Bring On The Cats

Clearly, We Need More Teams in FBS: At 1:30 CT, Old Dominion is having a press conference, where, according to Dave Fairbank of the Daily Press, ODU is going to accept that invitation to Conference USA after all, effective in the 2013-14 season. Fairbank's colleague at the DP, David Teel, reported on Twitter that ODU expects to still be eligible for the 2012 FCS playoffs, although the question of whether they'll be eligible to win the CAA's automatic bid is still open. ODU's football program has only existed for three years, but they received a bid to the playoffs last year and won a first-round game before losing to Georgia Southern in a wild shootout whose final score looked more like basketball, so they may very well be capable of making a little noise immediately in 2013.

Stuff rolls downhill, of course, and Brett McMurphy reports that sources indicate the CAA's response move may be to try and lure Davidson and College of Charleston into the fold to replace the departing ODU, VCU, and Georgia State. That won't do much for CAA football, as Davidson runs a non-scholarship program in the Pioneer League and Charleston doesn't have a football team. Then again, the CAA's only real loss in football is ODU, so no big deal I suppose.

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With apologies to Tyler Lockett, who I'm sure has heard more than enough of this, it's time to take a look at what K-State's most exciting young receiver/returner needs to do to reach the same level as his relatives. After all, we've still got 96 days until Missouri State.

The bad news for Tyler is that - partly due to injury, and partly due to the fact that he wasn't part of an offense as predicated on passing as much as Kevin and Aaron during what were by far the two most prolific seasons for freshman receivers in school history - he has a lot of catching up to do. The good news is that both Kevin and Aaron slowed down significantly as sophomores.

I was very young, so I can't really say what happened to Kevin, and it's a little confusing since he still had Chad May as his quarterback. For Aaron, the answer is much simpler.

He went from catching passes from Michael Bishop during best passing season by a quarterback in the Bill Snyder era to catching passes from an inexperienced Jonathan Beasley. Aaron also no longer had the benefit of playing alongside Darnell McDonald to distract defenses, which was surely a huge key to his record-breaking freshman season.

Still, Tyler's got a lot of work to do to catch Aaron (4th in receiving yards and 6th in TDs all-time) and, well, no one's expecting him to catch Kevin (1st all-time in receiving yards and TDs). Let's take a look at the numbers.

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Back on Central Time, which means the Slate comes to you at its regularly scheduled time.

Also, my God, what a slow news day for K-State.

College Football Playoff

Yahoo's Dan Wetzel excoriates the Big 10 for catering to the Rose Bowl at the expense of playoff games at campus sites. It is amazing that a Midwest conference would give up the possibility of having games at home, providing an economic boost to the region and opening the possibility that some games would be played in non-ideal weather. Long live the bowls!

Veterans' Favorite Sports Moments

Matt Ufford, a veteran himself, is asking other veterans for their favorite sports memories from deployment. I know we have some veterans on this board, so maybe some of you have some stories to share.

Conference Realignment

Former Florida State linebacker, NFL linebacker, and FSU board of trustees member Derrick Brooks says the Big 12 contacted Florida State first. I like this. Florida State is proving they're clearly dysfunctional enough to be a member of the Big 12.

With more realignment upon us, Wide Right Natty Lite has this handy flow chart to make sure you know which Big 12 school you should affiliate yourself with.

College Football Relegation

After everyone went nuts over the Manchester City/QPR match on Sunday -- which admittedly was pretty awesome -- relegation talk has been all the rage this week at SB Nation. Our Daily Bears takes a look at what relegation would have looked like in the Big 12 over its history.

He Said, He Said, Oh Whatever: The follies continue, as Derrick Brooks, former Seminole and Tampa Bay Buccaneer (and more pertinently, former Florida State trustee) says the Big 12 contacted Florida State (as opposed to Florida State contacting the Big 12, or neither party contacting the other). Florida State AD Randy Spetman immediately tripped all over himself trying to get to a microphone to say, "I don't know where Derrick got that." This, of course, could mean "it's not true"; it could also mean "Damnit, we've got a leak and I don't know who it is."

Obviously, this raises all sorts of ugly spectres, as the Big 12 is now dangerously close to being in the same situation the SEC was in with regard to Texas A&M. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to figure out which ACC school will play the role of Baylor in this little drama.

That Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means: Yesterday, some twitterati got a little confused and thought this was a sign that Boise State was seriously about to pull the plug on the Great Big East West Experiment. The real meaning, however, is precisely the opposite. The Big West has agreed to "entertain interest" in Boise State as regards Olympic sports, which would solve the Broncos' little WAC problem (and keep San Diego State happy, since if Boise were to pull out of the Big East, the Big East could then discard San Diego State unilaterally per the terms of their contract).

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K-State Football

Mark Simoneau is the first K-State football player who played for Bill Snyder to make the college football hall of fame. He probably won't be the last.

K-State Basketball

Bruce Weber completed his staff by adding Brad Korn as his director of basketball operations.

K-State Baseball

Wade Hinkle is the Big 12 player of the week after leading K-State to a series victory over KU.

College Football Playoffs

It sounds like home games are out of the mix for the new playoff format. Rejoice, media, you won't be stuck in Manhattan.

Bo Jackson

SB Nation's Jon Bois and Bomani Jones combine on this awesome look back at Bo Jackson.

Sometimes Arbitrary and Capricious Works Out: The National Football Foundation has announced its College Football Hall of Fame class for 2012, and finally Bill Snyder is (indirectly) represented as former Wildcat linebacker Mark Simoneau is among the list of 17 former coaches and players to be inducted December 4 in South Bend. Joining Simoneau in the 2012 class are former coaches R.C. Slocum, Philip Fulmer, and Jimmy Johnson, and former players Art Monk, Charles Alexander, Dave Casper, Gabe Rivera, Greg Myers, Hal Bledsoe, John Wooten, Jonathan Ogden, Otis Armstrong, Scott Thomas, Steve Bartkowski, Tommy Kramer, and Ty Detmer. Simoneau will join Gary Spani (also a former Chief, amusingly) as K-State inductees.


There's a lot to be said against the CFBHoF's selection criteria, in which guys like Howard Schnellenberger and Joe Montana aren't eligible for various reasons. However, in defense of those criteria... winning 60% of your games as a coach used to mean your team, on average, was no worse than 6-4 every year. It looks a little different in our day and age, where the cut line would be something like 8-5 every year, but still: if a coach went 8-5 every year, would you call him a hall of famer? The 60% cutline is arbitrary, but is it really something you want to argue against in the larger scheme? You coach 20 years, that's basically going 150-100. For players, the big sticking point is whether or not you were named a first-team All-American by at least ONE of the sanctioned selection bodies, and again one has to ask: if you weren't even considered the best player at your position by any one of four different selectors in any one of your years playing college football, do you belong in a hall of fame?

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