K-State jumps up one spot in latest BCS standings

By Ben KerchevalOct 21, 2012, 8:47 PM EDT
22 Comments

The second BCS rankings were released Sunday night, and there wasn’t much change among the top five. The only move? Kansas State hurdled Oregon to take over the No. 3 position after a convincing win over West Virginia on Saturday.

The SEC still holds the top two spots in the BCS with Alabama and Florida. Notre Dame stayed at No. 5 after barely beating BYU. The Irish will have a chance to move up the standings next week if they can beat No. 8 Oklahoma. LSU, the highest-ranked one-loss team, comes in at No. 6 and Oregon State continues to have a remarkable season at No. 7. USC and Georgia round out the top 10.

The SEC’s presence in the BCS continues with Mississippi State at No. 11 and Florida State comes in at No. 12. The Bulldogs will face top-ranked Alabama next. South Carolina drops six spots after getting throttled at Florida, and a pair of Big East teams, Louisville and Rutgers, land at spots 15 and 16.

West Virginia continues to slide down the polls after its second consecutive blowout loss and Texas A&M comes in at No. 20 to give the SEC seven BCS top-25 teams. Boise State, Michigan (hello again, B1G), Texas, Ohio (for the first time in school history) and Wisconsin round out the top 25.

(Many thanks to the National Football Foundation for the chart)

Colorado State lands $37.7 million stadium naming rights deal

Getty Images
By John TaylorApr 20, 2018, 8:33 AM EDT
Leave a comment

Colorado State’s athletic department coffers will be a little more full thanks to one development this week.

CSU announced Thursday a 15-year agreement with Public Service Credit Union for the naming rights to the university’s year-old football stadium. The long-term agreement will result in the school being paid $37.7 million over the life of the deal. Per the school, “annual escalator clauses for inflation, as well as a signing bonus,” are also included in the agreement.

The on-campus stadium opened in July of last year at a cost of $225 million, with the first game played in August of 2017.

“This is a partnership that makes so much sense for our university community and for Public Service Credit Union, and we’re thrilled to announce this new agreement,” said CSU president Tony Frank in a statement. “Our stadium will carry the name of a Colorado-based business that shares our commitment to creating opportunity and opening doors for people at all income levels. Our mission and our values as a university align so well with those of PCSU, and the investment by the credit union and its members in our campus and programs will bring great visibility to how much they accomplish as a visionary community partner.”

According to the school’s release, the new naming rights deal, when combined with the field naming rights deal previously announced, actually compares reasonably well with some of the agreements reached by Power Five programs.

The agreement, which when added to the $20 million given in 2016 to name Sonny Lubick Field, brings the total naming rights revenues at Colorado State to $57 million for the stadium. This is comparable to the recently announced $69 million United Airlines Memorial Coliseum at University of Southern California and the $41 million Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium at the University of Washington.

Interestingly, Lubick, the legendary former Rams head football coach, currently serves as the vice president of community outreach for the credit union.

Ohio State announces passing of former head coach Earle Bruce

Getty Images
By John TaylorApr 20, 2018, 7:52 AM EDT
Leave a comment

The extended Ohio State family is mourning the loss of one its own.

In a statement attributed to the four daughters of Earle Bruce, OSU confirmed Friday morning the passing of the former head football coach.  The beloved coach had been battling Alzheimer’s for years prior to his death at age 87.

Below is the daughters’ statement, in its entirety:

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, Coach Earle Bruce, early this morning, Friday, April 20. He was a great man, a wonderful husband, father and grandfather, and a respected coach to many. Our family will miss him dearly, but we take solace in the belief that he is in a better place and reunited with his beloved wife, Jean. We thank you for your prayers and good wishes.

His loving daughters: Lynn, Michele, Aimee and Noel

Bruce played his college football with the Buckeyes, and embarked on his coaching career as an OSU student assistant under the legendary Woody Hayes in 1951.  He returned to his alma mater as an assistant from 1966-71 and then again in 1979 as the head coach as he replaced Hayes, who was fired after his infamous sideline punch of a Clemson player in a 1978 bowl game.

In nine seasons as the head coach of the Buckeyes, Bruce compiled a record of 81-26-1.  OSU won outright or claimed a share of the Big Ten title four times during Bruce’s tenure.  They played in a pair of Rose Bowls under Bruce, part of eight bowl games they qualified for in his first eight seasons as head coach.

In 2002, Bruce, who was the head coach at Iowa State prior to coming to Columbus, was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Jim Harbaugh, on threatening tweets directed at him by former player: ‘it’s a serious matter’

Getty Images
By John TaylorApr 19, 2018, 9:43 PM EDT
Leave a comment

The man at the center of a storm not of his creation has spoken.

Elysee Mbem-Bosse, or someone with access to his Twitter account, sent out a string of disturbing and threatening tweets Monday night that seemed to be directed at U-M head football coach Jim Harbaugh.  Even as U-M’s athletic director expressed concern for a player who left the football program in mid-November, the University of Michigan Police Department had already confirmed that they had launched an investigation into the social-media threats.

At a coaching clinic in Detroit Thursday night, Harbaugh for the first time (somewhat) addressed the threatening tweets seemingly directed at him by a former player.  From the Detroit News:

It’s a serious matter,” Harbaugh told The Detroit News. “I’m confident our administration and university officials will take the proper steps and are taking the proper steps.”

Harbaugh was asked if he felt threatened by the tweets.

“That’s all I’m going to say about it,” he said.

He issued the same response when asked when he became aware of the tweets.

Mbem-Bosse, who appeared in 12 games at linebacker the past two seasons, has not been arrested or charged as of yet in connection to the social-media threats.  Even in the face of a police investigation, the Twitter account attached to Mbem-Bosse, which he marked private before switching it back to public, has remained defiant and continued to direct unnerving tweets at his now-former head coach.

Nick Saban had ‘very positive meeting’ with Jalen Hurts’ dad

Getty Images
By John TaylorApr 19, 2018, 8:18 PM EDT
6 Comments

Not surprisingly, Nick Saban is taking a measured approach to what could potentially be a volatile situation within his football program.

In an interview that was posted Thursday, Averion Hurts, the father of two-year starting quarterback Jalen Hurts, stated that, if his son fails to beat out Tua Tagovailoa for the starting job, he would “be the biggest free agent in college football history.”  The intimation, of course, was that Hurts would transfer if/when he lost the competition.

As it turned out, the Crimson Tide head coach was previously scheduled to meet with the media later on in the day, after the piece had gained some national traction.  Predictably, Saban was asked about the quotes attributed to the elder Hurts.

In answering the queries, Saban stated that he had met with the father this past weekend in what he described as “a very positive meeting.”

In the article in question, Averion Hurts stated that, while “Coach Saban’s job is to do what’s best for his team… my job is to do what’s best for Jalen.” Saban’s response? From al.com:

At the end of the day, everybody has career decisions that they have to make. Nobody knows what the outcome of this situation will bring. We don’t want any player not to be able to fill their goals and aspirations in our program here. We don’t want that for any of our players. Jalen’s dad has always been very positive and supportive in every conversation that I had.

So I’m not really concerned with what somebody else chose to write because I’m always sort of use the personal communication that I have with our player, Jalen and his family when necessary. And I have a lot of trust and respect for those folks. And I don’t think there’s an issue or problem from my standpoint.

Hurts has taken the majority of first-team reps this spring as Tagovailoa has been extremely limited because of an injury to his left (throwing hand) that has, thus far, required two different surgeries.  Tagovailoa will not participate in the annual spring game this Saturday, and Saban has refused to give a timeline for a decision on a starter to be made.