So who all will fit in the glass slipper that the Big 10 is dangling out in front of the college football landscape? In our series, we talked about how the traditional Big 10 aims to scratch their expansion itch and what could happen to every conference around them when they do. Today we look at the candidates either actively or inactively campaigning to be ones who get the golden ticket of an invite. There are oddball choices as well as solid, sensible choices in this competition. Not all will be covered, but we’ll see the ones that matter. Then after that, the swimsuit competition! On with the show!
Yesterday we laid the groundwork for the expansion drama that’s girdling up the loins of college football at the moment. Today we are taking a look at how the history of the Big 10 led us to this point. There’s over 100 years of data to go over, but we are blowing through the earliest parts and focus on the last 20 years. Expansion is in the blood of the Big 10 and they’ve acted on it. They tried many times and failed but were able to pull one team in the fold. So let’s ring up the good Doctor and fly away in the TARDIS back to the start of the Big 10.
It’s the middle of May and many of the big time conferences are in the middle of meetings. Athletic directors and coaches nationwide are now meeting to check up on things and discuss to goings on of their respective schools. Now usually, this will blow over with not much of a drop of news to report. This year, however, it’s getting bigger attention because of the expansion talk coming from the Big 10. Where last year there might have been one or two beat writers covering the meeting, this year it’s a media hoopla. No, the KCCGD Crib Sheet did not travel to the Big 10 meeting, but the Big 12 one is in Kansas City next week so we may crash that party. In the meantime, read up on our Big 10 expansion series and check out this week’s Crib Sheet:
Blair Kerkhoff speculated last week how Kansas City could be affected with Missouri and/or Nebraska leaving the conference. We’ll cover it later this week, but this is a nice roundup of how serious of a move this is for the local area.
Mike Sherman’s been away to Iraq talking to Aggie troops. He went out there for the Aggie Muster, which is a roll call of fallen Texas A&M soldiers on April 21. He ended up being late and had to stay later due to the Iceland volcano blowing ash. Sherman’s got our respect here for spending his own dough and sticking through to keep up the tradition.
Notre Dame and Miami are looking to renew their rivalry. Sounds good to us. Back in the day, this game meant national championships. Today, well, these teams are struggling to get back to the big time. Maybe this renewed tussle will help them get back on the track.
It seems like there is some trouble going on over in Lawrence. We might have not mentioned it before, but there is a big brewhaha over former fundraiser Rodney Jones’ abuse over tickets and plane ride solicitations. On the field, first stringer defensive tackle Jamal Greene is off the team because of his arrest for a little breaking and entering and armed robbery. At least they are cleaning things up now.
The speculation for the Big Ten expansion now grows toward the Sun Belt, according the head honcho Jim Delany. Let the fake reports triple because of this.
Bennie F. Abram, the Ole Miss player who collapsed and died on the field during a workout, had the sickle-cell trait. The enlarged heart due to that caused the seizure. When will the NCAA institute a rule that monitors this disease in football players? Every year there’s a new kid that dies because of this. Where is the clamor?
It’s been a real quiet week. Hey, the weather’s finally coming around and everyone’s outside doing stuff. What are we doing at the KCCGD headquarters? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We’ve been recovering since SXSW and it’s not time yet to do some cleaning. So we’ve been lounging and laying around soaking up some non conditioned air. We had just enough energy to pump out another Crib Sheet. So check it out while we take a nap:
Oklahoma State’s Pistol Pete is your new ESPN Radio Mascot Champion. After taking over the college bracket, Pete beat up Benny the Bull from the Chicago Bulls and the pro side. Congrats Pete! Be sure to check up on our review of this guy here.
Texas A&M students have a shot to play with the big boys on campus this week. They can catch a touchdown, tackle a runner, and do other things with the football players in the ‘Pigskin Palooza’. Head coach Tommy Tubberville says this is all in good fun, but we’re thinking he’s secretly looking for more players. Hey, the military can produce some major athletes, just not general ones.
The Little Caesars Bowl continues onward with the re-up of the MAC and the Big Ten. But it gets a little different after that. The top MAC team will face the 8th place team in the Big Ten, if that team is eligible. If not, a Sun Belt Conference team will take its place. Or, the MAC and Sun Belt will play in the Little Caesars Bowl.
Bill Snyder 2.0 came back stronger. They have the technology to do so. They will need again apparently. The Kansas State head coach tore both his MCL and ACL during spring practice. He even coached the rest of practice after the incident. This old guy is tough. Let’s hope he gets a robot leg.
