We laid the foundation with our last 3 post for the Big 10 expansion. Now let’s talk about how other conferences are reacting. Some of them could be massively depleted whereas others are moving to counteract the possible Big 10 growth. Every major BCS conference has about two cents to toss in and little brother mid major conferences are chirping in as well. It’s time for the conferences to lay down their tiles and see just how much they could change.
When we started doing the Mascot Monday posts here at the KCCGD, we knew we had to go over each and every one of the Big 12 mascots. Welp, today is the big day. This is our last mascot we will feature here from the Big 12. Now, there is some talk that a certain conference that is expressing certain expansion talks, so who knows? Maybe there will be more teams that we haven’t featured yet be wrapped into the loving arms of the Big 12 and enable us to check out its fluffy cheerleader. Until then, we saved the best for last. This week on our last Big 12 mascot, we will be taking a big look at Ralphie from the Colorado Buffalos.
The big talk the last week or so has been conference expansion. Well, never fear, because here at the KCCGD headquarters, we are perfectly happy with out size. Now there have been some talks of expanding out to St. Louis or up into Omaha, but does KC St. Louis Omaha College GameDay sound great? We say no. Granted, the barspots might be a little more glorious if we end up at an Old Chicago in St. Louis, but for now we are perfectly satisfied with what KC has to offer in bars and feel no pressure to hitch up and roll out every week. That said, here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
What is the deal with other conferences wanting to poach schools from the Big 12? First it was the Big 10 and Missouri and now it’s the Pac 10 and Colorado. Yes it makes sense for both side to get the television markets. What this will signal is some massive changes (and payouts) to all the schools in the Big 12. Do you honestly believe Nebraska will go to the Big 10?
So we know about Missouri, but the Big 10 talking with Texas? Huh? Okay, no we’re thinking other conferences want to consolidate into just one big conference with all of the television markets. That’s the only way that makes sense. Texas won’t have an easier challenge up there. Just strange.
Goodbye Tim Griffin. We used his quick news on the goings on for news here at the KCCGD headquarters and we’re sorry to see him go. We wish him the best and we hope to see him or hear from him real soon.
The NCAA rolled out a rule severely limiting recruiting by coaches who are deemed as the successor in the head coach line at colleges. Naturally, Texas is not happy with this. What are they worried about? They are Texas. They get the best kids in Texas. Recruits do not need to promise of some other coordinator to tip scales for them.
JoePa will get lasers shot into his eyes. Yup, no longer will we see the iconic, thick-framed, bespectacled Joe Paterno, but now we will see the I big nosed, mega old dude on the sidelines. Hey, it just goes to show that you’re never too old to get procedures done to your body. Let’s hope he doesn’t get pectoral implants next.
The NCAA wants to take away touchdowns for taunting. Okay, we get it. Sportsmanship is truly a noble attribute. But doesn’t it say something about society as a whole when we have to legislate it? Why take a away a touchdown? A penalty assessed on the kickoff or extra point should be enough. Those are kids out there and they have a hard time controlling their emotions. The NCAA needs to focus on making the kids safer first.
Bo Pelini got yet another raise. He goes up to $2.1 million per year through 2015. Congrats to everyone’s favorite gum chewing Cornhusker. That’s gonna buy him a load of Bubble Yum.
Here’s this week’s police blotter: Frosh Mizzou quarterback Tyler Gabbert got the Owen Wilson treatment and broke his nose in a fight inside a Gumby’s Pizza. The ladies still find Owen hot, somehow, so he should be good. Meanwhile, LaMichael James, the Frosh offensive player of the year for the Pac 10, is in jail for strangulation, assault, and menacing. Welp, we might have a LeGarrate Blount situation here. Only difference was one was on a field against a dude and the other was off the field against lady. Oregon should kick this guy off the team.
Here we go with another week of the Crib Sheet. Signing Day is gone so we are looking toward spring practice as the next big event. Spring practice. In spring. We got a long way to go to get there. So the news will trickle out until then. Never fear, however, we’ll dig up any dirt with our ninja shovel and flick the dust specs of college football news in your face. Bring some goggles, here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
You know how they call Kansas State’s stadium the Bill Snyder Family Stadium? Ever wonder why? Welp, signing day gave us another reason why when Bill Snyder 2.0’s grandson Tate Snyder accepted a scholarship offer from the Wildcats. Tate’s dad, Sean, was a punter for Bill Snyder early in his first run and is now an associate in the athletic department. The little apple does not fall far from this tree.
So signing day is over but we have many more to come. The 2015 class, for example has its first commitment in the form of 13 year old quarterback David Sills as he verbally committed to USC last week. Huh? That’s a little young. His personal coach worked with current USC field general Matt Barkley. How much are this kid’s parents paying this guy? Seems like alot of hype for such a young’un.
