SEC, Big XII Conferences Shake Up College Athletic Map

(2012 SEC/Big XII footprint map: @Ranger222)

Updated 11-9-11 (to reflect still-evolving changes to the college football landscape caused by the Penn State scandal):

Over the past two years, as NCAA conference realignment-mania has taken over the sports blogosphere (and has made celebrities out of some old Drive and Dish friends), people have asked us for our thoughts on on the subject.

To date, we've remained largely silent.

That's primarily because we haven't been privy to any legitimate inside information ⁩⁩⁨(though we wouldn't have revealed inside information even if we'd had it), and because, aside from our longstanding opinion that the Big Ten should pursue the University of Texas and the University of Notre Dame (neither of which, it would now appear, will ever join the Big Ten), we haven't had a dog in this fight, as the cliche goes.

Thus, we've watched the conference realignment feeding frenzy from the sidelines -- as more or less disinterested parties.

Our absence from the realignment-mania scene shouldn't be mistaken for total disinterest in the topic though. We were, in fact, paying attention throughout the last year as the college sports world witnessed several big name schools abandon their historic conference affiliations and jump to new conference homes.

Utah ditched the Mountain West the minute that the Pac-10 came calling.

Then Colorado and Nebraska -- purportedly upset over the degree to which Texas had long exerted its influence over Big XII headquarters -- said "see-ya" to the Big XII and bounced to the Pac-10 and Big Ten, respectively.

Finally, after a year of grumbling about their burnt orange-clad big brothers in Austin, Texas A&M left the Longhorns and the Big XII in the rear view mirror and joined the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

Drive and Dish didn't say anything about those shufflings of the deck when they occurred, but we thought they were all solid, if not Earth-shattering moves.

Utah and Colorado are decent additions to the Pac-10, but they won't alter the balance of power in that league any time soon. Their additions did, however, allow the California-heavy conference to snag two schools in western, but non-West Coast states (to go along with longtime inland Pac-10 members Arizona and Arizona State). The Pac-10 has now repositioned itself as a "western" conference, rather than as the almost exclusively West Coast-oriented conference that it used to be.

Of course, it probably goes without saying football drives conference realignment. Drive and Dish is a basketball blog, but college basketball doesn't pay the bills. College football, however, does.

Our take on conference alignment to date:

SEC

Texas A&M is likely to find out that it's not easy to win football games in the SEC, but the Aggies should at least find their new conference to be a decent cultural fit.

Though the SEC's recent dominance of the college football landscape has resulted in its becoming the de facto center of the collegiate gridiron universe, the league's identity remains so firmly-rooted in its regional character that it's difficult to imagine it becoming home to a school from outside the traditional Deep South. But Texas A&M seems to make sense for the SEC in ways that some other rumored (and previously rumored) targets of SEC expansion don't (yes, that would be you West Virginia and Missouri). First, A&M is a very traditional southern school with a strong military history. And while Texas may be a southwestern state (rather than part of the Deep South, or of the SEC's namesake, the southeast), Texas A&M's Bryan/College Station, TX, campus is in East Texas -- and East Texas is more culturally "Southern" than most other parts of the Lone Star State.

Perhaps unbeknownst to most northerners, there's a fairly wide cultural gulf between Texas and the Deep South. So it's possible that Texas A&M won't be immediately welcomed as a full-fledged SEC "brother." But the SEC wanted to gain better access to the state of Texas' television markets and football recruiting circles, so the prospect of adding a school from Texas was very attractive. And the Aggies should fit in with the tradition-rich SEC better than other, less culturally Southern, Texas schools would (like say, UT or Texas Tech). Over time, the SEC should eventually warm to their new conference rivals from Texas. But whatever hurdles the Aggies face in getting acclimated to life in the SEC, this much is certain: with the the SEC now widely recognized as the preeminent conference in college football, A&M alumni and students are very gung-ho about moving there.

