So I just found out today that I have at least 2 more road trips to go this year for the KCCGD crew. This year has been by far the most travelled and will be the most Stadiumspotted. It’s a nice change of pace from the last couple of years as we have begun to run out of new and cool places to Barspot. One of the new road trips just happens to be tomorrow night. Tune in tomorrow to find out here, but you won’t have to think hard if you want to guess. In the meantime, let’s catch up to the news items in this week’s Crib Sheet:
Coach Mark Dantonio of Michigan State had his health issues and that apparently inspired a fan to postpone surgery to watch the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Trophy last Saturday. Major Hester put off getting a pacemaker installed to watch the battle. Okay, that’s hardcore. I would pick life over college football, but it would be close.
Looks like the move to the Big 10 will support a stadium expansion for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The newly approved plan will cost about $56 million and put the capacity at around 90,000 seats. How much do you want to bet that they will try to build Memorial Stadium up to be bigger than the Big House?
Meanwhile, the Rose Bowl has expansion plans of its own. The $152 million expansion will keep the lease going with the bowl through 2043. They have an upcoming BCS National Championship Game so they need to spruce things up a bit.
But while the two stadiums have expansion competition going, the locker room just got better for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Ndamukong Suh donated about $2 million and as part of that, the players get iPads installed in the locker room. Man they need to put that in the toilet, not the locker. You’re not going to get much use out in the open with those things.
Baylor receivers Willie Jefferson and Josh Gordon got busted with pot after they were found passed out in a Taco Bell drive through. The whole 4th meal thingy from the Bell targets potheads anyway so it was a no brainer that these guys were found with weed. They’ll more than likely miss a couple of games.
Neither of those two were involved last week in one of the shortest kick returns in history. Texas Tech hit an onside and it didn’t go 10 yards. Terrance Ganaway nabbed it and ran 38 yards for a touchdown. It wasn’t the shortest, but it was awesome to see the special teams fail on the Red Raiders.
This bit of news is confusing so bear with me on this. A former agent said an agent friend of his, Gary Wichard, used ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Jr. to recruit college players. Kiper’s released statement says he talked to players by going through agents. I’m having a hard time finding where the fault is. I think it’s the fact that agents are pushing players to Kiper and his Big Board. But I don’t know it’s players after college or during. This does smell fishy.
College football is cyclical. Power programs come and go and the traditional ones always swing around back into power. Much like the seasons, power programs have summers and winters. For Penn State’s winters, that also includes the usual cries for Joe Paterno to retire. This guy is going to die on the field, in anything to fulfill my prediction. He’s not going to retire and Penn State will be good in a couple of years.
Okay so this will be a lil weird. Barspotting found me outside of Kansas City again Saturday for the second week in a row. This time, I was in Minnesota. Minneapolis to be exact. So prior obligations held me up north and by some crazy chance I was able to stumble into a sports bar up there to catch at least one football game. Among the lessons learned on this trip was that regional football coverage can sometimes cramp your football watching style. Well that and onion rings alone can be pretty tasty.
The only other thing this week’s Crib Sheet needs is bacon. Grab some and check it out:
Notre Dame’s Dayne Crist played the rest of the first drive of the game against Michigan with blurred vision out of his right eye. It was just enough blurry vision to keep him out of the rest of the first half. It was a great game and we wonder what the score would be like if he was healthy for the whole game.
Much like Wrigley Field of baseball, the Big House will get permanent lights for night games. Will we ever see the docket of Big 10 games go well into the night? Since the Big 10 Network is around you can bet on the conference trying to expand all of its games throughout the day and weekends.
Speaking of stadiums, the Richmond Spiders will actually get to play a home game in their own stadium for the first time in 82 years. It seems the city owned the place they were playing at and it wasn’t even on campus. This should help Richmod realize its full potential and become a powerhouse in football for years to come.
We see some players go from college football to major league baseball but it’s rare when the other way happens. Welp it happened with Nick Doscher. He’s playing at quarterback for Wagner College after a stint as catcher in the farm system for the Kansas City Royals. This guy must be able to manage the game because of his catcher status. If he was a pitcher we would guess he would throw all over the place in a passing attack.
