A Chance at Redemption: A College Football Timeline

Monopolist

Well, as some of you may or may not know, I’m a huge supporter of the University of Michigan, and I love college football. Pro football pales in comparison. With the hard times U-M has had as of recent (though, I will remind all of you, that this is really the first time since the decade before Bo that Michigan’s been down for a couple years), I began to think of the last really good year that we Wolverines had, and that was the 2006 season. Some of you may not remember, but Michigan and Ohio State played in the ‘Game of the Century’ that year, and, in a somewhat controversial game, Michigan lost 39-42 to the Buckeyes, who would go on to get hammered a few weeks later by Florida. Before the championship game was decided, however, many thought that Michigan and Ohio State would play against each other again in Glendale. That rematch is exactly what happens in this timeline. Hopefully you can enjoy amidst the Michigan and Big Ten nostalgia from me, and please comment. Thank you.
 

Monopolist

Week 14 [Championship Week]

(December 2, 2006)

Scores
Navy 26, Army 14
West Virginia 41, Rutgers 39 (OT)
Wake Forest 9, Georgia Tech 6
Arkansas 31, Florida 28 (OT)
Oklahoma 21, Nebraska 7
UCLA 13, USC 9
 

Monopolist

(December 3, 2006)

AP Poll

(Team, First place votes, record, points)

1. Ohio State (65) (12-0) 1625
2. Michigan (11-1) 1524
3. Louisiana State (10-2) 1414
4. Wisconsin (11-1) 1396
5. Arkansas (11-2) 1333
6. Florida (11-2) 1279
7. Louisville (11-1) 1063
8. Oklahoma (11-2) 1056
9. Boise State (12-0) 1021
10. Southern California (10-2) 1011
11. Auburn (10-2) 957
12. Notre Dame (10-2) 894
13. West Virginia (10-2) 865
14. Virginia Tech (10-2) 781
15. Wake Forest (11-2) 745
16. Texas (9-3) 582
17. Rutgers (10-2) 567
18. Tennessee (9-3) 500
19. Brigham Young (10-2) 436
20. California (9-3) 390
21. Texas A&M (9-3) 379
22. Nebraska (9-4) 193
23. Boston College (9-3) 179
24. Oregon State (9-4) 112
25. Texas Christian (10-2) 80


BCS Rankings, December 3, 2006 (Top Five)
........................................Harris........................USA Today..........Computer..........Avg.
1. Ohio State (12-0) ........999 ...........................1.000 ..................1.000 ................9999
2. Michigan (11-1) ...........961 ...........................955 .....................969 ..................9617
3. Wisconsin (11-1) .........887 ...........................883 ......................831 ..................8670
4. Louisiana State (10-2) ..881.......................... .877 .....................819 ..................8590
5. Arkansas (11-2) ...........848 ...........................811 .....................797 ..................8187
 
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Monopolist

Major Bowl Games, 2006-07 (AP Rankings)

POINSETTIA BOWL: #25 TCU v. NORTHERN ILLINOIS

LAS VEGAS BOWL: #19 BYU v. OREGON

NEW ORLEANS BOWL: TROY v. RICE

HAWAII BOWL: HAWAII v. ARIZONA STATE

EMERALD BOWL: UCLA v. FLORIDA STATE

INDEPENDENCE BOWL: OKLAHOMA STATE v. ALABAMA

HOLIDAY BOWL: #20 CALIFORNIA v. #21 TEXAS A&M

TEXAS BOWL: #17 RUTGERS v. KANSAS STATE

MUSIC CITY BOWL: CLEMSON v. KENTUCKY

SUN BOWL: #24 OREGON STATE v. MISSOURI

LIBERTY BOWL: SOUTH CAROLINA v. HOUSTON

INSIGHT BOWL: TEXAS TECH v. MINNESOTA

CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL: MARYLAND V. PURDUE

MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL: #23 BOSTON COLLEGE v. NAVY

ALAMO BOWL: #16 TEXAS v. IOWA

CHICK-FIL-A PEACH BOWL: #14 VIRGINIA TECH v. GEORGIA

MPC COMPUTERS BOWL: NEVADA v. MIAMI (FL)

OUTBACK BOWL: #18 TENNESSEE v. PENN STATE

COTTON BOWL: #11 AUBURN v. #22 NEBRASKA

CAPITAL ONE BOWL: #4 WISCONSIN v. #6 FLORIDA

GATOR BOWL: #13 WEST VIRGINIA v. GEORGIA TECH

ROSE BOWL: #7 LOUISVILLE v. #10 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

