Category: College Football (Page 111 of 296)

      Is Tebow making the right decision not to work out at combine?

      February 25, 2010 /

      It’s ultimately up to him and his agent to decide what the best course of action is in terms of how to approach April’s NFL draft. But it’s disappointing to say the least that Tim Tebow won’t partake in any drills at the NFL’s scouting combine this weekend.

      It’s one thing if Tebow doesn’t want to throw. He’s been working on a new throwing motion and after a brutal showing at the Senior Bowl and it makes sense that he wouldn’t want to show pro scouts an unfinished product at the scouting combine. He’s probably hoping to unveil a more polished look at his Pro Day to up his draft stock, which is certainly understandable.

      But unless he’s hiding an injury, it doesn’t make sense that he’s choosing not to run the 40-yard-dash, bench press or do any of the agility drills. I applaud his determination in wanting to prove to teams that he can be a quarterback at the next level. But the reality is that teams want to see if he can play another position and they can’t do that if he doesn’t workout this weekend. (Although again, teams will still have a chance to see him run at Florida’s Pro Day, albeit on his own terms in a comfortable setting.)

      Tebow is a great guy who has tons of character and who is one hell of a football player. But scouts already know that he’s a good humanitarian and will no doubt impress them with his interview skills this weekend. What they want is whether or not he has a place in the NFL at another position and his decision not to work out puts the clamps on scouts’ evaluation process. As a football fan and someone who appreciates athletes that are good both on and off the field, I hope Tebow succeeds. But I wonder if he’s screwing himself with this latest decision.

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      College Football, NFL, NFL Draft

      Troubling sign? McCoy won’t throw at combine.

      February 25, 2010 /

      Texas quarterback Colt McCoy was hoping to use the NFL scouting combine this weekend to show scouts that his injured right shoulder won’t be a problem come OTAs this spring. But as ESPN’s Chris Mortensen is reporting via his Twitter page, McCoy has opted not to throw at the combine, which could send his draft stock plummeting.

      After injuring his shoulder in the BCS title game in January, McCoy visited the acclimated Dr. James Andrews, who gave the quarterback a two-week recovery period. Early last week, McCoy told the media that he planned to participate at the combine, but Andrews has advised him not to throw this weekend, which means the signal caller has either been slow to recover or the injury is worse than the good doctor initially thought.

      Granted, McCoy still has his Pro Day to prove to scouts that his shoulder is fine. But even though he’s only following his doctor’s advice, his inability to throw at the combine sends up red flags to NFL scouts about his overall health. He presumably was already behind other quarterback prospects Jimmy Clausen and Sam Bradford, but he may slip further down teams’ draft boards if he can’t throw at his Pro Day.

      That said, he might become a steal in the later rounds, which could work out in his favor. I’m getting a little ahead of myself here, but if he’s taken late in the draft, he’ll be able to heal without having the pressure that comes with being a high draft pick. He could allow himself to heal 100% and use the draft as motivation to prove teams that passed on him wrong.


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      College Football, NFL, NFL Draft

      College Football Program Power Rankings

      February 25, 2010 /

      Welcome to a new feature on The Scores Report. We thought it would be interesting to tally up all the major accomplishments of a college football program and assign a point value to each category in order to rank them against one another. Then our football guru, Anthony Stalter, wrote a little bit about each program and the direction that it’s headed.

      Here’s how the points are calculated — 20 points for a national championship, 10 for a BCS title game loss, seven for a BCS bowl win, five for a BCS bowl loss, five for a BCS conference championship, three for a mid-major conference championship, two for a BCS conference runner-up and one for a major bowl appearance (i.e. a bowl that has a recent payout of more than $2 million — Capital One, Outback, Chick-fil-A, Cotton, Gator, Holiday, Champs Sports and Alamo.) You’ll see the total points in parenthesis after the team’s name.

      We put some thought into the point values for each accomplishment, paying special attention to how the point values are relative to one another. For example, we figured that one national championship would equate to four BCS conference championships, or three BCS bowl wins. We only looked at the last five years, as college football has increasingly become a fluid and fickle sport, and that’s about how far back a recruit will go when deciding amongst a list of schools.

      Lastly, since a program is so dependent on the guy in charge, we added or subtracted points if the program upgraded or downgraded its head coach in the last five years. A max of 10 points would be granted (or docked) based on the level of upgrade or downgrade. Again, we tried to quantify the hire relative to the program’s other accomplishments. For example, hiring Nick Saban is probably worth two BCS bowl appearances, or 10 points. (Sure, he might lead Alabama to more, but he also might bolt for another job in a year or two.)

      So, without further ado, here are the rankings. Every year we’ll go through and update the numbers based on what the program did that year (while throwing out the oldest year of data), so don’t fret if your team isn’t quite where you want them right now. Everyone has a chance to move up.