The Texas college stars beat the national squad of stars last Saturday to prove once again that best college football players come from Texas. For this game. Yeah it’s the Big 12 area, but why did the SEC win the national title again? Welp, maybe just the scrubs play this game. They gotta show off in front of NFL scouts somewhere.
Darrell Scott has come crawling back to the Colorado program. Okay well, maybe not crawling. If he sits out this year, Hawkins might be fired by then and he could compete for the job with a new coach. We guess UCLA wasn’t all that it’s hyped up to be.
It looks like the students at Missouri are looking for a live Tiger mascot. We’d like to think our profile of Truman spurned this movement, but it’s probably more of matching the live mascots that already dot the Big 12 plain. Yeah, we’re talking Bevo, Ralphie, Boomer, Sooner, and the rest of the gang. Hopefully, they will pull this one off. Those live mascots are treated like kings.
Okay, freshly back from a wedding in California (not MY wedding), I’m now ready to actually talk about the BCS title game and the year that was college football. We’re going to talk about the game that could’ve been, the season that was bookended by injuries, and some other interesting notes that popped up over the season. So, while this is a little late, sit back and enjoy us on your little trip through college football memory lane. Please keep your arms and head inside the windows.
Seeing as I graduated from K-State, I figured I would cover them just a little more than the rest of the area teams in Kansas City. If any other fans/alumni of schools around the area want to write for this site, please drop us a line. That said, everyone predicted that K-State would drop as well this year. What was expected to be a major blow off year turned into a massive surprise. K-State fans should be more than happy with what turned out this year in Wildcat football. It wasn’t perfect, but it was damn close.
As expected, there is a ton of news this week. Conference championships are over, coaches are fired, kids are leaving for the NFL, and the bowls are lighting up. Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet while we go do some Christmas Shopping:
Mark Mangino resigned last week from his head coaching position at Kansas. They negotiated a fat deal for him to walk away. It was bound to happen. Stories upon stories show how quickly alot of people were ready to turn on this guy. The moral of the story? You can be a big bully until you start losing. And being a bully as a head coach can be hard to do.
As for Mangino’s replacement, the rumor mill is churning big time. Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt was rumored but declined. Last real talk we heard was Buffalo’s Turner Gill interviewing for the job. No matter who they get, they will have an uphill battle due to teams rebuilding from this year have improved and have a year head start.
Wisconsin settled a lawsuit with the family of an ABC cameraman who fell from a platform and died at a game in their stadium. Alot of people think the danger is only on the field, but it can also be on the sidelines and in the stands. The Badgers goofed by not properly setting up a rail for the guy to catch onto. They do need those stinkin’ rails.
Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins has a super secret email address because of all of the hate email he’s been getting. If this guy puts his money where his mouth is and actually produces, he wouldn’t be bombarded with nasty grams between the Viagra spam.
What about the Heisman? Yes, the race is still on and Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh and Texas quarterback Colt McCoy are among the finalists. We also have Florida weeper Tim Tebow, Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, and Alabama running back Mark Ingram. It’s a tight race and it would be cool to see a defender get one. Meanwhile, Suh won the Bronko Nakurski Award.
Hofstra’s ending it’s 72 year old football program. Alot more of these smaller schools are axing them due to cash and lopsided scheduling with bigger schools. It’s a shame too. If there are no more small schools, how will the big boys practice for their conference? What about upsets? Let’s hope this slows down.
Bobby Bowden got his farewell wish and is playing his old school, West Virginia, in the Florida Gator Bowl. We don’t think there will be a group of kids more pumped up to finish out a bowl than the ones that will take the field for this legendary coach. West Virginia should be favored but who knows? They may lay down for the coach.
A marine accidentally shot another marine to death because of a fight over the Texas and Nebraska Big 12 Championship game. Apparently, there was a tussle and a gun went off. Yikes, aren’t these guys trained to be weapon experts? We’re guessing they were pretty drunk when it happened.
We’re getting back on the treadmill to work off last weekend’s Turkey gauntlet. The timing is perfect as he have lots to feast on this weekend with conference championships going on all over the place. Hopefully the belt won’t be too tight to enjoy the big games filling up the screens. As an appetizer to the weekend, we have a Crib Sheet spilling over with news this week. So without further ado, here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
Last week was the beginning of Rivalry Week and now we are fully realizing its end. We had out schedule jacked up due to Thanksgiving and we’re sure you’ve had yours as well. It’s all for a good thing, however, as we should give thanks to what we have at least once a year. So in celebration of Thanksgiving and our shortened week, we are combining our Barspotting and Pick It and Stick It posts. And without further ado, we are Barspotting at Chappell’s Saturday. Yes, we’ll be just back in town to watch the Border War between Kansas and Missouri. We’re going up to North Kansas City and watchin some football as well as checking out their collection of sports memorabilia. Thankfully, we are just in time to go over the picks too and we hope you didn’t forget to make yours on this short week.
