Welcome to Special Teams, a production of my Heart Radio. Greetings and Welcome inside. Special Teams are podcast that takes a look every week at a big year in the world of sports and the special teams that make it up. Now, normally we take a look at one team and how they've done over the course of one very special year. But I'm gonna get to play with the format here this week and next week a little bit and kind of get outside our comfort zone. Jason Smith and Mike Harmon, your genial hosts here, as we're gonna take a look back at the special teams that made up the two thousand and seven college football season, which is you mentioned two thousand seven any college football fan and they go, oh my god, it was the most insane season we have seen in quite a long time, this season that ended with l s U beating Ohio State to win their second BCS and third overall national title. But what we're gonna do is we are going to spotlight and take a look at the special teams that were rank second and lost that ranking over the course of the season, because that's really the number one thing that people remember about this as some of the crazy teams that got as high as number two, couldn't keep it, couldn't keep the ranking, lost and have moved on and really never gotten back to the high level they were at in two thousand and seven. Yeah, for something that was the high water mark, and you talked about forty fifty years before they reached that moment, all the excitement, anticipation, only to fall flat on their faces. I really thought we were gonna do a Tim Tebow, especially when you said two thousand seven football and that's all you sent in a text to me. I said, great, We're just gonna celebrate the life and times of Tim Tebow. We did that in the other podcast. We did. We did. We did the other one for about the Jake misery of the first year of the Alabama experiment of Nick Saban And I don't I don't know that that was that special. Actually, I think that was well for anybody that's fought him any time since, that was kind of special because it was the last time he was down and out. True. Well, no, well, he did take the Dolphins job. Remember he was down and out. Well, I mean he exercised himself from the game. He actually said to the reporters, fellas I don't know what to tell you. I'm not going to Alabama. And then, of course, and then he was there, So this was he winking? Did he have his fingers crossed behind him? No, I got it behind my back. So what if he can't stretch, what if he has a labor room issue that doesn't allow him to put his hand behind his back, then you cross your toes and you put it in your bucket, or you could do that as well, across your eyes. Could do a lot of different things. But there were no fewer than six teams that held the number two ranking overall this season that lost the number two overall ranking. Here's how crazy of a show this is gonna be USC which had the number two ranking until they're now famous. Three loss to Stanford and Jim marmaw really the game that put Jim Harbaugh on the map as a coach. I mean, that doesn't even make it Dogs. I mean, if we're gonna talk about worst, I mean biggest upsets in the history of football, made a forty one point dog. No, that was big, don't but they don't make it because USC we've seen them being number two in the world the world of college football. But they had their runs. They had their run Oregon who had the number two. No, I'm not saying that we've seen Oregon up there. Ye sure, here's how big it is. The first couple of teams, South Florida, remember the Bulls got as high as number two in the very first BCS rankings. Matt Growthy was the quarterback who was just okay throwing the football, but running the football, he was able to be a good dual threat QB in South Florida won a couple of big games, and suddenly that first BCS rankings came out and it was South Florida's it at number two. They had beaten West Virginia, who was ranked fifth in the country up until that point. And suddenly, that whole week, I remember, the talk was if South Florida runs the table, south Florida's gonna play for the national championship. Dude, South Florida. Man, who the hell is South Florida? They can play for the national title? Wow? But that's the beauty of it. Right. When one of these stories rise up, it's like, all right, deploy all staffers, figure out stats where they're from. We're gonna need a lot of graphics because suddenly the rotation is they're gonna be in games that are being televised in a bigger way. And they went into absolutely thumb Syracuse. Yeah, that's that was. This is back when everybody thumb Syracuse. Remember, Buddy, it was. But but it was South Florida the Syracuse. I know, we've lost to Florida's Central, We've lost to Central Florida. We've lost to Florida International, we lost in International Florida. We've lost the International House of Pancakes. We've lost to a lot of teams. Well, many people have been felled by a giant stack at the I h you're gonna put the chuck chips and make the smiley face on it for you. So South Florida their first ranking at number two, the first BCS rankings, they're all the rage, and then proving clearly that that pressure was too much for them, they lost the next three games they played, taking them right out of contention. Alright, thanks for coming, South Florida, thanks for being here. Well, you get up there sometimes that jump up in class. Maybe you start reading your press clippings, and there's a lot that goes into it. I mean the fact that the first loss was at Rutgers. Yeah, Rutgers ruining a perfect season. You don't hear that that off Rutgers in two thousand seven. I don't think anybody was anticipating that right there. So South Florida loses the ranking and then rising up Boston College. Now this was a shock because look, Boston College has never been even close to that, But they also have never had a quarterback like Matt Ryan. This was the season that put Matt Ryan on the map and turned him into the number three overall pick in the NFL draft Jeff Jagazinski, who had a difficult time after this year. Boston College gets to number two on the strength of Matt Ryan, who was terrific. He decided to return for his senior season, and all he did was amp up his stock. BC had been on the cusp. They had been a pretty good team, and looked, you're writing Matt Ryan's coat tails. Of course you're gonna be pretty good. But this was the year Boston College had a wide open offense, you know, and and Ryan really made his legacy in the Virginia Tech game. They had beaten Notre Dame, and No, Tre Dame. Wasn't that great. But Boston College beats Notre Dame and you know that's a big rivalry, and they're rideing high. They're losing to Virginia Tech. Tend nothing with about three minutes to go in the game, right, tend nothing there, shut out the first fifty seven minutes of the game, and you figure, okay, this is where it ends for Boston College at number two. But Ryan takes BC down, they score a touchdown, they get the on side kick, and then with eleven seconds to go, Matt Ryan makes a play that not only cemented his season, but really cemented his stock as this is a guy we got to get in the draft. He rolls out to the side their thirty five yards from the end zone, and it's a Brett Farve play. He rolls all the way out to the left and he stops, and he turns completely back to the right and chucks it up to the end zone and Andre Callendar is open behind the defensive backs as a running back with eleven seconds left, he makes the catch. They wind up winning fourteen to ten. It was insane. They put up two touchdowns in the final three minutes. And watching this game again, which I did going into here, that last three minutes was full of everything you wanted to see and you could tell right there, hey, Matt Ryan's gonna be it. But that throw was absolutely incredible. Plug. It's the game that cements him, the ice moniker, that brought him into the end of the pros right where back against the wall, the number two ranking, all of these things that that can rise up and really make you a legend. And again it was Tim Tebow's here. Everybody else was just playing for all right, who gets to play right And in the end he doesn't even make the make the championship game, but it was about chasing for the Heisman, troue, but it was about all of that that pageantry that goes through. But for Matt Ryan, you know, we're always looking for quarterbacks to rise, we do it every year and looking for those signature moments and what's going to separate on tape, especially now that everybody's a tape pundit. You know, even as a decade ago when Matt Ryan was coming into the league that there was a small fraction of the number of guys breaking it down. But this is three minutes on the field going all right, game on the line, everything on your shoulder, just go get it. And you're not talking about a group of support players that went onto illustrious NFL careers. Here on the offensive side, right, it's Matt Ryan carrying guys along. BC gets to eight no and then they lose to Florida State. That ends their perfect season, their run to the national championship. But Matt Ryan finishes his career that seasons passing thirty one touchdowns. Obviously, he goes number three overall in the draft the Atlanta Falcons, and short of getting another Matt Ryan, this is never happening for Boston College. Again. They are trying to find the path to mediocrity as they try to navigate the A C C. When you know, obviously, now wait a minute's Clems and it's all these other teams that we're trying to fight up against. If we go to a bowl game at six and six, that's a good year for us. Well, and that's the unfortunate, ever shifting landscape from college football though, right my allmator Northwestern consistently can win