Posted by Chip Patterson

CBSSports.com's Brett McMurphy and Dennis Dodd have been reporting from the BCS meetings this week in Dallas, as many of the decision-makers in college football debate the best postseason format for the sport.

The 11 conference commissioners, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, two BCS officials and a BCS attorney have begun discussing the possibility of a plus-one format to determine the BCS National Champion. The current BCS contract ends after the 2013-14 season, allowing for a new format beginning with the 2014 regular season.

On Friday, Brett McMurphy joined Tim Brando to discuss the momentum behind the BCS plus-one format.



For more from Brett on the BCS meetings, check out his blog, McMurphy's Law.

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Posted by Chip Patterson

The NCAA announced on Friday the approval of rules changes in college football, including moving the kick off from the 30-yard line to the 35.

While the ball will be kicked from the 35, players on the kicking team can't line up for the play behind the 30-yard line. According to the NCAA, this is intended to limit the running start kicking teams used to have during the play.

Also, touchbacks on free kicks (kickoffs and punts after a safety) will be moved to the 25-yard line instead of the 20. Touchbacks on all other plays will remain at the 20-yard line. According to the Football Rules Committee, this change is meant to encourage more touchbacks from the receiving team.

These changes are a result from examining NCAA data that showed injuries occur more often on kickoffs than in any other phase of the game. By encouraging touchbacks they will limit the amount of times the play is used, especially as higher scoring (see: Big 12) has resulted in more kickoffs.

Another rule change announced Friday could end up affecting games, possibly even more so than the kickoff rules. According to the NCAA, if a player loses his helmet on the play - facemasks and fouls don't count - he must sit out the next play.

Here is the wording from the NCAA release:

Another new rule that goes into effect next season is if a player loses his helmet (other than as the result of a foul by the opponent, such as a facemask), it will be treated like an injury. The player must leave the game and is not allowed to participate for the next play.

Current injury timeout rules guard against using this rule to gain an advantage from stopping the clock. Additionally, if a player loses his helmet, he must not continue to participate in the play, in order to protect him from injury.

If a quarterback or running back loses his helmet late in the fourth quarter of a close game, you can bet coaches will be screaming for flags. Sometimes helmets just pop off, and there could be cases where there is no threat of injury. Regardless, that player must sit out the next play.

Two more adjustments announced on Friday:

The rules panel also approved new wording in the football rules book regarding blocking below the waist. Offensive players in the tackle box at the snap who are not in motion are allowed to block below the waist legally without restriction. All other players are restricted from blocking below the waist with a few exceptions (for example, straight-ahead blocks).

There will also be a new rule prohibiting players from leaping over blockers in an attempt to block a punt. Receiving-team players trying to jump over a shield-blocking scheme has become popular for teams in punt formation. Receiving-team players try to defeat this scheme by rushing into the backfield to block a punt. In some cases, these players are contacted and end up flipping in the air and landing on their head or shoulders.

 
At the core, all of these changes are meant with the intent of improving player safety. As more medical research reveals dangerous aspects of the sport, changes such as these will be necessary to keep football thriving.

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Posted by Jerry Hinnen

The new NCAA legislation allowing schools to offer multiple-year scholarships to athletes only narrowly survived its recent override vote, with only two of the 330 votes cast needing to have swung the other way to have nixed the legislation, despite the support of NCAA president Mark Emmert. The overwhelming majority of support for the override came -- as expected -- from non-BCS or mid-major schools worried over the potential increase in costs.

But a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education shows that a healthy portion of BCS conference schools also voted for the override. According to this NCAA document obtained by the Chronicle, 30 different current and future BCS members supported the override, including the entire Big 12. The Big 12 was also the only BCS conference that exercised its institutional vote in favor of the override.

The Big Ten was the conference most solidly in opposition to the override, with only Wisconsin voting in favor. Among the other high-profile programs voting against multiple-year scholarships were Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and USC. After the Big 12, the conference with the most votes in favor of the overrides was the ACC, with five. (The Big East did have six override votes if future members Boise State, Navy and San Diego State are included.)

As for that 30 vote tally, the opinion here is that that's only slightly fewer than 30 too many. It's one thing for cash-strapped mid-majors or even BCS schools on a notably tight budget -- say, Rutgers or Colorado, both of whom supported to override -- to oppose a measure they would struggle to afford, giving more cash-flush schools an instant recruiting advantage. It's another for programs like the Longhorns, Bayou Bengals, Volunteers and Sooners -- all of whom the Chronicle names as four of the 10 wealthiest athletics departments in the country -- to attempt to vote it down when they have the kinds of budgets that will barely flinch under the new scholarship burden. The motivation in Austin, Baton Rouge, Knoxville and Norman isn't that they can't hand out four-year scholarships, it's that they simply don't want to. 

Of course, the legislation doesn't mean any school -- BCS, mid-major, or otherwise -- is required to offer multiple-year scholarships. But since that might put the schools that don't at a recruiting disadvantage against schools that do, the Texases (and USCs, and Alabamas) have tried to prevent anyone from offering them.

In short: because these schools don't want to promise their athletes a full four-year college education, they've decided the athletes at other schools shouldn't have the benefit of that promise, either. 

A full BCS conference-by-conference breakdown of votes in favor of the override:

ACC: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia

Big East: Boise State, Cincinnati, Louisville, Navy, Rutgers, San Diego State

Big 12: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, TCU, Texas, West Virginia

Big Ten: Wisconsin

Pac-12: Arizona, Cal, Colorado, USC

SEC: Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, Texas A&M

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Posted by Jerry Hinnen

Urban Meyer isn't making a lot of friends in his new digs in the Big Ten, which makes it all the more ironic that he's on better terms than ever with his old SEC archenemy, Lane Kiffin.

Meyer told CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd recently that he and Kiffin "have conversations" and that each has apologized to the other over their conduct while at Florida and Tennessee, respectively. Those conversations were confirmed by Kiffin in a Tuesday interview with the Atlanta Jornal-Constitution, in which Kiffin blamed his behavior -- including smack talk aimed in Meyer's direction over the recruitment of Nu'Keese Richardson -- on the impetuousness of youth (emphasis added):

“Yeah, I’m glad Urban and I are where we are in our relationship. When you’re young, you make some mistakes. We’ve moved forward from that. Who would’ve guessed we are back at battling each other for recruits even though we’re a long ways away? I have tremendous respect for what Urban Meyer does.”

We'll take this opportunity to remind readers that Kiffin made his remarks about Richardson ("I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn't get him") three whole years ago, when Kiffin was a mere 33 years of age--far from the grizzled, world-weary 36-year old he is now. 

But snark aside, even if Kiffin isn't actually that much older than he was during his Volunteer tenure, his relationship with Meyer seems to show that he has gotten more mature. Which is not to say he's lost any of his talent for clever remarks in front of a microphone, saying of the Vols' notorious loss to Kentucky (and his reputation among Vol fans),  "I’m sure somebody somewhere blamed me for that."

A Lane Kiffin with all of his old coaching acumen and overall shrewdness, but without the petty childish distractions and torrent of secondary violations? Maybe that doesn't have a lot to do with USC's likely preseason No. 2 ranking ... but it's sure not hurting, either.

Kiffin's Trojans will start spring practice March 6. See when your team starts their camp or plays their spring game with our handy database of spring dates.  

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Posted by Jerry Hinnen

We've already learned that Urban Meyer has reclaimed the "Team Up North" euphemism for his Buckeyes' hated rivals at Michigan, possibly in response to Brady Hoke's "Ohio" euphemism for the school and team its alumni will be quick to tell you is the Ohio State University. But it turns out Meyer is interested in getting in his jabs at the Wolverines in more ways than just avoiding the name.

This is a sign that appeared in the front of OSU's Woody Hayes Athletic Center last week:

Yes, that's a list of majors for Ohio State's football players on the left, and those for the "Team Up North" on the right, with the (alleged) number of Wolverines in General Studies (and Engineering, Biology, and Business at the bottom) having been highlighted. 

We are not going to wade into the merits of Meyer's argument, one we have zero doubt is already being waged by both Ohio State and Michigan fans in various corners of the Internet as we speak. More important from our perspective is that this is an argument Meyer wants to wage, too--that he is willing to tell visitors to the WHAC (which notably include both recruits and their parents) that the "Team Up North" isn't challenging its players academically. (Incidentally, Meyer wouldn't be the first coach to make this exact argument; former Wolverine great Jim Harbaugh did the same during his tenure at Stanford.) 

