College Football in Houston will Fall Back, While it Will Move Forward at Oregon

At least the footballs will be in good hands at Oregon

Two college football head coaching positions have been filled this week. One is a pretty big deal, the other, some will think it's a big deal, I personally do not think it really matters that much, because that team is going to become irrelevant again, very soon. In fact, let's get that one out of the way first.

There were multiple reports the other day that Houston had hired Lane Kiffin to be their next head coach. Then, throughout the day, a lot of those reports were refuted, and it was soon announced, that he was not the new head coach. I woke up this morning and read that they had hired their offensive coordinator, Major Applewhite, to be their next head coach. I remember watching Applewhite while he was a QB at Texas and thought he was okay. Then, as a coordinator, he has been sufficient. But, I do not think he is going to be that great of a head coach. Some people are more suited to be an assistant as opposed to the head man. Look at a guy like Mike Martz. He was an offensive genius, but when he was the head guy with the Rams, he was a train wreck. He did not care about defense, and that doomed him. I think he is still coaching somewhere, but he is not remembered for being the coordinator of one of the greatest offenses of all time, he is remembered as a failure as a head coach.

Unfortunately for Applewhite, I think he is destined for a similar outcome. He has an exceptional offensive mind, especially for college football. On his watch, Houston's offense has been a wonder to watch. They were fast, they scored a ton of points and gained lots and lots of yards. But, in the games they didn't win, their defense was exposed, and the offense could look stagnant and repetitive. I mean, how many times can you run the exact same read option play? You need some kind of diversity to keep teams on their toes. The only team that doesn't need to change things up is Alabama, and Houston is no Alabama. So, while I say congratulations to Applewhite on his first head coaching job, I also see lots and lots of 7-5 or 8-4 seasons on their horizon, and no more competing for big-time bowl games, or even competing against big-time teams.

The big coaching vacancy that was filled was the Oregon job. I did not know who they were going to hire. At different points, I was certain they were hiring Chip Kelly, then Lane Kiffin, then Charlie Strong, I even thought they were going to give Les Miles a shot. But, I could not be happier with their choice of Willie Taggart. Taggart is a great, up and coming head coach in the college football world. He has turned around 2 programs, Western Kentucky and South Florida. He took over 2 jobs that the teams were in the dumps, and left them in great shape. Western Kentucky was a dumpster fire, and he made them a perennial bowl contender, which is a big deal for them. Then, he took over USF, which was happy to be a 4 win team, and turned them into a very good team. They finished this year 10-2, which is one of their best records ever. Taggart is also a very player friendly type of coach. Everywhere he has been, his players say nothing but glowing things about him. They love him. He pushes them, but it is never to a boiling point. You talk to former WKU and USF players that Taggart coached, and they only say very nice things about him.

When Oregon picked him to be their next head coach, I was pleasantly surprised. I watched a bit of his press conference, and that only made me like this pick even more. He's a confident guy that wants to turn this team back into a perennial power. I think he is going to thrive with a big time program as well. He was able to recruit players to go to schools like WKU and USF, so just think of what he will be able to do at Oregon. Kids already want to go play there for the uniforms alone, but now that they have a charismatic, great head coach on board. He is going to clean up on the recruiting trail.

I also really like how he and the AD took a shot at Brady Hoke. Look, I hope Hoke catches on somewhere, it needs to be a smaller division one school, but he was a mess at Oregon and Michigan. He could not motivate players as the head man at Michigan, and Oregon's defense last year was one of the worst defenses I have ever seen. They were atrocious. They were Swiss Cheese. Anyone and everyone scored and moved the ball at will against them last year. Hoke was an awful defensive coordinator.

Anyway, let's get back to Taggart. Like I have said a few times, he seems like he is going to be the perfect hire for Oregon. The guy can recruit, motivate and win. He is confident and appears more than able to succeed at his first big time head coaching job. I expect him to turn Oregon around pretty quickly, but I think his destiny is to be an NFL head coach. He is that good of a coach. While the Houston hiring of Applewhite leaves me kind of blah, the Oregon hiring of Taggart has me very excited, and I am not an Oregon fan at all. Good job Oregon, you guys look like you have made the right choice.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He should not criticize Houston, as "The Simpsons" reminds us 7-5 seasons do not come cheap. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty Ranks the 2016 NFL Teams: The Dumpster Fire Edition

Football is right around the corner people. The preseason starts next Sunday, and the regular season is a little over a month away. For the next 8 days I will countdown the teams in the NFL, 4 teams a day, going from worst to best, in my opinion. On day nine, I will do my postseason picks, including the Super Bowl winner, and I will also pick all my award winners. I will stick to some of my other, regular blogs, i.e., the "Bar Rescue" updates and some greatest American band picks, but for the most part, the next two weeks will be NFL heavy. I will also do a college football preview at the end of next week. So, hopefully everyone is ready for some football talk, because I'm ready to watch some football. I will break down the teams to the best of my knowledge and tell you why I have them where I have them in my rankings. 

