BARNEStorming: College Football Hall of Fame and other thoughts around the college football world
OXFORD, Miss. — Quick, what do Mike Leach, Eli Manning of Ole Miss and Troy’s Carlton Martial have in common? The sad answer: none are eligible for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
That is right, one of the most-innovative coaches in college football history, possibly the best player in the history of one of college football’s most-recognized programs and the player that recorded the most tackles of anyone in college football history cannot be in the sport’s hall of fame.
Manning and Martial cannot be included because neither were consensus All-Americans during their career. Manning lost out to Oklahoma’s Jason White, Martial to several players who played at Power Five schools while he was at a group of five program.
Leach misses the threshold of the percentage of wins needed by less than one percent (.596) although he coached at three programs that were struggling when he took over. There are those who feel if Leach’s Mississippi State team wins its bowl game — which would technically give Mike Leach head-coached teams a .600 winning percentage, the threshold for the CFB Hall of Fame — he should be allowed in.
It shouldn’t come to that. Players and coaches deserve better.
If these three do not deserve to be in the hall of fame, why is there even such a thing?
BOWLING BY SEC STATES
Congratulations to the states of Mississippi, Kentucky and South Carolina. Each of those states sent all of its FBS programs to bowls this season.
In Mississippi where there are three FBS teams, Southern Miss won the Lending Tree Bowl Saturday while Ole Miss and Mississippi State will each go bowling. In the Palmetto State, also home to three FBS teams, Clemson, South Carolina, and Coastal Carolina will also play in the postseason.
For the Commonwealth, Louisville lost its game already, but Kentucky and Western Kentucky received bids.
Here is a look at how the other states on the SEC map fared in the bowl bid department:
Alabama (Five eligible schools): UAB and Troy have already won their bowl games while South Alabama and Alabama still have games to play. Auburn did not receive a bid.
Arkansas (2): Arkansas will play in the postseason, Arkansas State will not.
Florida (7): Florida lost its bowl game already, but UCF and Florida State still have games. No school south of Orlando will go to a bowl.
Georgia (4): Georgia Southern has a bowl game on the schedule and Georgia could have a pair of games as a member of the four-team playoff. The two Atlanta schools – Georgia Tech and Georgia State – will stay home.
Louisiana (5): LSU, Tulane, and Louisiana all will go bowling. Only Louisiana Tech and La. Monroe missed the postseason.
Missouri (1): The lone FBS school in the state, Mizzou, will appear in the Gasparilla Bowl.
Tennessee (4): Tennessee, Memphis, and Middle Tennessee State each received bowl bids and Vanderbilt just missed out on one.
Texas (11): Out of the largest pool of FBS schools, the Lone Star State will be represented by nine teams. UTSA already fell in the Cure Bowl as Rice did in the Lending Tree, North Texas in the Frisco Bowl, and SMU in the New Mexico Bowl. Baylor, Houston, Texas Tech, and Texas still have games to play. TCU might have two games. That leaves only UTEP and Texas State on the outside looking in.
AN IDEA FOR THE PORTAL
One of the biggest arguments for the transfer portal is college players should be treated more like NFL players since they generate so much revenue for their schools. Given the option, college players seem to have more freedom than players in the first four years of their pro contracts.
Except for a signing bonus and salary, NFL players who are under their rookie contract are more restricted than their college counterparts.
An NFL player does not choose the team for which he plays, a college freshman does. Could anyone imagine a college football draft? Hey kid, we know your final choices were Florida and Florida State, but Fresno State drafted you, so you are going to be a Bulldog for four years.
A rookie contract does not allow for free agency. The transfer portal does this more than once. In five years of college football, J.T. Daniels has played for USC, Georgia, West Virginia, and he is shopping for a new team for his final year of eligibility.
Can anyone see Bryce Young going in the first round to the New York Giants but deciding he does not like the winter weather in the northeast? So, he decides to play for Jacksonville his second year. But after two years of sitting behind Trevor Lawrence, he wants to go somewhere he can be the starter. He finds a team, but after a few months of his coach not being nice to him, he decides to find a new team.
The media would have a field day with him, and chances are before he found a new team, he would be considered a prima donna and his career would be over.
When a kid signs with a college and during his first year, or whenever, realizes he made a mistake, he should be able to transfer. One time. The player should learn from his mistake and do a better job of picking a new school.
If a player never learns to deal with adversity on the college level, he certainly will not be able to deal with it as a pro.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
