Tag: USC Football

Notre Dame Football: How 2019 Opponents Fared in Bowl Season

For those keeping score, Fighting Irish foes from this season went 3-5 in their respective bowl games.

The 2019 bowl season has come and gone (for the most part, two games actually still remain) and all of Notre Dame’s opponents from the season that just wrapped up have finished their seasons.

How did all do in the post-season?

Let’s take a look:

Louisville Cardinals:
38-28 win over Mississippi State in the Music City Bowl to finish 8-5

Georgia Bulldogs:
26-14 win over Baylor in the Sugar Bowl to wrap-up 12-2

Virginia Cavaliers:
36-28 loss to Florida in the Orange Bowl to finish 9-5

USC Trojans:
49-24 loss to Iowa in the Holiday Bowl to finish 8-5

Michigan Wolverines:
35-16 loss to Alabama in the Citrus Bowl to finish 9-4

Virginia Tech Hokies:
37-30 loss to Kentucky in the Belk Bowl to finish 8-5

Navy Midshipmen:
20-17 win over Kansas State in the Liberty Bowl to finish 11-2

Boston College Eagles:
Blown out 38-6 by Cincinnati in the Birmingham Bowl to finish 6-7

For those keeping score, Fighting Irish foes from this season went 3-5 in their respective bowl games.  New Mexico, Bowling Green, Duke and Stanford all failed to qualify for a bowl game.

USC Dumped on by Iowa in Holiday Bowl

The part I think is as noteworthy as anything is that over the last two years where USC has especially hit the skids, their conference has for the most part been trash.

 

You hate to see it and I hate to say I told you so.

Actually, neither of those statements are true.

Watching USC lose in grand fashion on national television will never get old and I’ll never get tired of being right about things, the rare times I actually am.

Earlier this month I told all Notre Dame fans to get excited because Christmas came three weeks early in the form of USC retaining Clay Helton as their head football coach.

Since then they’ve recruited the 83rd ranked 2020 class per Rivals that consists of just one four or five-star player and now you can add getting sent to the moon by Iowa in the Holiday Bowl to that list.

Iowa dashed to a 28-17 halftime lead before the Trojans cut it to just a four point game early in the second half, but then the flood gates opened and Troy was swarmed by Hawkeyes instead of a wooden horse.

Iowa would score the final 21 points of the night, ending with a 49-24 victory over USC as the Trojans wrap up the season 8-5 and Iowa reaches the 10-win mark for the first time in four seasons.

USC will return a bunch of talent next year and because they’re USC, they’ll be in consideration for a top-20 spot in the pre-season rankings in all likelihood but here are some fast stats that should keep you from buying into this USC thing:

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Will Georgia finish with the No. 1 recruiting class?

These five star prospects can still get Georgia football to the No. 1 spot in the recruiting rankings.

With two 5-stars, 14 4-stars and three 3-stars, Georgia currently has the No. 4 recruiting class in the 2020 cycle.

After early signing day came and went, Georgia fans were pleased with the No. 4 class but still felt like there were some pieces missing.

That’s because of the high expectations that Kirby Smart has set during his time at Georgia, routinely landing top-three recruiting classes.

But then three names emerged as Georgia leans that have either silently signed or intend to do so during February’s signing day.

Georgia still has a great chance to land these three 5-star prospects, which could very well catapult the Dawgs to No. 1 in the rankings.

There’s running back Zach Evans, who is trending heavily to the Bulldogs.

Evans is a 5-star back out of Houston, Texas who ranks as the nation’s No. 14 overall prospect and No. 1 ball carrier in the 2020 class. 63% of 247Sports’ Crystal Ball predictions say Georgia.

If Evans does wind up a Bulldog, he will form a tandem with Kendall Milton,  another top back who ranks as the No. 6 player at the position.

“Evans is expected to commit on air during an all-star game,” wrote Dean Legge of DawgPost.

Darnell Washington is another name to keep an eye on.

He is a 5-star out of Las Vegas who is listed as an athlete but will play tight end in college. Currently, Georgia is the heavy favorite to land Washington, the No. 10 overall player in the country and No. 1 ranked athlete.

Tight end is a position that Georgia needs to fill before this class is wrapped up. As of now Georgia has no tight ends committed or signed to the program.

