ESPN College Football

The knock against Boise State year after year is always its schedule.

Too weak, the critics say. Play with the big boys, they yell. No credibility, they howl. The argument has always been a lazy one, steeped in superficiality and ignorance.

This past weekend proved it.

Boise State had a school-record six players drafted, including two in the first round. For those scoring at home, only Alabama (eight), Georgia and Oklahoma (seven each) had more. Ten Boise State players have been drafted in the past three years. To put that into context, Boise State had 10 players drafted between 2002-08, a span of seven years.

So it turns out, going 50-3 over the past four seasons was not so much a product of a lousy schedule, but a product of some darn good football players, and some excellent coaching.

Consider: Boise State never lands Top 25 recruiting classes. In fact, Boise State and five-star commitments go together -- never. Coach Chris Petersen is perhaps the most underrated coach in America when you consider the talent level of the players he has to work with when they arrive on campus.

Shea McClellin went No. 19 overall to the Bears. In the class of 2007, he was unheralded and unranked out of a tiny town in Idaho. Doug Martin went No. 31 overall to Tampa Bay. In the class of 2007, ESPN ranked him the No. 248 running back in the nation. They are about as unlikely a pair of first-round picks as you will find in the draft. And yet NFL teams, NFL coaches and NFL scouts seemed to have no problem with the competition they faced.

Anybody who has bothered to watch Boise State play under Petersen appreciates the type of players he has been able to develop. Three of the four starting defensive linemen on last year's team were drafted, and that is no big surprise. Boise State dominated up front the past several years -- as Georgia will attest to after getting walloped in the season opener last season. McClellin and Billy Winn (sixth round, Cleveland) were stalwarts on that unit.

Tyrone Crawford moved into the starting unit in 2011, but he has been a significant contributor over the past two seasons, as the team's leader in tackles for loss. Crawford is another player with an unlikely story. He hails from Canada, and only began playing in ninth grade at the request of his physical education teacher. He was picked in the third round by the Cowboys.

We have not even talked about quarterback Kellen Moore, who went undrafted and signed as a free agent with the Detroit Lions. Moore helped engineer all those victories with his leadership, his skill and his incredible knowledge of the offense. He is talented, yes. But he is undersized and lacking in some of the key measurables teams want in a quarterback, so he was passed over despite the intangible values he brings to the quarterback position.

Whether he should have been drafted is another topic. The point is that NFL teams and scouts are not simply enamored with college success, enough to overlook deficiencies or potential stumbling blocks for that particular player on the next level. These NFL teams do an inordinate amount of homework and research when they make their selections. They are looking for talent and potential when they watch tape, not the strength of the opposition.

Nobody is going to argue that Boise State has played the quality schedule Alabama has played. But the argument that Boise State is simply lucky and not any good must end. The Broncos have proven they have way too much talent to be undercut with such a silly notion.

Boise State opened spring practice Monday with a radically different look -- its record-setting senior class is gone. No Kellen Moore, no Doug Martin, no Shea McClellin.

That means for the first time in a long while, major positions are open for competition. Here is a quick preview of what to watch for the Broncos.

Spring changes: Boise State lost is offensive coordinator yet again, as Brent Pease left to take a job with Florida. In comes Robert Prince, who will continue to coach the receivers. What coach Chris Petersen has done to help mitigate the losses is promote from within, a system that has served him well over the past several seasons. Boise State will continue to run its offensive scheme, as no wholesale changes are expected. The Broncos also have three new position coaches: defensive line coach Andy Avalos, defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake, and quarterbacks coach Jonathan Smith.

But the personnel changes are what folks are going to notice most, heading into the spring, as Boise State returns just 10 starters. Here are some position battles to watch:

Quarterback. You are going to be hearing a lot more about this throughout the course of the spring and the fall. Moore led Boise State to uncharted heights, and became the all-time winningest quarterback in NCAA history. Now that he is gone, four players are competing to win the starting job: backup Joe Southwick; sophomore Grant Hedrick; redshirt freshman Jimmy Laughrea; highly touted true freshman Nick Patti. All four are more mobile than Moore, but don't expect the Broncos to morph into a Wildcat team. Patti has drawn the most comparisons to Moore. To ease the pressure, Petersen has made all four off-limits to interviews this spring.

