Rodriguez Licking His Chops

New Michigan man can run circles around Big Ten

Dec. 19, 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.

Bill Callahan tried to install the West Coast offense at Nebraska and failed, why will it work at Michigan with the spread? - Chris Cutter, Iowa

The spread offense has been proven to work at a number of different schools. Don't get caught up in the idea that it's a spread offense; it's a spread running offense. Rodriguez's teams can certainly throw out of it, but if you look at their stats, they are a running, physical team who tried to hit people.

I think there's this misnomer that current coaches who have a certain system in place don't know how to win with anything else. I think that hurt Paul Johnson where for years he ran the triple option at Navy, yet had a history of running an offense at Hawai'i that was pass-happy.

Effective leadership at the head coaching position is transferable. It isn't just one scheme. Rodriguez was smart enough to know they type of athlete he has in Morgantown and utilize the kind of guys he had like Pat White and Steve Slaton. It is not a guarantee that Michigan will exclusively do the same thing on offense. He can recruit a different level of athlete at Michigan than he could at West Virginia, not to put down the kids at West Virginia.

I do think there will be elements of the spread that will help Michigan compete in the Big Ten. And Rodriguez has got to look at Big Ten defenses, maybe with the exception of Ohio State, and say "I can run roughshod over this conference." You're guaranteed to win five games at least.

And he's not going to sell out on the current players; he'll install his offense gradually.

I keep reading stories about negative recruiting and schools trashing other schools. Some recruiters are trying to sway kids from Miami by talking about Bryan Pata and Sean Taylor's death. Is that right? Should this and can this stuff be stopped? - J.D., Florida

That would tell me an awful lot if I was a student-athlete that a prospective coach from another school used that in recruiting. I would stay as far away as I could from that coach. That tells me a lot about his character. That tells you about the depths coaches will go to in trying to get talent.

If you're presenting the kind of environment that you would be entering in and it's proven that Miami or USC or whatever school is located in an area where you might be subjected to more criminal activity, that's one thing. But to merely point out that a player had been killed while on the team would be putting yourself in a dangerous position. I think that's an unfortunate thing if it is indeed happening.

It won't be stopped, it can't be stopped and we've tried a lot of different things to try and curb the whole recruiting process. But it's a dirty game in and of itself and it will always be such.

Terry Bowden is interested in the West Virginia job. It's been 10 years since he's coached. A lot has changed since then, isn't that a long time to be out of the game? How could he be successful? - Winston, Charleston

I don't know Terry Bowden very well, but I don't think you can take away from him what he accomplished at Auburn that one year, but I think there are a lot of other things off the field that you must take into account. I can't imagine that would be the direction West Virginia would go in. I'm not saying he's not a good coach, but I do think when you're out of it there are elements that are changed.

There are just too many other candidates out there, including many minorities, who need to get a look.