Morning Wrap: Ohio State Down Alabama in Sugar Bowl

((ht: espn.com))

There was little question at the end of the so-called "SEC Era". Especially when the SEC's best went down to the best of the Big 10.

Ohio State used the feet of Ezekiel Elliot and the arm of freshman Cardale Jones to run away from the much-hyped Crimson Tide 42-35 late Thursday night.

As expected, the game went down to the wire with the Buckeyes taking the lead late in the 4th quarter on an 85 yard TD run by Elliot. Elliot finished with 230 yards rushing and 2 TD's on the night. His score put tOSU up 42-28.

Bama did come back. Blake Sims hit Amari Cooper with 1:59 left in the game closing the gap to 7, but it would be as close as the Tide would get. 

Nick Saban's team did get the ball back with well under a minute left in the game. Sims threw a hail mary pass into the end zone at the buzzer, but it was picked off. Game over.

Ohio State moves on to face Oregon in the National Championship game on Jan. 12th in Dallas. It should be one heck of a game.

Rutgers Rolls North Carolina in Quick Lane Bowl

((ht: espn.com))

Sigh...anyone can sponsor a bowl game can't they? Maybe it's just because we're based in the south, but we've never heard of Quick Lane...

Anyway...

Rutgers jumped out to a 23-0 1st half lead, were up 40-7 in the 4th quarter, then cruised to a 40-21 win Friday in the Quick Lane Bowl in front of hundreds of fans at Ford Field in Detroit.

Josh Hicks ran for 202 yards and a TD, teammate Robert Martin ran for 100 yards and 2 TD's to lead the Scarlet Knights who ran for 340 yards against a very mediocre Tar Heels team.

Rutgers finishes the season at 8-5, North Carolina fell to 6-7.

Your highlights from ESPN.com:

Paul Chryst Named Coach at Wisconsin

((ht: host.madison.com))

We first told you about this story last week. But Wisconsin couldn't "officially" hire now former Pitt Panthers coach Paul Chryst until they fulfilled the legal requirement of having the job posted for a week.

The Badgers have a 6pm (Central) press conference scheduled where Chryst will be introduced. And like we said in the above paragraph, it's not a surprise to anyone.

Chryst grew up in Madison. He played for the team in the late 80's and got his coaching start with the Badgers. He was the teams offensive coordinator from 2005-2011.

Chryst had a tough job rebuilding Pittsburgh after some tough years. He had a 19-19 record with the Panthers in 3 seasons.

He'll replace Gary Andersen who left after 2 seasons to jump over to Oregon State. That move surprised many people, but Andersen claimed it was because of the lack of support by administration that caused the move.

Wisconsin plays Auburn in the Outback Bowl.

Reports: Paul Chryst to Get Wisconsin Job

((ht: jsonline.com))

It didn't take long for the University of Wisconsin to find someone to replace departed coach Gary Andersen. Andersen left Madison earlier this week to take the open coaching job at Oregon State.

Reports circulating out of Wisconsin say that soon-to-be former Pittsburgh Panthers head coach Paul Chryst has accepted the job.

Chryst has been at Pitt for the past three seasons with a 19-19 record, but the Panthers have shown great improvement each season.

It should be noted he is a Wisconsin grad and a long time Badgers assistant when the opportunity opened up in Pittsburgh. Armed with head coaching experience, he should be a good fit for the folks in Madison.

Here's the original story on the move from The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

The move also opens up the Pittsburgh job. The Panthers are all in on the ACC at this point and it should be a fairly attractive opening for whomever takes it.

It should be noted that Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez posted the job just yesterday, the guess is he already had his man (Chryst) ready to roll.

Surprise: Oregon St. Hires Gary Andersen from Wisconsin as Coach

Just a week after losing Mike Riley to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the Oregon State Beavers have found his replacement.

And it's not the guy anyone was expecting.

Now former Wisconsin head coach Gary Andersen was hired to take over the as football coach. A statement was released Wednesday afternoon, a presser is scheduled for Friday.