It must be noted though, that in recent years, Texas A&M football has struggled to remain relevant in the Big XII. So next year's move to the SEC could very well prove to be a rude awakening for the Aggies.

Big Ten

Our take was mixed when it was announced that Nebraska would join the Big Ten.

At first, we weren't especially impressed with the move. We were well aware of Nebraska's first-rate football tradition, of course. But since we'd been under the impression that the raison d'etre for Big Ten expansion was to add large television markets to enhance the Big Ten Network's TV footprint, we were a bit surprised that the Big Ten chose a school that failed to deliver a large television market.

There's no doubt that Nebraska has some of the most passionate, devoted fans in all of college football (and some of the most knowledgeable fans too!). The problem is, in a state that has fewer than 2 million residents, there aren't that many of them.

But the more time we spent thinking about Nebraska's pending membership in the Big Ten, the more we started to like it.

Eventually, we came to really like it.

A lot.

And now we're having second thoughts (or would that be third thoughts?).

Nebraska is a historic football power with a strong football brand that commands nationwide recognition. We've heard Big Ten fans complain that the University of Nebraska doesn't have the academic prestige that the other Big Ten schools have. And we know that its addition makes it the only Big Ten member institution that doesn't belong to the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU). What's more, as noted above, we're well aware that the state of Nebraska -- a Midwestern plains state with a mere 1.7 million residents -- doesn't deliver a large television market, or allow the Big Ten to stake out a foothold in a new region.

But Nebraska is a decent school, and its addition gives the conference a football power to bookend its westernmost territories (as football power Penn State bookends its easternmost territories). Nebraska's addition to the Big Ten will provide the Iowa Hawkeyes with a much needed natural in-conference rival (the states of Nebraska and Iowa are very similar in terms of culture, geography and population). Michigan has natural rivals in Ohio State and Michigan State; Indiana has a natural rival in Purdue; Wisconsin has a natural rival in Minnesota; and Illinois has a natural rival in Northwestern.

Many sports writers and bloggers are fond of equating college football to chess (or at least fond of borrowing chess terminology). Accordingly, elite college football programs are often referred to as football "kings." By those terms, Nebraska would certainly have to be considered a college football "king." When taken with the Big Ten's big three traditional football powers -- Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State (or at least Penn State prior to the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal and its attendant fallout) -- the Cornhuskers' addition gives the Big Ten an enviable four football "kings" (assuming, of course, that Penn St. football eventually rises from its Sandusky-induced ashes).

But now comes the part about those second thoughts (or third thoughts, as it were): In theory, having four football "kings" should put the Big Ten in position to battle the SEC for college football preeminence for years to come. In reality, however, Nebraska's addition to the Big Ten will probably only make it tougher for teams to run the table in Big Ten conference play. And that will be tough for the Big Ten, since running the table is about the only thing a non SEC team can do to get to the BCS championship game.

The Southeast Conference is widely seen as the best conference in college football. Most of the recent BCS champions have come from that league. But the SEC is top-heavy. There are always a few elite programs on the top of the SEC (which are, in fact, better than, teams from other conferences), but there's usually a significant drop off after that.

By contrast, the Big Ten has become a middle-heavy league. In a typical year, Ohio State, Michigan and either Penn State or Wisconsin are in the BCS picture, but just below them, the league is packed with a second tier of good-but-not-great teams that specialize in knocking the "kings" off their respective perches (and yes, we're aware that the post-scandal Ohio State isn't up to par this year). In short, Big Ten teams beat up on themselves.

That makes it difficult for any Big Ten team to emerge from conference play unscathed and in contention for a national championship (since, as noted, being undefeated has all but become a prerequisite for being selected to play in the BCS championship game).

SEC teams often beat up on each other too, but the national sports media sees that as evidence of the SEC's superiority. If a solid, but middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team's ability to knock off an Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan or Wisconsin on any given Saturday proves the Big Ten's elite programs to be "pager tigers," then a middle-of-the-pack SEC team's occasional upset of an Alabama, Georgia, Florida or LSU proves that the SEC is so superior that even the mediocre SEC teams can beat anybody in the country!

