An award, a lesson and a super division

I’m still rattled following a busy week of compiling stories for our all-area teams then trying and mostly failing to cover two basketball tournaments going on at the same location over the past three days.

That’s my excuse for a segmented version of our weekly rendezvous.

THREE WITH STATE TIES CITED

The Football Writers Association of America announced its 12 finalists for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award and three of them have strong ties to Arkansas.

Mike Norvell of Florida State is on the list as well as Rhett Lashlee of Southern Methodist and Eli Drinkwitz of Missouri, who was selected last week as the SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press and SEC coaches.

The winner of the FWAA award will be announced Jan. 6, 2024.

Lashlee is a former Shiloh Christian quarterback who starred in one of the greatest high school games ever played in Arkansas. It happened during a playoff game in 1999 when Lashlee rallied Shiloh Christian from a 51-35 halftime deficit to a 70-64 victory at Junction City. He completed 36 of 59 passes for 672 yards and 8 touchdowns in the game. As a coach, Lashlee led SMU to a 10-2 record this season and will lead his team into the Fenway Bowl to play Boston College on Dec. 28.

Drinkwitz made the list after leading Missouri to a 10-2 record and Cotton Bowl berth against Ohio State on Dec. 29. He is a former linebacker at Alma who also served as an assistant coach to Gus Malzahn at Springdale High School. This is the second appearance on the FWAA list for Drinkwitz, who made the cut in 2019 when he led Appalachian State to a 12-1 record that included wins over North Carolina and South Carolina.

Norvell is on the list after leading Florida State to a 13-0 record and a berth in the Orange Bowl against Georgia on Dec. 30. He played football for four years at Central Arkansas and still ranks among the top receivers in school history. But Norvell may not be the best athlete in his family since his wife, Maria (Chiolino), played basketball at powerful Fort Smith Northside.

Mike and Maria supposedly met in a dance class at UCA. I haven’t seen any evidence, but Maria is probably a better dancer than Mike as well.

LIFE LESSON LEARNED

Would you mind terribly if I chimed in on a topic that has been discussed ad nauseam?

Too bad. I’m doing it anyway. Boo Corrigan, the selection committee chair for the College Football Playoffs, explained why Alabama earned the fourth seed over 13-0 Florida State, whose quarterback, Jordan Travis, broke his leg last month and is unable to play.

“Florida State is a different team than they were through the first 11 weeks,” Corrigan said on ESPN during the selection show. “When you lose a quarterback as dynamic as Jordan Travis, it changes their offense in its entirety and that was a really big factor.”

So, the selection committee decided to penalize an undefeated team with an 85-man roster because one player is unable to play? That’s a terrible message to send the other players in a TEAM sport.

It’s insulting to Florida State’s defense, special teams, and, especially, the backup quarterback, who’s basically being told by the selection committee “Sorry, son, but Florida State can’t win with you at quarterback.”

The Seminoles learned at an early age that life’s not fair.

Not only did Alabama lose to Texas by 10 points in the regular season, the Crimson Tide needed a desperation fourth down pass completion in the final seconds to squeak past Auburn, which is 6-6 on the year. Auburn lost the game more than Alabama won it.

A SUPER, DUPER DIVISION?

If you didn’t think runaway pay-forplay could become any more jarring, you were wrong.

NCAA President Charles Baker last week ripped apart the organization’s long-held stance on amateur athletics by proposing a new super division for football that’ll include direct payments to athletes at schools that can afford it.

Baker’s plan would likely include SEC and Big Ten football teams and a few other top 25 programs that’ll compete at the highest level. If this happens, I hope we just end the charade and separate the top football programs from the universities they supposedly represent and let them become professional teams like those in minor-league baseball. Don’t be so sure all the SEC and Big Ten teams would join this new super, duper division if Baker’s plan is enacted. High academic universities like Northwestern and Vanderbilt would likely resist, choosing instead to focus on educating its student-athletes.

Separating the Commodores from the rest of the SEC would please the football fanatics, who’ve long considered them a drag on the league’s reputation in football.