Phil Fulmer put the full frontal audible attack on Lane Kiffin last week. He used to be Tennessee head coach before Kiffin came on. He’s wondering how Kiffin uses his mojo to get the cush coaching jobs. It’s a good thing he used his smack talk on his now current CBS analyst gig. Let the media war begin.
The Chick-fil-A Kickoff will now have two games starting in 2012. We already knew that Tennessee will take on N.C. State but now Auburn will take on Clemson, too. All this does is make me more hungry for Chick-fil-A sandwiches.
Here’s a lesson: When you talk with an ESPN reporter, more than likely you will be on record. Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian learned the hard way when he talked about Reggie Bush and not apologizing for the Heisman/eligibility problem. Serves Sarkisian right. He was an offensive coordinator during this debacle and he should get some negative rub it too.
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio was so thrilled about his overtime fake field goal for the win against Notre Dame last week that he had a heart attack. He’s okay, but we think he needs to lay off the coffee a bit. Notre Dame’s not looking to good this year anyway.
Houston, we have a problem. (I’ve been waiting so long to say that!) The Cougars quarterback Case Keenum and his backup Cotton Turner are out with season ending injuries. Keenum has a bum knee and Turner has a broken collarbone. Houston lost to UCLA in a blow out and they probably won’t recover from these damages.
Missouri defensive end Aldon Smith is out two weeks with a broken leg. A broken leg? That sounds like more than a two week thing. Is this guy some kind of cyborg or something?
Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins was so pumped about the Buffaloes games against Hawaii that he head butted a player and cut himself. They needed that emotion to come from behind and win but we’re not sure if it will save the Hawk’s Big 12 campaign.
The olny Ohio player to show some emotion and gusto against Ohio State was the mascot. He jumped Brutus Buckeye and now he’s banned from being a mascot again. It also turns out that he planned to do it all along. Now that’s some mascot grudge.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Alrighty, I’m about halfway through my scotch and water, I blasted out another Crib Sheet, and I’m jacked up for some football tomorrow night. It’s prediction time! The offseason sucked. Period. Being in Big 12 land was not easy on this college football lovin’ Yeti and especially not easy on Kansas City. We weathered the storm and now we are here ready for some pigskin play. What will we see in this year’s volume of football? Let’s take a look in our crystal ball shaped glass full of scotch and water.
Mike Leach will lose his CBS announcing job for making Gus Johnson stand in the bathroom with no light.
Mark Ingram will not be a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, thanks to the fresh knee injury.
The Oregon Ducks will win the Pac 10, both for best dressed and actual gold.
Colorado loses a bunch of games and Dan Hawkins stays on because the school is too broke to fire him out of his contract.
Caoch Brian Kelly will talk NBC into going into commerical breaks for opposing teams’ offensive drives only. Oh and the Fighting Irish will make a bowl.
Missouri will win the North, only because Nebraska’s ego and farewell tour will fall flat.
Daniel Thomas will be a Heisman finalist, thanks to a solid offensive line and the fact that he will get his yards with the whole defense keying on him. Thanks, Carson Coffman.
Boise State will go undefeated and not make the dance. People are saying its the weak schedule, but it will be because of an undefeated team in the Big 10 and one other conference. Look for Orrin Hatch to have an aneurism over this one.
This will be Lee Corso’s last season for ESPN College GameDay. It’s been a hell of a ride, Lee, just please don’t put on the Grim Reaper’s head when it’s your time to go.
This will be the fastest season ever for the Kansas Jayhawks. By fast, we mean the fans will be ready for basketball season about 2 games in. Turner Gill’s rebuilding starts this year, he’s got at least 3 before some magic happens.
Iowa State will be in the bottom of the league again, but they will get an upset some big team because of a massive rain storm. Hey their practice field flooded over the summer, they should be ready.
Texas just missed the mark in the Big 12 South. Not because of the competition, but for the cliffhanger they want to leave for next season’s Longhorns Network debut. Stay Tuned! Same horn time! Same horn channel!
