Category: College Football (Page 122 of 296)

      Nebraska dominates Arizona in Holiday Bowl

      December 31, 2009 /

      When I woke up this morning and read the headline: “Suh, Nebraska stop Arizona in Holiday Bowl,” I couldn’t help but chuckle a little.

      Stop? Stop doesn’t even begin to describe what the Cornhuskers did to the Wildcats on Wednesday night. Stop is something you do when you’ve had too much to eat. Completely shutting someone down to the point of feeling sorry for them is what Nebraska accomplished against Arizona in their 33-0 Holiday Bowl victory. The game was over for Arizona after the coin flip.

      The Cornhuskers held the Wildcats to 109 total yards of offense and only 46 passing yards. They also limited Arizona to 3-of-15 on third down conversions, picked off Nick Foles on the third play of the game and held the Wildcats to a messily 63 rushing yards. It was by far the most impressive performance any team this bowl season.

      I was a little worried that AP College Football Player of the Year and Heisman finalist Ndamukong Suh was going to come up short in the expectations that were bestowed upon him coming into the game, but he lived up to the hype. He only had three tackles (one for loss), but he was all over the field and exhibited outstanding size and strength.

      The Cornhuskers have a bright future under Bo Pelini and even though Suh is on his way out, Nebraska’s defense is loaded with playmakers. Their offense is still a concern (although they looked good last night), but Pelini feels as though his defense matches that of Alabama and Florida. And after their performance last night, it’s hard to argue with him. I realize they weren’t playing an offensive juggernaut in Arizona, but limiting any team to 109 total yards is unbelievably impressive.

      College Football

      911 call reveals Meyer suffered severe chest pains

      December 31, 2009 /

      Urban Meyer’s chest pains apparently started well before Florida’s loss to Alabama in the SEC title game.

      From SI.com:

      Meyer’s wife told an Alachua County dispatcher that her 45-year-old husband had a pulse but wasn’t talking when she contacted emergency officials at 4:27 a.m. on Dec. 6, hours after the Gators returned home from their 32-13 loss to Alabama.

      “My husband’s having chest pains,” Shelley Meyer said. “He’s having chest pains, he just woke up in the middle of the night and said he’s having chest pains.”

      Shelley Meyer said her husband had taken a sleeping pill that night and had suffered chest pains before. She repeatedly tried to rouse Meyer, who was lying on his stomach on the floor.

      “Urban, Urban, talk to me,” she says.

      Initial reports indicated that the Florida coach checked into a Gainesville hospital, where he was treated for dehydration and released. Shelley Meyer told dispatchers that her husband was breathing and appeared to be grunting.

      “He almost sounds like he’s kind of trying to cry,” she said.

      It’s no wonder Meyer wants to take some time off. These college coaches work non-stop year round and I’m surprised we don’t hear about more of them having health issues. I’m sure Meyer is getting a ton of pressure on the home front to hang it up for a while, which is why he first stated that he was leaving the program.

      We may never know the impact, but it’ll be interesting to see how Meyer’s health situation affects recruiting. Florida will recruit well no matter what, but will some prospects go elsewhere if there’s no guarantee Meyer will coach them in the fall?


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      College Football

      Texas Tech fires Mike Leach

      December 30, 2009 /

      ESPN.com is reporting that Texas Tech has fired head coach Mike Leach on Wednesday.

      The school handed a termination letter to Leach’s attorney, Ted Liggett, just minutes before the two sides were to appear in a Lubbock courtroom for a hearing on the coach’s suspension.

      Liggett said the letter said Leach was “terminated with cause effective immediately.”

      In February, Leach and the school agreed to a five-year, $12.7 million contract. According to terms of the deal, Leach was due an $800,000 bonus on Dec. 31 if he were still the head coach at Texas Tech.

      Leach was suspended by the university on Monday after receiver Adam James alleged the coach twice confined him to small, dark spaces while the practiced.

      James is the son of former NFL player and ESPN college football analyst Craig James.

      Texas Tech plays Michigan State on Saturday in the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.

      In an affidavit included with his injunction request to coach the Red Raiders in the Alamo Bowl, Leach said he “would never intentionally harm or endanger a player” and that he had been “forced into this situation without being afforded any process.”

      He wrote “absolutely” no evidence had been given to him that showed he had violated any university rules or standards.

      Defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill will coach the Red Raiders in the 2009 Alamo Bowl. One would think quarterback Taylor Potts and the Tech offense will struggle dramatically considering Leach called all the plays.

      It’ll be interesting to see what the backlash will be coming out of Leach’s camp. This all went down quickly, so I’m wondering what Leach’s lawyer has planned in response to his client’s firing. If Leach truly did nothing wrong, then his lawyer might be able to build a nice case against the university. Leach still has a career to protect, so I’m wondering if he’ll fight this in order to save face or if he’ll let the situation die in hopes that he can join another program quickly.


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      College Football

      Lawyer wants court’s help to allow Leach to coach in Alamo Bowl

      December 30, 2009 /

      According to SI.com, the lawyer for Texas Tech’s Mike Leach says that the suspended coach did nothing wrong in the treatment of receiver Adam James and wants to court’s help to allow Leach to coach in the Alamo Bowl on January 2.

      The motion for a temporary restraining order was filed Tuesday in Lubbock. An in-chambers hearing was set for Wednesday morning in the 99th District Court.

      Leach was “begged to work something out to avoid a confrontation,” said a person familiar with the inquiry who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

      That person also said Leach late last week postponed a meeting related to the inquiry and refused to sign a letter saying “no one injured would be returned to work out without doctors’ permission.”

      The school’s attorney left a voice mail message with Leach’s attorney that the university needed a letter of apology by noon Monday, the person said.

      It did not arrive.

      You can read the rest of the SI.com article here, but what this situation boils down to is a bunch of he said, she said circumstances. James says that he was mistreated, while Leach (through his lawyer) is saying that the receiver was dealt with properly.

      Maybe this is just my interpretation through the media, but Leach seems like a first class a-hole and that there was some wrongdoing that went on in Lubbock. But again, I fully admit that that’s the opinion I’ve developed while listening to the media, which we all know can be misleading at times. This could very well be a situation where a player is overacting and is making a bigger deal out of this than it is. That said, what would James have to gain in this situation outside of devising a plan to get rid of Leach?

      It’ll be interesting to see if Leach is the second coach let go in the Big 12 this season due to alleged player mistreatment. Mark Mangino “resigned” at Kansas in early December after several players said that he mistreated them.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      College Football

      Texas Tech’s Leach suspended for treatment of a player

      December 29, 2009 /

      In a bizarre, still developing story, Texas Tech’s Mike Leach has been suspended from coaching in the Alamo Bowl on January 2 after one of his injured players, receiver Adam James, complained about being mistreated by the head coach.

      From ESPN.com:

      A source close to the family said James sustained a concussion on Dec. 16, was examined on Dec. 17 and told not to practice because of the concussion and an elevated heart rate. The source said Leach called a trainer and directed him to move James “to the darkest place, to clean out the equipment and to make sure that he could not sit or lean. He was confined for three hours.”

      A source told The Associated Press that James said Leach told him if he came out, he would be kicked off the team.

      According to the source, Leach told the trainer, two days later, to “put [James] in the darkest, tightest spot. It was in an electrical closet, again, with a guard posted outside.”

      An attorney for Leach said that while James was secluded twice, the circumstances were not as portrayed in that account.

      Ted Liggett, Leach’s attorney, said James “was placed in an equipment room as it was much cooler and darker” than the practice field “after a doctor had examined him and returned him to the field.”

      The player claims that he was locked in a closet, yet Leach’s attorney says he was placed in there because it was “cooler and darker?” Something just doesn’t add up here and the entire situation stinks on Leach’s part.

      The twist in the story is that James is the son of ESPN college football analyst Craig James, who also played professionally for the Patriots. Given that Craig James is in the media, this could wind up being Leach’s undoing if the investigation turns up that he did something wrong.

      We’ll wait and see before more details emerge, but this doesn’t look good for Leach.

      College Football

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