Don't Mess With Texas

When Texas goes on the recruiting trail, it doesn't have to go far. There are only seven out-of-state players on the Longhorns' spring roster and of the team's 20 recruits signed earlier this month, 19 are from the Lone Star State.

Richard at Map Game Day, who earlier gave us his fantastic recruiting maps, has broken down the 2007 recruiting class into even more detail.

There are two pdf charts. The first breaks down recruits alphabetically by state. As an example, let's use Florida. There were 347 scholarships given to players from the Sunshine State. Of that number, 238 are going out of state and 109 are staying in state.

The second chart gives a school and state-by-state breakdown, examining the number of players from inside and outside a state's borders. Let's use Alabama as an example. Alabama, Auburn, Troy and Alabama Birmingham offered 120 total scholarships, and of that number, 47 of the recruits come from Alabama and 73 are from out of state.

Wiz Back on the Airwaves

Your humble webmaster will be making a guest appearance early Saturday morning on "Sports Overnight America," which can be heard over the Sports Byline USA Radio Network. We'll be on from 12:05 a.m. until 1 a.m. (Pacific) and taking calls from around the globe.

You can listen live by clicking here to start the Internet stream. If you're proudly representing the good, old USA as a member of the military, check out the American Forces Network, available in 177 countries and U.S. territories and Navy ships at sea. The show can also be heard through the Cable Radio Network or one of the Sports Byline affiliates. Please join us. The number is 800-878-7529.

Nevada Fans in a Lather Over Suds

You may have missed last call at Nevada's Mackay Stadium.

Although selling beer at Wolf Pack games brings in over $75,000 a year for the athletic department, officials are considering banning sales in part because games have been marred by alcohol-fueled fights in the stands.

Student Greg Green says shutting off the taps is a big mistake and he has started a Facebook group to fight back. Green says banning sales "could create pregame drinking and a more dangerous situation with people drinking and driving to the games."

Mackay is one of only a handful of stadiums where you can buy beer. At rival Nevada Las Vegas, the suds will continue to flow freely during games at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Writes Ron Kantowski of the Las Vegas Sun: "There's a reason they call Georgia vs. Florida the 'World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.'

"If they banned beer sales at Sam Boyd Stadium, they'd have a name for UNLV vs. Colorado State, too: 'World's Least Attended Outdoor Football Game.' "

Reporters' Notebooks

Sudhin Thanawala, Associated Press: A high school player from Boise is suing the University of Hawaii for allegedly revoking his scholarship offer after coach June Jones' resignation.

Ray Melick, Birmingham News: There is a clear conflict of interest at work when a coach whose multimillion dollar salary that depends on certain players being on the field is also charged with discipline of those players. It has gotten to the point that such discipline needs to be taken over by someone else.

Tom Witosky, Des Moines Register: Former Iowa receiver Dominique Douglas, featured Wednesday on the Wiz, and current football player Anthony Bowman attempted to go on a $2,000 spending spree for hats and shoes last May with credit cards stolen from the rooms of two students who lived in the same dormitory as the athletes, newly released court records show.

Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury News: Dick Tomey will return as San Jose State's coach after dropping out of the pool of candidates seeking to become Hawaii's athletic director.

Ferd Lewis, Honolulu Advertiser: Hawaii could end up with as many as seven national or major regional TV appearances.

Mercedes Mayer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Texas Christian is moving back the start of spring practice to March 18 in order to give injured players more time to recover. "We have a lot of kids recovering from surgery," coach Gary Patterson said.

Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports: USC's Pete Carroll, the ultimate recruiter, is upset at a new piece of NCAA legislation that keeps head coaches at home during the traditional evaluation period in April and May.

Tony Barnhart, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Five burning questions about the Atlantic Coast Conference as spring practices begin. Plus five burning questions about the Southeastern Conference.

Steve Korris, The West Virginia Record: West Virginia University's Board of Governors wants to expedite resolution of a $4 million claim against former coach Rich Rodriguez so football season won't interfere with the litigation.

Scott Carter, Tampa Tribune: George Butler, whose 1977 film "Pumping Iron" documented the bodybuilding efforts of five-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger and his young rival, Lou Ferrigno, is doing a documentary based on Florida State's Bobby Bowden.

Kate Hairopoulos, Dallas Morning News: June Jones' first game as Southern Methodist coach — against Rice on Friday, Aug. 29 — will be telecast by ESPN.

Brian Bennett, Louisville Courier-Journal: A look at some of the most intriguing Big East games that won't involve Louisville.

Detroit Free Press: The pros and cons of the four finalists for hotshot prep quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

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Clearly, the End Is Near

Something called No Shame Jamezzz gives Nick Saban a call. Strong language warning.

Will This Lead to Jaw-Dropping Results?

Athletes at Rutgers will be trying out a new mouthguard that safely reproduces some of the effects of steroids and the human growth hormone.

The Pure Power Mouthguard, manufactured by Pure Power Athletics Group, uses bilateral electrical stimulation to relax face muscles, allowing the rest of the body to work more effectively.

Ninety percent of people don't align their jaws properly, according to the manufacturer's site, which causes facial muscles to be "unhappy." The company said there was a physical connection between these muscles and body posture, which in turn has an impact on athletic performance.

Seattle Seahawk kicker Josh Brown tested the device this past season and while it's unclear if he was paid for his endorsement, it certainly sounds like he's on the company payroll.

"I'm a field goal kicker so at first I thought: Why would I need a mouth guard? But it really did help me this past season. I had five or six tackles which is incredible for a kicker. The mouthguard also helped me run faster because my body was in its optimum position."

The mouthguards are not cheap, running between $800-$1,600 each. And you'll have to visit a Pure Power Mouthguard dentist beforehand.

Our thanks to UWire.

Reporters' Notebooks

Kevin Scarbinsky, Birmingham News: Nick Saban, the new sheriff in T-town, is soft on crime.

Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel: A Rhodes Scholar says Florida State's academic cheating scandal was no secret.

Adam Rose, All Things Trojans: USC's Pete Carroll now has his own line of clothing, available — of course — at his website.

Glenn Guilbeau, Shreveport Times: Expected starting quarterback Ryan Perrilloux is likely to remain on indefinite suspension through Louisiana State's spring practice.

Bob Holt, Northwest Arkansas Times: Arkansas is raising ticket prices, with general admission seats going from $35 to $45 a game.

John Lyon, Springdale Morning News: A Little Rock nightclub that admitted former Arkansas running back Darren McFadden although he was under 21 will be fined $500 and put on probation for a year but will not have its liquor license suspended.

Shawn Courchesne, Hartford Courant: Connecticut announced that coach Randy Edsall agreed to a contract that will pay him an average of $1.5 million a year over the next five years.

Ferd Lewis, Honolulu Advertiser: Attendance to Hawaii games hit a 23-year high in 2007, with an average of 41,325 a game. Plus, Sheraton Hotels has signed a two-year extension as title sponsor of the Hawaii Bowl.

Wyndam Makowsky, Stanford Daily: The infatuation with the 40-yard dash may be coming to a close inside of NFL front offices, but analysts and many fans still treat it as gospel.

Allison Voris, Kansas State Collegian: Kansas State running back James Johnson was stabbed five times early Sunday, according to police.

Philip Fisher, Campus Press: Training Ralphie, the Colorado mascot, is no bull. Thanks again to UWire.

It's All About the Benjamins

Dominique Douglas' days as a member of Iowa's football team are over, but that doesn't mean the receiver is hurting for money. Douglas, who posted embarrassing photos on his Facebook page last fall while a member of the Hawkeyes, is back at it with another batch of photos.

Douglas was suspended from the team last fall after he was charged with unauthorized use of credit cards. He has since left school and his future plans are unknown. But really, who needs football?

The End of the Internet

We'll do about anything to catch your attention, in this case pointing you toward an important post by blogging buddy Yost at the quality M Zone.

Internet Service Provider Comcast recently got busted blocking or otherwise hampering file-sharing traffic connected to the Internet via its cable modems. So if Comcast says you can't download a Sex Pistols video, you might be outta luck.

We, of course, disagree with Comcast's heavy-handed and big brother approach. Perhaps its time for Comcast customers to run the option play, and Yost outlines the possibilities in his post.

Last Stand for Willingham?

Welcome to Washington football. A disgruntled fan base. A series of stories by the Seattle Times detailing the disturbing story behind the 2000 Rose Bowl team. A murderous 2008 schedule that includes nonconference games against Brigham Young, Oklahoma and Notre Dame.

Welcome to Tyrone Willingham's world.

Add that Todd Turner, Willingham's biggest supporter, was fired as athletic director.

It's a mess right now in Seattle and Willingham finds himself occupying Hot Seat No. 1 in rankings by Coaches Hot Seat. What will it take to save his job? Coaches Hot Seat breaks it down.

No. 2 behind Willingham is Wyoming's Joe Glenn, who is 26-33 in five years at Laramie. Then there's Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, whose players are getting arrested at a dizzying rate (see post below).

Completing the top five are Arizona's Mike Stoops and Syracuse's Greg Robinson.

Thanks to Image of Sport.

Crime Rate Through the Roof in Iowa City

While Iowa's Kirk Ferentz was off on a Caribbean cruise, two more of his players got into trouble over the weekend.

That brings the total to 14 arrests involving 13 players in the past 10 months. More troubling news could be coming.

Officials continue to investigate allegations of sexual assault in a dormitory room last October. Three members of Iowa's team were questioned in connection with the incident.

In another embarrassing moment last August, photos of Iowa players with large amounts of cash and liquor bottles appeared on one player's Facebook page.

Then you have Albert Young, a senior running back last season, saying this about the crime spree in Iowa City:

"Things definitely have gotten out of hand. There is no way around it. And it started happening even before the season."

Ferentz had a marvelous run from 2002-04, when his teams totaled 31 victories. Any legal problems were overshadowed by the winning. No more. Ferentz, who mysteriously had his contract extended through 2013 before his cruise, has a 19-18 record the past three seasons.

At least Iowa owns the rights to FireKirkFerentz.com.

Reporters' Notebooks

Brian Bennett and Brett Dawson, Louisville Courier-Journal: Louisville and Kentucky are at odds over the date of this year's game. Louisville and ESPN want to play on Monday night, Sept. 1. Kentucky says no, claiming the short turnaround won't allow enough time to prepare for a game the following Saturday against dreaded Norfolk State.

Jeff White, Richmond Times-Dispatch: Virginia defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald is no longer enrolled in school and could be headed to Kansas State.

Ferd Lewis, Honolulu Advertiser: Hawaii's 12-1 season has paid off. The team reached an eight-year, $4.1 million apparel and marketing deal with Under Armour. Plus, details of Greg McMackin's contract were released. He has an annual base salary of $1,100,004 and a $550,000 buyout.

Darren Sabedra, San Jose Mercury News: Jim Harbaugh is bringing a pro mentality to Stanford. The Cardinal will hold nine workouts through March 11 — a "mini camp" — then take a three-week break and resume practice April 3.

Mike Freeman, CBS Sports: The NCAA does little to stop the felony-riddled reign of Phil Fulmer, who heads a Tennessee program that has become perhaps the rottenest, most dastardly ever.

William C. Rhoden, New York Times: The NCAA isn't allowing athletes to be regular students. Thanks to Get The Picture.

Todd Jones, Columbus Dispatch: Tyrone Willingham had his share of bad losses. His Notre Dame teams lost five times by 31 points or more. Still, the Fighting Irish were never as inept under him as they were under Crewcut Charlie Weis in 2007.

Bill Koch, Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati’s 13-game 2008 schedule features six games against teams that played in bowl games last season, including three against teams that competed in Bowl Championship Series games.

Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Backyard Brawl between Pittsburgh and West Virginia will be played Nov. 28 (the day after Thanksgiving) at Heinz Field.

Boulder Daily Camera: Colorado will play host to West Virginia on Sept. 18, a Thursday night game to be broadcast by ESPN.

Brian Davis, Dallas Morning News: The official announcement was made moving the 2008 and 2009 Texas-Texas A&M games to Thanksgiving. Plus, the Baylor-Connecticut game in Hartford has been moved to Friday, Sept. 19.

Susan Miller Degnan, Miami Herald: After a scary car accident and two surgeries derailed the start of his college career, quarterback Robert Marve is ready to go as Miami begins spring drills.

Mike Salinero, Tampa Tribune: The Tampa Sports Authority created a committee to resolve scheduling conflicts between South Florida and the Atlantic Coast Conference title game.

Jay Reeves, Associated Press: A Manhattan-based music publisher is making a small fortune selling rights to fight songs for use in an array of new products.

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Dorrell's House on the Market

Former UCLA coach Karl Dorrell, who was recently named the receivers coach of the Miami Dolphins, has put his five-bedroom, three-bathroom home in Stevenson Ranch on the market. The asking price is $1,125,000, well within reach of many of our affluent readers.
According to the Los Angeles Times (second item), the 3,500-square-foot house was built in 2000 on a cul-de-sac. It features a pool, large yard and an outdoor fireplace.
The interior features a stainless-steel kitchen appliances, window shutters and a master closet with organizers. Dorrell's salary at UCLA was about $850,000, considered a bargain in an era of $1-million hires. He was fired Dec. 3, two days after the Bruins concluded a 6-6 regular season with a 24-7 loss to rival USC. Dorrell received a buyout of $2.05 million that was to be paid over a two-year period.Neal Weichel at ReMax of Valencia has the listing and you can view more photos by clicking here.

