Leach situation is indication the college football world has gone mad

The Mike Leach controversy at Texas Tech is a fluid situation at the moment and by the time you read this it could have changed again.  Based on the complaint of one player Adam James who has a very well known father in ESPN announcer and former NFL player Craig James, Leach is on indefinite suspension for his treatment of James following a mild concussion.

Leach has gone to court seeking an injunction against the school so he can coach their bowl game Saturday and word out of Lubbock is that the most successful coach in school history may be fired at any moment.  How did this situation blow up so far so fast?  Leach reportedly refused the school’s pleadings to apologize for his actions, saying he’d done nothing wrong.  The doctor who treated James said Leach didn’t do anything wrong by placing James in a dark equipment garage next to the practice field with ice and access to trainers.

It’s all so bizarre.  Leach is an off beat character who moves to his own drumbeat.  He loves Pirates, has the most prolific passing game in the country, comes up with wild quotes for the media, the fans love him and of course he wins.  Tech has been to 11 straight bowl games.  

It’s interesting that Leach was an outspoken supporter of recently deposed Kansas coach Mark Mangino who was ousted under similar circumstances.  Is this where college football is quickly headed?  Schools coming down hard on coaches at the first whiff of a player or parent complaint?  This is football after all.  

Parents think their kids are the greatest and don’t like it when their son isn’t getting to play.  Is that Craig James’s motivation?  He’s been accused of being a dad always nagging the coaches.  Rumblings from the team are that Adam James is soft and a disruptive force.  Was this just a motivation tactic by Leach.  Head injuries are nothing to be ignored, but I’m not sure I understand where James has been mistreated as Leach has been accused.  And shouldn’t the school investigate prior to convicting the accused?

Chiefs play well but still can't win

Kansas City didn’t just pack it in against the Bengals as they did all they could to keep Cincinnati from securing a playoff berth before falling 17-10.  The defense played exceptionally well considering their performance of recent weeks, but when they needed a stop late there was no one to make the big play as the Bengals drove 98 yards for the winning score as Carson Palmer hit Chad Ochocinco for a six yard strike.

The first half was marked by a turnover by both teams as each QB was picked off once while going deep.  Other than that it was a defensive struggle.

With two and a half minutes to go in the half, deep snapper Thomas Gafford launched the ball over punter Dustin Colquit’s head.  Colquit kicked the ball out of bounds at the KC seven saving a TD.  Palmer hit Ochocinco for an apparent TD but he’d stepped out of bounds earlier in the route and was ineligible.  KC then held to force a 29 yard field goal by Shane Graham and it was 3-0 Bengals.

The Chiefs two minute drill moved from their own 19 to the Cincinnati 11 and Ryan Succup hit a 30 yard FG to tie the game at 3 at halftime.

On the opening drive of the second half Cincinnati had more total yardage than the entire first half as they drove 77 yards, capped by a 10 yard TD pass from Carson  Palmer to Laverneaus Coles and a 10-3 lead.

Late in the third quarter, Jake O’Connell partially blocked a Bengal punt and the Chiefs then drove 49 yards with Matt Cassel hitting Tim Castille in between three defenders for a 20 yard score and 10-10 tie.

A final drive attempt by KC moved to midfield but Cassel was picked off by Leon Hall on a pass intended for Chris Chambers.

Cedric Benson had 133 rushing for Cincy, 99 in the 2nd half, Jamaal Charles had 102 for KC.  The Bengals are now 10-5, the Chiefs 3-12 with one game left in Denver next Sunday. 

Bengals will be running, but can KC do anything about it

If Todd Haley and his coaching staff had one wish for Christmas, it may have been for Santa to have brought the Chiefs defense the willpower and ability to stop the run.

After three straight weeks of giving up over 200 yards rushing to an opponent, the Chiefs will take on a Cincinnati club that not only loves to run the football, but has a backup running back by the name of Larry Johnson who is just dying for the opportunity to strut his stuff against his former team.

After last week’s embarrassing defensive performance against the Browns where they made Jerome Harrison the second coming of Jim Brown, and gave up a club record 351 yards rushing, it’s hard to imagine things getting worse defensively, but I’ve learned never to say never with this team.

