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A star is born in Winston-Salem; more Designated Reads

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Unfamiliar with Wake Forest’s Michael Campanaro, currently a national top-15 receiver in yardage who is averaging more than 125 all-purpose yards per game? This video should fix that, indelibly. [Via @DHPIV.]

• Be warned, these people do make soup from frogs. TCU announced Tuesday that the Horned Frogs will play LSU in the 2013 season-opening Cowboys Classic. They’ll presumably face off in prime time, against Alabama and Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff.

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  • Published On Sep 26, 2012
  • Gators hold off mighty Bowling Green; more midday Week 1 Snap Judgments

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    Jeff Driskel accounted for 138 all-purpose yards as Florida edged out Bowling Green. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

    Snap Judgments from Saturday’s afternoon slate. For more from SI.com check out our early and late Snapsplus our game coverage of Alabama-MichiganAuburn-ClemsonOhio-Penn StateSouth Carolina-VanderbiltWashington State-BYUNC State-Tennessee and Boise State-Michigan State and our full Top 25 review.

    No. 23 Florida 27, Bowling Green 14. Whatever else happens, today will always be the day we saw a MAC player do a chomping throat slash in the Swamp. A couple more breaks and slightly better all-around play (two missed field goals will loom large in the minds of the Falcons), and Bowling Green, on the road, could’ve beaten the Florida Gators. Whether this is “the year” of any conference remains very much to be seen, but this Saturday was a fun one for fans of the MAC.

    Five more elements that most perfectly symbolize this afternoon’s action:
    1. Florida getting hit with 13 penalties for a total loss of 101 yards.
    2. The faked punt that set up the Falcons’ touchdown drive, with Bowling Green’s punter running for a first down and a late hit penalty on Florida tacking on an additional 15 yards.
    3. Two Bowling Green players colliding, Three Stooges-style, in midair.
    4. The Gators getting a false start penalty in the victory formation.
    5. This:

    We could fill another entire blog post with indignant reactions that followed the announcement that Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel would be co-starters at quarterback for Florida. With both in the first huddle, fear spiked that Muschamp meant they would start at quarterback simultaneously, but Brissett lined up at quarterback on first down, and Driskel settled in at receiver. On the next play, Driskel took over under center, and, as previously promised by Muschamp, they alternated the first two quarters — sort of. Driskel played the rest of the first quarter and was allowed to complete his already in-progress drive that ate up more than five minutes of the second quarter, culminating in the Gators’ first touchdown of the afternoon, a 15-yard run by Mike Gillislee. Brissett took over for the remainder of the half, and Driskel played the entire second half.

    Our dad was visiting today, and theorized that Florida’s lines, or perhaps Muschamp himself, were easily distracted by laser pointers. He also hypothesized that some enterprising visitor in the stands had figured this out. It’s not the worst theory we’ve ever heard. The Falcons led once in the first quarter and tied the game again in the third. And while the final score was semi-respectable, reactions from our Gator buddies regarding what it took to get there ranged from white-hot rage to bleak despair. [BOX | RECAP]

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  • Published On Sep 01, 2012
  • Four days to the 2012 season

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    In a little over 100 hours, we’ll kick off the 2012 college football season. Paul Rhoads is so proud to be part of this countdown right now.

    Four days.


  • Published On Aug 26, 2012
  • Designated Read: Alan Menken presents the Buckeyes

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    Tell us these guys don’t look like they’re about three seconds away from all breaking into song.

    • Everything about college football recruiting remains anywhere from vaguely to outright creepy. From the pros to the rest of us.

    What does Collin Klein look for in a date? “Someone just like my mom,” he said “–but younger.”

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  • Published On Aug 22, 2012
  • Big 12 Media Days 2012 Highlights

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    We were winding our way back from ACC Media Days while our friends and colleagues took in the show in Dallas. Assorted highlights from the two-day Big 12 media blitz follow. As with most media blitzes, not much was learned, but fun was had.

    Let’s get some opinions on Penn State! Or not, says Charlie Weis! “My feelings on that is that no one wins,” he said. “Everyone loses. There’s no winner in that situation. So I prefer not to take any further than that. It’s not a good situation and no one won.  There’s no winners there, and so let’s move on from there.”

