College Football | Larry Brown Sports

Cam Newton Being Investigated by NCAA for Auburn Recruiting Violations

November 4, 2010 By Larry Brown 3 Comments

So much for the Cam Newton Auburn love fest. The Heisman Trophy favorite is being investigated by the NCAA for possibly accepting illegal benefits during his recruitment. Word of the report was first passed along by Bryan Fischer on twitter, and then it was confirmed by Pete Thamel of the New York Times.

Newton, currently the star quarterback at Auburn, left Florida after getting into trouble for stealing a laptop and went to Blinn College. After having success at Blinn and winning a national championship, Newton was heavily recruited by SEC teams once again. He wound up going to Auburn over Mississippi State and has led them to a 9-0 season and number two ranking in the BCS Standings. A report from ESPN says Mississippi State told the SEC that a man who claimed to represent Newton said MSU could have him for $180,000. The implication is that Auburn at least matched the price tag during their recruitment of the QB.

Auburn is home against Chatanooga this weekend and Newton is currently eligible but there’s no word on his status for the game. With his situation under investigation, Auburn might not want to have Newton play until he is officially cleared from wrongdoing. Any wins they achieve while he was deemed ineligible can be forfeited retroactively. You can bet Bama fans are having a ball over this news.

Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: Cam Newton

Georgia Coordinator Todd Grantham Gives Florida Kicker the ‘Choke’ Signal (Video)

November 2, 2010 By Steve DelVecchio Leave a Comment

There’s nothing quite like a coach acting like a child and getting bagged on camera. My guess is Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham won’t be giving the choke signal to an opponent anymore after Saturday’s overtime loss to Florida for two reasons: he now looks like a complete clown, and he was trying to intimidate a 21-year-old college kid who showed how he cared by banging home the game-winning field goal. Check out the video of Todd Grantham giving Chas Henry the choke gesture, courtesy of Deadspin:

There has been quite a bit of backlash over this already, and I think rightfully so. Don’t get me wrong — it’s not the end of the world and Grantham doesn’t deserve to be fired. It’s just one of those things that’s just plain stupid. Players do stuff like this all the time. It’s part of the game and you certainly wouldn’t want your child hearing and seeing everything that goes on down in the trenches during a game. However, doing something like that just makes a coach look idiotic and immature. Not to mention, Grantham set himself up for a college kid to publicly embarrass him , and that’s just what Henry did.

Video Credit: YouTube user O7shanksta13

New Mexico Quarterback Brad Gruner Knocked Out Carving a Pumpkin

November 2, 2010 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

New Mexico is 0-8 this season and unfortunately for the Lobos things aren’t getting any better. They’ve played four different quarterbacks this year but will be one shorter on their roster now. SI Hot Clicks shared the story with us about quarterback Brad Gruner who is done for the season after requiring season-ending surgery on his throwing hand. How did the injury occur you ask? He sliced his pinkie carving a pumpkin. Gotta love Halloween.

New Mexico not only has Gruner out for the year, but true freshman Tarean Austin has a bad ankle and B.R. Holbrook hurt his shoulder against Colorado State. The Lobos will likely be in position to start true freshman Stump Godfrey (great name) against Wyoming. They’ll need a big game out of Stump because this could be their last chance for a win. After the home game against Wyoming, they’re at Air Force, at BYU, and home against TCU to finish out the season. If they don’t win this weekend, they could be in worse shape than New Mexico State.

Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: Weird Injuries

Andrew Luck Outshined Jake Locker

November 1, 2010 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

There was a time not long ago when a game between Stanford and Washington would have made Mel Kiper cream his pants. Months later, we’re finding out that the matchup is not as exciting as it initially was believed to be, and that there’s a new headliner. Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck has taken over the title of best quarterback in the Pac-10 while Jake Locker has fallen off in most people’s minds. Actually, one could easily make the argument that Matt Barkley and Darron Thomas have moved ahead of Locker in the conference’s hierarchy.

Stanford routed Washington 41-0 on Saturday in Seattle to improve to 7-1. It was Stanford’s second shutout of the year and Washington’s worst offensive output of the season (though they’ve scored fewer than 20 points three other times in the season). Sophomore quarterback Andrew Luck ran for a 51-yard score and threw for another, going 19-26 for 192 yards a touchdown, and an interception. He also had 92 yards on the ground, proving he’s an extremely capable running quarterback.

