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.
We were starting to get worried here at the Crib Sheet that this week’s news would be weak. Wednesday rolled around and we were totally saved. Perhaps Easter had something to do with the slow news over the weekend. This week we sift through some practices and look at some red tape a danglin’ around. Here we go:
Bo Pelini is spitting out chewing gum again in Lincoln. He’s fired up after a bad practice and is telling everyone on the block about it. It seems to work fine up there as Nebraska is turning the corner and it’s nice to see some passion from a coach when you’re living with the Pinkel/Mangino/Snyder non speak on a daily basis.
Mike Leach is a definite oddball and his practice tactics are proving it. Making players study on the field in the snow and some high balancing is unique enough. Still I’m not sure if it will work this year after losing Michael Crabtree.
Glen Winston is going to jail for 6 months for kicking the tar out of fellow Michigan State athlete A. J. Sturges. I thought hockey players were supposed to be tough? I guess not. Then again, he was up against Winston and Michael White from the football team. Two football players > one hockey player.
Texas is trying to lure the College Football Hall of Fame away from South Bend, Indiana. Both Dallas and Arlington have put together proposals to build a hall as well as convention center in support of the move. Traditionally Notre Dame is king for football but recent years have shown the Fighting Irish’s prominence waning. Now is a good time to snatch the hall, especially in a state where people eat, sleep, and crap football.
Other universities are interested in Kansas Atheltic Director Lou Perkins and the Jayhawks are willing to pay up to keep him. That makes sense. The guy produced a national champion basketball team and built and honest to goodness football team down there in Lawrence. So another $750,000 goes to Lou. I’m sure it will eat into Mark Mangino’s Ho Ho fund.
Bill Snyder still has no clue who’s gonna quarterback the Kansas State Wildcats. It’s a tough job to replace the overrated Josh Freeman. Chances are we’ll see all three start next season and the one who does a better job with the option will get the nod.
Legal documents stuffed in the AP’s pocket show that the Missouri Tigers officials and staff failed to follow proper steps to keep Aaron O’Neil from collapsing and eventually dieing back in 2005. The director of sports medicine for the athletic department apparently even rejected suggestions from concerned players to check up on O’Neil. Yet another example of the Tigers dropping the ball, off the field even.
Former Duke basketballer Greg Paulus, after trying out for the Green Bay Packers, sat down with Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez to explore the possibility of using his one year of eligibility to play college football. So the Rich must be feeling the heat already because even the Duke football doesn’t want him. Both Paulus and Rodriguez are starting to look a little silly here.
It’s a slow slow week for the Crib Sheet and we’re scrambling to come up with something interesting. Basketball is all over the place so the college sports attention is clearly focused on that. We here at KCCGD are also .seriously resisting the urge of playing along with April Fool’s Day festivity. We almost expected to see something about Utah seceding from the Union and declaring war on the United States for allowing the BCS to continue. At any rate, here’s the news:
From two Heismans to a national title, Tim Tebow has already accomplished so much. Now a speech he said last year will be engraved on Florida’s new football facility. If he runs for president and wins, I’m leaving the country. He’s already being talked about becoming the new leader of the Republican Party.
Nick Sheridan for Michigan is out for the rest of spring drills due to a broken leg. Looks like the battle for QB up there is hobbled. Will it be enough competition to get the Wolverine offense ready for the big season two Rich Rodriguez turnaround?
There’s not much in news this week as we have college basketball and March Madness to fight with. I’m also fighting a nasty food poisoning bit. That said, some news eeked by and we scooped them up. It’s short and sweet but will give you something to stare at besides all of the red ink on your bracket. Here’s this week’s news:
Charlie Weis is going old school and calling plays from the sideline for Notre Dame this season. Well if you’re gonna go out, you might as well do it swinging from the sidelines.
To no one’s surprise, Kansas State is looking to get out of a tougher schedules in Miami for the next couple of years. Looks like Bill Snyder 2.0 is alot like the 1.0 version.
The Senate is reviewing whether or not non BCS conference schools are at a competitive disadvantage when qualifying for a BCS bowl game. Hey guess what? Orin Hatch is leading the cause and he’s from Utah! They still won’t get over it. Jinkies.
What is with the Crib Sheet coming out after major late night holidays? First it was Fat Tuesday, which prompted a cold, and now we have St. Patrick’s Day. The Hooley over at Lew’s Grille and Pub was rocking last night as the beer was flowing and the babes were showing. The traditional corned beef and cabbage was again very tasty but Disco Dick and the Mirrorballs disco sucked. The week of college football news did not suck, however.
It seems Colt McCoy is pulling a Tim Tebow and doing charity work in his offtime. This should help him out on his campaign for the Heisman Trophy this year. Although seriously, if Tim Tebow is coming back, there might be a chance the Tim will win a 3rd time in a row. Bolster those resumes!
