Tag Archives: Big 10

Crib Sheet: Silent Night, Bowl-y Night

Welp last week was a big rush.  This week, all is calm and all is bright.  Christmas is in a couple of days and we are expecting some major snow.  So we can chalk up the lack of news to that and everyone getting ready for bowls.  We are done with Christmas shopping and got our Topsy’s popcorn, so we will be taking a few days off ourselves.  We’ll probably do something around Christmas, but look for a Bowl Pick It update Monday.  Until then here is this week’s meek little Crib Sheet:

  • Former Kansas coach Mark Mangino gets a $3 million settlement from the university for his resignation and termination fo his contract.  He had about $9 million left to go.  Welp he doesn’t have to work for a couple of more years and gets a fat holiday check.  Mangino made out pretty well.
  • It looks like Bill Snyder 2.0 and the Wildcats are looking to pick up scraps leftover from new Kansas head coach Turner Gill’s blowout of the staff.  They are interviewing former defensive coordinator Clint Bowen to fill the vacancy left by Vic Koenning’s departure to Illinois.  This has happened before.  Joe Bob Clements went to Kansas as a defensive line coach even though he played for Kansas State.  He went back home to Snyder 2.0 though and we won’t be surprised if Bowen doesn’t do the same thing.
  • It seems the Big 10 expansion talks have stirred up issues in the Big 12.  Commissioner Dan Beebe expects no change for the Big 12 but glosses over the issues currently in the conference.  Namely, revenue sharing and setting up a television network.  Hey, maybe it will light a fire under the conference to pony up and compete with the other big conferences media-wise.
  • Even though he didn’t come home with a Heisman, Ndamukong Suh has been picking up plenty of awards.  The latest one happens to be the AP Player of the Year.  This is the first time a defensive player ever won the award.  I’m sure his Nebraska head coach, Bo Pelini, congratulated him while chewing gum openly.

Big 12 Bowl Preview and Predictions

Alrighty,  we are in the 1st quarter of bowl season and fortunately we don’t have any Big 12 bowl games until next week.  So we have the opportunity to preview and predict what’s coming up in the next couple of weeks for the Big 12.  We’ll talk briefly about the match up and go into our expert predictions.  Chew on this while you are doing your last minute shopping on Amazon.  Oh and please pick us up something nice while you’re at it.

Continue reading Big 12 Bowl Preview and Predictions

Crib Sheet: Back and Ready to Go Bowling

bowling2009

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.

Barspotting: 810 Zones in on Leawood

810zone_logo

This week we go back to the 810 Zone, but this time it’s the one that started it all in Leawood, Kansas.  Now before we started the blog, we had a nasty television mix up at this location.  Hopefully things will be better because we are there for the Big 12 North battle.  Who will win in the defense match up between Kansas State and Nebraska?  Show up to find out.  Meanwhile, we’ll snack on some apps, marvel at the number of beers on tap, and perhaps play a game or two.  It should be a kick butt time and we hope you can make it out.  Consider this the make-up for missing out on alot of football from Paddy O’Quigley’s last week.

Continue reading Barspotting: 810 Zones in on Leawood

Crib Sheet: Big Fat Bully

manginoarguing

So yesterday there was a big hoopla about Kansas coach Mark Mangino and his reported abuse of players earlier this year.  What’s the abuse?  From what we’re read so far it’s yelling and poking a player in the chest.  Okay, so if this guy gets canned over just that, then it’s an indictment on the culture that is Kansas athletics.  It’s college football people.  If you don’t do your job, you will be disciplined.  Now if it turns out he did more, then it’s more on Mangino’s wide shoulders and his lack to control his emotions.  Our take?  Kansas is in a losing streak and the fair weather, bandwagon, and easy to over hype their expectations players, player’s parents, and fans have shown their true colors.  What coach will want to come there to lead a football team when the everyone at Kansas University whine and cry like a bunch on babies?  Oh and superstar, Pullitzer prize winning Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock says this happened because Mark Mangino is fat.  Great reporting there, guy.   Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:

