon.com, they've been higher than any of my other books. No signings scheduled yet, although I did turn one down in Mobile because of a scheduling conflict, but I did a radio show in Tulsa last week and my weekly appearances on a Tuscaloosa station (1420) will begin Wednesday.

Yes, football season is here.

See? I told you it was out

This is a photo taken today from my local Barnes & Noble, and yes, there it is, my new book. I also like how you can see two other books of mine on the shelf below (Hey B&N, how about my own shelf! - just kidding). I then signed every copy they had in the store.

FYI, I had to be careful taking this picture because I didn't want anyone thinking I was weird or an ego-maniac. I have enough problems as it is.

Today is the day

My understanding is that the book "100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Need to Know & Do Before They Die," will start hitting stores today (July 15th - I'm posting this at 1 a.m. and the date at the top hasn't switched over yet) as this is the official release date.

When I called to check the local B&N, I was told that they have "a whole lot of copies" on order.

We're off and running. Excellent.

Also, the Giants handbook is done, except for updates from the upcoming season. Whew. It took a little longer than expected, but I really like the way it looks.

We're getting SOOOOOOOO close ...

Two things of note today before I get a rare weekend off away from work:

1) I'm putting the final touches on the Giants handbook, the lone pro edition we'll be doing in the initial year of the series. I'm very pleased with how it looks, and it'll probably be the best of the initial nine, which is great because if it does well we'll likely do some other pro teams the following season. That leaves six more to do in roughly six months. Next up, Notre Dame.

2) I received my copies of "100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Need to Know or Do Before They Die," which means we're just days away from seeing it in stories. With so many fans starving for anything football-related, the timing couldn't be better. The book looks good, people seem interested and we're about to kick the marketing into high gear. Fun stuff.

... and then there were five

Ta da! Look at what arrived over the holiday weekend. My publisher was nice enough to send two early copies of the book, one of which I'll be hand-delivering to my mom at the end of the month (don't tell, but the book is dedicated to her).

I took one of the copies to a wine-tasting and dropped it on the counter to see the reaction. Just about ever person was, "Hey, what's that?" Very cool. Look for it to start hitting stores in a couple of weeks.

Every time I have a new book I always take a picture with the other covers. What on earth am I going to do next year when there nine new additions to squeeze into the frame?

Book update

There's good news on the book front. I finished the first handbook (well, except for everything I'll be updating from the upcoming season) on schedule, Michigan. Why Michigan? Simple, I figured it would be the most difficult to complete, and I was right. Next up, the New York Giants, which will be the lone pro team we'll do for next year while trying to gauge interest, followed by Notre Dame. Why Notre Dame? Why not?

Just as a reminder, the handbook series will debut this time next year, assuming I get all nine of them done in time. Two down, seven to go.

As for "100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Need to Know & Do Before They Die," I hear they should arrive from the printer any day now. I'll then get my copies, and shortly thereafter start seeing it in stores. Always fun.

100 Things update

Here's what the full book jacket will look like. Notice instead of putting a picture of the author on the back, they went with a partial of some guy named Joe Namath.

Also, my understanding is that the book will hopefully start hitting stores in about a month. I'll let you know when I get my copies, which usually happens right before they get shipped out.

Book inspiration

This actually appeared first on my work blog, but thought it might interest some of you as well ...

When the Tuscaloosa News Best College Football rankings are published every year I always get a lot of questions about where the idea for it came from.
Well, I can finally tell the whole story now.
It began after my first book was published, "Crimson Storm Surge," in 2005. I had the idea to do a supplement to the book, something that could possibly be published on a regular or annual basis. Then came the thought about maybe doing something similar with other programs.
But which ones to do?
I started looking into which football teams had a lot of books written about them (and hopefully sell) and some marketing rankings in general. That led to wondering how many different ways a team could claim to be No. 1 in some respect.
"Funny," I thought. "Someone could put all those lists together and come up with their own rankings."
And so I did. The first year we did it was a countdown through the whole summer and it seemed to get a lot of attention.
But that's not where it all ended.
Shortly after turning in that first manuscript, I was approached about doing a book on the history of the Southeastern Conference. I liked it, but first wanted to get my book about sports writing published, and before long has a two-book deal for "No Time Outs" and "Where Football is King," which were both published in 2006.
That, in turn, led to "Who's No. 1? 100-Plus Years of Controversial Champions in College Football," which hit stores last November.
So what's next? We finally ironed out all the details on the "supplement" idea, with a number of handbooks that will be out prior to the start of the 2009 season.
Talk about an idea taking root.

