Tag Archives: Big 12

College, Football, GameDay

GameDay: SEC is the Big Brother of College Football

Leave a comment

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.

Continue reading GameDay: SEC is the Big Brother of College Football →

College, Football, Picks

Pick It and Stick It: Don’t Choke On It

Leave a comment

Dignose

We were unfortunate last night not to witness the Nebraska and Missouri game.   Though the radio was on, we couldn’t get a good grasp of just how muddy and mucky it was to play.  2-0 at halftime is a wacky score.  But we didn’t expect Missouri to choke away the game and 27 points in the fourth quarter.  What did we find out?  Nebraska has the fast track to the Big 12 North title.  Missouri is much like their new quarterback Blaine Gabbert:  young, inexperienced, talented, but not yet ready.  The Tigers did reload this year, but the bullet jammed up a bit last night.  Let’s jam on to this week’s Pick It and Stick It:

Continue reading Pick It and Stick It: Don’t Choke On It →

College, Football, Picks

Pick It Standings Week 05: Feeling Overhyped

Leave a comment

song-chart-memes-striped-shirt

The non conference schedule is over and the Big 12 is limping out.   Oklahoma losing another close on to Miami capped off a 34-14 non conference schedule with one more game remaining.   The Arkansas rout of Texas A&M Saturday especially stung because it was from a SEC team.  So it looks as though that the Big 12 won’t end up being the 2nd strongest conference.  That can hurt Texas if they notch a loss and there’s no undefeated team in the conference.  Heaven forbid USC or even Ohio State sneaks into the national title game again.   One thing is for sure, the SEC is living up to the hype this year.  Now it’s time to figure out if we lived up to our Pick It hype:

Continue reading Pick It Standings Week 05: Feeling Overhyped →

College, Football, GameDay

GameDay: FARMAGEDDON HAS COME!

Leave a comment

farmageddon2009

So the only real big game hyped up in the area this week is Kansas State taking on Iowa State at Arrowhead Stadium.  The other local teams are on break and getting ready for conference play next week.  This is a great opportunity for these two teams to showcase themselves (on a national spotlight even).  Both programs are suffering a bit right now.  Both of them will be run centric and defense heavy.  Both have new coaches (albeit one is returning).   Both teams were projected to be in the cellar of the Big 12 North this year.   Well it may not mean much for everyone else, but it means the whole season for these two team.

For Iowa State, they’ve always been in the shadow of Iowa for years.  Sure, there’s been times when the Cyclones were up and the Hawkeyes were down.  But last year and especially this year, Iowa State is taking a back seat.  They axed coach McCarthy last year and ended up with what looks like a trade with Auburn.  McCarthy went on the head coach the Tigers where Iowa State got defensive coordinator Paul Rhodes.  It’s a new regime for the Cyclones and expectations are that this guy will be instilling defense into a league that forgot how to spell it.

Meanwhile, Manhattan’s favorite son has returned in the form of Bill Snyder 2.0 to build back the program that was once a national title contender.  After the embarrassing skid mark that was Ron Prince, Snyder 2.0 is back to bring street cred back to the Wildcats.  And he’s doing it in the same way that Rhodes is trying to do up north.   Defense and a big ole running game is what was missing last year and Snyder 2.0 is hell bent on bringing it back.   Fortunately he has help in a JuCo transfer by the name of Daniel Thomas to help lead the way.

So today’s game is much more than deciding who will share the cellar with Colorado in the Big 12 North this year.  It’s a progress game.  The winner will have a better shot at making the most improvement this year.  The loser will have to eat it and plan on building for much longer.  Being the Kansas State grad that I am, I’m pulling for Snyder 2.0.  But I think the fact that I’m not going to Arrowhead shows just how close this game might be.  Let’s hope it’s not on ugly game on both sides of the field.  Now off to the bunker.  IT’S FARMADGEDDON!

