Bring On The Cats

The National, 5/17/12: Yet Another Move.

2012-05-17T17:45:34Z

Clearly, We Need More Teams in FBS: At 1:30 CT, Old Dominion is having a press conference, where, according to Dave Fairbank of the Daily Press, ODU is going to accept that invitation to Conference USA after all, effective in the 2013-14 season. Fairbank's colleague at the DP, David Teel, reported on Twitter that ODU expects to still be eligible for the 2012 FCS playoffs, although the question of whether they'll be eligible to win the CAA's automatic bid is still open. ODU's football program has only existed for three years, but they received a bid to the playoffs last year and won a first-round game before losing to Georgia Southern in a wild shootout whose final score looked more like basketball, so they may very well be capable of making a little noise immediately in 2013.

Stuff rolls downhill, of course, and Brett McMurphy reports that sources indicate the CAA's response move may be to try and lure Davidson and College of Charleston into the fold to replace the departing ODU, VCU, and Georgia State. That won't do much for CAA football, as Davidson runs a non-scholarship program in the Pioneer League and Charleston doesn't have a football team. Then again, the CAA's only real loss in football is ODU, so no big deal I suppose.

News From Summer Camp: Or, at least, from the ACC spring meeting. There has apparently been no discussion of Florida State's potential exit; there has also apparently been no discussion of Florida State's alleged desire to have John Swofford suffer a Beebe-like fate. The ACC will, however, move to a nine-game conference schedule once Pitt and Syracuse step off the Greyhound from Providence.

It's Like When You Shake Your iPhone: Oklahoma's receiver situation just gets more and more confusing. Last week, three members of the receiving corps got suspended. One of those three, Kameel Jackson, had already made waves by announcing he was transferring to Texas A&M (much to the surprise of the Aggies, who hadn't been in contact). Now, Jackson's staying, and the corps is getting a boost for the 2013 season as Jalen Saunders, the leading receiver last year at Fresno State, is transferring to Norman.

Hope You Already Got Your Tickets: It's May, and TCU has already sold out 2012, with the exception of standing-room-only tickets. Bear in mind, this is in a stadium which is in the midst of an expansion which will only be completed the week before the season opener. This is what happens when you join a real conference. The sellout triggers a "maybe" thrown out by TCU AD Chris Del Conte; he had said that TCU wouldn't consider a further expansion until the season-ticket base hit 30K -- for reference, just three years ago TCU's season ticket base was only 13K -- and this year's enormous response did just that. Get that bowl to 50K, Frawgz.

Diablerie: West Virginia and Alabama will meet in the 2014 Chik-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta. ... Will Muschamp offers his opinion on College Station. ... Another hit for Mizzou, as S Tavon Bolden is gone, sent packing by Gary Pinkel for apparently being a pain in the ass AND not going to class. ... Murray State opted not to come to Manhattan for the Pre-Season NIT, choosing the Charleston Classic instead. Booooo. ... If you haven't been following this week's SBN feature on relegation in college football, shame on you. ... Today is Ace Parker's 100th birthday, and yes, you DO care.

The Lockett Legacy

2012-05-17T15:00:53Z

With apologies to Tyler Lockett, who I'm sure has heard more than enough of this, it's time to take a look at what K-State's most exciting young receiver/returner needs to do to reach the same level as his relatives. After all, we've still got 96 days until Missouri State.

The bad news for Tyler is that - partly due to injury, and partly due to the fact that he wasn't part of an offense as predicated on passing as much as Kevin and Aaron during what were by far the two most prolific seasons for freshman receivers in school history - he has a lot of catching up to do. The good news is that both Kevin and Aaron slowed down significantly as sophomores.

I was very young, so I can't really say what happened to Kevin, and it's a little confusing since he still had Chad May as his quarterback. For Aaron, the answer is much simpler.

He went from catching passes from Michael Bishop during best passing season by a quarterback in the Bill Snyder era to catching passes from an inexperienced Jonathan Beasley. Aaron also no longer had the benefit of playing alongside Darnell McDonald to distract defenses, which was surely a huge key to his record-breaking freshman season.