1973 Ohio State

So you've seen all the categories and if you've been paying attention you might have noticed that one school in particular scored high in at least eight of the 10 categories. Funny thing was, Ohio State didn't place first in any individual category, but finished No. 1 overall.

Considering how consistent the Buckeyes have been of late, it makes sense.

TOP 25

Team Points Prv.
1. Ohio State 182.5 3
2. Southern California 165 1
3. Michigan 164.5 2
(tie) Notre Dame 164.5 4
5. Oklahoma 157.25 6
6. Alabama 154 7t
7. Georgia 148.6 12
8. Tennessee 143.5 5
9. Texas 132 9
10. Penn State 128.5 10
11. Florida 124 7t
11. LSU 119 13
13. Nebraska 113 11
14. Miami 108.5 16
15. Florida State 106.5 15
16. Auburn 79.6 14
17. Texas A&M 50.6 23
18. Army 48 17
19. Minnesota 42 25
20. Navy 41 18t
21. Clemson 40.1 NR
22. Stanford 35.5 24
23. Boston College 34.5 NR
(tie) UCLA 34.5 NR
25. California 33.5 21

Dropping out
Wisconsin 18t
Georgia Tech 20
Arkansas 22

Also accumulating points: Georgia Tech 29.5, Pittsburgh 29.5, BYU 27.6, Virginia Tech 28, Wisconsin 25, Duke 22.5, Rutgers 22.5, Arkansas 22, Missouri 22, Yale 22, Air Force 21, Arizona State 21, West Virginia 20, Rice 20, Princeton 19.5, Kansas 19, Colorado 18.6, Michigan State 18.6, Chicago 17, Northwestern 17, Ole Miss 17, Washington 15.5, Penn 15, Vanderbilt 14.5, Miami (Ohio) 13.5, South Carolina 13.25, Carlisle 13, Maryland 12.1, Texas Tech 12, Wake Forest 11.5, TCU 11.1, Cornell 11, Illinois 10.5, Harvard 10.5, Kentucky 10, Oregon 10, Cincinnati 9, Syracuse 8.1, Hawaii 7, Purdue 6.5, Southern Miss 6, Iowa 5.5, Memphis 4.5, Louisville 3.5, North Carolina 3.5, Boise State 1.5, Oregon State 1, North Carolina State .25, Virginia .25.

Just as a reminder, these rankings are based on 10 categories, five all-time and five from the past year. Here's the story if interested: http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080614/NEWS/770709386/0/FRONTPAGE

I always really liked this photo. ... Pete Johnson scores a touchdown for Ohio State, which won 42-21 in second of three straight Rose Bowl meetings against Southern California. The Buckeyes (10-0-1) finished second in the final Associated Press poll. Courtesy of the Tournament of Roses archives.

1966 Alabama

Ok, the paper has run this year's Top 25 rankings and everything that goes with them, so I 'll have that posted here later on.

Anyways, here's the final category:

Coaching legacy
1. Alabama
2. Penn State
3. Florida State
4. Notre Dame
5. Ohio State
6. Oklahoma
7. Nebraska
8. Michigan
9. Chicago
10. Tennessee
11. Southern California
12. Texas
13. Carlisle
14. Brigham Young
15. Florida
16. Georgia
17. Georgia Tech
18. Texas A&M
19. Vanderbilt
20. Cornell
21. Army
22. Ole Miss
23. Michigan State
24. Pittsburgh
25. Minnesota

If you don't know who the guy on the right is ... ah, never mind.

