2012 NCAA College Football Thread

[gunnar hendershow]

It's kind of early to start this, but some rather big news is coming out of Arkansas right now. Over the weekend Bobby Petrino was involved in a motorcycle accident. He was injured and, as is always the case when motorcycles are involved, lucky it wasn't worse. He said he was riding alone, and some passers-by escorted him to a hospital in Fayetteville.

He wasn't riding alone. That news came out earlier today that there was a female passenger half his age riding with him and he lied about this. Sirens starting going off and now he's been placed on administrative leave for having an inappropriate relationship with a university employee half his age.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7779961/bobby-petrino-arkansas-razorbacks-placed-paid-leave-apologizes-relationship

Interested to see what direction this goes as Arkansas had turned into a borderline power under him and was very close to taking that next step. Unfortunate his family has to go through this, but he deserves whatever punishment comes his way for both having the relationship and then lying about it.

[Plubby]

I liked watching the Razorbacks play last season. I presume the coach is married, otherwise to me this is a non-story.

As for the upcoming season, though... KELLEN MO...

[Lint]

I liked watching the Razorbacks play last season. I presume the coach is married, otherwise to me this is a non-story.

As for the upcoming season, though... KELLEN MO...

Married..with like 2 or 3 kids

[Slogger]

I liked watching the Razorbacks play last season. I presume the coach is married, otherwise to me this is a non-story.

As for the upcoming season, though... KELLEN MO...

Married..with like 2 or 3 kids

Rumor also has it that the young lady involved is dating/engaged to one of the swim team coaches at the university.

[gunnar hendershow]

Someone told me she's been on the fast-track through Arkansas' athletic department? Getting new, better positions regularly.

,,,

Okay there was no way I couldn't make that sound sleazy but you know what I meant.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I know she was a fundraiser for the Razorback Foundation and it was just days ago that she was appointed by Petrino as the student athlete development coordinator.

But yeah, this really sucks for us. At best Petrino keeps his job and is levied a fine, maybe suspension? and at worst we're going to be in the market for a new head coach, which could really hinder us going into the fall 2012 season.

[Meacon Keaton]

"Too early", my ass. Notre Dame is already halfway done with their spring practices.

Not that anyone cares, but Notre Dame currently has eleven commits to next year's class already, including getting ten of them in the last two weeks. ^_^

Still no clear cut starter on the quarterback front, which is worrisome. I'd imagine Gunner Kiel will take over after a year or two, but he's only been on campus for a couple months. Expecting him to beat out two guys with two years experience, and another kid who redshirted and just studied the playbook isn't fair to an eighteen year old. Hopefully Rees will cut his turnovers in half, or Hendrix/Golson step up and show everyone how this offense is suppose to operate.

Cornerback is another position of worry. While on one side, Bennett Jackson has been great in camp, and has apparently already locked down the starting job on one side. But Lo Wood, a sophomore, who many expected to take the second corner spot is struggling to remain consistent. He makes a few really impressive plays only to get burnt on multiple plays as a follow up. He seems to have the mechanics down. Just looks like a mental thing. Again, he's only a sophomore, but we really need someone else to step up. That someone else may be fifth-year senior Jamoris Slaughter. Expected to be our starting safety, Slaughter took some reps at corner this past week to, as the coaches said "add depth". I, along with many others, are kind of looking at it differently. It's not secret that Wood isn't stepping up like they had hoped. Slaughter is a freak of nature on the field. He can play safety, linebacker, corner, wherever needed. And the coaches seem extremely high on Austin Collinsworth (son of former NFL receiver Cris Collinsworth) as the third safety. I'm hoping Collinsworth takes over Slaughter's spot at safety, next to Zeke Motta, and that Slaughter stays at the other corner spot, giving us consistent, bad ass playmakers on each side.