games. Gonna take step back, but are you ever going to get to that number two and have your shot right where everything plays perfectly at every bounce goes right from Boston College. This was that time recording. Recruiting a quarterback of that caliber is just such a difficult proposition. Uh, in this game, you can hope someone would transfer right. Think you graduate translations, always open, no possibilities, into the transfer portal and see what's inside. Still waiting for someone to make the movie Transfer Portal, Transfer Portal. It would end up being a horror movie though. Like a player would step into the transfer portal, something would happen, they would get taken over. They would look and act the same on the outside, but they'd be different on the Yes, there you go, transfer portal. I like that, Like, so, there you go. There's the first couple of teams had their shot at number two and failed. Coming up next the team that had the next chance at it, and regardless of whether or not they lost, this coach may have done the best single season job in college football in the past twenty five years. We'll get to it coming up next year on special teams. As we continue on special teams, the Curse of the Number two is. Looking back at the two thousand seven n c A football season, the craziest in recent memory. We're looking back at the teams that got as high as number two, shockingly, because you're gonna hear their names and you're gonna say, boy, that's never happening for them. Again. We went through South Florida, we went through Boston College, and next it was Kansas's turn. In a year that every minute we get more removed from this season, we go just how the hell did this happen with Kansas? Kansas who wins about two games a year. God as high as number two. Mark Mangino, the head coach who everybody remembers them, Oh, he was a real big guy, and and he was he was a guy that started out eleven and oh that year, God, Kansas as high as number two. They wound up finishing twelve and one. But before we get into the what happened to them at number two? That's why I said a few minutes ago, Mark man Gino may have done the greatest coaching job in the last twenty five years in college football, because Kansas was a waste land before he got there, and in his time they go to four bowl games. They're bowl eligible in five of the eight years he's there. They were both eligible in five of the last thirty years before Manio got all right, the best player they had was a keep to leap right. He went on to a long career in the NFL. Still in the NFL, the only guy to ever say don't you know who I am? To me, Well, that's right. You went to Kansas. You gonna have to do well. But you went to Kansas, dn't you? How do you make it out of there on a at a Super Bowl event where you've got Laura loud music and the person introducing him as he came down the blue carpet for that night did not enunciate whatsoever. So I don't know even though what I said in terms of addressing him, he guys, you gotta know my name? Like okay, the kind of just kind of shoved you in front of my microphone. There's it was one of those situations like there's no no briefing you. It's like no bay quib talent bright. So he got in my ear and he just, you know, just reminded me because again, I mean, look, you're seeing all agains, like nobody's wearing a name dark, so it's like, hi, my name. You know, you're putting most guys you're trying to fix the name of an NFL player who's already in versus a guy who's going to be drafted, and so it's just one of those circumstances. I felt stupid. I wrote him a note of apology. It's like, there was no disrespect. That's really nice. So I was cool, and the next time I saw him, it was all good. We laughed about it. But still hates me secretly, But that's okay. Uh. Todd reesing that year through thirty three touchdowns. He was the quarterback in Kansas. He threw six in a seventy six thirty nine win over Nebraska. Again, that doesn't seem real that Kansas would do this, But two thousand seven was right around the time we started seeing the crazy teams out of the Big twelve, the teams at the spread offenses putting up a lot of points. Whether you ran a spread offense or not, it didn't. It was still where look at all these points where the Big twelve had always been seventeen thirteen on a rainy November afternoon. But you're playing for the National Channel. We know we've already seen it. About a decade earlier, when Joe Tiller started being all crazy after new and then starting to spider out. And yeah, this was like the epicenter of all that because you had Missouri, you had Kansas, you had Texas Tech, Oklahoma, all these teams that started to embrace that. And I mean, think about seventy six thirty nine Kansas. Look, we've seen Nebraska takes some thumps and lumps over the past few years, but seventy thirty nine to Kansas. I mean, come on, that's where if you're in Nebraska, you go. We had to just get rid of our program. We just like we used to beat Kansas seventy three. Well, but that was the tough time, right. You mentioned Notre Dame a little earlier in the podcast. They were not exactly in the best shape, not still in the pageantry of Notre Dame. And I know it drove your buddy Beeto cooked nuts because it wasn't they weren't rolling along. Sure, you had many conversations about where Notre Dame stood, and like they're always front center, but all your traditional powerhouses in that year and in the years surrounding it, they were navigating some choppy waters. But it still looked good on the resume because to the casual observer. It's just a storied program. So you got him. Now, Kansas didn't play a lot of great teams, just the way the schedule went for them. But they go into a big showdown against Missouri knowing full well that the winner of that game is going to be the number one right team in the country because Ohio State had lost earlier that day. I remember that game. It was It was a it was a night game. The weather was typical what you expected to be. It was cold, it was windy, and they were going up against Missouri, who was that good. Jeremy Macklin was a freshman on this team. Chase Daniel wound up a Heisman finalists, you know, he was a quarterback in Missouri. And this was a game that, oh, by God, Kansas or Missouri is going to be the number one team in the country going into a big twelve championship game. One of these teams could win a game and play for the national title. Kansas or Missouri. Now Missouri has always been hey, they've had some decent seasons, but we're talking one game away from Kansas or Missouri playing for all the marbles. The nightmare scenario, right, We're talking about South Florida earlier. Man, this is where you even get into starting to rank teams and have these reveal specials and you include one of these names. There's lots of executives sweaty palms and rings. So what's gonna happen? We gotta sell Kansas in the National title game? Yeah, I mean Chase Kaufman the tight end, trying to sell him along the way. Yeah, I don't I don't know that was gonna be an easy sell. But Jase Daniel getting it done. Man, he had that that big efficiency rating and through thirty three touchdowns, he could at least said, hey, high powered Chase Daniel in that game? Was it? Even though Todd Reesing played well, he threw a couple of picks, and Reesing didn't throw a lot of picks that year, Chase Daniel was forty out of forty nine for three sixty one and three touchdowns. Missouri running that big, wide open offense. And in fact, after the game, they asked the Kansas Jayhawks, hey about Chase Daniel all this stuff, and the keep to leap said, we just sent that guy to New York, like we just sent the trophy. We just sent that guy to New York. He had that kind of game against all the eyes of the nation on you, right, I mean, because this became the curiosity at that point. It was it was on the scroll and you would see the record. Maybe you caught it. And if you're truly degenerate with dual remote controls, multiple TVs watching all the you know already had an eight box for your picture and picture. Otherwise it was all right, the curiosity, and then all of a sudden, here it was front and center. So yeah, a game in that kind of spotlight could propel someone into grand futures. So Kansas doesn't make it to the Big twelve Championship game, they do beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl to one, and Kansas actually got a first place vote. At the end of the year, we're supposed to vote for the national champion. Kansas actually got a first place vote because there was some debate as to whether or not, Hey, with the crazy season that we had, are the teams that are playing for the National Championship game in the BCS gonna automatically get the votes they're supposed to get by winning that game. But only one person didn't vote for L s U. Seven times in nine weeks and number two fell. Yeah. I think it was Israel Gundy. Eiraz if I remember, was the guy who didn't vote for voted for Kansas to the number one team in the Cup. Sound. So Kansas has an incredible run. They falter at number two. But this is where the story of Kansas gets really interesting, and it's just too bad because you would think at this point Mark Mangino could write whatever tickety wanted to Kansas moving on, like twelve and one we won the Orange Ball. I'm gonna be here forever. From to win team is first year to nine ten wins and then this storied season. But it ended for Mangino in two thousand nine a mid talk of mistreatment of players. He had yelled at Raymond Pendleton after he jumped into the end zone against Central Michigan week one of this year. Uh I got famous on YouTube as much as he was screaming at him because he kind of showboted his way into the end zone. He was accused