Welcome to www.Collegefootballfan.com

"Get off the couch and go to a game!"

The Goal - See 'em all!


 

"Steveo's Salvos" - April 2012 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. 

Tails from the Tailgate: From the Fan who's seen them all - Get it on Authorhouse.com, Barnesandnoble.com , or Amazon.com!  It's a great story over 35 years that every college football fan will enjoy reading!  Please go back to the website you purchase our book from and write your review of the book.  We'd love for you to give us and other football fans your input. Great book to read on the beach this summer over a couple of days, or keep it nearby in your private throne room  to read a short story or two at your leisure.  Warning: You may find yourself hanging in there longer than you had planned!

SEC, Slive-eastern conference -  The powers that be among the NCAA are finally getting together to discuss doing away with its horrible BCS system that's destroying the great game of college football and trying to come up with a more interesting, competitive, and equitable playoff system that will help establish a true national champion for the players and the fans by getting it closer to deciding it on the field of play.   From what we hear, we just say that at least we hope there's a move to this.  But when you read some of the comments by SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, there doesn't seem to be a lot of enthusiasm on his part to get things done in order to protect his "holier-than-thou"  conference.  His comments indicate that he fears his membership has too much to lose here at the expense teams of other conferences not marketed as skillfully as his own.  Too bad he can't focus on improving the game for everybody and not just his precious SEC.    Read some of the comments from recent ESPN press releases and  realize what he's really saying.  1.) Regarding the idea of a neutral site for a potential national championship game, " ' I think maybe it has more disadvantages than advantages,' Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive said. 'One of the disadvantages is I think when you're trying to determine who's going to play for the national championship, what's the competitive environment in which you put a team to play for the national championship." In other words, the SEC does not want to play a championship game in any state outside of SEC territory.  Look at their bowl contracts.  The only non-SEC state they had a bowl contract in was Texas, but they fixed that now inviting Texas A&M.  You don't see any SEC teams venture to California, Arizona, Nevada, or anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line come bowl season much less any other time of year.  His conference thrives on finishing up the during bowl season in an environment which essentially gives his schools an additional home game.  2.)  "I think (a committee) is worth looking at," Slive said. "I think in the final analysis, we need to look at the entire process. That's a matter that applies to any format." In other words, if there's going to be a committee, let's select a committee of four made up of representatives from the last four national champions!  Let's see - Alabama, Auburn, LSU , and dang! - Alabama gets two on the selection committee.  3.) "Slive said he was opposed to the conference champions-only proposal, saying he preferred to choose the best four teams, regardless of whether they won their conference championships or not."  In other words, the SEC doesn't  want to schedule any real competition from outside the conference during the regular season and possibly have to play an away game against a decent team from outside the conference. They'll generally stick to playing four patsies at home.   The SEC doesn't have to do this to prove their superiority  because everybody's good (including Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi State...not!) and as long as they  beat up on nobodies from outside and come up with two teams in a championship where one has to lose, they'll just replay it every year for the national championship in N'awlins.  The SEC has the most powerful marketing department on earth and Slive is the King!  Too bad he can't focus his efforts to bolster all of college football.

