That time of year again

Regarding the NFL comparison, while I don't think it's the be-all, end-all, and while I don't think you can compare head coaching abilities, I do think you can compare the abilities as a position coach or in having an imaginitive offense or defense. I thought extremely highly of Pete Carroll as an NFL defensive coordinator and, as a Niners guy, I always felt he was the best of all the defensive coordinators they had in the 1980-and-on period.

I'll grant Crowton didn't have a lot to work with from a talent standpoint with the Bears but I wasn't at all impressed with his play-calling. And play-calling is easier to cross-compare between college and pro than being an actual head coach, where the demands are entirely different. Pete Carroll should never be an NFL head coach but if an NFL team was to hire him as a defensive coordinator, I'd be singing said team's praises.

As for Oregon, it's worth noting that while the Ducks offense ranked in the Top 10 nationally, it died down the stretch this season, scoring 10 or fewer points in three of their last four including a whopping 8 in their bowl loss to BYU.

Regarding Louisiana Tech, I'm failing to see all these great offensive performances against good teams. Crowton was there from 1995-98 and this is how their fared against power conference opponents, game-by-game:

1995
South Carolina - L 21-68
Vanderbilt - L 6-29

1996
Baylor - L 16-24
Mississippi State - W 38-23
Texas A&M - L 13-63
Arkansas - L 21-38

1997
Arkansas - L 13-17
Cal - W 41-34
Auburn - L 13-49
Alabama - W 26-20

1998
Nebraska - L 27-56
Texas A&M - L 7-28
Auburn - L 17-32

Now, to begin with, I must applaud Louisiana Tech for having scheduled so many quality opponents during this time period. But when I see these scores, it doesn't seem to me like the offense really lit it up all that much. They put up 38 against a Mississippi State team that went 5-6 in 1996. They put 41 up on a Cal team that went 3-8 and was in the fourth year of an eight-year period in which they never had a winning record. They put 26 up on Alabama in 1997 when the Tide went 4-7.

It seems to me like Crowton and the Louisiana Tech offense really just feasted on lesser power conference opponents and the opponents in their own league, with the one exception being the Nebraska game everyone remembers, in part because it was on national television, in part because it was the opening game of the season and there weren't any other games on so everyone watched it, in part because people know who Tim Rattay is, but I think it's worth asking (and I don't remember the whole game) how many of those yards came when the game had long since been decided, after Nebraska had sat down many of their key players.

His record at BYU speaks for itself--he was bad. Bronco Mendenhall has proven to be a far better head coach that Crowton was, although it's fair to say that maybe Crowton isn't cut out to be a head coach and is meant to be a coordinator.

Anyway, I'm not saying Crowton is a bad hire. I'm just saying that I've never been all that impressed with him and I sort of feel like he somehow has a reputation greater than he really deserves and it all stems from that one game against Nebraska. I feel the same way about Joe Namath and Super Bowl III; I don't see how he otherwise is considered better than Frank Ryan or Daryle Lamonica, to name two, yet he's considered not only better but 10 times their superior.

Cola