SB Nation User Blog: dimecoverage

Bevo's Daily Roundup - December 23, 2009

dimecoverage — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:31:22 -0000

Wishing you a very Burnt Orange Christmas.

The Horns took out No. 9 Michigan State. (Here's the stats.)

Damion James had 23 points and 13 rebounds, leading No. 2 Texas past No. 9 Michigan State 79-68 on Tuesday night, giving the Longhorns consecutive wins over Top 10 teams.

Like the victory over No. 10 North Carolina on Saturday, James led this one. He followed his 25 points and 15 rebounds against the Tar Heels with another big showing to rally the Longhorns (11-0) from an early deficit.

Dexter Pittman wanted more.

"As good as he is, I think there is still a lot of growth for him at UT," assistant coach Rodney Terry said. "I don’t just mean with basketball."

"Once a player enters the draft, they enter a tough business. Dexter just wants the time to mature a little bit more. And he is really using this season to get a better understanding of the game," Terry added.

Pittman cites the opportunity for improvement in all areas as his major reason for remaining at UT for his senior season.

"I chose not to enter the draft because I wanted to come back to Texas and get even better. I’ve really improved my conditioning," Pittman said. "I also want to become one of those great college players."

It is never too early to start projecting the field.

Rick Barnes is slick.

Somehow Barnes has done this at a school not known for basketball while remaining unblemished. Somehow he's done this while remaining friends with both John Calipari and Bob Knight.
That is how well Barnes balances his world.

He's so slick, no one sees him as slick.

The Texas-North Carolina game is the highest-rated and most-viewed men's college basketball telecast this season across all networks.

Just had to throw this in. Always nice to hear about problems in Norman. A temperamental Sooner may cause issues for Jeff Capel.

Merry Christmas. It is good to be the king.

December 22, 2009 finds good news everywhere you turn as a Texas Longhorn fan.

Football #2, playing for a National Championship.

Basketball #2, playing another Top Ten team in a meaningful game in December at home in front of (what should be) a noisy, sellout crowd.

Baseball #1 in the pre-season Top 25 rankings.

Some other stuff

Beergut over at I Am The 12th Man is thinking. This cannot be good.

texas reinstated WR/KR D.J. Monroe after he pled down to a lesser charge of obstructing a passageway, and the driving while intoxicated charges were dropped. Hell, we all know that is an equal charge; obstructing a passageway puts lives in danger just as badly as an underage kid driving around while so drunk he is impaired. The best part is Mack Brown's statement to the media:

"I had a long talk with D.J. yesterday," Brown said. "We looked at the punishment he had, what will affect them in 15 years and what it does to the attitude of the team. And we felt that a three-game suspension for the charges that were dropped, that he should be reinstated."
Brown might as well have said, "We looked at how badly we might need him for the BCS Championship Game, and decided to reinstate him." I'd respect Brown more if he stood by his earlier punishment.

Hey, Bo. An apology would do. The Big 12 will not fine Bo Pelini for his less-than-classy remarks after the championship game.

"The comments reportedly heard by reporters outside the locker room were made while players and coaches were exiting the field," Osborne said. "Some comments were reported as coming from behind a closed locker room door and lacked specificity and point of origin."

Nick Saban helped to shape Will Muschamp's coaching philosophy.

Muschamp learned a lot during his time with Saban. While he jokes there will be a lot of "wasted ink" written bout their relationship over the next few weeks, he remains grateful for the opportunity to join Saban's staff nine years ago.

"When you get there and get exposed to a lot schematically, that appealed to me," Muschamp said. "And that's obviously where I formed my ideas about how you play and the things you needed to do to be successful."

Safety Blake Gideon believes Mack Brown deserved that raise.

"They come in here and aren’t just about getting us accolades on the field or keeping us eligible," Gideon said. "They are here to get us a degree and get us out of here with something besides football memories. I feel that's the most important thing to Coach Brown since I’ve been recruited and still is now. I think he deserves every bit of it."

Mack Brown likes that underdog role.

Texas coach Mack Brown has latched onto the underdog role, and he’s running with it.

Presumably all the way to Pasadena

The Horns are tweaking some things before the showdown with Alabama.

For the players on offense, the practices have been about correcting what happened in the Big 12 title game, which was for them a night of worsts.

Texas gained only 202 total yards, the fourth-worst output in Brown's 12 seasons at UT. The last time the Longhorns were held to fewer yards was in 2000.

The points — one touchdown and two field goals — were the fewest the Longhorns have scored since Nov. 24, 2006, when they lost to the Aggies, 12-7. The offensive line struggled the most, allowing the Cornhuskers to sack McCoy nine times.

Offensive coordinator Greg Davis said there would be "tweaks " but nothing glaring. "At 13-0, we're not going to reinvent ourselves in a month," he said. "But I do think we have to be smart enough to tweak some things."

The Crimson Tide is good at avoiding penalties.

While there aren't too many statistical gaps between the two teams in the Jan. 7 BCS national championship game, one jumps off the page.

Texas has been penalized for 180 more than yards this season than Alabama. The Longhorns rank 81st nationally in penalties committed per game. The Crimson Tide is 17th, having not had more than five penalties in a game since October.

Nick Saban is cleaning out the clutter.

Nick Saban wants all the so-called "clutter'' removed from the heads of No. 1 Alabama's players.

That includes Mark Ingram's Heisman Trophy and Rolando McClain's Butkus Award. Not to mention the SEC title and the biggest clutter of all: The Crimson Tide's upcoming game against second-ranked Texas for the BCS national championship on Jan. 7.

"This team is so hungry," said quarterback Greg McElroy. "It's different from last year.
Although the Sugar Bowl was great and we learned a lot (in losing to
BCS-buster Utah), it also was a consolation prize (after losing the SEC
title to Florida)."

Say it isn't so, Mack.

Texas coach Mack Brown just said that, "Alabama was my favorite program growing up."

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

I hope you get everything on your list this year.

The Daily Roundup will be back on December 28th.

Bevo's Daily Roundup - December 21, 2009

dimecoverage — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:54:36 -0000

The brilliant analysts at ESPN talk about the national championship game.

Everything is big in Texas. Especially wins.

Everything's big in Texas.

You think they win big at Alabama? They win bigger at Texas.

The Crimson Tide has won 811 football games in its history. That ranks sixth on college football's all-time list.

The Longhorns have won 844 games. Only Michigan (876) has won more.

Alabama has won 72 percent of its games. That also ranks sixth in the nation.

Texas has won at a 72.7 percent rate. Only Michigan (74.4) and Notre Dame (74.2) have won more often.

We aren't going anywhere.

If Texas is a candidate to leave the Big 12 and join the Big Ten, it's news to men's athletic director DeLoss Dodds.

"We've not talked to anyone about it," Dodds said before Texas' 103-90 win over North Carolina at Cowboys Stadium. "We're a member of the Big 12. We helped put the Big 12 together. It [the Big Ten] is a long ways away."

Colt McCoy warned him...Mack Brown is a good salesman.

Colt McCoy warned his dad not to let Case go into Texas coach Mack Brown's office on a recruiting trip. He knows that hard sell better than anyone.

Sure enough, Case McCoy went into Brown's office. He didn't make it back out before reaching the seemingly insane conclusion that it would be a good idea to follow his brother to Texas.

"I was happy and I was elated because there's no place I'd rather him go," Brad McCoy said. "But I just really couldn't believe he did it right there. Colt was right. He said, 'I told you he couldn't do it. Too much pressure."'

Barking Carnival has an Advent Calendar: 18 Days to Bama.

Basketball

"Texas just killed us on the backboards," Williams said, taking a shot at the hype
his team had received. "The so-called 'best front line in America' ...
Dexter Pittman sort of kicked our tail by himself."

The second-ranked Longhorns defeated No. 10 North Carolina ~~103-9~~ 103-90.

James, the 6-foot-7 senior, produced 25 points, 15 rebounds and four steals.

Pittman, a 6-10 senior, had 23 points and 15 rebounds — 12 on offense — and two blocks.

Thanks to those two, Texas outrebounded the Tar Heels 60-41 and outscored them 27-11 on second-chance points.

"We have a great front line," James said after the Longhorns improved to 10-0. "I think it's the best in the country."

What a game. But Rick Barnes wasn't happy.

"We can do better," he said.

"We’ve got a lot of growth," he added.

It was typical, generic coach-speak in an effort to temper the expectations.

But this Texas team is pretty darn good right now.

Rick Barnes and Roy Williams had a different opinions of Texas' defense.

Texas coach Rick Barnes was upset with his team's defense after North Carolina shot 58.8 percent in the second half.

But Tar Heels coach Roy Williams credited Texas with playing the best man-to-man defense of any team he's seen this season.

All the Horns are flying under the radar.

Point guard J’Covan Brown, guard Avery Bradley and small forward Jordan Hamilton haven’t received the national buzz of, say, Kentucky’s John Wall or Kansas’ Xavier Henry.

