A special Hat Tip to Greg Gowins, runner up in the 2007-08 ITB Bowl Bonanza for this little gem.

In a current lawsuit between Walmart and the people of Texas, there has been some disagreement on where the court proceedings would be held. One group wants the proceedings held in San Antonio, Texas and the other wants it held in Bentonville, Arkansas. So the honorable United States District Judge James R. Nowland chose the site of this proceeding. His reasoning for his choice is as follows:

“The Court is sympathetic with the Defendant’s argument. Sure the Defendant’s Corporate Representative, a resident of Arkansas, would feel great humiliation by being forced to enter the home state of the University of Texas, where the legendary Texas Longhorns have wrought havok on the Arkansas Razorbacks with an impressive 55-21 all time record.

On the other hand the court is sympathetic with the Plaintiffs’ position. Plaintiffs might enter Arkansas with a bit of trepidation as many residents of Arkansas are still seeing retribution for the “Game of the Century” in which James Street and Darrell Royal stunned the Razorbacks by winning the 1969 National Championship.”

Don’t get me started on the 1969 National Champion Texas Longhorns (thank you very much Tricky Dick), but the Judge closes with ordering the proceedings to take place on June 11, 2008 at 9am at the location of Texarkana Federal Building on 500 State Line Avenue, TX/AR 71854. You can read the entire document here.

Former LSU and oft-troubled quarterback Ryan “Hunk Fiji” Perrilloux has officially transferred to FCS middleweight Jacksonville State.

What This Means: While I can’t say I’ve had much sympathy for Perrilloux, I think this is a mutually beneficial situation that he’s stepping into. Considering Jacksonville State didn’t have any scholarship quarterbacks on the roster he’s clearly doing them a favor by stepping into a tough situation, while Head Coach Jack Crowe is doing him a favor by virtually guaranteeing him a starting spot. But don’t just assume Perrilloux will dominate at a lower level and play his way back into NFL prospectdom. He’s bound to be on a short leash considering he’s taking over for a quarterback who was kicked off the team, and has shown a propensity for finding trouble in the past even when he knows he’s run out of fifth chances. If nothing else, this gives us another reason to tune into the Jacksonville State-Georgia Tech matchup on August 28. Something tells me Bristol is scrambling to get involved in this one.

BYU running back Manase Tonga was ruled academically ineligible for the 2008 season, and will have to take a redshirt before reapplying to the University if he wants to play in 2009.

What This Means: Not a whole lot. Don’t get me wrong, in an offense based on role players Tonga was one of BYU’s best last year. A solid blocker and receiver out of the backfield, he ran for 305 yards and eight touchdowns for the Cougars in limited duty. But BYU is stacked in the backfield, returning both MWC Freshmen of the Year Harvey Unga (1227 yards, 13 TD) and a finally healthy Taufui Vakapuna (252 yards in ’07, 445 yards in ’06.) Unga is truly as talented as they come, while Vakapuna, when healthy, is an absolute load to bring down. When you throw in highly touted redshirt freshmen J.J. DiLuigi to the mix, BYU has one of the best backfields in the entire country even without Tonga.

The Big East reportedly was in negotiations to bring Memphis into the conference as a possible expansion team, then reportedly was not.

What It Means: It seems like just yesterday we were still writing Big (L)east and never missing an opportunity to make the constant aside about how much the new Big East sucks. That being said dumping Temple and moving to an eight team football conference hasn’t been bad at all for the Big East, and despite basically perpetual calls for adding a ninth team by fans and media members I don’t know if this is something that needs to be rushed along. I do know one thing, and that’s that Army, Navy, and Notre Dame aren’t going anywhere, so when the Big East does decide to expand, it will either have to come internally (like ‘Nova moving up from the FCS) or will have to come from Memphis or East Carolina.

ACC Athletic Directors decided to scrap possible plans for adding a ninth conference game.

What This Means: Boo-hoo. I know the folks in SEC and Pac-10 country are whining over this as usual, but being from ACC country I applaud this move. Why? Because we have great regional games here on the east coast, games that often feature matchups between the ACC and Conference-USA or the highly competitive Colonial Athletic Conference. People love to knock these “lower” matchups because of how easily they perceive the ACC slate to be, but God forbid the sport of college football be extended out of hallowed SEC conference. Personally, I’d much rather see a highly motivated CAA team try to knock off a mid-level ACC team than be subjected to seeing Clemson put up 70 on Duke.

