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Marsalis Teague just finished his season, leading Paris (Tenn.) Henry County to a 13-1 record. He was hoping for a state title but lost to Hillsboro last weekend 31-24. Is Georgia Tech still in the mi

NCAA Football Blog Headlines

While I have expounded on MWC Expansion, more than once, these were simply my thoughts, with little bearing on actual changes. I even recently shot another report of the idea down thinking it was silliness. It did come from the Idaho Statesman, which is ready to explode once the news of Boise State’s upgrade to the MWC is complete. (Notice also the change of perspective I have had since merely a year ago.) That report was quickly squashed by the Deseret News, a Salt Lake news paper partially owned by the LDS church, which fully owns BYU.

What would it take for the MWC to consider expanding? I can’t find the link but I remember a statement that, regarding adding Boise State and Fresno State, they would need to add two bowl games or BCS automatic qualifications. Boise has already brought one, and strong BCS credentials.

Interestingly, this C-USA message board is indicating reports that:

The MWC Commissioner gave a radio interview in Boise while finalizing the Humanitarian Bowl agreement and indicated that the MWC Presidents are open to revisiting the expansion questions. For a commissioner to go public on something like this, there has to be something to it. This is, without question, a new development.

And this perspective:

So, if expansion stops at BSU, then this is a positive development for CUSA. Like PAC, I don’t see MWC going beyond 10 teams because everyone wants to play BYU (and probably Utah) just like northern PAC schools want to play USC and UCLA each year so they can boost their season ticket sales and for recruiting purposes.

This radio address is echoed by that same Idaho paper mentioned above.

Meanwhile, Thompson told “Idaho Sports Talk” that Mountain West presidents have discussed expansion for the first time since selecting TCU over Boise State in January 2004 to create a nine-team league.

However, a Mountain West spokesman told the Idaho Statesman that expansion is “not an agenda item at this time.”

Now that same Deseret News posts this article.

That’s right, the MWC needs to snatch up the University of Tulsa as fast as it can.

You thought I was talking about Boise State?

I actually like Boise State and have been a proponent of the MWC adding the school in the past, despite that ghastly blue turf and an arena named after Taco Bell.

The MWC schedules have been fouled up ever since TCU came in the league, and schools could save a lot of money if they started playing two games the same weekend on the same trip, rather than making a bunch of single-game trips as they do now. Basketball could go back to a Thursday-Saturday schedule, rather than have all those Tuesday and Wednesday games.

Tulsa was ranked a Tier 1 school, 83rd in the country, ahead of every MWC school. BYU and TCU were the highest-ranked MWC schools, in a tie for 113th, just ahead of Colorado State and Utah. Boise State didn’t even make the list of Tier 3 and Tier 4 schools (UNLV and San Diego State were in the latter category).

Not exactly a flat rebuttal to expansion talks, nor a Texas team as feared by the C-USA boards. It could be much worse for C-USA than losing a Texas School. A bigger question is whether Tulsa would leave C-USA for the MWC. The MWC edge in football is less when other sports are considered.

Nothing is official, but rumors are in the wind. Everywhere Craig Thompson turns this question arises., even when the topic is the MWC’s success in its short 10 year lifespan, equal to the lifespan of the BCS.

Is a MWC expansion on the horizon? Are Boise State, Fresno State and Tulsa lined up to fill a 12 team conference?

I can only hope.

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Comment on MWC Expansion – Wild Speculation upgraded to Rumors….

NCAA Football Blog Headlines

New and notable opinions from the blogs & print:

Are the Fighting Irish BCS-bound?

North Carolina will finish no worse than 9-3.

Has the Pac10 missed the boat on expansion?

Arizona (ARIZONA?!?!?!?!) sits atop the Pac10, but the real test lies ahead.

The Razorbacks lack the heart they had when HDN was on the sidelines.

Georgia had better be ready for Tennessee.

Your next SEC East Champs? Vandy.

Where does Auburn turn now that they have lost to Vandy? Maybe it’s time for a trip to Cracker Barrel.

