FanHouse

Texas Tech Offensive Lineman Indicted for Aggravated Assault

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-21T12:05:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsStephen Hamby, who was projected as the team's starting center this fall, was involved in an altercation on March 29. A Lubbock County grand jury has now indicted the Red Raider for aggravated assault for his alleged involvement in this brouhaha.

Hamby reportedly punched a man in the face twice before fleeing the scene. The victim was then treated for a fractured jaw. The severity of the victim's injuries likely led to the aggravated assault charge.

"I do know for a fact there was no weapon involved, so it had to be serious bodily injury for it to qualify as an aggravated assault,'' [Lubbock Police spokesman Capt. Greg] Stevens said.

Hamby started just two games in 2007. However, a strong spring propelled the 6-foot-3, 287-pound junior ahead of incumbent starter Shawn Byrnes. Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach was already aware of the incident involving Hamby and no changes have been made in Hamby's status with the team.

"His status is we'll see what the facts are and then address it based on the facts,'' Leach said. "We're not going to jump to any conclusions.''

Leach said he "was aware that there was an altercation.''

"But my understanding is that we addressed it, just like we address things internally,'' Leach said. "So if there's more facts that I don't know ... We're going to just wait and see what they are.''

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Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe Pushing for Fifth Year of Eligibility

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-21T11:35:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsThe Big 12's annual meetings are currently taking place in Colorado Springs and league commissioner Dan Beebe has a lot on his plate. But one agenda item that he is pushing strongly is a fifth year of eligibility for football players. He hopes the proposed change will get some attention from the NCAA rules committee.

The proposal for a fifth year of eligibility would eliminate redshirting, instead giving college football players five years to compete on the field. Under current rules, players have a five-year window in which to complete four years of playing time. This isn't the first time this change has come up, but opponents have argued that eligibility rules need to standard across sports. Big 12 commissioner Beebe, disagrees.

Beebe, however, said he thinks football should be seen as unique because it has a high rate of redshirts and injuries.

"Injuries happen and coaches have players who could contribute, but they don't want to play someone on a limited basis and burn a redshirt year," Beebe said. "And you have kids during their redshirt year who are getting the heck beat out of them in practice every day with no hope of playing."

The rule change would certainly eliminate the need for coaches to agonize about redshirting decisions. In addition, it would seemingly end the need for athletes and schools to file medical hardships in the wake of injuries. Lastly, given that the average college football player takes around 4.7 years to graduate, the five-year eligibility window could help improve graduation rates.

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Old School: Highlights From Oklahoma's 1950 National Championship

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-20T15:35:00+00:00

by Jeff Adams"Old School" is the College Football FanHouse's irregular look back at the rich history of college football, usually through the medium of embeddable flash video. Check out the Old School archive for more famous plays and infamous hair.

I have to admit, I'm a sucker for these newsreel type highlights of the best of college football's storied past. This video highlights the best of Oklahoma's 1950 national championship season. The 1950 season began with Notre Dame riding a 38-game unbeaten streak. However, the Irish struggled to beat North Carolina in their opener, and then lost for the first time in five years to visiting Purdue 28-14. Notre Dame would go on to lose three more times before the end of the season, finishing at 4-4-1 and failing to make the final Top 20 for the first time in 10 years.

Oklahoma, on the other hand, swept through the regular season with 10 wins on the way to its own unbeaten string of 31 victories. They were led by Billy Vessels (who would win the Heisman in 1952) and All-Americans Jim Weatherall and Leon Heath. Following their undefeated regular season, Oklahoma met 7th ranked Kentucky (then coached by Bear Bryant) in the Sugar Bowl. The Wildcats took a 13-0 halftime lead and eventually held on for a 13-7 upset. However, because the final polls were released before the bowl games at this point in history, the AP voted Oklahoma as national champions.

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Group of Former Colorado Players Becomes 'Buffs 4 Life'

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-15T12:30:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsA group of former Colorado Buffalo football players have created a network of ex-players designed to forge their allegiance to the school. The Buffs 4 Life Foundation has already reached out to several former players in need.

"Anthony got sick and that moved us forward," [Lance] Carl said. "That was the impetus that really started things rolling."

"Anthony" was former CU running back Anthony Weatherspoon, who was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder in 2004. Weatherspoon died in 2005, and in 2006, Buffs 4 Life held their first charity golf tournament, with proceeds going to Weatherspoon's family.

