Right now, everyone is talkin about Steve McNair’s death, which appears to be a murder-suicide. Although most people talk about his NFL career, he was also an outstanding player in college.

Steve McNair, Image: Newscom

Here are the highlights from his time playing NCAA Football:

• McNair played for Alcorn State after being recruited from Mount Olive High School in Mississippi.
  
• He was the third pick overall in the 1995 NFL draft.
  
• In 1992, McNair ran the ball in for a game-winning touchdown against Grambling, even though he had a leg injury.
• In his senior season, McNait had around 6,000 yards passing and rushing, as well as 53 touchdowns.
  
• McNair won the Walter Payton Award as the highest-ranked I-AA player in 1994.
  
• He broke more than a dozen records his senior year.
  
• McNair finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1994.
  

He was a great player, and from all accounts I’ve heard, a great father. The circumstances may be a bit hazy right now, but no matter what, my thoughts are with his family. RIP.

Operation Sports recently released their list of the hardest places to play in major college football. Their top five:

1. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium - Florida
2. Beaver Stadium - Penn State
3. Tiger Stadium - LSU
4. Ohio Stadium Stadium - Ohio State
5. Gaylord-Oklahoma Memorial - Oklahoma

You can see the rest of the list here . Of course, I’m happy to see Beaver Stadium on the list. If you’ve ever been there, you understand why it’s #2. The crowd is intense and it is LOUD. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to play there. I’m assuming others on the list are similar.

Image: Newscom

Following the example of former Nebraska/Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller, former Rutgers quarterback Ryan Hart and former California quarterback Troy Taylor have filed suit against video game developer and publish EA Sports, part of Electronic Arts. The players say that EA Sports used their likenesses without permission for the popular NCAA Football game they publish annually.

In the lawsuit, which was filed by attorney Keith McKenna, accuses EA Sports of "unjust enrichment." They say that the use of their names and images without permission in an invasion of privacy for commercial purposes.

A spokesperson for EA Sports has said that the company, NCAA, and Collegiate Licensing Company have all reviewed the case and don’t believe that their claims have merit. The company says it has not violated any NCAA bylaws or athlete rights laws.

Do you think it’s fair for a video game to include a real person without that person’s permission?

Image: Amazon

As far as life in the wild goes, I think I’d rather be a Grizzly than a Duck. Seems that some people think similarly about the situation in college football. After being released from the Oregon ducks in May, quarterback Justin Roper has announced that he’ll be a Montana Grizzly next season.

Image: Newscom

It isn’t that Roper isn’t good, according to the Ducks coaching staff. They just have someone better - Jeremiah Masoli. Montana gives him the chance to explore his NFL potential, according to what he told reporters earlier today.

Roper started during three games last year before a knee injury forced him to spend the next four games on the bend . During those three games, plus three others near the end of the season where he played (but didn’t start), Roper completed 48 out of 91 passes. He threw three touchdown passes and ran the ball in himself once.

Montana can have Roper for two years, since he redshirted in 2006. Will he succeed with this program? Maybe. If he does, I hope people will actually take notice. They may not be Florida or USC, but great quarterbacks have come from weirder places.

Every year, Notre Dame’s schedule comes under scrutiny, since they’re an Independent. Their 2009 schedule looks like this:

• 9/5 - Nevada
• 9/12 - Michigan
• 9/19 - Michigan State
• 9/26 - Purdue
• 10/3 - Washington
• 10/17 - USC
• 10/24 - Boston College
• 10/31 - Washington State
• 11/7 - Navy
• 11/14 - Pittsburgh
• 11/21 - Connecticut
• 11/28 - Standford

Granted, this schedule isn’t terrible, but it isn’t a walk in the park either. In fact, I think it’s a pretty solid schedule with some easy teams and some not-so-easy teams. Of course, people are already saying that “this could be Notre Dame’s year.” That happens a lot every summer. It always seems like it’s going to be their year.

Head Coach Charlie Weis certainly hopes people are right, though. He needs this to be their year. In fact, if it isn’t, he could find himself in line at the unemployment office in 2010.

Image: Newscom

Fans have been grumbling under their breathes for awhile about the lackluster record Weis has had at Notre Dame, especially since he has one of the nation’s most highly-recruited quarterbacks at the helm. Granted, Jimmy Clausen was a young player…but he’s an upperclassman now. No more excuses.

