Oversigning is when a College Football Team signs more players on National Signing Day than they have room on their team to not violate the NCAA's 85/25 Rule. The 85/25 rule states that a football team may not have more than 85 student athletes on scholarship per academic year and they may only give, at most, 25 new scholarships per year. A school has until July 31st to have its scholarship numbers in compliance with the rule. The issue is what happens to those kids that find themselves "inconveniently" over the limit? They are essentially cut and no longer have a scholarship. If they transfer, they lose a year of eligibility. However, that is the only way for them to get a degree and continue playing in the FBS. Should the NCAA go in and stop the practice of oversigning and essentially cutting players done at the University at Alabama and many other programs?According to the article "Alabama's Numbers" on OverSigning.com:Saban implied that this year's class of 21 (now 22) new recruits and 2 grayshirt players that carry over from last year was all they were allowed to take. Further implying that they are currently full and that the 24 new additions now bring them to the 85 limit. He went on to say that there might be wiggle room to get 1 more guy.In breaking that down, he is saying that right now they are at 85 and the only way there would be room for future additions would be for future attrition. This means two things:We shouldn't see any attrition this year to free up space and get down to 85, and if we do see attrition and no new recruits are added, Alabama will operate below the 85 limit by the number of players that "create their own situation for leaving."If Alabama truly had room for 24 scholarship additions, where the hell did they come from? They had 14 seniors listed on their roster, 6 of which were listed as SQ for scout team. They had 3 Juniors leave for the NFL draft and they had 1 player announce he was going to transfer prior to signing day, BJ Scott. That is 12 scholarship players (8 seniors + 3 juniors to the NFL + 1 transfer). Saban said they were not at 85 total last year, so were they 12 under the 85? And if so, why the grayshirt announcements on the last day before the deadline.The math just doesn't add up and it's not even close."The issue is not the actual numbers the Crimson Tide is signing, but rather what happens to the kids that essentially get cut. According to Alabama's Numbers, Nick Saban uses the following tactics to "make the numbers work," so to speak:Greyshirts: student-athlete comes to the school but does not receive a scholarship and must pay for his enrollment. Joins the team and becomes a member of the following year's recruiting class.Medical Hardship Scholarship: due to "injury" a player is given this option which allows them to remain in school on scholarship but not count against the teams 85 scholarships. They do not play. It is essentially an academic scholarship for the player to finish his degree.Academically Ineligible: player loses scholarship because of gradesScholarship Not Renewed: team decides it does not want the player and does not renew the players scholarship. Essentially, the player is cut and no longer has his scholarship for his education or to play sports.Transfer: student transfers to another school. If the student transfers to another FBS team, then he loses one year of his four year eligibility. Sign and Place: sign a kid that does not qualify and place him into a junior college and resign him later. As can be seen, Alabama and Nick Saban used all of the tactics discussed above to squeeze in this year's top recruits. Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide are not the only teams guilty for this. It is an epidemic in the SEC. The SEC instituted the Nutt Rule because of Ole Miss Head Coach, Houston Nutt, signed 37 recruits in 2009. He basically signed a bunch of kids that couldn't qualify and placed them in Junior College. The Nutt Rule limits SEC teams to only signing 28 players, with 25 being allowed to enroll. While the SEC and teams like Alabama are the most flagrant, teams from other other conferences are doing it as well. There is a trend occurring and as long as teams are allowed to continue to oversign, it will likely continue to spread to other and more schools.So should the NCAA step in? For them to do this they would have to stiffen the rules to not allow the loopholes being used by many teams. Then, they would actually have to enforce it with tough sanctions for violating the rule. Teams shouldn't be punished for past violations, but the NCAA should put in rules now that prohibit this from occurring in the future.
Saban implied that this year's class of 21 (now 22) new recruits and 2 grayshirt players that carry over from last year was all they were allowed to take. Further implying that they are currently full and that the 24 new additions now bring them to the 85 limit. He went on to say that there might be wiggle room to get 1 more guy.In breaking that down, he is saying that right now they are at 85 and the only way there would be room for future additions would be for future attrition. This means two things:We shouldn't see any attrition this year to free up space and get down to 85, and if we do see attrition and no new recruits are added, Alabama will operate below the 85 limit by the number of players that "create their own situation for leaving."If Alabama truly had room for 24 scholarship additions, where the hell did they come from? They had 14 seniors listed on their roster, 6 of which were listed as SQ for scout team. They had 3 Juniors leave for the NFL draft and they had 1 player announce he was going to transfer prior to signing day, BJ Scott. That is 12 scholarship players (8 seniors + 3 juniors to the NFL + 1 transfer). Saban said they were not at 85 total last year, so were they 12 under the 85? And if so, why the grayshirt announcements on the last day before the deadline.The math just doesn't add up and it's not even close."
