Neill Woelk, Boulder Daily Camera: Is it time for a new super league, free and clear of NCAA constraints? The new league would consist of eight conferences with eight teams and would lose current Bowl Championship Series members Duke, Iowa State, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Connecticut and Washington State. Joining the group would be Utah, Texas Christian, Brigham Young, Boise State, East Carolina and Tulsa. Each team would play seven conference games and four nonconference games. Eight conference champs and eight runners-up advance to a 16-team playoff.
Berry Tramel, Oklahoman: College football has changed, and offensive line play isn’t as valuable as it once was.
Eric Crawford, Louisville Courier-Journal: Kentucky has taken billboard mania to new heights. Drive by selected billboards around the state, including one not far from Louisville campus, and tune to the right radio frequency, and you'll hear the Kentucky fight song blaring from your radio.
Michael Hiestand, USA Today: ESPN/ABC has announced its broadcasting lineups for the fall. Doug Flutie and Bonnie Bernstein are gone and Paul Maguire's role has been decreased. A look at the lineups.
Connor Ennis, New York Times: A look at ESPN's schedule of Thursday night games.
Gordon Monson, Salt Lake Tribune: What was the rush? The Mountain West should not have signed the BCS deal with ESPN.
Dick Harmon, Deseret News: Teams from the Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences will have to limit their BCS arguments to the field, and there will be several opportunities this fall.
Brett McMurphy, Tampa Tribune: South Florida season ticket sales are down 18.6%. The Bulls have two Division I-AA teams on the schedule. Sales of Florida State season tickets are down 13.4%.
William Wilkerson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: The splashy new offices of the Cotton Bowl — located in the new Cowboys Stadium — are part of a plan to join the BCS party.
Andrew Logue, Des Moines Register: Iowa running back Jewell Hampton's injured knee will not require surgery and he should be available for the Sept. 5 opener against Northern Iowa.
Jeff Metcalfe, Arizona Republic: Former Oregon receiver Aaron Pflugrad talks about his transfer to Arizona State. His new roommate is quarterback Steven Threet, who transferred from Michigan.
Jeffrey Martin, Kansas City Star: Kansas State athletic director John Currie vowed not to use any money from fans or donors to foot the bill for the Wildcats’ recent buyouts.
Pikes Picks: Check out this project: A playoff involving the top 2,048 teams from the past 32 seasons.
Scott Nulph, Stillwater News-Press: Oklahoma State tight end Jamal Mosley and running back Dexter Pratt have been charged with one count each of misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
Scott Wolf, L.A. Daily News: USC players Everson Griffen and Jordan Campbell, who were cited by Nantucket (Mass.) police for being loud at a Fourth of July party, were released and face no further action, according to police.
The Quad: Paul Myerberg takes a detailed look at No. 54 Tulsa, No. 53 Missouri, No. 52 UCLA No. 51 Central Michigan.
To bypass registration, go to Bug Me Not. Here is today's fabulous mystery link. Thanks to Tom Kirkendall.
Join the Wiz on Facebook and follow Jay Christensen on Facebook and Twitter. Interested in advertising? Contact: jayzuma (at) gmail.com.
So let me get this straight...The Sooners' biggest question mark going into the season is the offensive line. So...The Oklahoman prints an article about how offensive lines really don't matter that much anyway, in which the only person quoted as even remotely supporting the idea is the Oklahoma offensive coordinator. Hmmm... Glad to see someone has decided to take it upon himself to blow smoke up OU fans's butts.
Posted by: Chris | July 12, 2009 at 08:51 PM
Yeah... I like Barry Tramel, but if you want to know how important o-line is in CFB just look at ND and Bama last year.
ND couldn't run the ball. You know what happened. Bama's whole game was their O-line. They came within 15 minutes of the championship game. Without Andre Smith and Mike Johnson, they lost to Utah.
NOTHING is more important than your O-line. Sorry, Sooners.
Posted by: Sam | July 13, 2009 at 05:51 AM