Finally the wait is over. Tomorrow night we kick off another great year of college football! It’s been what seems likes ages since the end of last season and now we have another year of the most pristine competition we’ll ever see on the field. Sure the offseason provided plenty of drama, with coaching changes and conference expansion, but we’re done with the talking and we’re ready to strap it on. The helmet that is. So here’s the last Crib Sheet before the new season:
- Notre Dame got NBC to back down on commercial breaks so they can run a more hurry up type offense. What other school can have that kind of pull? Not even Texas. Brian Kelly wants to air it out and has buy in from everyone involved with Notre Dame.
- More injury news. Roy Finch has a hairline fracture in his ankle and may miss about half of Oklahoma’s season. UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince has a strained oblique and may miss the opener. Mizzou’s Munir Prince is recovering after being knocked out on the practice field. We wish him well.
- UCLA’s Jeff Baca is too dumb to play football this year. He was the left guard for the Bruins and this will most certainly affect the start of the season, when they face the Kansas State Wildcats in Manhattan.
- Rumors had BYU staying in the Mountain West after all. Check and mate for the speculation hounds. They are actually going to the West Coast Conference for everything except football, where they will be independent. We’re not sure they hype is big enough for another religious school but hey would could be wrong.
- We love Twitter, like we always say, and ESPN Big 12 blogger David Ubben loves them too. Check out his list of must follows for this upcoming season of Big 12 football.
- Derrick Washington, Mizzou’s star running back, was suspended from the team indefinitely last week and then charged for sexual assault. Apparently he touched a lady too hard. Will he make it back to the field this year? Maybe so, if the team gets desperate.
- Texas is still ramping up the huge home and homes. This time it’s USC and they will play each other in 2017 and 2018. They are lining themselves up greatly for a marquee Longhorns Network owned football game.
- Kansas State released their depth chart for Saturday’s game against UCLA. The big surprise? Chris Harper is not starting. Bill Snyder 2.0 went with Tremaine Thompson. Hrm, well see if it works Saturday. No surprises at quarterback with Carson Coffman getting the nod.
- Meanwhile, Bo Pelini is mum on who will start for Nebraska this weekend. This may be the only element of surprise coming from the Cornhuskers offense this year.
- Beau Brinkley, Missouri’s long snapper, was snapped up last week for a DWI. This marks yet another drunk issue for the Tigers, on top of Derrick Washington’s heavy touch. Gary Pinkel came out and said he was truly embarrassed about the ordeal. Maybe because it was too close to the start of the season?
- Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram will miss Alabama’s first game due to a knee injury. Yeah, he should’ve gone to the NFL. He made his choice and Alabama is not saying how serious the injury is. Sam Bradford 2.0 anyone?
- David Ubben pointed us to this fascinating story of how the Nebraska to Big 10 shakedown took place. Things were going a mile a minute when it was happening and this recounting of the events points out just how much we don’t know what’s going on in the background.