Join Stefon Diggs in swilling 1-Hour Terrapin Energy, and feel your limbs infuse with the relentless drive and explosive power of a turtle. “One-hour Terrapin Energy, when five hours isn’t enough time.”
[Via Terrapins Insider.]
By Zac Ellis
Another NCAA enforcement staffer is reportedly heading out the door. Jeremy Fowler of CBSSports.com is reporting that NCAA enforcement assistant director Marcus Wilson is moving to Maryland, where he will become senior assistant AD of compliance.
#NCAA loses another. Enforcement assistant director Marcus Wilson joining Maryland as senior assistant AD of compliance.—
Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerCBS) April 23, 2013
The NCAA enforcement office has seen its share of defections in recent months. Just last week, veteran enforcement official Dave Didion announced his departure to assume the role of associate athletics director for compliance at Auburn. Meanwhile, investigator Ameen Najjar was fired in 2012 after it was discovered he signed off on payments to Miami booster Nevin Shaprio’s attorney during the NCAA’s probe into the Hurricanes. Vice president of enforcement Julie Roe Lach was later fired as a result of the investigation. Two other enforcement staffers, investigators Rich Johanningmeier and Abigail Grantstein, have also left the NCAA within the last year.
After a season-ending ACL injury, C.J. Brown has been granted a sixth year of eligibility. (G. Fiume/Getty Images)
By Zac Ellis
Maryland received a bit of good news on Tuesday when quarterback C.J. Brown was granted a medical waiver for a sixth season of eligibility, the Baltimore Sun reports. Brown suffered two season-ending injuries in his career with the Terps, breaking his collarbone during the 2010 season and tearing his ACL just before the start of the 2012 campaign, when he was the presumptive starter for Maryland. Brown has thrown for 842 yards, seven touchdowns and six interceptions throughout his career.
Don’t let the outfit fool you: Testudo will have some adjusting to do in the harsh climes of the Big Ten. (AP)
Maryland fans who’ve found yourselves muttering derisively, “Ugh, you could not pay me to go to Iowa” since college football realignment swept the Terps off to the Big Ten: Know that there are those in your school’s administration who disagree with you! From the Baltimore Sun:
The University of Maryland’s deal to join the Big Ten includes not only the lucrative annual payouts that all members receive, but also a significant concession obtained by the school — a subsidy worth tens of millions of dollars from the conference to offset athletic teams’ anticipated higher travel costs, according to multiple sources.
Call it November-road-date-with-Minnesota money.
As of Wednesday afternoon, here is every publicly available tweet hashtagged with #MarylandFootball. [Click to enlarge.]
Here’s a bit of news from Maryland’s athletic department that is relevant to your interests and mine, as internet wags: Randy Edsall will host a Google+ Hangout on National Signing Day! No, this is really happening:
“The Google+ Hangout will be moderated by quarterback C.J. Brown and will be one of the first opportunities fans have to hear reaction from Coach Edsall on National Signing Day. To view the Hangout, fans can log on to their Google+ account by visiting Google.com/+. From there, the Hangout can be viewed by visiting the Randy Edsall Google+ page at 4 p.m. The Hangout will be posted on the Maryland Football YouTube channel.”
(It is comforting, in a special way, to know that no matter how high these coaches ascend in the power structure and however many millions of dollars they make, they still have to get millenials to help them work the computers, no?)
The school is soliciting questions on various social media platforms in advance of the Hangout; the results of Twitter search of the requested #MarylandFootball hashtag are visible to the right. It’s been two full days since this release went out, and this is the best we can do, internet? What shall we ask Randy Edsall on this very special day? Let’s help out with some bright ideas:
• You a Terp? Maryland has announced walk-on football tryouts for Wednesday, January 30. You must be a full-time, currently enrolled student to be eligible for consideration.
This is also your reminder that heading into Maryland’s last regular-season football game of 2012, this is what Maryland’s injury report looked like. So if you’re an aspiring quarterback, we’re honestly not sure whether to tell you to show up or stay away.
• Meanwhile, while the internet was caving in on itself … Lost yesterday in the avalanche of news shocks was the announcement that the Mountain West has retaken San Diego State. (We’re choosing to picture this as a giant Risk board in action. The Big 12 is clearly Australia.) We have an MWC source who’s promised to tell us the second the conference poaches UCLA, and y’all will be the first to know after that.
• Coach-hirin’ follies! Go right on ahead and apply for Chip Kelly’s old job, and be sure and let us know how that works out … here is a magnificent lead followed by Rob Mullens’ insistence that he has no clubhouse leaders in mind for Kelly’s vacant seat … John-El lands at DII Fort Lewis College … Utah passing coordinator Aaron Roderick will take the OC slot at BYU [UPDATE: No he won't!] … Louisiana Tech won’t have to re-glaze any of its “I <3 OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR TONY” mugs … Tim Rosenbach joins the UNLV staff as OC.
• Everybody got all that? In the past 24 hours of college football realignment news, we have seen East Carolina and Tulane jump from Conference USA to the Big East, the ACC file a lawsuit against Maryland over money owed given the Terps’ move to the Big Ten, Louisville abandon the Big East for the ACC and UConn’s president say “I think we really just have to focus on students and then everything will be OK.” And in the time it took us to painstakingly piece together the elaborate artist’s rendition of the remaining future conference jumps, the Virginian-Pilot is reporting that Conference USA will add Middle Tennessee State. YEEHAW.