But then, for a second-ranked team, neither have the undefeated Longhorns (8-0).

And no one really knows why.

Asked why he thought people have undervalued his Texas team, James shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know," he said. "You'd have to ask them but I do wonder, what do they think of us now? I know how good we are and I think maybe we even deserve to be …"

Gary Parrish has noticed the Horns.

It's possible to show you're capable of being in the national championship game, possible to show you're good enough to win it all. And that's exactly what the Longhorns showed Saturday during their 103-90 victory over North Carolina that drew 38,052 fans, among them former President George W. Bush, who after all these years finally found those weapons of mass destruction.

Turns out, they belong to Rick Barnes.

They were used to destroy North Carolina.

"I think we showed we're a great team," said Texas point guard Dogus Balbay. "And we're going to continue to show that."

Rick Barnes can't help Dexter Pittman now.

Pittman, the Longhorns’ 290-pound center, will corner Barnes in the locker room or pull him aside on the practice court and ask for tips on how to improve his game.

"Coach," Pittman has said countless times, "how can I get better?"

Barnes was always ready with an answer – until last week, when the normally poised coach unexpectedly snapped.

Barnes pushed Pittman until he found the inner toughness that seemed to have been lacking all those times when he asked for a substitute late in games or missed foul shots because of fatigue.

"You’ve got to flip the switch," Barnes said. "You’ve got to flip the switch. Until you learn to do that, I can’t help you any more."

Volleyball

Oh, so close. The Texas Volleybal team lost the national title to Penn State.

Texas outside hitter Destinee Hooker couldn't sit down, she wouldn't.

Having been so close to another national championship, sitting down would represent an ending. Her teammates were already sitting, slumped over and exhausted from their hard-fought loss. But Hooker stood.

It was almost as if she couldn't believe one of the most brilliant careers from a Texas Longhorn could end like this. But it did.
Minutes after Texas' loss to Penn State — 22-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-13 — the two-time All-American shook her head and stood statuesque, staring at the Nittany Lions' celebration.

The Crimson Tide

The Tuscaloosa News and Roll Bama Roll look back at the 1982 Cotton Bowl.

Team Speed Kills just loves Nick Saban.

Alabama's players show solidarity. Or just stupidity.

Most teams headed to a postseason game break for a few days, then reconvene at the bowl site for final practices and pre-game festivities. Subsequently, the NCAA offers a set dollar amount for players who travel individually, and they're allowed to pocket the difference between that number and the actual cost of the trip.

This time around, though, 'Bama captains weighed the break and the cash against the cost of splitting up the team and burdening players with the logistics of connecting flights, delays and other holiday travel hang-ups in the middle of preparations for the BCS Championship game on Jan. 7, and decided they'd rather stick together than get paid.

Mike Sherman talks about the Independence Bowl.

Should A&M's quick tempo offense be a concern for a fast SEC team?

"We hear that the tempo is even faster than what Auburn is doing," Richt explained. "When you watch film and you'll see a play where the defense is scrambling to get line up and the ball is snapped, you know they're going fast. Most defenses can get lined up on a pretty good pace, but they're doing some things where they are going so fast that defenses are having a very difficult time to get lined up quickly."

Sooner defensive tackle Gerald McCoy will enter the NFL draft.

McCoy told the Tulsa World in November that he already had made up his mind to leave because he recently ran a degree check and discovered he would finish the fall semester six hours short of a degree in human relations.

"Graduation was my main goal," McCoy said Friday in an OU press release, "and once I knew I had that accomplished, I wanted to look at playing in the NFL."

A bowl game in Oklahoma?

Is the Big 12 headed for a Heisman slump?

The Big 12 has carved an enviable niche in Heisman Trophy balloting in its short history.

With Colt McCoy's third-place finish and Ndamukong Suh's fourth-place finish last week, the Big 12 has had a top-five finisher in 11 of its 14 seasons of existence.

Included in that mark are winners like Ricky Williams in 1998, Eric Crouch in 2001, Jason White in 2003 and Sam Bradford last season. Additionally, the conference has had six players who finished second and two others who were third.

Despite that history, the early prognosis doesn't look good for duplication by the Big 12 in 2010.

The Kansas City Star has a great profile article on Turner Gill.

In the spirit of the season...

Bevo's Daily Roundup - UNC

dimecoverage — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:10:18 -0000

Jerry World is an impressive place, even for basketball.

"It's my first time ever feeling small," said 6-foot-10 center Dexter Pittman, who used to weigh nearly 400 pounds. "I didn't think that JumboTron was that big. I thought people were overexaggerating, but it's huge!"

As big as the screens look for football games, it's even more overwhelming for basketball.

"I told (a team official) I didn't want to play — just buy me a ticket to sit in the stands and I'll watch it on the JumboTron," Pittman said, laughing.

Point guards are no big deal to Rick Barnes.

On Rick Barnes' team, like many others in college basketball, one player is often asked to bring the ball up the floor and initiate the offense.

Just don't make the mistake of referring to that player as a point guard.

"You guys make too much of a big deal about that," Barnes said.

The way the Texas coach sees it, the description is far less important than the job itself. And the No. 2 Longhorns have no shortage of applicants — with a wide range of body types and skill sets — willing to perform it.

Dexter Pittman was probably the most improved player in the Big 12 last season, if not the country.

"It's been a journey," Pittman said to FanHouse on Wednesday. "Everybody didn't expect me to be like this, to become the player that I am now. The only people who believe in me were my coaches and my family."

Most important, Pittman believed in himself. With the help of UT strength and conditioning coach Todd Wright, Pittman defied the limitations placed on him by others and has become an integral part of the Texas Longhorns' frontcourt the past two seasons.

Last season he was the most improved player in the Big 12 and arguably in the country, especially towards the end of the year.

Avery Bradley waited patiently for Texas to come around.

But after games, Bradley would always ask, "Was Texas here?" recalled Garry Ward, Bradley's AAU coach.

Texas assistant Chris Ogden, who was also interested in Gaddy, finally heard about it and checked out Bradley.

"I almost took it personal," said Bradley, of waiting for UT.

Dexter now has his own fan club over at Youtube and his own channel.

Dexter Pittman just wants more respect for the Texas basketball program.

Sometimes, the Texas Longhorns wish their basketball program commanded more respect. Then, they often remember they have more of it than even they realize.

Earlier this week, UT center Dexter Pittman found himself getting worked up about the opportunity to face 10th-ranked North Carolina, a team he described as "basketball gods, (from) the capital of college basketball." Then, all of a sudden, it dawned on Pittman that the Tar Heels — TV darlings, five-time national champions — might actually have reason to look up to the Longhorns, too.

"Dang," Pittman said, "I forgot we’re No. 2."

UNC coach Roy Williams talks about the Texas game.

Avery Bradley checks in from Arlington.

If you’ve never been to Cowboys Stadium, all I can say is the place is beautiful. We had practice there this afternoon. We were honored to be the first team to ever get a chance to shoot on the court which was just put down for the first time. The court was dead in a couple spots, but I’m sure they’ll get that fixed in time for the game.

Personally, I’m excited to play in Arlington. I grew up in Arlington and it’s where I became a Texas fan. Hopefully there will some familiar faces in the stands who come out to watch me play.

As a whole, the team is looking forward to the chance to play against North Carolina. This is the big-time game you dream of playing in when you’re a kid on the courts. We’re excited to play the game.

Game Information

#2/2 Texas (9-0) vs. #10/10 North Carolina (8-2)
Saturday, December 19, 2009 • 1 p.m. Central
Cowboys Stadium (46,753) • Arlington, Texas

GAME DAY QUICK FACTS
TELEVISION: The game will be televised nationally by ESPN. Dan Shulman (pxp), Dick Vitale (analyst) and Doris Burke (reporter) will call the action.
RADIO: The Longhorn Sports Network and KVET (FM 98.1/1300 AM Sportsradio The Zone) broadcast every UT game on the statewide network and on XM Satellite Radio Ch. 231. Craig Way (pxp) and Eddie Oran (analyst) will call the action. Check www.TexasSports.com for a listing of affiliates carrying the game.

Bevo's Daily Roundup - December 18, 2009

dimecoverage — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:01:18 -0000

Well, no one is perfect. Colt McCoy has been told he isn't perfect.

Colt McCoy has been told he isn't perfect. Lately by the Heisman voters, often by pro scouts.

But if he can find a television with the NFL Network, he might be inspired Saturday night. Then, the Cowboys face someone who has been perfect.

McCoy might even recognize this person. It's his twin.

An NFL scout of over 20 years thinks so. "(McCoy) looks like a bigger, stronger Drew Brees," Dave Razzano told a reporter last month.

Colt McCoy is Sporting News 2009 College Athlete of the Year.

Someone over at Tomahawk Nation doesn't like McCoy's chances against the Bama defense.

And Pat Forde doesn't like our chances against Alabama.

Why to watch: If you need to be told, you haven't been paying attention.

