Boise State’s Chris Petersen has officially joined college football’s $ 2 million coaching club. The State Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to give Petersen a $ 375,000 raise for 2012, the first step toward replacing his old contract with a new five-year deal designed to keep Petersen in Boise through January 2017.
Yahoo! Sports – NCAA Football News
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Boise State’s Petersen gets $375K raise (AP)
January 5th, 2012 by adminAlshon Jeffery shows up to answer Gamecocks’ Hail Mary prayer, then gets tossed
January 2nd, 2012 by adminGiven the preseason hype, it’s been a relatively quiet year for freakish South Carolina receiver Alshon Jeffery: Coming into today’s Capital One Bowl tilt with Nebraska, his junior campaign had yielded just 45 catches for 614 yards, less than half his output en route to All-America honors in 2010. If this was his farewell tour in a South Carolina uniform, though, he made it count in the first half.
With the Gamecocks trailing 13-9 and the clock ticking down at the end of the first half, quarterback Conner Shaw threw up a prayer from his own 40-yard line into a pack of players waiting just outside of the end zone — only one of whom goes 6-foot-4 with the athleticism to elevate above the crowd, snatch the jump ball out of the air and spin across the goal line for the go-ahead touchdown with no time on the clock. Jeffery’s leaping, spinning score put South Carolina up 16-13 going into the half, and gave him his best stat line of the season: Four catches for 148 yards and a touchdown, more than half of it coming on a 78-yard catch-and-run into Nebraska territory in the first quarter. (The Gamecocks failed to capitalize on that one, missing a short field goal a few plays later.) The result as Jeffery’s first 100-yard game of the year, after hitting the century mark nine times as a sophomore.
It may be his last, too, after he was tossed from the game in the second half for a shoving match with Nebraska cornerback Alfonzo Dennard. The ejection is the end of Jeffery’s season, and with the NFL Draft calling, may also be the end of his college career. If so, it’s an appropriate exit — equal parts spectacular and frustrating, all in the same breath.
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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
Jadeveon Clowney gets in the forbidden holiday flier spirit
December 22nd, 2011 by adminIt’s an “X-Mas Eve Explosion” with South Carolina freshman defensive end Jadeveon Clowney and senior corner back C.C. Whitlock at a Rock Hill nightclub, only the two players might not know they’re promoting it.
For the third time in about a week, college football players are the faces of a flier promoting a party that they may or may not be attending or even know about.
“It’s like a family thing,” party promoter Justin Ford told the SportsTalk Radio Network. “The person that set it up is cousins with C.C. They from the Rock Hill area. They might not even come. They said they might not be able to make it. Everything is legit, because they family.”
Ford acknowledged that while it’s not guaranteed that either player will attend the party that just having them on the poster gives some credibility to the event.
“It was just to make the whole situation look bigger than it is,” Ford told the station. “They are not guaranteed to host. If they come they come, it not we okay. We said we just want to put ya’ll on the flier. They might not even come through.”
At no point does Ford say he received permission from the players to use their images on the posters and he backtracks several times when talking about whether the two players will even attend. That’s a good thing for South Carolina, which should be in the clear with the NCAA if this turns out to be a case of Ford not actually having “permission” to use the likenesses.
Using a player’s likeness for promotional purposes is a major violation and could result in ineligibility. North Carolina receiver Dwight Jones learned that Tuesday after the NCAA ruled him ineligible for about 24 hours following a flier advertising the “1st Annual Dwight Jones New Years Birthday Celebration.”
Last week, Clemson’s Sammy Watkins was named a host to a “Naughty or Nice X-Mas Party” for Dec. 23. The university issued a cease-and-desist order to the restaurant promoting the event.
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Curtsy (female version of the hat tip) to Deadspin
Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham
Louisiana-Lafayette gets stunning bowl win
December 19th, 2011 by adminBrett Baer kicked a 50-yard field goal as time ran out to give Louisiana-Lafayette a 32-30 win over San Diego State in the New Orleans Bowl.
Jon Teague gets a big kick out of beating Army
December 12th, 2011 by adminAfter difficult senior season, placekicker comes through with two fourth-quarter field goals to help Midshipmen up string in series to 10
Video: Rick Neuheisel gets the Rudy treatment
December 1st, 2011 by adminUCLA players insist they’re committed to an upset Friday night at Oregon, where the ballooning point spread has settled on the Bruins as 31½-point underdogs for the Pac-12 championship. Still, they’re not leaving the celebration to chance in their head coach’s last game:
In his final practice at Spaulding Field, embattled UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel received a tribute from his players that he said was both unexpected and “tough to imagine” being any better.
After the Bruins concluded their near two-hour workout Wednesday in preparation for Friday’s Pac-12 title game against Oregon, they gathered around Neuheisel. Quarterback Kevin Prince, safety Stan McKay and several other players then hoisted their coach onto their shoulder pads, walking off the field as a group. The team hummed the Bruins fight song, culminating with an emphatic, “U-C-L-A.”
