Auburn Rings Up 2004 National Title

Nothing gets past the sharp eyes of the gang at Losers With Socks. While cruising a post on the Orlando Sentinel's On Campus blog about various rings up for auction on eBay, Patrick Donohue of Losers With Socks noticed a ring from Auburn among the collection.

Upon closer inspection, you will see "National Champions" on the Tigers' ring, which honors the Tigers' 13-0 season in 2004.

The Bowl Championship Game that season featured USC and Oklahoma, with the Trojans winning, 55-19. Auburn was screaming beforehand that it was left out of the title game after playing a nonconference slate of Louisiana Tech, The Citadel and Louisiana Monroe — all at home, of course — and squeaking past Virginia Tech, 16-13, in the Sugar Bowl.

Oklahoma did slightly better in nonconference, playing Oregon, Houston and Bowling Green — all at home, of course — in going undefeated during the regular season.

USC played Notre Dame, Brigham Young and Colorado State in nonleague games, with the BYU game on the road. Of note here is that USC won at Auburn, 23-0, in 2003.

Reporters' Notebooks

Alex Abrams, Springdale Morning News: Bizarre story out of Fayetteville, where Arkansas linebacker Wendel Davis was arrested on a felony charge of first-degree criminal mischief. Davis also was taken to the hospital after suffering injuries to his right hand while punching a car belonging to Onyebuchi Odunukwe. Davis claimed Odunukwe had rear-ended his scooter and said the man had sent him threatening messages in the days leading to the incident after Davis kissed Odunukwe's girlfriend last Saturday.

Tom Witosky, Des Moines Register: It's never a good thing when your coach is listed among 30 potential witnesses in a sex abuse trial of two former players, but Iowa's Kirk Ferentz finds himself in that position.

Ferd Lewis, Honolulu Advertiser: Hawaii has issued an apology, promised improved openness and will pay the Honolulu Advertiser's attorney fees in return for the newspaper dropping its six-week-old lawsuit seeking the release of a complete list of people who traveled to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on the university dime.

Marc Morehouse, Cedar Rapids Gazette: Mediacom is negotiating to get the Big Ten Network on its cable lineup.

Mike Casazza, Charleston Daily Mail: Even if West Virginia wins its case against Rich Rodriguez and collects the $4 million, it's going to take a significant hit in legal fees.

Chuck Carlton, Dallas Morning News: In a move we applaud, Southern Methodist is bringing back its white helmets.

Ben Prather, FanBlogs: Nevada Las Vegas has unveiled what could be the ugliest uniform design in the history of mankind. Take a look.

Deep South Sports: Mississippi State knows how to bust the balls of rival Mississippi. Put up a billboard!

Chip Towers, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Georgia defensive end Michael Lemon, who is wanted on aggravated battery. Lemon reportedly punched DeMarius Jackson in the face Saturday night and Jackson suffered a blowout fracture of his left eye socket. ... Thanks to Art!

Paul Strelow, Columbia State: The decision on whether Clemson sophomore safety DeAndre McDaniel can play pending a criminal charge appears to be in Tommy Bowden's hands. McDaniel was arrested June 21 on charges of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature after an incident with his girlfriend at his off-campus apartment.

Kyle Tucker, Virginian-Pilot: Virginia Tech receiver Brandon Dillard ruptured his Achilles' tendon during a game of toss and will miss the 2008 season. Thanks to Ryan of Gobbler Country.

Drew Edwards, Knoxville News-Sentinel: Phil Fulmer not only got his first raise in three years, he got his contract extended through 2014.

Mark Snyder, Detroit Free Press: Michigan junior tailback Kevin Grady is facing a driving while intoxicated charge after blowing 3.5 times over the legal limit.

Oklahoman: Oklahoma State receiver Damian Davis was arrested and charged with being underage in a bar, possessing a fake ID and presenting a fake ID to a police officer with the intent of deceiving the officer and obstructing an investigation.

Mississippi State Sports Blog: Mississippi State is installing a $6.1 million HD video board over the south end zone at Scott Field.

Think you can name all the teams? Check out this terrific mystery link. Thanks to TV Tan Lines.

