Tag: Nebraska

The picks are in, ESPN’s GameDay crew makes their selections

Vince Vaughn joins the ESPN College GameDay crew (Lee Corso, Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit and David Pollack) and pick today’s games.

The Big Ten returns this weekend and ESPN’s College GameDay took notice by traveling to chilly Minneapolis as the Michigan Wolverines are hosted by the Minnesota Gophers. As they always do, GameDay brings in a guest with a home-site flavor, actor Vince Vaughn.

Vaughn is famous for his roles in Rudy, Swingers, Old School, Wedding Crashers and many other fantastic films. He’s a huge sports fan, also roots for the Chicago Cubs. Here are Desmond Howard, David Pollack, Kirk Herbstreit, and Lee Corso’s plus Vaughn’s picks for the slate of games today.

Georgia Southern vs. Costal Carolina

Vaughn –  CC

Howard – CC

Pollack – Georgia Southern

Herbstreit – CC

Corso – CC

 

NC State vs. North Carolina

Vaughn – UNC

Howard – UNC

Pollack – UNC

Herbstreit – UNC

Corso – UNC

 

Auburn vs. Ole Miss

Vaughn – Ole Miss

Howard – Ole Miss

Pollack – Auburn

Herbstreit – Ole Miss

Corso – Auburn

 

South Carolina vs. LSU

Vaughn – LSU

Howard – LSU

Pollack – S. Carolina

Herbstreit – S. Carolina

Corso – LSU

 

Alabama vs. Tennessee

Vaughn – Bama

Howard – Bama

Pollack – Bama

Herbstreit – Bama

Corso – Bama

 

Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh

Vaughn – ND

Howard – ND

Pollack – ND

Herbstreit – ND

Corso – ND

 

Baylor vs. Texas

Vaughn – UT

Howard – Baylor

Pollack – UT

Herbstreit – UT

Corso – UT

 

Cincinnati vs. SMU

Vaughn – Cincy

Howard – Cincy

Pollack – Cincy

Herbstreit – Cincy

Corso – SMU

 

Oklahoma vs. TCU

Vaughn – OU

Howard – OU

Pollack – OU

Herbstreit – OU

Corso – OU

 

Oklahoma State vs. Iowa State

Vaughn – Ok. St.

Howard – Ok. St.

Pollack – ISU

Herbstreit – Ok. St.

Corso – ISU

 

Penn State vs. Indiana

Vaughn – PSU

Howard – IU

Pollack – PSU

Herbstreit – PSU

Corso – IU

 

Nebraska vs. Ohio State

Vaughn – OSU

Howard – OSU

Pollack – OSU

Herbstreit – OSU

Corso – OSU

 

Michigan vs. Minnesota

Vaughn – Minnesota

Howard – UM

Pollack – Minnesota

Herbstreit – NO PICK

Corso – Michigan

Now obsessed with golf, former NFL player Danny Woodhead qualifies for U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Chambers Bay

Now obsessed with golf, former NFL player Danny Woodhead has qualified for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball next May at Chambers Bay.

Inside Danny Woodhead’s bedroom at his Nebraska home, there’s a patch of carpet completely ruined from repeated golf swings.

A fan-favorite after a successful decade in the National Football League that ended in 2017, the 35-year-old former running back now finds himself so obsessed with golf that his handicap has moved to the pro side of scratch and he’s ruining his house.

On Monday, Woodhead took a big step in his golf journey, qualifying with partner Mike Wilhelm for next year’s U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Chambers Bay in Wisconsin.

“It’s as much fun as I’ve had in a long time,” said Woodhead of the successful qualifier at Firethorn Golf Club in Lincoln, Nebraska. “I’ve played amateur events in Nebraska for three years and it’s a thrill unlike anything I’ve done. Golf doesn’t come as easy as football for me. People are going to be like ‘yeah right’ but in some ways it’s almost cooler than some of the stuff I’ve done on the football field.”

Some of that stuff on the football field includes setting records in college and scoring a touchdown in Super Bowl XLVI for the New England Patriots alongside Tom Brady. Ever heard of them?

“The Super Bowl was awesome to play in, whatever, but this is out of my comfort zone,” he explained. That said, he’d still rather face his partner Mike after a bad hole than legendary coach Bill Belichick on the sidelines after a fumble.

While it’s a lot of golf these days for the retired running back, he also hosts the “Out of Nowhere” podcast with former NFL lineman Matt Slauson where they strive to tell the stories of athletes that fans haven’t heard yet. But back to golf.

Woodhead and Willhelm are both members at Omaha Country Club and have been playing together for three years. The two have a similar game and are comfortable together on the course, which bodes well for their scores.

“We can both go out and get some birdies. That’s what makes four-ball so fun. You can take a lot more chances than you’d usually take,” said Woodhead. “More than anything (Mike is) someone I really like to compete with because he cares about golf like I do, and I feel like not many people do.”

