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:
It’s official, via text message, that Bryce Brown will not be coming back to Tennessee. Will he land at Kansas State? The way Daniel Thomas is looking might draw the Wichita, Kansas native back home to the Wildcats. Tennessee will not release him from his scholarship so that will slow him down.
Big 12 Media Days for Kansas was all about Turner Gill. He landed a great hire at offensive coordinator and Chuck Long. It’s a rebuilding year and they are trying to stay focused on the field and not with all the crap that happened off of it.
Colorado’s Big 12 media day was not as exciting as leat year’s. Oh, they’re stoked this year but we got the sense that they are distracted about moving to the Pac 10. One thing is for sure, if Cody Hawkins starts for the Buffaloes, they will lose every time.
Oklahoma, on the other hand, spent the day talking about the huge expectations they have. Yes, they had a ton of injuries last year. That means that the younger kids have more experience and more time with each other. They should be tough, but we’re not sold yet on national title tough.
Texas A&M’s media day was unheard of. You’d think the cash they got in the expansion deal means that they command more respect at the podium but apparently not.
Texas Big 12 media days was alot like just hanging out. Coach Mack Brown handled the alignment talk well and also took care of the Nebraska contigent in a subdued kind of way.
The assistant coach who took a punch from head coach Mike Locksley sued both him and New Mexico for the fight. We’re thinking he lost the actual fight and is now taking it to the courts.
So assistant coach Mark Nelson of East Carolina resigned because of NCAA allegations that he evaluated players in off-season workout and conditioning drills. Huh? Coaches evaluate all the time. That’s what they do. The NCAA is beginning to be irrelevant and completely out of touch.
Oklahoma running back Mossis Madu got a DUI. He’ll probably be benched for the half of the first game.
ESPN is going 3d! They will broadcast a couple of college football games in the new tech as well. Check out the list here.
IMG bought ISP Sports and now is the mega daddy of all agencies that license pro and college sports media to outlets. These guys will have some major pull when it comes to bringing in more bucks from the supposed holy grail of television deals for college athletics.
Former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli is walking on to Ole Miss in the hopes of still playing football. He was booted off the Ducks for burglary and weed smoking. We all believe in second chances right? This second chance will have a short leash.
Iowa State defender David Simms plead guilty to credit card fraud that he originally denied. It looks like his career might be over up there.
Bill Snyder 2.0 goes old school with his scheduling philosophy for the Kansas State Wildcats. They had Oregon on the schedule, but now they are off. The excuse was the new 9 team schedule for the conference coming up. It was also mutual. So will Miami be next off the list?
Media days are over and camp is about to start. College football is in the air! We aren’t there yet but we have the last top 5 mascots we haven’t covered in Mascot Monday from Phil Steele’s Preseason Top 40 list. This week, we have #13 Virginia Tech and it’s lovable little Hokie Bird. We’re going to answer just what the heck is a Hokie as why and turkey is the mascot for a college sports team. If we ever had this feature run through the football season, Hokiebird’s feature would absolutely fall before Thanksgiving. It’s not November and the Hokies are projected to be tough so let’s see what the bird has to offer.
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:
The Big 12 Preseason media poll is out and we have ourselves a rivalry game for the Big 12 Championship. The sports media picked Nebraska in the North and Oklahoma in the South, with Missouri and Texas shortly behind in both divisions respectively. Speaking more locally, Iowa State’s big season last year didn’t improve their status as they were voted last. Kansas and Kansas State are neck and neck for the middle of the pack, with the benefit of the doubt going to the Wildcats and its coaching experience. Usually the sports media is wrong so we’re anxious to see how it plays out this season.
Meanwhile the All Big 12 Preseason was announced as well. Two Missouri kids, one Kansas, one Kansas State, and a whole bunch of Texas and Oklahoma kids make up the team. That pretty much tells you what the sports media thinks of the talent in the conference. Pretty obvious too.
Iowa State defensive back David Simms looks to be under the police gun for a stolen credit card number and is charged. They haven’t filed charges yet, but the police did search his place. We’ll see if he was the culprit or one of his buddies.
