Tag Archives: Pac 10

Crib Sheet: Spring Fever Pitch

Spring is in the air and unfortunately, some of it stinks.  Now I could be talking about the Fiesta Bowl scandal or perhaps the NFL lockout.  Nope, it’s none of that.  It’s the fact that I have to suffer through another summer of baseball before the real American pasttime takes the stage.  Fortunately for me I have the Crib Sheet to keep my occupied.  Oh and thank you Beano Cook for being awesome.

  • Now that the Fiesta Bowl report came out and the bowl’s CEO John Junker got canned, people are speculating about the BCS and its ties with the Fiesta Bowl, including David Ubben.  It seems that the Cotton Bowl and its home, the Jerry Jones Cowboys Stadium spectacular, would be a great fit for the BCS.  It is the largest football stage out there.  If the BCS moves forward with Cotton, then this report and subsequent firing will also seem a little to coincidental.  The real loser here is the cancelled spring retreat for the Fiesta Bowl.  Well, that and the FEC complaint against the Fiesta Bowl filed by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.  It’s nothing a meeting with the NCAA can’t fix.
  • A former Texas A&M coach said that Willie Lyes, the same guy who was paid $25,000 from Oregon and is under NCAA investiagion, approached him and stated that he had beat $80,000 for a star recruit.  With all of this money blowing up and flowing around college football, it was onlya a matter of time that recruitment services looking to get a cut of the pic made moves like these.
  • Former Kansas assistant athletic director Rodney Jones gets 4 years in jail for the $2 million dollar ticket scandal involving him and some other cohorts, including Kassie Liebsch who got 3 years.  I’m pretty sure he’s going to get the fluffly white color crime prison and not the dark, stank, blue collar crime prison.  Still, he was all Niagara Falls during the sentencing.  Yet, ticket scalpding still goes on.
  • The Pac 10 is open for business and they’re letting the world know it.  The exclusive negotiating rights for Fox expired and now it’s time to shop the conference across all of the television networks.  Oh, they’ll get bank.  It’s the big time now.
  • ESPN filed suit against Conference USA for dipping into the FX deal for prime time football games.  It’s always cute when television stations and football conferences fight.
  • Soslan Gagloev was a Russian in Japan’s waters and kicking it sumo style.  And he was winning.  But he was busted for weed and now he’s playing some college football at Webber International Univeristy.  Defensive back he ain’t.  That said, sumo and any other kind of wrestling requires leverage work and that applies fantastically to line work in football.  He should do alright.
  • Here’s a shocker:  drug policies across all facets of college sports completely varies in policy.  I think the AP suggests to streamline the whole process.
  • Colt McCoy’s younger brother, Case, is looking to take the reigns for the Texas Longhorns.  He had a stellar spring practice.  Who knows?  Maybe that magic can happen again.
  • Speaking of Texas, their new network will be called the ‘Longhorn Network.’ There’s no deal for satellite deistributors but I’m guessing that it will blow up once they annoucne a couple of football games on the network.

Crib Sheet: Tis the Offseason

Baseball’s right around the corner and I figured the news would be super quiet for college football.  Boy was I wrong.  There’s tasty chunks of news going around all over the place.  I’m done salivating you taste buds, time to feast on this week’s Crib Sheet:

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Bowl Pick It and Stick It Standings: New Year’s Resolutions and Bowl Settings

It’s the last week of college football and we’ve had enough drama to fill up the entire bowl season. Happy 2011 to everyone out there and I hope you survived any New Year’s Party you decided to attend. New Year’s day saw my annual tradition of going over to Jolly’s parents house and planting myself in one spot for 12 hours of college football. It was a good day for me as the overrated Big 10 went 0-5 that day and the Big 12 went 2-0. That and the left over ham from the New Year’s Party served us well in between meats, cheeses, and crackers. Beefy indeed. Here’s this week’s standings going into the last week:

Continue reading Bowl Pick It and Stick It Standings: New Year’s Resolutions and Bowl Settings

