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D1 College Football News
August 28, 2006
Source: The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.
Ticket Demand Greater Than Ever for NFF Annual Awards Dinner
Never before have more tickets been sold by the end of August for the
National Football Foundation’s Annual Awards Dinner, which takes place this
year on December 5. The unprecedented interest in the 49th annual gathering
stems from a star-studded class of College Football Hall of Fame inductees,
who will be honored at the event and includes coaches Joe Paterno (Penn
State) and Bobby Bowden (Florida State, West Virginia, Howard College-Ala.)
and players Bobby Anderson (Colorado); Bennie Blades (Miami, Fla.); Carl
Eller (Minnesota); Steve Emtman (Washington); Thomas Everett (Baylor); Chad
Hennings (Air Force); Chip Kell (Tennessee); Mike Phipps (Purdue); Mike
Rozier (Nebraska); Jeff Siemon (Stanford); Bruce Smith (Virginia Tech);
Emmitt Smith (Florida); and Charlie Ward (Florida State).
Two-Minute Drill
Kansas State Quarterback Dylan Meier will start his first game in almost two
years against Illinois State in the season opener. Dylan’s brother Kerry
Meier, a redshirt freshman at Kansas, will also be starting at quarterback
this weekend against Northwestern State. The Jayhawks and the Wildcats will
meet Nov. 18 in Lawrence… Quarterback Colt McCoy will start for Texas in the
season opener, becoming the fourth freshman to start at quarterback for
coach Mack Brown… USC quarterback John David Booty has been elected by his
teammates as one of the Trojan’s four team captains…Coach Kyle Wittingham
has named Brett Ratliff as Utah’s starting quarterback… Sophomore Graham
Harrell has been named the Texas Tech starting quarterback for the season
opener against SMU.
The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and Harris Interactive agreed to a
four-year contract extension through the 2010 BCS bowls. This year’s BCS
Standings, released each week by the National Football Foundation, will
include the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, the USA Today’s
Coaches Poll and six computer standings - Anderson & Hester, Richard
Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin, and Dr. Peter
Wolfe… According to Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), the University of
Texas set an all-time record for collegiate licensing, taking in $8.2
million in the 2005-06 school year. It breaks the mark set by Michigan in
1993-94 season, when the Wolverines brought in $6.2 million…The Independence
Bowl announced PetroSun Inc. as a new title sponsor through 2008. Rayfield
Wright, a recent inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a former
Dallas Cowboy-great, serves as president of PetroSun… Iowa Athletics has
sent e-mails out to student season ticket holders, requiring them to print
out their own passes from www.hawkeyesports.com… The NCAA has hired Sports
Media Challenge to monitor the Internet, research, and analyze Fan-Generated
Media.
Terry Bradshaw, a 1996 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame from
Louisiana Tech, will star in Relative Chaos, a made-for-TV movie, which will
appear on ABC’s Family Channel… 2005 National Football Foundation
Scholar-Athlete Award Winner and Draddy Trophy Finalist Reed Doughty is
being profiled in an ongoing series by the Washington Times as he attempts
to make the Washington Redskins. Doughty, a sixth round NFL draft pick,
played defensive back at Northern Colorado… Hands on Miami will collect
flashlights, radios, batteries, first aid kits, and cash donations at the
Miami vs. Florida State game on September 4 to distribute to seniors, the
disabled and disadvantaged populations in Miami-Dade County.
Pittsburgh head football coach Dave Wannstedt and his wife Jan have provided
a lead gift of $250,000 to a new fundraising initiative called the “Pitt
Football Endowed Position and Scholarship Program” that will raise $2.1
million to fully fund the 85 football scholarships permitted by NCAA rules…
Oklahoma State Athletics Director Mike Holder and his wife Robbie are
donating $500,000 to endow a schools first football scholarship in the name
of the late Vernon Grant… The Ohio State band received a $225,000 donation
from Walter E. Dennis to finance their trip to Austin for the Texas game…
South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier and his wife Jerri have pledged
$250,000 over the next five years to the athletics department’s capital
campaign. Texas Southern University alumnus Pastor Manson B. Johnson made a
donation of $5,000 to the football program.
