Nickel and diming Urban Meyer
The SEC commissioner wasn't playing around when he fined Urban Meyer $30,000 for a mild rebuke of officials. There is no truth to the rumor, though, Brandon Spikes escalated the fine to $60,000.
While this amounts to nothing more than a used Lexus for his kids, the fine is still significant for Meyer. It sends a clear message that Slive isn't fooling around. Just wondering why it took 50 hours from the time Meyer said, "That was a penalty, in my opinion," to the time the fine was handed down.
Batting next, Lane Kiffin. Can he keep his mouth shut?
Son of Weekend Watch List
If I’m Jimbo Fisher I’m raising holy hell.
Bobby Bowden picking the new defensive coordinator has to be a deal breaker for Jimbo. The job is going to be his in 13 months or so. No way he wants to be saddled with a d-coordinator who is hand-picked by Bobby.
Just to refresh: Bobby will be retired in January 2011. Jimbo Fisher has to live with his choice as d-coordinator.
Bobby’s legacy doesn’t include sticking his nose into Jimbo’s staff. This move could not only bring down the defense, it could bring down the program.
Dollar Bill: Kansas State’s Bill Snyder might re-retire sooner than we think. Speaking on Kansas City station WHB this week, Snyder hinted that he is a mere caretaker until the program is in good enough shape to turn over to someone else.
“This isn’t something to do for the rest of my life,” Snyder said prior to Saturday’s game with Kansas. “I want to get it back, calm the waters and [rally] the constituency. Get it in good position for a smooth transition …
“I’ve got to spend time with my children and grandchildren. There’s going to come a time when I went to do [that] again. Hopefully that is in the not-too-distant future.”
Snyder, 70, is in the first year of his second coaching career at K-State. Originally, he was the author of the “Miracle in Manhattan” from 1989-2005. The Wildcats are currently 5-4 and in first place in the Big 12 North heading into the Sunflower Showdown against Kansas.
SEC bowls: The SEC has only five bowl-eligible teams. The league is trying to fill what looks like a potential 10 bowls spots (eight regular bowls plus a likely two BCS bowls). Nervous? There are five other teams at 4-4 or 4-5 that have some work to do.
Three of the five teams are playing winnable non-conference games this week. Mississippi State, that 4-5 team, is off. Mississippi, 5-3, still has to win two because it played two I-AAs. Arkansas, 4-4, might face a do-or-die game at home against South Carolina. Tennessee Tech is at Georgia, 4-4. Memphis is at Tennessee, 4-4. Kentucky, also 4-4, has Eastern Kentucky at home.
Boise blitz: Boise State has hired a p.r. firm to keep the Broncos in the “forefront” of the “minds” of “pollsters”. That smells a lot like buying voters. First, let The List express its regret that it is not a Harris or coaches’ poll voter.
No, this isn’t Daley-era Chicago. Boise isn’t going to buy votes. In fact, it is fighting an uphill battle going into Friday’s game at Louisiana Tech. All TCU (at San Diego State on Saturday) has to do is keep winning. The voters <i>and</i> computers have spoken. They like Horned Frogs better than Needy Broncos.
Beaver milestone: As the 300th game at Beaver Stadium looms, let’s review the previous 299 games …
Penn State has a 241-58 record (80.6).
There have been 15 unbeaten seasons.
The Nittany Lions are 216-40 at Beaver with Joe as head coach. Fourteen of those undefeated seasons have come under Paterno.
Penn State is 32-3 in its last 35 at home. The only setbacks have come to No. 4 Michigan in 2006, No. 1 Ohio State in 2007 and Iowa on Sept. 26.
Paterno has been around for all of them.
• The North is 3-9 against the South Division. Two of those wins are against Baylor, in last place in the South.
• Kind of tells you something when Oklahoma-Nebraska gets relegated to the WWL blog. The teams now only meet twice in any four-year period. A Husker win in Lincoln would give Nebraska a huge boost in the North.