That got the ball rolling and it hasn't stopped. Last year, tournament proceeds benefitted former Buff quarterback John Hessler.

This sounds like a great organization and one devoted to far more than just reminiscing about the "glory days." The former players have united and found away to give back to the community and the university that oversaw a significant portion of their growth and development. The group posts job listings and resumes of members and is looking to continue its commitment to the university.

"Every guy that ever walked up that hill from the practice field to the locker room has something in common," Embree said. "That's a bond that won't go away. We want that to be a lifetime bond -- and it's important that we continue that bond."

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Iowa State's Athletic Department Remains Committed to Life Skills Position

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-15T12:12:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsLast summer, the Iowa State athletic department approved a life skills assistant position for Baptist pastor Kevin Lykins. While the approval process wasn't always a smooth ride, the relationship recently survived the completion of an end-of-school-year assessment of Lykins' performance.

"We came forward and were forthright about here's what it is and here's what his background is," [athletic director Jamie] Pollard said. "We laid all our cards on the table, and for that, there was a lot of initial criticism.

"But we worked our way through it."

While the initial debate over the addition of Lykins included a faculty petition against the move, as well as criticism from a number of media outlets, we're just now finding out how intense the situation was.

Pollard says his house was vandalized on three occasions during the time in which school officials were considering Lykins' appointment.

He said he decided not to file a police report.

Pollard said someone ripped landscaping apart and tossed the remains into the neighbor's yard. He also said he found garbage dumped in his front yard.

"I'm assuming it was because of this issue," Pollard said. "I can't prove that, but I assume it was."

Pollard remains committed to the idea of a life skills assistant and believes that Lykins' presence has benefited the university. At the end of the day, I suppose that's all that matters.

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Scholarship in Frank Solich's Name to Return to Nebraska Athletic Department

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-15T11:57:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsI earlier discussed Bo Pelini's role in laying the groundwork for Nebraska's reconciliation with Frank Solich. Now word comes that Solich himself, is making moves toward such a resolution. As this article notes, he recently began the process of reinstating a scholarship in his name to the Nebraska athletic department.

"The concept of Solich's $350,000 post-graduate scholarship was the brainchild of three close friends, Bob Sawdon of Austin, Texas; Tom Rodeno of Castle Pines, Colo; and Mick Ziegler of Dallas. The scholarship was established shortly after Solich took over as Nebraska's head coach in 1998. In 2004, in the months after his firing, he moved the scholarship out of the athletic department to the NU College of Law.

Perhaps Solich didn't appreciate that the plaque in South Stadium recognizing his scholarship recipients was taken down."

Perhaps you're right. The scholarship fiasco was another unfortunate by-product of Solich's firing, and the way it was mishandled by former athletic director Steve Pederson. But this seems to be more evidence that we're getting closer to some type of reunion. Fortunately, Steve Sipple agrees that bringing together the old and the new isn't a panacea for what ails Husker Nation.

"As for the old wounds, it's probably shortsighted to think they're going to magically heal, even with Tom Osborne back in the fold. Bottom line is, the program has endured massive tumult - almost unimaginable, if you think about it - and the healing process will require a lot of more time and patience. No need to rush anything."

via The Wiz

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Eight Big 12 Defenders Placed On Nagurski Watch List

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-13T14:43:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsThe Watch List for the 2008 Bronko Nagurski Trophy has been released by the Football Writers Association of America. The Nagurski Trophy is presented annually to the best defensive player in college football and is sponsored by the Charlotte Touchdown Club.

According to the press release:

"The Charlotte Touchdown Club will hold the 2008 banquet on Sunday, Dec. 7, at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte. For the eighth straight season, the FWAA will also pick a Bronko Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week beginning with games on Aug. 30 and running through the middle of November. And a Bronko Nagurski Legends Award winner will also be selected from the FWAA's 1967 All-America team.

The Bronko Nagurski Trophy has been presented since 1993 and is awarded in memory of the legendary Nagurski, a former All-America lineman at Minnesota in 1927-29 and a star for professional football's Chicago Bears in the 1930s."

