Leach Fired Under Bizarre Circumstances

Yet another football program will have to fill a head coaching vacancy after Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach was fired today after being accused of mistreating an injured player.

Leach has always been known to have an unorthodox style of coaching, but if what he's being accused of is true then I'm at a loss for words.

According to the family of sophomore receiver Adam James, Leach had James stay in a small electrical closet during practice.

Since Leach has yet to make a statement denying the allegation, I have to accept that it's true.

What I'm wondering is what good would come out of leaving a player with a concussion in a small closet? It doesn't make sense to me.

Some old school guys will question whether or not we're getting a little to sensitive to the way coached treat their players. Coaches like Bear Bryant used very tough tactics to build up their players. However, stuffing a player into a dark closet seems unnecessary. Like I've said before, it's football, not the Marines.

Texas Tech had a little bit of a drop off from last season's success, but they were still a solid team. I'm thinking that Texas Tech wanted Leach out anyway and this was just a good excuse for doing so.

Former Vandy Stars Shine In Monday Night Football

You have to look long and hard to find Vandy alums in the NFL. That is unless you're looking at the Chicago Bears roster.

The Bears currently have five players on their roster that suited up for Vanderbilt once upon a time. Unless you're a die-hard Vanderbilt fan, the only one you probably know is Jay Cutler. The others are Earl Bennett, Hunter Hillenmeyer, D.J. Moore, and Chris Williams.

Now I understand that the big programs in the country like Florida put five players on every team in the NFL, but we're talking about Vanderbilt here. It's just amazing to me that one NFL team would pick out that many Vandy players.

Last night ESPN's Monday Night Football offered another meaningless game to the standings. With that said, the Bears came out like they were playing for a playoff spot. Much of that can be contributed to Cutler, Bennett, and Hillenmeyer.

It's been a very rough year for Cutler, but last night he reminded everyone the kind of talent he has. He out dueled Brett Favre's Vikings, and Favre congratulated Cutler afterwards. Classy move for Favre to do that.

Former Vandy wide receiver Earl Bennett also had a great game. He had three catches for 35 yards, including a big touchdown reception.

And then there's the defensive side of the ball. Hunter Hillenmeyer might be the best kept secret at the linebacker position in all of football. He showed that last night by having 15 tackles and a forced fumble in overtime on Adrian Peterson.

Now I understand that Hillenmeyer had part of the facemask on that tackle, but it looked like it was incidental contact. It's part of the game and the officials missed the call. It was still a great play to punch the ball out during that crucial point in the game.

Hillenmeyer has gotten his chance to show what he's capable of as a starter when Brian Urlacher went down for the season. He's third on the team in total tackles behind Lance Briggs and Danieal Manning. He's also become a master at forcing fumbles with four this season.

For a program that produces very few NFL stars, the Bears are showing other NFL scouts to start looking at Vandy players a little bit harder.

The 72' Dolphins Can Rest Easy Once Again

Almost every year we go through this. We speculate that an undefeated team will join the 1972 Dolphins for the only teams to finish an entire season undefeated.

This year we even had two teams at 13-0, and once again they fell up short.

There's a little bit of debate on whether or not coach Jim Caldwell should've benched his starters after the 1st half against the Jets. The Colts already have the number one seed locked up in the playoffs, but it can't be good for your starters to not play for a month. Not to mention if the Colts lose again this weekend against a streaky Bills team, then a losing mentality may be stuck in the players' minds leading up to their 2nd-round playoff game.

The Saints, on the other hand, still had something to play for. If the Vikings win tonight then they will have the tie-breaker over the Saints for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

There's a reason why only one team has completely run the table in NFL history. Much like college football, any team can win on any given week. Even a bad team like the Buccaneers is capable of beating one of the NFL's best teams.

So relax Mercury Morris and Don Shula. Your claim to fame is safe until next year.

And the Coaching Carousal Keeps on Moving

College football has certainly seen it's share of coaching changes this year. Another change just rocked the sports world as Urban Meyer has announced that he will step down as head coach of Florida due to health reasons.

This all comes just weeks after Meyer turned down a coaching opportunity at Notre Dame, which he has always held in high regard. With that said, I Meyer is completely genuine in his reason for leaving.

There were hints that this might happen earlier in the season when Meyer said that it basically wasn't fun anymore. He's been coaching in college for 24 years now.

I haven't always agreed with Meyer on things, but I've always respected him overall as a coach. He is an excellent recruiter and took not just Florida, but also Utah, to new levels.

Meyer also stated that for the 24 years that he's been in the business he has completely ignored his health and that he wants to starting paying more attention to his family. There's no better reason than that.