Crib Sheet: Nice With Pumpkin Spice

Halloween is Sunday and we are cooking up various items around the place with pumpkin in them.  The roasted pumpkin seeds with cinamon and nutmeg were awesome but so where the pumpkin muffins.  Grab your favorite pumpkin related food and check out this week’s Crib Sheet:

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Barspotting: The Twin Cities Beckon

You know, I don’t know what it is with the travelling all of the sudden, but here we go again on our own.  Going down that only road that, well, leads straight from Kansas City to Minneapolis/St. Paul.  Otherwise I-35.  I’ve been (unofficially) down I-35 to Austin, Texas and now I’m heading up north to check out Minnesota.  Prior obligations find myself out there and I’m hoping to get some football down while I do it.  A little birdie told me that Minnesota is hosting Northwestern for homecoming so I might check it out.  Otherwise, it might be a great sports bar in town or more than likely Hooters at the Great Mall of America.  God I hope it’s the homecoming game.

Continue reading Barspotting: The Twin Cities Beckon

Crib Sheet: Working Hard to Play this Weekend

We are knee-deep in some serious day job related stuff but fortunately we build the Crib Sheet piece by piece, day by day.  Here ya go:

  • Much of the details of last week’s agreement between the Big 12 and outgoing schools Nebraska and Colorado came out.  Dan Beebe talked about why Nebraska has to pay $9 million and Colorado has to pay $6 million.  Also, don’t look for expansion anytime soon.   They haven’t decided on how to divvy out the cash, but chances are it will be the same formula used for the revenue sharing in general.
  • Irish eyes will be smiling when Notre Dame will play Navy in Ireland 2012.  We’re not sure where they will play but more than likely there’s a good chance they’ll all go out together after the game and get drunk.
  • In preparation for last week’s game against Boise State, Oregon State coaches had their practice field painted blue.  That’s some great thinking there.  It’s almost like using loud speakers to emulate crowd noise except messier.
  • Communication issues have tormented Turner Gill and the Kansas Jayhawks.  His solution?  Yanking cell phones from players the day before the game and then giving it back in the locker room after the game.  How will the players wake up in the morning or talk to their mothers?  I guess that’s what computers are for.  We wonder how many more losses it will take for Gill to yank computer privileges too.
  • The NCAA leaped to action regarding the issue of sports agents and collegiate players by writing a letter.  A letter.  They asked for cooperation.  Nothing else.  Just another reason the NCAA needs to upgrayedd or just disband.  These guys are getting real irrelevant.
  • The Playoff PAC, the special interest group formed to blow away the BCS and instill a college football playoff, will file a complaint with the IRS regarding the tax status of the Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange Bowl.  They used a load of lawyers and one accountant to pick apart the tax returns and public documents of the BCS bowls and found that some loans and director salaries were just too much.  Whether the IRS will remove the tax status, we won’t know.  But we do know that the Playoff PAC is digging into every crook and cranny to blow away the BCS.
  • Meanwhile, the PAC 10 is thinking about having their title game in Las Vegas.  Okay that’s a little crazy as there is no team in the Pac 10 from Nevada.  It is centrally located, but they need to have it in California.
  • Texas is signing up another (somewhat) tough opponent in Maryland  for the 2017 and 2018 season.  Will this be the game on the Longhorns Network?
  • Because of past troubles, USC will be barred from playing the Pac 10 Championship Game in 2012, if they are good enough to get there.  Bide your time Trojan fans.  Once Lane Kiffin blows up your program and you rebuild, you’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of the title game.
  • It seems Landry Jones of Oklahoma will have a higher calling after he is done calling plays.  Jones says he’s 98% sure that he wants to become a pastor after football.  Just goes to show you all walks of life come to play football.  We wonder how many Hail Marys he’s tossed compared how many he’s recited.
  • He’s just hanging with Tim Brewster.  He’s not going for the head coaching job.  That’s what Minnesota is saying after Mark Mangino was spotted on the sidelines of a game, supporting his buddy.  Minnesota should’ve gotten right out in front of this.  There is no way no one would not recognize Mark Mangino hanging out on the sidelines.  The nose bleeder seats would’ve been able to see him.
  • Apparently along with the no cell phone rule for players, Turner Gill’s Kansas Jayhawks can’t be with the ladies after 10 pm.  That’s a harsh rule.  It’s on any night.  Do mothers count?  Like as in visit and talk to.  Keep your mind out of the gutters, people.
  • Nick Saban said his Alabama team should be set to face Michigan in the Jerry Jones Super Mega Cowboys Stadium Dome in 2012.  It sounds like more college games will be played there than pro games.  It’s good for Dallas we suppose.
  • Looks like Kansas backup, and former starter, Kale Pick will be out a couple of weeks with a leg injury.  Not sure if he will ever see a snap again.
  • Bill Snyder 2.0 is starting to look alot like the first version.  The Wildcats snagged a top ranked junior college quarterback Justin Tuggle from Blinn, much like another former one by the name of Michael Bishop.  This looks to be the next year.
  • The NHL’s Stanley Cup showed up at the Notre Dame game last week.  It will be awhile before the Fighting Irish will see another title of any kind down in South Bend.
  • Strange things are afoot for Missouri.  First off, cornerback Munir Prince left the team due to the transient quadriplegia he suffered in the preseason.  If he plays anymore it could get permanent.  Next up, senior safety Jasper Simmons has been suspended indefinitely from the team.  He had knee surgery after the Illinois game.  Are they just trying to drop a scholarship or something?  At any rate, some very unusual things are going down in Columbia.