The Terrelle Pryor Watch

All-Galactic prep quarterback recruit Terrelle Pryor paid a visit Sunday to Columbus, fueling speculation that he's about to become a Buckeye (until he shows up at Ann Arbor, State College, Eugene or some other outpost in coming weeks).

Clearly, when it comes to making a college choice, Pryor is taking his sweet time. Speaking of time, check out the watch Pryor was wearing at the Wisconsin-Ohio State basketball game, caught in this photo by Jim Davidson of The Ozone.

Hopefully it wasn't a gift from Jim Tressel, who Pryor is following into the private washroom at halftime. As for Pryor's character, it would appear to be in question if you believe this report from a prep basketball game last month.

Reporters' Notebooks

Kirk Bohls and Suzanne Halliburton, Austin American-Statesman: That Texas-Arkansas game scheduled for 2009 at Fayetteville? The Razorbacks want to soften their nonconference schedule and postpone the matchup until 2014.

Birmingham News: The Southeastern Conference at 75. When it comes to money, revenue or profits, the SEC is second to none. In five parts: How the league got rich; charter schools move on; greatest voices of the SEC; a database of financial details on Division I conferences and a list of compensation for conference commissioners. A wealth of information.

Joe Drape, New York Times: With an assist from Tom Osborne, Bo Pelini is winning them over in Nebraska. With audio slideshow.

Mark Kram, Philadelphia Daily News: Interesting piece on the history of the 40-yard dash.

Dave Curtis, Orlando Sentinel: Meet Florida's Urban Meyer, known as Darth Vader on the recruiting trail.

Frank Schwab, Colorado Springs Gazette: Colt Brennan's incident at Colorado has resurfaced as he turns his attention to the NFL.

Chris Nelsen, Detroit Free Press: How did Michigan offensive lineman Jake Long get called for only one holding call in his career? "It's a skill. If you can get away with it and not get caught, it's absolutely a skill. I try to make sure I get my hands inside every single play, so if I do hold a little bit, the refs won't be able to see it."

Bob Wieneke, South Bend Tribune: There should be no future shortage of talent at Notre Dame, with high school juniors itching to join forces with Crewcut Charlie Weis.

Mark Alesia, Indianapolis Star: Perhaps IU should call itself IOU. Buyouts to coaches and administrators at Indiana have totaled more than $4 million since 2000.

Mark Cuban, Blog Maverick: The owner of the Dallas Mavericks (was he the anonymous $550,000 donor that helped buy out Kelvin Sampson's contract?) has a big problem with the NCAA.

Baton Rouge Advocate: Suspended quarterback Ryan Perrilloux? Louisiana State's Les Miles was more interested in talking about the strike he threw before the Tigers' baseball season opener.

Kirk Bohls, Austin American-Statesman: New Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, who can scream with the best of them, has already unleashed his vocal cords in the Longhorns' first two spring workouts.

Ian R. Rapoport, Birmingham News: Alabama captain Rashad Johnson was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after he allegedly pushed a bar security guard to the ground. He is the eighth player arrested since Nick Saban became coach on Jan. 3, 2007. Plus, Auburn's Tommy Tuberville has a few words of Alabama fans: "Regardless of what you hear, we will have a football team next year! We've won six in a row, and we're working on seven!"

Kevin Scarbinsky: Birmingham News: Nick Saban: "It's not win at all costs. Anybody who thinks that or says that is wrong. They certainly don't know me."

Scott Dochterman, Cedar Rapids Gazette: Iowa's Kirk Ferentz has suspended receiver James Cleveland and backup quarterback Arvell Nelson after drug-related arrests early Saturday at the dormitory room they share on campus. There have been 14 arrests involving 13 Hawkeye players during the past year.

Tommy Bowman, Winston-Salem Journal: Louisiana State, consider this your last warning: Appalachian State, with 12 starters returning, begins spring drills on Monday.

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Help Spread the Venom

Got the goods on your hated rival? Heard something about their coach? Keeping it a secret will do you no good. Just imagine the sleepless nights, tossing and turning while knowing that you could destroy what little shred of respectability they have left. Go ahead, spill the beans. Trust us, you'll feel much better about yourself! The tip jar: dawizofodds (at) aol.com.

Bruce Pearl Feels Up Erin Andrews

OK, this is a college football blog, but considering Erin Andrews' diminished role on ESPN's college bowl telecasts this past season, we had to bend the rules.

Bruce Pearl was involved in perhaps the biggest game of his Tennessee coaching career Saturday night when his No. 2 Volunteers played at No. 1 Memphis. Bless the man. He not only had the common sense during a halftime interview of a tense game to grab a handful of Andrews, his team ended up winning the damn game.

Part of the beauty is that you can see it coming, with Pearl almost giddy seconds before grabbing Andrews. One particular frame in this video is our favorite, and we embrace it much like Pearl does Andrews.

Imagine Phil Fulmer doing this. ...

South Florida Can Be Tight With Money

South Florida is either cheap or the model of efficiency. The 2007 staff of coach Jim Leavitt ranked near the bottom in pay among Bowl Championship Series teams, according to Brett McMurphy of the Tampa Tribune.

Offensive coordinator Greg Gregory's $120,000 salary made him the lowest-paid offensive coordinator among BCS teams. Gregory also made less than every offensive coordinator in Conference USA. His salary ranked 94th among the 119 Division I-A offensive coordinators.

There are 1,071 I-A assistant coaches, and 1,065 made more than South Florida tight ends coach Larry Scott, whose salary was $50,000.

The salaries of Leavitt's assistants totaled $950,000. That's 73% of the Big East average of $1.29 million.

As a note of interested, South Florida athletic director Doug Woolard made $421,000, considerably higher than the Big East average of $362,683.

McMurphy's story has a pdf file that lists how South Florida, Florida State and Florida rank nationally compared to other conferences and also lists BCS highs and lows for assistant coaching positions, men's and women's basketball and athletic director salaries. You can also download the pdf file by clicking here.

The Book on Nick Saban

With no games to watch and spring football still weeks off in many parts of the country, bloggers have been getting caught up with their reading, including the book "How Good Do You Want to Be" by Nick Saban (with an assistant from Brian Curtis).

Mark Paden of The Auburner recently completed Saban's book and notes a passage where the Alabama coach talks about how a Little League coach should do "the right thing" and suspend his standout player who skipped practice to go to the mall. Of course, Saban did just the opposite last Nov. 17 when he lifted a one-game suspension to standout receiver DJ Hall at halftime of a crushing 21-14 loss to Louisiana Monroe.

Losers With Socks — "notice the forward by known cheater Bill Belichick ... Bama will be back on NCAA sanctions in no time" — has even more fun with this, rewriting a passage to indicate what Saban was really thinking at halftime of the loss to the Warhawks:

"No one outside the team knows that DJ Hall was supposed to be suspended for the whole game, and if we put him in now maybe we can save some face. What do you do?

"At first, it seems clear that the right thing to do is to keep DJ Hall suspended for the whole game. You’re playing a f---ing Sun Belt school, no need to break the glass on the fire alarm just yet, right? But then you think about how important he is to the wide receiver corps. How John Sarah Jessica Parker Wilson counts on him for so much, as do you.

"You picture the embarrassing loss against a Sun Belt school that would completely de-justify your $4 million per season salary, the only thing you truly care about. No one would know, you tell yourself, unless the over-paid coach with the paid athletes can’t pull off the win against mighty Louisiana Monroe."

Saban is also catching hell in an excellent column by Ray Melick of the Birmingham News, who says the coach had no business signing 32 players earlier this month:

"That's seven over the NCAA maximum of 25 in any given year, and, at least at first glance, 17 over the number of scholarships the Tide would seem to have available for next year, based on losing 15 scholarship seniors from last year's team."

Reporters' Notebooks

Brent Schrotenboer, San Diego Union-Tribune: A troubling financial picture at San Diego State, where average home attendance tumbled to 17,868 and donations to athletics continued a downward trend. A contract extension for Chuck Long, who has three years remaining on his current deal, has been tabled until 2009.

Brian Mine, San Luis Obispo Tribune: From the creampuff scheduling department: Wisconsin will close the 2008 regular season with a home game against feared Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. "Cal Poly clearly is a talented football team and I’m appreciative of their willingness to come to Madison," Badger coach Bret Bielema said. Thanks to Kevin of We Are Penn State.

Suzanne Halliburton, Austin American-Statesman: Yes, spring football has started. Texas went through its first drills Friday and the Longhorns are indicating that they plan to use more trickery on offense.

David Scott, Charlotte Observer: North Carolina Charlotte officials are lobbying to start a football program. The plan calls for the 49ers to start play in I-AA and then moved to I-A.

Brandon George, Dallas Morning News: Oklahoma will have eight wins reinstated from the 2005 season after an NCAA appeals committee partially overturned a ruling in the infractions case involving former quarterback Rhett Bomar.

Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports: Connecticut's Randy Edsall, a member of the Football Rules Committee, said: "We, as coaches, are willing to do some things to speed up the pace of play because we understand the TV games are a little bit longer. We also have to have the cooperation of the TV people." Thanks to Get the Picture.

Paul Finebaum, Mobile Press-Register: Do coaches still build character? Given recent developments in the Southeastern Conference, the answer is no.

Chris Nelsen, Detroit Free Press: Former Michigan receiver Adrian Arrington, who left a year early, said, "If Lloyd Carr came back, I probably would have stayed."

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Bo Gives a Tour of the Big House

Bo Schembechler won 194 games in 20 years as Michigan coach. So who better to give a tour of Michigan Stadium?

Past classic coaches videos: Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes, Hayden Fry, Lou Holtz, Bobby Ross, Dan Devine, Gary Barnett, Pat Dye, Terry Bowden, Jim Tressel, Eddie Robinson, Bear Bryant II and Bear Bryant III.

Rules Chairman Discusses Changes

Last week, the Football Rules Committee made several changes in an attempt to reduce the time of games. We've been examining the changes since, but have yet to hear from the man in the middle of all of this.

Michael Clark, who is the coach at Bridgewater (Va.) College, is also the chairman of the rules committee. We asked Clark if he would explain what the changes could mean to games in 2008 and to clarify the position of the committee in making these changes. Here is what he had to say:

"Length of game is really a product of television (at the Division I level) and the amount of passing that now goes on at all levels of college football. I think what people need to understand is that when the rules committee meets there are a lot of important players sitting around the table.

"Although they are not all voting members, the trainers, game officials and conference commissioners are a few of the groups who are there and have legitimate input into the process. They have different perspectives, an example being that the trainers lobby heavily on safety issues.

"In my time with the group, I do believe all of the Divisions remain committed to keeping the college game the same at all levels. To do this there is some give and take among the groups.

"From an ESPN perspective, I believe 3 hours and 20 minutes is the number they would like to work near [for length of games]. However to do this there has to be all three groups involved and not just the played game itself. Television production has to be more disciplined with time of commercial breaks and piggy-backing replay and commercial time together. College administrators need to keep halftime events tracked tightly and the like. In the past, all game-length responsibility has been pushed on the game product itself.

"It is our hope that the 40-25 clock will add a consistent pace of play. NFL studies show when they made this change it also added four plays per game. The live ball carrier out of bounds happens on average about 12 times a game. A couple of those are in the last two minutes where there will be no change and the handful of plays lost through this should be replaced by the 40-25 pace of play. It should be a push.

"Two years ago there was an overreaction to game length that had a negative impact on college football. Last year we tried to attack dead time in games while returning plays and game time increased beyond the 2005 levels. (Although offense and scoring are a variable here, too.)

"The subtle game-timing adjustments — trying to eliminate second kickoffs with ball being placed on 40, and the referee starting the 20 minutes of halftime after the final play is completed (have those bands ready to go) — we hope this time we got it right. It is a great game."

The mtn., DirecTV Strike a Deal

The Mountain West Conference's TV network — the mtn. — and satellite carrier DirecTV have reached an agreement to start airing the network in August.

The mtn., much like the Big Ten Network, faced distribution troubles from the start. The network currently is available to only to 1.2 million homes nationwide. Partners Versus (70 million) and CSTV (42 million) also have the ability to air some select league games on satellite and cable companies.

Adding DirecTV will significantly increase the coverage area of the league's athletic events and will pressure its primary competitor, DishNetwork to follow suit.

Reporters' Notebooks

Adam Rose, All Things Trojan: The newest member of Facebook lists his interests as teaching coaching, playing basketball and surfing. Meet Pete Carroll, coach of the USC Trojans.

Phillip Fulmer, Knoxville News-Sentinel: Yes, the byline is correct. The Tennessee coach writes a guest column in response to Tuesday's column by John Adams, the paper's sports editor. Thanks to Richard at Map Game Day.