April Fools came and went and we here at the KCCGD headquarters want to share a few of our favorite tricks. The first one: cover the laser part of a laser mouse with a piece of tape or Post It note. Watch as the unsuspecting fool tries to use the mouse and bangs it on the table! Har Har! Next up: keeping with the tape motiff, tape down the latch to your office mates’ phone. Watch as they try to call, or better yet someone tries to call them, and phone won’t unhook from the latch! Comedy gold! Okay, enough yucks. Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
Wow that was fast. Nick Saban wins a BCS National Championship for Alabama and then gets a bronze statue erected in his honor. So if he wins it again, what will happen? A whole new stadium in his honor? How about a permanent seat in Alabama’s government? They do eat, sleep, and breath football down there.
A highly touted recruit for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish fell to his death last Friday. Matt James was in Florida on spring break when he fell from a hotel balcony. Apparently he was drunk when it happened.
Georgia linebacker Montez Robinson was kicked off the team after an arrest related to battery charges and domestic violence. S0metimes kids are still kids and they don’t realize that they can’t get away with stuff like that. If you were wondering, this was the second time he was arrested.
Texas Tech quarterback Talyor Potts will have surgery on his injured hand. He will be out about 8 weeks. Not a good start for Tommy Tubberville. But hey, maybe he can install a real running game while Potts is out.
Kansas Associate Athletic Director Ben Kirtland resigned Monday with no reason given. Hrm. Either something bad happened or this was the fallout from the Jayhawks not getting far in the basketball tournament.
While he’s not busy hanging in Key West being a pirate or suing the pants of another school, Mike Leach is consulting. More specifically, consulting on the installation of his offense at Oklahoma State. Any type of offensive knowledge that he can implant at that school could only help. Just make sure he doesn’t send a cowpoke to the outhouse.
For the first time in about 6 months, the KCCGD headquarters opened up the windows to let the weather in. The first signs of warm weather and great tempatures can mean only one thing. No, not the start of baseball, but the start of spring practice. The recruits are signed and the players that can practice are on the field. Start the clock, we have about 5 months to go before the start of another football season. In the meantime, check out this week’s Crib Sheet:
Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez was named in yet another lawsuit involving home deals. This shouldn’t affect his on the field coaching much this season. He’s still avoiding the hot seat, but if he turns out another poor performance, then these kind of lawsuits will be used as ammo against him.
Meanwhile, the grounds crew and security detail for the Big House needs to get its act together. Someone broke into the stadium and lifted a big chunk of the ‘M’ in the middle of the field. What would you do with that? Make a jacket?
Urban Meyer is back to Florida and is already spitting fire. He lashed out at Orlando Sentinel reporter Jeremy Fowler for reporting the comments that Deonte Thompson made about exiting quarterback Tim Tebow. It’s nice to see the fire is back so quick for Meyer, let’s hope he doesn’t drop 20-30 pounds because of it.
Kansas coach Turner Gill is open to positions changes for the new football season and about 9 players have taken advantage of it so far. It’s time to rebuild the program and what better way to do so than with kids playing the positions they want. At least they’ll be more motivated.
Another football player was stabbed to death. This time it’s Kendall Berry of Florida International University. This, of course, was a result of an argument and retaliation. Hopefully, they will find the guy that did it. When will players see enough of this and not get involved with off campus thugs. And a suspect has been arrested in the case.
After much fanfare and celebration, the loved International Bowl is closing up shop. Well, there were really only around for about 4 years. The Big East team that ran over the MAC opponents will now face stiffer competition in the Yankee Bowl.
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.
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.
Coaches come and coaches go, but we can’t believe how things are getting turned around in the very start of this off season. Coaches leaving. Coaches coming. Some with long tenures, some with short. The heads at the KCCGD headquarters are still a little scrambled. Fortunately, we have this week’s Crib Sheet to help sort things out. We’re sure you are about as confused as we are so let’s get right to it:
Missouri apologized for its band playing over the Navy’s fight song during their bowl game earlier. It was the only thing they had over Navy in that game. Navy’s still tooting their horn over the thumping they gave the Tigers.
South Florida fired Jim Leavitt after allegations of Leavitt beating up some kids. The hammer is falling fast on tough coaches and it looks as though it will continue. It almost seems like that’s enough for colleges to get out from under big contracts. Either that or in this time and age you tell you assistant coach to rough up a kind instead of yourself. So, Jim, take a deep breath and come back home to K-State. Or hire a lawyer.
Meanwhile, on the fired coaches trip, Mike Leach accuses Texas Tech of slander and libel due to the fallout from his firing as head coach. Leach’s camp states that the allegations from his treatment of Adam James hurts Leach’s reputation and his ability to get another job. This legal battle will play out for a long time. As you guessed it, Texas Tech asked the court to throw the case out.
