Sports Illustrated, spreading out the cover jinx, went back to the regional covers this year. Of course, last season it was a little more out-of-control, but unless we see something new, it looks like SI will settle with four covers this year, the top four teams in the poll. And being the top four, we begin with the best.
2. OHIO STATE
3. BOISE STATE
4. TEXAS
JerryDome. Cowboys Stadium, the new Texas Stadium, which led to the irrelevance of the old Dallas Cowboys venue and the movement of the Cotton Bowl from the actual Cotton Bowl to the massive stadium outside of Dallas. It’s quite a place. Something built by a man with a shit-ton of money who loves both professional and college football. Because the second the building went up, there were all sorts of interesting games being played out under the massive high-definition screen.
So, let’s go. In this situation, “2012″ isn’t a movie, it’s just two seasons from September. Word broke out on a blog we used to read (like, in 2005) before the proprietor became the foulest of Big Ten stereotypes, the douchebag, Brian Cook of MGoBlog.com. He said he had some hot-as-shit source telling him that Alabama and Michigan would be playing an opening season game at the JerryDome in 2012.
But apparently it is happening. The contract is being signed Monday. Which is tomorrow.
The following details are unconfirmed but of interest since they come from an established source:
- Game is happening because a desperate Jerry Jones “overpaid.”
- Michigan will be the nominal home team (important mostly for TV rights) and receive more money.
- There’s no additional game scheduled and there may not be.
- Jones might be well-positioned to provide some advice on HD scoreboards.
This comes with a set of crazy conflicting emotions. Hurray awesome nonconference game, boo that it’s in fricking Dallas in a corporate death star of an NFL stadium and not a home-and-home in Ann Arbor and Tuscaloosa. I guess that’s what it takes for a lot of actual nonconference games to get done these days, but awesomeness of trip to Dallas to see M play ‘Bama <<<<<< awesomeness of M-Bama home-and-home. On the other hand, awesomeness of M-Bama Dallas >>>>>>> awesomeness of M-BGSU anywhere.
[Note on sourcing: in this case I am going with one source, but he is a very established one.]
Yeah. Not so sure about that. Crimson Tide athletic director Mal Moore, who just recently received a contract extension, puts the situation as a “maybe.” Perhaps the Wolverines are so hungry to get into the Southeastern Conference and Big XII Conference recruiting sphere that they want it to look better than it does. Yet, there’s just as good of a chance that Bama might play an opening season game in two years in Jacksonville.
So will Alabama open its 2012 college football season with a game against Michigan at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
“We’ve talked about several teams,” Alabama athletics director Mal Moore said this morning, “but nothing’s done.”
That was all he had to say about reports that a deal to match the two traditional powers at a neutral site was in the works.
It’s not a surprise that there are a lot of older gentlemen in Texas that would like to return to the days of the Southwest Conference. In effect, the state of Texas annexed Arkansas in athletics and rode that for decades until the house of cards fell apart. Jerry Jones, Arkansas alum and wealthy Dallas Cowboys owner par excellence, has allegedly been trying to get Notre Dame and Arkansas into the Big XII.
Why Notre Dame? God only knows. Maybe because Jones got used to seeing the Irish in the Cotton Bowl so many times. But, that spoke to South Bend makes even less sense than the ACC stretching from Coral Gables to Chestnut Hill. Just an aside, but the ACC is like the Chile of conferences. Anyway, the Notre Dame thing was pretty much a no-go, but initial rumors said that Arkansas was definitely considering it.
On Wednesday, a report emerged that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would like to see Arkansas (and Notre Dame) join the Big 12 which would instantly make it one of the top conferences.
According to Chip Brown of Orangebloods.com (via Twitter), that report has some legs.
“Sources tell OB Arkansas has definitely put out feelers about possibly joining the Big 12, but the B12 votes don’t appear to be there yet.”
Don’t draw so quick on your gun, son. Within hours of the Thursday morning furor, the Arkansas athletic director came out and said that there was nothing to it, and that the Razorbacks and the SEC were BFFs, the end.
Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long says the school has “no interest” in joining another conference amid speculation that the Razorbacks could be a candidate to move to the Big 12.
Long said Wednesday that Arkansas is happy in the Southeastern Conference. The Big 12 recently lost Nebraska to the Big Ten and Colorado to the Pac-10, leaving it with 10 members.
