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| Jamie Newberg SuperPrep.com | Dec 6, 2007 |
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The two most popular questions submitted each and every week is where will Arthur Brown and Julio Jones, the nation's top two prospects, end up? What college football teams had the toughest schedules? Did people make too much of Tim Tebow and his rushing touchdowns? Why no love for Cullen Harper? Is it boom or bust at Pitt? I will address these questions and more in the BLITZ. The Blitz (click here to submit question)Jake Bethlehem, Pennsylvania As I sat down to write the Blitz this week I starting thinking about this question and what was the best way to measure strength of schedule. There is no right or wrong way to determine strength of schedule and it’s pretty subjective. So I decided to try and come up with a simple formula to try and sort through this. Keep in mind that the teams listed below have the toughest schedules. Regardless of how you determine this list these teams would comprise it in some form or fashion. Here is what I came up with. First, I looked at the bowl teams on everyone’s schedule. For every bowl team on your schedule you received five points. Notre Dame played 10 bowl teams this season so the Irish received 50 points. Second, I looked at the current BCS Top 40. If a team played LSU they received 39 points. LSU sits at No. 2 in the BCS. If you flip the point total you get 39 (based on the BCS Top 40). If a team played Oregon they received 12 points because they sit at No. 28 in the current BCS Top 40. Lastly, if a team played a 1-AA opponent 10 points was deducted from their point total. Based on this formula, this is how strength of schedule turned out based on the season that just transpired. I did not include conference championship games. Here is a top 25. 1) Washington 219 2) South Carolina 198 3) Ole Miss 184 4) Colorado 172 5) Auburn 169 5) Texas A&M 169 7) Nebraska 165 8) LSU 161 9) Florida 157 10) Oklahoma State 155 11) Alabama 154 12) Kentucky 153 13) Virginia Tech 140 14) Notre Dame 139 14) Pitt. 139 16) Michigan 137 17) Illinois 136 17) Arizona 136 19) Oregon State 132 20) Missouri 130 21) Boston College 127 22) Stanford 123 22) Oregon 123 24) Tennessee 118 25) South Florida 116 25) N.C. State 116 If you break down the top five, Washington clearly played the toughest schedule. First, they played the top ranked Buckeyes. The Huskies also faced USC (No. 7), Hawaii (No. 10), Arizona State (No. 11), Boise State (No. 24), Oregon State (No. 26), and Oregon (No. 28). The schedule totaled nine bowl teams as well. South Carolina’s schedule was No. 2, which featured LSU, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Clemson, and Arkansas, all in the BCS Top 40. The Gamecocks also played eight bowl teams. Staying in the SEC, Ole Miss played eight bowl teams and top 40 teams in Missouri, LSU, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, and Arkansas. Colorado had the toughest schedule in the Big 12 with matchups against Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Texas Tech and Arizona State, all in the top 40. Auburn and Texas A&M tied for the fifth toughest schedule. The Fighting Irish played the most bowl teams (10).  Tim Tebow Curious on Tim Tebow; what is the average yardage on his touchdown runs? Don't his running backs and receivers see their gains to "short and goal distances" be rewarded by Coach Urban Meyer calling Tebow's number to punch it in? How many would Erik Ainge, Andre Woodson or Matthew Stafford or others have with the same philosophy? Guess we will never know, but I would love to know his average yardage on the touchdowns. Frank South Carolina Good question and I have wondered that as well the closer we have gotten to the Heisman ceremony with all the talk on why Tim Tebow should or shouldn’t win the Heisman Trophy. First, Tebow rushed for 838 yards on the season and scored 22 touchdowns. (No SEC player has ever rushed for that many TDs.) That’s an average of 4.3 yards per carry and he averaged 70 yards rushing per game. Tebow’s average touchdown run was 4.7 yards. He scored four times from one yard out, five times from two yards out, two times from three yards out and one time from four yards out. Tebow scored 10 touchdowns from five plus yards and had a long of 23 against Florida State in their season finale. Now you shouldn’t penalize Tebow for this. He is, after all, the Gators short yardage “big” back. The guy is built like a fullback (6-3/235) and strong as an ox. Tebow also has good speed and is the perfect quarterback for the spread offense. I will say this, everyone in the stadium knows when Tebow is going to run in certain situations and yet he is still so hard to defend. Will he continue to put up these types of numbers on the ground? I think it will be tough for him to duplicate this next year for two reasons. First, I think UF Head Coach Urban Meyer will want him to carry the ball less to avoid injury. His shoulder injury this season certainly limited his running ability in Florida’s loss to Georgia, which cost them the East title and a chance to play for the SEC Championship. Secondly, Florida’s running backs do need to step up next season, whether it’s, Kestahn Moore, Mon Williams, transfer Emanuel Moody, or someone else. But none of this changes the fact that Tebow is their short yardage guy and is a perfect fit for that system. As far as the other signals callers you mentioned, Stafford, Ainge and Woodson, they are different (style) quarterbacks. They are your prototype, drop back guys that are not asked all that frequently to run the ball. Why? First, they are not runners, Tebow is. Second, they have running backs to do the job; Tennessee has Arian Foster, Georgia has Knowshon Moreno and Thomas Brown and Kentucky has Rafael Little.  