Kansas Frosh Jeremiah Evans’ career is officially over due to his worsened heart condition. It sucks when you can’t get on the field due to health issues and we wish him the best in whatever he decides to do with his life.
Lane Kiffin ticked off Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher by hiring his running back coach for his USC team. Fisher calls it unprofessional, we think it’s the next step in coaching evolution. Courtesy calls are out the window if you want a guy bad enough. It’s dog eat dog out there. The Titans apparently think that USC broke the law too.
Back in his NCAA days, Dan Beebe wanted to contract sports agents with universities so everything could be on the table. If a violation was found, the agent could lose potentially millions and the university may not be on the hook as much. Beebe is looking better and better every week.
Ron Prince’s side of the story was obvious, as a deposition revealed. He was guaranteed money and now he wants it. There was even a napkin thrown in by former Kansas State athletic director Tim Weiser. It’s another he said she said, with a “Memo of Understanding” between the two. The courts will take this one over and we’ll see who gets the dough.
Missouri has some beef left over from last year’s Navy blowout. Blaine Gabbert looks to be the guy and Derrick Washington looks to be his running buddy. The Tigers have a couple of chips including being picked behind Nebraska and not being invited to the Big 10.
Rolling on through Phil Steele’s Preseason Top 40 standings and reviewing the mascot on the list we’ve yet to check out, we find ourselves at number 15 and Auburn’s Aubie. There’s also a confusing status in the War Eagle we’ll take a look at. The Auburn Tigers are a former national championship team and the mascot has won a couple himself. This year, former Iowa State head coach Gene Chizik looks to take the winning attitude down there to the next level, and Aubie looks to follow suit. This week we find out of Aubie’s suit is up for and try figure out just what the heck War Eagle is.
Okay the holidays are over and we are in the middle of summer. College football is so close right now we can taste it. You know how we can tell? We have a buttload of news to go over in this week’s Crib Sheet. So enough jibba jabba, here’s the sheet:
Speaking of the one time rivalry, Nebraska removed the end part of the video they put out earlier this year for their fan video. It said “Beat Texas.” The smack talk is already beginning and it’s not even the start of training camp yet.
Dontavius Jackson will be transferring from Georgia after summer school following his DUI arrest. Goes to show folks, don’t get caught breaking the law if you are a football player. You might get your scholarship dumped.
The two Kansas dudes who were indicted last week have plead guilty in court for the ticket scandal they covered up. Hopefully for Jayhawk fans, this will blow over and they can start focusing on rebuilding for the football season. Or focus on the start of basketball season.
We’ve been trying for the last couple of days to come up with something exciting to attach to the release of EA Sport’s new NCAA College Football 11 game. It’s out. That’s it. Nothing exciting here.
Bob Krause, former Kansas State Athletic Director, described in a deposition how he got duped by Ron Prince at the last second, which then gave Prince a tasty buyout from his contract. So Krause was out of his league big time and now we see why.
Ex Florida Gator Maurkice Pouncey was the subject of an investigation that addressed and allegation that he took about 100K from a middle man to an agent. If the investigation finds it to be true, Florida could lose the Sugar Bowl victory last year. It doesn’t matter to Pouncey because he is in the NFL right now. It seems agents have found a loophole to exploit kids in their senior year. The kids get paid and leave before any repercussions. Kinda like pulling a Pete Carroll. Stewart Mandel points this out and we just found out from Nick Saban that Alabama is investigating its own issue too.
Missouri linebacker Tyler Crane was kicked off the team for violating team rules. Neither Crane or Missouri will say just what he did. It seems like he was a back up so it shouldn’t affect the Tigers this year that much.
11 Notre Dame athletes were arrested for underage drinking at a party last week, including Joe Montana’s son Nate. Doh! It’s nice to see the Fighting Irish are with the times in terms of off the field troubles. This tells us that they might be competitive this coming year.
It seems an investigation will open in Arizona to see if current and former Fiesta Bowl employees made campaign contributions to politicians whom supported the bowl. The major issue is not the contribution but the reimbursement from the bowl. Ya, that’s a no no.
