Taking a Step Back: Urban Meyer Quits Coaching Florida
By Dr Bill Chachkes-Managing Partner/Executive Editor-Football Reporters Online


The shock waves are running deep in the world of football tonight. The current “Godfather of the spread option” is hanging it up. Urban Meyer has announced that he would step down as head football coach at the University of Florida after two plus decades in college football.

His record speaks for itself. 95-18 and 5-1 in bowl games as a head coach. An 84.1 winning percentage as a head coach in the regular season, 2 SEC titles (and three division titles), 2 mountain west titles. 2 BCS titles, twice voted coach of the year, 41-13 in conference play. He is #2 in victories among active coaches with 5+ years in the FBS. Meyer is the only coach ever to reach 50 victories in less then 60 games.

He spent 15 years across 4 different programs (Ohio St., Illinois St. Colorado St. and Notre Dame) sharpening his skills as an assistant before getting the head coaching position at Bowling Green University in 2001. He managed to accomplish all of this in just 23.5 years in the coaching profession, after a playing career with the Cincinnati Bearcats from 1983-1986, and at the age of just 45 years old.

It is said that he had ignored his health for many years until recently, but checked into a hospital a day after The Gators lost the SEC title game to Alabama, citing health reasons at that time. He had always said that becoming the head coach at Notre Dame would be his “Dream Job” since he was a devout follower of the Roman Catholic faith, but when the Job became available several weeks back, he quickly held a press conference and proclaimed that he would be the coach of the Gators “for as long as they will have me.”

Already the vultures of sports media are circling around the story wondering “just how serious is his health crisis,” although there are no reasons as of yet to believe that his health is in immediate danger at this time.

Could it be that at 45, Meyer feels it’s time for a short break to “recharge” the batteries? He has reached the pinnacle of success as a football man. You can’t say that he was hurting for the cash. The only coaches who earned more them him in 2009 were Pete Carroll and Charlie Weis. So why not take a break for a bit? He’s earned it, hasn’t he? His family sure feels he does.

BOSTON COLLEGE GETS ITS SHOT AT STRUGGLING POWERHOUSE USC IN THIS YEAR’S EMERALD BOWL-By William Queen for Football Reporters Online

(photo: © BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons) 
Where has the season gone? Looking at this bowl game, I feel like I’m stuck in a college football nightmare. It wasn’t long ago that USC seemed like they owned the Rose Bowl and Pete Carroll said that every year’s team was his “best ever”. The Emerald Bowl doesn’t exactly cut it. It’s really just a lame attempt of making it sound like it’s a relevant bowl, so you can bet that Trojan nation is not too happy about this one.
 
Yet, what a great opportunity for Boston College. For what has been a powerhouse of a football team, USC finally falls down to a December bowl game and the Eagles are faced with a chance at history.
 
Current Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez fled to the NFL following his junior season at USC and after some media attention between him and Pete Carroll, top high school prospect Matt Barkley was the one lining up under center. Despite all the hype, Barkley is still a freshman and led the Pac-10 with 12 interceptions. And though the Trojans 23rd in the nation defensively, the main problem has been consistency. Two of their four losses consisted of their opponent scoring 47+ points; not the defense we’re used too.
 
Boston College, on the other hand, has a forceful 18th ranked defense and looks to keep Barkley’s struggles at a high. And because of a 14th ranked rushing defense, I expect the Eagles to force the game out of the hands of USC’s talented backs and into Matt Barkley’s, a tough challenge for the freshman’s first bowl game. When it comes to defending the pass though, that’s where the Eagles fall through the cracks. Allowing 2,568 passing yards this season, this may be USC’s best shot at moving the ball. If they can do that, Boston College is in trouble.
 
Not exactly the most reliable offense, Boston College doesn’t have a consistent quarterback in Dave Shinskie and will have to rely heavily on running back Montel Harris to carry them through this game. With 13 touchdowns this season, Harris is most defiantly their best shot at outscoring Barkley and the USC offense. However, Harris can’t do it alone. As I mentioned earlier, Dave Shinskie is a concern and he’s going to have to step up it up through the air if they want to have a realistic shot at pulling off the upset.
 
History shows that since 2001, both teams win 82% of the time when scoring 20+ points and tend to struggle when it’s a low-scoring game. So expect this one to be a battle of field position; whoever can take advantage of end-of-half field goals and turnovers will have a definite edge. 
 
For a prediction, I think that Boston College will hang tough most the game, but will slip away as it gets late in the game. Barkley will have a solid performance with 3 touchdowns and an interception, two being to tight end Anthony McCoy and the other to receiver Damian Williams, and back Joe McKnight will score one on the ground, all leading to a 31-17 Trojan victory.

BYU Thumps Oregon State

By John Kelly
Football Reporters Online Senior Writer
Midwest/Northeast Correspondent

Whatever happens in Vegas tends to stay in Vegas for BYU. However, their dominance in the Nevada desert is no longer a secret.

Senior quarterback Max Hall went out in style during his final visit to the Sin City throwing for 192 yards and three tds in No.14 BYU’s 44-20 rout of No.15 Oregon State Tuesday night.
"I love my years at BYU," Hall said. "We wanted to end it well."
It marked the first time the Las Vegas Bowl had hosted a matchup.
It was the Cougar’s third bowl win in 5 tries in the city of Lights. They ended a 5 game bowl-winning streak by the Beavers.
Cold whipping winds and a near miss of the Rose Bowl seemed to cloud the focus of Oregon State. Offensive Guard Gregg Peat didn’t see it that way.

"Emotionally we were ready for this game. We came in here and expected to win. It didn't work out that way," Beavers guard Gregg Peat said. "That's a credit to BYU. They came ready to play. There are no excuses for the loss."
Sean Canfield led off the scoring with a one-yard td run. Late in the first quarter BYU started to change the direction of the game.

Harvey Unga tied the game after he pounded it in from a yard out.
On the ensuing possession on a lateral Jaquizz Rodgers fumbled the ball and Matt Bauman returned it 34 yards for the score.
The fumble was Rodger’s first fumble of his college career and his first in 621 touches. Rodgers finished the game with 19 rushes for 70 yards and TD.

After a Mitch Payne 28 yard field goal made it 17-7 for the Cougars Max Hall went to work. Hall hit Luke Ashworth on a 25-yard touchdown strike to give BYU a 24-7 halftime lead. Hall had 139 yards passing at the break.

Hall started off the second half with a bang connecting on two more touchdown passes. He hit Dennis Pitta for a 17 yard score and Manase Tonga from 15 yards out.

Jaquizz Rodgers would punch it in from one yard out to cut the deficit to 37-13 but the Beavers were too far behind.
Harvey Tonga responded right back rumbling 18 yards to extend BYU’s lead to 44-13.
The 44 points were the most allowed in Oregon State history.

With Wyoming and BYU in the clubhouse with two wins for the Mountain West they are two games away from being the first non-BCS conference to claim the bowl title in Division 1A.

If that does not earn you a BCS bid I don’t know what does.