Rivalries are abound as just about every game on the list is a rivalry. So in between the turkey and gravy and shopping and family, check out these games. Some of them sound cool like the Duel in the Desert with Arizona and Arizona State. Some of them sound goofy like the Egg Bowl with Ole Miss at Mississippi State. No matter the name, they all mean something big to the teams and offer up a tradition only seen in college football. Big 12 wise, we missed out on the Nebraska and Colorado game but that’s alright. Nebraska won and it didn’t matter. We have the Bedlam series for Oklahoma State and Oklahoma tomorrow. The ‘Pokes will get a good shot at a BCS bid provided they win and Texas does next week against said Cornhuskers. The other major game for the Big 12 is the Border War. Kansas needs a win to be bowl eligible and Missouri needs a win to get 2nd in the North. Who’s gonna win? Come on out to Chappell’s and help us find out.
Another road trip is coming our way. Find out tomorrow where. But first we need to sift through the week’s news on the Crib Sheet. It’s a divisional beat down for the next couple of weeks in the Big 12 North. Nobody wants to win it and we’ll see who has just enough heart to show up against Texas in the Big 12 Championship game. Who will win it? Drop a comment below with your thoughts. Meanwhile, here’s the Crib Sheet:
Tennessee showed up to their game against ranked South Carolina in a Halloween flavored black shirt with orange pants. It helped them spook the Gamecocks to an upset victory. They should wear those more often.
Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh received a ticket for negligent driving after nailing some cars to avoid a cat. Oh he also blew a 0.035 after admitting some drinking. It’s all legal, he just did some car damage. Would you swerve to avoid a cat?
Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe wants the NCAA to consider teams with 6-6 records as having a winning record. Before those teams could only go if there was a contract to use on a bowl game. We’re thinking this has to do with how bad the conference is doing right now. Nice try, Dan.
Former Very Highly Touted recruit Darrell Scott is leaving the Colorado Buffaloes. Apparently he’s frustrated with how bad the program is and is looking to transfer to UCLA after the semester. Dan Hawkins, your time is almost gone.
Okay, after a road trip to Lawrence, we were back in the saddle of barspotting and what better place to do it at than none other than Coach’s Bar & Grill. Coach’s advertises only the best in sports bars as well as being one of the oldest in Kansas City. We spotted some sweet games there and also enjoyed the festivities, it was Halloween you know. Some things surprised us and some things spooked us. Read on for some chilling tales and pray that you survive the night, er, post.
No no, we didn’t forget you today on this all Hallow’s Eve. We just want to spook you out even more with today’s Game Day post. We’re a big fan of the macabre on top of football so we though it would be fun to match up the Big 12 coaches with various members of the Addams Family. If you remember the TV show and if you remember their New Yorker comics then you’re just too damn old. At any rate, most of these guys fit in nicely with each character and you’ll be ghoulishly laughing all along the way. Anything to take the thumping that the Big 12 South is putting on the Big 12 North off of our minds.
But not for the Sunflower Showdown. My beautiful and football lovin’ girlfriend is letting the Purple Yeti hitch a ride with her and her bid-ness down to Memorial Stadium for the big Oklahoma vs Kansas game. Both teams roll into the game suffering a loss to Texas and Colorado respectively so one of them will bounce back. Which one will it be? We’re not sure. How many of us will be sober? Well, we know the answer to that one. At any rate, we’ll report on every debaucherous action, on and off the field.
Whoah nelly what a smelly game the Red River Rivalry was. The bigger upset for the Big 12 was Colorado over Kansas over the weekend. Either that or Kansas State’s 62 point thumping of Texas A&M. At any rate, guess what? Those Wildcats happen to be first in the Big 12 North. Coming into the beginning of the year, no one expected Kansas State to be in that position or Oklahoma to have 3 losses hung on them by this time. Just goes to show that in college football, anything can happen. More importantly this week, we have an expected birth of the first BCS standings. First, here’s the pick it standings:
Ridin’, ropin’, buckin’, bustin’, and pickn’! Get used to it folks. The closer and closer we get to the Red River Rivalry the more we don the chaps and start spittin’ some chaw. Soze what wez got here is one of the best rivalries in the land. It may not be number one with a bullet but it certainly will place at the state fair. And in this here game’s place, that would be the Texas State Fair. So hold on to yer hats, buckaroo, there’s gonna be a shoot out come high noon tomorrow!
Arlight, enough cowboy poetry. Let’s get to the plate of beans for the weekend. Usually the Red River Rivalry is a close one and the spread makers deems it so this year with a measly 3 points. The rest of the Big 12 action may be in the shadow but there’s still some potential barn burners. Take a looksie at Missouri and Oklahoma State. Or even Kansas and Colorado. But enough about that. The other big rivalry is USC and Notre Dame. This should put whoever wins back on the map to the BCS title. A map that’s currently shared by Virginia Tech. They will have a hard time holding onto it when they face Georgia Tech. Pick well, peeps, and enjoy the games!
