• Auburn: Outback Bowl
• Central Florida: St. Petersburg Bowl
• Kentucky: Music City Bowl
• Mississippi: Cotton Bowl (against Oklahoma State)
• Navy: Texas Bowl
• Ohio State: Rose Bowl
• Oklahoma State: Cotton Bowl (against Ole Miss)
• Southern Methodist: Hawaii Bowl
• Tennessee: Chick-fil-A Bowl
• Troy: New Orleans Bowl

These bowl announcements are up-to-date as of today (12/2/09), but new bowl teams are being announced every day, and like I said, after Saturday’s games, we’ll know a lot more. Right now, there are still a number of teams who haven’t finished their seasons, and until they do, we won’t know for sure who is eligible and who is ranked where within their conferences. Check back this weekend for a much more comprehensive list of bowls and the teams that will be playing in them!

Post from: EveryJoe

Bowl Season Matchups 2010, An Early Look

One of the most popular fight songs at Mississippi is “From Dixie with Love,” and during part of the tune, fans chant “the South will rise again,” a recent development. In other words, this isn’t a long-standing tradition at the school. Administrators have asked the student body to stop the chant, which some find to be an offensive reference to the intolerance and hatred that was part of southern life for so long.

Image: Newscom

Ole Miss has worked hard to pull away from anything offensive. They first admitted a black student in 1962, but this led to a bloody standoff between supporters and picketers, ensuring that the school would be associated with the “old South” vibe of the 1800s and early 1900s. A few years ago, they decided to get rid of such a heavy use of their mascot, Colonel Rebel, who looked like an old white plantation owner (see right), though I’m told that he still makes appearances. While the school’s mascot is still the “rebel,” even the student government is calling for an end to the chant. In fact, earlier this month the Associated Student Body proposed changing it to “To Hell with LSU.”

I like it.

Post from: EveryJoe

The South will not Rise Again?

So, at least the top three teams stayed strong. Of course, the big news for #1 Florida, who beat Kentucky into the ground, was that Tim Tebow was taken out of the game and to the hospital with a pretty bad concussion. He’s doing OK now, which is to be expected with a simple concussion – it’s just a little scary when you’re not sure if it is something worse or not. #2 Texas (who beat UTEP  64 – 7) and #3 Alabama (who beat Arkansas 35 – 7) held steady, but after that, the top 25 went to shit.

First, the Gamecocks shut down #4 Ole Miss, in a game that was all about defense. South Carolina’s defense, that is. Mississippi usually relies heavily on Jevon Snead, but South Carolina pretty much took him out of the game. Oh, he wasn’t injured or anything, but the O-line just couldn’t stop the Gamecock defense, and Snead couldn’t seem to make any places. How’s this for an embarrassing stat: Ole Miss has now lost 6 straight SEC openers. Ouch.

But they aren’t alone when it comes to embarrassing states. Did you know that Penn State has lost 7 of their last 8 games against…Iowa. Seriously, I kid you not, Iowa has a football team. They’re a team that just doesn’t get much press time, and for some reason, Joe Paterno and Penn State haven’t realized that they have a rivalry with them. The Hawkeyes came to Happy Valley this year, and it was a downpour for much of the game, but that didn’t stop them. Head coach Kirk Ferentz actually wanted to play for Penn State and JoePa when he was in high school, but there wasn’t any scholarship interest. Ibet he gets warm fuzzy feelings every time he whoops ass against PSU. The game itself was kinda a snoozefest, holding steady at 10 – 5 for much of the game. Then, Iowa suddenly exploded in the fourth quarter and Penn State made some major mistakes. Final score ended up being 21 – 10, and Penn State is no longer a top five team.Yes, it hurts my soul.

Image: Newscom

Moving on, the previously-ranked #6 California had a bad week as well. They were thrashed by Oregon. I mean, thrashed. Final score 42 – 3 thrashed. Coming into the game, Cal had the tenth best rushing offense in the country. And then Oregon was like “and now, you don’t.” The Ducks aren’t a horrible team, but this was an embarrassment for Cal. They shouldn’t have let Oregon have 32 unanswered points. A single field goal isn’t good enough when you’re a ranked team.

LSU, ranked seventh at the time, won their game against Mississippi State, but it wasn’t pretty, and I personally don’t think that they deserve the #4 spot that they have now after a game like that on Saturday. Sure, they won, but it should have been an easy game and it was anything but. Mississippi State played their heart out and almost ran away with the game. One of the most interesting games of the week was #9 Miami at #11 Virginia Tech. Oh wait, Miami blew too. Seriously, it wasn’t supposed to be a gimme game for the Hurricanes, but they looked like hell on the field this week. It should have been a good game, and it just wasn’t. At least Boise State (then 8, now 5) played like a top ten team should, beating Bowling Green 49 – 14.

We’re mid-season. Teams need to be playing with more heart than I’ve seen. I mean, I’m all for a few surprises and upsets every week, but Week Four was ridiculous.

Post from: EveryJoe

College Football Week Four 2009 in Review

“I’m not in favor of keeping two lines on the floor,” Kennedy said. “I think it will really create confusion with the women’s line not moving and now moving the men’s line back another foot. I know they’re going to be contrasting colors, but you’re asking for problems as it relates to which line was it behind: ‘We’ve got to check the monitor.

Really, is he the first to come up with this idea? If he is, then he’s a genius.

If you are behind it, it’s good for men, and if you’re touching it, it’s good for women,” Kennedy said. “I’ve been told that wasn’t feasible, but I think two lines will cause confusion. … I’m talking about a line that’s a foot thick. It would look odd, but we’d get used to it in a year.”

source

He’s right. It would be a bit different to have this thick line out on the court, but nothing that couldn’t become normal after a little while.

Is Kennedy’s idea a realistic one?

Is the NCAA too stubborn to consider it?

Though this new 20 foot 9 inch three point line is still a far cry from the 23 foot 9 inch line for the pros.

If the NCAA really wanted to open up more room for dribble drives and lessen the dependency on threes, 21 foot and 9 inches would have been a more proactive length to set the line at.

Most three point attempts are about a foot out from the old 19 foot 9 inch line anyway. At least they seem like it.

I don’t expect any significant changes due to the line being moved a foot back.

Post from: EveryJoe

A Foot Thick?