  • Now this is what rivalries are all about.  The Idaho athletic director refused to board an airplane because it was painted in Boise State colors.  We love hearing stories like this.  Hopefully they paint a jet or a helicopter in Idaho colors soon.
  • USA Today has an article about the two biggest money making conferences, the SEC and Big 10.  They fill up the media outlets.  The SEC inked a deal with ESPN and they are pumped everywhere.  Meanwhile, the Big 10 has their own flipping channel.  The difference?  The SEC is actually winning games.  We’re tired of both conferences.
  • Speaking of Boise State, they are now selling stock in their program.  Yes, a big time college program needs to generate money by offering shares in their program.  Do you see Texas or Florida doing this?  Nope.  That’s because they actually have a fan base.
  • Tennessee student Corey Zickafoose won’t press chargers against the three Volunteer football players that attempted to rob him last week. That’s pretty hardcore.  Most people are calling him stupid.  We’re not sure where we land on this one.  Second chances are American, but is doing it for the sake of your favorite football a good reason to give one? Oh and Tennessee went ahead and dismissed two of them from the team.
  • Ole Miss chancellor Dan Jones banned their fight song at games because the students typically chant “the South will rise again” at the end.  While the intent is to remove the stigma that the Rebels have regarding racial insensitivity, students chanting that the south will rise again seems a little small compared to other methods he could employ.  Banning the use of the rebel flag (which they have) makes just a little more sense than banning the fight song, especially when it comes to recruiting players.

Manhattan Makes Us Miss The College Life

The Manhattan Miracle was once thought to be just a one time thing.  Fast forward to 2009 and we now know it never left.  Are we talking about football?  Partly.  We’re also talking about the little city of Manhattan and the miracle that it can play with the big dogs when it comes to having a great time.   We revisited some old school places and discovered some new ones.  Then we went to the Sunflower Showdown and witnessed the rise of the miracle on the field.  All in all it was a top notch time and we were happy to see the good ole days just one more time.

Continue reading Manhattan Makes Us Miss The College Life

Pick It and Stick It: Another Road to Flick On

flickitdontstickit

We’re packing again and heading out west again, but this time it’s a little farther.  A full tank of gas and some pajammy jams are all locked up and we will be hitting the road after work.  Road trips are a big deal to the KCCGD family and we’re happy to take another one for the weekend.  Make sure you have good tunes, some tasty drinks, and the right company for road trips.  Also, bring a camera because you’ll never know what you’ll see.  Hopefully, we’ll get to pick up a pecan log from Stuckey’s on the way.  Here’s the the pick set for the week:

Continue reading Pick It and Stick It: Another Road to Flick On

Pick It Standings Week 06: Bored with Florida

song-chart-memes-peppers-songs

The weekend of football left us a little deflated.  There was much hype going into the Florida vs LSU game but it ended up being pretty boring.  The other games on the docket were pretty uneventful.  It’s saying something when the most exciting game of the week came from the Big 10 of all places.  The pick it standings this week reflect that.  There were lots of easy calls and people missed most of the same picks.  Ho hum.  The next week should spice up at bit, especially with the Red River Rivalry coming our way.

Favored Aub Kan OHSt Tex FLSt Fla Iowa
Spread 2.5 19.5 16.0 32.5 3.0 7.5 8.0
Underdog Ark IASt Wis Colo GT LSU Mich
Team Name Points
Mangino
is FAT!!!
Ark
(5)
IASt
(4)
Wis
(7)
Colo
(15)
GT
(3)
LSU
(2)
Mich
(1)
113
Daniel
Thomas is the man!
Aub
(13)
Kan
(3)
OHSt
(8)
Tex
(5)
GT
(11)
Fla
(1)
Iowa
(4)
110
Katpak Aub
(14)
IASt
(5)
Wis
(6)
Colo
(9)
GT
(4)
LSU
(3)
Iowa
(2)
104
krizzou Aub
(4)
IASt
(17)
OHSt
(11)
Tex
(14)
GT
(13)
Fla
5)
Mich
(15)
98
Snyder
In Syder
Aub
(10)
Kan
(9)
OHSt
(3)
Colo
(4)
GT
(2)
LSU
(1)
Iowa
(6)
88
King
Of Pop Had A Va-J-J
Aub
(16)
Kan
(3)
Wis
(7)
Tex
(11)
FLSt
(5)
Fla
(4)
Iowa
(1)
83
KSU
finally makes a bowl again
Aub
(6)
Kan
(12)
Wis
(8)
Tex
(2)
GT
(15)
Fla
(3)
Iowa
(10)
81
KSOFM Aub
(3)
Kan
(15)
OHSt
(7)
Tex
(11)
FLSt
(13)
LSU
(14)
Iowa
(16)
60

