Quick somebody get us some facial tissue and some decongestants. It’s allergy season here at the KCCGD Headquarters! We’re sneezing our heads off and we’re barely making it through the week. That’s not stopping us from delivering your favorite weekly news roundup: The Crib Sheet! It’s chock full this week with a ton of diva grandstanding from college conference officials. It’s a good thing our noses are stuffed because we think alot of that talk stinks. On to the Crib Sheet:
- So the graduation rate for college athletes are on a curve. The College Sport Research Institute factored in longer years and lighter classloads to determine that the reported 79 percent rate is actually 54.8 percent, compared to 73.7 percent of other students. Looks like the NCAA needs to take some more math classes.
- All the hype leading up to the commissioner meetings this week was whether or not the Big 10 would accelerate expansion plans. Big 10 commissioner Jim Delany came out of the meetings to speak on this rumor to reporters. “Nope” was pretty much all he said. Crisis averted.
- Northwestern will play Illinois at Wrigley Field. Finally! All those people in Chicago will have an opportunity to root on two disappointing local teams that don’t play baseball. Way to go guys!
- The BCS came out with a 3 pronged formula to help determine who gets an automatic bowl bid after the 2012 season. They take the highest ranked BCS team, the total BCS numbers for the conference, and the number of teams in the top 25 to determine who gets the nod. This is an obvious gesture to the Mountain West Conference, whose Boise State team has been rolling the last couple of years and has an opportunity to start in the top 3 once the preseason rankings come out. It will be interesting to see how this adds to the pressure and expectation the Broncos have this year.
- So the first round highlights of the NFL Draft include Tim Tebow going to the Denver Broncos. Huh? What is he gonna do? Be a running back. Good thing the Big 12 represented big time with 9 picks going from the conference, including the top 4. Way to go Big 12!
- Bill Snyder 2.0 is weighing the decision to get surgery on his torn ACL and MCL. More and more we’re thinking that Snyder 2.0 is a cyborg version of the original. It’s only reason we can come up with to answer Snyder’s statement that it doesn’t hurt much. What’s up with that? A jammed finger hurts like hell. This guy just walks it off. He’s hiding a gun in his leg, we swear.
- The NCAA approved two more bowls for a total of 35, including the Yankee Bowl and the Dallas Football Classic. The later is the former Cotton Bowl and will have a place on New Year’s Day. Huzzah! This is the kind of expansion we enjoy here. Not the kind where you at more teams to the playoff. New Year’s Day next year will be mega stuffed with more football.
- We probably should let everyone know that if an expansion from the Big 10 happens, expect the SEC to counter move. Yeah, it’s going to domino all over the place. We really just need two conferences. That way we can determine a champion the easy way.
- Coming back to the somewhat near future, ESPN announced its 2010 College Football Primetime schedule and we have a whole bevy of games from the Big 12. The Lonestar Showdown with Texas A&M and Texas on Thanksgiving should be a treat. So’s the rematch between Nebraska and Kansas State on Oct 7th. Football can’t get here anytime sooner.
Okay it’s Crib Sheet time and we need to talk to all of the aspiring wide receivers out there. Do not talk to Deion Sanders. The image above presents only a shrivel of evidence to support our position. Yes, he’s flashy. Yes, he preaches. Yes, he looks good in a suit. But nothing really good comes from working with the guy. Just ask Michael Crabtree. So consider this a public service announcement and please avoid Deion Sanders. Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
- The NCAA ruled Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant ineligible for maybe the rest of the season for failure to disclose recent dealing with a former NFL player, Dei0n Sanders. Doh! We thought the prima donna wide receivers came from Texas Tech. We’re thinking after some personal consultation with Tony Dungy or something Dez will be let back on the field to play again. While Dez is doing that, Deion denies tampering, Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State supports him (needs him back in the lineup), and Dez will meet with the NCAA after his written apology.
- Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw has been ordered to take an anger management course. This stems from a domestic fight with his girl friend some time ago. She has to take the course too. Will it affect his play on the field? Tune in to find out.
- ESPN’s Tim Griffin writes that Texas is getting ready for the Red River Rivalry this weekend by listening to that god awful Boomer Sooner theme song over and over. That’s either going to help them tune it out or get them so angry and sick that they will take it out on Oklahoma this weekend. This could work wonders elsewhere. Possible water boarding replacement? We think so.
- A walk on Southern Miss player Peter Wilkes committed suicide over the weekend. We send our condolences out to his family. Apparently his dad suffered a heart attack and died over the summer. Wilkes decided to continue school for his dad but apparently it was too much.
- A female student was arrested during the Iowa and Arkansas State game for continuously yelling at player Adrian Clayborn. The student was warned multiple times and even given a restraining order. Stalking happens at both sides of the gender. Kinda funny that heckling could get somebody arrested, though.
- Dan Hawkins finally benched his son, Cody. Or did he? This will be the downfall to Hawkins and will serve as a lesson to all coaches out there. Don’t let your family mix with your coaching. Bill Snyder 2.0 knew this and retired to spend time with his family. He’s back now and you don’t see any of his kids on the field, coaching or playing.
- While we have another punch during the game in the form of Idaho linebacker Tre’Shawn Robinson and subsequent reprimanding, we also see a 1 game suspension to New Mexico head coach Mike Locksley for doing it off the field with an assistant coach. Football is a violent sport but save the punching for MMA.
- The Big 12 will play seven bowls games during the bowl season after this year. More importantly the toilet, er, Independence Bowl is off the docket. We also see the new New York City Bowl show up. Many a mediocre conference team fans rejoice in the pick of New York over Shreveport, Louisiana.
- Speaking of the bowls, the Cotton Bowl will move to Jerry Jones mecca that is Cowboys Stadium and the old place will have a new one called the Dallas Football Classic. It’s nice to see they are still using it but does that put the number of bowls in Texas at about 234? Hey, the more the merrier.
College Sports, Kansas City style
