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I thought we were 3-9 on the season. Yeah, Toledo beat us!!!
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RichRod won 6 Big Ten games in 3 years. In contrast, Hoke won 6 Big Ten games in 1 year.Comment
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But Hoke did it with Rich Rod's kids....
:::runs:::"in order to lead America you must love America"Comment
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heh .. touche' sir ..."in order to lead America you must love America"Comment
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USC summit takes on 7-on-7 football
March, 7, 2012
By Ted Miller
The surest route for just about any investigation? Follow the money. When money started flowing in and out of prep 7-on-7 football tournaments, the NCAA raised an eyebrow.
Yet once the NCAA and universities recognized that 7-on-7 tournaments were quickly becoming the football equivalent of the sleaze of AAU basketball, the question became what would everyone do. It hasn't been easy finding answers. For one, these enterprises mostly operate off campuses and away from NCAA jurisdiction.
"It's a pretty complex topic," said Mark Jackson, USC's senior associate athletic director, and one of the hosts of the summit called, "The Impact Of 7-On-7 Organizations On College Football Recruiting" on Tuesday at the Galen Center.
First of all, 7-on-7 football isn't some type of satanic cult. There are positives.
• it gives players more exposure, which increases scholarship opportunities.
• If a player's high school team is mostly run-based, it gives quarterbacks and wide receivers a chance to shine in pass-first games.
• Players who are competing in 7-on-7 football aren't doing other things where they might get in trouble.
• Many of the coaches and organizers are in it for the right reasons: To help young people.
• 7-on-7 football is fun.
Of course, the negatives are why athletic directors; compliance officers and head football coaches from the Pac-12 and Big Ten; NCAA enforcement staff; representatives from the Pac-12, SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten conference offices; operators of 7-on-7 organizations; and high school coaches gathered for an invitation-only event at USC.
• 7-on-7 football can marginalize high school coaches.
• It allows for the insinuation of third parties -- read: "street agents" -- to work themselves into a young athlete's recruiting process.
• It's become a big-money operation, which creates plenty of opportunities for NCAA rules to be bent, twisted and broken.
"The conversations got heated and spirited but it was good to understand the landscape," Jackson said.
So what ideas came up during this "heated and spirited" discussion? More than a few.
For one, there needs to be communication between the high school coaches and the 7-on-7 coaches. One major problem when a young man becomes a recruit is it seems two separate coaches now speak for the player. Often these coaches are at odds. A 7-on-7 coach might tell a player that he should change high schools. Or a 7-on-7 coach might tell a college team that he represents a young man, not the high school coach.
Further, things get complicated when young men on tour with 7-on-7 teams show up for unofficial visits on campuses. Who pays for these visits? Perhaps it might help to make changes to the official recruiting calendar so these visits fall more under the NCAA rules umbrella.
Finally, as 7-on-7 tournaments get bigger -- and richer -- it makes sense for them to get more organized and standardized. And supervised. Wouldn't it make sense for the NFL to get involved? After all, it is the chief steward of the game.
When it started, 7-on-7 football was small and all the money was coming from grassroots fundraising. Now it's a big business, with companies like Under Armour and IMG involved. Pining for simpler times isn't going to help. So universities and the NCAA are trying to find common ground with organizers, creating rules and oversight that might prevent 7-on-7 football from tumbling into the corrupt morass of AAU basketball.
"These things are not going away," Jackson said. "This is free enterprise."
Free enterprise operating parallel to the complicated and controversial "amateurism" of college sports' cash cow, but that's a topic for another day.
http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnationGrammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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...... the NCAA as it is currently organized and given its mission statement is not capable of regulating, in any meaningful way, 7 on 7s.
I'm not sure I like the idea of getting the NFL involved as some kind of benevolent protector of the game. IMO, there needs to be a CFB Czar appointed by the Conference Commissioners, a new set of rules that deal with the most pressing problem areas, a sizable support/enforcement staff paid for by the various conferences and, most importantly, an entity with a big hammer.Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.Comment
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Even amidst these troubling economic times our insatiable appetite for sports and celebrity, couple with the usual lack of common sense, has created a multi-million-dollar business out of high school kids playing flag football.
It makes one weep for the future.Comment
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AUBURN, Ala. -- Federal authorities are investigating suspended Auburn point guard Varez Ward for alleged point-shaving involving at least two games this season, Yahoo! Sports reported Thursday.
The report cited anonymous sources and said the FBI began an investigation in late February centering on losses to Alabama on Feb. 7 and Arkansas on Jan. 25.
Ward and guard Chris Denson were both suspended before a Feb. 25 game against Arkansas, but Denson returned for the next game. Denson was questioned and cleared of involvement in point-shaving, the report said.
"Auburn officials were made aware of a rumor regarding an allegation two weeks ago and immediately reported it to the FBI, the NCAA and the SEC," Auburn said in a statement Thursday. "Because of the nature of the allegation, Auburn is not in a position to make any further comment on the situation."
The report said a player reported concerns to an assistant coach in late February.
Auburn coach Tony Barbee has said only that Ward and Denson violated team rules. Ward didn't play in the final three games of the regular season or travel with the team to New Orleans for the Southeastern Conference tournament, where the Tigers open with Thursday night's game against Mississippi.
Yahoo! Sports reported that other Auburn players were questioned about whether Ward tried to get them to participate in the alleged point shaving.
Ward, a Texas transfer, has averaged 9.0 points a game and leads the Tigers in assists.
Ward scored three points and had six turnovers in the 68-50 loss to Alabama, playing 17 minutes. Vegas Insider said Alabama was favored by five points.
Ward lasted only 19 seconds after coming off the bench in the 56-53 defeat to Arkansas before crumpling to the floor. Barbee later said he took a knee to the right leg he had injured early in his sophomore season with the Longhorns, when he ruptured his quadriceps tendon on a dunk during pregame warmups. Auburn still covered the 9?-point spread.
In between those games, Ward had his hottest streak of the season. He scored 53 points in a three-game stretch, including 24 against Mississippi State.
Ward has not commented publicly since his suspension. His last Twitter post was on Feb. 24 when he tweeted, "Can't win for losing smh" (shaking my head). It was the last in a series of posts that day, the first saying that his knee was "hurting bad."
Ward sat out last season under transfer rules and has two years of eligibility remaining.Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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Fortunately, for those there needing spiritual guidance in this difficult time, there's a brand new church available...Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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LOL!Comment
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The NCAA has ruled on North Carolina's football infractions case...
I think UNC's a bit lucky they didn't get worse, but only a bit. This seems for the most part to be a reasonable penalty.Last edited by JRB; March 12, 2012, 02:22 PM.Comment
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UNC got brutally punished relative to their violations compated to OSU.Comment
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shows you the relative power of Ohio and UNC in the college landscape.Comment
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The base violations were significantly more serious at UNC, which included the institutionally-damaging charge of academic fraud.Originally posted by Hannibal View Post
OSU's situation would actually not have been all that serious had The Senator not lied about it.Comment
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