2013 College Football Thread

[HailtotheYo]

Signing Day has past so we're officially on to the new season. We'll start with the Big Ten doing something right:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8942451/barry-alvarez-says-big-ten-schedule-fcs-teams .... they're not going to play FCS schools anymore. There are some contracts to be honored I'm sure, and probably some schools that don't wan to buy out the games as well. But they're done putting them on the schedule. Freaking awesome.

Mark Richt bought himself another year as he gets an extension and a 390K raise.

Alabama has been recruiting fine, outstanding young men http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8939251/dj-pettway-4-alabama-crimson-tide-freshmen-facing-charges

Dennis Erickson is now the co-offensive coordinator for Utah.

[gunnar hendershow]

The fact that those players got arrested in Tuscaloosa will help nothing come of this. Amazing culture that college football promotes.

I like the Big Ten's example and I would envision other conferences following their lead. I don't know how much conferences will change their season schedule, like the SEC having that ridiculous week at the end of the season where they all play FCS schools as opposed to the first week of the season like everyone else, but at least we'll be seeing decent matchups replace the FCS games across the board.

Doing this does hurt FCS programs though who benefit from the payday of getting trounced by an FBS power, and I would hope there comes another avenue for that money to be generated.

[GhostMachine]

I think there should be some consequences for playing FCS teams:

If you win, you can't go up in the rankings no matter how the teams above you did. If you lose, you should drop completely out of the top 25. Cannot schedule more than one FCS school a season, unless one of the two games is a road game and you drop 5 spots in the rankings just for playing the second game.

[HailtotheYo]

As much as I hate it, I get it when it comes to playing FCS schools from your own state. That said, you should be required to play a home/away series.

The FCS in November bullshit though ... hell, unless it is your top rivalry you shouldn't be playing out of converence after September.

[gunnar hendershow]

As much as I hate it, I get it when it comes to playing FCS schools from your own state. That said, you should be required to play a home/away series.

The FCS in November bullshit though ... hell, unless it is your top rivalry you shouldn't be playing out of converence after September.

I'm told the SEC doing it is a lot more than about not wanting to change their conference schedule to accommodate the longer regular seasons. A lot of the weekends of the fall have always been built around doing things on a certain weekend and local economies and all that are set to this calendar. I don't know how much that is based in fact, but it does make sense as an argument knowing how tied the SEC schools are to their local economies.

[HailtotheYo]

I'm told the SEC doing it is a lot more than about not wanting to change their conference schedule to accommodate the longer regular seasons. A lot of the weekends of the fall have always been built around doing things on a certain weekend and local economies and all that are set to this calendar. I don't know how much that is based in fact, but it does make sense as an argument knowing how tied the SEC schools are to their local economies.

As much as I hate it, I get it when it comes to playing FCS schools from your own state. That said, you should be required to play a home/away series.

The FCS in November bullshit though ... hell, unless it is your top rivalry you shouldn't be playing out of converence after September.

There may be some validity in that, but the truth of the matter is that the SEC figured out the system.

1996 Florida Gators .... national title winners .... played 2 FCS school, first/second weekend of the season and had ranked opponents the last 2 weeks of the season.

2006 Florida Gators ... national title winners .... played 1 FCS school in November but upped their other non-conference to "other" FBS conference schools.

1992 Bama ... national title winners ... no FCS schools, played LT and Tulane but both were before mid October

2009/2011/2012 Bama ... national title winners ... played an FCS school in mid-late November

Some of the SEC schools were playing weaker conference teams in october, first of november but the schedules have shifted for the entire conference to mid/late november for these weaker or FCS opponents.

[HailtotheYo]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9015123/florida-state-seminoles-boise-state-broncos-schedule-two-game-series

Florida State ain't scared of Boise State ....

[MyKILLv2.0]

More like FSU needs to boost up their strength of schedule since they are the only ones in that conference that have a shot at being a top 10 program over the next two or three years.

[HailtotheYo]

More like FSU needs to boost up their strength of schedule since they are the only ones in that conference that have a shot at being a top 10 program over the next two or three years.

Well, there's Florida every year at the end of November ... They had WVU on the schedule but their move to the Big12 caused them to back out of the game ... two and three years ago they played Oklahoma ... BYU 3 and 4 years ago ...

