Mallory: Notre Dame may have to change

The University of Nebraska has joined the Big Ten conference.

The announcement has been anticipated all week and is the second in a line of several expected realignment moves from teams in the Big 12.

Legend Bill Mallory says adding Nebraska is a major step for the Big Ten, which is looking to beef up its conference to enhance the Big Ten Network.

“I’m just kind of sitting back, and I wasn’t sure just how it was going to work out,” Mallory said. “I think (former Legends Poll voter) Tom Osborne felt it was a good move. Without question, it will add to the quality of the Big Ten with Nebraska coming in.

“With Nebraska, you’re talking about one of the top programs. Bo Pelini has done a great job getting that program back. I had a chance to see them play Colorado last year and they’re on their way back. It’s certainly going to upgrade the conference, that’s for sure.”

One major question mark for the Big Ten now surrounds the team from South Bend, Ind. Can the Big Ten flex its muscles enough to secure Notre Dame?

“When I was in the Big Ten, we really tried to get Notre Dame,” Mallory said. “But they had that independent mindset. They may have to change.

“There’s been a study done that they would make more money if they would come into the Big Ten. You know, that Big Ten Network is making money. They would do better if they were in the Big Ten.”

Mallory says that Notre Dame has been wrapped up in the tradition of being independent and it may haunt the school this time.

“I heard a comment made by one sports writer and I thought it made some sense,” Mallory said. “With all this happening, if Notre Dame stays independent, they may have a problem with their scheduling. It’s going to really have an effect on them with the BCS.

“They’re going to have to take a hard look, I think, at where they’re going. They may have to reconsider and decide that the Big Ten looks pretty good to them.”

Colorado a good fit for Pac-10

The Pac-10 announced yesterday that the University of Colorado agreed to leave the Big 12 and join its conference.

With that, Colorado became the first of six Big 12 schools rumored to jump ship and head west.

Former Colorado head coach Bill Mallory was a bit stunned by the news, but he says Colorado could benefit from the move.

“I had the opportunity to coach at the University of Colorado,” Mallory said. “We used to play Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford and so forth. And if that’s what Colorado wants to do, I think it’s a good fit for them to go to the Pac-10.”

Mallory says that joining the Pac-10 not only benefits the school monetarily, but it works out geographically for Colorado as well.

“Colorado has always recruited the west coast — particularly California — very well for the most part,” he said. “The move should enhance that.”

Another Big 12 North school is expected to formally announce a decision to leave the conference this afternoon. Nebraska is rumored to be joining the Big Ten, a move that will enhance the competitiveness of the conference and the reach of the Big Ten Network.

Once Nebraska leaves, only four Big 12 North schools will remain, and most of the Big 12 South schools are expected to leave next week.

“That’s had to be a hard hit,” Mallory said, “particularly in that North division of the Big 12 with (Nebraska and Colorado) leaving. You just wonder, too, what the heck is going to happen to Kansas and Kansas State.”

Slocum: This is more than an evolution

Time heals everything.

It may not keep the Big 12 intact, but over time, we will all adjust to the new collegiate conference landscape. At least that’s what former Texas A&M head coach R.C. Slocum believes.

Slocum was the Aggies head coach in 1994 when the Big Eight joined forces with four schools from the Southwestern Conference — including Texas A&M — to form the Big 12.

“In the back of my mind, when we put the Big 12 together and had realignments around college football,” Slocum said in a phone interview, “I never thought that it would be the last time (conference realignment) would ever happen. Because the same things that drove it back then will continue to drive it. And that is the money.”

The Pac-10 hopes to form the first super conference and establish a television network like the Big Ten Network that will create additional revenue opportunities for the conference and the schools involved.

According to orangebloods.com, who first reported it, the Pac-10 has extended invites to six schools from the Big 12, including Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Colorado.

Slocum says that the driving forces for expansion are “the money, the exposure, and how you can best position yourself to take advantage of the interest by the fans and the interest in seeing the games and the interest in having the good matchups.”

On Wednesday, Nebraska reportedly decided to leave the Big 12 to join the Big Ten after receiving clearance from its board of regents. A formal announcement is expected on Friday.

According to orangebloods.com, Nebraska leaving has doomed the Big 12. The Web site reported that Texas officials gathered their coaching staffs and told them that they tried to save the Big 12 but could not.

“When you go through these things, they’re painful at the time,“ Slocum said. “But, you know, college football will survive, the individual schools will survive. It will take time to see the overall effects of it, what it ends up being.

“As you look at this, back when we went through this with the Big 12, when we combined the old Big 8 conference and the Southwest Conference. There were parts of those leagues that I’m sure a lot of people hated to lose. I know as a long time follower of the SWC and a coach in the SWC, I hated that we had to give that up.