Defensive line. All four starters are gone, leaving the Broncos in a serious bind. And it is not as if the four starters they are losing were slackers. All four were major contributors to a line that has been solid for several years. Tyrone Crawford, McClellin, Billy Winn and Chase Baker are out. Those four combined for 36.5 tackles for loss and and 16.5 sacks (Boise State only had a total of 24). Valuable backup Jarrell Root is gone, leaving inexperienced players like Tyler Horn, Darren Koontz, Ricky Tjong-A-Tjoe, Robert Ash and Jeff Worthy.

Secondary. This was a group that was hit hard by injuries last season, and now will be hit hard again with the loss of George Iloka, Cedric Febis, Travis Stanaway and Hunter White. The good news is Jerrell Gavins and Jamar Taylor are slated to return, so that should help the cornerbacks. But safety is an area of concern going into spring, and players like Jeremy Ioane, Darian Thompson and Hazen Moss -- among others -- have to step up.

Oregon coach Chip Kelly was baffled in a phone interview before the Rose Bowl. How the heck could little-old-him be important to a reporter?

"The big story," he said conspiratorially,"is all these new coaches."

Well, it's the big story now as the Pac-12 turns its attention away from the 2011 season and toward 2012 spring practices. And, of course, Kelly is part of a reason there are four new coaches in the conference. Mike Stoops, Dennis Erickson, Rick Neuheisel and Paul Wulff -- fired at Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA and Washington State, respectively -- never beat Kelly and, in fact, came within double digits of his Ducks only once (Arizona, with a 44-41 loss in 2009).

But the story isn't just four new coaches. It's four new coaches whom folks have heard of, each of whom is getting a big-boy salary that would fit in among the SEC or Big Ten. Big salaries are the new normal in the Pac-12 after the conference signed a $3 billion TV deal with ESPN and Fox.

So out goes Stoops and his $1,456,000 salary, and in comes Rich Rodriguez and his $1,910,000 paycheck. Out goes Erickson and his $1,503,000 salary, and in comes Todd Graham and his $2 million tab. Out goes Neuheisel and his $1,285,000 salary, and in comes Jim Mora and his $2.4 million annual take. Out goes Wulff and his $600,000 salary, and in comes Mike Leach and his $2,250,000 price tag.

The chief idea is obvious: Pac-12 schools are paying for an upgrade in coaching talent, and there are high expectations for getting their money's worth. And, by the way, there's an added bonus for each hire: Each new coach has a chip on his shoulder and something to prove.

• In 2010, Rodriguez was ingloriously dispatched at Michigan after three tumultuous and unsuccessful years. Athletic director Greg Byrne is betting that Rodriguez is far closer to the highly successful coach he was at West Virginia than the one who got run out of Ann Arbor, and Rodriguez surely wants that impression to be his legacy. It helps that he got his man, Jeff Casteel, to run the Wildcats' defense, which he failed to do at Michigan.
• Graham took a lot of heat from a pandering, sanctimonious media and a whiny Pittsburgh fan base for how he left the Panthers. "He didn't even say goodbye," they collectively sobbed. "Waaah." Of course, Graham does have an unfortunate habit of describing every job as his "dream job." All that stuff is mostly hogwash, though. What matters is winning, and if Graham does that, the media will all come down en masse to Tempe pretending they didn't trash Graham's character for taking a better job, in a better conference, in a better place to live while making his family happy in the process.
• Mora was fired in 2009 after only one season with the Seattle Seahawks, and he's bided his time looking for another head-coaching job. Seeing that he was two or three names down UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero's coaching list -- Chris Petersen! Kevin Sumlin! -- some Bruins fans reacted with disappointed smirks to Mora's hiring. Then Mora hired an outstanding staff. Then he reeled in an outstanding recruiting class. Some of those frowns are turning upside down.
• Leach was fired at Texas Tech in 2009. He's one of the best offensive minds in the nation, and the almost universal reaction is athletic director Bill Moos hit a home run with this big-name hire. The Pirate Captain looks like the perfect match for Pullman and the Cougs, and he'll be plenty motivated to prove his critics wrong and erase the bad ending in Lubbock.