It’ll be interesting to see if this team throws in the towel for the final two games of the season on the road.  So far, it appears more of a lack of talent and not lack of effort on the Chiefs part in their four game losing skid, but you have to wonder if Haley and his staff can get hit team motivated for these final two road games.

Offensively, they started to click on most cylinders last week, but TE Brad Cottam, who was really showing promise went on IR and it was the Browns defense we’re talking about.  I’m not expecting victories down the stretch but it would be nice to see continued progress with the offense and a defense that looks like it know what it’s doing this Sunday.  That may be too much to ask.

Chargers rolling toward Super Bowl berth

The Indianapolis Colts may be just two games away from an unbeaten regular season, but the San Diego Chargers still look like the team to beat in the AFC as we head toward the playoffs after winning their tenth straight game and clinching the number two seed in the AFC.  

No one rushed for more than 60 yards, but the Chargers averaged over 4 yards per carry and had four TD’s on the ground in a 42-17 pounding of Tennessee on Christmas night.

This team has it all working right now.  A running game that is spearheaded by LaDaninian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles, a passing game headlined by Antonio Gates and QB Philip Rivers and a defense that forced three Titan turnovers that resulted in 21 points.

For the past several seasons the Chargers have been touted as the most talented team in the AFC, but they always ran into someone who played just a little bit better come playoff time.  This time around, I don’t see that happening.  One other thing, sometimes you just get the feeling that this is a quarterbacks year.  That’s the feeling I get with Rivers.

He has a gunslinger mentality and an attitude that wills his team to victories.  This looks like the year he manages to take his team all the way and Southern California fans decided that Rivers for Manning deal was a pretty good one after all.  This can always change in the weeks to come, injuries happen and teams go into mystifying slumps, but the Chargers look dominant and I don’t think they can be stopped.

Browns flog Chiefs 41-34 as tacklers take early holiday

The game was blacked out on local TV but the Chiefs and Browns played the most exciting and frustrating game of the season at Arrowhead Stadium as the Chiefs closed out their home schedule this year with a 41-34 loss.

Cleveland and KC traded field goals and turnovers in the first quarter, then the Browns Joshua Cribbs set an NFL record returning the kick off 100 yards for his 7th career return for TD.  Cleveland’s Phil Dawson then hit a 30 yard field goal for a 10 point Browns lead.

KC’s offense then came alive with Matt Cassell connecting with Chris Chambers on back to back plays, the first for 39 yards, the second a 9 yard scoring pass to make it 13-10.  Cassel had possibly his best day of the season, 22 of 40 for 331, 2 TD’s and no interceptions.

Next possession, running back Jamaal Charles bolted 47 yards through the Browns defense to put KC on top 17-13.  Kansas City made it a 21 point explosion when a bad snap from center went into the end zone and Andy Studebaker recovered to make it 24-13.

But Joshua Cribbs was a one man offense for Cleveland in the first half.  He brought back his second kickoff of the half, 103 yards and now 8th in his career and it was 24-20 KC at half.  Cribbs has 269 return yards at halftime.

Early in the third quarter, Jerome Harrison took over the game and put Cleveland back on top 27-24 with a 71 yard touchdown run on a counter play right up the middle.  Dropped passes killed the Chiefs and Cassel in the second half with five in the third quarter alone.

A fourth and one conversion on a 13 yard sneak by QB Brady Quinn and then an 8 yard TD run by Harrison and the Browns were back up by 10 at 34-24.  Harrison would finish with 286 yards on the ground, a record against the Chiefs, third best in NFL history and nearly his season total.

Ryan Succop hit a short field goal tying Jan Stenerud’s Chiefs rookie record of 21 and KC was within 7 with 8 minutes to go.  After a missed 52 yard field goal by Cleveland, Matt Cassel overcame more dropped passes to drive the team 58 yards in 8 plays.

Cassel hit Leonard Pope in the end zone but he dropped it, the 8th drop of the game.  But on 4th and 6 from the 12, Mark Bradley held on to a pass for a touchdown to tie the game at 34 with 2:20 to go.  But the Chiefs defense continued to look like Swiss cheese.

The Browns took just a minute twenty to score as Jerome Harrison covered the last 28 yards of a 70 yard drive to give Cleveland a 41-34 lead.  KC drove to the Browns 26 but Cassel’s final pass to the end zone fell incomplete. 