You may notice the results are a little slim.  Well we don’t include the picks where everyone else chose the same.  So for instance, this week everyone picked Virginia Tech, Penn State, Oregon, Alabama, Miami, and BYU.  They missed South Carolina, Oklahoma State, and TCU.  With that out of the way we once again point out Krizzou being the lone rebel and going with Baylor against Oklahoma.  Good call by Mangino is Fat!!! for picking Arkansas.

Rank Pick Set Name Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Total Pts
1 KSU finally makes a bowl again 125 138 149 133 84 81 0 0 0 0 710
2 Katpak 97 137 163 114 78 104 0 0 0 0 693
3 Mangino is FAT!!! 111 124 155 132 57 113 0 0 0 0 692
4 King Of Pop Had A Va-J-J 91 121 149 151 57 83 0 0 0 0 652
5 KSOFM 111 123 154 108 88 60 0 0 0 0 644
6 krizzou 100 113 141 132 46 98 0 0 0 0 630
7 Daniel Thomas is the man! 104 109 0 123 95 110 0 0 0 0 541
8 Purple Yeti 119 0 155 85 73 88 0 0 0 0 520
9 Polly want a Tinkle 0 0 0 96 73 0 0 0 0 0 169

We’re almost at the middle of the season and the pack is starting to break away.   Minus any major upsets, it looks as though it will be a three person race between KSU finally makes a bowl again, Katpak, and Mangino is FAT!!!  There’s a battle brewing for the cellar, too, between the Purple Yeti and Daniel Thomas is the man!  But there’s still plenty of season left over and now that many of the Top 25 teams won’t have that many weekends off, the points should bump up.  Get ready, because the BCS standings are coming out next week.

GameDay: SEC is the Big Brother of College Football

littlebrother

Now this is a Big 12 and Kansas City blog but today we are going to dip into the hype and look at the SEC.   Everyone in the country says the Southeastern Conference is the best college football conference on the planet.  Many people, especially around here pooh-pooh that notion.  But when looking at the numbers and opening conference play this week, it’s kind of hard to argue against that.  The SEC has 4 undefeated teams.  Every other conference has at most 2 (including the Big 12 and the Big 10).  Now you might complain that the non conference schedule for the SEC has been weak, but they handled teams like Virginia Tech and the some what surprising Washington.  Even so, they didn’t trip up like the other conferences and beat the teams they are supposed to.  Yet they still get the ire of others.  That kinda reminds me about how little brothers look at big brothers.

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Pick It and Stick It: It’s Getting Hard

nose-picking

Well hard and cold.  Hard because the teams are starting to even out and we are actually seeing tougher calls for the spread.  On top of that, the confidence points don’t work out too well anymore.  There won’t be hardly anymore Off bets to drop the big points on.  Cold because of the weather.  It’s getting nippy out folks.   Bundle up and bring the Irish coffee.

Favorite VS Underdog Final Status (times in CDT)
(20)BYU VS Utah St. 24 Fri, Oct 2 at 8:00 pm
(6)Virginia Tech @ Duke 17 Sat, Oct 3 at 11:00 am
(13)Iowa VS Arkansas St. 21 Sat, Oct 3 at 11:00 am
Michigan St. VS (22)Michigan 3 Sat, Oct 3 at 11:00 am
(3)Alabama @ Kentucky 15.5 Sat, Oct 3 at 11:21 am
(10)Cincinnati @ Miami (OH) 29 Sat, Oct 3 at 12:00 pm
(15)Penn St. @ Illinois 7 Sat, Oct 3 at 2:30 pm
(18)Georgia VS (4)LSU 3 Sat, Oct 3 at 2:30 pm
(9)Ohio St. @ Indiana 18 Sat, Oct 3 at 6:00 pm
(21)Mississippi @ Vanderbilt 9.5 Sat, Oct 3 at 6:00 pm
(25)Georgia Tech @ Mississippi St. 6 Sat, Oct 3 at 6:30 pm
(8)Oklahoma @ (17)Miami (FL) 7.5 Sat, Oct 3 at 7:00 pm
(7)USC @ (24)California 5 Sat, Oct 3 at 7:00 pm
(11)TCU VS SMU 28 Sat, Oct 3 at 7:00 pm
(5)Boise St. VS UC Davis Off (0) Sat, Oct 3 at 7:00 pm
(12)Houston @ UTEP 15 Sat, Oct 3 at 8:00 pm
(16)Oregon VS Washington St. 33.5 Sat, Oct 3 at 8:15 pm

