P.J. Fleck, we mean this in the most brahsome way possible: We think we love you. (AP)

By Holly Anderson

Do you have a favorite MAC team, gentle readers? If not, why not? They’re immense fun, and having a tertiary weeknight rooting interest makes fantastic Saturday conditioning for one’s liver and spleen.

For the unaffiliated, might we suggest Western Michigan? This offseason alone, they’ve:

• Hired a guy named “P.J. Fleck,” who is approximately 19 years old and has this hair. Think of this as the Kliff Kingsbury hire of the mid-majors.

• Sent Fleck and his wife, a new mother, into a freezing lake in the snow.

• Sent out this press release.

• Hired a DJ for their spring game? Hired a DJ for their spring game!

Also new to the game this year will be a live DJ playing throughout the scrimmage, giving fans a look into what they can expect once the season kicks off in 2013.

MESSAGE RECEIVED.

Go Broncos, is our point.

Come back soon, Goldilocks From Hell. (AP)

In our second Viking-headed news bit of the day, ill tidings out of Ann Arbor: linebacker Jake Ryan, Michigan’s leader in sacks and tackles for loss, tore his ACL in practice on Tuesday. Brady Hoke released the following statement through the athletic department on the development:

You always hate when anyone gets injured and unfortunately we’ve dealt with our share of injuries in the last 12 months,” said Michigan coach Brady Hoke. “We will support Jake to make sure he has everything he needs to get through this. I know he will attack his rehabilitation just like he does everything else and will be back when he’s ready.”

It’s a setback you hate to see for any athlete, but the absence of somebody as fun to watch as Ryan will be keenly felt. Our very best wishes to the guy we’ll always remember one MGoBlog denizen calling “Goldilocks from hell.”

And so begins a long and fruitful beard-off between Kliff Kingsbury and Raider Red.

Ladies… @TTUKingsbury The man has peach fuzz…c'mon we all know who's hotter #bowtotherealKing #IThrowStrikes⚾🔥 http://t.co/PQb850ytFi—
Raider Red (@TTURaiderRed) March 20, 2013

[Via intrepid reader Lee.]

I'm not crazy in thinking that Gunner Kiel will eventually be a 'Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' villain, right? RIGHT? http://t.co/rP5Vyj72Fi—
Zach Dillard (@Zach_Dillard) March 20, 2013

HAIR!

Notre Dame QB Joe Theismann in 1970: http://t.co/Sshp08pbpy—
Andy Gray (@si_vault) February 28, 2013

HAIR!

@CoachBrewerUNC and his headwear of the day. #BLUEDAWN #GoHeels http://t.co/eMocfkqEOg—
Jason Freeman (@uncfootball) February 21, 2013

Our coveted Winter Conditioning Hat of the Day prize is awarded this day to North Carolina receiving coach and passing game coordinator Gunter Brewer. It makes perfect sense that a warm-weather visor would be a staple of ACC coaching wear, doesn’t it?

There is no such thing as a compelling photo of NCAA COI deliberations, so here is Sebastian in a vaguely menacing posture. (AP)

Assorted items of varying degrees of interest which you may have missed while grudgingly watching playoff football and sending surly tweets to the Golden Globes:

• The NCAA is Lucy, and Miami football is the football, and we are Charlie Brown running toward it, or something? This metaphor holds up only to demonstrate how very much we wish for this all to be over, but here we go: The Miami Herald is calling the release of NCAA allegations against the Hurricanes football program “imminent,” just short of the investigation’s two-year anniversary. Bylaw Blogger John Infante lays out all the ways this process could still be stalled, and how the Miami case might affect Oregon’s.

• Mike Stoops also a fan of Hi Haters Friday! Friday night, 6:06 p.m., Tulsa World‘s John E. Hoover posts a transcript excerpt of a Mike Stoops radio interview, specifically a question regarding Johnny Football: “They’re gonna be tough to deal with. If they can keep him out of jail or keep him eligible, he’s gonna be pretty good.” Friday night, 10:37 p.m., Tulsa World post headline: “Mike Stoops regrets controversial comments on Manziel.” Had Stoops’ defense possessed that kind of on-the-fly adaptability in the Cotton Bowl, perhaps Manziel would not have scored four touchdowns against it, PAAAOWL.

