"Steveo's Salvos" - April 17, 2007 Edition

"Salvos" is presented as the editorial content of CollegeFootballFan.com focusing on current issues surrounding college football and news about some of the teams on the CFF schedule this year.  Originally from a newsletter, this web site, CollegeFootballFan.com, has evolved. 

Out with the old - in with the new  - Just when we thought we had the final plan to see our remaining five teams, schedules started changing.  If everything stays as is, we still have it nailed!  Here's where we left off with our last plan:  "At first, we uttered unmentionable phrases when the schedule showed that the Vandals of Idaho would play at Nevada on October 27, the same day two other teams needed to complete the craziness, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, are scheduled to play.  We went back and looked a little more closely at the Idaho and Nevada games on the WAC schedule to see if there was any flexibility there to work around this "gridiron lock". Wow!  To our benefit, we saw a sliver of daylight and we're going for it.  Instead of heading to Nevada as initially desired, we're spending a weekend in Idaho for a Saturday/Sunday 'weekend doubleheader'.  On Saturday, October 13, Idaho hosts Fresno State in the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, ID.  The next day, 276 miles south in Boise, the Wolfpack of Nevada-Reno visits Boise State on the blue turf at Bronco Stadium in a game tentatively scheduled for ESPN.    With these games on our slate, we plan to try to see Kansas State at Auburn on Labor Day weekend, and somehow, we're going to get into the OU-OSU rivalry to finish the Goal on October 27!  We need to start making these arrangements now to assure we can get it done.  This should be fun! "  Well, before a call was to be made to T. Boone Pickens to see if he had an extra seat for his Cowboys at Oklahoma on October 27, the game was moved for TV purposes to the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  That ticket probably got tougher, the airfare just went up, and finishing up away from the family on Thanksgiving just wasn't what we had in mind!  October 27 arrangements were changed to get us to Reno which we thought would be a great place to reach the Goal anyway when Idaho visits Nevada ( a few Wolf pack fans have already invited us to drop by their tailgate parties)!  Our good friend Charlie Murren has a line on the Kansas State at Auburn game, but what do we do about the two Oklahoma schools?  Answer: add a third!   The gears started turning.  New game times were being announced as certain games were being moved to weekday nights.  Turns out that OU will visit Tulsa on Friday, Sept. 21, but hold on, Tulsa's Skelly Stadium only hold 35, 542 you say!  That's not an easy ticket.  No, but we have our "connections".  Chris Koreivo, one of our Left Coast followers, had told us in the past that if we ever needed to see a Tulsa game, he had the connection for us out in Long Beach.  We put out the call.  His buddy, Joe Pistoia, played TE for the Golden Hurricanes back in the late '60s.  His son Tyler is listed as a red-shirt freshman on this year's Tulsa team.  The family has an extra ticket for us to add the Sooners to the Goal.  We saw the Hurricanes not once last year for the first time, but twice.  This will be their rubber game for us as we saw them defeat Navy in OT in Annapolis and saw them lose their lead to SMU later in the season when we joined The Pony Club down on the Boulevard.  Thanks to Chris and Joe for putting that all together for us.  The following day about 100 miles away, the Cowboys of OSU host Texas Tech!  Does anyone out there have T. Boone's number?

Big Tailgate Party - This year's event has to be on November 18 because that's when all the kids are most likely finished with football, soccer, fall baseball etc, and the week before Thanksgiving.  Pitt plays at Rutgers, but we doubt RU is still selling group plans now because of their new-found success.  Army hosts Tulsa and that could be interesting in Joe Pistoia, originally from Brooklyn, makes it up to West Point to see his son play. Harvard plays at Yale and right now that's kind of the way we're leaning.  It's good to have some options.

Goes around, comes around - The NCAA woke up and changed the rules back to where they were after much frustration last year - great!  The clock will stop on possession changes and the clock starts when the ball is touched by the receiving team.  Because these rules were different last year, there were 14 fewer plays on average last year to help reduce the amount of time per game.  Also, the kick-off rule was abused as a way to eat the clock by kicking it out of bounds and using time.  Two new rules will be to kick off from the 30 and to start the clock with 15 seconds instead of 25 after a time-out.

Navy smelling Poinsettias already- Six wins and Navy heads back to that post-season Bowl in San Diego.  The Navy town drew a big crowd there two years ago when the Mids defeated Colorado State.  They'll get the #2 MWC team this time.  Rutgers, Wake Forest ,and Notre Dame pose their most formidable opposition in 2007.   They should get there.  Some people think that this year Navy even has its most legitimate shot since 1964 to beat Notre Dame!  If they win nine or ten, we hope they can get even a better bowl bid.

New programs up and coming - Former Navy Coach and Hall of Famer George Welsh is on the advisory committee putting together a new football program for Old Dominion University down in Norfolk.  The plan is for the new 1AA program to start in 2009 as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association.  It's a new name for members of the old Atlantic Ten. ODU's a nice fit in the conference with William and Mary, Richmond, and James Madison providing some instant rivalries.  Also, Dan Reeves, former Cowboy player, Falcon and Giant Coach, is also advising a committee for Georgia State to do the same.

With regrets -  Eddie Robinson was a great coach for Grambling.  With 408 wins spanning a career from 1941 to 1997, he not only sent 200 Tiger players into the pro ranks, he sent a lot of young men out into the world with good educations to start good lives for themselves.  We regret we never got to see him coach one of his teams.  Several times they came to The Meadowlands, but when they did, we always seemed to have a plan in place to be somewhere else.  Missing a chance to see  him coach will probably be the biggest regret

Spring fling- The Princeton Tigers held their annual spring game on April 14, and we're glad to hear that Senior Bill Foran has gained the No. 1 spot at QB going into the fall for the Tigers.  The wild man on special teams and in the slot, a do whatever it takes team player, led the Tigers to a score from the QB position on a drive against Harvard as the Ivy League's player of the year, Jeff Terrell, sat out because of an injury.  Despite losing Terrell to graduation, we think Foran will continue to keep the Tigers exciting to watch. All-Ivy WR and team captain Brendan Circle returns as his prime target.  The Tigers young defensive front returns to give then a good returning nucleus.  We hope to see Princeton play a few times again next year.

What's this mean? - Auburn's offense burned the defense for ten TDs in their spring finale.  Is the offense that good or is the defense that bad?  We'll see come their opener next September 1 against Kansas State (#115). Can't wait!