2012 NCAA College Football Thread

[HailtotheYo]

Too many holes and inconsistencies in the story for me to believe he's a victim. Though I'm not too sure what his motivation in all this would be.

He's an attention whore, that's the motivation.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8854472/teammate-manti-teo-says-player-played-girlfriend-angle

[gunnar hendershow]

So many pieces don't add up. This recent story about Ronaiah Tuiasosopo confessing to a friend about being behind the hoax in December adds another part into the equation that just seems to pile a lie on top of another. This friend isn't looking for her 15 minutes as she asked to remain anonymous, but she had plenty of time to come out with this information after being told. Again, the lack of fact-checking the whole time we presumed he had a dead girlfriend is staggering. Obviously there were suspicious journalists who did their own independent research, as Deadspin showed,, but "reporting around" the lack of an obit is a really big deal. I understand you don't want to accuse anyone of making up a dead girlfriend, but that sounds like a lead you chase to the place where she allegedly lived and/or died. Information has had a long time to be created by the people behind the hoax since apparently Te'o "discovered" this on Dec. 6 despite discussing her after the fact in the media. So many things are just loose ends right now, it's startling.

I'm going to run with Te'o trying to cover up being in a homosexual relationship by having a long-distance girlfriend (an acquaintance of mine in the gay community claims that's a way high schoolers often stay in the closet). On the other end is Tuiasosopo who has reasons of his own to hide being gay with Te'o. The thirst for attention with his fake girlfriend getting in a car wreck, having and then ultimately dying sort of parallels his increased fame and popularity. While these both stem from the same lie, they are sort of independent. He can always find a new "girlfriend" after he's done grieving, and in the meanwhile he gets his ego petted which is something that probably grew exponentially as he found himself becoming a household name in South Bend in '10 and then nationally known in '11 and '12. Fame changes people, it can make them feel invincible, it can make them addicted to attention, or it can cause them to become increasingly introverted unable to handle the stress of their private life being out in the open. In this case, the girlfriend was needed to hide a relationship between him and someone who records Christian music and is active at a church, something which Te'o wanted to stay a private matter.

Do I think this gets settled? No. I think at the end of the day we have strange, conflicting stories that don't all add up but leave this as one of the few realistic backgrounds for the entire hoax taking place.

[HC]

I doubt Te'o is gay. Anything is possible, but he is more than likely an attention whore, plain and simple.

[RoHitman Reigns]

Damshow, where do you put yourself at now with it that apparently this fake girlfriend was used on others in previous years? I'm undecided really for where I stand currntly.

[RPS]

Everything about this Manti story screams him being gay.

[gunnar hendershow]

Damshow, where do you put yourself at now with it that apparently this fake girlfriend was used on others in previous years? I'm undecided really for where I stand currntly.

I just saw that. It doesn't change too much of my stance, the whole thing has so many holes all over. Basically he and Tuiasosopo could have decided to use her name, or Tuiasosopo was serial and regularly played this prank on people. There's a whole lot of options.

I still don't get why she was mentioned after he found out it was a hoax.

[HailtotheYo]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8859077/manti-teo-notre-dame-fighting-irish-denies-being-part-hoax-late-girlfriend

[HailtotheYo]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8869676/mountain-west-hold-conference-championship-game

Wow, logical thinking and everything. MWC will hold title game and announces divisions.

[gunnar hendershow]

Well done MWC. Certainly one step closer to being regarded as a legitimate conference.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Highlights of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo's Dr. Phil interview.

Tuiasosopo explained that he felt a lot of real feelings toward Te'o: When he called Manti, and a girl picked up, he got angry. The night Te'o's grandmother died, Te'o supposedly told Lennay that he never wanted to speak to her again—that's why Tuiasosopo killed her off that night.

I mean, yeah, if I had pretty much had this escape of Lennay from everything else, what my heart and all my energy went into this, as twisted and confusing as it may be, I did all that I could to help this person become a better person even though I wasn't getting nothing out of it. ... The truth of it is that it happened, I grew feelings, I grew emotions that sooner or later I couldn't control anymore.

Also, he claims he was the voice behind Lennay the whole time too.

[gunnar hendershow]

Some interesting stories on National Signing Day.

The first and foremost one is the incredible success of Hugh Freeze at Ole Miss. He picked up quite a few guys who decommitted from other schools, Robert Nkemdiche (number 1 overall) being the top name. Also got the top offensive lineman of the class of 2013 in Laremy Tunsil, the top WR in Laquon Treadwill, and 2 more ESPN top 150 classes. Is a class this good going to Oxford a surprise? You bet. Freeze just might be that kind of guy to turn the program into a power, he game in with a good level of name value thanks to The Blind Side and turned the program around in his second year.

Alabama has the top class, something that comes as a surprise to exactly zero people. The story of Reuben Foster is wild. He verbally committed to the Tide as a junior, then moved to Auburn, AL, as a result he then switched to Auburn and even got an Auburn tattoo, but after they fired Chizik he switched back to Alabama. He was the number 1 ranked MLB out there. Another Auburn commit that Alabama wound up getting following the firing of Chizik is the incredbly-named, defensive tackle--Dee Liner.

Auburn did land a decent class despite this, headlined by DE Carl Lawson who is just as good as Nkemdiche for the most part.

But the best story comes from Fort Lauderdale. Alex Collins, one of the top RB recruits in the country, had his mother steal his letter of intent for Arkansas because she doesn't want him to leave home. This story is wild on many levels.

Here are the top 15 classes according to ESPN, with size of class in parentheses.

1- Alabama (26)

2- Florida (28)

3- Ohio State (25)

4- Notre Dame (24)

5- Ole Miss (28)

6- Michigan (27)

7- LSU (27)

8- Texas A&M (34)

9- Florida State (22)

10- Georgia (32)

11- Auburn (24)

12- UCLA (26)

13- Clemson (23)

14- USC (13)

15- Texas (15)

I believe it was over half of the top 250 recruits in the country came from SEC states, which now includes Texas. The SEC's success is built on the fertile recruiting ground. These recruits from the south very rarely leave the south, and until high school football in the south doesn't produce players as good the SEC is likely going to remain the premier conference in the country. With Urban Meyer, Brian Kelly, and Brady Hoke having everything from PA and western NY over to the the Missouri River at their disposal it's going to be a lot of fun watching the recruiting wars between those three for years to come. And the Battle for California is in full swing between Mora and Kiffin. It's been awhile since we've had so many recruiting battlegrounds at the same time. Far too often one school owns an entire region.

[DMN in the House]

Espn is bullshit, Scouts and Rivals has UCLA in the top five. Of course, w assent in the SEC, so...

[gunnar hendershow]

???

UCLA is 11th on Rivals. Scout does have them 5th though, but I think their formula sucks. It rewards depth a bit too much. You can only have 11 players on the field at any given time. Depth needs to be factored in, but not as much as the number of 5-star recruits you land.

[MalaCloudy Black]

So Alex Collins signed. His dad signed the letter of intent, but apparently his mom's hired a lawyer.

[gunnar hendershow]

Something tells me that lawyer is desperate for work.

[gunnar hendershow]

Former Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron looks like he will be accepting the same position... at LSU.

He landed on his feet for sure.