As the 2010 football season slowly creeps closer and closer, I thought it might be a good time to take a peek into the worlds of our upcoming opponents and see what they're up to. More important, find out what we can make fun of them for doing/screwing up.
Akron (September 2nd)
We keep taking their recruits, they keep taking our cast-off coaches, somewhere in the middle we will meet. Nothing new to report on the Zips.
Washington (September 11th)
Steve Sarkisian comes from USC, so he knows a thing or two about playing it fast and loose with regulations. That said, it doesn't look like he's going to go that route, if his dismissal of possible-starting tight end Kavario Middleton is any indication. Sarkisian dumped Middleton for the dreaded "violation of team rules."." Ballsy considering Middleton has first-day NFL draft potential. He and Marrone will have a lot to talk about.
Maine (September 18th)
It's Maine. Nothing bad ever happens in Maine.
Colgate (September 25th)
Nothing embarassing or silly to announce about Colgate. If anything, they're starting to put the fear of God in me. Or at least the fear of the Hoodoo. A few early FCS polls have come out and Colgate is in both of them (20th by the Sporting News and 23rd in the Phil Steele poll). They're taking a page out of Doug Marrone's playbook and doing a whistle-stop tour of Central New York to drum up interest and rally support. Running back Nate Eachus was listed as one of the nation's top FCB players. And to top it all off they recently hired a new assistant head coach named Maxim Wynn. MAXIM WYNN. If that's not an 80's sports move bad guy name, I don't know what is. I suddenly have concerns.
South Florida (October 9th)
Skip Holtz begins his first season at USF, which is also the first year in the program's history that will not involved Jim Leavitt. Bulla fans seem pretty excited about this new era and they're showing it by...not buying seasons tickets. Besides USF fans, another person who probably won't make it to too many games this year is starting WR Sterling Griffin, who busted his ankle up pretty bad.
Pittsburgh (October 16th)
Defensive End Jabaal Sheard was set to spend the entire season harassing and mauling opposing lineman. Instead, he took out all that aggression on some dude in the middle of the night and now he's almost certainly going to be suspended for the entire year.
According to the police report, several police officers tried to break up the scuffle, Sheard, who was reportedly being hit by police batons, picked up Parker and threw the 27-year-old through a glass door of a gallery.
Sheard jumped on the bleeding Parker, who was on the ground inside the art store, and continued punching him before police subdued the two with pepper spray.
My favorite part is that it took place outside an art gallery. Are we sure it wasn't some kind of post-modern performance piece?
West Virginia (October 23rd)
Along with Coach Mac, former WVU star Major Harris was inducted into the college football hall of fame recently. What's next for Major? He's going to be the head coach of the Reno Barons, a new arena football team.
Cincinnati (October 30th)
Nothing to report about the Bearcats other than the fact that a lot of people are beginning to talk themselves into Cincy once again. They recently picked up one of USC's former WRs via the Trojan mass exodus and season tickets are selling fast. The drop-off might not be as steep as we expected.
Louisville (November 6th)
When Charlie Strong took over the Louisville football program, he emphasized five principles for his players. One of them was "treat women with respect." You might think that's common sense but for the Cardinals...not so much. Cardinals corner Johnny Patrick was arrested earlier this month after allegedly struggling with a women and throwing her to the ground over a cellphone dispute.
Rutgers (November 13th)
Nothing "on paper" to give Rutgers grief over at the moment but give it time. Lord knows what kind of nefarious deeds are being done in the seedy underbelly of Piscataway, NJ. One shudders to think of the menace that lay dormant in Sciano's basement.
UConn (November 20th)
Randy Edsall and his coaching staff are gone after this season. How do I know? Because a Boston College assistant coach told me so. The Hartford Courant's Desmond Conner spoke with UConn recruit Michael Nebrich, who mentioned an ominous email he received from a BC assistant.
"I got an email from one of the BC assistant coaches who wasn't too happy about my commitment," Nebrich said. "He told me stuff like the UConn coaching staff isn't going to be there in January. I called up Coach Moorhead and Coach [Randy] Edsall and told them about it and asked them and they told me that was absolutely ridiculous and reassured me they'd be there."
Oops. The Husky coaching staff does expect to remain with the team for the forseeable future. Unlike redshirt freshman defensive back Marcus Aiken, who was dismissed from school for the ominous “violation of university policies.”
Boston College (November 27th)
When not busy trying to tarnish the reputation of UConn football, the Eagles are trying to rise out of the jello mold that is ACC football. Nothing horribly wrong has happened to them recently so, as always, we will remind them of Diamond Ferri. Til the end of time...