Blue-White game review - First I'd like to thank Chris Schmouder and Chad Evan of WSVL 92.3 FM ESPN Radio in Selinsgrove, PA for a fun interview about college football and about my book on their broadcast Friday night.  We caught up for a few beers and dinner afterward at B.J.'s right down the street from Selinsgrove Ford from where they did the special broadcast the night before the Blue-White game. There was a festive atmosphere at Beaver Stadium the next morning.  Bouquets of blue and white flowers ( I now understand 409 ) piled at the feet of Joe Paterno's statue on the east side of the stadium in tribute to the late coach who did not roam the PSU sideline during spring football action for the first time in over half a century.  Football Alum Franco Harris ( also famed for the Steelers' "Immaculate Reception") spoke to fans in a sort of receiving line to exchange memories and console fans who came to the spring game for many first trips back since the fiasco last November.  There was quite a mix of Penn State football players along the sideline - former players, seniors who are about to be drafted, next year's freshman class, many recruits, and of course, returning players from last year's 9-4 team.   New Head Coach Bill O'Brien led his players and staff on to the field.  He devised a scoring system where offense got points for plays beyond 15 yards and the defense got points for turnovers as well as some other plays to provide  a scoring system aside from traditional football scores to compare offensive progress against defensive progress.  KiJana Carter, All American RB of the 1995 Rose Bowl team, roamed the sidelines interviewing for the Big Ten Network who televised the game.  Shane Conlan, All American LB from the 1986 National Championship team, later came by to present an achievement award at the half.  Upcoming NFL draft picks, WR Derek Moye and DL Devon Still, walked nearby and spoke with football grads and other acquaintances along the sideline.   GGAs John Massimilla (Penn State) and John and Carol Van Horn ( both Juniata classmates) watched the scrimmage on the field that played out before us.  Granted, it was a spring game and the team has only practiced  15 times, but the action wasn't all out. John M described it as "Pro Bowl"- like.  To all of us, the Penn State defense physically lacked bulk, but they racked up four defensive points on at least four occasions "sacking" QBs wearing red shirts to avoid injury.  At this stage, the defense is normally ahead of the offense who needs to develop a rhythm.  The secondary picked off four passes for six points a piece. Disappointingly, the one thing that we all looked for that was lacking was the play of the QBs.  Passes were inaccurate and usually way off the mark. We came away saying Bill O'Brien has his work cut out for him.  Matt McGloin is small and has a tough time seeing over who's in front of him.  Paul Jones was erratic and as inaccurate as McGloin.  Rob Bolden looked like he was trying to eliminate himself from contention as the starter.  He's no better than he was as a freshman. The best of the lot seemed to be senior Shane McGregor who is supposedly not in contention at all.  PSU is known as Linebacker U for good reason.  They have an outstanding tradition there and the also usually do a great job on the lines, at running back, and recently at wide receiver, but getting and developing QB talent has not been a PSU forte.  We'll see what O'Brien can do until he gets some new  talent recruited in upcoming classes.  We think the question over the last few years about JoePa's stability with the program over the next few years probably scared off some potential top recruits.  The next few years will have to benefit from new blood in the coaching staff and its ability to recruit with the benefit that the staff will be around for a while if the fans and admin let them overcome some short term rough spots. I will still have some concern over DC Ted Roofs ability to maintain the level of play on the defense with some of his changing schemes while O'Brien tries to develop a much better offense.  RB Bill Belton, listed at WR as a freshman on last year's roster,  played well at RB, but somebody has to step up to throw the ball better than what we saw on Saturday.

Poster Boy - For wearing a motor cycle helmet or for a piss-poor example of leadership - take your choice when you see the post-crash, press conference picture of battered and bruised Bobby Petrino, ex-coach of Arkansas, deservedly.  You can see the result of the crash in the picture to understand the first one, but just dig into his history to tell the rest of the story.  In recent months, the NFL network featured a program rating the 10 worst college coaches who gave the NFL a shot. No. 1 worst - Bobby Petrino!  Never was it ever experienced by a pro team that he denied he's leaving, quits with three games left in the season, and a day or two later he's seen on TV at Arkansas whooping up a "Sooooeeeey !" with the Razorback fans.  At least have the guts to stick it out to the end with the team you led to a 3-10 record until after the season ends.  That's cowardice.  Yes, he can win at the college level, but what kind of an example is he for all those college kids?  "Hey guys, it's not about our team, it's all about me!" Look what it translated to in real life.  What I don't understand is how busy I read all these head football coaches are, especially during the season.  Where did he find time to text his mistress 70-90 times per day, even on a Friday before the game?  Who was really coaching Arkansas? What 50-year old has the time , the patience, and the dexterity for all that texting?  I guess Ms. Dorrell  was worth it otherwise he wouldn't have risked his career and his family for it.  Of course, give him a few years, some program will be desperate enough to give him another chance despite the life lessons he teaches his players. That's a shame if it happens.  It'll be another example of what the game is becoming.  Sorrowfully, it's becoming all about the money.  Beside the poster boy picture, here is the other side of Petrino leaving the program "behind":

 