of poking a linebacker artist right in the chest and yelling at him before the Colorado game. Players didn't like him because he spoke to them disrespectfully. He had a lot of parking tickets as well, and the way he behaved towards people who gave out the parking tickets. I mean, these are all insane, don't you know who I am? These are all insane things that coaches. Really the old school, I'm gonna get in the guy's face like that would never happen nowadays. One one instance televised on TV is all you would need for the coach to go okay. I got it back away from things, but Mangino had a pattern of behavior and compounded it with the whole parking ticket thing and wound up getting fired and he had to leave Kansas when this should have been the biggest success story possible and maybe Kansas is still good all these years later. They had the fast Lane for eight years with him. But this didn't end with Oh, here's the n c A A coming to town and we found all these violations. This was a coach couldn't behave the right way towards his players, and despite the fact of all the success, he winds up finding his way out of town. That that just baffles me that that happened. Took a couple of years to get back in the game. Then it was at Youngstown State and later a couple of years as a coordinator and tight ends coach at Iowa State. But that, you know, you have to wonder if the if the word was out on him while this was going on, because you would think that a guy who turns the Kansas program around would have his pick of jobs anywhere. You know, the hot just always there's always big ticket teams every year that are looking for somebody new, and he would think at some point Mangino's name would come around where he would be seriously considered and would jump, and it didn't happen the next wave of guys, right, I mean that that's just a reputation changing, changing times, more reports. The the internet is unforgiving in these kind of things, right twenty years ago. Stories are there, and like we've seen plenty of Bob knight um biographies over time and clips, But if it's just the the speaking points, those may be more insidious because it's a lot of behind the scenes talk as opposed. All right, here's just the video clip for Mangino that became the end of it, and we just saw so many other coaches get their shots. So if you thought Kansas getting number two was really unlikely. W do we tell you about the last team that made it to number two and fell victim to the curse? The game that cost them ended up changing the history of college football. We'll get to that coming up next Jason Smith and Mike Carbon Special Teams Podcast. Five teams that made it to number two during the two thousand seven college football season all bit the dust. But it looked like everything was gonna go well for the six team because all they had to do was win a home game as a twenty eight and a half point favorite. That's it, and they couldn't. Nice and easy. The two thousand seven season for the West Virginia Mountaineers and head coach Rich Rodriguez came down to one game, one moment in time. Rich Rodriguez is the toast of college football. His spread offense that he instilled in West Virginia had become all the rage. In fact, there was many people who thought this guy was the best coach in college football at this time. Taking West Virginia team that had middling success for the most part, look did pretty well under Don Neelin. They won some big games, but certainly they're not one of the powers in college football, and he turned them into one of the powers in college football his spread offense, Pat White, Steve Slaton, Noel Divine was a freshman running back on that team. They rolled up all kinds of offense. Over the course of this season. They really hit their peak. Yes, they lost to South Florida, but that was their only loss. They want out to get to number two late in the season, where all they had to do was beat Pittsburgh in the backyard Brawl. They would play for the national championship. And Rodriguez, look, there were already rumors was he going to get a lifetime extension at West Virginia. But I remember that time and I remember that being a big question that Rodriguez. West Virginia did what they wanted to do for him, and there were reports that he was getting too big for the program, and there was some concern that he'd be getting too big and be the most important person in the state, uh, something which was kind of corroborated by John you Bacon's book on Rich Rodriguez his three years at ann Arbort with Michigan. Sorry spoiler alert, Rich Rodriguez went to Michigan after this um that there was some question with Rich Rodriguez and you was he someone who got too powerful and thought he was gonna be able to stay at his alma mater forever because he went to West Virginia. But instead, after the season, they basically said, we've done what we wanted to do for you, so we took the jump to Michigan. But before that happened, all he's got to do is beat Pittsburgh in the backyard Brawl again twenty eight and a half point favorites. All he's got to do and he plays for the national championship. That's it simple enough, right, which is why if it looks too easy on the calendar, he can't set it and forget it. This is not a wrong COO product. You're not cooking a chicken, no roast chicken to go watch TV like I would say, but t J, that's why they played the games. They're gonna play your sixty minutes and obviously hampered in this one as Pat White gets hurt. So it certainly changed the complexion of and your game plan and everything that you can orchestrate because he wasn't the most prolific past or only about eighteen hundred passing yards on the year, but the run game and Steve Slayton would later go on to become a fantasy hero uh in the NFL. And guy we talked about a lot on fantasy shows. You did, I did, we all did. Uh, And then he disappeared. But Pat White, I remember, he was so fast. He had those really he was really tall. He had those really long, thin legs and didn't look like he was moving, kind of little bit bow legged the way he ran. But he was unstoppable. You know. They figured out rod Rich Rodrigue said, Okay, this is my system. I need the quarterback to make the right reads and make the right throws, and it's all about timing. And Pat White was clearly the best guy he had had. Now again, they go into this game twenty and a half point favorites. There at home, the pit Panthers are playing with their backup quarterback, Pat Boston. I mean, they had everything they could possibly want in this game. But then, as you said, Pat White dislocated his thumb early in the second quarter. He misses most of the game. He comes back in the fourth quarter, but twice they had to go for it on fourth down against pitt and they couldn't make it in pit territory. They had nine first downs all day, when usually nine first downs is like a good first two drives in West Virginia. Juan stat probably the high mark of his run. He had just gotten the contract extension, like the day before, he got a three year contract extension. Before they were gonna go in and get blown out by fifty points. Well, you know, trying to trying to get had that happy moment before a big burial. But and his Alma monor and well then we we saw this one ground down. This is one that you turned back to in the fourth quarter. Gun, All right, when did they score? Is there anything happening in this game? There's not a lot of excitement. Again, nine first downs all day, They had five turnovers on fumbles. It was just the worst time to play your worst game of the season by far. Pat McAfee miss two field goals and that could have kept the game tied. Lashawn McCoy ran for a hundred and forty eight yards. He was the guy that helped Pittsburgh hold onto the football, keep it away. I mean, this was Lashawn McCoy's game before we turned into a star on the National Football League. And they wind up winning it thirteen to nine over West Virginia. Pitt takes a safety on the final play of the game, uh to just cemented away because they don't want to block punt going in for a touchdown, And it's over West Virginia, who was that good rolling. It's over for them, And somehow Ohio State and LSU wind up playing for the national championship. Because of the craziness that involved West Virginia, everything just kept falling off to the wayside. I mean, it's like the perfect storm where you think your season is done. You're starting to look at hotel and vacation packages to wherever the Big ten was going to send you if you're Ohio State, l s U. Obviously Matt Flynn in that squad getting ready to roll up. There was a quote from a an sp Nation article Owen Schmidt, who was a fullback, saying, well, you get through this whole series season and then you get to the blank and last game and blow it against the blankiest team in the blanky blank world. In other words, I'm still having some anger issues over what might have been. Well, yeah, this you're talking about. You had that chance to go play for the national title and instead you lost you fift it because you were beating the crap out of everybody, and you play your worst game here. I mean it just it just didn't make sense. If it was on the road, I get it. Okay, they come up with a big one at all if they had a good team or they had a good quarterback. No, they're playing with their backup quarterback. And even without Pat White, West Virginia should have won this game by three touchdowns and they didn't. Well, you think the ingenuity, right, We always talk about the geniuses at work Rodriguez here or McVeigh and the Super Bowl against the Patriots, that you're gonna be able to figure out that one play call that is gonna catch a defense off guard, and oftentimes we see it's just the opposite defense rises up. And in this