“At the same time, there were a lot of positives about the Big 12. It raised the level of competition, it raised the level of exposure that the teams got. And certainly raised the level of financial support that we got out of television. I think overall, it was good for us, it was good for the schools.”

Slocum says that eventually the coaches at schools in the newly formed conferences will adjust. College football might look different to fans, but the hype will grow and the new matchups will become more comfortable.

“It takes time to develop the familiarity,” Slocum said. “You know, every school around the country has teams that they’ve played for a long period of time. You know those people, you know their fans, you know their teams. But it takes a while to really develop the appreciation for the rivalries — the new rivalries — that comes out of league expansion and people being partners in an enterprise that were not partners for long.

“And when this re-shuffling occurs — if it does in fact occur — then there will be a starting over for some of these schools and it will just take some time for these schools to get accustomed to their new homes.”

Bowden adds more experience to Legends Poll

In 34 seasons at Florida State, Bobby Bowden’s name became synonymous with success as he turned a program that was down on its luck when he took over in 1976 into a perennial national contender.

Bowden’s storied coaching career came to an end after the 2009 season, but he won’t be staying away from the game for long.

Bowden is now the 19th voting member in the Legends Poll — a top-25 college football poll voted on by such legendary former college football coaches as Vince Dooley, Gene Stallings, LaVell Edwards, John Robinson and, as of recently, Bobby Ross.

“Well, what (the poll is) hoping to do is get some people who are real qualified to vote, and nobody’s got anything involved in it,” Bowden said. “I think it’ll be very accurate. I think you’ll get about as good a pickings as you’re gonna get.”

Bowden brings a wealth of experience to a poll that already includes 13 College Football Hall of Fame inductees. In his 44 years as a college football head coach, Bowden won 375 games, good enough to be the second all-time winningest coach in Division I history.

Bowden, who was also a head coach at Howard College (currently Samford) and West Virginia, only had one losing season during his tenure at Florida State. He guided the Seminoles to 32 bowl games, winning 21. He won national titles with Florida State in 1993 and 1999, along with earning 12 ACC championships.

Finding it difficult to step away from such a successful career, Bowden thinks being a voting member of the Legends Poll will keep him connected to college football.

“Yeah, it sure does, because you have to study it,” Bowden said. “You have to keep up with what’s going on. So it’ll revive (my connection to the game).”

The Legends Poll was formed five years ago by Executive Director Andy Curtin to offer an alternative to the college football polls voted on by current college football coaches or members of the media. Each week during the college football season, Legends Poll coaches are provided DVDs of Division I teams throughout the year which they review and scrutinize in an effort to be the most informed college football poll in the country.

The Legends Poll coaches participate in a weekly teleconference to discuss their picks and argue points pertaining to the teams they’re assigned. Bowden feels the level of college football coaching experience represented by the Legends Poll provides a fair and accurate portrayal of the college football landscape from week to week.

“Well, there are guys that you would respect their opinions and the contacts they have,” Bowden said. “You’ve got men that know what they’re doing.”

Ross, Dooley high on Bradford, Tebow

Bobby Ross knows a thing or two about the NFL draft. After all, he spent nearly nine years as an NFL head coach with the San Diego Chargers and the Detroit Lions.

He knows exactly what NFL head coaches and front office personnel are going through right now as the start of the 2010 NFL draft is just less than a week away. Ross suspects that most teams have all the draft-eligible players rated by now and are getting into mock drafts to prepare for any possible scenarios that could come up starting with Thursday’s first round.

Ross, however, believes teams in the market for a quarterback have a bit more work to do. With the top quarterbacks available in the draft seemingly neck-and-neck on most teams boards, Ross said there are a lot of great things about each quarterback that teams should be looking at.

The two that have caught the coaching legend’s eye, however, are former Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford and former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.

Tebow has drawn a wide range of criticism for his style of play, and there has been much speculation about his chances for success at the pro level. If Ross was still running an NFL team, however, he wouldn’t hesitate to draft the national championship quarterback.

“I would still be very, very high on a guy like Tebow for his intangibles,” Ross said during a phone interview from his Richmond, Va., home last week. “I know everybody’s talking about his release and that type of thing, but that type of guy, his leadership and his contribution to team and all of those things are factors and did weigh in heavily with us (in San Diego and Detroit).

“Character was a huge factor, and he has all of that. I think, what he doesn’t have now, he’ll develop on his own. I would rate him very high in that area, too.”

Tebow has worked on his throwing motion, which is said by many NFL experts to be so low that it would be easy for defenders to knock the ball out of his hand. During his pro day last month, Tebow put his new throwing motion on display, showing that he has made improvements in that area.

