NCAA Football cincinnati Bearcats

If there's a recession in college football, it has yet to reach the coaching ranks. Well, not the head-coaching ranks, anyway. In the past week, three head coaches, Bob Stoops, Pat Fitzgerald, and Brian Kelly, have signed contract extensions that will keep them at their present jobs for a while longer.

We start at Oklahoma, where Bob Stoops is now signed through the 2015 season. Despite several big-bowl bloopers, the people in and around the Oklahoma program are happy with their head coach, and who can blame them? In addition to the extension, Stoops also gets a $250,000 raise to $3.675 million a year, plus $700,000 each July if he remains at OU. If he doesn't stay, they are so defriending him.

College Football Spring Storylines 2009 looks at the key developments and big news from spring ball.

Spring. The time for rebirth and renewal. At least that is the theory. While there was only one change at head coach, there will be plenty of new in the Big East, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Half the teams have a different offensive coordinator. To say nothing of the departures of top offensive talent including quarterbacks Pat White and Mike Teel, running backs LeSean McCoy and Donald Brown, along with wide receivers Kenny Britt, Dominick Goodman and Tiquan Underwood. Defense will definitely lead the way in the conference this year.

Virginia has already burned through two defensive coordinators in the 2009 offseason. (What's your chump school been up to?) The first time was somewhat surprising, but understandable. The 65-year-old Bob Pruett had been at the helm for one very inconsistent season, but his age and concerns over allegations of academic fraud and player overpayment by local businesses while serving as the head coach at Marshall could've played a huge role in his decision to voluntarily step down.

FanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from Bowl Season '08.

What? You want more liveblogging? The Rose Bowl LiveBlog wasn't enough? Well, it wasn't enough for us either. A short break, and we are coming back with the Orange Bowl.

This is the game where FOX kicks off their BCS game coverage. Announcers that have not paid any attention to college football all season opining on what they are seeing. Lots of ridiculously long and numerous commercial breaks that will totally break up the flow of the game. Needless to say, expectations are low for the production.

As for the game itself, it is Virginia Tech and Cincinnati. The champs of the ACC and Big East. The Big East, has won their last three BCS Bowl games. The ACC has lost eight straight in the BCS.

Will there be any changes to the status quo? Join us around 8:30 PM ET for the fun.

FanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from Bowl Season '08.

The Cincy football team finds itself changing hotels the night before the Orange Bowl. Not because of some plan from the Cincy coaches to avoid Virginia Tech fans trying to disrupt the sleep of the players. Not for some motivational strategy. No, it is because Fontainebleau Hotel where the Bearcats are staying will also be the location of Sean "P. Diddy" Combs' New Years Eve party.

"It's just too much of a distraction," Kelly said. "We have secured another hotel. If things go the way I've seen them go in that hotel after 12 o'clock, we'll be in another hotel on New Year's Eve."

Go figure. A bunch of college athletes at a luxury hotel in Miami supposedly getting a good night's sleep in their rooms before the biggest game in their careers. All the while a huge, high-end, trendy New Years Eve Party rages below. What could go wrong?

The quote does raise other questions. When was Brian Kelly at a New Years Eve Party at the Fontainebleau Hotel that he's seen the way they go? And who was hosting that party?

Turkey Legs to Go is FanHouse's complete travel guide for all of the 2008-2009 college bowl games. Here, we cover the Orange Bowl (Miami, Florida), which pits Virginia Tech against Cincinnati.

Overview/Matchup: Welcome to the showdown of the century, folks. It's the ACC (Va Tech, BEAMERBALL!) versus the Big East (Cincy, Who?) in a matchup that will determine what major conference was most inept in 2008? The Hokies, as you can see from the capitol letter phrase above, win by playing hard-nosed defense and special teams, and creating turnovers. Cincy wins because Jerry Kelly is a freaking magician.

Hotels: Bowl-travelers descending on Miami will be glad to know that the best spots in town are just a mile or two from the stadium. Many of the finest hotels, restaurants and clubs are in the bay-front area. For luxury accommodation, we recommend the Mandarin Oriental Miami. The hotel's design combines Asian simplicity with Miami flare and the service is world-class. Renovated and rebranded in June of 2008, the Hilton Miami Downtown offers better service and newer guestrooms than most other midrange hotels in the downtown area. Be sure to check out La Brisa Bistro, the hotel's restaurant serving Cuban-accented meals with international flare. If budget is your primary concern, the Rodeway Inn Miami Airport is the spot for you. Accommodations are limited, but the property offers rooms for less than US$100 per night.