Who's happier to be there: Mutual ecstasy.

Moderately useful Dash fact: Texas has played two teams in the Sagarin top 30. Alabama has played seven.

Completely useless Dash fact: Mack Brown (39) now can crush $4 million man Nick Saban (40) with his wallet.

Dash pick: Alabama 21, Texas 17.

The Los Angeles Times’ Chris Dufresne picks Texas to beat Alabama.

History may be on our side.

Overall, the No. 1 team in The Associated Press poll has met the second-ranked team 43 times, winning 58 percent of the games. The No. 1 team is 24-17-2.

The bad news for Alabama fans is when the top two teams in the AP poll meet at a neutral site, mostly in postseason games, the No. 2 team fares better. At neutral sites, the No. 1 team is 13-12-1, a winner 52 percent of the time.

More recently, when the AP No. 1 and No. 2 teams squared off in the BCS title game — which didn’t happen after the 2000, ’01 and ’03 seasons since the BCS uses a tabulation of human and computer polls to rank teams — the series is dead even at four games apiece.

Seven Longhorns were included on the All-America teams for Sporting News and the Associated Press.

Daily Texan

 "I called the athletic director and said, 'How much money will it take to get my name off" 
that field? - Joe Jamail, after UCLA humiliated Texas 66-3 in 1997.

We're loaded.

While revenue at many big-time college football programs has fallen or stayed flat last season, revenue at the University of Texas—which comes from things like ticket sales and suite rentals—jumped by 20% last year to $87.6 million, the most ever generated by a college football program and almost $20 million more than second-place Ohio State University pulled in.

The bulk of the $14.6 million increase came from the addition of a building on the north side of the stadium with 9,000 new seats that was financed by alumnus and former Minnesota Vikings owner Billy Joe "Red" McCombs.

At Texas, alumni donations fund more than one-third of the athletic department's $127 million budget. In addition to buying football tickets, Texas alumni contributions help pay coaches' salaries. Last week, the University of Texas System raised coach Mack Brown's annual pay to $5 million from $3 million—a move that disgusted a group of faculty members who this week called the raise "unseemly and inappropriate."

And we spend it, too.

At the University Co-op near campus, Brian Jewell can't keep burnt orange tree toppers, football ornaments, Longhorn-Santa pants and red-hatted Bevo shirts on the shelves.

"It's a challenge for us this Christmas, and now we're trying to find merchandise from our vendors," said Jewell, the store's vice president of marketing.

He keeps reordering the Big 12 and BCS championship items. In a little over a week, the nonprofit store has sold $500,000 worth of just caps and shirts.

The Crimson Tide

What happened to that Christmas spirit? Roll Bama Roll has already started the hate.

S) Texas enjoys being the underdog, and they are using that as motivation to prove everyone wrong.
T) Texas is the underdog because they haven't played anyone who is even close to a team like Bama. Honestly, they're probably not even as good as TCU, and they're definitely not as good as Florida.

S) This will be a close defensive struggle.
T) No it won't. The only "defensive struggle" will be be the Texas defense struggling to suck wind from being on the field all night with their offense watching from the bench.

kleph over at RBR continues the Texas-Alabama series.

Basketball

It is just time to move on. They are still talking about that Rick Barnes - Dean Smith incident.

Rick Barnes needs to find room for Jai Lucas.

Coach Rick Barnes said Lucas has played both point and shooting guard in practice. Lucas left Florida because he wanted to run a team, but some analysts who've seen Lucas practice wonder if he's a true point. He's certainly an excellent shooter, having hit 37-of-85 from 3-point range as a Gator freshman.

The Horns have a big test on Saturday.

However, the question is whether Texas can beat quality competition. The Longhorns have raced to the top of the Pomeroy Ratings with a 9-0 record but their strength of schedule ranks just 225th out of the nation’s 347 teams.

Texas will have the chance in the next few days to prove it is indeed a team that should be considered a serious national title contender. The Longhorns play defending national champion North Carolina on Saturday in the first basketball game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. They then host last year’s national runner-up, Michigan State, next Tuesday.

"It’s a big game against North Carolina for us as far as national interest, but in December, there’s not a lot to get excited about except showing improvement," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "Obviously, we want to win games but when we leave that game or the next game, we’ll know if we played up to our potential as a team. These are going to be more physical and much faster games than what we’ve been in. We’ve been in a situation where we’ve been able to overpower people talent-wise but it won’t be the case in these games.

The Women's basketball team beat Ole Miss 64-58.

Update: The Horns won and have now advanced to the NCAA title game.

The win puts Texas in its first NCAA title match since 1995, and UT will take on either Penn State or Hawaii to decide the national champion. The NCAA championship match is slated for Saturday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. Central with a live ESPN2 national telecast. The Longhorns will be looking for their second NCAA championship and their first since 1988.

UT is on the way to another possible national championship. The Texas Volleyball team takes on Minnesota in one of two semifinal s in Tampa, Fla.

Now, the Longhorns return to the Final Four with a new mind-set — one geared toward a different outcome.

"I think being through it last year helped us a lot," said Longhorns outside hitter Juliann Faucette. "It basically felt like a national championship just getting to the Final Four, but I think this year that has changed, and we know that was a goal of ours, to get back to the Final Four.

"It was kind of expected among our team that we would earn the right to be back, and we have to be down to business and ready for Minnesota."

We're all about second chances.

At first it looked like time might have expired on the Longhorns. Their season was lost. But then a second was returned to the clock, giving Longhorns place-kicker Hunter Lawrence the opportunity to kick the biggest field goal of his life and win the championship. He and the Longhorns had a second chance.

The point was not lost on Elliott's captains. The tears of disbelief that had flowed in the Faucette household as she and teammate Destinee Hooker saw the game clock apparently run out had given way to cheers at the second chance and the winning kick.

Tonight the UT volleyball team (28-1) gets its second chance, an opportunity to finally get past a gut-wrenching loss last year in the NCAA championship semifinal to Stanford , which came back from a two-set deficit to win the five-set match.

The No. 2 Texas Volleyball team placed three players on the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America Teams.

Congratulations. Texas sophomore diver Drew Livingston and Texas freshman diver Maren Taylor were selected Wednesday as the Big 12 Conference's Divers of the Week.

Texas Longhorns pitchers Taylor Jungmann and Chance Ruffin were named to the 10th Annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Preseason All-America team.

It is time to shell out some money. Baseball season tickets are available.

The Cornhuskers are going back to the basics.

"Basically, we’re humbled. We’ve got to go to work," the Husker offensive coordinator said after Wednesday’s practice. "We know what we have to do. It’s evident to us, and we’re humbled by it and we know we have a responsibility to it. We don’t shuck it. We go to work. That’s how you do it."

Work in this case includes a going back to the basics.

It is all hugs and kisses at the Texas Bowl.

"We just had our big rivalry game, and it was a great win for our program, but unfortunately I got to see some Missouri tape," he said. "It took some of the euphoria away knowing we're going to be playing such a great opponent.

"I was going to ask coach Pinkel what he's feeding his guys — the quarterback is bigger than a defensive end."

Laughter ensued, and if there was an observer either neutral in his or her feelings or simply apathetic, he or she likely immediately warmed to the Mids.

The Texas Bowl is officially two weeks away, but all sides have already seemingly settled into their roles.

OSU's Zac Robinson will be ready for the Cotton Bowl.

"Zac's not 100 percent. He had a pretty good injury, but he's going fine now," Gundy said. "My opinion, four or five days from now, he'll be at full speed. We're not limiting his participation."

Robinson has been banged up throughout the season. His streak of 34 consecutive starts was ended after he sustained a shoulder injury in the Cowboys' victory over Texas Tech, causing him to miss OSU's home finale against Colorado. He returned to action for the Oklahoma game and played through the injury.

Oklahoma fans are skipping the Sun Bowl. Maybe it has something to do with the proximity to Ciudad Juárez, the murder capital of the world? (I could have made a snide remark about Sooners and crime, but decided to be polite.)

Sooner receiver Jameel Owens is transferring to Tulsa.

"I've got to do what's right for me," Owens told his hometown newspaper. "It wasn't working out like it should for me this was a move I needed to make."

Matt Hennesy was Owens' high school coach. He said a main reason for Owens' departure includes the ill health of his mother.

Aggie Von Miller may be headed to the NFL.

An audit of Texas A&M's athletic department did not go well.

The Texas A&M athletic department lacks control of its finances, according to an audit obtained by the Express-News.

The department "requires significant improvement in its financial controls and processes," according to the 25-page report that reviews a span from September 2007 to December of last year. Six accountants from the A&M system performed the internal audit.

"I've seen what the bowl system has done for college football," 
BCS coordinator Bill Hancock told the Tulsa World. 
"I understand when I see a kid get to see the ocean for the first time."

Bill and the BCS are all about the kids.

Money just isn't that important to the schools in the BCS. It is all about the student-athlete.