College, Football, News

Crib Sheet: Icing It Down

Leave a comment

kneeinjuryicing_Full

Much of the staff for the KCCGD (all one person of it) is knocked down under injury this week.  Lower back pains are not an easy ailment to handle.  Granted it’s no puke inducing concussion, but we know how limiting an injury can be.  Usually a team would be lucky enough not to have any of their stars miss a game or two during the season.  Usually you rest them at halftime or have them skip the easy games.  In this BCS culture today though now you have to play your top guys all the time, even when hurt.  So in that spirit, we achingly bring this week’s Crib Sheet:

  • The College Football Hall of Fame is moving from South Bend to Atlanta.  The promised attendance was never met in Irish-land and now they are moving down to Bulldog country.  So let’s get this straight, they are moving from one program where expectations of a once great team were never met to another place where expectations of a once great team were never met?  Hey, at least they’ll avoid nasty winters.
  • Michigan University will no longer allow purses into the stadium for games.  Sorry, RichRod, you will have to find something else to carry all of your crying tissues.
  • The college football world gasped a big ole sigh when Tim Tebow went down with a concussion over the weekend against Kentucky.  Apparently he was aleady sick when he took a sick hit from a Kentucky player.  It’s a good thing Florida has the week off.  Not for Tebow to recover, but the for the rest of the sports media to talk about the games.  Hopefully.
  • Sports Illustrated is attempting to bring playoff brackets into the mainstream with a half-cocked bracketing system to rank the top 16 teams and then place them in a bracket.  Are they bummed that USA Today has the Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, the AP has their own poll, but they have nothing?  That’s what we think.  And this is the only ink we’ll give them.
  • Baylor’s hope for a rise to bowl-dom blew up in their face Saturday when Robert Griffin went down last Saturday with a torn ACL in his knee.  A veteran QB in Blake Szymanski will take over the helm as Baylor gets ready to head into conference play October 10.  It really sucks for the Bears but will make thing easier for the North teams playing Baylor this year.
  • Twitter rears its ugly head again as a couple of tweets from some Texas Tech players caused Mike Leech to ban it from the team.  This was, of course, in reaction to some awesome tweets from newly suspended offensive lineman Brandon Carter and linebacker Marlon Williams.  We miss it already.
  • Speaking of Twitter, Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin is using his handle to retrieve 3 helmets stolen from Cougars players while storming the field during Houston’s dramatic win over Texas Tech.  Twitter and Texas Tech just does not mix.
  • Stafon Johnson, tailback for USC, had emergency surgery on his throat after a freak weightlifting accident.  I’ve seen some bars fall with very heavy weight on them in the gym and it does not look pretty.  How did it get on this guy’s throat?  We hope he turns out okay.
  • New Mexico head coach Mike Locksley pulled a Buddy Ryan (or a Tom Caple) on his assistant and busted his lip.  We’ve seen some punches so far on the field at least once a week during the season, now we’re seeing it during coaches meetings.  Oh wait, football is a violent sport.  Check.
  • Kansas will have condominiums in the stands in the form of seat mortgages.  So while the kids are fighting on (and off) the field, the snooty rich people will be in the stands.  Live sport spectating is becoming the privilege of the elite.  This isn’t good at all.
  • Ladies and gentlemen, we present the Yankee Bowl.  The Big East #4 team and the Big 12 #7 team are signed up to meet at Yankee stadium beginning in the 2010-11 season.  Granted they still need approval, but if you have the mayor of New York and the owner of the Yankees behind it, the proposal should pass.  I for one wish that any ‘home’ team in New York gets beat.
  • Missouri gets the dunce cap this week as the athletic department sold a box of old cell phones.  Without wiping them.  Hey, hook me up with an email address or phone number over here.   I want some coaches to know about the blog.
College, Football, Picks

Pick It Standings Week 2: No Excuses

Leave a comment

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 →

Big 12, College, Football, Sports Bars

Johnny’s Tavern has the Power and the Light

Leave a comment


We were very skeptical when we strolled toward the Johnny’s Tavern setup on the corner of the Power & Light District in Downtown Kansas City.  We’ve been to a couple of places around there before and the experiences were weak.  We had some hope, however, as Johnny’s Tavern came through for us before.  After spending the afternoon there we can say it is the best bar in the district.  The food was great, the poker game was loads of fun, and the games on the screens were stellar.   If you own or work at a bar around that area, read on to see how to make it successful.

Continue reading Johnny’s Tavern has the Power and the Light →

Picks

Pick It and Stick It: Confidently Digging In

Leave a comment

picking-nose

Here we go strolling into the second week of picks for the KCCGD crew.  Last week saw some impressive (and embarrassing) numbers.  With a new confidence system on top of the picks, we’ve found getting used to it somewhat challenging.  Nevertheless, this week finds the matchups a little easier to swallow.   There aren’t as many ranked teams going against each other.   We were treated to an upset or two last week.  Will we see it again?  We’ll find out over the weekend but until then set your picks and assign confidence to them.  Heeeyaw!
Continue reading Pick It and Stick It: Confidently Digging In →

Bar Games, College, Food, Football, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Sports Bars, Waitresses

Tanner’s Helps Us Kickoff the Year Right

Leave a comment

Hey Hey, My My, College football will never die.  And neither will KC College GameDay.  We’re back again for another year for fantastic football watchin’ and we kicked off the Labor Day weekend full of football at Tanner’s Bar & Grill in the the Waldo district.  There are many a Tanner’s in the KC area (as well as some out of area locations) and they have always been known to be a top notch sporting experience. This location, proved to be right there, even though some trip ups in service and specials hurt it a bit.  We also get to go over a new game for you arcadians out there.  But there’s much, much more.