Still, Tyler's got a lot of work to do to catch Aaron (4th in receiving yards and 6th in TDs all-time) and, well, no one's expecting him to catch Kevin (1st all-time in receiving yards and TDs). Let's take a look at the numbers.

Year	Kevin	Aaron	Tyler
Fr.	50 rec/770 yds, 4 TDs	44 rec/928 yds, 6 TDs	18 rec/246 yds
So.	39 rec/583 yds, 3 TDs	33 rec/531 yds, 3 TDs	???
Jr.	56 rec/797 yds, 13 TDs	36 rec/584 yds, 2 TDs	???
Sr.	72 rec/882 yds, 6 TDs	24 rec/357 yds, 3 TDs	???
Totals	217/3,032, 26 TDs	24/357, 14 TDs	???

If you were to extrapolate Tyler's numbers from where he was before the season-ending injury, he would have finished with and 26 receptions and 355 yards. Still behind Kevin and Aaron, but at least within striking distance of the latter, who had to endure that disastrous Ell Roberson/Marc Dunn combination at quarterback in his senior year.

Of course, any discussion of Aaron has to mention that he scored three touchdowns and averaged 22.8 yards as a punt returner his junior year, then also returned a kickoff for a touchdown as a senior. As you'll no doubt recall, Tyler was fairly successful last year as well, earning All-Big 12 second team status for leading the nation with a 35.2-yard average on kick returns to go with two touchdowns.

So what can we realistically expect from Tyler as he enters what will hopefully be the second of four productive years? Well, he certainly won't be his dad, who truly proved his worth by having arguably his best season as a senior, with the merely average Brian Kavanagh as his quarterback.

He seems to have largely the same skillset as Aaron, plus four inches and consequently a few pounds. Tyler can beat you deep and he can make some guys miss, but he's probably not going to win a lot of jump balls or be a great possession receiver.

No one would benefit more from an improved deep ball from Collin Klein than Tyler Lockett, and it may be costly that they didn't get much of a chance to work together this spring because of injuries. Other factors working against him include that K-State doesn't seem to have any great passers in the pipeline, and Bill Snyder showed us he's perfectly content to use the running game until teams stop it, unless that team is Oklahoma State and the game is on the line.

Nonetheless, I've said it before and I'll say it again: I will never bet against a Lockett.

K-State Slate: 5.17.12

2012-05-17T12:16:32Z

Back on Central Time, which means the Slate comes to you at its regularly scheduled time.

Also, my God, what a slow news day for K-State.

College Football Playoff

Yahoo's Dan Wetzel excoriates the Big 10 for catering to the Rose Bowl at the expense of playoff games at campus sites. It is amazing that a Midwest conference would give up the possibility of having games at home, providing an economic boost to the region and opening the possibility that some games would be played in non-ideal weather. Long live the bowls!

Veterans' Favorite Sports Moments

Matt Ufford, a veteran himself, is asking other veterans for their favorite sports memories from deployment. I know we have some veterans on this board, so maybe some of you have some stories to share.

Conference Realignment

Former Florida State linebacker, NFL linebacker, and FSU board of trustees member Derrick Brooks says the Big 12 contacted Florida State first. I like this. Florida State is proving they're clearly dysfunctional enough to be a member of the Big 12.

With more realignment upon us, Wide Right Natty Lite has this handy flow chart to make sure you know which Big 12 school you should affiliate yourself with.

College Football Relegation

After everyone went nuts over the Manchester City/QPR match on Sunday -- which admittedly was pretty awesome -- relegation talk has been all the rage this week at SB Nation. Our Daily Bears takes a look at what relegation would have looked like in the Big 12 over its history.

The National, 5/16/12: Swing Your Partner.