So while the Big Ten looks stronger on paper now that Nebraska is on board, there's a strong likelihood that in years to come, the Big Ten will be a meat grinder that chews up its elite teams and spits them out with BCS-eliminating losses on their records. The Big Ten is more interesting with Nebraska, but the SEC will continue to be seen as the premier conference in college football.

Big XII

Now that the Big XII has announced the addition of West Virginia to fill the expected vacancy that Missouri will leave if/when, as rumored, it bolts the Big XII for the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Big XII has lost its geographic contiguity.

When the old Southwest Conference folded in 1995, it made sense for Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech to join the old Big 8 schools to form the Big XII. Rivalries between the Texas schools and Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Nebraska and Missouri seemed like naturals.

But now that Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M and (probably) Missouri have fled for greener pastures, the conference is scrambling to remain viable. So it grabbed the best available football school, regardless of geography, tradition or overall fit.

West Virginia wisely jumped off the sinking ship that was the Big East. But the Mountaineers seem like a haphazard addition to the Big XII.

If as rumored, Louisville follows the lead of its former Big East rival West Virginia and joins the Big XII, the former Great Plains-centered conference will only become that much more jumbled.

In some instances, it makes sense for conferences to expand beyond their traditional geographic footprints. But such expansion is usually done with the acquisition of new television markets and population bases in mind. Thus, adding Boston College and Miami made financial sense for the ACC. However, even though West Virginia and Louisville are good football programs, adding them won't bring coveted big new TV markets or metropolitan areas to the Big XII (Louisville is a decent-sized city, it's still considered a small TV market).

West Virginia and Louisville are solid football programs that don't want to be left homeless if/once the Big East folds. So they're available for a Big XII that's desperately looking to rebound from the breakup of longtime relationships with Nebraska, Texas A&M, Colorado and Missouri.

Thank you Texas Longhorns.

The Big XII may live on, but they won't be fooling anybody.

Again, thank you Texas Longhorns.

Mike Anderson Leaves Mizzou for Arkansas

Update (3/27/11): Cuonzo Martin is out of the running for the head coaching position at Missouri, as he has accepted the position of head men's basketball coach at Tennessee.

Original Post:

In a move that was rumored for at least a week, Arkansas has hired Missouri head basketball coach Mike Anderson to take the reins of its once-proud men's basketball program. Anderson has proven himself to be a successful high-major head coach; between his five year tenure at Missouri and his previous four years at Alabama-Birmingham, he's compiled a 200-98 career record. The move to Arkansas amounts to something of a homecoming for Anderson, as he spent seventeen years there as an assistant on Nolan Richardson's coaching staff. And since Anderson implemented Nolan Richardson's notorious tip off-to-buzzer running, trapping, full-court pressing, "40 minutes of Hell" style of basketball at UAB and at Missouri, he promises to return the Arkansas basketball program to the style of basketball that made it famous all those years ago.

Anderson's move to the Fayetteville, AR, school appears to be the right fit. It makes all the sense in the world for both parties. After spending the greater part of the last decade in the college basketball wilderness, Arkansas now has a proven head coach who resurrected the basketball program at a historically good basketball school (Missouri) in a power conference (the Big 12), and who will provide a direct link to the Razorback basketball program's early-mid 1990s glory days (Anderson having been on Nolan Richardson's coaching staff when the "40 minutes of Hell" Razorbacks won the National Championship in 1994). Coach Anderson gets a big payday -- he goes from his $1.5 million per year salary at Missouri to $2.2 million a year at Arkansas -- and he gets to direct a history and tradition-rich basketball program that just happens to play in a less challenging conference than the conference in which his previous school played (Kentucky always dominates the SEC, but beyond UK and Florida, the league is often wide open). What's more, he gets to go home.