The Stanford football stadium has undergone a speedy 40-week renovation,
which will be completed in 2 weeks for the Cardinal’s home opener against
Navy on September 16… Maryland has become the country's first college
program to sell field-naming rights, which were sold to Chevy Chase Bank for
$20 million. The facility will remain Byrd Stadium, named for former
Maryland president, football coach and multi-sport athlete H.C. “Curley”
Byrd… Kansas State will officially dedicate its facility as the Bill Snyder
Family Stadium during the Wildcats’ 2006 season opener against Illinois
State on Sept. 2… UConn has completed construction of The Burton Family
Football Complex as well as The Mark R. Shenkman Training Center, which
includes an indoor turf football field…
Oklahoma will unveil a statue of Steve Owens, the 1969 Heisman Trophy winner
and a 1991 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, before this week
’s home opener versus Alabama-Birmingham… Marshall and West Virginia will
now vie for the “Governor’s Trophy” each year. Crafted from materials by
artisans throughout the state, the Friends of the Coal Bowl created the
trophy, and Governor Joe Manchin will make the first presentation following
the series opener on September 2 in Morgantown…
Florida will launch its celebration of 100 years of Gator football by
commemorating the 10th anniversary of its national championship by honoring
its 1996 National Championship Team during its Sept. 2 season opener against
Southern Miss… South Carolina President Andrew Sorensen has urged fans to
wear their Gamecock colors on Sept. 1 as part of National College Colors Day
2006… UCF will host “Lunch with George” for fans the day before every home
game, giving them the opportunity to have lunch with Coach George O’Leary…
Texas has a new slogan: “Texas Fans Make Us Proud” that is designed to
reinforce good sportsmanship among fans… Florida Citrus Sports is sponsoring
a full-day tailgate trip to Gainesville for the Florida Sept. 9 game against
UCF.
The Davey O'Brien Foundation announced its preseason watch list of 34
candidates for the 2006 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, which
includes 19 seniors, 12 juniors and three sophomores… The Sugar Bowl
Committee announced its preseason watch list of the 2006 Manning Award,
which honors college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton, and Eli
Manning, and is the only quarterback award that takes into account a
candidates bowl performance… Five quarterbacks and 16 players earned a spot
on the Sports Network’s watch list for the Walter Payton Award, which will
be presented Dec. 14 to the Division I-AA top offensive player, while 16
players made the organization’s watch list for the Buchanan Award, which
goes to the division’s top defensive player.
TCU has sold out of season tickets for the upcoming season with a
record-breaking total of 13,867 season tickets. Arkansas announced that
they sold out of all 72,000 tickets for their season opener against USC,
this is just the third sold out game since a stadium expansion in 2001…
Louisville has sold out of all 2006 tickets, creating a waitlist for 2007
season… Iowa has sold out student tickets for the second straight year, and
only 300 regular tickets remain for the season opener against Montana, all
other games are sold out… Georgia Tech has sold out their 2,150 club seats
in the Bobby Dodd Stadium, and the season opener against Notre Dame and
homecoming game against Miami are both completely sold out… Alabama has sold
out all of its eight home games except for 1,000 tickets for the Sept. 16
Louisiana-Monroe game… Kansas has sold an all-time record of 28,100 season
tickets for the 2006 season, eclipsing the previous record of 27,700 in
1969.
