D1 College Football News

January 15 , 2007

Source: The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.

Bowl Notes

Florida's win over Ohio State in the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game was watched by 17.4 % of the nation's households, producing the third highest BCS game ever and second highest prime time show on TV this season. According to prime time Nielsen ratings, 14.4 million watched the Allstate Sugar Bowl, 13.8 million watched the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and 10.7 million watched the Fed Ex Orange Bowl.

A record 150,000-plus passengers went through Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport the morning after the BCS National Championship Game, including an increase of over 8,000 using Southwest Airlines. In upwards of 100,000 use the airport on a typical day. Meanwhile, over 9,500 rental cars were due back at the rental car facility. On a normal day, 3,000 cars are returned. The three bowl games staged in the Phoenix area attracted 250,000 visitors and generated over $375 million into the economy.

Congratulations to John Junker of the Fiesta Bowl for staging three successful bowl experiences this year. Kudos to BCS coordinator Mike Slive for an outstanding BCS bowl season.

The SEC is now 3-0 in BCS national championship games (Tennessee in 1998, LSU in 2003, and Florida in 2006)... Since 1980, only 10 schools from the original six BCS-affiliated conferences have not played in a New Years Day bowl (Capital One, Cotton, Fiesta, Gator, Orange, Outback, Rose and Sugar). Of the conferences outside the original six, only five (Boise State, BYU, Houston, SMU and Utah) have played in a New Years Day bowl game... Only No. 23 Tennessee and No. 25 Penn State failed to win at least 10 games in the final USA Today Coaches Poll.

Habitat for Humanity and Tostitos (Frito Lay Corp.) organized volunteers from Florida and Ohio State to construct a home for a deserving family while they were attending the Tostitos BCS National Championship... 2006 NFF Scholar-Athlete from Florida and Tostitos BCS Championship Offensive MVP Chris Leak made a school-record 47th consecutive start and passed for 214 yards and one TD to help the Gators win their second national grid championship in their 100th season of football. Leak later made a guest appearance on NBC’s “Tonight Show” hosted by Jay Leno. UF becomes the first school in NCAA history to win a football title the season after capturing the NCAA men’s basketball championship. Florida and OSU will each receive between $14 million and $17 million for being in the National Championship game... FedEx Orange Bowl MVP Brian Brohm and the rest of the Louisville Cardinals will be honored in Louisville at a special Fourth Street Live Downtown ceremony Friday... TCU is the only team nationally to rank statistically among the top three in rushing defense (second), total defense (third) and scoring defense (third)... Navy is expected to receive a 2007 invitation to the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl in December as long as the Midshipmen win six regular- season contests to gain bowl eligibility.

Two-Minute Drill

SMU accepted AFCA’s Academic Achievement Award – the school’s first since the award was initiated in 1981 – for graduating 100 percent of its entering 2000-01 freshman football student-athletes... Over 200 Duke football alumni gathered in Durham, N.C., for a special “Duke Football Summit” to discuss the program with school administrators and coaches last weekend... The 2006 Pontiac Game-Changing Performance Play of the Year went to Auburn for returning a botched punt for a touchdown against Florida. AU was the only team to defeat the Gators in ’06... Ohio State WR Anthony Gonzales, LSU QB JaMarcus Russell, USC's Dwayne Jarrett, Arizona State TE Zach Miller and Louisville RB Michael Bush are among 21 student-athletes through Jan. 12 declaring for the 2007 NFL Draft. Penn State's Dan Conner, Arkansas' Marcus Monk and Louisville's Brian Brohm will return to their respective schools for another season... Iowa will hold its 2007 FanFest on March 2-3. The event allows fans a chance to meet and get autographs from their favorite Hawkeye football players... Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson is one of five nominees for ESPN The Magazine’s NEXT award. The annual poll allows fans to vote for the “next” up-and-coming sports star. The winner will be featured on the Jan. 31 cover of the magazine... A movie is in the works about Wake Forest LB Jon Abbate and his family... Nick Lomax, son of former St. Louis Cardinal QB Neil Lomax and Taylor Tharp, son of former Colorado athletics director Dick Tharp will compete for the Boise State QB position this spring... A recent Top 10 list from the Late Show with David Letterman featured, "The Top 10 Signs You're Watching Too Much College Football".

