One of the things that comes with being a really good team the previous season is that some of the time you don’t get a lot of high draft picks. If you add a trade up from last year that cost picks as well, you end up with the Falcons at 55.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is at it again. Bringing in a quarterback from another school worked so well for the Badgers in 2011 they have gone that route in 2012. Maryland QB Danny O’Brien has announced he will transfer to the cheese state and finish out the final two years of his college career.
Let’s look at the process O’Brien has taken to make it to Madison. He left Maryland to travel to Australia and enroll in a University there to finish up his degree and graduate. Graduating is the key to his plan. The NCAA rule states if you graduate from your enrolled school, yet that school doesn’t have a Master’s program in your field, the player is allowed to transfer to a school that does and is immediately eligible.
Could the NCAA be close to a playoff system for college football?
Believe it or not it appears that might just be the case. The BCS is looking at all scenarios and the 4 team playoffs system seems to be getting the most talk. This would mean the top 4 teams in the country, this year that would have meant LSU, Alabama and Oklahoma State would have been in the playoff. There would have been a fight between Oregon and Stanford for the final spot.
So Bret Bielma is upset at Ohio State coach Urban Meyer for allegedly “cheating” while recruiting. Bielema has a very picky definition of cheating.
According to Bielema, Meyer violated an unwritten rule in the Big Ten whereby coaches stop recruiting players if they commit to other conference schools. He called it a “gentleman’s agreement.” Mark Dantonio says he had a similar agreement with former OSU coach Jim Tressel. Bielema was so upset about Meyer’s actions he contacted Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney. Dantonio believes Meyer’s actions are “unethical.”
Joe Paterno has spoken. And the words are ringing hollow.
The former Head Football coach at Penn State did an interview with renowned writer Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post. To say he didn’t come across as a man reeling in guilt over his lack of action is an understatement.
Paterno showed disregard for everything involved in the Sandusky incident. No remorse or concern for the child. All he seemed to care about was making sure the university wasn’t involved in something he didn’t understand. His actions after he was informed by assistant coach Mike McQueary of what he saw Sandusky doing to a child were more than reprehensible.
The debacle Monday night the BCS tried to pass off as a National Championship game has everyone involved abuzz. Changes are coming, finally. And those changes seem to have the blessing of NCAA President Mark Emmert.
This might be the first time the NCAA, or anyone associated with it, have expressed approval in public to a possible playoff system. Emmert came out Thursday and said he would be pleased with a four team playoff, as long as it would not grow.
A week before the first bowl game kicks off, we realize just how ridiculous yet again the BCS system is. There are 35 bowl games. THIRTY-FIVE. The quest for money is in full display and the quest to find out what team is truly best in the nation falls by the wayside yet again.
After firing Ron Zook, who’s from the state of Ohio originally, it appears Illinois will go back to the Buckeye state for their next coach. Toledo coach Tim Beckman will reportedly take the Illini job.
It not surprising Beckman would take a new job. He was silently a hot commodity around the college football world. Beckman’s team never won a MAC title, but the Rockets were the team others had to go through to win the league.
Beckman didn’t turn the MAC on its ear with his record. In his three years with the Rockets, Beckman turned in a 21-16 record. But his style of play kept interest in Toledo and their fans in a state of excitement.
Teams from the Mid-American Conference never get the respect they are due. Certainly they are smaller and less talented. But the brand of football played is exciting. That will continue Friday evening when Northern Illinois plays Ohio for the MAC championship at Detroit’s Ford Field.
Both teams are 9-3 entering the contest. Each have very effective offenses that are averaging 200+ yards rushing and passing. Ohio averages 212 rushing and 250 passing compared to NIU’s 255 and 233, respectively. This could be a game, like most MAC games of up and down the field excitement.
It seems like it was just a matter of time. Ron Zook may have known it was coming at his press conference this week. But Sunday Illinois made it official in firing their head coach.
Zook may have had a chance before Saturday’s loss to the worst team in the Big Ten, Minnesota 27-7. The Illini started the season 6-0 and were a team thought to be in contention for the conference championship. Then the losses started mounting.