Big Tailgate 2012 II - We found an error in our original schedule where we had the Delaware vs. Rhode Island game commemorating our game that started it all back on Sept, 8, 1979 slated for October 27.  It turns out to be on October 20 which will now have us scrambling to see what we can do about attending a Kutztown game so that we can see QB Dan Morgan in action (see below). In the meantime, this reopens October 27 which can provide us for a second opportunity to run a bus trip.  This time it will be for the benefit of our local Lenape Valley High School football team. The original two dates we considered were pre-empted by SATs being given on those particular dates.  So as of now, we still have a fundraiser set up for the Boonton Knights of Columbus on Oct . 6 when Army hosts Boston College, and now, it looks like we'll be running another on October 27 when Army hosts an improving Ball State program coached by former Lehigh Head Coach Pete Lembo in his second season with the Cardinals.

Where it all began - We have October 20 (corrected)  circled on our calendar as a game that's set in stone.  Delaware hosts the Rhode Island Rams.  We haven't gone full circle so to speak, but it is the first time we will attend a rematch between the two teams who we start all this with back in September 8, 1979.  And the people with me at that first game will be there with me for a significant reason, somewhat of a family rivalry.  In 1979, I went up to URI to see the game while visiting my sister Mary Kay.  That weekend, I met her boyfriend Gunther Neumann for the first time.  Their Ram teams fell hard to the Fighting Blue Hens coached by Harold Tubby Raymond, future Hall of Fame coach on his way to a 300-win career.  Led by QB Scott Brunner, future NY Giant, the visitors bested the Rams, 42-14.  The most memorable plays of the game, however, came from the Rhode Islanders.  Kicking off in the second half, the ball was kicked as a perfect spiral to the right sideline where the Ram end caught it over his shoulder for a first down at the UD 41 (saw this play executed for the second time in last year's Military Bowl between Toledo and Air Force).  One play later, the Rams scored on a long run from there.  On the UD defense at LB was current Delaware HC K.C. Keeler.  The Fighting Blue Hens went on to win what was considered the Division II National Championship that year.  Both Raymond and Keeler have coached UD to the 1AA/FCS championship since then.  Mary Kay and Gunther eventually got married and now have two kids, Kassie and Blake.  Kassie is finishing up her freshman year a the University of Delaware.  We'll all be on hand together 33 years after the first game that started this whole adventure to see the Rams and the Fighting Blue Hens meet on the gridiron once again!

Two-fers - As in seeing a 1A school play "for" only the "second"  time, Ball State will be added to that category this season.  We saw the Cardinals fall to Boston College in Chestnut Hill back in 2003, 53-29.  Indiana was only seen so far in our annals during Penn state's inaugural season in the Big Ten back in 1993.  Amazingly in late November, the Hoosiers came into that game ranked No. 17 -  two spots ahead of Penn State!  The Lions won a tough one, 38-31.  I particularly remember IU QB John Paci throwing a 99-yard TD pass to Thomas Lewis to tie the score 31-all late in that game - a record in Beaver Stadium.  WE will see IU travel to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA  to play UMass on September 8 to add the Minutemen as our 123rd D1A team.  Another team that we'll see for the second time is when the family and I venture down to South Carolina for Parents Weekend to watch the Gamecocks take on SEC newcomer, Missouri.  I got to see Mizzou at home in 2005 when QB Brad Smith set both the Tiger career rushing and passing records in the same night against New Mexico.  The Lobos outdid the Tigers that night though 45-35 as WR Hank Baskett put on an outstanding show with three touchdown receptions and several other big catches from QB Cole McKamey.

D-2 Kutztown on board - Updating our schedule to see our much anticipated Delaware-Rhode Island "where it all started" game from the October 27 date we mistakenly had to the actual game date of October 20 not only helped us plan a tailgate fundraiser for the Lenape Valley Regional HS (NJ) Patriot football team that day, but we also don't miss out on our chance originally planned on the 20th to see Dan Morgan lead the Kutztown Golden Bears during his senior season as we'd been hoping to do.  We're now booking our November 3rd date to see the Bears host C.W. Post-LIU in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference game. We actually saw C.W. Post host a game back in 1980 against the alma mater, Juniata, for a 27-10 win.  Rob Ash, now the Head Coach at Montana State, made his coaching debut at JC that season.  We attended that game as the first of a double header topped off by a nightcap when Montclair State hosted East Stroudsburg.  Looking back on that date now, three of the four coaches we saw that day all have over 200 wins and still coach today.  Rick Giancola is still at Montclair ( who featured Sam Mills, future NFL great,  at LB that day), and Denny Douds still coaches East Stroudsburg. I still have the classic ticket stub that reads "Juanita " vs. CW Post!

"Surfboard" alumni? -  Ok.  We all know about Notre Dame's subway alumni who will show up anywhere in the nation to see the Irish play and fill  venues in the big cities hosting Notre Dame games at "neutral" sites, and you know the majority of these fans are filling the seats to root for the Irish.  The Trojans of Southern Cal just struck a deal recently with ESPN to broadcast all the USC games nationally on the ESPN radio network.  I find it hard to believe that USC fans are spread so vastly throughout the country that there's such a demand for them to be heard on radios in all 50 states.  Between college fans attending games, games on TV,  and radio broadcasts of local teams and Notre Dame football on a national basis, I just don't envision a lot of people outside of Southern Cal tuning into the Trojan radio broadcast.  I could put a lot of other schools ahead of USC from other parts of the country for that matter  that would draw more attention than the Trojans here in the northeast (Alabama, Miami, Penn State, Ohio State),  but what do I know?

Blair Kiel - In 1981 with about a dozen Notre Dame die-hards Including one of my Juniata roommates, Tony Lagratta, who organized the trip for us, we ventured out together in a mobile home to attend the Notre Dame-LSU game, the opening game of the season that gave us first gander at "The Bold Experiment."  Former Moeller "Steamroller" HS Head Coach Gerry Faust started his new collegiate career as the Notre Dame HC.  The starting QB for this game was sophomore QB Blair Kiel out of Indianapolis.  The Irish beat the Bayou Bengals that day, 27-9, to vault past Michigan to Number One in the nation.  The ND scoring started with a 7-yard TD pass by Kiel to Larry Moriarity.  With a 20-0 lead at the half, Faust cleared his bench throughout the second half which included playing time for in his former Moeller QB, Tim Koegel.  Kiel finished the day with one TD pass and two INTs among his six pass attempts.  Faust, the Irish fans, and the pollsters looked beyond his mistakes as well as others and celebrated an Irish victory.  It all started to unravel the following weekend with a loss to Michigan, and the Irish finished the season at 5-6. We saw the Irish beat Navy in The Meadowlands a year later, 27-10, but in the midst of a mediocre  6-4-1 season where the Irish lost their last three games.  They returned to the Meadowlands a year later ( where I had 100+ friends and family for our biggest tailgate ever) and the Irish whipped a lousy Army team, 42-0.  Struggling to seven wins that year, Faust turned the controls over to Steve Beuerlein to replace Kiel as the starting QB for this game as well as others.  None the less, Kiel stuck around in the NFL for a number of years.  All thought he would make a greater mark as a typical star QB at Notre Dame when he was recruited and would excel beyond.  He never made it to the top at ND though he lasted as a journeyman in the NFL.  For me personally though, he brings back a lot of memories to the days when this whole adventure got started 30 years ago.  Blair Kiel passed away last week at the age of 50.  May he rest in peace.  His nephew, Gunnar, steps in at ND to fill the legacy his uncle expected to achieve. We and his uncle will be keeping an eye on him to see what he can do to bring The Glory back to Notre Dame.

BCS - yes! -  We don't know who will be playing in the BCS championship game on January 7, 2013 in Miami, though we'll be making predictions before the season and following closely, but we'll definitely be there! Tickets on order and a hotel room booked - we're in because we invested in a package two years ago to guarantee us the BCS title game this year.  Hopefully it will make up for the last two Orange bowls.  We didn't go to the ho-hum Stanford-VA Tech game two years ago because we already had tickets to the dreadful Fiesta Bowl where Oklahoma whipped UConn, 48-20. Then we got to our first  Orange Bowl last season to see WVU set the bowl scoring record with a 70-33 thumping of Clemson.  As part of this year's package, we had to take the Orange Bowl tix (Jan. 1) to get to the the BCS.  Now we hope that Rutgers finally wins the Big East.  Tickets will be in demand since Scarlet Knights will be looking to celebrate New Year's in Miami for the first time ever.  For any of you RU fans, I'll have a deal for you!  Stay in touch.

