Football Gazette's Small College Football Blog

Davis Stars, Azusa Pacific Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Tue, 2 Oct 2007 15:11:00 -0500

By Gary Pine, Azusa Pacific SID

AZUSA, Calif. –- It would never have been said publicly but behind closed doors and only amongst whispers it could be heard last week. Azusa Pacific was more than just the best 1-4 team in the nation. The Cougars believed they were among one of the NAIA’s 25 best teams in the nation.

Southern Nazarene University, a team on the doorstep of its own Top 25 recognition, just might be the star witness in a case for Azusa Pacific after the Cougars dismantled SNU, 38-7, before a crowd of 2,083 Saturday evening in the “Canyon City.”

For the second time this season All-American candidate Jon Davis tied a school single-game record with 4 touchdown receptions and senior QB Rudy Carlton threw for 221 yards and had a hand in all 5 Cougars TDs as Azusa Pacific systematically and thoroughly put away an upstart Southern Nazarene which made its first-ever venture into California with aspirations of making a national statement to the pollsters. Instead, it was the Cougars who made a pronouncement that will surely leave the NAIA rating committee collectively scratching its head about how to properly evaluate a now 2-4 Azusa Pacific team that has certainly been a victim of a most daunting schedule among all NAIA teams and yet defeated 2 NAIA foes both considered among the top 30 programs in the country this year.

Azusa Pacific closed out with 31 unanswered points over the final 3 quarters and scored touchdowns on 5 consecutive drives to post its first blowout victory in nearly 2 seasons. Not since a 47-6 thumping of Eastern Oregon back on Oct. 29, 2005, had Azusa Pacific enjoyed such a large margin of victory, and the Cougars tallied their points in a variety of ways. They used an assortment of long drives, SNU miscues, physical force, lightening speed, and dazzling plays, particularly a couple by Davis, to run away from the Crimson Storm and in the process avenge last year’s 17-10 overtime loss at SNU in Bethany, Okla.

It took a pair of possessions for Azusa Pacific to figure out how to best attack the Crimson Storm defense but it was an ill-advised SNU decision that led to the game’s first score. After the Cougars failed to punch the ball into the end zone from 4 yards out on a fake field goal attempt, Southern Nazarene designed a fake of its own – from the Crimson Storm 9-yard line where punter Peter Orth, instead of kicking the ball, ran with it only to be caught by Joe LaPorta and Todd Dini a yard shy of the first down.
Azusa Pacific took over at the SNU 9 and 3 plays later Carlton hit Davis on a 5-yard slant to put the Cougars up 7-0.

Wendell Thompson, though, returned the ensuing kickoff 73 yards to the Cougar 21-yard line, and on the first play from scrimmage Tyler Schneider hit Jared Elmore on a perfectly thrown lob to the corner of the end zone to knot the game at 7 apiece. But that was the last time Schneider would be at ease in his own backfield.

Led by defensive ends Casey Roel and Kenny Simmons, the Cougars pummeled Schneider, sacking him 4 times, putting on a hurry on at least 3 of his throws and holding him to just 154 passing yards, 50 yards under his season average.
The Cougars moved out to a 14-7 lead when Carlton again teamed with Davis on a 1-yard TD lob on the first play of the second quarter. It was the cap on what could be considered a 2-play TD strike. On the previous snap, the final one of the first quarter, Davis beat one-on-one coverage and made a spectacular one-handed grab down the right sideline in a dead sprint to highlight a 59-yard catch-and-run that ended at the SNU 1-yard line.

“Rudy and I are really good friends,” said Davis, “and there are plenty of times where he just gives me a head nod and I know exactly what he wants. When it comes to the football field, we just connect.”

And that was just the beginning.

After SNU was held to just 12 yards on the next possession, the Carlton-Davis tandem went back to work as Carlton hit a wide open Davis down the middle for a 32-yard touchdown which pushed the Azusa Pacific advantage to 21-7 midway through the second quarter.

“We’ve always had this connection, where I know that if drop back and have time, Jon is going to make the play,” said Carlton. “I have all the confidence in the world in him, and it was great to get him some opportunities to score.”

Roel, who seemingly was in the Crimson Storm backfield on every play, then recovered a Schneider fumbled snap at the SNU 33-yard line to set up yet another Cougar first half score. An SNU pass interference call on a Carlton to Paul Hardiman attempt put the ball at the 10-yard line and 3 plays later Carlton leaned in from a yard out for his second rushing TD of the season and a 28-7 Cougar halftime lead.

Azusa Pacific held the Southern Nazarene on the opening drive of the second half and the Carlton-Davis tandem wasted no time getting back to work, connecting on a 58-yard scoring strike on Azusa Pacific’s first snap of the second half, giving Davis his fourth touchdown reception of the game to match the school single-game record that he equaled in this year’s season-opener vs. MidAmerica Nazarene University and that 2 other Cougars have matched over the past 40 years.

“They seem to be on the same wavelength,” Santa Cruz described of the Carlton-Davis duo. “It’s a great connection.”

Davis now has 12 touchdown receptions in just 6 games this season and is only 3 shy of Dexter Davis’ school-season record of 15 TD catches that he set in 14 games during the Cougars’ 1998 NAIA championship season.

“Records are fun, but when you’re 1-4, you just want to win,” said Davis. “This win feels so good. This is a team sport – Pelt (Alex Peltier) had a great block for me on a touchdown, Rudy put an amazing touch on the ball for me, and this was just a great team win.”

Azusa Pacific capped the scoring the with a Ben Hansen career-long 49-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, which in turn allowed Santa Cruz to turn to the reserves and offer nearly 65 players playing time.

Southern Nazarene, which came into the game averaging 333 yards of total offense, managed just 56 yards in the first half and didn’t help itself with 2 turnovers. The Crimson Storm got into a rhythm in the second half, moving into Cougar territory on its final 4 drives but the last 3 all stalled out on downs, including the final one which ended the Cougar 13-yard line with just under a minute to play.

“Anytime you come out and only give up 7 points, that’s a big statement game for our defense,” said Santa Cruz. “I expected them to get better this week, and that was what they did. Football is all about details, and I saw a team this week taking care of the details much better than before.”

Brandon Smith rushed for a game-high 79 yards on 21 carries to spearhead the SNU offense. Carlton finished the game an efficient 10-for-17 passing for 221 yards and 4 TD tosses. He becomes the first Cougar since Neo Aoga in 1999 to throw for over 200 yards in 6 straight games. Davis finished with 6 receptions for 162 yards. Simmons recorded a season-high 10 tackles and had a hand in 2 sacks.

With the setback, Southern Nazarene falls to 3-2. Azusa Pacific, now 2-4, preps for Southern Oregon, which brings its 2-2 record to Azusa next Saturday (Oct. 6) for a 6 p.m. game.

RED ZONE for 9/24/07

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 13:39:00 -0500

THE RED ZONE By Craig Burroughs

This season is shaping up to be one of the most interesting and memorable in college football history, what with the remarkable upsets already played and the long list of major powerhouse programs not ranked in today's Top 25, and it has been exceptionally exciting so far in my personal football travels as well. To start it all off with a bang, I stopped at St. Johns University in Collegeville, MN, the morning after this year's first game, North Dakota's rout of Humboldt State in Grand Forks on August 23rd. I had long been curious how college football's all-time wins leader, John Gagliardi, runs his practices without whistles and full-pads-contact, and the Johnnies had a 9:30AM session that day, giving me the perfect opportunity to slake that curiosity. I was amazed to find at least 150 red-clad players on the field when I got there, all taking turns doing play run-throughs in two groups on opposite ends of the field, dressed in shorts, shoulder pads and helmets. Roughly an hour was spent this way before alternate groups started at midfield with 40-second, one time-out end-game drills to see how many times they could score before time ran out. An assistant coach served as referee, calling penalties and keeping track of the clock time with a stopwatch. Tackles were made by tagging the ball carrier or running him out-of-bounds. SJU's offensive teams scored about 75% of the time during this half hour of drills. After practice ended for the morning, I asked Coach Gagliardi if I could take a few pictures of him in his office, and he graciously accommodated. Not only did I get some great photos both of and with this extraordinary coaching legend, we spend more than an hour chatting about football and my extensive travels as his assistants drifted in one by one. He was particularly impressed with my indestructible automobile, a 1992 Oldsmobile station wagon which now has more than 760,000 miles in its rear-view mirror, and he was kind enough to ask me to join him and his staff for lunch at the school cafeteria. One of his assistants, his son Jim, had just purchased a used van with 150,000+ miles on its odometer, and they both wanted to know the secrets behind auto longevity, leaping to the questionable conclusion that I must be some sort of expert because mine had traveled so far. Coach Gagliardi suggested I should write a book on the subject, and I assured him that I would include a car-care chapter in my book-in-progess. He also noticed that I got a spontaneous nose bleed during lunch, a problem I have been tolerating for the past 21 years with little effective treatment. He told me that he had the same condition when he was young, and a doctor recommended a simple solution which he passed on to me and which seems to be working well for me. So I ended up with far more than I had expected when I stopped to watch a St. Johns practice...I got some fantastic pictures, a much better understanding of the SJU dynasty, a terrific lunch, effective medical advice, a handful of new friends, four hours of indelible memories, and a date to come back in the spring to monitor a session of Coach Gagliardi's locally-famous "Theory of Football" class, which is, in reality, a theory of life class. Ironically, two days later as I was heading back toward Collegeville on my way home from a Canadian Juniors game in Winnipeg, the engine in my car finally blew, breaking the crankshaft and stranding me in Rothsay, MN, for a couple of nights before arrangements could be made for its replacement. I drove a rental car from the Fargo airport for a couple of weeks while mine was being rebuilt, putting over 6,000 miles on it in nine States and one Canadian Province in the process. I also bought the rental car company a new airbag at a cost of $1,600, thanks to a gap in the pavement in the middle of a poorly marked construction zone in Indianapolis that caused quite a shock but no physical damage to either me or the car. As a direct result of my automotive adventures, I have been home for exactly one night in the past month, since I had to drive back to Rothsay and Fargo during the two days I might have had at home last week. If I'm lucky, I'll have the luxury of two more nights at home in the next six weeks, as an emergency business trip to Alaska has interjected itself into my football schedule in mid-October. I'm not sure how much more of this excitement I can stand, but I'm hoping that more of it will be on the football field and less of it on the road for the rest of 2007!
* * * * *
I had another wonderful coach-related experience last weekend which took me back to my beginnings as a peripatetic football vagabond in 1990. That was Roland Ortmayer's last of 43 years as head football coach at the University of LaVerne in Southern California, and it was the first of my now 18-season-long quest to capture the essence of North American college football, and the year in which I met him at a Leopards game at California Lutheran. Ort is now 90 and residing with his faithful dog Sport in an assisted-living apartment three blocks from the stadium which fittingly bears his name on the ULV campus. I visit Ort regularly when I'm in California (I have family living 10 miles from LaVerne), and I promised him early this year that I would take him to the opening home game at Ortmayer Stadium this year. That game was last weekend against Whitworth, a team I wanted to see again since I had missed the first quarter of the only game I'd seen the Pirates in against Menlo a couple of years ago. It also gave both Ort and I the chance to see the first game of the Andy Ankeny era at ULV. Ankeny is a former assistant at East Texas Baptist, and he is the first coach at LaVerne since 1947 who was neither Roland Ortmayer nor someone who both played for and coached under Ort. The travel gods conspired to make the day a challenge for me, as my morning flight from Atlanta to Ontario, 15 miles from LaVerne, got away 90 minutes late. Then the rental car I chose had a mechanical "hold" on it when I got to the exit gate, so I had to choose another, which got me to Ort's apartment just 25 minutes before kickoff. Ort's daughter Corlyn and granddaughters Reina and Denise were there to help me with his wheelchair, but complications arose with the chair's leg extensions and we barely got to the field in time to see the kickoff. Despite the logistical frustrations, Ort and his family were able to spend two hours at the game, parked along the sideline near the LaVerne bench, and he was honored at halftime as part of the Community Day ceremonies. Many of his old friends came to visit with him while he was there, including LaVerne's AD, its President, its Public Relations Director and several former players and coaches.
He seemed to enjoy the hot dog and the carne asada taco from Cornie's Corner, the student-run concession stand which was operated for decades by his late wife and which still bears her name. The ballgame itself, which no one at ULV expected to win against the playoff-calibre Pirates, was competitive for the 1st Half, with Whitworth getting only a TD and a safety in the opening period and a lone field goal in the second, while LaVerne gained several first downs and looked good on defense. But the roof caved in after intermission, and Whitworth flew home with a 34-0 win, which Ort did not stay around to see end. Corlyn took him home midway through the 3rd Quarter, but it did my heart a great deal of good to see this extraordinary coach and even more amazing human being sitting on the sideline that he patrolled so faithfully for 43 years. One of my fondest wishes is that Ort be given, while he is still alive and alert, the best honor that could be bestowed upon him, induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. He certainly has enough wins (almost 200), but his philosophy was not the win-at-any-cost regime followed by many of the Hall's inductees, so his winning percentage does not meet the Hall's minimum requirements. There are, however, exceptions that can be made to those prerequisites, and Ort will have all the support anyone could ever have from the legions of players whose lives he influenced for the better during his lifetime of devotion to football at LaVerne. My job here will not be done until Ort has a bust in South Bend!
* * * * *
I was appalled, as I'm sure you were, to read the reports of the on-field melee that took place last Saturday after the Henderson State at Delta State D-II Gulf Coast Conference game in Cleveland, MS. After a 9-7 DSU win in which two HSU field goal tries from inside the 20 were blocked in the waning minutes of the game, Henderson's coach Scott Maxfield and Delta's Rick Roberts exchanged both heated words and blows instead of the usual handshake. Their behavior incited their teams to engage in a helmet-swinging, pushing and kicking riot which was a major embarassment to both schools and to their conference. Conference Commissioner Nate Salant, with the endorsement of the presidents of both schools, suspended both coaches for their games this week, put both on probation for two years with the threat of serious consequences for any future violations of conference sportsmanship and behavioral standards, and also reprimanded DeltaState for lax security both during and after the game. DSU also was cited for ignoring conference rules restricting the seating of home fans in the visitors' seating area, which had resulted in taunting and harassment of HSU fans during the game. Last year's on-field violence between Miami and Florida International players should have given all football fans and school administrators enough of a warning about lack of player discipline and sportsmanship training, but when something like this happens at the Division II level and is incited by the coaches themselves, it is beyond reprehensible. Maybe Delta State should rethink their team nickname...Statesmen seems more than a little ironic in this case!
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RED ZONE for 9/12/07

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:42:00 -0500

THE RED ZONE By Craig Burroughs

This football season has certainly gotten off to a wild and woolly start! Four 1-AA teams (yes, I, like USA Today, will continue to refer to that subdivision of D-1 by its historic monicker, as the confusing "FCS" and "BCS" nomenclature is, in my mind, just another example of the NCAA shooting itself in the proverbial foot by its failure to focus group their changes for public reaction) have already beaten 1-A teams. Northern Iowa's decisive 24-13 win over my Iowa State Cyclones was the most lopsided, and was a shocking outcome for the largest crowd in the history of Jack Trice Stadium, but it was hardly the biggest shocker of this season, or any season in living memory. Two-time defending 1-AA champion Appalachian State rocked the football world with its stunning upset of then-#5-ranked Michigan in front of more than 109,000 Maize and Blue fans at the "Big House" in Ann Arbor.
You've all heard about the historical superlatives of this game by now, but it puts me in mind, once again, about how deep the pool of college football talent, both players and coaches, has become. If the top 1-AA team can beat a Top 10 1-A program on the road, who's to say that major college football's #16 can't upset the #1 team in the country in an opening round playoff game. Each year the argument for a 16-team playoff in 1-A intensifies, and App State has clearly shown the way.
I will not stop commenting about the clear injustice and hypocrisy of the 2-team popularity contest of the current BCS system until the bowl game mavens and major college administrators figure out that everybody wins when 16 teams vie for a real National Championship by actually playing the games! Tens of thousands of fans of schools like Boise State, TCU, Fresno State, Toledo, Hawai'i, Southern Miss and their underappreciated ilk will be extremely, and justifiably, grateful!
* * * * *
My season has gotten off to an unusual start as well. On my way home from my second Canadian Juniors game of the season, at Winnipeg on August 29th, my faithful Battleship JB, with over 750,000 miles behind, finally broke the crankshaft on an engine that had needed only one tuneup in 15 years. Rather than pay the price for a new car or shell out $10,000 or more to buy someone else's problems, I made the easy decision to put a rebuilt engine and accessories in my intrepid and widely-traveled Olds wagon at a cost of $4,500. While driving a rental during the past two weeks, I had a minor contretemps with a gap in the concrete while going through a construction zone in Indiana...no damage to me or the car, fortunately, but the shock deployed the airbag, meaning another $1,100 out the window since my insurance didn't cover it! I am safely back on the road now in my own wheels, and headed for a truly exciting and adventurous year. This weekend I'll be in California to see Whitworth at LaVerne, and I'll be taking legendary LaVerne coach Roland Ortmayer to the game with me. Ort is now 89 years old and spends most of his time in a wheelchair as a result of a stroke several years ago, but he is still quite lucid and enjoys reminiscing about his 45-year head coaching career, and it will be a real pleasure to see him visit the stadium that bears his name to watch the first Leopards home game in 59 years under the direction of a coach who isn't himself or someone who played for him. By the end of this year I hope to have seen at least 83 college games, in addition to another couple of dozen NFL, CFL and high school games. I've already seen 2 Canadian college games and a CFL game, and plan to see both the Vanier Cup(Canadian college championship) and Grey Cup(CFL title game) this year, as both are at the Rogers Centre in Toronto just two days apart. This may also be the season that I end with the Super Bowl, a game I haven't attended since Super Bowl IV at the late Tulane Stadium in 1970.
College football game #1,000 occurred for me at the first game in Saint Vincent's brand-new Chuck Noll Field on September 1st, which was also SVC's first varsity football game in 45 years. The opponent was Gallaudet, playing its first varsity game in 10 years, after fielding a club team during that time. GU's Bison won the game 32-13 against a coach who had been their mentor in 1970 and '71. I've seen three of the seven new teams for 2007 already, and will see the final two playing against each other when Faulkner meets UNC-Pembroke in Pembroke, NC, on the 27th of October. Until then, I will keep you posted on a regular basis as the thrills and excitement of a very promising season continue to unfold.
* * * * *
I have noticed a strange trend already this season that makes me feel even more strongly about a position I've taken for a long time....teams should try for 2 points on conversion attempts more often, if not most of the time. I was reminded of this while watching the Minnesota JuCo Kickoff Classic at Saint Cloud State in late August. Over a span of five games in two days, I witnessed 21 missed conversion attempts, 18 of the kicking attempts. Only one of the 10 teams made all of its extra point tries, and in one game only 1 of 7 XP's was good, while another game saw just one successful conversion in six tries. Of course, the success ration of less than 40% of kicks in these five games is far from representative, I have witnessed more missed kicking attempts than usual in four-year college games as well. It has long seemed to me that if you can't make three yards 50% of the time for a two-point conversion, you're not preparing very well. This is especially true when you consider that most teams don't prepare much for 2-point conversions. If you assume that only about 90% of kicking tries are successful, that means you only have to make 45% of 2-pointers to break even. Anything more than that gives you an advantage, and the odd scoring patterns created by successful 2-point tries is a further advantage, because it often forces the opposition to match the score, or possibly to settle for a field goal when they might be in good position to go for the TD. My advice to coaches: Spend more time on 2-point conversions. I was very pleased to see Lake Erie College's first college game last weekend, a 33-3 win over Ohio Wesleyan's JV, and the Storm's head coach, Mark McNelly, went for two successfully with a "swinging gate" formation early in the game. I would love to see more teams follow his lead and take control of the game's scoring patterns at the outset.
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RED ZONE

