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Heisman Finalists Announced

The Heisman committee has selected the 3 finalists for the most prestigious award in all of college football on Monday.

The 3 finalists selected are Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper, and Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon.

This particular field for the Heisman award is a really strong showing, with 2 of the players on teams that, on Sunday, were selected to be a part of the 1st ever College Football Playoffs.

Quarterback Marcus Mariota has had a stand out season leading the Oregon Ducks to the number 2 overall seed for the inaugural College Football Playoffs. Mariota has thrown for 3,783 yards, 38 touchdowns, and just 2 interceptions on the season. Mariota will need to remain at the top of his game, as the Ducks are scheduled to run up against the Florida State Seminoles and last year’s Heisman winner Jameis Winston in one of the semi-final games for this seasons championship.

Amari Cooper has been, far and away, the top wide receiver in the country, and has helped Alabama earn the top overall seed going into this years playoffs. Cooper has hauled in 115 passes for 1,656 yards and 14 touchdowns on the year, with his receptions setting an SEC record. Cooper will need to continue to be a major contributor as Alabama faces off against the Ohio State Buckeyes in their semi final game.

The last, and not to be counted out finalist, is Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon, who has been a massive force on the ground, and been the biggest contributor for Wisconsin’s offense. Gordon leads the country having accumulated 2,336 yards on the ground this year, along with 26 touchdowns. Gordon even held the record for most rushing yards in a single game with 408 yards, though it held for only a week. If Gordon rushes for around 300 yards in Wisconsin’s bowl game vs Auburn, he could break Barry Sanders’ single-season record of 2,628 yards.

The field of finalists is very stacked this year, and there are legitimate cases to make for each of the finalists for this year’s award. Only time will tell, but this has the potential to be one of the tightest Heisman votes in recent memory.

First College Football Playoff Matches Set

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It finally happened, after years of tolerating a sub-par BCS bowl selection system, the first ever College Football Playoffs’ matchups have been set.

The University of Alabama Crimson Tide were selected as the top seeded team to enter the inaugural College Football Playoffs. The University of Oregon Ducks were selected to be the 2nd overall seed. The reigning champion Florida State University Seminoles earned the 3rd seed after a narrow victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the ACC championship game. Finally, earning the 4th and final seed, are the Ohio State University Buckeyes, who earned a blowout victory in the Big 10 conference championship game over Wisconsin.

While, much like the now old BCS selection system, there are still some deserving teams left on the outside looking in on the playoff picture. Both the TCU Hornfrogs and Baylor Bears have made strong cases for themselves this year, the selection committee has chosen, and many feel like they have chosen well.

The Crimson Tide will face off against the Buckeyes in the All-State Sugar Bowl, while the Oregon Ducks are set to face off against the Florida State Seminoles in the Rose Bowl. Both of these games will take place on New Year’s Day along with some other big bowl games.

While it remains to be seen which of the teams or conference, will come out of the playoffs with a championships, all 4 conferences that have a team featured, the SEC, PAC-12, ACC, and Big 10, will all receive $6 million for having a team being selected for the playoffs.

While those conferences will certainly be pleased to receive the bonus, the Big-12, the power 5 conference that didn’t have any teams in the playoff, has to be feeling like that caught the short end of the stick as both Baylor and TCU made strong cases to be a part of the playoff.

While there will certainly be debate ass to if the proper selections were made, there can be no question that fans of college football have a lot to look forward on New Year’s Day when the inaugural College Football championships finally kick off.

Kevin Cash Hired As Rays Manager

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On Friday, the Tampa Bay Rays hired Kevin Cash to be the 5th manager in the club’s history.

The Rays organization seems confident in the hire, desoite Cash not having any previous managerial experience. Before being named the Rays new manager, Kevin Cash was serving as the bullpen coach for the Cleveland Indians.

Cash is also very young for manager standards in Major League Baseball, aged at just 37.

“It came down to the energy, the poise that he has, the confidence, but the open-mindedness that goes along with it. That’s a rare combination to have in an individual,” president of baseball operations Matt Silverman said.

