Oregon / Kansas State

[Eric]

I'm waffling on the Ducks. I took Oregon in the picks at 24, but if you forced me to make a selection today, I'd pick Kansas State with low confidence. BCS games have a way of surprising us from time to time and I think Chip Kelly's eventual departure will weigh on Oregon. I think everybody forgets that Kansas State can score with Oregon. I think Bill Snyder can outcoach Kelly in this one as well.

[Cane from the Bend]

That really is the Big Question, isn't it; Just how good a coach Kelly is.

It's easy to get all caught up in the splash & flash of a fast-tempo-quick-shot offense. But, many forget how well Kansas State actually did overall during the season.

In the end, most remember how poorly the Wildcats played in one game . . . yet, it slips the memory of those, that K. State play tough, and vs some strong competition along the way.

Snyder may be a better over all coach. And, in competition against high tempo teams, their track record is pretty good.

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[Spence]

My prediction is that Kelly will be an abstract failure in the NFL. I can't believe Cleveland wants to hire him. Yes I can, I guess, Cleveland has done nothing but make bad decisions since Model took the original franchise to Baltimore.

[donovan]

I had Kansas number one for a long time the first of the season. I thought they looked and do look like a good ball club.

I think Kelley will have a tough time in the Pros. The pros like a little rest between plays...they are not spring chickens. Kelley needs to move on. They already have a coach ready, offensive coordinator when he leaves. Will be announced within 72 hours..they have to interview one minority...Oregon Law...what a farce this makes of that....anyway...it is already a done deal.

[Spence]

Is he taking the Bills job? Please say yes.

[Cane from the Bend]

Klein hesitated, and they got held up . . .
K-St's D will have to start strong right away.

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[Cane from the Bend]

Solid wrap up tackle . . .

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[Eric]

I agree that Kelly won't make it. He'll flame out. If he takes the Browns job, I think it's a guarantee because they don't quite have the personnel. Trent Richardson was a great pick, but there's not a ton to work with if he was going to be a great coach anyway. Same goes for Buffalo. But besides that, even a modified version of his system would have a hard time. Kelly is good at misdirection, play action jet sweeps, and recruiting track athletes. None of that besides some form of misdirection and the read option works at the next level, and they don't work as a base offense. So he'll have to totally modify his approach. I don't know how good he is at coaching the other stuff that he'll have to to be successful in the NFL. And defense isn't his forte; is he going to make his defensive coordinator basically the defense coach and he will be the offense coach? That doesn't make for a great mix at the next level when you have that kind of division. The head coach in the NFL is often the game manager or the glue. Is he a great leader or purely x's and o's?

[Eric]

And I was going to add to that, Cane, that this never crossed my mind when picking the Russell Athletic Bowl. I took Rutgers without too much hesitation and before the game began, Rece Davis and the announcing crew brought up the fact that Beamer was going to be in his 20th bowl game and this was obviously Flood's first. I should have taken that into account, but it didn't even cross my mind. June Jones winning with SMU in bowl games where they were decent underdogs as well as playing at Hawaii didn't factor into my decision, but in retrospect it probably should have. I thought about it, but I didn't think much of SMU's on-field product his year and I liked what I saw from Fresno all year long, but I didn't look at the coaches closely enough.

[Spence]

I would say he is a pretty good leader, but he has no NFL experience. His offense is very "college" which is ok for CFB, but college teams play three or four good teams a year at most. The NFL plays good teams about every week. Kelly doesn't seem to game plan well against the better teams for the most part. If I were to take a college head coach to the NFL I would look at Saban, Strong, or O'Brien. I don't really thing their is many more that I think could succeed at that level.

[Cane from the Bend]

Some how I had a feeling they were gonna attempt that . . .
Good stop by the Wildcats.

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[Eric]

There could also be coaches with less notoriety who are made of that material, but we just don't know it yet. I think Doug Marrone, Mike Gundy, Paul Chryst (eventually, after he finds more success), David Shaw, Steve Sarkisian, and maybe Brian Kelly would be guys to look at. The Greg Schiano hire came out of left field, but these guys are probably in that vein. And I agree with your candidates as well. Nick Saban didn't do a poor job in the NFL. He went 9-7 and then 6-10 and they fired him. I don't think he enjoyed coaching at that level too much and he's already built one of the most elite teams in the last quarter century after already having done something similar at LSU. Another trip to the NFL, in his early 60's, means he'll most likely have to come back to college after a handful of years and start building somewhere else. It's probably too much work for him at this stage.

People throwing Kelly around as a future NFL possibility I think are just throwing stuff at the wall though. I think Notre Dame is a destination job for him. I couldn't ever see him leaving on his own accord.

[billybud]

Sigh....glad I am not a gambler.

When taking Oregon versus KSU, you always take the "Over"....no matter how much over that is.

KSU has had nine games scoring 35 points or more and Oregon has eleven games scoring 40 points or more....

Never figured that KSU would be held so low.