It’s time to go camping! The teams are gearing up and we geared up for our own camp adventure last week. :
- The two biggest movers and shakers from the off season’s expansion bonanza might actually play each other. There was the talk of Notre Dame and none other than Texas will play each other in a couple of years. Good for both programs. If the Longhorns end up with an exclusive television station, this game might only be played on Longhorns TV and NBC.
- Assistant coach Bruce Walker from Missouri was arrested last week on a DWI. The coaches and some of their wives were coming back from a trip to the Lake of the Ozarks. Now we’ve been down there many times and we can say that more than likely you will be coming back drunk from down there. A cab was called, he should’ve taken it. But hey, Missouri’s used to making bad choices, right?
- Meanwhile, in Ames, Iowa State defensive back David Simms plead guilty to the credit card fraud charge. He sits out the first game against Northern Illinois. See kids? Crime doesn’t pay (kinda).
- Not only does Kansas have to deal with Holden Tharp’s year ending injury, but now they have to change the fight song! Colorado and Nebraska are somehow featured in the song and since they are high tailing out of the conference, new words must be had.
- The NCAA is on a tear. They’re dumping on West Virginia, which could affect current Michigan coach Rich Rodrieguez. The association is also hanging out on the North Carolina campus. Tennessee is getting a letter of inquiry by these bad boys. It seems like they are focusing on the south. It won’t be much longer before they spread out across the whole country.
- To no one’s surprise, Indianapolis will be the home of the Big Ten Championship Game.
- So while Boise State’s head coach Chris Peterson banned Twitter use for players, the player who incited the haymaker from LeGarrette Blount spoke up and let us know what he said. “How ’bout that (expletive)-whuppin?” So Blount was talking smack before the game and this guy threw it in his face afterward.
- Backup quarterback Sherrod Harris for the Texas Longhorns will skip his final season to focus on school. Huh? He must not be very good.
- The Bill Snyder 2.0 magic is in effect. The Kansas State Wildcats reported record contributions for the last year. It also helps that a very public blunder by Bob Krause fed the anxiety of said contributors.
- On the other side of the coaching spectrum, Florida head coach Urban Meyer closed all practices because of ‘Scumbags’ and ‘Internet People.’ Okay, so that might work for TMZ, but really Urban? Everyone?
- The USA Today Top 25 pre season poll is out! Top five in order are Alabama, Ohio State, Florida, Texas, and Boise State. Yes, a mid major is up there and TCU is not far behind. Big 12 wise we have Oklahoma and Nebraska at 8 and 9 respectively. How much will this change in the next couple months? We can’t wait for the season to get here.
- UCLA is falling apart right before Kansas State’s eyes. The middle game is gone with two season ending injures and an academically ineligible tag. We think Daniel Thomas is drooling just a little bit more at this rushing opportunity.
Texas saved the Big 12, or what we are going to call it: the Big 12 (10). The Pac 10 wouldn’t let Texas have its own network so the Longhorns opted to stay. When the Big 12 (10) first started years ago, it was because of TV and money. They led the way into the new television era and now they are doing it again. In the future, you will see each school have its own television network and it will start with Texas and the Big 12 (10). Okay, maybe Notre Dame. At any rate, Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M are getting more money to stay now. Apparently, it’s status quo time as no real commitment will be required and they are basing staying together by some magic coalition of insiders and outsiders. It’s a 10 team league with no potential for a championship game and more round robin type play on the field. Most importantly, Kansas City has some life in its sports scene now. So let’s all take a breath and check out this week’s Crib Sheet:
- The Oregon Ducks dismissed quarterback Jeremiah Masoli for drug possession and other citations. It looks as though this is no LeGarrette Blount situation. Masoli is out for good for the Quack Attack.
- The NCAA dropped the hammer down on USC and instituted a 2 year postseason ban and some lost scholarships due to recruiting violations. No wonder Pete Carroll bolted after last season.
- Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins is cleared for any wrongdoing in the blackmail of equipment case. His job is safe for now, but he still needs to clear the hurdle on ticket scandal.
- Missouri got the could shoulder big time and the local indie newspaper The Pitch talks about how hard they go the shaft. Poor Tigers. They’ve been talking smack the loudest in all of this and now they’ve been reduced to abandonment. At least they are used to it.
- Chip Brown, the guy who broke most of the actual news in this expansion talk, confirmed that last Friday was the day that Nebraska went official and joined the Big 10. It’s still early to tell, but this guy has been the one who has called it so far so we’ll trust him when he says something else is up.
- Boise State will now be in the Mountain West Conference. They were tired of dominating the WAC for so long and decided to up the competition by playing TCU and Utah every year. Will this be enough to put the Mountain West on the BCS map? Well, considering the Big 12 (10) is still around, they will have a much harder time getting there.
- Here’s the preliminary Big 12 (10) television schedule. Interesting match ups include the UCLA at K-State, Florida State at Oklahoma, and the losers leave game with Colorado and Nebraska taking each other on.
- So the Pac 10 lost out on some Big 12 powerhouses and we’ve learned that commissioner Larry Scott flew to Texas and Oklahoma, but was also scheduled to make it to Kansas City. Was Kansas a backup plan? We don’ t have to worry about it for now.
- Stanley Ikenberry, interim president for Illinois, says that 12 is a good number for the Big 10. After all that’s happened so far, we think that he means that it’s good but it could get better. Don’t be surprised if the Big 10 starts going on the hunt again, maybe even real soon.
- Dan Beebe in his working with keeping the Big 12 (10) alive, knocked his hometown conference’s fan allegiance. He says that they are about as fair weather as Missouri fans when it comes to athletic competitions. Man he pulled out all the punches for this one.
- Speaking of Missouri, Governor Jay Nixon ran his mouth off again dissing outgoing schools Colorado and Nebraska. This guy pretty much shut out the Tigers from going to the Big 10 and now his state’s school needs to rebuild some bridges burned. That means he needs to get out of this and let the school handle it, please.
- The Oklahoma Sooners are interested in a television network, too. You know, instead of conference wide networks, it makes sense to do school specific. It’s the next natural progression and would benefit each school in showing other athletic events and possibly cultural and governmental ones too.
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.
- In what looks like to be a ploy to somehow win back some people, the Justice Department responded back to Senator Orrin Hatch’s request to investigate the legality of the BCS system in college football. The Obama administration wrote in a memo detailing options on what it could do to help resolve the issue if it so inclined to get involved. We’re not sure if the administration is placating Hatch or not, but one thing is for sure, if they spend too much time on this issue it will backfire for them.
- 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.
Continue reading BCS Title Thoughts and Year End Review →
The line for the BCS title is thinning as the number of undefeated teams are going down week by week. Last week it was both Iowa and Oregon that lost their ticket. Who will go down this week? We don’t know. But that question singularly defines what college football is and how unique it is to other sports. It truly is a complete playoff system. Now some others may not grasp it, but when you look at it year by year, the best teams usually bubble up. So tune in and see who goes down this weekend. Until then here’s this week’s crib sheet:
- Brandon Spikes was already suspended for one half of the Florida vs Vanderbilt game, but now he went and suspended himself for the other half. It’s a good thing it’s Vanderbilt because they probably didn’t need him. Kudos to Spikes, even though it is a big PR move.
- Meanwhile, Urban Meyer sent video to the SEC officials for a missed late hit on Tim Tebow during the Georgia game. Okay, it’s football. Florida is turning it into a big wussy game. Southeaster Conference: Home of the Using Video Evidence to Justify Being Whiners.
- Dez Bryant’s appeal to the NCAA was rejected and now he’s going to the NFL Draft. This kid got the shaft big time. If the NCAA was to make an example out of someone, do it to someone who actually did something wrong. From now on the NCAA will be called the NC-SS.