• Things that are not realignment news. Our one preseason prediction that held fast all year was that every team would look sort of terrible at least once … Virginia cans its running backs coach … Gene Chizik will be a Mr. December to remember … and here is the only hypothetical realignment move we’d be in favor of at this exasperating point.
While covering the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party last month, we spotted this baby turtle making its way to the ocean. It took forever. We named it Steve. We had no idea what omens we were witnessing.
Greetings. Realignment has reared its big stupid head in the middle of our precious football season. From College Park this afternoon:
“The Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors (COP/C) announced unanimous approval today for the University of Maryland to join the Big Ten Conference effective July 1, 2014, with competition to begin in all sports for the 2014-15 academic year. The University of Maryland also looks forward to joining the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), a consortium of world-class research institutions dedicated to advancing their academic missions.”
Rutgers is expected to decamp for the Increasingly Inaccurately Named Big Ten this week as well. Pete Thamel, Andy Staples and Michael Rosenberg have more. We, the internet, have jokes. And now, the story of a quick conference square-dance, as told through the magic of social media:
Meyer on Maryland “No. Gene approached me yesterday and was the first time I ever heard of it. I said ‘what?’”
— Land-Grant Holy Land (@Landgrant33) November 19, 2012
You know a league is vulnerable when its wiki page has sections titled “Instability” and “Continuing Instability.” — bit.ly/ZZrtBQ
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) November 19, 2012
In trying to confirm Maryland, Rutgers talking to the Big Ten I have received some rather interesting answers, such as “I have no idea why.”
— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) November 17, 2012
The ACC built a $50 million turtle fence that doesn’t work
— Will Brinson (@willbrinson) November 19, 2012
Speedster Dri Archer helped Kent State secure its first MAC title game berth by beating Bowling Green. (AP)
Snap Judgments from the Week 12 early slate. For more, check out our midday Snaps, our coverage of Stanford-Oregon, our look at the new BCS landscape and our complete Top 25 review.
• No. 25 Kent State 31, Bowling Green 24. Brothers and sisters, we have nearly come to the end of this thing. This is the last normal weekend of college football in the 2012 season: Next week’s games are scattered willy-nilly over the Thanksgiving holiday, and after that there’s just the conference championships and a dozen or so assorted other contests. Then, we will be all plunged into darkness with only the promise of Army-Navy and the New Mexico Bowl to guide us. So we understand your impatience, and you can imagine ours, as we flipped channels today only to be met time and again with lackluster on-field products.
We were delighted but not surprised to find the most compelling action of Week 12′s first flight of games in the form of daylight MACtion. If you’re not a regular reader of Profiles in Profiteroles or lack a fondness for college football’s less-celebrated conferences, you may not be familiar with the works of Kent State’s Dri Archer. The top-ranked kick returner in the FBS got most of the Golden Flashes’ touches at running back today, and to spectacular effect: 241 rushing yards, including touchdowns of 79 and 74 yards.
Kent State’s other two touchdowns were scored by quarterback Spencer Keith (one passing, one rushing); the last gave the Golden Flashes their final lead of the game midway through the fourth quarter. The Falcons mounted an impressive final would-be scoring drive that ended with Luke Wollet picking off Matt Schilz in Kent State’s end zone with 21 seconds remaining on the clock, and punching the Golden Flashes’ first ticket to the MAC championship game. They’ll face Northern Illinois in Detroit on Friday, November 30. [BOX | RECAP]
Johnny Manziel (2) and Texas A&M dealt Alabama its first loss since last November. (Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
Snap Judgments from the Week 11 midday slate. For more, check out early Snaps, late Snaps, our recaps of Texas A&M-Alabama and Kansas State-TCU and our complete Top 25 review.
• No. 15 Texas A&M 29, No. 1 Alabama 24. We are reminded tonight of how Kevin Sumlin’s first round of interviews went at last summer’s SEC Media Days. No reporter actually stood up, shoved a mic in his face and asked, “HEY COACH, YOU SKEERED?” but something like that wasn’t all that far from happening by the time the Q&A ended. Sumlin dispensed with those questions back in July with gracious humor, some quips and a few dagger stares. Tonight, his Aggies dispensed with the No. 1 team in the country.
Heading into Week 11, Alabama had a perfect record in 2012, one loss in nearly two full seasons of football and a unanimous lock on the No. 1 spot in the AP Poll. And tonight, in Tuscaloosa, the Tide were rudely introduced to a Kliff Kingsbury offense that put them in a 20-0 hole, at home, by the end of the first quarter. ‘Bama answered with two touchdowns and a field goal over the next two quarters, but it surrendered nine more points to the Aggies in the fourth. The Tide pulled to within a five-point, 29-24 deficit on a 54-yard AJ McCarron-to-Amari Cooper score halfway through the final period and held A&M to a three-and-out on the subsequent possession. But a costly McCarron interception inside the five-yard line on what could have been the game-winning drive, plus a ‘Bama offsides penalty with A&M set to punt in the final minute, sealed the stunning upset.
Powered by WordPress.com VIP