Louisville hired former Tulsa head coach Steve Kragthorpe to replace Bobby Petrino, who became head coach of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons... Rice head coach Todd Graham was named head coach at Tulsa... Kentucky assistant coach Ron Caragher has been selected as head coach at San Diego... Former Foothill College (Calif.) head coach Marshall Sperbeck will take over the Sacramento State program... Alabama hired former Rice offensive coordinator Major Applewhite... Louisvillle retained Jeff Brohm as passing game coordinator... Texas Tech hired former Louisiana Tech heach coach Jack Bicknell III as offensive line coach... North Carolina named John Shoop offensive coordinator... Florida State named Jimbo Fisher offensive coordinator... 2006 Kentucky defensive coordinator and former LSU head coach Mike Archer has resigned... Bob Wylie is leaving Syracuse as offensive line coach.

Boise State head coach Chris Petersen was named First Year Coach of the Year as well as the Paul Bryant Award as the national coach of the year, as voted on by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association... Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer has been selected as the inaugural AFCA “Grant Teaff Breaking the Silence Award” for Fulmer’s work with the Jason Foundation, Inc. charitable cause... Former Bucknell standout Christy Matthewson will be inducted into the College Baseball Hall of fame... College Football Hall of Famer Ray Guy from Southern Miss is among the 17 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame... Former Arizona State QB Jeff Van Raaphorst and 2006 College Hall of Famer Steve Emtman from Washington were inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame... Arizona State head coach Dennis Erickson was inducted into the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame... Former American Southwest Conference Players of the Year Preston Meyer of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Cara Smedley Murez of the University of Texas at Dallas join Fred Jacoby, the first commissioner of the ASC and 1995 NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award recipient, as the Class of 2006-07 members of the ASC Hall of Honor... Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn was named the Cingular All-America Player of the Year.

Carson- Newman head coach Ken Sparks was voted 2007-08 AFCA president while newly elected AFCA Board of Trustees members are Texas’ Mack Brown, Ashland’s Lee Owens and Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe... AFCA Coaches of the Year include: I-A- Jim Grobe, Wake Forest; I-AA- Jerry Moore, Appalachian State; Div. II - Chuck Martin, Grand Valley State (Mich.), Div. III - Larry Kehres, Mount Union (Ohio), and NAIA- Kalen DeBoer, Sioux Falls (S.D.).

The NCAA rescinded the rule that allowed graduated athletes with remaining eligibility to transfer and play immediately. Division I schools voted to override the measure after only one year. Athletes already making or planning to move during the school year are unaffected by the vote... The NCAA Division I Management Council has put off until April a vote on the use of text messaging during recruiting... A written survey of 91 Division I coaches revealed that 60 percent want to rescind the new rules designed to speed up games. Games averaged three hours and six minutes in 2006, a decrease of 13 minutes from 2005... Division I-A coaches who agree to vote in the USA Today Coaches Poll next season will not be allowed to abstain, according to a new policy mandate from AFCA.

Former Arkansas standout and the commentator for the 2007 AT&T Cotton Bowl, Pat Summerall, is the keynote speaker for the Mesquite (Texas) Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet on Jan. 19... Ten years after leaving the head coaching position at Nebraska, Tom Osborne returns to the university as a teacher in the College of Business Administration... Florida State freshman Kaylynn Monroe, daughter of longtime Capital One Bowl executive Carol Monroe, has been awarded the 10th annual FWAA Volney Meece Scholarship.

Oklahoma State booster Sherman Smith has bequeathed $20 million for a new indoor practice facility at the university... Boise State was given approval by the state Board of Education to begin $35 million in renovations to Bronco Stadium... The press box at Wake Forest’s Groves Stadium was torn down on Sunday, making way for the construction of Deacon Tower. The new multi-level facility, which will open in the fall of 2008, will house media, suites and premium seating... The Charles Kuehn weight room at McNeese State received a $100,000 makeover thanks to contributions by the Cowboy Club, Keith and Wendy Romero, the McNeese football department and the McNeese athletics director.

1997 College Football Hall of Famer Ray Beck of Georgia Tech died on Jan. 10. He was 75... Former Florida A&M All-America safety Gifford “Spanky” Ramsey passed away last Wednesday after a battle with cancer... Sam Chapman, who led California to its last victory in the Rose Bowl in 1938, passed away at age 90.