1988 Notre Dame

Ok, the story's done and we're very close to unveiling this year's Tuscaloosa News rankings. Just two more categories to reveal here:

College Football Hall of Fame inductees (players)
1. Notre Dame 42
2. Michigan 28
(tie) Southern California 28
4. Yale 24
5. Army 23
6. Princeton 21
(tie) Ohio State 21
8. Tennessee 20
9. Navy 19
10. Pittsburgh 18
(tie) Oklahoma 18
(tie) Pennsylvania 18
13. Minnesota 17
14. Stanford 16
(tie) Harvard 16
(tie) Alabama 16
(tie) Penn State 16
18. California 14
(tie) Texas 14
20. Nebraska 13
21. Cornell 12
22. Georgia 11
(tie) Georgia Tech 11
24. Illinois 10
(tie) Washington 10



Quarterback Tony Rice, here leading the season-opening 19-17 victory against Michigan, ran for 75 yards and passed for 213 more in the Fiesta Bowl, when Notre Dame defeated West Virginia, 34-21, to win the 1988 national championship. Courtesy of the University of Notre Dame.

1991 Michigan

So I was up late last night double-checking all the numbers in the Tuscaloosa News rankings. Yep, we're that close to running this year's version. In fact, I'll be writing the story tonight.

All-Time AP Top 25
1. Michigan 741
2. Oklahoma 722.5
3. Notre Dame 710.5
4. Ohio State 675
5. Alabama 637
6. Nebraska 617
7. Southern California 575
8. Texas 573
9. Tennessee 548
10. Penn State 486
11. Miami 439
12. Florida State 413
13. LSU 412
14. Georgia 400
15. Auburn 396
16. Florida 370.5
17. UCLA 352
18. Arkansas 293
19. Michigan State 266
20. Texas A&M 264
21. Washington 260
22. Georgia Tech 227.5
23. Ole Miss 223.5
24. Colorado 218
25. Iowa 217



Desmond Howard won the 1991 Heisman Trophy, but only had one reception in the Rose Bowl, as Washington defeated No. 4 Michigan, 34-14, to gain a share of the national championship with Miami. Courtesy the Bentley Historical Library (photo BL001380), the University of Michigan.

1977 Notre Dame

Today's all-time category is Associated Press national championships, which, of course, means Notre Dame. Here's the list:

1. Notre Dame 8
2. Oklahoma 7
3. Alabama 6
4. Miami 5
(tie) Southern California 5
6. Minnesota 4
(tie) Nebraska 4
(tie) Ohio State 4
9. Texas 3
10. Army 2
(tie) Florida 2
(tie) Florida State 2
(tie) LSU 2
(tie) Michigan 2
(tie) Penn State 2
(tie) Pittsburgh 2
(tie) Tennessee 2
18. Auburn 1
(tie) Brigham Young 1
(tie) Clemson 1
(tie) Colorado 1
(tie) Georgia 1
(tie) Maryland 1
(tie) Michigan State 1
(tie) Syracuse 1
(tie) Texas A&M 1
(tie) Texas Christian 1

As for the photo, the Fighting Irish, here defeating Air Force 49-0, had an early loss to Ole Miss, 30-13, but then won 10-straight games including a 38-10 victory against Texas in the Cotton Bowl, to be the consensus national champion. Courtesy of the University of Notre Dame.

1973 Alabama

The Tuscaloosa News is getting ready to release this year's rankings, so I'll be posting one all-time category each day this week. First up, all-time bowl appearances.

