Morning Buzz
Here's a chart comparing Pete Carroll and Lane Kiffin's first year as a college head coach. Note that I do not endorse any suggestion that this means USC will win seven straight Pac-10 titles under Kiffin.
OVERALL RECORD: Carroll 6-6; Kiffin 7-6.
CONFERENCE: Carroll 5-3 Pac-10, 5th Place; Kiffin 4-4 SEC-East, 2nd Place.
NON-CONFERENCE: Carroll 1-2; Kiffin 3-1.
BOWL GAME: Carroll - L 10-6 Utah, Las Vegas Bowl; Kiffin - L 37-14 Virginia
Tech, Chick-Fil-A Bowl.
VS. CONFERENCE CHAMP: Carroll - L 24-22 Oregon at Eugene (Oregon #2 in 2001
Final AP/BCS Poll); Kiffin - L 12-10 Alabama at Tuscaloosa (Alabama #1 in 2009
Final AP/BCS Poll).
VS. ARCHRIVAL: Carroll - W 27-0 UCLA; Kiffin - W 30-24 (OT) at Kentucky.
VS. RICK NEUHEISEL: Carroll - L 27-24 at Washington; Kiffin - L 19-15 UCLA.
FINAL 6 GAMES OF SEASON (not including bowl): Carroll - 5-1 (loss at Notre
Dame); Kiffin - 4-2 (losses at Alabama & Mississippi).
What's up with the pessimism Wolf? Trojans can continue to dominate the next decade!
Scott,
I know you are an excellent reporter that never jumps the gun on a story - but let me help you out.
Tennessee's two main archrivals are Alabama and Florida. Kentucky is not much of a rival - Vanderbilt is more so.
It's also important to note that 2 of the 3 non-conference wins were against Ohio and Western Kentucky, who was playing their first 1-A game ever.
I'm sure you knew that though. Gene - the Sports Director - must be so proud right now.
Probably not a good predictor because Kiffin is not keeping his team whereas Carroll did.
"Winner’s bias is perhaps especially pronounced in sport. The behaviors of winners are remembered and dissected far more thoroughly than those of losers, and given greater weight, even if the outcome was decided by a tiny margin."
From the guys at the Freakonomics blog.
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/survivor-bias-on-the-gridiron/
BRUIN NC--It's even a bit more complicated than that.
Ask six Vol fans who the archrival is and you'll get six answers. Ask someone in Chattanooga and they'll probably say Georgia. An old-timer will say Vandy, since General Neyland was hired to end Vandy's dominance of the rivalry, or Kentucky, where they battled for the Beer Barrel until 1999. Alabama has the traditional Third Saturday in October game, while Florida is traditionally on the Third Saturday in September.
If someone considers half of the games in a season rivalry games, there probably isn't an archrival. Of course, I get into regular arguments over who USC's football archrival is, since I think that the USC-Notre Dame rivalry is more impressive/important than the USC-ucla crosstown rivalry--which is the rivalry in all of the rest of the sports.
Topher
Well said, Topher.