As for Anderson's former employer, rumors abound as to which coaches are on Missouri's wish list. There's been much speculation in the St. Louis and Kansas City media about Missouri's interest -- or purported interest -- in Purdue head coach Matt Painter, Memphis head coach Josh Pastner, Missouri State head coach Cuonzo Martin, Virginia Commonwealth head coach (and hot name du jour) Shaka Smart and Oral Roberts head coach Scott Sutton.

Drive and Dish doesn't traffic in rumors. But we note the coaches' names who have been "mentioned" with regard to the open men's head basketball coaching at Missouri for the reason of illustrating how the sports media reports on coaching searches. We know of an Athletic Director at a Division I institution who is currently involved in a search for a new men's basketball coach and who advised individuals closely tied to the coaching search and hiring process not to pay attention to media reports regarding their institution's coaching vacancy. He said that roughly between 75% - 90% of the information that would be reported by the media (and dissected ad nauseam on internet message boards devoted to men's college basketball) would be uninformed speculation, misinformation or complete fiction.

Newspapers are in business to sell papers, after all. And since nobody buys papers anymore, they're in business to garner as many hits on their websites as possible. Sports articles deliver hits, and gossipy articles about coaching searches in football and men's basketball at high profile universities deliver hits from the young, college-educated male demographic almost as reliably as gossipy articles about Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Lady Gaga or Brad and Angelina deliver hits from similarly situated young females. Whether or not the information contained in those types of articles happens to be true, or is based on solid information and concrete leads, is oftentimes largely beside the point. Sure, there are sports writers who have a pretty good handle on what's really going on. And yes, there are sports writers who take their craft seriously enough that they prefer not to throw various coaches' names around for the sake of, well, throwing names around. But there's always pressure on writers to start naming names.

Hardcore fans want names! Regular fans want names! Even casual fans want names! Really, just about everybody wants names!

So writers deliver names.

We won't speculatively throw names around for the sake of throwing names around, but we will talk about the nature of the Missouri men's basketball coaching position. Missouri is a very good job, but it may not a "destination" job for most coaches. Missouri has produced many good basketball teams over the years, but Kansas is the big dog in the Big 12 conference. Missouri is a solid basketball program, but the Tigers are perpetually among the cluster of Big 12 teams -- Oklahoma, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor and sometimes Iowa State -- that scrape and scrap to get a shot at 3rd place, behind powerhouse Kansas and upstart Texas (which has become something of an accidental basketball power in recent years).

Respectable though it may be, Missouri is simply not a glamor program. It's definitely good, but it's not top-tier. And while Columbia, MO, is a decent college town, it's relatively small, isolated and rural. The proprietors of Drive and Dish have spent a great deal of time in Columbia. We like Columbia. But we'd never confuse it with Ann Arbor, Austin, Gainseville, or Chapel Hill. As college towns go, Columbia can seem pretty button-down and folksy. From the perspective of a coaching candidate considering the suitability of a potential move to Missouri, Columbia would probably look like a good place to raise a family, but anyone looking for the bright lights and the city is likely to be disappointed. In other words, it's a safe bet that Rick Pitino, John Calipari and Steve Lavin aren't fighting each other over the chance to jump ship to Mizzou.

Norm Stewart was the head coach at Missouri for 32 years. Stewart was a folksy, plainspoken, no-frills native son of the Show Me State. His persona fit the Missouri basketball program and Columbia like a glove. In 1999, Stewart was pushed out the door in favor of then-Duke associate head coach Quin Snyder. Snyder's hiring was seen as a coup for Missouri. He was probably the most in-demand young assistant coach in college basketball at the time. And he was the stylistic yin to Stewart's staid yang: the dynamic, young, Hollywood-esque Snyder was the polar opposite of salt-of-the-Earth Norm Stewart. Snyder was articulate, smart (he earned a J.D. from Duke Law and an M.B.A. from Duke's Fuqua School of Business in 1995, and as an undergrad, he carried double majors in Philosophy & Political Science while starting at point guard for Coach Krzyzewski's Blue Devils) charismatic, and good looking -- with his tasseled hair and perma-pout, Snyder looked like he could have been the late River Pheonix and Joaquin Phoenix's older brother. And as the lead recruiter on Mike Krzyzewski's Duke coaching staff, Snyder had been widely hailed as the man who delivered top-flight recruits to Duke's Durham, NC, campus -- Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, Chris Burgess, William Avery, Casey Sanders and Shane Battier were among Snyder's Duke recruits. Prior to Snyder's recruiting efforts, Mike Krzyzewski had been known as a great coach who won with players who fit his system. After Snyder's recruiting hauls, Krzyzweski became known as a coach who prepared players for the NBA.