Okay so the only Off just happens to be Boise State.  The BCS Bronco Busting Broncos  are riding there way to a somewhat cake conference schedule.  Will they make it?  UC Davis will help.  Cincinnati is supposed to roll Miami of Ohio even though it’s a rivalry game.  The other Miami is hosting Landry Jones and Oklahoma.  Looks like the loss to Virginia Tech was enough to put the Sooners out ahead on the spread.  Georgia and LSU have the smallest spread because, well, it’s the SEC and it’s Defense.  Did you see LSU last week?  Yeah it will be close.  The other close game will be the Paul Bunyan Trophy contest that pits Michigan against Michigan State.  Last week’s gift for the Wolverines is why the are favored 3.  It’s 3 points from the referees and the Big 10.

Crib Sheet: Need More Cowbell

cowbell

It’s another week of college football news and we are getting into a rhythm.  Most of the news churns up and out on Saturday and Sunday now.  I would say the amount of news tripled since the start of the season.  But we are taking it all in and making some sweet music for you to kick back and zone out on.  Let’s just consider this the greatest hits collection from the week.  Like any good compilation we have peaks and valleys then finish off with a strong note.  And no Kanye.  Now that’s what I call Crib Sheet!  Rock on below:

  • Steve Sipple from HuskersExtra.com talks about how the Cornhuskers are scheduling weak opponents and acceptance of such philosophy.  Welcome to what the Kansas State Wildcats did every year.   Now everyone is doing it.  Hey, at least they fill a slot in with a quality opponent.  They have Virginia Tech coming up.
  • Speaking of the Wildcats, Bill Snyder 2.0 just inked a 5 year, $10 million dollar deal with program.  They had to sign a new one with the new school president and athletic director.  But five years?  He can probably leave whenever and take a paper pushing job with the department when he’s done.  Hopefully he will have turned the program around in three.
  • Apparently swine flu is breaking out all over on football teams across the country.  They need to start washing their hands and behind their ears before practices and such.  Weren’t players supposed to be bigger, faster, and tougher in the new millennium?  Since when did a flu cause a freak out?  Man up, players (but don’t shake my hand).
  • Erin Andrews, resident ESPN sideline hottie, told her story on Oprah last week.  For those of you who don’t know, or listen to the news, Andrews was filmed nude by a peeping tom in some hotel room a couple of weeks ago.  She stated that she thought her career was over.  Um, she’s seriously mistaken.  If anything her nudity made her more popular.  Just talk to every Hollywood actress out there.  They dip into the nude pool when their careers are threatened.
  • Just in cased you missed it, Stephen F. Austin barely beat Texas College 92 – 0 last weekend.  That’s right.  Not 9, not 2, but 92 points.  It’s nice to see some joystick scores on the field every once in awhile but this is ridiculous.   Texas College should’ve hit the restart button.
  • The power went out before the half of the Montana vs UC-Davis game over the weekend too.  It took some time for the UC-Davis staff to get it up and going.  The home field advantage wasn’t enough, however as Montana went on to win 17-10.
  • Even though highly touted Colorado is 0-2, Dan Hawkins job might be safe.  ESPN Big 12 blogger Tim Griffin talks about how broke the Buffaloes are and why buying Hawkins out could hurt more.   That’s real good news for every other team in the Big 12 North.
  • You’d figure after losing a close game that you can talk about it with a little class. But Notre Dame’s Charlie Weiss dashes all hopes of respectfully losing by blaming the Big 10 officials in their last second loss to Michigan last week.  The schedule is weak enough for the Domers to finish with a double digit win record.  Focus on that Weiss.
  • Oklahoma fans from around the globe are supporting Landry Jones and his pencil thin mustache.  Even the American Mustache Institute chimed in for their support of the molestache.  Considering how he’s played on the field so far, there shouldn’t be any complaints about that mouth hugger.