But what of the Big East, the football conference of the walking dead? Talk came out that the conference that was thought to be left a smoking crater by the Big Ten and ACC is looking at Central Florida and Memphis. Considering that FedEx boss Fred Smith was looking for a BCS conference for Memphis and its quarterback, his son, that could have had some validity. Until, that is, Big East commissioner John Marinatto said differently.
Big East commissioner John Marinatto and other league officials told FanHouse that an Orlando TV report claiming the Memphis and the University of Central Florida would be invited to join the Big East as soon as next week is inaccurate.
“Those reports are not true,” Marinatto (right) told FanHouse Thursday.
Orlando’s WKMG sports director David Pingalore reported Wednesday night that “multiple college football sources” indicated UCF and Memphis could receive an invitation as early as next week. Pingalore reported the invitation is “highly likely.”
So there’s that. Even if it were true, adding two more schools would give the Big East a ridiculous 18 teams in basketball. Insanity. And we’re back where we were before. The Pac-10 has 12 teams, the Big Ten has 12 teams and the Big XII has 10. But something says that within 10 years, there will be another grab that further shakes up the college football world.
It may be the last significant move of the 2010 offseason conference realignment frenzy. The Pac-10, now at 11 with Big XII North defector Colorado, is about to take on Utah as its twelfth team. One might think that with all the flirting going on with America’s home of officially sanctioned sports like water polo and the latest resident of the NCAA’s doghouse, people are going to be slow on the trigger to declare this a done deal, but it’s seriously looking that way.
When asked about this report, a representative from the [Mountain West] Conference could neither confirm nor deny the alleged report. If sources are to be believed then, the deal to invite Utah has already been done, and is merely a formality at this point. All that would remain of course is the announcement from the PAC-10 and a press conference by the University of Utah.
The deal puts the MWC back into the second tier of conferences, and gives the Pac-10 the conference championship game it was looking for. On the other hand, Utah won’t have to worry about missing out on a BCS game. Maybe. Since Texas, et. al., decided to stay in the Big XII, with 10 teams the conference maintains its viability as a BCS-level conference. Adding one more good team at the AQ-level will certainly be interesting.
The prospect of a glut of one-loss teams at the top of the rankings is bad enough. This set-up further gives the possibility of no non-AQ team getting into the mix. And pretty much saving the current system of big-time college football. The way it had been going, there could have been four regional, erm, ultraconferences, basically forcing the BCS to blow itself up and institute a playoff with the FBS organized in divisions, leaving conferences to the other sports. It would make sense that the FBS would receive autonomy or full-on independence from the NCAA, and this reorganization of the sport at the top level would make schedules and such like a professional league, instead of between the schools and the conferences, as it now stands. A confederation to a central government.
But that brave new world is on the long-term backburner, if not gone at all.
That’s all she wrote, folks. Major college football, as you knew it from about 1996-2009, is over. The Big XII is done. All that’s left is the finalization of moves from outside the conference and what ends up as some truly bizarre scheduling in the 2012 season. Today, early movements in conference realignment went into overdrive.
Perhaps you heard that the Big Ten and Nebraska are now getting together. Conventional wisdom had previously held that Missouri would go, too, putting seven in the imagined Big Ten West and six in the Big Ten East. Add, say, Iowa State and Pitt and, oh, Rutgers, and you have a 16-team league. Word now is that Missouri and the Big Ten isn’t happening. Iowa State (and Kansas, too) are left in the cold. Any other expansion from the conference is also up in the air.
[Ed. note: Apparently we deleted a whole portion relating to the Pac-10 before publishing on the evening of June 11. Oops.]
Right now, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado are joining the Pac-10. That’s 15, brother. There’s got to be one more in the mix to balance the divisions.
Think it’s Texas A&M? Former Aggies player, coach and national championship-winning Alabama coach Gene Stallings, who is a regent, is reportedly pushing hard for A&M to be the seventh team in the SEC West. Stories coming out have it that A&M has been given a 72-hour deadline to decide if it’s going to make the Pac-10 move. If you can predict what will happen there, you’re a better person than we are.
More word out today is that Miami and Virginia Tech have not been in talks with the SEC, which means that if A&M joins, the best chances for an addition to the SEC East fall to Georgia Tech, Clemson, Florida State and Louisville. If A&M does join, the SEC will likely end expansion at 14 teams. We really doubt there’s any desire to add Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, SMU or TCU to the West. Each of these teams haven’t been that good, consistently, for a while, or bring money to the conference. Except for TCU, which, while small, has the DFW market to bustle in.
