No offense meant: games may have less scoring in 2006

College football coaches and bloggers around the world are abuzz about a rule change for 2006 that will start the clocks on the "ready for play" signal rather than at the snap. See the many links on the subject at the conference media day events:

College Football Resource, Nevada Appeal , Wizard of Odds, LA Times

Coaches like Pete Carroll and Pat Hill feel they they can lose 8-12 plays a game and potentially as much as 7 points a game. The Nevada Appeal article is the most insightful of all the links. Nationwide, the coaches from the big offense schools are the ones kicking and screaming so much this weekend.

Most coaches say under their breath that TV is to blame - check out the official NCAA publication on Rule 3-2-5-e - the only motivation for this rule change was to shorten the games, yet "studies by several Division 1-A conferences" estimate that it will only save five minutes a game. Hardly a change worth making if you want the game to be more TV-friendly.

Let us analyze Rule 3-2-5 further. The clock will start on the free-kick rather than the possession of the receiving team. How much time will that run off the clock? Assume an average of 50 points scored per game, so three TDs and a FG for each team makes eight scores. Assume a hangtime for a kickoff is five seconds. Add in the kickoffs at the start of each half, that is ten kicks times five seconds. That is 50 seconds less actual play time for each game on the kickoffs alone. See how this starts to add up...

I was thinking which teams would like this rule and who would hate it...let me know what you think...

• Alabama may only miss out on three points a game, but their opponents may miss out on ten because of the amazing Tide defense and the offense without Brodie Croyle.
• I do not think it will affect the hurry-up offense teams as much (Hawaii, Northwestern, Oregon), unless they are playing from behind and those pesky refs keep spotting the ball quickly.
• One of the appeals of the Mid-American Conference is their excellence in two phases of the game - offense, and waiting to play offense. I am looking like hell for the quotes from the MAC coaches to no avail.
• Rice, Duke, Syracuse and Temple fans can't wait for the games to end quicker anyway.

Stay tuned to OCF for more as it becomes available, although I doubt the NCAA even looks at those pesky petitions.

Ole Miss retires Mullins #38

The University of Mississippi has chosen to retire the #38 of Roy Lee "Chucky" Mullins with a ceremony before the season opener hosting Memphis.

I mentioned earlier this year that the tradition of awarding the number to the best defensive player each spring will be missed due to its uniqueness, and I feared that the change today was inspired by recruits who would prefer to wear their own jersey number rather than switch because of an award. See the link as I developed that point fully then.

I have a couple links posted on the right hand side if you want to know more about the life of Chucky and all he touched. His father/guardian was humble and appreciative of the newest honor:

"It's a blessing," Carver Phillips said when notified about the upcoming retirement of Chucky's number. "This is an amazing honor for Chucky, and our family is very excited about it. I thought it would happen sooner or later. It's going to be a great day for our family, and we look forward to representing and supporting Chucky."

Please tell me if I am overreacting to this story - it doesn't make me ill, it just smacks of the insidious "me-first" culture infecting another great tradition.

Taylor up in smoke at Texas, leaving Longhorns

The four-letter network ESPN reports that slash star Ramonce Taylor is leaving the University of Texas voluntarily after a tumultuous off-season of poor academics and arrest for marijuana possession. Five pounds of the stuff.

Understandably, Moms is pissed...

"Ramonce is responsible for his bad decisions," his mother, Ramona Clark, told the newspaper. "But he's innocent until proven guilty in the criminal case, and we tried to get information as to what it would take academically for him to be eligible at Texas. I never felt like we got a straight answer from those overseeing Ramonce's academics."

Nothing like the sweet taste of bitterness....I am being tough, his mother's quote is actually pretty well-grounded in reality - taking responsibility but taking one last jab on her way out the door. Just help your troubled child get his feet on the ground (but hopefully not on the grass).

Impact to the Longhorns? Infinitesimal. They are loaded like a Chipotle burrito...

Miami Hurricane shot, no one surprised...