Kevin Cash has been picked to fulfill the not so easy task of replacing former Tampa Bay Rays manager, Joe Maddon, Maddon was far and away the most successful manager the Tampa Bay Rays have ever seen, and under his watch, the team played to a 754-705 win loss record with Maddon at the helm.

Maddon is also largely responsible for taking a team that had never even sniffed a winning record in a single season to becoming a perpetual playoff contender during his nine year reign as manager.During those seasons, Maddon managed the Rays to four playoff births, winning two AL East Championships, and winning the American League pennant in 2008.

Maddon left the team after this season, the Rays first losing season since 2008, and has since signed with the Chicago Cubs, while former Rays bench coach Dave Martinez also signed for the same position with the Cubs.

When it comes to the type of environment the Rays have had, and will have, Cash had this to say, “The voice is obviously probably going to change a little bit, but the players and the personnel, and the culture, what they created, that is something that I’m extremely fortunate to be a part of and join in on.”

With the hire made, the Rays can now start looking toward the 2015 season and trying to regain the success they had enjoyed during the majority of Maddon’s tenure as the Ray’s manager. They Hope Cash can guide the way.

Mike Riley Hired As Nebraska Head Coach

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The Nebraska Cornhuskers have hired Oregon State head coach, Mike Riley, as the replacement for fired coach Bo Pelini.

Riley has coached at Oregon State since 2003, following a 3 year stretch within the San Diego Chargers in the NFL and was hired shortly after Nebraska fired Pelini.

“It is truly an honor to join the University of Nebraska family,” Riley said in a statement released by Nebraska. “Though we love Corvallis and Oregon State, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to coach at one of the nation’s most storied football programs and I can’t wait to get started.”

This move has some people around college football scratching their heads, especially when one compares the performances of of Pelini and Riley’s teams over the stretch after Pelini was hired on at Nebraska.

Since 2008, the Cornhuskers were able to play to a winning percentage of .710, 3 ten win seasons, a 39-26 record against teams with records over .500, and 3 bowl victories under the guidance of Bo Pelini. Oregon State, however, only managed to play to a .523 winning percentage, no ten win seasons, a record of 27-31 against teams with records above .500, and only 2 bowl wins.

When one simply looks at those kind of numbers, it begs the question if Nebraska has been a bit hasty in their decision to hire Riley, and may even call into question if firing Pelini was the right move, as he was an instrumental part of making Nebraska a legitimate team to contend with in college football.

This speed of this move seems to imply that ebraska really had their eye on Riiley, and that they’ve seen enough from him to think that he will help lead the program to further success and become a contender in the national picture once again.

Nebraska’s athletic director Shawn Eichorst seems to have the utmost confidence in the hire, and definitely thinks that Riley is the man to help lead Nebraska into the future.

Eichorst said “I have no doubt that Mike will assemble a tremendous staff and lead our student-athletes to win Big Ten titles and compete for national championships in the years ahead.”

We’ll see if that confidence works out.

Jim McElwain Hired As UF’s Next Coach

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The next head coach of the University of Florida football program will be Colorado State’s Jim McElwain.

McElwain has been pegged as the guy the Gators have been pursuing for the majority of time that the Gators were in need of a head coach. During McElwain’s tenure as the head coach for Colorado state, he has racked up an overall record of 22-16, having coached his team to a 10-2 record this season.

One of the things to be optimistic about for Gators fans is that every year that McElwain has been a part of the program, it has seen improvement. He has successfully made Colorado State a legitimate force within the Mountain West conference. While some people may scoff at the success McElwain has found in the Mountain West, people need to remember that McElwain was the offensive coordinator for Alabama for 2 championship runs.

Besides, the last time the Gators hired a relative unknown from a Mountain West school who had some experience coaching as part of a big program, the Gators would play to 2 national championships during his reign. That coach was Urban Meyer, and there is no question that decision worked out in favor of the Gators.

This hire puts the final nail in the coffin of the Will Muschamp of era of Florida Gators football. The Muschamp era has, by all accounts, fallen short of the expectations of the program, something Muschamp is keenly aware of. Under Muschamp’s watch the Gators program missed a bowl game for the first time in decades.