Roof cave-in? - A lot of focus in State College, PA is what Bob O'Brien can infuse into the Nittany Lions' recently anemic offense.  We can only imagine it getting better with a new and better philosophy from their new coaching staff and eventually some improvements at the QB position.  But, where is the defense heading?  At least two primary defensive coaches return from Paterno's staff. Larry Johnson continues to lead the D-Line, and Ron Vander Linden handles the Linebackers.  New defensive coordinator Ted Roof can talk all he wants about "multiple aggressiveness", but this is Linebacker U, known for the Hero position and its dominant defenses which always made the Nittany Lions a team to be reckoned with.  PSU has had a Top 20 defense in seven of the last eight years.  They need that trend to continue to compete in what should be an improved Big Ten.  Roof was on his way out of Auburn last season after three years and on his way to Central Florida when O'Brien hired him as his DC.  Despite a National Championship at Auburn in 2010, his  Tiger defense yielded 358 points in the SEC known more for defense than for offense.  The previous year, his D allowed 337 points and last season the 8-5 Tigers let up 376 points. When he last served as  Big Ten DC at Minnesota in 2008, the Golden Gophers allowed 29.1 ppg in eight Big Ten games for a 3-5 conference record (7-6 overall).  His team allowed 42 points in the 42-21 loss to Kansas in their bowl game.  As Head Coach at Duke prior to Minnesota, his overall record was 6-45.  Granted Duke doesn't recruit the same caliber of players who roam the turf of Beaver Stadium, but Auburn does.  Hopefully retaining two stalwart defensive coaches will have significant influence to maintain PSU's defensive stature, but Lion fans should be concerned about their historically stifling defense. 

D-3 happenings - Can any team in this division terminate the division's seven-year purple dominance of the Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks and the Purple Raiders of Mt. Union who have met each other in the D-3 National Championship for seven straight years?  Some folks think Wesley College of Delaware has an outside chance, but the Hawks and Raiders are heavy favorites once again according to polls taken by D3Football.com. UWW got 39% of the votes, MU 15%, and Wesley 7% as of April 7, but 37% of the fans who voted just hope someone else can win it all!  We note in the local New Jersey Athletic Conference that geographic outlier Buffalo State moved out to the Empire Eight which opened up a slot for each NJAC member to schedule another non-conference game.  Kean University, winner of the NJAC last year, will travel all the way to Texas to play Mary-Hardin Baylor, another perennial D3 playoff team.  UMHB will also visit aforementioned Wesley, a team that Kean, who finished ranked No.  10 last year, knocked off Wesley in their first game.  Buffalo State who moved on to the E8, stepped up and scheduled Wisconsin Whitewater in their revamped schedule.   As far as our D3 options this season, one possibility is the Kean-Montclair State game on November 10, but that depends on if we'll be attending a NJ high school playoff game that day (hopefully LVRHS will play on Friday night), and if we are headed out on an annual business trip overseas at about that time,  the good thing is that Kean U. is a 10-minute drive to Newark Liberty Airport.  The game winner of Kean-MSU could decide that conference winner and the automatic playoff bid for 2012.  If only we could say the same about the big schools. The alma mater, Juniata College, enters the 2012 season on a one-game winning streak beating Susquehanna in its season finale to finish 1-9 for the third year in a row. Good luck to 2nd year HC Tim Launtz and the Eagles to finally turn things around.

