You know, I was having so much fun Saturday night, I didn’t get a chance to really take any pictures. That’s a good thing, because I promptly stuffed my face full of sausage and pulled pork. Sure, there was some bread and other side dishes involved, but it was mostly meat. You don’t want to see the carnage laid down. But I do have a chance to talk about the carnage, or lack thereof, I saw on the field. Who knows, I may talk about the world’s worst carnal secret as well. It depends on how much I feel like regurgitating. Bring a bib.
Tag Archives: Mack Brown
Crib Sheet: West Virginia For Realz
Last week it was reported that West Virginia was going to Big 12, and now it is official. There was some late swinging by Louisville to take their place but in the end West Virginia won out. I guess when politicians get involved, it can turn ugly. Louisville isn’t out the race yet. When the Big 12 looks to expand here in a couple of years, they will be next on the list. The next best thing to politicing is lawyering (he says sarcastically). West Virginia won the former and is now pushing the latter by suing the Big East on the grounds that the conference and their commissioner is crappy. I say they have a case. On to the Crib Sheet:
Crib Sheet: Another Summer Another Realignment Saga
Only this time it’s smaller. Presidential hopeful Rick Perry open his mouth and pulled a Jay Nixon by saying that there are talks between Texas A&M and the SEC for a big move. Next thing you know, the whole damn college football world is on fire. Red fire! I’ve chosen to stay out of this one over the weekend. If I learned anything last year, it’s that nowadays rumors are 95% of the ‘reports’ out there and the other 5% has a shred of truth to it. So as of right now, the SEC is staying chill, The Texas A&M president has power to explore realignment as well as take his time, the NCAA may get involved, and Rick Perry now says he doesn’t expect Texas A&M to leave. If you’re asking me what will happen, I’m saying that A&M is out at the end of the BCS contract (2014). Why? The Big 12 will blow up after the restructure of the BCS and somehow, sadly, Texas finds the vacated ‘Notre Dame Automatic Bid’ and dumps the conference. The rest of the teams fill out the Mountain West, Big 10, and SEC.
Crib Sheet: A Hundred and Ten in the Shady Offseason
While I’m battling record heat here in my first summer in Austin, it seems college football is battling an offseason of corruption. At least that’s what it seems like. I think it’s more that the year before we all thought conferences (including the Big 12) were gonna blow up. Now everything is safe, things are going back to normal. That includes kids and coaches breaking rules. Let’s break on over to this week’s Crib Sheet and find out some more:
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Crib Sheet: The Groundhog Lied
Spring practice is kicking up the mud hidden from under the snow but I’m not finding it too exciting. I could talk about the NFL Combine but it would be all about the Wonderlic Test. So on this week’s Crib Sheet, I will talk about the Groundhog. I remember him saying something this year about an early Spring. Then about 5 inches of snow dumped on me. I’ve got the grill ready, somebody bring me the Groundhog. That will make things warm real quick. On to the Crib Sheet:
Crib Sheet: I’m on a Highway to Carousel Hell
The bowl season ended Monday and there was a ton of news that happened over the last week. It’s mostly who’s coming and who’s going. It’s what I like to call the Carousel Hell. So put your seatbelt on get ready to go round and round, here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
- Mike Leach’s legal battle with Texas Tech may have cost him the Maryland job. He said that he thought he was the frontrunner, but the Terps went with UConn coach Mike Edsall. He hasn’t been contacted by other schools at the moment.
- RichRod is officially out of Michigan now. Blow up the program part two. It makes me warm inside to think the same thing that happened to Nebraska a couple of years ago with Bill Callahan is now happening with another team I dislike immensely. Good days.
- It’s even better for Brady Hoke. The former Michigan alum and former San Diego State head coach is now your new Michigan head coach. They wanted a Michigan man and they got one. I give it about another 3 years before a turnaround happens.
