Some Just Can't See Reality

By Trev Alberts

Special to CSTV.com

	TREV ALBERTS Trev Alberts is a football analyst for CSTV and CSTV.com. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- TREV's MAILBAG 2/20: Show Some Patience 1/23: Cutcliffe Can Be Successful At Duke 1/16: To Each His Own 1/10: Watching Different Games 1/2: Brennan's Sugar Performance Won't Hurt Him 12/26: LSU Hater I Am Not 12/19: Rodriguez Licking His Chops 12/12: Buckeyes Have A Chip 12/05: Missouri Got Hosed 11/28: Some Coaching Changes Ludicrous 11/21: Love Woodson's Poise 11/14: Dixon Can Be Contained, But Not Stopped 11/7: Pac-10 Far From Overrated 10/31: Appalachian State Loss An Afterthought 10/24: No Halves Off In College Football 10/17: Nebraska In Good Hands With The Doctor 10/10: Trojans Still A Player 10/03: Don't Hate On South Florida 09/26: Hangovers Part of The Game 09/19: Nebraska's Performance Disappointing 09/12: DeSean As Explosive As It Gets 09/05: Tebow Impressive In First Start 08/29: ACC QBs Better Than Advertised 08/24: McFadden Not Quite In Bush's Class 08/17: From Overrated To Underrated 08/10: Florida's Overrated 08/03: Spurrier's Got That Twinkle 07/27: Big East Deserves More Credit 07/20: Badgers Playing For Second, At Best 07/13: Gators Repeat? Not So Fast 07/06: Pac-10 Still Owned By USC 06/29: One Big's Better Than The Other 06/22: WAC Ain't All That 06/15: Text Messaging Ban Excessive 06/08: Fifth Year of Eligibility A Good Idea 05/25: Hot Seat Warming Up For Some Coaches 05/18: Big Ten Falling Behind SEC 05/11: 'Canes, Seminoles Have Ways To Go 05/07: Sleeping Dawgs 04/20: Look Out For South Florida 04/13: Boise's Johnson Has No Shot At '07 Heisman 03/30: The Best Atmosphere In College Football Belongs To... 03/23: Tough To Compare QBs With Different Styles 03/16: Top Coaches Need To Be Appreciated 03/9: Woodson Nation's Most Indispensable QB 03/2: Things Just Not The Same At Nebraska 02/23: Rodriguez Does Well With His Chips 02/16: Believe It Or Not, I Don't Have An FSU Agenda 02/09: Yes, I Do Know College Football 02/02: Of Course Huskers Make Adjustments 01/26: Coach Alberts In Lincoln? No Chance 01/19: Can't Begrudge Kids For Leaving Early 01/03: Saban Heads to Alabama 12/29: Some Coaching Changes Come As Surprise 12/22: Too Many Bowl Games Way of Life 12/15: Who Has The Best Talent In The Nation? 12/7: Who's The More Deserving National Title Participant? 12/1: Irish Don't Deserve BCS Bid 11/16: Ohio State the Better Team 11/9: Give the Big East Its Due 11/2: What's Wrong With D at USC? 10/26: Where Will Bowden Be in '07? 10/20: Who Belongs in the Top 20? FOOTBALL 1/8: In Surprise, Ohio State Beats Itself 1/6: Good Start Vital For Buckeyes 12/26: LSU Hater I Am Not 11/23: LSU Loss A Microcosm Of The Season 11/19: Give It Some Time 10/13: Give Kentucky All The Credit 10/7: USC Loss Sends Shockwaves 9/1: Michigan's Loss Nothing Short of Stunning 6/19: Hoeppner Did Things His Way 4/27: Unexpected Reigned In 1994 02/22: Combine Experience Can Be Eye Opening 02/08: Signing Day Observations 02/07: Walk Down Recruiting Memory Lane 11/17: Remebering Schembechler 9/5: One Week Is Just One Week 8/25: The Return Of Trev

You've got college football questions and CSTV football analyst Trev Alberts has answers and opinions. Each week Alberts will be answering questions and queries on the world of college football. So if you've got a question for Trev, just ask him.

It's time to finally admit that Boise State is no longer a mid-major football team. They will be as strong this year as last. Stronger than the undefeated season they put together three years ago where they were leading L-ville in the Liberty Bowl with a few minutes remaining. Another undefeated season is a real possibility according to Las Vegas...and another BCS bowl game. What puzzles me is why are you so negative about them? Why do you continue to bad mouth their team? - Richard Dahlgren

The question I get asked a lot is whether Ian Johnson is going to win the Heisman Trophy. But there's two ways to look at it.