It's one thing to talk about a rival as the biggest game of the year, call them by a different name, or even talk a little smack about a winning streak. But to essentially call out another school's academic handling of its players in semi-public fashion is something else. We're neither condemning nor condoning the poster; as we said, we'll leave to that to the partisans on either side.

What we can say is that whether it's Meyer, Hoke, new Michigan signee Ondre Pipkins or anyone else on either side of the rivalry, the heat between the Wolverines and Buckeyes is rapidly approaching that of the Hayes-Schembecler glory years ... and as fans of spicy college football, that much, at least, we can endorse wholeheartedly.

Photo by Kevin Noon. HT: Eleven Warriors.

It's been a busy couple of days around Columbus and Ann Arbor; Gordon Gee and his magic mouth are at it again, the Wolverines just scored the biggest single recruiting weekend in the country this year, and Meyer's Gainesville home is for sale.    

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Posted by Tom Fornelli

You there, with the $1.7 million just burning a hole in your pocket. Yes, you. Stop sitting around not spending that money! Aren't you tired of living where you live right now? Wouldn't you rather live in lovely Gainesville, Florida?

I mean, Gainesville is a great place to live. It's got humidity, tropical storms, palmetto bugs the size of your head, the Butterfly Rainforest and a Chipotle.

It even has a bat house, which is a house full of bats. Who doesn't want to hang out in a house full of bats? Nerds, that's who.

Gainesville also has the house of former Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer. An abode that is currently on the market and can be yours for the low, low price of $1.7 million.

Casa de Urban comes equipped with 6 bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths, a 3-car garage and an indoor pool all on nearly 2 acres of land. It also has a lot of Gator-centric decor.

And it can all be yours! 

I mean, just look at these photos. Who can say no to this?

 





So what are you waiting for? Buy this thing while you still can. Just get in touch with Todd Shealy and it can all be yours. Tell him Eye On College Football sent you. It won't get you a discount or anything, but it's the right thing to do.

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Posted by Tom Fornelli

In an interview with the Ohio State student newspaper, The Lantern, school president Gordon Gee took exception to the bowl ban Ohio State received from the NCAA following "Tattoogate." Gee said that the NCAA was essentially out to get Ohio State because it's Ohio State, and that there had been no precedent for such a decision.

"First of all, the NCAA — if we would have given up five bowl games, they would have imposed the sixth on us because they were going to impose a bowl ban," Gee told the paper. "This was Ohio State. This was (the NCAA's) moment in time, and they were going to impose a bowl ban no matter what we did.

"I'm a lawyer. I take a look at precedent. There's no precedent for a bowl ban for us." 

I feel like this is where I should point out that never in the history of college football has a university president been fired by a football coach, yet Gee was still worried that it would happen to him, right?

Now, Gee may be right that there is no precedent for the NCAA's decision in this case, but that doesn't mean what the NCAA did is wrong either. Maybe the NCAA did want to send a message to the rest of college football saying "if we'll do this to Ohio State, we'll do this to you too."

Or maybe the NCAA just saw a case in which Ohio State played a bowl game using players that should not have been eligible after Jim Tressel failed to report anything about what he knew for so long, and decided it's only fair to take a bowl game away from Ohio State in return.

The fact is whether you agree with the decision or not -- and I'm guessing Ohio State fans reading this don't, and everyone else does -- there's nothing that can be done about it now. You just accept the punishment and move on.

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Posted by Tom Fornelli

For as exciting a player as Denard Robinson can be, he's taken quite a bit of flak over the last few years for his accuracy throwing the ball. To be more specific, his lack of accuracy.

In 2011 he only completed 55% of his passes, and while he threw for 20 touchdowns, he also threw 15 interceptions.

Though maybe Denard would be more accurate if instead of 6-foot receivers as targets, he had 14-foot tall receivers. If that were the case, he could just throw that ball up anywhere and odds are his 14-foot receiver would come down with the ball, not the 5-foot-9 defensive back in coverage.

Or maybe he's still throw as many incompletions.



Yeah, I don't think anybody was expecting Denard to actually to put the football through the hoop from full court, but the coming up short or just missing wide right is a bit disconcerting, no?

As for the dunks and layups, well, I have no room to talk there. Though if you lower that rim to 8-feet, I can do some special things.

Hat tip: Kegs N' Eggs 

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