    Paul Rhoads offered what we thought was the best assessment of the situation: ”I think, first and foremost, this is a matter for the legal systems and the courts, and there’s more of that to come. And I just ‑‑ I’ll leave it at, first and foremost, that’s where this case is at.  And I can’t say anything or give my opinion about anything that’s going to do anything to help the victims or their families.”

    • RepsRepsRepsRepsRepsRepsReps. Repeat. Dana Holgorsen acknowledges your adulation, y’all: “Well, it sounds like everybody in the room thinks that we’re pretty good, or that Geno is pretty good.  It’s a compliment to Geno.  I think a lot is based on what happened the last game of the year, which in all my years for 12 straight Bowl games, all my years of December practice time, I think we got better in the month of December last year more than we ever have. And it’s just practice.”

    We are inclined to agree with his assessment of December.

    Tommy Tuberville spoke on the temperature of his posterior. “Just being here a couple of years, everybody said:  You’re on the hot seat. I’d like to coach a few of these guys I recruited.”

    Mack Brown’s statement began with an observation. “Well, I’m sitting in a red chair,” he said. “I don’t do that very often from the Big 12.”

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  • Published On Jul 25, 2012
  • Wildcats display extreme camaraderie

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    Arizona's Jourdon Grandon reportedly punched numerous female partygoers in the face at a party.
    (Icon SMI)

    Another week, another bumper crop of legal run-ins for our irregularly scheduled distraction item, the Allstate Police Blotter Item of the Week, which continues to not be sponsored by Allstate, at all. These players’ life decisions are decidedly not in good hands.

    Cast your vote below for the Allstate Police Blotter Item of the Week:*

    Candidate 1: Josh Huff, WR, Oregon
    The Incident: Drunk driving and speeding, all without a license.
    The Case For: In 2012, Huff is a special kind of snowflake. From the Register-Guard report: “He is apparently the only member of the team to be arrested since the Ducks won the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2.” That is several days!
    The Case Against: Getting kinda bored with Beaver State players not putting any creativity into their offseason antics. If Malcolm Marable was just copying Cliff Harris, what does that say about Huff’s followup?

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  • Published On Mar 07, 2012
  • Your baby mascot National Signing Day prop fantasy leaderboard

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    Isaiah Crowell's 2011 Signing Day announcement has yet to be topped, but should be an inspiration for all future recruits. (AP)

    The fact that we’re still discussing Isaiah Crowell’s puppy-bearing 2011 Signing Day announcement a year later proves that, no matter what turns the running back’s career in Athens might take, the moment was a smashing branding success for the University of Georgia. This year’s haul of signing ceremonies has been light on pageantry, although one Mississippi State commit did involve an actual human baby in his announcement. So wags the world away. In a fit of wishful thinking, we got to fantasizing about blue-chip athletes swanning about campus with jars full of stinging insects and elite high school prospects piloting heavy machinery through school property, and before too long we had this list of schools whose commits we would very most like to see follow in Crowell’s footsteps and introduce a wee young mascot at their Signing Day ceremonies. Those  Top 25 teams are as follows:

    25. Big Cat Schools. Your Wazzus, your FIUs, your LSUs. Perhaps unfairly dinged because there are just so many Big Cat schools, and if this becomes a trend we’ll soon have a Signing Day entertainment market saturated by baby lions and bobcats. Any LSU prospect bringing along a white tiger with purple eyes to match the Bayou Bengals’ latest Pro Combat unis, however, will receive an instant and much-deserved rankings boost. (This being LSU, we estimate this is at most three years from happening.)

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  • Published On Feb 01, 2012
  • FAQ: Pinstripe Bowl

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    Yep, that's a foul pole. (Icon SMI)

    The 2011 Pinstripe Bowl is just days away. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help. (For an Xs and Os breakdown, check out Zac Ellis’ game preview.)

    What’s all this, then? Last year, football games at Yankee Stadium were a new and much be-hyped thing. This year it’s just a field mashed into a baseball diamond, hype not included.

    But to be fair, as football games in baseball diamonds go, this is still light-years ahead of that infamously cramped Northwestern-Illinois game at Wrigley Field in 2010, correct? Correct.

    When is it on television? Kickoff is scheduled for 3:20 p.m. on Friday, December 30. The game will be televised on ESPN.