- Texas fans are already booking flights and reserving hotels for Pasadena. Longhorns, the season isn’t over yet. Don’t jinx your team now. If you do, I’ll buy a couple of tickets off you for half the price.
- Jahvid Best suffered a more serious concussion last weekend in a touchdown dive for California. This first one happened the week before and this lost him consciousness. Sit him for the rest of the season, coach. Let him recover.
- The Pac 10 approved Oregon’s request to reinstate LeGarrette Blount. I guess it took a major loss to okay him back to the field. Hopefully, he’ll learned his lesson and help the Ducks punch their way to the Rose Bowl.
- Welp, it took being ranked 4th in the BCS Standings for TCU to sell out a home game. Granted, it’s against top 16 ranked Utah, but this is first time since 2006 that they had a sellout. This is why mid-cons don’t get respect. The fans need to show up for the games to help support their teams. Then they can get the big tv time and respect. At least they got some cool new uniforms.
- Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz tells us that Ricky Stanzi is out until bowl season. This is a big blow to Iowa as they had BCS title chances before he went down and now they are just struggling to make a BCS bowl. At least there will be no Big 10 team in the title hunt this year.
This week marks the middle of the college football season. What have we learned so far? The top teams are still at the top. Texas and Florida hold destiny in their hands. Florida might have a rougher road but the coarse has been set for the predicted title match up. The rest of pack? Not so much. Especially in the Big 12. Oklahoma fell off the map big time, with Sam Bradford getting knocked out early with a shoulder injury. Kansas State is first in the Big 12 North, which punctuates the mediocrity thriving up there. The BCS busters are hanging around, except for the teams from Utah thankfully. The KCCGD crew is batting over .500 for hitting up good sports bars. Let’s hope the last half of the season is as exciting as the first half. Here’s the crib sheet :
- Former Penn State running back Austin Scott filed suit against all of the people involved in the rape charge against him that was eventually dropped a couple of years. There was not enough evidence to bring to jury. Scoot claims that everyone involved injured his career and is seeking damages. Rape is a serious charge and if someone gets wrongly accused and is ousted because of that, then the people involved should get punished.
- Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount is on the campaign trail to revive his status with the team, this time talking in front of teens with other current players. It’s going to be a long road back but the more work he does, the better chance he will have at getting back on the field. Let’s hope he makes it.
- Dennis Dodd for CBS clearly points out the writing on the wall of Oklahoma Sooners fans, Sam Bradford’s college career is over. After going down again against Texas, we doubt he’s gonna come back and try to re injure the shoulder or something else. Landry Jones will be your guy from now on.
- On the BCS front, we have a new political action committee started to fight the BCS. Yup it’s the Playoff PAC! A bunch of Belt Way people will get together and try to elect Congressmen to vote on playoffs for the BCS. Never mind that the guy running it just happens to be a Utah alumnus. Seriously, people from Utah suck.
- Maryland and South Carolina will wear camo uniforms for their game November 14th for Veterens Day. Sweet! Now if Army could only buy a clue and bring back the sweet camo garb they sported last year. Bring it back!
- Jasper Howard, a Connecticut cornerback, was fatally stabbed after their homecoming game Saturday as well as another player. Head coach Randy Edsell claims that there wasn’t any fighting but some ‘verbal jostling’ that started it. So far there are two arrests made but they may not be connected directly to the stabbing. Our thoughts go out to the Uconn players and Jasper Howard’s family.
What’s wrong with a little celebration? We here at the KCCGD like to shimmy and shake here after an especially tasty nacho dip or greasebuger. So why is it so hard to let the college football players jump up and down? Granted we don’t zebra striped dudes follow us to the Golden Tee table and inspect our reaction to making a great save putt. But that’s where the problem is. The referees are subjectively deciding whether or not the celebration might be offensive to him or the other team. That seems just a bit too wacky. There’s already enough pressure on the refs for actual blown calls. Don’t let them blow it on stupid rules.