This week on Mascot Monday we take a look at Phil Steele’s #21 pre season top 40 team in South Carolina and their costumed buddy Cocky. Yes, the Fighting Gamecocks have a high falootin’, arrogant little bird named Cocky. We’ll find out whom he took over the job from as well as some other moments in Cocky’s history that let him to his current winning attitude. We’re counting down the rest of the mascots we’ve yet to cover leading up to the final Mascot Monday of the year. After that, it will be football time and no more mascot for the rest of the season. Now, let’s check out Cocky.
The heat is on. It’s on the street. Oh Glenn Fry, you save us from the sultry steam of summer with your cool saxaphone riff and Eddie Murphy praising rock music. Yes, the heat is mos def on as we hit our first hot spot of the summer. It’s just in time, too, as the rain left us watching the Beverly Hills Cop series 10 times over, including the terrible 3rd part. Cabin fever, indeed. So we’re hitting the pool this week and dreaming of the new college football season while laying in our floaties sipping some cold beverages. Hit up the Crib Sheet then do the same.
Even if USC goes undefeated this season, they will not be ranked in the USA Today Coaches Poll. This is what happens when you have recruiting violations. Lane Kiffin has a long time to wait to rebuild the program.
ESPN and the ACC agreed to a 12 year deal which has links to all football games, including some basketball and other non revenue making sports. This looks like something that the Big 12 (10) will get into once they start negotiating their deals.
Alabama moved its game against Georgia to a Thursday night and now because of that change, the students get a day off. Education is way more important than football. Well, not in Alabama we guess.
Erin Andrews shook her almost clothed tail and now will be joining the College Game Day crew with her newly resigned contract for ESPN. If you remember, Andrews was the penultimate sideline reporter babe that ran into some peeping issues and used it to get onto Dancing With the Stars. Let’s hope she wears the same clothing for the football show.
The gates are about to flood open with Big 12 (10) schools launching their own television networks. Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri of all schools are looking to make some cash off their own television rights. Will this set the trend for the rest of the schools across the nation? Tune in to find out.
ESPN’s Big 12 blogger David Ubben talks about the uphill battle that Turner Gill has with his offensive line, now that starting junior tackle Jeff Spikes injured his Achilles tendon and is out for the year. I would for Kansas to fill out the bottom the Big 12 (10) North this year. The new coach has way too many broken parts and the once touted line is now depleted.
Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins is too busy preparing for retirement to pursue the charge of blackmail against William Dent. His job is saved and will be cruising toward closing the door on his career late next year so he really doesn’t need to recoup anything from this guy.
Off season continues for college football and we’re rolling through Phil Steele’s Preseason Top 40 for our Mascot Mondays. This week, it’s #33 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the inanimate Ramblin’ Wreck and buggy Buzz. So we ran into one of the few abstract mascots last week and now we have something solid in an old timey car. On top of that, there’s a giant costumed Yellowjacket. Where one was born from the history of its region, the other comes from the affectionate nickname of the products of the students work in South America. Buckle up, folks, we’re going for a ride through the ATL. Don’t forget the bug spray.
Okay, after a rough week of moving and celebration, we are back in the swing of things at the KCCGD headquarters. This week’s Crib Sheet reminds us that politics and law cover college football like a blanket during the night-time of the offseason. Sure once the sun rises in September and the action goes back on the field, it will all be forgotten. For now, let’s take this week’s edition to plod through the behind the scenes maneuvering that will most certainly shape the year to come.
The parents of Dale Lloyd II are sued the NCAA for the death of their son and consequently will see an introduction of screening for the Sickle Cell Trait in football players starting this August. Finally, after the numerous football deaths piled up the NCAA realized that they need to check for this trait to help prevent any future casualties. Let’s hope they stick to it and follow through on any recommended treatment.
We’re going to see some legal maneuvering that will eclipse the level that Texas Tech has with Mike Leach with the Big 12 Bylaws and both Nebraska and Colorado. It’s not 100% rosy clear that both school will have to cough up all of their money, but ESPN’s David Ubben helps pick apart some of the more questionable parts of the Bylaw that will surely be used by the leaving schools’ lawyers.
Tommy Tubberville ran his mouth last week about the Big 12 falling apart and now the Big 12 reprimanded him. It looks like any official/coach within the Big 12 that talks smack about the conference will get in trouble big time. Solidarity, brotha. Solidarity.