Pick It Standings Week 2: No Excuses

fantasy-football

This week’s Pick It results are in and it looks as though some people forgot to set picks again. Including me. It’s a new system but what I missed was actually picking opponents on top of setting the confidence. So I was intrigued on the big rivalry game between Notre Dame and Michigan. “It’s just one game. Surely you didn’t get distracted off of one game, right?” You see, it’s more than just a rivalry. Jolly is a huge Michigan and subsequently a Big 10 fan. I used to hear lots of crap about Big 10 this and winningest program that. Being a Big 12 boy myself as well as a former catholic high school grad, it was necessary for me to take the opposite side this week and root for Notre Dame. I even bought a fitted cap to wear for the game. Well it didn’t pan out as I hoped and missing the picks this week only turns the knife deeper. It’s okay, though, everyone likes an underdog and the Purple Yeti just became one. Heck, it worked out for Rudy. Here’s the results:
Continue reading Pick It Standings Week 2: No Excuses

Crib Sheet: Going Prime Time

prime time

Hey guess what?  The Crib Sheet is BACK for the regular season.  We enjoyed digging up some tasty news nuggest during the offseason so much that we are going to roll it into the regular season rotation.  That’s great news alone.  So for those of you not familiar with the format, let us explain what the Crib Sheet is all about:  We scour the interwebs for stories not hears too well and stories that are local to the Kansas City area, adding our unique twist on it.  So rejoice in its return and enjoy this week’s Crib Sheet:

  • Indiana is cashing in big time by giving up a home game in 2010 and playing Penn State at FedEx Field, home of the NFL Washington Redskins.  It looks like this trend is here to stay with college teams playing in pro football (and baseball) stadiums.  I guess it will work out for schools that get major payouts, $3 million for Indiana, but it still sucks that hometown fans have to travel or miss out on games.
  • Tennessee running back Bryce Brown is cleared of any NCAA violations for questions in his recruiting process.  Now he can focus on becoming yet another highly touted athlete with a dark, questionable past.  Sometimes the news just writes itself.
  • John Malkovic: Actor chimes in on the upcoming college football season.  He doesn’t say anything too outrageous and we’re glad to see that hoity toity actors can enjoy the grid iron as well.  We’re not so sure, however, how coaches turned actors will fare.  Yikes!
  • So, everything is big in the new Cowboys stadium.  Check.  Tons of college football teams are playing there as well.  Check.  The Oklahoma vs BYU game is sold out.  Check.  $25 for outside concourse access only.  WHAT?  We get that the mega stadium will draw mega bucks, but when you’re not even in the dang stadium, you shouldn’t have to drop that chunk of change just to be there.
  • Mike Gundy’s blackout to prepare for Georgia led to an arrest for one player and another leaving the team.  Doh!  It looks as though locking things down loosened up the team a bit.  Will they get it together before their big opener?  Tune in this weekend.
  • St. Paul, a division II school, canceled its season opener because they don’t have helmets or pads.  WHAT?  It’s not that they couldn’t afford it, but the numnuts who ordered waited a little bit too late.  They should put that guy in a tackling dummy and let the team try out the new gear on him.
  • Blaine Gabbert locked up the starting job at Missouri.  Now the fight for number 2 just got easier.  The other Blaine, Blaine Dalton, was booted off the team for a DUI arrest.  That’s alright, though, as it sounds like the Tiger’s focus this year may be more running intensive.
  • The Alamo Bowl replaced the Big 10 opponent in favor of a Pac 10 number 2. That should heat up the competition for the Big 12 and give more legitimacy as big time conferences for both parties involved.
  • Apparently Jim Harbaugh, with help from a booster, now has a $50-$70k toilet to do his business in at Stanford.  So I guess when their season goes into the crapper, at least it will be comfortable and plush.
  • Bill Snyder 2.0 named Carson Coffman as his starter going into the opener for the Kansas State Wildcats.  Competition is a good thing, but he’s being consistent on this one.  If anything, Snyder 2.0 is known to switch things up and play people in rotations.  Grant Gregory, you still have a shot.
  • Rich Rodriguez is taking it from all sides these days.  We find out that current and former players are complaining about working too many hours for the football team, even though everyone does it and they he has an ally in Ohio State Buckeye players.   An investigation is coming to get to the bottom of a rule no one follows.  Now we hear him getting sued in a failed deal for land development in Virginia.  Notice that the piece came from the Ann Arbor news website.  Seriously, wait until half the season is over when they are looking to finish the same way they did last year.  By then RichRod won’t be able to fight back the tears.

