Whoops! I guess I missed a Crib Sheet last week. . You know, I was in the midst of SXSW and was about to endure the worst Montezuma’s Revenge on this planet. I’m all caught up now and will deliver on this week’s Crib Sheet. That’s right, it’s a double sized version of the Crib Sheet. Whip out the bib we are about to get messy:
Stanford’s getting rid of their ‘easy’ classes for student athletes. Um, since when is any class at Stanford easy? Oh wait, I guess ‘Beginning Improvisation’ or ‘Social Dances of North America III’ can be classified as easy. Hey, Stanford’s rep is that they are in the upper echelon of scholastics so they need to make sure that everyone falls in line with it.
Oklahoma made about $10,000 in the Fiesta Bowl due to a policy in the Big 12 that states that the conference absorbs unsold tickets for the bowl game. Man, too bad UConn and the Big East didn’t have that one, the Huskies ended up losing out big time for the game.
On that same trip, let’s see what the Big 12’s finances were for the school last year. Obviously Texas made and spent the most dough. I think it’s interesting that Kansas State spent the least amount of money in the conference and still made a bowl game. Facts to chew on.
So while I was out, a rumor popped up that Fox was in the running for a new television deal with the Big 12. Numbers are flying all over the place but the important point is that there is demand. Predicted demand. I can fall asleep a little better tonight knowing that the smoke here will fire up the flame to keep the Big 12 warm for a long time.
So a lawyer, and former Ohio State player, tried to warn Jim Tressel about violations and it got Tressel in big trouble. So Jim Tressel violated NCAA rules and apologized to all about his err of ways. Being the great guy that he is, Tressel then decided that his two game suspension was not enough and took the same 5 game suspension that the players who broke the rules got. The only thing I see coming down from this is that the Big 10 next year is wide open. Maybe the streak for Big 10 titles for Ohio State will end next year?
I don’t like talking NFL as much, but former Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert is tearing it up. Not only was he sharp on the ball, he was also sharp in the Wonderlic. Having taken the Wonderlic myself recently, I can say that it’s very impressive to score as high as he did. Gabbert just may be the real deal.
In no surprise to everyone, Indiana regulators fined Notre Dame for six violations that led to the death of a 20 year old student. Hopefully everyone can take a look at this and try harder to make sure all personnel involved in college football are safe.
Kirk Herbstreit moved out of Ohio because the locals don’t get that being an analyst means that you should be objective. I guess the fans there complain about fairness and give away freebies to the local players. Great state that Ohio is.
Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops talks about his Twitter policy. I’m glad they didn’t ban it altogether but it is a little creepy that school officials are monitoring the accounts. But hey, everyone is monitoring everyone’s Twitter accounts, right?
It’s a tasty Crib Sheet this week as I’m packed up and ready to head to Austin for SXSW. I might stop by Daryl K Royal Stadium and give homage to the team that Kansas State has owned the last couple of years. That is if I can make it there between the haze of tech and music. The next Crib Sheet might be heavily abbrieviated. Just sayin. Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
The coaching carousel is almost at a stop and now we are getting closer to signing day. Who will go where? I don’t know. But one thing I do know is the Crib Sheet will keep you updated with all of the latest commitments and decommitments:
Jim Leavitt is going to the big time. Not Kansas State Defensive Coordinator, but San Fransisco 49ers linebackers coach. It stinks for Wildcats fans as they were hoping Leavitt would come in and fix the defense. Maybe Bill Snyder 2.0 has something else up this sleeve? Meanwhile, defensive backs coach Keith Burns is taking his show back to Ole Miss.
ESPN and the Texas Longhorns reached a 20 year, $300 million deal for a Longhorns Network. The school will be up for a tasty profit while the broadcast network will food the technical bills. Is this the end of the Big 12? Check back here in about 2 years.
Speaking of the Red Raiders, a Texas judges tossed out a portion of Mike Leach’s suit against the university, only allowing non-monetary claims for the firing of Leach over Adam James’ concussion. If you’re wondering why Leach has yet to be yired, look no further than here.
It seems Kansas is picking up the trail on the recruiting side of things. Turner Gill’s stealing recruits from neighboring states. I’m guessing his pitch is like this, “I’m a Nebraska guy that’s still in the Big 12. Kansas will be the new Nebraska of the Big 12.” That can seal some kids right there.
