Urban Meyer upset some Big Ten coaches by flipping some recruits to Ohio State on National Signing Day. A few notable Big Ten coaches felt Meyer had broken an unspoken agreement within the conference that coaches would not talk to recruits who had made verbal commitments. Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said what Meyer did was illegal. Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez found no fault in Meyer’s actions.

Meyer addressed the accusations Thursday and said they upset him.

“I was very angry,” Meyer said during an appearance on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland. “Whenever you use those terms, something like ‘illegal,’ that couldn’t be further from the truth. That doesn’t happen here, and if it did, we would make a change with whoever did it.

“I was very angry that would even be brought up, and there were fellow Big Ten coaches who were angry as well. And the commissioner was very angry, so there was a lot of…to have that make the presses, especially when it’s inaccurate, legally you’re not allowed to do that. That’s slander. To use someone’s name in terms like that is very wrong, but we moved on.”

Urb also said once the program brings in a number of top-flight players, we’ll start seeing their offense produce “ridiculous numbers.”

As far as recruiting players who have committed goes, I see both sides. These coaches already work themselves to death, so once they get a commitment from a player, maybe they feel it’s time to relax. But like Urban believes, shouldn’t players be fair game until they’ve actually signed with a school?

Recruiting may be open season, but Meyer and his staff is going to work itself to death if they keep pushing to flip players. I wish they would put more of a stop to this stuff to keep an already hideous business from getting even more ugly.

Mustain had a disappointing college football career that included one season at Arkansas and three at USC. He played baseball in high school but stopped after breaking his arm his junior season. He says he threw 90 mph during a tryout for a White Sox scout last month, leading to the signing.

Mustain entered Arkansas in 2006 as one of the most decorated college football prospects in recent memory. He compiled a 44-1 record during his career at Springdale High School (Ark.) and set several state records. He played as a true freshman on the 2006 Arkansas team leading an offense that featured Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in the backfield. Though Mustain went 8-0 as the starter, he was replaced by Casey Dick and transferred to USC after the season.

The move proved to be a poor decision for Mustain who became buried on the Trojans’ depth chart. He hardly saw any action at USC, went undrafted, and ended up being cut by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL. Though he signed to play in the Arena Football League last September, he’s decided to give baseball a try.

“I don’t want to work a 9 to 5 job, I don’t want to get into that, I wanna play ball,” Mustain said in an interview with KNWA.

Mustain is scheduled to report to spring training in Glendale (Ariz.) on March 8th.

So what does Jefferson think went wrong? He shared his opinion during an interview on WCNN in Atlanta.

“I think we should’ve spread them out a little bit more, put the ball in different passing areas, use our talent on the receiving side,” Jefferson said. “We had that in as far as play-calling, we just didn’t get to it. It’s a learning situation for us, a learning situation for the LSU football team and I definitely expect to see us back in the championship next year.

“We have great guys in those areas and sometimes we just wonder why we don’t use those guys. But we’re not the one calling the plays. We still have to go out and execute what the coaches and coordinators are calling. We can’t complain as players, but sometimes we do question that.”

Jefferson also says the team failed to make any halftime adjustments.

“Yeah, when we came in at halftime we discussed what we needed to do different as far as moving the ball and getting in a rhythm. … You have to have certain plays for these certain types of defenses they were running. We talked about making the adjustment and the adjustment that we made wasn’t the adjustment that we needed to make to get the momentum and the rhythm going.”

Jefferson did say he had the ability to change the plays in situations. If that’s the case, why didn’t he step up and voice his opinion more? Isn’t that what a smart player and a good leader does? I think it’s weak to blame the playcalling for such a poor showing by the team. LSU was completely outcoached by Alabama, but it’s pretty obvious their offense was also overmatched. Jefferson played poorly and that’s on him.

I guess this makes two LSU quarterbacks who were frustrated by the way the game went.

Thanks to Sports Radio Interviews for the transcription, H/T Evan Silva

That is, unless, Republican state representative Nathan Ballentine has something to say about it. According to The State, Ballentine has put forth a proposal that would essentially force Clemson and South Carolina to continue their 103-year rivalry after realignment.