Andersen spent 2 seasons coaching in Madison going 19-7 during that time. The Badgers won the Western Division of the Big 10 this past season, but were whitewashed by Ohio State in the title game 59-0.

Previous to Wisconsin, Andersen spent time coaching at Southern Utah and Utah State.

Morning Wrap: Ohio State Runs Away from Michigan State

((ht: espn.com))

So goes the thought of the Michigan State playoff run.

The Ohio State Buckeyes behind 3 passing and 2 running TD's by rising star QB J.T Barrett took care of business Saturday night, pounding the Spartans 49-37.

The game may have been a Big 10 playoff game. The winner has smooth sailing to the Big 10 title game and a likely College Football playoff berth.

Barrett was without a doubt the best player on the field. He's gotten better each week. The 300-yards passing and 86 rushing yards were impressive, but the 35-points he accounted for were by far the most impressive stat.

The performance still doesn't explain how tOSU managed to lose to a crappy Virginia Tech team at home, but it all but erases the memory for most. There is still a game at scrappy Minnesota and the rivalry game with mediocre Michigan in Columbus, but the path has become a lot easier for Urban Meyer's team.

Let's see if they can avoid any hiccups.

Your highlights from ESPN.com:

Uh--Minnesota Wants You To "Do The Gopher" With Iggy Azalea and Caddyshack Gopher

Um...yeah, we are a bit sleep deprived these days, so when we saw this video, we thought we were either hallucinating or left a broadcast of Caddyshack on TV.

But alas, our mind was not playing tricks on us.

Check out this odd video produced by the Minnesota Golden Gophers athletic department.

It's essentially a short music video called "Do the Gopher". And the video not only appears to feature the Caddyshack gopher, it also features pop music star Iggy Azalea, who we assume is from the Gopher state and apparently was at the teams homecoming game on Saturday.

((Note--The Gophers have had a good football season thus far, they are one of the few 6-1 teams in the Little 10 (um..Big 10)))

Anyway, behold the video in all it's majesty...and no, we don't know how we confused the music with Kenny Loggins singing "I'm alright".

How Does This Happen? Indiana Beats Mizzou in Mizzou

No, really, this happened today. We aren't making it up to make the Little 10 and Jim Delany happy.

Somehow,  the lowly Indiana Hoosiers pulled off the first Big 10 upset...or victory of significance this season.

The Hoosiers disposed of a stunned group of Missouri Tigers 31-27 Saturday afternoon.

Tevin Coleman ran for 132 yards and a touchdown, but aside from that, nobody did anythings significant in this game to turn it one way or the other.

There was only 1 turnover and Missouri had the ball for over 33 minutes, yet the 18th-ranked Tigers still lost.

The Hoosiers were coming off a disheartening loss to Bowling Green, yet they had enough to beat the defending SEC East Champs. Setting off tons of head shaking amongst the SEC acolytes who cannot conceive of a Big 10 team beating them.

Yet it happened...

--shrugging shoulders-- Maybe this will be the game that turns the corner for the Little 10, Michigan was again getting beat, search parties are still looking for Ohio State. Only Michigan State left one of the so-called "Power 5" conference teams with any hope of getting to the College Football playoff.

Here's the game-winning TD by D'Angelo Roberts with :22 left in the game.

OSG CFB: Just How Much Is Kirk Ferentz's Buyout These Days...??? Still Un-Buyoutable...

((HT: Iowa State Daily Online))

Iowa State beat Iowa today in the annual CyHawk affair on a last-second field goal by Cole Netten with two seconds left in regulation.

Netten missed his first attempt, but Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz had called timeout to try and ice him.

Didn't work and now the Cyclones are 1-2 after their embarassing loss to North Dakota State and the Hawkeyes (2-1) have now lost three of the last four in the series.

Here's Paul Rhoads talking about his kicker...


And, now, we address the larger question. Frankly, it's one of the larger questions in the state after a day like today.