League Commissioner John Swofford has announced that the ACC will no longer participate in the Humanitarian Bowl after 2008, a move which will terminate one reluctant ACC team’s annual pilgrimage to the Smurf Turf.

What It Means: With the approval of the Congressional Bowl this was bound to happen, as the ACC is now affiliated with nine (count them: NINE) bowl tie-ins for 2008. Considering the ACC probably won’t have nine bowl eligible teams, it makes sense to cut ties with Humanitarian Bowl, which has always been looked on as something of a punishment by fans and media members. For the record, I hate it when people knock Boise, which really is a pretty awesome city in one of the coolest regions of our country. Maybe not a cup of tea for some Miami fan in December, but hopefully my Midshipmen can jump on this in 2009 and give me a decent excuse to get out to Sun Valley for some skiing.

Mailbag, did you say Mailbag?

I like to think myself a fairly astute observer of the college football game, especially the non-BCS conferences. So, in an effort to make our slow crawl into the college football preview season a little more interesting, I’ve decided to set up a “Non-BCS Conference Mailbag” over here at ITB. Basically we can do this one of two ways. One, you send your questions, comments, concerns, or queries to guyontheright-at-gmail.com and I answer them here on the blog, OR I make up questions by people named A. Howard Rogers and post the answers on the blog. Frankly I’d rather try the first option, so let’s have at it.

I was rather critical of Les Miles earlier in the month for his less than harsh punishment(s) of star quarterback Ryan Perrilloux. But today, Miles finally had enough and kicked the blue chip quarterback off the team for good. On one hand I applaud Miles, but on the other, I wonder what the heck took him so long to do this?

From the beginning we all knew that Perrilloux was no saint. Let’s look at some of the trouble he has been in while being at LSU:

1. Late 2006 - Perrilloux was questioned by federal officials for his role in a counterfeiting ring being investigated in his hometown of LaPlace. Perrilloux had tried to pass to counterfeit $20 at a LaPlace area convenience store. He was never arrested for this but did community service work.

2. May 2007 - Cited by Baton Rouge Police for attempting to enter a downtown gambling casino with false identification. He was not 21 at the time. Punished for the summer (Ouch!). Reinstated for fall practice.

3. October 2007 - Perrilloux was in a barroom brawl near the LSU campus. He was questioned by Baton Rouge Police but not arrested. Miles suspended him for the Nov. 3 Alabama game, however, and he did not make the trip to Tuscaloosa, Ala. He re-joined the team two days after the game.

4. January 2008 - Skipping classes and team meetings. Miles suspends him from the team, yet allows him to go to the White House with the team to be honored by President Bush. He is one of the few members of the team to shake the President’s hand. The suspension was lifted late during the Tigers’ spring drills.

I can see giving a person a second chance, but he had a history of bringing trouble with him, and part of the blame has to go to Miles and the LSU staff. They knew what they were getting into when recruiting Perrilloux, yet looked the other way to get a superstar on their team. Well guys, you got your National Title, so everything is alright.

There is no doubt that Perriloux will try and transfer to another program, but what program would want to take a chance on a kid like this? I know there is one or two out there, but I believe he will end up in the ranks of the FCS Division. He would be too much of a distraction to only be able to have for one year for an FBS team to take a chance on him.

Has Joe lost his touch?

April 19th is a day that I had circled on my calender since the ending of the BCS Championship game in January. Why April 19th you ask? Because that was the day I got my spring fix of football as I head up to Penn State to see the Annual Blue-White Game. Usually it is a time filled with optimism about the upcoming season and a time to welcome in spring with a few burgers and beers. But the time between the Alamo Bowl and the Blue-White Scrimmage has been anything but fun for Penn State fans.

Bruce Feldman writes in his latest blog about Unhappy Valley for Lions. In that blog entry he talks about all the trouble that the Nittany Lions players have gotten into lately, whether it be Chris Bell pulling a knife on a teammate, Chris Baker being charged in two fights, or Andrew Quarless getting a DUI which is his second drinking offense in as many years. Add to that the leader of the team Sean Lee tearing his ACL, and Penn State fans haven’t had much to cheer about since that Alamo Bowl victory.

