The World According To Carl

Well, this weekend was a major bummer for me in regards to football both college and pro. All three football teams of which I am a fan (Mississippi State Bulldogs, Florida State Seminoles, & New Orleans Saints) all lost this weekend. Of the three, the Saints came closest to winning but came up just a tad short.

I had hoped the Saints would play well against the Buccaneers, but considering all the injuries plaguing the team and other issues, they just didn’t play as well as they could have and as such came up on the losing end Sunday afternoon. And to make matters worse for me personally, I hear that due to salary cap issues and the sad fact that he’s lost a step or two, Deuce McAllister’s career as a Saint may be coming to a close at the end of the season. Keeping in mind that I’m a Mississippi State alumn, McAllister is one of the few Ole Miss grads I was ever willing and able to support. Okay, that’s being a bit tongue-in-cheek. McAllister’s abilities were wonderful when he was younger and before the knee injuries he sustained. I even purchased a McAllister jersey. However it is undeniable that McAllister has lost a lot of his speed and quickness and he seems to be more hesitant at hitting holes he used to burst through prior to his injuries. It’s sad but that’s the way the NFL is and he is indeed released or traded at the end of the seaon, he will be greatly missed. With the Saints facing major salary cap issues at the end of the season, they are going to have to unload some high-salary players and several reports indicate Deuce is near or at the top of the short list. Oh well.

And speaking of the Saints, I’ve been critical of owner Tom Benson for a long time now and honestly feel that in order for the Saints to take it to the next level and be a consistent playoff team the first and most important change to be made is change in ownership. I feel Benson is bad for the team and it really showed after Hurricane Katrina when he kept indicating his desire to move the team. What a way to kill morale. And apparently he’s not well liked by players and staff. For example, Benson routinely brings automobiles from the many dealerships he owns to the Saints’ practice facility, and then he attempts to sell those vehicles to his players. According to various reports and substantiated by the N.O. Times-Picayune, many players don’t appreciate nor like Benson’s activities in this regard. So prior to last Monday night’s home win over the Packers, someone or some group, most likely a player or players, smeared human excrement all over the vehicles Benson brought to the Superdome that evening. The players don’t respect Benson. The staff doesn’t respect Benson. Even a lot of New Orleanians don’t respect Benson. Most don’t like Benson either. So when things deteriorate so badly that your own players spread excrement all over your own property it’s time to get the message and pass the team over to someone new. Not family, not friends, not business associates, but someone fresh and new. Benson, like Al Davis, keeps poking his nose in football business where it doesn’t belong. The major difference is that Davis actually knows somewhat the inner workings of a football team (albeit his notions are outdated) while Benson does not. Bottom line: As long as Tom Benson owns the New Orleans Saints, they will remain a second-tier team and never will join the elites.

In regards to college football, both the MSU Bulldogs and the FSU Seminoles were defeated by their in-state rivals. Florida State lost to the Florida Gators by a score of 45-15 and Mississippi State lost to Ole Miss 45-0.

Florida State showed flashes of brilliance against Urban Myers’ Gator team especially on the defensive front but could not play well enough consistently to even give the Gators a decent game. The Gators pretty much dominated the game and took advantage of FSU’s weaknesses especially at QB and the defensive secondary. For some reason, FSU’s quarterbacks have not developed to their potential in the past several years and as such is one of the major weak spots FSU has. It certainly showed Saturday afternoon in the rainy game. I hope that will turn around soon.

Now the Egg Bowl game between MSU & Ole Miss was just plain embarrassing for MSU fans everywhere. Ole Miss dominated at every position throughout the entire game and absolutely crushed the Dawgs. MSU’s offense had -51 yards rushing (26 rushing attempts for a -2 yard average) and only 88 yards passing (10 completions in 30 attempts for a 2.9 yard average). That’s only 37 total yards! That’s utterly pathetic and even though MSU suffered with numerous key injuries and players removed from the team for various violations this shows the coaching staff’s lack of ability to effectively prepare and motivate the team. And it showed. The Bulldogs, soon after being scored upon several times in the first quarter, pretty much gave up. The hustle and intensity usually associated with the Egg Bowl disappeared from the Bulldog players and they played like they just wanted to go home. Nothing Sylvester Croom nor his coaching staff did during halftime motivated them to play with any intensity in the second half. This issue lies directly on the coach’s shoulders. After the game, head coach Sylvester Croom met with MSU athletic director Greg Byrne and after refusing to agree to coachings changes, Croom tendered his resignation which was accepted by Byrne.

Frankly, I can’t say I’m at all surprised and I won’t miss Croom much at all. He’s never had much success as head coach at MSU and I believe the 2007 season’s success was largely due to a lot of luck because they won several games they would otherwise had lost not due to outstanding play, but due to their opposition playing so poorly. Admittedly, Croom inherited a team with a lot of outstanding problems, the biggest of which was the NCAA sanctions placed on the team due to several infractions under previous head coach Jackie Sherrill. Croom could only manage 3 wins during his first two seasons at MSU. According to published reports, Croom was having some success off the field drawing commitments from several top recruits, including a quarterback. However the status of those recuits will be in question and many of them may go elsewhere.

Now it is up to first-year A.D. Greg Byrne to do whatever needs to be done to replace Croom with a better coach. Running backs coach Rockey Felker, who was once head coach at Mississippi State (not very good himself), will run the team while the Bulldogs search for Croom’s replacement. Already reports list possible replacements as former Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables, East Carolina coach Skip Holtz and TCU coach Gary Patterson [Dec. 12, 2008 UPDATE: Add Louisiana Tech's Derek Dooley and Boise State's Chris Peterson to the list of possibilities in various published reports. MSU athletics has retained the consulting firm Neinas Sports Services to advise on the search for Croom's replacement, which could take several weeks.]. All of these names are merely speculative at this point however of those four, I think Venables and Holtz might have the best shot of improving the team with Patterson next in line. Bowden, on the other hand, wouldn’t do any worse than Croom but I don’t think he would be successful in the SEC at MSU but I could be wrong. Any of the four would be an improvement over Croom and would probably improve upon this season’s abysmal 4-8 record. As a major Bulldog fan, I definitely will be keeping a close watch on further developments and hope Byrne and the athletic department at MSU will begin the coaching search as soon as possible. And I will definitely be hoping for a surprisingly successful coach.

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