• Roster blotter. In better news for Miami: Seantrel Henderson, Brandon Linder and Curtis Porter announced Monday morning they all intend to return to the ‘Canes in 2013 … in even better news for Profiteroles fans, Dri Archer will stay on for his senior season at Kent State … Iowa State quarterback Jared “That Kid Who Beat Oklahoma State” Barnett and linebacker C.J. Morgan intend to transfer … Texas defensive tackle Brandon Moore will enter the draft … also declaring is USC corner Nickell Robey, whom we will dearly miss watching because of his too-perfect defensive name … Oregon linebacker Anthony Wallace will transfer … Case McCoy and Jordan Hicks have been reinstated at Texas … and Casey Pachall returns to the Horned Frogs.

Read More…

Will Kent State’s Dri Archer earn a return to his home state of Florida this postseason? (AP)

• Peasants at the gates! Utah State and San Jose State make their first appearances in the BCS rankings, while Northern Illinois enters the BCS Top 25 for the first time in 2012. Are we in for some surprise gate-crashers in the big-money bowls after all? Maybe. Allow SMQ to explain it all for you: “So even for the winner, the potential stakes in the MAC title game range from the Orange Bowl to the GoDaddy.com Bowl, with nothing in between.” And remember not to overlook this Friday’s NIU-Kent State showdown while penciling the Golden Flashes in for a trip to Florida.

• Cajuns to New Orleans to repeat legendary tailgating feats. Bowl invitations issued over the weekend: Utah State to a second consecutive Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Nevada to the New Mexico Bowl and the Ragin’ Cajuns to their second New Orleans Bowl. Now, we didn’t see the Cajuns in their postseason appearance in person last year, but we have been to New Orleans for college football games, and been to tailgates in Lafayette, and this game just became our first mandatory trip of the postseason. Stewart Mandel’s latest bowl projections can be found here, freshly updated with all invited teams.

• Coach firin’ season, continued. Jon Embree tells the Denver Post he’d been told just last week that his job was safe … one Post columnist calls Embree’s ouster shameful and unjust … Marshall’s defensive coordinator has resigned … and Ellis Johnson’s press conference has been canceled, with a team meeting scheduled for 4:00. Nothing to see here!

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Terrance Owens will do football things for Toledo, the MAC and America this Election Night. (AP)

• The greatest p.r. email we have received on this job begins thusly: “Tuesday, November 6th is Election Night for the country but it’s also a decisive night in the battle for the West Division crown of the Mid-American Conference. The Toledo Rockets host Ball State on Nov. 6 in a nationally televised contest at the Glass Bowl (8:00 p.m. / ESPN2) in what could help determine the eventual MAC champion.” We should probably get this framed. Preview coming later this afternoon for tonight’s game, right after Profiles in Profiteroles.

• Roster blotter: Matt Scott was, in fact, concussed against UCLA, and is questionable for Arizona’s game against Colorado … Washington State’s company line on Marquess Wilson is that Marquess Wilson is suspended … Bret Bielema is keeping the details of Wisconsin’s late-season quarterback race to himself … Boise State defensive tackle and internet favorite Mike “Bacon” Atkinson is through for the year with a torn ACL.

• Mack Brown trolls message boards all night long just writing “STAY CLASSY:” Because if there’s one real big problem college athletics has right now, it’s a lack of respect conveyed through hand signals and signs, amirite?

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• Duck hunts. Not to be outdone by the LSU-Alabama trailer that dropped earlier this week, Oregon has released its own hype video in honor of the Ducks’ upcoming trip to USC. Among its highlights: The Duck learning to play Oregon Trail and doing the team’s laundry under threat of dysentery from a school employee, the Duck searching for a watch he does not wear, a covert laundry detergent handoff from gold-medal decathalete and Oregon grad Ashton Eaton and the implication that the Duck possesses a commercial driver’s license, which wouldn’t actually surprise anyone. Our one quibble is spelled out neatly by YouTube commenter “ChocolateJesus2K:

Wash uniforms? Oregon doesn’t wear the same thing twice.

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