Chip Scoggins, Star Tribune: Former Duke coach Ted Roof's stay at Louisville lasted only a month. He has been hired as defensive coordinator at Minnesota.

Andy Hamilton, Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa's Kirk Ferentz had his contract extended through the 2012 season.

Ben Smith, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Georgia House voted, 142-10, to stop making out-of-state university mascot tags if neighboring states don't return the favor. Glad we finally got that settled. Thanks to the Get The Picture.

Greg Johns, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Washington officials are trying to pump new life into their stalled $150 million proposal for state funding to help renovate Husky Stadium.

Ebonique Wool, Daily Illini: A year later, the Chief Illiniwek debate remains at Illinois. Thanks to UWire.

Boi From Troy: Another price hike for USC season ticket holders, pushing Trojan ticket ticket prices up 65% in the past five years.

Associated Press: ESPN must provide the relatives of George Gipp with any materials it has related to the exhumation of the Notre Dame halfback's body, according to a ruling in a lawsuit stemming from the exhumation.

Another one bites the dust. The Albuquerque Tribune will publish its final edition Saturday, ending an 86-year run.

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It's Time to Put Overtime Rules in the Toilet

The Football Rules Committee continues to seek ways to speed play during regulation, but when it comes to overtime, the clock is stopped.

Several rules announced last week were the latest attempts to reduce the length of games, but overtime remained untouched. That would appear to be an oversight, especially after examining the list of the 10 longest games of 2007. The top eight went into overtime.

As overtime rules stand, each team gets a possession starting on the opponent's 25-yard line, putting the ball well within range of kickers in this day and age. There is a play clock but no game clock. Beginning with the third overtime, teams are mandated to attempt a two-point conversion after a touchdown. These rules have resulted in an ultra-conservative approach by coaches and multiple overtime games.

Here's what can be done:

Overtime possessions begin on the opponent's 40-yard line. No more rewards for teams that fail to advance the ball. As it stands, teams can send out the kicker and likely get a field goal even without advancing past the 25. Putting the ball at the 40 would reward teams that are able to advance into field goal range.

Teams will have two minutes to score. Having two minutes to score from the 40 is more than fair and would add to the urgency of overtime. Besides, if you have a game clock for four quarters, why do you not have it during overtime?

After a touchdown, a team must attempt a two-point conversion. Extra points are successful 95% of the time. The success rate on two-point conversions is 45%. This would lessen the chances of multiple overtimes.

Stoops' 2008 Compensation: $6 Million

Bob Stoops is scheduled to receive a one-time $3 million benefit on Dec. 31 for coaching Oklahoma for 10 seasons, according to his contract obtained by the Oklahoman through the Oklahoma Open Records Act.

The $3 million, combined with the 47-year-old coach's guaranteed salary of $2.77 million and additional income he could gain from performance bonuses means that Stoops is likely to earn more than $6 million in 2008.

"Bob Stoops is worth every penny and always has been and always will be," athletic director Joe Castiglione said.

Oklahoma generated $26.1 million in athletic revenues the year before Stoops arrived in Norman. In 2006-07 — Stoops' eighth season at the school — the athletic department generated $66.3 million in revenues, with football directly accounting for $28.5 million. That doesn't include another $18 million in contribution, advertising and licensing dollars that football likely had a big hand in landing.

Thanks to Geoff Rodgers.

Reporters' Notebooks

Carolyn Jones, San Francisco Chronicle: An arborist was brought in to snip ropes and dismantle a wooden platform at California's Memorial Stadium oak grove, where tree-sitters have been roosting for more than 14 months to protest the university's plans to build an athletic training center where about 100 trees stand. Thanks to Larry Brown Sports.

Sam Donnellon, Philadelphia Daily News: Imagine this thought when Joe Paterno was promoted to Penn State's head coach in 1966: Fidel Castro will surrender power sooner than he will — and without a coup, anger or any ugliness.

Chris Foster, Los Angeles Times: Rick Neuheisel and Norm Chow say they plan to customize UCLA's offense according to the talent on hand at Westwood.

Cindy Luis, Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Hawaii officials have set a goal of selling 30,000 season tickets, up from last year's total of 22,975.

Brian Bennett, Louisville Courier-Journal: Rod Council, Louisville's best cornerback, was dismissed from the team after he was arrested in connection with an armed robbery in his native North Carolina.

Cliff Kirkpatrick, Corvallis Gazette-Times: Hard-hitting Al Afalava, a three-year starter at safety for Oregon State, was cited for criminal mischief, which is a felony, DUII and hit-and-run by police.

Rich Emert, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The recruiting saga of Christian Wilson. Michigan's loss was North Carolina's gain.

Ian R. Rapoport, Birmingham News: The lawyer for Alabama defensive lineman Jeremy Elder said he has been shown no evidence that his client admitted to committing two acts of first-degree robbery and that he will reserve judgment until he views the facts.

David Ferrara, Mobile Press-Register: Alabama recruit Julio Jones has become a star witness in a murder trial. The receiver told jurors about events on the night of May 12, when he saw an acquaintance fatally shot in the head.

James Vareney, Times-Picayune: Two Louisiana State players expressed surprise at the indefinite suspension of Ryan Perrilloux, saying everything appeared to be coming together for the troubled quarterback.

Randy Rosetta, Baton Rouge Advocate: "Woo, pig sooie" has been a rallying cry for Arkansas fans since the 1920s. But how did "Calling the Hogs" begin?

Joseph Person, Columbia State: South Carolina starting receiver Dion Lecorn was arrested and jailed on a marijuana charge after police responded to a complaint of loud music coming from a car parked outside an apartment complex.

Andy Hess, Student Printz: Two Southern Mississippi players have been put on indefinite suspension for violating team rules.

Jack Salisbury, Stanford Daily: Stanford and Oregon State will open the season on Thursday, Aug. 28, in a nationally televised game.

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The Long and Short of It

Thanks to the terrific work of cfbstats.com, the ultimate site for college football stats junkies, we bring you the 10 longest and shortest games of the 2007 season:

The longest games with the date played (broadcast partner) and time:

Tennessee-Kentucky 11/24 (CBS): 4:43*
Southern Methodist-Memphis 11/24 (Local & PPV): 4:33*
Louisiana State-Kentucky 10/13 (CBS): 4:27*
Miami (Ohio)-Minnesota 9/8 (Big Ten): 4:23*
Hawaii-Louisiana Tech 9/8 (ESPN+): 4:23*

Fresno State-Texas A&M 9/8 (Fox National): 4:21*
Arkansas-Louisiana State 11/23 (CBS): 4:20*
Hawaii-San Jose State 10/12 (ESPN): 4:17*
Louisiana State-Alabama 11/3 (CBS): 4:13
Arizona State-Texas 12/27 (ESPN): 4:12**
* overtime ** bowl game

The shortest games with the date played (broadcast partner) and time:

Maryland-Florida International 9/8 (none): 2:39
Buffalo-Ball State 9/29 (none): 2:40
Sacramento State-Fresno State 9/1 (none): 2:43
Arkansas State-Southern Mississippi 11/24 (none): 2:44
Liberty-Toledo 10/6 (none): 2:45

Central Connecticut State-Western Michigan 9/22 (none): 2:45
Tennessee Tech-Auburn 11/3 (none): 2:45
Utah-Colorado State 10/27 (the mtn.): 2:46
Bowling Green-Kent State 10/20 (none): 2:47
Kent State-Ohio State 10/13 (Big Ten): 2:47

Are Crewcut, Tressel Cheating?

Yahoo! has raised questions about speaking engagements by coaches — among them Notre Dame's Crewcut Charlie Weis and Ohio State's Jim Tressel — at high school events that include fundraising.

Crewcut's appearance at Cincinnati's Elder High — home of Fighting Irish tight end recruit Kyle Rudolph — was among the speeches in question. Notre Dame officials insist that no violation was committed, but Yahoo! quotes Steve Morgan, who used to oversee rules enforcement for the NCAA, as questioning the practice.

Tressel is scheduled to speak at a March 5 event involving Cincinnati's La Salle High, whose standout receiver, DeVier Posey, signed earlier this month with the Buckeyes.

Ohio State said Tressel's participation in the event at La Salle is not a violation, but will review the coach's role at previous fundraisers for possible violations because money raised at those events may have benefited prospect student-athletes.

Reporters' Notebooks

Kurt Streeter, Los Angeles Times: UCLA's Rick Neuheisel, on the recent Seattle Times' series that detailed several players on his 2000 Washington team had run afoul of the law: "I am not going to run and hide."

Jonathan Kealing, Lawrence Journal-World: Boondoggle City: The Orange Bowl travel cost for Kansas, which took more than 500 people to south Florida, is about $2 million.

Howard Richman, Kansas City Star: The NCAA closed an investigation into Kansas State's football program without any findings.

Andrew Logue, Des Moines Register: Sedrick Johnson, who signed letters of intent with Iowa State and Texas A&M, is likely headed to Iowa State.

Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports: Although momentum for a plus-one system continues to build, the Big Ten and Pacific 10 remain adamantly opposed.

Keith Claverie, Daily Reveille: Quarterback Ryan Perrilloux, suspended once again by Louisiana State's Les Miles, is too talented of a player to be released. Besides, if Miles was going to kick Perrilloux off the team for good, it would have happened by now. Thanks to UWire.

John Adams, Knoxville News-Sentinel: In the last six weeks, eight Tennessee players have either been arrested or disciplined for breaking team rules. Now it's time for Phil Fulmer to be replaced as Volunteer coach.

Mike Casazza, Charleston Daily Mail: West Virginia running back Noel Devine and running back and receiver Jock Sanders were allegedly involved in a weekend incident outside a nightclub in Morgantown. Police are investigating.

Mitch Vingle, Charleston Gazette: Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese says, "Right now there's not a lot of support to add a ninth team" to the league.

Christopher Walsh, Tuscaloosa News: The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a petition to hear an appeal in the defamation lawsuit filed by two former Alabama assistant coaches against the NCAA and recruiting analyst Tom Culpepper.

David Wasson, Tuscaloosa News: Alabama defensive lineman Jeremy Elder is facing two counts of first-degree robbery.

Barry Jackson, Miami Herald: Although quarterback will command lots of attention, plenty of other position battles are looming when Miami begins spring practice next week.

Wendell Barnhouse, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Heisman winner Tim Tebow says there is no lack of motivation for himself or his Florida teammates. "You want to prove people wrong, but I'm just worried about our team winning the Southeastern Conference championship. We didn't get that accomplished last year."

Josh Robbins, Orlando Sentinel: Athlete tutoring is not only a concern at Florida State. Schools across the country run the risks of tutors bending the rules to better athletes' grade-point averages.

Brad Gray, Daily Texan: Vince Young, back on the Texas' campus to finish work on his degree, has once headache: Parking tickets. Thanks again to UWire.

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Advertising Age

Unlike Rich Rodriguez, when Joseph Oliverio Painting signs a contract, they stick to it.

'That Would Be a Wonderful Investment'

It's truly amazing what passes for "news" these days in the propaganda that is disguised as corporate media. We can only imagine that advanced lessons of "Baby Razorback" will include directions on how to file a Freedom of Information Act request in an attempt to chase away a football coach.

Looking for Blame in Endless Games

The Football Rules Committee was right. An average game lasts too long, especially when it comes to games telecast by CBS.

The network's telecasts averaged 3:47:04 to blow away the competition. By comparison, the average game in the 2007 season lasted 3:23:04. That's up from 3:21:17 in 2005 and 3:07:24 in 2006, when the controversial 3-2-5e rule not only dramatically cut the length of games, but the number of plays.

The 3-2-5e rule was abolished for the 2007 season and the average number of plays returned to 143.42, on par with the 2005 average of 140.71 (a difference of plus-2.71 plays).

What is disturbing is that the average length of a game increased 1:47 from 2005. Hence the conundrum facing the Football Rules Committee: How to keep the integrity of the game in place while not damaging revenue streams (often referred to as commercials).

A study conducted by Marty of cfbstats, the ultimate site for college football stats junkies, and Matt from the excellent College Sports Schedules, has given us another network-by-network breakdown. We're once again happy to serve as the press agent for this project — as we did last year — and you can view the full details of this year's study at cfbstats.com.
Extracting commercialization from a telecast is difficult. Perhaps the best method is to examine the impact on a game. The chart above shows the average number of plays per minute in a 2007 telecast. As you can see, the fewest number of plays per minute belonged to the networks whose games also lasted the longest, suggesting increased commercial time.
Above and below we have charted the plays per minute of networks who have been broadcasting games each of the past three years. (TBS, NFL, Big Ten Network, Versus and the mtn. did not meet the three-year criteria.)

You can see the impact of the 3-2-5e rule in 2006 across the board and how the number of plays rebounded in 2007 to meet or exceed the 2005 averages. It's also interesting to note that CBS and Fox have had a stranglehold on fewest plays since 2005, again suggesting that games broadcast by these networks have higher than average commercial breaks.
Our thoughts: While commercialization is arguably the leading contributor to games dragging on to no end, other factors — increased passing, overtime and instant replay — are also to blame:

Passing: Blame this on the popularity of spread offenses. Increased passing results in an increase in clock stoppages. Simple as that.

