Bleacher Report - Articles by Allen Parrish

Should It Be Bye-Bye Week For Brad Childress?

Allen Parrish — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:28:18 -0400

It is the midway point in the NFL and the landscape has already changed.

Coaches have been let go, players traded, general managers quit.

By far, the Minnesota Vikings are one of the biggest disappointments this year when you look at their pre-season promise. The addition of Jared Allen, another summer with the team for Adrian Peterson. Tavaris Jackson with another year at the helm under his belt.

But during the pre-season games, we were given a glimpse of trouble. Jackson was still playing like a scared teenager. The play calling became more and more predictable—yes these are the same old Vikings.

Brad Childress has coddled Jackson since he was drafted. He finally benched him after what many believe were threats against his job. The Vikings had an entire summer to acquire plenty of quarterbacks, but he showed his stubbornness when he refused to pull the trigger on any of them.

On the other hand, you have to understand his reasoning. He put his reputation and knowledge on the line by drafting Jackson. He was convinced Jackson was the future of the organization—the franchise quarterback. It is painfully obvious that Jackson is not a major league quarterback.

This team has a huge amount of potential. The 12th ranked offense in the league, the most dangerous and thrilling running back in the league, a defense that matches up very well with any offense they play.

So what is the problem? The problem sticks out like a sore thumb.

CHILDRESS...the fans no longer support him, you can watch the team and see they no longer trust him. The front office is losing belief in him.

I firmly believe he is a very capable coordinator, but he is out of his league as a head coach. This is not a horrible thing, there is a reason that everybody is not a head coach.

The bye week is the perfect time to make a change, although I do not see this change happening during the season. Let us just hope the change is made during the offseason because the team needs it. The city yearns for a change. The fans demand, and deserve a change.

The proud fans of the Vikings love their team, support their team, and deserve a coach that can provide them a team to be proud of.

Way Too Early Bowl Predictions: Who Will Make the BCS Games?

Allen Parrish — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:58:59 -0400

Yes, yes, I know it's only the third week of the season. Who cares, right? Let's see who will be playing in the BCS bowl games.

First, let me give you my conference winners...

ACC: Wake Forest

SEC: Florida

Big East: South Florida

Big 12: Oklahoma

Big Ten: Penn State

Pac-10: USC

Now on to the bowl games.

Rose Bowl

A lot of people have Oregon going here, but I just don't see that happening. It will not be a traditional Pac-10 vs. Big Ten matchup. USC will win the Pac-10 but won't play in the Rose. The Rose gets to select first, so ready for this?

Wisconsin vs. South Florida

I know I know it sounds crazy, but the Big East is not tied to any BCS bowl. It would be an intriguing game as well.

Fiesta Bowl

This is going to be tricky. Because of who I have going to the BCS Championship game, I am limited on who can play here. That being said, here goes.

Missouri vs. Penn State

Before you call me crazy, I have Penn State losing one game, and that is to Wisconsin at home. I think that will be enough to move Penn State into the Fiesta.

Orange Bowl

As I said before, I don't see many, if any, BCS busters this year. The ACC winner goes here automatically, and the opponent can't come from the Big 12 or Big Ten. Nobody left in the Big East is worthy. That leaves you with...

Wake Forest vs. LSU

Sugar Bowl

Again, very slim pickings. I just don't see a lot of quality teams out there this year. With the BCS only allowing a maximum of two teams per conference getting in, where do we go from here? Watch this.

Florida vs. Tulsa

BCS Championship Game

Yes, there are two teams not yet mentioned. You all know who they are. Not much needs to be said here that hasn't already.

Oklahoma vs. USC

Now please keep in mind, in three weeks I have the right to come back and change all of this when half the teams I picked start losing every week. :)

In the end, who really knows what is going to happen after three weeks.

Ramblings About an Early Season

Allen Parrish — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:16:29 -0400

What do we know about college football right now?

Well let's see.

We are 3 weeks into the college football season. Which to many people means we have seen enough to know everything about this season.

PAC-10:

Goodness where to start? USC is tops of course. What else can I say about them that hasn't been said by countless others. However, I will say this, USC is drinking way too much of their own kool-aid. I will say this, every year every team comes across a game or two that for some reason doesn't go their way. They don't get the bounce, break, calls, weather whatever it may be and they have to rise above it. Regardless of how good they are this will happen. Last year it was Stanford, year before it was UCLA. It will happen again this year, lets see if USC responds better.

The remaining members of the PAC -10 are, well, I'll be nice here. Oregon isnt bad, how about that? With regards to the rest of the conference, I am not sure if they know they are playing football yet.

Big-10:

Penn State and Wisconsin are holding this conference together right now. Ohio State is not a very good football team and Michigan is awful. I say none of the Big-10 teams make the NC game.

ACC:

Wake seems to be the best they have to offer this year. Miami played well on defense against Florida but where is their offense? Clemson's hopes were dashed by Bama and Florida State just isn't back yet.

Big East:

Another poor conference. Cincy was the cream of the crop and they got manhandled by OU. West Virginia got embarrassed by ECU and Pitt, as we all know, is Pitt. Who knows who comes out in the end on this one, and frankly who cares?

SEC:

The supposed pride of college football. We all watched the Florida vs Miami game, did Florida really look unbeatable? LSU has pretty much rolled, but against who? I think the Troy game will be their down fall. Just remember you heard it here first. The SEC will be a dogfight with the remaining teams, but in the end it won't matter because nobody from the SEC is making it to the NC game.

BIG-12:

All discussions begin and end with OU and Mizzou. OSU is a team on the rise for the 25th year in a row. Texas is playing very well, but I fear reality will sneak up on them soon. Texas Tech looks great offensively as usual, but they play OU in Norman this year. In the north, it will be Kansas and Mizzou with Mizzou beating them again.

The best of the rest:

ECU, UTAH, and BYU.

ECU is the most impressive to me out of these three teams. That being said none will go undefeated.

Notre Dame:

All I have to say about them is I almost wet myself watching Weiss getting rolled up on. Before you start your hate speech to me NO I was not laughing at him getting hurt. But come on, fat man falling down is always funny.