In today’s installment of How Money Runs College Sports, we move to the Big Ten’s quasi announcement that having long ago outgrown that pesky number 10, it would like to stretch beyond 11 teams. In other words, it was running out of ways to print money, and to join the universe of lucrative conference championship games it needs two divisions of six teams. What the conference did not announce was plans to then arm-wrestle the Big 12 for its name and sell tickets to that, too. Send your check to Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and please remember, only one E in Delany. Makes it so much easier at the bank.

We've got plenty of that. Why would the Big 10 even consider Texas as a possible addition? Money.

Yes, that's correct: Texas. No one seems to recognize the genius of this suggestion, which may be evidence of its genius. Everyone else seems to be thinking small and boring, but as I suggested not long after the Big Ten Network was conceived, Texas is the one program that could dramatically expand the money-making power of the league's cable operation. It also would enhance the competitive product of the league's two highest-profile sports.

Texas already is generating more money in the college football business than anyone else, and that's in a league that does not have the Big Ten's television appeal. Someone asked why the Longhorns would need to make more money, but I didn't see Mack Brown turn down that $2 million raise his athletic department offered. People always take more money if they can get it.

That Big 10 expansion team needs to bring their own added value to the conference.

The Big Ten does not publicly release revenue-sharing figures, but it's been reported that its rights deals with ABC/ESPN and the Big Ten Network generate about $212 million annually. (That's in addition to the league's direct profits from its jointly owned network.) Add in this season's two BCS berths ($22.3 million) and five other bowl berths (about $14 million), and we're talking a minimally estimated $248.3 million in shared revenue, or $22.6 million per team.

Therefore, any potential 12th team would have to add $22.6 million in "value" to renegotiated TV and bowl deals to prevent the others from losing money. With all due respect to Missouri, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Rutgers (the most commonly discussed candidates), there's only one viable school that could guarantee that kind of gold mine: Notre Dame. The Irish rejected the Big Ten's last invitation in 1999, and the school has given no indication it's willing to reconsider.

And finally...

A UT pottery professor is not happy about Mack Brown's raise.

"To be paid millions of dollars while professors who are helping the community with culture and peace can barely scrape by is tragic." Wheatgrass was then told that the football program makes the University over $40 million annually, and that the pottery program costs the University upwards of $300,000 annually. "The price Mother Earth pays for football cannot be quantified in dollars," Wheatgrass replied as she cashed her paycheck.

They teach pottery at UT?

Don't play Fantasy Football at work.

Working as a relationship manager in the private client group at Fidelity Investments' Westlake office, Pettigrew says he looked forward to work every day. He even remembers telling co-workers and friends that he planned to retire someday from Fidelity, the country’s biggest mutual fund sponsor and one of the world’s largest providers of financial services.

But that isn't going to happen. Pettigrew and three other Fidelity employees were fired for playing fantasy football.

"Firing a guy for being in a $20 fantasy league? Let’s be honest; that's a complete overreaction," said Pettigrew, who lives in Grapevine and has an MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington. "In this economic time, especially. To fire people over something like this, it's just cold."

What you have been waiting for...Weekend Bowling Schedule

Saturday, Dec. 19

New Mexico Bowl
Fresno State vs. Wyoming
4:30 p.m.
ESPN

St. Petersburg pres. by Beef 'O' Brady's
UCF vs. Rutgers
8 p.m.
ESPN

Sunday, Dec. 20

R+L Carriers New Orleans
Southern Miss vs. Middle Tennessee
8:30 p.m.
ESPN

Bevo's Daily Roundup - December 17, 2009

dimecoverage — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:22:23 -0000

Pete Flutak has ten reasons why Texas will beat Alabama.

NationalChamps.net has put out 2010 rankings and the Horns come in at No. 7.

Their 2010 preview already is out. Texas at No. 7 is the highest ranked team in the early poll.

Ranked ahead of the Longhorns, starting from the top, are Alabama, Boise State, Oregon, Florida, Ohio State and TCU.

Other Big 12 teams ranked in the top 25 are Nebraska at No. 12, Oklahoma at No. 16 and Missouri at No. 25.

The average resale price of a ticket to the BCS title game is $1500.

Dennis Dodd looks at the 2009 bowl landscape.

Alabama cancels classes. Mack Brown gets a $2 million raise.

Ya think football is big at these two football factories? Look what happened when they made the BCS title game. The combined salaries of the two coaches in this game -- $9 million -- is worth half the payout ($18.3 million). Colt McCoy is the leading passer in Texas history. Ingram is the top single-season rusher in Alabama history.

You can't look away even though you're disgusted at the BCS. There will be great plays by great players. Somewhere, Bear Bryant and Darrell Royal are smiling. The legacies are bright and shiny.

Basketball

Hallelujah! Jai Lucas is finally eligible.

"Jai’s personality has been a big kick for us," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "He’s already made an impact even though he hasn’t played yet.

As much as Barnes enjoys being around the sophomore-in-eligibility transfer point guard, he’s eager to add him to the Longhorns’ backcourt rotation beginning Saturday against 10th-ranked North Carolina in the first basketball game played in JerryWorld.

It is time to think about the Tar Heels.

"I always think of Michael Jordan because he's the greatest," said freshman guard Avery Bradley. "They've always been an elite program and it's exciting to play them. I can't even remember the last time Texas played North Carolina."

As for the rest of it, Texas' most famous North Carolinian is ready for some new blood as well. Rick Barnes had no illusions of Tuesday's 104-42 bloodletting over the Broncs. These blowouts are no picnic for him or his players. It's happening all over the place. The Heels polished off Presbyterian 103-64 earlier this week while Duke dogged the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Dogs 113-68. It's called paying the bills.

But Saturday's game will not be about bills but billing, and Barnes is excited to see how his youngsters will react before a large crowd, a nationally televised audience, and most important, against their first ranked opponent.

Jerry World is getting ready for the big game.

Workers started installing 350 maple panels this morning to create the floor for Saturday’s game between the University of Texas and University of North Carolina, the first basketball game at the new $1.15 billion stadium.

Because the floor sits atop a 25½-inch aluminum platform, the hardwood surface will be much larger than most basketball floors, said Doug Hamar, president and CEO of Horner Sports Flooring.

"We don’t want the guys running right off and having to jump down two feet," Hamar said.

Aggie freshman running back Christine Michael talks about Georgia.

Iowa State or Missouri are the logical choices to join the Big 10. But then who will replace the team that leaves?

The Big 12 could add Texas Christian. That would hurt the Big 12 on television sets — TCU adds none; Missouri’s departure would cost the league some viewers — and basketball, but not football. TCU’s 10-year run has solidified that program. The Frogs are not flashes; they are a legit program.

No one else in Texas should appeal to the Big 12. Truth is, New Mexico would be a better addition than Houston or anyone else. The Lobos are capable of playing big-time basketball and capable of producing a football following in a state that craves big-time sports.

Chances are, the Big 12 remains the same. But you’ve always got to be prepared.

Barry Tramel better be ready for some hate mail from the Froggies.

So, what should we call the Big 10 Conference after expansion?

The divisions would have to be called the Schembechler and Grange.

Get ready for Michigan and Ohio State playing twice each season.

Then there would be the whole mess about the Big Ten's new name. Big 12 is already taken.

Large Dozen anyone?

If invited, Missouri might just leave.

Missouri officials have expressed dissatisfaction with the Big 12 Conference bowl selection process, which they feel has undercut the accomplishments of the MU football team in each of the last three seasons.

Missouri has historically been considered a candidate for moving to the Big Ten, with proponents seeing the school as a good fit academically and athletically.

Jayhawk assistant coaches were asked to pack up. Wide receivers coach David Beaty is the only coach being considered for a position by Turner Gill.

Kansas QB Todd Reesing received an $18,000 scholarship from the National Football Foundation.

Nice work if you can get it. Mark Mangino gets $3 million dollars just for leaving.

Former Kansas football coach Mark Mangino will be paid $3 million as part of a settlement both sides signed last week.

The university announced the payout on Wednesday and said the settlement will be paid through private funds raised by the athletics department, with no taxpayer money involved.

More on the Darrell Scott drama. Colorado AD Mike Bohn said Scott has not asked for a release from his scholarship or permission to contact other schools and coaches.

Bohn conducted an exit interview with Scott in early November after the former five-star recruit announced he was leaving coach Dan Hawkins' program. At the time, Bohn said he would not comment on any possible scholarship release until the end of the semester.

Now that the end of the semester is near with finals ending on Thursday and commencement on Friday, Bohn said he hasn't had any recent discussions with Scott and doesn't know when he might.

Bevo's Daily Roundup - December 16, 2009

dimecoverage — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:16:48 -0000

Sporting News has a Q&A with Jordan Shipley.

Pete Flutak has Garrett Gilbert listed as a 2010 Heisman candidate.

