Count Dick MacPherson among the many counting down the seconds until Saturday’s Florida-Alabama showdown. But if the former Syracuse coach had his way, fans would have to wait a little longer for the SEC’s division winners to meet.

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Say, 38 days from now. In Pasadena, California.

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	Legends Poll
November 30, 2009 – Week 13

Do you think Auburn can upset Alabama?

Pat Dye: Alabama’s playing Auburn Saturday, but I don’t think that will affect the game in Atlanta.  Auburn’s in the same category as Kentucky, Mississippi State and South Carolina. If Auburn is going to beat Alabama they’d have to help them a lot and Alabama hasn’t been helping anybody.  They don’t get many penalties and they do what they’re supposed to do to be a great football team.  I still think Alabama’s the best and they’re going to play to find out.

Who should be No. 1? Alabama or Florida?

Vince Dooley: You can argue strongly for both of those teams.  The thing FSU has been doing is scoring but I don’t think they’re going to score a lot against Florida.  They’ve given up a lot so I don’t think it’s going to be much of a test.  Trying to pick who is one and who is two, the only thing I think is the difference is that Tebow is still there and as long as he’s there I’m going to pick Florida.  The other kid (McElroy) is a little inconsistent.  That might be the difference.

Do you expect an upset this weekend?

Don James: I don’t think there’s any question who we think are the best but we have to remember these are all big rivalry games.  We’ve seen over the years what can happen in big rival games.  I’d take Florida, Alabama, and Texas to win but Florida State, Auburn, and Texas A&M are going to come in there flying.

Why has Texas dropped in your eyes?

Gene Stallings: I’ve watched them on the television and it seems that they’ve abandoned the running game.  I don’t know what they’re going to do against a good football team.  Unless their running game picks up I don’t think they have much chance to win it all.

Kirk Herbstreit joined the Legends Poll voters on a conference call this week. Herbstreit and the Legends discussed the quandary that the BCS is facing with potential unbeatens: SEC Champion, Texas, TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State.

The featured roundtable discussion offered a variety of views about No. 4 TCU and their argument to be included in the BCS Championship Game.

LaVell Edwards: I believe TCU is going to come out of this on the short end.  It’s a shame they won’t get a shot at it because clearly they’re the best team I’ve ever seen around here.  They are legitimate in my mind.  We kind of lock into Florida, Alabama and Texas all year long and that’s the way it’s been.   I definitely think TCU could beat Alabama, Florida or Texas, no question in my mind they can.

George Welsh: I saw TCU play Virginia and I was very impressed.  I really like TCU.  I don’t know what they have going for them but they have a lot.  They have a great pass rush; they do a great job on defense.  Now the quarterback who was off to a slow start against Virginia is obviously playing a lot better.  I like TCU also.

John Cooper: I saw Texas play last year.  I went out and watched the Fiesta Bowl.  I like Texas and we all like Mack Brown but Gene Stallings’ right- Texas is one-dimensional.  If McCoy has a bad day, Texas is going to get beat.  Their biggest win all year was over Oklahoma State.  I don’t know about you guys but I watched Oklahoma State last weekend and I was not impressed.

We talk about TCU but TCU went to Clemson and beat a pretty good Clemson team, went to BYU and won that game pretty easily over a pretty good BYU team, they beat Utah who is 9-2.  I would give TCU a slight edge over Texas.  We don’t even need to talk any more about Alabama and Florida.  Those two teams are going to play each other and the winner of that game is going to play for the national championship.  We need to be talking about Texas and TCU and see who should play the winner of that SEC game.  I think if TCU went against Texas right now they would beat them.

Gene Stallings: I’m not sure that Texas will beat Texas A&M.

Pat Dye: Looking at those four football teams, if they all played the best they could play, Alabama’s the only one TCU couldn’t beat.  I just think physically they would beat them.  I think Florida’s got some problems and y’all say Texas has some but I don’t see any problems in Tuscaloosa.

Terry Donahue: I saw TCU two weeks ago play in person.  I’ve seen Alabama twice (in person).  TCU has the best defensive football team I’ve seen all year except for Alabama.  I just thought they were so fast at every position.  They have eight receivers they throw into a game and it’s hard to tell one from another.  I voted them ahead of Texas in the poll because if you consider every facet of the game I believe they could beat Texas or at least deserve a shot at beating Texas.  So I voted them ahead of Texas.

RC Slocum: I have some of the feelings that everyone else has but I think Texas is a good defensive team and an explosive offensive team.  What happens is that we talk about the Boises who beat the people they have to beat and Texas does that too.  I don’t know if we’ve seen Texas’ best game.  They came back in the second half and beat Oklahoma.  They ran the ball some then.  I have the same concern Gene has, you’d like for them to be more balanced.  That’s what they do.  They make so many big plays in the passing game.  They’ll run it in there every once and a while.  I’d be more concerned about their kicking game than anything else.