Fired sportscaster Ron Franklin is suing ESPN over the incident where he called a woman, “Sweetheart” in a production meeting. She objected and he called her an a-hole. I don’t know what to think about this. In the workplace, you can’t trust anyone when you say something because they may be out to get you canned, especially if it’s gender-related. I would say it’s safer to just be quiet and act professional. That said, “sweetheart” and “a-hole” is a pretty weak case to get fired over.
Here’s your BCS payout sheet. So the Big 12 was on the lower tier of payouts for the 6 BCS Conferences. Not bad, but if they had 2 teams in the BCS bowls then they would’ve been up higher. Notre Dame gets a pretty good chunk for being independent. The argument against the BCS right here is that the small guys are getting the smaller piece of the pie. I will merely point to TCU and how they are moving up by winning.
Some donors have high expectations. Take Robert G. Burton, major booster for UConn. Apparently he doesn’t like the athletic director and wants his $3 million in donations back and his name taken off the stadium. I’m pretty sure once you donate something, you can’t expect to get it back. But then again, if I had that kind of cash then I’d feel like I can run anything, too.
Ex Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins agreed to a $4,000 fine for improperly receiving exercise equipment as a gift. This should be the last we hear of this guy.
Here we are in the middle of bowl season. I got some good gear for Xmas and I hope you got some too. The bowl action was light in the last week, but we are now ramping up into the meat of the schedule. Most of the Big 12 schools will be playing this week and there will be ample action in between. Meanwhile, I Bowl Pick It and Stick It standings are out are some peeps jumping out of the gate quick. Let’s look at that first:
Yes, it’s the 2010 edition and first ever annual KC College GameDay Year End Reviewards! What’s a revieward? Welp, it’s a half assed attempt to round up the year in review and then dole out some nameless awards out to who or what I think mattered in the year of college football. It applies to the regular season only as I really don’t want to come back to this. At any rate, I’m shooting from the hip so all you midgets our there better watch your heads.
It was an anti-climatic weekend and an anti-climatic end to this year’s Pick It and Stick It. We had some small pickings for the last week and that helped solidify the victory for Huskers All the Way. Even though the football team lost the Big 12 title to Oklahoma, Huskers All the Way held onto the lead and rode out the clock. With the last weekend of football we’ll also have your final BCS Standings for the year. No surprises there but we’ll get to the after we check out the final Pick It and Stick It standings.
It’s the last real week of college football for about a month so let’s get down to Crib Sheet business. Bowls are coming, invitations are going out, and we have a good chuck on news for you to nibble on. Let’s check it out:
In the wake of one of the most massive events in history ever yesterday, not the election but the reintroduction to the McRib, I have yielded time to this week’s Crib Sheet introduction. Ronald McDonald Bless America:
With the historic win over Oklahoma, Missouri gets the coveted Peace Pipe. You know, the somewhat annual trophy given to the winner? Welp, apparently even the two teams forgot about it and lost it. You know a rivalry is lopsided when that happens.
Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon ended up with a suspension for the Kansas State game last Saturday. That’s what happens when you drink and drive, kids. It didn’t really stop the Cowboys, though, as they throttled the Wildcats.
Notre Dame student Declan Sullivan died after injuries received from a blown over video tower. Look for the school to either ban it or put in a more permanent solution.
Will Ferrell said on ESPN College GameDay that, “It’s scientific law that Baylor cannot beat Texas at Texas.” Baylor ended up winning that game. I’m betting Ferrell picked USC to win over Oregon as well. Those are some funny pics.
Expansion, as we have learned, is never done. The Big East will get on the expansion bandwagon as they voted to expand to 10 teams at board of director’s meeting Tuesday. Who will they grab? Notre Dame of course.
A very special lady sprung on me some tickets to the Kansas State and Nebraska game going on tomorrow. So we’ll do some Stadiumspotting there as well get you stoked for this week of football. First thing is first, though. This week’s Crib Sheet goes over some of the hottest news items of the last week. We have some spicy giblets ready to feed ya and then we’re gonna get the car ready for the impromptu road trip. On to the sheet:
It’s the year of FCS upsets so far. The first week saw North Dakota State upsetting Kansas and Jacksonville State putting one on Ole Miss. Then last weekend, James Madison beat ranked Virginia Tech. It just goes to show you that the competition can be heated on any given Saturday. If a team gets too big for itself, it may overlook another opponent. That’s just enough to tilt the victory meter away from them. We are always humble with our conference powerhouse that is the Crib Sheet, so check it out:
We’re heard of strange injuries before but having a ‘bowel injury’ takes the cakes. That’s what Arkansas Razorback Dennis Johnson had that left him out of Saturday’s game against Georgia. We hope he can plug it up for next week.
