D1 College Football News

November 20 , 2006

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

National Football Foundation Announces Move to Dallas
The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame Board of Directors (NFF), announced that it will relocate its corporate headquarters in early January from Morristown, N.J. to Dallas, Texas (specifically the Las Colinas area of Irving), placing the organization in the physical center of the country as it continues to expand its role as a leading voice in the promotion of amateur football.

The announcement has no impact on the Hall, which will remain in South Bend, Ind. The NFF Annual Awards Dinner will continue to be staged at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City each December. Play It Smart and the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.) will also continue its role in training and supervising the academic coaches in the Play It Smart program.

Paterno Postpones Hall of Fame Induction
Penn State coach Joe Paterno, the NFF’s 2006 Gold Medal co-recipient and originally a 2006 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, will be forced to miss the Dec. 5 induction and award ceremonies in New York City. Paterno now becomes a member of the Class of 2007 and will receive his formal Hall of Fame induction at next year’s event on December 4, 2007, when he can be present. He will be enshrined in the summer of 2008.

Because of injuries sustained in a sideline collision during the Nov. 4 Penn State-Wisconsin game, Paterno has been ordered by his doctor to limit his travel for a minimum of six weeks. The legendary coach will still be honored at the Dec. 5 event with the NFF’s Gold Medal, and fellow recipient Bobby Bowden will accept the organization’s highest honor on behalf of both the awardees. Paterno watched the Nittany Lions’ win over Michigan State from the press box last weekend.

On-Campus Salutes for Blades, Smith and Dodds Slated for This Week
Two of the greatest defensive players in college football history, Miami’s Bennie Blades and Virginia Tech’s Bruce Smith, will be honored this week for their 2006 induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. DeLoss Dodds, Texas’ athletics director since 1981, will receive an On-Campus Salute for receiving the NFF’s 2006 John L. Toner Award.

Blades, the 1987 Jim Thorpe Award winner and a unanimous First Team All-America selection, will be celebrated on Thanksgiving night as the Hurricanes host Boston College (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET). At the end of his college career, he was Miami’s all-time career leader with 19 interceptions and 305 interception return yards.

Arguably the Hokies’ greatest defensive player of all time, Smith set numerous school records for sacks, tackles and tackles for a loss en route to winning the 1984 Outland Trophy. The two-time First Team All-America selection will be honored on Saturday during the Virginia Tech-Virginia rivalry in Blacksburg.

Dodds, the 2006 John L. Toner Award winner for demonstrating superior administrative abilities especially in the area of college football, has led the Longhorns to 12 National Championships and 82 conference (Southwest and Big 12) titles in nine different sports, including the 2005 college football national championship. His salute will take place Friday as UT takes on Texas A&M (ABC, Noon ET).