Crib Sheet: More Bacon Please

The only other thing this week’s Crib Sheet needs is bacon.  Grab some and check it out:

  • Notre Dame’s Dayne Crist played the rest of the first drive of the game against Michigan with blurred vision out of his right eye.  It was just enough blurry vision to keep him out of the rest of the first half.  It was a great game and we wonder what the score would be like if he was healthy for the whole game.
  • The Heisman Trust will leave Reggie Bush’s recently forfeited trophy vacated.  It was the 0nly thing to do.  We wonder how many other Heisman winners will give up the trophy because of money they took?
  • Oh by the way, speaking of illegibility, Texas tailback Vondrell McGee is out for the rest of the year due to academic illegibility.
  • If it will ever happen, Liberty Mutual will give $1 million to a charity for a penalty free college football game.  The last time it’s happened was way back in 1986.  Not a bad bit of promotion juice for an insurance company.
  • Much like Wrigley Field of baseball, the Big House will get permanent lights for night games.  Will we ever see the docket of Big 10 games go well into the night?  Since the Big 10 Network is around you can bet on the conference trying to expand all of its games throughout the day and weekends.
  • Speaking of stadiums, the Richmond Spiders will actually get to play a home game in their own stadium for the first time in 82 years.  It seems the city owned the place they were playing at and it wasn’t even on campus.  This should help Richmod realize its full potential and become a powerhouse in football for years to come.
  • We see some players go from college football to major league baseball but it’s rare when the other way happens.  Welp it happened with Nick Doscher.  He’s playing at quarterback for Wagner College after a stint as catcher in the farm system for the Kansas City Royals.  This guy must be able to manage the game because of his catcher status.  If he was a pitcher we would guess he would throw all over the place in a passing attack.
  • Phil Fulmer put the full frontal audible attack on Lane Kiffin last week.  He used to be Tennessee  head coach before Kiffin came on.  He’s wondering how Kiffin uses his mojo to get the cush coaching jobs.  It’s a good thing he used his smack talk on his now current CBS analyst gig.  Let the media war begin.
  • The Chick-fil-A Kickoff will now have two games starting in 2012.  We already knew that Tennessee will take on N.C. State but now Auburn will take on Clemson, too.  All this does is make me more hungry for Chick-fil-A sandwiches.
  • Here’s a lesson:  When you talk with an ESPN reporter, more than likely you will be on record.  Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian learned the hard way when he talked about Reggie Bush and not apologizing for the Heisman/eligibility problem.  Serves Sarkisian right.  He was an offensive coordinator during this debacle and he should get some negative rub it too.
  • Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio was so thrilled about his overtime fake field goal for the win against Notre Dame last week that he had a heart attack.  He’s okay, but we think he needs to lay off the coffee a bit.  Notre Dame’s not looking to good this year anyway.
  • Houston, we have a problem.  (I’ve been waiting so long to say that!)  The Cougars quarterback Case Keenum and his backup Cotton Turner are out with season ending injuries.  Keenum has a bum knee and Turner has a broken collarbone.  Houston lost to UCLA in a blow out and they probably won’t recover from these damages.
  • Missouri defensive end Aldon Smith is out two weeks with a broken leg.  A broken leg?  That sounds like more than a two week thing.  Is this guy some kind of cyborg or something?
  • Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins was so pumped about the Buffaloes games against Hawaii that he head butted a player and cut himself.  They needed that emotion to come from behind and win but we’re not sure if it will save the Hawk’s Big 12 campaign.
  • The olny Ohio player to show some emotion and gusto against Ohio State was the mascot.  He jumped Brutus Buckeye and now he’s banned from being a mascot again.  It also turns out that he planned to do it all along.  Now that’s some mascot grudge.
  • Looks like there is a deal in place for Colorado to jump ship to the Pac 10 in 2011.  It’s been a back and forth report regarding the Buffaloes.  The move will be costly but not as costly as Nebraska’s.