Okay, let's get to the countdown.

Coming in at number 32, the worst team in the league this season will be the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are an absolute dumpster fire. They did some good things this offseason. They fired their old coach, they dumped Johnny Manziel, finally, they hired what seems to be a decent head coach, but other than that, this team is not very good. Their defense is very, very below average. They have no one on that side of the ball that can strike fear in any opponent. Their defensive line gets no pressure, their linebackers are mediocre and their secondary is subpar. They will give up a ton of points. Unfortunately for their defense, their offense won't be able to put up too many points. They have an okay receiver in Josh Gordon, but he hangs out with Johnny Manziel, he's been suspended multiple times for violating the leagues drug rules and, when he is in there, he doesn't have a very good QB throwing him the ball. The only 2 QB's worth anything on their roster are Josh McCown and Robert Griffin. McCown is not good enough to be most teams third string QB and we all know about Robert Griffin. He's a prima donna that cannot stay healthy and forced his way out of Washington. He had a great rookie year, but he has been oft injured and, when he is healthy, he has been pretty awful. They don't have any good running backs, so the run won't scare anyone. Their offensive line is subpar at best as well. The Browns stink. If they win 3 games this year, I'd be shocked. Hue Jackson is a good coach, but it is going to take some time before the Browns are anything close to an 8 or 9 win team. I say they finish 2-14 this year.

Coming in at number 31, I have the San Francisco 49ers. You may see that and think, they were a contender only 2 years ago, well, a lot has changed in 2 years. They put all their eggs in the Colin Kaepernick basket and he has proven to not be that good. He has no accuracy, cannot throw the deep ball and abandons plays way too early and relies on his legs too much. Then, people may say, well they hired Chip Kelly, way can't he turn the 49ers and Kaepernick around. First off, Kelly is not a good NFL coach. His zone read does not work in the very fast paced NFL. Chip Kelly is a college coach that somehow got two NFL jobs. He is not a competent NFL coach. They just lost their best receiver, Anquan Boldin, and they have no running game, Carlos Hyde is not that good. They lost all their good defenders a year ago to, mostly, retirement. This team can't score and they can't stop anyone. They are only slightly, very slightly, better than the Browns. I think the 49ers will go 3-13 or 4-12. They are not very good and until they overhaul the whole team, and get a new head coach, they will continue to be bad.

Coming in at number 29, I have the Tennessee Titans. I have liked what they have done in the draft the past couple of years, but Mariota is still only a second year player and he has little to no weapons around him. The Titans receivers are good, but very young and very unproven. They still need a few years. The backs are mediocre, but they can get better. The offensive line is not very good, save for Taylor Lewan, but he still gets far too many personal foul penalties. They have decent tight ends, but when the QB has very little time to find them, it doesn't matter. The Titans defense is not very good. Even when they play bad teams, like the 49ers and Browns, they still give up 20 to 30 points. This team also tries to run some kind of hybrid read option/west coast offense that looks very bad at times. Mariota still needs another year or two before he reaches his possible potential, as do the receivers and the backs. The defense needs to get a whole lot better before they are competitive. They can get better through the draft, which seems to be the way Titans are rebuilding right now. The Titans may win 5 games, but anymore than that would be a huge surprise to pretty much everyone, Titans fans included. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say they finish 5-11.

At number 28, I have Mike Wilbon's favorite team, the Chicago Bears. This may surprise some people, the fact that I have the Bears this far down on my list, but they are a very, very bad football team. They let their best offensive weapon walk last year, Matt Forte, to the Jets. They have no good receivers. I don't care that they have names like Alshon Jeffrey and Kevin White, neither are that good. Hell, Kevin White didn't play a single snap last year because he got injured in camp. They don't have Martellus Bennett anymore, so they have no tight end threat. They got rid of Forte, as I mentioned earlier, and their consolation prizes are Jacquizz Rodgers and Jeremy Langford. Then they have one of the worst, most overrated, most annoying, most self inflating assholes at QB in Jay Cutler. I don't understand why people think he is a good QB. He didn't win in college. He has been very subpar in the pros. In fact, the lone time he has been to the playoffs, he got "hurt" and missed most of the Bears loss to the Packers. Jay Cutler may be the most overrated, non deserving players in the entire NFL. As long as he is the Bears QB, they will continue to be very mediocre on offense, especially since Matt Forte is gone. The Bears defense is not very good either. Sure, they signed Danny Treveathan away from Denver, but he will not turn this unit around on his own. They have no defensive line, and don't listen to the nonsense that has been coming out of Kyle Long's mouth recently, he is out of his mind. They can't pressure the QB and they can't stop the run. The linebacking unit, save for Treveathan, is subpar. The secondary in not good at all. The Bears are bad. The only reason they are ahead of the three teams before is, they always find some way to miraculously win a game or 2 that they should have no shot. They will either go 4-12 or 5-11. The Bears stink and they need a new QB.