Big Game Bob goes to a BCS game but will not be game as the Sooners bob and weave from some other big team beaming game time bashings. Probably against Virginia Tech and Frank BEAMER.
The Big East has a seasson. No one really cares.
RichRod makes a valiant effort and gets the Wolverines into a bowl game. It will be the weakest one from the Big 10 and it will be enough to get him fired. He will then go on and make real estate deals with everyone in the Ann Arbor region.
USC doesn’t get close to a Pac 10 championship and Lane Kiffin leaves after just one season. The Kiffin world tour moves on!
Florida misses Tim Tebow and will miss being in the running for the SEC. Urban Meyer gets sick and dies from the piss poor play on the field.
Kansas City sports bars will stay the same this year. No one will get 3D TVs because the mixture of 3D and beer will make everyone puke. Some new bars will crop up and the KCCGD crew will eventually puke in those anyway.
We’re going back to our 2008 prediction about Joe Paterno dieing on the field. Now that Bobby Bowden is out, this one should get much easier. Or will he be in the booth this year?
Okay, we called the BCS National Championship game two years ago with Florida and Oklahoma, we were halfway right with Texas last year in the big game. What will happen this year? Well, the trend says we will get it all wrong so there’s nothing to lose. I’m thinking the offseason hype for the Big 10 will lead a team to a title contention. Since the only team that’s worth a damn up there is Ohio State, then that’s our pick. Chances are the SEC will be mega tough again this year and barring any late push by an Oregon or a Big 12 team, we are going the easy route and picking SEC. Whose turn is it? Let’s go LSU. Why not. Can you say 2007 rematch?
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:
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.
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.
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?
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.
Apparently there’s still some fallout from the NCAA’s investigation of schools regarding sports agents and football players. Read all about it below. Our take on the whole thing? The times they are a changing and much like any other huge organization, change comes slow. This week’s Crib Sheet points out that while the NCAA is running around doing investigations, they are cutting drug testing budgets. We think the NCAA needs to lean down more and seriously reconsider just how sports are played today. On the Crib Sheet:
It looks like alot of big name players are going down at Nebraska and Missouri. Mike Smith broke a leg for the Cornhuskers and Jerrell Jackson broke his left wrist. Will this potentially blow open the Big 12 North? The bigger injuries usually happen during the season.
Well well well, it looks like Bryce Brown IS coming to Kansas State. That is, until Derek Dooley releases him from his scholarship at Tennessee. Brown’s had some trouble there and decided to bolt after Lane Kiffin did. Bill Snyder 2.0 should help clean him up after this blows over.
As more and more reports of paid trips come up, Nick Saban closes camp to scouts and then grabs some of his buddies on a call to the NFL regarding ways to stamp out the rampant sports agent issue. It’s alright that Saban is trying to clean things up now, but we’re thinking he’s getting ahead of it to take advantage of it later on down the road.
New Mexico football players can’t tweet. Now we loves the Twitter and we see no harm in kids doing the same thing socially that their peers are. If DeWayne Walker was smart, he would cryptically recruit via Twitter.
Playboy picked Ohio State to win it all. Is Playboy even relevent anymore. They used to have it big but now it just seems they are a glorified New Yorker. Even the nudity isn’t intriguing anymore.
So the media circus that was Mike Leach is now replaced with a reality show. Yup, Texas Tech decided that the pirate attention was not enough and will document the team throughout the season in a reality show. Hard Knocks this won’t be. But hey it already sounds better than Jerzey Shore.
Sprint’s Football Live app now does college football. Yes, all of you smartphone subscribers out there will now get a chance to watch ESPN college football games as well as the Notre Dame home games. Very nice indeed.
The NCAA is cutting costs related to drug testing. Gone comprehensive tests, Ephedrine, and advance notice to schools. What stays are the high risk drugs and an easier path of get away with taking performance enhancing drugs.
The beating heat of the summer is getting to us. We’re producing an inordinate amount of swass underneath while compiling this week’s very beefy Crib Sheet. We’re going for some lemonade and to air our sweat regions. Here’s the Crib Sheet:
It’s official, via text message, that Bryce Brown will not be coming back to Tennessee. Will he land at Kansas State? The way Daniel Thomas is looking might draw the Wichita, Kansas native back home to the Wildcats. Tennessee will not release him from his scholarship so that will slow him down.