But Quin Snyder turned out to be a disaster for Missouri basketball. Recruiting improved exponentially (as expected), but the Snyder era of Missouri Tigers hoops was riddled by one scandal after another. Some of the scandals were related to recruiting. Others were related to players' off-court behavior. Still, others were related to Snyder's own off-court behavior.

With its basketball program in shambles, Missouri dumped Snyder and replaced him with then-UAB coach Mike Anderson. Anderson was an excellent hire for Missouri, and his tenure in Columbia was a success. But his fast-paced, frenetic style of basketball always seemed better suited for the SEC than for the Big 12. And he was never able to successfully recruit elite basketball players to Missouri, as Snyder had. So it's no surprise that Coach Anderson left Missouri for Arkansas. He built up his resume at Missouri, but it was a good time for him to move up.

So now Missouri is left to conduct yet another coaching search. If Tigers fans were restless after 32 years of Norm Stewart's "boring" old coaching style, perhaps they're nearing their fill of fast lane excitement after 12 years of Snyder and Anderson (Anderson's teams played basketball in the fast lane; Snyder and several of his players lived in the fast lane).

Ultimately, Missouri would probably be better suited by hiring a strong Xs & Os coach who has strong Midwestern ties and has a solid history of head coaching success at the Division I level of college basketball -- no matter button-down and staid he may be -- than by hiring a hot, young, up-and-coming, flavor of the day coach; a recruiting whiz; or a coach who runs a gimmicky system (no matter how exciting the product on the court may be). A coach like UNLV's Lon Kruger or Oregon's Dana Altman would be perfect for Missouri. They're both great basketball coaches who have low-key, salt-of-the-Earth Midwestern personal styles, but they run clean, perennially successful basketball programs. Unfortunately, neither Kruger nor Altman is likely to leave his current position. Purdue's Matt Painter would be a home run hire for Missouri (he fits our criteria for an ideal Missouri basketball coach to a tee), but it's difficult to understand why he would have interest in leaving Purdue for Mizzou. Painter is a Purdue alumnus who was the hand-picked successor of legendary Purdue coach Gene Keady. He's enjoyed a tremendous amount of on-court success in the relatively short time he's been at the helm of his alma matter's basketball program. Why would Painter make what would be, at best, a lateral move to Missouri when the future looks bright for Purdue basketball?

In our opinion, Missouri could be a great fit for a successful, highly-regarded Mid Major coach like Wichita State's Gregg Marshall or Richmond's Chris Mooney. Both coaches currently have great jobs -- Wichita State and Richmond are among the better Mid Major programs in college basketball -- but Missouri would constitute a big step up. Virginia Commonwealth's Shaka Smart is currently THE flavor of the month, and will be a likely target for Mizzou. But 2011 NCAA Tournament success aside, Smart hasn't been a successful head coach for very long, and his climb through the coaching apprenticeship occurred primarily at institutions in the Southeastern United States (Clemson & Florida, respectively). As such, Smart's coaching learning curve took place in the ACC and the SEC, and the majority of his professional and recruiting ties are, no doubt, in the Southeast. He will almost certainly be pursued heavily by ACC member institution Georgia Tech, and he may ultimately feel more comfortable coaching in that region than in Columbia, MO, or in the Big 12 in general.