• Does Colorado AD Mike Bohn have the $3.2 million he’ll need to buy out Dan Hawkins? Some more contributions might be added to the pot if the Buffs, 2-6, lose Texas A&M, 5-3
• Something has to give. Navy (34 minutes, 18 seconds) and Notre Dame (33:19) are 1-2 in time of possession.
• South Carolina is 7-10 after Nov. 1 under Steve Spurrier. USC is 27-0 in the month under Pete Carroll.
Personal rant: The decision on player suspensions needs to be taken away from the school, the athletic director, maybe even the school president. SEC commissioner Mike Slive stepped in a week ago to issue his edict about critical coaches. Then Urban Meyer criticized officials and wasn’t punished. Yet. It seems like commissioners basically exist these days to pursue the best television contracts and shake hands with bowl reps.
The call here is for leagues to put in their constitutions (or whatever they’re called) language that gives the commissioner (or some league panel) the sole power to hand out discipline. Then the commissioners need to have the you know what to follow through.
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Coaches go Urban Meyer and crumble
In a Friday USA Today story American Football Coaches Association executive director Grant Teaff is quoted as saying the coaches would relent. They were widely criticized in the spring when the AFCA announced it would begin hiding the coaches' final ballots beginning in 2010. BCS commissioners privately suggested that could be a dealbreaker in the coaches' poll's participation in the BCS.
The AFCA clearly caved when it became apparent that the one thing that legitimizes its poll, the BCS, would kick it out. Originally, Teaff said his organization was acting on a recommendation from the Gallup polling organization that keeping the ballots secret would produce a "truer" ballot. Huh?
The final ballots have been released for the last four seasons.
Gainesville's Waffle House
Let Nick Williams and Brandon Spikes MMA it with Tim Tebow and Washaun Ealey as referees. This has gone from ridiculous to train wreck. Urban Meyer now has suspended Spikes for the entire Vanderbilt game. Spikes, the player, did what Meyer, the coach, wouldn't -- the right thing by suggesting a full-game suspension.
There has been nationwide criticism after Meyer suspended Spikes only for the first half (and the SEC agreeing with it). What does the conference do now, issue a release that says, "Ah, the hell with it."
In the middle of it all, the SEC is determining whether Meyer himself will be suspended/fined. His comment today regarding Williams' late hit, "It was a penalty in my opinion," seems to put him squarely in violation of Mike Slive's edict.
Put a clown suit on the SEC. It has turned into a whining bunch of babies who are waging war on YouTube. Play football fellas, you're better than this.
Bill Saum out
A notorious figure is reportedly out at the NCAA. Bill Saum, the person formerly in charge of agents and gambling, is gone as the NCAA's eligibility center director.
For those of us who follow the NCAA this is huge news. Saum was an old acquaintence and a fun source who once famously said of Rick Neuheisel, "He should have known better." Those were during the days when The Slickster was being investigated for the NCAA Tournament pool in his neighborhood. Saum was involved in some of the biggest cases of the last decade.
Lately, he was involved in eligibility cases involving Kentucky's John Wall and Mississippi State's Renardo Sidney in basketball.
I say "notoriously" not in a negative way, but in an NCAA infamous way. It was not a good day when Bill Saum was assigned to investigate your ***.
National notes
Please ignore Washaun Ealey. A cheap shot is a cheap shot is a cheap shot. It doesn’t matter if Ealey thinks so.
Part of this Brandon Spikes thing is about the power of the internet. Spikes’ eye gouge was shown Saturday during the CBS telecast. The replay became viral Sunday afternoon on YouTube. Amazing that it wasn’t an issue to millions of people watching live but after millions of people alerted by the internet replay, Florida felt compelled to do something. Not because Spikes necessarily committed a penalty but because he’d been caught on camera.
A fine whine from Iowa: The e-mail from Iowa sports information this week starts with the sentence, “It seems popular for national pundits to criticize the University of Iowa football team these days …”
The e-mail then goes to inform the reader that Iowa has defeated more teams with winning records than Cincinnati, TCU, Oregon and Boise State. The winning percentage of its opponents is higher than Oregon, TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State. Iowa has defeated as many top 25 BCS teams as Oregon (three).
One point: What are the Iowa flaks bitching about? Their team is No. 4 in the BCS and a heartbeat away from the national championship. It is essentially ranked as the best team in the country beyond Florida, Alabama and Texas. Not bad for a team that wins games with cushion shots.
Attendance issues: TCU and Boise State fans might be whining about which school deserves to go to a BCS bowl, but they aren’t showing up to watch their teams.
There were 11,000 empty seats in Fort Worth on Saturday to watch the Frogs shut out UNLV. It’s not like the game was widely televised. Once again, Versus did its best to keep TCU a secret. Amon Carter Stadium only holds 44,000.
Boise State can’t sell out 33,500 Bronco Stadium but still has plans to expand the stadium. Idaho Statesman columnist Brian Murphy breaks it down perfectly.
At least those two schools fans aren’t front runners. Only 67,700 showed up at Florida State to watch the Noles play N.C. State. That’s the smallest crowd at Doak Campbell Stadium since 1993.
• Notre Dame sports information has compiled the remaining schedule strength of the top 25 teams in the BCS. Turns out that the Irish, No. 22 in the BCS, have the third-toughest remaining schedule behind Ohio State and Pittsburgh.
The remaining four games are against Navy, Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Stanford. Will beating those four be enough to raise the Irish into the top 14 where they will need to be to get a BCS bowl? We’ll see.
More to the point is whether ND can run the table. Navy (6-3) and Pittsburgh (7-1) are bowl eligible. Stanford (5-3) and UConn (4-4) could be.
• A.J. Green has a “pulmonary contusion”? That’s what they’re calling a bruised lung at Georgia. At least it wasn’t an eye gouge.
Meyer first to test SEC suspension or fine?
Georgia's Nick Williams seems to hit quarterback Tim Tebow late on this play. During the SEC conference call Wednesday morning, Meyer said, "That should have been a penalty in my opinion."
That seems to put Meyer in danger of being suspended or fined per the law laid down Friday by Mike Slive. When I talked to the SEC commissioner on Saturday, he was adamant about coming down hard on any further criticism of officials or calls. Slive is the sole arbiter of the penalties and will apply them with discretion.
Does Meyer's comment qualify?
Spikes was suspended for the first half of this week's Vanderbilt game. Later, Spikes suspended himself for the entire game.
It's now Friday and there are critics in the media asking when and if the SEC is going to do something. It's obvious Meyer is going to coach this week, but will Meyer be around for next week's South Carolina game. What the SEC office cannot do is stay silent. Slive created this situation, he is going to have to rule on each one individually. We clearly seem to have a violation here, but how severe?
C'mon Mike.
Ovechkin hurt; NHL weak
When did the NHL give up? I mean, just give up trying to be a major sport. It is so down the pecking order that it doesn't even compel its teams to release injury information. That small move would legitimize the NHL, but for some reason the league allows its teams to list players with "upper body" and "lower body" injuries.
That bothers me because I want to know what's bothering Alex Ovechkin. As a fan, I don't think that's too much to ask. The fact that the game's best player is being used as a coaching pawn is ridiculous. This is the same tactic employed by coaches in the playoffs to throw the opponent. An upper body injury could end up being a sprained ankle.
Imagine if Drew Brees were out with a significant injury to his "upper body." There's a reason NFL teams are required to release injury information. It's to keep the game clean from gambling scandals. The more information out there, the better. The NHL doesn't care because the last gambling scandal involved Janet Gretzky.
I love the NHL. It's not too much to ask to give us more specific injury information. Hell, Las Vegas doesn't care. It's loyal fans sure do.
Florida pleads an eye for an eye
God forbid, Spikes would have to sit three quarters.