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:12:00 -0500

THE RED ZONE By Craig Burroughs

The University of Alabama's January hiring of Nick Saban away from the NFL's Miami Dolphins has brought to the fore some pressing questions about the direction in which major college football is heading. Coaching salaries at school's in BCS-automatic-qualifying conferences have soared out of sight with all the dollars that are now at stake, thanks to television money. Mosthead coaches at large State universities now make more than their schools' Presidents and the Governor of their respective States (combined!). Saban's $4 million deal at 'Bama, where football is apparently a lot more important than State Government, puts his base salary at more than 35 times the Governor's, and that could well be 45 times if his incentives are met! Not surprisingly, while Saban has set a new gold standard, most States with BCS schools have a large imbalance between coaches' pay and public servants' pay. For example, California's "Governator" earns a $175,000 annual salary, which is in the Top 5 of all State Governors, compared to the $1.5 million paid to Cal's Jeff Tedford and the $1.25 million collected by Fresno State's Pat Hill. Even UCLA's Karl Dorrell, whose yearly $881,000 paycheck isn't even in the Top 50 of today's major college head coaches', is still more than 4 times Governor Schwartzenegger's. The "new" coaches at California's other big schools, Chuck Long at San Diego State ($701,500) and Dick Tomey at San Jose State ($342,100), have less gaudy salaries, but still make much more than their famous movie star boss. The differences are most apparent in less populous States, like Iowa, where Hawkeye
Head Coach Kirk Ferentz pulls down more than $2.8 million, while Governor Chet Culver earns less than $110,000, not even 4% of his fellow State employee's paycheck in Iowa City! West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez, at $1,750,000, is compensated more than 18 times the $95,000 salary of Joe Manchin, the Governor of the Mountain State. Because of the plethora of TV money, and the perceived threat of coaches being hired away by the NFL, big-time college coaches have become the latest rock stars of our generation. Saban used the reverse psychology of being "bought back" into the college fraternity by Alabama after leaving LSU for a $5,000,000-plus income with the NFL's Miami Dolphins just 2 years earlier. His somewhat unusual situation has had an unfortunate effect on college football economics, by setting the salary bar unrealistically high compared to the reality of the NFL "threat." There are 119 1-A (Bowl Championship Division) football programs, but only 32 NFL franchises. Most NFL teams prefer to hire coaches who have already been in the league for years, primarily, I believe, because there are major differences between the college and pro games. Very few top college coaches, perhaps no more than 10-15%, would even be offered the chance to jump to the NFL, and if the opportunity did present itself, many of them would be loath to leave something they love, and with which they are comfortable, to enter the dog-eat-dog world of professional football. To a large number of the college coaches I know, money is not the determining factor in their choice of livelihood...it is their passion for the game and their love of the young men they mentor. As an example of this observation, I can offer a few names who have never been paid over $400,000 for a year of coaching a major college football team: 1) Joe Novak, Northern Illinois University, annual salary today of $212,496...Novak's Huskies have beaten Alabama, Maryland and Iowa State in the same season, all of whom went to bowl games, and he has coached the nation's leading rusher as well as coaching NIU to two bowl games and to winning seasons that should have led to bowl game invitations if NIU had been given the respect it deserves. 2) Then there's Chris Ault ($360,000) at Nevada, currently entering his 23rd year of coaching in three different stints at his alma mater;
Ault has a 185-78-1 record and has already been enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame;
3) Jeff Bower ($349,983) at Southern Miss, has led his alma mater and Conference USA "Team of the Decade" to seven bowl games in the past eight years, and his 96-67-1 record over his 14-year head coaching career has included a 47-17 CUSA record, a 52-13 home record and road wins over such heavyweights as Alabama and Nebraska; 4) Toledo's Tom Amstutz ($376,400), whose record in his first five years at his alma mater is 45-18, including four division titles, two outright MAC championships and 3 bowl games. I'd rather have any one of these men coaching for me if I were a major college AD, instead of chasing the superstar multimillion dollar men! * * * * *If unbeaten Boise State's not-to-be-forgotten 43-42 overtime win over heavy favorite Oklahoma in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl wasn't resounding proof of the desperate need for a playoff in major college football, I can't imagine what would be. The lightly-regarded Broncos, who led 28-10 late in the 3rd Quarter, saw the Sooners tie the game with just 86 seconds to play, with a 2-point conversion no less, then had their first subsequent snap result in an Oklahoma interception and TD return to put them in a 35-28 hole with just 64 seconds to play. The haughty Big XII champions thought they had dodged a bullet, but the Broncos delighted the largely BSU crowd and a rapt national TV audience by firing three more shots at OU, each more damaging than the last. The first, of course, was the 50-yard "hook-and-ladder" play with 7 seconds on the clock to send the game into OT. Then it was the first pass ever thrown by a 2nd-team wide receiver to score an answering TD in overtime after OU's star RB Adrian Peterson had ripped off a 25-yard scoring run to open the OT. And finally, it was the underhand "Statue of Liberty" run by Ian Johnson for the winning 2-point conversion to top off a game in which 37 points were scored in the final 19 snaps, beginning at the 1:30 mark of the 4th Quarter. I heard many veteran reporters in the pressbox remark that this game had to be the best bowl game in history, and some even said it was the best football game they'd ever seen, period! Since Boise State represented the first-ever appearance in a BCS bowl game by a Western Athletic Conference team, it's awfully hard for the BCS bigwigs to argue that games like this one can happen every year, or that only teams from the top six "power" conferences deserve to play for the national title. Remember that Oklahoma is a team that played for three BCS titles in the past six years, winning one of them. Remember also that Boise State manhandled a very good Oregon State team, 42-14, early in the season, and the Beavers went on to give USC its first PAC-10 loss in four years and end the season by beating three other bowl teams in a row. USC, of course, played for three of the last four BCS titles, so maybe the have-nots from the WAC can play with the big boys after all! And if the WAC has teams that can beat perennial BCS title contenders, then it only follows that the Mountain West, Conference USA and the Mid-American have teams that can just as well. TCU showed that when they opened the 2005 season in Norman, beating the Sooners by a 17-10 margin on their way to an 11-1 season in which they beat four other bowl teams, including another Big XII team in the EV1.net Bowl.
Sports Illustrated responded to the Boise State-Oklahoma game with an imaginative proposal for an 8-team playoff using campus sites in mid-December for the first round, 2 of the current BCS bowls on a rotating basis for the semi-finals, then a championship bowl one week into January just as was done this year for the "chosen" Top 2. SI's idea would be a major step forward, but doesn't go far enough, in my mind. I've seen enough college football (990 games to date, and many more ahead, I hope) to know that the only way to know who's going to win on a particular day is to play the game. Did you think you'd watch a one-loss Florida team manhandle the Big Ten's supposedly unbeatable Buckeyes by the largest margin of victory ever by a #2 team over a #1? Nor did I, and it points up the fact that nothing beats playing head-to-head games. No poll or computer analysis or power ranking or strength-of-schedule rating will ever replace the actual playing of games, and there are, beyond the slightest doubt, more than eight teams capable of winning three straight at the end of a given season. The only way I can imagine ever seeing a real "National Champion" in most major college seasons is to have a 16-team FBS (nee 1-A) playoff, maybe by expanding the SI proposal to eight on-campus games in mid-December, with four bowl game quarterfinals, two bowl game semi's, and the Big Kahuna in early January. We've already seen that two college teams can play 8 days into the New Year, so why not let 16 teams vie for the privilege. The SI piece neatly debunks all the specious arguments against a playoff in the only division of any NCAA sport that doesn't have one, so here's hoping that before long the folks in the BCS cabal will realize that they're short-changing not only the people who buy tickets to their bowl games, but also the people who make those games possible...the college students on whose backs they're making untold millions! * * * * *After the exciting football travel year I had in 2005, I didn't think it would be possible to have an even better year in 2006. But, as they say, that's why they play the games...you never know what's going to happen on a given day at the ol' ballpark, and 2006 was littered with unexpectedly good games, and some surprising records as well. Not only did I get to see the aforementioned Boise State-Oklahoma thriller (the second-best football game I've ever seen), I got to see another game in Arizona just three nights earlier that was the third-best game in my years of football travels. It was Texas Tech's unbelievable 31-point comeback in the final 20 minutes of the Insight Bowl game against Minnesota. After the Gophers upped their lead to 38-7 halfway through the 3rd, the Red Raiders outscored them 37-3, including an improbable 51-yard field goal to tie the game as time expired. I had been kicking myself for several years about missing the second GMAC Bowl in Mobile back in 2001, the highest-scoring game in bowl history. In that game, Marshall wiped out a 38-8 halftime deficit against East Carolina to win 64-61 in double OT, thus establishing the all-time bowl-game record for largest deficit overcome to win. I would have been at that game if it had not conflicted with the New York holiday trip I take with my darling Sandy every year. We got back from theatre that night in time for me to watch the game's last quarter and OT's, all the while wishing secretly that I were in Mobile instead. Texas Tech's comeback let me come clean with Sandy about my 2001 regrets, and she actually apologized to me for "making" me miss such a thriller in 2001. I told her that there was no way to know in advance, and that now all I need is to see a bowl game that has a combined score of more than 125! And it looks as though we can expect more of the same in 2007. My college season begins on Thursday night, August 23rd, at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, ND, as the hometown Fighting Sioux entertain Humboldt State. That will be the first of what I hope will be a personal-best 82 college games this season, ending in New Orleans at the BCS Title Game on January 7th. But technically speaking, my football season has already begun...I am sending this column in from Canada in late July, where I've already seen the unbeaten and league-leading British Columbia Lions of the CFL outlast the winless Hamilton Tiger-Cats by a 22-18 score. I've also taken in a Canadian Juniors game, the first home contest in the history of the Kamloops Broncos, a disheartening 57-2 pasting at the hands of this year's BC Football Conference favorites, the Victoria Rebels. This season will also bring in ten more new college football programs, including eight 4-year schools and 2 playing JuCo schedules. The latter include Arkansas Baptist, which will play a schedule loaded with strong Texas JuCo teams, while Manhattan's Globe Institute of Technology will play mostly New York-area JV teams. The four-year schools, in alphabetical order, are: Birmingham-Southern(AL), Dordt College(IA), Faulkner University(AL), Kentucky Christian University, Lake Erie College(OH), Marian College(IN), North Carolina-Pembroke and Saint Vincent University(PA). I will have game stories and more details about each of these new programs as I cover them, with the final two planned to be seen against each other on October 27th, when Faulkner visits UNC-Pembroke. During the year we'll also have more news about the four new programs scheduled to kick off in 2008 and the three we know about so far due to start in 2009. Details on those programs, as well as my updated schedule, will appear in later columns, but you can go to the Football Gazette website to see my currently planned schedule, which will be updated in a few days. Happy Football!

- 30 -

One last cheer from proud dad on the sidelines

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 14:43:00 -0600

Rob Kasper/Baltimore Sun
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOV 11, 2006
Today I wrap up my career as a football dad, a guy who sits in the stands on Saturdays cheering for his offspring. Our younger son, a senior at Johns Hopkins, straps on his helmet for the last time as the Blue Jays take on the McDaniel Green Terror in the final game of the year this afternoon at Homewood Field.

In some ways, the experiences of being a sideline parent are the same regardless of the sport being played. Over the years of watching my two sons play various sports, the four horsemen of emotion - pride, elation, frustration and worry - have often kept me company.

When your kid plays football, however, you have to come to grips with the fact that collisions, planned and unplanned, are central to the game. "They all go down in a pile," I recall one middle school mother saying years ago as we watched our sons play their first football game. "But as long as they all get up, I am OK."

It is a mantra I have silently repeated to myself a few times this year as my son's body disappeared from view under some 300-plus-pound opposing lineman. But my kid would emerge from the pile seemingly unscathed, sometimes getting credit for a tackle, which in the world of defensive linemen, is a prize.

Today's game is Division III football, where there are no athletic scholarships, where there are always plenty of free seats on game day, and where the members of the spirited John Hopkins Pep Band are volunteers.

It is not big-time college football, but it is big enough. The players are skilled, serious and far from tiny, a fact that was reinforced when I wandered onto the practice field a few weeks ago. There, in the deepening dusk, I looked around for my "little boy" and all I could see were square-shouldered giants. Eventually I found him. But as I was standing next to him, with the sweat pouring off him, I had a hard time believing that not so long ago, when he was a toddler, I used to carry him up three flights of stairs. Now I couldn't lift his leg.

After several highly successful seasons, the Blue Jays have struggled this fall. They need a win today to finish at 5-5. All of the games have been tight; the outcome was often determined late in the fourth quarter. This tightrope walk has made for a series of drama-filled, if sometimes disappointing, Saturday afternoons.

Beyond the wins and losses, playing college football has been good for my kid. It is hard work, requiring discipline and time management skills. Even with all the work, there is no guarantee of playing time. The level of competition is high. My son did not see much action until he was a senior. Now he is one of a series of players rotated in the middle of the defensive line.

Still he stuck with it and liked it. Many of his friends are on the team. Several of them live in a Charles Village rowhouse. They help each other out. A few weeks back when my son had a job interview, one of his housemates, tight end Kevin Smith, lent him a suit. When my son wanted to move a large box spring and mattress up several flights of stairs, Chris Whitehorn, another defensive lineman who has been knocked out of football action with knee problems, lent my son his truck and a hand with the move.

In the academically demanding and sometimes-frosty environment of college, the football boys have found fellowship. High school rivalries, which loom large in Baltimore, lose much of their edge in college. For instance, back when my son was playing high school ball for St. Paul's, wide receiver Anthony Triplin was playing for Gilman and was regarded as "the enemy." But in college, the two have become teammates and friends.

After looking at colleges up and down the East Coast and spending his freshman year at Dickinson in Carlisle, Pa., my kid ended up at a campus so close to our home that I sometimes ride a bike to the home games. Parents of other players, however, travel considerable distances. Brian Cook's family is one of many clans that drive down from Pennsylvania, Zach Rupert's parents fly in from Ohio, Anthony Woodard's dad motors in from Virginia. It's what football dads, and some moms, do on game day.

My wife is not a fervent football fan. Last weekend, for instance, she worked a crossword puzzle while sitting next to me as Hopkins beat Hampden-Sydney. She was concentrating so hard on completing the puzzle, the difficult Saturday New York Times version, that she missed Mark Nesbitt's game-clinching touchdown. She did ride along with me in mid-October to Gettysburg, Pa. For her, the highlight of that outing was the halftime performance by the Gettysburg College marching band.

For me, the Gettysburg game was frustrating. In the fourth quarter, the Blue Jays were moving toward the end zone and it looked as if they were either going to score a touchdown or rely on kicker Ben Scott's foot to knock through yet another field goal. But there was a fumble, Gettysburg pounced on it and to its credit marched down the field and put the game away.

I was bummed. But I often take the outcome of a game too seriously. It is, after all, an extracurricular activity, a part of the college experience, a pleasant way to spend an autumn afternoon.

James and Will Margraff seem to have the right perspective. They are the young sons of the Hopkins head football coach. At every game, they get their hands on a football and play catch. At halftime of the Gettysburg game, for instance, their mom, Alice, was throwing them passes. Those boys and their dad have a lot of football adventures ahead of them. But for me and the other parents of senior players, today is our last chance to hurrah. (Editor's Note: Johns Hopkins defeated McDaniel, 48-7) rob.kasper@baltsun.com

Colleges benefit from student athletes

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:07:00 -0500

President's Message

10/20/2006

In high school I was a confirmed pencil neck. At 6 feet 2, I was more than painfully thin and called "Stretch" by a few friends. Naturally, I was picked on by the usual group of males, some of whom were athletes and all of whom were much stronger than me. By the time I was in college, I had developed a healthy skepticism of everything athletic, if not a downright bias.

Once I completed a graduate degree, I took my first teaching job at small university in the Midwest and started teaching college students. Much to my surprise, I grudgingly found that some of my best students were also athletes. They attended class regularly, asked me to sign progress reports for their coaches, and were mostly A to B students. There were a few bad apples, but I found young men and women athletes generally more motivated and engaged in their education. They tended to graduate at a higher rate than their non-athlete peers.

After a few years, it became clear to me that I needed to pursue a Ph.D. if I wanted to continue to teach at the university level. I requested a leave of absence and was fortunate to land a fellowship at Northwestern University. My assignments included teaching some introductory courses in communication theory and serving as a teaching assistant and grader for a senior professor. During my two years at N.U., I encountered many student athletes and was again impressed at their level of academic engagement. One of the finest final essays I read in an advanced argumentation course - which included some very tough readings - was written by a starting offensive lineman for the Northwestern football team (who later became an M.D.). Although in those days the N.U. football team was locked in the throes of one of the longest losing streaks in Division I history, many of those players were fine students who went on to succeed in life, in spite of losing seasons.

After Northwestern I taught at two other institutions - one a large state institution, the other a small college in the South. My experience continued to be that, for the most part, college athletes persisted and succeeded more than students not engaged in athletics. But it was only after my arrival at Adams State College that I fully came to understand the importance of athletics on a small college campus.

Adams State has a tradition of excellence in intercollegiate athletics. A recent athletic Hall of Fame banquet drew one of the largest audiences I have seen at ASC outside of spring graduation. The inductees represented nearly every generation of ASC students since the 1950s, when ASC athletic programs grew as enrollments increased. But what most impressed me is that the inductees, to a person, cited their professors as the individuals who made a difference in the lives. Certainly, coaches like Dr. Joe Vigil and Dick Drangmeister and "Doc" Cotton provided inspiration and were role models for these athletes. But athletics was the vehicle that allowed them to experience their wonderful professors and attain the college education that transformed their lives. Over the years, only a handful of ASC athletes have "gone pro." But thousands of ASC athletic graduates have gone on to lead successful lives and careers.

Student athletes account for nearly 25 percent of Adams State's on-campus undergraduate enrollment. Last year, 372 ASC students engaged in at least one of our intercollegiate sports teams. We currently have 14 athletic programs, 6 men's and 8 women's. Like their predecessors, most of these young people are only able to pursue a college degree because of an athletic scholarship.
When I look at the academic success rates of our athletes and compare them to other ASC students, I am again impressed. Athletes have nearly double the graduation rate of non-athletes, and in some years, particular sports boast a 100 percent graduation rate.

Of course, athletes do more than play ball, or run, or whatever. It is important for other former pencil necks like me to understand that these 372 young people are also biology majors, history majors, art majors, English majors, etc. Almost every measure of academic success shows athletes as a group succeeding at a higher rate than non-athletes.

NCAA Division II statistics show that an athlete brings at least one additional student with them when they choose an institution. It's clear that athletes have a big impact on enrollment.

Adams State College owes a significant thanks to former and current ASC athletes who have started their "Great Story" at ASC and helped to make the campus a vibrant and interesting place for all of us. Even reformed "pencil necks."

Webmaster's Note: This column, written by ASC President, Dr. David Svaldi, appeared in Friday's Valley Courier.

Visit ASCGrizzlies.com for the latest news and info on Adams State College Athletics.

Record-setting Antwan Harris – Mount Ida College Football Captain

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 19:41:00 -0500

Contact: Mike Raposo
Sports Information Director
( 617) 928-7202

Antwan Harris – Mount Ida College Football Captain

NEWTON, Mass. (Oct. 17, 2006) – Every time he bursts for another gain on the football field, Mount Ida College senior running back Antwan Harris of Hartford, Conn. adds to his school rushing record. At mid-season, Harris was on track to become just the ninth Division III college player in New England to gain at least 4,000 yards.

But it is the strides he has made off the field that have transformed Harris from an initially uninvolved freshman just trying to adapt to a new position on the football team into the consummate student-athlete, an individual who strives to make the most of his potential.

``Antwan is an exceptional young man who takes pride in everything he does,’’ said Mount Ida head football coach Ed Sweeney. ``Antwan’s work ethic is what sets him apart. He embraces challenge both in the classroom and on the field. He cares about his teammates and works extremely hard not to let them down. I have coached for 36 years and Antwan prepares himself on a daily basis as thoroughly as any player I have ever been around.’’

A defensive end/lineman in high school, Harris didn’t mind hitting and getting hit in that role. But he relished the opportunity to carry the football once Sweeney and his staff converted him to offense early in his freshman season. Now, as the team’s premier ball-carrier, he prides himself as being as fresh in the final quarter and he was in the first.

``It’s not the records that are important,’’ said Harris, ``it’s how you leave your mark on the game through your presence and the key plays you make. Numbers don’t describe character. Pushing myself to the limit is a big part of me.’’

Harris’ efforts to improve on and off the field were in evidence last summer when he stayed on campus and put himself through a grueling self-designed training program to improve his conditioning and quickness. He also met weekly with Mount Ida professor Ronald Greenwald to hone his language and communication skills.

``I’d like to go for a Masters Degree once football is over for me,’’ said Harris, who was captain of the football and indoor and outdoor track teams at Weaver High School in Hartford, Conn. and who has a special interest in history and American Studies. A student-teacher at West Roxbury High School, Harris would like to be a teacher-coach someday and he has invited some of the West Roxbury students and staff to attend Mount Ida’s home football games.

``It’s a lot of fun listening to what high school students have on their minds,’’ said Harris.

Aside from delivering on the football field, Harris works five days a week in the mail room delivering packages. He is also vice president of the Black Student Achievement Coalition, is active on the Student Government Committee and is a member of the college’s Learning Circle Program that provides resources and services through academic coaches.

``I take the same approach whether it’s for football or school work – that prior preparation is crucial,’’ said Harris, the first 3,000 yard rusher in Mount Ida football history whose 377 yards against Becker College in the 2005 season set a New England Division III single game record and were the most yards gained in a single game the entire season by any player in the nation.

This season, his 243 rushing yards versus Becker ranked second amongst DIII players for a single game at the time, a feat that earned Harris recognition on the D3Football.com Team of the Week and selection to the Football Gazette’s National Player of the Week list for his division.

In addition, Harris’ 99-yard touchdown run at the Norwich Academy tied an NCAA record and his 31-yard scoring rush late in the Homecoming Day Game on September 30 enabled the Mustangs to come back and defeat Husson College, the tenth-ranked team in New England.

``He’s everything you could want in a football player,’’ said Mount Ida athletic director Jackie Palmer, ``and as a citizen of the Mount Ida community. Wherever he goes on campus, Antwan Harris is a contributor.’’