Overtime: While this has been a huge success, the rules committee blew it by not taking a look at overtime rules in an attempt to speed play. We will address this in detail on Thursday. Stay tuned.

Instant replay: A necessary evil, but one that can be streamlined. That's why the Wiz was mystified that the rules committee — while trying to shorten games — would agree to give coaches an extra replay challenge if the first one is upheld. Instituting this rule guarantees longer games.

The New Facemask Rule

Although the Football Rules Committee's tinkering with clock rules received most of the attention last week, there was a surprising adjustment to the facemask penalty for 2008.

Gone is the five-yard penalty for an incidental grabbing of the facemask. Only a 15-yard penalty remains and although the exact wording of the new rule has yet to be released, it appears a facemask penalty will be called only when there is a pulling, twisting or turning of the head.

Deciding between a five and 15-yard penalty was often a judgment call and the new rule eliminates a gray area for officials. But how many facemask penalties could this involve? Marty at cfbstats.com, the ultimate site for college football stats junkies, was able to give us a look at facemask penalties the past three seasons. The data is graphically displayed above, but the season-by-season breakdown and totals go like this:

• In 2005, there were 188 five-yard facemask penalties (51.4%) called and 178 15 yarders (48.6%).
• In 2006, there were 198 five yarders (56.3%) and 154 15 yarders (43.7%).
• In 2007, there were 177 five yarders (50.3%) and 175 15 yarders (49.7%).
• Three-season totals: 1070 facemask penalties called, 563 (52.6%) were five yarders and 507 were 15 yarders (47.4%).
  

Using these numbers as a guideline, the expected number of facemask penalties will be reduced by more than 50% in 2008. But total penalty yards will also increase. Using 2007 as an example, Marty says 1770 more penalty yards would have been called in the 792 games that were played. Although on average that is only 2.23 extra penalty yards a game, there will be some games that get rather chippy and an extra facemask penalty or two could make a big impact.

Reporters' Notebooks

Bryan Mullen, Tennessean: Tennessee punter Britton Colquitt has been suspended for the first five games of the 2008 season and stripped of his scholarship after a weekend arrest. Colquitt was charged with DUI and leaving the scene of an accident early Sunday, according to police.

Jack Bogaczyk, Charleston Daily Mail: Plenty of unpleasantness still exists between the Big East and Atlantic Coast. There are only four regular-season games scheduled between conference members for 2008, the lowest total since the Big East began playing round-robin football in 1993.

Mike Baldwin, Oklahoman: Here's one line of thinking why quarterback recruit Kody Spano switched his commitment from Oklahoma State to Nebraska.

Dave Matter, Columbia Tribune: A look at the five teams who will probably be considered the leading candidates to play in December's Big 12 title game, their three toughest conference games and a few other scheduling items.

Lake the Posts: When it comes to Northwestern fans, Alan Abrahamson, a columnist for NBC Sports.com and NBC Olympics.com, ranks among the best.

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Reporters' Notebooks

Thayer Evans, New York Times: More fallout from the recruitment of prep running back Darrell Scott, who chose Colorado over Texas. Roger Sonsini, whose comment that Colorado "did something and offered something that Darrell and his mom couldn't pass up," has been fired from his job as an assistant at Scott's high school.

Natalie Meisler, Denver Post: Colorado assistant Darian Hagan talks about how he got Scott to come to Boulder. "It got to the point when it was all about our relationship," Hagan said. "Their facilities and stuff, we can't compare to that."

FanBlogs: Has Louisiana State quarterback Ryan Perrilloux left the team?

Wendell Barnhouse, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Florida quarterback Tim Tebow says he was asked by several politicians positioning themselves to run for the White House to appear with them on the campaign trail.

Sunday Morning Quarterback: Why do rules mandate seven men on the line of scrimmage? Here's the reason.

Brett McMurphy, Tampa Tribune: The South Florida-Central Florida game has been moved up a day to Sept. 5, a Friday night. Plus the mayor of Tampa wants South Florida to become a high-priority tenant at Raymond James Stadium to give the team its choice of scheduling dates after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Andrew Logue, Des Moines Register: Iowa State recruit Sedrick Johnson has signed a second letter of intent to Texas A&M, but he's still legally bound to Iowa State. The matter is in the hands of the NCAA.

Associated Press: Former Texas running back Ramonce Taylor, who scored 15 touchdowns in the Longhorns' 2005 national championship season, is serving five months in jail for violating probation.

Albuquerque Tribune: Amateur athletic update: Route 66 Casino Hotel will become "the exclusive gaming sponsor" for New Mexico's athletic department as of July 1.

Associated Press: Clemson reported 13 NCAA secondary violations, with two of the more serious infractions involving businesses using images of student-athletes in advertising or photographs for sale.

Joseph Person, Columbia State: The Black Crowes will play at Williams-Brice Stadium on April 18 as part of the Gridiron Bash, a combination of fan events and rock concerts held in conjunction with the spring game.

Chip Alexander, Raleigh News & Observer: Membership in North Carolina State's Wolfpack Club, the school's athletic booster organization, has reached 20,000 members. Penn State, Texas A&M, Clemson and Florida State are believed to be the only other schools to surpass 20,000 in booster membership.

Susan Miller Degnan, Miami Herald: Some longtime Miami fans are infuriated over the new seating plan in Dolphin Stadium.

Detroit Free Press: Michigan's Rich Rodriguez: "I don’t have a wizard hat, I don’t have snake oil."

Chris Foster, Los Angeles Times: UCLA quarterback Patrick Cowan could miss spring drills after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.

Andrea Jones, Atlanta Journal Constitution: A ban on the use of college logos on burial items like coffins or urns has been lifted in Georgia.

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The Bear Ties One On

The help fill the gaps in the offseason we like to run classic coaching videos and here's another Bear Bryant beaut from 1967. The Bear addresses his team after a devastating 37-37 tie against Florida State in the Crimson Tide's opener at Birmingham. Alabama was coming off an 11-0 season in 1966 but didn't win the national championship.

That 1966 season was the focus of a Keith Dunnavant book, "The Missing Ring: How Bear Bryant and the 1966 Alabama Crimson Tide Were Denied College Football's Most Elusive Prize."

Past classic coaches videos: Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes, Hayden Fry, Lou Holtz, Bobby Ross, Dan Devine, Gary Barnett, Pat Dye, Terry Bowden, Jim Tressel, Eddie Robinson and Bear Bryant II.

A Big Thumbs Down to Rules Changes

Snippets from what other bloggers are saying about the rules changes that were announced this week.
Get The Picture: "It sounds like they’re trying to find the happy medium between last year’s clock rules and those from the year before. I’m sure the networks will let them know when they hit the sweet spot."Sunday Morning Quarterback: "Absolutely no love this Valentine's Day for the NCAA Rules Committee, which continued its never-ending quest Wednesday to break what was already fixed. The bizarre, football-stealing spectre of 3-2-5-e was hated by one and all from the moment it was adopted in 2006, and subsequently — wisely and mercifully — repealed, a day of great celebration. No harm, no foul, guys.

"But no, no, why did you have to do this? ... Why does the Rules Committee hate football."
AOL Fanhouse: "The beauty of college football is that it isn't so clean, so regimented like the NFL. Some games can be done well under three hours, some seem to take forever. It's a bit like baseball in that regard.

"The game's fans are presumably watching because they enjoy the experience, which should override any concerns about how long each game takes. I say the longer the game, the better. Saturday is about football, I'm in no hurry to see it end."
Every Day Should Be Saturday: "The NCAA Football Rules Committee, you breathe in vain. Air’s supposed to be moving smoothly into the lungs, transitioning between the alveoli and the blood, and thus traveling to important football organs like the muscles, heart, and lastly the brain.

"We say 'lastly, the brain', since the continual tinkering of the Rules Committee has resulted in a yearly series of dadaist proclamations and naked attempts to give fans less football and make officiating more, not less difficult. This is either brainless, disingenuous, or both. Given our nature, we suspect both."

Reporters' Notebooks

Steve Ellis, Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State has put its athletics department on a two-year probation and plans to reduce scholarships in several sports. The self-imposed penalties came as a result of the university's investigation into an academic-misconduct case involving about 60 student-athletes — most of them tied into allegations of cheating in an online music course.

Lauren Gustus and Justin Lawson, Reno Gazette-Journal: Fernley High coach Mark Hodges, at the center of a recruiting hoax involving player Kevin Hart, is alleging the Lyon County School District defamed his character in media reports and will file a lawsuit against the district and its board members.

Doug Doughty, Roanoke Times: Bob Pruett, the former Marshall coach, has come out of retirement to become Virginia's defensive coordinator.

Bill Koch, Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati's Brian Kelly said "there's no question we're disappointed" after quarterback Ben Mauk was denied a sixth season of eligibility.

Bernard Fernandez, Philadelphia Daily News: The snarl of legal problems facing Penn State football players got a bit less tangled when safety Anthony Scirrotto pleaded guilty to defiant trespass — a third-degree misdemeanor — for his participation in an April 1 incident at an off-campus apartment.

Debra Dennis, Dallas Morning News: Lorenzo Jones, a former Texas Christian defensive tackle, was released from jail after 11 months when a sexual assault charge against him was dismissed.

Mitch Vingle, Charleston Gazette: Alleged death threats made against Rich Rodriguez's family are being investigated by law enforcement officials in West Virginia.

Roll Bama Roll: A blogger calls out Brian Cook of AOL's Fanhouse for a "snake oil" column. Thanks to Erik!

NCAA Tries Again to Shorten Games

Does anybody think college games are too long? Is that a complaint you often hear?

The NCAA Football Rules Committee, saying the time of games in 2007 averaged 3 hours 22 minutes, is pushing through several rules designed to shorten games in 2008.

The most controversial has to do with the game clock after a player runs out of bounds. Under the old rule, the game clock would not start until the ball was snapped on the next play. Under the new rule, once the ball is ruled ready for play, the official will start the game clock. This will will not apply in the last two minutes of each half.

Other rules changes:

• The 40/25-second play clock, which was approved last year, will go into effect. After every play is whistled dead, the 40-second clock will start. When there is a stoppage of play, a 25-second play clock will be used. Previously, only a 25-second play clock was used and it did not start until the ball was marked ready for play.
  
• A coach gets an extra replay challenge if his first one is upheld. But he will be granted only the one extra challenge.
• The incidental five-yard facemask penalty has been eliminated. It's now strickly a 15-yard penalty. This eliminates a judgment call on the part of the officials and it appears that only when there is a pulling, twisting or turning of the head will a penalty be called.
  
• Horse collar tackles are now illegal and classified as a personal foul and 15-yard penalty.
  
• The receiving team will have the option of taking the ball on its 40-yard line on kickoffs that go out of bounds. Previously it was the 35.
• Sideline or bench warnings to coaches and players who crowd the field have been eliminated. It's now strictly a penalty.

How do officials feel about the new rules. Check out this thread from Ref Stripes. There's also this video featuring Rogers Redding, NCAA secretary-rules editor, explaining some of the changes.

The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel will rubber stamp the rules in April. Do you like the rule changes, dislike? We'd love to hear what you think so fire away in the comments section.

Thanks to Image of Sport, CDugan and We Are Penn State.

Reporters' Notebooks

Brett McMurphy and Ellen Gedalius, Tampa Tribune: A contract giving the Atlantic Coast Conference exclusive rights to Raymond James Stadium the first week of December has forced South Florida to move its planned Dec. 4 game against Rutgers to another date.

Ferd Lewis, Honolulu Advertiser: Hawaii coach Gerg McMackin and Southern Methodist counterpart June Jones have discussed the possibility of scheduling a game. McMackin also said he wants to schedule games against Texas Tech and Utah.

Kevin Trout: Reno Gazette-Journal: It appears that Kevin Hart, the Fernley High lineman who faked his recruiting and then lied about it, won't be charged with any crime.

Tank McNamara: The syndicated comic strip tackles the Rich Rodriguez-West Virginia quarrel. Click here and then keep advancing to the next day to view the series. Thanks to Chill!

Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times: USC and the L.A. Coliseum appear to have worked out their differences and a deal to keep Trojan home games in the facility for the next 25 years is all but a done deal.

Bob Condotta, Seattle Times: He responds to a column by Matt Hayes of the Sporting News. Hayes tries to make a case that the Seattle Times has a vendetta against Rick Neuheisel.

AppFan: Speaking of being called out, the Appalachian State site takes exception to the Wiz's post that stated I-A teams should not play I-AA teams.

Waiting For Next Year: Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports also gets called out for his column detailing the ugly mess called recruiting.

Stewart Mandel, SI.com: Appalachian State associate athletic director says Florida State, North Carolina and Georgia Tech all declined offers to play the Mountaineers.

Jeff Metcalfe, Arizona Republic: Three players who withdrew their commitments from Arizona and signed with Arizona State and have taken offense with comments made by Wildcat coach Mike Stoops that ASU "has turned into a J.C., and we're a four-year college." Thanks to Mark!