Receiver is an interesting position this offseason. The coaches have combined the running back position with the slot receiver position. We have slot receivers like Theo Riddick (who was originally a running back) and Roby Toma taking handoffs out of the backfield, and running backs like Cierre Wood and George Atkinson III (son of former NFL cornerback George Atkinson Jr.) out in the slot as a receiver. I really like the idea. If we can get guys like GAIII out of the backfield and into open space, he'll be able to break off some really big plays. He had two kick returns for touchdowns last year as a true freshman. Meanwhile on the wide receiver front, there seems to be some concern. Any time you have to replace a great talent like Michael Floyd, people are going to be skeptical. We have fifth-year senior, John Goodman, attempting to step into that role. Goodman is tall, fast, and strong, but he's struggled to make an impact in his first four years on campus. The kid was a highly touted recruit coming out of high school, but has yet to tap that potential. However, after what Coach Brian Kelly did for resurrecting Jonas Gray's career last year, I don't doubt he can do the same for Goodman this year. The only bright side from losing Floyd is that this year, whoever our quarterback is, will force them to look at their second and third and fourth options. Michael was such a great athlete that Tommy Rees would force him the ball even if he was double or triple covered. That accounted for a lot of our turnovers. Hopefully, if he's named starter, he won't find one receiver to lock in on like he did with Floyd.

Sorry. I'm more obsessed with Notre Dame football than any other sport or team. I could talk about this stuff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

[Plubby]

Notre Dame is a team I really want to like. It's hard to get behind a team that doesn't develop conference rivalries though. I dunno why, I just like it that way. ND to the Big East! You can be our rival

[Meacon Keaton]

Notre Dame has rivalries that go beyond conferences. We have rivals in the Big-10 (Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue), the Pac-12 (USC & Stanford), the ACC (Boston College), and Big East (Pittsburgh). That's what makes being a Notre Dame fan so much fun. They play teams all over the country, not just one section of it. This year, first game of the season against Navy is in Ireland.

[Plubby]

I realise this, it just doesn't mean as much to me. I don't know why.

[gunnar hendershow]

And the Razorbacks have fired Petrino.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7798429/bobby-petrino-return-arkansas-razorbacks-coach-sources-say

It doesn't come as a shock, football coaches are the faces of the entire university more times than not and as a result you have to pay the price for ethical and moral failings. I'm expecting the next generation of coach contracts to all have something in place to enforce ethics in everything they do.

[Meacon Keaton]

Urban Meyer hopes not!

[Plubby]

...wut?

[gunnar hendershow]

Urban Meyer murdered ethics.

[Meacon Keaton]

Yeah, he's a hell of a coach. But he's shadey and not very trust-worthy from everything I've ever seen and read about him from his former players. Aside from Tebow who has never had a bad word to say about anyone, ever.

[gunnar hendershow]

Tim Tebow probably had to spend an extra half hour praying before bed every night when he saw the stuff Urban was doing. His God is a forgiving god, but sometimes even he won't listen to Tebow at first.

[Plubby]

Citation needed.

I read something from his former players that say they'd run through a brick wall for him.

[Meacon Keaton]

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-04-09/urban-meyer-florida-ohio-state-ncaa-violation-recruiting-drugs-program-will-musc?eadid=EL/SICOM&sct=hp_t2_a3

Yeah, probably the ones he kept out of prison. There's also all kinds of different articles about him saying one thing to one person, and saying the exact opposite to the other.

Being a Notre Dame fan, I want to like Urban Meyer. But when there's smoke, there's usually fire. You can only hear the same stuff over and over until it gets the point where you have to assume at least some of it is true.

[gunnar hendershow]

This is also a guy who denied, with a smirk the whole time, that he wasn't headed to Ohio State for a whole month after the news reported "yeah he's headed there, without a doubt".

He did it with a smirk, it was so fucking obvious. I can't wait for the violations that topple the Buckeyes come though, couldn't happen to a nicer program!

[Meacon Keaton]

It's a bit dated since there's no blonde chick on the back, but it still made me laugh.