The basketball dealy is done and I’m ready to talk football. This week it’s Kansas and Texas spring practice with a little bit of NCAA, Baylor, Ricky Williams, Iowa, and Kansas State. One shining moment, it’s all on the line…… Continue reading Purple Yeti Roar 11: One Shining Moment →
After a well deserved week off, we are back to bringing you some tasty college football. Alot happened during our mini hiatus so we are playing catch up with the Crib Sheet. We have alot to get to here with the start of bowl season this weekend. Tune in soon for a couple of year end reviews, bowl picks, and some bowlspots. Until then, here’s a very chunky Crib Sheet:
- Alabama took the high road when it announced that they will cancel classes for the BCS National Championship. That’s nice for football fans, but the last time I remembered there are people who actually don’t like football AND go to college. It seems kinda chintzy to lob off classes for everyone during the bowl game. Then again, this is South and it is football.
- Congress will crack the whip on the BCS soon and vote on a bill to ban promotion of the NCAA division I football series unless they get a playoff. The argument against it is that they have better things to do (health care bill, anyone). The argument for it is that the NCAA is a business and they should treat the conferences like companies in an industry. Problem with that one is that then the argument will come up that the students should get paid then (on top of free college). The slippery slope just got some juice.
- Charlie Strong is you new Lousiville head coach. This guy was rumored for the Kansas job, but right now the hot note is Buffalo’s Turner Gill. Anywho, back to Strong. This guy was co-defensive coordinator for Florida and looks to be a real good hire. Good luck to Cardinals.
- Tennessee confirms that there is an investigation into their Orange Pride group and possible recruiting violations. Basically, the Orange Pride comprises mostly of very attractive Volunteer females that drive around and persuade recruits to join the program. They would even friend them on Facebook. Did they break any rules? Who knows? This has been going on for a long time, however. The power of gender persuasion is a might force, my friends.
- Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh hired his dad Jack to be interim running backs coach for the Sun Bowl. It’s nice to see that the Harbaughs like to keep in the family. His dad won some titles in Division II and his brother John just happens to the head coach of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.
- Notre Dame took the plunge and finally hired a head coach. His name? Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly. It’s a good fit for the Domers. They guy won the Big East the last two years and has won at least 10 games the last three. Let’s hope the boosters expectations aren’t too high this time around, otherwise we’ll be seeing this dance again in three years.
- Mack Brown from Texas is getting an extra $2 million per year on the rest of his contract for doing such a great job. The guy now will make about $5 million per year. Meanwhile, an Iowa senator complains that coaches are being paid too much. Nevermind that Texas brings in about $100 million a year via the athletic department. Oh and don’t let Kirk Ferentz or Paul Rhoads hear this guy. They might go somewhere else and the voters will vent on their frustration in the voting booth.
- Colt McCoy wants a bowl playoff. He’s thought about long and hard. Did he think about it while he almost blew the game for the Longhorns at the Big 12 Championship? Maybe that’s why he wants playoff. It would’ve covered up his mistake. Doh!
- A handful of awards were handed out on ESPN last week to college football players. We’re not going to go through the whole list but we will say that Big 12 was represented very well. Congrats to Colt McCoy and Ndamukong Suh.
- So Kansas ended its coaching search over the weekend. Some people thought it was Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, but that was denied big time. So the Jayhawks fell to their 2nd choice, Turner Gill. This guy turned around Buffalo from perennial losers to a decent MAC team, even winning the title last year. Some people have overlooked that and started a fire-this-guy website. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers.
- Congrats to Northwest Missouri State who became the Division II champions over the weekend. It was their first title since 1998. Good job guys!
- Mark Ingram won the Heisman over the weekend as well. The race ended up being the closest ever with Ingram taking it over Gerhart, McCoy, Suh, and Tebow respectively. The sexy pick leading up to it was Suh, but that’s why it was sexy. No chance of winning and you get to appear smart. That said, there was no clear leading guy running up to it, so it’s no surprise it was this close.
- Kansas State special teams stand out Brandon Banks was released from jail after beating a women while stoked on some stimulants. Ruh Roh. At least there’s no bowl to damage for the Wildcats. Hopefully this guy will get his act together and salvage his draft status, if there’s any left.
- Looks like Illinois will hire Kansas State co-defensive coordinator Vic Koenning to be their sole defensive coordinator. He was with Clemson for a couple of years before his one year stint with the Wildcats. Hopefully the Wildcats defense won’t suffer that much.
- Looks like the Big 10 will finally come into the century and explore a possible 12th team and conference championship. Who will it be? Some say Missouri or Iowa State. We know Missouri would listen. Others are point toward the Big East and Syracuse, Rutgers, or Pittsburgh. Let’s hope they keep it Big East for the east coast television money too.
- The NCAA, following the lead of the NFL, will recommend keeping an athlete out of the game if they lose consciousness or show signs of a concussion. Head trauma is big news nowadays and the NCAA is quickly stepping in to cover their own heads with this rule. Now I get the old folks harping about leather helmets and poor pads being a better sport. We’ll be talking like that in a c0uple of years.
The line for the BCS title is thinning as the number of undefeated teams are going down week by week. Last week it was both Iowa and Oregon that lost their ticket. Who will go down this week? We don’t know. But that question singularly defines what college football is and how unique it is to other sports. It truly is a complete playoff system. Now some others may not grasp it, but when you look at it year by year, the best teams usually bubble up. So tune in and see who goes down this weekend. Until then here’s this week’s crib sheet:
- Brandon Spikes was already suspended for one half of the Florida vs Vanderbilt game, but now he went and suspended himself for the other half. It’s a good thing it’s Vanderbilt because they probably didn’t need him. Kudos to Spikes, even though it is a big PR move.
- Meanwhile, Urban Meyer sent video to the SEC officials for a missed late hit on Tim Tebow during the Georgia game. Okay, it’s football. Florida is turning it into a big wussy game. Southeaster Conference: Home of the Using Video Evidence to Justify Being Whiners.
- Dez Bryant’s appeal to the NCAA was rejected and now he’s going to the NFL Draft. This kid got the shaft big time. If the NCAA was to make an example out of someone, do it to someone who actually did something wrong. From now on the NCAA will be called the NC-SS.
- Texas fans are already booking flights and reserving hotels for Pasadena. Longhorns, the season isn’t over yet. Don’t jinx your team now. If you do, I’ll buy a couple of tickets off you for half the price.
- Jahvid Best suffered a more serious concussion last weekend in a touchdown dive for California. This first one happened the week before and this lost him consciousness. Sit him for the rest of the season, coach. Let him recover.
- The Pac 10 approved Oregon’s request to reinstate LeGarrette Blount. I guess it took a major loss to okay him back to the field. Hopefully, he’ll learned his lesson and help the Ducks punch their way to the Rose Bowl.
- Welp, it took being ranked 4th in the BCS Standings for TCU to sell out a home game. Granted, it’s against top 16 ranked Utah, but this is first time since 2006 that they had a sellout. This is why mid-cons don’t get respect. The fans need to show up for the games to help support their teams. Then they can get the big tv time and respect. At least they got some cool new uniforms.
- Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz tells us that Ricky Stanzi is out until bowl season. This is a big blow to Iowa as they had BCS title chances before he went down and now they are just struggling to make a BCS bowl. At least there will be no Big 10 team in the title hunt this year.
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.
College Sports, Kansas City style