While Muschamp did have some notable stumbling blocks during his tenure, including an injury riddled 2013 season that was a major contributor missing the bowl game, as well as suffering a loss to FCS team Georgia Southern.

During this season, Muschamp’s Gators have suffered largely self inflicted wounds that have kept their record just over .500. After giving up a blocked field goal and a blocked punt in the 4th quarter of the game against South Carolina to allow the Gamecocks to force overtime and steal a win in the swamp. That loss was the straw that broke the proverbial camels back.

With McElwain’s hiring, the new era of Gators football starts today.

Florida Gators In Talks With Jim McElwain

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The University of Florida Gators athletic director Jeremy Foley has been in talks with Colorado State’s head coach Jim McElwain about the head coaching position at UF now that coach Will Muschamp has officially stepped down.

Muschamp officially stepped down as head coach following the Gators loss to rival Florida State, finishing the Gators regular season with a record of 6-5. Muschamp has stated he will not serve as head coach for whatever bowl game that the Gators may find themselves in.

The Muschamp era was once filled with a lot of promise for the Gators when it first started, and it peaked in his second season when the Gators lost just 2 games on the year.

The following year however, the Gators missed a bowl game for the first time a decades, and finished with just 4 wins on a rough season that included a loss to FCS school, Georgia Southern. The Gators struggles continued this season, which led to Muschamp announcing his stepping down following a loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks in overtime after having a field goal and punt blocked in the 4th quarter that gave South Carolina a chance to tie the game.

Jim McElwain is largely considered to be the Gators top pick to replace Muschamp.

McElwain has head coached Colorado State to a 22-16 record over his 3 seasons as head coach, which includes a 10-2 record this season. Colorado State has improved noticeably in every season that McElwain has served as head coach.

McElwain would also not be completely caught off guard if he comes into the SEC as a head coach, as he served as Alabama’s offensive coordinator before.

The University of Florida Gators are looking for an offensively minded coach that can help the Gators reach their offensive potential and bring out the best in young quarterback Treon Harris.

Jim McElwain would definitely fit the bill of an offensive minded coach that should be able to help turn the struggling offense around. In addition, the defense still has the pieces to succeed in the immediate future.

All signs point to the Gator’s getting their man.

Kevin Durant Set For Return To Thunder

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The reigning league MVP Kevin Durant is set to make his return to the Oklahoma City Thunder Tuesday night in a game against the New Orleans Pelicans.

So far, Kevin Durant, has missed the first 6 weeks of the season while healing a fracture in his foot.

The Thunder have struggled mightily in the opening part of the season as they, so far have played to just a record of 5-12. While the Thunder’s poor start is not solely a result of the absence of Kevin Durant, as the Thunder were also without the services of all-star point guard Russell Westbrook.

Without the services of both Westbrook and Durant, the Thunder stumbled out of the starting gates this season and will have a lot of work to do if they hope to get themselves firmly in the playoff picture.

Westbrook returned from his injury on Friday November 28th for the Thunder’s contest with the New York Knicks, and helped lead the Thunder to a dominate victory over an over matched Knicks team, simply destroying the Knicks 105-78.

As helpful as the return of Westbrook was to the game on Friday and to the Thunder as a whiole, they should become even more dominate when the reigning MVP of the league makes his season debut on Tuesday as the Thunder hope to continue their pursuit of earning a .500 record as they look to become part of the conversation for the NBA finals once again.

If Friday’s game was anything to judge by, the Thunder are a massively better team with the services of Russell Westbrook, and when you add a player a skilled as Kevin Durant to that lineup, the Thunder’s performance should only continue to improve.

While the Thunder have certainly struggled early in this season without the services of their two best players for the majority of their games so far, given a little time to knock off any rust that Durant may have, the Thunder should regain their form as a championship caliber squad.

Their first look at their roster’s full potential comes tonight, and Thunder fans should be hopeful that things will start to pick up soon.

Ohio State Missing Player Found Dead

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Ohio State University, just one day after a decisive victory over their arch rival Michigan, suffered a tragedy within the football program on Sunday, as missing Ohio State player, Kosta Karageorge. Karagoeorge went missing 4 days prior to being found in a trash bin by a mother and her son.

