QBS see share of highs and lows
Ash, Florence on top in bowls; Romo out; Schaub struggling.
My
first nuggets of 2013 are all about quarterbacks. Let’s start at home: David
Ash came of age against Oregon State, displaying the clutch gene that we took for granted when Vince Young and Colt McCoy were running things around these parts.
Ash must run more for things to get better.
He ran early in the season but for some reason got away from that part of his game, which hurt his production. He’s never going to be a terror in the open field, but he can be much better next season if he continues to use his legs. Yes, there is more of an injury risk, but this is football. Texas can be better if Ash gives defenses something to think about besides his arm.
The Big 12 is a gunslinger’s league, but two of its most effective quarterbacks — Kansas State’s Collin Klein and Baylor’s Nick Florence — are dual threats, having rushed for 890 and 568 yards, respectively, as seniors. Ash ran for only 141 yards this season, and 49 came on one carry against New Mexico.
He has the ability to rush for at least 300 yards next season, and that would give Texas’ offense something it needs: More playmaking from the quarterback position.
Up the road a piece, in Waco (and beyond) ... Baylor
enjoyed a terrific week as Florence powered the Bears to a Holiday Bowl win over UCLA — the second straight bowl win for Baylor.
But Robert Griffin III — Baylor’s most esteemed alum — could run uncontested for mayor of the nation’s capital after leading the Redskins to a seventh straight win and an improbable playoff berth after a 3-6 start.
RG3 is a physical marvel, but it was his mental toughness that carried the Redskins to that had-to-have-it win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. Griffin is obviously hampered by the knee injury he suffered three weeks ago, but he still zone-schemed Dallas’ broken down sack master DeMarcus Ware to death and willed the Redskins to the playoffs.
We knew he could ball. My pick for rookie of the year
Seven coaches and five general managers were fired Monday in a flurry of pink slips that were delivered the day after the regular-season ended.
There could be more, but so far the sent-packing scorecard looks like this:
Andy Reid in Philadelphia, Lovie Smith in Chicago, and Ken Whisenhunt in Arizona, all coaches who took teams to the Super Bowl, Norv Turner in San Diego, Pat Shurmur in Cleveland, Romeo Crennel in The
first day of January was always the most sacred of college football times, a day when only the very elite of the elite crossed our television screens.
Those times have gone, of course. We’ll still watch as many as six bowl games on New Year’s Day, none more prestigious than the, uh, Heart of Dallas Bowl with its rich tradition.
The Rose Bowl remains on Jan. 1, thankfully, but it will be followed by the grandsons of them all like the BBVA Com- Kansas City and Chan Gailey in Buffalo.
Three teams made it a clean sweep, saying goodbye to the GM along with the coach — San Diego, Cleveland, Arizona. General managers also were fired in Jacksonville and in New York, where Rex Ryan held onto his coaching job with the Jets despite a losing record.
Reid was the longest tenured of the coaches, removed after 14 seasons and a Super Bowl appearance in 2005 — a loss to New England.
Smith spent nine seasons with the Bears, leading them to the 2007 Super Bowl — a loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
Turner has now been fired as head coach by three teams. San Diego won the AFC West
Which college coaching greats would grace his Mount Rushmore? pass Bowl on Jan. 5 and the greatly anticipated GoDaddy. com game the next day.
But in keeping with proper reverence for Jan. 1, here’s my personal list of the greatest college football coaches who
Lovie Smith Romeo Crennel from 2006-09, but didn’t make the postseason the last three years.
“Both Norv and A.J. are consummate NFL professionals, ever lived — our own Mount Rushmore, if you will. We restricted from consideration those coaches before the modern era, which we calculated as any who walked the sidelines mostly after 1960.
My Mount Rushmore might not look a lot like yours, and that’s fine. Yours might be more worthy, but my main criteria centered on the coaches who have not just won the most games or the biggest games or multiple championships, but those who have done the best jobs in the past half-century and coaches who could win with yours or theirs.
On my highest pinnacle would be Bear Bryant, Joe and they understand that in this league, the bottom line is winning,” Chargers President