NCAA Week 11

[Kerb Hohl]

Watching ESPNU a little this afternoon and everyone on a panel of 6 or 7 "experts" picked Wisconsin to go to the Rose Bowl.

Unfortunately Wisconsin going to the Rose Bowl has almost less to do with them and more to do with OSU and MSU. Obviously need to win out, but that's not going to do it alone.

[trwi7]

Couple of notes from Risdon's $.10 piece.

3. Wisconsin hung 83 points on Indiana, and I don’t blame them one iota. The Badgers have been very under-the-radar as a 1-loss team, and this outburst gives them prominence and attention that maybe they are the best of the 1-loss group. They did this without RB John Clay, their “alleged” top runner, though I see very little NFL future for the slow bruiser.

I got a great deal of feedback regarding last week’s tenth cent, which focused on the Cam Newton saga. Thanks to all for the very strong opinions, even those who think I’m completely off my rocker. My favorite correspondence came from someone with a strong personal perspective.

Loyal reader/emailer/former student of mine Marquise from Petersburg (that’s Virginia) had a lot to say about it, but most of it centered around my proposed solution of removing BCS-level football from the NCAA and the ridiculous restrictions placed on football players. Two points he brought up that I believe are worth sharing:

-- The Sun Belt Conference could have zero bowl-eligible teams this year. Marquise is a current FCS (I-AA) player who could have gone to some of those schools, but wanted to play FCS because he “wanted a chance to actually win. I never wanted to be a token victory, that is humiliating...it goes against why I play.” He says that if the big-time schools were fully separated, he “definitely” would have gone to a Sun Belt or C-USA school. This is a big reason why James Madison can beat Virginia Tech and so many other FCS schools are making FBS schools sweat and cry. I know this is true at many D-II schools as well, including Grand Valley State and most of the MIAA schools in my old stomping grounds of Michigan and Ohio. The MAC, C-USA, WAC and Sun Belt schools are getting crushed by this, even as some continue to steal better recruits from the BCS conference schools.

-- He knows “at least three” teammates that had to leave school because they couldn’t afford remaining as students with no ability to earn money on the side. Football soaks up too much time and it makes getting even a part-time job prohibitive. These young men cannot get money from home and can’t qualify for affordable loans, so they are flushed out because they are football players. He said one remained in school but the others couldn’t take being there and not being part of the team.

Imagine you are an inner-city young black man, told from the time you start playing Pop Warner that football is your ticket to success in life. You work so hard to overcome all the disadvantages life has dealt you--poor schools, tough socioeconomic conditions, often a fractured family structure--by pouring yourself into football. That dream and diligence earns you a precious scholarship, perhaps making you the first person in your family to even graduate high school (that’s Marquise’s case), let alone attend college.

And then you have to give it up because you can’t afford to stay in school because the rigors of going to class and playing the game that got you there don’t allow you a chance to earn any money. If an assistant coach or a wealthy booster buys you even a $.25 taco, you are ineligible and vilified by the NCAA. If you try to take advantage of playing football, you are essentially a criminal. Yet the school can sell your jersey for $80 a pop, plaster your likeness on tickets and merchandise, and you can’t accept a single dime of compensation for money you are earning for someone else. You can’t afford Ramen noodles or Diet Faygo, but the school can promote you to earn thousands.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is criminal behavior by the NCAA.

Try doing that in the business world or private industry and you’d be buried in lawsuits and allegations of institutional racism and discrimination against the poor.

Completely agree with both.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

I have to admit I laughed when I read that low blow to Clay. That being said, if he ever got serious about getting in shape, he could be a good NFL running back. Who knows if he'll drop the weight though.

[LUKE23]

RB's with Clay's body type don't do well in the pros unless they have ridiculous speed to pair with it (which Clay doesn't). He will be a pedestrian NFL RB if he even makes it at all.

[Newz]

RB's with Clay's body type don't do well in the pros unless they have ridiculous speed to pair with it (which Clay doesn't). He will be a pedestrian NFL RB if he even makes it at all.

Goal line back, IMO. Kind of like Lendale White.