Texas Tech athletics director Gerald Myers and Texas A&M AD Bill Byrne have
discussed moving the schools’ annual football game to Dallas…A new college
football all-star game will take place in late January or early February in
El Paso, Texas. The yet-to-be-named game will feature seniors from the state
of Texas versus the players from the rest of the country. UTEP Head Coach
Mike Price will coach the Texas squad… If Army goes at least 6-6 this
season, they will play in the Poinsettia Bowl on December 19 against a team
from the Mountain West Conference…
BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall cancelled last Thursday’s practice,
deciding instead to take his team tubing down the Provo River… Current Texas
Ranger outfielder Mark DeRosa was the starting quarterback at the University
of Pennsylvania from 1994-95… Tulane’s Sept. 30 home opener against SMU ends
a run of 14 consecutive road games… Sam Keller, the former Arizona State
quarterback, transferred to Nebraska, where he’ll be eligible in 2007.
Fox Sports announced that former Wisconsin head coach and current athletics
director Barry Alvarez and Charles Davis, an analysts with TBS college
football and former Tennessee Volunteer, will work as analysts for the Jan.
1 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Jan. 8 Tostitos BCS National Championship
game along side Thom Brennaman, who will work as the play-by-play announcer.
Chris Rose has been announced as the Fox host for the BCS pregame, halftime
and postgame shows. Alvarez will also make appearances throughout the season
on Sunday after Fox’s NFL show to offer his opinion on the college rankings…
The Big East Conference and ESPN have agreed to a pair of six-year contracts
that will significantly enhance the league's exposure in football through
the 2013 season… Maryland has signed a three-year agreement with Comcast
Sports Net to broadcast new programs.
For the fourth consecutive year, Fresno State football games will be carried
live in Spanish, but this year the Bulldogs have a new radio partner with
ESPN Deportes (KGST-1600 AM) Radio, which will carry all of their 12 regular
season games… Forty-five radio stations in four states will carry the weekly
Penn State Sports Network's AIG Nittany Lion Hotline Show in 2006-07 with
coach Joe Paterno… NCAA Football is launching an official blog Web site,
which will target college football fans for their participation and
insights. Guest celebrity bloggers will include Charlie Weis, Philip Fulmer
and Mack Brown… College Football News has partnered with Scout.com… Former
Cincinnati QB Deontey Kenner will join Dan Hoard and Jim Kelly for the
Bearcats’ 14th season of radio broadcasts on 700-WLW… XM Satellite Radio is
the official radio network of the Big East Conference, Atlantic Coast
Conference, Big Ten Conference, and the Pacific-10 conference during the
2006 season, and will carry ESPN Radio’s coverage of the BCS. Nationwide
coverage during the first week of the season on XM includes Boston College
vs. Central Michigan, Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech, Stanford vs. Oregon, and
Indiana State vs. Purdue… XOS Technologies has added Princeton University,
The Citadel, and the University of Akron to its more than 100 Network
Partners.
Florida Citrus Sports, which produces more than 60 annual events, announced
that Steve Hogan, a staff member since 1995, will serve as its new executive
director… Eastern Illinois coach Bob Spoo will have surgery and will miss at
least the first four to six weeks of the season during his recovery… Chuck
Pool has been named assistant athletic director for sports information at
Rice… East Stroudsburg University has announced that former NFL defensive
back Kenny Stills will serve as an assistant coach.
September 3 marks the death of Vince Lombardi, who succumbed to cancer at 57
in 1970. A member of the legendary “Seven Blocks of Granite” Fordham teams
in the mid-1930s, Lombardi carved out a reputation as one of the greatest
coaches of all-time, including five championships with the Green Bay Packers
in the NFL. The Eastern Washington football team is dedicating this week’s
game against Oregon State in the memory of OSU football player Tom Oswald,
who played at the school from 1970-71 and died August 4 after a legendary
25-year coaching career at long-time Cheney High School… Former Ole Miss
football player Majure Blanks “Bill” Stribling passed away Aug. 22 at the
age of 78.
Editors’ Notes
As a result of numerous requests, Chalktalk will continue this fall during
the college football season. Technical reasons prevented yesterday’s
release, which is being distributed today, Tuesday, August 29. Please email
news@footballfoundation.com to submit
an item for the NFF’s “Monday Chalktalk”. Thanks!
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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