Category → College Football

A New Year’s Day Travesty: No Rose Bowl on Jan. 1

22 June, 03:06, by Admin Tags: , ,

The powers-that-be in college football released the 2011-2012 bowl schedule on Friday.

Usually, the occasion is a non-event. But not this year. And here’s why: According to this farce of a schedule, the Rose Bowl–the single greatest event of the football calendar year–will not be played on New Year’s Day this season.

That’s right, folks. Because New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday, and because some people in this country actually enjoy that drudgery they call the “National Football League” (motto: “Where we pretend to care about our fans.”), the traditional New Year’s Day bowl games, including The Grandaddy Of Them All, will be moved. The Rose Bowl will played on Jan. 2, along with the Chick-fil-A, TicketCity, Outback, Capital One and Gator Bowls.

Meanwhile, the Allstate Sugar Bowl will be played on Jan. 3 (does nobody else find it utterly ridiculous that a game as important as the Sugar Bowl has been relegated to a dreary January Tuesday?), the Orange Bowl will be played on Jan. 4, and the Fiesta Bowl be played on Jan. 5.

Newton’s media day workout “phenomenal”?

11 February, 10:38, by Admin Tags: , , , ,

At least one analyst enjoyed Auburn quarterback Cam Newton’s media day workout.

From Bruce Feldman’s Twitter page:

Cam Newton session is done. Wow. Trent Dilfer: “That was phenomenal. If scouts saw this they’d have been slobbering.” More on ESPN.com later

The workout was done in a controlled environment, so it’s not surprising that Newton impressed. But considering he’s been working on his footwork and trying to get acclimated to taking snaps from under center, this is a positive report.

There’s no doubt that Newton has the physical tools to be a first round pick and maybe even a top-5 selection. He’s 6-6, 250 pounds, has tremendous athleticism and very good arm strength. You could make a case for being the best quarterback in this year’s draft class, which includes Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert (whom many pundits have listed as the top signal caller).

Of course, the one question that often gets overlooked at this time of year as it pertains to draft prospects is whether or not they have the work ethic. Is Newton willing to put in the work to become great? Not every prospect has Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers’ natural abilities but devotion has nothing to do with how accurate or far you can throw a pass. JaMarcus Russell could throw a ball 50 yards from the seat of his pants but the guy never studied or had the desire to be any better than he was. Simply put, his work ethic stunk.

Players find out rather quickly that their natural abilities will only take them so far in the NFL. It’ll be interesting to see if Newton has the work ethic to match his draft standing.