It is commonly known that Ferentz has the worst contract for a state employee in the history of contracts for state employees short of Huey Long.

And, for that, he can thank AD Gary Barta for base salaries, longevity bonuses, and anything else resembling supplemental payments that Barta threw at him when the contract was signed and extended.

Patrick Vint over at Bleacher Report did a tremendously face-slapping awareness piece IN 2012 on the sheer madness of the contract and why a buyout will NEVER HAPPEN UNTIL THE CONTRACT IS OVER... and, then, it just won't be renewed.

In the year 2020... let that sink in for a moment...

His contract is SO BAD it cannot be bought out, so a program is stuck with him unless someone befriends Warren Buffet or T. Boone Pickensian-type folks over the next five years or so.

If we extrapolate Vint's base number for buying out in 2012 dollars using his "75-percent of his base salary" figure, and we fire Kirk Ferentz the second this story is published, we're looking at a minimum of 52 payments of $219,742 or $11,426,584...

And that says nothing of any kind of hidden settlements or other hidden paragraphs in the Ferentz-ian contract.

It's almost the Peter Principle of contracts and there's nothing the school or the state can do about it.

Barta is more than happy, apparently, to fire one of the more nationally recognized field hockey coaches in the country when he let Tracey Griesbaum go with three weeks before the 2014 season was going to start a month ago- allegedly when five players went to Barta and claimed that Griesbaum called a player "fat."

Barta fired Griesbaum without cause and went straight to the buyout portion of the contract for that sport- and, probably, ruined it on campus.

A particular paragraph late in the Black Heart piece by Vint speaks volumes about where Barta's head is in the Iowa Athletic Program:

"A football workout actually put nine players in the hospital not long ago, yet not one person was fired or even reprimanded; the strength coach responsible for the workout got a 'Coach of the Year' award from the program two months later. And if yelling at players is grounds for dismissal, then Gary Barta has obviously not watched the basketball coach he hired four years ago."

So, if anyone is looking for any kind of success in Iowa City- good luck with that until Barta and Ferentz are gone...

SIX YEARS FROM NOW!!!

OSG CFB: Can We Put The MAC In The "Power 5" Now...???

((HT: Falcons Athletics their own selves))

Bowling Green had not hosted a Big 10/12 squad since 2008, and after today, it might be a long while before it happens ever again.

The Falcons beat a 10/12 team for the first time at home in their win over Indiana, 45-42.

QB James Knapke went 46-for-73 on the day and the Falcons had another 40 plays besides those involving their QB.
The two teams combined for 1,153 yards of net offense- 742 yards of that was passing yards.
Bowling Green only punted once...

Here's the highlights from BGSU's point-of-view


For the record, Bowling Green will continue their walk through the Big 10/12 Legends Division (or is it the Leaders Division???) with their trip to Madison to play Wisconsin next weekend.

Here's head coach Dino Babers discussing his walk through the power conference not called the MAC

Penn St. Postseason Ban Lifted

It appears the harshest of the penalties being served by the Penn State athletic program in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal are being lifted.

The NCAA announced Monday afternoon they've lifted the postseason ban they placed on the Nittany Lions. In addition, they will get the scholarship restrictions placed on them lifted after the current season ends.

Saying the school has made "Remarkable Progress" in making the changes prescribed after the horrific Sandusky case, the NCAA Board of Directors moved to take immediate action.

What they don't get back: The 112 forfeited wins. However, the NCAA is willing it appears to let the state of Pennsylvania keep the $60 million in fines levied against the state's largest school.

For those unaware, the Sandusky scandal refers to former long-time assistant coach Jerry Sandusky who was convicted of multiple charges of child molestation. During the investigation, it was found Penn State may have overlooked or not paid attention to the signs of a problem and covered it up. There was also a firm belief the football culture had overtaken the day-to-day life of the University and the people living in the community.

This years team under new Coach James Franklin is off to a 2-0 start and is likely to be a bowl eligible team with a shot at winning the blatantly mediocre Big 10.