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 is one of the most important days for us diehard college football fans and recruiting junkies. It is the day we learn about the new kids that have decided to come play football for our team for the next 3 to 4 years. College Football National Signing Day has become as competitive and as exciting as the actual football games. It is during the recruiting process that Head Coaches earn their money. I don't care how great of a coach somebody has been in the past. If they don't have the elite talent in the nation, then they aren't going to win championships. They might be excellent coaches, but they are limited by the ability of their players.Which team listed will finish with the nation's best recruiting class?
Stafon Johnson, former USC Trojans RB, filed a personal injury lawsuit against USC alleging negligence by former personal trainer, Jamie Yanchar, as the reason for his neck injury in 2009. Yanchar was spotting Johnson as he attempted to bench-press 275 pounds in an USC athletic facility. Johnson claims Yanchar accidentally hit the bench bar causing it to fall on his neck crushing his larynyx and nearly killing him. The lawsuit says "Yanchar's negligent, careless and reckless act and omission, in striking the bar with his body, was something that Mr. Johnson was not expecting to occur and he was therefore unprepared for the bar to be knocked off balance." ESPN reports, Johnson seeks "unspecified damages for medical-related expenses, pain and suffering and loss of future earnings exceeding $25,000, the lawsuit alleges that Yanchar was distracted and not paying attention to Johnson at the time of the incident and thus 'failed to take notice that, as the bar was being lifted from the rack, Johnson was not then ready to take hold of and lift the bar.'"Johnson is currently in the NFL and seems to have fully recovered. In my opinion, this lawsuit is unnecessary. No matter how his lawyer spins it, this was an accident. I know in our legal system accidents can result in a financially lucrative lawsuit, but it is wrong. USC did not cause nor would it ever want such an injury to occur to one of its great athletes. This was a tragic accident, and that's how I think it should be treated.Are the USC Trojans liable for the injuries sustained by former RB Stafon Johnson?
Auburn was simply the better team on the field in every phase of the game. Before attending the game, I believed the Tigers and the Ducks would split 10 games, each winning 5. However, after witnessing the actual event, the two teams were not as equal as I had thought. Throughout the whole game, it was obvious that Auburn was the better team. The score did not capture the actual beat down Oregon took from Auburn’s lines on both sides of the ball. True football fans know that games are won and lost in the trenches. Auburn dominated them on both sides. The Final Score should have been 19-11, but because of two fluke plays, one by Oregon and one by Auburn, the score ended up 22-19. The first fluke play is when Oregon converted a 4th and 5. As the Duck WR, DJ Davis, went across the middle, Auburn’s safety, Zac Etheridge, was in perfect position to make the tackle, but the referee was in the way and knocked him out of the play. This allowed Davis to scamper for the first down and a huge 29 yard play setting up the Ducks for their first score since early in the 2nd Quarter. It simply should not have happened, and 9 out of 10 times, Oregon never gets that first down and Auburn runs out the clock on the turnover on downs.After the Ducks scored on their fluke play, it was Auburn’s turn to do the same with just a few minutes left in the game. Auburn’s fluke play involved a 27-yard run by Mike Dyer. It appeared to everyone on the field that he had been tackled, but the whistle never blew and Dyer started running again after hearing his coaches and WR Darvin Adams yell for him to do so. In the replay, it was clear that Dyer had not been tackled and actually had fallen completely on top of the defender without touching the ground. Again, 9 out of 10 times, this doesn’t happen. Instead, he gets stopped there and the Tigers would have to find another way of driving down the field. I’m not saying the Tigers would not have still won the game because they were at the 50 with 2 minutes left, but I am saying that was a fluke play. While both teams run a spread offense, Oregon’s is 100% gimmick. Auburn does several gimmick plays as well, and got destroyed whenever they did them…the second statute of liberty play-action pass, for example. Whenever Auburn lined up and just played football without all the gimmicky nonsense going on before and during the play, they dominated…in other words, whenever they lined up and played smash mouth football, they were killing the undersized Ducks. The push they were getting in the interior line was monstrous. The Tigers were just tossing lil’ duckies all over the place, but instead of just lining up and hitting them in the mouth Auburn kept attempting spread attacks. The Auburn spread offense is nothing like the Ducks spread. For most of a game, Auburn has either a big TE (Lutz), a big blocking RB (Fannin), or a FB (Smith) to help block…essentially, the FB or TE give the Tigers a sixth man on the line. The Ducks only had five on the line with no TE or FB…unless you consider someone as small as Kenjon Barner a FB…I do not. Auburn's offense involves more north and south, downhill running. The Ducks offense has a lot of plays that begin lateral. Against easy LAC ONE BCS title conference opponents, these plays lead to huge gains...but not against Auburn.CoachingChip Kelly was clearly out coached. Auburn’s D dominated his supposedly