In the meantime, Texas Tech already hired Tommy Tubberville as their new head coach. He’s been trolling around for a new job since he got canned from Auburn. He was displaying interest in Kansas when that job opened up. Looks like Tech found a good replacement.
While we are in Texas, the Longhorns trainer officially told the press that there was no way Colt McCoy could continue to play in the BCS National Championship. A pinched nerve and a dead arm is a serious thing. Apparently, Colt tossed the ball to his high school coach dad and could only muster 7 yards in the locker room. This will seal the deal on the mystery of Colt and what could of happened.
Nick Montana, son of NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana, returns to Notre Dame this year after a year away at community college. It wasn’t because of grades, it was because he was not physically in shape for college ball. We don’t think he’ll be a starter quick but it’s nice to see that a former Domer’s kid can make the same team.
Pete Carroll is your new NFL Seattle Seahawks head coach. He talked about the process earlier this week. The rumor mill was all over the place since Friday and Monday confirmed it. There’s going to be a huge hole at USC and we’re still not sure who can fill it next. Tune in next week.
When rumors of a coach leaving a school pops up, you tend to see other schools scramble to keep their coach. Such is the case with Oregon State and Mike Riley. He’s been really good with the Beavers and even the faintest rumor of a USC job got him a 3 year extension.
So who did USC get? Well, Lane Kiffin, of course! Rumors were flying all over about new candidates, but the former NFL Oakland Raiders head coach and now former Tennessee Volunteers head coach will take over. Kiffin was an alumni for USC and a former Offensive Coordinator under Pete Carroll. The time was really short for Kiffin’s tenures at both the pros and the college ranks. We’re thinking that this is a ‘coming home’ type situation and that he’ll be there at least 3 years. Hopefully.
So who’s number one for Tennessee now? (Getting kind of ridiculous, isn’t it?) Welp, Texas Defensive Coordinator and head coach heir Will Muschamp. He was on the list last year when the Vols needed a coach so this will be the same kind of dance again. Wethinks that Will’s getting another massive pay raise.
Happy Holidays everybody from the KC College Gameday Crew! It’s been a couple of years now of doing this blog and we’ve learned alot along the way. We also are very thankful for all 12 of you that actually read this internet football rag. It’s not a perfect blog and we strive hard everyday just to make it a little bit better. We wished it could be perfect, but sometimes great things come from imperfections. Much along those same lines, we have Christmas wishes we want to share with you this holiday season:
Welp last week was a big rush. This week, all is calm and all is bright. Christmas is in a couple of days and we are expecting some major snow. So we can chalk up the lack of news to that and everyone getting ready for bowls. We are done with Christmas shopping and got our Topsy’s popcorn, so we will be taking a few days off ourselves. We’ll probably do something around Christmas, but look for a Bowl Pick It update Monday. Until then here is this week’s meek little Crib Sheet:
Former Kansas coach Mark Mangino gets a $3 million settlement from the university for his resignation and termination fo his contract. He had about $9 million left to go. Welp he doesn’t have to work for a couple of more years and gets a fat holiday check. Mangino made out pretty well.
It looks like Bill Snyder 2.0 and the Wildcats are looking to pick up scraps leftover from new Kansas head coach Turner Gill’s blowout of the staff. They are interviewing former defensive coordinator Clint Bowen to fill the vacancy left by Vic Koenning’s departure to Illinois. This has happened before. Joe Bob Clements went to Kansas as a defensive line coach even though he played for Kansas State. He went back home to Snyder 2.0 though and we won’t be surprised if Bowen doesn’t do the same thing.
Even though he didn’t come home with a Heisman, Ndamukong Suh has been picking up plenty of awards. The latest one happens to be the AP Player of the Year. This is the first time a defensive player ever won the award. I’m sure his Nebraska head coach, Bo Pelini, congratulated him while chewing gum openly.
Alrighty, we are in the 1st quarter of bowl season and fortunately we don’t have any Big 12 bowl games until next week. So we have the opportunity to preview and predict what’s coming up in the next couple of weeks for the Big 12. We’ll talk briefly about the match up and go into our expert predictions. Chew on this while you are doing your last minute shopping on Amazon. Oh and please pick us up something nice while you’re at it.
Here we go! Bowl season starts tomorrow and we got your Bowl Pick It and Stick It ready to go! It’s the somewhat the same format as the regular season. For each of the 34 bowl games, you will need to assign confidence points. So for whoever you think will win the strongest, should get the highest confidence points and vice versa for the weakest. What’s different is the you need to pick the winner straight up. There is no spread points to play off of for the bowls. So head on over to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports and sign up! We’ll go over the bowls after break but first, here’s the info:
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.