Ross said that what sets Tebow apart and makes him worth a high pick is his commitment to making the necessary changes in his game that will put him in position to be a successful quarterback in the NFL.

“There are some that are contributors. He commits,” Ross said. “There’s a difference. I think he has that commitment, and I think that’s very important.

“I’m a huge fan of his. I really am. There’s been very few that have come along that are like him. Because he’s got a couple of mechanics that need to be corrected, hell, all of them have something, you know? Everybody has something.”

Former University of Georgia head coach Vince Dooley agrees. Dooley had a chance to see Tebow throughout his college career as Georgia and Florida play in one of the most storied college football rivalry games each year.

Dooley also got to watch former Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford — currently with Detroit after being picked No. 1 overall by the Lions in last year’s draft — and offered a contrasting view of the two quarterbacks.

Dooley said Stafford was more prepared for the NFL because of his physical abilities, but Tebow’s intangibles should cause the NFL teams looking for a quarterback to take pause.

“In the case of Tebow, some question his ability to throw the ball and whether he has a strong arm to throw the ball like a prototype, like Stafford. There’s no question about (Tebow’s) intangibles,” Dooley said. “His delivery is questioned, and there are those kinds of questions out there. But that’s why he may be totally passed up by one and then taken by somebody else that really believes in his intangibles and that he can overcome some of the mechanical shortcomings.”

Ross and Dooley said Tebow’s level of first-year production in the NFL relies on several factors.

“He’ll have to get with the right coach and the right team, and I think that it might marry that way,” Dooley said. “Maybe, on paper, some will ask some questions about him being drafted high, but those that really know him will go ahead and do it despite the fact that, on paper, he might not be the model of who is a first-round quarterback draft choice.”

Bradford is another quarterback who caught the eye of Ross, who coached at Maryland, Georgia Tech and Army before retiring in 2006. Ross had a chance to see Bradford play in person while the Oklahoma quarterback was healthy. Bradford, who is said to be the favorite as this draft’s No. 1 overall pick, struggled with a shoulder injury for much of last season.

Ross, however, said Bradford is clearly the best quarterback available in the draft if he’s healthy.

“One of the most accurate passers I’ve ever seen,” Ross said. “If you had to say anything, he was truly a pro-type quarterback. A classic pro. Big, tall, good arm, live arm, had a good degree of mobility, but the thing that really impressed you about him was his accuracy.

“He usually got the ball to the receiver on the run. To me, that was a key factor, to get someone that accurate. All of them are accurate, but this guy was really accurate.”

Asked if he had to rate the quarterbacks as if he was in a position to draft them, Ross with no hesitation named Bradford, then Tebow, then Texas quarterback Colt McCoy. Ross didn’t get much of a chance to see McCoy, but Ross said he got the impression that McCoy is a top-flight competitor.

McCoy was injured early in the national title game against Alabama and wasn’t able to return to the game.

Legends Poll adds Ross to its Roster

Even in retirement, Bobby Ross couldn’t stay away from college football. After calling it a career with Army in 2007, Ross kept himself in the game for a year by providing radio commentary of games for Westwood One.

Two years later, Ross is taking on a more influential role.

The former coach who won a national championship with Georgia Tech in 1990 is the newest coach to join the Legends Poll — a top 25 poll voted on by legendary college football coaches.

“Any coaches who are asked to give their opinion, it’s a real honor, but I also think it’s a very worthwhile thing for evaluations for the BCS and things of this nature,” Ross said during a phone interview Monday. “It’s going to be interesting for me because I do follow college football when I’m not doing anything, but now I’m going to be a part of it.”

Ross becomes the 18th Legends Poll voting coach and joins an illustrious group that already boasts 13 College Football Hall of Fame members and six national championships.

“I feel very honored. When you look at the selection, it’s a who’s who. I don’t know how I fit in there, but I’m glad I do,” Ross said. “I’m honored to be invited to join it. I think I’m going to enjoy myself. I talked to (current Legends Poll coach) Don Nehlen about it and we competed when he was at West Virginia and I was at Maryland, and it was good to renew some acquaintances in coaching, so I’m very excited about it.”

After spending four years at Maryland, Ross took over at Georgia Tech in 1987 and built the Yellow Jackets into a national contender. In 1990, he led them to an 11-0-1 record and a national title by finishing No. 1 in the final Coaches’ Poll.

Ross, whose career as a head coach spanned from 1973-2006, spent eight years in the NFL as the head coach of the San Diego Chargers and Detroit Lions. In just his third year in the NFL, Ross guided the Chargers to an AFC Championship and a Super Bowl appearance. The Chargers lost the Super Bowl 49-26 to the San Francisco 49ers.