genius offense. This is simple. Chizik was a Defensive Coordinator before becoming Head Coach and Kelly was Offensive Coordinator before becoming the Head Coach at Oregon. Chizik's Tigers Defense was Better than Kelly's Ducks Offense. It was, in part, due to his stubbornness and refusing to accept facts that the Ducks kept trying to run the football on the SEC’s #1 rush defense…a fact alone that should have caused the Ducks to have a different game plan. LaMichael James may have ran wild against undersized and usually slower defenses, but he was not going to be able to do the same against an SEC defense that was just as fast but 10 times the size the Ducks had been used to facing. It just wasn’t going to happen. The Ducks defense actually did a good job stopping Auburn’s spread attack. However, the Ducks were undersized along the line allowing the Tigers to get a lot of push for the running attack between the tackles. The Ducks were not prepared for Auburn's D-Line and were pushed around for 254 yards rushing! And That's Why Auburn Won! Period! Special TeamsThe Ducks only had 1 kick and punt return yards all game. Statistically, they led the nation in punt and kick returns. It is actually one of their major advantages in most games. But not against the Tigers who played both fast and disciplined. By doing so, they kept contain and the Ducks return men were never able to make anything happen. Poor punting by the Ducks together with their inability to generate a return game, led to Auburn winning the battle for field position. In one play, typical to Duck-Style football, Kelly decided to get cute and attempt a reverse on a kick-off return. The Tigers nearly caused a Duck turnover when they were attempting to execute. Though they were not able to get the ball back, the Tigers forced the Ducks to start inside their own 10 yard line.The Ducks FG kicker scored the first three points of the game, but never attempted another field goal. On one occasion, Kelly chose to go for it 4 and goal in the late 3rd quarter instead of getting the points. The Auburn D-Line stuffed an attempted dive by Barnor. Wes Byrum was two for two on FG and kicked the game winner with only two seconds left on the clock. Coach Chizik also chose to go for it on a 4th down instead of kicking a field goal inside the redzone, and it ended in similar fashion...Cam Newton's pass to FB Eric Smith was short, but catchable, and dropped by Smith. QuarterbacksBoth QB’s had bad games, but Oregon’s Darron Thomas was a little worse. I don’t care how many yards either had throwing. If you watched the game, then you know they were both off. Cam Newton had an interception, a fumble, and made two poor throws that if thrown correctly would have led to touchdowns. He also only had 64 yards rushing. Thomas, on the other hand, was just off all game. He had 2 balls intercepted, but it should have been 4. He was lucky Auburn defenders were unable to hang onto the ball on 2 occasions when it hit them in their hands. Thomas, on numerous occasions, also missed WR’s on easy throws and finished with –6 yards rushing. Newton was also injured his back, which was evident throughout the second half. He has made a name for himself for being a bruising quarterback that runs over opposing defenses. This was not the case in this game. On numerous plays, Cam chose to slide instead of pound for a few more yards. In one play, he slid a yard short of a 1st down, requiring a 3rd and 1 converted by Mike Dyer. It was definitely not the Cam we had seen all season.I say Cam had a slightly better game than Thomas because he blew in the 2nd quarter and 1st drive of the 3rd quarter. He racked up 19 and over 250 yards mainly through the air, but also some yards were gained on the ground. During this period he was outstanding and played like the Heisman Trophy Winner. Thomas just never hit stride and was inconsistent all game. He'd make a great throw, but then have a terrible miss on the next. The only word to describe his performance is off. It seemed the Auburn D-Line got in his head.Running BacksThe Statistics speak for themselves:Oregon RB’s:1. LaMichael James: 13 rushing attempts for only 49 yards and 0 TD’s2. Kenjon Barner: 11 rushing attempts for only 32 yards and 0 TD’s3. Darron Thomas: 8 rushing attempts for –6 yards and 0 TD’s Auburn RB’s:1. Mike Dyer: 22 rushing attempts for 143 yards and 0 TD’s2. Cameron Newton: 22 rushing attempts for 64 yards and 0 TD’s3. Onterio McCalebb: 6 rushing attempts for 47 yards and 0 TD’sTotal Rushing:Auburn: 50 rushing attempts for 254 yards and a 5.1 yards average per carry Oregon: 32 rushing attempts for 75 yards and a 2.3 yards average per carry Defensive Front SevenOregon’s run game was completely shut down by Auburn’s defense. They couldn’t do anything against Auburn’s front seven. Auburn's line was in the Ducks backfield all game disrupting the rhythm of the "unstoppable" Ducks Offense. It was very clear during the game, the Ducks were unprepared for Auburn’s D-Line. Whether it was Carter, Fairley, Goggins, Blanc, Lemonier, Whitikar, or Clayton, somebody seemed to be in Thomas' face.There were times it seemed as though Nick Fairley, the Lombardi Award winning DT, was completely unblocked. At other times, he collapsed their entire offensive line leading to others making the plays...the safety, for example, was created by Fairley knocking two men over allowing Blanc to tackle James in the endzone. Again, this has to be a major coaching flaw in the Kelly's gameplan. It is absolutely absurd to let a BEAST like Fairley have free shots all game at your QB, and that's what happened all game long. Either the line was constantly missing assignments or Fairley's technique is FAR SUPERIOR.