It's fair to say these four hirings have generated positive momentum for these programs, though, of course, to varying degrees. There's a hope among the fan bases that these four can create quick turnarounds.

And that also leads into another major coaching story entering the spring: The Pac-12's most senior coaches, California's Jeff Tedford and Oregon State's Mike Riley, sit on the hottest seats.

Tedford enters his 11th season in Berkeley having followed up his first losing campaign -- 5-7 in 2010 -- with a middling 7-6 finish in 2011. Riley, the man deserving the most credit for making one of the worst programs in college football respectable, enters his 12th year in Corvallis -- two tenures wrapped around an ill-fated stint with the San Diego Chargers -- burdened by consecutive losing seasons, including a 3-9 finish that felt so 1987.

Spring practices for Tedford and Riley will be about setting up turnaround season that give their frustrated fan bases hope -- and keep their athletic directors from issuing dreaded votes of confidence while checking their coaching Rolodexes.

Meanwhile, Kelly and USC's Lane Kiffin, still relative coaching newbies in the conference, enter spring likely trying to tone down the positive hype. Both will begin the 2012 season ranked in the top 10. USC could be preseason No. 1. Both are overwhelming favorites in the North and South Divisions. And their meeting on Nov. 3 in L.A. could have national title implications.

But that's looking ahead.

The big story this spring in the Pac-12 is newness and rebirth. One-third of the conference's teams hope that newness at the top of their programs will create a rebirth in the Pac-12 standings.

1. “A Memorial for Joe” will honor the late Penn State coach Joe Paterno on Thursday, 29 years to the day that former Alabama coach Bear Bryant died only four weeks after his final game. The fact that both coaching icons died so soon after they left coaching has been noted time and again this week. The coincidences continue to pile up. Both Bryant and Paterno won their last victory against Illinois. Paterno’s last loss ever came to Alabama in September.
2. You can’t quibble with the success of Boise State coach Chris Petersen. The Broncos went 50-3 the last four seasons with Kellen Moore at quarterback, and is 73-6 overall. But now comes Petersen’s biggest test. According to PhilSteele.com, Boise State is dead last among FBS schools in returning starters with six. Depth is usually the last thing that mid-majors can count on. Then again, with the Big East on the horizon, we won’t be able to call Boise State a mid-major for much longer.
3. You know that a head coach has made it when he keeps winning even as his assistants depart. With that in mind, keep an eye on Wisconsin next fall. Head coach Bret Bielema is in the process of replacing six of his nine assistant coaches in this offseason. Offensive coordinator Paul Chryst became head coach at Pitt and took three coaches with him. Bielema may be young – he turned 42 this month – but he’s developing a coaching tree. Dave Doeren left his staff last year to become head coach at Northern Illinois.

ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers "have identified Oregon head coach Chip Kelly as the main target of its search for a new head coach and the two sides are involved in active contract discussions."

Schefter reported Kelly "interviewed with the Buccaneers last week and the two sides are aiming to work out a deal within the next 48 hours."

So not a done deal, but obviously this would feel fairly cataclysmic for Ducks fans. The Pac-12 blog was of the mind at the Rose Bowl that Kelly was in for the long term with Oregon.

Couple of quick thoughts.

• Tampa Bay must really want Kelly. Unless there's a negotiated settlement, Kelly's buyout is $3.75 million and he's scheduled to make $3.5 million next year. So we're talking -- conservatively -- $8 million just to get started. Of course, top NFL salaries are $7 million.
• Would Kelly bring a spread-option to the NFL (even though he ran less spread-option last year than ever)? Maybe. It seems the NFL, long staid about what offenses should look like, has become more open-minded of late.
• Some will immediately think Kelly is getting out ahead of NCAA sanctions, see Pete Carroll at USC. That's not my take. The recent scuttlebutt has hinted that the sanctions won't be severe.
• That said: Kelly is a football savant who loves coaching and watching film -- and watching film and coaching. College coaching includes a lot of non-coaching responsibilities, including the NCAA, recruiting and boosters, etc. That has never been Kelly's cup of Joe.

