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:
I’m recovered from Memorial Day, thanks to some fresh water and aloe vera. I did my part in taking a day of rest to recognize all of the great things our troops have done for America for its young history. I hope you did the same. Now I didn’t rest too much as the Crib Sheet must still keep chucking along. Here’s week’s edition:
I’m sure you’ve seen my previous post about the major move down to Austin yesterday. Yeah I’m still pretty shocked myself and I’m the one that knew about it for over month. Never fear, we’ll still chug along and it continues today with this week’s Crib Sheep:
Missouri players get together and bond by paintballing. I’ve never done it myself but I imagine pelting someone square in the chest with a faux bullet brings some sort of joy.
They already are bucking tradition by introducing a championship game, so it makes sense that Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delany is trying to push for later start times on games. Everyone knows the Big 10 starts mega early, with the Big 12, so why go and change it? I want to maximize my football watching day.
Speaking of the Big 10, Nebraska lost its AAU membership. Ho man that just made my week. One of the strong points for Nebraska to move was its AAU membership. Now both the Cornhuskers and the Big 10 look dumb.
Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tubberville offered his viewpoint on the whole ‘birthers’ debate. It’s few and far between when football comments on politics. I’d rather have that then the other way around.
The BCS set the dates for the bowl games next year, but they have to wait until the NFL cleans up its mess before they can lock it down. I’m not sure how long they will wait, as the NFL can bump a month and still have a full season.
It looks like being a part of the big boys for Boise State means having a couple of NCAA violations attached to their program. Its secondary so they won’t suffer too much. Welcome to big time, guys.
The Pac 12 will get a mega buck deal from Fox and ESPN, much like the Big 12. Except it’s the biggest deal in history. Too bad they have 2 more teams to split up the costs with.
No more new bowls for the next three years. The NCAA will review the licensing process in that time to determine if enough is enough. Three years is plenty time for the FBS to expand so that the bowls can expand without leaving the chance of a school with a losing record in on the fun.
With tornadoes blowing down south and southeast, wildfires burning all of Texas, rain and hail pelting the land, and Missouri levees falling apart, it seems like the whole world is falling apart. But it’s merely weather changing bits and pieces of the land. There can be bigger changes afoot across the land. I have one coming up very quickly. But first let me spit out a kind of late Crib Sheet. Take notes and then take cover:
ESPN’s David Ubben talks about the quiet action taking place at Kansas State. Bill Snyder 2.0’s all quiet about the major transfers they have coming into the season. I’ll talk more about the kids later. David Ubben should know by now that Snyder is a master of saying nothing while talking alot. Hey, he did a pretty good job covering the new turf that’s going up at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
UMass will pull an upgrade in the football program and join the MAC starting in 2012. There’s plenty of room at the big boy table if you have the cash to pay the entry fee.
Here’s a couple of numbers regarding the unequal TV distribution of Big 12 money. It seems it’s a lot closer than disparate and if you look at profit of the athletic departments it’s about the same as the Big 10 (who has equal TV revenue distribution).
Big Mo at Missouri is need of a face lift and the fraternities in charge are asking for help to replace it. I suggest a giant drum machine instead so they can rock out some hip hop chants.
The hammer is falling down hard on Ohio State’s Jim Tressel and the NCAA is bearing the handle. They are rebuking him big time for withholding information about known violations and what not. Could he be out of the job by the start of the season?
9 of the 11 members of a panel who will review the Fiesta Bowl’s status in the BCS went on paid for junkets by the Fiesta Bowl in the past. Methinks that Fiesta Bowl should get off, right? People will complain about this but they will forget pretty soon.
Baseball’s right around the corner and I figured the news would be super quiet for college football. Boy was I wrong. There’s tasty chunks of news going around all over the place. I’m done salivating you taste buds, time to feast on this week’s Crib Sheet:
Whoops! I guess I missed a Crib Sheet last week. . You know, I was in the midst of SXSW and was about to endure the worst Montezuma’s Revenge on this planet. I’m all caught up now and will deliver on this week’s Crib Sheet. That’s right, it’s a double sized version of the Crib Sheet. Whip out the bib we are about to get messy:
Stanford’s getting rid of their ‘easy’ classes for student athletes. Um, since when is any class at Stanford easy? Oh wait, I guess ‘Beginning Improvisation’ or ‘Social Dances of North America III’ can be classified as easy. Hey, Stanford’s rep is that they are in the upper echelon of scholastics so they need to make sure that everyone falls in line with it.
Oklahoma made about $10,000 in the Fiesta Bowl due to a policy in the Big 12 that states that the conference absorbs unsold tickets for the bowl game. Man, too bad UConn and the Big East didn’t have that one, the Huskies ended up losing out big time for the game.
On that same trip, let’s see what the Big 12’s finances were for the school last year. Obviously Texas made and spent the most dough. I think it’s interesting that Kansas State spent the least amount of money in the conference and still made a bowl game. Facts to chew on.
So while I was out, a rumor popped up that Fox was in the running for a new television deal with the Big 12. Numbers are flying all over the place but the important point is that there is demand. Predicted demand. I can fall asleep a little better tonight knowing that the smoke here will fire up the flame to keep the Big 12 warm for a long time.
So a lawyer, and former Ohio State player, tried to warn Jim Tressel about violations and it got Tressel in big trouble. So Jim Tressel violated NCAA rules and apologized to all about his err of ways. Being the great guy that he is, Tressel then decided that his two game suspension was not enough and took the same 5 game suspension that the players who broke the rules got. The only thing I see coming down from this is that the Big 10 next year is wide open. Maybe the streak for Big 10 titles for Ohio State will end next year?
