The Top Eight Coaches Every Team Should Want For The Big Game

After a little bit of time and a lot of perspective, perhaps we'll be able to definitively say how former USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian has been able to take a Washington Huskies team that didn't win a game in 2008 and turn them into a PAC-10 contender.

If this were a newspaper article, we could just say he's "made winning fun again" or "thinks positive". But this is not a newspaper, so let's just say he has Washington scoring a lot of points.

The Huskies lead the PAC-10 in passing yards and touchdowns through the air and have the second most first downs - compare that to last year, when they were second to last in scoring and third to last in passing yards, and went most of the USC game without crossing the sticks.

They also lead in things like time of possession and have cut down on the number of sacks, which definitely help.

This is all a long way of saying I think Sarkisian has made a mature and competent quarterback out of Jake Locker.

Sark allows Locker to use his dual-threat ability on draws and downfield scrambles against man coverage without a linebacker spy. If he's taught Locker to recognize this better, he deserves all possible commendation for the turnaround.

Besides recognizing and maximizing available talent, the major reason you want Sark is because he's demonstrated the ability to score the upset. The win over USC singlehandedly put the Huskies back on the PAC-10 map, and taking Notre Dame into overtime at South Bend was also no small feat.

Now, about that defense...

I don't love Frank Beamer's style of play, but you have to admit it's been successful.

Beamer preaches strong running and stout defense, and plays towards conservatism. Where he sees the VT house winning, the team's equivalent of 00 on the roulette wheel, is showing vicious opportunism on special teams.

Breaking a big play on a kickoff, punt return, or punt block is what distinguishes Beamerball from all other styles of play.

The momentum swing that results will likely tip the game in your team's favor, and the big Mo is typically enough for a team to ride to victory, or at the very least, to a successful quarter or half that sets up a victory.

Look at the results: Beamer's Hokies were able to hang with the #5-ranked Tide in the first game of the year on the strength of Dyrell Roberts 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, despite getting outgained by a 4:1 average in total yards.

Eddie Royal, a former Hokie and Beamerball disciple, takes a kickoff and a punt to the house against the Chargers on Monday Night Football to give the Broncos the decisive margin of victory.

Beamer's style of play sets the pace for ballgames, a crucial factor in determining the outcome. In other words, teams play Beamerball, VT doesn't play other teams.

And when your team blocks two punts and takes them both to the endzone, you'll have to admit he was right.

I almost think Paul Johnson's triple option system would be too difficult to teach for one game.

But then I consider that in his first year with the team, Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson was not only able to teach the system, but have it work effectively enough for the Yellow Jackets to compete for an ACC title and beat Georgia in the annual rivalry game.

Johnson also received ACC coach of the year recognition, almost unprecedented for a first-year guy.

The triple option is another system that sets the tone for a game instead of reacting. Defenses have to go through tremendous adjustments to play successfully against the cut blocks and wide gaps featured in the triple option, and for that reason, it might make for a very effective single-game adjustment.

The triple option is all about outrushing the opponent, controlling the clock, finding creases, and just when the defense gets lazy...POW!, there's a crackback block put up on your linebacker that frees up the quarterback to run fifty yards.

You'd need the right quarterback or a converted running back, somebody with brains, and wide receivers that don't mind blocking.

But if you have even an inkling of those things, Johnson's system and his mistakes-free emphasis will leave the other defense clutching for your QB's feet.

Houston Nutt will crazy the other team into making mistakes. He'll send out three scatbacks and no quarterback and run a triple reverse. He'll take the smallest, fastest guy on the field and play him at center.

The prevalence of the Wildcat in reaches as high as the NFL is all Nutt's doing. It's how he made do with two great running backs (Felix Jones and Darren McFadden) and no quarterback and won an SEC West berth in the title game with Arkansas.

He's lead some of the wildest upsets in the SEC over the past few years, taking down #2 LSU in three overtimes at Baton Rouge in 2007, #1 Florida at the Swamp, and #7 Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl in 2008.

But take him with caution. If your team is the one expected to win, Nutt's magic quickly evaporates.

That said, he'll sign on forty or fifty extra players he's got lined up for your big game.

In my mind, Kyle Whittingham designed one of the most brilliant defensive schemes in preparing for last year's Sugar Bowl against the Tide, and singlehandedly won the game for Utah.

Aware that starting left tackle Andre Smith had been declared ineligible for the bowl game, Whittingham, whose background is as a defensive coordinator, adjusted the defensive scheme to attack the left side of the line exclusively. Whittingham also threw in the wrinkle of a just-before-the-snap D-line adjustment that triggered false starts and threw off Alabama's blocking assignments time and again.

