Updated: Big Plans at Texas A&M

May 1, 2013 Update:  Earlier today ESPN reported that Texas A&M has approved a $450 million plan to renovate and expand Kyle field's seating capacity by at least 20,000.  Construction is scheduled to begin later this year and when it is completed in 2015, Kyle Field will be the largest stadium in the Southeastern Conference with a capacity of 102,500.   More information can be found here:  http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9233122/texas-aggies-approve-plans-seat-more-100000-sec-largest-stadium

May 2, 2013 update:  More information, including interviews, a rendering of what the new stadium will look like, and a proposed construction schedule can be found at this website from Texas A&M:  http://www.aggieathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27300&ATCLID=207507161


Move over, Neyland!  Texas A&M has just unveiled a $450 million proposal to renovate Kyle Field.  A&M's ambitious plans call for expanding Kyle Field's capacity from 83,000 to somewhere between 93,000 and 103,500 seats.  If Texas A&M decides to go with the higher end of this estimate, College Station may soon be home to the largest stadium in the Southeastern Conference.  Neyland Stadium, at the University of Tennessee, is currently the SEC's largest facility as well as the 3rd largest football stadium in the country (Only Michigan Stadium and Penn State's Beaver Stadium are larger).  The proposed renovations are expected to take three years and work is scheduled to begin after the end of the 2013 regular season.  CBS Sports's Matt Hinton describes how the renovations will proceed:


           Initial plans call for the enclosure of the south end zone (currently open) by two levels:
           On the upper level, 12,000 new seats with the potential for adding more in the future; on the
           lower level, space reserved for "an area for press, interviews, 12th Man Productions, computer
           operations, football locker room and recruiting room." In addition to the expanded capacity,
           construction will reportedly involve demolition of the entire west side stands and press box,
           as well as parts of the east side to make way for private suites and two existing buildings near
           the stadium. The field will also be lowered approximately seven feet and moved
           approximately 18 feet to the south, to allow room for additional seating.*


More information about this story can be found at the following sites:


* http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/21743255/

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2012/9/25/3407160/texas-am-football-stadium-expansion-kyle-field

Ohio State Honors Woody Hayes

Yesterday, Ohio State University unveiled an 8-foot tall bronze statue of Woody Hayes outside the athletic center that bears his name.  Hayes, who served as Ohio State's head football coach from 1951 to 1978, won five national championships for the Buckeyes (1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, and 1970), thirteen Big Ten Conference titles, and accumulated a 205-61-10 record (238-72-10 lifetime).   Besides his tenure at Ohio State, Hayes also served as head football coach at his Alma Mater Denison (1946-1948) and two seasons as head coach at Miami of Ohio (1949-1950).  The last decade of his head coaching career featured the famous "Ten Year War" against Michigan, a program coached by one of his former assistants, Bo Schembechler.  Despite all of his accomplishments, Ohio State ultimately fired him after he punched Clemson player Charlie Bauman during the 1978 Gator Bowl (a game OSU ultimately lost, 17-15).  Hayes was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and he spent the last years of his life in Columbus teaching and mentoring students as a member of the campus's Navy ROTC faculty.  Hayes died of a heart attack on March 12, 1987, and today marks the 100th anniversary of his birth.  More information about today's story and Hayes's long coaching career can be found at the following links:

http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2013/02/8-foot_woody_hayes_statue_plac.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Hayes

Happy Valentine's Day Everybody!! 

Mountain West to Sponsor Championship Game in Football

ESPN has reported that the Mountain West conference will hold a championship game in football and divide its twelve members into two divisions.  The divisions will be named "Mountain" and "West" and the division champion with the higher BCS ranking will host the championship game. The proposed divisions will be arranged as follows:

        MOUNTAIN:  Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, New Mexico, Utah State, and Wyoming

                   WEST:  Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), San Diego State, and
                                 San Jose State

The inaugural Mountain West championship game will be played on Saturday, December 7th.  The network that will broadcast the game will be determined at a later date.   More information can be found at the conference's website:

http://www.themwc.com/genrel/012213aaa.html

Just In: Chip Kelly hired as Philidelphia Eagles Head Coach; San Diego State will rejoin Mountain West Conference