Harrison finished with 286 yards on 34 carries, just 10 yards short of the NFL record. Cribbs had two kickoff returns and 307 return yards.  Jamaal Charles had 25 carries 154 yards for KC.  There were big plays everywhere, but no one can tackle from KC.  It's embarrassing.

KU says it's still planning to have the Gridiron Club for 2010

Fresh off the heels of hiring Turner Gill s their new football coach, KU officials say they still expect to have the new high end Gridiron Club built for 2010, despite the fact just $4 million of the $34 million dollars has been raised.  

Who is Big Ten looking to add?

So the Big 10 is finally moving into the 21st century and has figured out they actually need a conference championship game to remain relevant in the final weeks of college football’s regular season.  For that they need to add another team.  They also need to be able to count, but that’s another matter.

Over the weekend word first leaked from Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez that the Big 10 would be looking into adding another school.  Tuesday the conference made it official, putting out a statement to that effect.  So now the guessing game begins.

the last time there was discussion about this, Notre Dame was invited to join but said no and inked a lucrative deal with NBC for themselves.  This time around, most Big Ten coaches have taken a screw you approach to issuing another invitation to the Irish. So where will they go and how might the dominos fall if they do attract a 12th team and break into two divisions like the Big 12?

There have been rumors for years that the Big Ten would like to have Missouri in their conference a rumor usually floated by Missouri and Tiger fans like to state that they’re educational philosophy is more in line with Big Ten schools.  That’s all well and good, but this is about money, not education.  College sports moved past that a long time ago.

A more likely scenario is that the Big Ten looks east towards West Virginia or Pitt.  Bringing in the Mountaineers would bring in a natural border rival for Ohio State and they have the football and basketball programs to compete.

Same goes for Pitt.  Asking the Panthers to join further secures the Pittsburgh television market and surrounding areas of Philly and New York, brings in a football and basketball power and a natural rival for Penn State.

Don’t be surprised if they also take a look at Syracuse or Rutgers.  This is all about TV markets and producing revenue, remember.  Missouri can bring St. Louis, but that pales in comparison to the northeast.

What if Missouri went to the Big Ten?  Where would the Big 12 turn?  Look no further than TCU.  They now have a powerhouse football team, they’ve been good on and off in basketball and they would further secure the Dallas-Ft. Worth market.  They’d  be made to play in the north division, but would jump at the offer.

If Pitt or West Virginia left the Big East, they’d probably go after Memphis or maybe try and lure Boston College back from the ACC.  It all becomes a shootout at the OK Corral. This is all conjecture at this point in time, but the picture will get clearer in the next year to 18 months.

Super Bowl picks? San Diego and Minnesota

With three weeks remaining in the regular season, the carcasses of Super Bowl hopefuls are already littering the sidelines.  The defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers have watched their chances disappear  and with their performance Sunday against San Francisco, Arizona doesn’t look like they’ve got another magical run in them.

The same can be said for the Baltimore Ravens, the team a good majority of the experts felt were ready to take that next step.  The problem is that next step was backward in 2009.

So who really are the favorites to win it all as we sit here today talking about it?  Well as much as I admire the job that Jim Caldwell has done taking over for Tony Dungy and leading the Colts to a 13-0 record, I don’t think they’re the team to beat in the AFC.  Too many flaws on the defensive side of the ball and too much youth surrounding Payton Manning when it comes down to making the plays when it counts in the playoffs.

Throw in the fact that the weight of being undefeated will keep the pressure on them as the regular season winds down.  No, the team to beat is San Diego.  The Chargers have it working this year and the only thing that can get in their way is a failure to be able to run the ball in critical junctures of a game.  They aren’t the running team they once were, they rely on Phillip Rivers and his receiving corps, but Ladainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles must be able to run when necessary for the Chargers and Norv Turner to reach Miami.

In the NFC all signs would seem to point to New Orleans.  Drew Brees is having another spectacular season, the offense is nearly unstoppable at 35 points per game and the Saints have a defense most everyone else in the NFC would be thrilled to have.  But there’s that undefeated monkey on their back as well.  In the last two weeks they’ve survived by the skin of their teeth, so a loss appears to be coming and how they react to that may determine how they play in the playoffs, They need that home field advantage though and it looks like they’ll get it.

