The middle of October means one thing and one thing only: time for the
half-season awards.
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Wednesday, Oct. 14
Speaking with them last week, Hayden Fry and
Gary Barnett, both seemed to feel that a super conference is down the
pike. They both feel that we will ultimately see the conferences as we
know them disband and one superconference composed of the top Division
I-A football powers.
That is all driven by the notion that Title IX is making it impossible
for athletic departments to equally distribute funds to men and women
when football is factored into the equation.
We're seeing changes already. The WAC is splitting up. There is talk of
another team joining the Pac-10 and Notre Dame possibly going to the Big
Ten. Over the next couple of years or so, we may see a consolidation
into superconferences.
If you have the super conferences the teams that are the have nots will
no longer share the TV money and won't have access to the resources the
powerful programs will. That would make football a huge drain, and
there's no way those programs can comply with Title IX with an equal
number of assets going to men's programs and women's
programs.
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First category:
Coach of the half-season:
Virginia
Tech's Frank Beamer, who doesn't get half the respect he deserves
The usual
Bowden candidate, which is Tommy of 4-0 Tulane this year
First-year
Arkansas coach Houston Nutt
Tennessee's
Phillip Fulmer
The winner is: Fulmer, whose undefeated Vols have overcome
injuries, a killer schedule and the loss of Peyton Manning.
Bellyflop of the season
Defending
national champion Michigan, which is unranked after starting the season
No. 5
Arizona State
(2-4)
Preseason SEC
West favorite LSU
N.C. State,
which beat Syracuse and Florida State, but lost to Baylor and Georgia
Tech
The winner is: Are you kidding? In a no-brainer, the late, great
Arizona State takes it.
Player of the half-season
Georgia's
double-duty guy Champ Bailey: 101 plays vs. Tennessee, 96 plays vs.
LSU
Kentucky's
Tim Couch
Oregon's
Akili Smith
Texas' Ricky
Williams
Louisiana
Tech's Troy Edwards
Purdue's Drew
Brees
The winner is: By the tiniest of margins over Bailey, it's
Williams, the NCAA record-breaking machine.
Diamonds in the
rough
If you want to know who's going to be the next great freshman
quarterback then check with the Chicago Cubs. Georgia's Quincy Carter
and Indiana's Antwaan Randle El were both drafted by the Cubs out of
high school.
Too little, too
late
It won't change the final score, but Purdue's Joe Tiller will get an
apology of sorts from the Big Ten office. That's because officials
botched a key call late in the Boilermakers' loss to Wisconsin. Trailing
by 14 but with the ball at the Badgers' 10-yard line and 5:10 left in
the game, Brees threw a second-down incompletion.
At least that's what it should have been. Instead, the refs ruled it an
interception and Purdue lost the game by seven points.