Send Us Your Team's Poster Schedule

One of the more popular features on this site has been poster schedules, and we will begin posting the 2008 editions next week. If you're a fan of a team or with a sports information office and wish to have your team's poster displayed, send an image to dawizofodds (at) aol.com. Only clean and readable images are allowed. We post one team's poster schedule each day in the run-up to the season.

If you're new to the site or simply not sure what this is all about, here are links to the poster schedules displayed for the 2007 and 2006 seasons. The links are also available on the right-hand column under "Best of the Wiz."

Nearly all of the posters are beautifully crafted and if anybody is interested, we're open to a qualified person critiquing each poster. This isn't easy work, as we expect to display 50-plus posters.

One last note: We're also looking for somebody to create a custom banner for the Wiz. We figure it's about time for an upgrade. Drop us a note if you're interested.

Did the ACC's Raid of the Big East Pay Off?

Who got the better end of the deal, the Atlantic Coast Conference or the Big East?

It has been five years since the ACC began an expansion process that led Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech to join the ACC and leave the Big East. The ACC's move put the Big East on the brink of extinction, but the superconference maneuver hasn't turned out as planned for the ACC.

Financially, the bold move has paid off for the ACC, but on the football field, the league's teams have floundered.

"I think the way you have to measure expansion is positioning for the long term," ACC Commissioner John Swofford (above left) said.

The Big East — despite questions about its long-term stability — has been a football success, with commissioner Mike Tranghese (middle) luring Louisville and South Florida to a league with emerging powers West Virginia and Rutgers.

The Big East's plundering of Conference USA also had an impact. Conference USA, which had a cumbersome 15-team league, became a streamlined 12-team all-sports conference that in "most respects," commissioner Britton Banowsky (right) said, is better than it once was.

But is a 16-team league better than eight, 12 or 14? With finances continuing to skyrocket, a 16-team league would appear to be the model of future conferences.

Reporters' Notebooks

Kevin Donahue, FanBlogs: A 1999 Florida State national championship ring has been posted on eBay, with a buy-it-now price of $3,899.99.

Marc Weiszer, Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia offensive linemen Trinton Sturdivant and Justin Anderson were arrested on charges of simple battery. A third Bulldog, defensive end Michael Lemon, is expected to face more serious charges after he was accused of severely beating an Athens man. The victim reportedly suffered fractured bones around an eye. ... Thanks to Art.

Associated Press: Possibly coming to a high school near you: the Kirk Herbstreit Varsity Football Series. Thanks to Sam of Bleed Crimson.

M Go Blog: Looks like Verizon is adding the Big Ten Network to its lineup.

Paul Buker, Oregonian: Oregon State senior safety Bryan Payton is no longer a member of the team. He made a memorable interception in the Beavers' upset of USC in 2006.

Terry Hutchens, Indianapolis Star: John Pont, who guided Indiana to its only appearance in the Rose Bowl, has died. He was 80.

Chuck Carlton, Dallas Morning News: The American Football Coaches Association continues to push for guaranteed contracts for assistants. Currently, only an estimated 40-50% of I-A teams offer assistants 12-month contracts.

Steve Ellis, Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State will appear before the NCAA infractions committee on Oct. 18 to discuss the school's academic fraud case that led to the suspension of several athletes.

Larry Vaught, Advocate-Messenger: Kentucky's Rich Brooks is OK after a boating accident in Oregon.

Joe Meyer, Columbia Tribune: Missouri freshman defensive lineman Jimmy Burge was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of leaving the scene of an accident, three days after allegedly running over a mailbox in his truck and driving away.

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

Art of the Cupcake Schedule

If you've ever wondered what the key ingredients are in making a perfect cupcake schedule, ask a fan from Minnesota, the Southeastern or Big 12 conferences.

Numbers don't lie now, do they?

The site National Championship Issue has completed an amazing study, looking at nonconference schedules the past 10 years. And guess what? Scheduling abuses are greatest among SEC and Big 12 teams, who continue to shy from playing other Bowl Championship Series teams in nonconference games.