Now they may get a chance to prove their worthiness on the field...

The talking heads of ESPN debate the merits of today's decision:

Cupcake Saturday: Can We Swap #MACtion For The Big 10...???

((HT: Big Ten Network))

It was ugly...

Michigan State lost to Oregon as the Ducks scored the last 28 points in Eugene
Notre Dame shut out Michigan
Virginia Tech took care of Ohio State in front of the largest crowd in the history of the Horseshoe

But, it was silly elsewhere...

Rutgers beat Howard
Nebraska needed a late TD to beat McNeese
Penn State barely beat Akron
Minnesota beat Middle Tennessee
Maryland turned the ball over six times but a blocked punt gave them a win over South Florida

The bigger news came from two MAC teams that held on...

Central Michigan sprinted out to an early lead over Purdue in Lafayette and beat the Boilermakers- who are living up to the old nickname of "Pur-don't..."
((HT: CMU Sports))


The other not-so-shocking shocker was Northern Illinois taking care of Northwestern
Defense from guys like Paris Logan helps


So, in a day that could have solidified the Big Ten/12 as one of the power conferences this season, all Saturday did was confuse the issue and give one conference a big "I told you so..." for scheduling prowess. It proved that some teams are bad, some need work, and some just aren't there yet.

A Navy SEAL Tries Out For Northwestern

((HT: Chicago Sun-Times/Lost Letterman))

Lost Letterman gets the credit for this story

Tom Hruby has had tours as a veteran in Iraq and Afghanistan and is now trying to stick with the Wildcats as a defensive player-special teamer. He is living in the dorms and is trying to make a go of it as a junior on campus.

Still as an active Navy SEAL...


Seth Gruen's article is a must-read about someone who has sacrificed, whose family is still sacrificing, and is looking toward that next challenge.

From the article:

“What’s the next step? How do we get out of here? And you’ve just got to stick to those thoughts, stick to what’s important, stick to what you know and just kind of have an attitude,” he said. “We all have an attitude of we’re always going to survive. There’s almost nothing that can beat us.”

And the HQ can't wait to see how Hruby attacks this challenge.

The Power 5 Are Off And Running

((HT: ESPN))

The top five college athletics conferences are one step closer to having their own autonomous behavior when it comes to what it would take to run their athletic programs.

By a near-unanimous vote, the Board of Directors has approved the idea to allow themselves to decide on how much money they want to give above and beyond their scholarship dollars as "cost-of-attendance stipends," as well as increased insurance benefits for players, staff sizes for sports on campus, loosening recruiting rules and determining just how much hours can be spent on individual sports- considered practice time- which they're looking to expand and monitor internally.

Here's Joe Schad discussing with David Lloyd


The "no" vote would have to carry more than 75 schools, but the schools in the Power 5 could vote to secede from the NCAA on their own if a vote like that was to pass.

So, the haves will have more control over themselves and the have nots will be left to fight for themselves.

Again...

5 Top 25's Go Down In One Night...

It was not a night to be a ranked team in the world of college hoops...

Indiana fans wore hard hats at Assembly Hall as Indiana took care of 20th ranked Iowa 93-86
Will Sheehey scored a career-high 30
((HT: BTN))


And Penn State swept Ohio State with their win over the Buckeyes 65-63... and they stormed the court...
Surprising no one...
((HT: BTN))


Arkansas also got their season sweep over Kentucky with their overtime win IN LEXINGTON!!!

Which, the HQ is sure, has sent the entire Big Blue nation into some kind of histrionics
((HT: SEC on ESPN))
Houston's Danuel House scored 19 off the bench as the Cougars knocked off #21 Memphis 77-68 Mark Followill and Chris Walker discuss ((HT: CBS Sports Network))
And, finally, St. Louis' 19-game winning streak came to a screeching halt with their loss to Duquesne...
It was Duquesne's first over a Top 10 team since a 72-68 win over #9 Xavier on February 7, 2009, and it was DU's first road win over a Top 10 team since a 73-72 win at #6 Bradley on March 5, 1962...