I just wonder in a match up with Florida or Alabama… all three of those teams are good defensive teams but how many can make the big explosive plays on offense and I would say Texas.  Alabama’s better at running the football and I appreciate that.  Florida is better at running the ball.  But if you ask which of those three offenses is the most explosive I’m going to say Texas is.  All three are comparable defensive teams.

Everything you hear about TCU is good and deservedly so.  That coach has done a great job.  They’re a speed defensive team that would give anybody problems.  I think that would be a good match up.  I would still take Texas in that match up maybe just for psychological reasons.  They played Texas a year ago and they played Texas for a half.  TCU was TCU and Texas was Texas.  If those two played today, I’d pick Texas.

I think they’re so good at what they’re doing that they’re choosing to throw the ball.  They’re promoting McCoy for the Heisman.  They had trouble in the Oklahoma game and they came out in the second half and gashed Oklahoma running the ball.  I thought it was the difference in the ball game.  I know Mack, way down deep, likes to throw the ball.  They do it by design and man, they do it in such a hurry.  My son’s up in Green Bay coaching and we’ve got guys who coached in the pros.  Coaches there talk a lot about explosive plays.  You can’t line up against those good NFL defensive teams and grind the ball down the field over and over and score enough points to win the game.  You have to make explosive plays.  That’s what prompts my question of which team out of Alabama, Florida and Texas can make explosive plays.

From what I’ve seen, I would take Texas first, Florida second and Alabama third in making explosive plays.  If you ask me who can grind the ball out I would put Texas third.  You get in those games and anybody’s going to have a hard time with those three defenses moving the ball.  It comes down to who can get the big chunks and I think Texas has the ability to do that more than the other two.  TCU is explosive too, they do a good job throwing the ball and they run the ball.  It would be a good match up.

Fisher DeBerry: Having played TCU for many, many years and knowing their background, they can play with anybody — I guarantee you defensively.  The reason I haven’t voted them higher than I have is because I don’t think their offense is that good.  The quarterback has played well the last three or four weeks and it would be a heck of a match up to see TCU play Texas just like it will be to see Alabama play Florida.

Kirk Herbstreit: I’m just intrigued listening to this.  I think the one thing that’s changed with the BCS from 1998 to now is non-automatic qualifier — the perception of the Utah, Boise State, TCU or whoever it happens to be.  I remember in ‘98,’99, 2000 you would never even imagine having this discussion about TCU.  I think the success of Boise and Utah and others of not just getting to a BCS bowl game but what they’ve done when they’ve gotten there, Utah beating Alabama last year in the Sugar Bowl, I think proves that these teams can play one game with these teams.

One coach was talking about the schedule and doesn’t TCU outpersonnel teams they play? I personally feel that the MWC is one of the most underrated conferences in the country because they have a TV program with Versus and nobody sees these teams.  For TCU to go to Virginia, to go to Clemson, to go to Air Force, to go to BYU, and go to Wyoming and beat these teams the way they have…I think that’s a more impressive resume that what Texas has gone through.

Texas hasn’t played anybody outside of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.  They’ve played nobody all year.  It doesn’t mean they aren’t a great team.  We just won’t know how good they are until they play Nebraska for the Big 12 championship and the national championship to play the winner of the Florida-Alabama game.  We can speculate but we really don’t know how good Texas is.

Listen to the conclusion of the Coaches vs. Computers podcast this week featuring BCS pollster Richard Billingsley and former Georgia head coach Vince Dooley. The Legends Channel roundtable features a conversation about coaching and the rankings of Ole Miss and LSU.

• Dooley says he still would have hired Mark Richt if Paul Johnson was a candidate.
• Dooley: “You first have to learn how not to beat yourself before you learn how to beat somebody else.”
• Billingsley has a head-to-head rule in his computer system. If they have the same record, the team that won must be ranked higher.
• Billingsley’s rankings and the Legends Poll had Ole Miss higher than LSU this week.

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• Dooley says TCU has tremendous balance.
• Dooley believes Florida is a better team, but he understands the argument for Alabama to be No. 1.
• Dooley says Boise State doesn’t have the athletes over all that SEC teams have.
• Billingsley says Nevada may sneak up and surprise Boise State.
• Dooley says Georgia Tech wears down defenses and dominates into the fourth quarter of games.

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NEWPORT BEACH, Ca. – Nebraska Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh has been named the Lott Trophy IMPACT Player of the Week for the third time this season.  Suh is the only player to win the award three times in a year.

Suh, a 6-4, 300-pound senior from Portland, Oregon had nine tackles, two for losses (including 1.5 sacks), two pass break ups and a quarterback hurry in Nebraska’s 17-3 win over Kansas State that clinched the Big 12 North for the Cornhuskers.

Suh, a Lott Trophy semi-finalist, leads Nebraska with 65 tackles, 15 tackles for losses, 20 quarterback hurries. 10 pass breakups and three blocked kicks.