Washington is a 6-foot-7, 261 pound beast that will be a matchup nightmare at the collegiate level.

He is expected to announce his decision on January 2nd at the Under Armour All-America Game.

Kelee Ringo is a 5-star cornerback out of Scottsdale, Arizona and is currently another heavy Georgia lean. He plans to announce at the All-American Bowl on January 4th and it is not known whether or not he has already signed with a program. Ringo is the No. 8 overall player, No. 1 cornerback and No. 1 overall recruit in the state of Arizona.

Right now, Georgia has one cornerback signed for 2020, 4-star Jalen Kimber who ranks as the No. 127 player in the class.

Ringo is a player that will likely start from day one wherever he goes.

We mentioned 5-star defensive end Jordan Burch today as well. The No. 5 overall player out of Columbia, South Carolina committed to the Gamecocks on early signing day but has not actually signed yet.

His high school coach said that Burch wants to wait and sign with his teammates, however, since he is not signed yet that means Georgia can still contact him until he does. He’s a name to keep an aye on but I would not get too excited just yet.

Todd Gurley congratulates former coach Mike Bobo on SC job

Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley congratulates former coach Mike Bobo on new South Carolina offensive coordinator job

Will Muschamp and the South Carolina Gamecocks stole a good one right in front of Kirby Smart and the Dawgs.

As if beating Georgia in Athens wasn’t enough, Muschamp added insult to injury and hired Colorado State head coach and former UGA offensive coordinator and alumni, Mike Bobo.

Bobo spent 14 years on the Georgia coaching staff, 8 of those as the OC.  He played a major role in developing a lot of legendary offensive players at UGA.

One of those players, former Georgia running back Todd Gurley, sent a congrats to Bobo on the new position, even if he’s now a division rival.

Some people found this hire as a shock, as Smart and Bobo’s relationship has always been rock solid.  Bobo was the best man at Smart’s wedding believe it or not.

The South Carolina coaching staff now consists of a few too many Georgia alumni to be comfortable Muschamp and Bobo being two of them.

Report: Kirby Smart tried to get Mike Bobo

Per a report, Georgia football coach tried to hire Mike Bobo, who ended going to coach the South Carolina Gamecocks offense.

Former Georgia offensive coordinator and Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo became South Carolina’s new offensive coordinator and quarterback coach this week.

Bobo agreed to a two year contract with South Carolina on Tuesday.

Bobo, a former Georgia quarterback from 1993-97, worked for the Dawgs from 2001-2014, where he manufactured some incredible offenses and more than a few of the program’s best passers of all-time.

Given Georgia’s offensive struggles the past few seasons and the lack of certainty currently at offensive coordinator with James Coley, of course rumors spread about Bobo returning to his alma mater and coaching under his former teammate and friend Kirby Smart.

And though there were no actual reports of Smart trying to land his old teammate in Athens, there was some truth to those rumors according to to Andy Staples of the Athletic, who mentioned Smart’s efforts on Thursday.

“I think Smart will try to change the offense,” Staples wrote. “The question is how far he’ll be willing to go. (Smart) tried to hire (Bobo) … but South Carolina coach Will Muschamp won the tug-of-war between former Georgia teammates to hire their former teammate Bobo. Bobo would have opened up the offense …”

Muschamp is another Georgia guy. He, Smart and Bobo are all good friends and all overlapped during their playing careers as Bulldogs.

Bobo, 45, was fired by the Rams last Thursday after 3-9 and 4-8 seasons the previous two years. He started out with three consecutive years of 7-6 records.

South Carolina finished 4-8 overall and 3-5 in SEC play, under fourth-year head coach Will Muschamp.

Staples went on to write about coaches that he thinks would be a good fit to replace Coley, if Smart were to let him go.

You can read it all here.

Former Georgia QB and OC takes position at SEC rival

Former Georgia football QB and OC Mike Bobo has taken the offensive coordinator position at South Carolina.

Former Georgia offensive coordinator and Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo is set to become South Carolina’s new offensive coordinator and quarterback coach.

The former Georgia quarterback was with the Dawgs from 2001-14 and helped set numerous team offensive records during his tenure.

Bobo agreed to a two year contract with South Carolina on Tuesday.