Smith had started at the left tackle spot in every game for two straight years. His replacement was guaranteed to be a little green.

Four sacks, a forced fumble, three false starts, an interception, and a bevy of hurried throws later, Utah takes their 21-0 first quarter lead and turns it into a 31-17 win. Alabama's comeback tries were repeatedly foiled as Utah kept the pressure up on the left side of the line.

A simple but effective adjustment that lead to a win over a probably-superior opponent, from a pure talent perspective. For that, Whittingham deserves mention as a coach who can come in and help you win the big game.

Hat tip to Doctor Saturday, natch.

Petersen, who took over for Dan Hawkins when Hawkins departed to Colorado, has engineered the continued success of the Boise State program and has played them into the BCS and national title discussion for the third straight year.

An unbeaten season in 2006 culminated in one of the most famous upset wins over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, where Petersen, who acts as offensive coordinator, engineered the hook-and-lateral play that got Boise into overtime, and a two-point conversion Statue of Liberty play that won the game for good.

2007 was a down year, but in 2008 Boise was back in the picture with an upset win over the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium in week three.

In 2009, Petersen has the Broncos sitting at #4 in the BCS Standings with an opening win over Oregon again.

You can bet Petersen would be able to dream up

If he wasn't already the coach-in-waiting at Texas, Will Muschamp would be the most sought-after assistant in college football.

That Auburn let him get away is unfortunate, but so be it .This guy consistently fields top-tier defenses that play aggressive, but not reckless, football and put tremendous pressure on offenses.

While at Auburn, Muschamp's 2006 defense finished 7th in scoring defense, allowing only 21 touchdowns. In 2007, his defense led the SEC in scoring defense and finished in the top 10 in four defensive categories - pass efficiency, passing D, scoring defense, and overall defense.

Texas currently boasts the top-ranked rush defense, and had the second best rush defense last year. They average four sacks per game, and they do stuff like this to teams that think passing is a good idea.

And the best part about his defenses is that they don't flag in big games - Texas is 2-0 in bowls and 2-0 against Oklahoma, including the suffocating effort Muschamp put on against a Bradford-less Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout this year.

You think he called for getting contact on Bradford since his shoulder was suspect? I do.

He'd whip your cockamamie squad into shape in no time flat. And as you'll see below, he'd feature some of that lovable Muschamp intensity on your sideline every week (NSFW).

Hey, here's a wild pick. Jerry Moore took the Mountaineers into the Big House, and in front of 109,218 people (including yours truly), shocked the fifth-ranked Wolverines by winning 34-32 after blocking a last second field goal.

And I'll tell you how they did it - they risked everything. They understood that you can mitigate having less highly-recruited and physically gifted players by taking enormous risks with your game plan, being totally aggressive, and counting on the other team to be too shocked to adjust.

If a couple breaks to go in your favor, the game is yours.

The read-option play gashed Michigan's defense all day, and defensive coordinator Ron English didn't adjust in time. Armanti Edwards' passing was terrific; or maybe Michigan's safety play was just abysmal.

Either way, at the half, Michigan was down 28-17, and never got aggressive enough in response to overtake the Mountaineers. We still ran the stretch play, still kept the passes middling, and threw a bad pick on a Henne rollout.

Moore is also a very successful coach in the football championship subdivision, winning back-to-back 1-AA national titles with the Mountaineers.

He's got balls, and he had them when it counted. It paid off in the biggest and most destructive upset in college football history.

Saban's teams always take a few years to gel entirely, so I wouldn't say he qualifies as a single-game coaching phenom.

He rarely suffers the upset, and does inflict a few of his own, but he's a lot more methodical in his approach than many of these coaches.

But hey, if you've got a couple years to prepare for one game, your team is sure to be in it in the fourth quarter.

Dan Mullen: Mullen was about a foot short of scoring a major upset for the Mississippi State Bulldogs in his first year as coach.

He was also a few breaks away from beating the Houston Cougars a week after UTEP made that the cool thing to do.

The former Gator offensive coordinator still might have a few tricks up his sleeve against Florida in this weekend's game. We'll hold off on crowning him until then.

Hey-o! If you liked this slideshow, why don't you check out my list of the ten most spectacular plays in SEC football this year?

And while we're on the subject, try Greg Riot's article on the college coaches we could/should see in the NFL posthaste.