FIESTA BOWL: #8 OKLAHOMA v. #12 NOTRE DAME

ORANGE BOWL: #3 LOUISIANA STATE v. #15 WAKE FOREST

SUGAR BOWL: #5 ARKANSAS v. #9 BOISE STATE

BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: #1 OHIO STATE v. #2 MICHIGAN
 
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Monopolist

REMATCH!​

..........................................................................‘Game of the Century’ participants Michigan (11-1) and Ohio State (12-0) set for a rematch in Glendale

Bo. Woody. Crisler. Bruce. Griffin. Woodson. Howard. George.

Michigan and Ohio State, typically the pinnacle of rivalries, now just took it one step further.

They are playing for the National Championship.

A rematch of this millennium’s most hyped regular season game features the undefeated juggernaut Buckeyes, and their archnemesis, the once defeated (by the Buckeyes) Michigan Wolverines. The two teams battled it out in Columbus only two weeks ago, after which the Buckeyes scraped out a 42-39 victory against the literally slipping Wolverines. After the game, Michigan was still highly rated by the BCS and the AP, not dropping a spot in the polls. After another week, however, the Trojans of Southern California had jumped Michigan, after an impressive 44-24 victory over the Fighting Irish (whom Michigan had handily defeated by six more points, 47-21); and the Gators of Florida had closed the gap significantly at number four, after a seven point win over Bobby Bowden’s 7-5 Seminoles.

But one more week would see friendlier fortunes for the Big Ten power.

Yesterday, in an astonishing turn of events, Michigan would see both lose. Florida would lose the SEC championship in overtime to Houston Nutt’s Arkansas Razorbacks, and USC would be defeated by their rivals in the Rose Bowl, a four point loss to UCLA.

Thus, now we see Michigan back at number two.

Perhaps most astonishing about what transpired yesterday is its results on the latest BCS Rankings. The Big Ten currently has possession over the top three spots, with Ohio State ranked first, Michigan second, and the Badgers (whom were defeated by two touchdowns to the Wolverines) ranked third. After that are the top three Southeastern Conference schools, with LSU ranked fourth, champion Arkansas at five, and Florida at six.

Because the BCS only allows any one conference to send a maximum of two teams to the BCS games, Wisconsin and Florida will not get to play in a BCS Bowl. Instead, the two teams will play in the Capital One Bowl, where the atmosphere will certainly be at the intensity of a BCS game.

Said Bret Bielema, head coach of the Badgers: “Of course, we did appeal to the NCAA and the BCS to change the rules, to allow the third ranked team in the country to be able to play on its greatest stage… and, obviously, we were unsuccessful. We can’t mope around about it though, we’ve got a great game coming against an incredible team in Florida, and hopefully we can pull it out.’

The dilemma will almost certainly force the BCS to make more revisions over the next year, allowing three teams from a single conference to compete in the BCS Bowls.

The Buckeyes started off the year ranked number one in all major polls, and the Wolverines started down at number fourteen, largely because of a subpar (for Michigan standards) 7-5 season. Talk at the beginning of the season raged over whether to drive Carr out of Ann Arbor pending another failed season (aka a non-BCS Bowl season). Carr instead put Michigan in the driver’s seat, cruising to eleven straight victories.

The nation’s winningest program has never reached a BCS National Championship game, last achieving a National Championship in 1997-98 by Carr’s Charles Woodson led Wolverines, a year before the BCS was implemented. The Buckeyes won the 2002-03 National Championship in exciting fashion over the heavily favored Miami Hurricanes. Michigan claims eleven National Championships, while the Buckeyes claim seven.

The rivalry has taken a turn for the worse for the Wolverines since the hiring of Jim Tressel. After his hire in 2001, Ohio State has won five of the last six games against the Wolverines. Carr’s only victory against Ohio State was in 2003, in the hundredth game between the two. His failures against Tressel were the majority of the kindling behind Wolverine fans’ anger at their coach. During the 1990s, Michigan’s Carr and Moeller led teams dominated the usually better Cooper led Buckeyes. Ultimately, Cooper’s lack of success against Michigan cost him his job. Many now compare Lloyd Carr to John Cooper, due to his recent failures against Tressel.