LeSean McCoy Is Dave Wannstedt going to be back to coach the Panthers next year? If so, will he be able to make Pittsburgh a BCS contender on a regular basis. It is embarrassing to me that a school with such a rich football tradition is now being considered a basketball power instead of a football power? Your thoughts! Phil Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Patience my friend. Patience. Sure Pitt. struggled this season to a 5-7 record. Much of the blame was due to injury, as the Panthers lost six starters during the first two weeks of the season, including their starting quarterback, wide receiver, right tackle, offensive guard, their best defensive tackle and defensive end. Through it in the fact they went with a true freshman quarterback, Pat Bostick, for most of the year. But we need to look at the final week of the season as we look towards the Pitt future, where they upset West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl, denying their arch-rival a shot at the national title. This will give the young Panthers a lot of momentum that they can carry into the off-season and into next year. Pitt will return a franchise running back in LeSean McCoy, who will only be a sophomore. Bostick has good upside at the quarterback position and showed some flashes this season, where he was thrown into the fire before he was ready. The Pitt defense returns defensive linemen Greg Romeus, Tommie Duhart, Gus Mustakas and Doug Fulmer. Scott McKillop will be one of the nation’s finest linebackers. Wannstedt and company have recruited very well, especially the past two seasons. This year they should bring in a top 25 or so class. This is a young and talented team with a bright future. Pitt should have a chance to contend for the Big East next season, although West Virginia and South Florida will be the teams to beat. Pitt is ultimately gearing for the ’09 season, where they will really have a chance to be a very good football team and perhaps make a run at the BCS. Just a little more patience is needed.  Cullen Harper What does Cullen Harper have to do next year in order to receive the recognition that he should have gotten this year? Martin Greenwood, South Carolina Honestly, he just needs to keep playing well like he did this past season. Harper had a super year, throwing for 2,887 yards, 27 touchdown passes and only six interceptions. Harper also hit on 35 passes of 20 or more yards. He completed 67% of his passes and finished 17th in passing efficiency in the nation (he led the conference in this category). Meanwhile, he led the Tigers to a 9-3 season and they were a dropped touchdown pass (Aaron Kelly) from winning the Coastal Division of the ACC, where they lost to Boston College 20-17 the second to the last week of the regular season. The ironic thing is that Harper was supposed to just be the warm up act (so to speak) to incoming freshman signal caller Willy Korn. It was thought this past summer that it would just be a matter of time before Korn took over. But Harper thrived in Tommy Bowden and Robbie Spence’s offensive system and never looked back. So why wasn’t there more recognition for Harper? Well, let’s look at the team first. It was thought Harper would struggle in his first season as a starter and one day give way to Korn. That didn’t happen. Second, Clemson has arguably the top running back duo in the country in James Davis and C.J. Spiller. These guys get most of the Tiger notoriety. Third, Boston College made a big run this season and made their way to the No. 2 team in the land. The catalyst for the Eagles success was their quarterback Matt Ryan, who many had pegged as the conference’s top quarterback coming into the year. Ryan had the name, Harper did not. But that should change next season and Cullen Harper should be the man at Clemson and in the ACC in terms of quarterbacks. The Tigers are good hands and look good at this position in the future. Because of Harper’s success Korn can be brought along slowly and at his pace and be ready when his time comes. Just like Cullen Harper, who succeeded Charlie Whitehurst.  Arthur Brown What chance do you see Arthur Brown wearing #55 for the Trojans? Paul Montery Park, California Now that’s a tough call and the million dollar question with Scout.com’s top rated prospect. Brown (Wichita, Ka.) has already taken his official visits – Alabama, USC, North Carolina, Miami and LSU. Brown visited those five schools and he was also considering Florida and Kansas State. Then, on Wednesday he narrowed things down to the final five schools – USC, Florida, Miami, North Carolina and LSU. Brown's final in-home visits are as follows: Wednesday, Dec. 5 (North Carolina); Sunday, Dec. 9 (Miami); Monday, Dec. 10 (USC); Tuesday, Dec. 11 (LSU) and Wednesday, Dec. 12 (Florida). Obviously, those are subject to change. By the way, Brown will give Urban Meyer the last crack at the in-home visit because Florida didn’t get an official visit. What will Brown decide to do? LSU just lost their defensive coordinator, Bo Pelini, who is now the head coach at Nebraska. It tells me a lot about LSU that they made the final cut despite the loss of Pelini. But I just can’t see Brown selecting a school where you don’t know who will be coaching you (as in a defensive coordinator). He didn’t officially visit Florida, which tells me Florida has had to make up ground. Was it enough? I don’t think so. The two schools that you have to keep a close eye on with Brown are USC and North Carolina. You always have to be concerned with the Trojans because they just recruit on a different level when compared to everyone else. But Brown's parents didn't attend the official visit with Brown to Southern Cal. That is sometimes a red flag.
I think it comes down to UNC and Miami. UNC is a team, that under head coach Butch Davis, will turn into a recruiting force. They pulled some great prospects late last season like defensive tackle Marvin Austin. Brown and company love North Carolina coach John Blake and he would have a chance to play very early in Chapel Hill. Will the Tar Heels have enough to land Brown?
I just have a feeling it could be North Carolina or Miami for Brown. With less than two weeks remaining until his big announcement I am leaning towards to 'Canes as his destination.
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