Two-Minute Drill
After last weekend, 69 teams are now bowl eligible. Eleven more teams are on the bubble, needing two or fewer wins to become eligible for one of the 64 total bowl slots... The longest Division I-A winning streaks through games of Nov. 18 are Ohio State (19), Boise State (11) and Arkansas (10)... The Ohio State-Michigan game last Saturday drew the largest television audience for any regular-season game in 13 years. The Buckeyes clinched their first outright conference title in 22 years in front of the biggest crowd in Ohio Stadium history. The clash of Big Ten titans was also the second highest-scoring game in the series rivalry, bested only by the 86-0 Wolverine win in 1902... Cincinnati, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week, won last weekend over a then-undefeated No. 6 Rutgers team for the biggest upset in the school’s 119-year football history. The victory came in front of the season’s largest crowd at Nippert Stadium... USC is the first team to win five straight Pac-10 football titles... Wisconsin posted its first 11- win regular season in school history with its victory over Buffalo last Saturday... Arkansas’ 10 straight wins is the school’s longest winning streak since 1988, carrying the Razorbacks to the SEC Western Division title. The last time Arkansas was ranked this high after 10 games was 1969. The school is currently No. 6 in the BCS after a win last weekend against Mississippi State... Notre Dame won its eighth straight last weekend, wearing green uniforms to down Army. Coach Charlie Weis ordered that the Michigan-OSU score not be announced to keep his team focused... Richmond and William & Mary renewed the nation’s fourth-oldest rivalry in college football history last Saturday. The Spiders upset the Tribe in the schools’ 116th meeting... Northwestern retained the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk Trophy, downing Illinois last weekend in the 100th meeting between the two schools... Minnesota won the Floyd of Rosedale Trophy, ending Iowa’s five- year winning streak against the Golden Gophers... Yale beat Harvard for the first time since 2000, landing a share of the Ivy League Conference title with Princeton. A sold- out crowd of over 30,000 fans attended the 123rd match-up of the two teams... BYU clinched the Mountain West title with a win against New Mexico last Saturday. The Cougars also accepted an invitation to the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl... Kentucky’s win over Louisiana-Monroe marks only the fourth time since 1977 the Wildcats have had a seven-win season... 1976 marks the last time both Miami (Fla.) and Florida State were .500 or below in November... Auburn’s Iron Bowl victory over Alabama marked the first time since 1958 the Tigers have won five straight against their interstate rival... Montana has managed at least a share of the Big Sky Conference championship for nine straight years, including 2006... TCU QB Jeff Ballard passed late Southwest Conference Commissioner Howard Grubbs (14-2 as starting QB for the Frogs in 1928 and ’29) as the all-time percentage leader as a starting QB at .889 (16-2).

Newberry hosted a special "Night with NASCAR's Elite" in Columbia, S.C., to raise athletics’ funds. The event featured NASCAR retired driving champion Cale Yarborough, current star Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and broadcaster Eli Gold (the voice of Alabama Crimson Tide) during a fun-filled evening... Ohio University mascot, Rufus the Bobcat, rode through Athens on his motorcycle last Tuesday. Fans won t-shirts, mini-football and game tickets during the promotional event... Augustana (S.D.) is pursuing affiliation in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference... Northeastern State (Okla.) is changing its nickname from Redmen to RiverHawks and will unveil its new logo in the spring... Oregon is considering an electronic football ticket distribution system in hopes of eliminating long lines and scalping... Former Notre Dame and Akron coach Gerry Faust spoke at Tiffin University’s (Ohio) Good Morning World breakfast lecture series... Georgia Tech has launched a Heisman campaign for standout wide receiver Calvin Johnson... TCU and the Susan G. Komen Foundation dedicated last Saturday’s game with San Diego State to the fight against breast cancer. Fans were encouraged to wear pink to the game, and players had pink ribbons painted on their helmets... Colorado and Arizona State have agreed to a home-and-home series. The first game will be in Boulder in 2013, and the game in Tempe will not be until 2018... Syracuse squad members did solid community service last week by visiting and speaking to incarcerated youngsters at the Syracuse Justice Center... Virginia sponsored a bone marrow drive with the National Donor Marrow Program prior to its game with Miami (Fla.) last week, assisting those needing life-saving marrow or blood cell transplants... Georgia Southern’s Brian VanGorder will speak at the Macon Touchdown Club on Nov. 20... American Family Insurance will be the title sponsor for the Toledo-Bowling Green football game on Nov. 21... Mansfield University (Ohio) eliminated its football program last Thursday but will immediately consider reinstating the sport if it can raise an endowment to fund it... Announced last Saturday at the Tennesse- Vanderbilt game, Wal-Mart will donate $750,000 to the Jason Foundation, Inc. ( www.jasonfoundation.com) to help the organization prevent youth suicides. Vols’ coach Philip Fulmer has been the group’s national spokesman since 1998.

Arizona State baseball coach Pat Murphy donated $100,000 to fund facility improvements on the Sun Devils’ campus. The sports medicine room inside the baseball clubhouse will become the Tillman Room in honor of 2006 NFF Distinguished American Pat Tillman and his brother Kevin... Alabama will name its football facility the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility in honor of the Crimson Tide athletics director’s lifetime commitment to the university... Former Wyoming QB David S. Cronk and his family recently donated $1 million to the university’s Athletics Facilities Campaign. The donation, which will be matched by the state, will be used for the construction of the new indoor practice facility as well as for War Memorial Stadium renovations... The dedication of Tiffin University’s (Ohio) newly named Paradiso Athletic Complex took place last Wednesday... South Carolina unveiled a near-$200 million proposal, which included plans for an 8,000-seat stadium expansion and an $11.4 million academic learning center.