Brian Davis, Dallas Morning News: The Notre Dame-Baylor game scheduled for the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington in 2012 is now headed to New Orleans.

Bryan Mullen, Tennessean: Tennessee linebacker Dorian Davis and defensive back Antonio Wardlow were dismissed from the team by Phillip Fulmer because of an undisclosed violation of team rules.

Associated Press: Three Indiana players —receiver James Bailey, running back Demetrius McCray and linebacker Darius Johnson — were arrested on misdemeanor charges.

Brett Vito, Denton Record-Chronicle: North Texas will pay Miami $150,000 for backing out of a contract to play a nonconference game that was scheduled for Aug. 30.

Rivals: A detailed list of spring football dates. Alabama is the first to start, opening drills on Feb. 24.

And last but not least, the Rick Neuheisel Drinking Game. Thanks to Gutty Little Bruins.

Map Game Day's Fantastic Recruiting Maps

When it comes to examining recruiting data, nobody presents a visual representation like Map Game Day, which has posted its 2008 recruiting maps.

If you're not familiar with these maps, let us fill you in. Richard, who runs the site, has taken the lists of recruits from each I-A team and plugged the data into Google Maps. The lists come from each university, so they'll be no Kevin Hart showing up in this data.

His site allows you to customize maps of recruits by school, state or conference. Corresponding tabs will be displayed on each Google Map and you'll be able to click a tab for more detailed information. There is a ton of information available once you dig into it.

As an example and for all of our friends in Southeastern Conference territory that we've been picking on, the map at the top of this post displays the hometowns of all the SEC recruits. It gives you a visual representation of how the recruits were clustered in the Southeast.
With Richard's help, we broke down some of the data. The chart above shows the average distance per recruit by conference. As you can see, SEC teams didn't have to go far to restock their rosters. Not the case in the Western Athletic Conference, where the average recruit came from 647 miles away. You can click any of these charts for a detailed look.
This chart shows teams whose recruits came from the closest distances. The average UCLA recruit came from only 117 miles away. Richard tells us that while 23% of the players from California stayed in the state, a whopping 43% of players from Texas didn't cross the border, which helps explain why five Texas teams show up in this chart. (That and the fact the state is so damn big.) Texas, for example, signed only one player from out of state and a check of the Longhorns' 2008 spring roster shows only seven players from outside the Longhorn State.
This chart shows teams whose recruits came from the greatest distances. Hawaii is the obvious winner. We also took note that Kansas State shows up on this chart. Interesting because the Wildcats recruited 19 junior college players.

Leach: Tech-LSU Was Never in the Works

If Texas Tech didn't want anything to do with an Aug. 30 game against Louisiana State, it comes as news to the head Red Raider himself, Mike Leach.

A ranking member of the Texas Tech community who wishes to remain anonymous emailed us with an item that appeared on the Texas Tech Rivals affiliate. It's on the premium forum, and in the interest of fairness, here is what it said:

"It was reported earlier today by the LSU Rivals site in which LSU's Senior Associate Athletic Director Verge Ausberry said, 'The AD at [Texas Tech] wanted to play. The head coach turned it down. People are not going to play home and home with LSU.'

"After speaking with Head Coach Mike Leach just moments ago, we can confirm that there's actually more to the story:

" 'I never talked to the guy at LSU,' said Leach. 'We needed a home game and I never heard of anything about LSU planning to come here. I never heard anything about that. I never talked to anybody from LSU. We needed a home game, and all I heard was that they wanted it up there.'

"It seems that the Tigers were a little more one-sided in the short talks with Tech than Ausberry would like to admit. Of course, the LSU and Tech talks did not last long as the Red Raiders filled the August 30th home opener with Eastern Washington."

The Curious Joe Paterno Contract Situation

Penn State's Joe Paterno is entering the final season of his contract and, perhaps, his final season as coach.

University president Graham Spanier, who was recently awarded a five-year extension, was scheduled to meet with the 81-year-old coach after the Alamo Bowl, but Paterno came down with a debilitating two-week bout with influenza that effectively flattened him for much of the home stretch to signing day.

Another meeting was scheduled for last Wednesday, but that was postponed and only added to speculation that Spanier is in no rush to address the situation.

Trustees are also talking — off the record — about 2008 being Paterno's last season.

"He's always saying that this is what he likes to do, that he doesn't play golf or have any other hobbies," said one trustee. "Well, that isn't our problem. I think if he wasn't the coach, he'd still be as busy as ever. He could be a full-time fundraiser and really help the university."

Said another trustee: "We've asked the president to come up with a plan for after 2008. And I'm pretty sure the sentiment is [Paterno] shouldn't coach past 2008.

"Now, the question is, will Joe do the classy thing or will he fight it? I know he doesn't want to be paraded around. But you also have to remember his ego is as big as New Jersey."

The next trustees meeting is scheduled for March 20 in Washington, D.C.

Thanks to Kevin of We Are Penn State.

NCAA Rules Are Simply Complex

Even in a horrible economy and uncertain job market there remains a beacon of stability. Compliance officers in athletic departments never have to worry about the unemployment line.

One hitch: You need to know NCAA rules and know them well. That wasn't a problem back in the day, in this case 1952, when the NCAA rule book was a mere 25 pages. Today it is 1,105 pages and with more rule proposals and adjustments on the way, the book according to the NCAA will continue to grow.

Think you know the rules? In 2007, six sports at California were busted for using summer camp brochures that exceeded 17 by 22 inches.

In 2005, a Washington State assistant golf coach bought condolence flowers for a recruiting prospect after the death of the prospect's mother. As a result, the prospect was declared ineligible temporarily.

From 2001-06, the number of minor violations reported to the NCAA have increased 65% to more than 3,400, including a 20% increase since 2005.

This has created a booming job market. In the 1990s, South Carolina had one full-time compliance person, plus one full-time assistant. Today the Gamecocks have five rules interpreters, plus two administrative assistants and an intern to help keep an eye on Steve Spurrier. And some people think compliance departments remain underfunded.

Violations range from the silly to the serious. And, as Fresno State's Pat Hill learned, some violations come topped with pepperoni.

Thanks to Mike!

Help Us Help You

Just a reminder while you enjoy this site instead of working. We love our readers. All two of them.

The Wiz asks for your continued support each day as we dig our way through the propaganda that is disguised as corporate media. Send your news tips, especially if it has to do with your dreaded rival. Remember, the best way to destabilize your opponent is to have embarrassing news or a rumor broadcast to the world. So go ahead and snitch on them. You'll feel better about yourself! The tipline: dawizofodds (at) aol.com.

A Lightweight Approach to Scheduling

Our weekend post about Louisiana State and Texas Tech playing I-AA opponents to open the 2008 season rather than each other drew considerable interest. Texas Tech — for the record — reportedly wanted nothing to do with the defending national champions and sought a game against Eastern Washington instead. LSU, which just jacked up ticket prices, then scheduled Appalachian State. Bad news all around for a sport whose power brokers continue to sit around and watch the warts grow. Just look at the sharp downturn bowl viewership this past season.

Curiosity finally got the best of us. Although all I-A conferences and Independents schedule I-AA teams, what is the league-by-league breakdown? We couldn't hit the send button fast enough on an email to Marty at cfbstats.com, the ultimate site for college football stats junkies. As usual, he came through, and each of the charts displayed on this post cover data from the 2004-2007 seasons.

The chart at the top is a percentage breakdown of games played by I-A conferences vs. I-AA opponents. As you can see, the Western Athletic Conference is the king of the hill when it comes to playing I-AA teams. As always, click a chart for an expanded view.
Marty also provided us with a breakdown of the percentage of games played by teams from Bowl Championship Series conferences against non-BCS teams. In other words, a UCLA (Pacific 10, BCS) playing a Brigham Young (Mountain West, non-BCS). Teams from the Big 12 have played a higher percentage of games against teams from non-BCS leagues.

For the record, Notre Dame has been counted as a BCS team in determining all of the percentages.

After looking over this data, it's clear the Big 12, whose teams have played 31 of 199 games against I-AA teams, has some work to do. And of thoses 199 games, 136 have come against non-BCS opponents.

Runner-up among college football's elite is the SEC, which played 198 nonconference games in the four-year period, 30 against I-AA and 124 against non-BCS.

Other BCS breakdowns:
Pacific 10: 146 nonconference, 14 vs. I-AA, 83 vs. non-BCS.
Big Ten: 186 nonconference, 20 vs. I-AA, 104 vs. non-BCS.
Big East: 166 nonconference, 24 vs. I-AA, 89 vs. non-BCS.
Atlantic Coast: 196 nonconference, 25 vs. I-AA, 103 vs. non-BCS.

Totals for non-BCS leagues:
Western Athletic: 155 nonconference, 25 vs. I-AA.
Conference USA: 187 nonconference, 25 vs. I-AA.
Sun Belt: 158 nonconference, 20 vs. I-AA.
Mid-American: 198 nonconference, 25 vs. I-AA.
Mountain West: 148 nonconference, 16 vs. I-AA.
Independent: 148 nonconference, 12 vs. I-AA.

Rich Rod, It's a Crying Shame

In case you missed it, Rich Rodriguez did an interview over the weekend with the Worldwide Leader. He breaks down at one point while talking about his kids.

Rich Rod has another reason to shed a tear. A judge ruled that the lawsuit over the $4 million buyout clause in his contract with West Virginia will be heard in state court. Rich Rod's chances of winning just decreased about 90%.

A Kinder, Gentler Crewcut Charlie?

Yes, a 3-9 season will humble the best among us. Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune says Crewcut Charlie Weis is trying to reinvent himself, starting with his plan to make nice with Notre Dame's grumbling alums.

Writes Greenstein: "I've seen Weis walk away from conversations with people in mid-sentence. Harder to do that when you're the first Irish coach since Hugh Devore to lose to Navy."

Later, he writes: "Dr. Phil would applaud Weis' willingness to change. Here's another prognosis: Notre Dame gave a 10-year contract extension, through 2015, to a coach who doesn't know who he is."

But if you want a rip job, read Jeff Jacobs' column in the Hartford Courant. Word has leaked that Connecticut and Notre Dame are finalizing a 10-game series with no games at the Huskies' Rentschler Field. That's right, none. Zip, zilch, zero.

Five games are planned for South Bend and five games are to be split between Foxborough and East Rutherford. And that part seems non-negotiable.

Writes Jacobs: "It sure sounds like it was 'take it or leave it,' and UConn is in the process of taking it. ... Notre Dame has some nerve. Notre Dame must think it's something special.

"And that's when my initial reaction ends and reality sets in. Notre Dame knows it's special. Either you play Notre Dame's game or you're out. And UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway evidently is saying, yes, he'll kiss Notre Dame's blessed rear end."

Jacobs was just getting started:

"Notre Dame has been allowed for too many years to be part of the Big East without being told, hey, bring your football cleats, too, or you're gone. Notre Dame has been enabled by the Big East.

"We've all heard a thousand reasons why having Notre Dame is good for the conference. And maybe all thousand of them are valid. Yet none of those reasons is because it is fair and equitable. If it were, Notre Dame would play football in the Big East instead of making conference schools grovel at its feet."

Thanks to Sports By Brooks.

Reporters' Notebooks

Tim Gayle, Montgomery Advertiser: Looks like Nick Saban is suddenly about 10 scholarship players over the limit. How will the Alabama coach handle the problem? "That's not something we're going to address publicly or make a public issue," Saban said, "or is it something I think anybody needs to be worried about." Thanks to Stephen!

Mark Maske, Washington Post: A version of the minority-interviewing rule that was the catalyst for the NFL to diversify its head coaching ranks has been adopted by major college football. Thanks to EDSBS.

Chadd Cripe, Idaho Statesman: Construction on a $35.9 million expansion to Boise State's Bronco Stadium is on schedule despite a snowy winter.

John K. Wiley, Associated Press: Only three emails sent to Washington State president Elson Floyd last fall urged the firing of Bill Doba as coach.

Jonathan Martin and Ken Armstrong: A lawsuit over the University of Washington's response to an alleged rape by former Husky Roc Alexander, a freshman on the Rose Bowl-winning 2000 team, has been revived.

Mark Alesia, Indianapolis Star: The Big Ten Network will issue payments of $6.12 million to conference members this year, but officials and fans are growing impatient over the lack of TV contracts with cable companies.

Paul Zeise, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Pittsburgh, which drew an average of 33,316 last fall for home games, wants to improve its season-ticket base to 50,000 this fall and is lowering prices.

Bill Koch, Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati expects to receive a decision from the NCAA this week on whether quarterback Ben Mauk will be granted another year of eligibility.

Brian Bennett, Louisville Courier-Journal: Louisville and Memphis will renew their rivalry with a Friday night game (Oct. 10) in Memphis.

Mike Knobler, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Anthony Allen, who led Louisville in rushing last season, might transfer to Georgia Tech. A decision is expected in May.

Kevin Scarbinsky: Birmingham News: Hey Auburn, don't give up football yet.