The Orange Bowl already has one team locked up -- again, the anti-climatic downside of the BCS Selection Show -- because Virginia Tech beat Boston College for the ACC championship and guaranteed themselves a spot in the Orange Bowl.

The thing that stinks for fans of this game is that the Orange Bowl gets the last pick of all the BCS games, meaning that they get the "leftovers." That's not to take a shot at Cincy, who did win the Big East ... which, um, is somehow worse than the ACC.

On the bright side, the two worst major conferences do get to play each other, so we'll know by the beginning of 2009 which conference really was the most mediocre this past season.

Cincinnati did lose two games -- albeit one to Oklahoma -- and theoretically took care of business.

However, the Bearcats will likely be in trouble come New Year's Day, when whatever analysts FOX assigns to this game will suffocate their ability to perform by reminding them that they have to go head-to-head with "BEAMER BALL!" for four quarters. And when people yell that at you for 60-plus minutes of football, even from the booth, it's a total nightmare.

The thing that stinks about the BCS Selection Show is that, while it's always fun to see mysterious computer rankings unveiled to the public on national television, it's not like March Madness' seeding process, because we more or less already know who's going to end up where. To wit: most of what FOX had to offer in the way of entertainment involved fast-paced graphics, a little screaming, and ultimately the exact matchups we all thought we would see.

BCS National Championship -- Oklahoma Sooners vs. Florida Gators

The Sooners and Gators were named as the pair of teams that will compete for the BCS championship and nearly unalienable right to almost absolutely proclaim themselves the best team in the nation. But, all skepticism aside, it's worth noting that this will be a pretty spectacular game to watch, provided you enjoy seeing lots of offense.

Allstate Sugar Bowl -- Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Utah Utes

Talk about disappointing -- Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide went undefeated all season long until they finally lost a game to the Florida Gators ... in the pre-postseason SEC championship game. And, as a result of all their hard work, the Tide get to play Utah, who, as a non-BCS conference team, is back in the BCS mix again. This time they're without Urban Meyer, and pardon me for being a jerkstore, but an upset Alabama team (with only one loss and somehow unable to play for the championship) is going to throttle-job them.

This week for the Irish fanbase has been one where they and the national media have been intently speculating on the future of Charlie Weis as head coach of Notre Dame. Most of the speculation has not been whether Notre Dame would fire him or not. It has been whether they could afford to.

No one seems to know for sure. His contract has seven more years and no one actually seems to be sure what the buyout could be. It could be $4 million. It could be $15 million.

Of course, never let the fact that no one even knows if Notre Dame can and will be able to get rid of Charlie Weis stop good speculation over who should/will be the next coach. Now that Tennessee has grabbed Lane Kiffen, that leaves Brian Kelly as the "hot" candidate upon which the Irish eyes could be shining.

GoVolsXtra has an unnamed source inside the Tennessee football program which has indicated that Cincinnati's Brian Kelly is now the leading candidate to replace outgoing coach Phil Fulmer. Also in the mix: South Florida's Jim Leavitt.

Notably absent? Mike Leach, whose Texas Tech Red Raiders can be found sitting happily in the BCS Top 2. According to Knoxville News Sentinel's Mike Griffith:

Mike Leach still has his name thrown around, but I don't see it. No one is going to come into the SEC and win with Xs and Os - it takes talent, not gadgets.

And, I just don't see Leach (47) being able to handle the level of scrutiny that comes with the UT head football coach job. It's a regal position - hardly a post for someone with erratic and eccentric personality traits.

Erratic? Eccentric? Mike Leach? Really?

Er... yeah. And frankly, it's not a stretch to say that Leach might be a bit of a square peg in a round hole when it comes to Tennessee football. He's an offensive wizard, clearly, but he hasn't recruited at a high level nor is it easy to fathom pirate talk out of UT's press rooms.

Meanwhile, Brian Kelly is a blue-collar candidate that has done well in his coaching career, without necessarily bowling anyone over in the process. Kelly went 19-16 as Central Michigan's head coach from 2004-2006 before accepting the HBC job with the Bearcats. In his first full season there, Cincinnati enjoyed a Top 25 ranking and went 10-3, including a win in the Papajohns.com bowl. But according to our own Chas Rich, Cincinnati doesn't really care about Bearcat football, so maybe Kelly is up for a change.

It's kind of hard not to see a "Phil Fulmer Lite" in Brian Kelly. And we're not sure that's what Vol fans want or need at this point.