Nebraska will receive $1,000 for its general scholarship fund in recognition of Suh’s achievement.

“Not much more can be said about Ndamukong Suh after the season he’s had,” said former Arkansas Coach Frank Broyles, a member of the Legends Coaches who selected the Player of the Week.  “He is so dominant that opponents have to double or triple team him to stop him, making him the most valuable defensive player on Nebraska.”

Other players nominated for the Player of the Week were Rolando McClain of Alabama, Eric Berry of Tennessee, Gerald McCoy of Oklahoma and Jerry Hughes of TCU.

2009 Lott Trophy IMPACT Players of the Week

1 – Mike Nixon, Arizona State

Week 2 – Derrick Morgan, Georgia Tech

Week 3 – Eric Berry, Tennessee

Week 4 – Pat Angerer, Iowa

Week 5 – Taylor Mays, USC

Week 6 – Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska

Week 7 – Rolando McClain, Alabama

Week 8 – Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska

Week 9 – Sean Weatherspoon, Missouri

Week 10 – Eric Berry, Tennessee

Week 11 – Jerry Hughes, TCU

Week 12 – Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska.

Named after Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, the Lott Trophy is awarded to college football’s Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year.  Now in its sixth year, the Lott Trophy is the first college football award to equally recognize athletic performance and the personal character attributes of the player.

Sponsored by The Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation in Newport Beach, the award is given to the player who exhibits the same characteristics Lott embodied during his distinguished career: Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity.

Past winners of The Lott Trophy:

2004 – David Pollack, Georgia

2005 – DeMeco Ryans, Alabama

2006 – Dante Hughes, California

2007 – Glenn Dorsey, LSU

2008 – James Laurinaitis, Ohio State

In five years, the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation has donated more than $650,000 to various charities, including $25,000 to each of the winners’ universities.

Voters for the award include selected members of the national media, previous finalists, the Board of Directors of the IMPACT Foundation, the IMPACT Foundation Board of Advisors comprised of retired NFL players and the Legends Coaches, a distinguished group of former college head coaches.

Named after Pro Football Hall of Fame member, Ronnie Lott, The Lott Trophy is awarded to college football’s Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year. Founded in 2004 by The Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation, The Lott Trophy is the first and only college football award to equally recognize athletic performance and the personal character attributes of the player. The Lott Trophy is given to the player who exhibits the same characteristics Lott embodied during his distinguished career: Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity. Voters for the award include selected members of the national media, previous finalists, the Board of Directors of the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation and the Legends Coaches which is a distinguished group of former college football head coaches. The sixth annual Lott Trophy dinner will be held December 13th at The Pacific Club in Newport Beach, California. For more information on The Lott Trophy visit:http://www.LottTrophy.com
http://www.lotttrophy.com/
Pete Donovan
The Lott Trophy
760/360-0414
Plays4pars@aol.com

Listen to part one of the Coaches vs. Computers podcast this week featuring BCS pollster Richard Billingsley and former Georgia head coach Vince Dooley. The Legends Channel roundtable features a conversation about rivalry weekend.

• Dooley says that rivalry games are dangerous for the favored team.
• Dooley says Florida and Alabama will be ready because they have so much riding on the game.
• Billingsley says that Texas could be upset by Texas A&M because there has been no major upsets this year.
• Billingsley says the Pittsburgh-West Virginia outcome could greatly affect Cincinnati’s strength of schedule.

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Coaches vs. Computers Part 1: Longhorns should be wary of Texas A&M [ 8:46 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Lott Shots features the Top 5 bone-crushing hits from Week 10. The Legends Channel rated Ohio State LB Etienne Sabino No. 1 this week.

What do you think?

Watch the video and vote for your favorite hit by Tuesday Dec. 1.

The top vote-getter will be named the Lott Shot of the week!

The Texas Longhorns ripped the Kansas Jayhawks 51-20 in Austin. In his last game in Austin, quarterback Colt McCoy went out with a flourish. McCoy was 32 of 41 for 396 yards and 4 touchdowns. With the win, McCoy set an NCAA record for 43 career victories as a starter.

“I don’t think we could have scripted it any better,” head coach Mack Brown said of McCoy. ”With all the pressure on him, he’s showing everybody he’s in here for a big finish.”

For his great play, Colt McCoy is awarded the “Legends Nike Game Ball” for the National Offensive Player of the Week.

Defense | Special Teams | Offense Coordinator | Defensive Coordinator

Filling out a Top 25 ballot each week is a cinch these days for the 17 voters in the Legends Poll. All but four have a 1-2-3 of Alabama, Florida and Texas in some sequence.

But ask the coaching greats to take a crack at a Heisman ballot and you’re liable to get a half a depth chart’s worth of names.

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	Legends Poll
November 23, 2009 – Week 12