What two better teams to play in Jerry Jones’ Cowboys Stadium to kickoff the season than LSU and Oregon. Huh? That’s right, the ‘Cowboys Classic’ will be held by two teams not in the Big 12. Doesn’t make sense at all.
Oh by the way. The lawsuit between former K-State coach Ron Prince and the university will be moving back to the courtroom. It looks as though both sides want an immediate judgement. Not sure if it’s gonna happen. We’ll keep you posted.
All signs are pointing to Colorado joining the Pac 12 in 2012. They wanted to move earlier, but the stars couldn’t align just right. Maybe after the California whupping put on the Buffaloes pushed them back a year.
The plane carrying McNeese State had to make an emergency landing on the way to the Missouri game. Apparently, a tire blew out on take off. That would scare the heck out of me. No wonder those kids didn’t fare to well against the Tigers.
The New York Times points out that the Big 1o makes its money because of the fans. And the fans who would pay a massive premium to see the Big 10 games. So the Times points out what we know already: control the college sports in the conference and you can make some major bank.
It looks like Villanova is looking over an invitation to the Big East. This would be an upgrade in the football program as they were FCS last year. They are a part of the Big East in virtually every other sport. We hope this helps keep the conference together for a little bit longer.
One of our favorite football people, former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach, will get his own radio show on Sirius. He’s doing that and CBS. Will he ever be back to the sidelines? Maybe after these gigs pay off his lawyer fees for his suit against Texas Tech.
A bunch of Missouri football players formed a rap group. The Kentucky Boulevard Boys look to take over the scene like they take over the football field. Yeah, whatever. Call me when they get a recording contract. Oh, and try to focus on the playbook and not your lyric book for the next couple of weeks. We know it’s a cakewalk schedule but you need to be getting better now, not in a month.
Michigan’s Denard Robinson is your Heisman leader after two weeks and it makes real sense. He single-handedly carried the Wolverines past Notre Dame last Saturday. If he gets his wheel injured, the whole season is over for Michigan.
Reggie Bush, on the other hand, will forfeit his Heisman. It seems the pressure and guilt for playing with a bunch of ineligible players in 2005 was just too much. Vince Young, the runner-up, tweeted that he will be happy leaving it vacant, even though he said he wanted it earlier this week.
Speaking of Twitter, Miami of Florida’s head coach Randy Shannon just banned it for his players. It seems the beat down Oklahoma gave the Hurricanes was enough to warrant this punishment. Maybe the team can play their way back into getting access?
The new NCAA President Mark Emmert wants to get tougher on the rule breakers. Yet, he wants to make sure the pro sports leagues and players’ unions are happy. Let’s face it. The NCAA is irrelevant. It seems all they do is choke the players from making money so they can make more money. A free education is great for these athletes, but they are stopping adults from making adult business decisions. Someone needs to stop these guys, they are like cassette tapes.
And it looks like the WAC is suing Nevada and Fresno State so they can stay in the WAC for the 2011-2012 season. You know, with the way expansion has been handled in the offseason, wouldn’t the WAC have some sort of contingency in place? Instead of suing, why not invite a couple of Big Sky schools in? Nope, because they are a sub par conference, they will sue their way around things. This conference will die a slow burning death.
Alrighty, I’m about halfway through my scotch and water, I blasted out another Crib Sheet, and I’m jacked up for some football tomorrow night. It’s prediction time! The offseason sucked. Period. Being in Big 12 land was not easy on this college football lovin’ Yeti and especially not easy on Kansas City. We weathered the storm and now we are here ready for some pigskin play. What will we see in this year’s volume of football? Let’s take a look in our crystal ball shaped glass full of scotch and water.
Mike Leach will lose his CBS announcing job for making Gus Johnson stand in the bathroom with no light.
Mark Ingram will not be a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, thanks to the fresh knee injury.