case, no matter what Rodriguez and company dialed up, Uh, Dave wants to it, all the pieces were in place. I gotta bring that in because it actually worked for him here, because he tried that line in Chicago ahead of a really bad season for the Bears. Here it worked against the Mountaineers and ruined their party. I mean, really, you could say that this was completely in line with the season that was with everybody being at number two and not being able to win. Certainly this game fits right in are you talking about? But this was the loss that Look, I get Kansas losing to Missouri and then Missouri winds up losing in the Big twelve championship game to Oklahoma. I I get South Florida losing. You know, I get USC losing because you know John David Booty, you know I get I get all those cal Bears. I mean, they reached number two and that was the first time they've been there since, not even with Marshawn Lynch. Look there was this was for set and longshore. Javid Best justin for said, had a nice little fantasy run there, and Deshaw Jackson was there, so I mean you had a squad there, But I mean first since fifty one, Like that's one of the the themes. Have you wrap all these in a big hugs. These were all teams that they hadn't been there in decades or maybe now. We never got back again. South Florida didn't finish another season ranked until I mean, look, that's you can say all these teams that have never been there, the pressure was too much for them because it's one thing. All these teams were there. Now, look USC losing that was early in the year, a couple two. But once you got South Florida's there pressure too much, Boston College pressure too much, you know to think about pressure too much. Plus you had a good team. You're played against all those people that were always happy for to be around the program. Think about it when you actually get good. Yeah, right, we we helped propel you. Like it's one thing. Hey we keep the thing running and keep the lights on. Here's some extra access and you know, dinners and handshakes and photos and I was like, hey, we want to be around the program, and this is like happy and blue chips. He look who we got you. Now, this to me is the most interesting of all the games and all the teams because this changed the history of college football. Right if rich Rodriguez wins this game and goes and plays for the national championship, even if West Virginia thought he was getting too powerful, there's no way he leaves. He wanted to stay. They would have given him something. You can't have a coach go to the national championship and then not give him what he wants and or assign him to a big concert extension to make you stay. So Rich Rodriguez stays and less Miles most likely becomes the head coach of Michigan because they had talked. Less Miles said he told his players, look, the only job will ever leave for his Michigan, right, and he even told Michigan, when you want me, call me like that was where he came came up as an assistant. He was going to be the Michigan head coach. But Rich Rodriguez loses this game. So now what happens l S When the dust clears, l s U finds themselves in the National Championship game. So now if Michigan wants to hire less Miles, they gotta wait because less Miles told him, yeah, I'll come, but I gotta coach this game first. And Michigan really biff the search and and it was just an awful time because look, they wanted with Rodriguez, who was terrible, But because Rich Rodriguez lost this game, less Miles couldn't leave, Like he could leave if they're playing in a lesser Bowl game or you're not playing for the National Championship. But he felt I gotta stay with my team. Michigan wanted an answer, wanted to have it done sooner. Less Miles said, I can't do it. So then they went on and they hired Rich Rodriguez to be there and coach. And we know how that turned out some of the worst seasons that Michigan has ever had, and Rich Rodriguez got fired and went on to have you know better success. But it should have been better for Rodriguez at Michigan. It should have been better from West Virginia. But this one game changes everything because then you're looking at Less Miles leaving l s U. Now who comes to l s U to coach. I don't know how long does Rich Rodriguez stay at West Virginia, does he win the national championship? Does he stay for a long time, does he stay for one more year and instead gets a job at Miami to the NFL or goes to that exactly, the college football and maybe the NFL changes forever because Rich Rodriguez lost this game, which he there's no reason why they should have lost. Boy, next time I see Dave wants, I'm gonna go shake his hand and say you changed more than a decade of college football, think about this coach, you know. And the thing is, I don't know that Dave wants That's gonna have a hell a lot to stand on instead except for that, I bet you if you look at him us one set Rich Rodriguez, you said, Dave want Stead, what's the biggest moment of your career? He would say winning that game. I mean, he went onto the NFL, won some games in Miami and everything, but he would say this game, this moment in time, winning that for pitt after getting the contract extension, knocking them out, that was some kind of way. And if you asked Rodriguez, what lost do you rue the most? Even though he went through all kinds of losses at Michigan where there are a couple of years where Rodriguez started four and oh and five and oh, and had he won one more game or one rivalry game, he might have stayed in Michigan State one more time. He probably would have okay rate, But I guarantee you it's this game. He would say, that's the because it was national championship, and maybe he wins and he's got the biggest thing he could ever have on his resume for his entire coaching career. You got the word ruined too, so that's like, are you It's a good word. It's hard to get ruin unless I'm talking about actress Sarah ru which whenever do we talk about Sarah? I don't know. She's been in a bunch of stuff. We could probably Shoehorner in a couple of places. T J. Sarah us certainly less than perfect in any conversation. There you go, nicely done. Is that the Jamie Gert's vehicle? Is that? My writer? Is that a different show? Jamie Gertz was square pegs, square peggs, square peg, square pegslayers on a square something or later. I actually saw her recently in an episode if he are in my binge watching Wait, what year was Jamie Gertz? And the are the year three? Oh? This is like before her renaissance and Twister. I believe so right about right looking currently, I think when you get into the years and that's like all right. So for me, Jamie Gertz had her Lost Boys was her peak, and then he oh, come on, Jamie Kurtz was fast. Yeah, and then it came down a bit and then she came back up because no one was expecting her. Oh, Jamie Gurtz is and twister because you remember Helen Hunt and the you know in the whole plot in Bill Paxson, Philip s Mar Hoffman. Oh, Jamie Kurtz is the wife that you know is only gonna be in this for about a half hour because Bill Paxton has sorry spoiler has to go back with Helen Hunt. Yeah, well, there you go. And then she was on in a sitcom that played later on I believe it was an ABC sitcom. Uh so she had a renaissance there as well. Now in the the mom category. So well, when you when you when you get older, you start playing the moms. That's how it goes. The heaviyear set guy and Jamie Kurtz. Yeah, Kevin James. So wait, somehow Rich Rodriguez was responsible for Kevin James's birth and comes a lot of stuff. It's all Rich Rodriguez and Dave watched it. So that's the craziest of two thousand seven. How it shook out Because Missouri lost in the Big Twelve championship game to Oklahoma while West Virginia was losing to pitt This pushed Ohio State and l s U in uh. And as a result, Ohio State, who hadn't played the last two games, like they were sitting around for two weeks waiting to see what would happen Ohio State and l s U. Because of these losses, they were propped up into the BCS National Championship game. L s U wins at thirty four. They are your national champions. So when you look back at this year, you would say, okay, LSU one, and they were a pretty big dynasty back then. You know, save in Miles, they won some games, they had great players going through things. You know, it seems al right, well that was a normal year, but really it was anything but wow. Just craziness. We mentioned it. Seven teams that got to the number two slot lost in a total of nine weeks, so just chaos. Normally we have a little bit of stability, and on the back end it's like, oh, who's getting the number four vote? None? Which number two is falling? And how far week after week? Also, remember back then there was no big ten championship game, so you were done before Thanksgiving. How to say, we're playing up Michigan then what we're sitting around for a while. They played Michigan that year on the seventeenth of November, didn't play again until January seven. That's how it used to go. So there's our latest episode of Special Teams, the Curse of the Twos the two thousand seven college football season. You have an idea for a future episode of Special Teams, hit us up on Twitter at how about a fresca? Mike is a swollen dume. You can hear our show every night Monday through Friday on Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with My bass friend Mike Harmon ten pm to two am on the East Coast, seven to eleven on the West Coast. We'll talk you next week with another episode of Special Teams. Before you go, rate and review the show. Whether you're listening on I Heart Radio, I Heart Radio apps, Apple, whatever it is, give us a rate, tell us you like it. We will love you forever and ever and ever. Special Teams