Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Who are you picking?
Notre Dame has one game left, and it’s against Stanford. There’s no telling exactly how much a win will improve the type of bowl the Irish get, but they doesn’t mean they want to win this game any less. At the very least, it will be the last game for any players who wish to opt out of the bowl game for whatever reason. So this could be the last of the 2023 Irish as we know them.
Here are some predictions for this game that have been posted by college football experts:
How good is the marriage of OC Graham Harrell and QB Hudson Card?
It will be a completely different look for the Purdue Boilermakers when they take the field on Sept. 2 against the Fresno State Bulldogs to open the 2023 campaign.
Jeff Brohm served as the head coach over the last six seasons in West Lafayette, Indiana. He returned to his alma mater to run the Louisville Cardinals program after Scott Satterfield left for the Cincinnati Bearcats opening.
The Boilermakers turned to a rising name in the coaching community to run the program. Ryan Walters was the architect behind the Illinois Fighting Illini defense that ranked among the nation’s best. Now he gets the opportunity to run his own program after 13 years as an assistant. Walters played safety for the Colorado Buffaloes from 2004 to 2008.
In Paul Myerberg’s series on power rankings and one big question for each conference team, he identified one major inquiry for Purdue. The Boilermakers were ranked No. 11 in the Big Ten.
‘How good is the marriage of OC Graham Harrell and QB Hudson Card?’
New Purdue coordinator Graham Harrell takes over an offense that loses three huge pieces in quarterback Aidan O’Connell, wide receiver Charlie Jones and tight end Payne Durham. In comes Texas transfer Hudson Card, who started multiple games the past two seasons with 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions. Early feedback this spring has been positively glowing: Card has been singled out by teammates for his production, command and leadership qualities during the transition to a new staff. – Myerberg
Card was dependable at Texas but it felt like he never really got a fair shake as the starting quarterback. Casey Thompson was originally the backup before taking over for the Longhorns in 2021. Last season, Texas had former Ohio State signee Quinn Ewers under center. Given that Arch Manning was coming to town, it was time for Card to find a new opportunity.
He will now be paired up with another former Big 12 quarterback, Graham Harrell. The Red Raiders’ all-time leading passer has been making the rounds as an assistant with Oklahoma State, Washington State, North Texas, USC, and West Virginia. Perhaps this will be Harrell’s opportunity to shine with a more defensive minded head coach.
We will soon find out if this marriage is a match made in heaven.
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Open Source AI ChatGPT ranked the top 10 Big 12 quarterbacks of all-time. Four of them were Oklahoma Sooners.
Over the life of the Big 12 conference, it’s become synonymous with high-scoring offenses and high-level quarterback play.
There have been Heisman trophy winners and first-overall picks, and the conference that’s been at the forefront of the aerial assault that’ taking college football by storm.
We’ve all spent time ranking quarterbacks, but for this version, we thought it’d be fun to let the computers do it. Using Open AI’s ChatGPT, we simply asked, “Who are the best Big 12 quarterbacks of all time?”
Its response?
These quarterbacks have all made significant contributions to their respective teams and have impressive statistics and accomplishments. However, it’s important to note that there have been many other great quarterbacks in the Big 12 who could also be considered for this list. – ChatGPT
Their top 10 is pretty solid. There are certainly arguments to be made for several others that made significant impacts or even won a Heisman trophy, but not bad from a computer-generated AI.
Here’s a look at the rankings.
Sam Hartman and Clayton Tune climbed the all-time list after the 2022 campaign.
Scoring touchdowns is the name of the game and some quarterbacks did it better than others.
The single-season record currently sits at 62, held by former Houston Baptist and Western Kentucky quarterback Bailey Zappe. He set the record with the Hilltoppers in 2021, less than two seasons after LSU Tigers’ quarterback Joe Burrow broke Colt Brennan’s record of 58. Burrow threw 60 touchdown passes en route to winning Heisman Trophy.
It goes beyond one season for the career passing touchdown records. Which quarterbacks showed up consistently each season to rack up the points and give their team the opportunity to win? Plenty of names on the top 25 list are similar to our rundown of the career passing yards list. However, the order might look a bit different for some players.
Former Wake Forest quarterback and current Notre Dame signal-caller Sam Hartman climbed the list after the 2022 season. He was joined by former Houston Cougars gunslinger Clayton Tune, who also climbed the ranks.
We break down the top 25 passing touchdown leaders in FBS history. Ties are listed in alphabetical order.
Sam Hartman and Holton Ahlers climbed the all-time list after the 2022 campaign.
Following the 2022 college football season, our look back at the record books showed two new passers joined the top 25 in FBS history.
Eastern Carolina’s Holton Ahler threw for 3,708 yards to jump all the way to No. 11. He missed out on the top 10 by 146 yards. Likewise, Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman joined the top 20. He checked in at No. 19 with 12,967 yards knocking Ryan Lindley out of the top 25.
Hartman completed his fifth year at the collegiate level and will return for a sixth, but will suit for Notre Dame in 2023. In five seasons, Hartman has averaged 2,593 yards per season. That output in the upcoming season would move him up to No. 5 overall.
Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel is another quarterback to observe this upcoming season. Gabriel checks in at No. 69 with 11,205 yards. If he can reproduce his 2022 outcome, the southpaw could climb into the top 25 and land at No. 9.
The top 25 career passing yardage leaders are courtesy of Sports-Reference.
Doege and Harrell, two members of the Mike Leach coaching tree, find a common home. Lincoln Riley, of course, is part of the Leach tree and its Texas Tech roots.
The USC Trojans’ coaching tree continues to move to different parts of the country.
Former offensive coordinator Graham Harrell spent one year at West Virginia before being named the OC at Purdue once Ryan Walters was hired as the new head coach.
