Alabama Tops Coaches Poll, VA Tech #6
by Andy Hilton, recruit757
Alabama QB Phillip Sims (Photo: Andy Hilton/recruit757)
The first official pre-season poll has been released and according to college coaches, Alabama is the best team in the land.
Who could argue? With local player Phillip Sims at the helm and a National Championship last year, where else would they be?
OK… we all know Sims isn’t going to start for the Tide this year and probably won’t even play a down, but it’s fun to be able to tie a local player to the number one team in the country.
Alabama overwhelmingly claimed the top spot in the polls by garnering 55 of the 59 first place votes. Ohio State was a distant number two with four #1 votes. The remainder of the top five is Florida, Texas and Boise State.
Virginia Tech is ranked sixth in the preseason poll which sets up an intriguing game on Labor Day Monday. To open the season, Boise State travels east to FedEx Field in the Washington DC metro in order to face the Hokies. #5 vs. #6 to kick off the season sounds like a great way to cap a three-day weekend.
Rounding out the top ten are TCU, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa. Beyond Virginia Tech, the ACC placed four other teams in the Top 25. Miami claimed the #13 slot, Georgia Tech is #17, North Carolina is #18 and Florida State came in at #20. The Big East placed two teams in the Top 25: Pittsburgh at #15 and West Virginia placed at #24, tied with Utah.
- Andy Hilton
Top Recruit Seantrel Henderson Flips From USC to Miami
Here’s another blow to USC and Lane Kiffin. Top 2010 class prospect Seantrel Henderson (OT 6-8 340) will not attend USC and will instead attend the University of Miami in the fall.
Recruiting is a fickle game and Henderson’s recruitment was especially hectic. The Minnesota Cretin-Derham Hall lineman was targeted by practically every major university in the country and narrowed his field to Ohio State, USC and Miami late in the process. In February, Henderson announced a committment to USC and reported that he was comfortable with Coach Kiffin and the state of the program. At the time, an NCAA ruling was pending but Kiffin had assured Henderson that everything would be fine and that no serious penalties were expected. Then USC suffered a fate just short of the death penalty.
Southern Cal was hit with the cut of 10 scholarships per year for three years and a two year ban from postseason play. USC was also stripped of wins, a national title and other records, plus they were put on four years’ probation, all related to the recruitment of Reggie Bush and improper benefits given to Bush once he became a Trojan.
Henderson signed his letter of intent, but after the NCAA punished the Trojans, Henderson asked to get out of his commmitment and was granted his release by USC. It’s an unusual circumstance, but Henderson played the situation well.
The end result plays out excellently for the Hurricanes. Henderson will make a significant difference for the Miami program and could start as a freshman. Henderson is expected to enroll and begin practice ASAP. According to his father, Seantrel will enroll on August 3 and will be academically eligible for the 2010 season.
Utah Gains PAC 10 Invite
It’s official. Utah has been invited to the PAC 10. While the offer hasn’t been accepted yet, is there any doubt that Utah will leave the Mountain West Conference for the PAC 10?
This offer makes sense in a number of ways. First of all the “PAC 11″ really needs to get to an even number. Twelve is a good number for a Conference Championship Game. Secondly, Utah will give newcomer Colorado a traveling partner. While the divisions in this potentially new arrangement haven’t been sorted out yet, one could expect that Colorado and Utah would likely join Arizona and Arizona State, plus possibly USC and UCLA in an eastern/southern pack while Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State would fit a western/northern grouping. Thirdly, adding Utah may take some investigative heat off of the BCS.
There is currently an effort by the Utah Attorney General’s office to take the BCS to court for antitrust violations. Meetings are scheduled with the U.S. Department of Justice in July over this matter. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff may continue his fight against the BCS, even if the University of Utah was to be admitted to the PAC 10. In a statement to the media Shurtleff exclaimed, “We’re convinced the system as set up is anticompetitive. It goes way beyond the University of Utah.”
U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah also has a hand in the fight against the BCS. Last year, state legislature drafted a resolution that demanded a playoff structure for college football. This move was fueled by the BCS snub of Utah after the university was kept out of a National Championship game for two times in five years. In 2004, Head Coach Urban Meyer and QB Alex Smith led the Utes to a 12-0 record and a Fiesta Bowl win over Pittsburgh. In 2009, Utah went undefeated again at 13-0 including a Sugar Bowl win over Alabama. Neither time did the BCS see fit to consider Utah for the title game.