Antwan Harris Career Highlights

*676 yards and 5 TD’s on 129 carries in 2006

*First 3,000 yard rusher in Mount Ida College football program history

*3,875 career rushing yards – 12th best in New England Division III history

(Note: There are only eight players in the history of New England DIII with 4,000 career rushing yards)

*Rushed for 377 yards versus Becker College on September 24, 2005

-Most in the history of New England Division III

-Most in all of NCAA Division III in 2005

-10th Most in the history of Division III

-25th Most in history of NCAA (all divisions)

-Boston Globe Gold Helmet Award Winner

-ECAC Northeast Offensive Player of the Week

-D3Football.com Team of the Week

*Rushed for 243 yards versus Becker College on September 23, 2006

-2nd Most in all of NCAA Division III this season

- D3Football.com Team of the Week

-Don Hansen’s Football Gazette Players of the Week

*Broke off a 99-yard touchdown run at Norwich University on September 2, 2006

-Best in NCAA Division III history

*1,370 rushing yards in 2005 were 23rd best single-season total in New England Division III History

*2005 Final NCAA Rankings

-178.6 all purpose yards per game ranked fifth nationally

-137.0 rushing yards per contest were tenth best

*1,128 rushing yards in 2004 were 69th best single-season total in New England Division III history.

*2004 Final NCAA Rankings

-146.6 all purpose yards per game ranked 37th nationally

-141.0 rushing yards per contest were 15th best

-8.5 points per game were 35th best

Mike Raposo
Sports Information Director/Assistant Athletic Director
Mount Ida College
777 Dedham Street
Newton, MA 02459
Phone: 617-928-7202
FAX: 617-928-7299

News and Notes From Around College Football

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:41:00 -0500

Monday’s Chalktalk

for October 16, 2006

Four On-Campus Salutes Slated for This Weekend

Coach Bobby Bowden, Thomas Everett, Mike Rozier and Charlie Ward will celebrate their 2006 induction into the College Football Hall of Fame with an On-Campus Salute this Saturday, Oct. 21.

Coach Bowden and his former quarterback Charlie Ward will be honored together this Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium on the FSU campus. Bowden, the winningest I-A coach in history, has led the ‘Noles to 12 ACC conference championships and two national titles. Ward, perhaps the most highly decorated player of all-time, set seven ACC records and 19 school records en route to winning the 1993 Heisman Trophy.

Baylor will honor its 1986 Jim Thorpe Award recipient, Thomas Everett, during the Bears’ Homecoming game against Kansas. Everett was a two-time Southwest Conference MVP and ranks in the top 10 for several Baylor records, including interceptions, tackles, punt returns and punt return yardage.

Nebraska’s Mike Rozier returns to Norman on Saturday as the Huskers take on conference rival Texas. Rozier won the 1983 Heisman Trophy and led Nebraska to a perfect 21-0 conference record. He ranks fifth in NCAA history in single-season rushing yardage.

Two-Minute Drill

Tulsa's 5-1 start is the team’s best since 1982... Williams (Mass.) received its eighth consecutive Division III U.S. Sports Academy Directors Cup for overall excellence on Saturday during halftime of their game against Middlebury (Vt.). The football team moved to 4-0 Saturday... Wisconsin won “Paul Bunyan’s Axe” with its win over Minnesota... Louisville is 6-0 for the first time since 1972 when Lee Corso was the coach. Corso and the rest of the College GameDay crew will be honored with the NFF’s Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football award, Dec. 5 in New York City... Pittsburg State RB Germaine Race (school-record 6,011 yards – ninth in NCAA Division II history) set an NCAA Division II career scoring record with 580 points... Of the top five NCAA Division I-A teams in total blocked kicks since the 2000 season, two are from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The five best at blocked kicks over the last seven seasons include Texas (46), N.C. State (41), Virginia Tech (36), Air Force (31), and Syracuse (30)... Pittsburgh (6-1) is off to their best start since 1982... West Texas A&M claimed the coveted Wagon Wheel Trophy with their win over Eastern New Mexico... Virginia Tech is now 12-2 on Thursday nights after losing to Boston College... Miami’s win over Florida International featured Hurricane defensive coordinator Randy Shannon coaching against his son, FIU center Xavier Shannon... Alabama wore commemorative jerseys versus Ole Miss to honor the 25th anniversary of Hall of Fame coach Bear Bryant’s 315th win and his final SEC championship team... Nebraska won their 800th game on Saturday, joining Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas... Rutgers, now 6-0, is ranked in the top 20 for the first time since 1977.

Minnesota will launch a grassroots fundraising program this spring to help raise the school's portion of the cost for its new football stadium. The campaign will include the sale of personalized bricks for the stadium. The school has already raised nearly half of the necessary funding... Western Kentucky's Smith Stadium is currently undergoing a $37 million renovation which will increase capacity form 17,500 to 24,000 by March 2008... Appalachian State is considering an expansion of its 18,000-seat Kidd- Brewer Stadium. The Mountaineers are averaging a standing-room-only 24,927, highest in Division I-AA... The official website for UCF now offers a web-cam that allows fans to follow the progress of the construction of the Knights’ new stadium on-line.

Texas-San Antonio has begun an aggressive marketing campaign in hopes of adding a football program to the university... The Buc Football and Friends Foundation has been established to support the reinstatement of college football at East Tennessee State University.

Penn State football will be part of the breaking news feature that sports fans will be able to receive via the Philadelphia Inquirer's recently launched information service for mobile phones... Ohio State's scarlet and gray colors are The Home Depot's No. 1 selling collegiate paint scheme in its Team Colors Program. Forty- four schools are involved in the program, and the rest of Top Five includes: Georgia, Michigan, Florida, and Notre Dame... First-year Bethany College (W.Va.) head coach Tim Weaver and three of his student-athletes recently traveled to a nearby preschool recently to kick off their new “Boomer and Books” program... The Western Athletic Conference recently unveiled a 479-page document entitled Strategic Plan 2006, outlining the conference's plan to become a premiere Division I-A conference... Arizona State just hosted the Fitbones Festival to raise funds and in recognition of the Arizona Osteoporosis Coalition... Georgia Tech athletics director Dan Radakovich was the guest speaker at a recent Columbus (Ga.) Quarterback Club gathering... Oklahoma and Hall of Fame coach Barry Switzer will deliver the keynote address at the upcoming Inside Self- Storage Las Vegas Expo at the Mandalay Bay Resort on February 21, 2007... Michigan State placekicker Morton Anderson became the second-oldest player in NFL history when the Atlanta Falcons signed him for the remainder of the season... Former Tennessee QB Heath Shuler, a Heisman Trophy runner-up in 1993, is running as a Democrat for North Carolina's 11th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives... Princeton announced that it will be working with Nike on a collaborative sponsorship effort to outfit all of the Tigers varsity sports... South Carolina will have a pep rally in Nashville’s entertainment district the night prior to the Gamecocks’ game versus Vanderbilt this weekend... New England Patriot head coach Bill Belichick moved his family’s historic football book collection to Navy’s Ricketts Hall. Bill’s late father Steve was part of the Naval Academy family for 33 years as an assistant football coach and associate professor in the P.E. Department... Pittsburgh and Duquesne Light are asking fans to donate a bag of groceries to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. In return, contributors will receive $10 off their ticket for the Panthers game versus Rutgers on Saturday... East Carolina has announced the Tickets for Troops campaign which encourages fans to purchase specially priced tickets to be donated directly to active service members and their families.

2006 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Anderson was inducted into the Colorado University Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday, alongside former sports information director Fred “The Count” Casotti, former CU coach Bill McCartney and former Buff athletics director Bill Marolt. CU painted the number “11” on the field, and commemorative postcards with Anderson’s picture and stats were also passed out to fans. A parade was also held in his honor.

College Football Hall of Famer and former Nebraska NG Rich Glover was inducted into the Jersey City Recreation Foundation Hall of Fame... Washington LB Dan Howell is the latest nominee for the FedEx Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award to be announced at the end of the 2006 season... Louisville Vice President and Director of Athletics Tom Jurich was inducted into the Kentucky Hall of Fame... Former Baylor All-America quarterback Don Trull was named to his school's Hall of Fame recently. Trull, who also was a quarterback for the Houston Oilers, is on the Board of Directors for the NFF Touchdown Club of Houston Chapter... The Davey O'Brien Foundation has named football great and College Hall of Fame member Paul Hornung of Notre Dame as the recipient of its 2006 Davey O’Brien Legends Award.

The Orange Bowl named Jeff Purinton director of media relations and communications... The Columbus Destoyers of the Arena Football League named former Ohio State lineman Jim Lachey senior vice president of football operations.

The 26th Annual Orlando Citrus Parade presented by Delta Air Lines will be held on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2006, at 11 a.m. (EST) in downtown Orlando and will be seen on syndicated television in 149 markets... The Texas vs. the Nation All-Star Bowl announced that former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan will coach the National squad in the inaugural game set to take place Feb. 2 in El Paso, Texas. UTEP coach Mike Price will lead the Texas squad. Ryan is 1-1 as a head coach in college all-star games, leading Team USA's efforts in the 2000-01 Gridiron Classics in Orlando. The bowl also announced that CSTV will provide live television coverage... The Hula Bowl announced that Georgia’s Mark Richt will be one of four co-head coaches for the Jan. 14 game in Honolulu. He joins West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez, Houston’s Art Briles, and Fresno State’s Pat Hill... Don Shula and Dan Reeves were named head coaches for the 2007 East-West Shrine Game Jan. 20 in Houston, Texas.

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) recently announced a new marketing agreement with Host Communications Inc. of Lexington, Ky. that will allow Host to expand and manage the NFF’s corporate sponsorship program... Fox College Sports signed a one year agreement with the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to carry games on a tape- delayed basis this season... Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis recently appeared on ESPN2’s “Quite Frankly” with Stephen A. Smith... “Tillman’s Final Mission,” the story of the Pat Tillman tragedy as told by soldiers who were there, aired for the first time on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” Sunday, Oct 15. Tillman will be honored posthumously with the NFF’s Distinguished American award, Dec. 5 in New York City... A recent Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal poll found that most people would rather see a game at Notre Dame Stadium over Lambeau Field in Green Bay... AT&T plans to announce that it will carry the Big Ten Channel when it launches its U- Verse Digital Video Service next August... The Boston Globe has begun a new feature called "One Fall Day,” which captures the scene and pageantry around college football at nationwide venues. Last week’s offerings were at Georgia, Howard, Abilene Christian, Williams, and San Mateo College. For additional coverage, please visit www.Boston.com.

The new book Career in Crisis: Paul "Bear" Bryant and the 1971 Season of Change by John David Briley delves into Alabama’s switch to the Wishbone offense, social change and the rejuvenation of the UA program... The Missing Ring by Keith Dunnavant covers the close race for the 1966 mythical national championship, the Crimson Tide’s near-miss for the college crown and the social climate of the mid-1960s in America... Author Gene Duffey has released 60 Years of the Outland Trophy, a 320-page book covering the winners of the coveted lineman trophy back to 1946.

The NFF announced that Jonathan Jackson, a senior RB-DB at Dunbar Vocational Academy in Chicago, Ill., has been selected as the September Student-Athlete of the Month for Play It Smart - the NFF’s highly successful mentoring program targeted at student-athletes in underserved communities. Jackson was selected from the more than 12,000 participants and 20 finalists from across the country.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl served as honorary co-captains for Washington & Jefferson's homecoming game versus Westminster. Goodell was recruited to play defensive back for the Presidents but suffered a knee injury before his freshman year. Ravenstahl, 26, was the Presidents' starting placekicker for three years and still holds school records for career field goals and consecutive extra points made.

Former Arizona State athletics director Donn Kinzie has died... Former Purdue athletics director George King passed away at age 78... Former McNeese State All-American running back Darrell Lester passed away at age 65... Sam Mrvos, a former Georgia football player and coach, died at age 76.

Bevo XIII, mascot for the Texas Longhorns for a school-record 16 seasons, died Oct. 11 at an Austin ranch. He was 22.

With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy presented by HealthSouth and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes.

For more information, please visit us on the web at www.foot ballfoundation.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

phone: 973-829-1933
web: http://www.footballfoundation.com/

This Week in College Football History: Oct. 2 - Oct. 8

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Wed, 4 Oct 2006 02:54:00 -0500

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.

http://www.footballfoundation.com/news.php?id=962

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Sept. 26, 2006 – As part of an on-going series throughout the fall, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame circulates in advance This Week in College Football History, which takes a look back at some of college football’s landmark moments over the last 138 years. During the season, many of these events are featured in a changing exhibit at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.

*If you choose to use this content in whole or in part, as a courtesy, please credit The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

Featured Moment:

October 4, 1997: Kentucky beats Alabama 40-34 in overtime, defeating the Crimson Tide for first time in 75 years (2-31-1).

Bama’s 30-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter sent the game into overtime, tying the game at 34. But, a Tide fumble in OT forced a change in possession, and UK scored on a 26-yard touchdown pass for the game-winner. Kentucky QB Tim Couch passed for 355 yards and four touchdowns en route to the overtime victory.

Other Notable Dates:

October 2, 1970: A chartered plane carrying the Wichita State football team to a game at Utah State crashes in Clear Creek Canyon, Colo., killing 31 of the 40 people on board. Another chartered Martin 404 arrives safely in Logan, Utah.

October 3, 1998: Texas RB Ricky Williams states his case for the Heisman Trophy with a school-record 350 net rushing yards on 37 attempts in the Longhorns’ 54-33 victory over Iowa State in Austin.

October 5, 1968: Arkansas’ Bill Burnett starts a 23-game scoring streak in a 17-7 victory over TCU. The streak ends on Oct. 31, 1970, a record that stood for 32 years.

October 5, 1985: Legendary Grambling head football coach and 1997 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Robinson surpasses fellow Hall of Famer Paul “Bear” Bryant’s career win mark (324) with a 27-7 win over Prairie View A&M.

October 6, 1923: 1951 College Football Hall of Famer Red Grange of Illinois debuts against Nebraska and rushes for touchdowns of 50, 35, and 12 yards.

October 7, 1916: Georgia Tech wins by the largest margin in college football history, beating Cumberland 222-0 in Atlanta.

October 8, 1955: Oklahoma becomes the first team in 282 games to shut out Texas, defeating the Longhorns 12-0 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

ABOUT The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame

With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy, presented by HealthSouth, and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. Learn more at www.footballfoundation.org.

-###-

NFF Contacts:

Phil Marwill, director of communications

1-800-486-1865, ext. 118

Hillary Jeffries, special projects assistant

1-800-486-1865, ext. 123

Bo Carter, correspondent

Mobile: 214-418-6132

This Week in College Football History: Oct. 9 - Oct. 15

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Wed, 4 Oct 2006 01:37:00 -0500

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Oct. 3, 2006 – As part of an on-going series throughout the fall, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame circulates in advance This Week in College Football History, which takes a look back at some of college football’s landmark moments over the last 138 years. During the season, many of these events are featured in a changing exhibit at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.

*If you choose to use this content in whole or in part, as a courtesy, please credit The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

Featured Moment:

October 14, 1950: The late Francis “Reds” Bagnell, longtime National Football Foundation benefactor and College Hall of Fame member, rushes for 214 yards and passes for 276 yards for a then-national-record 490 yards of total offense in a 42-26 Penn victory over Dartmouth.

Bagnell, who was recipient of the 1950 Maxwell Trophy, was listed as a 160-pound tailback and was eulogized in the U.S. Senate for his contributions to society and sports after his death in 1995. He still is listed in several categories in the Quakers’ record book – 56 years after his illustrious college career ended in ’50.

Other Notable Dates:

October 9, 1943: In the first- ever meeting of Associated Press poll Nos. 1 and 2-ranked teams, No. 1 Notre Dame outlasts Michigan 35-12 in Ann Arbor. The AP national polls began in 1936, and the United Press International coaches’ polls started in 1950.

October 9, 2004: California QB Aaron Rodgers ties an NCAA record with 23 straight completions in a 23- 17 loss to eventual national champion USC.

October 11, 1984: Mark Ryahcych of Concord (W.Va.) intercepted 10 passes against Shepherd (W.Va.), a record among all divisions.

October 11, 1997: LSU upsets four-time defending SEC champion Florida 28-21 in Baton Rouge. The Tigers snap the Gators’ 25-game SEC win streak.

October 12, 1968: Missouri sets an NCAA record with 99 rushing attempts in a 27-14 victory over Colorado. The Tigers rush for 421 yards, turning back the Buffaloes led by 2006 Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Anderson.

October 14, 1889: Christy Mathewson of Bucknell kicked a field goal (worth five points at the time) from 40 yards to help the Bison edge Lehigh 5-0. Mathewson later won 373 games in 17 seasons (1900- 16) with baseball’s New York Giants and Cincinnati Reds.

October 15, 1960: Baylor defeats Texas Tech 14-7 in the Red Raiders first-ever Southwest Conference home game.

Click here to download the PDF and view the photo

With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy presented by HealthSouth and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes.

For more information, please visit us on the web at www.foot ballfoundation.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Herb Jeffries
phone: 973-829-1933
web: http://www.footballfoundation.com/ NFF Contacts:

Phil Marwill, director of communications
1-800-486-1865, ext. 118

Hillary Jeffries, special projects assistant
1-800-486-1865, ext. 123

Bo Carter, correspondent

EAST COAST BOWL 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 06:11:00 -0500

Petersburg, VA - The East Coast Bowl game is an annual small college All-Star football game that is played the first Saturday following Thanksgiving in Petersburg, VA. East Coast Bowl VI will be played this year on November 25, 2006 at Historic Cameron Field with kickoff scheduled to be around 12:00 noon.

The East Coast Bowl game has quickly become the Thanksgiving tradition in Petersburg. The game last year, won by the South 27-14, featured top seniors from 22 different states. The East Coast Bowl Committee will gather more than 250 nominations for this year’s game, which will be narrowed down to the top 70 Division I-AA, II, III and NAIA athletes. Players will report to Petersburg the day before Thanksgiving and spend the holiday with community members that are less fortunate, including visits to community centers, convalescent homes, and children’s hospitals. The game itself is set-up as a scholarship event, with all of the revenue generated going into a fund for a local high school senior who plans on attending a Division I-AA, II or III college.

We look to build on that success and make this year’s event more memorable. The East Coast Bowl committee would like to invite all Virginia High School Football teams to the game free of charge. To get tickets in advance or free tickets for football teams please email EastCoastBowl@aol.com or go to www.petersburgsports.com for more information.

News and Notes From Around College Football for September 18, 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 06:06:00 -0500

National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.

Monday’s Chalktalk

http://www.footballfoundation.com/news.php?id=948

First On-Campus Salute for Class of 2006 Announced

Former Jackson State All-American defensive back Kevin Dent will be honored this Saturday by the National Football Foundation for his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame this past summer. The On-Campus Salute will take place at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson prior to the Tigers’ game versus Mississippi Valley State. Dent was enshrined August 13 in South Bend, Ind., at the NFF's College Football Hall of Fame. The three-time All-American will be the first member of 2006 class to have his On-Campus Salute.

Two-Minute Drill

Indiana head coach Terry Heoppner is “resting comfortably” after brain surgery on Sept. 13, according to the Indiana University website… TCU ran the nation’s longest winning streak to 13 games after defeating Texas Tech on Saturday. TCU QB Jeff Ballard is now 11-0 as a starter, breaking the record for wins to start a career set by College Football Hall of Fame member Davey O'Brien … USC’s Pac-10 record home winning streak now stands at 28 games. USC has scored 20 points or more in 54 straight games. Play It Smart graduate Dwayne Jarrett became USC's career touchdown receptions leader with 31… Oregon is 24-1 in non-conference home games under head coach Mike Bellotti. The Ducks are 5-0 at home versus Top 25 non-conference opponents under Bellotti… North Texas WR Johnny Quinn has caught a pass in 39 straight games… Boston College's Tom O'Brien became the school's all-time leader in wins with 69... Georgia has posted back-back shut-outs for the first time since 1980. That year, Hall of Fame coach Vince Dooley led the Bulldogs to the national title… Southern Illinois became the fifth I-AA school to knock off a I-A school, beating Indiana last Saturday… Tulane recorded its first road win over an SEC opponent since 1989… Florida coach Urban Meyer is the first Gator coach since Galen Hall in 1984-85 to record back-back wins over Tennessee in his first two tries… Auburn's 7-3 win over LSU was the lowest scoring game at Jordan-Hare Stadium since 1973… The Ivy League kicked off its 50th season last Saturday… Michigan was named Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week… Rutgers is 3-0 for first time since 1981… Wake Forest is 3-0 for first time since 1987… Florida QB Chris Leak became Florida's career yardage leader, surpassing the record established by former Draddy Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel… Iowa LB Mike Klinkenborg (eight tackles) was named the Walter Camp Football Foundation Defensive Player of the Week after leading UI past Iowa State… Alabama starting QB John Parker Wilson’s younger brother, senior QB Ross Wilson of Hoover (Ala.) HS near Birmingham, has been featured on MTV’s “Two-A-Days” documentary as well as the cover of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED… Northwestern State won their 100th game in 31 seasons at Turpin Stadium, defeating Delaware State.

Army coaches and staff members visited the Brooke Army Medical Center and three elementary schools in advance of Saturday's game versus Texas A&M in San Antonio, and the city was treated to a 90-minute parade downtown featuring the bands from both schools and more than 2,000 West Point and Texas A&M cadets. Five hundred tickets were distributed to local service members, with 100 earmarked for burn victims at Brooke Army Medical Center. Six hundred Army cadets made the trip to San Antonio for the game with Texas A&M, half of them were quartered at Lackland AFB, with the other half on their own.

