The 2009 Official College Football Thread (post-season -- BIG 12 IMPLOSION!!!)

[aria]

Michigan State's sportin' a new Spartan on their helmets:

From old to new:

 

[Hidden Character]

Michigan State's sportin' a new Spartan on their helmets:

From old to new:

The new one will have to grow on me.

 

[aria]

Terrence Cody was excellent in Precious, yo!

Meanwhile, Tim Tebow is about to piss off about half of America by appearing in a Pro-Life ad during the Super Bowl.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2009/news/story?id=4857753

 

[Hidden Character]

Meanwhile, Tim Tebow is about to piss off about half of America by appearing in a Pro-Life ad during the Super Bowl.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2009/news/story?id=4857753

If you thought ppl were sick of him before, wait until this ad appears. Then, folks will hope he gets drafted just to get crushed on the field.

 

[Neo Mike]

For Bobak:
http://usc.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1044116

Was he the one holding the bar while Stafon was working out?

 

[aria]

For Bobak:
http://usc.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1044116

Was he the one holding the bar while Stafon was working out?

No, but he was a major reason USC was so physically dominant. I consider him a big loss when I read about it last night.

He could make a four/five star recruit reach their potential, and take guys like Clay Matthews from lowly regarded walk-on to a physical stud taken in the 1st round of the draft (obviously a lot of all of this is the mental willingness to achieve, but his conditioning was legendary at USC)

 

[aria]

JoePa glasses, autographed, are up for auction:

http://content.usatoday.com/communi...ademark-glasses-available-in-online-auction/1

 

[aria]

hell yeah!

 

[aria]

More on Tim Tebow's throwing motion...

This little gem assumes you know all about the whole Tebow commercial, Todd McShay's hate of Tebow, and the Gay website commercial that was recently rejected for whatever reason (not conservative Christian enough...)

 

[Neo Mike]

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindducksbeat/2010/01/oregon_football_lache_seastrun.html

More fallout from 'SC

 

[aria]

Signing day!

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindducksbeat/2010/01/oregon_football_lache_seastrun.html

More fallout from 'SC

With all respects to Seastrunk, who is no doubt an excellent prospect (and has one of the coolest names in the Pac-10*), but the depth chart at the RB position at SC is still pretty deep.

This sort of thing happens every year regardless, and USC is aiming for a top-10/top-5 class again.

*Arizona nearly won this category by an order of magnitude with Texas quarterback Munchie Legaux. Alas he's now between Colorado and Cincy.

 

[aria]

German 4-star DE prospect Bjoern Werner rejects Cal and Oregon to go with Florida State. He actually cited "proximity to Germany" as a reason for picking the Noles

 

[Hidden Character]

1. What's with Auburn racking up recruits like it's a toy drive? I certainly wouldn't have expected them to be in the Top 5 recruiting classes.

2. Honolulu defensive back Jeremy Ioane (5-foot-11, 195 pounds) signed a letter of intent with Boise State on Wednesday morning.....over Washington and Notre Dame. You know times have changed when blue turf is preferable over the Golden Domers and Touchdown Jesus.

3. Though it's old, I have lotsa fun playing as Boise St. instead of Miami on NCAA 2005. Go figure.

 

[aria]

There are still significant stragglers (i.e. paperwork) and even people who might not qualify that need to be shaken out before we have a definitive ranking, but here's where it is with the bulk of singing day out of the way:

Rivals.com

Rank, School, Total recruits, Average star-rating of recruits

1 Florida 28 3.89
2 USC 18 4.22
3 Texas 25 3.92
4 Auburn 32 3.50
5 Alabama 26 3.62
6 LSU 29 3.59
7 Oklahoma 29 3.55
8 UCLA 24 3.63
9 Tennessee 25 3.44
10 Florida State 24 3.50
11 California 19 3.58
12 Penn State 20 3.55
13 Oregon 23 3.39
14 Notre Dame 23 3.39
15 Texas A&M 23 3.35

So, yeah --the rumors of USC's downfall? A tad hasty (on talent, at least). This was how recruiting was under Carroll --fewer recruits, much higher quality. Part of what helped was bringing in former Trojan coaches --especially Ed Orgeron who was the recruiting coordinator for the first half of Carroll's tenure.