Utah can finally get a legitimate shot at a national championship, but the in-season competition will get a lot tougher. Bye bye Air Force and Brigham Young, hello Cal and USC!
Expansion: Rumor Mills ON FIRE!
There’s been too much to keep up with this weekend. Rumors have been flying left and right nationwide. It would be fruitless to try to review all of the potential scenarios for you, but suffice it to say, next week will be extremely busy with announcements about new conference affiliations and stunning deals.
Texas A&M seems to be looking for forge their own way. The Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech to the PAC 10 deal may still be in place, but at this point it looks like Texas A&M is going to part ways with Texas. That could mean that they stay in some kind of reformulated Big 12 once Texas leaves for the PAC 10 or A&M could bolt to the SEC as they expand.
The SEC has been hotly rumored as attracting Texas A&M in the west, then looking at North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech or even West Virginia to the north and east. ESPN announced earlier today that SEC sources reported that they were not considering Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech or Miami for admission to the SEC. The report went further to express doubt that Virginia Tech would leave a partnership with Virginia.
Rumors have floated that North Carolina legislature has gotten involved with the possiblity of UNC leaving the ACC for the SEC. In that case, there is some thought that North Carolina legislature would lobby hard for the ACC to add East Carolina as a replacement.
Kansas is still looking to figure out what its fate might be. It was rumored that they’d be interested in most any BCS offer including the PAC 10 and SEC, but both conferences have supposedly denied making an offer to KU. Kansas could stay in the Big 12 and become more of a flagship program, especially if Texas and Oklahoma leave. There have been some rumblings that the Big 12 may only lose Colorado and Nebraska, then would keep on as a ten team league or look to expand from there. Rumors have flown that schools like BYU, TCU, Memphis and Houston could find their way into the reformulated Big 12. Exit fees from members leaving the Big 12 could fund a lot of programs if the Big 12 manages to survive this flurry of expansion and conference switching.
One thing’s for sure. This weekend’s been full of manuvering and it’s not over yet. Expect big surprises this week as the dominos continue to fall.
Nebraska: The Next Domino
Today, Nebraska made it official and applied for membership in the Big 10. There’s nothing preliminary about it. They’re moving on.
Nebraska never got the benefits from the Big 12 that they had hoped for. In 1996 when the Big 8 merged with the remnants of the Southwest Conference, Nebraska was a powerhouse in the college football world. Nebraska hasn’t achieved such heights since, but with a move to the Big 10, they hope to return to dominance. There’s no doubt that the revamped Big 10 (with twelve teams) will be a tough conference. Nebraska is expected to join the Big 10 in the 2011. By that point, they could have a conference championship and Nebraska could run a regular season gauntlet of Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State and Iowa that would more than rival the current Big 12 gauntlet of Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
Nebraska would be the westernmost school in the conference, so travel wouldn’t be as easy as it is currently. Have no doubt that Nebraska fans travel well though. Nebraska was known for sending 25,000 fans to Hawaii when that school was regularly on the Huskers’ schedule in the 70s and 80s. Sending fans to East Lansing or State College will be no difficult feat.
Additionally, the Huskers join a conference where revenues exceed their current take. In the Big 12, Texas took the largest shares of revenues in a slanted TV deal. With a move to the Big 10, Nebraska will take a share of the Big 10 network television revenues which will far outweigh their take from the Big 12.
Academically, Nebraska makes out as well. By joining a league with research institutions along the lines of Northwestern, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, Nebraska joins a set of peers that’s at the top of their fields academically. The Big Ten is the only NCAA Division I conference whose members all belong to the Association of American Universities, as does Nebraska. Research collaborations would increase because of the peer relationships between the universities and it’s expected that funding would increase with benevolent giving by entrepreneurs interested in university research.
University of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman had this to say about the change in conference, “The Big Ten is a historically prestigious and stable academic community of scholars and students. The Big Ten, known for its athletic prowess, is highly regarded in academe for its academic and research enterprises. There is nothing but upside for UNL (University of Nebraska – Lincoln) to join the Big Ten.”
USC Gets Hammered By NCAA
Many thought this day would never come. A flagship program got spanked by the NCAA. Judgement was handed down to USC today and they were cited for repeatedly violating NCAA rules and lack of institutional control. The most significant violations occurred within the football program, on former coach Pete Carroll’s watch.
The investigation ran for four years and encompassed three sports and two major athletes at USC. Specifically, the NCAA found repeated violations surrounding former USC running back Reggie Bush, former USC basketball star O.J. Mayo and a former USC women’s tennis player who has remained unnamed.
The punishment is severe:
- All statistics for Bush, Mayo and the tennis player will be stricken from the record books
- Bush and Mayo must be disassociated with USC athletics
- All football victories from December 2004 through all of the 2005 season will be vacated, including USC’s National Championship victory over Oklahoma in January 2005.
- All titles won with ineligible players are vacated; trophies and banners must be removed.
- All wins for the Women’s Tennis program from 2006 to 2009 are vacated.
- No postseason football in 2010 and 2011
- USC loses 10 scholarships per recruiting year in 2011, 2012 and 2013 (a reduction from 25 to 15).
- Reduced recruiting days for Men’s Basketball in the 2010-2011 season.
- Four years of probation.
The impact on the basketball program was somewhat muted because the basketball team self-imposed sanctions and elected to forfeit all wins from the 2007-08 season and take a one year postseason ban. The football program suffers most. According to reports, the NCAA considered giving USC a ban from appearing in any television games, but decided against it. Such a ban is considered the closest penalty to a death sentence for a program such as USC.
All of this will certainly affect Southern Cal’s recruiting, and you have to wonder what Lane Kiffin thinks. He came to USC with much pomp and circumstance last winter. He left a Tennessee program that would have had to rebuild with him there. Now he faces a bigger uphill climb in L.A. Oddly enough, the Trojans still have a championship caliber team. Unfortunately for the program and its fans, we’ll never find out how far the 2010 USC Trojans could have gone.
The First Domino Falls
Here’s the beginning of conference realignment. It’s AP official. Colorado has accepted a bid to join the PAC 10 as the eleventh member of that conference. Rumors have it that Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will join Colorado in the PAC 10. An announcement to that effect could happen soon, but no date has been confirmed.
This the first change to the PAC 10 since Arizona and Arizona State joined the conference in 1978. It’s believed that if the other five Big 12 teams join Colorado in their flight to the PAC 10, Arizona and Arizona State would be placed in an eastern division with the Big 12 schools while the remaining eight schools in California, Oregon and Washington would form a western division.
Nebraska is expected to announce on Friday that they are leaving the Big 12 for the Big 10. Media reports quote Nebraska AD Tom Osborne as saying “That’s something we thought would happen,” speaking of Colorado’s departure. When asked about Nebraska’s next move Osborne said, “Until we have a definite decision, I’m not saying anything else.”
PAC 10 Commissioner Larry Scott was thrilled with agreement that was reached with Colorado and stated, “The University of Colorado is a great fit for the conference both academically and athletically.”
All of the expected maneuvering could leave Missouri, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Baylor without a conference home as early as 2011-2012. Speculation has run rampant. Some sources suspect that the Big 12 will fold entirely, with the remaining teams seeking a home in a league like the WAC. Missouri has been implicated in efforts to join the Big 12, but there is suspicion that no offer has been extended by that conference.
If the Big 10 moves forward with a rumored effort to expand to 16 teams, the Big East will likely be negatively affected and that only fuels rumors that every BCS conference will expand to 16 or bust, with the two negatively affected conferences being the Big 12 and the Big East. The SEC and ACC could feel obligated to expand to 16 and would look for partner schools. Missouri is in position to flee to the Big 10 or SEC. The remaining Big 12 schools could be forced to accept a non-BCS offer in the current scenario.
This story is developing by the hour. Stay tuned.
Welcome to a New BCS Reality
Stick a fork in the Big 12 and the Big East. They’re done. At least as far as “big time” football is concerned. The Big East might have a life of college basketball significance ahead of it, but you’ll only see the likes of Georgetown, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Marquette continue the Big East basketball tradition. Soon enough, all of the Big East football programs will move on to become BCS superschools or non-BCS nobodies.
That’s where college football is headed. Think of it as an asteroid on a collision course with the earth, and there’s no way to stop it. The PAC 10 is on it’s way to becoming the PAC 16, and it’s taking the Big 12 down in the process. PAC 10 Commissioner Larry Scott (pictured left) now has permission from the PAC 10 schools to pursue half of the Big 12. Nebraska and Missouri will migrate to the Big 10. The Big 10 will also suck up a few Big East teams (and Notre Dame potentially) on the way to becoming the Big 16 and stretching from Nebraska to New York City. The ACC and SEC will eventually round out the lot of 16 team super conferences and you’ll eventually have a new BCS Championship plan; complete with an eight team bracket courtesy of four conference championships that will play down to a four team national semi-final and a winner takes all National Championship game.
In order to get there, the ACC and SEC will also have to add teams. Expect there to be a mad scramble to get in before the door closes. If the PAC 10 succeeds in getting Texas and Texas A&M out of the Big 12, then the SEC will have a harder road in getting to 16. Texas Tech, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State may be left on an island in the middle of the plains states. Teams without a BCS affiliation. For the SEC and ACC, they’ll want big schools that expand their footprint but give them continuity.
UConn, Syracuse, Pitt and West Virginia could be most attractive to the ACC. Don’t count out Central Florida and East Carolina, but those schools would take a back seat to any geographically sensible Big East teams that need a home. If the Big 10 were to take Rutgers and Syracuse, the ACC could easily snap up UConn, Pitt, West Virginia and South Florida in order to get to 16 teams.
The SEC would have to make a dash for teams as well in order to keep up with the Joneses. Other Big East castoffs could fit the bill if the SEC would lower it’s sights from Texas, which the SEC still covets. Louisville, Cincinnati, Texas Tech and Baylor could end up in the SEC, just because they’re the only current BCS teams that would get a cursory glance from SEC Presidents. Realistically, Cincinnati and Louisville don’t fit the SEC mold because they’re urban institutions, but when the SEC is forced, they’ll go for teams that are currently “haves” rather than pick up a few schools that are seen as “have nots”.
That’s not to say that a school or two might not flip from the ACC to the SEC. It’s possible. Clemson or Florida State could be talked into jumping. Right now it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.
So what about Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Memphis, UCF, East Carolina and all of the other schools that have lived the BCS dream or had hopes of taking part in the money train? It looks like the train is about to leave the station. Now’s the time to fight for a ticket. Otherwise, a number of schools could get left standing beside the tracks, luggage in hand.
PAC10 Expansion On The Horizon?
Tongues are wagging throughout the college football world and the rumor du jour involves the PAC 10 potentially expanding to 16 teams. Along with Big 10 expansion, the rumored move would practically wipe the Big 12 out of existence.
The Big 12 Conference finishes with annual meetings on Friday and the PAC 10 starts their meetings this weekend. It’s far too early to assume anything, but the end result of the meetings could change the landscape of college football significantly.
The rumors of Nebraska and Missouri to the Big 10 have been assumed to be true for weeks if not well more than a month. The latest word involving the PAC 10 has the ten team conference picking up Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado from the Big 12. That kind of bold move would leave only Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas and Kansas State in the Big 12 after all moved out. According to the buzz, the arriving teams from the Big 12 would join Arizona and Arizona State in an eight team division, leaving all of the true west coast schools in their own eight team division.
The result would be a western football conference that would easily rival any conglomeration that the Big 10 could put together, even if they managed to get Notre Dame to come on board. The eleven teams of the Big 10 have been rumored to be looking at adding as many as five teams in order to get to 16 teams themselves. The other likely loser in Big 10 expansion would be the Big East, who could lose at least two teams, most likely Rutgers and either Syracuse, UConn or Pittsburgh. While the Big 10 already has their own television network, the construction of a 16 team Western mega-conference with this alignment would cover the Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones and cover seven of the nation’s Top 20 television markets according to Nielsen.
Not to be outdone, the SEC has been a part of the rumors as well. The SEC can afford to be picky because of the significance of their television contract and their status as perhaps “the elite conference” of college football. Texas and Texas A&M have been rumored to be part of an SEC expansion if the SEC decides to go that route, but some circles seem to think that Texas sees the academics in the SEC as inferior to those in Austin. In other words, UT feels that either the Big 12 or the PAC 10 provides a better fit. There’s also been some talk that Oklahoma would be interested in going to the SEC if other teams like Texas and/or Texas A&M go too.
Would it be possible to see Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and OK State all go to the SEC? Geographically it makes sense. Arkansas and LSU provide the western boundary of the SEC as it stands now, so the SEC would become a conference with two eight team divisions which would have the four Big 12 schools plus Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi and Mississippi State as it’s western division. The SEC expansion scenario still causes the implosion of the Big 12. In that case, would Colorado go to the PAC 10 along with BYU, Texas Tech and Baylor?
The possibilities are mind boggling. What does the Big East do? Have they been sitting on their hands this whole time? Get used to the conference talk. The rumors will fly until the music stops playing and everyone finds a seat.
Preseason Picks For The Fun Of It
Football season is year ’round now. We’ve known that for years. We have training camps in the summer, kickoff around Labor Day, playoffs at the end of the year, the Super Bowl has been stretched to February, National Signing Day is in February, the next round of recruiting kicks in… the schedule is released and the NFL draft is in April, colleges make recruiting visits in April and May…. Do we take the month of June off? Nah.
It’s still too early to tell exactly how every program is going to shape up at the start of the season, but for entertainment purposes, how about a preseason Top 10?
#1 Alabama – they’re the defending National Champs and will have to be knocked off before anyone else gets to claim they’re the nation’s #1 team. Coach Saban doesn’t take a day off and the Tide return eight of their offensive starters including QB Greg McElroy and running backs Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson. The Tide only returns five defensive starters from 2009. Defense may be the only early point of concern for them.
#2 Boise State – This would be rare air for the Broncos. Boise State usually starts much lower in the polls and spends most of the season working their way up the ranks by winning and winning and winning. This year, they’ll get respect because they return 21 of their 22 starters plus their kicker and their punter. The only player not to return is CB Kyle Wilson. Boise starts the season off against Virginia Tech at FedEx Field in Washington D.C. and will have a lot to prove.
#3 Texas – Colt McCoy is gone, but QB Garrett Gilbert got plenty of valuable playing time in the national championship game when McCoy went down with an injury in the first quarter. Texas loses a few other key starters and has to hit the road for conference play at Oklahoma and at Nebraska this year. There are a few places for them to stumble, but they should start the season at #3.
#4 Ohio State – The Buckeyes finished strong by beating Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Coach Tressell may have finally figured out what he has in QB Terrelle Pryor. As conservative as Big 10 football is typically, Tressell may be forced to open up the offense and let Pryor loose.
#5 TCU - This is another squad that plays in a non-BCS conference and dominated their schedule last year. Last year’s Horned Frogs returned only 10 players but this year’s edition brings back 16 starters. TCU lost their BCS Bowl game to Boise State last year, but that was no shameful loss. Perhaps both Boise State and TCU will make BCS Bowls again this year. This time let’s hope they both get to play against “traditional powers”.
#6 Iowa - Iowa had to do a lot of work to get ranked highly last season. They climbed from #22 to #4 in the National Rankings before being stunned at Northwestern and losing a heartbreaker at Ohio State. This year, the Hawkeyes get a much more favorable conference schedule including the Ohio State game at home. This team has arrived.
#7 Virginia Tech – This is the hometown favorite of course, and they’ll have a week one test against Boise State in DC. Virginia Tech returns very few players on the defensive side of the ball and may be outmatched in the game against the Broncos. From there, the Hokies should rebound and if they pull it together, they could run the table. The next tough game for Tech after their opener is the November 4 home game against Georgia Tech. As far as the polls are concerned, a loss to Boise State wouldn’t knock them far down in the rankings and Tech could easily be a Top 5 team again by November 4. If Tech beats Boise State, the sky’s the limit. They will have to contend with consecutive November road games against North Carolina and Miami that might stand between the Hokies and an undefeated regular season. They just have to get the first game out of the way.
#8 Florida – Florida loses their QB, their top WR and top TE, yet they will still do well in the rankings. Florida is expected to be the class of the SEC outside of Alabama, and should be the favorite in all of their games except for that one. Urban Meyer has recruited well and should be able to reload quickly.
#9 Nebraska – Ndamukong Who? Yes, their top ranked defensive lineman was one heckuva presence for the Huskers. Otherwise, Nebraska returns a lot of talent and should have no problem winning the Big 12 North. Nebraska has a cakewalk of an early schedule and doesn’t have a tough game until their October 16 home game against Texas.
#10 Oregon – The Ducks had new coach Chip Kelly last season and they stumbled out of the blocks. This year, their rival USC lost their Head Coach Pete Carroll and they’ve picked up Lane Kiffin. Winning their conference might be easier this year than it was last year. Ducks QB Jeremiah Masoli has been suspended for a year and RB Lagarrette Blount went pro, so Oregon will have to overcome those setbacks and move on. The Ducks return 16 starters from last years team and have time to steady themselves with opening games against New Mexico, at Tennessee and against Portland State.
Just think, we’re less than four months from football season!