Larry Brown Sports: A terrific and funny story from Terry Bowden on how he battled his father Bobby over a recruit.

Jim Galloway and Bob Kemper, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Republican lawmakers in Georgia are upset that the state issues alumni vanity plates for Florida, Clemson, South Carolina, Auburn and Alabama. They want to issue plates only for states that will do the same for graduates of Georgia schools. Thanks to Get The Picture.

Jeff Cochran, Athens Banner-Herald: Our apology, this one fell through the cracks. Quarterback Jon Richt, the son of Georgia coach Mark Richt, signed a letter of intent to play at Clemson.

Did Texas, USC Commit Infractions?

While rumors have swirled that Colorado may have done something illegal in securing Darrell Scott, it appears two schools did commit infractions in pursuit of the hotshot running back.

Student-athletes from Texas (quarterback Colt McCoy, pictured with this post) and USC (quarterback Mark Sanchez) sent text messages to Scott early last week.

How do we know this happened? They were part of Thayer Evans' article last week in the New York Times. Evans was embedded with Scott leading to Wednesday's signing day.

Unless there is something we've missed in NCAA recruiting regulations, student-athletes shall not participate in telephone calls to prospective student-athletes. A text message is considered a telephone call.

We're not alone in this opinion. Neill Woelk of the Boulder Daily Camera, writing on the Scott mess, had this passage:

"And, since we're speaking of NCAA violations, the text message sent from UT quarterback Colt McCoy to Scott — witnessed by a New York Times reporter — is at least on the surface a minor violation."

Glanville Might Have a Hart

Where others see risk, Jerry Glanville sees opportunity. Glanville, camped out at Division I-AA Portland State these days, reportedly is interested in disgraced Fernley High lineman Kevin Hart.

According to KPTV in Portland, members of Glanville's staff have called Fernley to request tapes of the 6-foot-5, 290-pound lineman.

As for how Hart is dealing with fellow students after his big lie, he is getting a mixed reception, according to senior Ashley Danks.

"I saw him pull into the parking lot and I guess he was late," Danks said "And someone said look it's Kevin and half the class laughed and the other half just stayed quiet."

This Recruit Didn't Get Faked Out

More strangeness from the recruiting trail. Willie Mobley, a defensive lineman from Eden Prairie, Minn., committed to Ohio State in November, but as you can guess, the pressure continued from other schools.

Then in January, Mobley went to the mailbox and found a letter on Ohio State letterhead, postmarked in Columbus and allegedly signed by Jim Tressel, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

The letter informed Mobley that his Ohio State scholarship offer was being withdrawn and wished him luck wherever he ended up.

Mobley sensed something wasn't right and called Tressel. "He told me a whole bunch of stories about these letters going around, that [quarterback recruit] Terrelle [Pryor] got one, too."

Another similar letter arrived at the Mobley household last Wednesday, signing day.

"I looked at them like, 'What the heck? This is fake,' " Mobley said. "There were all these misspellings, and you couldn't even read the signature, it was like, 'Jim, scribble-scribble.' "

Reporters' Notebooks

Marcus Murphree, Daily Skiff: Texas Christian football recruit Sam Shutt survived a tornado that hit his hometown of Savannah, Tenn., last week.

Jim Reeves, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Is TCU coach Gary Patterson no longer a man in demand? Far from it. He reportedly interviewed for openings at Nebraska and Arkansas and may have finished second to Bobby Petrino for the Razorback gig.

Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press: It's not just Kevin Hart who should be ashamed of himself.

Brett Vito, Denton Record-Chronicle: North Texas senior defensive lineman Isaac Thomas is recovering from a blood clot in his left leg.

Capital Times: The newspaper death spiral continues. The Madison, Wis., paper, founded in 1917, is going digital. It will publish only a twice-a-week tabloid with the rest of the operation being moved to the Internet. Thanks to the Midwest Correspondent.

To bypass registration, go to Bug Me Not. Here is today's disturbing mystery link.

More B.S. From BCS Teams

Appalachian State and Louisiana State announced they will open the 2008 season with a game in Baton Rouge. While a matchup of defending national champions in I-A and I-AA appears to have a certain sex appeal and everybody and their sister are saying what a great thing this is, we beg to differ.

This is another case of a big-time player (LSU) taking advantage of the system and scheduling an automatic victory. Bottom line: Teams from I-A should not be playing I-AA teams. If they do, it should not count.

LSU is not alone. Texas Tech had an opening on the same day (Aug. 30). The Red Raiders went ahead and scheduled dreaded Eastern Washington, another I-AA team. Shame, shame, shame!

And to think we could have opened the season with an Eastern Washington-Appalachian State matchup. Almost as good as Texas Tech-LSU.

Rome Has Something Against Ping-Pong

Jim Rome dislikes the recruiting tactics of Georgia's Mark Richt, who plays ping-ping with prospects. Rome prefers Madden, or Guitar Hero, perhaps. Thanks to Hk Tequila.

Reporters' Notebooks

Chris Gabel, Reno Gazette-Journal: Mark Hodges, the coach at Fernley High, could lose his job over the Kevin Hart hoax.

Paul Finebaum, Mobile Press-Register: Now that the results from the 2008 recruiting class are in and Alabama's Nick Saban has soundly beaten Tommy Tuberville to a bloody pulp, it's clear the party is over for Auburn.

John Pruett, Huntsville Times: A newsletter from the Football Writers Association of America arrived the other day and one thing is clear: The divide between coaches and reporters is widening.

Levi Pulkkinen, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Randy Simmons, a member of the Los Angeles police department's SWAT team who was shot and killed last week, was a former Washington State cornerback.

Craig Smith, Seattle Times: New Washington State coach Paul Wulff will make $600,000 a year under the five-year contract he recently signed.

Eric Hansen, South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame's Crewcut Charlie Weis is handing off the play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Mike Haywood.

Jeff Carroll and Bob Wieneke, South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame's recruiting class takes its first hit. Safety recruit Dan McCarthy recently underwent corrective surgery on his neck and will likely use next season as a medical redshirt.

Jame Samuelsen, Detroit Free Press: Yes, there is a snake-oily feel to Rich Rodriguez. But Michigan fans feel this way: "He's our snake oil salesman." And that's all that matters.

Andrew Carter, Orlando Sentinel: Florida State, facing an academic fraud scandal that will leave Coach Bobby Bowden's team short-handed, the Seminoles will open their 2008 season against two of the weaker teams they've played in recent memory.

Jeff Rice, Centre Daily Times: Penn State receiver Chris Bell and defensive tackle Phil Taylor are "not participating with the team" until their academic and off-field issues are resolved.

Alan Trubow, Austin American-Statesman: Twelve of the top 50 players in Texas high schools in 2009 are said to be quarterbacks.

Marc Morehouse, Cedar Rapids Gazette: Recruiting rankings are not worth the Internet they're printed on.

Chris Berman Goes Crazy, Volume II

Somebody has it out for Chris Berman. Another video of him has been released, full of F-bombs. Thanks to Deadspin! And there are other videos of Berman behind the scenes. Find them at this link.

Update: The videos have been pulled from YouTube, but you can view all of them at this link.

Kevin Hart Selects ... Cal!

It was a difficult decision, one he thought about for months, but Kevin Hart has selected California over Oregon! He becomes the first Fernley athletic to receive a full scholarship to a Division I-A school directly out of high school.

"They really sold me," Hart said. "Coach [Jeff] Tedford and I talked a lot, and the fact that the head coach did most of the recruiting of me kind of gave me the real personal experience."

Oregon, obviously, will be pissed.

Part of TCU Stadium Collapses

A portion of new seating being constructed at Texas Christian's Amon G. Carter Stadium collapsed and crushed older seating around 2 a.m. Friday. No one was injured. Link to video report.

The construction project, which will add an additional 28,500 square feet to the athletic complex and renovate 6,400 square feet of existing space in TCU's stadium, was scheduled for completion in July.

The cause of the collapse is under investigation.

Thanks to TV Tan Line.

What They Really Mean

Confused with all the post-signing rhetoric? Don't be alarmed. Terry Frei of the Denver Post is here to translate. A couple of examples to get you started:

When a coach says: "We like his upside."

He often means: "If he doesn't get any better, we can just run him off." Or: "His younger brother already is a stud." Or: "Geez, somebody's got to be on the scout team."

When a coach says: "There were some academic issues involved in some of our decisions, too."

He really means: "You want me to beat those guys from the Southeastern Conference? It might help if I got as much help from the registrar's office and the faculty as they do! Half the guys who signed with SEC programs couldn't even get into school here and we ain't exactly Harvard!"

Mike Stoops Issues an Apology

A day after Mike Stoops wisecracked that "Arizona State has turned into a JC, and we're a four-year college," the Arizona coach issued an apology.

"These remarks were dutifully reported by the media, and not necessarily taken out of context — which was within some of my heartfelt observations about the recruiting process and what it entails for individuals and college football programs," Stoops said in a press release. "I've since spoken with ASU coach Dennis Erickson. It was a personal mistake and one for which I apologize."

Stoops' apology followed a press release from Terri Shafer, Arizona State's vice president of public affairs. Shafer's release noted that the NCAA's Academic Progress Report — which punishes programs with poor graduation rates — has cost the Sun Devil football team "NO SCHOLARSHIPS."

Arizona has lost six scholarships in the past three years.

Shafer was still upset, even after Stoops' apology.

"It's also very interesting in the apology that he didn't say he was wrong," she said. "The facts would have stood uncorrected if we hadn't issued the information we did."

Thanks to Image of Sport.

About That Bank Job for Your Mother ...

Darrell Scott may have put pen to paper and signed with Colorado, but a controversy has emerged surrounding his recruitment.

Scott's mother, Alexis, will meet Friday with St. Bonaventure High recruiting coordinator Roger Sonsini about a comment he made in an interview with the Dallas Morning News.

"Colorado came in on Friday and said and did something and offered something that Darrell and his mom couldn’t pass up," Sonsini said.

What was that something? Rumors have circulated that Alexis Scott was accepting a bank job in Colorado.

"It's all lies," she told the New York Times. "I want to protect my child. His decision is his decision and Sosini and whomever have nothing to do with that."

She added: "If I got any money or anything, then they need to check my bank account and bank records. I don't play games like this."

Reporters' Notebooks

Craig Smith, Seattle Times: Washington State safety Xavier Hicks has been charged with felony second-degree assault. He is accused of putting rubbing alcohol in his roommate's contact-lens case after a dispute about household expenses.

Mary Hayes Weier, Information Week: A team of researchers at Mercer University's Stetson School of Business and Economics has put together statistical software to predict college football recruits' choices. It claims an accuracy rate of 73%. Thanks to Gutty Little Bruins.

Stephen Tsai, Honolulu Advertiser: Tyler Graunke, who was expected to enter spring practice as the Hawaii's No. 1 quarterback, has been suspended for breaking team-related rules.

Scott Dochterman, Cedar Rapids Gazette: Iowa State's athletics department expenses exceeded its revenues by more than $9.4 million during the 2007 fiscal year, according to figures obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Dave Hickman, Charleston Gazette: West Virginia's Bill Stewart has booted linebacker John Holmes, defensive end James Ingram and running back Ed Collington after the three were arrested on felony drug charges.

Howard Richman, Kansas City Star: This one caught our eye. Kansas State is bringing in 19 — that's right, 19 — junior college players.

Tony Barnhart, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Nice piece on buyouts and how colleges are now protecting their investment in a proven coach.

Brandon George, Dallas Morning News: Texas Tech has added dreaded Eastern Washington to its 2008 schedule as a replacement for Tulsa in the Red Raiders’ season opener Aug. 30.

Kyle Ringo, Boulder Daily Camera: Colorado's Dan Hawkins hopes to have a contract extension completed by the time the 2008 season begins Aug. 30 in Denver against Colorado State.

Bridget Wentworth, Newark Star-Ledger: An assault case against Rutgers assistant head coach Chris Demarest has been dismissed.

Kate Hairopoulos, Dallas Morning News: June Jones concedes he doesn't feel the same calling to Southern Methodist as he did to Hawaii, but he's happy with the move.

Tim Stephens, Orlando Sentinel: For all who are deeply into this recruiting stuff, here is a rather detailed league-by-league breakdown. Let's revisit this in four or five years. ...

Rochelle Olson, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Former Minnesota player Dominic Jones formally pleaded not guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct for an alleged assault on a drunken woman last April.

Michael Rosenberg, Detroit Free Press: Hmmm. Consider this: Rich Rodriguez had a pedestrian 33-22 record at West Virginia before Pat White became the starting quarterback. Since then, the Mountaineers are a spectacular 28-3.

Tennessean: Tennessee defensive back Antonio Gaines has been granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA after missing most of the 2007 season because of a torn ACL.

Gregg Bell, Associated Press: Washington's Tyrone Willingham on turmoil surrounding his program: "If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger. And I think this has made our program stronger."

To bypass registration, go to Bug Me Not. Here is today's mystery link.

Stoops, Tiller Stand Out on Day of B.S.