It looks like more big changes are occurring throughout the college football landscape.  First, the Philadelphia Eagles announced earlier today that they have hired Chip Kelly as their head coach.  Kelly, who accumulated a 46-7 record as head coach of the Oregon Ducks, replaces Andy Reid, who was fired on December 31st after leading the Eagles to a 4-12 season.  ESPN's report today also mentions that Kelly will be the sixth active NFL coach to be hired directly from a college team (the other five include Pete Carroll, Tom Coughlin, Jim Harbaugh, Greg Schiano, and Doug Marrone).  Despite Kelly's lack of NFL experience, the Eagles owner, Jeffrey Lurie, expressed confidence in their new head coach by saying that "he has a brilliant football mind . . . he motivates his team with his actions as well as his words.  He will be a great leader for us and will bring a fresh, energetic approach to our team."*  As for the Ducks, Bleacher Report's Ian Berg has mentioned three possible candidates to fill Oregon's head coaching vacancy.  These include Oregon's offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich, Boise State's H.C. Chris Petersen, and Oregon's defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti.** 

Today's second headline has to do with the continuing misfortunes of the Big East Conference.  In the weeks after Boise State announced that they will stay in the Mountain West Conference in all sports, ESPN has reported that San Diego State will be reinstated as a member of that league.***  Both schools had originally planned to join the Big East as football-only members, but if the Big East keeps losing teams, there may not be a conference left to join.  Since Pittsburgh and Syracuse announced back in 2011 that they were leaving to join the Atlantic Coast Conference in all sports, eleven more schools have either left or have mentioned plans to eventually leave the league.  These include, in no particular order of departure:  West Virginia, Louisville, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, Marquette, DePaul, Villanova, St. Johns, Georgetown, and Providence.  This hemorrhage of members, along with an ESPN report on December 22, 2012 detailing that a "Big East media rights deal was worth about $50 million . . . and the loss of the seven basketball schools would decrease that [amount] by another '15-20%"**** most likely put both Boise State and San Diego State into a position where staying in the Mountain West would be a better alternative than boarding a sinking ship.

Finally, the Mountain West's decision to readmit San Diego State puts that conference into a position where it can offer a championship game in football.  This year, Utah State and San Jose State will also join the league in all sports, thus increasing the conference's football membership (the University of Hawaii is a member in football only) to 12 teams.  How the Mountain West will divide its members into two divisions will be a subject covered in a future post. 

Sources:

*http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8849699/chip-kelly-bolts-oregon-ducks-coach-philadelphia-eagles

**http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1487617-odds-on-next-oregon-football-coach-after-chip-kelly-bolts-for-nfl

***http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8850122/san-diego-state-reinstated-mountain-west-conference-member

****http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8773423/boise-state-trying-get-big-east-mountain-    west-allow-broncos-retain-home-tv-rights-according-sources

ACC Announces Eight-Game Schedule

Yesterday, the Atlantic Coast Conference unveiled a new league football schedule for the 2013 season.  As in previous years, each team will play eight conference opponents.  But this year's schedule reflects the ACC's decision back in 2011 to expand from twelve to fourteen teams.  On July 1st, the league will welcome Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh (PITT) as members in all sports.  Syracuse will compete in the Atlantic Division while Pittsburgh will be placed in the Coastal Division.  Since both league divisions will consist of seven teams, the ACC's new 8-game football schedule will work as follows:

     1.   Each team will play every opponent in their division, totaling six games (3 home, 3 away).

     2.   The remaining two games (one home, one away) will feature crossover or inter-divisional
           opponents.  One match will consist of primary crossover rivals, while the other game
           features rotating opponents.
 
