Morning Wrap: Incarnate Word Stuns Nebraska in Hoops

((ht: espn.com))

Basketball is a wonderful equalizer. Just ask the various D-1 College Teams who have found that out the hard way early this College Basketball season.

You can now add a new team to the list.

Incarnate Word, a small college team from San Antonio, Texas who made the jump from Division II to D-1 just last year took down Big 12 Nebraska in what's considered a significant upset.

The Cardinals got a 74-73 win, but it took a fumbled inbounds pass from Terran Petteway of Nebraska and baseline fadeaway jumper from Kyle Hittle of Incarnate who got the steal with just under 5 seconds left to secure the win.

Incarnate is in the midst of a solid start this season, the win moved them to 6-1. Nebraska dropped to 5-3. Hittle lead the Cardinals with 18 points. Terran Petteway had 18 for Nebraska.

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...

ICYMI: Temple Unversity Drops 7 Sports

And the non-big time BCS schools continue struggling to stay competitive.

Temple University announced on Friday the school would drop 7 sports in an effort to control costs.

Baseball, men's crew, men's gymnastics, men's outdoor and indoor track and field and women's softball and rowing are the sports impacted by the cuts. 150 athletes and 9 coaches are left without a program at the Philadelphia area school.

For their part, Temple says they don't have the money to upgrade their facilities in all their sports facilities, so they decided to concentrate on the ones they considered the most important. The school is a member of the American Athletic Conference.

Read more from the school's press release RIGHT HERE

Temple's football and basketball programs are the biggest programs. The football team has struggled mightily over the past few seasons and to Temple's defense, the cost of maintaining a top flight program is pretty steep.

But this is an indicator of an oncoming problem in college sports. Football is very profitable for SOME, but not most Division 1 schools. If you are a lower tier program in a smaller FCS conference that doesn't get the mega-TV deal, you struggle. And eventually it takes a toll on the school, it's budget and the athletics department.

You will see this happening more and more over the next few years....

One of Temple's athletes attending the announcement posted this video:

Robert Morris Cutting 7 Sports

Robert Morris University is cutting seven programs to keep the remaining 16 afloat in the Northeast Conference.

Men's indoor and outdoor track, tennis and cross country and women's golf, tennis and field hockey will be phased out following the 2013-14 academic year. 80 student-athletes are effected...

Athletic director Craig Coleman says those moneys will be re-allocated to fund additional scholarships, facility upgrades and increased travel and recruiting budgets.

"Clearly, this is the most difficult decision I've faced as athletic director, and one of the hardest we've had to make as a university. I understand that our student-athletes are very upset by this news, and we apologize for the distress this has caused," said Coleman in a release. "Nonetheless, this is the right decision to ensure that the university's present growth remains sustainable and that our student-athletes enjoy an excellent experience at RMU."

More from the university:

One of the primary reasons the university chose to reduce its Division I sports, according to Coleman, is that RMU has one of the largest budgets in the Northeast Conference (NEC) but spends among the least per student-athlete, owing to the sheer number of sports it offers. With 23 sports, RMU offered more Division I programs than Pitt or West Virginia, for example. Including the sports to be reduced, RMU has approximately 560 Division I athletes on its rosters.

The university considered several criteria in reducing sports: the number of student-athletes; competitive success; academic achievement; cost; the adequacy of facilities; compliance with Title IX; and whether a program was a NEC sport of emphasis. RMU sought to maximize its cost savings while impacting the fewest student-athletes. Money saved will be ploughed back into the remaining Division I sports.

Here's what folks remember the most about Robert Morris in the last year or so...
((HT: WTAE-TV))


The HQ empathizes with the 80...
More when we know more...

Southern Utah Wins At The Gun In Mobile

((HT: XOS College Sports))

South Alabama is now a full-fledged member of the Sun Belt Conference... which means games matter in their first full season as a Division I school (or FBS, or whatever you call it...)

Southern Utah came to Mobile in their season opener and made sure the Jags remembered who they invited...

Last-second field goals for the win will do that for you...

Southern Utah went 54 yards in the final 4:43 to the South Alabama 11 where Colton Cook kicked a 28-yard field goal on the game's final play for the win...

"We lost a very important ballgame tonight. We're a better team, but we have to look at ourselves and evaluate what we're doing. We're going to have to win some close games to have a good year this year, and that was one we let slip by," USA Head coach Joey Jones said postgame.

Here's the highlights...


"Everyone is disappointed. Everyone is just tired of seeing this happen," DE Alex Page admitted. "We want t make a change. We thought we had it all together, but we made some mistakes. We backed off a little bit. It's just motivation to come together and really make a change, because I don't want my senior year to be like this the whole time."

The Jags were 2-11 last year and their next game is at Tulane next Saturday...

Is Division I Football Sure About This Whole UConn Thing...???

((HT: AKM Sports Media))

Especially after Towson beat an NCAA division I team for the first time as UConn lost 33-18 at home to the Tigers...

There was certainly a great deal of optimism with opening night...
((HT: WTNH-TV))


But that was squashed for most of the evening at Rentschler Field as Terrance West ran for 156 yards and two touchdowns- both in the fourth quarter. QB Peter Athens threw for 192 yards and another score. Running back Sterlin Phifer caught a 23-yard touchdown and ran for another.

The Huskies had not lost to an FCS team since 2001, when they were making the transition from Division I-AA to Division I.

Here's your Towson postgame with Towson head football coach Rob Ambrose, West and defensive lineman Jon Desir


UConn now gets Maryland and Michigan before a game against Buffalo. If the win doesn't happen there, it may not happen until the season finale against Memphis.

Irony: Pac 12 Upset at D-1 Inclusion of For Profit School

((ht: cbssports.com))

Does anyone else find this kind of funny? Or at the very least, a pot and kettle situation?

It appears the Pac-12 Conference is less that amused at the NCAA allowing Grand Canyon University Antelopes
to move from Division II to D-1

The 8,500 or so students who attend or take classes at the Arizona based Christian school are in line for a move to the Western Athletic Conference, which was decimated by realignment.

Read more from CBSSports.com RIGHT HERE

The reason we've labeled this ironic is simple. The Pac-12 and other "Big-Time Schools" all claim to be--"Not for Profit". Yet, they've thrown away traditional alignments, budget consciousness and everything else in the pursuit of TV money.

So much so that many long-time schools like Maryland and Rutgers who've jumped to the Big 10 primarily to pay off the debt they acquired building monsterous practice facilities and firing coaches they owe small fortunes to after a season or two.

Yes, Grand Canyon exists to make money. But you could argue so does every school in the PAC-12.

Sure, the Pac-12/Division 1 schools don't have to pay taxes on their profit. (They could eliminate half the national debt if they did), but many of them make profits. Yes, they umbrella it under the "Athletic Associations", but think about it. Many get up to $20 million a year from ESPN before they ever play a game.

Who wouldn't call that profit?