The Heisman may come down to an Oklahoma – Missouri matchup. (And if it does, put me in the Bradford camp.)

It’s Texas – OU week, and both teams are ranked in the top five. Historically, that has not been a good sign for the Longhorns.

Rumors are spreading at Penn State after JoPa spent another game in the press box and appeared to have trouble with his balance in his press conference. Showing up in unmatched shoes didn’t help his case, either.

FSU has three sophomores and two true freshman starting on the offensive line – and they won the game for the Noles against Miami.

Finally, Army no longer holds the nation’s longest losing streak.

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Comment on The Weekender: News, notes, and other stuff to ponder…

With 9 potential BCS busters still lurking around one may ask what are the chances that 2 teams from outside the chosen leagues get in during the same year? While the rules only grant one guaranteed slot to the outsiders under certain situations, any team in the top 14 and 9 wins would be eligible for an at large bid.

Lets get one thing straight. No way is a BCS non AQ conference member getting the nod over an eligible BCS AQ conference member. This scenario considers the possibility that a second BCS non AQ conference member is the only eligible team left for the final BCS Bowl slot. While not the first time this has been brought up here at Fanblogs, the dominoes have fallen very well so far this year. Let us consider what is needed from various BCS factions.

BCS non AQ conference teams
They simply need to get 2 teams into the top 14. Most likely this would be one from the MWC and one from the WAC, but 2 MWC teams or a MWC team and Tulsa would not be surprising. This part is not unprecedented. 2004 saw both Utah and Boise State in the top 14. Without this the rest is meaningless.

SEC and Big 12
One requirement is that two BCS AQ conferences dominate the top 14. Since each can only send 2 teams to the BCS, each spot held by one of these teams is one less for the other BCS AQ conferences. These two conferences have done their part. If a team from these conferences is in the 15-25 range in the standings it is best for them to win. GO Vandy! GO Kansas! Go Oklahoma State!

Big 10+1 & Notre Dame
This section is where the biggest obstacle presents itself. First, Notre Dame needs 2 more losses to keep them from the top 14 and spoiling the situation. Second, the Big 10+1 needs to beat themselves out of the top 14. One team can be left standing their as long as they are the conference champion.

Penn State would need 3 losses to finish them. Wisconsin and Ohio State needs 2 more losses while Michigan State, Northwestern, Illinois and Michigan are done with a single additional loss. This is conservative and less losses may accomplish the job. Since they all, mostly, still play each other the odds are not overwhelming. One team can be left standing their as long as they are the conference champion.

PAC 10
The only other real threat is the PAC 10. The PAC 10 has 2 teams in the top 25, USC and Oregon. These teams play each other and one will win. If USC wins, job done. If Oregon wins then either Oregon or USC need to lose another conference game and the other emerge as the conference champion. California and Oregon State need another loss to keep them out as well.

Big East
This conference only has one way to ruin the situation. If UCONN runs the table and USF’s only loss comes to UCONN they would have two teams in the top 14. This might be the one situation where a BCS non AQ team might be able to get picked over a BCS AQ team.

ACC
The ACC has no way of getting 2 teams into the top 14. They will be lucky to get one there.

Double Edge Sword
While the BCS AQ conferences knock each other around the standings in their conference games, the BCS non AQ conferences could end up doing the same and eliminate the possibility of two BCS Bowls outright.

While certainly less likely than getting one team into a BCS Bowl, this is far from unimaginable at this time.