In Bruce’s blog he asks what Penn State fans think of what is going on in Happy Valley, and our take on it. Here is the email I wrote to him.

There are a few reasons why I think all of this trouble is going on at Penn State, and some of it isn’t really new. With the internet, you tube, and everyone wanting information now, it is much harder cover up bad behavior by student-athletes. One little mess up at a bar and all it takes is someone with a camera phone, or even someone with a blog to post it. I am sure bad behavior such as fights and underage drinking went on at Penn State but it was much easier for Joe to handle it. The cops would just call him and he would handle it internally, now that doesn’t happen anymore. It becomes front page news.

Many people say that Joe has lost his team, that since he works at home most of the time he doesn’t have the same grasp over his team like he use to. To an extent that is true, but he has delegated a lot of that to the staff. But in the end it is up to the football players to police themselves. Their coaches can’t be babysitters, they are grown men and there is only so much time the coaches can be in contact with them in a day. In my opinion this team, as well as most other Penn State teams since 2000 (minus 2005) are lacking leadership. They are lacking that presence in the locker room that will kick your butt if you get out of line. A group of people that will call you out in front of your peer if you do something wrong and set a good example with their actions, not only on the field but in the community too.

I’m sure you noticed this when you wrote Meat Market, but kids now have this aura of self-entitlement. They feel they should be given everything just because who they are and what potential they have going for them. Take Chris Bell for instance, he was trouble since Penn State started recruiting him. On his trip he stepped on the “S” in the middle of the locker room and when the players told him he had to do push ups…he refused. In High School these kids were treated like gods, and I’m sure they weren’t saints there. But it was easier for their bad behavior to get swept under the rug in a smaller town, with less spotlight on them.

Which brings me to my next point; I think Joe and his staff has taken more chances on players with character issues than in years past. After going through those losing skids, I think he realized that he needed to get better athletes in the program and with that it included taking in some kids in which he might have passed on before because of their character. It is great if those kids get their act straight or if Joe can get through to them and turn their attitude around, but that doesn’t happen all the time. He is over 80 years old and some what out of touch with today’s young adults, so that task might be more difficult than it at first thought for him.

You made a quote in your blog: “According to Bracken’s column, there have been over 60 Penn State players who “have run afoul of the law just since 2002.” That is a staggering number, especially for a program that has had a long reputation for doing things the right way.”"

For years Penn State touted “Success With Honor” and winning the right way. When you start waving that around it is great when your team is winning and your kids aren’t getting in trouble, but once they start getting in trouble, the media and opposing fans are going to make sure you hear about it. They are going to point out that your program is getting in trouble in the police blotter and how you rubbed it in for years that you won without this happening. It is a way for the rest of the college football world to chuckle.

As far as the subject of Joe Paterno as head coach of the Nittany Lions; put me in the camp that is undecided. Ivan Maisel writes an excellent article on Paterno. Yes there is a air of uncertainty surrounding the program, but there still is something to be said for a man doing as well as he is at 81, coaching a major university. Plus there are still kids out there that want to play for a legend like Paterno. I guess my big wish is for him to come down a peg or two and start to lay out plans for when he does decide to hang it up. Maybe he has already done it behind the scenes, but if I were a betting man, I suspect he hasn’t just yet.

And your synergy just plain sucks!

The curse of being a football fan is that you have to put up with all the window dressing that is needed to entice non-football fans these days. I know I’m not breaking new ground with this statement, but for me to not say it in some medium would just be wrong.

I woke up from a nap and switched over to Fox to see what was going on, and Alicia Keys performing. I think she is an incredible artist, but am I the only one that just thinks there’s something wrong with a performance on a football field. That, of course, doesn’t include marching bands. Because marching bands are tradition. Their popularity doesn’t diminish over time. Their popularity doesn’t disappear with age. It actually grows. They play the same songs in the same formations with the same movements every week and it never gets old. If you’re like me, your schools marching band actually invokes emotions in you that you don’t experience anywhere or with anyone else. Simply put, it’s special.

