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    Frank Schwab

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    Frank Schwab writes about college football and offers unsolicited opinions on pretty much everything else too.

    • (USA Today Sports Images)

      Talk about a landmark case. If a college coach with a 20-50 record can win a lawsuit against a school that fired him, bad college coaches from around the country will be asking their lawyers to check statute of limitations on battling their own terminations in court.

      Robb Akey was fired by the University of Idaho last year after the Vandals fell to 1-7 on the season. His team had just been beaten 70-28 by Louisiana Tech, dropping his career record to 30 games under .500. His midseason firing shouldn't have been a complete surprise given his body of work.

      And now, he is suing the school.

      The Lewiston Tribune Online reported that Akey wants a fair portion of the $105,000 media compensation payout he would have gotten had he finished the season as Idaho coach. Instead, after just eight (bad) games he was fired, well before the end of the season when that payment would have been due.

      Akey made a brief

      Read More »from Fired Idaho coach Robb Akey sues school over large payout he was due at season’s end
    • Bret Bielema tweets photo of his teeny tiny dog

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      Arkansas coach Bret Bielema is active on Twitter, to say the least.

      He replies to the well-wishers, battles with the disgruntled Wisconsin fans who troll him (let it go Bret, it's been about five months ... and the same can be said for you, angry Badgers fans), lets us know his appearance schedule and other fun stuff like sharing the crazy hat his wife wore to the Kentucky Derby.

      And because he is so prolific at social media, we found out that Bielema, a very large man who was raised on a hog farm and played on the defensive line at Iowa, has a dog that can probably fit in his pocket.

      Read More »from Bret Bielema tweets photo of his teeny tiny dog
    • This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss.

      MOST MEMORABLE HITS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL

      NO. 3, TWO CAREERS END ON ONE HIT

      There have been many crushing, huge memorable hits in college football history. Very, very few ended the careers of both players involved.

      Michigan safety Daydrion Taylor and Penn State tight end Bob Stephenson met near the sideline during a 1997 game. The impact knocked Stephenson out and left Taylor unable to feel his legs. It's a hit that's impossible to forget.

      Of all the huge hits we've seen, and we'll mention a few more near the end of this post, none were quite like this one. The sickening smack when Taylor put his head down and made impact, the way Stephenson's whole body jolts back, the way both players fall limp to the ground ... it's the kind of hit that many football fans love, but had an enormous physical impact on both men involved.

      There's a reason the Big Ten Network had an eight-minute feature on the hit, 15 years later.

      "It’s got to be the hardest hit I’ve ever witnessed," Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson, who has played 15 NFL seasons, told the Big Ten Network.

      "Probably as hard a hit as I’ve been around," Michigan coach Brady

      Read More »from Doc Five: Most memorable hits in college football – No. 3, Two careers end on one hit
    • Ohio State is a huge, huge favorite to win the Big Ten’s Leaders Division

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      The gambling site TheGreek.com posted odds for all the division races in college football (h/t to Beyond the Bets, which has all the odds), and most are unsurprising.

      Ohio State is favored to win the Big Ten Leaders Division, of course. The Buckeyes are coming off a 12-0 season, have a lot of players back and possible contender Penn State is still under NCAA sanctions.

      It's not shocking that Ohio State is favored. It's the steep odds on the Buckeyes, which project them as almost a virtual lock to win the division, that are a bit startling.

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    • Wyoming’s new field will be pretty cool

      (@uniwatch)

      Wyoming has the highest elevation of any FBS stadium, and the Cowboys want to give opponents a constant reminder of that bit of trivia.

      In a photo that made its way around Twitter, including by @uniwatch, Wyoming's new field at War Memorial Stadium will feature snow-capped mountains in each end zone.

      Read More »from Wyoming’s new field will be pretty cool
    • Doc Five: Most memorable hits in college football – No. 4, The LaVar Leap

      This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss.

      MOST MEMORABLE HITS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL

      NO. 4, THE LAVAR LEAP

      We'll just apologize now. There's a lot of famous hits, mentioned by some of you in the comments on Monday's comments, that won't make the list. Narrowing down all of the hits in college football history to just five memorable ones is going to leave some great plays out.

      And this list isn't the hardest hits, but the most memorable. And even though the LaVar Leap didn't result in a huge collision, most college fans remember seeing it for the first time.