If this happens and Kelly leaves, the name you would hear immediately would be Boise State's Chris Petersen. While his name comes up with just about every major opening, he has strong ties to Oregon. He coached there from 1995-2000. When people talked about jobs that might lure Petersen away from his comfort zone in Boise, Oregon often topped the list.

The Ducks could double his $2 million salary -- and give his assistant coaches huge raises, too.

So stay tuned. As stories go in the Pac-12, this could become a biggie.

The Oregonian reacts here.

And the Eugene Register-Guard.

Boise State promoted assistant Robert Prince to offensive coordinator to replace the departed Brent Pease, the school announced Wednesday.

Prince served as wide receivers coach and passing coordinator in 2011, and will continue to coach the receivers. Last season was his first back in Boise after a seven-year break in which he served as an assistant for several NFL teams. Prince coached Boise State wide receivers from 2001-2003.

“We are looking forward to having Robert (Prince) direct our offense,” coach Chris Petersen said in a statement. “He has been working for many years to become an offensive coordinator and I know he’ll do an outstanding job for us. I’m looking forward to what type of spin he’ll put on the offense.”

First and foremost for Prince is to find a starting quarterback to replace Kellen Moore. Boise State has several candidates vying for the spot, including junior Joe Southwick, sophomore Grant Hedrick, redshirt freshman Jimmy Laughrea and early enrollee Nick Patti. Southwick has served as the backup to Moore the last two seasons.

“My family and I are excited,” Prince said in a statement. “We love Boise, and we are looking forward to the opportunity. Offensively, we have a great staff and I’m looking forward to working with them in a new capacity.”

Petersen generally promotes from within. When Bryan Harsin left for Texas last season, he promoted Pease. When defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox left after 2009, he promoted Pete Kwiatkowski.

Penn State fans should give Bill O'Brien a chance.

Remember that he left a pretty good job, working with one of the most successful franchises in sports, to step into a potentially no-win situation in State College. He wanted you, even if you don't think you want him. While we'll learn much more about O'Brien in the coming days and weeks, it's clear the guy doesn't shy away from a challenge.

He deserves the benefit of the doubt, and I think a portion of Nittany Nation, especially those not blindly loyal to Joe Paterno, will give it to him. The more Penn Staters who take the approach of former Lions star linebacker Paul Posluszny, the better.

Much of the ire Thursday night and Friday has been directed at the school's administration, and for good reason. After a search that lasted nearly two months and inspired more confusion than confidence, the Penn State brass has a much steeper climb to win back the trust of alumni, former players and fans.

Penn State looked very much like a school that hadn't replaced a football coach since 1966 and had never conducted a football coaching search in the modern era. Most coaching searches take 10-14 days. They're structured and swift. The athletic director leads the way, and a search firm often is involved. Sometimes, information is actually confirmed. Imagine that.

Penn State, meanwhile, used an acting AD (Dave Joyner) and formed a search committee nearly three weeks after the school's trustees fired Paterno on Nov. 9. Ultimately, Joyner and his former Penn State wrestling teammate, Ira Lubert, a search committee member and a respected businessman, drove the search essentially by themselves. Joyner was tight-lipped during the protracted process.

"This is the first coach search, in football, that maybe we've ever done," Joyner told reporters last week in Dallas. "I'm not sure how things worked in 1950 and maybe 1966 but I imagine it was a lot different than what we're doing."

He's right. It might have been faster and more organized.

Yes, the circumstances were unique and incredibly difficult. Yes, former athletic director Tim Curley and former president Graham Spanier deserve blame for putting the school in a bind. Yes, the Penn State job isn't nearly as appealing as it was before the sex-abuse scandal broke and the school fired Paterno.

But Penn State still looked unprepared to replace its 85-year-old coach.

Joyner set deadlines that came and went. According to USA Today, Joyner had little interest in getting input from former Penn State players who wanted to be involved. The committee talked with internal candidates like interim coach Tom Bradley, Larry Johnson and Ron Vanderlinden, but these were courtesy interviews more than anything.

And that's OK. Penn State would have been skewered for promoting from within. But it could have gotten away with hiring a candidate who had some ties to the school.