After a well deserved week off, we are back to bringing you some tasty college football. Alot happened during our mini hiatus so we are playing catch up with the Crib Sheet. We have alot to get to here with the start of bowl season this weekend. Tune in soon for a couple of year end reviews, bowl picks, and some bowlspots. Until then, here’s a very chunky Crib Sheet:
Alabama took the high road when it announced that they will cancel classes for the BCS National Championship. That’s nice for football fans, but the last time I remembered there are people who actually don’t like football AND go to college. It seems kinda chintzy to lob off classes for everyone during the bowl game. Then again, this is South and it is football.
Congress will crack the whip on the BCS soon and vote on a bill to ban promotion of the NCAA division I football series unless they get a playoff. The argument against it is that they have better things to do (health care bill, anyone). The argument for it is that the NCAA is a business and they should treat the conferences like companies in an industry. Problem with that one is that then the argument will come up that the students should get paid then (on top of free college). The slippery slope just got some juice.
Charlie Strong is you new Lousiville head coach. This guy was rumored for the Kansas job, but right now the hot note is Buffalo’s Turner Gill. Anywho, back to Strong. This guy was co-defensive coordinator for Florida and looks to be a real good hire. Good luck to Cardinals.
Tennessee confirms that there is an investigation into their Orange Pride group and possible recruiting violations. Basically, the Orange Pride comprises mostly of very attractive Volunteer females that drive around and persuade recruits to join the program. They would even friend them on Facebook. Did they break any rules? Who knows? This has been going on for a long time, however. The power of gender persuasion is a might force, my friends.
Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh hired his dad Jack to be interim running backs coach for the Sun Bowl. It’s nice to see that the Harbaughs like to keep in the family. His dad won some titles in Division II and his brother John just happens to the head coach of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.
Notre Dame took the plunge and finally hired a head coach. His name? Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly. It’s a good fit for the Domers. They guy won the Big East the last two years and has won at least 10 games the last three. Let’s hope the boosters expectations aren’t too high this time around, otherwise we’ll be seeing this dance again in three years.
Mack Brown from Texas is getting an extra $2 million per year on the rest of his contract for doing such a great job. The guy now will make about $5 million per year. Meanwhile, an Iowa senator complains that coaches are being paid too much. Nevermind that Texas brings in about $100 million a year via the athletic department. Oh and don’t let Kirk Ferentz or Paul Rhoads hear this guy. They might go somewhere else and the voters will vent on their frustration in the voting booth.
Colt McCoy wants a bowl playoff. He’s thought about long and hard. Did he think about it while he almost blew the game for the Longhorns at the Big 12 Championship? Maybe that’s why he wants playoff. It would’ve covered up his mistake. Doh!
A handful of awards were handed out on ESPN last week to college football players. We’re not going to go through the whole list but we will say that Big 12 was represented very well. Congrats to Colt McCoy and Ndamukong Suh.
So Kansas ended its coaching search over the weekend. Some people thought it was Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, but that was denied big time. So the Jayhawks fell to their 2nd choice, Turner Gill. This guy turned around Buffalo from perennial losers to a decent MAC team, even winning the title last year. Some people have overlooked that and started a fire-this-guy website. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers.
Mark Ingram won the Heisman over the weekend as well. The race ended up being the closest ever with Ingram taking it over Gerhart, McCoy, Suh, and Tebow respectively. The sexy pick leading up to it was Suh, but that’s why it was sexy. No chance of winning and you get to appear smart. That said, there was no clear leading guy running up to it, so it’s no surprise it was this close.
Kansas State special teams stand out Brandon Banks was released from jail after beating a women while stoked on some stimulants. Ruh Roh. At least there’s no bowl to damage for the Wildcats. Hopefully this guy will get his act together and salvage his draft status, if there’s any left.
Looks like Illinois will hire Kansas State co-defensive coordinator Vic Koenning to be their sole defensive coordinator. He was with Clemson for a couple of years before his one year stint with the Wildcats. Hopefully the Wildcats defense won’t suffer that much.
Looks like the Big 10 will finally come into the century and explore a possible 12th team and conference championship. Who will it be? Some say Missouri or Iowa State. We know Missouri would listen. Others are point toward the Big East and Syracuse, Rutgers, or Pittsburgh. Let’s hope they keep it Big East for the east coast television money too.
The NCAA, following the lead of the NFL, will recommend keeping an athlete out of the game if they lose consciousness or show signs of a concussion. Head trauma is big news nowadays and the NCAA is quickly stepping in to cover their own heads with this rule. Now I get the old folks harping about leather helmets and poor pads being a better sport. We’ll be talking like that in a c0uple of years.