Yet, there’s another problem with the Great Gallopin’ Horny Toads. They’re in the Mountain West, with Utah. And another major move happened, with Boise State leaving the WAC for the MWC. As it is, TCU can stick where it is and do well, especially if the MWC absorbs the Big XII leftovers.
All of the above isn’t even considering rumors that Conference USA will help finish off the Big East as a football conference. Or that if the SEC goes take a team or two from the ACC, that the ACC will go back and take a few more from the Big East.
Ain’t the off-season fun?
We told you we were going to milk this bastard. For Carolina fans — try a 10-win season, you might like it. For Clemson fans — try getting into the national championship hunt in an era when white belts weren’t in style. In the words of the best of the Southeastern Conference (winners of the last four national championships), “Don’t worry. We got this.”
It had been 17 years. The fan base was hungry. The players were hungry. Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram was hungry. It had to happen. Alabama beat Texas 37-21 to win the national championship.
Sure, the haters were out. It was expected. But they weren’t on the field. Texas quarterback Colt McCoy couldn’t handle a tough, physical defense and had his shoulder injured early. Too bad for him. He plays in a weak conference against weak defenses. When you play against the Southeastern Conference, you have to show up to do battle, son.
Ingram had to check out, too, with cramps. Thing is, his replacement, freshman Trent Richardson, would start for most teams in the country. At halftime, it looked like a walk. 24-6 Alabama. But the Longhorns didn’t quit. They played hard, and cut the lead to three. Wide receiver Jordan Shipley played out of his mind.
Regardless, never discount the Crimson Tide defense. Huffman High School graduate Marcell Dareus, a mid-season replacement, intercepted a pass by the Texas backup to score late in the first half. The big win was solidified when a hit came from Eryk Anders and Bama recovered the ball inside the 10-yard-line, followed by a touchdown run by Richardson.
It’s been a rough few years. Certainly, 1994 and 1996 had Alabama in the mix to win it all, but it didn’t happen. Then came the long, dark tea time of the Tide. Sure, there were decent teams, but none legitimately challenged for the national title.
Then there was 2009. The 13th national championship for Alabama. Feels good.
With the departure of Mike Leach from the coaching job at Texas Tech, there’s rampant speculation at where he could end up. After all, he did become the most successful coach in the history of Red Raider football, and his unorthodox offense revolutionized the Big XII into one of the most pass-happy leagues in college football. However, many teams looking for a new skipper have already locked down their replacements.
There is one school that could be in need of a new coach very soon — Kentucky. Following the Wildcats’ loss in the Music City Bowl to Clemson, coach Rich Brooks said he was 80 percent sure that he would not return for next season, though he’s taking a week to think about it. That would provide an opening at another BCS conference school for Leach, and the mid-level expectations would be on par for what he encountered upon taking over the job in Lubbock.
The Cap’n isn’t a stranger to Lexington, either. As offensive coordinator under Hal Mumme, Leach brought his inventive style to the Southeastern Conference and helped make Tim Couch an NFL first-rounder. The 1998 season, which ended in a trip to the Outback Bowl, gave Kentucky its first winning season since 1989.
Whether Kentucky is willing to take the risk of PR fallout, and the potential headaches for the administration, of hiring Leach, is unknown. Also, the buccaneer might not be interested. He’s a strange cat. But watching that guy swing his sword in the SEC East would be a lot of fun.
UPDATE: And, after being apprised of what we’d forgotten — Joker Phillips being named head-coach-in-waiting at UK — that effectively rules out Leach there. Still, he is a swashbuckler. We wouldn’t put it past him.
Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is well-known for his strange obsession in piracy. And, not the Somali version, but the 17th-and-18th century type of buccaneer that would sail the high seas. This became known to the national college football universe when The New York Times‘ Michael Lewis wrote,
As his team raced onto the field, he gazed into the stands filled with screaming fans and wondered about the several thousand “cadets” from Texas A.&M. clustered in one end zone. They wear military uniforms and buzz cuts, holler in unison and stand at attention the entire game. “How come they get to pretend they are soldiers?” he asked. “The thing is, they aren’t actually in the military. I ought to have Mike’s Pirate School. The freshmen, all they get is the bandanna. When you’re a senior, you get the sword and skull and crossbones. For homework, we’ll work pirate maneuvers and stuff like that.”