So what do you think - is this Notre Dame’s year?

It’s no secret that the Mountain West Conference wants a playoff system. Other conferences may want one as well, but the MWC actually went to the effort to put together a proposal for it, which was rejected by the BCS today. Their plan was an 8-team playoff system that would allow all of the leagues an equal chance to send teams to the National Championship Game.

Image: Newscom

After it was rejected, David Frohnmayer, BCS presidential oversight committee chairman, said:

“There was no overall support for the proposal, although some conferences were interested in considering certain elements of it in the future — particularly those related to revenue, access and governance of the BCS arrangement.”

According to Frohnmayer, all of the conferences and Notre Dame wrote reports in support of keeping the current post-season system. However, a large part of that may be wanting to fulfill televison contracts. Frohnmayer says that the current post-season arrangement is the best that has ever existed.

Right…

Earlier this month, Minnesota announced that may ban alcohol at all college sporting events. I can just guess how well that went over for students, but how do you guys feel about it?

Image: sxc.hu

Some thoughts I have:

• Having alcohol at the games at Penn State isn’t dangerous, so I can’t see how it would be at Minnesota. The people who get so drunk they can’t see are typically students who walk home, and the drivers are responsible most of the time. There will always be incidents, but not enough to ban alcohol.
• The possible ban stems from state alcohol disputes with the school. The liquor licensing control board says that they have to offer alcohol to everyone at the stadium or to no one at all. So instead of making beer available to people in the stands, they’re going to take it away from people in club areas. Yes, that makes tons of sense.
• All this is going to do is make people hide their alcohol or binge drink before getting to the game. Those things are a lot more dangerous.

All in all, its a bad decision to ban alcohol at any college sporting event. Control, yes…but ban? No.

Your thoughts? Leave a comment!

I already mentioned here how the economy is causing a number of schools to cut or consider cutting printed media guides from their budget.

While this decision does make sense, since the information is readily available online, many conferences are now looking at other ways to save money. One thing that’s on the chopping block? Media Day.

Image: sxc.hu

Media days, usually held in summer or early fall, give reports the chance to meet players and coaches, have lunch with key staff members, and ask questions. A number of mid-major conferences have announced that they won’t be holding these meet-and-greet days.

Even some FBS conferences are cutting media days, though. The Sun Belt announced recently that they’d be replacing the day with a video conference, and Conference USA is following suite. While it seems unlikely that conferences like the SEC or Pac-10 will make similar cuts, it isn’t out of the question completely.

Do you think this is a good way for conferences to save money, or will you miss media days?

On Monday, the Associated Press and a number of other Florida media outlets banded together to sue the NCAA and Florida State. Recently, FSU received a response about their academic cheating scandal, and the school chose to keep these documents private while responding themselves. However, the press says that this is a blatant violation of Florida’s open government laws.

Everyone wants to know what’s in those documents. The NCAA had previous annonced that they’d strip coach Bobby Bowden of a number of wins, and this documnt is in response to an appeal of that decision. Bowden’s in the running to become the most winningest major football coach of all time, trailing Penn State’s Joe Paterno by just one win.

President T.K. Wetherell, Image: Newscom

FSU President T.K. Wetherell, who recently announced that he was ready to retire, is named as a defendent in the lawsuit. He says that its his job to protect the school and he’s bound to get sued occasionally.

Joe Montana’s son has announced that he intends to sign a letter of intent this February with Washington. Nick Montana is currently a senior quarterback at Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, California. After a visit to the school last Wednesday, Montana is ready to become a Huskie.

Nick Montana, Image: Newscom

Just last week, one of Washington’s potential freshman quarterbacks, Jake Heaps, announced that he’d be committing to BYU instead. Montana says that this announcement had no bearing on his own decision, and that he just wanted to see the school before making a final decision. Adding a little dimension to this story - Heaps’ school will play Montana’s school on September 18, so the two will go head to head on the field.

Steve Sarkisian, the new head coach at Washington, was one of the major reasons Montana chose the school. He says that the coach has been a friend of the family since he was at USC, and he points to Sarkisian’s track record with players who went pro (Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Mark Sanchez).

Daddy Montana went to Notre Dame, which Nick also considered. In addition, he considered Stanford, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and Ohio State.