Ross’ three years with the Lions included one playoff appearance in 1999. The Lions haven’t been back to the postseason since Ross’ departure.

Ross came back to the college game in 2004 to take over at Army one year after the Black Knights recorded an 0-13 season. Ross went 9-25 during his time with Army before retiring in 2007.

After spending a year with Westwood One, Ross decided to step away for a year. With a son in Afghanistan and a grandson playing high school football, Ross wanted to spend some time with his family.

But the lure of again getting involved in college football in some capacity was too strong. That’s why the Legends Poll became the obvious fit for Ross, especially considering what Legends Poll coaches do to make their decisions.

Each coach is given certain teams during the football season to be experts on. After each game, the coach is sent game film to study their teams and know every aspect of how that team performs week to week.

Ross is excited about the chance to sit down and scrutinize film again, and more importantly, be influential in the college football world again.

“I’ve got three teams. I think right now it’s going to be Maryland, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech,” Ross said. “If any of those three appear that they might be out of the picture for the BCS, then it might be that I’m given another team and I’ll look a little further and that type of thing.

“So I think it’s going to be really fun looking at film. I always love to look at film. That was something I really enjoyed, and I’ll be making a contribution to something I think is very, very important in college football.”

Meyer says Florida will ‘load up’ on Bama running game

Florida head coach Urban Meyer and former West Virginia head coach Don Nehlen join Tim Brando on the SN Radio Network to discuss the SEC championship game.

• Meyer said one of the first calls he made when he was hired at Bowling Green was Don Nehlen.
• Nehlen said the Legends Poll voters believe the SEC Championship may decide the national championship.
• Meyer said the SEC is as tough as ever. He said the teams are knocking each other off.
• Nehlen asked Meyer if Florida can stop the running game of Alabama. Meyer said that McElroy has improved at quarterback and agreed the key is to stop Ingram and the running game.

Saban says the SEC title is a one-game season

• James said it means a lot to him that Saban is succeeding in his career.
• Saban said his team has struggled in rivalry games, but showed resiliency.
• Saban said the SEC Championship game is a one-game season.
• James said Florida’s defense is tough and Saban agreed.

Mailbag: ACC Title Game – Clemson vs Georgia Tech

SN Today question: Who will win the rematch between Clemson – Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship game in Tampa?

Virginia coach George Welsh: “I think the ACC championship game will go down to the wire. Georgia Tech has been rolling over opponents lately, but they had a close call with Clemson early in the season. Here are some things to consider about Clemson now.  Their offense is better now; the quarterback has gotten a whole lot better.  They are utilizing their great speed with Spiller and Ford. And any time you have to play a team a second time in the same season, you can have a chance to correct your mistakes from the first game. Georgia Tech doesn’t have the greatest defense and they just squeaked out that earlier win. I could see Clemson winning this one if they stay away from mistakes.”

Championship weekend preview

The 2009 regular season is culminating with several intriguing match-ups on championship weekend, and all of the questions will be answered. Which team will prevail in the SEC championship game? Which Oregon school will win the Pac-10 and go to the Rose Bowl? Can Nebraska pull of the upset over Texas? The Legends weighed in on a roundtable discussion.

Who goes to the Rose Bowl?

John Robinson: I think Oregon has played just a bit better all year. And with Masoli, the quarterback for Oregon, you can’t find the ball. It is incredible the coaching job done at Oregon State. They don’t bring in highly wanted guys, but they certainly bring guys who can play.

Mike Riley is an excellent QB coach and his players have flourished under him. I was up there with those Civil War battles. And Oregon is a finesse teams and if Oregon State can force fumbles and create their opportunity, they could win.

Don James: I was really impressed with the Pac-10 with 5 teams in most top 25 polls who have to play everybody. On another note, I wanted to compliment Boise State playing through that weather vs. Nevada. I have been very impressed with that team and how well they are coached.

What does Nebraska do well that could help win the Big 12?

Fisher DeBerry: Defensively they are pretty good, but offensively they are just solid. I think they will be ready and we will just have to wait and see. I think all and all I have to say their defense is pretty good. I was impressed with Texas and offensively they are a darn good football team. I was also impressed with A&M’s growth this season.

Who will win the ACC Championship game?

Vince Dooley: I don’t know how good Clemson is on offense. I said early in the year Georgia Tech was only average on defense. They had no answer for Georgia, and I think they caught Georgia on and all time emotional high and Georgia Tech couldn’t keep up with them. Who knows what Paul Johnson will do versus Clemson.

I think both teams will be ready to play. And Georgia’s offensive line finally played like they were capable of doing and shut down Tech on the inside. I think the line of scrimmage is the key to the game.

I think Clemson can get the penetration on Tech.

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