Philadelphia has proven time and time again they can make it happen in playoff time.   Despite the fact they destroyed the Giants last week, they won’t have home field advantage to help them when it counts

Minnesota and Brett Favre are having a magical season as well and with Adrian Peterson to carry the rock, they can survive indoors and out.  With a defense led by sack man Jared Allen, as long as coach Brad Childress remembers to run football and just have Favre lead and throw when necessary and not all the time, the Vikings should win the NFC.  Favre can take them to the Super Bowl promise land, but Minnesota doesn’t want to force him to win games unless they have too. 

This will be a running week to week commentary the rest of the way, so my picks could change.  Who do you think will make it?

Have Chiefs fans already blacked out the Browns game in their minds?

After three consecutive ugly losses, the Chiefs get some good news this week with the return of Dwayne Bowe to the roster.  Bowe has been missing in action the past four weeks thanks to an NFL mandated suspension for use of an illegal substance.

His absence has been felt.  Just when he was finally playing at his best this season he disappeared as a part of the Chiefs offense, which he’d become a major part of.  In the meantime, Jamaal Charles has stepped up and taken on a load from the running back spot, but no one has done anything to help Matt Cassel as far as receiving goes.

The Chiefs continue to lead the league in dropped balls and the passing game in general is a mess.  It’s unlikely that the return of Bowe will dramatically change that.  Coach Todd Haley isn’t even certain what type of player he’ll have back this week against the Browns and how much he’ll be able to do after a month’s absence although Haley says he looks like he kept himself in good shape.

As bad as the Chiefs passing attack has been, Haley doesn’t really have the option to go more to a ground based attack, despite Charles fine play.  The second year player from Texas has taken a beating.  Last week he touched the ball 27 times and accounted for 181 yards, that’s more than Haley wants him to have because he knows Charles can’t take the pounding week in and week out.

The problem is there’s no one else to help take some of the rushing burden off of Charles shoulders despite the teams ability to move the ball on the ground.  Therefore it’s to the air, where as Woody Hayes once said, “Three things can happen when you pass and two of them ain’t good.” 

Make that three of them when you consider the Chiefs have allowed 44 sacks this season.  Interceptions and dropped passes have plagued the Chiefs and the failure to produce touchdowns even when the offense has moved the ball effectively is particularly frustrating to Haley and the team. 

The Browns come to town Sunday and it would appear this will be the first game blacked out in KC since 1990.  Who can blame the fans?  As bad as the Chiefs offense has been this season, the Browns is worst.  Doesn’t this sound like a fun game?  Well maybe it ends up a 38-37 shootout like Cleveland and Detroit  a few weeks back. One can only hope. 

Gill will change the culture at KU, but can he win?

The Turner Gill era began in ernest yesterday as the former Nebraska football star was named head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks.

While there’s question on some fronts about his 20-30 record at Buffalo, his rebuilding challenge with the Bulls was certainly as great or greater than the one Mark Mangino faced when he arrived at Kansas 8 years ago.  Mangino’s first four years concluded with a 19-29 mark and he didn’t win a conference title like Gill did.

There’s no question that Athletic Director Lew Perkins chose a coach who would be a dramatic contrast to Mangino when it comes to personality and coaching style.  Gill is a self described player’s coach, but where I think Kansas will see it’s greatest change will be inside the day to day operations of the athletic department.

Where Mangino was known for his rough, intimidating style even in the office, I think we’re going to quickly hear a great deal about the change of culture and the lack of tension in the halls of the football facilities. 

Gill has brought in veteran coordinators with head coaching experience in Carl Torbush and Chuck Long.  He’s set his priorities on recruiting and recruiting more.  He broached the subject of whether he looked at KU as a stepping stone to a football dynasty, by saying emphatically no, he wanted to build a football dynasty at KU.  Jayhawk fans should feel good about that.

Might he leave if Bo Pelini implodes and Nebraska comes calling in two or three years?  Sure.  But how many Kansas fans thought Jim Harbaugh would stay for a decade if he came?  Same goes for Tommy Tuberville or Skip Holtz.  You never know.