West Virginia might have the most comprehensive walk-on program in the nation: there are 34 non-scholarship youngsters on the 2006 roster, and 26 walk-on student-athletes have been awarded grants-in-aid since 2001… USF is negotiating a home-and-home deal with Illinois… Colorado has agreed to home-and-home series with LSU, Oregon and Utah… Freshman Ray Ray McElrathbey of Clemson was granted a waiver by NCAA to receive assistance from the school in order to take care of his youngest brother, whom he has temporary custody… NCAA President Myles Brand announced an ultimate goal of 80 percent annual graduation rates for all student-athletes after an improvement from 62 to 76 percent in NCAA Division I from 2004-05 to 2005-06… Tennessee’s Volunteer Athletics and Scholarship Fund (VSAF) had a record $13.86 million in donations for the 2006 fiscal year ending June 30, 2006, from over 10,000 contributors… Former letterman and current Shaw University president Clarence Newsome joined Duke athletic administrators and former Blue Devils in a closed door pep talk to Duke athletic teams… Oregon has 384 game-day uniform choices according to an article in USA Today. The Ducks can choose from the following: four colors of jerseys and pants, two helmet options, four colors of socks and two colors of shoes.

Lafayette debuted Fisher Field at Fisher Stadium against Penn… Duke is designing architectural plans for a structural upgrade of Wallace Wade Stadium, including additional restrooms, concession stands and cosmetic improvements… Atlanta-based Gameday Centers announced that they will build a 212 suite luxury complex near the campus of the University of Tennessee… Miami City Commission has selected HNTB and Bermello Ajamil & Partners to provide architectural and engineering services and specifications to redevelop the Orange Bowl.

The 1982 and ’83 Air Force football teams, coached by Ken Hatfield, will be honored at the seventh annual Colorado Springs World Arena Hall of Fame ceremonies on Oct. 25… Former North Carolina coach Bill Dooley’s 1971 Atlantic Coast Conference championship team was honored on its 35th anniversary during the UNC-Furman contest… 1990-93 Memphis teammates Danton Barto and Russell Copeland were inducted into the University of Memphis M Club Hall of Fame… Finalists for the President Gerald R. Ford Legends of Center Award have been named by the Dave Rimington Trophy Committee. They are Bob Johnson of Michigan State, NFF board member and Hall of Famer Alex Kroll of Rutgers, Jim Otto of Miami (Fla.) and 1998 Hall of Famer Jim Richter of N.C. State… The University of South Carolina Hall of Fame inducted Gamecock greats TE Willie Scott and QB Steve Taneyhill on September 14… Play It Smart National Advisory Committee chairman and Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott taught a class and spoke to the football team at Northern Illinois last Thursday… Former Arkansas Razorback and current Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was on hand for the dedication of the Gene and Jerry Jones Family Stadium at the Episcopal School of Dallas last Friday. A donation from the Jones Family helped fund the project.

The Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year winner will be decided through online voting as well as judging by a selection committee composed of College Football Hall of Fame players and coaches, media and Liberty Mutual representatives. The winner will be announced during a one-hour ABC special on Dec. 16, hosted by Keith Jackson… Former Colorado head coach Gary Barnett has joined Sports USA Radio Network as a commentator for pro and college games… Wheaties announced that three special edition packages out this week will feature Georgia, Michigan and Notre Dame… The Ohio State-Texas game drew an 8.2 rating, the highest-rated regular season college football game since 2000… Former Iowa State, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M and Mississippi State coach Jackie Sherrill will speak to the Tallahassee Quarterback Club on Tuesday night.
The Ray Guy Award, sponsored by the Touchdown Club of Augusta, has released its latest watch list of 31 candidates… Dell Computer Corp. will sponsor the 2007 Dell East-West Shrine Game at Houston’s Reliant Stadium… Fresno State head football coach Pat Hill was selected to coach in this year’s Hula Bowl… The Gator Bowl Association and Southeast Toyota Distributors, Inc., have extended Toyota’s sponsorship through the 2007 postseason game… Fans can cast votes online (capitalonebowl.com) for the Capital One National Mascot of the Year by selecting one of the 12 featured in the 5th Annual Capital One All-America Mascot Team.

The NCAA promoted Damani Leech to director of football issues…Syracuse promoted Scott Sidwell to senior associate athletics director for development…Travis Furbee was named assistant athletics director of ticket operations at Clemson… Montana hired Jared Nessland as its director of athletic performance… Western Carolina head coach Kent Briggs was given a three year contract extension…The University of Alabama extended the contract and increased the salary of athletics director Mal Moore… Collie Nicholson, the legendary former sports information director at Grambling died last Wednesday. He was 82.

With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy presented by HealthSouth and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. For more information, please visit www.footballfoundation.org

- NFF -

Contacts:

Phil Marwill, director of communications

1-800-486-1865, ext. 118

Hillary Jeffries, special projects assistant

1-800-486-1865, ext. 123

Bo Carter, correspondent

Peterson to Be Recognized at Halftime of Football Game

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 13:34:00 -0500

Senior to Be Honored for Act of Heroism

ANNVILLE, Pa. – Lebanon Valley College football team member Jake Peterson (Birdsboro, Pa./Daniel Boone), who helped save the life of a young child earlier this summer, will be recognized for his act of heroism at halftime of Saturday’s home game versus Juniata.

In July, Peterson, a senior safety for the Dutchmen, and his sister, Allison, were working as lifeguards at a pool when 6-year-old Seth Boyce went under the surface. He was removed from the pool by other swimmers, but had stopped breathing after water had filled his lungs. But after Jake and Allison administered CPR, Boyce began breathing on his own.

Boyce and his mother, Jennifer, will join Jake and Allison for the halftime ceremony.

Saturday’s game is a 1 p.m. kickoff.

Peterson to Be Recognized at Halftime of Football Game

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 13:33:00 -0500

News and Notes From Around College Football for September 11, 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 12:32:00 -0500

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame News Release www.footballfoundation.com Monday’s Chalktalk

Bowden Bowl VIII

The Bowden Bowl between Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden, a 2006 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, and his son, Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden, is set for its eighth bout this Saturday in Tallahassee, Fla.
The eighth meeting between father and son - the first series of its type in Division I-A football history between a patriarch and his offspring - finds the elder Bowden with a 5-2 edge. Bobby Bowden currently touts a 288-75-4 record in his 31st season at FSU and 361-107-4 overall record during his 41st college campaign, which also includes stints at Samford (then Howard
College) and West Virginia before his tenure began at FSU in 1976. Tommy Bowden has amassed a 71-38 record as of his 10th year as a head coach after starting at Tulane before arriving at Clemson. The first game between the father-son duo also was the closest - a 17-14 win by the ‘Noles at Clemson in 1999. At least one of the two teams has been ranked nationally in each of the eight Bowden Bowls, including the No. 10 ranked 2006 Seminoles.

Aftermath of Ohio State-Texas Battle for No. 1

Ohio State is now 3-0 in No.1 versus No. 2 match-ups…The Buckeyes win gives No. 1 ranked teams a 22-13-2 all-time record in No 1 vs. No. 2 match-ups…A number of Texas streaks ended on Saturday night, including their 21 game winning streak, 16 game home-win streak, Mack Brown’ s 72 game win streak when the Longhorns out rush their opponent, and defensive coordinator Gene Chizik’s personal 29-game win streak…The game drew a Memorial Stadium record crowd of 89,422…Among the celebrities in attendance were Lance Armstrong,
2006 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Emmitt Smith, Lebron James, former Buckeye great Eddie George, and actors Matthew McConaghey and Jake Gyllenhaal. Armstrong participated in pre-game ceremonies, acting as an honorary captain during the coin toss…Ohio State LB James Laurinaitis is the son of Joseph Laurinaitis, better known as professional wrestler “Animal,”
one-half of the “Road Warriors” legendary tag team… United States Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, owes fellow Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, Blue Bell ice cream after losing a friendly wager on the outcome of Saturday night’s game… The Buckeyes are the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week…Ohio State’s win ties them with West Virginia for the nation’s second longest winning streak at nine. The nation’s longest streak belongs to TCU with 12 wins a row.

Two-Minute Drill

Erk Russell, who led Georgia's "Junkyard Dawg" defense under Vince Dooley and then built a small-college powerhouse of his own at Georgia Southern, died Sept. 8, in Statesboro, Ga. He was 80. Russell came to prominence during 17 years as Georgia's defensive coordinator from 1964-80 under College Football Hall of Fame coach Vince Dooley. Over 2,000 friends and fans attended a special memorial service at Statesboro’s Paulson Stadium for the late coach on Sept. 9.

Seven games this weekend will feature match-ups between ranked teams. They
include: No. 19 Nebraska at No. 2 USC; No. 13 Michigan at No. 3 Notre Dame; No. 7 LSU at No. 4 Auburn; No.6 Florida at No. 17 Tennessee; No. 11 Oklahoma at No. 18 Oregon; No. 15 Miami at No. 12 Louisville; and No. 22 Texas Tech at No. 20 TCU…. NCAA Division I-A football opening games in 2006 ran 17 minutes shorter than the 2005 season lid lifters, averaging 3:20 compared to their 2006 counterparts, which ran 3:03…. OL Baker Steinkuhler, son of former Nebraska All-American Dean Steinkuhler, has committed to the Cornhuskers…

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine addressed the Rutgers team following their victory over Illinois, the governor’s alma mater… Texas A&M saw a return of the all walk-on kickoff team late in their win vs. Louisiana-Lafayette… New Hampshire gave Division I-AA its’ 4th victory over an I-A opponent, when they upset Northwestern… Houston Quarterback Kevin Kolb became the school’s all-time leading passer… A commemorative coin, featuring Notre Dame’s seven Heisman trophy winners, was used for the coin flip prior to the Irish-Penn State game… The LSU Tigers have a nine-game winning streak against Pacific-10 Conference teams after downing Arizona… Tennessee retired the uniform numbers of four student-athletes who died in service during World War II prior to the Sept. 9 UT-Air Force game. The honored veterans were Bill Nowling, Willis Tucker, Rudy Klarer, and Clyde Fuson… Super Freshmen
Quarterbacks: Arkansas's Mitch Mustain was 9-17-111 yards passing in his first start, while Georgia's Matthew Stafford was 8-19-171-3 INT in the Bulldogs win over South Carolina…. Mustain’s first start versus Utah State drew 69,491, or 7,000 more than the average Razorback home non-conference game with exceptions for Texas and USC… The Penn sprint football team beat the Alumni team 13-8 at Franklin Field on Sept. 9…

Michigan extended its record against MAC opponents to 21-0 all-time… Virginia Tech has gone 9-0 in ACC road games since joining the conference in 2004… Oklahoma State has won 13 straight non-conference regular season games… Appalachian State has a 19-game home winning streak… For the first time in 30 years, Georgia Tech returned two interceptions for touchdowns in a single game during their bout with Samford… Lightning and weather delays effected games at BYU, Kentucky, and Michigan… Texas Tech wore red pants for the first time since 1991… Texas State Senator Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, will have to visit Lubbock and dine on Rocky Mountain oysters, thanks to losing a friendly wager with fellow State Senator Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock as the Red Raiders beat the Miners in El Paso… North Texas’s home win over SMU produced the third largest crowd in school history, 25,231… Washington coach Tyrone Willingham invited former Oklahoma Sooner and College Football Hall of Famer Jim Owens to be a “guest coach” for the Sept. 9 Oklahoma-Washington game in Norman, but Owens declined for health reasons.
Owens, 79, starred for the 1946-49 Sooners and coached the Huskies from
1957-74 and guided them to three Rose Bowl appearances.

Georgetown DE Alex Buzbee will wear No. 35 for the Hoyas this season.
Former Hoya Joe Eacobacci, who died during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center while working for the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, wore the number from 1993 -1995. Each season the Eacobacci Family selects a member of the squad to wear the number in honor of Joe.

Stanford will open the new Stanford Stadium this week against Navy. Pre-game ceremonies will include a U.S. Navy jet flyover, special entrance by Navy Leap Frog Teams and a ribbon-cutting ceremony by former Cardinal greats… Boise State celebrates the 20th Anniversary of its Blue Turf, aka Smurf Turf, on Sept. 13… The first phase of improvements for the Cotton Bowl in Dallas include a $5 million Daktronics scoreboard that will be ready for the October 7 Texas-Oklahoma game… HNTB will design renovations for the Orange Bowl in Miami and Iowa State's Jack Trice Stadium. With a targeted-2010 completion, the $35 million Jack Trice Stadium renovation includes 24 suites, enclosing and adding seats to the south end zone, and an expansion of the club suite section… Minnesota will break ground on their $248 million TCF Bank Stadium on Sept. 30… Texas State has erected a memorial to former Coach David Miller, who passed away last February… California-Davis will move into a new on-campus stadium in 2007 - the first year it is eligible for the I-AA playoffs.

Florida State's 13-10 victory over Miami on Sept. 4 earned honors as ESPN's most-viewed college football game ever. The Labor Day game, carried on ESPN and ESPN2, drew an average of 6.33 million households… Former USC and UNLV head coach John Robinson will be a spotter for John Madden during NBC's 2006 NFL coverage…The Sept. 9 Georgia-South Carolina game was one of 25 games that ESPN will simulcast on ESPN cell phones… Fox Sports Net Arizona and Arizona State extended their partnership with a new long-term agreement, which includes exclusive rights to all event and ancillary programming for Sun Devil Football… CBS is considering streaming its SEC national game of the week as part of CSTV's online football packages… 2006 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Joe Paterno of Penn State was featured on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on Sept. 7 as part of Couric's debut week… Fox Sports Net Bay Area’s coverage of Navy-Stanford will feature former Stanford greats coach Bill Walsh and Jim Plunkett, a 1990 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, as color analysts… Florida head coach Urban Meyer spent two days shooting tape and photos for Nike ads in Los Angeles and quipped that he said two words during his 20-plus hours in front of the camera.

College Sporting News and I-AA.org announced a new poll for coaches, the CSN Coaches Poll…Walt Disney World extended the title sponsorship of the Florida Classic, featuring Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M. The game played annually in Orlando is hosted by Florida Citrus Sports… Hofstra unveiled new home uniforms produced and manufactured by Riddell Corp… Florida and Georgia administrators are taking extra steps to guarantee safety and security at the annual UF-UGA tussle in Jacksonville, Fla., Oct. 28. The measures include a “Student Safe Zone” to prevent incidents before and after the contest… Minnesota has established new criteria to allow more Golden Gopher fans to attend the Nov. 18 game against Iowa in Minneapolis. In recent years Iowa fans have purchased large blocks of tickets for the Floyd of Rosedale Trophy game when it was played at Minnesota… Coaches at Idaho and Washington State favor discontinuing the long-standing series… Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney, former Kansas All-American quarterback Bobby Douglass, former Tennessee State and Chicago Bear Richard Dent and retired Big Ten official Tom Quinn will be inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame on September 14.

Old Dominion has hired former Navy and Virginia coach George Welsh, a 2004 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, and former North Carolina State coach Dick Sheridan, to serve as consultants as the Monarchs prepare to reinstate a football program for the 2009 season…Texas State named Ingrid Sobrino Bobcat Athletic Foundation Coordinator… Miami (Ohio) announced that Anthony Azama, who spent eight years with Florida Citrus Sports, will serve as the athletics department’s director of marketing.

Editors’ Notes

With this release, Bo Carter, a veteran of over 35 years in college media relations, becomes the first official correspondent for the NFF's Chalktalk, which was launched this past February. Carter will also assist with the NFF's "This Week in College Football", which is released each week during the season. Carter currently serves as the director of public relations for the Texas Collegiate League. Previously, he served as the sports information director/historian for the Big 12 Conference from 1996-2006. A native of Sheffield, Ala., he graduated from Vanderbilt in 1974 and earned induction into College Sports Information Directors (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame in July 2005 after an illustrious career in media relations. His other jobs include reporter for the Tennessean, sports information director at Mississippi State, and assistant commissioner for media relations with the Southwest Conference.

Please email news@footballfoundation.com to submit an item for the NFF’s “Monday Chalk talk”. Thanks!

With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy; the Draddy Trophy presented by HealthSouth and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, and the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes.

For more information, please visit www.footballfoundation.com

NFF Contacts:

Phil Marwill, director of communications 1-800-486-1865, ext. 118

Bo Carter, correspondent

Chadron State will face the University of Mary in the Marauders’ NCAA Division II debu

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 12:33:00 -0500

Two football teams that are approaching the season with cautious optimism will collide Saturday afternoon when the Chadron State Eagles are the guests of the University of Mary in Bismarck. Kickoff will be at 1 p.m. CDT.

With all but a handful of starters returning from a year ago, the Eagles figure to be improved while Mary is venturing into new territory. After being an NAIA power for years, the Marauders have joined the Northern Sun Conference and will be playing their first NCAA Division II game.

Both teams will be relying heavily on veterans. The Eagles have more returning starters; but Mary has more seniors, particularly on offense. The Marauders also have added several junior college transfers while the Eagles have none this fall.

“We’re really looking forward to opening the season,” CSC Head Coach Bill O’Boyle told the Eagles Booster Club on Monday. “We’ve had a long camp and the kids are anxious to get going. We’ve had a good camp with almost no injuries and a lot of enthusiasm.”

O’Boyle said from what he and his assistants can determine by watching films of last year and scoping out the Marauders from afar, Mary is at least as talented as most of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams.

“They’re big and well-coached,” O’Boyle said. “We think defense is their strength, but they’ve got all juniors and seniors on offense. They’re big, bigger than we are. We hope we’re a little faster in places.”

The Marauders’ head coach is Myron Schulz, who has a 62-14 record after seven years at the helm. He was an assistant eight years before he took over the head job. Prior to last year when Mary was beginning the transition to NCAA II and was not eligible for the postseason, the Marauders had gone to the NAIA playoffs seven years in a row.

Mary was 7-2 last year, losing only to Minot State 14-10 and Black Hills State 8-6.

Schulz is quoted as saying, “We have a very talented team. We are going into a higher level of play and this year is going to be a proving ground for us.”

All five of Mary’s starters in the offensive line are seniors. So are tailback Justin Fleck and wide receiver Rod Samuel. Fleck is expected to share playing time with Bayland Rippenkroeger, a transfer from American River College in Sacramento, where he had four consecutive 100-yard games rushing last fall before he was injured. Both Fleck and Rippenkroeger are about 5-10, 190.

Junior Blair Sandy, who became a starter late last year, will open at quarterback although transfer Jesse Kozak, once a CSC recruit, is also in the picture, it is believed.

The defensive bellwether is expected to be safety Jai Shaun White, a 6-0, 210-pound Las Vegas native who ran 40 yards in 4.42 seconds and demonstrated a 38-inch vertical jump for a Green Bay Packers’ scout last spring. He reportedly spent 75 percent of the off-season on football-related activities.

The only CSC offensive player starting for the first time Saturday will be center Chance Galey, who is believed to be the Eagles’ first starter from Crawford since Bill Bruer, who also was a basketball star, in the early 1940s. At 6-2, 250, Galey is the smallest of the Eagles’ starters in the offensive line, but is aggressive and has good technique, O’Boyle said.

The coach noted that in telephone conversations with Schulz he knows Mary is concerned about tailback Danny Woodhead, who has rushed for more than 3,600 yards the past two seasons.

“Like everybody else, they’ll be trying to stop Danny. We’ll have to throw the ball,” O’Boyle noted.

Last week it was announced that Joe McLain, a sophomore from Chadron, will start at quarterback with strong-armed senior Tyler Hidrogo on deck if the Eagles need to give special emphasis to the passing game.

Defensively, Coordinator Todd Auer plans to use numerous lineups. Five sophomores and a redshirt freshman are on the probable starting lineup.

Auer believes the latter player, defensive tackle Josh Knouse of Gering, will be a standout. “He’s the best we’ve had in a while at running the line of scrimmage. I’m excited to see what he can do.”

Also making their first start on defense will be sophomores Byron Korf at the other tackle spot, Eric Roth at outside linebacker, Zach Wheeler at inside linebacker and junior Beau Wendling of Rock Springs, Wyo., at cornerback.

Auer said of all the defensive players, Wendling has probably had the best preseason camp.

Mary’s probable starters:

Mary Offense

Wide receivers—Matt Wall, 5-10, 175, Jr., and Rodney Samuel, 6-0, 180, Sr.

Tight ends—Mandel Robinson, 6-1, 226, Jr. and Kyle Taylor, 6-2, 260, Sr.

Tackles—David Ukestad, 6-6, 285, Sr., and Abe Storms, 6-4, 290, Sr.

Guards—Tyson Roe, 6-2, 260, Sr., and Tom Goodwin, 6-3, 280, Sr.

Center—Daniel Hanson, 6-2, 275, Jr.

Quarterback—Blair Sandy, 6-1, 190, Jr.

Tailback—Bayland Rippenkroeger, 5-10, 180, Jr.-Justin Fleck, 5-10, 190, Sr.

