Saturday Football Fever

ESPN is reporting that Ohio State coach Jim Tressel has just re-worked his contract to make him the highest paid coach in the Big Ten.  Considering all things, there is no doubt he should have that title.  The question is, who was the highest paid coach before they redid the contact?  Rich Rodriguez?

Tressel will receive $3.5 million in 2009, with 3-4 percent annual raises until 2013.  With everything he’s done for that program, I think he’s worth every penny.

Filed under: Coaching News | No Comments

Tags: big ten, contract, jim tressel, ohio state buckeyes, rich rodriguez, salary

The Rimmington Trophy released the watch list for the coming season yesterday.  The list includes a past winner and a couple of finalists from last year.

Most importantly, it includes Alabama center, Antoine Caldwell.  This is the second preseason awards list that Caldwell’s name has appeared on.  He is also on the Outland Trophy watch list with fellow lineman Andre Smith.  Being named to the Rimmington watch list will only raise expectations for Caldwell to have a great season.

Filed under: Awards | No Comments

Tags: alabama crimson tide, andre smith, antoine caldwell, outland trophy, rimmington trophy

Looks like the NCAA may finally get something right for once.  150 teams are facing the potential loss of scholarships and another 26 may be banned from postseason play for poor academic performance.

This is one thing the NCAA is actually getting correct.  Athletes, while providing the school with income and fans with entertainment, are at these universities first and foremost to get an education.  Most of these kids won’t play professional ball in the sports they participate in, so they need to have an education that will carry them far in life after their playing days are over.  All too often, schools use these kids for their athletic abilities and spit them out after 4 or 5 years unarmed to face the challenges of the real world.  And the NCAA is finally cracking down on these schools.

The NCAA is supposed to lookout for the student athlete.  By punishing those schools and teams that are doing their athletes a disservice, the NCAA is finally doing their job.

Filed under: Preseason news | No Comments

Tags: ncaa

As I guessed, we’ve already got our first suitor of Ryan Perrilloux.  Jacksonville State has interest in the ex-LSU Tiger.

JSU has no scholarship QB’s on the roster and their starter from last year, Cedric Johnson, was booted off the team for violating team rules.  Can you see a trend with JSU here?

Perrilloux has the talent to make this team one of the better ones in the FCS, but it’ll be up to him to clean up his off-field act.  If he can get his act together, he can still salvage what little college eligibility he has left.

Filed under: FCS News | No Comments

Tags: cedric johnson, jacksonville state gamecocks, lsu tigers, ryan perrilloux

All I can say is: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Ryan Perilloux finally got what was coming to him.  He’s been booted from the LSU football team.  He’s had all sorts of off the field issues since arriving in Baton Rouge, including being suspended for spring practice this season.  He finally pushed Les Miles to the limit and got the boot.  Good for Les Miles.  Often times, coaches in Miles’ position would be more lenient with their star players (especially QB’s), because they needed the talent on the field.   So kudos to Miles for giving his starting QB the boot.  You don’t need to feel too bad for Perrillox.  He’ll likely have FCS teams lining up for his services and he’ll be on the field in some capacity this fall.

Really, this is probably going to benefit LSU in the long run.  Perrilloux has never been a “team” kind of guy.  He’s always been about himself, which was apparent when he arrived on campus as a freshman and declared that he would win 4 Heisman Trophies.  Not 4 national titles (team award) but 4 Heisman’s (individual award).  So LSU will benefit from no longer having his off the field issues be a distraction and they’ll get a QB who is going to be concerned with the team accomplishments, rather than his own.

So adios Ryan Perrilloux.  You will not be missed.

Filed under: Preseason news | 1 Comment

Tags: heisman trophy, les miles, lsu tigers, national title, ryan perrilloux

Today, the NCAA approved two new bowl games.  One in St. Petersburgh, FL and one in Washington, D.C.  The addition of these two games begs the question, “Do we really need more bowl games?”  And the answer is “HELL NO!”

There are already too many bowl games now.  Bowls used to be rewards for teams that had good seasons.  Now bowl games have lost their luster, with teams that are 6-6 facing off in bowl games that are watched by hardly anyone.  Like last years Independence Bowl between 6-6 Alabama and 6-6 Colorado.  These were two teams who had mediocre seasons and were rewarded with a post season game that hardly anyone outside of Boulder or Tuscaloosa cared about.  How is that good for college football (other than bringing in revenue - FYI…Bama made more from it’s neutral site game with FSU than it did in the Independence Bowl)?  How does this add to the allure to the bowl season?