But something about a pop artist performing on a field just reeks of bad. Of course, the last thing I saw before my nap was Before the Music Dies, a documentary on the devolution of popular music. It’s running on IFC this month and I would strongly urge you to take 90 minutes of your life to check it out. So yeah, I’m sure that skewed my thought process a little bit. But still, the corporate mega forces that control the music industry are the same types that control the broadcast industry that feeds us what they want us to like on the TV side. And they seem to work well together to bring football fans what we least want to see on Superbowl Sunday. Although I’m sure it’s exactly what all the test markets are telling them it’s what they need to show to bring in the non-football fans.

Still, it is the Superbowl. Which is going on as I type this. So I should probably get in front of the TV so I don’t seem like a complete dweeb tomorrow at work. But before I do, you should really check out this video from the documentary I was telling you about. This is why people lip sync.

The Detroit Free Press and Pittsburgh Post Gazette are both reporting that Lloyd Carr’s Michigan Wolverines used a player that was academically ineligible in each of their first four games. Since this is a Big Ten eligibility rule, the Wolverines might have to forfeit their 14-9 victory over Penn State in each team’s Big Ten opener.

Artis Chambers, a freshman safety who enrolled at Michigan in January, appeared on special teams in each of the first four games. He had one tackle against Penn State Sept. 22 at Michigan Stadium.

Because it’s a Big Ten eligibility issue, Michigan is only facing disciplinary action based on its conference opener against Penn State, according to the Ann Arbor News.

Big Ten spokesman Scott Chipman said today that a subcommittee is looking into the matter and could make a decision within two weeks. Chipman acknowledged that awarding a forfeit to Penn State is an option.

Personally I would be surprised if the Big Ten went as far as to make Michigan lose the game, but it could send a message to the rest of the league about keeping closer tabs on academically ineligible players.

“We’ve had a misinterpretation of the Big Ten freshman-eligibility rules,” Martin said, referring to Chambers’ status as a second-semester enrollee last January. “We found this out Thursday afternoon. He is no longer going to be a part of the (active) team for the rest of the year. He was eligible under NCAA rules, not Big Ten rules.”

For those Cane fans that remember all the great games in the Orange Bowl such as Wide Right, Wide Left, and so on, this will be your last year to see your Miami Hurricanes in the Orange Bowl. Today ‘Da U’ has finalized a deal that will have the Canes playing in Dolphins Stadium starting in the 2008 season. The Hurricanes agreed to a 25-year lease with Dolphin Stadium. A lot of Cane fans are sad to see the team move, but they have to be glad they won’t have to go to that dump of a stadium called the Orange Bowl. They will be able to wow recruits by showing them Dolphins Stadium which has undergone $200 million in upgrades in the past few years.

Penn State has been in the police blotter laterly, but yesterday the Lions received some good news when Jr safety Anthony Scirrotto had 5 of the 7 charges against him dropped. Scirrotto was involved in an off campus fight in April that landed a lot of players in hot water. More good news from Happy Valley sees Sophomore TE Andrew Quarless back with the team. Quarless along with fellow sophomore Willie Harriott were picked up for underage drinking late last week. Rumors were floating around that both players were kicked off the team. Coach Paterno left it up to the team to decide their fate, and the team voted to allow both player back on the team. No word on the punishment that the two will receive.

One of the big stories coming into fall practice is who will succeed Brady Quinn at quarterback for the Fighting Irish. Going into spring there were four players all looking to stake claim at that spotlight job: Evan Sharpley, Demetrius Jones, Zach Frazer, and Jimmy Clausen. In a statement released by head coach Charlie Weis yesterday, Frazer found out that he was no longer in the running for the quarterback job.

Weis said that he will trim the list to two by the end of the week. I’m not so sure this is a good tatic by Weis. What happened to the old days where he fed the players information through them, and not the media? He is treating this like he is a recruiting choosing a school, cutting his list down then making a decision. I’m not bashing his choice of not starting Zach, but I think he could handled this a little better. Frazer is not happy at all by the situation and is hinting towards transferring.

In other news Jerry Wasikowski, a reserve tight end on the Purdue football team, was arrested on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

The St. Petersberg Times reports that University of South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe, the Big East Rookie of the Year in 2006, was arrested and received a misdemeanor charge of selling alcohol to a minor on April 19th at the Bull Ring Sports Bar, an off campus USF-themed sports bar where Grothe apparently works as a bartender. Grothe reportedly served two beers to an 18-year old that was working for the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco. The article indicates that Grothe will likely receive a very minimal legal punishment (probably communtiy service and probation) and the arrest would not lead to significant disciplinary action from the USF head coach Jim Leavitt.