Placekicker—Rhett Thibodeaux, 5-9, 170, Fr.

Mary Defense

Ends—Pierre Atkinson, 6-0, 245, So., and Jesse Laber, 6-1, 230, Sr.

Tackles—Keith McCleary, 6-1, 270, Jr., and Kelly McCleary, 6-2, 260, Sr.-Nathan Todd, 6-1, 285, Fr.

Outside linebackers—Shawn Melland, 6-4, 215, So., and Clint Schilke, 6-3, 235, Sr.

Inside linebackers—Brandon Lewis, 5-11, 205, Jr., and Brian Finnigan, 5-11, 230, Sr.

Cornerbacks—James Miles, 5-11, 180, Jr., and Nick Wagner, 6-0, 175, Jr.

Safetys—Jai Shaun White, 6-0, 195, Sr., and Tyler Ashton, 5-11, 175, Jr.

Punter—Saul Helgeson, 6-0, 180, Jr.

The Eagles are members of NCAA Division II and
the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference

Chadron State College 1-800-CHADRON

News and Notes From Around College Football for August 28, 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 09:16:00 -0500

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.
www.footballfoundation.com
Monday’s Chalktalk

Ticket Demand Greater Than Ever for NFF Annual Awards Dinner

Never before have more tickets been sold by the end of August for the National Football Foundation’s Annual Awards Dinner, which takes place this year on December 5. The unprecedented interest in the 49th annual gathering stems from a star-studded class of College Football Hall of Fame inductees, who will be honored at the event and includes coaches Joe Paterno (Penn
State) and Bobby Bowden (Florida State, West Virginia, Howard College-Ala.) and players Bobby Anderson (Colorado); Bennie Blades (Miami, Fla.); Carl Eller (Minnesota); Steve Emtman (Washington); Thomas Everett (Baylor); Chad Hennings (Air Force); Chip Kell (Tennessee); Mike Phipps (Purdue); Mike Rozier (Nebraska); Jeff Siemon (Stanford); Bruce Smith (Virginia Tech); Emmitt Smith (Florida); and Charlie Ward (Florida State).

Two-Minute Drill

Kansas State Quarterback Dylan Meier will start his first game in almost two years against Illinois State in the season opener. Dylan’s brother Kerry Meier, a redshirt freshman at Kansas, will also be starting at quarterback this weekend against Northwestern State. The Jayhawks and the Wildcats will meet Nov. 18 in Lawrence… Quarterback Colt McCoy will start for Texas in the season opener, becoming the fourth freshman to start at quarterback for coach Mack Brown… USC quarterback John David Booty has been elected by his teammates as one of the Trojan’s four team captains…Coach Kyle Wittingham has named Brett Ratliff as Utah’s starting quarterback… Sophomore Graham Harrell has been named the Texas Tech starting quarterback for the season opener against SMU.

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and Harris Interactive agreed to a four-year contract extension through the 2010 BCS bowls. This year’s BCS Standings, released each week by the National Football Foundation, will include the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, the USA Today’s Coaches Poll and six computer standings - Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin, and Dr. Peter Wolfe… According to Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), the University of Texas set an all-time record for collegiate licensing, taking in $8.2 million in the 2005-06 school year. It breaks the mark set by Michigan in
1993-94 season, when the Wolverines brought in $6.2 million…The Independence Bowl announced PetroSun Inc. as a new title sponsor through 2008. Rayfield Wright, a recent inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a former Dallas Cowboy-great, serves as president of PetroSun… Iowa Athletics has sent e-mails out to student season ticket holders, requiring them to print out their own passes from www.hawkeyesports.com… The NCAA has hired Sports Media Challenge to monitor the Internet, research, and analyze Fan-Generated Media.

Terry Bradshaw, a 1996 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame from Louisiana Tech, will star in Relative Chaos, a made-for-TV movie, which will appear on ABC’s Family Channel… 2005 National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award Winner and Draddy Trophy Finalist Reed Doughty is being profiled in an ongoing series by the Washington Times as he attempts to make the Washington Redskins. Doughty, a sixth round NFL draft pick, played defensive back at Northern Colorado… Hands on Miami will collect flashlights, radios, batteries, first aid kits, and cash donations at the Miami vs. Florida State game on September 4 to distribute to seniors, the disabled and disadvantaged populations in Miami-Dade County.

Pittsburgh head football coach Dave Wannstedt and his wife Jan have provided a lead gift of $250,000 to a new fundraising initiative called the “Pitt Football Endowed Position and Scholarship Program” that will raise $2.1 million to fully fund the 85 football scholarships permitted by NCAA rules… Oklahoma State Athletics Director Mike Holder and his wife Robbie are donating $500,000 to endow a schools first football scholarship in the name of the late Vernon Grant… The Ohio State band received a $225,000 donation from Walter E. Dennis to finance their trip to Austin for the Texas game… South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier and his wife Jerri have pledged $250,000 over the next five years to the athletics department’s capital campaign. Texas Southern University alumnus Pastor Manson B. Johnson made a donation of $5,000 to the football program.

The Stanford football stadium has undergone a speedy 40-week renovation, which will be completed in 2 weeks for the Cardinal’s home opener against Navy on September 16… Maryland has become the country's first college program to sell field-naming rights, which were sold to Chevy Chase Bank for $20 million. The facility will remain Byrd Stadium, named for former Maryland president, football coach and multi-sport athlete H.C. “Curley”
Byrd… Kansas State will officially dedicate its facility as the Bill Snyder Family Stadium during the Wildcats’ 2006 season opener against Illinois State on Sept. 2… UConn has completed construction of The Burton Family Football Complex as well as The Mark R. Shenkman Training Center, which includes an indoor turf football field…

Oklahoma will unveil a statue of Steve Owens, the 1969 Heisman Trophy winner and a 1991 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, before this week ’s home opener versus Alabama-Birmingham… Marshall and West Virginia will now vie for the “Governor’s Trophy” each year. Crafted from materials by artisans throughout the state, the Friends of the Coal Bowl created the trophy, and Governor Joe Manchin will make the first presentation following the series opener on September 2 in Morgantown…

Florida will launch its celebration of 100 years of Gator football by commemorating the 10th anniversary of its national championship by honoring its 1996 National Championship Team during its Sept. 2 season opener against Southern Miss… South Carolina President Andrew Sorensen has urged fans to wear their Gamecock colors on Sept. 1 as part of National College Colors Day 2006… UCF will host “Lunch with George” for fans the day before every home game, giving them the opportunity to have lunch with Coach George O’Leary… Texas has a new slogan: “Texas Fans Make Us Proud” that is designed to reinforce good sportsmanship among fans… Florida Citrus Sports is sponsoring a full-day tailgate trip to Gainesville for the Florida Sept. 9 game against UCF.

The Davey O'Brien Foundation announced its preseason watch list of 34 candidates for the 2006 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, which includes 19 seniors, 12 juniors and three sophomores… The Sugar Bowl Committee announced its preseason watch list of the 2006 Manning Award, which honors college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton, and Eli Manning, and is the only quarterback award that takes into account a candidates bowl performance… Five quarterbacks and 16 players earned a spot on the Sports Network’s watch list for the Walter Payton Award, which will be presented Dec. 14 to the Division I-AA top offensive player, while 16 players made the organization’s watch list for the Buchanan Award, which goes to the division’s top defensive player.

TCU has sold out of season tickets for the upcoming season with a record-breaking total of 13,867 season tickets. Arkansas announced that they sold out of all 72,000 tickets for their season opener against USC, this is just the third sold out game since a stadium expansion in 2001… Louisville has sold out of all 2006 tickets, creating a waitlist for 2007 season… Iowa has sold out student tickets for the second straight year, and only 300 regular tickets remain for the season opener against Montana, all other games are sold out… Georgia Tech has sold out their 2,150 club seats in the Bobby Dodd Stadium, and the season opener against Notre Dame and homecoming game against Miami are both completely sold out… Alabama has sold out all of its eight home games except for 1,000 tickets for the Sept. 16 Louisiana-Monroe game… Kansas has sold an all-time record of 28,100 season tickets for the 2006 season, eclipsing the previous record of 27,700 in 1969.

Texas Tech athletics director Gerald Myers and Texas A&M AD Bill Byrne have discussed moving the schools’ annual football game to Dallas…A new college football all-star game will take place in late January or early February in El Paso, Texas. The yet-to-be-named game will feature seniors from the state of Texas versus the players from the rest of the country. UTEP Head Coach Mike Price will coach the Texas squad… If Army goes at least 6-6 this season, they will play in the Poinsettia Bowl on December 19 against a team from the Mountain West Conference…

BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall cancelled last Thursday’s practice, deciding instead to take his team tubing down the Provo River… Current Texas Ranger outfielder Mark DeRosa was the starting quarterback at the University of Pennsylvania from 1994-95… Tulane’s Sept. 30 home opener against SMU ends a run of 14 consecutive road games… Sam Keller, the former Arizona State quarterback, transferred to Nebraska, where he’ll be eligible in 2007.

Fox Sports announced that former Wisconsin head coach and current athletics director Barry Alvarez and Charles Davis, an analysts with TBS college football and former Tennessee Volunteer, will work as analysts for the Jan.
1 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Jan. 8 Tostitos BCS National Championship game along side Thom Brennaman, who will work as the play-by-play announcer.
Chris Rose has been announced as the Fox host for the BCS pregame, halftime and postgame shows. Alvarez will also make appearances throughout the season on Sunday after Fox’s NFL show to offer his opinion on the college rankings… The Big East Conference and ESPN have agreed to a pair of six-year contracts that will significantly enhance the league's exposure in football through the 2013 season… Maryland has signed a three-year agreement with Comcast Sports Net to broadcast new programs.

For the fourth consecutive year, Fresno State football games will be carried live in Spanish, but this year the Bulldogs have a new radio partner with ESPN Deportes (KGST-1600 AM) Radio, which will carry all of their 12 regular season games… Forty-five radio stations in four states will carry the weekly Penn State Sports Network's AIG Nittany Lion Hotline Show in 2006-07 with coach Joe Paterno… NCAA Football is launching an official blog Web site, which will target college football fans for their participation and insights. Guest celebrity bloggers will include Charlie Weis, Philip Fulmer and Mack Brown… College Football News has partnered with Scout.com… Former Cincinnati QB Deontey Kenner will join Dan Hoard and Jim Kelly for the Bearcats’ 14th season of radio broadcasts on 700-WLW… XM Satellite Radio is the official radio network of the Big East Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten Conference, and the Pacific-10 conference during the
2006 season, and will carry ESPN Radio’s coverage of the BCS. Nationwide coverage during the first week of the season on XM includes Boston College vs. Central Michigan, Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech, Stanford vs. Oregon, and Indiana State vs. Purdue… XOS Technologies has added Princeton University, The Citadel, and the University of Akron to its more than 100 Network Partners.

Florida Citrus Sports, which produces more than 60 annual events, announced that Steve Hogan, a staff member since 1995, will serve as its new executive director… Eastern Illinois coach Bob Spoo will have surgery and will miss at least the first four to six weeks of the season during his recovery… Chuck Pool has been named assistant athletic director for sports information at Rice… East Stroudsburg University has announced that former NFL defensive back Kenny Stills will serve as an assistant coach.

September 3 marks the death of Vince Lombardi, who succumbed to cancer at 57 in 1970. A member of the legendary “Seven Blocks of Granite” Fordham teams in the mid-1930s, Lombardi carved out a reputation as one of the greatest coaches of all-time, including five championships with the Green Bay Packers in the NFL. The Eastern Washington football team is dedicating this week’s game against Oregon State in the memory of OSU football player Tom Oswald, who played at the school from 1970-71 and died August 4 after a legendary 25-year coaching career at long-time Cheney High School… Former Ole Miss football player Majure Blanks “Bill” Stribling passed away Aug. 22 at the age of 78.

Editors’ Notes

As a result of numerous requests, Chalktalk will continue this fall during the college football season. Technical reasons prevented yesterday’s release, which is being distributed today, Tuesday, August 29.

With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy presented by HealthSouth and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes.
For more information, please visit www.footballfoundation.org

National Football Foundation Contacts:

Phil Marwill, director of communications 1-800-486-1865, ext. 118
Mobile: 917-579-4256

Hillary Jeffries, project assistant
1-800-486-1865, ext. 123

This Week in College Football History Sept. 4 – Sept. 10

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:19:00 -0500

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Aug. 28, 2006 – As part of an on-going series throughout the fall, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame circulates in advance This Week in College Football History, which takes a look back at some of college football’s landmark moments over the last 138 years. During the season, many of these events are featured in a changing exhibit at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.

September 4, 1932: Georgia Coach Vince Dooley was born in Mobile, Alabama. Dooley would go on to play at Auburn as a team captain before his Hall of Fame coaching career for the Bulldogs, which included the 1980 national championship.

September 5, 1981: Mark Richt, current Georgia head coach, steps in as the backup QB for Miami’s injured starter Jim Kelly, leading the Canes to a 21-20 victory over the Florida Gators.

September 5, 1998: Shaun Alexander sets the Alabama record for points per game (30) by scoring five touchdowns against BYU. The Crimson Tides’ Santonio Beard equals the mark against Mississippi on Oct. 19, 2002.

September 6, 1975: Grambling and Alcorn State play the first ever college game in the New Orleans Superdome with Grambling QB Doug Williams completing four TD passes (two to WR Sammie White) for a 27-3 victory.

September 6, 1980: Freshman Herschel Walker makes his debut as a Georgia player, trampling Tennessee’s Bill Bates during a 16-yard TD run in the second quarter and then adding a second 9-yard TD in the fourth quarter that secures a 16-15 Bulldog victory en route to a national title.

September 6, 1997: Florida QB Doug Johnson ties the record for touchdown passes in a half with seven against Central Michigan.

September 7, 1974: During Tennessee and UCLA’s 17-17 tie, Jim Lampley appears as the first TV sideline reporter for ABC.

September 7, 1985: Bo Jackson of Auburn rushes for 230 yards in 23 carries against Southwestern Louisiana, now known as Louisiana at Lafayette.

September 7, 1989: BYU’s Ty Detmer starts a streak of throwing TD passes in 35 consecutive games during a loss to Washington State.

September 8, 1979: SMU debuts its Pony Express with TB Eric Dickerson, who rushed for 123 yards and 3 TDs, and FB Craig James, who scored the game winning TD in the Mustangs’ 35-17 victory over the Rice Owls.

September 8, 2001: James King of Central Michigan blocks four punts against Michigan State.

September 9, 2001: Syracuse’s streak of 262 consecutive successful PATs comes to an end with a miss against Temple.

September 10, 1988: For the second consecutive year, Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders returns the opening kickoff of the season for a touchdown. His 100-yard dash against Miami of Ohio mirrored his previous year’s return against Tulsa.

September 10, 1994: Steve McNair of Alcorn State produces 646 yards of total offense against Chattanooga.

With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy presented by HealthSouth and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes.

For more information, please visit www.footballfoundation.org

Contacts:

Phil Marwill, director of communications

1-800-486-1865, ext. 118

Hillary Jeffries, project assistant

1-800-486-1865, ext. 123

22 Maple Avenue

Morristown, NJ 07960

Thiel Tomcats Picked To Repeat as PAC Titlist

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 16:24:00 -0500

By William Albright

Team: Bethany

Nickname: Bison

Stadium: Bethany Field (1,000)

Head Coach: Tim Weaver (1st year)

2005 Record: 1-9 overall, 0-6 in PAC

Returning Starters: Offense (7), Defense (7), Special Teams (2).

Key Returnees: Wide Receiver T. J. Parker, Linebacker Cliff Anderson, center Stefan Bernacki, tight end/punter Mike Wlias, linebacker/defensive end Chance Kildow.

Coaches Comments: "We are excited to be a part of this league. We are proud at Bethany to have won four championships, but the last one has been too long ago. We are going to show up and play hard. We have proven skilled position players returning and that should be the strong part of our offense. Our defensive strength should be at linebacker, while our biggest concern right now is the lack of depth up front."

Team: Grove City

Nickname: Wolverines

Stadium: Robert E. Thorn (3,500)

Head Coach: Chris Smith (23rd season, 85-123-2)

2005 Record: 3-7 overall, 2-4 in PAC

Returning Starters: Offense (9), Defense (5), Special Teams (5).

Key Returnees: Split end/kick returner Scott Fichter, tight end Dan Jeltes, guard Matt Rice, tackle Bob Perri, fullback Matt Weil, linebacker Garret Choby and cornerback Chris Schwamberger.

Coaches Comments: "We had a great off-season and the kids are dedicated to make things happen. We return four seniors on the offensive line and we also return a number of outstanding skilled people as well as tight end Dan Jeltes. On defense, (Garret) Choby will lead the way, while (Chris)Schwamberger is very versatile and could wind up playing a number of positions. We have a lot of great things going on around the campus that has generated a lot of excitement and we are anxious to get things going."

Team: Thiel

Nickname: Tomcats

Stadium: Alumni Stadium (1,400)

Head Coach: Jack Leipheimer (6th year, overall record 26-26).

2005 Record: 11-1 overall, 6-0 in PAC

Returning Starters: Offense (8), Defense (7), Special Teams (2).

Key Returnees: Defensive back Darius Thompson, tailback Steve Minton, offensive lineman Rock Davis, linebacker Jeff Wagner and offensive lineman Ricky Gable.

Coaches Comments: "It is very humbling when we win some type of award and I always look at awards as staff awards. At Thiel, we are excited and optimistic about out future. We have been very fortunate to be able to recruit the right kind of young man to turn our program around. We have a tough road to travel from the start as we play four of our first five games on the road. As for having a bullseye on our back after winning the championship last season, that is OK with us. We are not going to change a whole lot, but rather, we are going to just be who we are. We lost some great athletes from last year’s team, but we also have a great group of athletes coming back. One of our strengths will be on the offensive line where we have a pair of 3-year starters coming back. Steve Minton is back and healthy at running back and his backup, Dan Hess, is also back after doing an outstanding job last year when Minton was injured. Defensively, our strength should be at linebacker with Logan Malie and Jef Wagner leading the way. Last year generated a lot of excitement on campus and that has carried over to this year. As always, our focus is to be a little better today than we were yesteday and a little better tomorrow than we are today."

Team: Thomas More

Nickname: Saints

Stadium: Thomas More Stadium

Head Coach: Mike Hallett

2005 Record: 6-4 overall, 4-2 in PAC

Returning Starters: Offense (X), Defense (X), Special Teams (X).

Key Returnees: Linebacker Mark Carlisle, cornerback Chris Willis, center Brandon Lee and linebacker Rashawn West.

Coaches Comments: "This is an exciting time for Thomas More to be a part of this outstanding conference. Coming out of spring drills, it was refreshing to see how out kids came of last year’s 5-5 season. We have a nucleus of players to build this year’s team around. One of the biggest things we have going into the season will be the offensive line where we have five kids returning. Defensively, we are hoping to build around our two inside guys. We are going to be young and inexperienced in the kicking game and the development in that area could be crucial to our success, especially early in the season."

Team: Washington & Jefferson

Nickname: Presidents

Stadium: Cameron Stadium

Head Coach: Mike Sirianni

2005 Record: 9-2 overall, 5-1 in PAC

Returning Starters: Offense (7), Defense (8).

Key Returnees: Offensive guard Chris

Hickey, Offensive tackle Chris Teter, placekicker Kyle Sidebotham, cornerback Cory Walsh, strong safety Gabe McKee.

Coaches Comments: "We are glad for the expectations placed on us by ranking us 7th in the nation, but at this point in the season, I think that ranking is a little far-fetched. As always, our two main goals are to win the PAC championship and be able to compete for a national championship. Our offense will be a little different because we won’t have the ball flying through the air as much as we have in the past. We have two quarterbacks and I have no problem operating with two quarterbacks. Last year, we started anywhere from 7 to 8 linemen on offense and all of them are returning. Many times we learn more from losses than wins, and we are going to have to win some games with our defense. I am anxious to begin the season because the biggest reason I coach is the relationships I am able to develop with the athletes."

Team: Waynesburg

Nickname: Yellow Jackets

Stadium: Wiley Stadium

Head Coach: Rick Shepas

2005 Record: 4-6 overall, 2-4 in PAC

Returning Starters: Offense (6), Defense (5), Special Teams (1).

Key Returnees: Running back Ryan Abels, quarterback Tres Cobb, defensive tackle LaDrekus Burford, placekicker Ben Popson, defensive end Mike Czerwien

Coaches Comments: "I guess we have been the benefactor of being in the right place at the right time. We will have field turf at Wiley Stadium this year and it will now be an even better place to play a football game. Last year, it was just challenging to get to know the players and it took us about half of the season for them to make the transition into our program. Going into the season, our two most important things appear to be strength & conditioning along with rest & recovery. We left last season with our kids wanting more and hopefully that will carry over to this season. We return one of the best players in the conference in tailback Ryan Abels. He is a very special player who is exciting to watch. When he is running the ball, I become more of a fan than a coach."

Team: Westminster

Nickname: Titans

Stadium: Harold Burry Stadium

Head Coach: Jeff Hand

2005 Record: 4-6 overall, 2-4 in PAC

Returning Starters: Offense (7), Defense (3), Special Teams (1).