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Comment on BCS Busting – Part II…

Marsalis Teague now has something to think about. The Paris (Tenn.) Henry County standout just finished his season, where he led his team to a 13-1 record. He was hoping for a state title but lost to Hillsboro last weekend 31-24. Teague also thought he had his college picked it out. Then he met with Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin tonigh

NCAA Football Blog Headlines

The heat is still on for cornerback Lazarri Middleton (6-1, 190, 4.48) from Long Beach (Calif.) Poly. Just last week he received his third offer and it appears there will be more before his recruitment is done. Just the other day another Big 12 school was on campus interested in finding out more about Middleton

Any confidence that Tyshawn Taylor might have lost after Monday nights 5-of-14 shooting performance from the field was certainly regained against New Mexico State on Wednesday evening. Taylor, the 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard from Jersey City, N.J. was 8-of-14 from the field, 7-of-8 from the free-throw line and scored a career-high 23-points. Taylor spoke about his performance after the game

NCAA Football Blog Headlines

Now that we are well into the midst of the conference schedules, it’s time to take an updated look atJeff’s Sagarin’s Conference ratings .

The following are updated through October 27, 2008:

1 BIG 12 (78.18)
2 BIG TEN (77.24)
3 ATLANTIC COAST (76.97)
4 SOUTHEASTERN (76.54)
5 PAC-10 (74.33)
6 BIG EAST (73.44)
7 MOUNTAIN WEST (70.27)
8 I-A INDEPENDENTS (67.33)
9 WESTERN ATHLETIC (65.57)
10 MID-AMERICAN (65.18)
11 CONFERENCE USA (63.31)
12 SUN BELT (61.11)

A find a couple facets of the current rankings rather fascinating:

- The SEC is the fourth best conference, top-to-bottom? Seriously? The SEC is 20-7 out-of-conference against DI-A teams this year. Granted, three of those seven losses are to the ACC, but… the ACC returned the favor in losing three to the SEC. Sagarin has three SEC teams in his top ten, but the ACC gets the slight nod when you contrast the middle and bottom of each conference, which makes sense when you consider that there are… like… forty-seven teams tied for first in the ACC.

- Is another non-BCS blowout in the offing? Cinderella teams from the WAC (Boise State), Mountain West (Utah, TCU), MAC (Ball State), and C-USA (Tulsa) are all looking to qualify into a BCS bowl this year. Sagarin’s ratings would seem to indicate that their resumes might be lacking if and when they get to the big stage.

- The BCS conferences are head-and-shoulders above the non-BCS conferences. The separation between the Big East and Mountain West is statically significant, and I don’t think we’ve seen any rankings that dispute that designation in the last four years.

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NCAA Football Blog Headlines

Tom Crean was most concerned about how his team would match up with Wake Forest’s length. Wednesday night, those concerns looked merited, as the Demon Deacons used their size to rattle IU and cruise to a 83-58 victory in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseu

With Tulane’s biggest recruiting weekend coming up, this Texas athlete is giving the Green Wave some serious consideration. Does Tulane have enough to earn his commitment? We’ll find out soon.UCF recently issued an offer to Davenport (Fla.) Ridge Community athlete Chris Flowers, who likely projects as a cornerback at the next level. Defensive backs remain a priority for the Knights in this recruiting class

NCAA Football Blog Headlines

TheBCS has conviened to determine what happens if a conference has two teams #1 and #2, neither of whom are the conference champion. It had been my assumption that the two teams per conference rule would prevail, but theBCS has ruled that all three would get an automatic BCS bid .

The scenario is as follows:
Florida and Alabama both lose a game, either Florida losing to FSU then beating Alabama or Alabama losing to Auburn then beating Florida. (Florida losing to the Citadel is about as remote as Utah making the NC game.)

Oklahoma beats Texas Tech, who remains ahead of USC and Utah (who may jump USC with a win over BYU). Missouri then wins the Big 12 championship game.

The team Missouri beat, likely Oklahoma as they could pass Texas after a second win over Oklahoma State, would be out. 2 teams from the Big 12 South would be #1 and #2, and Missouri would have the Fiesta Bowl bid.

Under this scenario the BCS bowls would look like:
NC: Texas Tech vs Texas
Rose: Oregon State vs Penn State/Ohio State/Michigan State
Fiest Bowl: Missouri vs Alabama/Florida loser
Sugar Bowl: Alabama/Florida winner vs Utah/Boise State/BYU
Orange Bowl: ACC Champion vs Big East Champion

With no at large spots available USC would go to the Holiday Bowl.

