Category Archives: Big 10

Magnifying the Expansion Part 7: Show Us Your Cards

Okay, we’ve reached the final showdown for our week-long series on the Big 10 Expansion.  Please take a moment to read up on all of the posts that led us to this point.  All of the information we dumped the last 7 days will show what we think will end up happening, as well as what we wish to happen.  It’s been a bumpy ride, but it’s only going to get bumpier.  We know change is coming, and now we will call out our cards and show you what our predictive hand plays, all in for the pot.

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Magnifying the Expansion Part 6: Fanning the Flames

Okay, we talked about the Big 10 expansion with all of the good bits on the business side of things, but what about us?  What about the fans?  How will the average stool jockey be affected if and when the Big 10 decides to expand out beyond its current bounds?  From the Trojan sporting LA type to the gator chomping tanned Floridian, the effect could be small.  Or it could be big.  The closer the proximity to the Big 10, the more the fans will experience change, especially right here in Kansas City.  Let’s see what can happen as we narrow the focus down to right here at the KCCGD headquarters.

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Magnifying the Expansion Part 5: And the Winner Is…

So who all will fit in the glass slipper that the Big 10 is dangling out in front of the college football landscape?  In our series, we talked about how the traditional Big 10 aims to scratch their expansion itch and what could happen to every conference around them when they do.  Today we look at the candidates either actively or inactively campaigning to be ones who get the golden ticket of an invite.  There are oddball choices as well as solid, sensible choices in this competition.  Not all will be covered, but we’ll see the ones that matter.  Then after that, the swimsuit competition!  On with the show!

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Magnifying the Expansion Part 4: Now I’m Yelling Dominoes

We laid the foundation with our last 3 post for the Big 10 expansion.  Now let’s talk about how other conferences are reacting.  Some of them could be massively depleted whereas others are moving to counteract the possible Big 10 growth.  Every major BCS conference has about two cents to toss in and little brother mid major conferences are chirping in as well.  It’s time for the conferences to lay down their tiles and see just how much they could change.

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Magnifying the Expansion Part 3: Methods to Their Madness

So here ware trucking through our Big 10 Expansion, running over our introduction and Big 10 history along the way.  Today our focus beams toward why the Big 10 wants to expand.  Like we said yesterday, money is a big part but not the whole pie.  Other slices include the silver bullet of television, the need to grow, scratching the itch that’s been bothering them the past 20 years, channeling baseball’s New York Yankee style of athletic competition, and the dust collecting on their trophy shelves.  Think of money as the crust that keeps the filling in the pie.  It’s alot to handle so we’ll try not to drive you crazy with the reasons.

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Magnifying the Expansion Part 2: History Lesson Time, Kids

Yesterday we laid the groundwork for the expansion drama that’s girdling up the loins of college football at the moment.  Today we are taking a look at how the history of the Big 10 led us to this point.  There’s over 100 years of data to go over, but we are blowing through the earliest parts and focus on the last 20 years.  Expansion is in the blood of the Big 10 and they’ve acted on it.  They tried many times and failed but were able to pull one team in the fold.  So let’s ring up the good Doctor and fly away in the TARDIS back to the start of the Big 10.

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Magnifying the Expansion Part 1: KCCGD’s Series On The Big 10 Expansion Plan

It was bound to happen.  The discussion blew up late last December and now we have legitimate motions telling us that the Big 10, and college football, is about to run into some big changes. Ever vigilant, we here at the KCCGD Headquarters decided to toss our hat into the speculation ring and offer up our analysis as to just what the hell is going on.  It’s plenty to chew on so we will be breaking up into bite size chunks of creamy goodness.  At just the right time too, the Big 10’s athletic directors and coaches are meeting this week and the Big 12’s crew will do the same next week.  Why does the Big 12 matter? The conference is among some of the institutions affected by this move.  Strap it on, because we are about to ride the hottest off-season college football activity we haven’t seen in a long time.