A few things strike me here:

First, Grothe should not receive any significant discipline from the USF program. At just 20-years old, Grothe is probably the biggest celebrity on the USF campus. He is a college kid, likely trying to have a good time doing something many college kids do, by working at a bar to make a few easy bucks. Yes, he obviously exhibited poor judgement in failing to ask for identification from a bar patron. He should quietly admit responsibilty and apologize for acting improperly, pay his fines, and do his community service in order to make things right with the legal system. He should apologize to his teammates for putting the USF program in the news for reasons other than football and run his laps or stairs without complaint. And, he should certainly use better judgement in the future when it comes to his offseason employment–working in a bar is probably not going to lead to anything good for a star quarterback in college.

Second, we get these gems from head coach Jim Leavitt:

“I had heard something happened, but I didn’t know what, “ Leavitt said Friday when asked about the arrest. “He’s not working there anymore.” Asked if he had known Grothe was working there before the incident, Leavitt said he did not, and when asked if anyone at USF knew, he said “(I’m) unsure. But somebody is supposed to.”

Leavitt’s team is receiving national attention for its improvements and will likely be on the cusp of the top 25 to begin the 2007. They will play the program’s two biggest home games ever, against West Virginia and Louisville, and will have an opportunity to appear in a BCS bowl with wins. So, how, on Earth, do you not know that your starting quarterback is spending his evenings working at a USF-themed sports bar? Quite frankly, Leavitt is lucky that this situation with Grothe is the worst thing that happened. Imagine if some drunken boosters decide to give your starting quarterback a hefty tip and the NCAA catches wind of it (ask Rhett Bomar if boosters are ever tempted to “help out” star players while they are working). And, saying that you do not, but “someone is supposed to” know where players are employed does not really demonstrate that buck stops here mentality that most great leaders possess. The head coach of a football program is supposed to act as a CEO and Leavitt, with more than ten-years under his belt as the USF head coach, appears to have a serious disconnect with what his marquee player is doing on a day-to-day basis. If this happened to an SEC or Big 10 school and its head coach made comments like this, he would be publically skewered by the media and the NCAA would be looking into what else they were “unsure” of, regarding their players’ offseason employment.

Third, I am not a big proponent of paying NCAA athletes and I certainly appreciate that the players are receiving the opportunity to receive a great education and a college degree, but maybe it is time to allow a fair stipend to these kids, so they do not have to worry about making money when they should be concentrating on school and football. I recognize that the NCAA does not have a bottomless pit of money, but is it to much to ask for the pot to be shared with the folks that are playing in the games that sell tickets and provide the television revenue? I’m not asking for enough to buy an Escalade or trips to Vegas here, but how about a little something so a kid can take a date out?

Anyway, I am sure that Matt Grothe will be the one running steps this week. Leavitt and the NCAA should have to run along with him.

For many Penn State fans this week has been a tense one. Most who follow the football program know that an off-campus fight occurred earlier this month which involved quite a few football players. There were rumors that it could be upwards of 15 to 17 players involved in this fight.

Run Up The Score has been keeping a good eye on this story, so check there for all of the rumors. But now I give you the facts, charges handed down from the State College Police Dept.

Starting Free Safety Anthony Scirrotto is charged with burglary, criminal trespassing, two counts of criminal solicitation, simple assault, and harassment. Defensive lineman Chris baker is charged with burglary, criminal trespassing, simple assault, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, and harassment. CB Justin King is charged with criminal trespassing, disorderly conduct, and harassment. LB Jerome Hayes is charged with criminal trespassing, disorderly conduct, and harassment. CB Lydell Sargeant is charged with criminal trespassing, disorderly conduct, and harassment. LB Tyrell Sales is charged with criminal trespassing, disorderly conduct, and harassment.

As far as suspensions, that is up to Joe Paterno plus no one has heard from the University’s Judicial Board. If I were to guess Sales, King, Sargeant, and Hayes will probably miss a game. While the other two could miss more. This is only a speculation and could only occur if these players are found guilty.