Speaking of candidates, we heard plenty of names during the past six weeks. Some were legitimate, like Tennessee Titans coach Mike Munchak, and some were not, like Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. The school reportedly made several runs at Boise State's Chris Petersen, who seemed more likely to become the next BCS executive director than the next Penn State coach.

Remember when Mississippi State's Dan Mullen was the flavor of the day for Penn State?

All along, Penn State fans hoped that Joyner and Lubert had an ace in the hole, a name no one was talking about who would make anxiety about the interminable wait and the compromised recruiting class go away. Munchak might have been that guy, but it didn't happen.

Even the post-hiring process has been curious. It's not unusual for players and even assistant coaches to learn of hirings through the media. But more than 17 hours have passed since ESPN reported O'Brien's hiring, and the school hasn't said anything. Bradley hadn't been told as of late Friday morning. Keep in mind this is a guy who has devoted his career to Penn State and began recruiting for the team this week after returning from the TicketCity Bowl debacle.

O'Brien deserves a fair chance, and he might just be the right guy to lead Penn State football through its most difficult period.

Maybe the best thing he can do is make everyone forget how Penn State hired him.

Boise State coach Chris Petersen has reportedly received a new five-year contract, and a raise to go with it.

The Idaho Statesman reports that Petersen has agreed to a deal that will pay him at least $2 million a season, a raise of $375,000 a year. The deal is subject to approval from the state's education board in February.

Petersen is 73-6 in six seasons as Boise State's head coach.

Penn State's unique and drawn-out coaching search is the type that makes you hesitant to believe a hire has been made until he's being introduced at the podium in State College.

But after an unsuccessful push to woo Boise State's Chris Petersen, Penn State has shifted its focus and finally could be closing in on its man.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Penn State's search committee has targeted Tennessee Titans coach Mike Munchak for the school's vacancy. Munchak played offensive line for the Nittany Lions from 1978-81 before embarking on a Hall of Fame career in the NFL. The 51-year-old is in his first season as Titans coach after 14 years as the team's offensive line coach.

Another NFL coach, Green Bay Packers assistant Tom Clements, also is near the top of Penn State's list, according to multiple reports.

Munchak told reporters Monday that "nothing is going on" with Penn State, but a lot of coaches make similar statements while their teams are still playing. The Titans on Sunday face Houston needing a win and some help to secure a wild-card spot in the AFC playoffs.

Several of Munchak's former Penn State teammates spoke to statecollege.com and indicated Munchak is on the verge of taking the Lions job. One ex-teammate told the website, "I root for Tennessee to win every week. Not this week."

If the Titans lose Sunday or fail to make the playoffs, the Munchak-Penn State talks could heat up in a hurry. Penn State interim head coach Tom Bradley told reporters Tuesday that a permanent head coach won't be named until after the team's appearance Monday in the TicketCity Bowl against Houston. Bradley is one of several current assistants, including defensive line coach Larry Johnson and linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden, who have interviewed for the job.

Naming a coach might simply be a matter of timing, as The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News' David Jones reports.

Whatever decision is made, it appears the 6-person committee's work is finished. Committee member Russ Rose, the PSU women's volleyball coach, left Monday with his wife on a 2-week vacation throughout Italy. You would think that wouldn't be happening if any hay remained outside the barn.

Munchak is an intriguing candidate, to say the least. Many wonder question why he would consider making a move from the Titans, his employer for the past 29 years, especially after becoming the team's head coach and having a decent first season. He has no experience coaching at the college level and has been an NFL guy through and through.

Still, Penn State fans should be excited if the school lands the former Nittany Lions star. Luring an NFL head coach under tough circumstances would be a coup of sorts for Penn State. And while Munchak has Penn State roots and played for former coach Joe Paterno and former assistant Jerry Sandusky, he's removed enough from the key figures in the sex-abuse scandal. He's close but not too close, which could be the perfect result for Penn State. His NFL background also would appeal to recruits trying to reach the next level.

The search for Paterno's successor appears to be hitting the home stretch.

Stay tuned to the blog for the latest developments.

Jim L. Mora, a two-time NFL head coach with almost no college experience, is UCLA's new football coach, according to ESPNLosAngeles.com.

And UCLA made the official announcement a short time later.