According to USA Today today, Miami Hurricanes reserve safety Willie Cooper was shot in the buttocks when confronted in his yard Friday morning by an unknown person who fled after another player returned gunfire.

OK, no big deal - backups have had their share of trouble since the days of Marty Gallagher voluntarily throwing up on cars for fun all around campus in the early 90's. All those situps can really develop the abdominal muscles...

But wait, it gets better...

Brandon Meriweather pulled a pistol from his pants pocket and fired three times at the person, who jumped a fence and fled with another person in a car, police said.

OK, now Meriweather has skills - he is on some preseason all-conference lists. It seems he is always strapped, since this incident happened before 7 am.

I was trying to think of other school hijinx that would surprise no one, I came up with a short list...

• Oklahoma player seeks alcohol counseling.
• Washington Husky found betting on March Madness
• Florida State linebacker received free shoes
• Tennessee player arrested
• Pittsburgh offense can't score
• Cal captain wins Nobel Prize for Economics

This list is probably just getting started...I know you Ohio State and Michigan fans are loaded to bear (that is why I left them out, give you all plenty of room to obliterate the boundaries of good taste). Let the comments roll!

College Football Player "Bermanisms"

I know, the pop-culture-play-on-words nicknames are played out, but fun nonetheless regardless of intellectual vacuousness...here are pastes of what started as a discussion on fantasy college football QBs this year that degraded, thanks to Daniel, Sooner Billy and me (originally posted on Fantasy College Blitz) .

• Eric "Easy-Eh" Deslauriers (Eastern Michigan WR)
• John "David" Beck "ham" -or- John "Odelay" Beck (BYU)
• Brian Brohm (Louisville)
• Ted Ginn "and Juice"(OSU overhyped WR)
• "Uncle" Lester Ricard (Tulane QB)
• Steven "Miss" Moffett (UCF QB)
• Jeff Rowe "Row Row Your Boat"(Nevada QB)
• Lonta "Calvin and" Hobbs (TCU RB)
• Jon "Game Hen" Cornish (Kansas RB)
• Cedric "Going, Going" Gagne-Marcoux (UCF OL)
• Wil "The Test" Proctor (Clemson QB)
• Ken "Terrance Trent" Darby (Bama RB)
• Rocky "Bee" Hinds (UNLV QB)
• Johnnie Lee "Professor" Higgins (UTEP WR)
• Jon "Weekly Show" Stewart (Oregon RB)
• Reggie "Rubber" Ball (Ga Tech QB, who bounces a few passes)
• Keegan "Smoked" Herring (Ariz St RB)
• Sam "Ain't No" Hollenback "Girl" (Maryland QB)
• Alex "On The" Brink (Wash St QB)
• Chris "Biz" Markey (UCLA RB)
• Colt "Real" McCoy (Texas QB)
• Kory "Satin" Sheets (Purdue RB)
• Maurice "Multi" Linguist (Baylor LB)
• Bryan "Truman" Cupito (Minny QB)
• John "Plaster" Stocco (Wisky QB)
• Javon "Dead" Ringer (Mich State RB)

There is a very definable standard deviation of quality above...some horrible, some great. Add as you see fit on the comments.

Let's read into the Auburn President's angle

From the "Check Your Drivers License, you are in a state of denial" department (right down the hall from the Computer Science Linux lab), we find these comments on the USAToday today...

"This really isn't an athletic issues; it's an academic issue," Ed Richardson said.

How convenient! He makes some salient points about students other than athletes got the same classes - but don't tell us the esteemed Professor Petee (with Bobbleheads in background) doesn't offer up evidence in this official photo that he is a sports nut! I may think differently if he had Todd MacFarlane Spawn figures on his walls, but if the bobblehead fits...

I am willing to side with the SOC department on one point - what they did was not wrong by the letter of the law, but it certainly violates the spirit of higher education that one book report equals 3 credit hours.

Color me more bitter than Mickey Mantle, but if this is the educational equation these days, I have a serious bone to pick with Mrs. Coppock in third grade for making me fight through Beowulf, or Mrs. Johnson in high school with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. IT WASN'T EVEN MODERN ENGLISH!