“I’m excited to bring Mike on board,” said Will Muschamp. “He is a proven and respected play-caller and quarterbacks coach, who I have faced many times over the years. Over the last 13 years, his offenses have averaged over 31 points and 424 yards per game while converting over 43 percent on third down. He also has a long relationship with both (running backs coach) Thomas Brown and (wide receivers coach) Bryan McClendon, so it will be a smooth transition for our offensive staff.”

Bobo, 45, was fired by the Rams last Thursday after 3-9 and 4-8 seasons the previous two years. He started out with three consecutive years of 7-6 records.

South Carolina finished 4-8 overall and 3-5 in SEC play, under fourth-year head coach Will Muschamp.

 

Former Georgia QB and OC takes position at SEC rival

Former Georgia football OC and Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo is set to become South Carolina’s new offensive coordinator. 

Former Georgia offensive coordinator and Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo is set to become South Carolina’s new offensive coordinator.

The former Georgia quarterback was with the Dawgs from 2001-14 and helped set numerous team offensive records during his tenure.

Bobo, 45, was fired by the Rams last Thursday after 3-9 and 4-8 seasons the previous two years. He started out with three consecutive years of 7-6 records.

South Carolina finished 4-8 overall and 3-5 in SEC play, under fourth-year head coach Will Muschamp.

Notre Dame Football: Kyle Hamilton Named Freshman All-American

It didn’t take long at all for Kyle Hamilton to make his presence known at Notre Dame this year as fall camp was pretty much just a daily breakdown of how many interceptions the freshman from Atlanta had that particular afternoon.

It didn’t take long at all for Kyle Hamilton to make his presence known at Notre Dame this year as fall camp was pretty much just a daily breakdown of how many interceptions the freshman from Atlanta had that particular afternoon.

It didn’t take long for him to make an impact on the gamefield either, getting substancial playing time as a true-freshman in the opener against Louisville before returning his first career college interception for a touchdown a week later against New Mexico.

The season would see him pull down four interceptions in total and have pretty much an entire defensive gameplan built around him in October’s win over USC.

On Friday Pro Football Focus named their Freshman All-American Team and named Hamilton their first-team safety.

Notre Dame landed the best coverage safety in the entire 2019 recruiting class. Hamilton recorded a near-elite 89.7 coverage grade in his true freshman season, allowing just seven passes to be completed on 22 targets. Those seven went for 74 yards and no touchdowns. However, the Fighting Irish safety stole possession four times by way of interceptions, and he forced another five pass breakups for a passer rating of 3.0 when targeted, best among all defenders in the nation with at least 15 targets.

– Pro Football Focus 12/6/2019

High praise for a star in the making at Notre Dame.

 

Former Georgia QB talks Mike Bobo to UGA possibility

Former Georgia football QB on the idea of Mike Bobo returning to coach at UGA, or going to South Carolina after stepping away from CSU.

Mike Bobo was one of the most successful offensive coordinators in the history of Georgia football before leaving to become head coach at Colorado State in 2015.

His tenure with the Rams came to an end this week, with CSU athletic director Joe Parker announcing that Bobo and the university reached a mutual separation agreement.

Bobo, a former Georgia quarterback from 1993-97, worked for the Dawgs from 2001-2014, where he manufactured some incredible offenses and more than a few of the program’s best passers of all-time.

Given Georgia’s offensive struggles the past few seasons and the lack of certainty currently at offensive coordinator with James Coley calling the shots, of course rumors will spread about Bobo returning to his alma mater and coaching under his former teammate and friend Kirby Smart.

However, former Georgia quarterback Hutson Mason, who played for Bobo in Athens, is not so sure it’s such a good idea for the former coach to return back home to UGA.

“I’m not for sure Bobo wants to come back to Athens,” Mason said on 107.5 The Game on Thursday. “You know he is very good friends with Kirby Smart, and obviously he has deep roots and deep ties at Georgia, but you know he left Georgia, and this was something he told me specifically is, he needed to kind of spread his wings and get away.

Mason mentioned the concern of doing business with a family member, noting how close Bobo and Smart are.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever had a family dynamic where you’ve done business with a family member, but I have,” Mason said. “It didn’t turn out well. And I think part of that is in play here with Kirby (Smart) and Bobo where they’re like, you know, if something did go wrong, do we want to go down that route?”