Mora, 50, is currently an analyst for the NFL Network. He was fired from his last coaching job -- a single season with the Seattle Seahawks in 2009 -- after going 5-11. His only college coaching experience? He was a graduate assistant in 1984 at Washington, where he played from 1980-83.

Are Bruins fans going to immediately embrace this hire with buzzing enthusiasm? Probably not, particularly after Arizona and Washington State made splashier hires with Rich Rodriguez and Mike Leach.

I like how ESPN LA's Peter Yoon describes things here:

True, Mora isn’t exactly the splashy, big-name hire many UCLA fans were hoping to land, but there are reasons to believe his hire makes a lot of sense.

First, he has no UCLA ties in his past. Second, he is a defensive-minded coach. Third, he has no noteworthy experience as a college coach.

That bucks the trend of the past three UCLA coaches who are seen as the holy triumvirate of mediocrity. Bob Toledo, Karl Dorrell and Neuheisel were all Bruins assistants at some point before they became head coach; Dorrell and Neuheisel were UCLA players.

Before joining Seattle, Mora served as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons from 2004-2006. In his first season with Atlanta, the Falcons went 11-5 and made it to the NFC championship game. His teams went 8-8 and 7-9 the next two seasons and he was fired. But keep in mind, he was dealing with QB Michael Vick -- a stellar talent with a terrible work ethic and attitude at that time, something Vick has owned up to after he got out of jail.

A former Washington Husky reserve who played for Don James, Mora is a defensive guy with a strong resume working with secondaries.

That last part should be encouraging for Bruins fans. His area of specialization is stopping the pass. There, you might have heard, is a lot of throwing in these parts.

Mora also has the potential to be a charismatic recruiter. The parallel UCLA folks are surely thinking of -- whether they want to or not -- is USC's hire of Pete Carroll in 2001. Carroll had little college experience and was generally thought of as a mediocre-to-bad NFL head coach. Just about everyone panned his hire and mocked then-athletic director Mike Garrett's bumbling coaching search (which was a true comedy of errors and sloppiness).

Trojans fans eventually changed their feelings. There's a possibility that Mora will do the same.

"As someone who has been around the game of football my entire life, I have always held the UCLA job in the highest esteem," Mora said in a statement. "Given its location and its tradition, UCLA is truly a sleeping giant and I realize that an opportunity of this magnitude doesn't present itself more than once in a career, so I jumped at the chance to be a Bruin."

It's fair to say Mora was the Bruins' third choice. Boise State's Chris Petersen and Miami coach Al Golden both rejected previous entreaties.

I know UCLA fans don't always appreciate using USC as a measuring stick, but, again, Carroll was the Trojans fourth choice after an 18-day search. He was widely seen as a lightweight.

So this is an outside-of-the-box hire. At the very least, skeptical Bruins fans can grab hold of that.

Further, it's worth noting that a massively negative reaction would serve no useful purpose for the program. In fact, 11 other Pac-12 programs are likely poised to print out such reactions and use them against the Bruins in recruiting.

Meanwhile, the Bruins will play Illinois in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on Dec. 31 with interim coach Mike Johnson, who took over after Rick Neuheisel was fired two weeks ago.

Here's the LA Times on the Mora hiring.

The LA Daily News.

And the Orange County Register.

BOISE STATE BRONCOS

11-1, 6-1

What can you say about a team that got left out of the BCS despite a No. 7 ranking and one loss on the season? Should have won all its games, right? In the world of the non-AQs, there is absolutely no margin for error. There has never been a one-loss team from a non-AQ make it into the BCS. Not even a deserving team like Boise State, which beat SEC East Division champion Georgia to open the season and lost at home by one point to a ranked TCU team thanks to another missed field goal. Now the Broncos are headed for the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas for the second straight season to play a 6-6 Arizona State team. You can see why coach Chris Petersen ripped into the BCS earlier this week, saying everybody was tired of the system.

Despite the loss, this was yet another double-digit season for Boise State, and the fourth year in a row the Broncos finished in the Top 10 of the final BCS standings. Kellen Moore had the best season of his career, throwing for a career-high 41 touchdowns and setting a career mark with a .741 completion percentage. Injuries did take their toll, most especially in the TCU game, when Boise State was left with a walk-on at running back and freshmen playing in the secondary. All things considered, this Boise State senior class has lost three total games and still deserves some national recognition, even if they are playing in a non-BCS game.

