Brett McMurphy, Tampa Tribune: Big East commissioner John Marinatto says that if the Gator Bowl doesn't commit an agreement exclusively with the conference for the next four years and ditches the current hybrid Big East/Big 12 model, it's "doubtful" the Big East will have the Gator in its bowl lineup beginning in 2010.
Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com ($): Stanford's Jim Harbaugh on creampuff schedules: "Somebody really ought to take notice of this stuff. You have eight or nine wins and so you're a great football team? Well, what if you played four patsies in your nonconference and then you only won half your conference games and so you get to go play in the Alamo Bowl and everyone says you're a great team. That's what happens. ... There's no question that the Pac-10 doesn't get that respect for playing teams out of conference of like caliber."
Stefan Stevenson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Texas Christian's Gary Patterson says his team is respected more nationally than it is in Texas.
Dave Biddle, Bucknuts: Receiver Ray Small and defensive end Rob Rose will not be with Ohio State's team when preseason camp opens Aug. 10 because of academic deficiencies.
Jay Drew, Salt Lake Tribune: Brigham Young's Bronco Mendenhall responds to Urban Meyer's comment that Utah would not be able to go undefeated in the Southeastern Conference.
David Jones, Florida Today: Meyer has agreed to a deal with Florida that will pay him $4 million a season for the next six years. ESPN reports that Meyer's buyout is only $500,000.
Donnie Webb, Syracuse Post-Standard: Syracuse coach Doug Marrone on quarterback Greg Paulus: "I think he's gotten stronger. He's put on weight. He's gotten faster. I'm excited to see when he goes out there and performs."
Jeff Call, Deseret News: Five compelling storylines for the Mountain West Conference.
Jake Trotter, Oklahoman: The newspaper polled 29 of the 38 players who attended Big 12 media days to find the best and worst of the league. The newspaper granted anonymity in exchange for candor.
Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times: A few important dates on your way to the Bowl Championship Series title game in January.
Andy Reid, Michigan Daily: Michigan hasn’t played a nonconference game away from the Big House (excluding the Notre Dame series) since 2003.
Eric Lacy, Detroit News: Little Caesars is likely to become the lead sponsor of the Motor City Bowl.
Honolulu Advertiser: Hawaii's Greg McMackin was reprimanded by the Western Athletic Conference, which issued a warning that any further violations of the league's sportsmanship code will result in an automatic one-game suspension at the minimum.
LZ Granderson, ESPN.com: Did the media condone language used by McMackin?
Misti Crane, Columbus Dispatch: The NCAA is asking teams to test athletes for sickle-cell trait.
Kansas City Star: A three-year legal battle between the University of Kansas and a Lawrence T-shirt vender has ended with a mixed ruling. Link to Joe-College site.
Paul Myerberg, The Quad: The countdown continues with a look at No. 30 Houston.
To bypass registration, go to Bug Me Not.
Join the Wiz on Facebook and follow Jay Christensen on Twitter. Interested in advertising? Contact: jayzuma (at) gmail.com.
These complaints about 'creampuff' schedules are old and pointless. Nobody ought to attempt to measure a team based upon everybody they play, or based on the weakest teams they've played: the only real measure is how they did in the couple (or even several) big games they played. For example, Penn State last year: they beat Ohio State in Columbus, they lost by a point to Iowa at Iowa, and they were no real match for USC in the Rose Bowl. That's it, that's the measure of how good they were last year. I could care less how they did against Temple or Syracuse, or Akron or Eastern Illinois (unless they lose those games, which is not what we're talking about here). As long as they play at least two or three big tilts (preferably on the road), then we'll know how good they are. And so the question is old and pointless... now on the other hand, should a team play no big games against any real heavyweights (especially no road games), then that's a different question.
Posted by: Coach | August 04, 2009 at 08:52 AM
That whole thing about the Hawaii coach, it makes me sick. People need to stand up to the overblown 'pressure' applied by some narrow and strange group that imagines themselves powerful and important (and imagines themselves far more numerous than they really are). In the future, that Coach should use the word 'maricon' (like Ozzie Guillen did), and if someone wants to take some ridiculous overblown offense to the word, you then just say that maybe you misused and misunderstood that Spanish word... you meant to imply an hysterical and effeminate hypersensitivity, and you mistakenly thought that's what 'maricon' meant.
Posted by: Coach | August 04, 2009 at 09:20 AM
When I fist saw that about a new sponsor for the Motor City Bowl, I thought geez, didn't that dark and cozy little sports book toward the south end of the Strip, didn't they get bulldozed a long time ago? Now they're back, and sponsoring a Bowl Game no less? I forgot, Little Caesars is a pizza joint, isn't it... and sports books on the Strip aren't dark and cozy and personal anymore, are they.
Posted by: Coach | August 04, 2009 at 09:35 AM
Reading between the lines of the sickle-cell story, it sounds like the NCAA is trying to position itself against any future liability, by starting to blame a cell in the body, when in fact heat exhaustion and heat stroke can cause respiratory and heart failure in anyone of any age or health, and can kill them quick, if they drive themselves (and their workout) madly in the heat... even marathon runners can keel over dead in the heat, and nobody ever blamed a cell for it. It's also an invasion of privacy, in addition to blaming a cell, to test for sickle-cell trait... rather than require or even ask a player to take a test, I'd rather just tell them not to workout in high heat and high humidity conditions. Not all pain is gain.
Posted by: Coach | August 04, 2009 at 09:53 AM