     3.   The primary crossover matches are listed below:

            Atlantic Division           vs.              Coastal Division 

             Boston College                                 Virginia Tech

             Clemson                                            Georgia Tech

             Florida State                                      University of Miami

             North Carolina State                         North Carolina

             Syracuse                                            Pittsburgh

             Wake Forest                                      Duke

To the ACC's credit, their new scheduling model preserves some traditional rivalry games (e.g., Syracuse-PITT, NC-NC State, Clemson-GA Tech, FSU-Miami) at a time when recent conference realignments have interrupted or suspended them indefinitely.  Some of these now defunct matches include Nebraska-Oklahoma, Missouri-Kansas, Texas-Texas A&M, and West Virginia-PITT.  Even the future of Maryland's annual game with Virginia remains in doubt once Maryland moves to the Big Ten Conference in 2014.  It will be interesting to see if a rivalry between Louisville and Virginia (or Virginia Tech) will take shape when the Cardinals join the ACC as Maryland's replacement. 

More information can be found at the following websites:

ACC Website:  http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/011113aaa.html

FBschedules:    http://www.fbschedules.com/

              

Just In: Buffalo Bills hire Doug Marrone

ESPN has reported that the Buffalo Bills have hired Doug Marrone as their new head coach.  Marrone, who spent four seasons as head coach of the Syracuse Orange, leaves that program with a 25-25 record that includes post-season victories in the Pinstripe Bowls of 2010 and 2012.  Despite his .500 win percentage, Marrone turned around a Syracuse program that accumulated a 26-57 record over seven seasons.  His resume also includes seven years in the NFL.  He was the New York Jets' offensive line coach between 2002 and 2005, and he spent 2006-2008 as offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints.  Marrone will replace outgoing head coach Chan Gailey, who was fired after three seasons with a 16-32 record.  More information can be found at the following websites:

ESPN:  http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8817962/doug-marrone-new-buffalo-bills-coach-leaves-syracuse-orange-sources-say

Buffalo News:  http://blogs.buffalonews.com/press-coverage/2013/01/offensive-oriented-doug-marrone-molded-syracuse-with-discipline.html

Bleacher Report:  http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1472596-who-is-doug-marrone-and-what-does-he-bring-as-head-coach-of-the-buffalo-bills

Aggies Rout Sooners in Cotton Bowl, 41-13.

I admit that I had my reservations concerning the decision to award Quarterback Johnny Manziel the Heisman Trophy.  Until last December this trophy, which was primarily awarded to seniors since it was first established in 1935, had never been presented to a freshman.  Officially, the Heisman Trophy recognizes "the most outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity."*  Since the Heisman was given primarily to upperclassmen, the award, it seemed to me, recognized a player's accomplishments for not just one year.  Rather, winning the Heisman represented the capstone of an exceptional college career.  However, in light of Johnny Manziel's incredible performance in last night's Cotton Bowl Classic, I may have to re-evaluate my views about the place of the Heisman Trophy in modern college football.

Manziel's accomplishments in the Cotton Bowl revealed that he more than deserved the Heisman Trophy along with the other awards he received over the course of the 2012 FBS season.  In leading the #9 Aggies in their rout of #11 Oklahoma yesterday, Manziel set a new record for rushing at 229 yards and he came within 13 yards of becoming only the second FBS player to pass 300 yards and rush 200 yards in a single game.  He did, however, set a new post-season bowl record with 516 total yards and he became just the fourth player in FBS history with 20 passing and 20 rushing touchdowns in a season.  As Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops put it after the game:  "Johnny Manziel is everything he was billed to be, expected him to be."** 

First-year head coach Kevin Sumlin led Texas A&M to an 11-2 record, the first time the Aggies have won eleven games in a season since 1998.  Oklahoma finished with a 10-3 record, including a share of the Big XII championship. 

I will conclude this post with the scores of all four BCS bowl games:

Sugar:      #21 Louisville upsets #3 Florida, 33-23
Orange:   #12  Florida State pounds #15 Northern Illinois, 31-10
Rose:       #6 Stanford narrowly beats Wisconsin, 20-14
Fiesta:     #4 Oregon overwhelms #5 Kansas State, 35-17.

The National Championship game between #1 Notre Dame and #2 Alabama will be played on Monday, January 7th, at 8pm Eastern, on ESPN.

* - Quote from Heisman Trust website:   http://www.heisman.com/trust/mission_statement.php
** - Bob Stoops quote found here:   http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=330040201