You have to respect Meyer for that considering he's walking away from a $24 million contract that was suppose to run through 2014. We'll have to see how that all plays out.

Meyer finished with a 56-10 record at Florida, including 32 wins in the SEC over five seasons.

So who will replace Urban Meyer and take over for a program that is still one of the best in the nation? It's really hard to speculate, but you know it will be a big name. Whoever it ends up being, I'm sure that this coach will leave his current program out of the blue much like Brian Kelly did to Cincinnati.

Coaching Changes (2009-2010)

• Urban Meyer (Florida)
  
• Charlie Weis (Notre Dame)
• Brian Kelly (Cincy)
• Turner Gill (Buffalo)
• Mike Sanford (UNLV)
• Butch Jones (Central Michigan)
  

All I Want for Christmas is a Titans Playoff Berth

Currently there are six teams knotted up at 7-7 in the AFC. Every single one of these teams have some sort of a chance at making the playoffs this year. Even the Titans.

The computer projections have the Ravens and the Broncos, who are both 8-6, snagging the last two wild card spots.

Before the Titans can start thinking about making the biggest turnaround in NFL history they better start thinking about the NFL's hottest team. That team is the San Diego Chargers and they're coming to town for Christmas.

Some of you may not realize this, but the Chargers have not only won nine-straight games, but they've won 17 straight December games. That's the sign of a mature team, and the Titans aren't exactly strong in that category.

Another thing that's going to hurt the Titans is the loss of Keith Bullock. This almost gives the Titans no chance in this game. After Bullock left the game against the Dolphins last week, the Titans nearly lost after having a 16-point lead at one time in the game.

Needless to say, the Chargers are better than the Dolphins. The Titans will have to shut down the passing game in order to put more guys in the box to slow down the speedy Darren Sproles.

The one thing that may give the Titans a fighting chance here is the short rest. The Chargers rely on a high-octane offense while the Titans rely on ball control and running the ball up the gut. Short rest could hurt the Chargers more than the Titans.

Oh yeah, and anytime you have a game-changer like Chris Johnson then anything is capable of happening. The Chargers run defense isn't exactly the strongest part of their team either.

It's asking for a lot, but I want a Titans playoff berth for Christmas. To get that the Titans have to win on Christmas day.

Moutain West Makes Statement At Pac-10's Expense

The bowl season is not even a week old and already one conclusion can pretty much be made. People should start taking the Mountain West Conference seriously.

Both No. 14 BYU and No. 23 Utah dominated in their own respective bowl games against Pac-10 opponents, and we're not talking about doormats of the Pac-10 either.

We're talking about an Oregon State they came very close to representing the Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl this year. California, who Utah beat tonight, may not have been spectacular but they still beat some very good teams within the Pac-10 this year, most notably Stanford just a month ago.

It should also be noted that Oregon State defeated California 31-14 which turned around and lost to BYU by 24. This doesn't look too great for a conference that claims to be one of the best in the country.

You still can't forget about Wyoming, which took care of business against the WAC's Fresno State. Fresno is suppose to be one of the better teams that the WAC has to offer.

The Moutain West is now 3-0 so far and still has two more representatives to go. Air Force will be the next one and they'll play Houston on December 31. That will probably be the only loss the Mountian West will take this bowl season.

It's definitely time to start taking them serious if you weren't already. This conference continues to grow and there could be a reasonable argument made to say they're better than the Big Ten or the Big East.

This is the great thing about bowl season. Conferences get the chance to prove how good they are against other conferences. It's a great way to see where your conference stands, and right now the Mountain West is proving they deserve just as much respect as the BCS conferences.

Will The Real Memphis Grizzlies Please Stand Up?

It's to probably no one's surprise that the Lakers, Celtics, and Cavaliers are all once again rolling through their respective seasons. However, there is one team that's surprising me and that's the Memphis Grizzlies.

We're talking about a team that is historically one of the worst franchises in NBA history. That looks to be changing as this team is finally starting to show it's maturity. Players like Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo are turning into All-Stars while support players Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph are also pulling their weight.

Don't look now but the Grizzlies actually have a very solid team. What proves that the most isn't so much the games they are winning but also the games that they are competing in. No longer are the Grizzlies just target practice for the NBA powerhouses. The Celtics found that out a week ago as they escaped Memphis with a five-point win.

Outside of the Lakers, the gap between the worst teams and the best teams are closer than you would think. Three games separates the current eighth spot from the third spot. We've seen plenty of upsets already during this young season and the Grizzlies have had a share of them.

The Grizzlies already have wins over six playoff teams from last year, including wins over the Nuggets and Cavaliers.

There's a lot of basketball to be played but the Grizzlies are trying on that Cinderella slipper and it might just be the perfect fit.