14. Garrett Gilbert, QB, Texas
Remember, Vince Young couldn't be replaced, either. Gilbert might be the most talented quarterback Mack Brown has ever coached.

The Crimson Tide

Six AP All-Americans is a record.

No team has had more since 1964, when the AP started selecting both an offensive and defensive team.

"You aren't going to have six guys make first-team All-American unless your team is playing at a high level week in and week out. It's a credit to our entire team and our coaching staff."

Basketball

Avery Bradley is finding his place.

Avery Bradley's coach never brings it up and says he doesn't even think about it. Bradley's teammates insist it's not an issue.

But as much as the Texas Longhorns would like to believe their most touted freshman guard is just like any other newcomer and as much as Bradley commits to the idea that his own success should be judged simply by whether the Longhorns win or lose, he realizes others don't see it that way.

SI's Luke Winn gets a Q&A with Dexter Pittman.

LW: I wanted to ask you about a few Tweets. One said that you had Twitter activated on three phones. Really?

DP: I love phones like women love shoes. Even if they're not on -- I just want to have them around. I'm known on the team to have the best phones. Like, if the iPhone is out, I get it before any one of my teammates. And then they be getting on me, like, "Man, you change numbers more than anybody I know! I'm not even saving yours in my phone!" I have the iPhone right now, but I love Blackberries, so I got the Storm and the Curve, and I don't know which one I want to give up yet.

Texas rolled right over Texas-Pan American 104-42.

"Recruit, beat Missouri, recruit, win the (Big 12) North, recruit, win the Big 12," Gill said.

Turner Gill is bringing in some impressive assistants.

"That staff that will be here is second to none," new KU coach Turner Gill said Monday as he unveiled some of his plans.

In Chuck Long and Carl Torbush, the Jayhawks have assistants who were more successful as coordinators than head coaches, and that’s what Kansas needs as it looks to 2010 with a team that loses three senior starters plus junior Dezmon Briscoe on offense and five seniors on defense.

Along with Long and Torbush, Aaron Stamm will join the staff from Buffalo. Stamm was the Bulls’ special-teams coordinator and tight-ends coach.

Someone did not like the Gill hire at Kansas.

Buff Zone's Kyle Ringo attempts to get information from CU AD about giving Dan Hawkins another season.

The president’s spokesman put the decision to retain Hawkins completely on Bohn and chancellor Phil DiStefano, saying it was made totally at the campus level.

I’ve heard otherwise. I’ve been told by people I trust and who have given me good information in the past, that this was a decision made by Benson in order to preserve some credibility in lobbying the state for more money for higher education. They say Benson didn’t want to face critics who would have asked how the school could afford to pay a coach $3 million not to coach but needs to cut classes or professors or janitors unless it gets more money from the state. The president’s spokesman says that just isn’t true.

If Notre Dame isn't interested in becoming the 12th member of the Big 10 Conference, a Big 12 team may be the next choice.

I would think that Missouri would be the most potentially desirable of the Big 12 schools because of its population and growth potential as the single football-playing school in the state. Missouri is the 18th largest state in the country according to 2008 population estimates with 5.91 million people. It would be an inviting market for the Big 12.

Nebraska would bring greater natural cache because of the traditional excellence of its football program, but would bring little extra population or additional football viewers compared to the other schools. It ranks 38th nationally with a population of 1.78 million. Iowa State would bring even less because the Iowa market is already saturated by Iowa for the Big Ten as it is.

Forbes looks at the Heisman vote.

Texas quarterback Colt McCoy's third-place finish was one of the strongest ever. McCoy received 1,145 points and was 159 points behind Ingram. McCoy's point total was third-most for a third-place finisher and only three players to finish third were closer to the winner than McCoy.

The Heisman Pundit breaks down the voting by region.

If Nebraska had beaten the Horns, Brian Kelly ~~would~~ might still be at Cincy.

"Who knows what would have happened if Nebraska wins that game," Kelly said on "The Afternoon Saloon" on ESPN 1000. "I might not be here at Notre Dame because we don't know if they would have waited for me, because I was going to play in the national championship game."

In case you can't afford to go to Pasadena, how about Shreveport?

The majority of A&M’s tickets are selling for $35 — student tickets are $30 — so that’s only a $5 increase from nine years ago when the Aggies played Mississippi State in Shreveport. That’s a 16.7 percent hike if my Pennsylvania math is right, which is still less than 2 percent a year. Not bad.

The NCAA wants stricter rules on concussions.

Hoping to beef up policies for handling concussions, an NCAA panel is recommending a new rule that would sideline an athlete for at least the rest of the day if he or she loses consciousness or shows other worrisome symptoms during competition.

The rule, which would affect all NCAA sports, comes from the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, which wrapped up a three-day meeting in Indianapolis on Tuesday.

The panel also recommended sidelining an athlete with less severe concussion-related symptoms until cleared by a doctor.

And finally...

ESPN's documentary on Miami's football program.

Bevo's Daily Roundup - December 14, 2009

dimecoverage — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:15:06 -0000

Another uncomfortable moment in Heisman media coverage.

Colt McCoy finished third in the Heisman voting.

McCoy and Earl Thomas were listed as first-team All-Americans by the Football Writers Association of America.

McCoy is a repeat honoree on the first team. He’s the first quarterback to earn a spot in consecutive seasons since Ty Detmer did so in 1990-91.

Someone in Texas thinks Mack Brown is a bargain. Richard Justice lays out why Brown is worth every penny of that $5 million salary.

Let's just say Mack Brown had walked into DeLoss Dodds' office and said, ''I want $20 million a year, or I'm outta here.''

You know what Dodds would have said?

''You got it.''

He could not have argued that Mack Brown isn't worth it because he is. Brown's wew contract bumps him from $3 million to $5 million a year, and that's about the best bargain in all of sports.

The Crimson Tide

Congratulations to Mark Ingram. Ingram is Alabama's first Heisman winner.

Ingram wiped away tears and took a moment to steady himself before starting his speech. His voice wavered throughout.

"I'm a little overwhelmed right now," he said. "I'm just so excited to bring Alabama their first Heisman winner."

"I told the players if we had lost this game today, there
would be nothing else that would tarnish what you've accomplished more
than that. You would someday be an NFL player in a Mercedes-Benz and
roll your window down to talk to a pretty girl and she'd say, 'You lost
to Chattanooga when you played at Alabama,'" Saban said. "Nobody would
ever forget that one." - Nick Saban warning his team of the repercussions of a huge upset.

Nick Saban has been Alabama's savior.

After 46 losses, some to teams like Central Florida and Northern Illinois, Alabama fans began to wonder: Has some cosmic force aligned against us? Are we cooked — forever?

When Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa, he was greeted by a cheering mob, including one drunken woman whose overly familiar greeting became a YouTube sensation. Though Alabama fans were roundly mocked for this reception, in fairness they could hardly be blamed. They were genuinely surprised to have a head coach at all, let alone one who had won championships.

Saban quickly turned the ship — and the ego of an entire state — around. His team has just beaten Urban Meyer’s Gators, and Alabama is now ranked No. 1 and favored in the B.C.S. championship game against Texas.

Roll Bama Roll continues the series chronicling the meetings of the Alabama and Texas football programs with the 1902 and 1922 game.

We do not want to be serenaded at the end of the game in Pasadena. Thanks to kleph over at Roll Bama Roll for the information.

Basketball

Avery Bradley isn't just any freshman.

The Texas Longhorns would like to believe their most touted freshman guard is just like any other newcomer. But as much as Bradley himself commits to the idea that his own success should be judged simply by whether the Longhorns win or lose, he realizes others don't see it that way.

Just a few months ago, one set of recruiting analysts had Bradley pegged as the top college basketball prospect in the nation. Another bestowed that honor upon Bradley's friend, John Wall. Now, with almost every phone call he receives, text message he reads or "SportsCenter" highlight package he watches, Bradley is reminded of which freshman has had a more celebrated first month as a collegian.

"I always hear it — John Wall did this, John Wall did that," Bradley said. "People say we're the two best guys, and he's playing well."

The Horns beat Texas State 87-54.

Jai Lucas cannot play until the North Carolina game.

An NCAA rule stipulates that Lucas sit out two semesters after transferring. School officials thought Lucas would get one tuneup game in on Tuesday against Texas-Pan American because that is the day that final exams end for UT. But Texas received a clarification of the rule stipulating that he can’t play until the day after finals are completed.

Volleyball

Congratulations. The Texas Volleyball team made the NCAA Final Four.

The Longhorns overcame Nebraska's home court advantage on the same Qwest Center Omaha court where they lost a year ago to eventual national runner-up Stanford in the national semifinals. This year that tournament will be in Tampa, Fla., and the No. 2-ranked Longhorns will face Minnesota one of Thursday's national semis.

Get the snacks ready.

Are you counting down the days unti Dec. 19 at 2:30 p.m.? Here's the schedule.

The Jayhawks have a new coach.

Buffalo coach Turner Gill will be Kansas’ next football coach.

