Pre-Orange Bowl Reads

A columnist from the Augusta Chronicle takes a shot at Spurrier and Holtz, saying South Carolina needs to follow Paul Johnson's lead. Couldn't have summed it up better:

Which is why teams need to start poaching Johnson's staff. After a Texas Bowl trouncing, Missouri can attest to how well Navy is doing with Johnson's system under Johnson protege Ken Niumatalolo. Georgia Southern is so eager to reestablish its good ol' days that it became the first to pilfer a piece of Johnson's Georgia Tech staff when it hired Jeff Monken last month.

Other programs should soon follow suit. The Gamecocks should start scouting out their own Johnson guys right now. Now that Steve Spurrier is following the Paul Dietzel/Lou Holtz pattern of mediocrity, the big-name hiring playbook needs to be retired.

They'll never get to compete with the same deck of players with Florida, Georgia and Tennessee.

Meanwhile, another columnist says confidence will keep GT winning:

But Braine and Gailey are gone. Braine retired, which led to Tech hiring Dan Radakovich, who fired Gailey and hired Paul Johnson, who simply rejects mediocrity and excuses. In just two years under Johnson, the Yellow Jackets already have exceeded Braine’s modest expectations. They followed a nine-win season in 2008 with an 11-2 record this season and a berth in the Orange Bowl as the ACC champs.

From the Iowa perspective, this is a good article with longtime Defensive Coordinator Norm Parker in a video segment.

And even more from the Iowa side.