Instead, Florida coach Urban Meyer sat down his star linebacker for the first half of Saturday's Vanderbilt game. Videos on YouTube outed Spikes on Sunday afternoon. From there on, it was clear Florida had to do something. Shame on the SEC, which had the final say in the matter, accepted the penalty as is.
Conspiracy theorists you may once again start your engines. Florida is protected -- this time against the league doormat. It's a good thing this wasn't the week of the Alabama game, Spikes would be, gulp, running steps.
In the wire story, Meyer mentions something about Spikes getting eye gouged early in the game, as if that is any excuse at all. That sounds like the logic speeders tell the cop that stops them: "Everybody else was doing it."
What Meyer did -- or didn't do -- was an insult to Georgia. Just when this "rivalry" was cooling down, the Dawgs have reason to hate again -- if they can ever get within three touchdowns.
Spikes deserved to be suspended a full game, at least. Maybe more. Spikes has apologized. That's a good start, 48 hours later. Thank goodness for hi-def TV or we wouldn't have seen this assault.
We're told that eye gouging is part of the game, much like a punch to the package. That doesn't mean it's right and certainly doesn't mean it's right when someone did it to you first.
C'mon Urban, we expected more of you and your star linebacker.
Thoughts on a football Saturday
Stunning stat of the day: At least one former Miami player has scored a touchdown in 112 straight weeks of NFL play dating back to week 15 of 2002.
BCS ramblings: Iowa is a heartbeat away from the presidency at No. 4 in the BCS. Here’s how it gets to the title game: LSU upsets Bama this week (Tigers have won five of the last six overall and the last three in a row in T-town) and then beats Florida in the SEC championship game. That opens up a spot for the Hawkeyes vs. Texas.
It’s looking worse for Notre Dame, 6-2. At 22, the Irish are the second-lowest ranked two-loss team in the BCS top 25. It will get some bump for beating No. 13 Pittsburgh, but that’s about it. It has to get to No. 14 in the final standings to be “eligible” which for Notre Dame would mean a BCS bowl bid.
It doesn’t help that eight of the nine teams above Notre Dame all have a chance to run the table. That could block out the Irish even if they win out.
• If you don’t vote Case Keenum No. 1 this week for the Heisman, you’re high.
There, I said it. The kid has accomplished more than Jimmy Clausen and is more consistent than Tim Tebow or Colt McCoy. The Houston quarterback’s Heisman moment came Saturday in the final minute when he tossed the winning touchdown pass to beat Southern Miss.
That ended one of the best games by a quarterback this season. Keenum completed 44 of 54 game for 559 yards and five touchdowns. Oh yeah, he’s the second most accurate passer in the country too.
The Cougs also ran for 191 yards. That’s 750 yards in total offense. I know it probably isn’t going to happen, but I’d love to see Houston in a BCS game against a defense like Texas’. The Longhorns beat Texas-El Paso 64-7, the only team that has defeated Houston. Strange.
2. Ryan Mathews, Fresno State – The nation’s leading rusher went for 185 yards against an aggressive Utah State defense to keep the national rushing lead. Mathews was able to return after a third-quarterback hit that reportedly bruised his ribs. “Probably the hardest I’ve ever been hit,” he said.
Mathews has run for 1,316 yards despite not playing a couple of fourth quarters.
3. Iowa defense – Your offense turns it over six times. Your quarterback throws four interceptions in one quarter. The Iowa D deserves some sort of recognition for a couple of pick sixes that might have been the difference in the Hawkeyes’ 42-24 win over Indiana.
Las Vegas should just get it over with and list Iowa as a pick ‘em in every remaining game. Team Turnover is that flaky.
4. Tim Tebow – The question is not whether Tebow can play in the NFL. The question is whether he will be alive to play in the NFL. You saw my Saturday column. I love the kid, but good Lord, 84 rushes in four games after a concussion? His excellence against Georgia proved once again that Tebow is pretty much all Florida has on offense, or at least that’s what the coaching staff believes.