Key Returnees: Quarterback J. R. Barley, wide receiver Jake Buzard, defensive lineman Chris Dulovich, defensive back Joey Tissler and placekicker/punter Dusty Rhodes.

Coaches Comments: "We have the similar feeling every year, and it is a feeling of anxiety to begin the season. Offensively, our strengths should be on the line where we return three of five starters, while we also have a nice group of skilled players returning as well. Defensively, we only return three starters so we are hoping a number of newcomers step up and play well. We have had a lot of continuity on the staff and I think that has shown in the development of the program. As a coaching staff, we are anxious to see the fruits of our first off-season program. As always, we are going to cintinue to stress things we feel are important to any program and those are strength & conditioning along with academics. We believe in doing things the right way."

New Face On Top Of PSAC-West Polls

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 16:04:00 -0500

By BILL ALBRIGHT

CRANBERRY TWP. -- You can now officially consider the collegiate football season under way.
Tuesday afternoon, August 1, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Association held its annual kickoff luncheon for the 2006 season at the Regional Learning Center located in Cranberry Woods.
While the seven teams comprising the division remain the same, one major difference evolved during the get-together.
One of the big attractions of the luncheon is the announcing of the coaches pre-season poll. In many of the recent years, the team expected to be at the top of the standings when the season concluded was either IUP or Edinboro and sometimes either Slippery Rock or Shippensburg.
However, this year, a different program will be wearing the target on its back as the California Vulcans were tabbed as the "team to beat" in the PSAC-West.
"Being named as the top-ranked team in the conference is such a different perspective for California than it has been in the past," pointed out Cal head coach John "Lucky" Luckhardt. "Our goal each year is to be in that one or two mix and we want to be a competitor wherever we are picked. This is a very, very good league and I truly believe there are five teams that all have a chance to win and we just want to be one of those five. Our goal when we came here (to California) was to be in that mix so I guess we have reached that goal."
So what does it mean to Luckhardt and his Vulcans?
"We aren't going to out and change our practice schedule because of the ranking," quipped Luckhardt. "We are just going to go out and work real hard and if we perform well, we'll have a chance to be competitive. Frank's (former IUP coach Cignetti) teams always seemed to dominate things with Edinboro, Shippensburg and Slippery Rock finding their way in there from time to time. Five years ago, we weren't competitive in this league, but right now, we are a competitor and really, that is all you can ask for."
While the Vulcans are the top choice in the polls, the Lock Haven Bald Eagles are perched on the other end in the seventh spot. Having been there numerous times before, LHU head coach John Klacik hopes his kids are tired of hearing about that and go out and prove the pollsters wrong.
"I don't put much stock in them (the polls) and I never have," said Klacik. "What I hope is that sooner or later our team starts looking at it and says, hey we are tired of being picked last and we have to do something about it. Some guys might look at the rankings and say, hey, we are ranked number one so we must be pretty good, while on the other hand, the guys on the team picked to place last might say, hey, we are picked last so we must stink. I don't know if our team is in that mode any more. Maybe three or four years ago, but not now."
With California (8-2, 5-1) and Lock Haven (2-9, 0-6) located at either end of the spectrum, the other five teams that provide the filling for the sandwich in spots two through six are Edinboro (8-2, 5-1), Slippery Rock (5-5, 4-2), IUP (5-5, 4-2), Shippensburg (4-7, 2-4) and Clarion (3-7, 1-5) respectively.
While Luckhardt, Dr. George Mihalik (Slippery Rock), Rocky Rees (Shippensburg) and Klacik all return with their same programs, three other coaches have either different roles or positions heading into the 2006 campaign.
At Edinboro, Scott Browning, an assistant in the Fighting Scot program for 20 years, takes over for the departed Lou Tepper. On the other hand, Tepper remains in the conference by moving to Indiana County where he takes over the reins of the Indians with the resignation of Frank Cignetti. Completing the trio of "new" faces is Jay Foster who takes over at Clarion after serving as Mihalik's defensive coordinator for the past 17 seasons at SRU.
In addition to the six conference games on each team's schedule, the new format of the PSAC will feature four "crossover" games for each team against teams from the Eastern Division of the PSAC on a rotating basis.
The Bald Eagles will waste no time getting the season untracked as they travel to Southern Illinois to face the Salukis on August 31. Following a week off, the Bald Eagles will face three crossover teams in East Stroudsburg, Millersville and Mansfield before tackling the six tough divisional foes with Kutztown tossed into the mix in week 11.

NFF Announces $5 Million Play It Smart Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 08:55:00 -0500

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame

Initiative will provide critical support for the NFF’s highly successful mentoring program

MORRISTOWN, N.J., August 23, 2006 – The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced today that it has launched a national $5 million fundraising campaign in 2006-07 to fund its highly successful “Play It Smart” initiative.

“Over the past eight years we have developed one of the most comprehensive and effective youth development programs in the country for helping at-risk student-athletes,” said NFF President Steve Hatchell. “We would love to be in a thousand schools because we know our model works, and this campaign will play a key role in our ability to support the program.”

Introduced in 1998 and currently in 136 high schools (listed at www.playitsmart.org) in 35 states and reaching 12,000 at-risk student-athletes, Play It Smart trains “academic” coaches to work with high school football teams in underserved areas during the entire school year, taking the transferable life skills learned on the field and applying them in the classroom and the community.

“Because of the Play It Smart program, I took school more seriously and (developed) my study habits,” said Southern California wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett in a May 22 USA Today article, which said Jarrett wouldn’t have made it to USC without Play It Smart. “Going into my first year of college it would have been much tougher without the organization and management skills I learned.”

With major financial support from the NFL and the NFL Players Association, corporations, communities and individuals, the program has achieved dramatic results, including:

98% of participants graduating high school, compared to a national rate of 86%;

80% of seniors enrolling in college compared to 64% of their peers;

Participants completing more than 60,000 hours of community service annually;

Rosters increasing by 35% for teams with fewer than 40 players; and

71 seniors earning spots on Division I-A rosters in 2006 as incoming freshman, bringing the number of participants in the elite collegiate ranks to more than 150 student-athletes.

The fundraising campaign is being headed by USC’s Ronnie Lott, a 2002 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame who recently agreed to serve as the chairman of the program’s National Advisory Board, which is comprised of leaders in the fields of education, business and community affairs.

“When you think about life, one of the things you have to learn is how to compete,” Lott said. “Most of these kids know how to compete in athletics, yet when it comes to learning how to compete outside of athletics, they need to have the right tools. Play It Smart is teaching them those types of skills as they move forward.”

The campaign will solicit funds from individual philanthropists, foundations and corporations in the form of grants, donations and sponsorships. The objective of the campaign is to solidify support for the current schools in the program and identify new schools for inclusion.

ABOUT The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame

With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy, presented by HealthSouth, and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. Learn more at www.footballfoundation.org.

ABOUT PLAY IT SMART

Established in 1998 by The National Football Foundation as an educational program, Play It Smart works to turn football teams from tough inner city environments into learning teams. Designed to take a student-athlete’s passion and dedication to football, Play It Smart leverages the positive peer pressure of a team to make academic achievement the norm. At the heart of the program is a year-round academic coach, an official member of a team’s staff, who serves as a direct link to the classroom by helping players and the team achieve their academic and personal development goals during the entire school year. With significant financial support from the NFL and NFL Players Association, Play It Smart currently reaches over 12,000 participants at 136 high schools in 85 cities and 35 states. www.PlayItSmart.org.

Contacts:

Hillary Jeffries, National Football Foundation

Phone: 1-800-486-1865, ext. 123

Steve Griffith, Pyramid Public Relations

Phone: 212-643-1068, ext. 250

News and Notes From Around College Football for August 21, 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 12:03:00 -0500

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.

Monday’s Chalktalk

http://www.footballfoundation.com/news.php?id=932

Miami of Ohio and Northwestern Honor Walker’s Memory

Miami University will pay tribute to the memory of Randy Walker prior to the kickoff of their Aug. 31 game against Northwestern. Walker, who coached at both schools, passed away suddenly on June 29 of a heart attack at the age of 52.

Widely-respected as one of the most energetic and intelligent coaches in the elite college ranks, Walker’s loss continues to be felt throughout the greater football community, and prior to the 7:30 p.m. game, a ceremony will take place at Miami’s Cradle of Coaches Plaza. During the game, players from both teams will wear a decal with the number “41” in red, the number that Walker wore as a standout tailback for the Miami teams that went 32-1-1 from 1973-75. The decal will also bear his Northwestern nickname, “Walk,” in purple. At halftime, a video presentation will be shown, highlighting his life as a coach and a player.

Featured speakers at the ceremony will be former Miami head coaches Bill Mallory, who coached Walker for two seasons before directing programs at Colorado and Indiana, and Dick Crum, who also coached Walker for two seasons before hiring him as an assistant at both Miami and North Carolina. During the ceremony, the school will dedicate a plaque in Walker’s memory. Walker’s plaque will be the first to adorn the plaza, which was constructed to honor the many legendary coaches who have passed through Miami, including Hall of Fame coaches Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, George Little, Ara Parseghian, and Bo Schembechler.

Campbell Larger Than Life Forever

Prior to its key Sept. 9 match-up against Ohio State, Texas will unveil a nine-foot bronze statue of Earl Campbell, its first Heisman Trophy winner and a 1990 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame. The 1,500-pound likeness of “The Tyler Rose” will be placed near the southwest entrance of Royal-Memorial Stadium, and a special halftime tribute to the All-America running back will take place during the game. Campbell, who rushed for 4,443 yards, the fifth highest total at the time of his retirement, followed his collegiate career as one of the NFL’s most dominating players, having stints with the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints en route to his 1991 the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction. Campbell’s son Tyler, currently a sophomore for Chuck Long’s Aztecs at San Diego State, has earned a reputation as one of the team’s toughest players.

Two-Minute Drill

The Oklahoma Sooners plan to honor the late Prentice Gautt and his historic first year in Norman by “sitting out” his jersey number, as 2006 marks the 50th anniversary of Gautt breaking the color barrier at Oklahoma. His family and the 1956 national championship team will be honored at the Oct. 21 game versus Colorado, and players will have a number “38” decal affixed to their helmets. Gautt’s wife, Sandra, accepted the NFF’s Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football on his behalf last December in New York City. Gautt passed away in March 2005 at the age of 67.

The Associated Press released its 2006 preseason Top 25 poll on Friday, Aug. 18. Ohio State garnered the top spot followed by Notre Dame and the 2005 National Champion Texas Longhorns. Auburn and West Virginia rounded out the top five. As motivation for the upcoming season, Arkansas Head Coach Houston Nutt arranged a meeting between this year’s team and seniors from the 1979 team that went 10-2 and tied for the Southwest Conference Championship under Coach Lou Holtz. Penn State will honor its 1986 national championship squad during ceremonies at the Nittany Lions’ home opener versus Akron on Sept. 2. The 1966 team, Joe Paterno’s first as head coach, will be honored during the Sept. 16 contest with Youngstown State. Louisville received a commitment from quarterback Matt Simms, son of former Super Bowl MVP Phil Simms. Nebraska Coach Bill Callahan invited Huskers fan and comedian Dan Whitney, better known as Larry the Cable Guy, to address the team Aug. 16. SMU center Ben Poynter was recently highlighted on local Dallas television for his work with Heart House, where he tutors and mentors children. Texas Defensive Coordinator Gene Chizik, Connecticut Head Coach Randy Edsall and Tulsa Head Coach Steve Kragthorpe were dubbed “coaches on the rise” in Sports Illustrated’s 2006 College Football Preview.

Roger Goodell, the NFL’s new commissioner, was recruited to play defensive back by Washington & Jefferson, his alma mater, but a knee injury ended his playing days. The Aug. 14 issue of Sports Illustrated profiled 2008 Olympic hopeful Chloe Sutton, the daughter of David Sutton, a defensive tackle on the 1985 Air Force team that beat Texas in the Bluebonnet Bowl and finished No. 8 in the nation. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, a member of the 1991 Miami Hurricane National Championship team, is starring in Gridiron Gang, a movie about a group of teenagers at juvenile detention center who gain their self-esteem on the football field. The movie opens Sept. 15. Current National Football Foundation Board Member Willie Lanier was recently named the greatest player in the history of the Kansas City Chiefs in a ranking of all-time Chiefs conducted by the Dallas Morning News. The former Morgan State great was selected to the NFF’s College Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

The Dallas branch of the University of Texas Alumni Association will honor fabled Longhorn wide receiver Johnny “Lam” Jones at its 19th annual golf outing, which will be held at Firewheel Golf Club on Oct. 6. Jones, an All-America and member of the 1976 Gold Medal U.S. Olympic 400-meter relay team, was recently diagnosed with an incurable form of blood and bone cancer. Former head coaches Ken Hatfield and Barry Switzer are among those scheduled to speak to the Little Rock Touchdown Club this fall. Kansas will hold its annual Fan Appreciation and Kid’s Day on Aug. 23, where Jayhawk fans can watch the team practice, take pictures, get autographs and hear Head Coach Mark Mangino speak. The Walter Camp Football Foundation recently announced its Player of the Year “watch list,” which includes 35 of the nation’s top players.

The University of Illinois will begin construction on its $160 million stadium renovation, which is projected to be finished for the Fighting Illini 2008 football season. Syracuse and Steiner Sports have announced a multi-faceted marketing partnership of “Syracuse Steiner Collectibles,” consisting of memorabilia called “Orange Nation” and fantasy experiences such as meeting coaches or participating in opening coin tosses. The Houston Bowl has been renamed the Texas Bowl, which will match up a Big 12 team against a team from either Conference USA, the Big East, or TCU from the Mountain West Conference.

Georgia Athletic Association will distribute "I'm Georgia" towels to the first 25,000 fans at the season home opener. No. 21 TCU has sold out their Sept. 16 home game against No. 25 Texas Tech. With 67,800 season tickets sold, Louisiana State University has broken the school record of season ticket sales for the Tigers’ eight home football games this year, and it is the third consecutive season that season tickets have sold out. The College of William & Mary has sold over 2,870 season tickets, which already surpasses their sales last year of 2,819. Iowa State reached their 2006 goal of selling over 30,000 season tickets. Iowa fans previewed the newly renovated Kinnick Stadium on Aug. 19 during an open practice with half-priced concessions.

Temple and Villanova have agreed to schedule four future games against one other. Florida Atlantic and South Florida agreed to play a three-game football series beginning in 2007. A six- to eight-game deal is in sight for Boston College and Syracuse. Boston College Athletics Director Gene DeFilippo announced that he is committed to play at least one New England Division I-AA opponent each season. Georgia Tech will play at least two Southeastern Conference teams per year for seven years beginning in 2008.

SECsports.com, the official athletics web site of the Southeastern Conference will be re-branded as SECsports.com powered by Cingular, which became the exclusive telecommunications sponsor of the conference. The NFL Network has added the All-American Classic College All-Star Game to its existing coverage of the Insight Bowl, Texas Bowl, and Senior Bowl. The Western Athletic Conference has announced the addition of XOS Technologies as a Network Partner. Boston College football fans will have the opportunity to submit questions on the Tom O’Brien Show, presented by AceTicket.com, which begins Aug. 21 and continues throughout the 2006 season. Tulsa University’s Head Coach Steve Kragthorpe has signed a four-year contract to continue his radio call-in show on Newstalk 740 AM KRMG Radio. North Carolina announced that former player and assistant coach Ken Mack will serve as lead analyst for the Tar Heels’ football broadcasts. Ivy League teams, and those in other small conferences, will start airing their games via team websites.

Marshall gave Head Coach Mark Synder a three-year contract extension. The University of Louisiana at Monroe Athletic Foundation awarded Charles “Chuck” McMullen with the J.H. “Slim” Scogin Exemplary Services Award. Central Florida named Joe Hornstein assistant athletics director for communications and Ryan Powell as associate director for athletics communications. Purdue hired Joe Muller as senior associate athletics director for external relations. Herb Yamanaka returns to Oregon as a full-time associate athletics director. The University of North Carolina announced former Tar Heel football captain and director of operations Rick Steinbacher as its new associate athletic director for marketing and promotions. Oregon promoted Gary Gray to senior associate athletics director for the Ducks.

Piero (Pete) Harris, a 1978 All-America safety at Penn State, died Aug. 9 at the age of 49. After growing up in Mount Holly, N.J., Harris and his brothers Franco (1969) and Giueseppe (1979-81), started for the Nittany Lions and Coach Joe Paterno. Tom Cronan, husband of Tennessee Women's Athletics Director Joan Cronan and a professor at Carson-Newman College, passed away Aug. 18.

Editors’ Note

This will be the last edition of Chalktalk until after the conclusion of the college football season. The NFF thanks you for your continued support of this publication. Please look for the NFF’s This Week in College Football, which will be released every Monday during the college football season.

With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy presented by HealthSouth and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes.

For more information, please visit www.footballfoundation.org

NFF Contacts

Phil Marwill…………… Director of Communications

Hillary Jeffries………… Special Projects Assistant

22 Maple Avenue

Morristown, NJ 07960

973-829-1933 (phone)

Ronnie Lott, NFF Conference Call To Unveil Multi-Million Dollar Fundraising Initiative

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 05:42:00 -0500

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame

Contacts:
John Tataro, Alan Taylor Communications
Phone: 212-714-1280, ext. 258

Hillary Jeffries, National Football Foundation
Phone: 800-486-1865, ext. 123

Ronnie Lott, NFF Conference Call To Unveil Multi-Million Dollar Fundraising Initiative

PLAY IT SMART, NFF’S UNIQUE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE MENTORING PROGRAM, NOW HAS NATIONAL FOOTPRINT WITH OVER 136 HIGH SCHOOLS IN 35 STATES

WHO:

* Play It Smart National Advisory Board Chairman Ronnie Lott (college and pro Hall of Famer)
* National Football Foundation President Steve Hatchell
* National Football Foundation Chairman Ron Johnson
* Play It Smart National Director Charles Gomes

WHAT: Announcement of a new, multi-million dollar fundraising campaign for
Play It Smart, which helps at-risk high school players score touchdowns in the classroom with football coaching staff-embedded “academic” coaches emphasizing schoolwork every day from September through June.

WHERE: Audio conference, contact John Tataro to obtain 800 conference call number at 212-714-1280, ext. 258 or via email at johnt@alantaylor.com

WHEN: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT/Noon MT/11 a.m. PT

WHY: Lott, chairman of the National Advisory Board for the NFF’s highly-
successful Play It Smart program and honorary chairman of the Play It Smart Fundraising Committee, along with Hatchell, Johnson and Gomes, will review the progress of the unprecedented program and release details of the organization’s most ambitious-ever campaign.

MORE: Play It Smart was introduced in 1998 and is currently in over 136 high
schools (listed at www.playitsmart.org) in 35 states, reaching 12,000 at-risk student-athletes. Play It Smart pays and trains “academic” coaches who become full-fledged members of the high school football coaching staff to work with players during the entire school year, emphasizing the importance of schoolwork and taking the transferable life skills learned on the field and applying them in the classroom and the community.

* 98% of participants graduate from high school;
* 80% of seniors enroll in college;
* Participants complete more than 60,000 hours of community service annually;
* Roster sizes increase by 35% for teams with fewer than 40 players.
* 71 seniors earned spots on Division I-A rosters in 2006 as incoming freshman, bringing the number of participants in the elite collegiate ranks to over 150.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL FOUNDATION & COLLEGE HALL OF FAME With 119 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. Learn more at www.footballfoundation.org

News and Notes From Around College Football for August 14, 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:59:00 -0500

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.

Monday's Chalktalk

www.footballfoundation.org
Monday’s Chalktalk

Red Raiders Dedicate Season to the Late Dave Brown

Texas Tech players are dedicating their 2006 season to Dave Brown, the Red Raiders cornerbacks coach who died in January of a heart attack at the age of 52. The school has also established two scholarships in his name. Brown, a 2006 candidate for the College Football Hall of Fame from Michigan, twice earned First Team All-America honors in ‘73 and unanimously in ‘74 while leading the Wolverines to three BIG TEN Championships as a defensive back.
After Michigan, Brown began a 16-year professional career with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1975, participating in the Steelers' Super Bowl X win against the Dallas Cowboys and spending 11 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. A 1984 All-Pro selection, Brown holds the all-time record in Seattle with 50 interceptions and is enshrined in their Ring of Honor. He finished his final four seasons in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers. A five-year veteran on the Red Raider coaching staff, Brown coached the cornerbacks since his arrival in 2001. Previously, he had spent seven years as a cornerbacks coach with the Seahawks.

20 Legends Enshrined at the College Football Hall of Fame

The 2006 College Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival proved to be another crowd pleaser this past weekend in South Bend, Ind. Thousands of fans from across the country gathered August 11-12, witnessing festivities that included an enshrinement parade, fan festival, youth football clinic, outdoor rock concert, celebrity golf tournament, and a spectacular dinner & show. In a heated battle, the East edged the West during the flag football game. Penn State offensive tackle Keith Dorney (1975-78), who caught two touchdown passes, claimed the day’s MVP honors. The evening show featured ESPN’s Rece Davis, who captured the majesty of the moment with the unique history behind each Hall of Famers march to enshrinement. At a reception held the night before, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Football Writers Association of America honored Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis with the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award. Coach Weis paid tribute to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl while mentioning that he hopes to strengthen his ties with the organization on January 8, 2007 in Glendale, Arizona.