Crib Sheet: FCS is Coming For Ya

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.
  • We see reports of crime all the time in the Crib Sheet.  Like another arrest for Missouri’s Derrick WashingtonSports Illustrated’s Jeff Benedict points this out as well.  We think we’ll keep it on the down low from now on.  Maybe just police blotters for the Big 12.  Unless it’s some kind of harmless, whacky crime.
  • 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.
  • Who will win the kicking battle in Manhattan?  Will it be Athony Cantele or Josh Cherry? One thing is for sure, one of these two will lose a game for the Kansas State Wildcats.
  • 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.

Predictions for the Year 2010: The Scotch Version

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?

Crib Sheet: Nobody Saw This Coming

Okay this close to the season and we still have major, er mid-major, moves regarding conference expansion.  So BYU started to teeter and now the WAC blew up.  Further out west there are questions of Pac 10 allegiance.  Please, will the powers that be put all of this on lockdown so we can focus on actually playing football instead of this crap.  The season is about 2 weeks away!  We’re not sure they’re listening so in the meantime, everyone else clue them into this week’s Crib Sheet:

Crib Sheet: Hot and Heavy

The beating heat of the summer is getting to us.  We’re producing an inordinate amount of swass underneath while compiling this week’s very beefy Crib Sheet.  We’re going for some lemonade and to air our sweat regions.  Here’s the Crib Sheet:

Crib Sheet: Media Blitz

We’ve been sacked from the Big 12 Media Days on this week’s Crib Sheet.  We’ll go over the last media day next, as we have a major pile of news dump on you.  Here we go:

Crib Sheet: Turning Our Attention to the Field

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.
  • The Big 12 (10) may not be enough for Jerry Jones.  He wants them to go after Notre Dame and Arkansas.  Okay Jerry, calm down a sec and let’s get the current group figure  out first.  By the way, Arkansas shot down any expansion talk.
  • Apparently Big Game Bob still wants to roll with the west coast even after all of this expansion dancing.  Maybe it’s the fire of competition in his belly.  Maybe it’s what coaches are supposed to say.
  • 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.

