The college football world lost one of its coaching giants on Thursday with the passing of LaVell Edwards
Sad news struck the college football world on Thursday as the postseason commences, as legendary BYU head coach LaVell Edwards was the latest casualty of the year 2016.
This is where we begin the College Football Blitz for Thursday, Dec. 29.
LaVell Edwards passes away at age 86
2016 has claimed yet another victim, this time taking away from us one of the more notable college football coaching legends of all time. Thursday, we were hit with the news that legendary BYU Cougars head coach LaVell Edwards had passed away at the age of 86. His wife Patti would later confirm that a broken hip suffered on Christmas Eve ultimately contributed to his passing.
Edwards is the man who will forever be credited with putting BYU Football on the national map. He spent 29 seasons in Provo with the Cougars, compiling a record of 257 wins, 101 losses and three ties. In those 29 seasons he qualified for 22 bowl games with his BYU teams, but of course, the bowl that will be remembered the most when you talk about Edwards and BYU is the 1984 Holiday Bowl. On that night in San Diego, Edwards and BYU stunned Michigan 24-17, earning them the consensus national championship in the process as they finished the season ranked atop both the AP and Coaches’ Polls.
To this day, they remain the last Non-Power 5 school to claim the top prize in all of college football. He was rightfully inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004.
Final Thought: The college football universe lost a true legend of the industry on Thursday, and one of the unquestioned all-time greats. BYU won that national championship the year that I was born, but as I grew up my grandfather continually told me the tale of that 1984 BYU title-winning squad and the genius of Edwards. He spoke softly, but he always made sure that his teams got the job done. He will truly be missed by not just BYU fans, but college football fans from all over the nation.
Lane Kiffin wanted to bring in Art Briles because of course he did
Lane Kiffin will be coaching the Alabama Crimson Tide this Saturday when they take on the Washington Huskies in the College Football Playoff. He may have one more game on the Alabama staff should the Tide win, but after their run is over, he will fully begin his tenure at FAU.
Now while not fully settled into his new job as of yet, Kiffin’s initial move as the head coach of FAU was met with a lot of backlash, and rightfully so to many. The Alabama offensive coordinator hired the embattled Kendal Briles to run his offensive unit in Boca Raton — you know, the same Briles who was just formally hit with some recruiting violations by the NCAA.
Well, it seems as if Kiffin really was looking to stir the pot, but he decided otherwise.
In an interview with SI’s Pete Thamel, Kiffin admitted that he was mulling the idea of asking the Florida Atlantic administration about bringing in former Baylor head coach –and Kendal’s father– Art Briles.
“I came to the decision that’s not at this time the best thing to do, even in a smaller role,” Kiffin said. “Because I thought it through. Risk versus reward. There’s too much risk in that. Now you have protesters in your game and at your stadium because you hired Art. That’s not worth it.”
Final Thought: Hey, Lane! Look at you making the right decision by shutting down an ungodly terrible decision after you make a pretty bad decision. Decisions are hard, but you nailed it here!
Ricky Seals-Jones says goodbye to Aggieland
We’ve touched on some players leaving for the NFL Draft recently, and here’s another one that really shouldn’t surprise many. Thursday, just one day after a loss in the Texas Bowl where he incredibly hauled in a touchdown pass, Texas A&M junior wide receiver Ricky Seals-Jones announced that he will be entering the 2017 NFL Draft.
Seals-Jones was a very highly touted prospect in the Class of 2013 who was supposed to help Kevin Sumlin and the Texas A&M offense go to another level, but none of that really came to fruition. He suffered an injury in 2013 where he was able to receive a medical redshirt, and then he even contemplated leaving the program last year before deciding to stay.
He finishes his career in College Station with 1,442 yards receiving on 123 catches with 10 touchdowns. Again, not exactly the production that we all envisioned by the time his collegiate career came to a close.
Final Thought: Seals-Jones’ college career did not go as planned, no. Hell, that scoring grab Wednesday night was his only one of the season.
But, you know, that might not hurt his draft stock as much as some people are believing. At 6’5″ and 240 pounds, there will be plenty of NFL teams that will take one look at that frame before deciding they can do something with him. Because of that alone, his path through the draft will surely be one to keep an eye on.
Bowl game stat of the day
Texas Bowl – 8
There was a pretty solid bowl slate on Wednesday, and it was capped off by the Texas Bowl matchup between Kansas State and Texas A&M. Coming into this one, there were few who gave Bill Snyder and the Wildcats a shot at defeating the high-powered Aggies and their offense.
Yeah, well, we were reminded once again that Bill Snyder is one of the greatest college football coaches of this generation as The Wizard captured bowl win No. 8 in his career over the Aggies.
For the most part, Snyder just coached circles around Kevin Sumlin Wednesday night in Houston. The Aggies had far superior talent on the field in Houston, but just as he had done countless times before in his illustrious career, Bill Snyder showed us that can matter very little.
It will never get old watching this man display his pure coaching genius.