Dixon Can Be Contained, But Not Stopped

Right matchup could limit Duck quarterback's effectiveness

College Football Preview: Week 12

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> B.J.: Jayhawks Beware  |  Amsinger: Weekly Picks  |  Sorenson: 10 Qs  |   Braff: SEC-Big 12 Debate > Trev: Dixon Can Only Be Contained  |  Coach of the Year   |  Hart: Guarantees and Gestures > Blackburn: Something Strangely Familiar In Kansas  |  Roland: Get Set For Stabilizing Saturday > Caparell: Georgia In The Know  |  Palm: BCS Stretch Run  |  Crystal Ball: Weekend Predictions

Top 25 Game Previews ----- THURSDAY ----- No. 2 Oregon at Arizona ----- FRIDAY ----- No. 16 Hawaii at Nevada ----- SATURDAY ----- No. 1 LSU at Mississippi Iowa State at No. 4 Kansas No. 5 West Virginia at No. 21 Cincinnati No. 6 Missouri at Kansas State No. 7 Ohio State at No. 23 Michigan No. 22 Kentucky at No. 8 Georgia Miami at No. 10 Virginia Tech No. 18 Boston College at No. 15 Clemson Idaho at No. 17 Boise State Vanderbilt at No. 19 Tennessee Northwestern at No. 20 Illinois No. 24 Wisconsin at Minnesota Syracuse at No. 25 Connecticut  Team Capsules  ---------- Air Force Akron Alabama Arizona Arizona St Arkansas Arkansas St Army Auburn BYU Ball St Baylor Boise St Boston College Bowling Green Buffalo California Central Mich Cincinnati Clemson Colorado Colorado St Connecticut Duke East Carolina Eastern Mich Florida Florida St Fresno St Georgia Georgia Tech Hawaii Houston Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Iowa St Kansas Kansas St Kent State Kentucky LSU La Tech Louisville Marshall Maryland Memphis Miami Fla Miami Ohio Michigan Michigan St Middle Tenn Minnesota Mississippi Mississippi St Missouri NC State Navy Nebraska Nevada New Mexico New Mexico St North Carolina North Texas Northern Ill Northwestern Notre Dame Ohio Ohio State Oklahoma Oklahoma St Oregon Oregon St Penn St Pittsburgh Purdue Rice Rutgers SMU San Diego St San Jose St South Carolina South Florida Southern Miss Stanford Syracuse TCU Temple Texas Texas A&M Texas Tech Toledo Troy St Tulane Tulsa UAB UCF UCLA UL-Lafayette UL-Monroe UNLV USC UTEP Utah Utah St Vanderbilt Virginia Virginia Tech Wake Forest Washington Washington St West Virginia Western Mich Wisconsin Wyoming ----------

Nov. 14, 2007

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.

Is there a way to stop Dennis Dixon and Oregon? Nobody has been able to do it this season. Does LSU have the kind of defense -- assuming they play in the national title game -- to stop Oregon? - Christy, Texas

They haven't been stopped, but Oregon does have a loss. I think that's pretty fair to point that out. With all due respect to Mike Bellotti who has had a great year, the Ducks have great balance on offense, but I still think if you get a defense that can make some plays in space and has some athleticism -- where maybe it isn't quite the mismatch when you have a linebacker in space -- then Dennis Dixon can be contained.

I just think of Ali Highsmith out in the slot, who might find himself in the open field against Dixon. I'd still pick Dixon to win that battle, but it's not quite the mismatch like it would be if it was against a Michigan linebacker. I don't think you can stop Dennis Dixon, but I think you can contain him, and you have to understand that part of containing Dennis Dixon is having an offense that can move the ball against Oregon's defense. That's what happened in the Ducks' loss.

So in a roundabout, complicated way of answering the question; yeah, sort of.

Being that you played defense and that this year's Heisman race is as confusing as ever, what are your feelings about a defensive player winning the award? Why are people so insistent that a defensive player can't be the best player on his team or in the country? - Alan, Florida

I think most of it is ignorance. Most of it is people not realizing the impact a single defensive player can have on a game. The reality is if the award is supposed to be given to the most outstanding player in college football and you truly went according to the basic definition of what it should be, you would have seen a defensive player winning the Heisman Trophy by now.

The facts are, regardless of what you ought to be voting on, you're going to be voting on the most hyped player in college football who gets the most attention who plays on a team that has a very good record who hasn't had any disastrous games on national TV. Those will be your Heisman Trophy candidates and ultimately your winner.

It doesn't make it right, it doesn't make it fair, but that's reality.

What is more important for a coach, recruiting or X's and O's? Is college football more about just putting talent on the field or actually coaching the talent?­ - Mike, Nebraska

Mike, I think I know what you're referencing, and I believe it's X's and O's. College football is littered with coaches who have put winners on the field who didn't have a single guy who would have been rated as a five-star recruit. That being said, you also have plenty of coaches who have all kinds of five-star recruits who haven't gotten it done on the field. So you can see, in my opinion, it's X's and O's.

The five-star recruits are a subjective, arbitrary rating. Five stars according to whom? X's and O's aren't really subjective or arbitrary. It's something you can tangibly point to. We've gotten caught up and overwhelmed by the media's coverage of recruiting and the whole fascination of who the next star player at a university will be that we've lost track of how important the X's and O's are.

My head coach will be an X's and O's guy. You can always hire a good recruiter. A good recruiting head coach who doesn't understand X's and O's puts you at a distinct disadvantage. In a perfect world you'd like to have both and I think you can have a great X's and O's coach and also have a good recruiter.

I'll also tell you that I'm not insinuating in any way that Bill Callahan isn't a good X's and O's coach. Being a successful head coach goes far beyond X's and O's. It's how players relate to the coach, his motivational skills. That's why you see some great X's and O's coordinators, on both sides of the ball, who don't turn into great head coaches because being a great head coach entails a whole lot more than being just a recruiter or an X's and O's guy. There are parts of that job that none of us understand.