Philly wins award for worst sports fans in America

GQ magazine hands the land of Cheese Steak and angry knuckleheads the award as home to the Worst Sports Fans in America. Continue reading…

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March 18, 2011, 6:48 pm

50% chance No. 1 seed wins NCAA Tournament

The four No. 1 seeds in the 2011 NCAA Tournament (Ohio State, Duke, Kansas, Pittsburgh) have almost exactly a 50% chance to win. Continue reading…

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March 14, 2011, 6:08 am

Jared Sullinger has Ohio State big favorite in Big Ten

Ohio State lead by Jared Sullinger is a HUGE 40% favorite to take home the Big Ten conference title. Continue reading…

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March 8, 2011, 7:24 am

West Virginia’s Holgorsen could earn $14.2M over 6 years

New West Virginia offensive coordinator and head coach-in-waiting Dana Holgorsen is guaranteed $10.675 million over the life of his six-year contract, a figure that could rise to as much as $14.275 million with incentives. The term sheet for his employment, which became public this week, also includes a $2 million buyout which decreases twice over the life of the contract, as well as a provision that allows Holgorsen to walk away from the deal should the pending NCAA investigation into the program result in significant sanctions. — Charleston Gazette

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January 26, 2011, 6:37 am

BCS 2012 National Championship Odds

Odds to win the 2012 BCS National Championship

Oklahoma                                 7/2

Alabama                                   15/2

Florida State                              10/1

Boise State                               12/1

LSU                                          12/1

Oregon                                      14/1

Florida                                      15/1

Where is your school listed? CLICK HERE for the rest of the 2012 BCS National Championship odds

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January 13, 2011, 6:16 pm

Miami could land top Michigan football recruit

Dallas Crawford might not be a Michigan man after all. Crawford, a standout senior quarterback and cornerback at South Fort Myers High School, verbally committed to the Wolverines on Nov. 12. However, in the wake of reports Continue reading →

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January 5, 2011, 7:33 am

West Virginia spending extra $1.8 mil to change football coaches

West Virginia is on the hook for nearly $900,000 to be paid next season to those four fired offensive assistants – Jeff Mullen, Dave Johnson, Chris Beatty and Dave McMichael. Mullen and Johnson were making $241,582 each and Beatty and McMichael $200,000 each. Continue reading →

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January 4, 2011, 3:05 am

Duke, Ohio State lead NCAA Men’s Hoops odds

Odds to Win the 2010-11 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship
Duke                             11/4
Ohio State                     11/2
Kansas                         7/1
Michigan State              12/1
Pittsburgh                     18/1
Kansas State                20/1
Kentucky                      20/1
Syracuse                      20/1
Continue reading →

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December 16, 2010, 8:47 pm

College Football’s Fun Facts

23 Things to know heading into College Football’s 4th Saturday

  1. Alabama has reeled off 27 consecutive regular-season victories. The Tide is also a perfect 16-0 in SEC play over the last two years, becoming just the second team (Florida – 1995 & 1996) in conference history to post back-to-back undefeated 8-0 records since the league split into a divisional format in 1992.

  2. Arkansas has played the defending national champions nine times in the last 14 years, including each of the last three seasons. In 2008, Bobby Petrino became the first Razorback head coach to earn an on-field victory over the defending national champions in his first season with a 31-30 victory over LSU.

  3. Greg McElroy’s 17-0 start to his career ranks as the second-longest streak of consecutive wins by a starting quarterback in school history. Jay Barker won the first 22 games of his career from 1991-93.

  4. Last week, Mark Ingram became the first FBS player since 2008 to rush for more than 150 yards on less than 10 carries.

  5. Ohio State has won 56 straight regular-season non-conference games against teams not ranked in the AP Top 25. The last unranked non-conference team to beat Ohio State was Pittsburgh in 1988. Ohio State’s last six non-conference losses were all to teams ranked in the AP Top 3.

  6. Ohio State did not commit a penalty last week against Ohio. It was the first time since 1988 that Ohio State went an entire game without a penalty. Ohio State has only committed two penalties over its last two games and has committed the fifth-fewest penalties among FBS schools this season.

  7. The Buckeyes are 19-1 in games in which Terrell Pryor throws at least one touchdown pass and 13-1 in games in which Pryor rushes for at least one touchdown.

  8. Oregon State receiver/returner James Rodgers leads the nation in all-purpose yards per game with 226.5, over 25 yards more than second-place Kendall Hunter of Oklahoma. Rodgers is second among active players with 5,530 career all-purpose yards.