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Mascot Monday: Goldy Gopher

We’re heading up north and the Big Ten for this week’s Mascot Monday.  Goldy Gopher is the main mascot at the University of Minnesota campus.  Once a proud member of the marching band, Goldy now appears at all sporting events.  This week we’ll find out how that happened, as well as why you shouldn’t go too far in mimicking.  We’ll also take a look at what Goldy’s doing to help clean up that mistake.  So hanker on down with your favorite gnawin’ log and join us as we take a look at Minnesota’s own golden child, Goldy.

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Crib Sheet: Going Prime Time

prime time

Hey guess what?  The Crib Sheet is BACK for the regular season.  We enjoyed digging up some tasty news nuggest during the offseason so much that we are going to roll it into the regular season rotation.  That’s great news alone.  So for those of you not familiar with the format, let us explain what the Crib Sheet is all about:  We scour the interwebs for stories not hears too well and stories that are local to the Kansas City area, adding our unique twist on it.  So rejoice in its return and enjoy this week’s Crib Sheet:

  • Indiana is cashing in big time by giving up a home game in 2010 and playing Penn State at FedEx Field, home of the NFL Washington Redskins.  It looks like this trend is here to stay with college teams playing in pro football (and baseball) stadiums.  I guess it will work out for schools that get major payouts, $3 million for Indiana, but it still sucks that hometown fans have to travel or miss out on games.
  • Tennessee running back Bryce Brown is cleared of any NCAA violations for questions in his recruiting process.  Now he can focus on becoming yet another highly touted athlete with a dark, questionable past.  Sometimes the news just writes itself.
  • John Malkovic: Actor chimes in on the upcoming college football season.  He doesn’t say anything too outrageous and we’re glad to see that hoity toity actors can enjoy the grid iron as well.  We’re not so sure, however, how coaches turned actors will fare.  Yikes!
  • So, everything is big in the new Cowboys stadium.  Check.  Tons of college football teams are playing there as well.  Check.  The Oklahoma vs BYU game is sold out.  Check.  $25 for outside concourse access only.  WHAT?  We get that the mega stadium will draw mega bucks, but when you’re not even in the dang stadium, you shouldn’t have to drop that chunk of change just to be there.
  • Mike Gundy’s blackout to prepare for Georgia led to an arrest for one player and another leaving the team.  Doh!  It looks as though locking things down loosened up the team a bit.  Will they get it together before their big opener?  Tune in this weekend.
  • St. Paul, a division II school, canceled its season opener because they don’t have helmets or pads.  WHAT?  It’s not that they couldn’t afford it, but the numnuts who ordered waited a little bit too late.  They should put that guy in a tackling dummy and let the team try out the new gear on him.
  • Blaine Gabbert locked up the starting job at Missouri.  Now the fight for number 2 just got easier.  The other Blaine, Blaine Dalton, was booted off the team for a DUI arrest.  That’s alright, though, as it sounds like the Tiger’s focus this year may be more running intensive.
  • The Alamo Bowl replaced the Big 10 opponent in favor of a Pac 10 number 2. That should heat up the competition for the Big 12 and give more legitimacy as big time conferences for both parties involved.
  • Apparently Jim Harbaugh, with help from a booster, now has a $50-$70k toilet to do his business in at Stanford.  So I guess when their season goes into the crapper, at least it will be comfortable and plush.
  • Bill Snyder 2.0 named Carson Coffman as his starter going into the opener for the Kansas State Wildcats.  Competition is a good thing, but he’s being consistent on this one.  If anything, Snyder 2.0 is known to switch things up and play people in rotations.  Grant Gregory, you still have a shot.
  • Rich Rodriguez is taking it from all sides these days.  We find out that current and former players are complaining about working too many hours for the football team, even though everyone does it and they he has an ally in Ohio State Buckeye players.   An investigation is coming to get to the bottom of a rule no one follows.  Now we hear him getting sued in a failed deal for land development in Virginia.  Notice that the piece came from the Ann Arbor news website.  Seriously, wait until half the season is over when they are looking to finish the same way they did last year.  By then RichRod won’t be able to fight back the tears.