The biggest surprise was UCLA. It won several key recruiting battles with USC that caused its ranking to surge. Cal and Oregon also did a good job earlier in the day.

ESPNs had a different order, but the same faces:
http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/recr...ider.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/classrankings

Here is Scout.com's top-10:
1 Florida
2 Oklahoma
3 Texas
4 Alabama
5 Auburn
6 UCLA
7 USC
8 LSU
9 Penn State
10 Florida State

 

[aria]

The feather in our cap, a Minnesotan the size of a refrigerator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yamffo1FSI

 

[aria]

One of our gifted new players announces his decision to the world:

 

[aria]

In Haiti, Texas is the real national champion:

Texas garb heads to earthquake victims
Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas -- The University of Texas is sending nearly $300,000 worth of clothing to Haiti to help earthquake victims.

The 13,000 shirts and 1,000 caps were produced to celebrate a Longhorns' victory in the Jan. 7 national championship game against Alabama. Texas lost the game 37-21.

University Co-op spokeswoman Casey Ellis says the shirts retail for $20 each, while the cap price was $22. Instead, they will be sent to Haiti on Friday with the help of various charity groups.

The co-op is the main distributor of Longhorns' merchandise and apparel.

 

[NebraskaDragon]

I've heard of this happening before. I guess there are poor kids running around all over the world with Super Bowl Champion attire featuring the wrong teams as winners. At least it the stuff isn't a complete waste, I guess.

 

[aria]

I've heard of this happening before. I guess there are poor kids running around all over the world with Super Bowl Champion attire featuring the wrong teams as winners. At least it the stuff isn't a complete waste, I guess.

Yeah! The last time I heard about this was when the Patriots were trying for the perfect season. The hats and shirts ended up in one of the Central American countries that had been hit by a hurricane.

 

[aria]

The Class of 2015 just got a little thinner for the rest of you...

No one can say Kiffin isn't trying hard enough:

Thursday, February 4, 2010
Sills, 13, commits to USC
By Ramona Shelburne
ESPNLosAngeles.com

Lane Kiffin really is getting a jump on recruiting.

No sooner had the Trojans new coach put the finishing touches on the Class of 2010 recruits, that he turned his attention to the Class of 2015.

That's right, 2015.

Thursday evening Kiffin received a verbal commitment from 13-year old wunderkind quarterback David Sills of Bear, Del.

Too young?

Not according to his personal coach Steve Clarkson, who has mentored some of the game's best quarterbacks including current USC starter Matt Barkley.

"His skill set is off the chart," Clarkson said. "I've never seen anyone at his age do what he's been able to do."

The commitment, which was first reported by ESPN's Shelley Smith, has happened in college basketball previously, but is unprecedented for college football where it's harder to project how a player as young as Sills will develop physically. Clarkson says that won't be a problem.

"He's already six feet as a 13-year old," Clarkson said. "And he's breaking down NFL footage."

Clarkson said the scholarship offer emerged after he called Kiffin to discuss a quarterback recruit for next year's class.

Clarkson said Kiffin asked him his opinion of the recruit and Clarkson said, "You might call me crazy, but you've known me a long time, right? And when I said if there was going to be a LeBron James of football it'd be Jimmy Clausen that turned out to be a pretty good prediction.

"And when I said Matt Barkley had the potential to be as good as Jimmy, he ended up winning Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior and starting at USC as a freshman, right?

"Well, I've got a kid now who is better than all of them and he's in Delaware. You gotta take a look at him."

Clarkson then directed Kiffin to a video of Sills that is making the rounds on YouTube.

Kiffin watched it and called him back immediately.

"He was like, 'This kid is incredible. How old is he again?'

"I was like, 'That's the problem, he's 13.' "

A couple of hours later, the Sills family called Kiffin and they spoke for the first time. USC had always been Sills' dream school, according to his father, David Sills IV.