1. Alabama 55 (31-21-3)
2. Tennessee 47 (25-22)
(tie) Texas 47 (24-21-2)
4. Southern California 46 (30-16)
5. Nebraska 44 (22-22)
6. Georgia 43 (24-16-3)
7. Oklahoma 41 (24-16-1)
8. Penn State 40 (26-12-2)
9. LSU 39 (20-18-1)
(tie) Ohio State 39 (18-21)
(tie) Michigan 39 (19-20)
12. Arkansas 36 (11-22-3)
(tie) Florida State 36 (16-19)
(tie) Georgia Tech 36 (22-14)
15. Florida 35 (16-19)
16. Auburn 34 (19-13-2)
17. Miami 31 (18-13)
(tie) Ole Miss 31 (19-12)
(tie) Texas Tech 31 (10-20-1)
20. Clemson 30 (16-14)
(tie) Texas A&M 30 (13-17)
22. Washington 29 (14-14-1)
23. Notre Dame 28 (13-15)
(tie) Colorado 28 (12-16)
(tie) UCLA 28 (13-14-1)

Here, halfback Wilbur Jackson helps lead Alabama to a 42-21 victory against Tennessee. The Crimson Tide earned a split, though controversial, national championship which led to the United Press coaches’ poll moving its final voting from the end of the regular season to after the bowl game. Notre Dame was the consensus choice. Courtesy the Paul W. Bryant Museum.

Coming soon to a store near you ...

Yep, here it is, the cover of the next book, which should be out in roughly a month or so.

I guess they couldn't get my name any smaller, but hey, they want to sell books.

From the website:
"Knowledge and memory are an important part of the fabric of being a fan. So are experiences. 100 Things also includes things football fans should actually see and do before they join their heroes at the Pearly Gates. This book contains numerous tips and suggestions for enjoying a team on a different, more involved, level."

Well, you get the idea. Actually, that's on the back of the jacket too, but instead of Pearly Gates it says that Red Elephant Club in the sky, or something like that.

What I like is that they got No. 12 right, and that the book only costs $14.95. What a bargin!

There are also versions (not by me) for Ohio State and Texas, and anyone interested can see them at the Triumph Books website (http://www.triumphbooks.com/) and look under the college football section.

And even more book news!

Here’s how my life seems to be going right now: After essentially spending nearly a week in a hospital to support my mom when she had hip-replacement surgery (she’s doing great, by the way), I pretty much spent the following week wanting to go back to the hospital, any hospital, after getting food poisoning my first night at the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships in West Lafayette, Ind.
I’m not sure the lesson to be learned, other than don’t visit Purdue during the summer and order a meal right before closing time (however, if you do go swing by Harry’s Chocolate Shop and get someone to tell you the history of the place).
Ok, enough of that. Here’s some news on the book front:
1) From what I hear, “100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die,” won’t start hitting stores until sometime in July, but will out well before the start of football season.
Here’s a link for it (and will eventually provide the first look at the cover): http://www.triumphbooks.com/products/100_things_crimson_tide_fans_should_know___do_before_they_die/1572435789.php?page_id=14
2) My next project, which has actually been in the works for something like three years, is finally set in stone and I’m ready to divulge. It’s a series of what we’ll call handbooks on a number of football programs.
The 2009 versions will feature Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
There will also be one pro version, the New York Giants (those of you who know me well know I didn’t pick that one).
Plans are already in the works for at least Auburn, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Nebraska, Penn State and Southern California versions in 2010, in addition to possible updates on the original eight (i.e. there could be annual editions). Should the Giants version sell well, we’ll add other NFL teams.
I’ve already put in a lot of work on the series and down to the point that I’m focusing on one handbook a month, while working on the Giants book on the side. June is Michigan, while Alabama is pretty much already done because I wrote it up as a prototype.
Feel free to lobby me for doing a version on your school, or specific information that should be included.

2007 LSU

The newspaper is getting pretty close to running this year's rankings, so it's time I start picking up the pace a little bit on all the categories. Here's the last of the five present-day rankings, and the one everyone knows, last season's final Associated Press poll.

In case you missed it, LSU won the national championship.

