The National Labor Relations Board determined that the Northwestern Wildcats football players have the right to form a labor union. Northwestern University will appeal the decision. Full story here.
The University of Massachusetts will leave the Mid-American Conference at the end of the 2015 season. The UMass Minutemen had been a football-only member of the MAC since 2012. Full story here.
Will McKamey, a freshman running back for the Navy Midshipmen football team, passed away after being in a coma for three days after collapsing during practice. Mr. McKamey was 19 years old. Sports Illustrated has his obituary.
Former Florida Atlantic head football coach Carl Pelini gave his first interview since he resigned his position back in October 2013. Full story here.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer has reported that former Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel is one of nineteen candidates under consideration for the presidency of the University of Akron. Full story here.
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2014 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship bracket update:
I am happy to mention that my bracket, for all intents and purposes, is still intact as the tournament begins the Round of Sixteen this evening. Three out of the four teams that I selected as my Final Four reached the Regional Semifinals (Sweet Sixteen). The exception was #3 seeded Syracuse which I had winning the South region, but the Orange lost to #11 seeded Dayton in the third round. The three teams in my Final Four that did make it to the Round of Sixteen are #4 seeded Michigan State in the East region, #1 seeded Arizona in the West region, and #2 seeded Michigan from the Midwest region. I have Michigan State and Arizona playing in the National Championship game. For those who are interested in seeing my bracket (with adjustments) it can be found below:
Note: I took this photo with a camera phone earlier this afternoon. Please excuse the quality of the image. Since this photo was taken, Wisconsin defeated Baylor and Dayton beat Stanford.
Update (03/28/14): Florida advanced to the Round of 8 after defeating UCLA, and Arizona outlasted SDSU.
I have filled out brackets for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in the past. But, until this year, I had never filled out one that had endured into the Round of Sixteen. We will find out which teams make it to the Final Four at the end of this weekend.
The second part of today's post concerns the American Athletic Conference ("The American"). The 2014 football schedule for this conference is now available on The Howell Report. As most college football fans know, The American largely comprised teams that were football and all sports members of the old Big East Conference which existed from 1979 to 2013. Currently, there are ten members of this conference and they include Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, South Florida, Southern Methodist, Temple, and Central Florida. However, over the next two seasons, The American will undergo significant changes to its membership. On July 1st Louisville will move to the Atlantic Coast Conference while Rutgers will join the Big Ten. That same day, the The American will welcome three new members in all sports: East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa. These departures and additions will bring the membership total in The American to eleven for the 2014 season. In 2015, Navy will join as an associate in football only, thus bringing the conference's football membership to twelve. As a result, barring any more departures, The American can establish divisions and sponsor a lucrative championship game in football.
As for the 2014 season, The American features plenty of entertaining non-conference games. Some of these match-ups include Cincinnati vs. Ohio State, Central Florida vs. Penn State, Memphis vs. UCLA, Southern Methodist vs. Baylor (Old Southwest Conference series), Central Florida vs. Missouri, Tulane vs. Georgia Tech, South Florida vs. Maryland, Connecticut vs. Boise State, East Carolina vs. Virginia Tech, Temple vs. Vanderbilt, East Carolina vs. South Carolina, and Cincinnati vs. Miami (FL). Next week the Howell Report will feature the 2014 schedule for the Mountain West Conference. Enjoy the basketball, everybody!!
2014 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE COMPOSITE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
For non-league games, The American members appear in ALL CAPS.
For league games, home teams are underlined.
August 28th
TEMPLE at Vanderbilt
August 29th
Brigham Young at CONNECTICUT
August 30th
North Carolina Central at EAST CAROLINA
Texas-San Antonio at HOUSTON
Austin Peay at MEMPHIS
Tulane at Tulsa
Penn State vs. CENTRAL FLORIDA (neutral site - Dublin, Ireland)
Western Carolina at SOUTH FLORIDA
August 31st
SOUTHERN METHODIST at Baylor
September 6th
Stony Brook at CONNECTICUT
East Carolina at SOUTH CAROLINA
Grambling State at HOUSTON
MEMPHIS at U.C.L.A.
SOUTHERN METHODIST at North Texas
Navy at TEMPLE
Georgia Tech at TULANE
Oklahoma at TULSA
Maryland vs. SOUTH FLORIDA
September 11th
HOUSTON at Brigham Young
September 12th
Toledo at CINCINNATI
September 13th
Boise State at CONNECTICUT
EAST CAROLINA at Virginia Tech
Southeast Louisiana at TULANE
TULSA at Florida Atlantic
CENTRAL FLORIDA at Missouri
North Carolina State at SOUTH FLORIDA
September 19th
Connecticut at South Florida
September 20th
Miami (OH) at CINCINNATI
North Carolina at EAST CAROLINA
Middle Tennessee State at MEMPHIS
Texas A&M at SOUTHERN METHODIST (Old Southwest Conference series)
Delaware State at TEMPLE
TULANE at Duke
Bethune-Cookman at CENTRAL FLORIDA
September 27th
CINCINNATI at Ohio State
Temple at Connecticut
Tennessee Tech at HOUSTON
MEMPHIS at Ole Miss
Texas Christian at SOUTHERN METHODIST (Old Southwest Conference series)
TULANE at Rutgers
Texas State at TULSA
SOUTH FLORIDA at Wisconsin
October 2nd
Central Florida at Houston
October 4th
Memphis at Cincinnati
Southern Methodist at East Carolina
TULSA at Colorado State
October 9th
CENTRAL FLORIDA at Brigham Young
October 11th
CINCINNATI at Miami (FL)
Connecticut at Tulane
East Carolina at South Florida
Houston at Memphis
Tulsa at Temple
October 18th
Cincinnati at Southern Methodist
Temple at Houston
Tulane at Central Florida
South Florida at Tulsa
October 23rd
Connecticut at East Carolina
October 24th
South Florida at Cincinnati
October 25th
Memphis at Southern Methodist
Temple at Central Florida
October 31st
Cincinnati at Tulane
Tulsa at Memphis
November 1st
Central Florida at Connecticut
East Carolina at Temple
Houston at South Florida
November 8th
Army at CONNECTICUT (neutral location - Yankee Stadium)
Tulane at Houston
Memphis at Temple
Southern Methodist at Tulsa
November 14th
Tulsa at Central Florida
November 15th
East Carolina at Cincinnati
Memphis at Tulane
South Florida at Southern Methodist
TEMPLE at Penn State
November 22nd
Cincinnati at Connecticut
Tulane at East Carolina
Tulsa at Houston
South Florida at Memphis
Southern Methodist at Central Florida
November 28th
East Carolina at Tulsa
Houston at Southern Methodist
Central Florida at South Florida
November 29th
Cincinnati at Temple
Connecticut at Memphis
December 4th
Central Florida at East Carolina
December 6th
Houston at Cincinnati
Southern Methodist at Connecticut
Temple at Tulane
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