Continue reading Tanner’s Helps Us Kickoff the Year Right →

Barspotting, Football

Barspotting: We Almost Forgot About Tanner’s

Leave a comment

tanners_official_logo

This is a little embarrassing.  We’re getting all hyped up for another great year of college football and stumbled a bit in our preparation.  You see, we naturally assumed that in the last two years of this fine and dandy operation that we actually had a barspot at a Tanner’s Bar & Grill location.  This is not true.  So to make up for it, we are kicking off our 3rd season by hanging out in one of the storied sports bar traditions for the Kansas City Area.  Join us at the Waldo district to kick the season off in style and welcome to another year of KC College Gameday!
Continue reading Barspotting: We Almost Forgot About Tanner’s →

Big 10, Big 12, Bowls, College, Football, Kansas State, Missouri, News, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State

Crib Sheet: Going Prime Time

Leave a comment

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.
Baylor, BCS, Big 12, College, Football, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SEC, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech

Big 12 Preview 2009

2 Comments

Big_12

Most folks outside of the midwest believe that the Big 12 Conference is 2nd nationally amongst conferences in terms of football strength.  Much of the talk points toward the Big 12 South.  As we roll into the 2009 season, we find some teams reloaded, some teams are out of ammo, and the rest either misfired or are shooting blanks.  We’re gonna see where they all stack up and how they will finish in 2009, according the Purple Yeti’s crystal ball.  There are some shifts in power, but the top stack will stay the same and most of the close calls will still be close.  Hopefully the crystal ball pulls through.

Continue reading Big 12 Preview 2009 →

Big 12, College, Football, Kansas State, News, Texas

Crib Sheet: Strapping It On

Leave a comment

football_helmet_lg

Here we go people!  We’re strapping on the helmet and hunkering down for another season of college football.  To get us ready, we have a cavalcade of previews and a new redesign coming down the pipe.  Until then we’ll produce another news heavy Crib Sheet for all of you to digest.  Depending on the schedule, we may be dropping the Crib Sheet  here and there during the season.  There’s always news to munch on.  So grab a bib and some silverware and chow down on this week’s Crib Sheet:

  • It’s the wave of the future for the Texas Longhorns and monitoring football players.  They make select players swallow temperature pills to make sure their body temperature doesn’t get too high during practice.  The NCAA should take a look at these little doo-wops for all of the players that have a high risk for sickle cell disease.
  • There’s a big jumble and shuffle going down in Manhattan.  Kansas State coach Bill Snyder is moving around transfer Daniel Thomas from quarterback to running back, among other movements that also saw running back Logan Dold moving to safety.  It seems that ‘Wildcat’ might mean more than just a team this year in Snyder-land.
  • It seems Florida State is getting a head start on the 2 game series with Oklahoma by being the snitcher on old guy type linebacker Mike Balogun.  Balogun is suing the NCAA for eligibility because of some issues with semi-pro playing before he joined Oklahoma.  One of the Seminole officials noted the story of Bolgun during last year’s national championship game and dug further after the Big 12 was okay with Oklahoma’s ‘light’ investigation.  Ruh roh.  Seems like there will be some major unsportsmanlike penalties in this two game series.
  • Oklahoma State has gone dark until the week of their opener against Georgia, at least to the media.  They need to prepare all they can for the big game because it will set the tone for the Cowboy’s whole season.  It should be a great game and has the potential for being the game of the week.
  • Oklahoma backup linebacker Tom Wort went down with an ACL injury and is out for the season.  Combine that with the questions of Tom Balogun’s eligibility and we’re looking at a depleted linebacking core for the Sooners.  This may affect their chances of going all the way this year.
  • Joseph Kassanavoid, redshirt freshmen quarterback for Kansas State, up and got arrested for domestic battery.  Officials for Kansas State stated that the incident will be handled internally.  We won’t be surprised if this guy gets booted from the team.  Tune in to find out.
  • The Associated Press Top 25 Preseason Poll came out over the weekend and in the biggest non-surprise of the year, the Florida Gators are number one, followed by the Big 12’s Texas and Oklahoma.  Everyone and their mother are picking the Gators but the ball is up in the air for who will meet them in the title game.  We’re not sure who will be there, but tune in for our preview in the next couple of days.
  • Meanwhile, Lou Holtz gives his analysis on the AP poll and pulls a prediction of all predictions out of his always sounding drunk mouth.   According to Holtz, Notre Dame will be in the national title game.  Give to Lou for being a homer.  He makes a good case pointing to 11 returning offensive starters, 7 home games, and a weak opponent’s schedule.  The schedule is going to kill them and we’re not to sure they are that big on offense.  Nice to hear Lou slur his words again, though.
  • Husker running back Quentin Castille was dismissed from the Nebraska squad due to team rule violations.  That’s a shame as it will hurt their chances to live up to the preseason Big 12 North title prediction.  Even ESPN Big 12 blogger Tim Griffin is switching his prediction.  Indeed, maybe the media were drinking the red kool-aid, but there are questions all over the North this year.  Again tune in for our Big 12 predictions in the next couple of days.
Big 12, College, Football, Mascots, News