Butch Davis has been named head coach at North Carolina... Matt Viator has been named head football coach at McNeese State... UMass named Todd McDonald its new director of marketing and promotions... David Harris, a senior associate athletics director at Iowa State, will serve as interim coach of the Cyclones... Syracuse named Sean Kerins associate athletics director... Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel received a $225,000 annual raise as well as a three-year contract extension.

Washington State and FSN Northwest have extended their agreement with FSN as “official television network of WSU athletics”... B2 Networks will partner with Ferris State (Mich.) to bring Bulldog athletics to the broadband broadcasting network... Stardock Design has launched the “My Colors” program in conjunction with Florida State Athletics, offering custom desktop branding solutions to Seminole fans everywhere... CBS’ “60 Minutes” aired a profile of prolific Alabama QB Joe Namath on Nov. 19... Beaver Sports Properties (BSP), a division of Learfield Sports, will extend their contract for Oregon State athletics’ multimedia rights through 2019.

The 24 candidates for the 2006 Harlon Hill Trophy for Division II’s Player of the Year have been announced. The winner will be revealed at the 21st annual Harlon Hill Trophy Presentation Banquet on Dec. 15... Division I-A’s top college football kick returner will receive the inaugural Randy Moss Return Man Award. The winner from the award’s 18 semifinalists will be decided by sports information directors around the country... The Home Depot College Football Awards will air live on ESPN Dec. 7. The show has added the prestigious Butkus Award to the line-up this year and will be hosted by 2006 NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football winners Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit... General Electric Chairman of the Board and CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt is the inaugural recipient of the American Football Coaches Foundation’s CEO Coach of the Year... The Walter Camp Award has announced its 10 semifinalists... The Guaranty Bank SMU Athletic Forum Board of Directors announced the 10 semifinalists for the 2006 Doak Walker Award... The Ted Hendricks Award to honor the nation’s best defensive end has narrowed its final watch list to 16 candidates... The John Mackey Award has announced its 12 semifinalists for the 2006 laurel... Five finalists for the 2006 Bronko Nagurski Trophy, awarded to the nation’s best defensive player, were announced last Thursday. The presentation of the winner will take place on Dec. 4 in Charlotte, N.C... East Carolina QB James Pinkney has been selected for the 2007 All-American Classic College All-Star Game in Las Vegas.

Gulf Coast Events and Galena Park ISD announced the first Inta Juice North- South All-Star Classic to be held on Jan. 13, 2007. Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach will coach the South team while San Jose State’s Dick Tomey will coach the North... Pittsburg State (Kan.) accepted an invitation to the Mineral Water Bowl to face Bemidji State (Minn.) on Dec. 2... The 15th Annual Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl sold out of its allotment of tickets on Nov. 15 even before team selections were announced and added 4,100 temporary end zone seats at Sam Boyd Stadium. The additional seats sold out in five hours last Thursday.

The 6th Annual East Coast Bowl, designed for Division I-AA, II, III and NAIA draft-eligible seniors from the Mid-Atlantic region, will take place on Nov. 25. The event, which is co-sponsored by the City of Petersburg (Va.) and the National Football Foundation’s Commonwealth Chapter, will take place at historic Cameron Field. 2006 NFF Scholar-Athlete LB Michael Klobucher of Ferris State (Kan.) is scheduled to play, and retired Richmond head football coach Jim Tait will be honored at halftime.

1993 College Football Hall of Famer Glenn E. “Bo” Schembechler, legendary coach at Michigan from 1969-1989, passed away on Nov. 17 while taping a weekly television show. He was 77... John Stiegman, 83, who was head coach at Rutgers, Pennsylvania and Iowa Wesleyan, has died... 23-year-old former UCLA cornerback Marcus Cassel died Friday from injuries sustained in a car accident earlier that day.