Offensive MVP: Moore, QB. Moore completed 300-of-405 passes for 3,507 yards this season and became the winningest quarterback in NCAA history. He is the only quarterback this season who carved up the Georgia secondary and what he was able to do with new starting receivers should reaffirm his skill as a quarterback.

Defensive MVP: Tyrone Crawford, DE. This was a tough one because so many of these players had solid seasons. I am going with Crawford because he led the team with 13.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks, and did a solid job in replacing Ryan Winterswyk on the line.

Turning point: Losing 36-35 to TCU. Given the way the college season ended, you have to wonder whether an undefeated Boise State team would have had a shot at playing LSU in the national title game. The Tigers were the only undefeated team in the nation. Anybody's guess whether Boise State would have had enough of a push to move ahead of Alabama, but this might have been their best chance. It was not meant to be. For the second straight season, their BCS hopes ended on a missed field goal.

What’s next: Life after Moore. The senior class has a chance to set the school record for most wins by a departing group in the bowl game (50), and then it is time to say good bye to a group that elevated the program to an elite level. How will Boise State handle itself without Moore, and with plans to join the Big East for 2013?

Penn State's coaching search has been fairly quiet to this point, but names of potential candidates are beginning to surface in published reports.

Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements is the latest to express interest, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Those who follow NFL coach searches probably know Clements' name, as he has been in the mix for several head-coaching positions. He also was mentioned as a candidate at Notre Dame, where he played quarterback.

Clements hails from McKees Rocks, Pa. He has tutored Packers star quarterback Aaron Rodgers and certainly would bring credibility to a Penn State program that has struggled to develop NFL signal callers in recent years.

The Tribune-Review also reports that current Nittany Lions quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno interviewed for the head-coaching job last week, and that acting head coach Tom Bradley, the team's defensive coordinator since 2000, will interview with the search committee this week. No surprises there. While Penn State will be pressured to hire a candidate from the outside, the committee has said it won't exclude current assistants from the process.

Clements is the second Packers assistant coach to reportedly express interest in the Penn State job. The agent for Packers safeties coach Darren Perry, a former All-American at Penn State, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Perry would "take a hard look" at returning to his alma mater if approached.

The two names mentioned most throughout the process have been Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen and Harvard coach Tim Murphy. ESPN reported last week that Mullen is one of Penn State's top targets, while there is mutual interest between Penn State and Murphy.

Former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy denied having interest in the Penn State job (no surprise), and Tennessee Titans coach Mike Munchak, a Penn State product, also isn't likely to leave his post.

The (Allentown) Morning Call is reporting that Boise State's Chris Petersen and Murphy are on Penn State's radar. Petersen's name is mentioned for almost every major-conference opening, and while Penn State offers him some advantages Boise State doesn't, it would be a surprise to see him make the move. Other than a one-year stint as Pitt's quarterbacks coach in 1992, he has spent his entire career on the West Coast and hails from Yuba City, Calif.

Boise State coach Chris Petersen is not usually one to make waves with his public comments. For years, he has declined to comment much beyond generalities about the BCS, though he had ample opportunity to question a system that has left his team out on more than occasion.

Well, Petersen finally reached his breaking point. After the No. 7 Broncos (11-1) were left out of the BCS for the fourth time in eight seasons, he ripped the BCS to local reporters during his press conference Monday.

"Everybody is just very tired of the BCS," Petersen said. "I think that's the bottom line. Everybody is frustrated. Everybody doesn't really know what to do anymore. It doesn't make sense to anybody. I don't think anybody is happy anywhere."

He also said: "The whole thing needs to be changed, there's no question about it. "I think (change) is coming, I really do."

Instead of getting an at-large selection to a BCS game, Boise State is in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas for the second straight year. The opponent: a 6-6 Arizona State team that fired its head coach.

While the bowl games were big news over the weekend, UCLA and Arizona State continue to look for new head coaches.

Here's some skinny.