Spit Ball Predictions for 2009

spitball

We can take a couple of more days to draw up a preview of each conference and then roll the dice on how the bowls will shore up but that would take way too much time and reach far out of our happy little niche.  So what we are going to do instead is spit up some predictions for what’s going to happen this year in college football.  We may talk about your favorite conference, we may not.  Chances are we’ll predict the title winner, but we may over look the Outland Trophy Award winner.  Who knows?  We’re loading up our straws (or empty pens) and seeing what sticks to the wall for 2009.

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Crib Sheet: The Flood Gates Have Opened

flood_gates_football

Media days are over and the flood gates have opened up for college football news.  Practices start this week and the preview magazines are all over the place.  We are so close and the Crib Sheet has made it so far.  We’re not sure yet if we’ll continue this in the regular season or not, but for the next couple of weeks prepare to get bombarded with news from all sides.  Bring a snorkle, here is this week’s Crib Sheet:

  • Wrapping up Big 12 Media we have K-State and Bill Snyder still angry about the audits after Jon Wefald left.  Bill, it happens after every school president leaves.  Relax.  The sad thing is people are talking about that and not his return at the media days.  Maybe he is spending too much time keeping up with technology.
  • Colorado coach Dan Hawkins backtracked from the 10 win guarantee and stated that it was a challenge to his team to win 10 games.  There is no way he is going to achieve that goal.  The way the North is looking in the Big 12 and the toughness blowing up from South, it would be hard pressed for this Buffalo team to compete.
  • Sergio Kindle from Texas made a surprise appearance at the media days.  Awhile ago he crashed a car into an apartment complex apparently while texting.  We think he was drunk.  He got away and Mack Brown will make sure he leaves the phone at home from now on.
  • Big 10 media days happened as well.  The big surprise is they might adjust the schedule to pad some games at the end of the season.  They need that to actually compete in the big bowls that happen around the start of the year.  The not so big surprise is that Joe Pa is not going to retire soon.
  • Steven Sipple seems to be the only one crying about the new Cowboys Stadium in Texas.  He makes a good point but the massive complex might help draw more money for the league.  Yes, it would continue the South slant perception in the Big 12, but that’s  a perception and not a reality.
  • Hawaii coach Greg McMakin apologized about a remark he made at the WAC media days when the Rainbow Warriors played The Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Hawaii Bowl.  He essentially said the Fighting Irish danced like they were little things that the British call cigarettes.  Yeah, he probably shouldn’t have said it in a press conference.  But it’s a little ridiculous that he is now suspended for 30 days with no pay.
  • Looks like Jake Trotter polled 29 of the 38 football players at the Big 12 media days and found that Ralphie is the most favorite mascot, followed by this week’s Mascot Monday entrant Bevo.  We here at the KCCGD think that maybe the football players polled should take a better look at some of the local talent (Willie the Wildcat, Truman, Big Jay, and Baby Jay) before they plunk down their choice.
  • When Lee Corso suffered a stroke in May, everyone thought his career would be over.  Well, not so fast my friends.  The former coach and now goofy commentator is hitting the weights hard to get ready for his return to College GameDay on ESPN.  Good luck, Lee.
  • Looks like Oklahoma will be playing Army for a 2 game series in 2018.  No, they won’t be playing at Yankee Stadium, it will be at each team’s home field.  We’re gonna go out on a limb and say that Army will be competitive by then, either from the Black Knights rising or the Sooners dropping.  Hopefully they’ll keep those cool camo uniforms for the game.