Missouri is in an unenviable position. It's one thing to mount a coaching search when you fired the previous coach; it's an entirely different thing to undertake a coaching search when your previous coach walked out on you to take a perceived better coaching job. Schools fire coaches when things are heading south. Hence, there's always a great deal of excitement that accompanies a post-firing coaching search. After all, the new coach always promises to be better than the bum who just got shown the door. Fans are excited to start anew. Everybody's buzzed from the promise of hope and change.

It's a different story when a coach unexpectedly leaves a program. It's akin to getting dumped by a girlfriend. Athletic Directors often find themselves reeling as they scramble to fill their unexpected coaching vacancies on the rebound. Mid Major programs have practice at conducting such coaching searches. Athletic Directors at that level actually expect to lose their successful coaches. If a Mid Major coach is considered a hot coaching prospect for high major programs, he's likely to leave. It happens all the time. That's why a school like VCU can recover from losing a coach like Anthony Grant to Alabama by replacing him with someone like Shaka Smart. It's why Tulsa once recovered from losing Nolan Richardson by replacing him with Tubby Smith . . . and later recovered from losing Tubby Smith by replacing him with Bill Self.

Such coaching searches, however, are rare at BCS conference schools like Missouri. For Missouri, getting dumped by Coach Anderson in favor of a perceived "sexier" basketball program is nothing short of a shot to the body. Everyone associated with the Missouri basketball program -- from the administration, to alumni, to the players, to the fans -- has just been served with a blow to the ego. And everyone associated with the Missouri program will be on pins and needles until the program can move forward with its new coach.

Drive and Dish wishes Missouri and its fans all the best. But don't expect Brad Stevens, Matt Painter or Shaka Smart to swoop in to the rescue, and allow everyone in Columbia to forget about losing Mike Anderson.

More Problems For Missouri

By Trashtalk Superstar

Earlier in the week, Drive and Dish noted that Missouri coach Mike Anderson suspended five players for their involvement in a brawl outside of a Columbia, MO, nightclub.

On Friday, Columbia police arrested Missouri guard Jason Horton on an assault charge stemming from his involvement in the brawl.

An official for the Columbia police said that more arrests could be pending.

When Anderson suspended the five players, I commended him for taking a stand.

Now in his second year at Missouri, Mike Anderson inherited a basketball program that had been completely out of control prior to his arrival. Former coach Quin Snyder had run such a "loose ship" at Missouri that players, assistant coaches and even university administrators were skirting rules, breaking actual laws, violating NCAA guidelines, and generally doing as they pleased.

During the Quin Snyder years, Missouri was practically the poster child for what the NCAA's compliance office terms "lack of institutional control."

So one would expect that Mike Anderson would to try to clean the place up, so to speak. That's what I thought he was doing when he suspended the five players last week.

But upon closer inspection, I see that Missouri players have been involved in all kinds of lawbreaking and general mopery since Anderson's arrival.

With the exception of Kalen Grimes, whom Anderson dismissed after he hit a man in the face with the butt of a shotgun, Mike Anderson has consistently let offending players off the hook with little more than a slap on the wrist.

Anderson only suspended Darryl Butterfield for ONE exhibiton game after Butterfield plead guilty to hitting a former girlfriend.

DeMarre Carroll received no punishment after he was shot during a fight outside of a Columbia nightclub.

And Anderson's son, Mike Anderson Jr., was only suspended for ONE game after being arrested for DUI.

So I guess I spoke too soon when I suggested that coach Anderson is in the process of cleaning up the mess that Quin Snyder left behind. It doesn't appear that Mike Anderson has control of the Missouri basketball program at all.

In fact, just two years into Anderson's tenure, the Missouri basketball program looks to be every bit as out of control as it was under Quin Snyder.

Apparently, some things never change.

Missouri Suspends Five Players

Days after Senior point guard Stefhon Hannah was severely injured in a nightclub altercation, Missouri basketball coach Mike Anderson has suspended five players.