2012-05-16T18:34:57Z

He Said, He Said, Oh Whatever: The follies continue, as Derrick Brooks, former Seminole and Tampa Bay Buccaneer (and more pertinently, former Florida State trustee) says the Big 12 contacted Florida State (as opposed to Florida State contacting the Big 12, or neither party contacting the other). Florida State AD Randy Spetman immediately tripped all over himself trying to get to a microphone to say, "I don't know where Derrick got that." This, of course, could mean "it's not true"; it could also mean "Damnit, we've got a leak and I don't know who it is."

Obviously, this raises all sorts of ugly spectres, as the Big 12 is now dangerously close to being in the same situation the SEC was in with regard to Texas A&M. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to figure out which ACC school will play the role of Baylor in this little drama.

That Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means: Yesterday, some twitterati got a little confused and thought this was a sign that Boise State was seriously about to pull the plug on the Great Big East West Experiment. The real meaning, however, is precisely the opposite. The Big West has agreed to "entertain interest" in Boise State as regards Olympic sports, which would solve the Broncos' little WAC problem (and keep San Diego State happy, since if Boise were to pull out of the Big East, the Big East could then discard San Diego State unilaterally per the terms of their contract).

Glad That's Sorted Out: The NCAA has finally settled on the location for next year's East Regional, which is something that normally would have been decided two years ago. After failing to secure Madison Square Garden for the 75th Anniversary fiesta, the East Regional will be hosted by Georgetown at the Verizon Center in Washington DC.

That Didn't Work Out So Well: Mike Bellamy, sophomore running back at Clemson, has had problems ever since he arrived on campus; now, he'll be leaving for an undetermined JUCO as he's been declared academically ineligible.

Diablerie: Two hits from one link: The CAA will probably relocate its tournament from Richmond in the wake of VCU's departure, and Murray State's making a final decision on their pre-season tournament destination -- either Charleston, or the Kansas State pod of the pre-season NIT. ... Craig James, stranger to the truth. ... Jason Kirk realigns college football for promotion/relegation without consulting me. ... Laurie Fine is suing ESPN for libel, and I think we all agree on how that should turn out.

How much of an outlier is K-State's athletic "profit" this year? Look at the top of the...

2012-05-16T17:51:23Z

How much of an outlier is K-State's athletic "profit" this year?

Look at the top of the graph...

K-State Slate: 5.16.12

2012-05-16T10:08:40Z

K-State Football

Mark Simoneau is the first K-State football player who played for Bill Snyder to make the college football hall of fame. He probably won't be the last.

K-State Basketball

Bruce Weber completed his staff by adding Brad Korn as his director of basketball operations.

K-State Baseball

Wade Hinkle is the Big 12 player of the week after leading K-State to a series victory over KU.

College Football Playoffs

It sounds like home games are out of the mix for the new playoff format. Rejoice, media, you won't be stuck in Manhattan.

Bo Jackson

SB Nation's Jon Bois and Bomani Jones combine on this awesome look back at Bo Jackson.

The National, 5/15/12: A Day to Celebrate.

2012-05-15T20:18:14Z

Sometimes Arbitrary and Capricious Works Out: The National Football Foundation has announced its College Football Hall of Fame class for 2012, and finally Bill Snyder is (indirectly) represented as former Wildcat linebacker Mark Simoneau is among the list of 17 former coaches and players to be inducted December 4 in South Bend. Joining Simoneau in the 2012 class are former coaches R.C. Slocum, Philip Fulmer, and Jimmy Johnson, and former players Art Monk, Charles Alexander, Dave Casper, Gabe Rivera, Greg Myers, Hal Bledsoe, John Wooten, Jonathan Ogden, Otis Armstrong, Scott Thomas, Steve Bartkowski, Tommy Kramer, and Ty Detmer. Simoneau will join Gary Spani (also a former Chief, amusingly) as K-State inductees.