Plenty of coaches were operating the manure spreader on Wednesday, proclaiming their recruiting class second to none. But two coaches didn't participate and we honor their efforts on what has become the biggest day of B.S. on the college football calendar.

Arizona's Mike Stoops, apparently upset that rival Arizona State had secured signatures from three players who had previously committed to the Wildcats, said of the Sun Devils: "Each school has to recruit to their school and what kind of requirements they [have].

"Arizona State has turned into a JC, and we're a four-year college. According to all the players, they say it's easier to go to school there, easier to get in."

Purdue's Joe Tiller was steamed that Ohio prep receiver Roy Roundtree, who committed to Purdue in May and reaffirmed his decision many times since, signed with Michigan and Rich Rodriguez after a visit last weekend.

"If we had an early signing date, you wouldn't have another outfit with a guy in a wizard hat selling snake oil get a guy at the last minute, but that's what happened," Tiller said.

The Boilermaker coach, who will step down at season's end, then took a shot at Roundtree's high school, Trotwood-Madison High.

"On the other side of the coin, maybe the guy did you a favor. It makes you wonder about the guy, the people surrounding him, the people in that building who would let that happen. I can say this: We won't go back in that building again and we won't be the only institution not to."

How One Recruit Withstood the Pressure

Darrell Scott, considered the nation's top prep running back, announced Wednesday that he would attend Colorado, but not before a grueling couple of days that had him wrestling with his college choice.

Scott invited Thayer Evans of the New York Times to sit in on his final discussion with his mother about teams seeking his services.

Scott, of St. Bonaventure High in Ventura, Calif., had an extensive examination of finalists that also included Texas, UCLA and Louisiana State.

Scott eventually cut the list to Texas and Colorado. He ruled out the Longhorns because of staff shuffling in January that saw Major Applewhite come aboard as the team's offensive coordinator and running backs coach.

But Texas kept coming after Scott even after he informed Longhorn coaches of his decision. The last-minute lobbying included a text message from Texas quarterback Colt McCoy. It said: "Call or text me, man. It's Colt."

Hart Could Face Charges

Although Wednesday was a day for top prep players from around the country to sign letters of intent, it also was a day for Kevin Hart to come clean about fabricating his recruitment by Division I-A schools. The Fernley (Nev.) offensive lineman admitted he lied about receiving scholarship offers.

Hart chose California over Oregon last Friday in a momentous announcement ceremony at the school gymnasium that had his father, Richard, holding back tears. Hart then exacerbated the situation by saying he and his family had been victims of a scam artist. (A list of some of Hart's quotes.) Lyon County Sheriff's officials say he could be charged with filing a false police report, but that decision will be left to the Lyon County district attorney.

A reporter from the Washington Post contacted Hart Wednesday night.

"I'm not ready to talk about anything," he said politely before hanging up the phone. "I feel like I've embarrassed enough people so I'm not going to comment. Thank you for your time."

It's the second time in 2008 that Fernley was in the national spotlight. In early January, a 30-foot section of the earthen Truckee Canal broke, flooding 3,000 residents.

Gophers Ready to Burrow Into New Home

Minnesota's new TCF Bank Stadium is not scheduled to open until 2009, but the Golden Gophers have posted several virtual tours of the $248 million facility. You can also view webcams of the project by clicking here and here.

The 50,000-seat stadium will have the nation's second-largest college football scoreboard, 36 suites, a spectacular view of the Minneapolis skyline and a colonnade circling the stadium. Minnesota will play Air Force to open the facility on Sept. 12, 2009. Thanks to Kevin of We Are Penn State.

Reporters' Notebooks

John Maher, Austin American-Statesman: Regents are expected to approve a $25 million project to add 4,000 bleacher seats at Texas' Royal-Memorial Stadium, bringing seating capacity to 94,000 for the 2009 season.

Mike Knobler, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Taylor Bennett, Georgia Tech's starting quarterback of 2007, has asked for and received a release to transfer. The junior would need a waiver from the NCAA to play for another Division I-A team because he has already used a redshirt year.

Wally Hall, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Agent Mike Conley says his name was sullied in the report that said he helped Darren McFadden buy a Cadillac Escalade.

Glenn Guilbeau, Shreveport Times: Some Louisiana State fans say the Tigers' annual recruiting party has become too corporate and is out of control.

Dan Stefano, Daily Athenaeum: Students at West Virginia College of Law have launched a blog to examine issues surrounding the Rich Rodriguez legal saga. Link to the blog.

David Woods, Daily Bruin: Slick Rick Neuheisel's murky past poses a key question: Is it more important to win or be the nice guys? Thanks to UWire.

Ray Parrillo, Philadelphia Inquirer: Greg Schiano had a new tool in his recruiting efforts. The Rutgers coach began using a helicopter to visit prospective players.

Angelique S. Chengelis, Detroit News: Quarterback Terrelle Pryor, considered the nation's top recruit, held off on making a decision and now lists Oregon among his list of finalists, which also includes Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State.

Ted Miller, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: The announcement by the Seattle Seahawks that Jim Mora would be Mike Holmgren's successor rippled all the way to Washington, where some disgruntled Husky fans regard Mora as the savior to the program.

Ryan Wood, Lawrence Journal-World: Kansas officials are confident that a legal matter concerning prized signee Jocques Crawford is an isolated incident. He pleaded guilty in 2005 to a charge of misdemeanor simple assault for an incident involving a 15-year old girl after initially being charged with aggravated rape.

Jeff McLane, Philadelphia Inquirer: Penn State junior safety Anthony Scirrotto will enter a plea agreement next week, averting trial on a felony criminal-trespass charge and a count of summary harassment.

Hart: I Made It Up

Kevin Hart, the Fernley (Nev.) High offensive lineman who said he was duped into believing he was recruited to play at California acknowledged Wednesday that he made up the story.

"I wanted to play D-I ball more than anything. When I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I made up what I wanted to be reality," read a statement sent out by Teri White, assistant superintendent of the Lyon County School District, on behalf of Hart. "I am sorry for disappointing and embarrassing my family, coaches, Fernley High School, the involved universities and reporters covering the story."

Did Hart Family Fall Victim to a Scam Artist?

The bizarre case of Fernley, Nev., offensive lineman Kevin Hart took another turn when it was reported that Hart's parents paid a man who represented himself as a recruiter in hopes their son would get a scholarship.

Hart, pictured with Fernley coach Mark Hodges, told a member of the Lyon County Sheriff's Department that a man who identified himself as Kevin Riley told the family that he was a middle man to big-time college programs. It wasn't clear how much money the Hart family paid Riley, who could face a charge of obtaining money with a false pretense.

But finding Riley is the trick. The purported recruiter, who coincidentally has the same name as a quarterback at California — the school Hart planned to attend — has disappeared.

"It's an ongoing investigation but we have no suspect at this point and no info to identify a suspect," Deputy Dan Lynch said.

One of our readers also found what appears to be a hoax MySpace page for a Kevin Hart of Fernley, Nev. You never know what you get in the world of MySpace, but amid a background of Snickers bars and videos of Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies, the bio contains this blurb:

"My name is Kevin, I was a 2nd team all state guard in Nevada. I love to eat, ALOT. Im (sic) gonna go to a D1 college as soon as I find one that doesn't look at your GPA."

Update: The MySpace page has been taken down, but you can download a web archive of it by clicking here.

Just Saying ...

We take you back shortly before the Cotton Bowl, when the eligibility of Arkansas running back Darren McFadden was called into question.

McFadden, a junior, reportedly was in possession of a new Cadillac Escalade that agent Mike Conley helped him purchase.

“That is 100% a lie,” Conley told KARK-TV, which aired the report.

The station eventually backed off the report and issued an apology.

Arkansas quickly conducted a thorough review of the allegations and ruled that McFadden was eligible to participate in the Cotton Bowl.

McFadden played and then announced that he would leave a year early for NFL riches.

On Monday, MMG Sports Sports Management Group announced that it would represent McFadden.

Said McFadden: "Selecting MMG Sports Management was an easy choice."

MMG, of course, is owned by Conley.

Just Saying, Part Two ...

It started with a Jan. 16 blog entry by Lya Wodraska of the Salt Lake Tribune, who said Florida's Urban Meyer appeared to have violated a couple of NCAA rules in his recruitment of Sierra Community College receiver Carl Moore. The Wiz was alerted to the report by the site State of Miami.

Two days later, with the help of Internet sleuths, this site ran another report that was published on Dec. 18 in the Sacramento Bee. That story detailed another apparent violation by Meyer, who reportedly called Moore from the Heisman Trophy ceremony and then handed the phone to Tebow.

Florida officials began an investigation, and on Tuesday they announced that Meyer had done nothing wrong.

End of story, perhaps. We report the news around here and sometimes break it. And we get emails. This one happened to touch our heart when it arrived two days after the Wiz first linked to the Sacramento Bee story:

"Just out of curiosity because I'm not entirely sure how this all works, and I'm not making any sorts of accusations, but just how is it that all these newspapers suddenly have the Tebow story and the Sacramento Bee link included in their pieces on Meyer. It's amazing timing how that Bee article went unnoticed for a month, then suddenly you use it and now everyone has it cited in their articles."

Amazing, isn't it? :-)

Reporters' Notebooks

Richard Cirminiello, College Football News: Exactly what happened to those five-star prospects from 2004? While some lived up to their billing, others fizzled. Plus, re-ranking the 2004 recruiting classes. Thanks to Kevin of We Are Penn State.

Brett McMurphy, Tampa Tribune: A South Florida recruit who planned to sign with the team has been denied admission by the university's newly formed academic committee.

Carl DuBose, Baton Rouge Advocate: Louisiana State and North Texas agreed to reschedule their matchup for Sept. 13 in Tiger Stadium, creating an Aug. 30 opening on the Tigers’ schedule. Any challengers?

George Hostetter, Fresno Bee: Fresno State has stopped accepting corporate matching gifts for athletics, saying changes in the policies of many companies have caused the stream of money to largely dry up.

Ron Morris, Columbia State: Buyout clauses are all the buzz these days, but how much weight do they hold in the court of law?

Pat Caputo, Journal Register News Service: Maybe Michigan's hiring Rich Rodriguez wasn't such a good idea.

Michael Rothstein, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: It will be interesting to see how Notre Dame handles the arrest of tight end Will Yeatman, who allegedly was operating a vehicle while impared on Jan. 28.

Suzanne Halliburton, Austin American-Statesman: Grading the 10 recruiting classes of Texas' Mack Brown.

Maurice Patton, Tennessean: Vanderbilt will be king of Thursday nights. The Commodores will play two Thursday night games.

Reuters and Gaming Today: Nevada casinos lost $2.6 million to Super Bowl gamblers. One race and sportsbook director said it was the biggest loss the house has experienced in his 25 years in the business.

Did Somebody Impersonate Cal's Tedford?

When offensive lineman Kevin Hart of Fernley, Nev., announced his commitment to California last Friday, he did so in front of a packed school gymnasium. Two local TV stations showed up to film the event as he prepared to become the first Fernley athlete to receive a full scholarship to a Division I school directly out of high school.

"They really sold me," Hart said. "Coach [Jeff] Tedford and I talked a lot, and the fact that the head coach did most of the recruiting of me kind of gave me the real personal experience.”

But it appears that Hart, pictured above with Fernley coach Mark Hodges at Friday's ceremony, was the victim of a prank. Somebody, it appears, has been impersonating Tedford. There never was a scholarship offer — let alone any official contact — from the Golden Bears.

Hodges, who has been a coach for more than 20 years, now says the matter is a "law enforcement investigation."

Oregon was another so-called finalist for Hart, and somebody appears to have been impersonating an Oregon representative as well. An official from Oregon confirmed Hart was not being recruited. The validity of Hart's other finalists — Nevada, Illinois and Oklahoma State — remain in question.

Thanks to Jordan!

Leavitt's Recruiting to Be Graded

Getting recruits into South Florida has been easy, even if they had not met the NCAA’s initial eligibility requirements. Coach Jim Leavitt, who just completed his 11th season, merely had to collect the signatures on national signing day each February, then, if the recruits met the NCAA’s qualifying mark later that year, they would apply for admission to South Florida.

"We've gotten every one in," Leavitt told Brett McMurphy of the Tampa Tribune.

All that is about to change. A newly formed academic committee is now deciding the admission status of recruits who are academically at-risk.

Leavitt appeared before the committee last Thursday, six days before signing day, and neither South Florida provost Ralph Wilcox or associate vice president for enrollment planning and management Leellen Brigman would say whether they denied admission to any of Leavitt’s recruits. Leavitt declined to comment Monday.

Lamar Thomas Is Back in the News

We'll take any excuse to post this YouTube video. Former Miami receiver Lamar Thomas, 38, has returned to Miami and is chasing a liberal arts degree. Thomas, as you might remember, is a former commentator for Hurricane football telecasts.

But he lost that gig for his comments during the brawl between Florida International and Miami at the Orange Bowl. Thomas' rant earned him another honor from our readers. His remarks were voted the Most Classless Act of 2006. Thanks to UWire.

