DDT the old school, out of touch rag that thinks small and dreams the dreams of better days in college football

From a reader: You’re an old Gringo living in Taos, New Mexico writing about football at a small, private Catholic school in Minnesota that plays DivThree non-scholarship football. 'Sup wit dat?

DDT: Don’t forget the FCS, aka DivOneAA and the service academies. DDT is writing about them, too. All of the above are closer to the more honest, non-corporate game we grew up with. Put another way, they have lower budgets and the coaches make less money, but there’s still an innocence and authenticity there that has been lost in the big college game.


Winningest coach wins another

Gagliardi

Johnnies take opener
The St. John’s Johnnies of Collegeville, Minnesota started the 2011 campaign with a 34-0 win over Northwestern College of St. Paul. The Johnnies, coached by John Gagliardi, the winningest active coach in college football, are picked to finish third behind St. Thomas and Bethel in the DivThree Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAA). 

Gagliardi, in his 59th year in Collegeville, has 479 wins, has led St. John’s to four national championships, and has the winningest overall record in DivThree.

With a crowd of 7,800 looking on, the Johnnies opened up a 27-0 halftime lead over NW, added another touch in the second half and coasted to the 34-0 final.

Junior running back Stephen Johnson led the way for St. Johns with 111 yards on 19 carries, including 81 yards in the second quarter alone. Johnson had a 27-yard TD run and five receptions for 20 yards on the day.

The Johnnies host the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds next Saturday, Sept. 10. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Clemens Stadium in Collegeville.

DivOne Bubble coaches:

Pac-10

Jeff Tedford, Cal. Tedford has perpetuated Cal's tradition of bridesmaidmanship, finishing in the middle of the PAC10 (now the PAC 12) every year, but Cal fathers don't even know it. It's Cal/Berkeley. They're still marching around with placards protesting the war in Vietnam. Football? They don' need no stinkin' football. Except up on Tightwad Hill, which overlooks the Cal stadium, where  freeloaders can watch a contest at no charge and partake of vast qualities of enchanted herb that's passed around during the games (“Yeehaa, Jane Fonda! Free Angela Davis!”) If Cal’s admin ever wakes up, Tedford could be in trouble. 

Paul Wulff, Washington State. Wulff got Eastern Washington to the Top Ten in DivOneAA, which got him the Wazoo job. EW remains in the Top Ten in DivOneAA while Wulff and Wazoo are in the Bottom Ten in DivOne. 


Rick Neuheisel, UCLA. The mission: Replace USC as number one in L.A. Say no more.


The whole state of Arizona:
Mike Stoops, AZ, has made it to the base of the mountain but has not made it to the summit and has not “seeeen the promised land.” 


Dennis Erickson, AzState, could probably care less. He has been to the promised land with a couple programs and has coached in the NFL. AzState is just a postlude. If he wins, fine. If he doesn’t, he was going to retire, anyway.


Mountain West:
Mike of Locksley, UNM, has the worst record in DivOne (2-22) and has established the Lobos at the bottom, as in a rating of number 120 (out of 120 DivOne teams). Whew. If he makes it through the season, DDT will be surprised. 
First casualty. Locksley a goner on Sept. 25.


Steve Fairchild, Colorado St. Lot of promise at the outset. But, now, lot of empty seats. And more players in trouble as well. Saturday, with fourth and one on his own 40 and less than a minute to go, Fairchild called a run and got stuffed. Ball over to UNM, giving the Lobos a short field and a chance to win. Fortunately for Fairchild the Lobos couldn’t capitalize and ColoSt. survived. Fairchild may not. 


Whoever is coaching at UNLV. What’s his name who replaced what’s his name. They don’t win in Vegas, they just change coaches every other year or so. In Vegas, football is just another lounge act at Motel Six. 


Conference USA:
Bob Toledo, Tulane, hasn’t really done much since he got there but he stuck it out through Katrina so that probably bought him some respect. But the clock is running. 


Mike Price, UTEP. Price was filling up the Sun Bowl and winning a respectable number of games a few years ago. But attendance has dipped by about 20K per home contest in the last couple seasons, and the Miners have only been to one bowl game in six years, which was the New Mexico Bowl, last year, where they got blown out by BYU. 


Neil Callaway, UAB. Give anybody credit who takes a head job in the state of Alabama where you have to compete against the two big dogs, but Callaway is 15-33 in five years with no bowl games. 


MAC:
That great stepping stone in the Midwest: Urban Meyer, Bowling Green to Utah to Florida; Brady Hoke, Ball State to SDState to Michigan; Turner Gill, Buffalo to KU; Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois to Minnesota; Butch Jones, Central Mich to Cinncy; Al Golden, Temple to Miami. The trick is not to stay too long. Couple winning seasons in the MAC, then make the leap. 
•Golden may be making another move, soon, if Miami gets the death penalty. None of the current violations under investigation happened on his watch, so he’s clean. But he could wind up in the unemployment line. DDT thought he might be the next head man at Penn State if JoePa retires after this year or next. That possibility may open again.


The Indies:
Brian Kelley, Notre Dame. It goes with the territory at South Bend. Step on to the field, step on to the bubble. There’s not enough Prozac to settle the fans and alums down at ND. Of course, winning a national championship would buy coach a year—but only a year.


WAC:
Everybody. The whole conference should down-size to DivOneAA. The WAC is a boring book and everybody disappears in the end, or, if they’re lucky like Derek Dooley (now at Tennessee), steps up and out quickly.

Sun Belt:
Everybody. The whole conference should down-size to DivOneAA. The SB is a boring book and everybody disappears in the end.