football

Some sad news out of Schembechler Hall: Mark Moundros (FB/LB) and Jon Bills (TE) were in a bad car accident. I am not aware of where the accident happened, how it happened or who was at fault. I do know that Mark was a little dinged up but will be fine other than short term whip lash-type effects and bruising that are typical of a car accident. However, Jon was not as fortunate and is in the hospital with serious spine-related issues. I apologize for posting without more details. A friend of mine on the women's golf team is dating a football player and she told me what happened and after I spoke to another friend on the women's tennis team who also dating a football player, who confirmed. I hesitated posting something so personal, but I thought that the more Wolverines that had Jon & his family in their thoughts and prayers the better.

Take Marylan defensive tackle Vincent Croce off the board. He committed to Virginia today.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-bigten-expansion

I'm sure Jack Swarbrick wasn't just there from the free food.  4 1/2 hours seems like  a long time for a meet and greet. 

Added to that Orangebloods.com is reporting that the Irish board of directors is split 50/50 on whether or not to join the Big Ten FWIW. 

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1091537

It is getting very interesting out there. 

This may or many not affect the Demar Dorsey drama, but results for the test that FL HS students must pass to graduate is being delayed, in some cases, up to six weeks, due to an apparent lack of competence on the part of the testing agency.  Here's the link:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jun/06/testing-companys-problems-delay-fcat-scores/

I'm just going by the latest rumors, but when you consider who the top 7 winningest college football programs are....

1. Michigan: 877-304-38
2. Texas: 845-321-34
3. Notre Dame: 837-291-42
4. Nebraska: 837-341-41
5. Ohio State: 819-308-53
6. Alabama: 813-316-43
7. Penn State 812-351-43
8. Oklahoma: 796-305-53
9. Tennessee: 783-333-55
10. USC: 774-307-54

If the Big 10 somehow gets Nebraska, Texas and Notre Dame to join us, the Big 10 would have 6 of the 7 winningest programs in 1 conference. If Penn st can get 1 more win over Alabama, we have the top 6.  I doubt this will happen, but suppose Oklahoma is asked to join us then that is 7 of top 8 in a single conference. It would be very hard for the SEC to top that, even if they marged the best teams from ACC, PAC 10 or Big East.

If the Big 10 focused on the top "football" teams, instead of worrying about getting any New York team, I think the conference would have a lot more prestige that every state in the nation would want the Big 10 channel as a basic sports(football) channel. If Notre Dame wants to remain an independent, then we can counter by adding a New York team for the money and break up the Big East. Texas folks may want to see Texas Tech and Baylor join the Pac 10, and see Texas A&M join the SEC, because it would mean that the 3 power conferences (Pac 16, Big 10/16, SEC) would all be located in a single state, thus can see each team visit in state. Dallas could probably host a championship game each year, rotating with the Big 3 conferences.

Texas politicians would be smart to try to split up the Texas schools and spread out to as many different conferences as possible with a realistic shot of a conference championship game being held in state. One argument is that both the Fiesta and Rose bowl is in original Pac 10 country, while Sugar and Orange is in original SEC country, so Texas should host a conference title game more often.

Exciting times are coming, that's for sure.

Action since last rankings:

6-1-10 Purdue gains commitment from Russell Bellomy.
6-3-10 Ohio State gains commitment from Braxton Miller.
6-4-10 Minnesota gains commitment from Jephete Matilus.
6-5-10 Ohio State gains commitment from Evan Spencer. Illinois gains commitment from Marquise Mosley.

Rivals, Scout, and ESPN all have their Top-X (X is 250, 300, and 150, respectively) lists released now. In the tables, Rivals' and Scout's rankings are on the 5-star scale (unranked = 1-star), and ESPN's will now be shown as their numerical rating (unranked = 45).

Buckeyes pick up a huge (though expected) commitment in QB Braxton Miller, and also add legacy WR Evan Spencer.

No change for ND. The Rivals250 was not nearly as kind to them as was the Watchlist.

Nothing new for Michigan. Will their Elite camp net them a commit?

The Spartans could move up once ESPN ranks Jones and Miller.

The Hoosiers already have a 4-star Rivals prospect in Zack Shaw.

Wisconsin can look for a big move up once more complete rankings come out.

The Hawkeyes are right on Wisconsin's heels.

Signal-caller Russell Bellomy pledges to Purdue, bolting them up the rankings.

No change, though ESPN's rankings helped them pass Minnesota.

Gophers pick up improbably-named Jephete Matilus.

Marquise Mosley picks the Illini.

Still ho-hum for PSU.