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D1 College Football News
7-24-06
Source: www.footballfoundation.com
Media Days Focus Spotlight on Familiar Faces
Division I-A conference media days kicked off last week with the press
picking a few familiar faces to finish atop the year-end conference
standings. On Tuesday, the Big East writers picked West Virginia, fresh off
their 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia, to defend their conference
championship and earn an automatic BCS Bowl berth. The Mountaineers
received 18 out of a possible 24 first-place votes, with Louisville
garnering the other six. At the Mountain West Conference media days in
Coronado, Calif., last week, writers chose Texas Christian to pick up their
second consecutive conference crown. The Horned Frogs ran the table last
season in their inaugural year in the conference and return 10 starters on
offense. With the Big 12 media days starting today, the conference media
picked Nebraska and Oklahoma to capture the North and South divisions,
respectively, with the defending national champion Texas Longhorns selected
to finish second to the Sooners. The two division winners will square off
in Kansas City, Mo., on December 2 for the Big 12 Championship and an
automatic BCS berth. In addition to the Big 12, conference media days will
also be held this week for the ACC, Pac-10, SEC, Sun Belt and the WAC. The
Big Ten, Conference USA and MAC will conclude the media days schedule next
week.
Fox, ESPN Radio Agreement Brings BCS Games to the Airwaves
Fox Sports, the new media distribution home of the Bowl Championship Series,
announced a four-year agreement last week with ESPN Radio that grants the
sports radio network the terrestrial radio rights to broadcast all
FOX-televised BCS games. The deal does not include satellite rights, nor
does it provide ESPN Radio with exclusivity in the home markets of schools
participating in the games. The contract does, however, grant ESPN Radio
the right to air the Allstate Sugar Bowl, FedEx Orange Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta
Bowl and the newly created BCS National Championship Game beginning in
January 2007. ESPN Radio, which began broadcasting all four BCS games in
2000, already had a deal in place to air the Rose Bowl. 2006 marks the
first year Fox will televise three BCS games and the BCS National
Championship Game after agreeing on an exclusive deal back in November 2004.
The National Football Foundation will tabulate and release this year's BCS
Standings for the seventh consecutive year.
Two-Minute Drill
The second annual Mid-Michigan Kickoff Luncheon, sponsored by the
Mid-Michigan Chapter of The National Football Foundation, will bring
together Central Michigan head coach Brian Kelly, Eastern Michigan head
coach Jeff Genyk, Michigan State head coach John L. Smith and Western
Michigan head coach Bill Cubit on August 3 for a preview of the upcoming
season... The annual Bayou Bucket Luncheon previewing the rivalry game
between Houston and Rice will feature Cougars head man Art Briles and Owls
coach Todd Graham on August 31 as the teams prepare for their September 2
showdown... Florida International head coach Don Strock will join Miami head
coach Larry Coker in South Miami on July 27 to promote the schools' match-up
on October 14 in Miami...
More than 120 people attended the 14th annual Coach Davey Maurer golf
outing, named after the 1991 College Football Hall of Fame inductee from
Wittenberg, on July 12 to benefit the scholarship fund of The National
Football Foundation's Springfield, Ohio chapter... Former Syracuse halfback
Jim Brown, a 1995 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, will host
his Celebrity Golf Classic on January 30-31, 2007, to benefit the Amer-I-Can
Foundation... California launched a new website to hype the Heisman campaign
of junior running back Marshawn Lynch...
Former Kansas two-way standout Galen Fiss, the captain of the Cleveland
Browns last NFL championship team in 1964, died last week at age 75...
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Fort Worth Bowl has reached a
agreement in principle with Alltel to be the bowl's new title sponsor... The
NFL Network signed a multiyear deal with the Houston Bowl to broadcast the
December game and market its naming rights... Central Florida's Golden
Knights Club, the school's athletics scholarship fundraising club, received
a school-record $2.1 million in donations in the fiscal year 2005-05...
Leland Melvin, a record-breaking receiver at Richmond University in the
mid-1980's, is scheduled to take part in next year's NASA space shuttle
mission to deliver the European Space Agency's Columbus Laboratory to the
International Space Station...
Memphis University's annual Football FanFest will take place on August 26 at
Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium... The third annual "Penn State Football Eve
presented by Sheetz", a carnival-like party and pep rally around Beaver
Stadium, will take place on September 1, the night before the Nittany Lions
open at home against Akron... Fan Appreciation Day at South Carolina is set
for August 13... BankUnited CanesFest, an official party celebrating a new
season of Miami Hurricanes football, will take place this Saturday in
Broward and Sunday in Palm Beach... Fan appreciation day at Navy's Marine
Corps Memorial Stadium will take place on August 2... North Texas will host
a tailgate-themed "Mean Green Night" in Grand Prairie, Texas, this
Thursday...
Notre Dame players hosted the fifth annual "Tackle The Arts" program last
Friday on campus to give area inner-city kids the opportunity to interact
with players while learning more about music, writing and arts
appreciation... The Navy football program sponsored a table at the Kent
Island Fireman's Carnival this past weekend that included a special ticket
promotion for firefighters to show appreciation for their service... Eight
members from the Auburn Tigers football team visited Camp ASCCA last week to
speak with and sign autographs for campers with special needs...
Fresno announced plans to construct a new electronic entertainment center,
including a larger video screen, inside Bulldog Stadium to be completed by
their home game with Colorado State on September 30... Louisiana-Lafayette
and Tennessee agreed to play in each other in Knoxville on November 3,
2007... Last Saturday, Aaron's Football Saturdays in the South, a summer
mini-series now in its third season, profiled the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina and the response of people in the college football community as part
of its six-episode 2006 series running through the rest of the summer...
National Football Foundation board member and Dorchester Capital president
Clay Bennett reached an agreement to purchase the NBA's Seattle
Supersonics... Bill Callahan, head coach at Nebraska, and his Coach Callahan
Charities will lace up their sneakers for the third annual Coach Callahan
Fun Run/Walk on August 19 to benefit the UNL Libraries and the Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation... New San Diego State head coach Chuck Long
served as the featured speaker at The San Diego Hall of Champions Lunch
Series event on July 19... The Tennessee Sports Writers Association Hall of
Fame inducted longtime University of Tennessee information directors Haywood
Harris and Gus Manning and former Vanderbilt and SEC publicist Elmore
(Scoop) Hudgens as part of their inaugural class last week...
South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier's media golf outing will take place
on July 31... UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell, fresh off a 10-win season,
received a contract extension and raise that runs through the 2010 season
and guarantees him at least $850,000 a year.
Schedule Spotlight: Conference Championship Games
Conference - Date - Location
Atlantic Coast - December 2 - Jacksonville, Fla.
Big 12 - December 2 - Kansas City, Mo.
Conference USA - December 2 - Team with highest conference winning
percentage
Mid-American - November 30 - Detroit, Mich.
Southeastern - December 2 - Atlanta, Ga.
With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football
Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization,
runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing
scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF
presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy presented by HealthSouth
and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs
include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It
Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield
College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1
million for college and high school scholar-athletes.
For more information, please visit www.footballfoundation.org
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