The Florida State controversy continued the rest of the week, so we’re going to devote a second entry to it. The Florida State coach, Bobby Bowden, came out with a statement to the effect that it’s not fair for these athletes to affect victories in 10 different sports. In particular, according to the university’s president, the coaches shouldn’t be held accountable for the mistakes of the students. Why the coaches in particular? Why not “we shouldn’t hold all athletes responsible for the misdeeds of the few”? Because Mr. Bowden is one victory shy of the NCAA’s winningest coach in Penn State. If the NCAA takes away 14 wins from the football team, as originally planned Bowden may not be able to retire soon as the NCAA’s best coach.

The NCAA Football world is very quiet right now. There are some more scandals, and I suppose that’s just normal at this time of year. Like we mentioned before, there aren’t that many things going on besides some behind-the-scenes dealing of teams trying to bring in the best high schools students around. It’s interesting, though, to see which names keep coming up in all these scandals and discussions. Not that all these teams are doing something wrong, but it’ll give you an idea of who is out there doing major scouting and recruiting this off season. We’ll be keeping an eye on it and let you know what the newest information is. Watch the CBS site to find information about your favorite teams.

There’s always a little one here and a little one there but upsets are generally sprinkled throughout the season and none too shocking. Usually. Rewind to the past weekend of NCAA college football and that above axiom is twisted, broken, and shot in to space. Let’s start with the first and perhaps most shocking upset.

Thursday in Corvallis.  The Oregon State Beavers shock the world and defeat the supposedly unbeatable USC Trojans 27-21. The Beavers stymied the Trojans offense for the majority of the game and sent the number 1 team down several spots in the AP rankings.

The upsets only continued on Saturday. After USC was bumped from number 1 status several teams were ready to usurp the spot. It wouldn’t be number 3 Georgia, however, as they fell to Alabama in a deceiving score of 41-30 (deceiving because Alabama far outplayed the Bulldogs). It also wouldn’t be number 4 Florida Gators whose late point after attempt was blocked, resulting in a 31-30 loss to Ole Miss. In addition to these two games, another top ten team Wisconsin Badgers fell to Michigan 27-25.

All in all, six ranked teams lost to unranked teams over the weekend. In addition to USC, Florida, and Wisconsin, upsets occurred for Wake Forest, East Carolina, and Clemson as well. This weekend it was Oklahoma who really made out like a bandit, winning easily over TCU 35-10 and now sitting atop the NCAA rankings totem pole.

Jimmy Johns, the Alabama’s linebacker, is the tenth football player in the Alabama team to be arrested within a span of one year and this latest arrest on Johns is for five lawbreaking offences involving cocaine. Johns was arrested this Tuesday morning and has been put in Tuscaloosa jail for selling and possession of cocaine. The Alabama coach Nick Saban immediately took his name off from the muster rolls of Alabama University NCAA football team. The recent Alabama player arrests have jolted the composition of the team as well and the coach will have to strive for goods from his reserve players in an attempt to make a mark this football season. There is no doubt that the fans will be rushing for their tickets once the season starts.

Jayvon Riddick is all the more determined this time around to make a mark for himself with his strenuous physical and mental training in a bid to impress upon football teams. He is not sure about the teams for which he has sent his applications, but wants to play for either USC or Virginia Tech or Texas or West Virginia teams in this upcoming NCAA football season. The football season this year will surely have its thrills and spills and NCAA football fans are gearing up to buy their tickets well in advance to watch their favorite team’s perform. Riddick is hoping that he finds a place to play in the college level this season. 

It looks like Georgia Southern have got into the NCAA’s bad books recently when their football team failed to secure three scholarships. NCAA will be penalizing the team as they are not performing up to standards set by the strict organization. They also did not reinforce rules to keep their athletes academically-inclined. In comparison, Georgia Tech and University of Georgia were praised when statistics show that they exceeded the NCAA’s minimum academic development rate for every sport. Cal State Sacramento also received warnings and punishments when seven of their overall teams did not meet the NCAA’s standards for churning out optimal athletes.

Three senior Michigan state players and a junior player have accepted the invitation to play in the 2008 NFL Scouting Combine to be held from 20th to 26th of February at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The running back Michigan State player Jehuu Caulcrick, safety Nehemiah Warrick and tight end Kellen Davis along with Devin Thomas, the junior wide receiver, are the Spartan players who will play in the 2008 Scouting Combine.

Jehuu Caulcrick who owns a school record of rushing for 872 yards and 21 touch downs in 2007 is well known for his powerful running. Caulcrick is ranked 8th in the league for his rushing and he is virtually unstoppable when he is in full flow. The tight end Kellen Davis, a 6-6, 246 pound man, is a well known Spartan player who has a career record of 513 receiving yards, 6 touchdowns, and 32 receptions in 2007 season, of which 18 out of the 32 catches coming in the last five games he has played. He can be utilized as a possession receiver as well as a play maker. Devin Thomas was ranked as the fifth best receiver in the 2008 NFL Draft and is selected in the 32 prospects by Scouts, Inc.

Chuck Sekyra has been named the Division II National Coach of the Year.Sekyra’s team reached the NCAA Division II semifinals for the second time in three years. His 2005 squad lost the national-championship match in OT to Nebraska Omaha. It really speaks to the type of season their women had. And Sekyra admits that it was enjoable for all of them.So now The National Soccer Coaches Association of America picks coach of the year.

The Kansas Jayhawk football program received two final commitments of the class.  The two signings brought them to 20 overall, with two 4-stars. After missing out on Cyrus Gray Crawford was next up on Mangino’s wish list. Crawford will  be immediately inserted into the runningback mix, along with Jayhawks in Jake Sharp, Angus Quigley and Carmon Boyd-Anderson. They will get a lot more in-depth about this once we start previewing the football season, and the runningbacks in particular. The commit wasn’t on the radar of most Jayhawk fans. With all three of our current starters slated to be seniors next season. They need to start filling our rosters with their future replacements.  Richardson is that person,  but at the very least he is another really good body to throw in there. His other offers were from Bowling Green and Central Michigan. He is much more representative of the Mangino classes of old. He  represents a bottom-tier prospect in this class.

The push for an eight-team college football playoff by Michael Adams failed to gain steam at the NCAA Convention.The NCAA Division I Board of Directors sent the proposal for further discussion.
Adams said that it was time for the NCAA to replace college football’s bowl games.
Adams is a chairman of the NCAA’s Executive Committee and a member of the Board of Directors. He wanted his standing to make a difference when he proposed a playoff system. NCAA president Myles Brand  said he would remain neutral on a football playoff.
Clemson president James Barker and chairman of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors said that there was no timetable for action on Adams‘ proposal.
The NCAA Division I Board of Directors passed 45 of the 47 proposals sent to it from the Management Council.
The most-publicized legislation was prohibiting institutions from canceling or reducing scholarships of female athletes who become pregnant.
Some schools had required student-athletes to sign documents stating they would lose their scholarship.
The Board of Directors passed an alteration to the telephone text-messaging ban between coaches and prospects.