Some smart folks over at the University of Kansas did a study about true home field advantages and discovered that Nebraska has the largest of them all. That makes sense considering the whole state goes to the games. My problem is, advantage or not, their home record wasn’t the best in the time of the study. Still, it’s pretty cool to play with numbers.
And a new four year deal hit the BCS with the four big daddys (Fiesta, Sugar, Rose, and Orange Bowl) agreeing to a four year extension. Expect to hear the sports media complain about it for a couple of weeks and then fall back on it, say, about the middle of the season. No surprises here.
Huzzah! An Ohio State Buckeye cheerleader, the captain nonetheless, is trying out for the football team. Looks like he can run fast. I bet he can jump pretty high. I’m thinking that the huddles might be a little too annoying. Maybe he can help them come up with better endzone celebrations.
Missouri finally settled with Aaron O’Neil’s family after his death on the practice field before the season started in 2005. I guess they had to wait a bit for the program to generate some money through the athletics before they could write them the check. Meanwhile, the family of a student, Erek Plancher, will file suit against the University of Central Florida after he collapsed and died on the field last year. It seems like the condition drills always take out some kids like that. The large heads of the coaches is the issue here. They don’t want thier kids to be soft and go the ultra pushy machismo way to do it. Maybe legal action should be allowed against the coaches in the scneario? Jail time possibly?
The Bryce Brown lottery is over with double B picking Tennessee. Okay so he had visits to the Vols the last week or so but was nice enough to keep Kansas State in the running. Don’t fret! It’s time to celebrate the last mention of Bryce for a long time.
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:
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.
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.
It was a big week of news and the Crib Sheet is back this week to tell you what mattered. It was Signing Day last week and the ouija board nearly broke from producing signatures sprinkled out across the whole nation. There were some surprises, but most of what was expected came to be true. We mixed in some political goobery and a little bit o’ smack talk to keep things fresh. My guess is the next couple of weeks are going to be dry news wise, so let this be the spike before the long lull. Here’s the crib:
Newly appointed Jesus of Tennessee Lane Kiffin is crying wolf over Urban Meyer trying to hit up one of his recruits. Lane still got the guy, but maybe the rub off from Al Davis’ fragile shoulders are showing up in Volunteer-land. It’s nice you got the recruit, Lane, but talking smack on Urban will produce some nasty results. Just talk to Georgia. Oh and he apologized.
Missouri too, had a pretty good recruiting class. They promised some tight end play to Sheldon Richardson but realy this kid is defensive tackle all the way. At any rate, look for them to compete for the North and then choke at some point.
Nebraskasigned about 21 kids to fill out the black shirts. Look out for these guys. With the walk on program back on and some key pick ups, Nebraska will be well on their way to almost going back to the Big 12 Championship game.
Conference wise, Texas and Oklahoma went 1 and 2, again. Hey they do that every year so get used to it. Colorado had a top 4 conference recruiting ranking last year and look at how they finished. Sleep tight, Texas A&M.
Bryce Brown is hanging out and making everybody speculate the hell out of him. Everybody else is down and signed but this guy just likes making everyone wait. Also, the big rumor is he might turn pro in some other league. Really, Bryce is a huge tease.
James Franklin, the Maryland offensive coordinator, was named last Thursday as the successor to Ralph Friedgen. Overlooking the fact that Maryland has done crap the last couple of years, this pick makes sense. If the school is satisfied with mediocrity then they should continue in it.
Mike Leech is culling his old lawyer skills and is still banging out a contract with Texas Tech. So the Red Raiders are apparently pulling a Boston College and telling Leech he can’t talk or interview with other teams during his contract. If they break off now, look for him to be somewhere else after this year. Come Texas Tech, fumble this one away!
Okay, this is getting redonkulous. Now all of Utah’s lawmakers are sending a resolution to PrezBama to blow away the BCS and give in to the power of playoffs. Now with football players on hand! Please somebody tell the whole state of Utah to get over it and focus on getting the Mountain West the automatic bid. Going the political route won’t work.
Missouri pulled in LSU tight ends coach Josh Henson. It looks as thought some SEC cred might be seeping into the Big 12. Recruiting wise, this will help out the Tigers immensly. Tim Griffin’s already saying they’re going after Bryce Brown too.
Dana Dimel is coming back to K-State. So he did a great job for Mike Stoops and reviving some offense and it looks like he’ll be doing the same at K-State. Let’s hope that it will be more than Ron Prince’s “Throw-everything-up-and-see-what-sticks” offense.
In sign of bi-partisanship, Rep. Joe Barton (R) from Texas is siding with PrezBama in setting up a college football playoff. Does he really need the votes? Plus, this guy’s an Aggie. Shouldn’t he be working more toward making Texas A&M a real football team instead of playing up to the playoff people?