- Looks like there’s a chance that LeGarrette Blount may be reinstated sometime this year. He cold cocked a Boise State player during one of the first games of the year and was subsequently suspended for the rest of the season. Similar infractions in different conferences only yielded a game or two suspension. It looks like he’s taking the right steps to get back on the field.
- Kansas University police will open up an investigation to the fight that took place between the football and basketball players. The media hype around this is now big enough for some posturing by the law enforcement there. So a hand will be slapped and money will be given under the table to keep this guys on the field.
- Texas Tech’s Taylor Potts suffered a concussion last week and he may be out this Saturday for their game against the Kansas State Wildcats. The stars may be aligned for the Wildcats as they are coming off their last second win against Iowa State and Farmageddon. Good thing suspended offensive lineman Brandon Carter is back. Hmm maybe that’s why Potts got banged up?
- It looks like they nabbed the guy accused of filming ESPN’s Erin Andrews nude. They dude’s an insurance salesmen and pretty well off. Go figure. The most surprise part of the article is that there are eight videos. We thought there was just one.
- ESPN’s Chris Low has an interesting piece about how Gene Chizik left football desolation at Iowa State for big powerhouse Auburn. Guess what? Chizik’s got the Tigers undefeated and #17 in the country, proving yet once again that bringing in talent helps more than just coaching up your kids.
- Oklahoma Sooners’ Ryan Broyles is out four to six weeks with a broken shoulder. Broyles is their leading wide receiver. Oklahoma’s BCS chances are pretty much shot and least injuries will be a sufficient excuse.
- The SEC admitted they blew the excessive celebration call against Georgia when they took the lead over LSU with about 1:05 to go in the game. LSU came back and won. Now Georgia should’ve stopped LSU, but their chances were seriously hurt with the penalty. What’s up with refs deciding outcomes for more important teams? Indiana’s screwjob at Michigan and now this? It’s like the refs want the bigger names to win for the conference. If Georgia won the game, would we see this much hype for LSU and Florida this weekend? You know stuff like this makes me think twice about how clean these conferences really are.
- Speaking of this week’s Florida vs LSU matchup, it seems the Gator players are getting threatening texts from LSU fans. Ho boy, let the hype machine crank up to full power. JK LOL!
There’s alot of violence going around in college football recently. Well, more violence than usual. Yes, there’s the pads a poppin’ but more and more we see fisticuffs break out. Whether it’s on the field or off, there’s been some smacking and smack talking cropping up all over. So pay attention to this week’s Crib Sheet. We have some lessons to teach. If you smellllllll, what the Crib Sheet, is cookin’!
- Rick Neuheisel and Bill Snyder 2.0 go way back, as Kevin Haskin writes. It seems that during the rebuilding process in Manhattan, Snyder 2.0 targeted the Buffaloes first instead of going for the top team in the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Neuheisel was the coach for Colorado at the time. So these guys know each other well. INSERT RECAP
- Collins Okafor is the second running back to leave the Nebraska Cornhusker squad. I guess Bo Pelini had confidence in the other two guys up for the position. Let’s hope none of those two get injured. But wait! He’s Back!
- So there have been complaints of Michigan’s Jonas Mouton tossing punches at Notre Dame’s Eric Olsen from their matchup a couple of weeks ago. Then to top it off, Rich Rodriguez claims he never saw it even when the video came out. Plus Mouton will not get punished for the haymaker he tossed. Talk about a total classless decision. Especially after that hoopla with Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount. We know what should. Check out the video and let us know what this guy should get (oh wait, yup he got a one game suspension):
- To be fair, Golden Tate did a nose dive on the Michigan State stands during Notre Dame’s victory over the Spartans. Yup no one helped him. Lambeau leap this ain’t:
- Texas A&M’s Uzoma Nwachukwu is loving life as the big man (and frosh) on campus this week. Nwachukwu scored a touchdown on each of his four touches last weekend against Utah State. I’m not sure what’s more surprising, the fact that the Aggies are undefeated and 2nd in the Big 12 South standings or the pronunciation of his name.