Gill, who emerged Saturday as KU athletic director Lew Perkins’ top choice after Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh took his name out of the running, won Perkins over with a detailed game plan for success that included commitments from two experienced and nationally respected coaches to serve as his coordinators, The Kansas City Star has learned.

Gill will bring with him Carl Torbush, formerly the head coach at North Carolina and currently the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State, to be his defensive coordinator and Chuck Long, formerly the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma and formerly the head coach at San Diego State, to be his offensive coordinator. Gill is also expected to bring two other former head coaches onto his staff at KU.

Jason Whitlock isn't all that thrilled with the Jayhawks' choice.

As a black member of the media, I know what I’m expected to do today — shout that Gill’s hiring as Kansas’ new football coach is a bold step for college football mankind, a terrific hire by Lew Perkins and the culmination of Martin Luther King’s dream.

The problem is, unlike most of Gill’s prominent supporters in the media, I’ve actually watched his Buffalo Bulls play numerous times. Never once have I been impressed. Not even on the night when Gill’s Bulls ended my then-12th-ranked Ball State Cardinals’ Cinderella season with a shocking 42-24 victory in the 2008 MAC championship game.

Mike Leach is entertaining everyone in San Antonio.

When asked about this being a de facto home game, where most of the 60,000 or so fans expected for the game likely will be rooting for Tech, Leach said he doesn't consider it much of an advantage.

"Once you get in there, it's just noise," he said.

Ndamukong Suh, crime fighter.

You might want to rethink this one. Bo Pelini does not plan to make any offensive changes for the Holiday Bowl.

Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini says there will be no major changes in the team's offense before the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 30.

Pelini says the focus now is on improving. He expects offensive changes to wait for the offseason.

OU's student newspaper believes the Sooners will beat Stanford in the 2009 Brut Sun Bowl. And corner back Dominique Franks will return next season.

The Sun Bowl is a no-win situation for Bob Stoops.

If his team prevails, the critics will shrug it off as OU merely doing what it's supposed to do. Should the Sooners lose, the pundits are bound to pile on with more cheap shots about the tarnished reputation of "Big Game Bob."

So while Stoops faces a no-win scenario, he still desperately must win this game on the afternoon of New Year's Eve.

Sam Bradford has put the past season in perspective.

"I know God has a plan and everything happens for a reason," Bradford said. "I kept telling myself that as many times as I could, but you'd still question why things happen the way they happen. It took a long time to stop the questioning. I got better, but there were still a lot of days when I woke up with that question.

"There's still days when I've got to try to pick myself up, days when I'm down. I'm finally starting to get back to myself now."

Bradford said his rehab is going well, and he's on schedule to be physically ready to participate in Oklahoma's Pro Day in 2010. A high draft spot and lucrative contract would help mitigate the physical and emotional pain of this year.

Chase Beeler transferred to Stanford from Oklahoma. (Yes, you read that correctly.) He will be playing his old teammates in the Sun Bowl. NewsOK's Jenny Carlson has a Q&A.

JC: You mention the cerebral aspect of center, and I know you’ve been first-team academic all-conference, have a 3.8 grade point average. Do football players at Stanford get competitive about grades?

CB: There’s definitely something of a competition amongst a few of us as to who’s going to carry the highest GPA for that quarter, who’s going to make all-Pac-10 academic. We have a little scholar-athlete that we give away each quarter. So, yeah, there’s a little bit of a competition between us.

So, how often do you think Jenny Carlson gets to ask a Sooner (current or former) about cerebral subjects? This might be a first?

Whoop! The Aggies are so excited to be going to Shreveport.

"I know we definitely want to be here," Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman said Thursday night during the I-Bowl's team announcement party. "We're excited about being here and coming to Shreveport. The people here have been phenomenal as far as recruiting us even before we became bowl eligible.

"We're excited about being here. It's a great recruiting base for us, an unbelievable group of former students living right here in Shreveport and surrounding areas. It's a good bowl for us and we can use it to our advantage if we play well."

I Am The 12th Man actually said something nice about Jordan Shipley. (You might want to skip over the part about Colt McCoy.)

The Biletnikoff Award for the nation's best wide receiver went to Notre Dame's Golden Tate; that award should have gone to texas' Jordan Shipley. Tate had 93 receptions for 1,496 yards and 15 TD receptions. Shipley has 106 receptions for 1,363 yards and 11 TDs, and still has one more game to play. Shipley built his stats against the Big 12 Conference, not against a padded schedule with the likes of Navy, Nevada, and Washington State. Tate is a phenomenal receiver, but no moreso than Shipley. Given the opponents Shipley faced, and the game-by-game production, the best wide receiver in the nation this year is Shipley.

Now this is dedication to the sport. Cowboy walk-on Taylor Sokolosky broke his neck against Missouri but wants to play again.

"I came to Oklahoma State and accomplished my goals. One of my high school coaches had told me that if I ever actually played at OSU, it wouldn't be until my senior year, if ever. I proved him wrong. I started as a freshman. I lettered three years. If not playing football is the smart thing to do, then I'll be done. But I do know that I want to play again.

"If I do go back out there, I'll do it full speed. At my size, I have to give it all I've got and play with no fear."

Dr. Lou addresses the college football playoff.

Congress wants to limit Wall Street CEO compensation, coaches are next. Rep. Charles Grassley was not happy about football coaches' huge salaries and athletic department's tax-exempt status.

The reverberations from Texas coach Mack Brown's new $5-million-plus-a-year contract reached beyond college football Thursday.

In a statement to USA TODAY, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, reiterated concerns about spiraling coaches' salaries and questions about the tax-exempt status of college sports.

"There always seems to be money for million-dollar salaries at universities, even with staff salary freezes and tuition increases," said Grassley, who has pressed the issue in recent years as the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. "Athletic departments get tax breaks because they're part of tax-exempt universities. Students and their parents paying federal taxes subsidize college tax exemptions. So it's fair for students and parents to ask whether athletic department spending affects universities' ability to offer a quality, affordable education."

Congress will probably not let this BCS issue go quietly into the night.

It will be a real brawl with the courts deciding an antitrust challenge that could dismantle the BCS and Congress considering a bill that would put the Federal Trade Commission in charge of college football's postseason.

"We have studied the evidence, we have analyzed the law, and we are ready to file our case early in 2010," says Shurtleff. "We hope that other states and the Justice Department will join us."

He is paid to say that. Bowl Championship Series coordinator Bill Hancock thinks a playoff would cause way too many problems.

"Here's their problem with the four-team playoff," he said. "It would not stay at four. Every bracket has grown ... Pretty soon you'll have eight. Pretty soon, somebody whose No. 5 will say, 'Wait a minute, that's not fair, we need in.' And they would change it to an eight-team playoff."

A playoff would certainly disrupt a student-athlete's exams, unlike the current BCS structure.

What's the best thing about playing in a bowl game? Swag.

What do those star players- Tebow, McCoy and Bradford -mean to their school's athletic programs? What's their monetary value?

Tebow is a franchise, an iconic presence on the collegiate level akin to Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in the NFL, a player who puts W's in the left column and $$$$$ in the university's coffers. It might not be reflected in the relative worth of the pro contracts these players eventually will sign -- Tebow isn't rated by scouts as a can't-miss pro quarterback prospect -- but on the play-for-no-pay level, it can be argued that his market value to Florida is greater than Bradford's to Oklahoma or McCoy's to Texas. Or, for that matter, the value of running back Mark Ingram at conference rival Alabama or Toby Gerhart out west at Stanford and a handful of others whose names have been mentioned in connection with the 2009 Heisman Trophy that will be awarded Saturday night.

So if a top college player could be paid, what would he be worth?

This one is for all our Crimson Tide visitors. Enjoy. Lane Kiffin considers an NCAA investigation a compliment.

Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin said he takes investigations of the school's recruiting practices as a compliment.

Kiffin said the strength of Tennessee's recruiting class, ranked by most analysts near the top nationally, has caused the unusual amount of interest in the Volunteers' methods, which are under investigation by the NCAA and the Southeastern Conference.

The number of college football awards given out are getting out of control.

Counting those given out by the Associated Press for player and coach of the year, I count at least 41 awards populating the end of college football's regular season.

I'm sure that misses several.

I couldn't find the Long Snapper of the Year, Holder of the Year or Nickel Back of the Year.

Don't laugh. If someone could set up the endorsement deals, the Subway Long Snapper Trophy and Fixodent Top Holder would become reality.

And finally...

The Laninghams break down the Big 12 Championship. The dudes have some suggestions to take out Bama's defensive front. Greg, are you watching?

Be sure to sign up for the BON Group at ESPN College Bowl Mania.

Bevo's Daily Roundup - December 11, 2009

dimecoverage — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:12:13 -0000

This has been a great year for the Longhorn's quarterback. Sporting News makes a case for McCoy's Heisman hopes.

Colt McCoy is all for a playoff.