Crib Sheet: Step Up to the Mic

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This week finds us smack dab in the middle of Big 12 Media days.  This is the week of the year where all of the schools congregate and spit words into a hungry set of microphones in preparation of a new college football season.  Next week camp starts and before you know it, it’s football time!  But to sum up this week so far, Kansas was media voted #2 in the north and they have a chip on their shoulder,  Missouri is regrouping, Nebraska doesn’t feel like number 1, the South teams are the bomb, and nobody is really interested in the new head coach for Iowa State (Paul Rhodes).   We’ll talk a little about the teams left next week.  For now,  hold on tight because we just exited the gate and are starting to build steam to a new season.  Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:

  • Pittsburgh State football player Joe Windscheffel is out for the season with an arm injury due to a Zebra charge.  He needed to paint a fence and had to move some zebras.  The male zebra charged and he’s out for the season.  Be careful childrens, animals are wild.
  • If you are tired of SEC talk, then cover your eyes for this one.   The SEC is striking deals with regional television stations to broadcast games, most notably in regions that cater to the Big 12 and the Big 10.   The hype machine is in full swing and they have the national titles to back them up.  I guess we’re gonna see more and more of the SEC until some other conference pins them down.
  • So last week, we talked about Army playing Yankee Stadium in 2010.   Welp a couple of days after news of that came out, they announced that they will be playing there for the next 4 out of 5 years.  Great stuff.   They used to play there every year and now they are bringing back the tradition.  Let’s hope they keep the new tradition of camouflage gear.
  • Our favorite analyst Kirk Herbstreit is suing the IRS for taxing Herbsreit on a burnt down house.  So Kirky wanted to build a new house on his current and caught wind of the local fire department needing some training.  He ‘donated’ the house to the fire department and they promptly torched it.  Now he thinks he should get the tax credit for the donation but the IRS is saying no way.   What a dumbass.  Quoting Kritter, “He should fire his accountant.”
  • Looks like some team from the Mountain West Conference manned up and is scheduling some big time schools.  Boise State will play Virginia Tech next year.  Welp if the Broncos go undefeated next and beat Va-Tech, then they should have a shot at the title game.
  • Lou Holtz and his Notre Dame alumni beat up on Japan this year in the Notre Dame Japan Bowl.  It’s nice to see some aged alumni hit the field and play again for the Irish.   We wonder if the folks over in the land of the rising sun though Lou was drunk the whole time he was there.  Don’t worry guys, he sounds that way all of the time.
  • The Rose Bowl tweaked some rules with the current BCS contract to allow non BCS schools to play in to the bowl.   If one of the automatic qualifiers for the Rose Bowl goes to the national title game, then the slot is open to anybody.  That’s a break from how things were done in the past.  It used to be only Big 10 and Pac 10 teams.   This is a good first step and this should help to even things out just a little bit more.
  • Meanwhile, Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe spent most of his time this week drumming up support for more TV exposure for the conference.  Part of which includes tossing around the idea of making the new Cowboys Stadium the permanent home for the Big 12 title game.  Beebe needs to hurry up because the other big television friendly conferences are pushing out further and further.

The Crib Sheet: Tilting the Joystick

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The Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, is this week and we here at the KCCGD have always enjoyed getting our game on.  News wise there wasn’t anything too exciting in terms of college sports going on down there.  Wii Sports Resort looks pretty good and the UFC game coming out also looks pretty tight.  We waggle our joystick to the great EA College Football game and there’s a soft spot in the heart for USC because of the National title run we had way back in 2004.  Now let’s waggle our joystick for college football news:

  • ESPN College Football Analyst Lee Corso recovered from a minor stroke due to small blocakge in the artery.  He issued a press release filled with many of his coaching quips.  My guess is all of the mascot heads he put on in his career let to the stroke.
  • Colorado lost a big time receiver Josh Smith to the lure of big time hip hop.  It seems everyone wants to be a star and apparently the shine is on music instead of football.  Let’s face it, he was playing at Colorado.  No offense there.
  • The rivalry for Mizzou against Illinois will stop in 2010.  Apparently Illinois doesn’t like the neutral site aspect of the series.  Either that, or they’ve been getting walloped in the series.  It’s not good news for Mizzou because that game was a rivalry they could actually win.
  • To help with the economy, Kansas will have split season tickets available this year.  This is something the Kansas City Chiefs started doing a couple of years ago and look how it turned out for them.  Uh Oh.
  • Big time Missouri recruit Sheldon Richardson will be heading to a Juco this year due to really bad grades.  Seeing as everyone either graduated or jumped to the draft, the Tigers will be weak this year.  It might be a good time to sit out a year and beef up for next year.
  • A small change in the BCS that goes into effect after the 2010 season means that if either a Pac 10 team or Big 10 team gets to the BCS National Championship Game, they have to give a Rose Bowl slot to a Mid Major Conference.  This is a peace offering for the yelping we’ve been hearing about the BCS and mid majors recently.  Whether or not it’s a big deal, we’ll find out.  At this point it’s fine because the both conferences don’t have a conference championship.

The Crib Sheet: Oral Fixation

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For some reason this week people are scared of the swine er h2n1 flu.  It’s a flu, usually if you are really young or super old it will hurt you bad.  The oncoming pandemic only points out that yes, the United States is a clean nation.  Thanks to all of the pump bottles of disinfectant gels pushing out the very lifeblood of our safety, we can be fully prepared for a Real American Flu.  Not some cheap Mexican knock off.  So I say, lick and finger everything is sight!  It’s okay!  And while you’re at it, suck on this week’s Crib Sheet:

The Crib Sheet: The Boys Of Summer Will Soon Be Gone

baseketball

In case you didn’t notice, the professional baseball season is under way.  Isn’t that great!  Just like what Beano Cook says, it just means that the football season is getting closer!  We here at the KCCGD do not cover college baseball but we’re sure it’s really exciting.  If the major leagues didn’t draft all of the real talent first, we’re sure it would be better.  This is the same problem basketball suffers from.  Which we don’t cover too (yet).  At some point, once the staff gets filled out, we’ll cover the more important college sports for the Kansas City area.  Until then, here’s this week’s college football news:

  • The vaunted, Charlie Weiss led, Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football Head Coach, er, Charlie Weiss confirmed that we was thinking about leaving the program.  He asked his family about after weighing options and a major lumping from USC to close out last season.   Last year, they were 7-6.  If they can bump that up a win or two and win the bowl, he should be safe.  If he dips, he’s a goner.
  • Michigan was offering Greg Paulus a chance to vie for quarterback this year.  Paulus, who didn’t even toss a ball around when he was visiting the campus, now has the option to join the graduate program and the football team.  This is turning into a crazy situation.  Is Rich Rodriguez desperate?  Or does he see a golden opportunity.  This story wasn’t done, however.  Paulus skipped the Wolverines and now is visiting both Nebraska and Syracuse.  Good luck to whoever wastes their time on the guy.
  • The Big 12 comes in at number 3 in terms of attendance broken out by conference last year.  It’s a 3% jump whereas number 1 SEC grew by about 2% and number 2 Big 10 dropped by about 1%.  It looks like that trend may continue next year, which will keep this writer happy and bring hope to eventually passing the Big 10 in attendance.
  • Oklahoma can’t surf the internet as much, due to NCAA voliations and a new policy from the administration.  If you are an Oklahoma Sooner, athlete or alumni, this site is safe to use.  Tell your friends and family.  We are So0ner friendly.  Kinda.
  • Colby Whitlock from Texas Tech gives major props to wrestling, as Tim Griffin writes.  As a former high school football player/wrestler I can attest to how much more an athlete can gain by participating a wrestling.  Balance, speed, and endurance will raise up, which is important for the the fat middle guys like myself.  The actual wrestling part I didn’t like, but the condition part was great.
  • The Mountain West Commissioner did a song and dance to argue for the proposed playoff structure for the BCS.  It seems Utah won’t let this go.  Hopefully a nice little press release will send this one away.  Methinks it won’t go, but one can hope.

