09-23-2003, 05:02 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com
MAC May Lack Knack for Jack, but Can Yak Smack
By Michael Wilbon
Tuesday, September 23, 2003; Page D01
The Bowl Coalition folks probably realize by now that the MAC is more than just something you purchase at the makeup counter. The Mid-American Conference has commandeered the college football season, made it completely unnecessary so far to talk about Heisman contenders, early poll results and, for now, the BCS.
This is the warmest, fuzziest story you're likely to see in college football, because there are never warm and fuzzy stories in college football. By design, college football excludes. In its current incarnation it shuns upstarts and underdogs. It's a culture for, by and about big, rich schools. There could never be a 1985 Villanova basketball story in today's college football. The last "Cinderella" was that 1984 Brigham Young football team that was reluctantly voted No. 1 because none of the big powers had a great season. Watch closely and you can see the good old boys sneer every time that BYU team is mentioned.
This is why what happened Saturday cannot be celebrated enough. Marshall went on the road and beat 6th-ranked Kansas State. Toledo beat 11th-ranked Pittsburgh. Northern Illinois, a couple of weeks after thumping then-15th-ranked Maryland, went down to Tuscaloosa and, on one of the storied fields in college football, beat No. 21 Alabama. And Bowling Green scared the daylights out of Ohio State before losing, 24-17. Now 3-0, Northern Illinois was finally voted a spot in the top 25 by the college football writers, who can be as annoyingly high-brow as the football programs they cover.
You know how sweet Saturday was for the MAC? That night, a young woman from MAC newcomer Central Florida was crowned Miss America.
The MAC's initial goal was to simply get on the schedule of ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten schools. The second goal was to get a few home games out of it. The third goal was to beat them, wherever the games are played. Bowling Green has already beaten Purdue this season. Miami of Ohio has already beaten Northwestern and Colorado State this season.
With these beatings -- don't dare call them upsets, because they're not -- happening increasingly, you know what will follow? The big-boy schools will avoid scheduling MAC teams, certainly on the road. Count on it. Joe Novak, the Northern Illinois coach, told ESPN Sunday night: "Maryland tried to get out of coming here. They tried to buy us out of the contract but our athletic director [Gary Groth] stayed strong."
It's not like Maryland is alone. The MAC schools don't have 50,000-seat stadiums, so the BCS doesn't want 'em. Marshall has sent two quarterbacks to the NFL in recent years -- Jacksonville rookie Byron Leftwich and the Jets' Chad Pennington -- who are better than anything Kansas State has produced at quarterback in 20 years. Marshall employs a more sophisticated offense than anything you'll see in the Big Ten or Big 12 this season. (How else do you think Pennington, Leftwich and a wide receiver named Randy Moss go straight into the NFL ready to play well?) Yet, you'll have to watch Marshall in the Motor City Bowl or the GMAC Bowl, if anywhere, because Marshall's home stadium seats only 38,000 people and it isn't attractive to the BCS. Miami of Ohio's home stadium seats 30,000, about the same as Akron's stadium.
The MAC programs can't produce the ticket revenue, or sell as many T-shirts. They don't register on the BCS radar, and in turn the mainstream college football fan who is told by the pollsters that Auburn is great, watches that junk on TV instead of getting to see Bob Pruett's Marshall team, or Miami of Ohio quarterback Ben Roethlisberger or Bowling Green quarterback Josh Harris, or Akron's Charlie Frye, all deadly accurate passers who'll have their chance to follow Leftwich and Pennington into the NFL.
And because there's no Division I-A playoff, the MAC schools don't get to prove their worthiness on the field. If you're one of the six BCS conferences, why let them when it means a possible loss or that some kid might prefer starting at Northern Illinois to sitting on the bench for Illinois. You think the BCS school, with its TV money and national clout, is going to simply leave that billion dollar battle to be waged between kids on a football field?