"There's going to be two or three teams that are undefeated," McCoy said. "It's going to be hard not to argue that there should be a playoff system. That's not my call, but I'd be all for it."

Ndamukong Suh apologized to TCU.

But in this week of picking up trophies, he took some time away from the celebration to apologize to fellow Lombardi Award finalist Jerry Hughes of TCU for not knocking off Texas in the Big 12 championship game Saturday.

If Suh had not pressured Colt McCoy on the final play, McCoy might have accidentally run out the clock.

"I forced him to throw that ball away,'' Suh said. "I should have let him run around just a little bit longer.''

Just in case you want to hear some more about Texas vs. TCU, Barking Carnival has it all spelled out.

Does TCU deserve to be rated higher than Texas? I say, "No". TCU is very talented, but Texas is more so, as measured by All-Americans and draft projections. Every computer rating that accounts for Margin of Victory has Texas rated stronger, and most that don’t count MOV do as well. Mid-season, you heard much from TCU about them having a comparable strength-of-schedule to Texas. No more. By every measure, accounting for the full season, Texas has played a significantly tougher schedule than TCU.

Per Sagarin’s "Predictor" model, TCU’s top 4 opponents were #16 Clemson, #31, BYU, #42 Utah, and #46 USAFA. Texas’ top 4 opponents were #5 OU, #9 NU, #18 TT, and #29 OSU. Texas also had to play #40 Mizzou, and # 52 TAMU. In other words, Texas played two foes tougher than TCU’s toughest, and four others that approximate TCU’s best four opponents. And Texas played no D-1AA teams.

TCU has played a few very good teams. They have not played against the award candidates Texas has (Gerald McCoy, Suh, Briscoe, etc.). The unranked teams in Texas’ conference still have more elite players than the unranked Mountain West teams. Like OU, which although unranked, is still calculated as a better team than TCU in Sagarin’s "Predictor" model. The biggest crowd TCU played in front of was at Clemson (70,000). Texas played 10 games in front of more people. There are real differences between the two leagues.

Handwriting on the wall... Highly recruited quarterback Ty Gabbert, younger brother of Missouri's Blaine Gabbert, decommits from Nebraska.

Tyler Gabbert wants to throw the football 40 times a game. He senses Nebraska’s offense is moving farther and farther away from that. More power football. Less slinging it around.

"It definitely was a mutual decision," Gabbert said Wednesday. "I told him that I didn’t see myself playing at Nebraska in five years, and told him I wanted to look around a little bit. He was like, ‘Yeah, we understand that. I’m not going to make you come. You have to follow your heart. But if you’re looking around, we have to go our separate direction and look after our best interest as well.’"

Tickets are selling fast for the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl.

Nebraska and Arizona sold out their 11,000-ticket allotments for the game less than 48 hours after they went on sale. After that, fans of both college football programs raided the bowl’s local ticket office to snap up all but about 1,000 of the 6,000 that remained this week for the Dec. 30 matchup at Qualcomm Stadium.

Taylor Potts will start for the Red Raiders in the Alamo Bowl.

"I'm going to start Potts," Leach said. "He's steady and I need to settle on one and quit pulling them in and out, and then in the spring they’ll battle it out."

NewsOK has a Q&A with Sooner defensive coordinator Brent Venables.

Iowa State, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma State were recognized by the American Football Coaches Association for graduating at least 75 percent of their football student-athletes in 2009.

This is the hottest selling t-shirt in Alabama.

James Carville can't even spin the BCS.

Carville finally came to a conclusion. "If I were advising the BCS, here's what I'd say," he said, pausing for emphasis. "There is a very famous story about when Lyndon Johnson was president. There was a disaster and then a meeting and one of his communications people was saying, 'You need to do this and that.' And LBJ turned to him and said, 'Son, you can't shine sh---.'" Carville paused. "And that's what I'd say to these guys: Some things just aren't spiffable."

Bevo's Daily Roundup - December 10, 2009

dimecoverage — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:11:00 -0000

"It was close, you've got to admit that," McCoy said. "It was
probably closer than you wanted it to be, but understanding everything
that goes on I was not worried about it. 

"I walked off to the side and told Coach (Mack) Brown, I said, 
'I bet we have 2 seconds left.' He said, 'Yeah, you're probably right.' 
But he was real nervous at the time."

Mack Brown got a raise.

University of Texas football coach Mack Brown will be paid $5 million a year, plus annual increases of $100,000, through 2016, when his contract ends, the school’s governing board decided today.

The compensation, recommended by UT President William Powers Jr. and men’s athletic director DeLoss Dodds, amounts to a $2 million raise for Brown. He already was set to earn $3 million this season and then collect a one-time $2 million "service payment" next February. Today, the regents decided to make that $2 million payment a part of Brown’s annual compensation package.

For this season, Brown is also set to earn $250,000 for advancing to the national championship. Winning the national championship would add $450,000 to his bank account.

UT football is a cash cow.

If the BCS awarded a championship for making money from football, the University of Texas would win in a walk.

"We used to be No. 2 behind Ohio State. Now we've jumped out to a pretty good lead," said Ed Goble, UT's associate athletic director for business.

According to data the schools filed with the federal government, the top five money makers in college football also included Southeastern Conference powers Florida, Georgia and Alabama, which will face Texas on Jan. 7 in the BCS national title game.

Colt McCoy is still being followed.

In Texas quarterback Colt McCoy's nightmares, Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is surely running him down. The two will meet again on Saturday, but McCoy is relieved that this time Suh will be wearing a suit.

"Funny story: I graduated on Saturday but I didn't get to walk. Somebody asked me if I graduated and I said 'yes.' And they said, 'But you played, you didn't get to walk.' And I said, 'You're right, I ran. I ran all over the place.'"

McCoy is having fun playing and we can all thank Roger Staubach.

Roger Staubach was a guy who helped me through that. He was one of the first people to call me and say, "Hey, look, you have to have some fun. You have to enjoy what you're doing. You have a huge passion for playing the game." He was right. I enjoy it. I love it. And that part of the game wasn't there for me. I just wasn't seeing through that. But to have a guy like him step in and encourage me, it really hit home and allowed me to dig myself out of the hole that I was in and really have the best season I've ever had.

From The Heisman Pundit:

1. M. Ingram--46 (4)
2. T. Gerhart--43 (2)
3. C. McCoy--36 (1)
N. Suh--36 (4)
5. K. Moore--11 (1)

Kirk Bohls did not vote for Colt McCoy.

Thank you, Barry.

The rationale of Husker fans and Texas haters is that the replay review rules don’t specifically allow officials to check the clock in game-ending situations. That’s true. But that’s not the rule that allowed the second to be placed back on the scoreboard.

A college football official who knows the game and knows the rules and follows officiating very closely, but who was not involved in Nebraska-Texas, told me that everything was above board. And you can find the support in the NCAA football rulebook. Rule 12, Section 3, Article 6.

It’s a relatively new rule, added just a year or two ago. Egregious timing errors can be corrected by officials, even without replay help or even with replay help in which there is no other reason to go to replay.

Fan House writer Clay Travis ripped Mack Brown for his handling of the last few seconds of the Nebraska game. He also thinks the Horns will get run down by Alabama.

Let's begin with a clear thesis: Running a play with a running clock as the game nears the end is a recipe for disaster. No team worth it's salt should ever do this when they've got a timeout left. At the end of this game, Texas could have called a timeout with 29 seconds left and set up a final offensive play. Get a first down, and you spike the football. Fail to get a first down and you still have plenty of time to run your field goal team onto the field after gathering them near you during the preceding timeout. There would have been plenty of time to make this happen.

It's what an intelligent coach who manages his team well would have done.

This is the talented writer that asked Tim Tebow if he was a virgin. Yes, he is a credible journalist.

Mike Leach has some thoughts on clock management. And they make sense.

"It's not an exact science," Mike Leach said by telephone Tuesday. "And it's not easy.

"You've got split seconds to make monumental decisions."

Kansas AD Lew Perkins did it his way.

Enough on how Perkins has done what he has done. Now look at what he has done. He has maneuvered himself into a position where he has a $2.3 million annual salary, probably more, and vastly improved facilities with which to shop for a new football coach. Perkins does his best work in the shadows, and that’s where football coaches are hired. His two football hires at UConn, Skip Holtz (now at East Carolina) and Randy Edsall, are highly regarded coaches who could be on the verge of upward moves.

Bottom line, ask yourself this question: If you had an annual salary of greater than $2 million and a new facility to offer a coach, would Mangino be on your short list? If the answer is no and you don’t mind the athletic department paying two football coaches, you have to like what Perkins has done, even if you don’t care for how he has done it.

Convenient. Turner Gill's daughter recently started working for the KU athletic department.

Jordan Gill, the daughter of Kansas University football coaching candidate Turner Gill, recently began working for the KU athletics department's Williams Fund, the Journal-World learned Tuesday.

Gill, a sophomore at KU, began the job — the duties of which include handling ticket sales for KU Athletics — this semester.