It’s signing day and the Crib Sheet is trucking along. Apparently this is like the NFL draft for colleges. What I’m thankful for is Mel Kiper is busy preening his hair to care about the high school kids. This is the first time we’re covering signing day and there is an interesting culture surrounding the event. One thing I noticed was how the scouting reporter guys on the sports radio all sound like they lived in the trailer next ot Randy the Ram from the movie The Wresltler. Here’s the sheet:
Bobby Bowden’s got another year in him. Florida State made it to a bowl this year and things are looking up. His contract expired and they brought him on for another year. But seriously, I think it’s some kind of sick bet between Bobby and Joe Pa to see who will kick the bucket on the field first. Tune in next year I suppose.
Jim Halley reminds us signing day is more like signing year. The interesting thing to note is that the number one recruit for running backs, Bryce Brown, committed to Miami o’ Florida, but he’s still shopping around colleges. Yup he’s from Wichita, so K-State still has a chance. I’m not holding my breath.
Another violation by Sarkisian and Washington. They’re saying that this time it’s minor but the demerits are already piling up. Yeah the Huskies were winless last year, but are they going to be handcuffed from winning a game next year?
Walk ons are back for the Nebraska Cornhuskers agian. It’s good to see they are bringing back that tradition. It’s no Rudy, but hey, the whole state is Big Red so you might as well bring some kid on that has the passion.
Now that Bowden’s back, the players are celebrating in the tradition of Florida State football players and getting arrested. Preston Parker fell asleep at the wheel in a McDonald’s drive thru around 5am on January 24th. He blew under the limit, but admitted being drunk and stoned to the cops. He didn’t hurt anybody so this is hilarious.
The Sporting News counted down the top recruits for 2009. Bryce Brown is number one and no one else close to the KC area is in the Top 25. We should be seeing many of the top guys sign today but rumor has it Bryce is holding out a little bit longer.
Ohio State lineman Alex Boone pulls a ‘Don’t Tase Me Bro!’ after yielding a tow truck cable tyring to break stuff. Yup he was D-Runk. I’m not sure if this guy’s stock will fall in the draft this year. Maybe the Dallas Cowboyws will pick him up.
A clinical study shows that football players out of high school are getting bigger, the Homer Simpson way. Instead of doing the GNC Multi Grain Protein Gut Buster, they’re pigging up on fatty food. Unless they’re doing the Atkins, the study says they are on the way to big time shock. Good thing college programs straighten out. Still, the graph’s pretty cool about how big theses guys are getting
Condi Rice says no to the Pac 10 and keeps making the cheddah on the speaker circuit. That makes sense, get money for fluff instead of defending the ridiculous position on the Rose Bowl year in and year out. Please let’s keep politics out of college football. I’m looking at you President Obama.
We kicked off the off season with our first Mascot Monday here at the KCCGD and now we’re continuing the trend with our first edition of the Crib Sheet. Yup, it’s a weekly news round up of college football with our own little Jamaican Jerk style spice tossed on top. Much like how a good number of student-atheletes need a crib sheet to get by the student part, well lay out what you need to know for college football news wise. Chances are you’ll get better news elsewhere, but you won’t walk away from it with a minty fresh feeling like you would hitting up the Sheet. So buckle up because here we go:
Kansas names Kerry Locklin as their new D-Line coach. He replaces Joe Bob Clemens as Joe Bob comes back home to K-State. Hopefully it was part of some ellaborate, Bill Snyder led, recon mission to sniff out the Jayhawks scheme so the Wildcats can notch a win in forever against the Hawks.
Michigan hires Greg Robinson as the new Defensive Coordinator. Whoah, so Syracuse dumps him after the Kansas City Chiefs dump him, and now Rich Rodrieguez wants him? I say take him. Let’s hope the tradition of losing carries over to the Wolverines just enough to keep them mediocre.
Recruiting sucks for the Big 10 this year. Apparently 2 schools can claim five star recruits (Ohio State and Michigan duh). Is this the beginning of the end? Chances are the Big 10 tanking will break the stranglehold on the Rose Bowl.
Finally, Former Missouri Quarterback Chase Daniel is a superstar at ESPN. Source indicate he will also film a commercial with Pittsburgh Steelers quaterback Ben Roethlisburger. Chase will play Ben’s younger, less talented brother while they take turns throwing a football at the back of Stuart Scott’s head. Who will knock out the glass eye first? Tune in and find out.
Welp that’s it for round one of the Crib Sheet. Well be back every Wednesday to spit up nuggets of news we chowed down on from previous week. Until then, eat your vitamins and say your prayers, brotha. Yup, the Yeti’s filling his time by watching a lil wrasslin’ Sunday by way of the Royal Rumble. Hey, you gotta pass the time in the off season somewho. As Ric Flair would say, “WHOOOOOOOO!”