Established in 1951 by the National Football Foundation, the current hall of fame was built in 1995 in South Bend, Ind. This year’s Division I-A enshrines included: Cornelius Bennett (Alabama); Tom Curtis (Michigan); Anthony Davis (Southern California); Keith Dorney (Penn State); Jim Houston (Ohio State); John Huarte (Notre Dame); Roosevelt Leaks (Texas); Mark May (Pittsburgh); Joe Washington (Oklahoma) Paul Wiggin (Stanford); David Williams (Illinois), Coach Pat Dye (East Carolina, Wyoming, Auburn); and Coach Don Nehlen (Bowling Green, West Virginia). Players and coaches from the divisional ranks include: Kevin Dent (Jackson State); John Friesz (Idaho); Ronnie Mallett (Central Arkansas); Jerry Rice (Miss. Valley State); Coach Dick Farley (Williams - Mass.); Coach John Gagliardi (Carroll College (Mont.), St. John's (Minn.); and Coach Vernon "Skip" McCain (Maryland State College).

Two-Minute Drill

The Associated Press Poll Top 25 will be released this Friday, August 18.
Texas Tech coach Mike Leach received a one-year contract extension, which will keep him at the helm of the Red Raiders through the 2009 season.
Terrell Suggs and Shaun McDonald, both playing in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens and St. Louis Rams, respectively, returned to Arizona State this summer to earn credits towards their bachelor degrees.

Texas coach Mack Brown accepted the National Football Foundation Touchdown Club of Houston Chapter’s Touchdowner of the Year Award on August 3. Over 700 people attended the event including, College Football Hall of Famers Bill Yeoman (Houston), Earl Campbell (Texas) and Darrell Royal (Texas).
Scott Spurrier, the son of South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier, has transferred from Division I-AA Charleston Southern to South Carolina. He will sit out this season as walk-on wide receiver.

Georgia Tech had 18 football standouts named to the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor for 2005-06. Troy University had five football players named to the Sun Belt Commissioner's List and 16 players to Academic Honor Roll. Lake Erie College in Painesville, Pa., announced that the school will launch a Division III football program in 2008, naming Mark McNellie as the coach. The 1981 Drake football team, which posted a school-record 10-1 mark under Coach Chuck Shelton, will hold a 25-year reunion Sept. 30 in conjunction with the Bulldogs' homecoming game against Morehead State. Fort Worth Cats will hold a Southwest Conference show your colors night on August 18.

ABC Sports will become “ESPN on ABC” with ESPN becoming the overarching brand for all sports programming carried on the ABC Television Network beginning Sept. 2, according to an announcement made by George Bodenheimer, president, ESPN, Inc. and ABC Sports and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks.
Disney owns both ESPN and ABC. Dick Vermeil will be a game analyst for the NFL Network during its college football coverage, including the network’s telecasts of the Insight Bowl on December 29 and the Senior Bowl on January 27. Middle Tennessee Director Chris Massaro and Cumulus Broadcasting announced that WFN 106.7 FM - The Fan will be Nashville’s flagship radio affiliate for the Blue Raider Network this season. Conference USA’s final composite schedule reveals three Tuesday games, a Wednesday game, four Friday games and even two Sunday games on the 2006 lineup. Georgia Southern will play at the Naval Academy on September 12, 2009, the first meeting between the two schools. Marshall and Ohio State will open the 2010 football season in Columbus, Ohio on September 12, 2010.

The Sun Bowl extended its contract with Helen of Troy, the game’s primary sponsor, for four more years, renaming the game the Burt Sun Bowl. Burt cologne was made famous by legendary Crimson Tide quarterback Joe Namath during his days with the New York Jets in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. XOS Technologies announced that the Mid-American Conference has been selected to implement the XOS Replay solution for in-game instant replay used by conference football officials. Bright House Networks has acquired naming rights for $15 millions over the next 15 years to the University of Central Florida’s new football stadium slated to open next year.

The University of Utah has already set a school record for season ticket sales. The 22,050 season tickets sold as of Aug. 9 broke the old school mark of 21,540 set last year. The Duke football program will hold its annual "Meet The Blue Devils" day on Sunday, August 20. SMU will hold its second-annual Football Kickoff Luncheon Aug. 16 with former SMU player and coach Forrest Gregg as the keynote speaker and head coach Phil Bennett and new Director of Athletics Steve Orsini in attendance.

Peyton Manning has pledged $1 million to the Tennessee athletics department, which will be used to update the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center and toward the master plan renovations at Neyland Stadium. Central Michigan University continues with its fundraiser program, “Light Up The Night,” which seeks donations of $650,000 to pay for a lighting project at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
University of Colorado’s fundraising project, the Buff Club Cabinet, now has
47 members, who each have committed annual gifts of $25,000 for a three-year period.

San Diego State has reported record donations of $1.6 million since the hiring of its new head coach Chuck Long, a 1999 College Football Hall of Fame inductee from Iowa, in December. The Aztec’s ticket sales are also up 8 percent from this time last year. Canfield High School received a $100,000 donation from Merrill Lynch stockbroker Tony Lariccia to name its stadium after Bob Dove, who passed away on April 19 at the age of 85. Dove, a prominent Canfield resident, earned induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000 for his exploits as a Notre Dame player from 1940-42.

Bowling Green announced that Brian Delehoy has been named promotion and sales manager for the Falcons. Butler University has named Barry Collier as its new athletics director. Delaware State University Athletics Director Chuck Bell hired Mike Wilson to oversee the program’s sports marketing and public relations office. Northwestern University Director of Athletics Mark Murphy announced the addition of John Mack as associate athletics director for external affairs. Temple University announced the hiring of Peter D’
Alonzo as student services/learning specialist; and Nick Plack and Jaison Freeman as academic coordinators. University of Colorado Athletic Directors Mike Bohn announced the naming of Miguel Rueda to the position of head athletic trainer. University of Louisiana named John Dugas as event management coordinator; he will also assist with the development of the athletic department’s website.

Atlantic Coast Conference has named Kristie Le as assistant director of media relations and Mike Finn has been promoted to associate commissioner for football operations.
Donyale Canada has accepted the position of director of sports services at Conference USA in Irving, Texas. University of Akron named Mauro Monz, formerly offensive coordinator at Duquesne University, its director of football operations.

Schedule Spotlight: Bowl Championship Series Games

Bowl - Date - Television Partner

Rose - Jan. 1 - ESPN on ABC
Tostitos Fiesta - Jan. 1 - Fox
FedEx Orange - Jan. 2 - Fox
Allstate Sugar - Jan. 3 - Fox
BCS National Championship - Jan. 8 - Fox

With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy presented by HealthSouth and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes.
For more information, please visit www.footballfoundation.org

NFF Contacts
Phil Marwill.......................Director of Communications Hillary Jeffries...................Special Projects Assistant
22 Maple Avenue
Morristown, NJ 07960
800.486.1865 (phone)

2006 College Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement

noreply@blogger.com (Don) — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 06:46:00 -0500

NEWS RELEASE w/ pdf, satellite coordinates, bios, quotes and event times The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame

20 legends to be immortalized this weekend in South Bend, Ind.

MORRISTOWN, N.J., August 10, 2006 - College football fans from across the country will join the National Football Foundation August 11-12 by gathering at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., to pay tribute to the storied careers of 20 of the game’s greatest stars at the organization’s annual Enshrinement Festival.

SATELLITE FEED COORDINATES AND TIMES

30-second interviews with each member of the 2006 Hall of Fame Class and b-roll at the following times:

* Friday, August 11 between 3:30 pm - 3:45 pm, EDT (All but Rice and Friesz)
* Saturday, August 12 between 9:00 pm - 9:15 pm, EDT (All Hall of Famers)

AMC 5 Transponder 12B.
Uplink Frequency: 14329.625 Vertical
Downlink Frequency: 12029 Horizontal
Data rate: 5500000 bps or 5.5
FEC rate: 3/4
Symbal rate: 3978723 bps
lo Freq: 10750

2006 DIVISION I-A ENSHRINEMENT CLASS

PLAYERS
Cornelius Bennett – LB, Alabama, 1983-86 Tom Curtis – DB, Michigan, 1967-69 Anthony Davis – RB, Southern California, 1972-74 Keith Dorney – OT, Penn State, 1975-78 Jim Houston – E, Ohio State, 1957-59 John Huarte – QB, Notre Dame, 1962-64 Roosevelt Leaks – FB, Texas, 1972-74 Mark May – OT, Pittsburgh, 1977-80 Joe Washington – RB, Oklahoma, 1972-75 Paul Wiggin – DT, Stanford, 1954-56 David Williams – WR, Illinois, 1983-85

COACHES
Pat Dye – East Carolina (1974-79), Wyoming (1980), Auburn (1981-92),
153-62-5
Don Nehlen – Bowling Green (1968-76), West Virginia, (1980-2000), 202-128-8

2006 DIVISIONAL ENSHRINEMENT CLASS

PLAYERS
Kevin Dent – DB, Jackson State, 1985-88
John Friesz – QB, Idaho, 1986-89
Ronnie Mallett – End, Central Arkansas, 1978-81 Jerry Rice – WR, Mississippi Valley State, 1981-84

COACHES
Dick Farley – Williams (Mass.) (1987-2003), 114-19-3 John Gagliardi – Carroll College (Mont.) (1949-52), Saint John’s Univ.
(Minn.) (1952-present), 432-118-11
Vernon “Skip” McCain – Maryland State (1948-63), 102-21-5

2006 ENSHRINEMENT FESTIVAL AWARD HONOREES

CHRIS SCHENKEL AWARD
Johnny Holliday, broadcaster, University of Maryland

BERT McGRANE AWARD, presented by the Football Writers Association of America John Junker, president/CEO, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

Founded in 1947, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame inducted its first class of inductees in 1951. The first class included 32 players and 19 coaches, including Illinois' Red Grange, Notre Dame's Knute Rockne, Amos Alonzo Stagg and Carlisle's Jim Thorpe. Out of the more than
4.5 million individuals who have played college football over the past 138 years, only 800 players and 173 coaches have been immortalized with a place in the sport’s most hallowed institution.

“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to enshrine another exceptional class of college football hall legends,” said NFF President Steven J.
Hatchell. “Each year our hard-working Honors Court, chaired by Gene Corrigan, does an outstanding job in ensuring the game’s legends are duly recognized.”

268 schools are represented with at least one College Football Hall of Famer. The current building in South Bend, Ind. was built in 1995 as a $17 million state-of-the-art interactive facility for fans of all ages. This year the Enshrinement Festival will include a celebrity golf tournament and concert on Friday, the Enshrinement Parade and Fan Fest on Saturday and the Enshrinement Dinner that evening.

The next class of College Football Hall of Famers will be inducted at the 49h NFF Annual Awards Dinner on December 5, 2006, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. They will be officially enshrined at the Hall in South Bend during ceremonies in August of 2007.

CRITERIA

1. First and Foremost, a player must have received First Team All-America recognition by a selector organization that is recognized by the NCAA and utilized to comprise their consensus All-America teams.

2. A player becomes eligible for consideration by the Foundation's Honors Courts ten years after his final year of intercollegiate football played.

3. While each nominee's football achievements in college are of prime consideration, his post football record as a citizen is also weighed. He must have proven himself worthy as a citizen, carrying the ideals of football forward into his relations with his community and his fellow man with love of his country. Consideration may also be given for academic honors and whether or not the candidate earned a college degree.

4. Players must have played their last year of intercollegiate football within the last 50 years*. For example, to be eligible for the 2006 ballot,
the player must have played his last year in 1956 or thereafter. In
addition, players who are playing professionally and coaches who are coaching on the professional level are not eligible until after they retire.

5. A coach becomes eligible three years after retirement or immediately following retirement provided he is at least 70 years of age. Active coaches become eligible at 75 years of age. He must have been a head coach for a minimum of 10 years and coached at least 100 games with a .600 winning percentage*.
(*Those players that do not comply with the 50-year rule and coaches that have not won 60% of their games may still be eligible for consideration by the Division I-A and Divisional Honors Review Committees, which examine unique cases.)

DIVISION I-A ENSHRINEE BIOGRAPHIES and QUOTES

Cornelius Bennett
University of Alabama
Linebacker, 1983-86

A devastating hitter and dynamic defender, Cornelius Bennett dominated in four seasons as the undisputed defensive leader of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
At 6 feet 4 inches tall and 215 pounds, Bennett twice earned First Team All-America honors, a unanimous choice in 1986. That year, he finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting, received the Lombardi Award as the nation’s top lineman and was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year. A three-time First Team All-Conference pick, Bennett was voted Defensive Player of the Game in victories at the 1985 Aloha Bowl and the 1986 Sun Bowl.

A member of Alabama’s Team of the Century, Bennett was named the school’s Player of the Decade for the 1980’s. A team captain in 1986, he amassed 287 career tackles and 15 sacks, 10 of which came in 1986. Selected second overall in the 1987 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts, Bennett played 14 years in the NFL and made five appearances in the Super Bowl, four as a part of the Buffalo Bills’ memorable run in the 1990s. Currently, Bennett resides in Golden Beach, Florida.

On his memories from his college playing days… “Signing my letter of intent to play at the University of Alabama, and then playing against the University of Washington in the Sun Bowl my last game senior year, those two things really stand out more than anything else. The first part was becoming part of a great tradition and the last was finishing off a career where I tried my best to continue that tradition.”

On comparisons to his college and pro football careers… “They were very similar. My legacy in college football prepared me for my legacy in pro football. I had great coaches in college, Ray Perkins, and in the pros, Marv Levy among them, and they just went hand in hand with each other.”

Tom Curtis
University of Michigan
Defensive Back, 1967-69

Opposing quarterbacks beware! Lurking deep within the defensive secondary stands one of the greatest interception threats in NCAA history, Michigan’s Tom Curtis. A consensus First Team All-America selection in 1969, Curtis set an NCAA career record with 431 interception return yards and led the nation with 10 picks in 1968. With 25 career interceptions, he is the all-time leader at Michigan, ranks second all-time in BIG TEN Conference history and is tied for fourth in NCAA history. A two-time First Team All-Conference selection, Curtis led the Wolverines in interceptions for three straight seasons and helped guide them to a share of the BIG TEN title in 1969.

A recipient of the academic Frederic Matthaei Award in 1968, Curtis went on to graduate with a degree in Economics in 1970. Following graduation, he was drafted by the Baltimore Colts, played two seasons in the NFL, and appeared in Super Bowl V. Owner and publisher of the Football News and three NFL team publications, Curtis remains active in the community with the Haileah/Miami Springs Rotary and the NFL Alumni Association in Miami, Florida.

On what this induction day means to him… “It’s like a moment frozen in time. I’m not going to have many days like I have today. My grandkids and great grandkids will be proud and I’m really happy to provide that as a family legacy.”

On one particular moment that stands out among the rest from his playing days… “My last regular season game against Ohio State, they had won 23 or so games in a row, and I had two interceptions, the last one being the 25th of my career, and 25 was my number. Now I look back and find that to be quite ironic.”

Anthony Davis
University of Southern California
Running Back, 1972-74

Continuing in a long line of legendary USC Hall of Fame running backs, Anthony Davis has cemented himself as one of the greatest rushers in PAC-8 and NCAA history. He becomes the sixth Trojan in six consecutive years to enter college football’s national shrine.

A unanimous First Team All-America selection, Davis finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1974. A two-time First Team All-Conference pick, he became the first player in PAC-8 history to rush for at least 1,000 yards in three individual seasons. A two-time recipient of the Voit Trophy as the Most Outstanding Player on the West Coast, Davis led USC in rushing, scoring and kick return yardage for three consecutive seasons.

A proven winner, Davis guided the Trojans to a 31-3-2 record, three conference titles, three Rose Bowl victories and two national championships in three years. Upon the completion of his career, he accumulated 24 school, conference and NCAA records, including over 5,400 all-purpose yards
and 52 touchdowns. Following a brief NFL career, Davis became a successful
real estate developer and continues to serve as a motivational speaker for youth in Irvine, California where he currently resides.

On what his induction means to his career… “It means I’m inducted with some great athletes both from my school and from college football. If you had told me 30 years ago I’d be in the College Football Hall of Fame, I would’ve thought you were crazy because I really wanted to play baseball. I never thought I’d play college football, let alone play well enough to be a Hall of Famer.”

On the tradition of USC…
“Southern California is a hotbed of football talent, and generations of people have gone to USC from those areas to make it what it is. People still talk to me about our 1974 come from behind win over ND, 55-24, and our
1972 victory over them to catapult us to the national championship. It’s a tradition that many people have contributed to and I’m happy to be a part of.”

Keith Dorney
Pennsylvania State University
Offensive Tackle, 1975-78

An immovable force and staple on the Penn State offensive line, Keith Dorney proved his prowess on the athletic field and in the classroom. A two-time First Team All-America selection, unanimous in 1978, Dorney saw action in the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Game his senior year. Named National Lineman of the Year by the Columbus Touchdown Club, he helped lead the Nittany Lions to a 38-10 record and four straight bowl appearances.

Dedicated to his studies, Dorney was named to the Penn State Dean’s List numerous times and was named to the Academic All-America First Team in 1978.
Named to Penn State’s All-Century First Team, Dorney was selected 19th overall by the Detroit Lions in the 1979 NFL Draft. In a nine-year NFL career, he made one Pro Bowl and earned the Ed Block Courage Award in 1987.
Following his playing days, Dorney has worked with children and young adults as a full-time special education teacher for True to Life Children’s Services and also coaches the defensive line at a local high school in Santa Rosa, California.

On the things he’ll remember most about his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame… “That it’s just a tremendous honor, to be here with guys like Dave Williams, Cornelius Bennett, Anthony Davis, to be associated with all the people that came before us, I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

On his experiences with a younger Joe Paterno… “Joe is a stern task master. He demands a lot from his players and coaches.
It was a real swift kick in the butt to go up there as a 17-year old freshman, but I wouldn’t be the man I am today without him.”

Jim Houston
The Ohio State University
End, 1957-59

A fierce competitor and team leader, Jim Houston guided the Ohio State Buckeyes to great heights and solidified himself as one of his era’s legendary athletes.

A First Team All-America selection in 1958, Houston was invited to participate in the East-West Shrine Game and Hula Bowl. A two-time First Team All-Conference pick, he was named team MVP twice and led the Buckeyes to a 9-1 record, the BIG TEN title and a National Championship in 1957.

Following graduation in 1960, Houston was selected fifth overall by the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Draft. Dominating on the professional level, he made four Pro Bowl appearances and served as team captain seven times in his 13-year career.

Off the field, Houston continues to work with Canada Life Insurance Company, where he has been for more than 40 years. A native of Sagamore Hills, Ohio, he is a former president of the NFL Alumni Cleveland Chapter and continues
to assist at various local hospitals and children’s
organizations.

On the best thing about being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame… “Just to be recognized and excited that I’m joining a lot of great Ohio State people that are already here, it’s just overwhelming.”

On the things he remembers most about Coach Woody Hayes… “There was nobody like Coach Hayes. Woody was a guy that prepared for absolutely everything. He would even plan out his tirades in practice to get the most out of us. Just a great guy to play for and a great man.”

John Huarte
University of Notre Dame
Quarterback, 1962-64

One of the great quarterbacks of his day, Notre Dame’s John Huarte assembled one of the finest single-season performances in school history in 1964.
Claiming national awards and setting records, he guided the Fighting Irish to a share of the national championship and firmly stamped his place in college football lore.

In 1964, Huarte became the 30th recipient of the Heisman Trophy, was named Back of the Year by the UPI and Football News and ranked third nationally in total offense. In a season where he earned MVP honors in the North-South Shrine Game and College All-Star Game, he set 12 school records, including single-season passing yards (2,062) and touchdown passes (16).

Following graduation, Huarte was selected by the New York Jets in the second round of the 1965 AFL Draft and spent 12 seasons in professional football in the AFL, NFL and WFL. The owner of Arizona Tile Company, Huarte has proven to be a highly successful businessman, expanding the company to six branches. He currently lives in Pacific Palisades, California.

On his inclusion among the greats at the College Football Hall of Fame… “The main thing is when you run your eyes over the list of all the great players over the years who have gotten in, to be part of that company, is really special. My name is associated with the history of the game and all the great players.”

On going from backup to Heisman Trophy winner in one season… “It was a gritty experience to not play and then going in as a starter my last year. I had done a lot of scrimmaging on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but to not have that opportunity my first few years and then the last, to set a lot of new records, it changed my life.”

Roosevelt Leaks
University of Texas
Fullback, 1972-74

A tremendous running back and fearless pioneer, Roosevelt Leaks became the first black athlete to earn All-America and All-Conference honors for the Texas Longhorns, forever changing the complexion of football at Texas and the Southwest Conference.

Prior to suffering a serious knee injury that hampered his senior season, Leaks earned consensus First Team All-America honors in 1973 and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting. A two-time First Team All-Conference selection, he was named Southwest Conference MVP in 1973, while setting the conference record for rushing yards (1,415). A team captain and MVP, Leaks guided the Longhorns to two conference titles. Drafted in the fifth round of the 1974 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts, Leaks enjoyed a nine-year professional career with the Colts and Buffalo Bills.