Melt with me if you will - is this truly the blasphemes coming down on athletics, or is this a non-story? Talk amongst yourselves...

Bobby Petrino signs 10-year deal...

so if history is any indication, that means that he will be looking for a different gig by 2009.

But for now, Louisville wraps up the head coaching sensation with a ten-year deal worth a minimum of $25.5 million dollars.

Notice in the story that Petrino parlayed the long-term deal so he could also have a $1 million dollar buyout. I guarantee that cash is in a money market or short-term agency bond as we speak to get him on the move.

It is so easy to pick on Petrino because of his noted flirtations with (insert NFL or BCS Conference power here), but let me give some props to the man. You don't get this much interest from the sport's elite programs unless you are just that good. Kinda like that gorgeous brunette at work who always has a lunch date and you just can't seem to work yourself in - you know she just has a way to make her suitors come back for more. Petrino's offense again scored 42 or more in seven games last year, and in 2006 is positioning two players for Heisman, RB Michael Bush and QB Brian Brohm.

But set your calendars for 2008 when Bobby Bowden or JoePa finally hang it up to collect their SSA money. Picture Bobby P on private jets with the finest meats and cheeses served on a platter, offering forth a kingdom of elite recruits and the finest in discreet co-eds to truly make it his dream job.

"For me and for my family, Louisville is home," he told Louisville's athletic board.

Thank goodness for the liquid real estate market.

Like school in the summertime,

NO CLASS!




While Russell (above) often put down his petulant friends of Fat Albert and the Gang, it apples today to a talented athlete who is reported to be academically ineligible - and he happens to be named Gary Russell.

The leading candidate to be a big part of the Minnesota Golden Gophers backfield in 2006, Russell rushed for 1,130 yards and a school record of 18 total touchdowns in 2005. He was ineligible for the spring practices due to his courseload and scores.

"hey-bu bubba, wantsa-ba fries with that-ba?"

This leaves the door wide-open for one of my favorite names in college football, Amir Pinnix, to be the main toter of the rock. Pinnix will likely share duties with JUCO Brylee Callender, just like every other year under Coach Glen Mason's watch.

Neither Mushmouth nor The Brown Hornet were available for comment. Rudy was quoted as saying "you are like an empty garbage can - no trash!"

An eponymous ESPN poll for college sports fans

props to the "four-letter network" (thanks, TW) for a great poll, with some unusual results with one-fifth of a million respondents (obviously most of them in the 404 area code...)

ESPN asks What are best things about College Sports?

Why there is no links to mp3's or .wav's for the school songs nor .jpg's of the mascots (way to embrace the power of the internet, Bristol), most are well known to all of you who read this site (all 3 of you).

Bold below are my responses, I encourage you to play along.