1. LSU
2. Georgia
3. Southern California
4. Missouri
5. Ohio State
6. West Virginia
7. Kansas
8. Oklahoma
9. Virginia Tech
10. Texas
(tie) Boston College
12. Tennessee
13. Florida
14. Brigham Young
15. Auburn
16. Arizona State
17. Cincinnati
18. Michigan
19. Hawaii
20. Illinois
21. Clemson
22. Texas Tech
23. Oregon
24. Wisconsin
25. Oregon State

In a personal note, I'm on the road for a few days, but I do have some news on the book(s) front which I'll be sharing with you all in the near future. Yep, another project, and this one has the potential to be the biggest yet.

1934 Stanford

The photo to the right (and yeah, it's small, I know, and courtesy of the Rose Bowl), is from the 1934 Stanford team, known as the "Vow Boys." Although Stanford lost to Alabama in the Rose Bowl, 29-13, it returned a year later to defeat Southern Methodist, 7-0.

The NCAA released the national Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores yesterday, and after sorting through every team's report, here were the top 25 teams from the 2006-2007 academic year (FYI, as far as I know, this is the only place you'll find this):

Grades (APR scores)
1. Stanford 986
2. Navy 979
3. Duke 977
(tie) Rutgers 977
5. Air Force 976
6. Rice 975
7. Boston College 972
8. Northwestern 969
(tie) Notre Dame 969
(tie) Miami 969
11. California 967
12. Georgia 965
(tie) Miami (Ohio) 965
14. Penn State 964
(tie) Wake Forest 964
16. Florida 962
(tie) Army 962
18. Texas Christian 959
(tie) Vanderbilt 959
20. Southern Miss 958
21. Syracuse 955
(tie) Memphis 955
23. Florida State 954
24. Auburn 953
(tie) Boise State 953

Another book!

Greetings all.
Well, I finished going over the final proofs for the next book, and I have to admit there's nothing quite look putting a manuscript to bed, so I guess it’s time to let you all know what exactly it is.

The title is “100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die,” and it’ll be hitting stores right around July 1, give or take. As soon as I see the cover I'll post it here.

Oh, and it's all football. For some reason that word was taken out of the title (so be it).

If the project sounds a little familiar, it’s because there are going to be some versions by other people, or other teams.
Here's a link for the Boston Red Sox verion:
http://www.triumphbooks.com/products/100_things_red_sox_fans_should_know___do_before_they_die/1572435710.php?page_id=187
... and the Mets:
http://www.triumphbooks.com/products/100_things_mets_fans_should_know___do_before_they_die/1572435711.php?page_id=187

So that's it. Alabama fans, I really hope you like it, and when we get a little closer to publication I might even put together a pure "100 Things to Do" list and post it here.

1997 Michigan

Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson intercepts a pass in the end zone as Michigan defeats Washington State in the Rose Bowl, 21-16. Although Michigan was No. 1 in both polls beforehand, the coaches’ changed their mind and opted for Nebraska, resulting in a split title. Courtesy of the Tournament of Roses archives.

One thing that Michigan is very, very good at is crammed people into a stadium. Here are the top 25 rankings for attendance last season:

2007 Attendance (accumulated)
1. Michigan
2. Penn State
3. Ohio State
4. Tennessee
5. Auburn
6. Georgia
7. LSU
8. Alabama
9. Florida
10. Oklahoma
11. Nebraska
12. Texas A&M
13. Wisconsin
14. Clemson
15. Notre Dame
16. Kentucky
17. South Carolina
18. Southern California
19. Texas
20. Arizona State
21. Michigan State
22. Washington
23. Virginia Tech
24. UCLA
25. Iowa

2001 Miami

Ok, I'm a little behind on things, but let's do the photo first:
Quarterback Ken Dorsey threw three touchdown passes, two to Andre Johnson, and 362 yards to lead the Hurricanes to a 37-14 victory against Nebraska in the Rose Bowl to win the national championship. Courtesy of the Tournament of Roses archives.

