It’s that time of year. It’s time to pop open the windows and enjoy the weather a bit. Summer is just right around the corner and I’m happy that I’m not breathing recycled air at night. It’s a good time of the year for college football, too. The bones inside the players, the coaches, and the fans are just starting to itch. Warmer weather means practice is getting closer and games are not that far off. It’s especially exciting with the prospect of being the only kind of organized football on in the fall. Tune in later this year but in the meantime, hit up the Crib Sheet:
Continue reading Crib Sheet: Pop Open Your Windows →
Finally the wait is over. Tomorrow night we kick off another great year of college football! It’s been what seems likes ages since the end of last season and now we have another year of the most pristine competition we’ll ever see on the field. Sure the offseason provided plenty of drama, with coaching changes and conference expansion, but we’re done with the talking and we’re ready to strap it on. The helmet that is. So here’s the last Crib Sheet before the new season:
- Notre Dame got NBC to back down on commercial breaks so they can run a more hurry up type offense. What other school can have that kind of pull? Not even Texas. Brian Kelly wants to air it out and has buy in from everyone involved with Notre Dame.
- More injury news. Roy Finch has a hairline fracture in his ankle and may miss about half of Oklahoma’s season. UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince has a strained oblique and may miss the opener. Mizzou’s Munir Prince is recovering after being knocked out on the practice field. We wish him well.
- UCLA’s Jeff Baca is too dumb to play football this year. He was the left guard for the Bruins and this will most certainly affect the start of the season, when they face the Kansas State Wildcats in Manhattan.
- Rumors had BYU staying in the Mountain West after all. Check and mate for the speculation hounds. They are actually going to the West Coast Conference for everything except football, where they will be independent. We’re not sure they hype is big enough for another religious school but hey would could be wrong.
- We love Twitter, like we always say, and ESPN Big 12 blogger David Ubben loves them too. Check out his list of must follows for this upcoming season of Big 12 football.
- Derrick Washington, Mizzou’s star running back, was suspended from the team indefinitely last week and then charged for sexual assault. Apparently he touched a lady too hard. Will he make it back to the field this year? Maybe so, if the team gets desperate.
- Texas is still ramping up the huge home and homes. This time it’s USC and they will play each other in 2017 and 2018. They are lining themselves up greatly for a marquee Longhorns Network owned football game.
- Kansas State released their depth chart for Saturday’s game against UCLA. The big surprise? Chris Harper is not starting. Bill Snyder 2.0 went with Tremaine Thompson. Hrm, well see if it works Saturday. No surprises at quarterback with Carson Coffman getting the nod.
- Meanwhile, Bo Pelini is mum on who will start for Nebraska this weekend. This may be the only element of surprise coming from the Cornhuskers offense this year.
- Beau Brinkley, Missouri’s long snapper, was snapped up last week for a DWI. This marks yet another drunk issue for the Tigers, on top of Derrick Washington’s heavy touch. Gary Pinkel came out and said he was truly embarrassed about the ordeal. Maybe because it was too close to the start of the season?
- Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram will miss Alabama’s first game due to a knee injury. Yeah, he should’ve gone to the NFL. He made his choice and Alabama is not saying how serious the injury is. Sam Bradford 2.0 anyone?
- David Ubben pointed us to this fascinating story of how the Nebraska to Big 10 shakedown took place. Things were going a mile a minute when it was happening and this recounting of the events points out just how much we don’t know what’s going on in the background.
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).
Continue reading Big 12 , er 11, er 10 Predictions for 2010 →
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 →
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.
Continue reading Big 12 Bowl Preview and Predictions →
Last year, the Big 12 was a flutter with big time scoring led by big time spread offenses. This year, it’s more of a sputtering of offense here and there. Sure, there have been big scores but it’s mainly been in the form of blowouts. Shootouts are rare this year as we’re seeing scores like last week’s 10-7 barn burner in Lincoln. Where did the offense go? Did the defense show back up? A couple of factors help lead into why we are seeing such a down turn in offense this year.
Continue reading GameDay: Bringing Back the D →
We have a full plate here this week on the Crib Sheet so in the interest of avoiding any more food references we stuffed into the last couple of posts, here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
- Steve Spurrier, South Carolina head coach, complained about tape on the field after their shilacking they took from Alabama last week. So Alabama head coach Nick Saban says they won’t do it again. The kickers were using to place kicks and now the need some other guide to help the ball find the way. Southeastern Conference: Home of the Ticky Tacky Whining.
- Orrin Hatch is poking an prodding his trident in the direction of the Justice Department and President Obama, trying to get a probe of the BCS system again. Hey, it’s an easy target in Utah and we hope he gets relected for all of this posturing and grand standing. Once again, this shows that people from Utah suck.
- The officiating crew from last week’s Florida and Arkansas game were suspended due to a blown personal foul call against an Arkansas player. When you are Florida and on top, the calls will go your way. Southeastern Conference: Home of Protecting the Frontrunners.
- While LeBron James is busy kicking out professional football players, he’s also giving advice to Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor. James says he’s trying to help Pryor handle being a super star athelete. What? You have to win games, and more importantly championships, to be a super star. Right now Pryor is the head guy for a lame-o offense. An offense that just got upset by Purdue.
- When Texas Tech loses bad, count on Mike Leech to say something witty about it. This time, it was something about fat girlfriends. We love him even though his team usually rolls Big 12 North teams.
- The Dallas Fort Worth airport and American Airlines are now doing direct flights to Manhattan, Kansas. What does that mean? Recruiting trips for Kansas State will be less of convenience. The Wildcats had to cut costs for private flights which meant planes going to Topeka or Kansas City held recruits. Will this help? Who knows.
- Goldy Gopher got the slap down for mocking prayer at the beginning of a game last week. I can see that happening if they played Notre Dame or Boston College, but doing it before a Penn State game is a little ridiculous. His punishment? 10 Hail Marys and a bad football team.
- Bob Griese will have to sit a game for making a taco joke on a latino NASCAR driver. Was it because it was racially insensitive or because it was a really bad joke? Griese did get his education at Michigan, you know.
- Speaking of Michigan, there’s a letter of inquiry from the NCAA about the whole practicing too long trouble some players kicked up a month ago. How could the Wolverines be practicing too hard? They’re terrible. Maybe if they were undefeated but they stink too much to be practicing too long. If anything, they are not practicing enough.
- Much to no one’s surprise, Sam Bradford will have a season ending shoulder surgery and then enter the NFL draft. It seemed a little awkward when Bradford left the Texas game a couple of weeks ago. The hit wasn’t as massive as the first injury. Right then I think we all knew Bradford wasn’t gonna chance it. So will he do well in the NFL? Tune in and find out if we ever kick up a KC GameDay blog.
- Iowa Governor Chet Culver goofed up and congratulated only Iowa in a historic win over the weekend. Yes, the Hawkeyes are 8-0 for the first time in forever, but it seems he forgot the Iowa State win over Nebraska in Nebraska for the first time since 1977. If the Cyclones make a bowl, this guy will be elected out of the office.
- John William Lomax III will be charged in the murder of UConn football Jasper Howard. He went to the party but his lawyer says he has nothing to do with it. We’ll find out in court just what happened.
- The NCAA ruled that Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant will be suspended for the rest of the season. He lied to the NCAA when they went sniffing around a visit he had with Deion Sanders. This seems a little harsh. With other players punching people and coming back, you’d figure they would let him come back and play. To bad for the Cowpokes as they could use him against Texas this weekend.
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.
It’s another Friday and it’s time for another Pick It and Stick It update. This weekend we have a couple of intriguing match ups and some obvious picks as well. The picks were all done and set way back Wednesday for the Purple Yeti. Let’s hope everyone else remembered. I guess that’s the ‘Stick It’ portion of the fantasy league. Some of you may be wondering wht the ‘Spread’ portion of the table means. The ‘Spread’ is how many points the favored team must win by to get a win. This helps out immensely when a sure blow out is about to happen. This also helps out the folks in Vegas to justify booking those kind of lopsided match ups. So without further ado, here’s this week’s pick set:
Continue reading Pick It and Stick It: Spreading It Thin →
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.
We can take a couple of more days to draw up a preview of each conference and then roll the dice on how the bowls will shore up but that would take way too much time and reach far out of our happy little niche. So what we are going to do instead is spit up some predictions for what’s going to happen this year in college football. We may talk about your favorite conference, we may not. Chances are we’ll predict the title winner, but we may over look the Outland Trophy Award winner. Who knows? We’re loading up our straws (or empty pens) and seeing what sticks to the wall for 2009.
Continue reading Spit Ball Predictions for 2009 →
Most folks outside of the midwest believe that the Big 12 Conference is 2nd nationally amongst conferences in terms of football strength. Much of the talk points toward the Big 12 South. As we roll into the 2009 season, we find some teams reloaded, some teams are out of ammo, and the rest either misfired or are shooting blanks. We’re gonna see where they all stack up and how they will finish in 2009, according the Purple Yeti’s crystal ball. There are some shifts in power, but the top stack will stay the same and most of the close calls will still be close. Hopefully the crystal ball pulls through.
Continue reading Big 12 Preview 2009 →
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