The College Football thread

“Nope.”

“Did the Scarlet Knights play their bowl game yet? I didn't catch a score.”

“Note that an NFL coach is taking a PAY CUT to come and coach at Bama.”

“Rutgers beat K State - can't recall the score.

I figured Saban would go once he put it off another day.

Good luck to him - tough job there, but he's been in the conf before and knows what he's getting into.”

“Rutgers won 37-10. Kansas State managed 3 offensive points.

Highlights here: http://www.scarletknights.com/vision/football/2006/bowl.html”

“Alabama bought a couch...Sabin accepted 4 mil a year for 8 years plus signing bonus, and bowl game bonuses.”

“He's not getting $4 mil per year. Heizenga himself stated that this was not about money and that the numbers reported were not anywhere near what was offered. He'll still be the highest paid coach in college football though.”

“He gets to say he coached one of the most storied football programs in the history of the game.”

“doesn't every program in essence 'buy' the coach?

I think he's a good fit, he knows about pressure and I liked him at LSU.”

“It was $30M for 8 and now they're saying $32M for 8, so looks like OPIE was right. There were reports that it was up to $50M. That must have been what Hizenga was referring to.

I think Bama needs a hard ass coach to clear out all the good old boys in the AD and hangers on. He's not going to put up with any $hit and that's a good thing.”

“yep - word was that he had Bama agreeing to pretty much giving him the keys to the house - ability to pick his staff, including how many will be ON his staff - AND their salaries - all good to the end of cleaning house.

I hope he can get the boosters to play 'fair' or at least fair enough to stay out of trouble for a few years in a row.

His record from LSU indicates he can and will.”

““Rutgers won 37-10. Kansas State managed 3 offensive points

Congrats on the win. I do think ya got screwed on who you played though. Rutgers was contending for the #1 spot at one time and then they get handed a near .500 team like KS?”

“The University of Alabama borrows athletic trainers from neighboring colleges during spring practice. ( or at least they use to ) I was one of the ones borrowed from the University of West Alabama during "the Bear's" last year. One day during practice, "the Bear" came over and put his arm across my shoulder and leaned on me for a while. He asked me what I thought about a lineman that was looking VERY out of shape. I told him what I thought and he said "uh huh hmmmmm" and walked off.

LOL

I'll never forget that experience. I hope they get a good program going and put the past behind them.”

“I agree Nigal but I figured arclite will do enough #&%!$ing for the whole board come next week.”

“Agreed. Lord helps us whether UF wins OR loses.”

“good luck with nick saban, tide.
i wouldn't want that idiot coaching my pop warner team.


i'll throw this post in here too FWIW, but it's still prolly more relevant in the horrified in bama thread.”

“huh?”

“what?

did anyone from alabama actually watch a fins game in the last couple years?”

“No, but we saw LSU dismantle OU in the NC game a few years back.”

“you can't compare coaching results between the NFL and college ball. Different worlds, different games.

witness Steven O. Spurrier
last edited: 1/03/07 4:17:54 PM”

“Agreed, some guys are college guys.”

“i wish i was still a college guy...

who wants to go streaking.....WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Come on....we're streaking.....whooooo....streaking....”

“Thanks, OPIE, your long string of "O's" forces me to have to scroll way out for each line of each post. We don't all use the more advanced browsers. So, your childish frills thrill me no end. Long url's do the same thing to me, also. One of these days I'll have to change my browser.

Oh, excuse me. You've been to college. Then I should be quiet.


LOL.

---

Hey, that was easy. The ignore function reduced your "O's" to a reasonable number, like zero. Life can be so easy.Sometimes it just takes me a while to locate a solution.

Best wishes to you and your family, and Happy New Year.
last edited: 1/03/07 6:30:18 PM”

“LSU stomped the living crap out of that Irish school.

Come on FL!

GO SEC!!!!”

“i wish whoever was responsible for the bowl pairings would quit matching notre dame up against teams that are out of their league. no other #11 school would go up against the #4 school, but they pull that crap all the time with nd. no wonder we've lost 9 in a row
last edited: 1/04/07 5:33:18 AM”

“By that same thinking Wisconsin and Arkansas shouldn't have played. Arky's 12 penalties is what beat them. They nearly beat Wis inspite of themselves.”

“are you snarkily saying im wrong, or are you agreeing with me,?”

“I'm saying that it goes both ways. Because of conference agreements and the like there have always been mismatches in bowls and #4 versus #11 isn't that uncommon. Louisville/Wake was something like 5 versus 15. Wis versus Ark was 6/12 and GT versus WV was unranked versus around 13. You also had #3 Mich play #8 USC. Boy, that mismatch turned out well for the higher ranked Big 11 team.
last edited: 1/04/07 7:03:41 AM”

“This is an excerpt from The Tuscaloosa News article about the Saban hiring:

A long day was winding down as the Saban motorcade drove the short distance from the Bryant Academic Center to the football complex. There was a group of excited fans on hand, as there was at every stop Saban made in Tuscaloosa, but there was no mob scene, just cheering and picture-taking as Saban walked from his car into the football complex.