There's a lot to be said against the CFBHoF's selection criteria, in which guys like Howard Schnellenberger and Joe Montana aren't eligible for various reasons. However, in defense of those criteria... winning 60% of your games as a coach used to mean your team, on average, was no worse than 6-4 every year. It looks a little different in our day and age, where the cut line would be something like 8-5 every year, but still: if a coach went 8-5 every year, would you call him a hall of famer? The 60% cutline is arbitrary, but is it really something you want to argue against in the larger scheme? You coach 20 years, that's basically going 150-100. For players, the big sticking point is whether or not you were named a first-team All-American by at least ONE of the sanctioned selection bodies, and again one has to ask: if you weren't even considered the best player at your position by any one of four different selectors in any one of your years playing college football, do you belong in a hall of fame?

No News Is No News: Nothing new today on the Florida State story, except for Tommy Tuberville saying it wouldn't suck, and a source informing Brett McMurphy that the Big 12 itself really just doesn't know whether they want to expand or not even if FSU is willing. In fact, there seems to be a sense that this isn't a "Texas doesn't want it, other people do" thing so much as a "Nobody at all seems to be able to make up their mind whether they want to expand or not" thing. (Which is to say, even Texas seems to waffle somewhat on the topic.)

Won't Someone Think of the Anterior Cruciate Ligaments?: Gary Parrish of CBS reports that the NCAA rules committees for men's and women's hoops have decided to recommend a rule change requiring all courts to be of a "consistent surface". That's another way of saying that they're recommending that on-court decals be banned, which would have the effect of removing all non-permanent court decorations. If it's not lacquered over with urethane like the rest of the court, it won't be there. The recommendation is, of course, in reaction to complaints that the decals tend to be slippery and are a risk to player safety. Also recommended: a crackdown on coaches... shall we say, engaging in whimsical antics. (This means you, Frank Martin.)

No More Concerns About Manhattan in December: One thing about the playoff format has been decided once and for all: the playoff will not include any on-campus games, according to Michigan State AD Mark Hollis.

Take THAT: So, Virginia Commonwealth was going to join the Atlantic 10 in 2013. Only, it turns out that according to CAA by-laws, they'd have been ineligible for the conference tournament in 2012 as punishment for leaving or some such. As a result, VCU said "fine, we're outta here now", and will be joining the A-10 this July. (Butler will still hold off until 2013.) Under CAA bylaws, by leaving early VCU also forfeits their pending NCAA tournament payouts... which includes their entire Final Four payout from 2011. This story isn't over yet, kids.

Also, YOU Take THAT: Conference USA appears poised to move their 2013 conference tournament to Tulsa. Why? Because it's currently scheduled to be held in Memphis, and, well, they'd really rather not face the spectre of Memphis winning the conference tournament in their home town as a "See ya later" on their way to the Big East.

Diablerie: Former Kentucky basketball player Michael Porter was arrested this morning on charges of sexual abuse against two teenage girls. ... Idaho WR Ken McRoyal, a walk-on who'd earned a scholarship for 2012, was fatally shot at a party in Los Angeles this weekend. ... Missouri QB Corbin Berkstresser, who was previously lauded in this space along with teammate T.J. Moe for doing a solid and taking a disabled girl to her prom, was arrested this morning on a hit-and-run charge. Just goes to show, people are both good and bad. ... Arkansas WR Kane Whitehurst, who was arrested earlier this year on drug charges, is no longer an Arkansas WR as the team has dismissed him. ... ESPN has renewed 30 for 30, and the first new installment will be a Bo Jackson documentary. Via Jason Kirk, we have a clip from the film featuring Bo's bicycle ride across Alabama in support of the tornado relief effort last year, and here's a little discussion between Jon Bois and Bomani Jones about how awesome Bo really was. ... Tate Forcier: Hamilton Tiger-Cat.

Mark Simoneau Elected to CFB Hall of Fame

2012-05-15T19:26:33Z

Mark Simoneau Elected to CFB Hall of Fame

Former K-State consensus All-American Mark Simoneau will become just the second Wildcat football player and first under head coach Bill Snyder to earn college football's most prestigious honor as the former linebacker was announced today as part of the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame induction class of 2012.