Much of this data reinforces the study posted here last December by Map Game Day detailing how SEC teams rarely left the neighborhood to play a game. Georgia, for example, has traveled a total of 358 miles for nonconference games the past 10 years.

So not only do many of these teams refuse to travel, they schedule the lightest of the lightweights for home games. Shame, shame, shame.

College football fans should be outraged. You pay good money to attend games and get a product that continues to be cheapened by a watering down of competition. And don't give us that crap about how difficult your conference schedule is. Today's business model is to go 4-0 in nonconference play and 2-6 in league play. That gets your team a 6-6 record and trip to Shreveport. Yippee!
Let's get to this amazing piece of work posted by National Championship Issue, which cautions that "this is NOT a study of how difficult a team’s non-conf schedule actually was. Instead, this study attempts to measure how difficult a non-conf schedule a team tried to arrange."
Here's the first chart showing the lowest percentages of BCS opponents scheduled for nonconference games the past 10 years. Minnesota, which has played 34 nonleague games in that span, has played only two BCS opponents — Baylor and California. Arkansas is not much better with only four of its 34 nonleague games coming against BCS teams.
This chart details the fewest number of nonconference road games the past 10 years. Of Auburn's 34 nonleague games, only three — USC, Georgia Tech and Syracuse — have been on the road. Notice there are seven SEC teams in the bottom 12.
Here we look at teams that have really sold out, scheduling the most games against I-AA opponents. There are 18 teams charted, and Big 12 teams occupy seven of the slots.

As always, click a chart for an expanded view.

Reporters' Notebooks

Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Another round of depositions in the Rich Rodriguez case have been released. West Virginia president Mike Garrison acknowledged he told Rich Rod he wasn't sold on the idea of buyouts in contracts, but denied telling the former Mountaineer coach in August that the $4 million buyout clause in Rodriguez's contract would be lowered. Plus, the Charleston Gazette has posted downloadable files of the five transcripts that were released Monday.

Angelique S. Chengelis, Detroit Free Press: "Michigan Replay," the coach's show that has been on the air for 33 years, is no more. Rich Rod said he's not interested in hanging around after games to tape a show because he would rather use the time visiting with recruits and spending time with his family.

Graham Couch, Kalamazoo Gazette: Michigan State and Western Michigan will play a Nov. 7, 2009 game at Detroit's Ford Field.

Brett Dawson, Louisville Courier-Journal: Kentucky fans won't be able to fire up a Marlboro inside Commonwealth Stadium this season. Smoking inside the stadium is now prohibited.

Chip Towers, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Dignitaries were out in full force in Athens as Uga VI was laid to rest in a ceremony at Georgia's Sanford Stadium.

Bob Condotta, Seattle Times: Washington's recruiting class of 2005 — generally regarded as the worst in team history — is living down to the hype. There are only seven players from the group left on the team.

Ryan Finley, Arizona Daily Star: Arizona's Mike Stoops is bringing a military approach to training camp this fall. The Wildcats will practice at Fort Huachuca, sleep in army barracks and spend much of their downtime with the troops.

Thayer Evans, New York Times: Jamarkus McFarland, one of the nation's top defensive tackle recruits out of Lufkin, Texas, is prized for his brainpower as much as his brawn. McFarland is senior-class president at Lufkin High and makes $6.50 an hour working part-time at a Kmart. He also has an academic average of 92.4 on a 100-point scale.

Paul Finebaum, Mobile Press-Register: Montgomery attorney Donald Maurice Jackson says things have changed dramatically over the years for African American students, and it hasn't all been good. "For example, I love rap music," Jackson said, "but USC has Snoop Dogg walking around the sidelines and when you connect your program to that element, you are inviting this."

Kevin Donahue, FanBlogs: California will have new helmets and uniforms this season that will feature bear claw slashes around the neckline and on the side of the pants.

Mike Knobler, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Tech cornerback Jerrard Tarrant was arrested and charged with rape and sodomy stemming from an incident that allegedly occurred in late April on campus.

Northwest Arkansas Times: Arkansas sophomore linebacker Freddy Burton, 19, was arrested in Fayetteville and charged with driving while intoxicated.