Inside, a small group waited on the new Alabama coach.

Included in that group was Tyrone Prothro.

The new coach stepped aside and said a few words to the young wide receiver. No one heard what was said. Perhaps they merely exchanged pleasantries, or talked in hopeful terms of a day when Prothro might resume his career and play for Saban.

But it was simply the sight of the two together that resonated.

It has been a long, frustrating decade for University of Alabama football. Some of that frustration, frankly, has been self-imposed on the program by its own mistakes and ill-advised decisions. But there has also seemed to be something more, an almost diabolical force that allowed Alabama supporters to feel that they were tantalizingly close to the much-awaited return to excellence, only to see it snatched away. The 2000 UCLA game was such a watershed, when a ranked Alabama team started a collapse that seemed to last for two long years, until the NCAA probation was imposed.

But there is no greater symbol of that sense of frustration than Tyrone Prothro. He is the embodiment of Alabama’s greatest recent moment – the 2005 victory over Florida that was the emotional high-water mark of Mike Shula’s tenure. Yet in that same game, Prothro suffered the broken leg that has kept him away from football ever since.

There were fine moments after that in the 2005 season, but there has never quite been the same sense of electricity as the one crackled through Tuscaloosa on that day. Instead, there was further frustration. The 2006 season turned out badly, and it wasn’t just the 6-6 record, it was the entire atmosphere around the football program. Then came a coaching search that was accompanied by a persistent national chorus that called Alabama “irrelevant" or “hysterical," as though the zelaous pursuit of athletic excellence was a right reserved for Florida, or Notre Dame, but one to which Alabama could no longer aspire. Alabama fans heard that their program was diminished, their leadership was inept and their prospects for attracting a decent coach minimal. And while most Alabama fans didn’t really believe that, it was being repeated so often that it was hard to filter out.

That all changed on Wednesday.”

“i just think it seems notre dame gets mismatched more than most. seriously, 9 bowl losses in a row? even the bills couldve won a few of those had they had fair opportunity. but youre right, it does go both ways. all it takes is to win their first 2 or 3 games in a row, and everybodys ready to hand them the national crown, simply because of their name and their past”

“Or, it could be that ND is consistantly over-rated which puts them in a higher bowl than they should be in which matches them against a better team.

One of those losses was to NC State though, so maybe that logic doesn't hold water.”

“ND is consistantly over-rated which puts them in a higher bowl than they should be in which matches them against a better team.

yea, thats part of what im trying to say

One of those losses was to NC State though, so maybe that logic doesn't hold water.”

i dont think finding one example out of 9 exactly destroys my argument”

“Isn't that what they say about all the Big 10/11 teams, "consistantly over-rated"?
LOL”

“They should have had Rutgers playing LSU and ND playing hapless Kansas State.”

“ND is just a big over-rated marketing machine. Heck, I never even heard of the LSU QB until last night, and he was awesome! All you ever hear is Brady Quinn this, Brady Quinn that. Heck, anybody could have set all those school records he did by starting as many games as he did and playing all those weak teams they play year in and year out.

At least ND got an NCAA record last night: most consecutive losses in bowl games. The announcers pointed out that their previous 8 losses were by an average margin of 16 points or something. Let's see, with last night's game in the mix, that makes it an average of 17 points per game. Are the pollsters ever going to figure this out?”

“Heard Hyzeinga (sp? - sorry) talking this am about his convo with Saban - said he gave his blessing for the departure because he knew that he'd pretty much talked Nick into taking the Miami job in the first place and that he knew Nick truly wanted to be in the college game. Smart guy that Wayne fella. You gotta allow people to follow their heart - putting pressure on him to get him to stay - regardless of contract verbage - isn't the right answer if in his heart he didn't want to be there.”

“Dayhiker finally got a coach.

Maybe someday we will as well.”

“We already have a good coach. We just need to get rid of Nutt, so Malzone can get to work.”

“I don't think ND could have beaten any of the teams that got bowl invites this year. I cannot believe Quinn is a Heisman canidate.”

“OHIO STATE NOTEBOOK

Gonzalez says players exploited

Thursday, January 04, 2007
Tim May and Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Ohio State receiver Anthony Gonzalez yesterday offered his take on the fact that the national championship game will generate nearly $34 million for Big Ten and Southeastern Conference schools but nothing for the players.

"In all honesty, one of the most exploited groups of people in the country — not in the world, but in the United States — are college athletes," Gonzalez said yesterday. "We basically have a job that generates millions and millions and millions of dollars, and at the end of the day, don’t really see any of it. But that’s the reality. There is nothing you can do about it."