Gill has a challenge on his hands in Lawrence, but the foundation is set.  Nebraska AD Tom Osborne, Gill’s college coach and mentor, says the 47 year old has never been motivated by the same things most people are, money and fame.  He just lives in the moment and works to make the situation he’s in the best it can possibly be.  Could Kansas fans ask for more than that?

Ingram not my pick, but a deserving Heisman winner

I said that last week’s Heisman watch would be my final story of the year on it since the award was handed out Saturday night, but I decided I’d at least offer my thoughts on the final vote.

Sophomore running back Mark Ingram won the Hesiman in the closest vote ever over fellow running back Toby Gerhart with Colt McCoy finishing third and Ndamukong Suh ending up fourth.

I don’t have any real argument with Ingram getting the trophy, as I predicted last week, the vote would be very very close.  Ingram certainly did a fine job when his name was announced to regain his composure after the emotion of it all and gain the where-with-all to thank everyone in the Crimson Tide nation for their help in getting him there.

He remembered everyone’s name from the trainers and strength coordinators to the school president.  Not bad for a 20 year old sophomore speaking on national television. In winning, he becomes the third straight sophomore and first ever winner from Alabama.  

His story itself is one of challenges.  On the night of his greatest achievement, his father, Mark Sr., a former NFL star was sitting just five miles away in a federal prison, convicted of money laundering and bank fraud.  He’s a deserving young man who will hopefully do great things in the future.

For Gerhart, who finished 2nd, it was a case of not being well enough known early and playing for a west coast team.  Despite his spectacular numbers that were better than Ingram’s, he narrowly lost the voting in the east and the Mid-Atlantic states from voters that probably never saw him play.  That was the difference.

McCoy was hurt by the split in voting with Suh in the midwest and western regions and of course to a certain extent by fifth place finisher Tim Tebow.  Colt will go down in my book as the greatest college quarterback never to have won the Heisman.  If there was a career award, it would be his.  In what was actually his worst year in the past three seasons statistically, he still finished a close third and has a chance to win an national title and go undefeated.

Suh was a longshot to begin with.  As we know, defenders don’t win the Heisman, but in a year when there was no clear cut offensive favorite, Suh recorded the most votes ever for a fourth place finisher.

I have no quarrel with the outcome I felt any of the top four would have been deserving and they all have my respect for their performances on the field this year.

Offense sputters again in loss to the Bills

A lot of football fans may have been wishing this game had been blacked out after all.  Certainly most who had tickets didn’t show for this messy affair, a 16-10 loss to Buffalo.

KC couldn’t take advantage of early turnovers by the Bills. A fumble forced by Mike Vrabel on a sack of QB Ryan Fitzpatrick midway thru the first period gave KC the ball on the Bills nine.  Three plays later they faced a fourth down from the one, but Matt Cassell was dumped for an 7 yard loss trying a naked bootleg. 

The Bills then went 93 yards keyed by a Marshawn Lynch 47 yard run and 9 yard TD reception Terrel Owens for a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. 

A 13 play drive by the ended with a chip shot field goal by Ryan Succop. 

Brandon Carr then stripped Shawn Nelson and recovered at the Bills 49 but KC couldn’t capitalize as Cassel failed to connect with an open Mark Bradley in the end zone.  KC had 30 first half plays in Bills territory and just three points to show for it.

Ryan Lindell hit 41 yard FG with 1:12 to go to make it 10-3 Bills.  

Just when Cassel looked to be playing better he made a poor decision to not throw it away while under pressure and was intercepted at the KC 25, but Brandon Flowers responded with his own interception of Fitzpatrick in the KC end zone to snuff out  potential score.

After a Bills field goal to make it 13-3, Jamaal Charles burst 76 yards up the middle for the Chiefs longest run of the year with 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter and it was 13-10.

A critical turnover by the Chiefs came when Cassel was picked on a deflection by Paul Posluszny and returned it to the KC 35. The Bills converted it to another field goal and a 16-10 lead midway through the fourth Q.  

With just over two minutes to go on third and 10 at the Buffalo 22, Cassel hit a wide open Chris Chambers at the three but he dropped the ball.  Can't anybody catch a freakin' ball?