Big 12 Media Days for Kansas was all about Turner Gill. He landed a great hire at offensive coordinator and Chuck Long. It’s a rebuilding year and they are trying to stay focused on the field and not with all the crap that happened off of it.
Colorado’s Big 12 media day was not as exciting as leat year’s. Oh, they’re stoked this year but we got the sense that they are distracted about moving to the Pac 10. One thing is for sure, if Cody Hawkins starts for the Buffaloes, they will lose every time.
Oklahoma, on the other hand, spent the day talking about the huge expectations they have. Yes, they had a ton of injuries last year. That means that the younger kids have more experience and more time with each other. They should be tough, but we’re not sold yet on national title tough.
Texas A&M’s media day was unheard of. You’d think the cash they got in the expansion deal means that they command more respect at the podium but apparently not.
Texas Big 12 media days was alot like just hanging out. Coach Mack Brown handled the alignment talk well and also took care of the Nebraska contigent in a subdued kind of way.
The assistant coach who took a punch from head coach Mike Locksley sued both him and New Mexico for the fight. We’re thinking he lost the actual fight and is now taking it to the courts.
So assistant coach Mark Nelson of East Carolina resigned because of NCAA allegations that he evaluated players in off-season workout and conditioning drills. Huh? Coaches evaluate all the time. That’s what they do. The NCAA is beginning to be irrelevant and completely out of touch.
Oklahoma running back Mossis Madu got a DUI. He’ll probably be benched for the half of the first game.
ESPN is going 3d! They will broadcast a couple of college football games in the new tech as well. Check out the list here.
IMG bought ISP Sports and now is the mega daddy of all agencies that license pro and college sports media to outlets. These guys will have some major pull when it comes to bringing in more bucks from the supposed holy grail of television deals for college athletics.
Former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli is walking on to Ole Miss in the hopes of still playing football. He was booted off the Ducks for burglary and weed smoking. We all believe in second chances right? This second chance will have a short leash.
Iowa State defender David Simms plead guilty to credit card fraud that he originally denied. It looks like his career might be over up there.
Bill Snyder 2.0 goes old school with his scheduling philosophy for the Kansas State Wildcats. They had Oregon on the schedule, but now they are off. The excuse was the new 9 team schedule for the conference coming up. It was also mutual. So will Miami be next off the list?
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.
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.
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.
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.
So the athletic director and coaches meetings for the Big 12 are in Kansas City this week and the Crib Sheet is here to fill you in. We’ll start out this week with the beginnings of the meeting and then wrap up Thursday’s and Friday’s talk next week. Dan Beebe held a press conference to field questions about the first day of talks. The big picture? The league is heading into media negotiations with excitement next year because of the money the ACC got from ESPN. But they need to stay together and Beebe would like to know if they are a soon as possible, even though he knows it won’t happen. Among his case for staying together was that potential for more money, the disruption of balance in the league that could force some regulatory structuring, and that the Big 10 could very well do nothing. Beebe says it’s a young conference and would like to see it grow old together with the members. Will it happen? We’ll find out next year, but in the meantime here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
The Big East wants the NCAA to study whether or not the on field head official should be in charge of overturning instant replay calls instead of the in-booth official. We don’t think this works out to well because even though the head official is in the flow of the game, the in booth official has better looks at close plays.
Dennis Dodd over at CBS Sports reiterates what we have been saying about Rich Rodriquez: he’s on the hot seat big time this season. Dodd puts the odds at 8-4 and a bowl appearance for him to keep his job. Any takers?
The cause behind the Urban Meyer drama last year finally came out. Meyer stated he had esophageal spasms and that he has some meds to take for it. The pain from the spasms made it ultra painful to eat. Hopefully the medication will work and he can continue on in his work.
The latest road block from Texas Tech didn’t work. The judge in the case states that Mike Leach can move forward in his lawsuit against the university for his firing late last year. Notch one win for the pirates. It’s going to be quite the naval battle between these two.