And so, it’s been known that the man who has been “Cap’n” on the Red Raiders’ program since 2000 has been a rather quirky fellow. But with a gentlemen with a jib cut thus, it was only a matter of time until some other swashbuckler came for his head. This certain privateer is known as Craig James, a guy who was a running back for SMU during its days as the worst rules offender in the history of college football, before he became a TV talking head. See, his son is on the Tech squad. Leach obviously forgot one lesson — don’t mess with a C-list sports celebrity’s kid.
The school said in a release Monday defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill will be the interim coach and lead the team in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Jan. 2 against Michigan State. McNeill will remain in charge of the team until the investigation is complete.
The player, Adam James, is a redshirt sophomore wide receiver for the Red Raiders and the son of ESPN college football analyst Craig James.
A source close to the family told ESPN’s Joe Schad that James sustained a concussion on Dec. 16, was examined on Dec. 17 and told not to practice due to a concussion and an elevated heart rate. The source said Leach called a trainer and directed him to move James “to the darkest place, to clean out the equipment and to make sure that he could not sit or lean. He was confined for three hours.”
According to the source, Leach told the trainer, two days later, to “put [James] in the darkest, tightest spot. It was in an electrical closet, again, with a guard posted outside.”
An attorney for Leach said that while James was secluded twice, the circumstances were not as portrayed in that account.
Ted Liggett, Leach’s attorney, said James “was placed in an equipment room as it was much cooler and darker” than the practice field “after a doctor had examined him and returned him to the field.”
Was it a coach making an unusual decision to help his player, or an ego-driven dad flipping out? We should find out in January, when it’s determined if Leach will be able to man the helm or walk the plank.
Bart Starr. Joe Namath. Kenny Stabler. Lee Roy Jordan. Cornelius Bennett. Derrick Thomas. David Palmer. Shaun Alexander. None of these heroes of Alabama football won the Heisman Trophy. For a program that has 12 national championships and 22 Southeastern Conference titles, the other major accomplishment in college football was something that had been lacking from the Tide trophy case for years. No longer.
Crimson Tide running back Mark Ingram added one of the more incredible accomplishments of the team this year, becoming Bama’s first-ever Heisman winner, and the third consecutive sophomore to take home the award. The win was the closest in the history of the award, 75-Heismans deep. For the first time in years, stiffarmtrophy.com got the final lineup wrong. It had Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh in third, ahead of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, but in fact the two flipped positions in the final results.
1. MARK INGRAM, RUNNING BACK, ALABAMA
Votes: 1,304 (227)
2. TOBY GERHART, RUNNING BACK, STANFORD
Votes: 1,276 (222)
3. COLT MCCOY, QUARTERBACK, TEXAS
Votes: 1,145 (203)
4. NDAMUKONG SUH, DEFENSIVE TACKLE, NEBRASKA
Votes: 815 (161)
5. TIM TEBOW, QUARTERBACK, FLORIDA
Votes: 390 (43)
Perhaps the most memorable part of the ceremony was Ingram totally losing it when he went on the dais, having to take a few seconds to compose himself. It was only about a minute or two into the acceptance speech that the 2009 winner was able to get himself together enough to roll through the rest of his thank-yous.
“I’m a little overwhelmed right now,” Ingram said at the podium. “I’m just so excited to bring Alabama their first Heisman winner.” Afterward, the super sophomore told the assembled media, “I was overwhelmed, really excited, just the fact that I’m the first Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Alabama and doing this for my family. It hasn’t been easy for us.”
Alabama football is an emotional endeavor, so most of us who slagged on Tebow for crying during the SEC Championship Game gave Ingram a pass. Double standards are the spice of life in sports.
This season, Ingram put up 1,542 rushing yards on 249 attempts for 6.2 yards-per-carry and 15 touchdowns, despite being extremely limited in action against the patsies of the Tide schedule. He also has 30 receptions for 322 yards, for 10.7 yards-per-catch and three touchdowns.
Ingram wins
Ingram’s interview with ESPN’s Chris Fowler
There’s only one step left: beating Texas in Pasadena in the BCS National Championship Game. If Alabama can do that, and there is significant thought to believe that it’s possible, 2009 could go down as one of the greatest years in the 117-year history of Crimson Tide football.