  9. Texas is currently on a 16-game home winning streak, which is the sixth-longest streak on UT record and is the fifth-longest active streak in the nation behind Oklahoma (33), Boise St. (26), Utah (19) and Houston (17).

  10. The Oregon Ducks lead the nation in total offense (611.7), scoring offense (63.0), total defense (193.3), scoring defense (4.3) and pass efficiency defense (61.20).

  11. Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez leads the nation in rushing touchdowns with 8, but has only one passing touchdown so far. Martinez has also run for more yards (421) than he has thrown (392).

  12. The Florida Gators lead the nation with 10 interceptions this season – two more than any other team. Four different Gators have multiple interceptions this season.

  13. Florida QB John Brantley has gone 140 straight pass attempts without an interception. He has opened the 2010 season with an active streak of 79. Brantley’s only career pick — against 15 career touchdowns — came in 2008 at Vanderbilt.

  14. The Oklahoma Sooners are now exactly 500 games above .500 in school history, going 802-302-53 over their 115 seasons of football.

  15. Oklahoma Head Coach Bob Stoops returns to coach in his home state for the first time since he left Kent State for Kansas State after the 1988 season. Stoops is a native of Youngstown, which is 274 miles northeast of Cincinnati.

  16. Wisconsin is 30-4 under Bret Bielema when it scores first, including wins in nine of the last 10 games in which it has put the first points on the board.

  17. LSU’s current nation-leading non-conference regular season winning streak of 30 games is on the line against West Virginia. The streak dates back to 2002. LSU has also won 28 straight non-conference games at Tiger Stadium, dating back to 2000.

  18. Utah has scored 72% (87/121) of their points in the second and third quarter. Utah has only scored 10 first-quarter points this season despite averaging just over 40 points per game.

  19. Cal running back Shane Vereen is the only FBS player with at least five rushing and two receiving touchdowns so far this season.

  20. Iowa is 45-2 when scoring 30 points of more under head coach Kirk Ferentz, who is in his 12th season as head coach at Iowa.

  21. Penn State is the only team NOT to not allow a sack this season. The Nittany Lions’ offensive line entered the season with only one returning starter playing the same position he finished last season.

  22. Michigan QB Denard Robinson, with 671 passing yards and 559 rushing yards this season, is the only FBS player with at least 500 passing and 400 rushing yards this season. He also is one of only two players (Colin Kaepernick, Nevada) with at least four passing and four rushing touchdowns this season.

  23. UCLA is ranked 118th in passing offense, averaging just 100 yards per game. Only Georgia Tech and Army are worse.
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September 24, 2010, 10:00 pm

‘Hand-Shake Gate’ rocks West Virginia

Welcome to “Hand-Shake Gate.” In Wednesday’s column, I wrote that West Virginia University head football coach Bill Stewart didn’t shake hands with Marshall coach Doc Holliday after the Mountaineers’ 24-21 overtime win on Sept. 10. So, Stewart telephoned Wednesday to vehemently deny that. “You said the quote in the Beckley paper was false,” said Stewart. “It wasn’t false. I did shake Doc’s hand. “It’s true that I didn’t meet him at midfield. Noel Devine had me around the neck and I didn’t make it out to midfield. But I shook Doc’s hand right before I went into the (Shewey) building. “His strength coach (Frank Piraino) was there with Doc. I shook JaJuan Seider’s hand, too, and I think Tony Petersen’s. I looked for Bill Legg, but I couldn’t find him. “I want a retraction because I did shake hands with Doc.” There’s just one problem. Holliday is just as adamant as Stewart on this subject. “You know the truth,” said Holliday, after learning about Stewart’s assertion during the telephone call. “He didn’t shake my hand. “I was walking toward the Shewey Building with Frank (Piraino) and Stewart slapped my hand as he ran by. That’s not a hand-shake in my book.” — Herald-Dispatch

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September 23, 2010, 7:09 am

College Football Fun Facts – Week 3


  • Ohio State leads the NCAA in turnover margin (+3.50), having not committed a turnover and forcing seven through two games.

  • Boise State carries a 15-game winning streak into the game as they have not lost a game since their 2008 bowl loss to TCU.

  • Texas has been ranked in the USA Today Coaches poll top 25 for a school record and NCAA-leading 188 weeks in a row.

  • Since 2005, TCU is 46-1 when ahead (33-1) or even (13-0) in turnover margin.

  • Baylor is one of only three FBS defenses (No. 1 Alabama, No. 24 Arizona) that has yet to allow a TD this season. Baylor has outscored its opponents by a combined score of 48-3 in the first half this season.

  • After his 75-yard interception return for a touchdown, all three of Oregon CB Cliff Harris’ official touches this season have gone for scores (2 punt returns, 1 pick six). The INT was the second of his career.