Karageorge had suffered a series of concussions recently, and as a result, his brain will be examined by the coroner who is currently performing the autopsy. Karageorge had been found to have died as a result of a gun shot wound, which is hypothesized to a self-inflicted wound.

Before Karageorge went missing, he sent the following text message to his family: “I am sorry if I am an embarrassment but these concussions have my head all f—– up.”

The tragedy has darkened what should’ve been a celebratory weekend in Columbus.

One of the biggest problems that this issue will raise within the NCAA is part of the concussion problems that recently ran rampant throughout the entire National Football League in recent years.

Depending on the findings of the autopsy and examination of Karageorge’s brain examination, the NCAA may also have to undergo a heavy review of their concussion policy, and the follow up care given to players who have suffered them in order to prevent another tragic situation like this from coming up.

While the coroner has yet to definitively make the statement that the injury was self inflicted, the ramifications of those findings could be far reaching, and have a major impact on the college football arena for years to come.

Not only would this have a major impact on college football, but will further reignite the concussion issue throughout all of football.

Concussion issues have plagued football over the recent years, and have been linked to the deaths of multiple former NFL players including former linebacker Junior Seau, and safety Dave Duerson.

Duerson and Seau both died of self inflicted gunshot wounds, but neither player damaged their brain in their suicides, and their brains were examined and found to have been damaged by multiple concussions.

Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook Back At Practice

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The struggling Oklahoma City Thunder may soon be able to breathe a sigh of relief as their two best players, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, may be rejoining the squad as early as Friday, after they both returned to practicing with the team on Monday.

In the absence of both Durant and Westbrook, the Thunder have played their way to the second worse winning percentage in the NBA, accumulating a 3-12 record with much of the season yet to go.

Kevin Durant is still in the midst of recovering from a stress fracture in his foot, while Westbrook is looking to come back from a broken hand.

While there is a chance that both of the Thunder stars returning on Friday, it is far more likely that only Westbrook will be able to return on Friday.

The return of Durant and Westbrook could not possibly come at a better time for the Thunder, who need as big a boost as possible. The sooner the Thunder get their two star players back on the court, the sooner the team can look at trying to get their team back into playoff picture and eventually compete for a shot at the Finals.

The loss of both Durant and Westbrook has been a major obstacle that the Thunder have been unable to overcome. Without the play of the reigning MVP Kevin Durant, and the all-star skills of Russell Wilson, the Thunder have fallen flat, and have been barely able to earn the few wins that they have acquired on the season so far.

While there is certainly going to be optimism when the Thunder get their two star players back on the court, there can be no question that the team will have a lot of work to do to earn their way into the playoffs, and they may be hard pressed to do so if they have any more injury related stumbling blocks on the season.

Still, if both Durant and Westbrook manage to take the court on Friday against the Knicks, who are also struggling through a tough season, the Thunder, for the first time in quite a while, be become heavy favorites.

Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez To Red Sox

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The Boston Red Sox finalized the signing of former San Francisco Giants 3rd baseman Pablo Sandoval on Tuesday morning. The deal, a 5 year, $95 million contract with a $17 million team option to keep Sandoval in a Red Sox uniform for a 6th season.

Another big name free agent acquisition the Red Sox finalized on Tuesday is the signing of Hanley Ramirez.

Both Ramirez and Sandoval are joining a Red Sox team that found themselves at the bottom of the American League Eastern Division, just one short year after winning the World Series. Ramirez and Sandoval will also be joining big time slugger, David Ortiz, forming a trio that is already being called the Three Amigos.

While the Red Sox are waiting to formally announce the signing of Ramirez until he passes a physical, the signing of Sandoval is a massive signing for a Red Sox team that is looking to regain their championship caliber play from just a year before. Sandoval is not only a big bat to add to their lineup, but he plays great defense on the hot corner.

Sandoval has been a key part all 3 Giants World Series championships in the past 4 years, even winning the World Series MVP in 2012, and has emerged as one of the most consistent playoff performers in the history of Major League Baseball. Among players with at least 150 postseason plate appearances, Sandoval is at the top of them all with a batting average of .344. Sandoval also has an impressive batting average in 50 plate appearances in the World Series, hitting for a .426 average.

