Here we go rolling into another week of Pick It and Stick It. The games are fresh this week and we are stoked about the upcoming Farmageddon happening right in Kansas City’s backyard. Kansas State is a 3.5 point favorite over Iowa State and we can imagine that Daniel Thomas is the reason for the line. Will we see the same outcome as last year? Hopefully it will be just as exciting. So far, Farmageddon delivers on quality. Here are the picks:
It’s amazing to think how long we have been doing this blog. Three years. That’s dedication, homes. One of the very first places we barspotted was The Other Place. It was a great time and now it’s time again to head back over there. What better place to watch Farmageddon other than Arrowhead than deep into one of the few Iowa/Iowa State bars in the area. Yeah, we could go to Kite’s or Lucky Brewgrille for the Kansas State side of things but The Other Place is so much better and it’s been a long time since we’ve been there. So let’s re-live some good times and meet us out there Saturday to watch Farmegeddon blow us away.
There’s just so much to chew on from the first week of college football, we’ll just make the intro real quick. On to the Crib Sheet:
Freshly on its own, BYU signed a deal with ESPN and Notre Dame to be shown exclusively and play, respectively. They are stepping out fresh in their independence but we don’t think they’ll get as strong as their Irish counterparts.
The Big 10 now has divisions, so we’ll see how balanced they are in the next couple of years. The big news is breaking up Michigan and Ohio State. Since they will be the ‘yearly rival’, there’s a big chance that they could play each other again in the Big 10 Championship Game.
The face behind the mask of the mascot for Penn State, notched an MIP for underage drinking. Clint Gyory got busted and now he’s suspended from his mascot duties. It just goes to show that football players aren’t the other ones who have to watch what they do in their free time.
In what’s become the major theme to begin the season, another player will miss games for accepting sports agent gifts. This time it’s Alabama’s Marcell Dareus. They should suspend him for key games. Doing this at the beginning of the year means they miss the cakewalk part of the schedule.
North Carolina was one play away from possibly winning the game against LSU last Saturday. What’s more than amazing is that they did it with a ton of suspended players. About half of the starters didn’t play due to NCAA investigations. We’re not sure if it shows how tough the Tar Heels could be or how weak LSU looks.
TCU coach Gary Patterson gave credit to ESPN’s Lee Corso for inspiring the Horned Frogs to a come from behind win against Oregon State last Saturday. Patterson used the right amount of moto-mojo to get his team over the tough Beavers.
After the embarrassing loss to North Dakota State, Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins retired Tuesday. He was going to retire next year, but the school (and the boosters) decided to cough up the money to get him out of there sooner. We don’t know who the replacement AD, not interim, will be and now we don’t know who the starting quarterback will be. Man basketball season can’t come any faster for the Jayhawks.
Apparently Reggie Bush may be stripped of his Heisman. I guess that’s what happens when it’s discovered that you might have been ineligible during your run in college. He would be the first. How many other Heisman winners may have been ineligible? Should we investigate everyone and find out?
ESPN kicked off ESPN3D last year during the BCS Championship Game and now they have an updated schedule that started with the Boise State and Virginia Tech game. So far so good, according to the review. We’re anxious to get our eyes on it when it becomes mainstream about 20 years from now.
Speaking of the Broncos, they jumped to #3 in both polls. Looks like if they can keep up the blowouts, they will be a contender. Meanwhile, David Ubben runs down the votes for the Big 12 teams. It’s pretty much the big 3 in the top 25 (Texas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma) then about 5 teams about a stone’s throw from the 25 threshold. If they can keep it up, we may see more Big 12 teams up there.
Alrighty, welcome to the first standings update for the Pick It and Stick It of 2010. We’re going to switch things up a bit this year. Last year, we broke the design of the site and our fingers trying to just map out what happened each week and who did what. In the end, we realized that most people just cared who was winning and didn’t care about anything else. So we’re blowing away the Weekly Picks and just reporting the standings. If you want to check out the full stats, click on the ‘Standings’ link and it will take you to our group. If you want to see more, please sing up and play along too. No worries though as we’ll still touch on the highlights of the weekend’s picks and events. So here’s the Standings:
It’s been almost a year since we’ve been to Johnny’s Tavern and it took the rest of the season for us to decide that it was the best Barspot for last year. So, as tradition calls, we found ourselves back at Johnny’s Tavern at the Power & Light District to enjoy the first full Saturday of college football. The bar hasn’t changed much but just enough for us to take notice. The food specials knocked us out but the games were kind of so so. Read on as we go over Johnny’s Tavern and recount the action on the field.
We are back again going out to the best of what Kansas City sports bars has to offer in terms of college football. Like the storied tradition of college football, we have a tradition of going back to the best bar of last year to start out this season for KC College Gameday. We had no way of knowing back at the beginning of last September that Johnny’s in the Power & Light would be the best but here we are planning the first Barspot of the year down there. With every television fit into every nook and cranny as well as the crazy touch table poker game, Johnny’s hit the spot on all things needed for a great sport viewing experience. So come back out with us Saturday as we head back out there to enjoy Johnny’s and scoff at that ridiculous KC College Live thingy going on in the outdoor area.
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?
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:
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.
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.
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?
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).
The Kansas State Wildcats enjoyed somewhat of resurgence last year. They even almost went to the Big 12 Championship Game. Yet, they failed to make a bowl. The offseason was the most quiet I’ve ever heard and now we find ourselves looking straight down the barrel of a new football season. The weirdness of last year’s season should continue for this year. It’s all good for Bill Snyder 2.0, as they will be getting better. Day by day. Little by little.
Okay this close to the season and we still have major, er mid-major, moves regarding conference expansion. So BYU started to teeter and now the WAC blew up. Further out west there are questions of Pac 10 allegiance. Please, will the powers that be put all of this on lockdown so we can focus on actually playing football instead of this crap. The season is about 2 weeks away! We’re not sure they’re listening so in the meantime, everyone else clue them into this week’s Crib Sheet:
You know, we liked Missouri’s handshake better. Better than ‘Get Money!” That’s what they are using to denote big plays now. That sounds like something you say on a game show. Better yet, why not say, “No Whammies! No Whammies! No Whammies! Stop!”
Bo Pelini is banning reporters from practice so they can’t compile injury reports. Nebraska’s already had some season ending injuries on the team so far so it makes sense that Pelini want to keeps things quiet for a couple of days. Well, quiet enough that everyone can hear him chew gum with his mouth open.
It looks like an Oklahoma themed license plate for Texas is creating a lot of commotion in the Lone Star State. On one hand it’s for a team not even in the state, on the other there are plenty of Oklahomans that live in the state. If Texas does it, they should make some bank off of it.
New Kansas State Wildcat Bryce Brown answered some questions from the NCAA about his time at Tennessee and former head coach Lane Kiffin. What he said? We don’t know. We just hope that he doesn’t flake out like he did for the Volunteers.
Looks like the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover spied on Paul “Bear” Bryant and his civil rights fenagling in the late 1960’s through the 70’s. It’s creepy to think the FBI had a file on that guy. Of course, today the FBI probably has a file on everyone.
Even though the college football industry is a multi billion dollar one, only 14 schools were profitable last year. Big 12 wise the obvious one, Texas, was there but Missouri ended up being a surprise. No wonder the Tigers yell, ‘Get Money!’ now.
Bessemer, Alabama mayoral candidate Dorothy Davidson photoshopped herself into a Nick Saban photo for a flyer and got busted for it. Hey, politicians lie all the time and it’s terrible, but this is pretty funny because it is so damn obvious.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Okay the holidays are over and we are in the middle of summer. College football is so close right now we can taste it. You know how we can tell? We have a buttload of news to go over in this week’s Crib Sheet. So enough jibba jabba, here’s the sheet:
Speaking of the one time rivalry, Nebraska removed the end part of the video they put out earlier this year for their fan video. It said “Beat Texas.” The smack talk is already beginning and it’s not even the start of training camp yet.
Dontavius Jackson will be transferring from Georgia after summer school following his DUI arrest. Goes to show folks, don’t get caught breaking the law if you are a football player. You might get your scholarship dumped.
The two Kansas dudes who were indicted last week have plead guilty in court for the ticket scandal they covered up. Hopefully for Jayhawk fans, this will blow over and they can start focusing on rebuilding for the football season. Or focus on the start of basketball season.
We’ve been trying for the last couple of days to come up with something exciting to attach to the release of EA Sport’s new NCAA College Football 11 game. It’s out. That’s it. Nothing exciting here.
Bob Krause, former Kansas State Athletic Director, described in a deposition how he got duped by Ron Prince at the last second, which then gave Prince a tasty buyout from his contract. So Krause was out of his league big time and now we see why.
Ex Florida Gator Maurkice Pouncey was the subject of an investigation that addressed and allegation that he took about 100K from a middle man to an agent. If the investigation finds it to be true, Florida could lose the Sugar Bowl victory last year. It doesn’t matter to Pouncey because he is in the NFL right now. It seems agents have found a loophole to exploit kids in their senior year. The kids get paid and leave before any repercussions. Kinda like pulling a Pete Carroll. Stewart Mandel points this out and we just found out from Nick Saban that Alabama is investigating its own issue too.
Missouri linebacker Tyler Crane was kicked off the team for violating team rules. Neither Crane or Missouri will say just what he did. It seems like he was a back up so it shouldn’t affect the Tigers this year that much.
11 Notre Dame athletes were arrested for underage drinking at a party last week, including Joe Montana’s son Nate. Doh! It’s nice to see the Fighting Irish are with the times in terms of off the field troubles. This tells us that they might be competitive this coming year.
It seems an investigation will open in Arizona to see if current and former Fiesta Bowl employees made campaign contributions to politicians whom supported the bowl. The major issue is not the contribution but the reimbursement from the bowl. Ya, that’s a no no.