And now the two will compete where the stakes are even higher: in Glendale, Arizona.

Tressel and Carr both released typical statements for them, thanking the voters for allowing their teams to play in the game, and stating that each team will be ready for the other for their January 8th game.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany was asked today on his thoughts on the Big Ten’s monopoly on the BCS National Championship, featuring his two best programs. Unable to contain his excitement, he responded “The Big Ten conference is obviously overjoyed that two of its members are playing for college football’s greatest award. Hopefully, the rematch can be as good as the earlier game! We are extremely proud of our programs’ seasons this year, with the Big Ten holding the three top spots in the BCS rankings. It’s a testament to the image the people affiliated with our member universities work hard to achieving. I’m confident that Michigan and Ohio State will conduct themselves admirably in Glendale, and show what the Big Ten is all about to the entire nation.”

The Big Ten Network has announced that it will play a day long marathon honoring great games between Michigan and Ohio State, and will play the game played earlier this year several times over the next few weeks.

Who knows, maybe even Bo and Woody might watch some of those games, waiting for their two great programs to kick off over a month from now.
 
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Monopolist

CT23 said:
Any chance you could throw in the elimination of the BCS? :D
Click to expand...
As I'm one of those who's for the BCS, but with some major changes, probably not... but you will see likely see a +1 game. Plus, I don't see the BCS being overthrown anytime soon in our timeline, and a more powerful Big Ten probably won't help the mid-major conferences' cause. Hopefully TTL's BCS will be more fair then our own BCS...

Glad to see interest, and sorry for the disappointment.
 

Monopolist

Secondary PoD coming up:


Rich-Rodriguez-Alabama.jpg


December 8, 2006

Excerpt from Richard “Rich” Rodriguez’s Acceptance Speech to the Head Coaching job at Alabama

“…It’s an honor and a privilege to be named the University of Alabama’s head football coach. It was a very difficult decision, to leave my alma mater, the place I grew up, and to leave a program that myself and my staff have built over the past six years, and to leave all the great young men that I have been blessed to have worked with over the years. As previously mentioned, it was a very difficult decision to leave there, and it was going to take a very special opportunity, a very special place for me to leave such a wonderful job.


‘Our system and philosophy at Alabama will be the same that I have run at West Virginia. We’re going to do what we’ve done, and we will keep doing it. We can and will adapt our schemes to our personnel, but the base scheme in all phases will remain the same. The system is flexible enough to adapt, to mold, and to evolve around our players. I don’t know all the particulars on how things are done here, but I do know that this program has had a great amount of success in the past, under legends such as ‘Bear’ Bryant, Wallace Wade, and many other greats. I can only hope to achieve similar success as these legends, and to contribute to a great program, and a great community. Thank you to my family – especially my wife, who helped me make this colossal decision; and thank you to the fans and people of the University of West Virginia, for everything over the past six years…” (Speech continues)

**

Now before all of you go and start accusing me of being a Rich Rod hater after his stay at Michigan; I'm not. Rodriguez is a great coach, and I think he would've won big here with this upcoming year. However, I don't mind the firing - Rodriguez just didn't mesh well with us, he didn't coach a defense, I didn't like the offense, etc., and I'm very excited for Hoke. As long as Hoke eases us back to a pro system, we should be fine next year. Don't assume that because I'm a Michigan fan that Rodriguez will fall flat on his face at Alabama out of spite. Rodriguez would do great at almost any school, and he'll do great things in the future, wherever he goes, and I wish good luck to him.

I've only one response...

We Are... ND!
Click to expand...
Just remember - this is only a year before their 3-9 year!
 
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Monopolist

December 9, 2006

Rich get Richer: Alabama Hires West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez

Alabama’s head coaching search didn’t take too long, as their top candidate Rich Rodriguez was hired by the beleaguered SEC University yesterday. Alabama is thrilled that they managed to secure the man who has widely been regarded as the hottest coaching commodity of the year.

And the feeling is mutual.

Rodriguez reiterated yesterday that it was “an extremely difficult decision to leave his hometown and alma mater, but that Alabama was a great opportunity and a great place to play football.”

Before hiring Rodriguez, Alabama had discussions with the Miami Dolphins’ Nick Saban, but Rodriguez was always Alabama’s first choice. Saban has struggled with the Miami Dolphins after leaving the SEC’s LSU Tigers for the Dolphins, while Rodriguez has turned West Virginia into a national power. Saban will likely stay with the Miami Dolphins, at least for one more season.