"I'm as shocked as anybody," Sills' father said. "I was just talking with friends yesterday about what it'll be like four years from now when David goes through the recruiting process. I never expected this to happen so soon.

"But David's always wanted to go to USC. I mean, is there a better place to play football in the country? How can you pass up the best offer you're ever going to get?"

The younger Sills, who is an seventh-grader at Red Lion Christian Academy in Bear, Del., has been training with Clarkson for three years. They meet about once every six weeks at various locations around the country. Sometimes in California, where Clarkson is based. Sometimes in Delaware. And sometimes somewhere in the middle, if Clarkson is conducting a clinic.

"Steve and David hit it off immediately," David Sills IV said. "If there's ever anything David is doing wrong, Steve can fix it in like 10 minutes."

Still, 2015 is a long time from now. A lot can change.

"Well, we're going to be out to California in a few weeks and we'll meet Lane then," Sills' father said. "We're excited to meet him. And we're excited to verbally commit. Hopefully it all works out in the future."

 

[aria]

The Pac-10 is starting to sound genuinely serious about expansion, especially in light of getting a new TV deal in 2011.

The Pac-10 has to be unanimous when it expands, so that keeps the potential institutions small.

Reading several good articles, comparing market size, academic merit (this eliminates a lot of schools as Stanford would veto a school like Boise --which actually was a JC not all that long ago; all but Oregon State are Tier 1 research institutions), sports prowess (and in more than just football/basketball), and general fit.

An interesting point is that conferences aren't likely to take what seem like natural pairs --i.e. Utah/BYU because it limits market size (both SLC). That's the same reason the Big Ten would make more sense poaching Missouri than Iowa State, despite the existing rivalry with Iowa.

The three most likely candidates are

• Utah -- which would join in a second and fits in academically and could get the whole market; avoids having to take BYU, which doesn't have serious graduate programs (which is where research mostly comes from), culture clash with the generally liberal schools (it would be interesting to see if Berkley would veto them), and they don't play sports on Sunday.
• Colorado -- This wouldn't be too hard a lure. Academics and sports are very good, and the Buffs might have an easier time recruiting in CA than in Texas against the Texas schools. As EDSBS put it: "Colorado has always seemed a bit out of key with the rest of the Big 12. (Weed and microbrews over domestic canned beer? Pac-10 all the way, sir.) "
• Texas -- this is pretty darned unlikely, but the Pac-10 would do whatever it took to get them if they showed interest, and at one point it nearly happened after the SWC collapsed (but the Pac-10 was closed).

So, as you can guess, the likely move will be on Utah and Colorado.

 

[Neo Mike]

As unlikely as it is, I've heard Hawaii mentioned as well.

 

[aria]

As unlikely as it is, I've heard Hawaii mentioned as well.

With Hawaii I figure its the transportation issue.

I've also heard New Mexico tossed in... ick.

If we bag Colorado, it would seem like a prime spot for TCU in the Big 12.

Maybe we can talk UBC into dropping Canadian football for the real variety and building a 55,000 person stadium (or just playing wherever their pro team plays in Vancouver).

 

[Neo Mike]

With Hawaii I figure its the transportation issue.

I've also heard New Mexico tossed in... ick.

If we bag Colorado, it would seem like a prime spot for TCU in the Big 12.

Maybe we can talk UBC into dropping Canadian football for the real variety and building a 55,000 person stadium (or just playing wherever their pro team plays in Vancouver).

ESPN radio said if the Pac 10 grabs Colorado we would not only be "The conference of champions", we would be the "Conference of Hacky Sack and Frisbee Golf" -- Obviously poking fun of our liberal ways

 

[aria]

The rumors have the Big Ten making a push at Nebraska. This seems possible because the Big Ten could actually double the TV revenue going to the Huskers.

read more here:
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/10205/nebraska-willing-to-listen-if-big-ten-calls

MEANWHILE:


Miami will never be a slave to fashion, nor will it overlook a pair of shades just because your aunt wore them in 1987:

A study of who the biggest Facebook friend was in each state...