is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Welcome to Special Teams, a production of my Heart Radio. Greetings and Welcome inside. Special Teams are podcast that takes a look every week at a big year in the world of sports and the special teams that make it up. Now, normally we take a look at one team and how they've done over the course of one very special year. But I'm gonna get to play with the format here this week and next week a little bit and kind of get outside our comfort zone. Jason Smith and Mike Harmon, your genial hosts here, as we're gonna take a look back at the special teams that made up the two thousand and seven college football season, which is you mentioned two thousand seven any college football fan and they go, oh my god, it was the most insane season we have seen in quite a long time, this season that ended with l s U beating Ohio State to win their second BCS and third overall national title. But what we're gonna do is we are going to spotlight and take a look at the special teams that were rank second and lost that ranking over the course of the season, because that's really the number one thing that people remember about this as some of the crazy teams that got as high as number two, couldn't keep it, couldn't keep the ranking, lost and have moved on and really never gotten back to the high level they were at in two thousand and seven. Yeah, for something that was the high water mark, and you talked about forty fifty years before they reached that moment, all the excitement, anticipation, only to fall flat on their faces. I really thought we were gonna do a Tim Tebow, especially when you said two thousand seven football and that's all you sent in a text to me. I said, great, We're just gonna celebrate the life and times of Tim Tebow. We did that in the other podcast. We did. We did. We did the other one for about the Jake misery of the first year of the Alabama experiment of Nick Saban And I don't I don't know that that was that special. Actually, I think that was well for anybody that's fought him any time since, that was kind of special because it was the last time he was down and out. True. Well, no, well, he did take the Dolphins job. Remember he was down and out. Well, I mean he exercised himself from the game. He actually said to the reporters, fellas I don't know what to tell you. I'm not going to Alabama. And then, of course, and then he was there, So this was he winking? Did he have his fingers crossed behind him? No, I got it behind my back. So what if he can't stretch, what if he has a labor room issue that doesn't allow him to put his hand behind his back, then you cross your toes and you put it in your bucket, or you could do that as well, across your eyes. Could do a lot of different things. But there were no fewer than six teams that held the number two ranking overall this season that lost the number two overall ranking. Here's how crazy of a show this is gonna be USC which had the number two ranking until they're now famous. Three loss to Stanford and Jim marmaw really the game that put Jim Harbaugh on the map as a coach. I mean, that doesn't even make it Dogs. I mean, if we're gonna talk about worst, I mean biggest upsets in the history of football, made a forty one point dog. No, that was big, don't but they don't make it because USC we've seen them being number two in the world the world of college football. But they had their runs. They had their run Oregon who had the number two. No, I'm not saying that we've seen Oregon up there. Ye sure, here's how big it is. The first couple of teams, South Florida, remember the Bulls got as high as number two in the very first BCS rankings. Matt Growthy was the quarterback who was just okay throwing the football, but running the football, he was able to be a good dual threat QB in South Florida won a couple of big games, and suddenly that first BCS rankings came out and it was South Florida's it at number two. They had beaten West Virginia, who was ranked fifth in the country up until that point. And suddenly, that whole week, I remember, the talk was if South Florida runs the table, south Florida's gonna play for the national championship. Dude, South Florida. Man, who the hell is South Florida? They can play for the national title? Wow? But that's the beauty of it. Right. When one of these stories rise up, it's like, all right, deploy all staffers, figure out stats where they're from. We're gonna need a lot of graphics because suddenly the rotation is they're gonna be in games that are being televised in a bigger way. And they went into absolutely thumb Syracuse. Yeah, that's that was. This is back when everybody thumb Syracuse. Remember, Buddy, it was. But but it was South Florida the Syracuse. I know, we've lost to Florida's Central, We've lost to Central Florida. We've lost to Florida International, we lost in International Florida. We've lost the International House of Pancakes. We've lost to a lot of teams. Well, many people have been felled by a giant stack at the I h you're gonna put the chuck chips and make the smiley face on it for you. So South Florida their first ranking at number two, the first BCS rankings, they're all the rage, and then proving clearly that that pressure was too much for them, they lost the next three games they played, taking them right out of contention. Alright, thanks for coming, South Florida, thanks for being here. Well, you get up there sometimes that jump up in class. Maybe you start reading your press clippings, and there's a lot that goes into it. I mean the fact that the first loss was at Rutgers. Yeah, Rutgers ruining a perfect season. You don't hear that that off Rutgers in two thousand seven. I don't think anybody was anticipating that right there. So South Florida loses the ranking and then rising up Boston College. Now this was a shock because look, Boston College has never been even close to that, But they also have never had a quarterback like Matt Ryan. This was the season that put Matt Ryan on the map and turned him into the number three overall pick in the NFL draft Jeff Jagazinski, who had a difficult time after this year. Boston College gets to number two on the strength of Matt Ryan, who was terrific. He decided to return for his senior season, and all he did was amp up his stock. BC had been on the cusp. They had been a pretty good team, and looked, you're writing Matt Ryan's coat tails. Of course you're gonna be pretty good. But this was the year Boston College had a wide open offense, you know, and and Ryan really made his legacy in the Virginia Tech game. They had beaten Notre Dame, and No, Tre Dame. Wasn't that great. But Boston College beats Notre Dame and you know that's a big rivalry, and they're rideing high. They're losing to Virginia Tech. Tend nothing with about three minutes to go in the game, right, tend nothing there, shut out the first fifty seven minutes of the game, and you figure, okay, this is where it ends for Boston College at number two. But Ryan takes BC down, they score a touchdown, they get the on side kick, and then with eleven seconds to go, Matt Ryan makes a play that not only cemented his season, but really cemented his stock as this is a guy we got to get in the draft. He rolls out to the side their thirty five yards from the end zone, and it's a Brett Farve play. He rolls all the way out to the left and he stops, and he turns completely back to the right and chucks it up to the end zone and Andre Callendar is open behind the defensive backs as a running back with eleven seconds left, he makes the catch. They wind up winning fourteen to ten. It was insane. They put up two touchdowns in the final three minutes. And watching this game again, which I did going into here, that last three minutes was full of everything you wanted to see and you could tell right there, hey, Matt Ryan's gonna be it. But that throw was absolutely incredible. Plug. It's the game that cements him, the ice moniker, that brought him into the end of the pros right where back against the wall, the number two ranking, all of these things that that can rise up and really make you a legend. And again it was Tim Tebow's here. Everybody else was just playing for all right, who gets to play right And in the end he doesn't even make the make the championship game, but it was about chasing for the Heisman, troue, but it was about all of that that pageantry that goes through. But for Matt Ryan, you know, we're always looking for quarterbacks to rise, we do it every year and looking for those signature moments and what's going to separate on tape, especially now that everybody's a tape pundit. You know, even as a decade ago when Matt Ryan was coming into the league that there was a small fraction of the number of guys breaking it down. But this is three minutes on the field going all right, game on the line, everything on your shoulder, just go get it. And you're not talking about a group of support players that went onto illustrious NFL careers. Here on the offensive side, right, it's Matt Ryan carrying guys along. BC gets to eight no and then they lose to Florida State. That ends their perfect season, their run to the national championship. But Matt Ryan finishes his career that seasons passing thirty one touchdowns. Obviously, he goes number three overall in the draft the Atlanta Falcons, and short of getting another Matt Ryan, this is never happening for Boston College. Again. They are trying to find the path to mediocrity as they try to navigate the A C C. When you know, obviously, now wait a minute's Clems and it's all these other teams that we're trying to fight up against. If we go to a bowl game at six and six, that's a good year for us. Well, and that's the unfortunate, ever shifting landscape from college football though, right my allmator