Even though Oklahoma is under some potential violations, the Sooners sent a letter to the NCAA stating that they meet the requirements set by the NCAA for their probation. A probation period that came from recruiting violations and is expiring soon. So they are out of the woods but could be right back in it soon.
Some officials from Kansas are caught up in a ticket scandal that diverted a couple of million in tickets to 3rd parties for personal gain. Most of the 6 officials involved have either left or been fired. Meanwhile, athletic director Lew Perkins stated he didn’t know it was going on. This shouldn’t hurt the athletics department in terms of probation and what not, but Perkins image is damaged and the school has not only money to recoup but the Feds sniffing around for more.
On to football, the Big 12 meetings this week let loose some football schedule nuggets. The Border War will be on Fox Sports Net on November 27th at 11:30 am. The Sunflower Showdown moved from Saturday to Thursday night October 14th on Fox Sports Net at 6:30 pm. Mark your calendars. Also, note that it’s exclusively on Fox. Testing for media numbers for the upcoming negotiations anyone?
Apparently some exercise equipment loaned to Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins has come around to bite him in the form of a blackmail scheme. A former disgruntled employee, Bill Dent, tried to extort money in exchange for keeping quiet about the equipment. Dent also says that Perkins received the equipment in exchange for tickets. We’ll find out what happens here. Perkins says he is a victim, because the company that loaned the equipment went under and didn’t recover the gear.
Meanwhile at the Big 12 meetings this week, Lew Perkins talked about that as well some talk about the expansion speculation. The big takeaway? He says expansion is a super serious threat and that Kansas may or may not have been contacted by the Big 10. Diversion tactic is a go!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Signing Day is upon us! Today is the day of the year when high school kids across the country pick their football mates and spurn others. The ritual goes on for years, sometimes, and the final chapter only begets a new book in life. So congratulations to all the kids across the USA who not only get to play big time football, but also get a big time scholarship. Maybe they can become meterologist or study something failry easy like communications. Here’s our communications thesis, the Crib Sheet:
A new award for the most versatile college football player was announced last week. It’s the Paul Hornung Award, named after the former all around guy and Notre Damer. We doubt any lineman will be getting this one.
Due to the open records act for state of Texas and Texas Tech University, we now find that Craig James threatened to sue Texas Tech if Mike Leach’s actions taken for his son Adam were not investigated. So now it is confirmed that Craig James was trying to pull some weight around there. On the other hand, it is his kid and he was worried about his kids health. Any father would want to protect his kid from injury. The problem here is the action taken was just sending him away from the team. Nothing physical. Nothing really mentally debilitating. Fathers take note: don’t be a douche like Craig James.
We now know that Turner Gill will be making about $2 million per year from his contract, gathered from the release of they detail of his contract. He’ll have a tall order to rebuild (already) a busted up Kansas team. Hey, if he can do it he deserves and then some.
Speaking of Kansas, the Gridiron Club plans appear to be dead in the water. The initial project fulfills the need to stack some rich people high up in new luxury suites and toss free food and drink down their throat. Too bad the team tanked this year, as if they had actually been competitive, they might have had a shot of following through on this thing.
The much ballyhooed Senior Bowl came and went. Nothing happened. Okay, well, Tim Tebow played really bad and we’ll see him running the ball or holding the clipboard next year in the NFL. LeGarrette Blount ran for a touchdown so his draft stock went up. Outside of that, just another football game. Hey, at least those kids were trying versus the big boys in the Pro Bowl.
The recruiting trail is heating up and there’s one big commitment that new Kansas coach Turner Gill just landed. Brandon Bourbon was going to go to Stanford, but Gill influenced the four star recruit to become a Jayhawk. This was much needed for Gill as he lost a couple of four star guys when Mark Mangino got fired. We wonder what type of whiskey Brandon drinks.
ESPN blogger Tim Griffith points to an article breaking down hometowns of the nation’s football recruits. While he finds most of the kids that play in the Big 12 come from Texas, the more surprising stat is that Kansas City is number 3. Way to go, local kids, now stay in the local area schools.