1) What is the best school song?
25.4%	Michigan's ''Hail to the Victors''
24.7%	Notre Dame's ''Victory March''
15.5%	Tennessee's ''Rocky Top''
9.3%	Ohio State fight song
7.6%	Maine's ''Stein Song''
5.5%	USC's ''Fight On''
4.1%	Oklahoma's ''Boomer Sooner''
3.0%	Michigan State fight song
2.8%	Wisconsin's ''On Wisconsin''
2.3%	Iowa fight song
2) What is the best college tradition?
30.4%	Army-Navy (post-game songs)
27.1%	Texas A&M (12th Man)
19.5%	Ohio State (dotting the ''I'')
12.9%	Texas (Hook 'em Horns)
10.1%	Clemson (Howard Rock) -------------------- Taking all of your college classes online is getting more possible all the time. --------------------
3) What is the best college logo?
20.9%	Texas
18.3%	Notre Dame
12.9%	Florida
11.7%	Alabama
6.8%	Appalachian State
6.5%	Clemson
6.3%	North Carolina
5.0%	Wichita State
3.3%	San Diego State
3.0%	Kansas
2.8%	East Carolina
2.5%	Old Dominion
4) Which school has the best fans? (no Nebraska? - vm)
14.3%	LSU
12.7%	Ohio State
10.5%	Texas A&M
8.8%	Texas
8.3%	Michigan
6.9%	Alabama
6.9%	Florida
6.4%	Tennessee
6.1%	South Carolina
4.7%	Navy
4.5%	Wisconsin
2.9%	Duke
2.7%	Virginia Tech
2.2%	Oregon
2.0%	Army
5) Which school has the best live mascot?
30.6%	Georgia's ''Uga'' (bulldog)
12.6%	LSU's ''Mike'' (tiger)
12.5%	Colorado's ''Ralphie'' (buffalo)
10.0%	Texas' ''Bevo'' (longhorn)
7.5%	Auburn's ''War Eagle'' (eagle)
6.5%	Texas A&M's ''Reveille'' (collie)
4.9%	Tennessee's ''Smokey'' (hound)
4.8%	Florida State's ''Renegade'' (horse)
3.5%	Oklahoma's ''Sooner Schooner''
3.2%	USC's ''Traveler'' (horse)
2.8%	Yale's ''Handsome Dan'' (bulldog)
1.1%	Baylor's ''Joy and Lady'' (bears)
6) Which school has the best costumed mascot?
16.7%	Notre Dame's ''Leprechaun''
15.4%	Georgia's ''Hairy Dawg''
12.6%	Ohio State's ''Brutus Buckeye''
12.0%	Florida's ''Albert the Gator''
7.8%	Michigan State's ''Sparty the Spartan''
7.3%	Stanford's ''Tree''
6.9%	Alabama's ''Big Al''
6.7%	Nebraska's ''Herbie the Husker''
5.3%	Virginia Tech's ''HokieBird''
4.7%	Miami's ''Sebastian the Ibis''
2.7%	Idaho's ''Joe Vandal''
2.1%	St. Joseph's ''Wings''
7) Which school has the best nickname?
23.0%	Louisiana Lafayette Ragin Cajuns
18.7%	UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs
12.3%	Alabama Crimson Tide
8.3%	Texas Longhorns
5.5%	Marshall Thundering Herd
5.3%	TCU Horned Frogs
5.1%	Wake Forest Demon Deacons
4.8%	Southern Arkansas Mule Riders
4.8%	North Carolina Tar Heels
4.7%	Arkansas Razorbacks
3.1%	Oklahoma Sooners
3.0%	Purdue Boilermakers
1.5%	Tulane Green Wave
8) What is the best college town?
17.7%	Athens, Ga.
12.8%	Austin, Texas
10.3%	College Station, Texas
9.9%	Columbus, Ohio
8.8%	Gainesville, Fla.
8.8%	Ann Arbor, Mich.
6.5%	Madison, Wisc.
5.4%	Knoxville, Tenn.
4.8%	Columbia, S.C.
3.3%	Boulder, Colo.
2.7%	Charlottesville, Va.
2.7%	Eugene, Ore.
2.3%	Boston
1.7%	Bloomington, Ind.
1.1%	Syracuse, N.Y.
1.1%	Atlanta
9) What is the best college rivalry?
21.2%	Michigan-Ohio State
11.9%	Florida-Georgia
11.5%	Auburn-Alabama
9.6%	Army-Navy
8.9%	Oklahoma-Texas
7.1%	Texas-Texas A&M
6.7%	South Carolina-Clemson
6.5%	Notre Dame-everyone
4.1%	Duke-North Carolina
3.4%	Florida-Florida State
2.9%	Miami-Florida State
1.9%	UCLA-USC
1.4%	Stanford-Cal
1.4%	Oregon-Oregon State
1.4%	Harvard-Yale
Total Votes: 200,719 (7/8/06)

A new era in fantasy sports...

a shameless plug for my COLLEGE fantasy football website's first podcast of 2006...

That is right, a 30-minute breakdown of the impact of the college football coaching changes for 2006. Enjoy, and feel free to tear down Daniel's and my ego without retribution...