Golf on its own is fun, but the thrill of tournament competition is what drives Woodhead. He absolutely loves it. Every year since he retired he’s set a handicap goal for where he wants his game to be. He’s hit every goal he’s set. So what’s next?

“I always said ‘how sick would it be to play in one of the USGA events.’ Well now I’m going to,” said Woodhead. “So then it just goes to the next thing, hopefully I can get in one of the individual (USGA events).”

Doubted his entire career on the football field, Woodhead continually climbed to reach the NFL and produce at a high level for 10 years. So how much juice is still left in the tank? Plenty. And then some.

“I might be more competitive now than I was when I was playing. That’s what everyone wants to say but I feel like I’m just scratching the surface right now with golf.

“I’m going to get good. I don’t care how long it takes me, I will get good,” Woodhead continued. Consistency comes first. And experience.

It’s something he’s working on. The Nebraska native – who finished T-7 at the state golf association’s Freemont Invitational in July – plays three, maybe four times a week these days. Rarely on weekends. With four kids and a wife at home, Woodhead likes to keep that as family time. His handicap is important but family always comes first.

Woodhead and his wife celebrated their 12-year anniversary earlier this summer. His family’s support is admittedly a big reason for his growing success on the golf course that’ll be displayed for all to see next May at a course that hosted the U.S. Amateur in 2010 and the U.S. Open won by Jordan Spieth in 2015.

“Playing in a national championship as an amateur, that’s cool. I’m excited to experience it with Mike because we’re good buddies,” said Woodhead of next year’s trip to Chambers Bay and the Pacific Northwest.

“I’m not really that nervous because I do think, call me crazy, come May I’m going to be ready for it. I’m going to treat it like I’m freaking Tiger Woods playing in the Masters. I’m going to treat it so I’m playing my best golf then.”

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It’s official, the Big Ten set to play football in the fall again

Notre Dame’s neighbors are back to playing football in the fall.

The rollercoaster ride is over. The Big Ten made their return to fall football official this morning.

The plan is to play 8 games with a conference championship game. It remains to be seen if the smaller sample size will be enough for a team from the conference to qualify for a spot in the College Football Playoff.  If it is, it’s not good news for the Irish.

What we do know is the conference looked foolish the whole decision making process. The back-and-forth through crazy rumors, like schools wanting to opt out and let the rest of the conference play. How about last night when Nebraska president Ted Carter leaked the plans on a hot mic, then later said it was taken out of context. You be the judge.

There’s bound to be more bumps in the road ahead for the Big Ten, first-year commissioner Kevin Warren hasn’t had an easy introduction to his new role. What we do know is that the first conference to move away from fall football has changed their mind. The Pac-12 could be close to following the Big Ten, and we could see college football “whole” again soon.

Nebraska’s president may have just leaked news about a Big Ten football announcement coming soon

Big Ten football back?

As more schools and conferences have returned to playing college football,  Pac-12 and Big Ten players and fans have been asking whether their conferences would reverse their decisions on not playing this season.

Well, it seems, we may get some news on the Big Ten’s status later on Tuesday.

A private conversation between Nebraska president Ted Carter and Bob Hinson, the director of the National Strategic Research Institute, was caught on a hot mic at a press conference by KETV 7.

In the conversation, Carter was heard talking to Hinson about an announcement coming on Tuesday night.

“Carter: …we’re getting ready to announce the Huskers and Big Ten football tonight. It’s coming together.

Hinson: Oh, really? I heard that that was happening. I didn’t, I think there’s a lot of anticipation about that. Good for you. Maybe that will get off your plate.

Carter: Well, it never will. But it’s a good move in the right direction.”

Carter was asked about his comments on the mic and reportedly said he was trying to say there is a lot of work going on to “move in the right direction” and that he hoped to see a resolution soon and that resolution would be playing football.

It’s impossible to tell what exactly their conversation was about, but it does seem to be related to football in some way.

As far as the specifics, we’ll have to wait and see. If what Carter says is true, though, that wait will only be a few hours.

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Nebraska President Ted Carter accidentally reveals Big Ten Football restart will be announced tonight

Picked up on a hot mic, Nebraska President Walter “Ted” Carter was heard saying that the Big Ten football restart will be announced tonight.

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If this is how the saga of Big Ten Football and their fall restart comes to pass, I think it would be somewhat poetic.

On Tuesday, Nebraska President Ted Carter was gearing up for a media conference when he said on a mic he didn’t know was ‘hot’: “We’re getting ready to announce the Huskers and Big Ten football tonight.” The comment was first picked up and released by KETV.

This comes just days after reports came out that the Big Ten would be resuming fall football on October 17th. This is major news for Michigan State football fans as there have been additional reports this week that if the Big Ten does restart the season, Michigan State would follow suit and play this fall.