Asked what would be fair compensation, Gonzalez said, "I really don’t know. What would be fair would probably sink the whole idea of college football. … Despite this, I love college."

The players are working for a full scholarship, which is worth about $125,000 over four years, said Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, who didn’t want to enter into a discussion about additional pay for play.

Gonzalez, an academic All-American, acknowledged the education aspect should not be discounted, despite the time demands of playing major college football.

"The fact you are given an education and it’s up to you to make the most of it, I don’t feel we’re exploited academically at all," Gonzalez said. "As for the time demands, part of being a student-athlete in high school, middle school, what have you, is finding a way to make sure you do your very best at both things. That’s why it is so well respected in the job market."

Asked for a reaction, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said, "I don’t think I would say ‘exploited.’ We have 36 sports (at OSU), almost a thousand athletes, most of whom don’t generate anything, and they’re getting a pretty good situation. Now those that happened to be blessed to be in the sports that do generate (money), I for one think you should be grateful for the fact you’re getting to help those other 900 and something.

"But no, I wouldn’t say exploited. If that were the case, maybe 18-year-olds would go start a league and see how they do."

Speaking of the league


Gonzalez is considering a jump to the NFL draft, where he’d definitely get a pay bump, and he said yesterday that it won’t necessarily hinge on what round he is projected.

"Money, to me, isn’t the most important thing in the world, despite what I said before," he said.

But now is not the time to consider it, he said.

"To spend my energy thinking about it or worrying about it would be disrespectful to this game," he said.

"It would take away from the game itself, and that’s something I’m not interested in doing at all."

http://www.dispatch.com/football/football.php?story=dispatch/2007/01/04/20070104-D4-02.html


***************************************************


He'll be whining after the Gators hand him and the rest of the Acorns their a$$es. LOL”

“My rankings of the conferences this year:

1. Big East
2. Big Ten
3. Big 12
4. ACC
5. WAC
6. Notre Dame
7. MAC
8. Patriot
9. Mountain West
10. Sunbelt
11. Conference USA
12. Spears/Federline/Hilton Flag Football League
13. Greater Cleveland CYO
14. SEC
Buddha Bear


Dood....you used to be so cool.....WTF happen to you......

Gators(who I DESPISE) by 12”

“On the hiring of Saban at a reported $32M+ over 8 years:

"That certainly makes a strong statement in a state that funds education at one of the lowest per-pupil rates of any state in the country," said state Rep. Richard Lindsey, chairman of a House committee that writes the education budget.”

“The state isn't paying that salary. Boosters are. It works that way at all colleges.”

“Also, Bama's athletic department is one of the most profitable in the country even with our last 10 years of suckage. It funds all of the other sports as well as funneling money BACK to academics. The current payout for a BCS bowl is around $17million. I suspect CNS will take Bama to 2-4 if he should stay the 8 years. Academics will do just fine with CNS at the helm of football. And as far as comparing that to the K-12 budget, well, that was a nice soundbite by the Congressman, but I think everyone knows that K-12 and colleges are different budget items. Saban, or any coach for that matter, coming to Bama didn't take one pencil or book out of little Jimmy's hand.

BTW, Schiano expressed interest in the job and even talked representatives of Bama about the job. I've heard this from numerous reliable sources. He came to us.”

“Silly violin has been owned.
LOL”

“Spurrier comments on Saban:

http://goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070104/NEWS/701040344/1018/SPORTS”

“[sniff sniff] I love the smell of humiliation in the morning.”

“I actually love what our UA Pres is doing for academics. He does realize that in this state you have successful football. Our enrollment and our entrance standards have risen dramatically under his leadership. They are literally out of dorms down there. They are building them as fast as possible. Acres and acres of land around the engineering part of campus that used to be open areas are now a sea of dorms. For the first time in decades Bama's enrollment is higher than Auburn's. I doubt that was a goal, just a testament that kids want to go to UA. A commercial that appears during most UA ballgames talks about how we've had more USA today scholars enrolling than Harvard.”

“I'll add one more thing, evidently, in the Dubose years we had bad coaches and spent money on talent. I'm glad they're spending money on people that know how to coach up talent once it cleanly arrives. We're about to get some bad press over our OC hire. The numbers I'm hearing are way out of line for a coordinator slot. The one that's probably getting hired was turned down for the HC at UAB because the trustees blocked the hire due to too high of a salary. The number is roughly what he'll be paid as our OC. Btw, UAB opperates in the red and is subsidized by UA athletics. I guess you could say they pay for 2 athletic programs.”

“I was sad for the Outback Bowl, but we just made terrible mistakes and that's that. I was happy that USC beat Michigan. Yeah! I hope OSU stomps Florida! Yeah!”