The 3rd baseman who became loving known as “Kung-Fu Panda” over his years in San Francisco is also no slouch in the regular season. In his career he has hit for a .294 average, and last season knocked 16 balls out of the park, and drove in 73 RBIs.

While Sandoval is a big time acquisition for the upcoming season, he may also be a long term fix for the inevitability of David Ortiz’ retirement, as some are pegging him as a future DH.

The future aside, between the acquisitions of Sandoval and Ramirez, the Red Sox lineup will certainly be a formidable one.

Muschamp To Step Down

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The University of Florida’s fans clamor for change has been met with the response many Gator’s fans have been hoping for the majority of this season, and stemming for last year. Head Coach Will Muschamp will be stepping down as the Gator’s head football coach.

The news came just a day following the loss the Gators suffered at the hands of the South Caroline Gamecocks in overtime. After leading for most of the 2nd half, the Gamecocks were able to force overtime be scoring a touchdown in the final minute, after blocking both a Gators field goal attempt and a punt.

The collapse at the Swamp was simply just another chapter in what has been a largely ineffective tenure with Muschamp serving as the coach of the Gators.

While Muschamp did get the Gators ranked up to number 2 in the country during the 2012 season, even that season ended with a disappointing loss to Louisville in the Sugar Bowl.

The year following was one of the worst the Gators had seen in decades. The Gators finished the year only winning 4 games, missing a bowl game for the first time since 1990, and finished with their worst record overall, 4-8, since 1979.

While there is some credence to the idea that much of the Gators struggles could be attributed to injury problems, however, losses to Vanderbilt and Georgia Southern cast a massive cloud over the Gator Nation.

While the Gators hopes to return to a bowl game this year remain alive, Muschamp has elected to step down following another disappointing season.

The lone bright spot on the Gators season so far is the upset victory over the Georgia Bulldogs in Jacksonville this season, marking Muschamp’s first victory in the rivalry as both a player and a coach.

With the end of the Muschamp era on the horizon the Gators must now look forward to the future, and begin to determine who will take the reigns of the Gators in the future.

The Gators will likely eye someone with an eye for offense.

UF Athletic Director Jeremy Foley has stated he would like to have a coach selected by Christmas.

Clippers Griffin Charged With Battery

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Star Power Forward for the Los Angeles Clippers, Blake Griffin, has been charged with one count of misdemeanor battery for an incident at a Las Vegas nightclub last month.

The incident took place on October 19th and involved a man named Daniel Schuman. The charges were filed on Wednesday November 12th, and according to the filing, “willfully and unlawfully used force or violence” against Schuman.

Griffin reportedly squeezed Schuman’s hand and allegedly slapped him in the face. The report seems to further indicate that Griffin had become frustrated with the flashing of cameras in his face, and grabbed Schuman’s phone, and the alleged battery incident took place.

Griffin was not alone at the nightclub, fellow Clippers’ teammates Deandre Jordan and All Star point Guard Chris Paul were also present, however there is no indication that they had any involvement in the incident that took place between Griffin and Schuman.

The maximum possible penalty if Griffin is found to be guilty is either 6 months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

While the charges are surely something Griffin and the Clippers organization would have liked to avoid, the franchise is standing behind Griffin, and so is head coach Doc Rivers. Rivers said, “I trust Blake 100 percent. He’s a great kid. We’ll figure it out and get through it.”

So far, the Los Angeles Clippers are just 4-3, but have begun to play better basketball after getting trounced by the Golden State Warriors. After being decimated by the Warriors, the Clippers have shown better effort on the defensive side of the ball, as well as working harder on the glass, beginning to overcome the struggles the team had through the preseason and some of the early part of the regular season.

Griffin’s arraignment on Decmeber 8th in front of A Las Vegas justice of the peace.

Rivers, the organization, and Griffin seem to be relatively certain that everything will work out in their favor, which is something the Clippers would need.

The loss of Blake Griffin, if it does come to that, would be a devastating blow for a Clippers squad that has their sights set on a deep playoff run, so they hope it doesn’t come to that.

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