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Comment on Big 12 could have 3 BCS teams….

Pahokee (FL) linebacker Brandin Hawthorne is committed to Michigan and is planning for January enrollment, meaning he will sign a Letter of Intent this month. Before he signs with the Wolverines though, he took an official visit to Pittsburgh this past weeken

NCAA Football Blog Headlines

This weekend’s worst-kept secret has become this week’s most debated coaching move:Tennessee hires Lane Kiffin as head coach .

During our process, Lane Kiffin stood out, athletic director Mike Hamilton said. He has great football bloodlines and has been part of a strong football tradition since birth.

Kiffin remembers being surrounded as a child by chalkboards scrawled with defensive plays and spending weekends in pregame meetings with his dads teams.

The experience has been unbelievable and then to combine that with still being young enough to be able to relate to recruits and be able to manage them and handle them, I think is very valuable, Kiffin said Monday when he was introduced at Tennessee.

If you didn’t catch the multiple references to Kiffin’s age, let me dispense with the questions. Kiffin is 33 years old, or exactly the same age as Tennessee legend Gen. Robert Neyland when he was hired.

Kiffin has indicated that he plans to stay at UT for years to come, and is organizing a Kiffin family reunion in Knoxville. Kiffin has hired brother-in-law David Reaves from South Carolina to be recruiting coordinator. Brother Chris will be joining the Vols staff, too. And legendaryTampa Bay Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin will join the Tennessee staff following the NFL season .

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier wasted no time in welcoming Kiffin to the SEC, suggesting that the new Vols coach committed NCAA recruiting violations this weekend by calling recruits.

According to a story published on VolQuest.com, part of the Rivals’ network, Kiffin and former Gamecocks recruiting coordinator David Reaves called Tampa running back Jarvis Giles on Sunday and left him voice messages.

The NCAA requires coaches to pass a certification test before they can contact recruits. During his introductory press conference this afternoon, the 33-year-old Kiffin said he had taken the test last week.

“You’re supposed to have passed the NCAA test and be on board, I think. But maybe he was just calling him as an interested observer,” Spurrier said today, laughing. “I don’t know. But technically to be able to recruit you’re supposed to pass the NCAA test.

“I know when I was hired, after the press conference I took the test to qualify you to be a recruiter. I hadn’t taken it in three or four years. At that time I could start making calls. I don’t know if he was permitted to make that call or not. You’ll have to ask somebody else.”

The reaction to the Kiffin hire? Umm… mixed?

Kiffin has never accomplished anything as a head coach. All his rep comes from his time as Southern Cal’s supposed offensive coordinator in 2005 and 2006, but USC didn’t win the national titles in those years as it did the previous two seasons.

Also, play-calling was shared with quarterbacks coach Steve Sarkisian, with USC head coach Pete Carroll having veto power.

…

Sticking Kiffin in the SEC’s all-star lineup of coaches that includes four coaches who have won national championships (Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Les Miles, Urban Meyer) and another with an unbeaten season (Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville) would be like tossing a goldfish into a pool of piranhas .

Hamilton’s hiring Kiffin would be an admission that Tennessee is a second-rate program , not on par with Alabama and Florida, the SEC’s powers du jour.

And that is coming from VolsExtra . Ouch.

HeismanPundit chimes in with a vote of… err… confidence.

Never mind that Lane Kiffin has never been a college football head coach. Never mind that in his only stint as a pro head coach, he went 5-15.

…

Never mind that he has no connections to the SEC, or that the offense he runs is more suited for the pro game than the college game, or that his abrasive personality has made him a much-despised figure wherever he has gone. Never mind that, despite the hype to the contrary, he is a horrible recruiter. Never mind that out of all the bright young minds in the college game, he doesnt even register as a blip on the radar (hullo? What about Major Applewhite or Gus Malzahn?). Never mind that his prickly personality will not mesh with the warm, gregarious tradition of Southern hospitality. Never mind that he has never had to do the things that head coaches have to do everywhere, but even more so in the Southdeal with alumni, relate to boosters, fire up the grass roots and all the other necessary little things in a region where football is a way of life.