Are you asking me personally if he should be a candidate? Well sure, he should be. Or are you asking me what's really going to happen? I'm going to tell you what will really happen: it doesn't matter how good he is or even if he's deserving. He plays in Boise. Have we not learned enough about 900 voters who know nothing about football, who watch no football, only the football games that are on free TV that they'll catch a few minutes of. They're just not going to vote Ian for the Heisman. That doesn't mean it's fair or it's right. But that's just reality.

When you say those kinds of things, when you point out the truth, you often get blamed as that being your opinion. I'm not saying that's my opinion, but that's the reality of the situation.

The facts of matter are that Boise State is a mid-major program. It's not a BCS conference school. That's not to minimize what they accomplished. They beat a fairly decent Oklahoma team. Again, I'm not a mid-major hater, but I'll point out that Boise can only compete with top level teams for a week, maybe two. If they played an SEC schedule, Boise would lose four games, minimum. They don't have the depth of talent that the top teams of the BCS schools have. If you threw them in the SEC would they beat Mississippi State on a consistent basis? Yeah, they would. Would they beat Florida, Georgia, Alabama and LSU consistently? They simply wouldn't.

Although that will be portrayed as negative comments on my part, that's not my intention. I'm a huge fan of Chris Petersen. I was a part of something sort of like what they've got going in Boise. In 41 years at Nebraska, we finished in the top ten 31 times. A lot of people can be great for a short time, but you measure greatness over a period of time. Boise State has been a model of consistency in the WAC. At the same time there are certain realities about playing in the conference that are not the realties of playing in the SEC, Big Ten or Big 12.

You should do a little more research before praising Karl Dorrell like you did in your recent notes on the Pac-10.  You said Dorrell was doing an "incredible job" as UCLA football coach. Quite the opposite is true; you are factually way off base.  What is 'incredible' about going 7-6 in his 4th season?  What is 'incredible' about peaking at 3rd place in the conference in 4 years, and he has only managed that 'incredible' feat just once?  You also said Dorrell was a "steadying influence" in Westwood. Not true. He lost nearly every recruit he had in his first class before they reached their last year of eligibility. He has lost all but one assistant coach during the 4 years he has been head coach, and in most coaching positions he is on his 3rd coach.  He is on his 4th offensive coordinator in 5 years!  What is 'steadying' about that?? - Anonymous

I think there are certain realities of where they are right now. That fact that they're in USC's backyard is certainly part of it. I don't think it would really matter who the head coach is right now.   

I've always understood and have been told that because of the way UCLA is set up they historically have not been willing to pay coaches top money. You add that and USC's prominence together and then you have to fight the administration to pay top dollar for the assistants as well? If they're not willing to pay the head coach, they probably haven't made a commitment to the facilities either.

So you're really fighting an uphill battle when all I've been trying to point out is that there are some bumps in the road. It's interesting to me that you point out that 7-6 was no good, yet you're upset about turnover.  

It's a dangerous proposition where we get into this turnover of coaches and head coaches.  We live in a world where there are just enough universities that have long and storied traditions of circulating coaches every three or four years for not winning championship. I don't know Karl Dorrell personally, but from watching him I like his demeanor, I like the way he interacts with the kids. UCLA is not exactly just coming off championship seasons when Dorrell was hired.  

The point is we have 119 teams now and their fans expect their team to win the championship every year and if not it's "let's fire the coach." Well, who are you going to hire? Paying the salaries that you're apparently paying at UCLA, name me a list of coaches you'd rather have.

Give me one good reason why Oakland shouldn't take Calvin Johnson with the first pick in the draft? If the guy's so talented, how can anyone pass him up? - Anonymous

It's a real interesting dilemma. I was trying to put myself in that general manager's chair, debating this topic. Beyond just watching him as a football player, I've watched Calvin Johnson as a young man and as a human being and he's just a remarkable kid. There's no doubt, in my mind at least, that Johnson is going to be one of the more dominating wide receivers in the game.

That being said, if you're a wide receiver in the NFL and you have a tremendous game, you catch nine balls. If you can catch nine balls a game, and maybe a touchdown, then you're at the top. You're Marvin Harrison. The quarterback, on the other hand, touches the ball 60 times a game. That may sound too simplistic, but the impact the quarterback can have on the game is far bigger than any wide receiver. It doesn't mean he's necessarily a better player because of it. I think Johnson is the best player in the draft. But if you can't deliver the ball to that star, he's useless.

I think it's going to be JaMarcus Russell taken first. I think it's good to get caught up in the physical attributes of Johnson, but if you're not careful you can allow yourself to focus on that and gloss over the incredible physical attributes of Russell that are literally untapped. I don't think you could lose either way. But if I was the GM of the Oakland Raiders, Russell would be the quick pick for me. I think he'll turn out to be a great pro.

And I'd like to include that this is the annual time of year where it gets pointed out to me on the various NFL flops list that I didn't have a great professional career.