      Read More »from Doc Five: Most memorable hits in college football – No. 4, The LaVar Leap
    • Bob Stoops thinks the tales of SEC dominance are ‘propaganda’

      (USA Today Sports Images)

      Oklahoma's Bob Stoops is a great coach and seemingly a good man, so we hate to have to vehemently disagree with him for a second time this offseason.

      In a column by the Tulsa World, Stoops claims that the SEC isn't as dominant and everyone says it is. If you watch enough SEC games you realize that's an incorrect statement, but Stoops went on. His reasoning was that the very best teams are elite, but the entire conference is not.

      "So they've had the best team in college football," Stoops said, according to the Tulsa World. "They haven't had the whole conference. Because, again, half of 'em haven't done much at all. I'm just asking you. You tell me."

      That reasoning is pretty faulty.

      Here's Stoops' long quote on why the SEC isn't really all that, from the Tulsa World:

      "So you're listening to a lot of propaganda that gets fed out to you," he said. "You're more than smart enough to figure it out. Again, you can look at the top two, three, four, five, six teams, and you can look at the bottom six, seven, eight, whatever they are. How well are they all doing?

      "What'd we (the Big 12) have, eight of 10 teams in bowl games this year? Again, you figure it all out."

      This comes down to a pretty simple math problem. For all SEC games, there has to be a .500 record at the end. If Alabama, Texas A&M, Florida, South Carolina, LSU and Georgia are all among

      Read More »from Bob Stoops thinks the tales of SEC dominance are ‘propaganda’
    • As sad as the video of Marcus Lattimore's gruesome knee injury was, his story ended with a video that can be an inspiration for anyone struggling through adversity.

      Many people, including myself, didn't imagine the video at the top of this post was possible last October. It was startling to hear Dr. James Andrews tell ESPN during a pre-draft interview that Lattimore's knee ligaments looked like hamburger meat, and he was lucky he didn't lose his leg. Nobody would have been too surprised if that injury ended his career.

      We wrote a lot about Lattimore's journey back from that injury. He is one of the class acts in college football, and handled his injury as well as anyone could. He also worked hard to get in a position to do what seemed nearly impossible a few months ago, and get drafted by a NFL team.

      That's why we're very happy to wrap up his story on this blog with the video of the pure joy and relief Lattimore experienced when the San Francisco 49ers called him to tell him he was drafted in the third round.

      Read More »from Marcus Lattimore’s draft reaction video brings his long post-injury journey full circle
    • What was wrong with the College Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2013

      Brian Bosworth (USA Today Sports Images)

      There was no way the National Football Foundation was going to get it all right. The organization had just 12 slots for the College Football Hall of Fame's class of 2013 and an absolutely loaded class of finalists.

      Our top five snubs don't even include Jerome Brown, Tom Cousineau, Eric Crouch, D.J. Dozier, Rob Lytle, Shannon Sharpe, LaDainian Tomlinson or Lorenzo White. The NFF doesn't include two members from the same school in one class, which explains why players like Brown (Vinny Testaverde got voted in for Miami) and Crouch (Tommie Frazier for Nebraska) didn't get the nod, and the NFF has other guidelines to include a wide array of players from different eras and positions, which squeezed others out. Still, there are more than a few players who cause a serious double take when you realize they are eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame and are not yet in.

      From this year's list of finalists, here are the five (four players and one group) that caused us the most angst:

      Read More »from What was wrong with the College Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2013
    • Dr. Phil suing Gawker over use of Manti Te’o hoaxer video, said it hurt ratings

      Dr. Phil (USA Today Sports Images)Here is more proof that the Manti Te'o story simply will not die.

      After all the parties went to Katie Couric and Dr. Phil and whatever other media outlets wanted to hear their tales, it seemed to be over. But, Dr. Phil is mad that another media outlet stole his thunder when he talked to the mastermind behind the fake girlfriend scheme, and he's going to court over it.

      According to The Wrap, Peteski Productions, one of the producers of the Dr. Phil show, has filed a copyright infringement suit against Gawker Media. The suit says the Gawker site Deadspin.com posted video of the second show featuring Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, who impersonated Te'o's "girlfriend" Lennay Kekua, before it aired to most of the country. Dr. Phil's people claim that ratings dropped because the "cliffhanger" was spoiled, according to The Wrap. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Texas.

      Good times.

      Read More »from Dr. Phil suing Gawker over use of Manti Te’o hoaxer video, said it hurt ratings

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