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02/02/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Some of the NFL's greatest coaches were unmistakable in presence.
Hear a gruff voice while watching a 1960's era NFL Films marathon: It's Green Bays Vince Lombardi. See the outline of a hat atop an angular and expressionless face: It's Dallas' Tom Landry. Notice a jutting chin at the end of a powerful jaw line: It's Pittsburghs Bill Cowher.
And come Feb. 5 in Indianapolis, another signature look joins the honor roll. But no, it's not the somber-looking chap in the navy blue hooded sweatshirt. Instead, welcome New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin to the fraternity for his own go-to facial expression: Middle-aged man with Type A personality with a look resembling someone smelling raw sewage.
Of course, if things go well for Big Blue over 60 on-field minutes at Lucas Oil Stadium, Coughlin resume will have a new line that reads a lot sweeter than his face might project:
Two-time Super Bowl champion.
Perhaps a fitting reward for a sturdy 16-year veteran of the league's short- term sidelines, complete with 142 regular-season wins, nine playoff appearances in two cities and as improbable as a championship run as there's been -- the one that ended with the 10-6 Giants defeating the 16-0 New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII four years ago.
And surely a far cry from the epitaphs flung in Coughlin direction as recently as two months ago, when a 6-2 start crumbled into a 6-6 crevasse and prompted some to boldly forecast an imminent demise.
"Tom Coughlin has no choice but to reconnect with his team this week, and find something, anything, to restore its credibility," ESPNNewYork columnist Ian OConnor wrote in late November. "If he fails, Coughlin is not going to lose only his cool or his mind. He is going to lose his job."
The piece ran under the hindsight-unfortunate headline of "Coughlin can't weather another collapse."
"For winning that epic Super Bowl, and for standing among the best coaches in franchise history, Coughlin will always have the memories," O'Connor continued.
"Those will be his parting gifts."
But if anyone expected the 65-year-old native of upstate New York to channel North Jersey stadium co-habitant Rex Ryan and mock the media for getting it so far wrong on him yet again -- they don't know Coughlin.
Because it's simply not his style.
"Staying the course, never saying never," he instead said when asked for the mental mantra that propelled him through the latest bout of tough times. Trying to encourage at every point throughout the season, whether it was good or bad, not denying the facts, but nevertheless seeing that we had a talented team and believing in that team.
"Thinking that if we could only get all of these pieces together, maybe we would have a chance to make ourselves recognized. I felt like we were always in contention to win the division, even when things weren't going as well as we'd have liked them."
As it turned out, while Ryan's self-promoting talk petered out as the crosstown-rival Jets crumbled from 7-5 to 8-8, Coughlin steered the Giants to three wins in their last four regular-season tests while capturing a chaotic NFC East and parlaying it into a New England rematch in Super Bowl XLVI following January defeats of seeds No. 5 (Atlanta), No. 1 (Green Bay) and No. 2 (San Francisco), respectively, in the conference.
The Giants' present run is at least vaguely reminiscent of 2007, when while the Patriots were laying waste to foes in record-setting fashion, Coughlin's team trudged along under the spotlight in losing their first two games, then winning six straight and splitting the final eight en route to a 10-6 finish and an NFC Wild Card berth.
That time around, they strung together road playoff defeats of fourth-seeded Tampa Bay, top-seeded Dallas and No. 2 Green Bay -- an NFC Championship Game noteworthy as Brett Favre's final one as a Packer -- before beating the Patriots at Arizona's University of Phoenix Stadium on Eli Manning's fade- route touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 second left.
It was a nice celebration to a surely epic comeback. But when the Giants failed to replicate their postseason success a year later, then missed the tournament altogether in successive seasons in 2009 and 2010, the keyboard- wielding jackals returned.
While composing a 2011 preview for the Giants, ESPN columnist Dan Graziano fired this verbal warning shot:
"Coughlin survived the collapse of 2009, and the fact that the team won 10 games [in 2010] certainly helped him survive last season's lack of a playoff appearance. But if these Giants bottom out (as their lack of depth could lead them to do), one must wonder if the team will go in another direction at coach, or even if Coughlin might decide to go in a different direction himself.
A bad year in New York could bring about change at a number of spots for the Giants."
Again, well...let's just say reports of the demise were a bit premature.
And the whole debate is enough to make Giants defensive end Justin Tuck laugh.
"This might be the defining career season for him," Tuck said of Coughlin. "I don't see why he wouldn't be the top candidate for Coach of the Year considering the pressure that's on him in New York. It is definitely the type of city that's about 'what have you done for me lately'? And it just seems every year Coach Coughlin's job is up for grabs.
"I know it's a lot of pressure on him and he's always not really wavering either way. You really couldn't tell if he's a coach that has won four Super Bowls in a row or a coach that is on the hot seat all season. He stays even- keeled and kind of stuck to his guns, and believed what this team was going to be about. And I think that has trickled downstairs and trickled throughout this entire franchise."
For his part, Coughlin insists the constant tumult has brought his team closer. In fact, he claimed this week that the unit that captured the NFC title with a 20-17 overtime win against the 49ers at Candlestick Park on Jan. 22 was as galvanized as any he's been a part of. That victory, incidentally, came exactly 77 days after New York beat New England by a 24-20 verdict at Gillette Stadium in Week 9 of the 2011 regular season.
"I understand young people and all that goes with that, but these guys have been able to really create a very strong business-like approach to what they're doing," Coughlin said. "Whether you use the word fellowship or whatever word you want to use, there's a strong, strong feeling among this group. It's been a great source of pride for all of us as coaches."
The Giants' aforementioned Super Bowl win over the Patriots, by the way, came exactly four years ago on the Friday prior to this year's championship game.
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NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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