Mascot Monday: Sparty

Sparty in the USA

We lucked out in picking the University of North Carolina’s Rameses as last week’s Monday mascot.  The Tar Heels made it to the final game and they will face Michigan State in their almost home court of Ford Field in Detroit Michigan.  So, in celebration of the underdog Big 10 making it this far, we will take a look at their mascot, Sparty.  Good luck to both the teams tonight as we look forward to getting basketball out of the way in preparation of football.  But for now, here’s Sparty.

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The Crib Sheet: Looking for a Football News Epicac

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You know, we here at the KCCGD figured that the college football off season would be dank with news but after this last week, we can say that there always something to talk about.  We’ve got contract negotiations, run ins with the law, rule changes, and even where are they nows (or end ups).  The biggest of the bunch being the Mike Leach contract talks.  But we will never, ever talk about the Nebraska spring practice game.  Here’s what happened in the last week:

  • Oklahoma State Wide Receiver Bo Bowling was caught drugging up and is now suspended from the team.  What is it about football players that make them think they can continue to do what they did back in high school when they are under more a public light?  You’d figure some of them would learn, but learning isn’t why they’re there.
  • So there’s a proposition floating around to make pre endzone celebrations penalized and points taken off the board.   I guess the treat of points slipping from the board will make players think twice, but I would go with the penalty first and if that doesn’t work then hit them up with points.
  • Kansas coach Mark Mangino promoted a couple of coaches.  When it rains, it pours.  The success of the Jayhawks goes around for everybody on the staff.  Although when it rains on Coach Mangino, I bet his feet never get wet.
  • In Big 10 land, Iowa re-upped Kirk Ferentz’s contract with more dough going into his pockets.  A little rumor goes a long way.  When the Kansas City Chiefs fired Herman Edwards, on of the replacements on the list was Kirk Ferentz.  Kirk needs to send Scott Pioli a fruit basket.
  • The vaunted, Charlie Weiss led, Notre Dame Fighting Irish will now be more lead by Chuck as he’s taking over on offensive play calling.  They had a bowl year last year to save his butt, but taking over on calls makes me a little worried.  I’m gonna go dust off the clock on his hot seat right now.
  • Be ready for some Mizzou mania early on in the year on ESPN.  They are playing the Big 12 opener against Nebraska on Oct. 8.  Which means we get the game against Nevada and the season opener against Illinois on TV as well.  The earlier the better, as this year will be an off one for the Tigers.
  • I’m trying really hard not to talk about baseball in any form, but when they are recruiting 12 yeard olds it gets to be too much to handle.  Please oh please don’t be like baseball and take the fun out of the game at young age.  Let the kid grow up some first before buying him an iPhone.
  • Texas Tech and Mike Leach are still dancing around the contract ho down.  Leach wants a better buyout option and Texas Tech wants fine him for talking to other schools.  We get some reality from realfootball365.com, where they remind us he has two years to go on his contract and if nothing happens, then they will do this dance again next year.  That is, after the board of regents figures things out.
  • Ivan Maisel reminds us that the BCS won’t change for awhile.  He goes on to talk about Jerry Jone’s mega dome and how it could be the potential home for the Sugar Bowl.  That would make it more of a player than the other BCS bowls.  Tune in next four years as the BCS turns.
  • Taking his ball and going home, Ron Prince will be named the new Associate Head Coach at Virginia.  Welp he had a 3 year run as a head coach, ruined a program, and is pretty much right back where he started.  Good luck and good riddance.