The thing is, football success in the MAC is not new. Jason Taylor, the Dolphins' all-pro defensive end, comes from Akron. Kent State has a Hall of Fame linebacker in alumnus Jack Lambert. Marshall has future pros on its roster every year. But even that is all terribly recent. Miami of Ohio is richer in tradition than almost any ACC football program. Sid Gilman coached there (1944-47) and he begat Woody Hayes (1949-50) who begat Ara Parsegian (1951-55) who begat John Pont (1956-1962) who begat Bo Schembechler (1963-68). Weeb Ewbank played there (1927) as did a fellow by the name of Paul Brown (1928-29). There's valid reason for calling Miami of Ohio the Cradle of Coaches.
Now there's a guy like NIU's Novak, who took over a nothing program, suffered through a 3-30 start, and now takes a bunch of kids to the house that Bear Bryant built and starts whipping butts. Chances are you won't hear of Bowling Green defensive back Janssen Patton or Western Michigan defensive end Jason Babin until they've outplayed more hyped peers.
Terry Bowden, the former Auburn coach who is the college football analyst for ABC, says MAC coaches often had players like them 20 and 25 years ago. But those teams didn't have backups or third-stringers who could hang in for 60 minutes against an Ohio State or Alabama.
But now, when every kid wants to be a starter and star in a video game by the time he's a junior, a player who thinks he might be second string at Ohio State but a starter at Miami of Ohio may give a closer look to Miami. There's so much less stockpiling of players. Ask Nebraska, which like every other school in the Big 12 and Big Ten, is losing more prospects to smaller schools.
You know who could be hurt by this the most in the short term? Syracuse, which plays Toledo; Iowa State, which plays Northern Illinois; and Boston College, which plays Ball State on Saturday. The MAC feels like it has one of the best conferences in the country right now, whether that is validated by bowl officials or pollsters. And if its teams keep playing this way, keep making life difficult for the big boys, it could continue to be one of the more refreshing college football seasons in a long time.
MAC May Lack Knack for Jack, but Can Yak Smack
By Michael Wilbon
Tuesday, September 23, 2003; Page D01
The Bowl Coalition folks probably realize by now that the MAC is more than just something you purchase at the makeup counter. The Mid-American Conference has commandeered the college football season, made it completely unnecessary so far to talk about Heisman contenders, early poll results and, for now, the BCS.
This is the warmest, fuzziest story you're likely to see in college football, because there are never warm and fuzzy stories in college football. By design, college football excludes. In its current incarnation it shuns upstarts and underdogs. It's a culture for, by and about big, rich schools. There could never be a 1985 Villanova basketball story in today's college football. The last "Cinderella" was that 1984 Brigham Young football team that was reluctantly voted No. 1 because none of the big powers had a great season. Watch closely and you can see the good old boys sneer every time that BYU team is mentioned.
This is why what happened Saturday cannot be celebrated enough. Marshall went on the road and beat 6th-ranked Kansas State. Toledo beat 11th-ranked Pittsburgh. Northern Illinois, a couple of weeks after thumping then-15th-ranked Maryland, went down to Tuscaloosa and, on one of the storied fields in college football, beat No. 21 Alabama. And Bowling Green scared the daylights out of Ohio State before losing, 24-17. Now 3-0, Northern Illinois was finally voted a spot in the top 25 by the college football writers, who can be as annoyingly high-brow as the football programs they cover.
You know how sweet Saturday was for the MAC? That night, a young woman from MAC newcomer Central Florida was crowned Miss America.
The MAC's initial goal was to simply get on the schedule of ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten schools. The second goal was to get a few home games out of it. The third goal was to beat them, wherever the games are played. Bowling Green has already beaten Purdue this season. Miami of Ohio has already beaten Northwestern and Colorado State this season.