This year's watch list includes eight players from Big 12 schools, led by Oklahoma, which places three Sooners on the list. The Big 12 players on the Nagurski Watch List are:

George Hypolite, Colorado

Joe Mortensen, Kansas

Ian Campbell, Kansas State (pictured at right)

William Moore, Missouri

Sean Weatherspoon, Missouri

Auston English, Oklahoma

DeMarcus Granger, Oklahoma

Nic Harris, Oklahoma

Since its inception in 1993, three Big 12 players have won the Nagurski Trophy. Oklahoma defensive back Roy Williams took home the award in 2001. The Big 12 then had back-to-back winners in 2003 and 2004 in Oklahoma's Derrick Strait and Derrick Johnson from Texas.

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Old School: Johnny Rodgers' 'One-Man Show' Defeats Notre Dame

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-13T14:25:00+00:00

by Jeff Adams"Old School" is the College Football FanHouse's irregular look back at the rich history of college football, usually through the medium of embeddable flash video. Check out the Old School archive for more famous plays and infamous hair.

Heisman Trophy winners often falter in their team's bowl game appearance following the award ceremony. But when they do play up to their potential, we are occasionally rewarded with an amazing performance like that of Nebraska's Johnny Rodgers in the 1973 Orange Bowl.

Nebraska's head coach Bob Devaney moved Rodgers from wingback to I-back for the Orange Bowl match-up with the Fighting Irish. The move paid off as Rodgers finished his collegiate career by scoring four touchdowns and throwing for another in a 40-6 Nebraska victory.

In what remains one of the greatest bowl performances ever, Rodgers:

· Rushed 15 times for 81 yards or an average of 5.4 yards/carry.

· Scored three touchdowns on runs of eight, four and five yards.

· Caught a screen pass from quarterback Dave Humm and ran 50 yards through the Irish to score a fourth time, establishing a new Orange Bowl record for total points and touchdowns scored.

· Threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Frosty Anderson.

Overall, Rodgers personally accounted for 30 of Nebraska's points and clinched a dramatic and impressive final victory for retiring coach Bob Devaney.

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Bo Pelini Spends Off-Season Moonlighting as Frank Solich's PR Man

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-12T13:14:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsIt was an messy, messy breakup when Nebraska fired Frank Solich in 2003. So messy that it led to the failed Bill Callahan experiment and the darkest days in the history of Husker football. Now Bo Pelini - a member of Solich's final coaching staff in Nebraska in 2003 - is back as the head coach. So too, are the painful memories of the way in which Solich was let go. What is perhaps surprising, however, is that it is Pelini who is banging the drum on Solich's behalf.

Pelini first mentioned the way Solich was treated in a 45-minute speech to a crowd in Columbus, Nebraska. During that night, Pelini responded to a question about not being named head coach in 2003, by stating that Frank Solich should not have been fired in the first place.

More recently Pelini, expressed his views even more clearly.

"He [Frank Solich] played a big part in me being where I am tonight," Pelini said.

"I do know this: The one person I feel sorry for in the whole thing is Coach Solich," Pelini told a crowd of 525 Thursday night. "I wish he could be back here with us. Just through the whole thing, I thought he was the one who got the short end of the stick, and that's too bad."

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Kansas State Linebacker Arrested and Suspended Indefinitely

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-12T12:19:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsDavyon McGhee a sophomore linebacker for Kansas State has been suspended indefinitely following his arrest on Thursday night. McGhee was first identified by a liquor store employee as a suspect in the theft of $300 worth of alcohol. When police stopped his vehicle a short time later, they also found four laptop computers that had been stolen from the university.

That's a rough day, already, but according to the official police report the charges for McGhee weren't over yet:

"McGhee was arrested for theft, possession of stolen property, minor in possession of alcohol and possession of marijuana. He was released on $3,000 bond."

Not bad for one night's work. McGhee appeared in three games and made four tackles as a redshirt freshman, but was expected to contribute more in 2008. The site KstateFootball.com notes that:

"[McGhee] Closed his spring as one of the leaders on the Purple defense in the spring game, i.e., tied for most in solo tackles (4) and total tackles (5)."

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Texas Student Newspaper Battles Athletic Department Over Coverage of Football Team

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-08T17:26:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsA month ago, Texas back-up quarterback John Chiles was a suspect in an "assault-by-conduct" incident in Austin. The Daily Texan, the student newspaper at the University of Texas, reported this information in their blog. According to a recent editorial in The Daily Texan, this set off a firestorm of criticism from at least one official in the UT athletic department.