The End is Near: Power Schools Likely To Break Away

((ht: yahoosports.com))

The end is near. The BCS may be dead, but it's future will be frighteningly similar.

Why? Because what we told you was going to happen in July is about to come to fruition. The NCAA, at it's annual meetings this week has all but decreed the Big 5 Conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12 and SEC) are about to break off into their own division.

And no, we don't know what they are going to call it....yet.

The NCAA's annual convention has been taking place all week in San Diego. And rough polling by Yahoo Sports indicate that when NCAA president Mark Emmert, presents a proposal to the full group to approve the move, it will pass.

Read an explanation from Yahoo Sports writer Pat Forde RIGHT HERE

We first told you this might happen back in July. Read that story RIGHT HERE

What does this mean to you?

A lot.

First off, it eliminates the chance anyone outside of these conferences ever playing for College Football's national title on the highest level. Although realistically, there was little chance anyone from the MAC, AAC or other smaller D-1 (FCS) schools were ever going to do that.

Second, part of the proposal will essentially allow the power schools to break from NCAA regulations and pay players, something the smaller schools without TV money can't afford to do, but the big guys can.

If you thought the end of the BCS and beginning of the playoff system was going to change the College Football landscape, you ain't seen nothin' yet.This is a doozy.

Because it has yet to be put in place, there are multiple ways it can play out, but here's what we think will happen. The "Power Schools" will get their own division. They'll play, for the most part each other, with the Top 4 teams going to the playoff. The other schools, will filter down through the bowl system.

The "Others", well, they'll have their own division, we're guessing something similar to the FBS or old 1-AA. However, we don't necessarily know if they'll do a playoff like the FBS does. The FBS has been hemorraging schools over the past decade and we wonder if the remaining schools will filter down to Division II.

That may not happen, but folks, we're telling you now, this is a game changer. It's most definitely a case of the "Rich Getting Richer" and unless you are a fan of a "Power Conference" school, you are shit out of luck. Everyone else will be regulated to the Regional Sports Networks of the world. (Hope you have them). The Big Boys will be your games on the major networks, unless you happen to be chosen to be a sacrificial lamb for a big school looking for an easy win.

We are following this issue closely, and will keep you updated on how it progresses.

Maryland Files $157M CounterClaim Vs. ACC

((HT: Baltimore Sun/Barker))

The suing and countersuing between the ACC and the University of Maryland over the school's exit to the Big Ten Conference has now come from Maryland- as they are now asking for $157-million in damages the school is saying it should get because the ACC has tried to recruit Big Ten schools as Maryland was leaving...

The counterclaim also asks the North Carolina court to have the conference pay Maryland $16 million that the school says has been improperly withheld since Maryland said they were jumping...

The conference is still looking for its $52-million plus exit fee- in full... from a school that left the ACC because it was running at a deficit and had to eliminate sports in an attempt to try and get closer to a break-even budget...

And got their money grab by joining the Big Ten and getting to be a part of the money distribution of the Big Ten Network- something the ACC has talked about, but won't have any time soon...

And the school is blaming, partly, the four-letter...
From Barker:

Maryland’s counterclaim says the ACC’s desire to expand is driven “in large part on counsel and direction that the conference received from ESPN.”

“Whether that guidance was given formally or informally,” the document alleges, ESPN has “incentivized the ACC to compete more aggressively in the market for conference affiliation/membership.”

Here's the presser that caused all this consternation back around Thanksgiving 2012...
((HT: UMDNews))

CFB Recap: Breaks Go Ohio State's Way: Beat Michigan and Alabama Loses

Will it be enough to get one of the less impressive undefeated teams in the country in the title?

We don't know.

But it raises a heck of an argument.

Ohio State did what was necessary, got lucky and walked away Saturday afternoon with a 42-41 win over Michigan. The win puts them at 12-0 and probably #2 in the upcoming week's BCS poll.

But will it get them to the title game?