Washington on the other hand managed just 107 yards and seven first downs the entire game. They only had 54 yards through the first three quarters and they pulled Locker late in the game for backup Keith Price. Locker was pressured the entire game and went just 7-14 for 64 yards and two interceptions. He also amassed just one rushing yard on eight carries, getting sacked three times. Though Locker has put up some really nice games (see his four touchdown performance against Syracuse and his five TD performance against Oregon State), the loss was reminiscent of Jake’s stinker against Nebraska. Locker was just 4-20 for a touchdown and two interceptions against the Huskers in a September loss.

Locker’s a talented player and the quality of his teammates and coaching staff is not as good as Stanford’s (or many other teams in the conference). Still, Locker has been inconsistent and looked extremely ordinary in many games this year, especially for a player thought to be a potential number one pick.

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: Andrew Luck, Jake Locker

Current BCS Bowl Game Projections

October 31, 2010 By Larry Brown 1 Comment

Towards the end of the USC-Oregon game on ABC Saturday night, Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit were breaking down a graphic that projected the BCS bowl games. With the way they looked against USC, Oregon would be in the title game against Auburn who beat Ole Miss 51-31. The national championship game will be played in Glendale, Arizona, nearby the Fiesta Bowl.

Here are the rest of the BCS bowl game projections:

Rose Bowl: Ohio State against Boise State
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma against Pitt
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech against Nebraska
Sugar Bowl: Alabama against Wisconsin

The two teams noticeably missing from the list are TCU and Utah. Those teams meet next weekend at Utah, and the winner has a good chance of going undefeated. Both teams have San Diego State left on its schedule which will be a challenge, but if either team wins out, they have to make it into a BCS bowl game over one of the teams listed above. The winner of that game can easily compete with and beat Pitt and Virginia Tech and it wouldn’t be right if that team were left out.

Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: BCS Bowl Games 2010

Urban Meyer Says Florida Win Over Georgia Was Biggest They Have Had

October 30, 2010 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

For the first time since Urban Meyer took over the Florida Gators football program, they lost more than consecutive games in a season. The Gators got stomped by Alabama 31-6, and then lost tight games to LSU 33-29 and Mississippi State 10-7. The team had a week off to prepare for The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party against Georgia in Jacksonville and pulled off the win 34-31 in overtime to end their 3-game losing streak.

Florida went up 21-7 over Georgia going into halftime thanks to three second quarter touchdowns. Trey Burton gave the Gators a 31-24 lead with a 51-yard touchdown run, his second TD of the game. Georgia scored to tie the game at 31 and they headed to overtime. Florida got an interception on Georgia’s first possession of OT and then Chas Henry kicked the game-winning field goal to give Florida the big victory.

The Gators were emotional after the win, but nobody could have predicted the hyperbole coming out of their coach’s mouth. “This is the biggest win we’ve had, and we’ve had some big ones around here,” Meyer said. “People might say we’ve had some bigger ones, but I’d argue with that. This was the biggest win we’ve coached in a long time.”

Alright, I give it to Urban that that was an emotional victory and one of the biggest wins they’ve had in a while, but Urb’s coached in (and won) two national title games. There’s no way this game against Georgia was bigger than either of those. Yes, it would have been a disaster in Gainesville had they lost this game, but Meyer became a legend by winning those national titles. We all get caught up in the moments, but his remarks were incorrect.

Oh, and if you didn’t already know how awesome Urb is as a coach, he’s now 14-1 following a bye week. He’s also undefeated when it comes to making hyperbolic statements.

Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: Florida Gators Football, Urban Meyer

Jacory Harris Jacked Up By Virginia’s John-Kevin Dolce (Video)

October 30, 2010 By Steve DelVecchio 2 Comments

A few weeks ago, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck enlightened us by demonstrating how a quarterback delivers a thunderous hit after a turnover. On Saturday, Miami quarterback Jacory Harris reminded us that that’s usually not the way it goes. The guy throwing the ball is usually taking the beating, not dishing it out. Harris left Miami’s game against Virginia on Saturday and didn’t return after being lit up by Virginia defensive tackle John-Kevin Dolce. The best part about the hit is that it was hard, but clean. That’s almost impossible to pull off with all the rules that protect quarterbacks these days, so defensive players should take some notes from Dolce on how to throw a big hit on the quarterback and not draw a flag. Check out the video of Jacory Harris getting jacked up by John-Kevin Dolce: