UCLA–USC: The Chow vs. Sarkisian Era

This summer, Dennis Dodd at CBSSportsline.com is running a poll for the College Football All-Coach Team.  Voters get a chance to weigh in with their choices.

For the offensive coordinator’s slot, Dodd picked the legendary Norm Chow.  Here is the story.

But I’m not so sure which Norm Chow he picked.  Is it this one?

"Chow has won national assistant coach awards in his three-decade career.  In that time, he has been a part of three national championships and coached four of the top nine all-time pass efficiency leaders," wrote Dodd.

Or is it this Norm Chow?

"I appreciate all of the hard work and contributions he made to the organization during his time here, but I have decided to go in a different direction and will start the process of finding a new offensive coordinator" - Titans head coach Jeff Fisher on the firing of Norm Chow, as reported by the Associated Press last January.

Titans fans had been quite critical of Chow, saying that his offense had become too predictable.  Fisher, a former USC defensive back who had lured Chow away from the Trojans after their January 2005 National Championship, must have agreed with them.

In the AP report, Fisher went on to say, "Our biggest issue or concern headed into this offseason is scoring touchdowns.  Score more points."

Scoring touchdowns?  Score more points?  Isn’t that what the better offensive coordinators design an offense to do?

In 2007, Titans quarterback Vince Young threw 17 interceptions while throwing only nine touchdowns.  That’s not the kind of passing efficiency most offensive coordinators would like to have on their resumes.

Of course, the first thing many will point out is the difference between the NFL and the NCAA.  But if critics are going to point to Pete Carroll’s record in the NFL as the reason they claim he isn’t a great head coach, then you must do the same for Norm Chow.

Furthermore, these same critics claim that Norm Chow was more responsible for the Trojans winning back-to-back national championships than Pete Carroll.  They insist that Chow’s overshadowing of Carroll led to a rift between the two.

They point out the failure of Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian to beat Texas in the 2006 Championship game and their loss to UCLA that prevented USC from facing Florida in the 2007 BCS title matchup.

Norm Chow is not one to cut a rap DVD.  But if he should, he might want to paraphrase Shaquille O’Neal: "You can’t win a BCS title without me."

Yes, there is a huge difference between football in the NFL and at the collegiate level.  But that doesn’t mean that Division I offensive powerhouses like LSU, Florida, and Oregon have been frozen in time while Chow has been struggling against pro defenses.

All three schools mentioned above are running the spread offense, which has become prevalent in college football over the last three years.  In fact, Oregon would have won the Pac-10 and played in the BCS title game against Ohio State if Dennis Dixon, their multi-talented quarterback, hadn’t gone down with a season-ending leg injury against Arizona.

Dodd even lists the offensive coordinators of those three schools—Gary Crowton, LSU; Dan Mullen, Florida; and Chip Kelly, Oregon—as honorable mentions in his article.

What have they done while Norm Chow has been away from the college ranks?

Crowton, a former head coach at BYU where Norm Chow spent 18 years, designed an offense that rolled over Ohio State and won a national title.

Dan Mullen helped Florida to a national title, also rolling over Ohio State the year before, and this year he developed the only sophomore to ever win the Heisman Trophy, Tim Tebow.

As mentioned, Chip Kelly had Oregon in the number one spot and Dennis Dixon leading the Heisman race until the quarterback’s season came to a tragic end.

And there were others on Dodd’s list who are noteworthy: Steve Logan, Boston College; Jimbo Fisher, formerly at LSU and now at Florida State; and Gus Malzahn, Tulsa.

Those are some mighty formidable names to pass over for a former legend who hasn’t been around for three years.

Malzahn, for example, in his first year at Tulsa, had an offense that produced a 5,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher, and three 1,000-yard receivers.

What is interesting to note is that out of dozens of successful offensive coordinators, Dodd rounded out his list with Steve Sarkisian, USC.  I can hear the moans now coming from certain quarters of WeAreSC.com.

Nevertheless, that brings us to the soon-to-be rivalry between Teacher (Chow) and Student (Sarkisian).

Sarkisian was a quarterback at BYU under Chow.  Later, at USC, Sarkisian was the quarterback coach, working under Chow, the offensive coordinator.

Many USC fans have accused Sarkisian of being too predictable—the same criticism that Titans fans had heaped on Chow.

Fans still blame Sarkisian for not having Reggie Bush on the field for a 4th-and-2 late in the BCS Title game against Texas, even though the USC offense scored 38 points and would have scored more except for some serious blunders.

Of course, Sarkisian will never live down the 13-9 debacle against UCLA at the Rose Bowl two years ago that cost the Trojans a title shot.  And then there was last year’s loss to 40-point underdog Stanford, when quarterback John David Booty played with a broken hand and threw four second-half interceptions.

But it must be remembered that during those first two years, Sarkisian shared offensive coordinator duties with Lane Kiffin, the Oakland Raiders head coach (for now anyway).

And the last two seasons, Sarkisian didn’t have the long ball really working for him.  Booty did not have a strong arm or an accurate one, even when his hand wasn’t broken, and his young receivers were anything but sure-handed.

It is not the sign of a potent deep threat when your leading receiver is the tight end (Fred Davis), and most of his yards were made after the catch.  It puts more pressure on the offense when defenses don’t have to be that concerned with the long bomb.

This year Sarkisian has the long ball at his disposal with quarterbacks Mark Sanchez and Mitch Mustain.  The Trojans' young receivers now have a year of experience under their belts.  Plus, the offense adds a top receiver in Arkansas transfer Damian Williams.

Perhaps Sarkisian's greatest weapons will be at running back, where he has arguably the finest corps of speedsters and power backs ever assembled on a college playing field.

As great as that might sound, it only puts more pressure on Sarkisian to succeed.  Many Trojan fans will be unforgiving if Sarkisian’s offense doesn’t land a BCS title.

Norm Chow, on the other hand, is in a much more favorable position at UCLA.  Except for Dennis Dodd and a few Bruin diehards, no one else expects much from the Bruins.

In fact, Chow’s situation at UCLA can be compared to his first year at USC, when the Trojans only won six games, losing to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl, 10-6.

The Bruins lost their starting quarterback, Pat Cowan, for the year.  Backup Ben Olson, who has had his ups and downs (mostly downs) over his career, missed spring practice with a broken foot.  Their starting backfield and top receivers, Brandon Brazell and Marcus Everett, have all graduated.

The cupboard is pretty bare at Westwood.

Last but not least, Chow will be working with a new head coach, Rick Neuheisel.  It looks like a repeat of 2001 is the best Chow can hope for.  Actually, considering the strength of the Pac-10 and the Bruin’s OOC schedule, a six-win season and any kind of bowl bid would have to be considered a banner year.

Of course, if one of their wins came against USC and Sarkisian, Neuheisel and Chow would have their statues erected in front of the Rose Bowl while Trojan fans would mob Heritage Hall demanding Sarkisian’s head.

There is no doubt that Norm Chow was an icon while at USC.  The fans loved him.  Whether he can regain his legendary status while at UCLA remains to be seen.  So let the new rivalry of student versus teacher begin.

However, for now, my personal choice to head the ranks of college football’s elite offensive coordinators is Florida’s Dan Mullen.  What he has done as a quarterback coach developing both Alex Smith and Tim Tebow, and what his offenses have done the past two years at Florida, is the stuff that legends are made of.