Category: College Football (Page 101 of 296)

      Marshall Faulk says he would have taken money in college

      July 2, 2010 /

      Buried at the bottom of a recent article by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about former Seahawks’ head coach Jim Mora was an interesting comment by ex-NFL’er Marshall Faulk, who said he would have definitely taken cash if he had been offered it at San Diego State.

      “Were you ever offered anything in college?” I asked.

      “Nah, I went to San Diego State,” Faulk said. “Other than good weather, they didn’t have much to offer me, unfortunately. I wish I’d gone to a bigger program and had them slide me some cash to take care of my family, but that wasn’t the case.”

      “Would you have taken it? I asked.

      “Heck yeah, I would have taken it,” Faulk said. “I’m not gonna lie to you, there’s no doubt about it.”

      Faulk’s comments might sound a little surprising, but should they? Let’s keep in mind that players in college are essentially still kids and haven’t had the opportunity to make money yet. So when they’re offered cash, they’re presented with the opportunity to buy cell phones, video games, and whatever else they’re into.

      I’m not saying it’s right for them to accept gifts and therefore put their program at risk of being punished, but I don’t think we should be surprised when someone like Faulk says he would have taken money had it been offered it to him in college. If answering honestly, the majority of people may have said the same thing.

      That said, hopefully student athletes will learn from the situation with USC and Reggie Bush and look at the bigger picture. It’s just not worth accepting gifts and running the risk of not only ruining your future, but the future of other athletes who play for the program.

      College Football, External Sports

      USC appeals NCAA ruling, asks for 1-year bowl ban instead of two

      June 25, 2010 /

      USC has appealed the NCAA’s sanctions that prohibits them from playing in any postseason games over the next to years and has asked that the ban be reduced to only one year.

      From ESPN.com:

      USC appealed only certain aspects of this month’s ruling. Among the penalties were a two-year bowl ban, four years of probation, scholarship losses and removal of several victories. The school will accept a bowl ban for the upcoming season and certain scholarship penalties in football, but believes the full sanctions were unduly harsh.

      USC asked for the two-year postseason ban to be reduced to one year. The school also wants the NCAA’s scholarship reductions in football from 2011 to 2013 to be reduced to five lost scholarships in each season, rather than 10.

      “We disagree with many of the findings in the report from the NCAA Committee on Infractions and assert that the penalties imposed are too severe for the violations identified and are inconsistent with precedent in similar cases,” said Todd Dickey, USC’s senior vice president for administration.

      USC already announced it would appeal immediately after the sanctions were handed down June 10. The NCAA’s appeal process typically takes at least several months, and Dickey said the Trojans might get an answer by spring only in a best-case scenario.

      If the NCAA wants to make an example out of USC, then there’s little hope that the ban will be reduced. This situation could serve warning to all programs that if they’re caught breaking rules, that they could be punished as severely as the Trojans were.

      That said, considering those that were at fault (ahem, Reggie Bush, Pete Carroll, etc.) for the ban aren’t involved with the program anymore, one can make the argument (and many certainly have) that the NCAA was too harsh in its ruling.

      We’ll see what they rule…in a year.

      College Football, External Sports

      Jeremiah Masoli and the NFL supplemental draft

      June 25, 2010 /

      If I were a NFL GM (and God willing someday I will be, thanks to my extensive sports blogging experience) there isn’t enough booze in an Irish pub to get me drunk enough to select former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli in July’s supplemental draft.

      Despite having one year of eligibility remaining, The Oregonian reported earlier this week that Masoli is expected to enter the supplemental draft. This news comes three weeks after the University of Oregon football program booted him off the team following his second legal incident in six months.

      In March, Masoli and fellow genius Garrett Embry pled guilty to second-degree burglary after they robbed a campus frat house for two laptop computers and a guitar in late January. Oregon suspended Masoli for the entire 2010 season, although stated that if stayed out of trouble, he could return to the football team for his final year of eligibility in 2011.

      But in early June, Masoli was charged with possession of marijuana, driving with a suspended license and failure to stop at a driveway or a sidewalk. Head coach Chip Kelly had no choice but to kick him off the team entirely following that incident, which brings us to our current situation.

      Continue reading »

      College Football, External Sports, NFL

      So much for the MWC getting stronger: Utah headed to Pac-10

      June 17, 2010 /

      When the Mountain West Conference added Boise State to its ranks last week, it was one step closer to finally earning an automatic BCS bid for its champion.

      But then Utah had to go and ruin the party.

      Utah UtesESPN.com reports that the Utes are likely headed to the Pac-10, as an announcement about their decision should be forthcoming. Along with recently added Colorado, the Pac-10 (which would have 12 teams if Utah officially joins) can now implement a conference championship if it so desires.

      It’s hard to criticize Utah for the move. They’ve wanted the opportunity to play for a national championship for the last couple of years and never had a realistic shot at that goal playing in the MWC. But a move to the Pac-10 would at least give them the opportunity to play for a national title as long as they were crowned conference champions.

      But while the move makes total sense for the Utes, it leaves the MWC in a bind. One of the reasons why the Mountain West doesn’t receive an automatic bowl bid for its champion is because the average computer rank at the end of the regular season for all the teams in their conference is so low. Adding a consistent winner like Boise was going to help in that area, but losing Utah (a team that hasn’t had a losing record in the last seven seasons) hurts the MWC from getting closer to its goal.

      It’s going to be interesting to see how Utah fares against the likes of USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal, Oregon and the rest of the Pac-10. But it arguably would have been more interesting to see how quickly the Utes and their MWC partners could gain an automatic BCS bid.

      College Football, External Sports

      Bush: USC investigation “the closest thing to death without dying.”

      June 16, 2010 /

      For the first time since USC received a two-year bowl ban from the NCAA, Reggie Bush spoke openly about how the situation has affected him.

      From the New Orleans Times Picayune:

      “For the people who say … well I’ve heard people say that I don’t really care about this too much and I just brush it off my shoulders. Those people don’t know me. Because this thing regarding USC and the NCAA is to me the closest thing to death without dying,” Bush said in his opening statement. “Because I have such a great love and respect for the University of (Southern) California, this has been one of the toughest things I’ve had to deal with in my life. But at the same time whether it’s all true or all wrong or whether we’re guilty or not guilty, it’s still my responsibility and I have to accept that. And I have to deal with it as it is and try to manage it as best as I can. With that, we plan to aid USC as much as possible in the appeal with the NCAA. I’m gonna do everything I can to make it right, to make it better, and that’s really all I can do.

      “It sucks because like I said I have such a strong love and passion for USC. It’s almost like shaming your dad in a sense. You know, you go through life trying to represent the different companies or sports marketing companies or USC or whatever it is that you represent as best as possible. So when things like this happen it’s really unfortunate. It’s terrible that this was brought on USC. Another reason why it hurts so much is that I come from a strong family, I was raised well, I was raised to do the right thing. And the fact that this happened is unfortunate. So when my family name is at stake or USC or the New Orleans Saints or whoever it is that I represent, because of me, it hurts.”

      Some people want to blame Bush for everything that has transpired at USC over the past two weeks. But the blame is three-pronged: USC, the two agents that supplied Bush and his family with the gifts, and Bush himself are all to blame here.

      Bush should be held accountable for what happened because even though he was only a kid in some respects, he was old enough to know right from wrong. He had to have a suspicion that something was wrong, seeing as how not every player’s family was receiving free housing. And shame on his family for taking advantage of the situation and not insisting that Bush go to the university right away and being open about what was going on.

      Since Bush chose to accept the gifts, he should be punished, just as USC was punished for not having a better grasp of what was going on. Bush was the most recognizable athlete on their campus during his playing days – somebody should have known that he and his family were receiving gifts and put a stop to it.

      What cracks me up about this is that guys like Bush and Pete Carroll are surprised about how this situation went down. How else could it have ended? The kid was getting free shit for years and nobody did anything about it.

      Nothing in life is free.

      College Football, External Sports, NFL

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