There have been so many football teams from NC in the running for the ACC Championship in the past few years that Swofford and his crew decided to move the Championship game to Charlotte to bring it closer…I’m relieved that now UNC and Duke won’t have that far to travel…

Starting next year the Championship game will be in Tampa Bay for 2 years, then travel to Charlotte for 2010 and 2011.  Check it out

Picture courtesy of: theacc.com

Tebow went down in history last Saturday as the first sophomore to ever win the Heisman.  He will return next season to Florida as a Junior with a National Championship from last year and now a Heisman trophy under his belt.  Tebow has made his mark on Florida and is a very talented QB.  He has played through multiple injuries including shoulder and hand, and still managed to get 51 TDs (passing for 29 and rusing for 22…the first college football QB to pass and rush for 20).  Just check out the Tebow Facts website to see how much he is idolized.  I think Tebow and the Gators are very talented.  But, I don’t agree with the fact that most of the more recent Heisman winners had to come from the best teams in the nation.

I realize that the well-known teams with established programs get the best known and highest ranked recruits.  There is no surprise.  But that should not give them any advantage in the Heisman race or discount players that may play for smaller programs.  Just look at how much the players mature over their 3-4 years…they understand the game and the plays their team are running, and at that point they have developed physically to reach their peak fitness.  Some of the players that were not recruited as heavily may turn out to build the best leaders in the future.  Tebow is talented, there is no argument there, but I wish that there was a more equal playing field for all teams and that it was decided solely on their individual talent.  I realize that Duke will not have a Heisman candidate anytime soon, but even Arkansas was drowned out by the National Championship discussions of Florida and how “It’s great–to be–a Florida Gator”…

My choice for the Heisman would have been McFadden.  This year was his second as runner-up for the trophy.  McFadden possibly the most versitile player at this time.  McFadden played QB in highschool and is fully capable of running or throwing the ball when he lines up as QB in their Wildcat Formation.  He is a threat at both RB, QB, and TB.  He was First-Team All American and Doak Walker Award Winner last year.  He was the first Heisman finalist ever from Arkansas last year.  You can check out the Wildcat offensive formation below from CSTV and see McFadden in action:

Nobody can say that Jim Grobe is a sell out.  And nobody was happier yesterday than the fan base at Wake Forest. 

Wake’s Stan Cotten, the Voice of the Deacons, said what the Deacon fans were thinking back in November in his thoughts on Grobe and Greed:

“And as we head deeper into autumn there will be the seasonal speculation of the bigger schools that will show up soon with their suitcases of cash - standing in line for a chat with Coach Grobe. Well, let me state this as clearly, and selfishly, as I can: Jim Grobe is our football coach. And you can’t have him.”

He was right with two things: The schools came knocking with deals that nobody would have ragged him for taking, they stood in line, but when it was all said and done and Wellman had given his counter, Grobe is still a Demon Deacon. 

And Arkansas can feel good about themselves this holiday season, since they helped not just Grobe, but Tommy Bowden, Butch David, and Tommy Tuberville get a raise for their families.

The coaching rumors are running rampant around North Carolina.

With Coach Grobe:

The Morning News in Northwest Arkansas reported earlier this week that Grobe was gone.

Arkansas Business has also reported that they won this war.

The Greensboro News and Record reported this morning that it ain’t over yet.  And ESPN News has yet to report anything to this point, but after the whole LSU and Michigan announcements that came back to bite them, I am sure that they are hesitant to call it either way until they are sure.

Grobe was offered 2.2 million with incentives and a pretty nice raise for his assistants if he made the move to Arkansas, but Wake’s AD Ron Wellman has the opportunity to counter the offer this morning.  At this point the football staff has reported to work as they always have this morning.  The players have all tried to call the assistants to talk to them, but most have not had their calls returned.  There is no telling what will happen over the course of the day, but I am holding out hope that he will stay.

 With Coach O’Brien:

To Michigan?  Seriously doubt it.  What recruit is going to want to play with him if he has coached 3 different places recently and they don’t know if he will stick around?   Other names thrown around for the Michigan job: Cal’s Jeff Tedford, Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, State’s Tom O’Brien, Missouri’s Gary Pinkel, and Cincinnati’s’s Brian Kelly.  This list isn’t long enough.  Why not just go ahead and throw in a few other names, and cover all bases?…  Maybe we should throw Les Miles BACK into the loop since he was named him head coach before given a chance to make the decision… I think that the best call would be for O’Brien to stick around State.

I had one of the best seats in the house for the NC State/Maryland football game last Friday. Too bad it wasn’t the best game. It didn’t come for free….I was put to work by Todd Gibson- running around the field keeping times for him and helping with the post game to earn my keep. I have seen many many football games and been in most every seat in the house at Carter Finley (50 yard line, nosebleed, endzone, student section, visitor’s etc.), but I have never experienced a game on the sidelines. It was cool to see the play unfold right in front if you, and Vaughn Towers looks even bigger from down there than they do in the stands.
I put some pictures up with the view.

I would have thought the Pack would have played with more heart last week, seeing that the winner of the game would get a bowl bid and it was the last time that 19 seniors on the team would play at Carter Finley. It was ugly. And that is being nice. The biggest hit of the game wasn’t on the field, it was me being hit from behind by Stan Lewter. He was helping Charlie of WTVD with the same tasks that I was with Gibby, and we were running down the sidelines to keep up with a play…had we been on the line of scrimmage there may have been a flag thrown an illegal cut block…And speaking of penalties, the highlight of the game came from one. One of the biggest roars from the crowd came from ACC official Ron Cherry’s eloquent verbage in this call against State’s offense. You have to see it below if you haven’t already seen Cherry assess the block in the back:

The the verdict is in for Callahan and Orgeron and they are dunzo, at least at their current schools.  

Bill Calahan has been at Nebraska for four years, and  had a record of 27-22.  Callahan was known for his great recruiting classes that were ranked high by many analysts, but he was never able to utilize the talent.  Everyone knew that if Callahan didn’t have a winning season this year, he would not be around afterwards.  The Huskers ended their season 5-7, which is not expected from Nebraska’s football program.  The decision was made on Saturday, after the 65-51 loss at Colorado.

Ed Orgeron’s story is much of the same, except that it was announced a few weeks ago that Orgeron would be back for next season.  He had several highly ranked recruting classes, but had no big wins.  His Rebels were winless against their fellow conference teams in the SEC.  He was also fired on Saturday, after losing to Mississippi State on Friday.

With all these coaching spots opening up, the rumors are flying about Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe being an elidgible candidate.  The 2006 ACC Coach of the Year and AP Coach of the Year has gotten a lot of good press and national attention after coaching Wake to an ACC Championship and making a good appearance at the Orange Bowl last year.  This year Wake has finished regular season 8-4 and are preparing for their third post season game under Grobe in his seven years there.

Just last year Wake extended Grobe’s contract through 2016, but I was surprised they did lose him after last season.  With all of the opportunities out there it has to be tempting.  Grobe is great for Wake, has brought them national attention, great recruiting classes, and works with the talent that he has.  Wake is not known for their football team, and with around 4,000 students and a stadium the size of a high school stadium in Texas, he has worked wonders. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love Wake.  And I love Grobe.  Wake just doesn’t have the big college appeal or established football program.  BUT, it is growing.  They are in the process of renovating Groves Stadium and building Deacon Towers that should be done before next season.  I love the fact that the true Freshmen at Wake know going into their first season they will most likely be red shirted.  No College Football Powerhouse has the ability to do this, because so much is expected from their team right away.  Wake has it set up now so they have strong senior and junior classes that have developed physically and know the game by the time they reach their 4th year of elidgability.  It is good because it rules out any egotistic and selfish players that go into college expecting to run the team, and tell the coach what to do.  None of this would be possible for Wake without Jim Grobe.

Grobe has done a great job.  So great that he is getting a lot of attention, and good as he is for Wake and as bad as I want him to stay there, there is are many more schools that would love to have him…with a few more dollar signs behind them…Would you stay at Wake if you were in his position?

I love it when Grey Blackwell of N&O posts his newest cartoons for different ACC teams. I even loved the ones making fun of Chuck last year.

Check out his latest video of Butch Davis trying to motivate his team on News & Observer’s Site- it is worth watching.

Now if you haven’t seen “More Cowbell” from Saturday Night Live you have to. It is hilarious. My fantasy football team name was even “More Cowbell” for a short time.