      1. Florida Gators (61)

      National Championship: ’08-W, ’06-W
      BCS Bowl: ’09-W
      Conference Championship: ’09-RU, ’08-W, ’06-W
      Major Bowl Appearance: ’07, ’05
      It’s hard to argue that the Gators don’t deserve the top spot with two national championship victories, three BCS bowl wins, two conference championships and five bowl appearances in the past five years. Considering they play in college football’s toughest conference, what Urban Meyer’s program has been able to accomplish in the past five years has been incredibly impressive. The program dodged a bullet when Meyer rejoined the team.

      2. Ohio State Buckeyes (58)

      National Championship: ’07-L, ’06-RU
      BCS Bowl: ’09-W, ’08-L, ’05-W
      Conference Championship: ’09-W, ’08-RU, ’07-W, ’06-W, ’05-RU
      The Buckeyes are subjected to criticism every year because they play in a weak conference that doesn’t have a title game, but keep in mind that they have absolutely owned the Big Ten over the past five years. They have finished no worse than second in each of the past five seasons and have also appeared in two title games. While it’s true they lost in both of those appearances, just getting there helped them greatly in these rankings.

      3. Texas Longhorns (49)

      National Championship: ’09-L, ’05-W
      BCS Bowl: ’08-W,
      Conference Championship: ’09-W, ’05-W
      Major Bowl Appearance: ’07, ’06
      The Longhorns have been a model of consistency. They’ve made a bowl appearance in each of the last five years, won a national championship in 2005 and made a title appearance this past last year. It’ll be interesting to see how Mack Brown’s program fares in 2010 now that Colt McCoy has graduated and youngster Garrett Gilbert is set to take over at quarterback.

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      College Football

      Lane Kiffin confused by comments made by Tennessee AD

      February 24, 2010 /

      USC head coach Lane Kiffin was apparently a little confused by comments made last month by Tennessee Athletic Director Mike Hamilton. Hamilton said Kiffin wound up not being a “good cultural fit” for UT.

      From GoVolsExtra.com:

      “I don’t really know exactly what that means,” said Kiffin, who was UT’s coach for just 14 months. “I don’t think at the end of day that has anything to do with whether you score points or whether you win games. Where you’re from? I don’t know. That’s just my opinion.

      “Is Nick Saban from Alabama? Is Urban Meyer from Florida? Those are two of the best coaches in the country. So I don’t think that really means anything.”

      What’s funny about Hamilton’s comments is that he never would have made them had Kiffin stayed at Tennessee and won. Had Kiffin won with the Vols, he probably would have done so in the same brash manner he exhibited when he first set foot on UT’s campus. But since he was a cocky, abrasive loudmouth that didn’t fulfill his promises, all of a sudden he wasn’t a “good cultural fit.”

      I’m no Lane Kiffin apologist, but I think Hamilton is reaching here. Steve Spurrier is from Florida and was one of the cockiest head coaches the SEC had ever seen. Yet the conference embraced him because they either loved him or loved to beat him.

      Was he not a cultural fit in Gainesville?

      College Football

      Michigan not in compliance with NCAA rules

      February 24, 2010 /

      According to a report by ESPN.com, the NCAA is accusing the Michigan football program of breaking five rules violations under head coach Rich Rodriguez.

      In its notice of allegations — which Michigan received Monday — the NCAA said Rodriguez “failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the football program.” He tracked neither what his staff was doing nor whether his players were following NCAA rules, particularly those limiting the time spent on practice and football-related activities, the report said.

      It also said the athletics department failed to make sure its football program was complying with NCAA regulations. Brandon said the department “clearly made mistakes,” but “there was no charge of loss of institutional control” — an allegation that in previous cases has led to severe NCAA sanctions for other schools.

      Michigan has 90 days to respond and will appear at an NCAA hearing on infractions in August. The school will see how its internal investigation matches up with the NCAA findings and will consider implementing self-imposed sanctions, a move that could reduce NCAA penalties.

      The NCAA said last October that it was looking into the Wolverine program following a report in the Detroit Free Press citing anonymous football players that said Michigan exceeded NCAA limits regarding practices and workouts in 2008 and 2009.

      NCAA regulations allow players to spend eight hours a week on mandatory workouts during the offseason and several Michigan players have told the media that they spent two to three times that amount on required workouts. The players also said the amount of time they spent on football activities during the season exceeded the weekly limit of 20 hours, as well as the daily limit of four hours.

      It would be naïve to think that other programs aren’t exceeding these practice times as well, but it sounds like what Rodriguez was doing was excessive. He, along with the Michigan program, have a serious problem on their hands.

      Rodriguez has been nothing short of a disaster so far in Ann Arbor and if the Wolverines suffer another losing season (which would be their third straight), then I don’t know how the AD can keep Rich Rod on the sidelines. They’re showing support for him in light of these compliance issues, but one more bad year of football would probably end Rodriguez’s short tenure at UM.


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      College Football

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