- After showing up Michigan’s Denard Robinson and holding the team to 14 points, Manny Diaz will take his talents to Texas as defensive coordinator. He leaves Mississippi State and will be belting buckles in Austin. Let’s hope he didn’t fall for that ‘coach in waiting’ stuff.
- No surprises here. Fox has the rights to the Pac 12 Championship Game. They already show conference games on Fox Sports Net so it makes sense they do the title game.
- The Playoff PAC is looking to stir up some smoke on the BCS. They are filing a complaint with the IRS regarding a cruise the Orange Bowl put on for college athletic directors over the summer. Shady or not, this seems like arrows instead of missiles for the Playoff PAC people. If there’s going to be a change, they can’t dink and dunk it.
- Stanford’s Andrew Luck is staying behind for another year of college. This will make Blaine Gabbertt a sexier pick for the NFL Draft coming up in a couple of months. He’ll have to battle for the top quarterback spot with Arkansas’ Ryan Mallet, though. Gabbert may see his Aldon Smith in the NFL as well.
- So TCU won the Rose Bowl. Someone then paid for a billboard congratulating the team. Except it was in Columbus, Ohio. Yeah someone with big pockets wanted to rub it in the Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee’s face. He was running his mouth earlier about the mid-con teams not being worthy and now I guess he gets to eat crow.
- Speaking of the Horned Frogs, head coach Gary Patterson notched himself a 2 year extension with the program. You go undefeated in two regular seasons, you deserve that and a ham sandwich.
- Stud Oklahoma receiver Ryan Broyles will be coming back for another year.
- A Boise State assitant coach is going to big time. By big time I mean Texas Offensive Coordinator. It seems Mack Brown and company lured Bryan Harsin away from the Broncos to infuse the team with a flashier offense.
- Texas Tech told the NCAA that they texted too much. That’s alliteration. And that’s the news!
- Head BCS Honcho Bill Hancock reminded everyone that a playoff is way below in priority for the college bowl partners. He said that even the old way of bowls would be considered first. Seriously, he does a great job of stirring the pot.
- Kansas State athletic director John Currie also gets a two year extension to his contract chock full of some tasty incentives. He’s done an alright job. The goal now is to maintain it.
- The BCS Championship Game happened Monday and it garnished the best cable ratings ever. Yet, the actual viewership is down. This is what happens when the biggest game of the year ends up on cable. Seriously, why didn’t Disney toss the game on ABC instead of ESPN? Television is becoming more live sport driven than anything else. Still, until I can replicate the experience of a sports bar in my basement, I will be going out for the games.
- LSU’s Les Miles went to Michigan to talk about an open job but decided to stay with the Tigers. Listen up childrens, this is the classic strategy head coaches employ to get them off the hot seat or get a raise.
- Man we feel for UGA VIII, the mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs. He didn’t make the trip to the bowl game last week and now we know why. UGA VIII has lymphoma. Jinkies, is the team as cursed as this dog is?
- Former South Florida football coach Jim Leavitt settled out of court for some extra cash from the school. He was canned for reportedly striking a walk on student. He’s a defensive guy and because of that, the rumors are now flying about Leavitt coming back to Kansas State to take a defensive coordinator position. Tune in next week, this is getting hotter.
Crib Sheet: Season’s Greetings
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Happy holidays from KC College GameDay! It’s bowl season and I’ll do a couple of recaps in the next couple of days as well as run down some bowls I’m in to. In the meantime, we have a fat Crib Sheet so let’s get to it:
- Iowa’s Derrell Johnson-Koulianos got the hook by the police for a bunch of drug charges. It looks like he’s suspended from the Insight Bowl against Missouri. That should help out the Tigers defense immensely as Johnson-Koulianos was the Hawkeye’s all time leader in receptions and receiving yards. And yes, two of their running backs are out as well. It should be an easy game for the Tigers.
- Here are some national award winners from the Big 12: Texas defensive end Sam Acho won the William V. Campbell Trophy or the Academic Heisman. Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones wins the Sammy Baugh Award for the nation’s best passer. Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon won the Biletnikoff Award. Meanwhile, fellow teammate Dan Bailey wins the Lou Groza Award.