The Oregon Ducks will win the Pac 10, both for best dressed and actual gold.
Colorado loses a bunch of games and Dan Hawkins stays on because the school is too broke to fire him out of his contract.
Caoch Brian Kelly will talk NBC into going into commerical breaks for opposing teams’ offensive drives only. Oh and the Fighting Irish will make a bowl.
Missouri will win the North, only because Nebraska’s ego and farewell tour will fall flat.
Daniel Thomas will be a Heisman finalist, thanks to a solid offensive line and the fact that he will get his yards with the whole defense keying on him. Thanks, Carson Coffman.
Boise State will go undefeated and not make the dance. People are saying its the weak schedule, but it will be because of an undefeated team in the Big 10 and one other conference. Look for Orrin Hatch to have an aneurism over this one.
This will be Lee Corso’s last season for ESPN College GameDay. It’s been a hell of a ride, Lee, just please don’t put on the Grim Reaper’s head when it’s your time to go.
This will be the fastest season ever for the Kansas Jayhawks. By fast, we mean the fans will be ready for basketball season about 2 games in. Turner Gill’s rebuilding starts this year, he’s got at least 3 before some magic happens.
Iowa State will be in the bottom of the league again, but they will get an upset some big team because of a massive rain storm. Hey their practice field flooded over the summer, they should be ready.
Texas just missed the mark in the Big 12 South. Not because of the competition, but for the cliffhanger they want to leave for next season’s Longhorns Network debut. Stay Tuned! Same horn time! Same horn channel!
Big Game Bob goes to a BCS game but will not be game as the Sooners bob and weave from some other big team beaming game time bashings. Probably against Virginia Tech and Frank BEAMER.
The Big East has a seasson. No one really cares.
RichRod makes a valiant effort and gets the Wolverines into a bowl game. It will be the weakest one from the Big 10 and it will be enough to get him fired. He will then go on and make real estate deals with everyone in the Ann Arbor region.
USC doesn’t get close to a Pac 10 championship and Lane Kiffin leaves after just one season. The Kiffin world tour moves on!
Florida misses Tim Tebow and will miss being in the running for the SEC. Urban Meyer gets sick and dies from the piss poor play on the field.
Kansas City sports bars will stay the same this year. No one will get 3D TVs because the mixture of 3D and beer will make everyone puke. Some new bars will crop up and the KCCGD crew will eventually puke in those anyway.
We’re going back to our 2008 prediction about Joe Paterno dieing on the field. Now that Bobby Bowden is out, this one should get much easier. Or will he be in the booth this year?
Okay, we called the BCS National Championship game two years ago with Florida and Oklahoma, we were halfway right with Texas last year in the big game. What will happen this year? Well, the trend says we will get it all wrong so there’s nothing to lose. I’m thinking the offseason hype for the Big 10 will lead a team to a title contention. Since the only team that’s worth a damn up there is Ohio State, then that’s our pick. Chances are the SEC will be mega tough again this year and barring any late push by an Oregon or a Big 12 team, we are going the easy route and picking SEC. Whose turn is it? Let’s go LSU. Why not. Can you say 2007 rematch?
It’s almost July and it’s time to start getting serious about football. For the last couple of months we’ve been going back and forth on conference expansion and raiding. Now that it’s all over (hopefully), we can start getting juiced up for the major competition on the field. The Crib Sheet has its cleats on so you should too. Here we go:
The major sanctions against USC hit former running back and current New Orleans Saint Reggie Bush. Bush was reportedly in on the scandal part but now he vows to help with the appeal for USC to the NCAA. Maybe his Heisman Trophy is in trouble?
It looks like Pac 10 went from the Pac 11, with the addition of Colorado, to the Pac 12 with the addition of Utah. Mormons invade the conference as the Mountain West Conference powerhouse moves in on the big boys. Will the Pac 12 have a title game now? Does it seem weird that both the Big 10 and Pac 10 will have title games and now the Big 12 will not? Meanwhile the Mountain West will stay at 9.
The Big East Commissioner sent 20 roses (10 white and 10 red) with ‘Unity’ written on the card to the Big 12 (10) offices. It seems the Big East and the ACC should be thankful that the Big 12 didn’t blow up and ruined college football.