That's it for today. Come back tomorrow for teams 28, 27, 26 and 25 and a "Bar Rescue" update.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. The teams he listed above would cause him to change away from the NFL RedZone network. These are teams with nothing worth watching. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Nothing but Losers in the Nick Foles Sam Bradford Trade

NFL Scout thinking about next big deal

Trading for past potential never works out.

I'm from and live in Saint Louis, Missouri. Lately, I've been reading a lot of sports stories headlined, "Who Won the Foles for Bradford Trade". Football fans know what I'm talking about. Last offseason, Sam Bradford was traded to the Eagles straight up for Nick Foles. The trade at the time seemed very blah. It wasn't that big of a surprise to me. Both of these guys are mid level, at best, NFL quarterbacks.

Nick Foles wasn't really on anyone's radar until he blew up two seasons ago, coming in for an injured Eagles quarterback and put up insane stats. I believe he had 20 touchdown passes and 1, or maybe even 0 interceptions. He led the Eagles to the playoffs where they were ousted in the first round. Last season was supposed to be when Foles became a upper level quarterback. He wasn't going to be Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers or Cam Newton, but he was supposed to be on the same level as a Jay Cutler or Russell Wilson. That didn't really happen. He started the season very slow. He looked to be lost in Chip Kelly's offense and struggled. Also, Chip Kelly is NOT an offensive genius, at least not in the NFL. Foles eventually got hurt and missed the last half of last season. Mark Sanchez replaced him and played better than him. That's insane to me.

Sam Bradford, on the other hand, was the number one overall pick in the draft. He was supposed to be the savior and new face of the Rams franchise. In his case, he could never stay healthy. He'd start to show flashes, fitting passes into tight windows, throwing a decent deep ball and protecting the football, but it was just that, a flash. At other times, he'd looked flustered and lost. Sometimes, the defense looked so much faster than he could comprehend. He'd take sack after sack by holding the ball way too long. And, he'd ALWAYS end up getting hurt, usually resulting in a lost season. He'd get a concussion or a banged up shoulder, but he always seemed to tear an ACL. Be it preseason or the regular season, he's missed time his entire career.

So when the trade was announced I wasn't surprised so much as thinking, why would these two teams trade for average, oft injured quarterbacks that haven't had much success in the NFL? I didn't really think either team won the trade, but multiple outlets had multiple feelings on the trade. Saint Louis media was thrilled to get rid of Bradford and his huge contract, and they were happy to have Foles. He was cheap and although he was just recently injured, he was more durable than Bradford. In Philadelphia, they were happy to get rid of the slow moving, plodding statue that was Foles. I guess they thought Bradford would be a better fit in Kelly's offense because he ran something similar at Oklahoma. That's problem number one, neither of these guys are mobile at all. They're both pocket passers. I also heard a report from Philadelphia saying that Bradford could lead this team to a Super Bowl, if he could stay healthy. Now, I'm not a Rams fan, but after watching him on local TV for four or five years, he NEVER stayed healthy. I already mentioned all his injury woes earlier. Before the season, Foles pretty quietly came to Saint Louis with little to no fanfare. Not much was expected from him because the Rams just drafted Todd Gurley, and their defense is top notch. Foles was supposed to be a game manager. In Bradford's case, the Super Bowl mention was out there, and he turned down an extension, deciding to bet on himself having a big season to get a big contract. Needless to say, Bradford's expectations were much higher than Foles. Then, the season started.

We are nine games into the season, and neither is really doing too much. Foles was just recently benched. He's completing almost less than 50 percent of his passes and he has 7 touchdown passes compared to 6 interceptions. Without Gurley, the Rams offense would be non existent. Foles isn't managing games. He throws critical interceptions and misses open receivers a lot. The Rams are struggling, look at what the Bears did to them last week, and Foles is a big reason why. I don't care or mind the benching. He's struggled and when you're more than halfway through the season, it's hard to fix these problems. Why not give Case Keenum a chance? What do the Rams have to lose really? In Bradford and Philadelphia's case, they've both been some of the biggest disappointments in the NFL. Philadelphia's offense has been downright awful at times. Kelly is calling way too many pass plays, putting the ball in Bradford's hand way too much. When you have DeMarco Murray, Ryan Matthews and Darren Sproles, why not run it 70 percent of the time? That's a great trio of running backs. But, the Eagles have counted on Bradford too much to the tune of 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and a 4-5 record. And also, guess what happened in their last game, Bradford got hurt. Surprise, surprise. He's going to miss, at least, the next two games.

I'll ask again, why are people trying to figure out who "won" this trade? No one did. Both of these quarterbacks have been huge disappointments this year, and both teams should have seen this coming. These two guys are back ups and should be treated that way. For what was supposed to be team changing trades for each team has been, but not in the way the Rams and Eagles thought. These guys stink. I don't know why this trade was made and I bet both teams GM's are kicking themselves right now. Both teams had big plans for this season, but these two QB's have almost derailed these plans.

Sorry Saint Louis and Philadelphia, no one wins this trade.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He once traded his brother a rookie Bo Jackson baseball card for an Alf pog. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.