“I had a constituent bring it up to me, asking whether it was state law that these two teams play. It’s not,” Ballentine said. “With all the conference realignment, we just wanted to make sure this annual game continues. You saw Texas and Texas A&M. That rivalry went by the wayside. … No one wants to see that happen here to our two universities where families enjoy the annual game, and it’s great for our economy.”

He may be right about everyone wanting the tradition to continue, but does legislation have any place in the scheduling of college football games? If both schools want to play each other badly enough, the game will continue. Ultimately, it is up to the universities to determine their non-conference schedules.

“Clemson would prefer to not have to legislate this issue as I cannot conceive of a realistic scenario that would prohibit Clemson and South Carolina from continuing our football series,” Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips said.

A USC spokesman echoed those thoughts: “Athletic schedules need to be decided by athletic directors and coaches.”

In other words, Ballentine needs to find a more useful way to spend his time.

H/T College Football Talk

It looks like new Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer is not wasting any time bringing back some old traditions to the Buckeyes football program. The football schedule posted in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on campus says the Buckeyes are playing “that team up north” on November 24th instead of Michigan. The tradition of referring to Michigan in this manner supposedly began with legendary Buckeyes coach Woody Hayes who hated his rival so much he refused to call them by their name.

Helmet knock to Dr. Saturday, Detroit News
Picture Credit: Kyle Rowland

Cassanova McKinzy is a 6’2″ linebacker from Birmingham (Ala.). The four-star recruit was deciding between Clemson and Auburn but chose to sign with the Tigers Auburn on Wednesday. With a straight face, he said one of the reasons why he signed with Auburn is because it has a Chick-Fil-A restaurant on campus.

“Kinda the environment,” he explained as the reason why he chose Auburn. “Plus they had no Chick-Fil-A on campus. You had to go like 15 minutes off campus to go to like a real restaurant. Their cafe was kinda small, and the facilities are far away from the dorms and classes. That’s a big reason why I chose Auburn.

“You gotta go far to go out and to go out to eat and stuff,” he said.

Laugh all you want, but if you’ve ever had one of their chicken sandwiches and an order of waffle fries, you’d understand why this wasn’t even a decision.

Helmet knock to Kegs ‘N Eggs

Dorial Green-Beckham is a 6’6″ receiver from Springfield (Mo.) and he was considered to be the top recruit in the country. He announced his commitment to Missouri on National Signing Day Wednesday and it didn’t take long before his decision was celebrated in his hometown. Check out the billboard that was up in Springfield the same day. It sure seems like somebody knew about the decision, or at least had it prepared in case the commitment went the Tigers’ way.

Helmet knock Eye on College Football
Photo Credit: Gabe DeArmond

“Some of the players don’t seem that happy down there,” he told Tim Fletcher of KTBS.

I guess that’s what happens when you get shutout in the National Championship Game and a quarterback controversy ensues.

LSU will probably be fine without Davis, but this just goes to show you how quickly things can change in the recruiting world. As for Texas, Davis says he felt at home when he visited Austin.

Helmet knock to SB Nation, H/T Ed Kenneweg
Picture Credit: Tim Fletcher

The helmets above are currently on display at the Illinois campus for football recruits to see when they visit.  According to the Big Ten Network’s Brent Yarina, the school is considering going with one of the new designs for 2012, but they could ultimately decide to stick with what they have.

“While our coaches have been displaying those for recruits, those are just options we’ve been exploring for new helmets,” Sports Information Director Derek Neal said. “No decisions have been made yet on helmet, uniform changes, or if there will even be a change.”

Seems like a waste of time to me if they don’t incorporate one of the new uniforms, but what do I know?  Which one do you think looks the best?  Personally I’m a fan of the middle one.  The two on the outside look similar to the old helmets, only with uglier writing.

H/T to Eye on College Football
Photo via IllinoisLoyalty.com

Alabama fans can be shameless, and wearing and making this t-shirt is the latest example. A tipster sent Deadspin a photo of that shirt and said folks in the parking lot at the Senior Bowl in Mobile (Ala.) were selling them for $5 apiece. The shirts are a reference to the incident at a Krystal restaurant in New Orleans after the National Championship Game where a passed out LSU fan was teabagged/sexually assaulted by an Alabama fan. I guess the only positive takeaway is that Bama fans aren’t poisoning trees.