"Last month, The Daily Texan reported on its blog that the Austin Police Department suspended an assault with injury investigation in which Longhorns backup quarterback John Chiles was a suspect. When the Texan originally reported that APD confirmed Chiles as a suspect, assistant athletics director John Bianco wrote several threatening e-mails to Daily Texan sports editor and journalism senior Ricky Treon, calling him unprofessional and his reporting "untruthful." Bianco warned that other news agencies (and potential employers) "realize how you do business now," which "will hurt you in the long run." He also said that if the Texan's editors didn't pull the post off the blog, "John Chiles would understandably have an issue with the entire paper" which would be "unfortunate for the Texan's long-term working relationship with him."

The editorial goes onto discuss the "rules" of covering big-time college athletics, culminating with the following thoughts:

"The bottom line is that press scrutiny is simply not accepted by sports officials or the public fan base. At UT, reporters are not allowed to call athletes, and both athletes and reporters face being reprimanded for unauthorized interviews, no matter what the story is about. More importantly, university officials are under pressure to protect the image of their sports programs, which are at the forefront of bringing in money, identity and recognition to the school."

Interestingly, this is not the first time this spring that a Big 12 student newspaper has found itself in trouble with an athletic department because of the paper's coverage of the football team. Earlier Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini temporarily banned The Daily Nebraskan for a piece criticizing his handling of an alleged criminal incident. These situations taken together only seem to solidify the point made by the Daily Texan's editorial piece. Ultimately public institutions are accountable to the public, and I'd certainly contend it's the media's job to help ensure this occurs.

via The Wiz

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Mike Leach, Art Aficionado

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-08T16:50:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsMy affinity for Mike Leach is never-ending. He's a blogger's dream come true and a darn fine coach. He's been the subject of at least one lengthy profile already, which is fine by me, given that he's a walking cornucopia of quotes. Most recently ESPN's Mark Schlabach spent some time with Leach in Lubbock and was able to gather even more about college football's most colorful head coach.

First we discover that Leach lives by his own schedule and has no love for naps:

Leach, 47, isn't like most of his colleagues in a profession dominated by millionaires and workaholics. He typically reports to the office around 10 a.m. and leaves before 9 p.m. Once Leach returns home, he often stays up until 2 a.m. or later, watching TV programs few others know exist.

"If you're getting to the office at 6 a.m. and getting home at midnight, well, then you're wasting a lot of time," Leach said. "That's just a failure to manage your time. What are you doing in the middle of the day? Are you having a siesta?"

But the highlight of the piece has to be the bizarre nature of Leach's fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants adventure to commission a one-of-a-kind piece of art.

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Kansas State Continues to Dominate Internet Music Videos

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-05T14:55:00+00:00

by Jeff Adams

It started with the Power Towel Anthem. And now, Kansas State fans have added another YouTube beauty to the school's video anthology. This one is ripe with the freshest synthesizer sounds and the latest in computer graphics. But the highlight has to be the robotic Josh Freeman, complete with an ice cream cone(?)

I really hope this is just the beginning. I demand more!

Update: Upon further review, that looks to just be Josh Freeman's robotic hand. I have no idea where I would have gotten the ice cream cone visual.

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Nebraska Fans and Their Tinfoil Hats Claim Media Bias

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-05T13:54:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsFans for every school occasionally claim that their team is being slighted by a particular announcing team or media talking head. At Nebraska, however, the suspicion runs much deeper. So deep, in fact, that it's become an obsession.

"On occasion, they are critiqued almost as much as the game itself. Once in a rare while, you will hear a sports announcer/analyst receive praise from a fan. But more often they are called terrible or - worse than that - biased: Announcer X hates Nebraska.

Some might call it paranoia. Some are sure of its truth. There are those out there who are quite certain Brent Musburger has it in for Nebraska. Or that Mark May plots out his lines with the intention of making some guy in Omaha shout foul words at his television."

This type of thinking has gone on for as long as I've been a Husker fan, although I've rarely understood it. The claims of bias range from seemingly innocent comments from announcers to the number of College Gameday visits or even the length or number of highlights shown on national media outlets.

For instance:

"Announcers are always against Nebraska," one Big Red fan from Colorado recently opined on the Journal Star blog. "I think it started out as an East Coast bias and blossomed when we kept beating the (tar) out of all their precious East Coast schools."

