John Clay's Sidelines

Some early afternoon notes:

UK basketball has a media opportunity starting at 1:30. Check the blog for video, notes, etc. later this afternoon.

The NCAA football rules committee has proposed moving kickoffs from the 30-yard line to the 35 and to limit the running start by players on the kicking team to 5 yards as a way of keeping players safer. NCAA says its injury data indicates injuries during kickoffs occur more often than in other phases of the game. The NFL moved up kickoffs 5 yards this past season and touchbacks increased dramatically.

If you haven’t heard, Murray State lost its first game last night, falling to visiting Tennessee State. Robert Covington scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds for TSU. Murray State was last unbeaten D-1 team. The Racers had won 23 straight games. Isaiah Canaan had 31 points for Murray in the loss.

Hail Mark Gottfried. In the announcement of the McDonald’s All-American team yesterday, North Carolina State has the most signees, with three. State has signed point guard Tyler Lewis of Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.), shooting guard Rodney Purvis of Upper Room Christian (Raleigh, N.C.) and small forward T.J. Warren of Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, N.H.).

North Carolina State improved to 7-3 in the ACC with a win over Georgia Tech last night.

We should have mentioned this morning that Kentucky signee Janee Thompson was also named to women’s McDonald’s All-American team.

Continue reading ‘Football rule changes, Mark Gottfried and other notes’

With signing day less than a month away, Rivals has updated its list of top 100 college football prospects for the Class of 2012.

And wouldn’t you know it, 26 of the 100 have committed to SEC schools for next season. Eight of the league’s 14 members are represented on the list. Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Vanderbilt and, surprisingly, LSU are not.

Rivals No. 1 player, wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham out of Springfield, Missouri, is undecided, but lists three SEC schools (Alabama, Missouri and Arkansas) among his top five (Texas and Oklahoma are the other two).

The SEC list:

• Alabama (9)
• 12. T.J. Yeldon, RB, Daphne, AL
• 17. Landon Collins, DB, Geismar, LA
• 24. Eddie Williams, ATH, Panama City, FL
• 43. Reggie Ragland, LB, Madison, AL
• 45. Amari Cooper, WR, Miami, FL
• 58. Chris Black, WR, Jacksonville, FL
• 79. Cyrus Jones, ATH, Baltimore, MD
• 88. Geno Smith, DB, Atlanta, GA
• 98. Ryan Anderson, LB, Daphne, AL
• Auburn (1)
• 90. JaQuay Williams, WR, Tyrone, GA
• Florida (5)
• 2. D.J. Humphries, OL, Charlotte, NC
• 6. Jonathan Bullard, DE, Shelby, NC
• 54. Kent Taylor, TE, Land o’ Lakes, FL
• 70. Marcus Maye, DB, Melbourne, FL
• 80. Brian Poole, DB, Bradenton, FL
• Georgia (5)
• 23. John Theus, OL, Jacksonville, FL
• 42. Todd Gurley, RB, Tarboro, NC
• 48. Keith Marshall, RB, Raleigh, NC
• 56. Jordan Jenkins, DE, Hamilton, GA
• 72. Jonathan Taylor, DT, Millen, GA
• Ole Miss (1)
• 51. Channing Ward, DE, Aberdeen, MS
• South Carolina (2)
• 63. Mike Davis, RB, Stone Mountain, GA
• 66. Shaq Roland, WR, Lexington, SC
• Tennessee (1)
• 86. LaDarrell McNeil, DB, Dallas, TX
• Texas A&M (2)
• 15. Trey Williams, RB, Spring, TX
• 69. DeVante Harris, DB, Mesquite, TX

My final AP college football poll ballot:

• 1. Alabama
• 2. LSU
• 3. Oklahoma State
• 4. Stanford
• 5. USC
• 6. Oregon
• 7. Boise State
• 8. Arkansas
• 9. South Carolina
• 10. Wisconsin
• 11. Michigan State
• 12. Michigan
• 13. Georgia
• 14. Baylor
• 15. Virginia Tech

(AP photo)

Mark Coyle’s first job as the new athletic director at Boise State: Transition his football program into the Big East.

Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports reports that Boise State, San Diego State, Houston, Central Florida and SMU will join the Big East to play football in 2013. Boise State and San Diego State will leave the Mountain West. Houston, Central Florida and SMU will leave Conference-USA. With Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia leaving the Big East, that means the league will go from five members to 10 in 2013.

Houston, Central Florida and SMU will compete in the Big East in all sports. Navy could become the 11th football member as early as next week. Air Force is reportedly considering an offer to be the 12th.

Continue reading ‘The Big East expanding all the way to the West Coast’

College football TV schedule for today.

They are getting up early at South Florida as Louisville is in town for an 11 a.m. kickoff on ESPN2. This is actually a pretty full Friday of college football on tube. Iowa at Nebraska and Pittsburgh at West Virginia are not bad Friday tilts. But the game of the day has to be No. 3 Arkansas at No. 1 LSU in a game which has major SEC and BCS implications. But then, these days, isn’ the SEC the same thing as the BCS?

Here’s the chart of this weekend’s TV games.

Continue reading ‘U of L-USF and Arkansas-LSU highlight TV offerings today’

It’s the next-to-last weekend of the regular football season for most conferences. So there are not an overabundance of great matchups this weekend. All CBS could find for its afternoon SEC game was Mississippi State at Arkansas, the latter still clinging to a possible shot at the division title and a BCS berth.

One of the better games of the day figures to be Nebraska at Michigan, noon on ESPN. Meanwhile, USC at Oregon is an attractive Saturday night matchup. ABC has that one at 8 p.m.

Here’s the chart of this weekend’s college football games on television.

Continue reading ‘College football on television this weekend’

This isn’t the weekend like last weekend when it comes to consuming college football on television. There isn’t an Alabama-LSU on this week’s schedule, but there has been only one of those all year. Still, the TV sked kicks off tonight with a chance to see Houston and quarterback Case Keenum. But the better game tonight is Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech, an ACC game with possible post-season implications.

Here’s the chart of weekend games.

Continue reading ‘College football on television this weekend’

Allison Williams

The titanic Kentucky-Ole Miss struggle will be on ESPNU at 3:30 today from Commonwealth Stadium. Isn’t the 3:30 SEC time slot reserved for CBS? Yes. But CBS opted to bump No. 1 LSU vs. No. 2 Alabama to prime-time, which allowed ESPN to have the afternoon slot. Clay Matvick, Brian Griese and Allison Williams will be doing the game for the U.

Here are today’s SEC television crews, plus the full chart of Saturday games.

Continue reading ‘UK on ESPNU today, plus the full slate of televised games’