Okay so we were a couple of days late, but when you combine moving the KCCGD headquarters, ‘Merica’s birthday, and yours truly’s birthday, time gets tight. So here we are sitting in the middle of the week after a long haul and holidays pumping out yet another mascot to review for Mascot (mostly) Monday. This week we hit up Phil Steele’s number 34 ranked preseason team in Stanford with its official and unofficial mascots. The path to having a color be a mascot had some controversial bumps, while the path for the tree just seemed plain goofy. That said, we’re glad we’re back at the keyboard to bring you another mascot to munch on.
Summer’s in full swing and we are heading straight into one of the most celebrated holidays of the year: Independence Day! It’s been quiet for the last couple of weeks so we are anxious to roll out some explosives and blow some stuff up. If anything, it will help put a sparkly glow on the news we have for you this week. It seems the aftermath of expansion is an unending line of duds on wet bottle rockets. So fire up the grill and we’ll fire up the display of news to blast in front of your patriotic eyes. On to the Crib Sheet:
So we knew that Texas A&M received an invite from the SEC, but now it turns out that Oklahoma also got one. The SEC was real quiet in all of the expansion frenzy and it seems they prefer to strike like a ninja instead of a minutemen. At least we know their strategy the next time this happens.
Chip Brown has been the Woodward and Bernstein in the expansion saga, and Sports Illustrated gives him his due. Brown went from sports writer at the Dallas paper to professional blogger and he’s well on his way to becoming the premiere one, next to us of course.
The Kansas Jayhawks hired an auditor to help police the ticketing scandal that came out in the last couple of months. They could hook up with StubHub, as they are becoming the front door internet-wise for school specific ticket sales. Ain’t technology grand?
The NCAA proposed to delay scholarships for athletes to July 1 before their senior year. This may help cut down on recruiting kids before they even hit high school. We’re sure Lane Kiffin is already finding away around this. He’s going to need it with the lockdown USC has for the next couple of years.
Missouri might come out with their own TV network, not just Texas. This is one advantage the Big 12 (10) has over most other conferences. They have the freedom to create their own networks, not only for smaller sports but for arts, education, and other items. Think public access but on a larger scale. We’re going to see this trend quicker in the next couple of years and conference with television networks.
We here at the KCCGD loves the Twitter (follow us @kccgd). We especially love how coaches are coming up with creative ways to recruit using the technology. Look at Jim Harbaugh. He could be quoting Greek mythology but he’s really talking about a recruit. Great stuff indeed.
The Colorado Buffaloes are following Nebraska’s lead and are looking for a way to get out of the Big 12 (10) a year early. Will they eat the cost more or send in the sharks to find a way around the massive exit fees? No matter how it turns out, it should mean more cash for the remaining members of the conference.
New Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tubberville thinks the Big 12 (10) won’t last much longer with the new deal. He goes back to the original argument about the uneven revenue sharing. Seeing as he came from the SEC, it makes sense that he prefers the older model. If he makes the Red Raiders a bigger winner than what it was before, he may change his tune though.
We’re inching closer and closer to a new college football season and we are counting down the mascots that have yet to be profiled on Mascot Monday, using Phil Steele’s Pre-Season Top 40 Rankings for 2010. This week we are looking at #32’s Middle Tennessee State’s Blue Raiders and their mascot, Lightning. He’s kind of this Pegasus looking thing that came from a line of mascots wrapped in some controversy. The other interesting note from this week’s entrant is just how high a Sun Belt Conference team made it in the rankings. We’ll get to that and Lighting rocking the stage so let us strike right through this.
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.
Welcome back to another Mascot Monday and the first official day of summer! Now that the expansion feeding frenzy is behind us, it’s time to start looking toward actual football. Guess what? College football returns in a little over two months! We are breaking the mascot post pattern and will reel off mascots we haven’t covered that are listed in Phil Steele’s Top 40 preseason rankings. Running down the list, we see our first one in the University of Central Florida. The #36 preseason ranked UCF Knights employ the auspiciously looking mascot by the name of Knightro. No, not the American Gladiators reject, but a giant knight.
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.
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.