Northwestern consistently can win games. Gonna take step back, but are you ever going to get to that number two and have your shot right where everything plays perfectly at every bounce goes right from Boston College. This was that time recording. Recruiting a quarterback of that caliber is just such a difficult proposition. Uh, in this game, you can hope someone would transfer right. Think you graduate translations, always open, no possibilities, into the transfer portal and see what's inside. Still waiting for someone to make the movie Transfer Portal, Transfer Portal. It would end up being a horror movie though. Like a player would step into the transfer portal, something would happen, they would get taken over. They would look and act the same on the outside, but they'd be different on the Yes, there you go, transfer portal. I like that, Like, so, there you go. There's the first couple of teams had their shot at number two and failed. Coming up next the team that had the next chance at it, and regardless of whether or not they lost, this coach may have done the best single season job in college football in the past twenty five years. We'll get to it coming up next year on special teams. As we continue on special teams, the Curse of the Number two is. Looking back at the two thousand seven n c A football season, the craziest in recent memory. We're looking back at the teams that got as high as number two, shockingly, because you're gonna hear their names and you're gonna say, boy, that's never happening for them. Again. We went through South Florida, we went through Boston College, and next it was Kansas's turn. In a year that every minute we get more removed from this season, we go just how the hell did this happen with Kansas? Kansas who wins about two games a year. God as high as number two. Mark Mangino, the head coach who everybody remembers them, Oh, he was a real big guy, and and he was he was a guy that started out eleven and oh that year, God, Kansas as high as number two. They wound up finishing twelve and one. But before we get into the what happened to them at number two? That's why I said a few minutes ago, Mark man Gino may have done the greatest coaching job in the last twenty five years in college football, because Kansas was a waste land before he got there, and in his time they go to four bowl games. They're bowl eligible in five of the eight years he's there. They were both eligible in five of the last thirty years before Manio got all right, the best player they had was a keep to leap right. He went on to a long career in the NFL. Still in the NFL, the only guy to ever say don't you know who I am? To me, Well, that's right. You went to Kansas. You gonna have to do well. But you went to Kansas, dn't you? How do you make it out of there on a at a Super Bowl event where you've got Laura loud music and the person introducing him as he came down the blue carpet for that night did not enunciate whatsoever. So I don't know even though what I said in terms of addressing him, he guys, you gotta know my name? Like okay, the kind of just kind of shoved you in front of my microphone. There's it was one of those situations like there's no no briefing you. It's like no bay quib talent bright. So he got in my ear and he just, you know, just reminded me because again, I mean, look, you're seeing all agains, like nobody's wearing a name dark, so it's like, hi, my name. You know, you're putting most guys you're trying to fix the name of an NFL player who's already in versus a guy who's going to be drafted, and so it's just one of those circumstances. I felt stupid. I wrote him a note of apology. It's like, there was no disrespect. That's really nice. So I was cool, and the next time I saw him, it was all good. We laughed about it. But still hates me secretly, But that's okay. Uh. Todd reesing that year through thirty three touchdowns. He was the quarterback in Kansas. He threw six in a seventy six thirty nine win over Nebraska. Again, that doesn't seem real that Kansas would do this, But two thousand seven was right around the time we started seeing the crazy teams out of the Big twelve, the teams at the spread offenses putting up a lot of points. Whether you ran a spread offense or not, it didn't. It was still where look at all these points where the Big twelve had always been seventeen thirteen on a rainy November afternoon. But you're playing for the National Channel. We know we've already seen it. About a decade earlier, when Joe Tiller started being all crazy after new and then starting to spider out. And yeah, this was like the epicenter of all that because you had Missouri, you had Kansas, you had Texas Tech, Oklahoma, all these teams that started to embrace that. And I mean, think about seventy six thirty nine Kansas. Look, we've seen Nebraska takes some thumps and lumps over the past few years, but seventy thirty nine to Kansas. I mean, come on, that's where if you're in Nebraska, you go. We had to just get rid of our program. We just like we used to beat Kansas seventy three. Well, but that was the tough time, right. You mentioned Notre Dame a little earlier in the podcast. They were not exactly in the best shape, not still in the pageantry of Notre Dame. And I know it drove your buddy Beeto cooked nuts because it wasn't they weren't rolling along. Sure, you had many conversations about where Notre Dame stood, and like they're always front center, but all your traditional powerhouses in that year and in the years surrounding it, they were navigating some choppy waters. But it still looked good on the resume because to the casual observer. It's just a storied program. So you got him. Now, Kansas didn't play a lot of great teams, just the way the schedule went for them. But they go into a big showdown against Missouri knowing full well that the winner of that game is going to be the number one right team in the country because Ohio State had lost earlier that day. I remember that game. It was It was a it was a night game. The weather was typical what you expected to be. It was cold, it was windy, and they were going up against Missouri, who was that good. Jeremy Macklin was a freshman on this team. Chase Daniel wound up a Heisman finalists, you know, he was a quarterback in Missouri. And this was a game that, oh, by God, Kansas or Missouri is going to be the number one team in the country going into a big twelve championship game. One of these teams could win a game and play for the national title. Kansas or Missouri. Now Missouri has always been hey, they've had some decent seasons, but we're talking one game away from Kansas or Missouri playing for all the marbles. The nightmare scenario, right, We're talking about South Florida earlier. Man, this is where you even get into starting to rank teams and have these reveal specials and you include one of these names. There's lots of executives sweaty palms and rings. So what's gonna happen? We gotta sell Kansas in the National title game? Yeah, I mean Chase Kaufman the tight end, trying to sell him along the way. Yeah, I don't I don't know that was gonna be an easy sell. But Jase Daniel getting it done. Man, he had that that big efficiency rating and through thirty three touchdowns, he could at least said, hey, high powered Chase Daniel in that game? Was it? Even though Todd Reesing played well, he threw a couple of picks, and Reesing didn't throw a lot of picks that year, Chase Daniel was forty out of forty nine for three sixty one and three touchdowns. Missouri running that big, wide open offense. And in fact, after the game, they asked the Kansas Jayhawks, hey about Chase Daniel all this stuff, and the keep to leap said, we just sent that guy to New York, like we just sent the trophy. We just sent that guy to New York. He had that kind of game against all the eyes of the nation on you, right, I mean, because this became the curiosity at that point. It was it was on the scroll and you would see the record. Maybe you caught it. And if you're truly degenerate with dual remote controls, multiple TVs watching all the you know already had an eight box for your picture and picture. Otherwise it was all right, the curiosity, and then all of a sudden, here it was front and center. So yeah, a game in that kind of spotlight could propel someone into grand futures. So Kansas doesn't make it to the Big twelve Championship game, they do beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl to one, and Kansas actually got a first place vote. At the end of the year, we're supposed to vote for the national champion. Kansas actually got a first place vote because there was some debate as to whether or not, Hey, with the crazy season that we had, are the teams that are playing for the National Championship game in the BCS gonna automatically get the votes they're supposed to get by winning that game. But only one person didn't vote for L s U. Seven times in nine weeks and number two fell. Yeah. I think it was Israel Gundy. Eiraz if I remember, was the guy who didn't vote for voted for Kansas to the number one team in the Cup. Sound. So Kansas has an incredible run. They falter at number two. But this is where the story of Kansas gets really interesting, and it's just too bad because you would think at this point Mark Mangino could write whatever tickety wanted to Kansas moving on, like twelve and one we won the Orange Ball. I'm gonna be here forever. From to win team is first year to nine ten wins and then this storied season. But it ended for Mangino in two thousand nine a mid talk of mistreatment of players. He had yelled at Raymond Pendleton after he jumped into the end zone against Central Michigan week one of this year. Uh I got famous on YouTube as much as he was screaming at him because he kind of showboted his way into