Reporters' Notebooks

Chip Scoggins, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Minnesota's athletics department reported fiscal losses for the second year in a row. Much of a disclosed operating loss of $6 million for the 2006-07 school year was blamed on buyouts given to football coach Glen Mason and basketball coach Dan Monson.

Andrew Carter, Orlando Sentinel: A Florida State professor says his online music course, which is the focal point of Florida State's investigation into academic fraud, was a "state-of-the-art class."

Ted Miller, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: He didn't ask to be dragged into it, but here's what was wrong with the Seattle Times series on Washington's 2000 Rose Bowl team.

Ray Melick, Birmingham News: Is a new NCAA rule aimed at stopping Alabama's Nick Saban?

Fred Girard, Detroit News: Rich Rodriguez filed papers seeking to keep West Virginia's $4 million lawsuit in federal court rather than returned to a county court in Morgantown, home of the university, where he is something less than popular.

Joseph Person, Columbia State: South Carolina will be paid $50.6 million under a nine-year, multimedia rights contract with ISP Sports and Learfield Communications. The agreement represents a 150% increase in annual revenue from South Carolina's current deal with ISP/Learfield.

Kyle Veazey, Clarion Ledger: Mississippi State quarterback Michael Henig says he has given up football because every time he takes a step, he can hear his hip pop.

Fanblogs: Wake Forest, Rutgers, Kansas, USC, Alabama and Georgia. Six teams that fit the profile to be the 2008 Bowl Championship Series champion.

Pete Pelegrin, Miami Herald: Florida International's $50 million stadium is beginning to take shape.

Jeff Sanders, North County Times: National signing day isn't the end of the line for many athletes. It can be just a starting point for dreams that eventually go sour.

Eleven Warriors: Did alleged sexual misconduct cost Massillon's DeVoe Torrence his scholarship ride to Ohio State?

Matt Hayes, Sporting News: Arkansas is contemplating an appeal for former Michigan quarterback Ryan Mallett to play this fall.

Waiting For Next Year: Blogger Brian Cook of MGoBlog and Fanhouse fame tries to break down the Terrelle Pryor sweepstakes. Thanks to Rick.

Bob Wojnowski, Detroit News: Pryor is the Kid Who Could Change Everything for Rich Rod.

Trae Thompson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: The harsh side of recruiting. More stories of scholarship offers being pulled from prep standouts.

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Beware of the Snake Oil Salesmen

Here's the truth about recruiting rankings: It's all a bunch of horsecrap.

Everybody and their grandmother are consumed with them at the moment, but in this corner of cyberspace, we've never considered this exercise anything other than somebody trying to sell you something. Save your money, people! The so-called recruiting gurus miss more than 50% of the time.

Last season, Rivals had only 11 of the top 25 teams averaging a recruiting class of 25th or better from 2003 to 2007. Scout didn't do any better, also missing on 14 teams.

A year earlier, Rivals had 13 of the top 25 finishers with a top 25 class from 2002 to 2006. Scout had one fewer at 12.

There's more.

Florida State pulled in three top-five classes in the past four years, according to Rivals. The Seminoles barely sneaked into a bowl in 2006 and couldn't finish better than fourth in the ACC's Atlantic Division in 2007.

Miami has recruited 14th or better each of the past five years, according to Scout, yet the Hurricanes went 7-6 in 2006 and couldn't even crack .500 last season, finishing 5-7.

In 2003, Oklahoma was regarded to have one of the top recruiting classes in the land. Those projections couldn't have been more inaccurate. In fact, the class can be regarded as one of the worst of Bob Stoops' tenure.

We're just here to warn you. ...

Slick Rick in Action

Rick Neuheisel made an appearance Saturday during halftime of UCLA's basketball game against Arizona. ("We're just getting started!")

Although he introduced defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker and offensive coordinator Norm Chow, one has to think he was merely in the house to scout the Bruins and Wildcats so he can properly seed the teams in his NCAA tournament pool.

Given the rock star status Slick Rick has at the moment, it's clear no one in Pauley Pavilion had read the Seattle Times' gripping four-part series, "Victory and Ruins," which detailed Neuheisel's 2000 Washington team.

Timing is everything in this world. Had this series been published six weeks ago, it would be difficult to imagine that Slick would have been named the Bruin coach. Wrote Bob Rickert of the Oregonian:

"Rarely am I this direct. And I have to say, I kind of like Coach Neuheisel and I have great respect for UCLA. I like UCLA. I used to work so close to the campus that I had lunch with a lot of the Bruin basketball players at In-N Out.

"Great school, beautiful, and probably on probation in 2012. There's no way I'd let my son play football for him. Because I know he probably won't be in 4 years."

A Roof for Doak Campbell?

Florida State officials are exploring the possibility of building a roof over Doak Campbell Stadium, according to Scott Carter of the Tampa Tribune.

Bobby Bowden has been lobbying in recent years for an indoor facility. Last fall, the team had at least 12 practices interrupted because of lightning.

A more pressing matter for Florida State is an ongoing probe into academic misconduct. At the center of the investigation is an online course titled "MUH 2051: Music of World Cultures" — a course designed for nonmusic majors that meets a liberal-studies graduation requirement.

President T.K. Wetherell was critical of the athletic department's lack of cooperation in the investigation, telling Andrew Carter of the Orlando Sentinel:

"One of the things that was frustrating about this whole process was that as we began to unravel this thing in athletics, their solution was circle the wagons, don't tell [the president's office] what's going on."

We Were Wrong — Young Does Have Class

Vince Young is back in Austin, enrolled as a full-time student at Texas for the spring semester, according to Dan Treadway of the Daily Texan.

Young, who guided the Longhorns to the 2005 Bowl Championship Series title, is enrolled as a liberal arts major, but reportedly is considering a switch to education and early child development.

Young, who left after his junior season, attends classes four days a week and then flies to Nashville to fulfill his obligations with the NFL's Tennessee Titans.

Texas' 42% graduation rate, the lowest in the Big 12, is cause for concern in Austin. Coach Mack Brown appeared at a Faculty Council meeting last week to answer questions about the Longhorns' struggles in the classroom.

Thanks to UWire.

Old-Time Hockey

We once again venture down that slippery slope of an off-topic post.

North Dakota and Minnesota squared off Saturday night at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis and the only thing missing were the Hanson Brothers. Viewers watching FSN's live broadcast were treated to an obscene gesture by Fighting Sioux coach Dave Hakstol in the second period and at the end of overtime, a huge fight broke out. The referees finally got control of the situation and this being hockey, the teams lined up for the postgame handshake. That's when the teams squared off again.

Update: Hakstol has been suspended for two games.

Who Reads What?

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.

4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.

5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country — if they could find the time — and if they didn't have to leave Southern California to do it.

6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a poor job of it, thank you very much.

7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.

10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.

11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

12. The Seattle Times is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something in which to wrap it.

Thanks to Kathryn!

Reporters' Notebooks

Jonathan Kealing, Lawrence Journal-World: The Kansas-Missouri game played Nov. 24 at Arrowhead Stadium was a cash cow. Missouri took in about $1,277,000 and Kansas $1,264,000.

Joseph Person, Columbia State: South Carolina has amended Steve Spurrier's contract to create a tax-deferred retirement plan worth $250,000 a year for the next four years. Spurrier, who turns 63 in April, would forfeit all the retirement money if he leaves USC before Dec. 31, 2011.

Greenville News: Clemson running back C.J. Spiller clocked a blazing 6.58 and won the 60-meter dash at the Carolina Classic.

Jimmy Burch, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Former Southern Methodist coach Phil Bennett, who was fired with four games remaining during the 2007 season, has accepted the defensive coordinator's job at Pittsburgh.

Fred Girard, Detroit News: Michigan's Rich Rodriguez went on the offense, filing a counter-suit in federal court against his former employer, West Virginia.

Dave Hickman, Charleston Gazette-Mail: How could West Virginia have been so cruel to poor Rich Rod?

Paul Finebaum, Mobile Press-Register: Mark Richt has many fine traits, but his loyalty to Georgia and refusal to look elsewhere rank at the top of the list.

Jeff Potrykus, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Big Ten Conference teams should be able to start filling in the open dates on their future schedules later this month.

Teddy Greenstein, Chicago Tribune: During recruiting season, coaches sometimes get creative with compliance.

Ron Higgins, Memphis Commercial Appeal: Missississippi chancellor Robert Khayat said he thinks Georgia president Michael Adams will rue his outburst last month calling for a college football playoff.

An Eye-Opening Arrest in Pullman

Safety Xavier Hicks was one of two Washington State players suspended this week and now we know why.

Jim Moore of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that Hicks, right, was arrested for second-degree assault for allegedly putting rubbing alcohol in teammate and roommate Grady Maxwell's contact-lens case.

Commander Chris Tennant of the Pullman Police Department said this apparently stemmed from a problem with their cable bill. Maxwell, an offensive lineman, paid half of the bill — about $40 — before leaving for Christmas. Hicks apparently was supposed to pay the bill.

But when Maxwell returned after the holiday break, the cable bill wasn't paid and service had been turned off. It ultimately turned into the contact-lens caper.

Fortunately, Maxwell never put the contact lenses in his eyes. He noticed they had gotten larger than usual, sniffed them and detected rubbing alcohol.

Duke Will Soon Have a Case of the Runs

One would think the first order of business for David Cutcliffe, right, would be to tell his team is to quit losing. But that's exactly what the new Duke coach, pictured with university president Richard Brodhead, told his players.

Cutcliffe has ordered his team to collectively lose at least 1,000 pounds by March 19, the start of spring practice.

"We're not going to have a fat football team. And we're a fat football team right now," Cutcliffe told Will Flaherty of the Duke Chronicle.

One of the Blue Devils' many problems last season was an inability to close out games. Duke was outscored, 100-50, in the fourth quarter and lost late leads against Navy and North Carolina.

"If I have to get out there on that field and run them myself, 100 100-yard sprints, then they'll start losing weight and moving better," Cutcliffe said.

Thanks to UWire.

McFadden Target of Paternity Complaint

A Little Rock woman has filed a motion asking a judge to order former Arkansas running back Darren McFadden to take a second paternity test to determine if McFadden is the father of her nearly four-month-old daughter.

McFadden's attorney said his client took the first test voluntarily and it came back negative. The woman's attorney said it was not a valid test.

"It was not a test that can be used in a court of law. We're filing a motion asking for a test that can be admissible and verifiable," attorney Agather McKeel said.

Now if McFadden does turn out to be the father, he is not alone. Plenty of athletes have been down this road and Jim Reedy at UWire has put together a collection of items discussing pregnancy in college sports.

Paterno an Oldie but a Goodie to Students

Joe Paterno is entering the final year of his contract at Penn State, and while speculation is that he will continue to coach beyond 2008, his popularity continues to grow — especially among students.

Paterno's name is mentioned in more than 100 Facebook groups, including "I would donate my left leg to Joepa," "Joepa will outlive my children," and "I'd watch JoePa have sex with my mom," according to Elaine Hughes of the Daily Collegian.

Another group wants Paterno, 81, to host "The Price is Right" and 15 Facebook users want the coach to be President of the United States.

The student book store featured a shirt, sold before the Notre Dame game, that said, "You've got Jesus, We've got JoePa."

Thanks to TV Tan Line and UWire.

Reporters' Notebooks

Randy Holtz, Rocky Mountain News: Fired Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick, who says he won't work as a fundraiser at the school, could be considering a position on the staff of Urban Meyer at Florida.

Charles Goldberg, Birmingham News: Auburn and West Virginia have agreed to move their game to a Thursday night — Oct. 23 — in Morgantown, W.Va.

Brett McMurphy, Tampa Tribune: Jim Leavitt of South Florida has been offered a two-year extension through 2014 that would increase his salary by at least $500,000 a season.

Treena Shapiro, Honolulu Advertiser: The State Legislature is considering transferring control of Aloha Stadium to the University of Hawaii in an effort to raise more money for the athletic department.

Jeff Shain, Miami Herald: Florida State is moving its Sept. 27 home game against Colorado to Jacksonville, marking the second consecutive season that it will play in that city.

Steve Korris, West Virginia Record: West Virginia University attorneys have asked a U.S. district judge for permission to place former coach Rich Rodriguez and his wife Rita under oath and ask them where he lived when the university sued him.

Doug Smock, Charleston Gazette: Former Cincinnati coach Rick Minter has been offered the defensive coordinator position at Marshall and his hiring could be announced Friday.

John Pruett, Huntsville Times: The best recruiter you've never heard of? It could be new Southern Mississippi coach Larry Fedora.

Scott Eyman, Palm Beach Post: In memory of Mark Schwed, a feature writer for the Palm Beach Post. Those who knew Mark will never forget him. Rest easy, my friend. ...

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Chris Berman Goes Crazy

This video is quickly making the rounds in the blogosphere but credit goes to Deadspin for being the first site to post it. ESPN's Chris Berman loses it in 2000. Comes with a strong language warning.

Update: The video has been pulled, but you can view all of the Berman videos at this link.