On fourth down Jairus Byrd picked off his league leading 9th pass of the year on a deflection, Cassel’s third pick of the half. A last second Chiefs attempt in the end zone ended in Cassel’s fourth interception.

Jamaal Charles rushed for 143 yards on 20 carries, Cassel was 26 of 43 for 224 and 4 picks. Glenn Dorsey left game with an apparent knee injury and did not return.

So after two straight wins, it’s three straight losses with Cleveland coming to KC for the final home game of the year.  Thank God.

Gill expected to be named KU coach

After being spurned by Jim Harbaugh, Kansas has turned east to Buffalo to and has apparently offered the head coaching job to Turner Gill according to several sources and numerous reports.  Gill has been at Buffalo for four seasons, rebuilding a program that was in a world of hurt when he arrived.

Although his Bulls were only 5-7 this season, he led them to their first ever MAC conference championship in 2008, just three seasons after taking over a program that was 1-10.

Gill quarterbacked Nebraska to a national championship game and was a Heisman Trophy finalist.  As an assistant at Nebraska, he coached the great Tommy Frazier.  He’s a Texas native who has recruited there and if you can get this kind of compliment from Tom Osborne, well you’ve got something going for you.

“Turner is an outstanding human being, said Osborne.  He has great character. He’s a great family man, an excellent recruiter, he relates well to his players and he really works well with people. He’ll always represent the program well. He is very knowledgeable as far as football goes. I have nothing but the greatest admiration for him.”

Despite his Big 12 / Big 8 pedigree, Gill will have to win over Kansas fans who were already beginning to celebrate Harbaugh coming to Lawrence.  His coaching record will have many wondering how this is better than what they had in Mark Mangino.

They’ll wonder why more proven coaches like Tommy Tuberville or Skip Holtz weren’t offered the job.  Only Lew Perkins can answer that and he’s likely to be asked the question.  For now, we wait for the formal announcement and then see what Gill can do.

Harbaugh to stay at Stanford

KU's top choice as their next head football coach has announced he's staying at Stanford.  Jim Harbaugh released a statement on his Twitter site saying, “Don’t believe rumor mill.  I’m proud to remain head coach @ Stanford.  As Toby said, I am a Stanford man.  Today is about Toby".

Toby, of course, is Toby Gerhart, Stanford's Heisman Trophy finalist.  Yesterday, I had several sources close to the KU situation telling me the offer was in Harbaugh's court but not to expect an announcement until after the Heisman ceremony tonight.  One K.C. radio station reported Harbaugh had been offered 2.7 million per year.  The fact that all of this leaked may have helped kill the deal.  Harbaugh didn’t want to overshadow Gerhart’s moment.

Late yesterday, Kansas A.D. Lew Perkins denied KU had made an offer to any candidate and said the search was ongoing.  Today Stanford A.D. Bob Bowlsby announced Harbaugh had signed an extension "a while ago".  The reality is it's unlikely Harbaugh had signed any extension recently or he wouldn’t have allowed his name to be floated as a candidate at Notre Dame or negotiated with Kansas and Stanford would have already announced the deal. 

Now Kansas must turn their sites elsewhere.  Top names still being mentioned are Turner Gill, Skip Holtz and Tommy Tuberville.  Kevin Sumlin and Houston’s A.D. have stated they have an extension all but done and Randy Edsall has given indications he’s staying at UConn.

If he wants the biggest winner and best coach from the bunch, Perkins will be talking to Tuberville today.  He’s a free agent at the moment and could hit the ground running.

It's Harbaugh's job to say no to KU

As I first discussed here over a week ago, Jim Harbaugh has been KU Athletic Director Lew Perkins’ first choice to become the next head football coach at Kansas.  In the last 24 hours more and more signs continue to point to him accepting an offer from Perkins.

If Harbaugh does choose to leave Stanford, nothing official will happen until at least after the Hesiman Trophy ceremony on Saturday night in New York.  Harbaugh is there along with his outstanding running back Toby Gerhart, who is a finalist for the award and could quite possibly win it.

Harbaugh doesn’t want to do anything to overshadow his star players moment in the sun and this announcement can easily wait even if KU fans would like to see a quick announcement to help hold on to recruits who had already committed.