Rodriguez’s Mountaineers have been a Big East power, winning the conference championship three times: in 2003, 2004, and 2005, with the 2005 team being the only outright championship. His team this past year didn’t win the conference championship, but went 10-2 and is set to play in the Gator Bowl against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Rodriguez is aware of the winning culture at Alabama. He stated “I don’t want our team to expect to win. I want our team to deserve to win.”

He made his farewells to the Mountaineers in an emotional meeting soon after his deal was finalized.

Fullback Owen Schmitt said, “Coach did a lot of great things for this university… sometimes, you’ve got to do what you got to do, and Coach did that. I’m proud to say that I was a player under Coach Rod, and we all wish him the best of luck with Alabama.”

Rodriguez will not coach the Mountaineers in their bowl game against the Yellow Jackets. That task will likely be given to either Bill Stewart, the Mountaineers QBs coach, or Jeff Casteel, their Defensive coordinator. He will instead coach Alabama in their Independence Bowl game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Rodriguez will be a ‘celebrated-assistant’ coach at the Independence Bowl, letting interim Joe Kines coach the Tide. Rodriguez will focus instead on securing recruits for his new team, and making management decisions. Rodriguez has already called super-recruit Terrelle Pryor, a junior of Jeanette, Pennsylvania, hoping to secure the next ‘Vince Young’ for his vaunted new spread attack in Tuscaloosa, and Five Star Georgia Quarterback Cameron Newton, who is currently favoring Florida.

Of course, many in West Virginia are unhappy with Rodriguez’s decision. Rodriguez expressed his concern over the matter, stating “I would hope and pray… they’ll look back at what we’ve done over the last six years… and feel that we left Mountaineer football in a better state than what we inherited it.

Candidates to replace Rodriguez at West Virginia include Casteel, Stewart, John ‘Doc’ Holliday, and ‘Skip’ Holtz.
 

gridlocked

Banned
That is where RR belongs. Although I had problems with the Lloyd Carr era, RR was the wrong replacement for Michigan head coach. Michigan has a powerful, but fragile, brand -- perhaps the most powerful brand in college football despite being coupled with a weak native demographic base. The changes that RR wanted, even if they were destined to be successful (which would be a another thread and count me a skeptic) were too radical for the program. Although I would have never hired him in the first place, I basically concur with your views.

Interested in how this TL plays out. Despite his failure at Michigan RR might be able to do a better job at Alabama.
 
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Monopolist

gridlocked said:
That is where RR belongs. Although I had problems with the Lloyd Carr era, RR was the wrong replacement for Michigan head coach. Michigan has a powerful, but fragile, brand -- perhaps the most powerful brand in college football despite being coupled with a weak native demographic base. The changes that RR wanted, even if they were destined to be successful (which would be a another thread and count me a skeptic) were too radical for the program. Although I would have never hired him in the first place, I basically concur with your views.

Interested in how this TL plays out. Despite his failure at Michigan RR might be able to do a better job at Alabama.
Click to expand...
I probably wouldn't have hired him either - I really wanted Brian Kelly, actually. As I said, I do think that Rodriguez would've been successful if given another year... but after hearing Hoke say 'that university in Ohio', well, I'm excited for the future of Michigan football. Hoke (mostly) unites the fan base, and will let us play MICHIGAN football again, with a staunch defense. I expect nine wins next year - assuming that we still use the spread, just easing our way back into a pro-system, and assuming that Hoke brings a new attitude to the defense. They can't get worse, can they?

I do think that Alabama sets Rodriguez up to be more successful then Michigan did. Michigan had a much larger fan base, and a much more fractitious one. Alabama fans and players aren't going to react in nearly the same fashion as Michigan fans and players, and I think they'd give him more time. Assuming he avoids rules violations within the first couple years there (remember, the big reason for Michigan's NCAA troubles is because players were still upset that Rich Rod was there instead of Carr), he should have success at Bama. Michigan, Notre Dame, Texas, and maybe Ohio State and USC are schools that are bigger than the coach, not vice versa, and being at a huge school fallen on hard times with an easier culture for Rodriguez to immerse into should help him immensely.

EDIT: Plus, RR can get away with cheating easier with the SEC schools' fanbases - after all, they are the Schools Excellent at Cheating! :p
 
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Desmond Hume

Very nice timeline, a nice departure from the usual military/political subject matter.

