Coach K, Gustav Bowl and new number one in college football - Sep 03, 2008
posted by: Howard
- Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has returned to campus after serving as the U.S. Olympic head coach in Beijing. Krzyzewski seems to be reenergized for the upcoming season, which is bad news for the rest of the ACC. It seems a little funny for anyone to criticize Krzyzewski, saying that he should have spent the summer getting ready for the upcoming season at Duke instead of coaching the Redeem Team. Here's a bold prediction - Duke will be Duke yet again this season, and Krzyzewski's summer activities won't matter one bit come October. What do you think?
- In the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav, the athletics teams from Gulf Region schools are all dealing with being away from their campuses. Tulane's football team will practice all week in Birmingham in preparation for its Saturday game at Alabama. Coach Bob Toledo is trying to rally his team by calling the game "The Gustav Bowl" and preparing for it like it is a postseason bowl game. Tulane will definitely have the support of the country on Saturday, although the atmosphere in Tuscaloosa will be far from a neutral bowl atmosphere.
- While the media focus of Gustav was on New Orleans, Baton Rouge also got hit extremely hard, and it caused damage to many of LSU's athletics facilities, including the football field. As of now, LSU is still planning to host Saturday's game versus Troy, although there is some uncertainty about it at this point.
- This past weekend, the top two ranked teams in the AP - Georgia and Ohio State - won their opening games by a combined 67 points. However, those wins over Georgia Southern and Youngstown State, respectively (two Division I FCS schools), weren't impressive enough to keep them ahead of Southern California, which jumped to the number one spot after a 51-7 win at Virginia. While all three teams were solid in their wins, perhaps the pollsters rewarded the Trojans for playing the tougher competition. Do you agree with this shift in the polls?
- Like many things on the Internet these days, high school recruiting Web sites have grown rapidly in popularity. High school students are being ranked before they ever play a high school game, and scholarships often get offered when kids are freshmen and sophomores in high school. Some coaches, such as Connecticut football coach Randy Edsall, would like to see this process changed. Edsall would prefer scholarship offers to begin during a student's junior year of high school. What are your thoughts on the high school recruiting process?
- If you're not familiar with the story of former Clemson football student-athlete Ray Ray McElrathbey, you need to read about him. The current Howard graduate student has dealt with everything you can imagine over the last several years - injuries, Clemson not renewing his scholarship, a difficult situation with his parents, and responsibility of his 11-year-old brother, just to name a few. Ray Ray's story is truly inspirational.