South Carolina, a team that is actually in the market for an offensive coordinator, has been linked to Bobo as well. However, the position under Will Muschamp is not the sexiest of ideas seeing as how he has had five offensive coordinators in eight seasons as a head coach.

Muschamp is another Georgia guy. He, Smart and Bobo are all good friends and all overlapped during their playing careers as Bulldogs.

On the possibility of Bobo going to South Carolina to coach under Muschamp, Mason was pessimistic about what it would do to Bobo’s career, using the term “career suicide” for anyone that accepts the job in Columbia.

He did have kind things to say about his former coach, though.

“If coach Muschamp can convince him to get to South Carolina, South Carolina fans should be excited,” Mason said, “because he is a heck of a play-caller. And he’s a heck of a recruiter. I just think he’s an incredible schemer. I think he understands football.”

Then there’s Bryan McClendon, another Georgia guy who played for the Bulldogs from 2002-05.  He was offensive coordinator at South Carolina for two seasons before being stripped of his play-calling duties last week. He does still remain on the South Carolina coaching staff, though, but for how long?

His coaching career at Georgia was wildly successful, overseeing the running backs for a majority of his tenure at Georgia and helping to establish as RBU with some great ball carriers. Could McClendon be a guy that Smart looks at bringing in as OC for the Dawgs?

Basically, if you take one thing away from this story, it should be that the Georgia coaching tree is loaded.

Notre Dame Football: Christmas Came Early Thanks to USC

What we know is that there won’t be anyone to confuse as a great head coach at Southern Cal in 2020 and that’s something any fan of Notre Dame or any Pac-12 school not named USC should be thrilled about.

Merry Christmas, Notre Dame fans!

It may only be the early hours of December 4 as I sit and type this but it might as well be three weeks from now because I’m not sure any Notre Dame fan will get a better present than the one that just arrived on their doorstep with a return address of Los Angeles, CA.

Clay Helton appears to be returning to USC next year.

This news comes just days after a Sports Illustrated report erroneously said Helton would be out of the job and that Urban Meyer was the number-one candidate USC’s administration had in mind to replace him.

I won’t lie, upon reading that article I got more than a bit uncomfortable as a lifelong Notre Dame fan as very few fits seem as puke-worthy perfect as Meyer would at USC.

It appears now that we can say that report was in fact, false.

Let me say that I don’t think Clay Helton is an awful coach.

He led the Trojans to a third-overall final ranking in 2016 after guiding them to a Rose Bowl win over Penn State and even after falling behind big at Notre Dame this season, his players fought until the end for him, pulling within three late.

He also was the only coach to beat Utah this regular season, a currently top-five and possibly headed to the CFP squad.

It’s not that I think he’s awful by any means – that status is reserved for the likes of Tyrone Willingham, Tim Beckman, and Mike Riley if you’re looking for Power Five examples.

I just don’t think Helton is anything special, whatsoever.

Since starting his USC career by winning 27 of his first 37 games, the Trojans have gone just 13-11 in his last 24.  There also appears to be some turbulence coming in terms of talent, or lack-there-of as USC currently ranks 67th in 2020 recruiting rankings per 247Sports.

Louisiana, as in the Louisiana and not LSU, North Texas, Western Michigan and Vanderbilt all rank immediately ahead of the Trojans according to those rankings.

Compared to the rest of the Pac-12, only Utah ranks lower at 107.  It is worth noting a lot can change between now and National Signing Day but it’s clearly not looking like this recruiting class will be anything stellar at USC.

Getting stars to USC hasn’t been the issue for Helton as he his classes were rated the following in recent years by 247Sports:

2019 – 20th
2018 – 4th
2017 – 4th
2016 – 10th
2015 – 2nd

He gets talent to Southern California but his teams have regressed with the more elite talent he brings in.  Sound like someone you used to know, Notre Dame fans?

From afar he seems to have a little Charlie Weis in him, although he seems a lot less insufferable than old Charlie was.

What we know is that there won’t be anyone to confuse as a great head coach at Southern Cal in 2020 and that’s something any fan of Notre Dame or any Pac-12 school not named USC should be thrilled about.