We may be seeing the search for Missouri end real quick. We also may see the search for the Big 12 heat right up. The Tigers are planning on leaving for the SEC and we may know about it here by tomorrow. Alot of people, including myself, thought that they would wait unilt the end of the season to get the ball rolling but apparently they want to move fast. So in the middle of the football season, we will see even more conference realignment. I’m just going to avert my eyes from the pain and check out this week’s Crib Sheet:
Continue reading Crib Sheet: Hello Goodbye →
You know, I was hoping the big news of the week would be the start of the college football season. The only thing that could overshadow it was Texas A&M leaving the Big 12. Welp they announced their intention to do so. Now that it’s official, the Big 12 must look to expand, which is more than what they did last year. Everyone is saying that BYU is the most likely candidate, and they are being very careful with their words . Even though they have been talking with the Big 12. Will it happen? Who knows, but there will be a boatload of speculation in the meantime. Well and Oklahoma is looking to take the lead in blowing up the league. Let’s hit up the Crib Sheet while we wait: Continue reading Crib Sheet: Conference Armageddon Again →
I know, I know, the summer heat based themes keep on coming. I’m still getting acclimated to the high climate down here and it’s all that’s on my brain. Some would say I’m in a drought for college football. Relief is right around the corner but as of now I’m super parched. Grab a glass a water for me and check out this week’s Crib Sheet:
Continue reading Crib Sheet: The Football Drought is Almost Over →
While I’m battling record heat here in my first summer in Austin, it seems college football is battling an offseason of corruption. At least that’s what it seems like. I think it’s more that the year before we all thought conferences (including the Big 12) were gonna blow up. Now everything is safe, things are going back to normal. That includes kids and coaches breaking rules. Let’s break on over to this week’s Crib Sheet and find out some more:
Continue reading Crib Sheet: A Hundred and Ten in the Shady Offseason →
With tornadoes blowing down south and southeast, wildfires burning all of Texas, rain and hail pelting the land, and Missouri levees falling apart, it seems like the whole world is falling apart. But it’s merely weather changing bits and pieces of the land. There can be bigger changes afoot across the land. I have one coming up very quickly. But first let me spit out a kind of late Crib Sheet. Take notes and then take cover:
This Purple Yeti is too busy chopping wood for the fire to bring you much for the rest of January. Look for some new giblets starting February. In the meantime, I have the Crib Sheet to you warm. Check it out:
- So ESPN’s David Ubben points us to the overall bowl record for conferences. The Big 12 finished at the bottom, tied with the Big 10. It’s pretty bad for the conference when they notch the same record as an overrated conference that needed to expand to stay relevent.
- It looks like an imminent NFL lock out is scaring at least some college players from coming out early. Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden and mega star Justin Blackmon are both staying behind for one more round. The Cowboys will be a tough cookie next year to chew on.
- Michigan contacted Gary Pinkel’s agent to ask for an interview. Pinkel turned it down. One dis from the Big 10 deserves a dis right back. That and Missouri already competes for the title now. It will take Michigan a couple of years before they get back on track.
- RichRod dumped about 430 maize and blue gear on the Salvation Army on his way out of Michigan. At least he did one good thing while he was up there. I wonder if he cried on his way out of the store.
- That said, things are looking up for Michigan, now that they’ve replaced RichRod with Brady Hoke. The ‘Predator’ Denard Robinson decided to stay and Hoke landed the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Greg Mattison. I swear this is the last Michigan news for a long, long time.
- The Big 10 is keeping the Legends and Leaders division name for the 2011. Dang, I was hoping they’d change it to the Losers and Lamers divisions.
- Help me out on this one: So the NCAA shut down a proposal that would stop head coaches from offering scholarships to kids as young as middle school age but they then want tougher rules against parents shopping around their kids. So, the NCAA wants coaches to bribe kids without parents getting in the way? Um, usually middle school kids need a legal guardian to represent them. This seems very contradictory. Or obvious. The NCAA wants to take full advantage of the kids and no one else, including the parents of the kids.
- Rodney Jones, a former university official, plead guilty to in his part of the $2 million ticket scalping scandal at the University of Kansas. Cue the Law & Order music.
- Continuing on our legal theme, John Lomax III plead no contest to the killing of UConn football player Jasper Howard. Again with the Law & Order music.