    Whom does it feature? Designated conference tie-ins for the one year of this bowl’s existence are the Big East, Big 12 and Notre Dame.

    What about this year? We get 8-4 Rutgers versus 6-6 Iowa State.

    Who will call the game? Chris Fowler, Jesse Palmer and Tom Rinaldi will bring the action from New York to your living room.

    What on earth is Chris Fowler doing calling a bowl game for two teams with 10 losses between them? Think of ESPN, in this moment, as Gretchen Wieners in Mean Girls, attempting to make “fetch” happen.

    Who sponsors the game? New Era Cap Company.

    Don’t they make baseball hats? Also other kinds of hats!

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  • Published On Dec 28, 2011
  • Championship Saturday Snaps

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    Montee Ball improved his 2011 touchdown total to an astounding 38 with four scores in the Big Ten title game. (US PRESSWIRE)

    Snap judgments from Championship Weekend 2011. For Andy Staples’ SEC Championship breakdown, click here. For Stewart Mandel’s Bedlam column, click here. For a recap of the Top 25 action, click here. For highlights from SI.com, click here

    • No. 15 Wisconsin 42, No. 11 Michigan State 39: Lo and behold, the Badgers got one back. Wisconsin will take on Oregon in the Rose Bowl after coming out atop the pile this time in another squeaker with the Spartans. The climax in Indianapolis was not nearly as captivating as the one we saw in East Lansing back in October, but it’s bound to generate at least as much message-board screaming.

    With less than three minutes remaining, down three points, Michigan State was forced to punt. Three straight Montee Ball rushes failed to eat enough clock to bleed the entire game away, and didn’t cover enough ground to earn a fresh set of downs. Wisconsin punted, and Keshawn Martin sprinted with the ball all the way back to just short of the pylon … which is about when the Spartans were hit with a kicker-roughing penalty that handed the Badgers the first down. I’m not making a judgment about the call itself; I’m just saying: Gus Johnson was in the booth for this game. What a shame not to end it on another highlight-reel play, and what a curious way to pick a Rose Bowl contender.

    Stats of note from what was otherwise a very enjoyable game: Russell Wilson completed 17-of-24 pass attempts for 187 yards and three touchdowns. Ball recorded 137 rushing yards on 27 carries, scored three rushing touchdowns, caught a fourth and completed one 32-yard pass. (His 38 touchdowns leave him one short of Barry Sanders’ single-season record.) Kirk Cousins made two Spartans into 100-yard receivers tonight; Martin and B.J. Cunningham each recorded 115 yards’ worth of catches. It was Martin’s first triple-digit receiving game of the season. Cunningham caught all three of Cousins’ touchdown passes. On the ground, Le’Veon Bell rolled up 106 yards and a score of his own. [RECAP | BOX | HIGHLIGHTS

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  • Published On Dec 03, 2011
  • Championship Saturday storylines

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    Quarterbacks Jordan Jefferson, Kirk Cousins, Logan Thomas, Brandon Weeden. (US PRESSWIRE)

    SEC Championship Game

    No. 1 LSU vs. No. 12 Georgia: After the grisly spectacle of the Pac-12 title game elicits repeated groans from the masses, will there be any undamaged vocal chords left to complain about the other “one-sided” championship matchup of the weekend? Let’s find out! Georgia hasn’t lost since Week 2, turning an 0-2 start and more tiresome calls for the tanned and fluffy head of Mark Richt into a 10-2 regular season and assurances of a reasonably prestigious bowl bid. The Dawgs did have the advantage of getting their two most fearsome opponents out of the way early, and easily handled remaining ranked foes Auburn and Georgia Tech in November. They also emerged victorious from the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. You might have heard. And while South Carolina edged out Georgia in September, the Gamecocks’ two subsequent conference losses boosted UGA back into the Dome.

    LSU is … LSU, but without the two regular-season losses that were once the hallmark of even the best Bayou Bengals teams under Les Miles. The Tigers have played seven ranked opponents to Georgia’s four, beginning with that Arlington showdown against Oregon over Labor Day weekend, which they won by two touchdowns. Since then, they’ve dispatched two more top five opponents (Alabama and Arkansas), blown some formerly well-regarded teams out of the water and ground out the requisite low-scoring slugfests.

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  • Published On Dec 02, 2011


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