... their schedule has always been 1 or 2 creampuffs and then two solid non-conference games (one always UF).

Pitt and Cuse coming into the conference is only going to help the SOS as well. As long as VT and Clemson don't shit the bed, they're fine.

[HailtotheYo]

App St and Ga Southern going FBS in 2015 joining the Sun Belt: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9097544/appalachian-state-mountaineers-georgia-southern-eagles-join-sun-belt-according-sources

Sun Belt also adds Idaho and NM State: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9099719/idaho-vandals-new-mexico-state-aggies-headed-sun-belt-conference-2014-sources-say

That'll be a nice little conference in a couple of years. Too bad North Texas ran off.

... aaaand the yet to be named conference formerly known as the Big East adds Tulsa: http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/9100852/tulsa-golden-hurricane-join-big-east-according-sources

[HailtotheYo]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/9122292/western-kentucky-announces-move-c-usa

WKU going to C-USA ... damnit.

[Lint]

Scandal at Auburn!

Former Auburn Football Players Accuse Program Of Racism, Bribery, And Numerous Other Violations

Two years ago, four Auburn University football players—Antonio Goodwin, Shaun Kitchens, Mike McNeil and Dakota Mosley—were arrested and charged with armed robbery. Almost immediately, all four players were dismissed from the team by then-coach Gene Chizik, and everyone got on with their lives. Now, just a few days from his trial date, McNeil has decided to tell his side of the story to Selena Roberts at her new site, Roopstigo, and boy does he have a lot of bombs to drop.

McNeil, along with a handful of his former teammates, tells Roberts a story in which the Auburn football program and the community surrounding it sound just as odious as such places are so often believed to be. Among the claims alleged in Roberts's story: then-defensive coordinator Will Mushcamp, now the head coach at Florida, once tried to give McNeil $400; black players were targeted by police and drug tested by the team more often than their white teammates; grades were altered so that players who were academically ineligible could participate in the 2011 BCS championship game; receiver Darvin Adams was offered thousands of dollars by the coaching staff to return for his senior season and went undrafted after refusing to take the bribe, due in part to negative reports Auburn gave NFL scouts about him.

McNeil maintains that he is innocent of the robbery charges brought against him, claiming that he was unwittingly pulled into a robbery by his teammates. Roberts's story also claims that McNeil was never read his Miranda rights, and was abandoned by his former coaches despite the fact that witness testimony implicating McNeil's participation in the crime was wildly inconsistent.

To this day, no one from the university has talked to the family. After Mike McNeil posted a $511,000 bond, Police Chief Tommy Dawson told McNeil’s then-attorney that even though he was innocent until proven guilty, Mike would be arrested for trespassing if he set foot on campus. “In my 22 years,” [his attorney] said, “I’d never heard of anything like that happening to a student.” In a team meeting, players were told by coaches not to contact any of the accused or risk losing their scholarship. “Mike was like a brother,” says Nieko Thorpe, a former Auburn defensive back who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs. “I wanted to talk to my brother. I’m sure, with all that was going on, he felt betrayed.”

McNeil's trial begins on April 8. If convicted, he could be face 21 years to life in prison.

[HailtotheYo]

The new (old) Big East ... er, the one that matters because it plays FOOOHTBAAWWLL ... will be named the American Athletic Conference.

[gunnar hendershow]

I wholly expect the situation at Auburn to be swept under the rug. Or at the least be neutered to the point that the actual violations they find are so minor that it doesn't affect the national championship.

[ThaBoss18]

Is it me or is it that every team that is successfully in college football gets caught cheating after a while?

[Lint]

Is it me or is it that every team that is successfully in college football gets caught cheating after a while?

No..some of them get caught covering up child molestation...

[HailtotheYo]

Or just have dipshits arrested all and/or busted with pot, getting great discounts on shoes.

[DMN in the House]

Free shoes university!

I thought Peter Warrick was going to be a decent NFL player, though. Fooled me.

[HailtotheYo]

Yeeaaahh he fooled a bunch of us. Although, at least he had a few spectacular plays before becoming a footnote:

[HailtotheYo]

CAL gets a new look: http://blog.pac-12.com/cal-introduces-new-logo-visual-identity/