With these beatings -- don't dare call them upsets, because they're not -- happening increasingly, you know what will follow? The big-boy schools will avoid scheduling MAC teams, certainly on the road. Count on it. Joe Novak, the Northern Illinois coach, told ESPN Sunday night: "Maryland tried to get out of coming here. They tried to buy us out of the contract but our athletic director [Gary Groth] stayed strong."
It's not like Maryland is alone. The MAC schools don't have 50,000-seat stadiums, so the BCS doesn't want 'em. Marshall has sent two quarterbacks to the NFL in recent years -- Jacksonville rookie Byron Leftwich and the Jets' Chad Pennington -- who are better than anything Kansas State has produced at quarterback in 20 years. Marshall employs a more sophisticated offense than anything you'll see in the Big Ten or Big 12 this season. (How else do you think Pennington, Leftwich and a wide receiver named Randy Moss go straight into the NFL ready to play well?) Yet, you'll have to watch Marshall in the Motor City Bowl or the GMAC Bowl, if anywhere, because Marshall's home stadium seats only 38,000 people and it isn't attractive to the BCS. Miami of Ohio's home stadium seats 30,000, about the same as Akron's stadium.
The MAC programs can't produce the ticket revenue, or sell as many T-shirts. They don't register on the BCS radar, and in turn the mainstream college football fan who is told by the pollsters that Auburn is great, watches that junk on TV instead of getting to see Bob Pruett's Marshall team, or Miami of Ohio quarterback Ben Roethlisberger or Bowling Green quarterback Josh Harris, or Akron's Charlie Frye, all deadly accurate passers who'll have their chance to follow Leftwich and Pennington into the NFL.
And because there's no Division I-A playoff, the MAC schools don't get to prove their worthiness on the field. If you're one of the six BCS conferences, why let them when it means a possible loss or that some kid might prefer starting at Northern Illinois to sitting on the bench for Illinois. You think the BCS school, with its TV money and national clout, is going to simply leave that billion dollar battle to be waged between kids on a football field?
The thing is, football success in the MAC is not new. Jason Taylor, the Dolphins' all-pro defensive end, comes from Akron. Kent State has a Hall of Fame linebacker in alumnus Jack Lambert. Marshall has future pros on its roster every year. But even that is all terribly recent. Miami of Ohio is richer in tradition than almost any ACC football program. Sid Gilman coached there (1944-47) and he begat Woody Hayes (1949-50) who begat Ara Parsegian (1951-55) who begat John Pont (1956-1962) who begat Bo Schembechler (1963-68). Weeb Ewbank played there (1927) as did a fellow by the name of Paul Brown (1928-29). There's valid reason for calling Miami of Ohio the Cradle of Coaches.
Now there's a guy like NIU's Novak, who took over a nothing program, suffered through a 3-30 start, and now takes a bunch of kids to the house that Bear Bryant built and starts whipping butts. Chances are you won't hear of Bowling Green defensive back Janssen Patton or Western Michigan defensive end Jason Babin until they've outplayed more hyped peers.
Terry Bowden, the former Auburn coach who is the college football analyst for ABC, says MAC coaches often had players like them 20 and 25 years ago. But those teams didn't have backups or third-stringers who could hang in for 60 minutes against an Ohio State or Alabama.
But now, when every kid wants to be a starter and star in a video game by the time he's a junior, a player who thinks he might be second string at Ohio State but a starter at Miami of Ohio may give a closer look to Miami. There's so much less stockpiling of players. Ask Nebraska, which like every other school in the Big 12 and Big Ten, is losing more prospects to smaller schools.
You know who could be hurt by this the most in the short term? Syracuse, which plays Toledo; Iowa State, which plays Northern Illinois; and Boston College, which plays Ball State on Saturday. The MAC feels like it has one of the best conferences in the country right now, whether that is validated by bowl officials or pollsters. And if its teams keep playing this way, keep making life difficult for the big boys, it could continue to be one of the more refreshing college football seasons in a long time.
Unbelievable! I NEVER thought we'd EVER get that kind of press from someone that respected and widely read/heard.