Two rushing touchdowns by Superman shot him past Herschel Walker for SEC lead in career rushing touchdowns, 51.
5. Kellen Moore, Boise State – A trip to New York would be Boise’s consolation prize for missing out on a BCS bowl in consecutive years. Moore has 24 touchdowns and only two interceptions.
Also consider Golden Tate. He's still the best Notre Dame player, not Jimmy Clausen. Had an effective game against Washington State.
• A Tennessee radio guy FOI’d (Freedom of Information Act) the Mike Slive letter to Lane Kiffin on Friday. The contents of it are out there. It’s good reading.
In case you missed it, the SEC commish brought the hammer down on Friday threatening suspensions and fines if there is any more criticism of league officials. He seemed to call out Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin who is going from the reprimand hat trick. Remember him erroneously saying that Urban Meyer “cheated” in the recruiting of Nu’Keese Richardson?
``It is your responsibility as a coach to comply with the policies of the Southeastern Conference and to know the football playing rules …,” Slive wrote.
``Since it is clear from your public comments that you believe this letter `mean(s) nothing,' let me be equally as clear to you. The next time you, or a member of your staff, make public comments of this nature, you will be suspended from all coaching duties for one or more games, and the institution may be subjected to a substantial fine … ''
``I also remind you that this is your second public reprimand in your brief tenure as Tennessee's head football coach, and on both occasions, you were wrong about the applicable rules.''
Bam, zing, boom!
Brandon Spikes' eye gouge
I was at Florida-Georgia. I'll admit, I didn't see it at the time but message boards are lighting up all over. NCAA rules allow conferences to suspend players after the fact for flagrant personal fouls. This one wasn't called. Wonder if another officiating crew will be suspended?
Early BCS standings
The top three teams in the BCS standings seemingly will remain that way when the rankings are released Sunday night.
Jerry Palm was projecting Sunday morning that Florida will be No. 1, followed by Alabama and Texas. Once again, the order of the top three doesn’t matter as long as they keep winning. Alabama and Florida are on track to play in the SEC championship game. Texas cleared its last, most significant hurdle with a 41-14 victory at Oklahoma State.
Iowa looks like it is going to remain fourth after a win over Indiana that featured six turnovers. The biggest news might be how Boise State and TCU end up. TCU beat UNLV 41-0 but Boise State might vault the Horned Frogs this week because of Oregon’s success. The Broncos will continue to get a schedule strength bump as long as the Ducks keep winning. Boise State beat Oregon on opening night 19-8.
Oregon, 7-1, should be the highest ranked one-loss team. Palm had the Ducks at No. 8 Sunday morning.
Palm's updated top seven before the human polls were released later on Sunday:
1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Texas
4. Iowa
5. Boise State
6. TCU
7. Cincinnati
Fox will reveal the new BCS standings in a 10-second flash tonight between 7:15 pm.-8 p.m.
Oregon wins!
Slive on SEC officials
Just talked to SEC commissioner Mike Slive at the Florida-Georgia game.
Without saying the actual words, he agreed that he is going to be iron fisted in enforcing his new edict on criticizing officials. After two rookie head coaches in the SEC (Dan Mullen and Lane Kiffin) and one second-year guy (Bobby Petrino) had popped off, Slive said he felt like he had to “change the culture.”
On Friday, Slive said any further criticism of officials would result in suspensions or fines.
Slive also told me that some Tennessee media outlet had filed a Freedom of Information Act to obtain his reprimand letter to Kiffin. It’s out there, somewhere, I’m still checking cyberspace.
The commish seemed rather pleased that his letter had become public.
“Go read it,” he said.
We will.
Cocktail Party
--A woman with a newborn baby in one of the those chest suspender things -- with a beer in her hand.
--Guy covered head to toe in blue and gold tights (yes, including his head)
--Georgia in black helmets looking like Valdosta State.