Andy Staples talked about the BCS and how it’s super solid for now, even though people are still complaining. One side you have the director, Bill Hancock, and on the other you have Texas Rep. Joe Barton and Utah Senator Orrin Hatch. Yeah, so Utah goes to the Pac 10 and Hatch still wants to take down the BCS. If Utah ends up undefeated again, will he be so loud?
Mizzou Chancellor Brady Deaton is your new chairman of the Big 12 Board of Directors. This might be part of the maneuvering to keep Mizzou in the Big 12 (10). It also seems kind of flimsy.
Bill Snyder 2.0 weighs in on the expansion movements and laments the fact that a Big 12 (10) may not have a title game. His solution? Two 5 team divisions and a title game. It makes sense for a small school like K-State to go for that but we don’t think this will happen just yet. It could bring in more money, however.
Colorado is in some financial hot water right now and leaving the Big 12 (10) will put them in a deeper hole. Will they ever crawl out of it? First they need to win and second they need to ride out the changes over the next couple of years. With Dan Hawkins as the coach, the Buffalo fans out there might have to wait a good 10 years before that program makes money and wins championships.
So the athletic director and coaches meetings for the Big 12 are in Kansas City this week and the Crib Sheet is here to fill you in. We’ll start out this week with the beginnings of the meeting and then wrap up Thursday’s and Friday’s talk next week. Dan Beebe held a press conference to field questions about the first day of talks. The big picture? The league is heading into media negotiations with excitement next year because of the money the ACC got from ESPN. But they need to stay together and Beebe would like to know if they are a soon as possible, even though he knows it won’t happen. Among his case for staying together was that potential for more money, the disruption of balance in the league that could force some regulatory structuring, and that the Big 10 could very well do nothing. Beebe says it’s a young conference and would like to see it grow old together with the members. Will it happen? We’ll find out next year, but in the meantime here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
The Big East wants the NCAA to study whether or not the on field head official should be in charge of overturning instant replay calls instead of the in-booth official. We don’t think this works out to well because even though the head official is in the flow of the game, the in booth official has better looks at close plays.
Dennis Dodd over at CBS Sports reiterates what we have been saying about Rich Rodriquez: he’s on the hot seat big time this season. Dodd puts the odds at 8-4 and a bowl appearance for him to keep his job. Any takers?
The cause behind the Urban Meyer drama last year finally came out. Meyer stated he had esophageal spasms and that he has some meds to take for it. The pain from the spasms made it ultra painful to eat. Hopefully the medication will work and he can continue on in his work.
The latest road block from Texas Tech didn’t work. The judge in the case states that Mike Leach can move forward in his lawsuit against the university for his firing late last year. Notch one win for the pirates. It’s going to be quite the naval battle between these two.
Even though Oklahoma is under some potential violations, the Sooners sent a letter to the NCAA stating that they meet the requirements set by the NCAA for their probation. A probation period that came from recruiting violations and is expiring soon. So they are out of the woods but could be right back in it soon.
Some officials from Kansas are caught up in a ticket scandal that diverted a couple of million in tickets to 3rd parties for personal gain. Most of the 6 officials involved have either left or been fired. Meanwhile, athletic director Lew Perkins stated he didn’t know it was going on. This shouldn’t hurt the athletics department in terms of probation and what not, but Perkins image is damaged and the school has not only money to recoup but the Feds sniffing around for more.
On to football, the Big 12 meetings this week let loose some football schedule nuggets. The Border War will be on Fox Sports Net on November 27th at 11:30 am. The Sunflower Showdown moved from Saturday to Thursday night October 14th on Fox Sports Net at 6:30 pm. Mark your calendars. Also, note that it’s exclusively on Fox. Testing for media numbers for the upcoming negotiations anyone?
Apparently some exercise equipment loaned to Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins has come around to bite him in the form of a blackmail scheme. A former disgruntled employee, Bill Dent, tried to extort money in exchange for keeping quiet about the equipment. Dent also says that Perkins received the equipment in exchange for tickets. We’ll find out what happens here. Perkins says he is a victim, because the company that loaned the equipment went under and didn’t recover the gear.
Meanwhile at the Big 12 meetings this week, Lew Perkins talked about that as well some talk about the expansion speculation. The big takeaway? He says expansion is a super serious threat and that Kansas may or may not have been contacted by the Big 10. Diversion tactic is a go!
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!
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.