- Texas Tech was so impressed with Tommy Tuberville’s first year that they’ve already given him an extension. Can he keep it up? It’s doesn’t matter now because his buyout will probably be sweeter.
Happy Holidays from everyone here at KC College GameDay! We’ll be taking a break over the holiday weekend and soak in some presents and bowls. I hope you all have a great time and we’ll see you next Tuesday for an update to the Bowl Pick It and Stick It. In the meantime, here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
- So Colorado will end up playing California next year. You’re saying, “Duh, it’s a home and home!” Yes, but next year will be different as Colorado will be in the Pac 12 conference starting next year. What does that mean? It means that they are considering calling that game a non-conference game. Weird, right?
- Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen will be the new West Virginia offensive coordinator and the head coach the following year. I guess the coach in waiting thing has been sped up. I also wonder what this does for coaches who are at the top and don’t want to step down.
- So Mark Cuban is thinking of funding a college football playoff system. Wow. Just wow. He failed at buying two baseball teams and he’s itching to spend his money in some other sports arena. Cuban’s plan involves hitting up college athletic directors and presidents to drum up support. He needs to talk to the bowl people. Better yet, he needs to keep funneling money in his non-championship winning NBA franchise. BCS president Bill Hancock bitch-slapped him away, btw.
- The Big 12 Championship Game was the 4th highest rated football game for the season. The ones above had BCS title implications. Just goes to show you that the Big 12 brand can still run strong.
- The New York Times has a nice story about Rowan University football player Matt Hoffman. Hoffman gave up a game to donate some stem cells and saved a guy’s life. Good job, everyone should think about donating something at some point.
- ESPN has an article up about weak tickets sales for some bowls this year. Who’s not on the list? The Missouri Tigers. Good job by the fans for knocking out some tickets sales and showing up.
- Kansas was so close to getting a new athletic director from Tulsa, but Bubba Cunningham turned them down. Strange huh? I’m thinking Tulsa came up with the dough and Kansas didn’t look as posh as Cunningham though. This looks pretty bad for the Jayhawks.
- Big Ten Commissioner Jim Dlenay said that they may rethink the division names for the conference. Why? ‘Legends’ and ‘Leader’s is hilarious. Please keep it, Jim, so I can go back to it when I need a good chuckle.
- Another day, another Nebraska Cornhusker gets a DUI. This time it’s safety Ricky Thenarse. Looks like he won’t be going to the Holiday Bowl.
- Turner Gill landed a pretty great quarterback recruit from the hands of Colorado due to their coaching change. Apparently, Brock Berglund is a dual threat type guy. Let the slow rebuild begin.
- While the Cornhuskers are going through a rough patch of arrests, the fans are having a hard time getting up for the bowl game. Nebraska is actually offering free pairs of basketball tickets for people who buy bowl ticket games. I’m not sure they’ll make their allotment. Awesome.
- Oregon’s head coach Chip Kelly is your AP Head Coach of the Year. When you go undefeated, it makes winning this award easy.
- ESPN’s David Ubben reminds us that the Big 12 had the most consensus All-Americans of all of the conferences. They may be losing teams, but they still have the talent.
Halloween is Sunday and we are cooking up various items around the place with pumpkin in them. The roasted pumpkin seeds with cinamon and nutmeg were awesome but so where the pumpkin muffins. Grab your favorite pumpkin related food and check out this week’s Crib Sheet:
Continue reading Crib Sheet: Nice With Pumpkin Spice →
There’s just so much to chew on from the first week of college football, we’ll just make the intro real quick. On to the Crib Sheet:
- Freshly on its own, BYU signed a deal with ESPN and Notre Dame to be shown exclusively and play, respectively. They are stepping out fresh in their independence but we don’t think they’ll get as strong as their Irish counterparts.
- The Big 10 now has divisions, so we’ll see how balanced they are in the next couple of years. The big news is breaking up Michigan and Ohio State. Since they will be the ‘yearly rival’, there’s a big chance that they could play each other again in the Big 10 Championship Game.
- Even though, Derrick Washington was booted from the team, the Missouri Tigers beat up on Illinois last Saturday. It took some time for them to find their rhythm but once they did, they looked sharp. Apparently athletic director Mike Alden said that protecting the school was the number one priority when it came between Washington and the allegations. Way to go 810 AM and Kevin Kietzman, you seem to get everyone to talk.
