Canes getting back to recruiting roots

This is a smart move by Coach Randy Shannon.

On a South Florida Sun-Sentinel blog recently, Shannon has said he wants his coaches recruiting the best football players available ... not based on what a recruiting website says about players or how many stars associated with their name.

Instead Shannon wants his coaches evaluating the talent and getting those who perform best on the field and produce results. What he's saying is he wants athletes who know how to play football. That's getting back to Miami's roots.

If Miami officials are willing to stick with Shannon despite what should be another struggle this season, the former defensive coordinator may be close to getting the Hurricanes back on top of the ACC and in the nation.

$5 tickets a winner for me

Here are my Sept. 5 college football options: Liberty at West Virginia, Navy at Ohio State and UConn at Ohio U.

Going to see the Mountaineers is always a good option, but I'm passing on this one. I'd actually like to see the Buckeyes' defense get challenged by the Midshipmen offense (who scheduled this game with USC coming to Columbus the following week?). However, I'm not forking over the $85 for a ticket.

So I'm going to Athens, Ohio, to watch the Huskies face the Bobcats in a rare BCS conference school traveling to a Mid-American Conference campus. This game appealed to me well before I found out Ohio was selling $5 tickets for the game. So my wife, who is an Ohio University alum, and I will be on hand for the 7 p.m. kickoff.

Should be interesting to see Frank Solich in action as the OU coach, and the Bobcats should be much better after a disappointing 4-8 last season. The Huskies could have their hands full, and at $5 a ticket it should be a pretty nice crowd.

I guess I only have 82 more days until kickoff.

ESPN buys Rose Bowl

If it didn't already, ESPN officially owns the sporting world now. The Worldwide Leader added the Rose Bowl to its stable of bowl games starting in 2011. Remember ESPN had already pried away the other BCS games by outbidding FOX.

Look, I won't miss the horrible announcing on FOX. But this means there are almost no bowl games remaining on network TV. This isn't a positive. I get ESPN and so do most of my friends. But not all of the approximately 300 million people in the U.S. have cable or satellite TV.

Personally, this doesn't impact me much at all. I enjoy watching college football on ESPN. It will also mean better announcers and better coverage, since these guys and gals actually do games during the season (unlike FOX).

However, this will probably mean lower ratings for all of the big bowl games in 2011, but the BCS doesn't care as long ESPN is willing to dish over hundreds of millions of dollars. Audience be damned.

Rick Neuheisel likes to poke bears with sticks

Why do college football coaches talk to booster groups?
So, PAC-10 coaches decide to vote to let family members under the age of 18 on the sideline. Only one coach votes no and that ticks Neuheisel off enough to yap to his boosters about it and take some shots at Petey Carroll.

yes, Rickster, this is certainly the issue that should put you over the top in your pursuit of USC. Let's worry about putting together an offense capable of getting a couple of first downs this year.

Besides, can you blame Carroll for voting against this? Would you want your kids hanging out with Snoop? Nobody can get on the 'SC sidelines without a SAG card anyway.

An SEC school on probation? The horror...

Taking away wins seems to be the NCAA's new hammer. Of course, taking away wins from games nobody much remembers is more like a Nerf hammer. 'Bama is the latest victim, losing 21 wins over a three-year period divided between the glorious reign of Mike Shula (or was it David?) and the Dark Lord, Nick Saban. Eight of the wins came in 2005, Shula's best season. The crime? Players getting free textbooks and giving/selling them to fellow students. C'mon, has the NCAA seen what these freaking textbooks cost?

But the true victim here is Shula. Now it will take him one season longer to catch Joe Paterno's all-time victory mark.

Time to read

I picked up my copies of Phil Steele's College Football 2009 and the Sporting News College Football magazines today. If you haven't purchased a copy yet get out and do it. They are both great reads.

I'll be back tomorrow with something new.

Switzer teams with Dunkin Donuts

Barry Switzer is a college football coaching legend. He may be better known for living in the gray area of what was and wasn't legal during his 16 seasons at the University of Oklahoma. He resigned in 1989 after the NCAA put the Sooners on probation. But the fans in Norman love him, especially because he went 157-29-4, which gives him the fourth-best all-time winning percentage (.837).

But is he really a household name in 2009?

Seems Dunkin Donuts is counting on it with a new four-commercial spoof of Switzer coaching women's lacrosse, swimming, yoga and chess. The spots aren't even that funny.

What do you think?