The game, which was pretty crazy unto itself, sort of got overshadowed by Saturday evenings craziness. But it had some strange twists and a whole lot of juvenile behavior which now seems to overshadow what should be a traditional college football rivalry.

The game kicked off with a fight on the field early in the 3rd quarter. OSU starting guard Marcus Hall and kick returner Dontre Wilson were tossed along with Michigan backup linebacker Royce Jenkins-Stone. Punches allegedly were thrown and Hall in a moment of total class flipped off the Michigan crowd as he was escorted from the field.



The game itself was a back-and-forth game with a bunch of lead changes. Michigan scored with just over 30 seconds to go to close to one point. Michigan coach Brady Hoke, apparently feeling greedy, decided to go for the two point conversion, which ended with Tyvis Powell picking off Devin Gardner's pass.

The loss drops a mediocre Michigan team to 7-5, 3-5 in the mediocre Big 10. Ohio State is now 12-0, 8-0 in the conference and hasn't lost a game in now 2 years.

The Buckeyes square off with Michigan State this Saturday in the conference title game. The challenge is to be convincing in that game. If Ohio State wins, and wins comfortably, they should end up in the title game vs. FSU. Squeeze one out and the arguments over whether they are more worthy than the SEC champ will begin.

Here are your game highlights from ESPN:

Iowa Beats Nebraska and Bo Pelini Dares Someone to Fire Him

It must be rough being Bo Pelini these days. Never mind what happened to brother Carl at Florida Atlantic, Bo's got his own problems.

Those problems start--and end with a restless Cornhusker fanbase who are increasingly unhappy with Pelini and his performance.

Iowa is the latest to add to the beat Nebraska war cry, beating the Cornhuskers 38-17 in Lincoln. The Hawkeyes took advantage of 2 Ron Kellogg III interceptions sending Nebraska to their 3rd home loss of the season.

The loss left Nebraska at 8-4 on the season, 5-3 in the Big 10, Iowa improves to the same record. And unfortunately, after a great win by Iowa, all anyone could talk about is Nebraska coach Bo Pelini.

Pelini has been under fire by alumni (most notably Tommy Frazier) and much of the fanbase for their perceived under-performance of the team. However, to fire the $3 million a year coach is going to take a lot of money and a big leap of faith by AD Shawn Eichorst.

For his part Pelini immediately added fuel to the fire by stating in his post game presser "If they want to fire me, go ahead" adding he was proud of his and the teams accomplishments and that the program is heading in the right direction.

And he may not totally be wrong.

It's not like Nebraska has been terrible. Though they haven't been the Nebraska of the 1990's and earlier. And that's something that the fans and alumni need to remember. For every coaching change that helps improve the program, consider what happened to Tennessee when they fired Philip Fulmer, the Vols haven't been relevant since that happened.

Your highlights from ESPN

ACC Lawsuit Vs. Maryland Goes On...

And the Atlantic Coast Conference can thank a North Carolina appeals court...

Maryland left the ACC for the greener (and we mean that in the literal sense) pastures of the Big 10 and their own network contracts, so the ACC sued for their $52-million exit fee...

A Court of Appeals panel rejected Maryland's bid to dismiss the lawsuit. The 3-0 decision means Maryland has no automatic right to a state Supreme Court appeal.

Maryland countersued the ACC back at the first of the year saying the penalty was "illegal."The university responded by suing the ACC in Maryland in January, calling the amount an illegal penalty.

Maryland is supposed to leave at the end of the fiscal year...

Here's B1G Commissioner Jim Delany discussing the move when it went down...
((HT: BTN))


The Big Ten reportedly paid its members $24.6-million in shared television and media rights revenues in 2012.

Where does the $50-million fee come from...???

After the ACC added Notre Dame as a member in all sports but football and hockey in September 2012, the league voted to raise the exit fee to $50 million. Maryland was one of two schools that voted against the increased exit fee.

Of course, they were... since they're operating at a deficit and had to eliminate sports to get on a budgetary track...