Texas AD wants to take football south of the border

By Kevin McGuireJan 29, 2014, 12:31 PM EDT

Texas athletics director Steve Patterson has grand plans for the future of Texas Longhorn football. Aside from winning championships, Patterson wants to grow and expand the Texas football program beyond the borders of not only Texas, but also the country.

According to Austin American Statesman, Patterson has interest in Texas football playing a game in Mexico City.

Putting together a game in Mexico City would likely require moving a Texas road game to a neutral site in Mexico City, which means getting an opponent to agree to such a move. This is because it would be unlikely Texas would give up a home date for such a game. And you can forget moving the Oklahoma game out of the Cotton Bowl.

The idea of playing a game outside of the United States is certainly nothing new. Penn State and UCF will open the 2014 season in Ireland. Notre Dame and Navy did so to open the 2012 season and future game sin Ireland are already being lined up as well. College football has been played in Mexico on a regular basis for decades as well, although not quite on the same level of play that Texas would bring to the table. The Aztec Bowl has featured a number of all-star players from the Division 2 and Division 3 schools in a game against a team of Mexican all-stars. The game was first played in 1950 and was played most years through 2011, and it has featured an NCAA-sanctioned team since 1973.

Patterson’s view is not limited to the nation to the south of the Texas border though. A vision to grow the Texas brand across the Pacific Ocean is also on the table.

Pac 12 commissioner Larry Scott has previously expressed interest in growing the conference brand across the Pacific Ocean as well, making note of an increasing Asian influence through the conference’s membership and the connections that could be put in place to help grow the Pac 12 Network and conference branding. Patterson seems to have a similar desire for Texas, although how easily that vision can be put in to focus at Texas remains to be seen. For now, Patterson has smaller goals to keep him busy, such as increasing annual revenue and the search for more television partners to carry The Longhorn Network.

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Jim Harbaugh advises President Trump to ‘check the Constitution’

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By John TaylorSep 24, 2017, 12:28 AM EDT

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The latest controversy surrounding President Donald Trump has reached college football. And, of course, it’s Jim Harbaugh doing the reacting.

At a campaign rally in Alabama earlier this past week, the POTUS let loose on those NFL players who have decided to use the National Anthem as a vehicle for protesting social injustice. In essence, Trump called for those who participate in the demonstrations to be summarily dismissed.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s fired!'” Trump was quoted as saying. “You know, some owner is going to do that. He’s going to say, ‘That guy disrespects our flag, he’s fired.'”

Suffice to say, that hasn’t even remotely happened as condemnation of the fiery rhetoric has been far and wide from the NFL community and beyond. It was also condemned by a former member of the NFL community as Harbaugh, whose former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, played a significant role in a story that’s enveloped professional football over the past year, had some choice words on this latest kerfuffle.

“No, I don’t agree with the president,” Harbaugh said following Michigan’s win over Purdue. “Listen, that’s ridiculous. Check the Constitution.”

Harbaugh, who was already at odds with Trump over the slashing of one particular program, also stated initially that he didn’t respect Kaepernick sitting out the anthem before apologizing for misspeaking shortly thereafter. In the spring, Harbaugh referred to the still-unsigned quarterback as a hero.

Notre Dame has no trouble with mistake-prone Michigan State

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By Zach BarnettSep 23, 2017, 11:51 PM EDT

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Notre Dame probably would’ve beaten Michigan State on Saturday night if the Spartans pitched a perfect game. But instead the Spartans hit three batters, tossed a handful of wild pitches, aiding the Irish in a 38-18 blowout in Spartan Stadium.

The 20-point margin represents Notre Dame’s largest victory over Michigan State since a 36-14 whipping on Sept. 18, 1993 and the largest win by either team since a 45-23 Spartans win on Sept. 12, 1998. The Irish have now won four of the last five in a series that dates back to 1897.

The Irish (3-1) opened the game with a 7-play, 78-yard touchdown drive punctuated by a 16-yard Brandon Wimbush run, then immediately capitalized on a Michigan State (2-1) mistake as Julian Love returned a Brian Lewerke interception 59 yards for a touchdown.

Michigan State rebounded with its best drive of the night, knifing 75 yards in seven snaps for a touchdown. But another Lewerke turnover, this time a fumble in his own territory, set up Notre Dame with a short field, which Wimbush turned into an 8-yard touchdown pass to Dexter Williams. The Spartans threatened to pull within 21-14 until their third and costliest turnover of the first half, an L.J. Scott fumble at the goal line that took six points off the board and handed Notre Dame the ball at the 20-yard line. Notre Dame needed only five plays to push its lead to 28-7, where it would remain until halftime.

In addition to the three turnovers, Michigan State also committed nine penalties, dropped a handful of passes and lost a possession to a turnover on downs.

Michigan State opened the second half with a Matt Coghlin field goal, but Notre Dame answered that field goal and then some with a 9-yard Deon McIntosh touchdown run. Justin Yoon pushed the lead to 28 with a 46-yard field goal with 4:51 to play.

Michigan State completed the scoring with a cosmetic touchdown — a 25-yard toss from Lewerke to Gerald Holmes — and 2-point conversion with 3:09 remaining.

Wimbush was the star for Notre Dame, hitting 14-of-20 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown with eight carries for 52 yards and a touchdown. Lewerke carried the load for Michigan State, connecting on 31-of-51 passes for 340 yards — many of them junk — with a touchdown and an interception with nine carries for 56 yards and a fumble.

Michigan State will remain in East Lansing next week to host hard luck loser Iowa, while Notre Dame returns home to face Miami (Ohio).

Disaster averted as walk-off TD pushes No. 4 Penn State past Iowa

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By John TaylorSep 23, 2017, 11:47 PM EDT

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Entering Week 4, the last three teams ranked in the Top Five entering Kinnick Stadium had exited with a loss. In dramatic fashion, No. 4 Penn State flipped that script.

Trailing 15-13, Iowa scored on a 35-yard touchdown run by Akrum Wadley that put Iowa up, after a failed two-point conversion, 19-15 with 1:42 left in the game. Penn State then proceeded to go 65 yards in 12 plays and 1:42 of game time, with Trace McSorley connecting with Juwan Johnson on a seven-yard touchdown pass with zero ticks left on the clock to secure a wild 21-19 win.

That fourth quarter also featured Penn State blocking a field goal… only to see Iowa return the favor 10 minutes later to set up what would’ve been the game-winning touchdown by Wadley.

If you simply looked at the box score, however, you would’ve thought this was a blowout that swung heavily toward the visitor.

The Nittany Lions outgained the Hawkeyes 579-273. In fact, Penn State had more yards rushing (295) than Iowa had total offense. First downs? PSU 29, Iowa 11. The Nittany Lions held the ball for nearly two-thirds of the game for good measure.

In the end, however, it was Penn State that came out on top on both the scoreboard as well as the stat sheet as the Nittany Lions kept their perfect season afloat as, after games against Indiana and Northwestern the next two weeks, they get set for season-defining games against No. 8 Michigan (Oct. 21) and No. 10 Ohio State (Oct. 28). And Saquon Barkley, who set a single-game school record for all-purpose yards — 211 rushing, 94 receiving, 53 returns — will get to continue to state his case as the best football player in the country and one of a handful of Heisman Trophy front-runners.

No. 7 Washington holds slim three point halftime lead at rainy Colorado

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By Bryan FischerSep 23, 2017, 11:38 PM EDT