Should have happened a long time ago - It was definitely a change for the better and the right thing to do when the NCAA determined years ago that players from the FBS teams could play right away when they transferred to down to play at a lower division school.  Recently, Nash Nance, a QB at Tennessee, announced that he will leave the Vols and continue to pursue his education and play football right away at D-3 Hampden-Sydney in Farmville, VA.  Like others who have made this move down to play right away (like Joe Flacco from Pitt to Delaware) , players get antsy and just want to get a chance to play before they're through with four years of college, and who can blame them?  I just wish that rule was in effect back in the 70s.  It was even more restrictive back then!  I went to the Naval Academy for two years and made the 150-lb (now Sprint) football team.  Never able to get down to the limit my plebe year, I never got to suit up ( we had a powerhouse team any way)  for a game.  When I transferred to play at D3 Juniata, despite not having played Navy varsity football, I still had to sit out a year before I could play.  I practiced with the team any way my first year to play RB weekly on the Scout team.  My fellow scout-teamers, mostly freshman, and I referred to ourselves as "Scout team All-Americans". Us Indians at the time finished the '76 season 7-3.  I got to work as a "spotter" in the press box during the home games my first year looking forward to two years of eligibility.  Still ineligible for varsity sports in the spring, I played club lacrosse and was elected captain though it was the first year I ever played. I basically did it to get in shape for football (best shape I was ever in), but a hyper-extended knee tearing my ACL and MLM in our first game, eventually ended my football playing days even though I was basically healthy enough to play again tow years later.  But stuff happens. If only the play right away rule was in effect back then.  I should at least get some eligibility reinstated! I'm glad that they changed the rule later on for others any way. College players should enjoy experiencing playing the game for as long as they can.

Blasts from the past - We don't realize how long we've been doing this until we start perusing web sites for games we plan to see in the upcoming 2012 season.  First of all it turns out that the game we want to see to keep up with our goal to "see 'em all!" got moved up to Thursday night August 30.  It's going to make for a long weekend of Southern football to kick things off, but it can't get much better than that!  In that game, the UT San Antonio Roadrunners are coached by Larry Coker.  The last time we saw Larry he was guiding the Miami Hurricanes their last Big East game at Pitt in 2003 which they won 28-14 and finished the season ranked No. 5 in the nation. His Roadrunners finished last season at 4-6.  By the way, we also saw Larry's head coaching debut in 2001 when he opened with a dominating win over Penn State in Beaver Stadium by a score of 33-7.  He guided the Canes to a National Championship that season. On the South Alabama sideline, the Jaguars will be coached by former All-SEC wide receiver Joey Jones of Alabama who played under Bear Bryant in the early 80s.  He caught 8 TD passes in his junior season of 1982 which still ranks third all-time for the Crimson Tide, more known for its powerful running game.  We didn't see him play in person, but in 1980 we attended two of his games when he stood along the sidelines.  We saw the Tide beat Rutgers at The Meadowlands, 17-13, and we watched them beat Auburn at Legion Field in the Iron Bowl, 34-18.  We'll be in Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile on August 30 to see which coach performs better along the sideline in this opening FBS contest for both teams!

RU-tude - Rutgers is looking for financial compensation from the Big East for losing a "potential" home game.  They finally booked a legitimate non-conference game starting this season in a home and home series with Arkansas which will be played at Fayetteville this year.  That's good.  However, because Boise didn't break their ties with the MWC,  RU claims it lost a home game they were promised.  The have six home and six away this year.  Granted they lose a million dollars plus by not having another game, but if they look at the new make up of the Big East, once Pitt and Syracuse leave, they are the longest running Big East football program (and still without a title). If not for efforts on Big East Commissioner John Marranatto, they wouldn't be in a conference.  No one else invited them despite their attempts to sell themselves with their market and their media to the Big Ten and the ACC.  If not for those very diverse efforts of the Commissioner to hold together a football conference with a BCS bid, the Scarlet Knights would be scrambling not only for FBS competition, but for home games. Shut up and go play ( and try to finally win a championship!).