- The face behind the mask of the mascot for Penn State, notched an MIP for underage drinking. Clint Gyory got busted and now he’s suspended from his mascot duties. It just goes to show that football players aren’t the other ones who have to watch what they do in their free time.
- In what’s become the major theme to begin the season, another player will miss games for accepting sports agent gifts. This time it’s Alabama’s Marcell Dareus. They should suspend him for key games. Doing this at the beginning of the year means they miss the cakewalk part of the schedule.
- At the very last second, Jeremiah Masoli’s appeal was approved and he was cleared to play for Ole Miss. It didn’t help them however, as Division II school Jacksonville St. ended up beating Ole Miss in 2 overtimes. I caught the end of the game and no doubt it’s on the top so far for game of the year.
- Boise State assistant Keith Abu Bhonapha got a DUI. He should be off the team.
- North Carolina was one play away from possibly winning the game against LSU last Saturday. What’s more than amazing is that they did it with a ton of suspended players. About half of the starters didn’t play due to NCAA investigations. We’re not sure if it shows how tough the Tar Heels could be or how weak LSU looks.
- TCU coach Gary Patterson gave credit to ESPN’s Lee Corso for inspiring the Horned Frogs to a come from behind win against Oregon State last Saturday. Patterson used the right amount of moto-mojo to get his team over the tough Beavers.
- Looks like Nebraska’s schedule in the Big 10 will start out tough. There’s no surprise there. The new boys in town will get beat up for a couple of years to show that current members are strong.
- After the embarrassing loss to North Dakota State, Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins retired Tuesday. He was going to retire next year, but the school (and the boosters) decided to cough up the money to get him out of there sooner. We don’t know who the replacement AD, not interim, will be and now we don’t know who the starting quarterback will be. Man basketball season can’t come any faster for the Jayhawks.
- Apparently Reggie Bush may be stripped of his Heisman. I guess that’s what happens when it’s discovered that you might have been ineligible during your run in college. He would be the first. How many other Heisman winners may have been ineligible? Should we investigate everyone and find out?
- In MASSIVE conference expansion news, Cal Poly and UC Davis will be joining the Big Sky Conference. At first we thought it was just a conference of country bars, but with this new development we see the Big Sky in a different light.
- ESPN kicked off ESPN3D last year during the BCS Championship Game and now they have an updated schedule that started with the Boise State and Virginia Tech game. So far so good, according to the review. We’re anxious to get our eyes on it when it becomes mainstream about 20 years from now.
- Speaking of the Broncos, they jumped to #3 in both polls. Looks like if they can keep up the blowouts, they will be a contender. Meanwhile, David Ubben runs down the votes for the Big 12 teams. It’s pretty much the big 3 in the top 25 (Texas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma) then about 5 teams about a stone’s throw from the 25 threshold. If they can keep it up, we may see more Big 12 teams up there.
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.
Okay the holidays are over and we are in the middle of summer. College football is so close right now we can taste it. You know how we can tell? We have a buttload of news to go over in this week’s Crib Sheet. So enough jibba jabba, here’s the sheet:
- The Big House expansion set the new stadium attendance capacity at 109,901 for the Michigan Wolverines. Now all they need to do is actually when games to get it filled up.
- The hottest game coming into this year has to be Texas at Nebraska. David Ubben runs over the list of candidates for the name of this somewhat rivalry. Our pick? The Big Beef. The winner? The Big Beef.
- Speaking of the one time rivalry, Nebraska removed the end part of the video they put out earlier this year for their fan video. It said “Beat Texas.” The smack talk is already beginning and it’s not even the start of training camp yet.
- Dontavius Jackson will be transferring from Georgia after summer school following his DUI arrest. Goes to show folks, don’t get caught breaking the law if you are a football player. You might get your scholarship dumped.
- The two Kansas dudes who were indicted last week have plead guilty in court for the ticket scandal they covered up. Hopefully for Jayhawk fans, this will blow over and they can start focusing on rebuilding for the football season. Or focus on the start of basketball season.
- We’ve been trying for the last couple of days to come up with something exciting to attach to the release of EA Sport’s new NCAA College Football 11 game. It’s out. That’s it. Nothing exciting here.