I don’t like talking NFL as much, but former Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert is tearing it up. Not only was he sharp on the ball, he was also sharp in the Wonderlic. Having taken the Wonderlic myself recently, I can say that it’s very impressive to score as high as he did. Gabbert just may be the real deal.
In no surprise to everyone, Indiana regulators fined Notre Dame for six violations that led to the death of a 20 year old student. Hopefully everyone can take a look at this and try harder to make sure all personnel involved in college football are safe.
Kirk Herbstreit moved out of Ohio because the locals don’t get that being an analyst means that you should be objective. I guess the fans there complain about fairness and give away freebies to the local players. Great state that Ohio is.
Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops talks about his Twitter policy. I’m glad they didn’t ban it altogether but it is a little creepy that school officials are monitoring the accounts. But hey, everyone is monitoring everyone’s Twitter accounts, right?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It’s the last week of college football and we’ve had enough drama to fill up the entire bowl season. Happy 2011 to everyone out there and I hope you survived any New Year’s Party you decided to attend. New Year’s day saw my annual tradition of going over to Jolly’s parents house and planting myself in one spot for 12 hours of college football. It was a good day for me as the overrated Big 10 went 0-5 that day and the Big 12 went 2-0. That and the left over ham from the New Year’s Party served us well in between meats, cheeses, and crackers. Beefy indeed. Here’s this week’s standings going into the last week:
So last night’s Insight Bowl happened. I’m still sleepy from the late running game. Iowa held off Missouri for a 27-24 victory, with the biggest play in the game going to Blaine Gabbertt tossing a pick six in the 4th quarter to give Iowa the game. Later on there was controversial overturn to receiver T.J. Moe on 4th and 6. Really, the story of the game was a Tiger defense that let a 3rd string running back set an Iowa bowl record for rushing yards. Missouri’s offense chugged along fine except for a few mistakes. Overall, the team looked way less into than Iowa and I think the fight in the heart of the Hawkeyes made the score that we see today. Now let’s check out the bowl edition of the Crib Sheet:
Now that the whole Heisman thing is over, the AP is now okay with naming Auburn’s Cam Newton Player of the Year. WIll these awards be revoked in the next couple of years? Tune in and find out.
So you know how Mark Cuban’s flirting with college football? It turns out that a college football playoff system is actually patented. Now don’t get me started on how ridiculous the patent system is, but what I can tell you is that a patent on the college football playoff system just goes to show that we will never see a college playoff. The wolves will come out and tear everything up if they go this way. Again, it’s a case of doing nothing with the current system being the best course to route.
Yes, it’s the 2010 edition and first ever annual KC College GameDay Year End Reviewards! What’s a revieward? Welp, it’s a half assed attempt to round up the year in review and then dole out some nameless awards out to who or what I think mattered in the year of college football. It applies to the regular season only as I really don’t want to come back to this. At any rate, I’m shooting from the hip so all you midgets our there better watch your heads.
It’s been a long, food filled holiday weekend and of all the times I’ve been out and about the last three years, I can say that being home for four days was the perfect change of pace. There’s plenty of bars out there for me to frequent, both old and new, but for this week’s barspot I wanted to do something different. Maybe it was celebrating being in a new home or maybe I was just too tired to try to marathon 3 straight days of football at a bar, but it was hight time to spent some home time. So this week, I’ll review my time at home and gives ome pointers on how to do it right.
Alrighty, the second try to watch some football at my favorite local neighborhood hole in the wall, JJ’s Other Place. I’ve been there plenty at night and now I’ve been there during the day. I’ll stick with being there at night. I forgot a couple of important items as well as the fact there wasn’t that much to watch that day. It was a pretty good time nonetheless. There were some upset a brewing as well as some traditional nachos brewing in my stomach. Continue reading JJ’s Other Place Was Decent The Second Try Around→
Batten down the hatches, folks, it’s getting to be cold season. The dripping and drooling will now have much more effect. I started noticing it this week. Some people had coughs and sniffles, others taking afternoons off. I, myself, have some kind of weird chest tightness going. Never fear, I just downed some Airborne infused OJ after soaking some Vitamin C Zicam. It’s pretty much the opposite of Four Loko. I suggest if you get the first signs of a cold, use that remedy. Now on to the picks.
Okay, I’m giving JJ’s Other Place one more shot. They didn’t have power for our game last week, even though they were open that evening. So I’m going back to give them a college try for this Saturday. The morning games all suck, but once the afternoon hits we get some Top 25 clashes. Let’s hope that they will have a enough juice for the week for use to enjoy at least one of those. The backup plan, for the first time ever, is Lew’s Grill and Bar. What can I say, it’s my new favorite place. Continue reading Barspotting: JJ’s Other Place Part II→
Chilly times are ahead folks and its time to wrap yourself up into some nice and tasty picks. This week sees some hot action on the cold, cold fields of Lincoln, Nebraska. Will Missouri continue to roll or be tripped up by the scrappy Cornhuskers? No matter, we’ll be staying warm the best way we know. Hot chocolate helps. So does coffee or fried mac n’ cheese wedges. I’ll probably have all this Saturday. Grab your favorite warm-upper and check out the picks for the week. Remember, he colder and longer the season goes, the harder the picks get.
