The Concordian

The coaching search at Concord has been cut down to four viable candidates to replace Coach Greg Quick as the next Head Football Coach of the Concord Mountain Lions. The four candidates are Jamie Snider the Offensive Coordinator for Coastal Carolina, Ralph Isernia the Offensive Coordinator for the University of Charleston, Mike Kellar the Offensive Coordinator for California University of Pennsylvania, and Dennis Creehan the Defensive Coordinator for the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League. If I had a choice as to who I would pick out of those three candidates it would be Dennis Creehan. Creehan is the only candidate with previous head coaching experience and his resume has extensive coaching experience, and personally I believe Creehan could turn us into a winner as early as next year. Hopefully when Coach Quick and President Aloia make a coaching announcement it will be Dennis Creehan.

In college football bowl season is now upon us and the controversial BCS will pit two one loss teams in the National Championship as #1 Oklahoma will face #2 Florida for the BCS National Championship game. Oklahoma got to the Championship game by winning the Big 12 Conference title pretty handily over Missouri and Florida defeated former #1 Alabama and leaving other one loss teams such as Texas, Alabama, Texas Tech, and Penn State out of a chance at the championship. Non BCS conference schools such as Utah and Boise State also miss out on an opportunity. This is why there should be some sort of a playoff system. President Elect Barack Obama has suggested the BCS make an eight team playoff, but I propose there should be a sixteen team playoff instead. My plan would throw out the notion of BCS conferences and all eleven conferences in 1A would send there conference winner to the playoffs, with five at large bids going to the top five ranked teams that did not win their conference championship. In that scenario the teams would be reseeded from 1 to 16 based on rankings with the #1 ranked team playing the 16th seed, the 2nd ranked team playing the 15th and so on and so forth. If my sixteen team playoff was enacted the teams would be ranked #1 Oklahoma (Big 12), #2 Florida (SEC), #3 Texas (At-Large), #4 Alabama (At-Large), #5 USC (PAC 10), #6 Utah (Mt. West), #7 Texas Tech (At-Large), #8 Penn State (Big 10), #9 Boise State (WAC), #10, Ohio State (At-Large), #11 Texas Christian (At-Large), #12 Cincinnati (Big East), #13 Virginia Tech (ACC), #14 East Carolina (C-USA), #15 Buffalo (MAC), and #16 Troy (Sun Belt). This plan for a playoff might seem controversial but it would please every conference by having a participating member, and the at large teams that missed out on a conference title would have a deserving chance as well making this plan perhaps as the best possible scenario. The games would be over a five week period if my plan was put into play with a “Super Saturday” on December 27th with eight games. January 3rd would have the eight team Quarerfinals. January 10th would have the four team Semifinals, and then there would be an off week before having the BCS National Championship game on Sunday January 25th on the NFL off weekend between the NFC and AFC championship games and the Super Bowl. The game would have huge ratings if at an earlier east coast time. Unfortunately this will not be the  case, even though it would be an ideal situation to have a playoff in 1-A college football. College football would have to adopt a playoff system first, but once that happens, the teams and not computers would be able to settle the true champion.

Locally in College Football Virginia Tech upset Boston College to win the ACC Championship 30-12 for the 2nd consecutive y ear over Boston College. Next up for the Hokies is a meeting with the Cincinnati Bearcats on New Years Day in the FedEx Orange Bowl. West Virginia defeated South Florida 13-7 in the regular season finale will next face North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl on December 27th.

In other college football news Al Groh, the University of Virginia Head Coach has fired his son Mike who was the Cavilers Offensive Coordinator and two other assistants were let go in a shake up at UVA after the Cavs were a disappointing 5-7. Groh however will return for his 9th season in Charlottesville. Texas QB and potential Heisman Trophy winner Colt McCoy announced that he will not enter the NFL draft and will return for his senior season.

In the NFL the Detroit Lions remain winless on the year going 0-13 with three games to play after the lost 20-16 to the Minnesota Vikings. In a big AFC South matchup the New Orleans Satins defeated the Atlanta Falcons 29-25. In a game played in Toronto, Canada the Miami Dolphins defeated the Buffalo Bills 16-3. In the game of the weekend the Pittsburgh Steelers would score 17 unanswered 4th quarter points to defeat the Dallas Cowboys 20-13, and New England stays alive in the AFC as they came from behind to defeat the Seattle Seahawks 24-21. In another big game from over the weekend the Philadelphia Eagles gave the New York Giants there 2nd loss on the season as the Eagles would win 20-14. Also the Baltimore Ravens defeated the Washington Redskins 24-10 in a battle of the Beltway game between the two teams that play 40 miles apart. Also on MNF the Carolina Panthers improved to 10-3 on the season as they defeated the 9-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-24 in an NFC South showdown.

This upcoming weekend the Chicago Bears host the New Orleans Saints in a key NFC matchup this Thursday night on Thursday night football. Then on Sunday Atlanta host Tampa Bay in a key NFC South matchup. Minnesota travels to Arizona to take on the Cardinals in a battle between two NFC division leaders, the Pittsburgh Steelers face the Baltimore Ravens in an AFC North matchup, and the Dallas Cowboys host the New York Giants in a big NFC East matchup on Sunday night football.

In other NFL news 48 year old Kicker Morton Anderson has announced his retirement. Anderson the NFL’s all time leading scorer retires after a 25 year career that spanned from 1982-2007 and covered five NFL teams. Anderson has 2,544 points in his career. Washington Redskins five time Pro Bowler OL Chris Samuels is out for the rest of the season with a torn right triceps. The winless Detroit Lions will have an even tougher road against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday as QB Daunte Culpepper injured his shoulder and is questionable for the Lions game on Sunday. If Culpepper can not go QB Dan Orlovsky will get his 1st start since injuring his wrist earlier on in the season. Minnesota Vikings QB Gus Freotte injured his lower back on Sunday’s win over the Lions and even though he left the field on a cart he may play on Sunday at Arizona provided his back is healthy enough. If Freotte can not go QB Tavaris Jackson will get the start.

Questions, comments, and complaints email me at stantonm11@concord.edu.

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