  • In each game this season, Florida has had a player record a kickoff return of 50-plus yards and a rush of 40-plus yards. Mike Gillislee accomplished it in the opener vs. Miami, while Jeff Demps achieved the feat against USF.

  • Washington set a school record by using 13 true freshmen in their season opener against BYU. Previously, the season record for true freshmen to play was 12, set in 2008. In their game last week against Syracuse, a 14th true freshman played. The Huskies now have played the most true freshmen of any FBS school.

  • Nebraska is averaging 8.8 yards per rush through two games this season which leads the nation by nearly a full yard better than second-place Michigan State. The Huskers have had 11 runs of 20 yards or longer.

  • Oklahoma has won its last 32 home games, the longest current streak in the nation. The streak began in 2005 with a 31-15 win over Tulsa. The Sooners have outscored their opponents by nearly 1,000 points during the streak with the average score being 45.0 to 14.0.

  • Arizona coach Mike Stoops teams have a respectable 3-3 mark against AP top-10 schools at Arizona Stadium, including victories over No. 7 UCLA in 2005(52-14), No. 8 California in 2006 (24-20) and No. 2 Oregon in 2007 (34-24).

  • Wisconsin running back John Clay rushed for 137 yards on 23 carries in the win over San Jose State, marking the eighth-consecutive game in which the junior has topped the 100-yard milestone. That is the longest active streak in the country (Lance Dunbar of North Texas is second with five straight 100-yard games).

  • In their 14 games with Dan Mullen as their head coach, Mississippi State rushed for at least 100 yards in all but one game and scored at least one rushing touchdown in all but two games.

  • Among FBS schools, Arkansas is tenth in total offense and fourth in total defense. Arkansas is the only school in the nation to rank in the top 10 of both categories.

  • New Mexico has allowed 124 points in its first two games of the season, the most among FBS schools. That is the most points allowed by New Mexico in consecutive games since at least 1996.

  • Auburn is 20-4 in home night games since the 2000 season, including a record of 4-1 against nationally-ranked opponents.

  • Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck threw for two touchdowns last week at UCLA after throwing four touchdowns in the opener against Sacramento State. He is tied for third nationally with six passing touchdowns after two games. Luck is almost hallway to the 13 touchdowns he threw last season.

  • Penn State has won 20 consecutive non-conference games at Beaver Stadium and has not lost a non-conference game at home since 2003 when they lost 14-27 to Boston College.

  • Since 1999, West Virginia is 65-1 when scoring more than 30 points in a game with their lone loss a 34-44 defeat to then fifth-ranked Louisville in 2006. When the Mountaineers score 30 or less, they are 27-45 since 1999.

  • The Michigan Wolverines are one of just four FBS teams (Kentucky, NC State and Ohio State) that has played two games without turning the ball over once.

  • With the 54-24 win over UTEP on Sept. 10, 2010, Houston QB Case Keenum has 24 wins as a starter and is ranked third place all-time. He needs only three wins in 2010 to become the school’s all-time leader in that category, passing Kevin Kolb (26, 2003-06). With one more win he will tie Gary Mullins (25, 1969-71).

  • Missouri’s T.J. Moe is the only FBS player who has pulled down double-digit receptions in each of his first two games this season.
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September 18, 2010, 9:47 am

Bengals Ochocinco giving West Virginia WR advice

West Virginia freshman wide receiver Ivan McCartney is getting some high-powered advice these days. “Be great at whatever you do,” McCartney’s cousin has told him. “Work harder than anyone in the nation.” Who is McCartney’s cousin? None other than Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver and reality TV star Chad Ochocinco. McCartney is listening to Ochocinco, but he is still his own person. McCartney had the opportunity to choose jersey No. 85 like his cousin, but he instead selected Pat White’s old number (5). “If I would’ve chosen 85, everyone would’ve known me as Chad Ochocinco,” McCartney said. “I wanted to make my own legacy.” McCartney, a U.S. Army All-American from Miramar (Fla.) High, said he doesn’t have the mentality of most wide receivers. “I’m not a very cocky and arrogant person,” he said. “We all work together.” — Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

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September 2, 2010, 5:53 am

West Virginia’s Noel Devine never considered going to NFL

Noel Devine could have run all the way to the NFL after a junior season in which he ran for 1,465 yards and 13 touchdowns. “But I never really considered going to the NFL last year,” he says. “I wanted to get my degree and felt that was very important to me. To graduate is a high honor.” Devine had come too far to leave college early. He’d come too far to leave without properly punctuating his WVU career. — Rivals.com

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August 12, 2010, 7:54 am