Crib Sheet: Meet The New Boss, The Same As The Old Boss

Texas saved the Big 12, or what we are going to call it: the Big 12 (10).  The Pac 10 wouldn’t let Texas have its own network so the Longhorns opted to stay.  When the Big 12 (10) first started years ago, it was because of TV and money.  They led the way into the new television era and now they are doing it again.  In the future, you will see each school have its own television network and it will start with Texas and the Big 12 (10).  Okay, maybe Notre Dame.  At any rate, Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M are getting more money to stay now.  Apparently, it’s status quo time as no real commitment will be required and they are basing staying together by some magic coalition of insiders and outsiders.  It’s a 10 team league with no potential for a championship game and more round robin type play on the field.  Most importantly, Kansas City has some life in its sports scene now.  So let’s all take a breath and check out this week’s Crib Sheet:

  • The Oregon Ducks dismissed quarterback Jeremiah Masoli for drug possession and other citations.  It looks as though this is no LeGarrette Blount situation.  Masoli is out for good for the Quack Attack.
  • The NCAA dropped the hammer down on USC and instituted a 2 year postseason ban and some lost scholarships due to recruiting violations.  No wonder Pete Carroll bolted after last season.
  • Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins is cleared for any wrongdoing in the blackmail of equipment case.  His job is safe for now, but he still needs to clear the hurdle on ticket scandal.
  • Missouri got the could shoulder big time and the local indie newspaper The Pitch talks about how hard they go the shaft.  Poor Tigers.  They’ve been talking smack the loudest in all of this and now they’ve been reduced to abandonment.  At least they are used to it.
  • Chip Brown, the guy who broke most of the actual news in this expansion talk, confirmed that last Friday was the day that Nebraska went official and joined the Big 10.  It’s still early to tell, but this guy has been the one who has called it so far so we’ll trust him when he says something else is up.
  • Boise State will now be in the Mountain West Conference.  They were tired of dominating the WAC for so long and decided to up the competition by playing TCU and Utah every year.  Will this be enough to put the Mountain West on the BCS map?  Well, considering the Big 12 (10) is still around, they will have a much harder time getting there.
  • Here’s the preliminary Big 12 (10) television schedule.  Interesting match ups include the UCLA at K-State, Florida State at Oklahoma, and the losers leave game with Colorado and Nebraska taking each other on.
  • So the Pac 10 lost out on some Big 12 powerhouses and we’ve learned that commissioner Larry Scott flew to Texas and Oklahoma, but was also scheduled to make it to Kansas City.  Was Kansas a backup plan?  We don’ t have to worry about it for now.
  • Stanley Ikenberry, interim president for Illinois, says that 12 is a good number for the Big 10.  After all that’s happened so far, we think that he means that it’s good but it could get better.  Don’t be surprised if the Big 10 starts going on the hunt again, maybe even real soon.
  • Dan Beebe  in his working with keeping the Big 12 (10) alive, knocked his hometown conference’s fan allegiance.  He says that they are about as fair weather as Missouri fans when it comes to athletic competitions.  Man he pulled out all the punches for this one.
  • Speaking of Missouri, Governor Jay Nixon ran his mouth off again dissing outgoing schools Colorado and Nebraska.  This guy pretty much shut out the Tigers from going to the Big 10 and now his state’s school needs to rebuild some bridges burned.  That means he needs to get out of this and let the school handle it, please.
  • The Oklahoma Sooners are interested in a television network, too.  You know, instead of conference wide networks, it makes sense to do school specific.  It’s the next natural progression and would benefit each school in showing other athletic events and possibly cultural and governmental ones too.

Crib Sheet: Hold On To Your Butts

Welp, Armageddon has come.  Nebraska is going to the Big 10.  After the speculation, the rumors, and the threat of the Big 12 South going to the Pac 10, we have our first major move in the modern era of expansion.  The Big 12 meetings last week provided some ultimatums and some wishy-washy talk.  Now it looks as though Friday is the day for the official announcement from the Cornhuskers.  After that, it seems the Big 12 South, sans Baylor and including Colorado, will be going to the Pac 10.  The rest of the teams, well, they are left behind.  Kansas City will become a ghost of a sports town.  Besides all of this depressing talk, there was other news this week.  Here’s the Crib Sheet: