The big talk the last week or so has been conference expansion. Well, never fear, because here at the KCCGD headquarters, we are perfectly happy with out size. Now there have been some talks of expanding out to St. Louis or up into Omaha, but does KC St. Louis Omaha College GameDay sound great? We say no. Granted, the barspots might be a little more glorious if we end up at an Old Chicago in St. Louis, but for now we are perfectly satisfied with what KC has to offer in bars and feel no pressure to hitch up and roll out every week. That said, here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
- What is the deal with other conferences wanting to poach schools from the Big 12? First it was the Big 10 and Missouri and now it’s the Pac 10 and Colorado. Yes it makes sense for both side to get the television markets. What this will signal is some massive changes (and payouts) to all the schools in the Big 12. Do you honestly believe Nebraska will go to the Big 10?
- So we know about Missouri, but the Big 10 talking with Texas? Huh? Okay, no we’re thinking other conferences want to consolidate into just one big conference with all of the television markets. That’s the only way that makes sense. Texas won’t have an easier challenge up there. Just strange.
- Goodbye Tim Griffin. We used his quick news on the goings on for news here at the KCCGD headquarters and we’re sorry to see him go. We wish him the best and we hope to see him or hear from him real soon.
- The NCAA rolled out a rule severely limiting recruiting by coaches who are deemed as the successor in the head coach line at colleges. Naturally, Texas is not happy with this. What are they worried about? They are Texas. They get the best kids in Texas. Recruits do not need to promise of some other coordinator to tip scales for them.
- JoePa will get lasers shot into his eyes. Yup, no longer will we see the iconic, thick-framed, bespectacled Joe Paterno, but now we will see the I big nosed, mega old dude on the sidelines. Hey, it just goes to show that you’re never too old to get procedures done to your body. Let’s hope he doesn’t get pectoral implants next.
- The NCAA wants to take away touchdowns for taunting. Okay, we get it. Sportsmanship is truly a noble attribute. But doesn’t it say something about society as a whole when we have to legislate it? Why take a away a touchdown? A penalty assessed on the kickoff or extra point should be enough. Those are kids out there and they have a hard time controlling their emotions. The NCAA needs to focus on making the kids safer first.
- Bo Pelini got yet another raise. He goes up to $2.1 million per year through 2015. Congrats to everyone’s favorite gum chewing Cornhusker. That’s gonna buy him a load of Bubble Yum.
- Here’s this week’s police blotter: Frosh Mizzou quarterback Tyler Gabbert got the Owen Wilson treatment and broke his nose in a fight inside a Gumby’s Pizza. The ladies still find Owen hot, somehow, so he should be good. Meanwhile, LaMichael James, the Frosh offensive player of the year for the Pac 10, is in jail for strangulation, assault, and menacing. Welp, we might have a LeGarrate Blount situation here. Only difference was one was on a field against a dude and the other was off the field against lady. Oregon should kick this guy off the team.
Okay it’s Crib Sheet time and we need to talk to all of the aspiring wide receivers out there. Do not talk to Deion Sanders. The image above presents only a shrivel of evidence to support our position. Yes, he’s flashy. Yes, he preaches. Yes, he looks good in a suit. But nothing really good comes from working with the guy. Just ask Michael Crabtree. So consider this a public service announcement and please avoid Deion Sanders. Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
- The NCAA ruled Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant ineligible for maybe the rest of the season for failure to disclose recent dealing with a former NFL player, Dei0n Sanders. Doh! We thought the prima donna wide receivers came from Texas Tech. We’re thinking after some personal consultation with Tony Dungy or something Dez will be let back on the field to play again. While Dez is doing that, Deion denies tampering, Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State supports him (needs him back in the lineup), and Dez will meet with the NCAA after his written apology.
- Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw has been ordered to take an anger management course. This stems from a domestic fight with his girl friend some time ago. She has to take the course too. Will it affect his play on the field? Tune in to find out.
- ESPN’s Tim Griffin writes that Texas is getting ready for the Red River Rivalry this weekend by listening to that god awful Boomer Sooner theme song over and over. That’s either going to help them tune it out or get them so angry and sick that they will take it out on Oklahoma this weekend. This could work wonders elsewhere. Possible water boarding replacement? We think so.
- A walk on Southern Miss player Peter Wilkes committed suicide over the weekend. We send our condolences out to his family. Apparently his dad suffered a heart attack and died over the summer. Wilkes decided to continue school for his dad but apparently it was too much.
- A female student was arrested during the Iowa and Arkansas State game for continuously yelling at player Adrian Clayborn. The student was warned multiple times and even given a restraining order. Stalking happens at both sides of the gender. Kinda funny that heckling could get somebody arrested, though.
- Dan Hawkins finally benched his son, Cody. Or did he? This will be the downfall to Hawkins and will serve as a lesson to all coaches out there. Don’t let your family mix with your coaching. Bill Snyder 2.0 knew this and retired to spend time with his family. He’s back now and you don’t see any of his kids on the field, coaching or playing.
- While we have another punch during the game in the form of Idaho linebacker Tre’Shawn Robinson and subsequent reprimanding, we also see a 1 game suspension to New Mexico head coach Mike Locksley for doing it off the field with an assistant coach. Football is a violent sport but save the punching for MMA.
- The Big 12 will play seven bowls games during the bowl season after this year. More importantly the toilet, er, Independence Bowl is off the docket. We also see the new New York City Bowl show up. Many a mediocre conference team fans rejoice in the pick of New York over Shreveport, Louisiana.
- Speaking of the bowls, the Cotton Bowl will move to Jerry Jones mecca that is Cowboys Stadium and the old place will have a new one called the Dallas Football Classic. It’s nice to see they are still using it but does that put the number of bowls in Texas at about 234? Hey, the more the merrier.
It’s another week of college football news and we are getting into a rhythm. Most of the news churns up and out on Saturday and Sunday now. I would say the amount of news tripled since the start of the season. But we are taking it all in and making some sweet music for you to kick back and zone out on. Let’s just consider this the greatest hits collection from the week. Like any good compilation we have peaks and valleys then finish off with a strong note. And no Kanye. Now that’s what I call Crib Sheet! Rock on below:
- Steve Sipple from HuskersExtra.com talks about how the Cornhuskers are scheduling weak opponents and acceptance of such philosophy. Welcome to what the Kansas State Wildcats did every year. Now everyone is doing it. Hey, at least they fill a slot in with a quality opponent. They have Virginia Tech coming up.
- Speaking of the Wildcats, Bill Snyder 2.0 just inked a 5 year, $10 million dollar deal with program. They had to sign a new one with the new school president and athletic director. But five years? He can probably leave whenever and take a paper pushing job with the department when he’s done. Hopefully he will have turned the program around in three.
- Apparently swine flu is breaking out all over on football teams across the country. They need to start washing their hands and behind their ears before practices and such. Weren’t players supposed to be bigger, faster, and tougher in the new millennium? Since when did a flu cause a freak out? Man up, players (but don’t shake my hand).
- Erin Andrews, resident ESPN sideline hottie, told her story on Oprah last week. For those of you who don’t know, or listen to the news, Andrews was filmed nude by a peeping tom in some hotel room a couple of weeks ago. She stated that she thought her career was over. Um, she’s seriously mistaken. If anything her nudity made her more popular. Just talk to every Hollywood actress out there. They dip into the nude pool when their careers are threatened.
- Just in cased you missed it, Stephen F. Austin barely beat Texas College 92 – 0 last weekend. That’s right. Not 9, not 2, but 92 points. It’s nice to see some joystick scores on the field every once in awhile but this is ridiculous. Texas College should’ve hit the restart button.
- The power went out before the half of the Montana vs UC-Davis game over the weekend too. It took some time for the UC-Davis staff to get it up and going. The home field advantage wasn’t enough, however as Montana went on to win 17-10.
- Even though highly touted Colorado is 0-2, Dan Hawkins job might be safe. ESPN Big 12 blogger Tim Griffin talks about how broke the Buffaloes are and why buying Hawkins out could hurt more. That’s real good news for every other team in the Big 12 North.
- You’d figure after losing a close game that you can talk about it with a little class. But Notre Dame’s Charlie Weiss dashes all hopes of respectfully losing by blaming the Big 10 officials in their last second loss to Michigan last week. The schedule is weak enough for the Domers to finish with a double digit win record. Focus on that Weiss.
- Oklahoma fans from around the globe are supporting Landry Jones and his pencil thin mustache. Even the American Mustache Institute chimed in for their support of the molestache. Considering how he’s played on the field so far, there shouldn’t be any complaints about that mouth hugger.
Independence Day came and went and we escaped with a couple of scratches, bruises, and about six pounds of weight. While we are recovering, we are reminded that we are inching ever closer to start of the new college football season. Sooner or later, I have to get started on some site improvements and my previews. Until then, we keep on chooglin’ to another Crib Sheet:
- Former Hawaii, and record breaking, quarterback Timmy Chang was arrested for robbery. I completely forgot the guy. When that happens, one can guess that crime is heading their way. Especially since he fizzled out like he did. It’s pretty terrible that a record holding qb gets released from a Canadian football team.
- The New York Times is now profiling the case that Sam Keller filed against Electronic Arts and the NCAA. He makes a good point about players being used to take in bucket loads of cash for EA Sports and the NCAA. If he wins, it may open the door to some other types of compensation for the players.
- ESPN’s Tim Griffin points us to a company that sifted through the stats to produce the five common traits BCS Championship teams and which teams fall under that for this year. Texas is in the mix but so is Iowa, surprisingly. Florida’s there too, however. The safe bet I guess is Texas vs Florida this year.
- So another hearing on Capitol Hill took place the pitted Senator Orin Hatch from Utah against the BCS. It stunk very much of grandstanding, and nothing came of the hearing. Many columnists gave their reaction, so I will give mine. This will continue on until the start of the college football season and then it will go away. Hatch is rattling swords for his state and really thinking so much of the other smaller schools. The best part, that Tim Griffin pointed out, was when Hatched asked Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman what more could Utah do and Perlman suggested that Utah play a tougher schedule. Utah president Michael Young responded that the school wishes Nebraska would play them. Tim Griffin points out that Utah backed out of a chance to play Texas last year. End of story. Case closed. The roar of the crowds on opening day will overcome the whimpers and cries coming from the state of Utah.
Usually when the tempature gauge rockets into the 90’s, it tells you many things. First, time to turn on the A/C. Second, time to hit the pool. Lastly, college football season is right around the corner. So while you are out there baking in the sun, please remember to wear sun screen and to think of the short time left before kickoff. Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
- Looks like the Nebraska Cornhuskers are getting support from all sides as Tim Griffin reports on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ love for the Huskers and his influence on recruits. Judge Thomas sounds like he know about more about the Huskers than the law, unless he thinks they rule or something.
- Still on the Nebraska side, Bo Pelini is standing up for his hometown fellow, LeBron James. It seems LeBron was a little unsportsmenlike when he choked away the playoffs last week. People have been ragging him since and Bo decided to stand up for King James and defend him, in all of his open mouthed, gum chewing glory.
- Ivan Maisel did a little piece about smaller schools taking big cash for playing major opponents from major colleges. It does tilt the competition in the favor of the major schools. The smaller schools do get money they would otherwise not see for their athletic program. The shadiness of the AD’s not having confidence in their team does seem to be a concern. But then again we wouldn’t see major upsets like Appalachin State over Michigan. It can happen you know.
- Kansas and Georgia Tech will meet for the first time since 1948 for the next two years. This should beef up their non-conference schedule. They aren’t exactly pulling a K-State, but they are following toe in line for what many of the major FBS conferences are doing.
- Joe Montana’s kid Nick will commit to Washington. Looks like the Steve Sarkasian rub is working full time up there. Will USC miss Steve? Who knows, but it will be interesting to see if Nick can live up to his dad. It’s a lofty task and other former NFL quaterback kids usually don’t live up or beyond, with the exceptions of the Mannings. Chris Simms anyone?
So some news outlets are saying that May is the black hole of news for college football. We here at the KCCGD are diligent in digging up interesting news and actually found enough to fill a column this week. We’ll weather this storm together and hopefully ride out into June when practices start. For now let’s do our best to ignore all of this lame-o baseball, weak basketball and hockey playoffs, and a post NFL draft hangover. Here’s this week’s ration:
- Holey Toledo! Some football players including some basketball players from the University of Toledo were indicted on point shaving charges. Nobody likes to see players go at it light. Especially if they are getting paid for it. Okay, I give in. I just wanted to say Holey Toledo!
- The Big 12 coaches decided to keep the tie breaking rule. Huh? Bo Pelini goes on the comment about how no matter what the 3rd team left out will get the shaft. Okay, that’s understandable. Is there a better way to break the tie? We say rock, paper, scissors.
- It looks like the Utah Attorney General is trying to push for a Senate run with his latest comments about the BCS. Let’s look at it from a point of view perspective. An undefeated team in football and no national title. They have the right to be upset. The way they are going about it? Mmmm not so much. A more clever way would be to rally support from all the non BCS conferences and begin to push as a whole on the BCS conferences. If you really wanted to shake their boots, don’t schedule games with them. Play outside of the BCS. The BCS conferences would then freak becauces of the lack of weak team warm ups at the beginning of the season.
- Sam Keller, a football alum from Nebraska, is suing EA Sports and the NCAA for using the likeness of athelets to make money off the games. This is a hard one to call. More and more the argument is growing for student-atheletes to be paid for promoting the school through sports. While there is a pandora’s box of enabling that, surely the least they can do is up the stipend in terms of the scholarship and toss in a couple of Xboxes to boot.
- ESPN blogger Tim Griffin takes us on a trip to the past and review a lesson taught to us by Mark Mangino of Kansas. The old quote talks about how Mangino wanted to keep the spirit of the rivalry in tact. Now that the tables are turned it seems that maybe this rivalry will be alive an well in Manhattan this year. Snyder and Mangino go at it again. I was at the game last year and as a Wildcat fan it stung hard. Now there’s a fresh start and we hope that at the very least it is competitive because Kansas is the definite favorite.
- So someone is selling a 2005 Rose Bowl ring belonging to former Texas Longhorn lineman Austin Sendlein on eBay, including his 2004 ring. It looks as though he left it in the hotel room he was staying at in Columbus, Ohio to watch his brother play. Seems that Buckeye fans don’t take to kindly to Longhorn folk. Although he did goof and leave it in the hotel room. Linemen are supposed to be smart.
The Crib Sheet returns! Now that we’ve finally shaken off basketball, congrats North Carolina, we can start focusing on college baseball. Psyche! We’re still talking football. This last week saw some interesting cruft float by. Springs practices are going on and we’re starting to get some news trickle out about who’s doing well and who’s tanking. But more on that later. Here’s what else that happened in the past week:
- Rugby is making its presence known in college football with the Texas Longhorn’s punter Justin Tucker. Last year he tried some rugby styled punts and it proved successful. So this year they are asking him and the rest of the punters to try it again both right and left footed. It’s a little dizzying indeed, but it’s great to see some innovation come out of a kicking meme that’s been around forever. Now all Tucker needs is some knocked out teeth to fully bring the rugby pain.
- Tim Griffin reports that a top quarterback recruit from the Wichita area, Blake Bell, has committed to Oklahoma. This stings a little more because he’s right in K-State’s backyard. Oklahoma is the mean machine in the Big 12 so why not go there.
- The New York Times has a piece about Army’s new football coach Rich Ellerson. Apparently his orders are to win now. Seems easy, right? I watched Army play Navy last Thanksgiving and their camoflague uniforms were tight. That’s the only reason I’m rooting this guy to succeed. It sounds kinda gay so don’t tell Rich.
- Chase Daniels looks good as a coach. He was hanging out at the Mizzou practices helping out the new offensive coordinator, Dave Yost. He’s not really gonna make it in the NFL so coaching would be the next best thing for Chase. Just don’t teach them how to eat boogers.
- The Texas Longhorns assistant coaches feel like champions today. They pocketed an extra bonus for the Big 12 Championship, even though technically Oklahoma won the title. Apparently the athletic director talked the school president into the pay. Mack Brown didn’t dip into his bonus. They are sounding a lot like Utah when it comes to titles and championships and such.
Another week is rolling by and the Crib Sheet is on full tilt. We are doing our best to ignore the upcoming Juggernaut that is March Madness, until we get enough staff around the KCCGD to cover college basketball. In the meantime, there’s still some football news to cover. Spring practice is opening up and the recruiting carousal is about over. We’re still waiting on Bryce Brown to sign, but at this point the stock is almost completely gone. With that, here was the week in college football:
- Turning to beating a dead horse, no, completely gibbing it to tiny lil pieces, the Mountain West Conference has proposed an 8 team college football playoff. With politicians rattling cages for votes and conferences sending in suggestions, this is gonna end ugly. Good luck BCS
- On a sobering note, Oklahoma redshirt freshmen Corey Wilson is paralyzed from the waist down from the accident he had last week. The worst part is he was a redshirt and didn’t get a chance to play. Let’s hope he recovers the best that he can.
- The University of Texas President William Powers is scared silly about losing college football. Huh? Yeah apparently automatic enrollment for smart kids will fill up the school so much the dumb jocks won’t have room. Don’t worry, Boosters will take care of those kids under the table like we all know.
- Flo’ Rida State lives up to tradition and gets probation for their players cheating on online tests. There will be some vacated victories and lost scholarships on this doozy. One on hand, you athletes cheating. On the other you have them taking ONLINE tests. It’s incredibly easy to cheat if you have facebook up with your playas and it’s multiple choice.
- Jerry Jones’ new stadium in Texas will play host to 3 Big 12 games when it opens. It really has nothing to do with the news. I just wanted to mention that I’m drooling over this stadium and pray one day I can go down there to watch a game. Maybe even the K-State win the Big 12 there.
- Tim Griffin tells us that the Houston Chronicle’s study on TV viewership for the Big 12 cities show that sports is king. As a matter of fact, Kansas City ranks second of the cities. No surprise here at the KCCGD seeing as the local schools are doing well and we’re so well mixed in KC. Somebody should start a blog on it…..
Wow, we’re still feeling the effects from last week. As a matter of fact, last week’s festivities led to a nasty little cold. That’s better than some of the after effects some college football players ran into last week. Never fear, the Crib Sheet remedy is here! We’re dropping this in some Sprite and popping some NyQuil so hold on and go for the ride. Hopefully we’ll be 100% next week.
- In the descendant department, Joe Montana’s kid Nick tackled some scholarship offers from Alabama, Flordia State, and Notre Dame. The son of a qb who’s a qb too might get better luck if he goes somewhere other than the Fighting Irish. The shoes would be too big to fill and so far the quaterbacks coming out of dome town aren’t living up to the past. Nick Cool doesn’t work, how about Nick Sweet?
- Somehow Columbia, Missouri landed in the top 10 on Forbes list for top college sports towns. Well I guess Lawrence was too pretentious and Austin is more of a party town. Manhattan doesn’t even come close. I guess it’s cool that they are on the list, but they need to win a championship somewhere to deserve top 10 status.
- The Bryce Brown saga continues after a couple of swerves. The NCAA is investigating Brian Butler, the mentor for Brown, to figure out if he’s more of an agent than a mentor. The former rapper has been representing Wichita football players and pimping them on his website. Not sure there’s much mentoring there. Meanwhile, some rumor mongering points to Oklahoma being on the sweepstakes for Brown. I’m not sure they’ll pull him in late, but the fact that Kansas State is on the list still is laughable. Maybe Brown will lose so much cred out of this that he’ll walk on to Wildcat territory, only to regain his rep. In my dreams. In my dreams.
- Speaking of Wildcat territory, it seems some old friends are coming back to Manhattan to help Bill Snyder 2.0 out. Jonathan Beasley and Joe Gordon are coming back to fill out some spots left open by some movements. Thankfully, Bill is going to former players to help rebuild the tradition (however small it may be) of the Kansas State Wildcats.
- So a Division II school in Newberry dropped their mascot name, Indians, under pressure from the NCAA. That’s fine and all, but where is the pressure for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish? If the NCAA is going to go with regulating names then it needs to be consistent across the board. Now Illinois dropped it, but Florida State got the write from Indians to use it. So is it really worth going after, or is it a PR stunt to make everyone feel good about themselves?
- Let me tell you somethin’ dude, the Kiffster is gonna run wild over you! Well, maybe not that but one of the tactics he’s using at Tennessee is encouraging his coaches rip off their shirts a-la Hulk Hogan. So whatcha gonna do? WHATCHA GONNA DO?
- What’s up with all of the football players being arrested in the offseason. Yeah they’re young and in college, but they’re the leaders of the campus. There’s a time to party and a time to get ready for some football. The way I see it, the only players that can party now are the ones from Florida.
- So we finally figure out why Andy Ludwig left Kansas State after 2 months to go back to Cali. His family all lives on the coast out there. I would call shenanigans if Tim Griffin didn’t point out that he’d be eating some salary in the deal (cost of living wise). Oh well.
College Sports, Kansas City style
