With spring games now in the books, coaches can be heard across the country, reworking depth charts and tweaking playbooks in preparation for camp in August. Coaches stress the non-importance of spring football every year, but for dedicated fans that follow their teams as closely as they follow their own kids’ day-to-day lives, spring football is a much anticipated insight into the upcoming year.
Pre-freshmen that left high school early, transfers from other schools or a promising backup from the year prior, provide the main attractions to the college football mega-fans needing that offseason fix of their favorite programs.
With that in mind this column will cover various stories coming out of NCAA Division I college football and the format will follow that of the HBO show, Jon Oliver’s Last Week Tonight. There are many topics out there to cover this weekly column, but expect stories to generally revolve around schools in the Power Five conferences with the likes of the Sun Belt conference being sprinkled in very sparingly.
ACC
Many feel the 59-20 beat-down the Oregon Ducks gave Florida State in the Rose Bowl this year just wasn’t enough satisfaction after a season of hearing how great the Seminoles and Jameis Winston were. Rest easy Oregon fans, Bobby Bowden‘s comments on Winston Wednesday may finally quench your thirst for revenge. The legendary Florida State head coach called Jameis “an embarrassment to the university.” Strong words from such an iconic figure in the world of college football. With revenge finally quenched, good luck in Tampa Bay, Jameis. You’re going to need it.
B1G 10
Jim Harbaugh drew the ire of Nick Saban earlier this year when he began his satellite camp tour of the south. Saban said satellite camps are “ridiculous” and was critical in a number of other ways towards the concept. Well Mr. Saban, if you thought the satellite camps were “ridiculous” then you won’t like the upcoming Ann Arbor A4 Aerial Assault Elite QB Camp. While this camp is going to take place within the confines of the Michigan campus, Jim Harbaugh has apparently put his and his staff’s extensive rolodex to work and invited every quarterback who ever played in the last decade. Don’t worry though, Coach Saban, it would seem that the quarterbacks that were invited didn’t have to meet a certain standard of NFL success. Armed with quarterbacks such as Colin Kaepernick, Jay Cutler, Blaine Gabbert and Kyle Boller, the A4 camp doesn’t exactly scream Pro Football Hall of Fame tutelage.
ExposureU teams w NFL QBs & trainers for a 1 day Aerial Assault. First ever 2016, 2017, 2018, & 2019 QB Cage Match! pic.twitter.com/Kw93lkmjlQ
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) May 13, 2015
BIG 12
In lieu of instituting a conference title game, the Big 12 has instead revised its conference champion tie-breaking rules. Come on Big 12 and get with the program, even Conference USA has a championship game. With that said, the new tie-breaker rules are pretty thorough as explained here by CBS Sports’ Jon Solomon. The Big 12 would be better served with a conference championship game like the other four of five power conferences have.
The way Ohio State dominated Wisconsin in the B1G Conference title game last year is what really sealed the deal in getting the Buckeyes into the College Football Playoff. While the Big 12 may be happy with the changes they made (prepare for sarcasm), hopefully the new tie-breaker rules won’t come back to haunt the Big 12 for a second consecutive year.
Who wants to see #3TCU versus #6Baylor in an aerial offensive slugfest in championship week with a trip to the College Football Playoff on the line?
SEC
The SEC might just be missing out on Everett Golson this year after Golson announced last week that he would be leaving Notre Dame. Golson has already graduated from Notre Dame but still may not be able to pick just any school he’d like to attend.
According to SEC bylaw 14.1.15.1 a waiver must be signed off on by SEC Commissioner Michael Slive if any player hoping to transfer to an SEC program has been subject to discipline by any former university that player has attended. Golson was suspended by Notre Dame for academic dishonesty in the fall of 2013.
Fun fact of the day! SEC bylaw 14.1.15.1 was created in response to Oregon’s own Jeremiah Masoli’s 2010 transfer to Ole Miss after pleading guilty to burglary and marijuana possession.
The SEC made the rule with good intentions, to avoid players transferring schools in an attempt to flee repercussions from the law but now it may cost them the chance to add a premier quarterback to their conference.
If Golson is going to transfer to an SEC school, SEC bylaw 14.1.15.1 might get in the way pic.twitter.com/S9WBgfWlQ8 — Barrett Sallee (@BarrettSallee) May 7, 2015
PAC 12
Colorado unveiled new uniforms for the upcoming 2015 season last week. Not the biggest of news but who doesn’t love a good jersey unveiling? The Buffaloes opted for a cleaner look that took away those awful lined sleeves they had been wearing. The numbers have been modified as well to have a sleeker look, almost like Michigan State’s numbers, just not as thick. The highlight of the new jersey unveiling was a look at their new alternate gray jerseys and silver helmets.
It’s an upgraded look for a team that was not up to the jersey standards of the mighty PAC 12. Colorado will look to use the new kits to climb its way out of the depths of the PAC 12 South this year. After going 0-9 in PAC 12 play last year the Buffs will need all the help they can get. Check out the new uniforms on Colorado’s team website.
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Mark is a junior transfer student at the University of Oregon from Morgan Hill, California. He came to UO with an AA in Communications and is currently making his way through the Journalism program. Mark has been fascinated with sports his whole life, and actively participated in any sport he could including: baseball, football, hockey and rugby. Mark played football all the way through Junior College before he hung up the cleats but his passion for sports remained, which led him to the sports journalism path. Mark plans to work in the blossoming digital sports media market after graduation either in writing or video production.