- Meanwhile, the Nebraska Huskers suspended defensive tackle Baker Steinkuhler for getting a DUI last week. He’ll be out of the Holiday Bowl and the Husker’s rematch against Washington.
- Even though I think Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany is evil incarnate, I do agree with him on holding back the college football playoff. His reasons come from a wealth of ego. Delany says that the Big Ten sacrificed enough by letting other conferences play in the Rose Bowl. There’s enough ego around other commissioners that there would be no way a playoff would bubble up.
- Urban Meyer resigned from Florida. The only reason this is news is that he should’ve stayed gone last year. Urban Meyer’s resignation was again due to health concerns. It seems as though this time, Florida didn’t give him a chance to second guess himself.
- Let’s take a look at how some Big 12 coaches voted in the final coaches poll of the year. Interesting stuff here, especially the one where Bo Pelini ranked his Cornhuskers #8 even though they lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game.
- Speaking of coaches, the USA Today has a break down of some interesting contract provisions for some of the coaches out there. Bill Snyder 2.0 gets a free ride and tickets to basketball games. If Mack Brown resigns, he’ll be reassigned to another a part of the school. Mike Sherman gets a cool $100K for appearing or being named a national champion.
- Keeping with Bo Pelini, he had to shoot down rumors of taking the Miami job that’s up for grabs now. Usually, when rumors like that happen, it means that something is ticking. It makes sense, too. Miami got rid of an upstanding Randy Shannon because he wasn’t winning games. Shannon did turn around the program in terms of class act athletes. Bo Pelini coaches the opposite way.
- It looks like Missouri is putting on a cheap-o way to get down to the Insight Bowl. Bus rides and hotel stays abound! They are pulling hard to shake the no fan travel stigma. I hope it works.
- Conference expansion time! Hawaii is joining the Mountain West Conference for football only in 2012 and will be doing all other sports in the Big West Conference. It looks like the WAC is falling apart.
- Auburn quarterback Cam Newton won the Heisman Trophy. No surprise there. I watched him torch South Carolina in the SEC Championship game and knew then he had a lock on it. It didn’t stop the proud sports media to take pot shots at him. Some writers left him off completely and he was absent from the Football Writers Association of America’s All-American team.
- Okay, there’s been huge amount of coaching changes in the last week. Let’s run them down. Northern Illinois hired Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Doeren. Louisiana-Lafayette hired Mississippi State assistant coach Mark Hudspeth. The Miami Hurricanes notch down Temple head coach Al Golden as their new head coach. The biggest move, of course, goes to Florida hiring Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp as their new head coach. The Longhorns thought they had him next in line for whenever Mack Brown retires, but it looks like Florida was too big of an opportunity not to pass up. Texas had a down year this year and it looks like rebuilding may take longer than expected.
- The Big Ten unveiled it’s new logo and what the division names, the ‘Legends’ and ‘Leaders’, for next year when Nebraska joins the league. I’m glad they got rid of the eleven hidden in the logo. The color is a little bit lighter than I expected though.
- Just in case you were wondering, Oregon will have new digs for the BCS National Championship Game. Fashionable Ducks, they are.
GameDay: KCGGD’s Best Weekend Evar
Okay, so no, I’m not talking about VH1 and guests like Chris Jericho and the unfunny guy from The State, I’m talking about college football! Every year I’m reminded that we get piles upon piles of traditional football matchups on top of piles and piles of turkey. This year is a little different, however. The rivalry games are all over the place, but alot of them have national title implications. It’s only halfway through the weekend and already the BCS title race has been blown up, kinda.
Tailgaters Sports Cafe Shuffled Us In and Out of Minneapolis
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.