The 2010 Auburn Tigers won the 2011 BCS Championship Game versus the Oregon Ducks, becoming the 1st Auburn Team to win a National Title since 1957. The Tigers were 14-0 in the 2010-11 college football season. They were showered with some of the most prestigious accolades in the nation, and the War Eagle's broke many team, conference, and national records on their road to Perfection. The other Greatest Teams in Tiger History are discussed in another poll. This is just whether this Tiger team was the greatest or not. If you don't think so, then visit and vote on which is the Best All Time AU Football Team.
I can't wait for MONDAY!!! It's going to be a great time in Glendale!!! So, I came across these ESPN videos and decided to put them up against each other. Sorry Duck Fans, but the Auburn video traces 40 years of Auburn's Heisman History and Tradition, including "Sullivan to Beasely" & "Bo Over The Top." These two phrases have come to define the eras of Auburn's first two Heisman Trophy Winner's, Pat Sullivan and Bo Jackson, respectively. This fact makes it cooler. The Duck highlights were sweet and I enjoyed them, but they didn't tell me anything about the history and tradition at the U of O. And hence, I believe this makes the Auburn BCS introductory video better than Oregon's. I am about to begin a new post asking Auburn Fan's what their favorite AU Tradition is that will include video footage of events like Tiger Walk, Toomer's Corner, etc. In the post, I'm going to include a nice summary of Auburn's History and Tradition in the post. Are any Duck Fans interested in making one for Oregon? I live in Eugene and know nothing about Duck Tradition, but am interested in learning. If anyone is interested in making it, just do it. WhosRight.com is easy to use and self explanatory. If you need any help, let me know...just leave a comment below and I'll address it ASAP.Anyways, Which introduction highlights video is cooler? The Auburn Tigers Are Heading to the BCS National Championship Gameor The Oregon Ducks Are Heading to the BCS National Championship Game
2011 BCS Championship Game: Oregon Ducks D-Line vs Auburn Tigers O-Line, Who Controls the Trenches?
Oregon Ducks Offensive Line vs the Auburn Tigers Defensive Line, Who controls the trenches?
While Oregon's LaMichael James, winner of the Doak Walker Award, and Auburn's Cameron Newton, winner of the Heisman Trophy, are the faces of their programs, I don't believe how they each play will determine the outcome of the 2011 BCS National Championship Game. Both James and Newton are too good of players to be completely shut down all game. They may be slowed down for a part of the game, but eventually they are going to get their stats.Instead, I believe this game will be decided on whether the Oregon Offensive Line can keep Auburn's DT Nick Fairley from annihilating their QB Darron Thomas. The Ducks have not faced a player on the same level as Fairley. He is a true game changer and has the ability to completely take over a game by dominating an offensive line. Cam Newton's 49 yard TD run against LSU is usually the play people discuss from that game. It is widely considered Cam Newton's "Heisman Moment" and that game is when the Heisman had become his to lose. He had 217 yards rushing with TD's in the win over the Tigers from Baton Rouge. However, Cam Newton was not the player of the game. Instead, Nick Fairley was player of the game against LSU (see highlights below). He finished with 2 and 1/2 sacks and 3 1/2 tackles for loss. As the highlights show he single handedly put an end to LSU drives.Two other highlight videos of Fairley in big SEC games against UGA and Alabama are also attached. Again, in both games his play was key in the Tigers win. If he is able to do this to Oregon's Line it is going to be a long day for their offense. However, Oregon's line has experience and like Nick Fairley, they have dominated games. The unit is ranked 5th in the nation for sacks allowed giving up less than 1 game (.67 to be exact) so Thomas has not been on his back a lot this season.Will the offensive line prevail or Will Nick Fairley dominate the game?
Watch the slideshow and decide. There is also a slide show of Auburn girls in the options below!
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