Quite frankly, Nebraska hasn't been beating the tar out of anybody lately, but that certainly hasn't diminished the banging of the conspiracy drum. Fortunately, not every Husker fan is buying into the sensationalism.

"Parsing each and every word the announcers utter for any hint of bias against Nebraska is an absolute waste of energy," wrote another fan. "Nothing takes the fun out of watching a game like listening to your companions whine incessantly about something that has no bearing whatsoever on the game's outcome."

Ah, common sense, a breath of fresh air.

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Iowa State Assistant Coach Arrested

Jeff Adams — 2008-05-04T22:44:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsYou know it's a long off-season in college football, when even the coaches get involved in the tomfoolery and shenanigans. But then again, why should the players have all the fun? At Iowa State, defensive graduate assistant Floyd Howard White was arrested and charged with drunken driving and criminal trespassing causing damage of over $200.

The story seems a bit confusing as White was apparently attempting to bust his car out of an impound lot.

"Court documents say White was arrested after an officer stopped to talk with him as he was walking along a gravel road near Butch's Towing impound lot. The officer noticed the steel gate blocking the entrance was lying on the ground. The documents say the officer located White's car and noticed damage to the front end. White was released without posting bond and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for May 19."

Unfortunately, the article doesn't bother to explain how White's car wound up impounded in the first place. It's also not clear why White didn't actually complete the heist by driving out of the impound lot given that he'd already driven into and through the gated entrance.

On the bright side, pictures of the incident have yet to appear on the web, and somewhere Larry Eustachy grumbles.

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Missouri Offensive Lineman Arrested After Traffic Stop

Jeff Adams — 2008-04-15T22:33:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsAustin Wuebbels a redshirt freshman offensive lineman for Missouri was arrested on suspicion of possession of less than 35 grams of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of alcohol by a minor and false identification. The arrest occurred early Sunday morning after Wuebbels was pulled over by Columbia police.

"At 2:56 a.m., Wuebbels was pulled over for speeding in South Columbia at the corner of Southampton Drive and Executive Drive. While an officer prepared to issue a warning, a second officer noticed Wuebbels grabbing for something underneath the dash, Lt. Dianne Bernhard said.

That's when the officers found marijuana and a pipe. They also determined Wuebbels smelled of alcohol and discovered he was carrying a false ID and had beer in the car. After he was taken to the police station, Wuebbels successfully passed a sobriety test."

Passing the sobriety test ought to count for something, but it certainly won't eliminate the four misdemeanors Wuebbels accumulated before the night was over. At last check, Gary Pinkel and the he university had yet to issue a statement concerning the situation. Wuebbels had been practicing at the No. 2 right guard spot during spring practices.

Wuebbels' troubles only add to what has been a miserable off-season in terms of injuries and arrests. Two other players have also been arrested since the end of last season, and both were dismissed from the team. John Stull was arrested in January for felony possession of drugs, while Marquis Booker was arrested last month on suspicion of the unlawful use of a firearm. These incidents have allowed the Tigers to jump to an early lead on the off-season's ~~most~~ least coveted prize, the Fulmer Cup.

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Student Newspaper Attacks Bo Pelini, Bo Pelini Bites Back

Jeff Adams — 2008-04-15T21:49:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsA recent editorial in The Daily Nebraska, the University's student newspaper rised the ire of first year Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini. So much so, that Pelini banned the newspaper from attending practice for a few hours on Monday. The op-ed, which ran in Monday's paper, centered on Pelini's handling of disciplinary problems amongst team members. More specifically, it criticized Pelini for downplaying incidents involving current players and refusing to comment about the recent arrest of an incoming recruit.

"Josh Williams, a highly-ranked defensive end recruit out of Denton, Texas, was arrested last week for assault and robbery. He stands accused of approaching a Denton man as he sat in his pickup, punching him in the face and then robbing him of $900.

Despite Williams being released from jail Thursday, Pelini has had no comment on the situation."

The piece continues by noting:

Pelini began his trend of downplaying altercations involving football players early on in his tenure when quarterback Patrick Witt was arrested after showing up in a dormitory intoxicated and belligerent, shoving an RA and then fleeing from police.