One nice thing about a Michigan-OSU rematch in the title game is that we Midwesterners (hopefully) won't then have to suffer through several years of nonsensical sportswriter blather about how the Big Ten is "too slow" to compete with "SEC speed" (let's get a playoff so we can see how much good SEC speed does on a -10F day in Madison!)
 

Monopolist

December 19, 2006

Holliday to be West Virginia’s New Head

John ‘Doc’ Holliday of Florida has signed a five year, 9.2 million dollar deal yesterday.

In a surprise move, Holliday was the first offered West Virginia’s coaching gig, over renowned defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, QB Coach Bill Stewart, Skip Holtz, and others.

Holliday was the Safeties Coach at Florida, and was selected largely because of his Florida and West Virginia ties. Much like Rich Rodriguez, ‘Doc’ played for West Virginia in his collegiate days, and was obviously overjoyed at the opportunity to coach at his alma mater at his press conference.

Holliday plans on keeping as much of Rodriguez’s staff with him as possible, and it is almost certain that Stewart will be made Holliday’s Offensive Coordinator, while Casteel will continue at Defensive Coordinator.

He has already announced that he will not coach in the Capital One Bowl with his Gators, and has already given his farewells to his players. Similarly to Rodriguez, Holliday will play an advisory role in his new team’s game against the Yellow Jackets, letting interim coach Jeff Casteel coach his team.

**

Last update for today; I think I'll update every Saturday, for obvious reasons.
 
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Monopolist

Desmond Hume said:
Very nice timeline, a nice departure from the usual military/political subject matter.

One nice thing about a Michigan-OSU rematch in the title game is that we Midwesterners (hopefully) won't then have to suffer through several years of nonsensical sportswriter blather about how the Big Ten is "too slow" to compete with "SEC speed" (let's get a playoff so we can see how much good SEC speed does on a -10F day in Madison!)
Click to expand...
That drives me crazy as well! The Big Ten is a little slower, but it's because our teams admittedly aren't as talented as the SEC (because they have a lot of advantages, namely climate and less academic restrictions then most Big Ten universities) that we (seemingly - really, it's just Ohio State that has the big problems with the SEC, though they possibly got that monkey off their back with their win over Arkansas) have trouble against them, and because we're ALWAYS THE AWAY TEAM. The speed part really isn't the issue. While I don't really want a playoff, I would be very interested to see how the Floridas, Alabamas, and USCs of the world would fare in Madison, Ann Arbor, Columbus, in January. As you all have a Big Ten fan writing, you can expect the Big Ten to have fairer fortunes then they have IOTL.
 
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Apollo 20

I love the idea but have only one question: since this is AH, why can't we get rid of the first loss as well and have Michigan beat OSU twice?
 

Monopolist

Since it's bumped, I may as well put out a small update:

MAJOR AWARDS, 2006

Heisman:
1..........Troy Smith .............Sr. QB Ohio State 2540
2..........Darren McFadden So. RB Arkansas 878
3..........Brady Quinn ..........Sr. QB Notre Dame 782
4..........Mike Hart ...............Jr. RB Michigan 218
5..........Steve Slaton ..........So. RB West Virginia 206

Maxwell: Brady Quinn, senior quarterback, Notre Dame

Camp: Troy Smith, senior quarterback, Ohio State

Outland: Joe Thomas, senior offensive tackle, Wisconsin

Lombardi: LaMarr Woodley, senior defensive end, Michigan

Walker: Darren McFadden, sophomore running back, Arkansas

O’Brien: Troy Smith, senior quarterback, Ohio State

Biletnikoff: Calvin Johnson, junior wide receiver, Georgia Tech

Thorpe: Aaron Ross, senior cornerback, Texas

Butkus: Patrick Willis, senior linebacker, Mississippi

Bednarik: Paul Posluszny, senior linebacker, Penn State

Groza: Art Carmody, junior kicker, Louisville

Guy: Daniel Sepulveda, senior punter, Baylor

Unitas: Brady Quinn, senior quarterback, Notre Dame

Mackey: Matt Spaeth, senior tight end, Minnesota

Rimington: Dan Mozes, senior center, West Virginia

Hendricks: LaMarr Woodley, senior defensive end, Michigan

AFCA Coach of the Year: Jim Grobe, Wake Forest
 
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