Now, another former USC assistant is joining the Boilermaker staff: former tight end coach Seth Doege, who will be the tight end coach for Purdue (h/t Matt Zenitz of On3).
Doege was the tight end coach at USC in 2021 and then went to Ole Miss as an analyst for the Rebels on Lane Kiffin’s staff. Kiffin is, of course, another former USC coach.
Doege was also USC’s offensive quality control coach for two years, so he and Harrell know each other from their time working with Clay Helton in Southern California.
Also, both Harrell and Doege are former Tech quarterbacks, so they have even more familiarity with one another.
Purdue watched Jeff Brohm leave for Louisville in a bit of a surprising move, and they pivoted and brought in Walters, who was an often-mentioned favorite for the Colorado Buffaloes job after the year he had with Illinois as the defensive coordinator.
Purdue is searching for an offensive transformation, and bringing in Doege and Harrell is a good way to get things started.
Purdue is set to hire Ole Miss analyst Seth Doege as tight ends coach, sources tell @on3sports. First reported by @tomdienhart1.
Doege, a former Texas Tech starting QB, was USC’s tight ends coach in 2021. https://t.co/DlIXY67ten
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 5, 2023
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How many can you name?
Just a week ago the football world lost a great influencer of the game. Mike Leach was gone far too soon but the impact he had will never be forgotten. Many Oklahoma fans remember him for that 1999 season, and who could forget the playsheet trick in the Red River Rivalry game?
From high school to the NFL, you can see parts of the Air Raid System being installed. If you loved passing offense, Mike Leach was the man for you. Even his running game had elements of the passing offense. His teams put up points and yards in flourishes.
At Texas Tech from 2002-2009, Leach’s offense ranked among the top 15 in points per game every single season. With Graham Harrell as the quarterback, it reached its peak at 43.8 that season, which was No. 3 in FBS. Twice at Washington State, it was among the top 15 scoring offenses.
Beyond the scoring, he perfected the Air Raid and others have taken concepts and added them to their offenses. Leach left his mark on the game and now his disciples will carry it forward.
I put together a list of the most notable assistants to become head coaches and high-level assistants. From the 2000 Texas Tech team alone, there were a total of nine players and assistants who would move on to become head coach.
Former #USC OC Graham Harrell is waiting to see what the 2024 #B1G football schedule will look like. If USC plays Purdue, the Trojans will likely face Harrell.
The Big Ten Conference is one year away for the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins. In 2024, the new era begins for the Los Angeles schools and for the Big Ten as well.
When the Trojans make the jump, there will probably be a very familiar face coaching on the sidelines for one Big Ten program — if he doesn’t get fired before then. That coach is Graham Harrell, the former USC offensive coordinator who went to West Virginia in the same role.
After just one year with the Mountaineers, Harrell is joining the Purdue Boilermaker staff with new head coach Ryan Walters, who was the defensive coordinator at Illinois. It is quite a turn of events in the coaching carousel, and it puts USC in Purdue’s path, though a 2024 Big Ten football schedule has yet to be revealed. That’s the next big point of uncertainty which still has to be resolved.
Source: #Purdue is set to hire Graham Harrell as its offensive coordinator, under new coach Ryan Walters. Harrell spent this season as #WestVirginia's OC after a three-year run in the same role at #USC.
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) December 16, 2022
West Virginia finished just 5-7 this season, although the Mountaineers averaged 30.6 points per game (90th in the country). Former USC QB JT Daniels got most of the work for the Mountaineers.
Purdue’s offense averaged 28.1 PPG (130th in the nation), and we can only imagine what it will look like with Harrell’s air-raid-style offense.
Walters was a strong candidate for the Colorado Buffaloes job — his alma mater — before the school hired Deion Sanders. Nonetheless, he got a Big Ten job and takes over the team that won the Big Ten West this season.
In 2024, Graham Harrell will face the USC Trojans — in the Big Ten. Who ever saw that coming?
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Many college football luminaries, including Lincoln Riley, mourned the death of Mike Leach, whose central legacy is his influence on the evolution of offense in the sport.
On Tuesday morning, Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach passed away at the age of 61.
It was a deeply sad moment for many across the country, and reality set in as the news came down from Mississippi State.
Leach was a beloved head coach, and one of the most unique personalities college football has ever seen, in this or any other era of the sport’s 153-year history.
Leach’s coaching tree was long and influential. Lincoln Riley — the current USC Trojans head coach — credits a ton of his success to Leach.
After the unfortunate news hit the wires and the headlines, Riley, Alex Grinch, Gus Malzahn, and many other prominent figures in college football came to show their support for Mike Leach.
What emerges from these tributes is an appreciation of how great an innovator Leach was within the larger evolution of football. The number of credentialed coaches and tacticians taught or influenced by Leach is expansive. That’s a central part of Leach’s football legacy, which will become apparent when you see the recollections and photos below:
Oklahoma looks to get back on the right side of the win column on the road against the West Virginia Mountaineers. Sooners Wire Staff predictions.
The Oklahoma Sooners (5-4 and 2-4) look to rebound from their loss a week ago to the Baylor Bears on the road against the West Virginia Mountaineers (3-6, 1-5). The Sooners are undefeated since West Virginia joined the Big 12. They’ve won nine in a row, and generally, they’ve been high-scoring affairs. Last year’s 16-13 win in Norman was an aberration, to say the least.
Against Baylor, the Sooners’ offense couldn’t get out of its own way, and the defense couldn’t stop a Baylor rushing attack that put up 281 yards, led by Craig Williams’ 192.
Oklahoma will look to bounce back with a cleaner performance on the road in what is generally perceived to be a tough place to play, even if that hasn’t been the case for the Oklahoma Sooners.
Let’s get ready for Saturday with this week’s staff predictions.