[…]
“It’s meaningful when you work to create relationships and you want desperately for them (players) to achieve what they are capable of achieving,” he said, pausing twice to compose himself as tears welled in his eyes. “And despite the fact that we didn’t win enough games, I think they are achieving as people.”
Aw. See coach? They really do care, after all.
There was another reason to celebrate: On Wednesday afternoon, the NCAA ruled that the Bruins are eligible for a bowl game even if they lose in Eugene, even though said loss would drop them below .500 for the season at 6-7. Assuming Stanford is heading for another at-large bid to a BCS game at 11-1, it also means that the Pac-12 will be able to fill at least six of its seven bowl tie-ins — the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl breathes a sigh of relief, and sidles up as UCLA’s likely consolation prize — leaving only the New Mexico Bowl out in the cold. But I’m sure they’ll manage somehow.
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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
Best of Times, Worst of Times: Baylor gets its kicks while it can
November 23rd, 2011 by admin
BEST OF TIMES: A snapshot from the peaks…
Baylor. When Robert Griffin III first emerged as a in 2008, he seemed destined to toil as the classic “good player on a bad team”: Respected by opponents, constantly referenced as one of the most “underrated” or “overlooked” players by the media, and generally ignored by everyone else. At best, he’d lead the Bears out of an extended postseason drought and into a minor bowl game.
Three years later, what Griffin has given Baylor instead is back-to-back winning seasons, its highest standing in the polls in 20 years, the No. 1 total offense in the Big 12, new every possible school record on the books and now — with Saturday night’s 551-yard, 4-touchdown gem in a primetime upset over Oklahoma — arguably the biggest win in school history.
If they close with three more wins against Texas Tech, Texas and in the bowl game, the Bears will go out on their longest winning streak (six games) since 1985 and their first 10-win season since 1980, thanks to their first legitimate Heisman candidate ever. Given the sudden interest from NFL scouts, they should probably enjoy the fun while it lasts.
Virginia. The Cavaliers began the season as a rag-tag bunch of no names with almost nothing going for them. Eleven games, they’re a rag-tag bunch of no names who have won six o their last seven and will be hosting their biggest rival Saturday for a ticket to the ACC Championship Game. If the Cavs were in a movie, they’d be a slightly more disciplined version of the “Bad News Bears,” and coach Mike London would be a more sober version of Walter Matthau. Who can dance.
Virginia has never won the ACC championship outright, and has only had one within its grasp this late in the season on three occasions: In 1984, 1989 and 1995, all under former coach George Welsh.
Louisiana Tech. A decade removed from its only WAC championship in 2001, Tech took command of its conference fate Saturday in a 24-20 upset at Nevada, the Bulldogs’ sixth straight win — five of them coming on the road. With one more this weekend against New Mexico State, they’ll wrap up the WAC title and a likely bid to the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, where they’ll probably still be talking about what might have been: Three of Tech’s losses during a 1-4 start came by a combined nine points against Southern Miss, Houston and Mississippi State, the latter in overtime.
WORST OF TIMES: …and into the valleys.
Dennis Erickson. If you’ve checked in on the Arizona Republic’s hub page for Arizona State since Saturday’s 31-27, come-from-ahead loss to Arizona — the Sun Devils’ third consecutive defeat, and fourth in five games since a 5-1 start — and you might notice a certain theme to the headlines:
• What went wrong for ASU football?
• Erickson: ‘I’m living in the present right now’
• Vote: Should ASU fire Dennis Erickson?
• Sources: Erickson internet report is false
• Video: Should ASU move on without Erickson?
• Erickson: ‘We still have a lot to play for’
The false “internet report” in question was a one-sentence rumor on an obscure website that said ASU coach Dennis Erickson has already informed his coaching staff that he plans to step down at the end of the season, and it may not be “false” so much as it is “premature.” Another loss Saturday at Cal would clinch the Devils’ fourth consecutive non-winning season, and could be Erickson’s swan song after five years.
It’s not only that Arizona State is losing: The current skid has come against teams that sit a combined 10 games below .500 outside of their wins over ASU, one of which (Arizona) has already fired its head coach, and two of which (UCLA and Washington State) may be on the verge of firing their head coaches. This, from a team that was heavily favored to exploit a vulnerable division with one of the most veteran lineups in the conference. With a win over Cal, the Devils could still take the back door into the Pac-12 Championship Game courtesy of a) A UCLA loss at USC and b) A Utah win over Colorado. Given the expectations and the opportunities lost over the last month, though, limping into Eugene, Ore., as a sacrificial lamb on the way to a 7-6 finish isn’t going to do anything to cool down the temperature in Erickson’s golf cart.