- Lambeau Field and the Packers want to host a potential Big 1o Championship Game. Okay, this would be sweet. Lambeau embodies the Big 10 better than Indianapolis by far. The closest next match is Chicago with Soldier Field, but we think a title game in icy weather trumps all.
- Bob Krause, former Kansas State Athletic Director, described in a deposition how he got duped by Ron Prince at the last second, which then gave Prince a tasty buyout from his contract. So Krause was out of his league big time and now we see why.
- Ex Florida Gator Maurkice Pouncey was the subject of an investigation that addressed and allegation that he took about 100K from a middle man to an agent. If the investigation finds it to be true, Florida could lose the Sugar Bowl victory last year. It doesn’t matter to Pouncey because he is in the NFL right now. It seems agents have found a loophole to exploit kids in their senior year. The kids get paid and leave before any repercussions. Kinda like pulling a Pete Carroll. Stewart Mandel points this out and we just found out from Nick Saban that Alabama is investigating its own issue too.
- Missouri linebacker Tyler Crane was kicked off the team for violating team rules. Neither Crane or Missouri will say just what he did. It seems like he was a back up so it shouldn’t affect the Tigers this year that much.
- 11 Notre Dame athletes were arrested for underage drinking at a party last week, including Joe Montana’s son Nate. Doh! It’s nice to see the Fighting Irish are with the times in terms of off the field troubles. This tells us that they might be competitive this coming year.
- It seems an investigation will open in Arizona to see if current and former Fiesta Bowl employees made campaign contributions to politicians whom supported the bowl. The major issue is not the contribution but the reimbursement from the bowl. Ya, that’s a no no.
The heat is on. It’s on the street. Oh Glenn Fry, you save us from the sultry steam of summer with your cool saxaphone riff and Eddie Murphy praising rock music. Yes, the heat is mos def on as we hit our first hot spot of the summer. It’s just in time, too, as the rain left us watching the Beverly Hills Cop series 10 times over, including the terrible 3rd part. Cabin fever, indeed. So we’re hitting the pool this week and dreaming of the new college football season while laying in our floaties sipping some cold beverages. Hit up the Crib Sheet then do the same.
- The Kansas ticket scandal has a couple of new charges against former athletic department staffers Brandon Simmons and Jason Jeffries. They both were dinged with a count of misprision of a felony. It seems they are lining up the small bananas to get to the big gorillas in the case.
- Even if USC goes undefeated this season, they will not be ranked in the USA Today Coaches Poll. This is what happens when you have recruiting violations. Lane Kiffin has a long time to wait to rebuild the program.
- ESPN and the ACC agreed to a 12 year deal which has links to all football games, including some basketball and other non revenue making sports. This looks like something that the Big 12 (10) will get into once they start negotiating their deals.
- Alabama moved its game against Georgia to a Thursday night and now because of that change, the students get a day off. Education is way more important than football. Well, not in Alabama we guess.
- Okay, here’s the Crib Sheet’s weekly police blotter: Iowa defensive end Broderick Binns arrested for drunk driving, Tennessee players Da’Rick Rogers and Darren Myles Jr. got charged for assault after a bar fight, North Carolina’s Quan Sturdivant was arrested last Saturday for possession of marijuana, and Georgia’s Dontavious Jackson and Tavarres King were arrested for drunk driving and MIP, respectively. The Bulldogs kicked the last two to the suspension dog house.
- Erin Andrews shook her almost clothed tail and now will be joining the College Game Day crew with her newly resigned contract for ESPN. If you remember, Andrews was the penultimate sideline reporter babe that ran into some peeping issues and used it to get onto Dancing With the Stars. Let’s hope she wears the same clothing for the football show.
- The gates are about to flood open with Big 12 (10) schools launching their own television networks. Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri of all schools are looking to make some cash off their own television rights. Will this set the trend for the rest of the schools across the nation? Tune in to find out.
- ESPN’s Big 12 blogger David Ubben talks about the uphill battle that Turner Gill has with his offensive line, now that starting junior tackle Jeff Spikes injured his Achilles tendon and is out for the year. I would for Kansas to fill out the bottom the Big 12 (10) North this year. The new coach has way too many broken parts and the once touted line is now depleted.
- This is a college football blog so we would be remiss not to mention that George Steinbrenner died of a heart attack this week. He used to be an assistant football coach for Northwestern.
- Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins is too busy preparing for retirement to pursue the charge of blackmail against William Dent. His job is saved and will be cruising toward closing the door on his career late next year so he really doesn’t need to recoup anything from this guy.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5363743
So the Big 10 expansion speculation that’s been building the last couple of months has finally come to a head here at the KCCGD Headquarters. We’ll give our thoughts about the whole shebang in the next couple days, but we wanted to whet your appetite with some tasty nuggets of information in the Crib Sheet. You, too, can munch down on expansion rumor to fill your belly with enough information to win your sports bar argument. Sports screaming at its finest, folks. On to the Crib Sheet:
- In case you thing we’ve forgotten, Mike Leach’s case against Texas Tech has a hearing coming up May 14th and last week Texas Tech officials filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit altogether. They say the sworn statements are all that is needed and that Leach’s treatment was an offense worthy of termination. Leach on the other hand is making the case that it was about his contract and the bonus he was about to receive.
- Kansas State, ever the team to take on tough new challenges, forged a mega deal to face the fearsome University of Texas San Antonio. Who? Yes that’s right, The Roadrunners, led by former Miami coach Larry Coker, will face the Wildcats in their inaugural FCS seasons. Man, UCLA isn’t that tough. Leave it up to Bill Snyder 2.0 to find the scrubs of the scrubs.
- Here is your 2010-11 college football bowl schedule! Just in case you missed the Big 12 match ups, new Big 12 blogger David Ubben follows up with schedule for the respective conference teams. Kudos goes to the Insght Bowl for making the jump from the NFL Network to ESPN.
- Notre Dame tight end Mike Ragone was feeling green big time last Saturday. No, not green for the Fighting Irish, but green for rolling doobies. New coach Brian Kelly is going to bitch slap him around a hit and call it a done deal. It’s the new century, football players get stoned all the time, even the pious ones.
- Our homeboy Kevin Kietzman here at WHB 810 am filled the airwaves with reports that the Big 10 offered invitations to the conference to Missouri, Nebraska, Rutgers, and Notre Dame. The wave of denials built up so big that Big 10 commissioner Jim Delany had to send out comment denying the report. This summer’s only going to get hotter with speculation.
- So the speculation has been about what conferences will do to react to the Big 10 Expansion. Well, on the Big 12 side it seems they may be exploring options with a pact between them and the Pac 10 (see the play on words?). Basically, the two conferences will have something similar to the hardwood series we enjoy but on the football field. The speculation is that there is also a potential Rose Bowl spot that could be up for grabs too. Remember, it’s speculation only.
Most of the news of the week for college football revolved around the NFL Combine. We will not talk about the NFL Combine for this week’s Crib Sheet. All of those stories revolve around kids entering the NFL. We like to talk about what’s coming up for next year’s college football season. It was hard to find some related items, but we juiced the news fruit hard and got some drops of tasty college football to pour down your throat. So open wide, here comes the Crib Sheet:
- So we told you last week that Colonel Reb is gone and they started a new search for a mascot at Ole Miss. Welp, this week the students are putting their name down for another rebel. Admiral Ackbar. Yes, that’s right, the leader of the Rebel Alliance from the Star Wars universe is the leading candidate for the kids. It’s a trap!
- Texas and Boise State are getting together. Not to play, but to talk shop! Apparently Mack Brown wants to try some trick plays to mix things up. We’re not sure what Boise State is getting in return.
- Boise State has another run for their money. The Broncos are known for have a blue turf field, but now Eastern Washington will have a red turf field. No matter what it’s called, we sure many a headache will crop up around the nation when they watch their games on television. Also, if some one has a Broncos game on one TV and an Eastern Washington game on the other in the same room, can you watch it in 3D with the proper glasses?
- Texas head coach Mack Brown’s mom lost a battle to cancer. Our condolences goes out to Mack Brown and all involved.
- Nebraska’s Jacob Hickman will not play in NFL. Not because he’s not good, but because he has no desire for a professional football career. We always get the upside of going to the NFL but we rarely see why some players opt out of the NFL.
- We here at the KCCGD Headquarters want to welcome David Ubben as the new Big 12 Blogger for ESPN. We look forward to catching up on his posts as they roll in throughout the year.
College Sports, Kansas City style
