Two things this week made me realize college football is right around the corner. First, Phil Steele’s College Football Preview for 2011 went on sale yesterday. Second, the Crib Sheet has over 15 news items this week. It’s coming, so get ready. But first the Crib Sheet:
Another week of Mascot Monday sees us head down to the Southeastern Conference and paying a visit to Vanderbilt’s Mr. C. Now their football team isn’t much to talk about compared to some of the other titans of the SEC. Today we’ll find out with Mr. C why Vanderbilt deserves their stake in the best (it hurts to say) football conference in college. Along the we’ll see Mr. C’s accolades as well as get a visit from an unlikely jokester. Buckle in and get your old school military gear ready, it’s Mr. C time!
Okay, I have to take a couple of minutes to talk about the whole Cam Newton situation. It seems like in the last couple of weeks, there’s been a vendetta against this guy. Is it because he had a rough past? Or is it because the SEC can’t handle other teams doing well? At the end of the day, however, the discussion of players looking to get paid in college has come to a head. What I say is that you need to pay the players, even with more stipend or a more comprehensive scholarship.
While I was chilling out at Memorial Stadium Thursday night, I couldn’t help but think for a moment about the Colorado fans storming the field against Georgia a couple of weeks ago. Kansas State was well on its way to a victory and not once did you see any fans for the Wildcats try to storm the field. It seems nowadays, however, that storming the field is the easy thing to do after a victory. I want to take this time to talk to every student, fan, or objective observer. Stop storming the fields. Just stop it.
A very special lady sprung on me some tickets to the Kansas State and Nebraska game going on tomorrow. So we’ll do some Stadiumspotting there as well get you stoked for this week of football. First thing is first, though. This week’s Crib Sheet goes over some of the hottest news items of the last week. We have some spicy giblets ready to feed ya and then we’re gonna get the car ready for the impromptu road trip. On to the sheet:
Alrighty, I’m about halfway through my scotch and water, I blasted out another Crib Sheet, and I’m jacked up for some football tomorrow night. It’s prediction time! The offseason sucked. Period. Being in Big 12 land was not easy on this college football lovin’ Yeti and especially not easy on Kansas City. We weathered the storm and now we are here ready for some pigskin play. What will we see in this year’s volume of football? Let’s take a look in our crystal ball shaped glass full of scotch and water.
Mike Leach will lose his CBS announcing job for making Gus Johnson stand in the bathroom with no light.
Mark Ingram will not be a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, thanks to the fresh knee injury.
The Oregon Ducks will win the Pac 10, both for best dressed and actual gold.
Colorado loses a bunch of games and Dan Hawkins stays on because the school is too broke to fire him out of his contract.
Caoch Brian Kelly will talk NBC into going into commerical breaks for opposing teams’ offensive drives only. Oh and the Fighting Irish will make a bowl.
Missouri will win the North, only because Nebraska’s ego and farewell tour will fall flat.
Daniel Thomas will be a Heisman finalist, thanks to a solid offensive line and the fact that he will get his yards with the whole defense keying on him. Thanks, Carson Coffman.
Boise State will go undefeated and not make the dance. People are saying its the weak schedule, but it will be because of an undefeated team in the Big 10 and one other conference. Look for Orrin Hatch to have an aneurism over this one.
This will be Lee Corso’s last season for ESPN College GameDay. It’s been a hell of a ride, Lee, just please don’t put on the Grim Reaper’s head when it’s your time to go.
This will be the fastest season ever for the Kansas Jayhawks. By fast, we mean the fans will be ready for basketball season about 2 games in. Turner Gill’s rebuilding starts this year, he’s got at least 3 before some magic happens.
Iowa State will be in the bottom of the league again, but they will get an upset some big team because of a massive rain storm. Hey their practice field flooded over the summer, they should be ready.
Texas just missed the mark in the Big 12 South. Not because of the competition, but for the cliffhanger they want to leave for next season’s Longhorns Network debut. Stay Tuned! Same horn time! Same horn channel!
Big Game Bob goes to a BCS game but will not be game as the Sooners bob and weave from some other big team beaming game time bashings. Probably against Virginia Tech and Frank BEAMER.
The Big East has a seasson. No one really cares.
RichRod makes a valiant effort and gets the Wolverines into a bowl game. It will be the weakest one from the Big 10 and it will be enough to get him fired. He will then go on and make real estate deals with everyone in the Ann Arbor region.
USC doesn’t get close to a Pac 10 championship and Lane Kiffin leaves after just one season. The Kiffin world tour moves on!
Florida misses Tim Tebow and will miss being in the running for the SEC. Urban Meyer gets sick and dies from the piss poor play on the field.
Kansas City sports bars will stay the same this year. No one will get 3D TVs because the mixture of 3D and beer will make everyone puke. Some new bars will crop up and the KCCGD crew will eventually puke in those anyway.
We’re going back to our 2008 prediction about Joe Paterno dieing on the field. Now that Bobby Bowden is out, this one should get much easier. Or will he be in the booth this year?
Okay, we called the BCS National Championship game two years ago with Florida and Oklahoma, we were halfway right with Texas last year in the big game. What will happen this year? Well, the trend says we will get it all wrong so there’s nothing to lose. I’m thinking the offseason hype for the Big 10 will lead a team to a title contention. Since the only team that’s worth a damn up there is Ohio State, then that’s our pick. Chances are the SEC will be mega tough again this year and barring any late push by an Oregon or a Big 12 team, we are going the easy route and picking SEC. Whose turn is it? Let’s go LSU. Why not. Can you say 2007 rematch?
Big Al’s in the house this week as we are one more mascot away from completing the top mascots that we have yet to cover from Phil Steele’s Preseason Top 40. The #3 Alabama Crimson Tide won the big shiny ball last year and look to repeat this year with returning Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram carrying the rock. The competition is hot in the SEC and what better hot weather animal to have around as a mascot then the elephant known as Big Al. We were just as confused as you may be as to why a team by the name of Crimson Tide employs and elephant mascot. We’ll find that out as well as how we think Alabama finishes out the season.
We’ve been sacked from the Big 12 Media Days on this week’s Crib Sheet. We’ll go over the last media day next, as we have a major pile of news dump on you. Here we go:
The Big 12 Preseason media poll is out and we have ourselves a rivalry game for the Big 12 Championship. The sports media picked Nebraska in the North and Oklahoma in the South, with Missouri and Texas shortly behind in both divisions respectively. Speaking more locally, Iowa State’s big season last year didn’t improve their status as they were voted last. Kansas and Kansas State are neck and neck for the middle of the pack, with the benefit of the doubt going to the Wildcats and its coaching experience. Usually the sports media is wrong so we’re anxious to see how it plays out this season.
Meanwhile the All Big 12 Preseason was announced as well. Two Missouri kids, one Kansas, one Kansas State, and a whole bunch of Texas and Oklahoma kids make up the team. That pretty much tells you what the sports media thinks of the talent in the conference. Pretty obvious too.
Iowa State defensive back David Simms looks to be under the police gun for a stolen credit card number and is charged. They haven’t filed charges yet, but the police did search his place. We’ll see if he was the culprit or one of his buddies.
Kansas Frosh Jeremiah Evans’ career is officially over due to his worsened heart condition. It sucks when you can’t get on the field due to health issues and we wish him the best in whatever he decides to do with his life.
Lane Kiffin ticked off Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher by hiring his running back coach for his USC team. Fisher calls it unprofessional, we think it’s the next step in coaching evolution. Courtesy calls are out the window if you want a guy bad enough. It’s dog eat dog out there. The Titans apparently think that USC broke the law too.
Back in his NCAA days, Dan Beebe wanted to contract sports agents with universities so everything could be on the table. If a violation was found, the agent could lose potentially millions and the university may not be on the hook as much. Beebe is looking better and better every week.
Ron Prince’s side of the story was obvious, as a deposition revealed. He was guaranteed money and now he wants it. There was even a napkin thrown in by former Kansas State athletic director Tim Weiser. It’s another he said she said, with a “Memo of Understanding” between the two. The courts will take this one over and we’ll see who gets the dough.
Missouri has some beef left over from last year’s Navy blowout. Blaine Gabbert looks to be the guy and Derrick Washington looks to be his running buddy. The Tigers have a couple of chips including being picked behind Nebraska and not being invited to the Big 10.
Rolling on through Phil Steele’s Preseason Top 40 standings and reviewing the mascot on the list we’ve yet to check out, we find ourselves at number 15 and Auburn’s Aubie. There’s also a confusing status in the War Eagle we’ll take a look at. The Auburn Tigers are a former national championship team and the mascot has won a couple himself. This year, former Iowa State head coach Gene Chizik looks to take the winning attitude down there to the next level, and Aubie looks to follow suit. This week we find out of Aubie’s suit is up for and try figure out just what the heck War Eagle is.
Summer’s in full swing and we are heading straight into one of the most celebrated holidays of the year: Independence Day! It’s been quiet for the last couple of weeks so we are anxious to roll out some explosives and blow some stuff up. If anything, it will help put a sparkly glow on the news we have for you this week. It seems the aftermath of expansion is an unending line of duds on wet bottle rockets. So fire up the grill and we’ll fire up the display of news to blast in front of your patriotic eyes. On to the Crib Sheet:
So we knew that Texas A&M received an invite from the SEC, but now it turns out that Oklahoma also got one. The SEC was real quiet in all of the expansion frenzy and it seems they prefer to strike like a ninja instead of a minutemen. At least we know their strategy the next time this happens.
Chip Brown has been the Woodward and Bernstein in the expansion saga, and Sports Illustrated gives him his due. Brown went from sports writer at the Dallas paper to professional blogger and he’s well on his way to becoming the premiere one, next to us of course.
The Kansas Jayhawks hired an auditor to help police the ticketing scandal that came out in the last couple of months. They could hook up with StubHub, as they are becoming the front door internet-wise for school specific ticket sales. Ain’t technology grand?
The NCAA proposed to delay scholarships for athletes to July 1 before their senior year. This may help cut down on recruiting kids before they even hit high school. We’re sure Lane Kiffin is already finding away around this. He’s going to need it with the lockdown USC has for the next couple of years.
Missouri might come out with their own TV network, not just Texas. This is one advantage the Big 12 (10) has over most other conferences. They have the freedom to create their own networks, not only for smaller sports but for arts, education, and other items. Think public access but on a larger scale. We’re going to see this trend quicker in the next couple of years and conference with television networks.
We here at the KCCGD loves the Twitter (follow us @kccgd). We especially love how coaches are coming up with creative ways to recruit using the technology. Look at Jim Harbaugh. He could be quoting Greek mythology but he’s really talking about a recruit. Great stuff indeed.
The Colorado Buffaloes are following Nebraska’s lead and are looking for a way to get out of the Big 12 (10) a year early. Will they eat the cost more or send in the sharks to find a way around the massive exit fees? No matter how it turns out, it should mean more cash for the remaining members of the conference.
New Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tubberville thinks the Big 12 (10) won’t last much longer with the new deal. He goes back to the original argument about the uneven revenue sharing. Seeing as he came from the SEC, it makes sense that he prefers the older model. If he makes the Red Raiders a bigger winner than what it was before, he may change his tune though.
It’s almost July and it’s time to start getting serious about football. For the last couple of months we’ve been going back and forth on conference expansion and raiding. Now that it’s all over (hopefully), we can start getting juiced up for the major competition on the field. The Crib Sheet has its cleats on so you should too. Here we go:
The major sanctions against USC hit former running back and current New Orleans Saint Reggie Bush. Bush was reportedly in on the scandal part but now he vows to help with the appeal for USC to the NCAA. Maybe his Heisman Trophy is in trouble?
It looks like Pac 10 went from the Pac 11, with the addition of Colorado, to the Pac 12 with the addition of Utah. Mormons invade the conference as the Mountain West Conference powerhouse moves in on the big boys. Will the Pac 12 have a title game now? Does it seem weird that both the Big 10 and Pac 10 will have title games and now the Big 12 will not? Meanwhile the Mountain West will stay at 9.
The Big East Commissioner sent 20 roses (10 white and 10 red) with ‘Unity’ written on the card to the Big 12 (10) offices. It seems the Big East and the ACC should be thankful that the Big 12 didn’t blow up and ruined college football.
Andy Staples talked about the BCS and how it’s super solid for now, even though people are still complaining. One side you have the director, Bill Hancock, and on the other you have Texas Rep. Joe Barton and Utah Senator Orrin Hatch. Yeah, so Utah goes to the Pac 10 and Hatch still wants to take down the BCS. If Utah ends up undefeated again, will he be so loud?
Mizzou Chancellor Brady Deaton is your new chairman of the Big 12 Board of Directors. This might be part of the maneuvering to keep Mizzou in the Big 12 (10). It also seems kind of flimsy.
Bill Snyder 2.0 weighs in on the expansion movements and laments the fact that a Big 12 (10) may not have a title game. His solution? Two 5 team divisions and a title game. It makes sense for a small school like K-State to go for that but we don’t think this will happen just yet. It could bring in more money, however.
Colorado is in some financial hot water right now and leaving the Big 12 (10) will put them in a deeper hole. Will they ever crawl out of it? First they need to win and second they need to ride out the changes over the next couple of years. With Dan Hawkins as the coach, the Buffalo fans out there might have to wait a good 10 years before that program makes money and wins championships.
Welp, Armageddon has come. Nebraska is going to the Big 10. After the speculation, the rumors, and the threat of the Big 12 South going to the Pac 10, we have our first major move in the modern era of expansion. The Big 12 meetings last week provided some ultimatums and some wishy-washy talk. Now it looks as though Friday is the day for the official announcement from the Cornhuskers. After that, it seems the Big 12 South, sans Baylor and including Colorado, will be going to the Pac 10. The rest of the teams, well, they are left behind. Kansas City will become a ghost of a sports town. Besides all of this depressing talk, there was other news this week. Here’s the Crib Sheet:
The SEC and its head coaches laughed off any expansion talk during their meetings last week. You know it seems they have been the quietest in all of this. Will they invite anyone else? They’ve won 7 BCS Championships so I guess they won’t have to.
Boise State is left at the altar while the Mountain West sees what the fallout will be from the expansion bonanza. This won’t be cleared up for a while and the Broncos will just have to wait it out.
The current UGA is too young to be on the field and that’s the delima Georgia has going into this year. The sudden death of the last UGA means that the next-in-blood-line gets called up to the majors early. Will they stand the young pup up or will they opt for a veteran replacement?
We laid the foundation with our last 3 post for the Big 10 expansion. Now let’s talk about how other conferences are reacting. Some of them could be massively depleted whereas others are moving to counteract the possible Big 10 growth. Every major BCS conference has about two cents to toss in and little brother mid major conferences are chirping in as well. It’s time for the conferences to lay down their tiles and see just how much they could change.
It was bound to happen. The discussion blew up late last December and now we have legitimate motions telling us that the Big 10, and college football, is about to run into some big changes. Ever vigilant, we here at the KCCGD Headquarters decided to toss our hat into the speculation ring and offer up our analysis as to just what the hell is going on. It’s plenty to chew on so we will be breaking up into bite size chunks of creamy goodness. At just the right time too, the Big 10’s athletic directors and coaches are meeting this week and the Big 12’s crew will do the same next week. Why does the Big 12 matter? The conference is among some of the institutions affected by this move. Strap it on, because we are about to ride the hottest off-season college football activity we haven’t seen in a long time.