- Fans who were kicked out of Minnesota’s home games for drunkenness will have to take a breathalyzer test the next time they try to attend a game. That makes alot of sense since it’s for the student section only and protects the fans from the wild tailgating that students put on before the game. I should know. I’ve been part of many of those.
- In this week’s lesson on smack talking, Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin fires back accordingly when Urban Meyer made up excuses about how close the Florida and Tennessee game was last week. That’s good stuff. Remember never to back down if someone returns the shot you fired first.
- Kansas football players and basketball players can’t get along. Point guard Tyshawn Taylor ended up with a dislocated thumb after a frucus broke out in front the university’s student union. Here’s a tip, the only other type of athletes that can mess with football players are wrestlers. Anybody else, prepare to get injured.
We made it through the first week of college football, but not without some bumps and bruises. Injuries were all over the news in the last week, including the Purple Yeti’s back issue. Fortunately he has a myriad of pills to numb any pain. Oklahoma Sooners fans are probably still numbed from last Saturday’s upset loss. So we will dedicate this week’s Crib Sheet to recovering from any mental and physical injuries. 5 out 7 doctors agree the Crib Sheet has soothing properties. Kick back, relax, and enjoy:
- Yeargh! Here’s Mike Leech’s parking spot on the Texas Tech campus. In case you haven’t noticed, he really like pirates.
- Texas A&M mans up and schedules USC and Oregon starting about 6 years from now. Do they expect to be that good to compete with those juggernauts by then? We’re not even sure Mike Sherman will still be coach by then.
- John Glenn dotted the ‘i’ for Ohio State’s opener Saturday. The former senator then strapped on a jet pack and flew out of the stadium, cackingly laughing and flipping everyone off. Or not.
- A swine flu scare caused Stillman College to forfeit a game Saturday. Is Swine Flu so scary that public events must be canceled? It really is the flu. That’s it. Yes, it’s a new strain, but it’s not going to kill anybody. It may thin out the herd but usually that’s small babies and old people.
- Not only was Oregon dominated by Boise State last Thursday 19-8, but they also took hold of the Thug Torch when LeGarrette Blount threw a punch at Boise State’s Byron Hout. The wings are already clipped for the Oregon Ducks and new head coach successor, Chip Kelly. They might salvage the season but it’s an uphill climb. Oh and Blount is suspended for the rest of the season. But Boise State coach Chris Peterson is not reprimanding Hout for instigating the punch.
- Mired in between the cold cock of the Boise State Bronc, was Oklahoma State’s head coach Mike Gundy’s decision not to do a pre game hand shake before their contest against Georgia. The American Football Coaches Association suggested that every team do it in the name of sportsmanship for the first game of the year. Gundy was afraid of on field fights. It didn’t matter, however, as the Cowboys took care of the Bulldogs on the field over the weekend 24-10.
- ESPN sicked their bloggers on the use of technology and college football nowadays. Brian Bennett talked about video games, Adam Rittenberg writes about a distributed network of clips and playbooks called Hudl Pro, Chris Low talks about laptops with massive amounts of game tape from recruits, Graham Watson talks about timing horns, and Ted Miller talks all things Pac 10 with helmet cams and even Skype. When technology failed Paul Rhoads and the rest of his Iowa State coaching staff last Thursday, they turned to a cell phone contingency plan to ‘call’ plays. Technology ho!
- The big news story of the last week was Heisman winner Sam Bradford leaving the Oklahoma game versus BYU at halftime. He injured his throwing shoulder and people went from unsure to about 4 weeks before he can play again. Also, the Sooners were upset in that game. Bradford’s injury slowed the Sooners down, but they were already being outplayed Saturday night. Mix that in with the news that all American tight end Jermaine Gresham is out for the remainder of the season and Sooners are in big trouble after just one week. Will they bounce back or will they fall even further? Fortunately they have a couple of weeks before a real challenge in Miami. We’ll find out by then if they have regrouped or are still blown to pieces.
College Sports, Kansas City style