Never mind all that. The guy is 33 years old. If you are going to hire a 33-year old as your head coach in the SEC, hed better be a whiz kid. Hed better not be a guy whose career was borne on the wings of nepotism, family connections and a sense of entitlement. Hed better be a guy who is familiar with the SEC from top to bottom. Hed better be a guy who has an offense that actually works in college, not a clunky pro scheme of the type tried by the Callahans and Hacketts of days gone by.Hed better not be a guy whose main claim to fame was keeping Reggie Bush on the bench during the most critical play of his teams season.

And Mr. College Football is not convinced .

Every time Lane Kiffins name came up with the Tennessee job I only had one question: Why? I wish him well and there is no doubt that the 33-year-old Kiffin will have all the resources he needs to be successful in Knoxville. But the resume looks a little thin to be taking over one of the great franchises of college football in a league that has four coaches who have won national championships. Tennessees press release says that he was an assistant coach at Southern Cal (2001-2006) and spent the last two seasons as offensive coordinator. Technically he shared that position and the play calling duties with Steve Sarkisian. Kiffin got the job with the Oakland Raiders only after Sarkisian turned Al Davis down. Kiffin gets credit for the recruiting structure at USC but the fact is the Pete Carroll has always been the Pied Piper who lured talent to that program. This may turn out to be a very good hire, especially if Kiffins dad, Monte, signs on as defensive coordinator.But it feels a little like Mike Shula to Alabama.

Even the subtle pundits are chiming in.

“[Kiffin] will either build an SEC powerhouse in the teeth of more experienced men like Saban and Meyer and Richt and yes, even Nutt, or he will be run out of Knoxville with a vengeance that makes Al Davis overhead projector seem like a French tickler.”

If you’re keeping score at home, that’s championship or bust – the annual SEC battle cry.

Does Kiffin realize what he’s getting in Tennessee? Does Tennessee realize what they’re getting in Kiffin?

Of course, some of the Tennessee faithful are exceptionally supportive of the move too, for a number of reasons, I presume. Clay Travis created a “Our Coach’s Wife is Hotter than Your Coach’s Wife” Facebook group in honor ofLayla Kiffin (pic) . Oh… and Lane, too, I guess.

Note to Lane: Keep her away from Bruce Pearl. Just sayin’.

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Comment on Lane Kiffin hired at Tennessee…

Colorado University got a big commit out of the state of Texas on Tuesday in the form of Nate Bonsu. At 6-foot-2, 265 pounds, the three-star defensive tackle is big in more ways than one. Though Bonsu fell in love with Boulder, Colo. and the campus, he took his time in making sure it was the right decision

One of the biggest fishes, still not caught is four-star Adam Hall (6-4, 205, 4.5) from Tucson (Ariz.) Palo Verde. He recently took a trip to Cal and has two more set

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Three-star offensive lineman Jamaal Burrell (6-5, 275, 5.2) from Compton (Calif.) Dominguez has set his first official visit and appears to be ready to set up a couple of more

NCAA Football Blog Headlines

OwlScoop.com talked to wide receiver and return specialist Travis Shelton after Friday’s 27-6 win over Akron. The senior reflected upon his career at Temple and talked about his dream of playing in the NFL.

After a postponed trip to Fort Collins in October, Miami defensive backs Corey Ammons and Terrance Taylor are ready for a journey to Colorado this weekend. Ammons is a 6-foot, 180-pound cornerback, while Taylor is a 6-foot, 173-pound safety with a 4.5 time in the 40-yard dash. Colorado State has offered both scholarships.

Following the loss to Eastern Michigan Friday, Coach Jones was justifiably disappointed. However, he hit on several key topics at the press conference following the game. See what he had to say inside The House That Deromedi Built