Crib Sheet: The Flood Gates Have Opened

Leave a comment

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.
Big 10, Big 12, College, Football, News, SEC

Crib Sheet: Step Up to the Mic

Leave a comment

microphones

This week finds us smack dab in the middle of Big 12 Media days.  This is the week of the year where all of the schools congregate and spit words into a hungry set of microphones in preparation of a new college football season.  Next week camp starts and before you know it, it’s football time!  But to sum up this week so far, Kansas was media voted #2 in the north and they have a chip on their shoulder,  Missouri is regrouping, Nebraska doesn’t feel like number 1, the South teams are the bomb, and nobody is really interested in the new head coach for Iowa State (Paul Rhodes).   We’ll talk a little about the teams left next week.  For now,  hold on tight because we just exited the gate and are starting to build steam to a new season.  Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:

  • Pittsburgh State football player Joe Windscheffel is out for the season with an arm injury due to a Zebra charge.  He needed to paint a fence and had to move some zebras.  The male zebra charged and he’s out for the season.  Be careful childrens, animals are wild.
  • If you are tired of SEC talk, then cover your eyes for this one.   The SEC is striking deals with regional television stations to broadcast games, most notably in regions that cater to the Big 12 and the Big 10.   The hype machine is in full swing and they have the national titles to back them up.  I guess we’re gonna see more and more of the SEC until some other conference pins them down.
  • So last week, we talked about Army playing Yankee Stadium in 2010.   Welp a couple of days after news of that came out, they announced that they will be playing there for the next 4 out of 5 years.  Great stuff.   They used to play there every year and now they are bringing back the tradition.  Let’s hope they keep the new tradition of camouflage gear.
  • Our favorite analyst Kirk Herbstreit is suing the IRS for taxing Herbsreit on a burnt down house.  So Kirky wanted to build a new house on his current and caught wind of the local fire department needing some training.  He ‘donated’ the house to the fire department and they promptly torched it.  Now he thinks he should get the tax credit for the donation but the IRS is saying no way.   What a dumbass.  Quoting Kritter, “He should fire his accountant.”
  • Looks like some team from the Mountain West Conference manned up and is scheduling some big time schools.  Boise State will play Virginia Tech next year.  Welp if the Broncos go undefeated next and beat Va-Tech, then they should have a shot at the title game.
  • Lou Holtz and his Notre Dame alumni beat up on Japan this year in the Notre Dame Japan Bowl.  It’s nice to see some aged alumni hit the field and play again for the Irish.   We wonder if the folks over in the land of the rising sun though Lou was drunk the whole time he was there.  Don’t worry guys, he sounds that way all of the time.
  • The Rose Bowl tweaked some rules with the current BCS contract to allow non BCS schools to play in to the bowl.   If one of the automatic qualifiers for the Rose Bowl goes to the national title game, then the slot is open to anybody.  That’s a break from how things were done in the past.  It used to be only Big 10 and Pac 10 teams.   This is a good first step and this should help to even things out just a little bit more.
  • Meanwhile, Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe spent most of his time this week drumming up support for more TV exposure for the conference.  Part of which includes tossing around the idea of making the new Cowboys Stadium the permanent home for the Big 12 title game.  Beebe needs to hurry up because the other big television friendly conferences are pushing out further and further.