the end zone. He was accused of poking a linebacker artist right in the chest and yelling at him before the Colorado game. Players didn't like him because he spoke to them disrespectfully. He had a lot of parking tickets as well, and the way he behaved towards people who gave out the parking tickets. I mean, these are all insane, don't you know who I am? These are all insane things that coaches. Really the old school, I'm gonna get in the guy's face like that would never happen nowadays. One one instance televised on TV is all you would need for the coach to go okay. I got it back away from things, but Mangino had a pattern of behavior and compounded it with the whole parking ticket thing and wound up getting fired and he had to leave Kansas when this should have been the biggest success story possible and maybe Kansas is still good all these years later. They had the fast Lane for eight years with him. But this didn't end with Oh, here's the n c A A coming to town and we found all these violations. This was a coach couldn't behave the right way towards his players, and despite the fact of all the success, he winds up finding his way out of town. That that just baffles me that that happened. Took a couple of years to get back in the game. Then it was at Youngstown State and later a couple of years as a coordinator and tight ends coach at Iowa State. But that, you know, you have to wonder if the if the word was out on him while this was going on, because you would think that a guy who turns the Kansas program around would have his pick of jobs anywhere. You know, the hot just always there's always big ticket teams every year that are looking for somebody new, and he would think at some point Mangino's name would come around where he would be seriously considered and would jump, and it didn't happen the next wave of guys, right, I mean that that's just a reputation changing, changing times, more reports. The the internet is unforgiving in these kind of things, right twenty years ago. Stories are there, and like we've seen plenty of Bob knight um biographies over time and clips, But if it's just the the speaking points, those may be more insidious because it's a lot of behind the scenes talk as opposed. All right, here's just the video clip for Mangino that became the end of it, and we just saw so many other coaches get their shots. So if you thought Kansas getting number two was really unlikely. W do we tell you about the last team that made it to number two and fell victim to the curse? The game that cost them ended up changing the history of college football. We'll get to that coming up next Jason Smith and Mike Carbon Special Teams Podcast. Five teams that made it to number two during the two thousand seven college football season all bit the dust. But it looked like everything was gonna go well for the six team because all they had to do was win a home game as a twenty eight and a half point favorite. That's it, and they couldn't. Nice and easy. The two thousand seven season for the West Virginia Mountaineers and head coach Rich Rodriguez came down to one game, one moment in time. Rich Rodriguez is the toast of college football. His spread offense that he instilled in West Virginia had become all the rage. In fact, there was many people who thought this guy was the best coach in college football at this time. Taking West Virginia team that had middling success for the most part, look did pretty well under Don Neelin. They won some big games, but certainly they're not one of the powers in college football, and he turned them into one of the powers in college football his spread offense, Pat White, Steve Slaton, Noel Divine was a freshman running back on that team. They rolled up all kinds of offense. Over the course of this season. They really hit their peak. Yes, they lost to South Florida, but that was their only loss. They want out to get to number two late in the season, where all they had to do was beat Pittsburgh in the backyard Brawl. They would play for the national championship. And Rodriguez, look, there were already rumors was he going to get a lifetime extension at West Virginia. But I remember that time and I remember that being a big question that Rodriguez. West Virginia did what they wanted to do for him, and there were reports that he was getting too big for the program, and there was some concern that he'd be getting too big and be the most important person in the state, uh, something which was kind of corroborated by John you Bacon's book on Rich Rodriguez his three years at ann Arbort with Michigan. Sorry spoiler alert, Rich Rodriguez went to Michigan after this um that there was some question with Rich Rodriguez and you was he someone who got too powerful and thought he was gonna be able to stay at his alma mater forever because he went to West Virginia. But instead, after the season, they basically said, we've done what we wanted to do for you, so we took the jump to Michigan. But before that happened, all he's got to do is beat Pittsburgh in the backyard Brawl again twenty eight and a half point favorites. All he's got to do and he plays for the national championship. That's it simple enough, right, which is why if it looks too easy on the calendar, he can't set it and forget it. This is not a wrong COO product. You're not cooking a chicken, no roast chicken to go watch TV like I would say, but t J, that's why they played the games. They're gonna play your sixty minutes and obviously hampered in this one as Pat White gets hurt. So it certainly changed the complexion of and your game plan and everything that you can orchestrate because he wasn't the most prolific past or only about eighteen hundred passing yards on the year, but the run game and Steve Slayton would later go on to become a fantasy hero uh in the NFL. And guy we talked about a lot on fantasy shows. You did, I did, we all did. Uh, And then he disappeared. But Pat White, I remember, he was so fast. He had those really he was really tall. He had those really long, thin legs and didn't look like he was moving, kind of little bit bow legged the way he ran. But he was unstoppable. You know. They figured out rod Rich Rodrigue said, Okay, this is my system. I need the quarterback to make the right reads and make the right throws, and it's all about timing. And Pat White was clearly the best guy he had had. Now again, they go into this game twenty and a half point favorites. There at home, the pit Panthers are playing with their backup quarterback, Pat Boston. I mean, they had everything they could possibly want in this game. But then, as you said, Pat White dislocated his thumb early in the second quarter. He misses most of the game. He comes back in the fourth quarter, but twice they had to go for it on fourth down against pitt and they couldn't make it in pit territory. They had nine first downs all day, when usually nine first downs is like a good first two drives in West Virginia. Juan stat probably the high mark of his run. He had just gotten the contract extension, like the day before, he got a three year contract extension. Before they were gonna go in and get blown out by fifty points. Well, you know, trying to trying to get had that happy moment before a big burial. But and his Alma monor and well then we we saw this one ground down. This is one that you turned back to in the fourth quarter. Gun, All right, when did they score? Is there anything happening in this game? There's not a lot of excitement. Again, nine first downs all day, They had five turnovers on fumbles. It was just the worst time to play your worst game of the season by far. Pat McAfee miss two field goals and that could have kept the game tied. Lashawn McCoy ran for a hundred and forty eight yards. He was the guy that helped Pittsburgh hold onto the football, keep it away. I mean, this was Lashawn McCoy's game before we turned into a star on the National Football League. And they wind up winning it thirteen to nine over West Virginia. Pitt takes a safety on the final play of the game, uh to just cemented away because they don't want to block punt going in for a touchdown, And it's over West Virginia, who was that good rolling. It's over for them, And somehow Ohio State and LSU wind up playing for the national championship. Because of the craziness that involved West Virginia, everything just kept falling off to the wayside. I mean, it's like the perfect storm where you think your season is done. You're starting to look at hotel and vacation packages to wherever the Big ten was going to send you if you're Ohio State, l s U. Obviously Matt Flynn in that squad getting ready to roll up. There was a quote from a an sp Nation article Owen Schmidt, who was a fullback, saying, well, you get through this whole series season and then you get to the blank and last game and blow it against the blankiest team in the blanky blank world. In other words, I'm still having some anger issues over what might have been. Well, yeah, this you're talking about. You had that chance to go play for the national title and instead you lost you fift it because you were beating the crap out of everybody, and you play your worst game here. I mean it just it just didn't make sense. If it was on the road, I get it. Okay, they come up with a big one at all if they had a good team or they had a good quarterback. No, they're playing with their backup quarterback. And even without Pat White, West Virginia should have won this game by three touchdowns and they didn't. Well, you think the ingenuity, right, We always talk about the geniuses at work Rodriguez here or McVeigh and the Super Bowl against the Patriots, that you're gonna be able to figure out that one play call that is gonna catch a defense off guard, and oftentimes we see it's just the opposite