At UCLA, ESPN LA's Peter Yoon reported that interim head coach Mike Johnson would like to be considered for the job. Here's his update on other candidates:

UCLA has been turned down by Boise State coach Chris Petersen, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions, and eliminated Houston coach Kevin Sumlin as a candidate after meeting with him on Saturday, according to a source. Al Golden of Miami is considered the next top target, though Golden recently signed a four-year contract extension at Miami.

There's some chatter out there about former Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks coach Jim Mora, Jr. My take: That would be a good hire. While things went badly for Mora in Seattle, let's recall that he was the first choice to replace Tyrone Willingham at Washington. He's a charismatic guy with an NFL sensibility that would translate well at UCLA. Recall that the last time a team in LA hired a charismatic guy with an NFL sensibility who had folks scratching their heads turned out OK.

Here's Jon Gold's take in the LA Daily News.

Sources have said that UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero, who met with Sumlin in Houston on Saturday, is essentially rebooting the search and at this point, there are no clear-cut favorites. Miami head coach Al Golden, whom Guerrero interviewed for the job during the post-Karl Dorrell vacancy, is among the candidates, along with SMU head coach June Jones. Sources indicated on Saturday that there was minimal interest in former Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti.

UCLA has been the sort of job that more than a few folks thought might lure Bellotti back into coaching. But it doesn't seem, at least at this point, that he's high on the Bruins' list.

Meanwhile, at Arizona State, it appears that Sumlin might not be completely out of the picture, but that SMU coach June Jones' name is front-and-center at present. Still, there are plenty of other names in the rumor swirl. Writes Doug Haller:

Arizona State officials on Saturday met with SMU coach June Jones for more than three hours in Texas.

A report surfaced Sunday that ASU was in position to announce Jones' hire shortly after the university learned of its bowl destination. That wasn't true. According to a source, the Jones push slowed Sunday night. That doesn't mean it's over, but it could be an indication that ASU is having second thoughts.

Sources confirmed Sunday that Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora is still in the mix. Baylor coach Art Briles has emerged as a candidate.

I continue to hear ASU likes Oregon offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich.

Also, despite reports that ASU has backed off Sumlin, he still could be in play, especially if Texas A&M goes another direction in its quest to replace fired coach Mike Sherman.

In other words, neither coach search has moved -- at least according to reports -- decisively in one direction.

So stay tuned.

For the second straight season, a one-loss Boise State team got passed over as an at-large selection into the BCS.

And for the second straight season, the Broncos are headed to Las Vegas. No. 7 Boise State will play in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas against Arizona State on Dec. 22. Boise State is the highest ranked team to ever play in the Las Vegas Bowl.

“We are ecstatic to offer this matchup to help celebrate our historic 20th year,” executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy said. “Boise State fans have shown they love Las Vegas as not only did they help us mark our sixth consecutive sellout a year ago, but they also came down in droves for the Broncos’ game vs. UNLV earlier this season. It’s also exciting to be the site of the final collegiate game for the sport’s winningest quarterback, Kellen Moore."

Boise State (11-1) comes into the game in a similar situation to last year. The Broncos lost the past two seasons on missed field goals. It was Nevada that beat them last year. It was TCU this year. Though the Broncos finished as the highest-ranked non-AQ team, you must be a conference champion to get an automatic berth into the BCS.

This is the fourth time that Boise State has finished in the BCS Top 10 and not been invited to a BCS game.

Last year, Boise State defeated Utah 26-3 in front of the second-largest crowd in the bowl game's history at 41,923.

“We are excited about returning to the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas and to again face a tough opponent like Arizona State,” Boise State coach Chris Petersen said in a statement. “We had a great bowl experience last year and I know the hospitality for our team and fans will again be outstanding. This senior class is excited about playing in another bowl and they will work hard in getting the team ready for the game.”

Arizona State (6-6) will be making its first appearance in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas. It will mark the final game at the school for fifth-year head coach Dennis Erickson.

“The goal at the beginning of the year for any college football team is to play in a bowl game,” Erickson said in a statement. “I am so proud of our players and my coaching staff. We are grateful to the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas and the city of Las Vegas for giving us this opportunity. We are honored to be a part of it. We are playing one of the nation’s top teams in Boise State as well.”