Suspended are the injured Hannah (who returned home to Chicago to recover from surgery related to the injuries that he sustained in the brawl), guard Jason Horton and forwards Marshall Brown, Darryl Butterfield and Leo Lyons.

By indefinitely suspending five players who either start or play critical backup roles, Mike Anderson is essentially waving a white flag (at least until the suspended players return).

That's really a strong move. But it may be a necessary one.

Mike Anderson is showing that he's definitely in control. And that's important at Mizzou, considering the mess that Anderson inherited from the free wheeling Quin Snyder regime.

Farewell, Larry Smith

By Mark Buckets

Drive & Dish doesn't cover college football as adamantly as college hoops. It's natural. We write about basketball.

But I was saddened to hear of the passing of Larry Smith, the former coach at Arizona, USCand Missouri. It was during Smith's tenure at Missouri that I came to appreciate him as a coach and as a man.

I have no connection to the University of Missouri, where Smith ended his coaching career in 2000. But I have no doubt in my mind that he affected the lives of all he coached.

He wasn't Joe Paterno. He wasn't Bobby Bowden. He's not even a Hall of Fame candidate.

He was a teacher at heart- and had to endure a broken heart.

This was a guy who worked his way up the coaching ladder. He worked under Bo Schembechler at Miami of Ohio, and followed him to Michigan. Eventually, a big opportunity arose for Smith - the job at USC. He went to three straight Rose Bowls but never really etched his name into Trojan lore.

Everyone who has ever been touched by Smith is extremely grateful for the times they spent with him. Former players came to his aid as Smith valiantly fought - the same way he coached - and eventually succumbed to cancer.

The guy never quit on anything in his life.

One thing that will stand out to me - among other things - was the look of absolute shock and disbelief as number one Nebraska came into Columbia, stormed back from a huge deficit and beat Missouri on a freak play in overtime. The stars aligned for Smith that day. He had a chance to elevate his program under star quarterback Corby Jones that day. Just when he thought that day had came - his team lost a late lead and were beaten by Nebraska.

It was the look on Smith's face that struck a chord with me. It was a combination of awe and absolute hurt. As I examine the "look" years later, it wreaks of sadness. It was the look a youngster has after a long courtship of the opposite sex.

You know how it goes: the first few dates were rousing success. This is the girl that you really could yourself settling down with. And just as you have a false sense of security, she drops the bomb on you, and your world has crumbled.

A perfect microcosm of Larry Smith's coaching career.

Larry smiled after that play. Hands on hips, not knowing what to do. It defined Larry Smith as a man, and as a coach.

Larry Smith isn't a household name around the country. This was a man I could relate to early on in my life.

Bear Down, Fight On, and Hold that Tiger, Larry Smith.

Kansas vs. Missouri Border War About More Than Just Football

Earlier in the week, the Wall Street Journal ran a must-read article that chronicled the intensity of the annual "border war" rivalry game between Kansas and Missouri. The rivalry transcends football (which isn't surprising, given the historic level of success, or lack thereof, that both programs have enjoyed).

The "border war" continues tonight, and for a change, this year's "border war" has national championship implications. Since Kansas is undefeated and Missouri is 10-1, tonight's game is probably the most important edition of this venerable rivalry. One of these teams will walk off the field knowing that it's no longer in BCS contention. And that's unfortunate, because it would be nice to see both programs play in a BCS game (I figured I'd see a Sasquatch before I'd ever see Kansas or Mizzou in contention for the national championship).

Last week, this blog recognized Ohio State vs. Michigan as the best rivalry in college football. Everybody knows how big that rivalry is. But few people know about the intensity of the Kansas vs. Missouri rivalry. Tonight's game could do a lot to change that (provided that people actually watch the game -- despite the importance of the game, Kansas and Missouri aren't exactly marquee names in college football). But given the nature of this rivalry, and considering the mutual dislike between people from Kansas and denizens of the Show Me State, the rivalry's place in the consciousness of the American public will have little affect on the intensity of the "border war."