Bring On The Cats doesn't have any sympathy for Nebraska and Bo Pelini.

Nebraska wants you to believe it's the victim in all of this. They want you to believe they got jobbed by the monied elite in Austin, who have pretty much gotten their way with everything since 1995. They want you to believe that, but they leave out the most important fact: they themselves are also the monied elite. While they will complain to no end about Texas' humongous budget and ridiculous facilities and air of entitlement, they'll hope everyone overlooks the fact that they have a budget nearly as obscene, facilities nearly as sparkling, and a fanbase that feels at least as entitled to success as Texas does. This isn't the Yankees and the Royals. This is the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Nebraska, including Osborne and Harvey Perlman, will play the role of the downtrodden for the unexamining eye of the national punditry, but we know better. We know that if Nebraska ever really wanted to do something about "the system," it would add its vote to the other eight schools who want equal revenue sharing in the conference to take money away from those greedy bastards in Austin. But Nebraska won't do so, and in fact has publicly declared that it won't do so, because it benefits from the same system it now deplores.

The Aggies really need a win in Shreveport.

Texas A&M has already had a successful second season under coach Mike Sherman by making a bowl game.

A bowl victory, however, would offer some icing that's been missing for some time around these parts. A&M (6-6) hasn't won a bowl game in eight years, or since the Aggies got together with TCU in Houston in a now defunct furniture bowl in a now defunct stadium -- and before TCU was TCU.

A&M's draw since has been fairly formidable: Tennessee, California and Penn State, leading to 0-3 since the '01 TCU victory, and the Aggies skipped the postseason all together following the 2002, '03, '05 and '08 seasons.

That's why a victory over Georgia on Dec. 28 in the Independence Bowl would do wonders for a program that could use a few good tidings in the offseason.

A House panel considers ~~breaking up the BCS monopoly~~ a college football playoff.

A top official of the Bowl Championship Series says there are more important things for Congress to worry about than pressing for a playoff system for college football.

But lawmakers were taking a crack at it anyway Wednesday. A House panel was to consider a proposal to ban the promotion of a postseason NCAA Division I football game as a national championship unless it's the outcome of a playoff.

"With everything going on in the country, I can't believe that Congress is wasting time and spending taxpayers' money on football," Bill Hancock, the BCS executive director, said in a phone interview. "We feel strongly that managing of college sports is best left to the people in higher education."

The Waldorf-Astoria is place to be in New York City.

For college football fans, coaches, players and former players, the lobby of the Waldorf is the nexus of their universe this week. They will attend awards banquets, clandestine meetings and alumni functions in the lead-up to Saturday night’s announcement of the Heisman Trophy winner at the Nokia Theater.

"This is one of my two favorite days of the year," said Gene DeFilippo, the Boston College athletic director. "It’s a who’s who of college football, both past and present."

Bevo's Daily Roundup - December 9, 2009

dimecoverage — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:56:49 -0000

The War of 13-12. Dave Parry, the national coordinator for college football officiating, comments on the Texas-Nebraska game.

Parry said the game officials were correct in reviewing the play and restoring the time. He also said he did not think the officials timed the game differently at different points. (Big 12 football officials coordinator Walt Anderson said Saturday night that a few clock corrections were made in the game, which "is exactly what we want the officials to do.")

"I would think they were pretty much on the mark every time," said Parry, who added that Saturday's game, like all championship and bowl games, is reviewed for plays that are included on a training video. "If here and there they were off by a second, throughout the game that balances. ... When the game is on the line, at that moment of truth, it's critical to get it exactly right."

Oops. Colt McCoy didn't know the rule about stopping the clock.

McCoy says he thought the clocked stop on a pass out of bounds as soon as it crossed the first down marker. Had he known the rule, he says, he wouldn't have floated a long and high pass over the bench area that didn't touch down until it appeared to hit a railing near the stands.

The BCS title game is no David vs. Goliath.

My take: Someone flunked Sunday school.

It’s a nice visual, Terrence Cody as the allegedly unbeatable giant and Colt McCoy as the plucky little guy with a stone.

Too bad it’s wrong. It’s so wrong, when ESPN made that laughable suggestion Sunday evening, it almost made a serious mistake.

It would’ve been ugly to see Nick Saban’s head explode on national TV.

"There is no David and Goliath in this game," Saban said. "That’s not the way it is, guys, and our players need to understand that."

Greg Davis plans to pick Will Muschamp's brain.

Few coaches understand Alabama coach Nick Saban and his tendencies better than Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp.

At LSU, Saban and Muschamp masterminded the defense that delivered a 2003 national title.

Texas offensive coordinator Greg Davis plans to utilize Muschamp's knowledge as much as possible in preparation for the Citi BCS National Championship Game.

"One of the good things is being able to work against Will," Davis said. "During this time, he'll have a great idea of the way they'll prepare for certain formations, certain blitzes and things like that. Will is a great resource for us."

Are thanks in order? Hunter Lawrence saved the BCS.

The last-second field goal that propelled Texas into the national championship game might have been the most important kick in Bowl Championship Series history.

It made the oft-criticized system appear fair and open by sending, for the first time, two teams from non-automatic qualifier conferences into the BCS.

Of the four slots reserved for at-large entries, one's going to TCU and the other to Boise State, which are ranked Nos. 4 and 6, respectively, in the final BCS standings.

But a missed kick might have started a chain reaction eventually resulting in the destruction of the system.

As of today Alabama is a five point favorite over the Horns.

Alabama

Roll Bama Roll explores the history between the Texas and Alabama programs. The first time the two teams met was in 1915.

Racking up accolades. Alabama's Rolando McClain won the Dick Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker. Defensive coordinator Kirby Smart has been named the winner of the Broyles Award as the top top assistant coach in college football.

This is a good reason to have your school go to the BCS title game.

Basketball

Texas guard Avery Bradley, right, fights for a loose ball with Long Beach State guard Larry Anderson.

The Horns beat Long Beach State.

Junior Dogus Balbay set a career mark with 11 assists Monday, but the biggest development for the Longhorns might have been the proficiency of two freshmen.

Avery Bradley scored 17 points, and Jordan Hamilton added 13, as second ranked Texas defeated Long Beach State 107-74 in front of 6,082 in the Erwin Center.

Rick Barnes' radio show is back. Be sure to tune in.

Mark your calendars. ESPN's Tim Griffin has the Big 12 bowl schedule.

The Missouri Tigers are not happy.

Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel called the conference selection process "frustrating" but chose to focus on the positive after learning of the Texas Bowl bid.

Besides playing a Navy team that beat Notre Dame and narrowly lost to Rose Bowl-bound Ohio State, the Tigers will return to a state that is fertile recruiting territory. The Dec. 31 game will be broadcast on ESPN rather than the less readily available NFL Network, which has rights to the Insight Bowl.
Some Missouri players acknowledged their confusion about bowl bid distributions. "I don’t know how it works," said nose tackle Jaron Baston. "All I know is, I get a phone call and they tell me where I’m going."

Mark Mangino didn't go quietly.

If you think Mark Mangino resigned willingly as Kansas University’s football coach, I have some oceanfront property near Oskaloosa I’ll sell you, and I’ll throw the Tonganoxie Split in free.

But you have to go back 35 years to find the last KU football coach who was forced to resign. Who was it? Don Fambrough. And, interestingly, Fambrough and Mangino "quit" because of similar occurrences.

The Pelinis should act like they have been there before.

Coaches tell players when they score a touchdown to "act like you’ve been there before" instead of celebrating like it is New Years Day. Some coaches need to listen to their own advice after a game win or lose. Your character is on display during wins and losses. Wins will continue to be the norm for Nebraska because Bo Pelini is a good coach. The character that Mack displays after a game helps the team for its next challenge. Let’s hope that Bo learns a little from him so his teams will continue to be successful at every challenge.

This is news? According to Barry Tramel, the BCS blew it.

What were you guys thinking, pairing TCU and Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl? That's great for the coffers of the Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences. But it doesn't do squat for the reputations of those leagues looking to make a name for themselves.

TCU and Boise State playing in the Fiesta Bowl is like inviting them to Thanksgiving dinner but making them sit at the kids' table.

Stewart Mandel ranks the bowls.

BCS National Championship Game (Jan. 7): Alabama (13-0) vs. Texas (13-0). It's the first-ever matchup of two 13-0 teams. Colt McCoy. Mark Ingram. Rolando McClain. Sergio Kindle. Yeah, I'm thinking you might want to tune in.

The Austin American-Statesman's Cedric Golden thinks a playoff would work.

Rep. Joe Baron writes for the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.

No good deed goes unpunished! I was minding my own congressional business when a Star-Telegram reporter called and asked about a bill I introduced back in January concerning the college football Bowl Championship Series. I was pleasantly surprised with the reporter's interest and answered her questions. So imagine my disappointment when an editorial in the very same newspaper referred to me as one of the showboats in Congress.