They ain't what they used to be - Rivalries that is.  As a traditionalist who wants to see the overall quality of college football improved in some areas without killing some of the traditions that made it all so great and memorable, look what we're losing in the ever-changing world of big time college football.  No more Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia.  Just the name conjures up the intensity when many my age were playing tackle football without pads on cold, crisp fall afternoons in a neighborhood back yard or on a school field.  It's gone like the real backyard rivalries because all the young kids now get involved in organized sports at too young an age!  Nebraska-Oklahoma - 1971's game of the 20th century.  A rivalry played close to Thanksgiving weekend that meant something for the Big Eight title and national championship over many years.  Johnny Rogers, Greg Pruitt,  Rich Glover, Troy Aikman, the Wishbone, the Black Shirt defense,  Boomer Sooner and a lot of scarlet and white all on the same field every year.  The Missouri-Kansas Border War - a rivalry sprung from the days of the Civil War.  Texas and Texas A&M - who are the Aggies going to build their bonfire for now?  Give credit to Navy, before joining the new "Big East", they salvaged the games out of conference that meant the most to their traditions - Army, Air Force, and Notre Dame. We wish some of these others had done the same.

"Wisced" away - In 2011, Danny O'Brien started at QB for the Maryland Terps and we watched him guide this team to a 32-24 opening game victory over the Miami Hurricanes at Byrd Stadium in College Park , Maryland.  Before the game, we even met Danny's Dad in the front row at our seats behind the Terp bench.  He told us new Head Coached Randy Edsall was breathing new life into the program.  He claimed the kids really liked their new head coach.  After the win everyone in Terp Town seemed happy, but after we left, the waters the Terps were swimming in became  murky to say the least  They won only one more game the rest of the season, and after it was over, about a dozen players decided to transfer out of UMD including O'Brien who was injured half way through the season and never regained his status as starting QB.  There were issues with Coach Edsall when he decided to transfer as his former mentor blocked him from transferring to Vanderbilt where his former QB Coach James Franklin was now head man.  After much media pressure, O'Brien was free to choose where he wanted to go.  He was seen wearing a Penn State ,jacket at a spring practice in State College where former Tom Brady QB coach Bob O'Brien now runs the Nittany Lions.  After all that, Danny, who has two years of eligibility remaining, will follow Russell Wilson, a former QB at NC State, to Wisconsin with a shot at eventually starting there.  If he enters as a grad student, he could be playing for the Badgers next season which means we may get to see him in action in State College after all because we plan on attending the Penn State - Wisconsin game there on November 24.

"All the wrong moves" - As opposed to the Tom Cruise football movie of the early '80s by former RU Head Coach Greg Schiano.  Not only does he take two more coaches away from the former RU staff  belatedly from his former program (nobody else will leave their former program to go play for him -wonder why?),  but he hires former UNC HC and his mentor Butch Davis after Davis sent the Tar Heels back with his lack of control when he was at Chapel Hill landing the Tar Heels some heavy probation.  No one at the collegiate level was willing to touch him.  Too bad the pros offer asylum to the offenders at the college level.  Seems like there should be a spirit of legal cooperation here.  Funny thing is that twice we saw Davis embarrass his former assistant from Miami when his Heels ran roughshod over Schiano's RU squad. The first was in 2008 on at Thursday night game, 44-12. Granted, UNC had the services of now well-known NFLers in QB T.J. Yates and WR Hakeem Nicks, and they picked apart  a secondary featuring future NFLers like the McCourty brothers. But in 2010, we saw Davis field a defense missing six defensive starters due to the NCAA violations the Heels were eventually punished for, and Schiano's wildcat offense was feeble in the 17-13 loss to depleted UNC.  To paraphrase an old saying in football terms, "When you can't beat 'em, hire them for your new staff."

2012 Big Tailgate Party - For $50, we're running a bus trip out of Boonton, NJ to travel up to West Point to attend the Army-Boston College game on Saturday, October 6.  The money covers the bus and the game ticket.  Contact me through this website for more info if interested.  Plans may unfold for a second Big Tailgate party in 2012 for the Army - Air Force game. Check here for updates.

124 in 2012? - Update - see our Home page!

Top 17 Poll - Bill Rogan of KNUS AM Radio 710 in Denver has invited me as a pollster for Artificial Turf's Top 17!  If you check out Bill's web page at www.turfsports.net , you'll see that his poll started back in 2005 when Texas won it.  For some reason, there was no poll in 2010.  Each finished with an SEC at the top of course.  We'll see if that streak will end this year.  When we asked Bill, "Why 17?"  Basically because no one else has one.  Good enough for us!  Looking forward to it.

Watch for more Salvo updates throughout the season! 

- Steve Koreivo, ed.