A community minded individual, Leaks hosts an annual charity golf tournament for children in East Austin, Texas. In 2003, he became the first recipient of the Living Legends Award presented by the Ministry of Challenge.

On playing for Coach Darrell Royal…
“Coach Royal was very disciplined, he had players who could make plays for him, but he had great people, he never expected less than your best and never tolerated anything otherwise as well.

On how his Texas teams would stack up against today’s unit… “We would’ve been a little bit small. We could play with anybody back then, but today, they are very gifted talented team right now, very quick and very big. It sure would be fun.”

Mark May
University of Pittsburgh
Offensive Tackle, 1977-80

A massive specimen at 6 feet 6 inches tall and 280 pounds, Mark May was the anchor of the Pittsburgh offensive line and the leader of a historic Panther team. In 1980, he captained the team that went 11-1 and finished #2 in the AP final rankings, a squad that featured three other College Football Hall of Fame teammates, Jimbo Covert, Hugh Green and Dan Marino.

A First Team All-America selection in 1980, May became the 35th recipient of the Outland Trophy, which goes to the nation’s top interior lineman. A participant in the 1981 Hula and Japan Bowls, May helped guide the Panthers to four bowl game appearances and three AP Top 10 finishes.

Following graduation in 1981, May was selected in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. In all, he enjoyed a 13-year NFL career, which included two Super Bowl championships. A current studio analyst for ESPN, May maintains a dedicated philanthropic schedule. A member of Nancy Reagan’s “Team Up Against Drugs” program, he is the honorary chairman of the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Association and a United Way spokesperson. May currently resides in Mesa, Arizona.

On what it means to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame….
“It’s an extreme honor, very humbling, to look at these players who I’m going in with, to be inducted with those guys, it’s just incredible.

On what made his Pitt teams so successful… “We all came from parts unknown, Mississippi, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, we banded together as a group and wouldn’t let anybody stand in our way. We still keep in contact today, and I think that says a lot about how closely knit we were.”
Joe Washington
University of Oklahoma
Running Back, 1972-75

“Like smoke through a keyhole” is how legendary Oklahoma running back Joe Washington described his running style during the days he ruled the BIG-8 Conference. Upon the completion of his remarkable Sooner career, Washington stood atop the school’s all-time career rushing list with over 4,000 yards.

For two extraordinary seasons, Washington dominated the national scene. In 1974, he earned unanimous First Team All-America status as a running back, was named National Player of the Year and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting. In 1975, Washington was named First Team All-America as a kick returner and placed fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting. Both seasons, Washington’s offensive brilliance led to Sooner national championships. A three-time First Team All-Conference pick, Washington’s teams lost only twice in 46 career games.

Selected in the first round of the 1976 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers, Washington played 10 seasons in the NFL and was named MVP of the Redskins in 1981. He is currently the owner of a marketing and advertising company and lives in Lutherville, Maryland.

On his reaction to learning the news of his induction… “I just was really shocked. I had a good friend, Clendon Thomas, who I thought should get in, and the fact that I’m before him, it’s just disbelief.”

On his place in college football history… “Just to be inducted with these guys with all the greats, it says it all.
It’s such an honor, I think it just speaks for itself.”

Paul Wiggin
Stanford University
Defensive Tackle, 1954-56

A dominating defensive tackle, Stanford’s Paul Wiggin owned the line of scrimmage for three punishing years. A two-time First Team All-America selection, Wiggin was invited to participate in the East-West Shrine Game in
1956 and the Hula Bowl in 1957. A two-time All-Pacific Conference pick, he is one of only two players in Stanford history to return as head coach. A three-year starter and letterwinner, Wiggin was named the school’s Defensive Player of the Century in fan voting.

Also a Rugby player and noted scholar, Wiggin earned his bachelor’s degree in 1956 and a master’s degree in 1959. Drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the sixth round of the 1957 NFL Draft, Wiggin enjoyed an 11-year professional career. During his off-seasons, he taught high school and college classes, and coached defensive tackles at spring practice for Stanford. When his playing days finally ended, Wiggin coached the Kansas City Chiefs and Stanford University for three years each. Currently, he serves as the Director of Pro Scouting for the Minnesota Vikings and resides in Edina, Minnesota.

On his reaction to learning of his induction… “More than anyone else, I think I was surprised, since I last played college football 49 years ago. For this to happen at this stage of my life, you don’t expect something like that to happen. What I really realized was how much it has meant to my family to get in. That as much as anything else. They were so excited about this, they’re just absolutely rejoicing in this.”

On what means the most to him about his college playing days… “As I look back in college, if I had anything that meant something to me, it was probably the fact that I had the respect of my teammates, more than any other honor. I can go back and talk about the way we played, how hard we played, as your life unfolds, I’ve really come to appreciate the fact that some of things I remember is respect. “I think that’s the great thing about college football, my greatest memories are that.
David Williams
University of Illinois
Wide Receiver, 1983-85

One of the greatest wide receivers of all-time, Illinois’ David Williams finished his collegiate career as the second-leading receiver in NCAA history with 245 receptions and 3,195 receiving yards in only 33 games.
Collecting numerous records and awards, Williams was the only two-time unanimous First Team All-America on the 2005 College Football Hall of Fame ballot. In 1984, he led the nation with a BIG TEN record 101 receptions, becoming only the second player in NCAA history to surpass the 100-reception mark in a single-season. In 1986, Williams was named Illinois Athlete of the Year and participated in the Japan Bowl.

The holder of every Illinois receiving record, Williams twice earned First Team All-Conference recognition and team MVP honors. In 1983, he led the Fighting Illini to their first BIG TEN title in 20 years. Following two seasons in the NFL, Williams flourished in the Canadian Football League where he earned All-Star status five times and was named league MVP in 1988.
He currently works in sales and lives in Cardena, California.

On what it means to join the greats in the College Football Hall of Fame… ‘It shows that my parents did a good job, my school did a good job, my brother did a good job, all my influences in life did a good job in helping me achieve what I wanted and hoped for.”

On helping Illinois reach the Rose Bowl for the first time in 20 years… “Seeing how the city came together that season was special. We went 9-0 in the Big Ten that year, beat everybody after being picked to finish last. It ’s something that stays with you more so than other personal accomplishments.”
Pat Dye
Head Coach - East Carolina University (1974-79), University of Wyoming (1980), Auburn University (1981-92)

A coaching legend, Pat Dye’s career began with success at East Carolina and peaked at Auburn University, where he led the Tigers to their first SEC title in 26 years. In 1974, Dye began his head coaching career with East Carolina. In six years, his East Carolina teams never won fewer than seven games in a season, and in 1978 he guided the Pirates to an Independence Bowl victory, the program’s first bowl appearance in 13 years.

Following one year at Wyoming, Dye found a home with the Auburn Tigers.
Prior to his arrival, Auburn had won only one SEC title in 48 years. During Dye’s 12 seasons with the Tigers, they took home four SEC titles, including three straight from 1987-89. Named National Coach of the Year in 1983, he is one of only seven coaches in college football history to have coached a winner of the Heisman Trophy, Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award.

A three-time SEC Coach of the Year, Dye coached the Tigers to six bowl victories in nine appearances and 99 victories overall. Upon retirement, his total coaching record includes 153 victories against only 62 losses and five ties for a win percentage of .707. Dye currently resides in Notasulga, Alabama.

On what he remembers most about coaching college football… “I started back as a player in Georgia in 1957, coached under Bear Bryant at Alabama for 9 years, became a head coach. Looking back on your life and thinking about all the people who contributed to where I am, it’s a humbling experience, a ride I never could’ve dreamed I would have.”

On one special moment throughout his long coaching career….
To me the highlight was getting the job at Auburn University in 1981.
Everything I’ve done to that point, everything just falls into place. That truly was a special moment for me and one I’ll never forget.”

Don Nehlen
Head Coach - Bowling Green State University (1968-76), West Virginia University (1980-2000)

The greatest coach ever at West Virginia University, Don Nehlen became the 17th coach in NCAA Division I-A history to record 200 career victories.
After winning 53 games in nine seasons at Bowling Green, Nehlen firmly planted himself on the college football landscape at West Virginia. Named National Coach of the Year in 1988, he coached more seasons (21) and won more games (149) than any other coach in Mountaineer history. Selected to coach in numerous Blue-Gray, East-West Shrine and Hula Bowl all-star games, Nehlen coached 15 First Team All-Americas and 82 First Team All-Conference performers.

Helping the Mountaineers to two undefeated regular seasons in 1988 and 1993, Nehlen guided the team to 13 bowl game appearances, 17 winning seasons and the 1993 BIG EAST Conference title. His career record included 202 wins,
128 losses and eight ties.

The 1997 president and a current trustee of the American Football Coaches Association, Nehlen received the 2002 Distinguished West Virginian Award from the WV Broadcasters Association. An all-time great, he is a member of the Mid-American Conference, Bowling Green State University, Gator Bowl and West Virginia University Halls of Fame. Nehlen continues to reside in Morgantown, West Virginia.

On how his life experiences led him to the College Football Hall of Fame… “I grew up in Canton, Ohio, a hotbed for high school sports and football in particular, and I knew I always wanted to coach, I just didn’t know what. I mean I liked football, basketball, and baseball. I wanted to do everything.
I just started at the bottom of high school, started at the bottom, got into college coaching, went to West Virginia, most of our kids hadn’t ever played on a winning team. But they were a good bunch of guys, they wanted to win, and the school built new facilities, and things just took off from there.”

On dealing with increased expectations after years of success… “Expectations are good. When you coach at a school that expects to win, they normally do, you get what you expect and demand. Later on, when we had kids come to West Virginia, they expected to win, and I think that’s good.”

DIVISIONAL ENSHRINEE BIOGRAPHIES

Kevin Dent
Jackson State University (Miss.)
Defensive Back, 1985-88

A fierce defensive talent, Jackson State’s Kevin Dent will become the first defensive player and third overall in school history to enter the College Football Hall of Fame, joining legends Walter Payton and Willie Richardson.

A constant interception threat, Dent is the school’s only three-time First Team All-America selection (1986-88). A three-time Sheridan Black College National Defensive Player of the Year, he led the nation in interceptions in
1986 and currently ranks among the Top 25 in NCAA Division I-AA history with
21 career picks.

At 6-foot-2, 196 pounds, Dent was the leader of a defense that vaulted the Tigers to three consecutive Southwest Athletic Conference championships and a remarkable 27-1 conference record. A three-time First Team All-Conference selection, he was twice named SWAC Defensive Player of the Year.
A two-time Mississippi Sports Writers All-Mississippi Team selection, Dent currently ranks fourth all-time at Jackson State in single-season interceptions (11 in 1988). A community minded individual, he continues to reside in Jackson, Mississippi.

John Friesz
University of Idaho
Quarterback, 1986-89

Arguably the greatest player in the 109-year history of the University of Idaho, quarterback John Friesz will become the school’s first-ever inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame.

A two-time First Team All-America selection, Friesz twice led the nation in passing and received the 1989 Walter Payton Award as Division I-AA’s National Player of the Year. With over 10,000 career passing yards, he ranks among the Top 20 in Division I-AA history.

A Big Sky Conference legend, Friesz was named conference Player of the Year and First Team All-Conference three times while leading the Vandals to three straight conference championships. An eight-time conference Player of the Week mention, he broke virtually every school single-season and career passing record. For all of his prowess, the team’s Most Valuable Player Award was renamed the John Friesz Award.

Drafted in 1990 NFL Draft, Friesz went on to enjoy a 10-year professional career with four teams. An active member in his community, he has hosted a golf tournament benefiting the American Diabetes Association. A member of Big Brothers & Big Sisters, Friesz also participates in numerous charity events for the Specials Olympics.

Ronnie Mallett
University of Central Arkansas
End, 1978-81

A talented wide receiver with impeccable hands and a nose for the ball, Ronnie Mallett will become the University of Central Arkansas’ first-ever inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame.

An offensive force, Mallett earned First Team NAIA All-America honors from 1979-81, the first in school history to achieve the distinction three times.
A team leader and motivational source, he helped guide Central Arkansas to a
33-8-2 record and three conference championships in four seasons.

A three-time All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference selection, Mallett shattered numerous receiving records, many of which he still holds
including: single game receiving yards (242), career touchdown receptions
(30) and career receiving yards (2,649). To date, Mallet ranks in UCA’s Top 10 in 20 record categories for receiving.

Despite UCA only averaging 20 pass attempts per game during Mallet’s four-year tenure, he is tied for the school record with nine 100-yard receiving games and has three of UCA’s four 200-yard receiving game performances.

Jerry Rice
Mississippi Valley State University
Wide Receiver, 1981-84

Widely regarded as one of the greatest wide receivers in football history on any level, Mississippi Valley State’s Jerry Rice will join his teammate Willie Totten as both ends of the famed Delta Devil “Satellite Express” will now be members of the College Football Hall of Fame.

A two-time First Team All-America selection, Rice finished ninth in the 1984 Heisman Trophy voting as he set numerous Division I-AA records including single-season receptions (103) and receiving yards (1,450). A three-time First Team All-Conference pick, Rice was named the 1984 SWAC Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year for the State of Mississippi. A member of the Super South 11, he shattered school records with 310 career receptions, 4,856 receiving yards and 51 touchdowns.

Drafted in the first round of the 1985 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers, Rice became arguably the greatest player in NFL history. In 20 seasons, he was named to the Pro Bowl 13 times, won three Super Bowls and broke virtually every receiving record. His NFL totals exceed 1,500 receptions, 22,000 receiving yards and 200 touchdowns.

In the community, Rice volunteers with the March of the Dimes, Packard Children’s Hospital, Nike PLAY program, Team Up for Healthy Kids, United Way and The Jerry Rice “127” Foundation.

Coach Dick Farley
Williams College (Mass.) (1987-2003)
Head Coach, 114-19-3, .849

A fixture at Williams College for 17 years, Dick Farley brought the Ephs to great heights and established himself as one of the greatest Division III coaches of all-time.

The only coach in Williams history to post a perfect season – a feat he accomplished five times, Farley was named Gridiron Club of Greater Boston New England Coach of the Year four times, NESCAC Coach of the Year twice and Division III Regional Coach of the Year in 1996 by AFCA. The recipient of the Johnny Vaught Lifetime Achievement Award, he recorded New England’s longest Division III win streak (23 games).

In 17 years, Williams did not have a losing season on Farley’s watch. He recorded 128 consecutive games without back-to-back losses, amassed 11 seasons with at least seven wins and had 12 seasons with one or zero losses.
A masterful leader, he coached nine First Team All-Americas.

Williams’ all-time winningest coach, Farley retired with an overall record of 114-19-3 for a win percentage of .849, which currently ranks him sixth among coaches in all divisions in college football history.

Coach John Gagliardi
Carroll College (Mont.) (1949-52), Saint John’s University (Minn.)
(1953-present)
Head Coach, 432-118-11, .780

In 2003, John Gagliardi won his 409th game to pass Eddie Robinson as the winningest coach in the history of college football. Few people have influenced the game of football more on the small college level, and he isn’
t done.

Last season, Gagliardi’s 57th, tied him with fellow Hall of Famer Amos Alonzo Staggs for most seasons coached in college football history. His teams have won four national championships, 27 conference titles and have appeared in 51 national playoff games. Despite his long tenure, Gagliardi has had only two teams with losing records and none since 1967.

To date, Gagliardi has a remarkable record of 432-118-11 for a winning percentage of .780. In 1993, the trophy that has annually been given to the Player of the Year on the Division III level was renamed the Gagliardi Trophy in recognition of the coach’s career and influence.

A leader on the gridiron and off, Gagliardi has served as athletics director at both Carroll College and Saint John’s. In addition to football, he has coached and won championships in track and ice hockey at SJU. His insights and strategy have been documented in four books written about the coach.

Coach Vernon “Skip” McCain
(Posthumously)
Maryland State College (1948-63)
Head Coach, 102-21-5, .810

For more than a quarter of a century Maryland State College was regarded as a football powerhouse among historically black colleges. The architect of
16 of these teams was head coach Vernon “Skip” McCain.

Named Coach of the Year by the Pigskin Club of Washington in 1950, McCain led his teams to four Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles and never recorded a single losing season in 16 years at the helm.

With a career record of 102-21-5, McCain is one of only 28 coaches in the history of college football to have a winning percentage greater than .800 among those whom have coached at least nine seasons. A leader of men, he guided MSC to three undefeated seasons and seven seasons of seven wins or more. For all of his accomplishments, he was named to the MSC and Langston University Halls of Fame.

In the community, McCain served as the school’s athletics director, head baseball coach and head basketball coach during his career. An active member of the Metropolitan United Church, he was a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and the Langston University Alumni Association.

2006 ENSHRINEMENT FESTIVAL AWARD HONOREES

CHRIS SCHENKEL AWARD
Honoring a college football broadcaster who has had a long and distinguished career Johnny Holliday University of Maryland

Since 1979, Holliday’s distinctive voice has been synonymous with Terrapin football and basketball, serving as the school’s play-by-play announcer for more than 1,075 games as well as the host of the school’s coaches’ shows.
Considered Washington, D.C.’s most versatile broadcaster, he has announced for nine bowl games, five Olympics, the Washington Redskins, and the Masters. A 25-year veteran with ABC sports, his sports reports are heard mornings coast-to-coast on the ABC Radio Network.

A 2003 inductee into the Radio-Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Holliday penned a 2002 autobiography entitled “Johnny Holliday, from Rock to Jock,” highlighting his transition from the nation’s No. 1 Top 40 disc jockey in the 1960s to his current position as a renowned sports broadcaster.

Holliday is also heavily involved in charity work, having raised over $1.5 million for various causes, and he has had a flourishing acting career with more than 30 leading roles in Summer Stock productions. Career highlights include playing the last record on 1010 WINS before the New York station went all news in 1965, emceeing the Beatles last concert, at Candlestick Park, in 1966 and spotting for Chris Schenkel during the Cleveland Browns – New York Giants’ games in the early ‘60s.

THE BERT MCGRANE AWARD
Presented by the Football Writers Association of America for distinguished service to the organization and in the promotion of college football John Junker President/CEO, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl President/CEO

During his 17-year tenure with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, first as executive director and now as president and chief executive officer, John Junker has presided over three national championship games and will oversee a fourth in January 2007.

Junker played a pivotal role in the Fiesta Bowl’s entry into the Bowl Championship Series, and helped expand the events hosted by the Bowl’s volunteer-based committee to more than 50 a year, including three bowl games (Insight Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and BCS National Championship Game) in the 2006-07 bowl season.

In 2003, Sports Illustrated named him the seventh most powerful person in college football. Junker recently joined tournament of Roses director Dave Davis as representatives from BCS bowl games on the NFF board.

His vision has played a key role in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl’s expansion into one of the nation's leading civic celebration, and he has worked to see the organization dramatically increase its popularity as a community-based and volunteer-driven year-round entity.

2006 Enshrinement Festival Schedule

FRIDAY, AUGUST 11

Enshrinement Celebrity Golf Scramble
Registration - 7:30 a.m., Shotgun Start - 9:00 a.m. (Blackthorn Golf Club, South Bend, Ind.)

Enshrinement Gathering on the Gridiron
5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. (Outdoor concert on the Hall of Fame’s Gridiron
Plaza)
Autograph Session “A”
5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. (Hall of Fame Gridiron Plaza – Autograph Tent)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 12

Enshrinement FanFest
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Hall of Fame and surrounding area)

Enshrinement Parade
9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. (Downtown South Bend) Autograph Session “B”
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (Hall of Fame Gridiron Plaza – Autograph Tent)

Enshrinee Flag Football Game
12:45 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. (Hall of Fame Gridiron Plaza)

Enshrinee Youth Football Clinic
1:45 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. (Hall of Fame Gridiron Plaza) Enshrinee Autograph Session “C”
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (Hall of Fame Gridiron Plaza – Autograph Tent)

Enshrinement Reception, Silent Auction, & Dinner and Show Reception and Silent Auction: 6:00 p.m., Dinner and Show: 7:30 p.m.
(Century Center)
Event features the official enshrinement of the 2006 Hall of Fame Class as well as the presentation of the Chris Schenkel Award to University of Maryland broadcaster Johnny Holliday and the Bert McGrane Award to Tostitos Fiesta Bowl President/CEO John Junker.

** Visit www.collegefootball.org for detailed information on each event **

ABOUT THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL FOUNDATION & COLLEGE HALL OF FAME With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy, presented by HealthSouth, and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. Learn more at www.footballfoundation.org.

ABOUT THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME
The College Football Hall of Fame, an initiative of The National Football Foundation, stands as one of the nation’s premier sports shrines, preserving and dramatizing the history of the game to an ever broadening audience of fans while holding up the greatest players and coaches as role models who highlight the game’s positive values. For more information on the College Football Hall of Fame and its 2006 Enshrinement Festival, visit www.collegefootball.org.

Contacts:
Phil Marwill, director of communications
Phone: 1-800-486-1865, ext. 118

David Saba, public relations coordinator College Football Hall of Fame
Phone: 574-235-5717