defense rises up. And in this case, no matter what Rodriguez and company dialed up, Uh, Dave wants to it, all the pieces were in place. I gotta bring that in because it actually worked for him here, because he tried that line in Chicago ahead of a really bad season for the Bears. Here it worked against the Mountaineers and ruined their party. I mean, really, you could say that this was completely in line with the season that was with everybody being at number two and not being able to win. Certainly this game fits right in are you talking about? But this was the loss that Look, I get Kansas losing to Missouri and then Missouri winds up losing in the Big twelve championship game to Oklahoma. I I get South Florida losing. You know, I get USC losing because you know John David Booty, you know I get I get all those cal Bears. I mean, they reached number two and that was the first time they've been there since, not even with Marshawn Lynch. Look there was this was for set and longshore. Javid Best justin for said, had a nice little fantasy run there, and Deshaw Jackson was there, so I mean you had a squad there, But I mean first since fifty one, Like that's one of the the themes. Have you wrap all these in a big hugs. These were all teams that they hadn't been there in decades or maybe now. We never got back again. South Florida didn't finish another season ranked until I mean, look, that's you can say all these teams that have never been there, the pressure was too much for them because it's one thing. All these teams were there. Now, look USC losing that was early in the year, a couple two. But once you got South Florida's there pressure too much, Boston College pressure too much, you know to think about pressure too much. Plus you had a good team. You're played against all those people that were always happy for to be around the program. Think about it when you actually get good. Yeah, right, we we helped propel you. Like it's one thing. Hey we keep the thing running and keep the lights on. Here's some extra access and you know, dinners and handshakes and photos and I was like, hey, we want to be around the program, and this is like happy and blue chips. He look who we got you. Now, this to me is the most interesting of all the games and all the teams because this changed the history of college football. Right if rich Rodriguez wins this game and goes and plays for the national championship, even if West Virginia thought he was getting too powerful, there's no way he leaves. He wanted to stay. They would have given him something. You can't have a coach go to the national championship and then not give him what he wants and or assign him to a big concert extension to make you stay. So Rich Rodriguez stays and less Miles most likely becomes the head coach of Michigan because they had talked. Less Miles said he told his players, look, the only job will ever leave for his Michigan, right, and he even told Michigan, when you want me, call me like that was where he came came up as an assistant. He was going to be the Michigan head coach. But Rich Rodriguez loses this game. So now what happens l S When the dust clears, l s U finds themselves in the National Championship game. So now if Michigan wants to hire less Miles, they gotta wait because less Miles told him, yeah, I'll come, but I gotta coach this game first. And Michigan really biff the search and and it was just an awful time because look, they wanted with Rodriguez, who was terrible, But because Rich Rodriguez lost this game, less Miles couldn't leave, Like he could leave if they're playing in a lesser Bowl game or you're not playing for the National Championship. But he felt I gotta stay with my team. Michigan wanted an answer, wanted to have it done sooner. Less Miles said, I can't do it. So then they went on and they hired Rich Rodriguez to be there and coach. And we know how that turned out some of the worst seasons that Michigan has ever had, and Rich Rodriguez got fired and went on to have you know better success. But it should have been better for Rodriguez at Michigan. It should have been better from West Virginia. But this one game changes everything because then you're looking at Less Miles leaving l s U. Now who comes to l s U to coach. I don't know how long does Rich Rodriguez stay at West Virginia, does he win the national championship? Does he stay for a long time, does he stay for one more year and instead gets a job at Miami to the NFL or goes to that exactly, the college football and maybe the NFL changes forever because Rich Rodriguez lost this game, which he there's no reason why they should have lost. Boy, next time I see Dave wants, I'm gonna go shake his hand and say you changed more than a decade of college football, think about this coach, you know. And the thing is, I don't know that Dave wants That's gonna have a hell a lot to stand on instead except for that, I bet you if you look at him us one set Rich Rodriguez, you said, Dave want Stead, what's the biggest moment of your career? He would say winning that game. I mean, he went onto the NFL, won some games in Miami and everything, but he would say this game, this moment in time, winning that for pitt after getting the contract extension, knocking them out, that was some kind of way. And if you asked Rodriguez, what lost do you rue the most? Even though he went through all kinds of losses at Michigan where there are a couple of years where Rodriguez started four and oh and five and oh, and had he won one more game or one rivalry game, he might have stayed in Michigan State one more time. He probably would have okay rate, But I guarantee you it's this game. He would say, that's the because it was national championship, and maybe he wins and he's got the biggest thing he could ever have on his resume for his entire coaching career. You got the word ruined too, so that's like, are you It's a good word. It's hard to get ruin unless I'm talking about actress Sarah ru which whenever do we talk about Sarah? I don't know. She's been in a bunch of stuff. We could probably Shoehorner in a couple of places. T J. Sarah us certainly less than perfect in any conversation. There you go, nicely done. Is that the Jamie Gert's vehicle? Is that? My writer? Is that a different show? Jamie Gertz was square pegs, square peggs, square peg, square pegslayers on a square something or later. I actually saw her recently in an episode if he are in my binge watching Wait, what year was Jamie Gertz? And the are the year three? Oh? This is like before her renaissance and Twister. I believe so right about right looking currently, I think when you get into the years and that's like all right. So for me, Jamie Gertz had her Lost Boys was her peak, and then he oh, come on, Jamie Kurtz was fast. Yeah, and then it came down a bit and then she came back up because no one was expecting her. Oh, Jamie Gurtz is and twister because you remember Helen Hunt and the you know in the whole plot in Bill Paxson, Philip s Mar Hoffman. Oh, Jamie Kurtz is the wife that you know is only gonna be in this for about a half hour because Bill Paxton has sorry spoiler has to go back with Helen Hunt. Yeah, well, there you go. And then she was on in a sitcom that played later on I believe it was an ABC sitcom. Uh so she had a renaissance there as well. Now in the the mom category. So well, when you when you when you get older, you start playing the moms. That's how it goes. The heaviyear set guy and Jamie Kurtz. Yeah, Kevin James. So wait, somehow Rich Rodriguez was responsible for Kevin James's birth and comes a lot of stuff. It's all Rich Rodriguez and Dave watched it. So that's the craziest of two thousand seven. How it shook out Because Missouri lost in the Big Twelve championship game to Oklahoma while West Virginia was losing to pitt This pushed Ohio State and l s U in uh. And as a result, Ohio State, who hadn't played the last two games, like they were sitting around for two weeks waiting to see what would happen Ohio State and l s U. Because of these losses, they were propped up into the BCS National Championship game. L s U wins at thirty four. They are your national champions. So when you look back at this year, you would say, okay, LSU one, and they were a pretty big dynasty back then. You know, save in Miles, they won some games, they had great players going through things. You know, it seems al right, well that was a normal year, but really it was anything but wow. Just craziness. We mentioned it. Seven teams that got to the number two slot lost in a total of nine weeks, so just chaos. Normally we have a little bit of stability, and on the back end it's like, oh, who's getting the number four vote? None? Which number two is falling? And how far week after week? Also, remember back then there was no big ten championship game, so you were done before Thanksgiving. How to say, we're playing up Michigan then what we're sitting around for a while. They played Michigan that year on the seventeenth of November, didn't play again until January seven. That's how it used to go. So there's our latest episode of Special Teams, the Curse of the Twos the two thousand seven college football season. You have an idea for a future episode of Special Teams, hit us up on Twitter at how about a fresca? Mike is a swollen dume. You can hear our show every night Monday through Friday on Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with My bass friend Mike Harmon ten pm to two am on the East Coast, seven to eleven on the West Coast. We'll talk you next week with another episode of Special Teams. Before you go, rate and review the show. Whether you're listening on I Heart Radio, I Heart Radio apps, Apple, whatever it is, give us a rate, tell us you like it. 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