Now that that's out of the way, my apologies for slacking a bit on the blog, but I've been busy. With what I'll let you all know in my next entry. But I've gotten to the point that I've compiled, and added up, all the rankings for the next T-News rankings, and some of you are going to be surprised by the changes. The only category I'm missing is APR (grades).

In the meantime, here's the top 25 for players in the NFL (based on kickoff weekend figures):

1. Miami 46
2. Ohio State 44
3. Florida State 41
4. Georgia 37
5. Michigan 36
(tie) Tennessee 36
7. Texas 32
(tie) LSU 32
9. Florida 31
10. Notre Dame 30
(tie) Auburn 30
12. Southern California 27
13. Nebraska 26
14. Penn State 25
15. California 24
16. Wisconsin 23
17. Maryland 22
(tie) UCLA 22
19. Alabama 21
(tie) Purdue 21
21. Iowa 20
(tie) Louisville 20
(tie) North Carolina 20
(tie) Texas A&M 20
25. North Carolina State 19
(tie) Oklahoma 19
(tie) South Carolina 19
(tie) Virginia 19

1965 Alabama

One of the annual things I do for my day job is compile the Tuscaloosa News Rankings, which try and determine who really has the best program in college football. In short, it's 10 categories in an effort to rank the Top 25 football programs -- period. Half of the categories are all-time, half are from the previous season.

It's kind of what started me down the road on this book.

Anyway, this year's rankings are basically done, except for one category, grades. So while we wait for the annual APR rankings, which may take a while, I'll periodically post a category and its rankings.

First up, recruiting, and here are the rankings from Rivals. com (a lot of people ask why I use Rivals.com. The reason is because they guy who covers recruiting for us works for Scout.com, and it's an effort to balance things out a little bit. That and I absolutely love the Rivals.com database).

2008 Recruiting rankings
1. Alabama
2. Notre Dame
3. Florida
4. Miami
5. Oklahoma
6. Georgia
7. Southern California
8. Florida State
9. Ohio State
10. Michigan
11. LSU
12. Clemson
13. UCLA
14. Texas
15. Colorado
16. Texas A&M
17. Minnesota
18. Virginia Tech
19. Oregon
20. Auburn
21. Arizona State
22. South Carolina
23. Illinois
24. Ole Miss
25. Washington

Alabama finished first, so it's time for a Crimson Tide photo.

Here quarterback Steve Sloan throws a touchdown pass to Ray Perkins for the opening touchdown as Alabama defeats Nebraska in the 1966 Orange Bowl, 39-28. The victory clinched the national championship with the Associated Press voting after the bowl games for the first time. Courtesy of the Paul W. Bryant Museum.

The spring/summer plan

Since the 2007 season's over, posts on this blog will, not surprisingly, slow down somewhat. I'll have a various updates, like for National Signing Day, the opening of spring football, the close of spring football, and so forth, but for now that's going to be it until the 2008 season gets going.

In fact, this might evolve into an overall book blog when my next one comes out in August (at least I think it'll be out in August. Nothing set in stone yet). We'll see. In the meantime, I'm sort of messing around with a novel. Sorry, no details, but it's something I've been working on here-and-there for a few years now. Seems like every time I pick it up something major happens in my life. Hmmmmm ....

1941 Alabama

Ok, so here are the last poll results, and it was about as lopsided as I expected. To the question: "Which team should play Ohio State for the national championship?" LSU ran away with it, with 60 percent of the vote. Hawaii got three votes, Georgia two, while Oklahoma, Virginia Tech and Southern California all got one.

So it's time for the big poll, the one directly tied to the book. Hopefully it'll get a lot of response.

Speaking of two-loss titles, although the Crimson Tide lost two games in 1941, it still received national title consideration, finished No. 1 in the Houlgate rankings, and defeated Texas A&M at the Cotton Bowl, 29-21. However, Minnesota was the consensus champion. Courtesy of the Paul W. Bryant Museum.