It doesn’t.  We need to get rid of a lot of these small time bowl games that feature crappy teams year after year.  These mediocre match-ups are ruining the college football postseason.

Filed under: Bowls | No Comments

Tags: alabama crimson tide, bowl games, colorado buffaloes, florida state seminoles, independence bowl, ncaa

Well, it looks like there will be no plus-one game for college football.  And that sucks.  I think the plus-one format would have been a better way to figure out who the “true” national champion is and it would have been one step closer to a true play-off system.

I’m convinced that one day the BCS commissioners and Notre Dame will realize that they can have all their bowl games and they can have a play-off at the same time.  And I’m pretty sure that they could make more money than they do now.

Filed under: Conference News | No Comments

Tags: bcs, bowl game, national champion, notre dame, play-off, plus-one

For the first time since 1970, the Alabama Crimson Tide had ZERO players selected in the NFL draft.  I find that hard to believe.  Sure, probation and Shula’s inability to develop talent may have contributed to some of this, but we still had talented players, like DJ Hall and Wallace Gilberry.

Some of these guys will be signed as free agents, but here’s the list of guys from Bama who didn’t make the draft cut.

DJ Hall - Offer from NY Giants pending

Wallace Gilberry - Signed with NY Giants

Simeon Castille - Signed with Cincinnati Bengals

Justin Britt - Signed with Cincinnati Bengals

Keith Brown

Matt Caddell - Signed with St. Louis Rams

Chris Capps

Charles Carter

Jamie Christensen

Keith Saunders

Filed under: Preseason news | No Comments

Tags: alabam crimson tide, charles carter, chris capps, dj hall, jamie christensen, justin britt, keith brown, keith saunders, matt caddell, mike shula, simeon castille, wallace gilberry

The Outland Trophy Watch-list was published yesterday.

Most importantly, there are 2 Alabama players on there: Antoine Caldwell and Andre Smith.  Both of these guys are studs and will anchor the line for the Tide this year.  Each has something to prove that will give them the drive to win the Outland.  Caldwell will want to show that his lapse in judgement with the text book scandal last year was not indicitive of his character or his on the field play.  Smith will look to live up to the imense hype that follwed him to Tuscaloosa from Huffman 3 years ago.

Either way, these guys will be paving the road for Terry Grant and protecting John Parker Wilson this year.  And that’s a good thing.

Filed under: Awards, Preseason news | 2 Comments

Tags: alabama crimson tide, andre smith, antoine caldwell, john parker wilson, outland trophy, terry grant

This makes me sick.

Congress is calling for the Justice Department to look into whether the BCS is an illegal enterprise. Is this really all Congress has to do these days? This and the baseball steroids investigations are monumental wastes of taxpayer dollars. With the other problems in this country that need to be solved (Social Security, illegal immigration, pork barrel spending, etc), you’d think that Congress could find something else to do with their time ad not waste my money on investigating the BCS and steroids in baseball.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the BCS is crap and needs to bew scrapped for a play-off system (which I’ll outline one of these days). But I think that is a change that should (and eventually will be) brought about by the demand from fans and the realization from college presidents that more money can be made from a play-off. It is not a change that should be legislated. Nothing good can come from the government interfering with the NCAA operations (no matter how flawed they may be).

The thing that really angers me about this is the timing of it. This was not the first year of the BCS. It’s year 10. Why the need to investigate now? I’ll tell you why: sour grapes. Check out who one of the bills sponsors: Lynn Westmoreland, Republican-Georgia. That’s right, a Georgia guy sponsors the bill the season after Georgia fans felt they were unjustly left out of the BCS championship game (which they weren’t). And this isn’t the first time lawmakers from Georgia have wasted my money to try and change the BCS. (Here’s the actual bill). The elected officials of Georgia need to cut this kind of crap out before they embarrass themselves any further. This kind of stuff only makes them look petty and childish. GET OVER IT! NEXT TIME WIN YOUR DIVISION!

Bottom line: the BCS needs to change, but involving the federal government is not the way to do it.

Filed under: Preseason news | No Comments

Tags: bcs, georgia bulldogs, ncaa, play-off