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Big 12 , er 11, er 10 Predictions for 2010
Man what a crazy roller coaster of an offseason for the Big 12. Who would’ve thought a year ago that the Big 12 would be rocked to its very knees and survive probably one of most weirdest advances in college football history. It was like a whacked out game of Axis & Allies. Welp Germany didn’t win and neither did the Big 10. So here we are going into what is the last season we will ever see for this 12 conference league. Who will come out on top? Roll dice to find out (er read below).
Crib Sheet: (Not So) Secret Agent Ban
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.
- The bowls are changing from this year to next, take note.
- 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.
- The crash that took Senator Ted Stevens also took William Phillips, who had 3 sons that played football at three different universities. Our condolences go out to them and their family.
- 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.
- Iowa State will be a little bit behind schedule as they are busy laying sandbags and not practicing in their flooded facilities. Last year was a turnaround type season for the Hawkeyes, but now it looks like a setback of unnatural proportions has hit them hard.
- 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.
- Even though the conference was about to blow up, the Big 12 still leads in ticket prices for football games. This year will be massive because of the farewell tours coming from Nebraska and Colorado.
- 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.
- TCU announced a $105 million dollar stadium expansion. The Horned Frogs are looking to capitalize on the big time and make their stadiums tops in the country. Because of that, the Armed Forces Bowl will move to SMU just for next year.
- Renee Gork was fired from her sports radio job in northwest Arkansas for wearing a Florida Gators hat. Well, duh.
Crib Sheet: Hot and Heavy
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.
- BCS director Bill Hancock had alot to say in the last week. First off the Big 12 change won’t affect the BCS. A playoff would kill the regular season. Any playoff would have to start at 16 teams. And if the appeal from USC over recruiting violations fell through, the title they won would be left vacant. Man, that’s alot from a guy who’s been nonexistent ever since he took over.
- 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.
- Junior defensive lineman Jamie Blatnick of Oklahoma State was arrested last Saturday after getting in a fight with a former Cowboys offensive lineman Stephen Denning. Looks like the defensive guy couldn’t take the lip from the offensive guy.
- 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.
- The Big 10 media days are a happening as we speak and commissioner Jim Delany is looking for a title game next year. Meanwhile Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne is yapping his lip about the stability of the Big 10 being the major factor for the move.
- 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?
Crib Sheet: No Combine Here
Most of the news of the week for college football revolved around the NFL Combine. We will not talk about the NFL Combine for this week’s Crib Sheet. All of those stories revolve around kids entering the NFL. We like to talk about what’s coming up for next year’s college football season. It was hard to find some related items, but we juiced the news fruit hard and got some drops of tasty college football to pour down your throat. So open wide, here comes the Crib Sheet:
- So we told you last week that Colonel Reb is gone and they started a new search for a mascot at Ole Miss. Welp, this week the students are putting their name down for another rebel. Admiral Ackbar. Yes, that’s right, the leader of the Rebel Alliance from the Star Wars universe is the leading candidate for the kids. It’s a trap!
- Texas and Boise State are getting together. Not to play, but to talk shop! Apparently Mack Brown wants to try some trick plays to mix things up. We’re not sure what Boise State is getting in return.
- Boise State has another run for their money. The Broncos are known for have a blue turf field, but now Eastern Washington will have a red turf field. No matter what it’s called, we sure many a headache will crop up around the nation when they watch their games on television. Also, if some one has a Broncos game on one TV and an Eastern Washington game on the other in the same room, can you watch it in 3D with the proper glasses?
- Texas head coach Mack Brown’s mom lost a battle to cancer. Our condolences goes out to Mack Brown and all involved.
- Nebraska’s Jacob Hickman will not play in NFL. Not because he’s not good, but because he has no desire for a professional football career. We always get the upside of going to the NFL but we rarely see why some players opt out of the NFL.
- We here at the KCCGD Headquarters want to welcome David Ubben as the new Big 12 Blogger for ESPN. We look forward to catching up on his posts as they roll in throughout the year.
BCS Title Thoughts and Year End Review
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.
Big 12 Bowl Preview and Predictions
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.