The Service Academies. At 3-8, Army is eliminated from a bowl game for the 14th time in 15 years. At 4-7, Navy is eliminated from a bowl game for the first time in nine years. And even at 6-5, Air Force’s five-year bowl streak depends on another win Saturday at Colorado State (two of Air Force’s wins are over FCS teams, only one of which counts towards the requisite six wins for bowl eligibility), raising the very real possibility of all three academies missing out on the postseason for the first time since 2001. If the Falcons pick up their seventh win in Fort Collins, they’re still staring at a fifth-place finish in a conference that only has four automatic bowl tie-ins.
Miami. The Hurricanes endured a season ravaged by scandal, suspensions, Maryland’s uniforms and maddening inconsistency to pick up their sixth win Saturday in a 6-3 dud at South Florida, and now they don’t even have a token bowl game to show for it. The specter of forthcoming NCAA sanctions has been looming over Miami’s head all season, but that’s only one of the reasons Friday’s finale against Boston College is going to be one of the most depressing send-offs in school history.
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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
Arkansas gets to make case vs. No. 1 LSU (AP)
November 21st, 2011 by adminBobby Petrino’s smile Saturday following Arkansas’ 44-17victory over Mississippi State was followed by tears Sunday night. Now the Arkansas coach must regroup as the Razorbacks try to cope following the death of redshirt freshman tight end Garrett Uekman of unknown causes. Following No. 3 Arkansas’ win over the Bulldogs, a weekend of upsets continued when Oregon and Oklahoma lost.
Yahoo! Sports – NCAA Football News
Pat Hill fights for his tenure at Frenso State as his seat gets hotter
November 9th, 2011 by adminFresno State coach Pat Hill can feel his tenure with the Bulldogs slowly fading.
After the Bulldogs 41-21 loss to Louisiana Tech last week, the heat of Hill’s seat became so unbearable that the coach who has guided the program for the past 15 seasons, went on the defensive.
“It’s a feeding frenzy,” Hill said during his weekly press conference. “I just told the team [to] let the fingers all go to me. It’s my fault.
“If you want to see a coach bleed, if you want to see somebody bleed at the table, I’m bleeding right now. If that makes everybody happy — fine.”
Hill has seemingly been on the hotseat for years despite posting winning seasons in every year but one since 2000. But during Hill’s tenure, the Bulldogs have never won an outright conference title — shared one with TCU and Hawaii in 1999 — and were never able to compete with Boise State once the Broncos joined the WAC in 2001. Under Hill, the Bulldogs are 4-21 against teams with at least a .500 record since 2008, including 0-5 this season, and they are just 4-7 in bowl games.
This year, the Bulldogs are 3-6 overall, 2-2 in conference play. With Fresno State moving to the Mountain West next year, it’s no surprise that Bulldogs’ supporters are looking for a change of coach to go with the change of conference.
But what’s most disturbing is that the fans are starting to take out their Pat Hill disillusionment on the team. Only 27,965 showed up for the Louisiana Tech game, the third crowd of less than 30,000 this season for a stadium which seats 41,031. According to the school website, much of Fresno State’s success has been attributed to its home crowds.
Since Pat Hill took over as head coach in 1997, Fresno State is 38-7 (.844) at home.
Much of that success stems from an environment considered the nosiest in the WAC. Featuring a capacity of 41,031, the stadium has been filled at near 100 percent capacity ever since record crowds began to pour into the facility in 2001. No other conference team has experienced the consistently high attendance as have the Bulldogs.
Hill said Monday that fans taking out their frustration on the players isn’t the right move.
“Hey, listen, I’m not dumb,” Hill said. “There’s a lot of Pat Hill haters. There’s a lot of venom that spills all the time. I can’t worry about that. … I don’t know what I’ve done to make them mad.
“If people are missing the games because of Pat Hill, that’s a shame. They should be coming to watch the team. If you’re not coming because you hate Pat Hill, I feel sorry for you. Come because you love the Bulldogs, because you love your team.”
Through it all, Hill has been here before. While the vitriol hasn’t been nearly as amped as it is this year, he’s always found a way to survive and even thrive in the following year. After Fresno State’s last down year — a 4-8 campaign in 2006 — the Bulldogs went on to win nine games in 2007 and beat Georgia Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl.
“I’ve been here 15 years,” Hill said. “I’ve had a lot of friends [who've] said ‘Man, you shouldn’t stay that long. Your shelf life won’t last. You’ll never make anybody happy.’ I’ve heard all of that. I know that.
“I feel like I’m the best guy for the job at Fresno State. There’s no doubt in my mind. With everything that goes on, I feel like I’m the best guy. I understand it very well. I understand this job. I get it. And you know what, I like it.
“And I’m going to do everything I can to make this team better. That’s all I can do.”
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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.
ESPN’s Matt Millen gets emotional when discussing Penn State scandal
November 8th, 2011 by adminThe ESPN announcer got emotional offering his perspective on the scandal at his alma mater.