If and when Harbaugh accepts, his name will be big enough to hold on to recruits.  His name also is big enough to help Perkins raise the rest of the money needed to create the new Gridiron Club addition at Memorial Stadium.

While many observers don’t think this would be anything more than a lateral move for Harbaugh, he would be getting a substantial raise of likely over one million dollars, which would go even farther in Lawrence, has a brand new football facility, and a better fan base.  

Stanford averaged 41 thousand fans a game this season to KU’s season long sellouts of 52 thousand and the Jayhawks have been to four bowl games in 8 years. Stanford’s Sun Bowl bid this year is their first in 8.

Tommy Tuberville’s name has surfaced again and he’d be a fine choice, but Harbaugh is Perkins choice and he’s doing everything possible to convince him to come.  I think he’s done it.

And the Heisman winner is

Since they’ll be handing out the Heisman trophy Saturday night in New York, this will be the last of this season’s Heisman watch reports.  A week ago I said my choice wasn’t going to change in this last week, but I lied.  I didn’t mean to lie, it just happened.  A couple of players tried their best to sway my vote and one did.

Going into last weekend I said my top three were Colt McCoy, Toby Gerhart and Mark Ingram, with Ndamukong Suh making a push.  After watching Ingram and Suh play in the SEC and Big 12 championship games, I’ve changed my mind.

Ingram had a terrific all around game in Alabama’s upset of top ranked Florida,but he wasn’t the show.  His quarterback Greg McElroy was outstanding and the Tide defense shutdown Tim Tebow and the Gators offense.  Despite the fact he had a great game, he still didn’t pass Toby Gerhart in my book.

In the Big 12 title game, Nebraska nearly pulled off a stunning upset of Texas and the major reason was Ndamukong Suh.  He had four and a half sacks, seven tackles for loss, a career high 12 tackles and 2 QB hurries  in the game.  He hounded Colt McCoy on every play.  He beat double teams, he made tackles with one arm while being held by Longhorn linemen.  He dominated everyone who tried to take him on.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen him play like this this season, but it came with a championship on the line.  Earlier in the season I said he was the best defensive lineman in the country just not the best player.  I was wrong.  He showed me on Saturday night that he deserves the Heisman.  He basically took it from McCoy’s hands.  

Colt had put his hands around it the week before with a tremendous performance against Texas A&M and you could say he still managed a championship drive in the final minute against Nebraska to keep the Longhorns unbeaten.  But I can’t honestly say that.  I think McCoy is an outstanding player and the best all around QB in the country over the last three years, but Suh is the best player this season.

My vote now.  Suh, McCoy and Gerhart, but it will be close.  Very close.

Tiger, just tell us when it will stop

I’ve been trying not to jump into the Tiger Woods controversy the past several days. But, it’s no longer just a unusual car crash with a rumor of a mistress in the mix.  It’s become a full scale tabloid fiasco for the most visible sports figure on the planet and it won’t go away.

I agree that much of this is a personal matter that Tiger and his wife Elin should be allowed to deal with privately.  But you have to say to yourself after the stream of women who have come out saying they’ve had sex with the the golfing superstar, “What kind of idiot are you?”

Did you actually think all of this could go on and somehow it wouldn’t become public sooner or later?  Listen, not everything that goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas.  Tiger has now become a comedy pinball.  You can’t turn anywhere without hearing a joke, seeing a satirical video or hearing a song created about Woods and his problems.

It’s gotten so large that today the media were swarming because an unknown woman was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night from his house.  Speculation is it was his mother-in law.    

Let’s forget all of this tabloid crap and get back to golf, the sport he plays and represents.  Survey’s report his popularity has plunged 25% in the last two weeks.  This is for a golfer who can mean millions to advertisers and tournaments if he’s playing in them or representing their products.  He is Nike golf and that’s just one of his sponsors.

And then how will he actually perform when he returns to the golf course sometime next year?  How will he handle the hecklers in the crowd?  Will Steve Williams still be his caddy?  You have to figure if Tiger’s wife is still around, Williams might not be.  He had to know about all of these affairs going on on the road and I doubt she’d be comfortable with those two doing their road show in the future. 

Could all of this impact his game?  Maybe, probably.  The future of golf may be changing right before our eyes.  Just not in a way we expected.