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Big 12 Coaches Stressing Importance of the Classroom This Spring

Jeff Adams — 2008-04-14T21:20:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsAfter years of pressure from academics and university presidents, the NCAA began to increase penalties for failing to meet academic standards with the Academic Progress Rate (APR). The fallout from such standards, just might be trickling down to coaches, especially in the Big 12.

At Nebraska, first year head coach Bo Pelini is stressing the importance of class attendance.

"It's a big deal now," said Nebraska senior linebacker Tyler Wortman. "We have people checking on everybody, making sure you're in class."

It's common to see members of Nebraska's academic support staff -- and sometimes even Pelini himself -- making the rounds on campus to make sure players are in class.

Academics have always been important at Nebraska, which boasts a nation-leading total of 255 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans. Pelini, however, appears to be ramping up the accountability for student-athletes. And it's hard to argue with Pelini's bottom-line:

"It's not up for debate," Pelini said. "If you don't want to go to class, turn pro."

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$100 Spring Game Tickets? Thomas Tusser Must Have Spent Some Time in Nebraska

Jeff Adams — 2008-04-14T20:43:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsIt was Thomas Tusser, of course, who once said, "A fool and his money are soon parted." Perhaps never has this been more true the case of Nebraska fans and the upcoming spring game. The glorified practice recently sold out, which has produced an outrageous market for the now hard-come-by tickets. An AP wire story opens with the following anecdote:

The week of the sold-out Bruce Springsteen concert in Omaha last month, you could call a local ticket broker and pay $39 for a seat.

For Saturday's sold-out Nebraska spring football game, that broker is getting $95 a ticket.

"I'm not going to be one to judge the craziness of Nebraska football fans," Ticket Express owner Chad Carr said. "The weird thing about this game, I can't keep tickets in stock."

When I last checked on the national ticket site StubHub, prices for Nebraska's spring game were ranging from $44-$148. Face value for the tickets was $10 for reserved seating and $8 for general admission. That's quite the markup. And let's keep in mind this is for a practice game, and one that won't even feature a match-up between the top offensive and defensive units.

It was under Bill Callahan's regime that spring game attendance at Nebraska first took off. The previous attendance record occurred in 2005 when 63,416 fans showed up. Given the disastrous season a year ago, fans are apparently anxious to see what the Bo Pelini era will bring.

We didn't have to do a whole lot of marketing or advertising. It pretty much sold itself," said Nebraska athletic marketing director Corrie Sears. "It's our fans being excited about the new era with Tom Osborne back (as athletic director) and Bo Pelini."

"What we have here is very special," Sears said, "and what we have are very passionate fans. The spring game is becoming more of an event, and we're treating it more like a real game for our fans."

Well, given that it's already surpassed a concert by "The Boss," the spring game has definitely become an event in Nebraska.

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Et Tu, Kansas State?

Jeff Adams — 2008-04-13T15:24:00+00:00

by Jeff AdamsNot the no-huddle in Manhattan as well? It appears so, as the Wildcats recently announced their own intentions to utilize a hurry-up attack in 2008.

"We're practicing no-huddle," wide receiver Ernie Pierce said. "As far as the offense, it's the same. We just gave it a new name and a different type of feel to it. I would say either 100 or 95 percent, we'll be no-huddle."

"We want to play fast," Pierce said. "We want to put teams in a panic."

I guess I underestimated the speed with which this type of offensive system would spread. As it stands right now, six teams in the Big 12 - Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Texas Tech and Oklahoma - will be using some type of no-huddle system this season. Given that, one has to begin to wonder about the law of diminishing returns. Especially when Big 12 defensive coordinators will essentially be preparing for the speedier offensive approaches on a weekly basis. At some point, it would seem, that advantage would be lost.

You can't mention Kansas State move to the no-huddle without mentioning the success their rival Kansas had a year ago. Head coach Ron Prince thinks he has players with similar abilities, especially at the quarterback position.

"I think Josh [Freeman] is capable of expanding his package once again," Prince said. "The scheme is largely quarterback-driven. The kid over at KU, Todd Reesing, it's the same way - it's quarterback driven.

Right, because the only differences between Josh Freeman (pictured at right) and Reesing are about eight inches of height and a good 50 pounds. And speaking of which, if the Wildcats no-huddle attack is going to flourish fans better hope Freeman's off-season conditioning habits have improved.

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