You can read the full story below:

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Report: Iowa one of three schools to not vote to postpone the Big Ten football season

The circus-like back-and-forth about the Big Ten presidents’ vote and whether it happened was a sight to see. Finally two days ago it was…

The circus-like back-and-forth about the Big Ten presidents’ vote and whether it happened was a sight to see.

Finally two days ago it was cleared up in a Big Ten statement that said the presidents “voted to postpone the fall sports season” and “reached an 11-3 decision which far exceeds the 60% threshold required by the Big Ten By-Laws.”

ESPN senior college football writer Adam Rittenberg followed this statement with a report that three schools voted to not postpone the season: Iowa, Ohio State and Nebraska.

If you’ve been following the story at all this news doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as all three schools listed above have been adamant since the decision was made that the conference should be playing football.

Related: Opinion: What the NCAA can do to fix the structure of college football and save the sport

The information coming out now, though, is valuable for everyone who has followed the story. But it still doesn’t make much sense why this wasn’t reported when the decision first came down.

There were media reports saying there was a vote, then reports that there wasn’t, then was, and so on. Being transparent during a process like this, one which led to a verdict that has far-reaching implications, is necessary for the health of the sport from top to bottom.

Again it’s good the information was finally released. It just shouldn’t have taken a lawsuit to get it out.

More will come out in the coming days about the Big Ten’s plan forward and their process of postponing. We can only hope, then, that the conference and those involved are transparent during this process and work together to reach the best way forward.

Big Ten releases statement on the Nebraska lawsuit and how their decision was reached

After eight University of Nebraska football players sued the Big Ten last week over their decision to postpone the fall football season…

After eight University of Nebraska football players sued the Big Ten last week over their decision to postpone the fall football season the conference released a statement yesterday detailing their voting process and how they reached the decision.

The lawsuit listed the three following counts:

  • Wrongful interference with business expectations — that the season represents an opportunity for players to work towards a career in football and develop brands for name/image/likeness use later.
  • Breach of contract by not holding an actual vote within its Council of Presidents and Chancellors.
  • Declaratory judgment by either not actually voting on the decision or being unable to produce evidence of a vote.

Kevin Warren and the Big Ten, now, clearly cited that there was indeed a 11-3 vote in favor of postponement, a number “which far exceeds the 60% threshold required by the Big Ten By-Laws.”

This statement is one of the first from the conference since their decision that clearly cites how and why it was reached.

Many have criticized the conference for their lack of transparency this past month and even though it took a lawsuit to get this information out, at least fans, players and parents now know what went on during the conference’s meetings in early August.

Maybe knowing the “how” isn’t enough for those who still want to understand the “why,” but according to the statement the conference will “continue to be transparent as it actively considers options to get back to competition when it is safe to play.”

I’d agree that they haven’t been the least bit transparent leading up to yesterday, so maybe the word choice of “continue to be transparent” isn’t fitting. But at least the information is coming out and giving clarity to the current situation.

Big Ten reveals vote count that led to canceling fall football

By an 11-3 vote the Big Ten Presidents chose not to play football this fall. See who voted to play and who held the most important NO vote.

The Big Ten was the first of the Power Five conferences to cancel football this fall, a move in early August that saw the Pac-12 follow just hours later.

It appeared that doomsday for college football in 2020 was upon us but then the ACC, Big 12 and SEC all didn’t follow suit like was expected.

Furthermore, Conference USA, the AAC and Sun Belt all stayed the course in the Group of Five, resulting in a total of 76 FBS teams as of today, scheduled to play football starting at some point in September.

The Big Ten has gotten some bad press and in my eyes, deservedly so for how quick they were to cancel things.  Backlash came from star players, certain potions of the media, plenty of fans and a number of parents.

Now the 11-3 vote that led to the Big Ten canceling their 2020 fall season has been revealed by Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune.

“Sources told the Tribune that Ohio State, Nebraska and Iowa dissented.”

So what Greenstein’s report tells me is that the Big Ten won’t be playing football this fall or winter, even just days after the latest rumors of the start to the season during Thanksgiving week.

Why is that?

Morton Schapiro is the Northwestern University President.  More importantly, he’s the Chair of the Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors.

After learning that Ohio State, Nebraska, and Iowa are the schools that voted to go-ahead with football this fall, we’re made aware that Schapiro voted not to.

Essentially sitting in the “power chair” of Presidents and Chancellors of the conference, he’s not seemingly going to be trying to sway others to change their minds to play.

Seeing as Northwestern has decided to keep freshmen and sophomores off campus until at least January, it’s hard to imagine Schapiro is any rush to try and talk his fellow Presidents into getting football played before the start of the new year.

Nebraska football players sue the Big Ten conference over the postponement of fall sports

Players are filing a lawsuit against the conference after the postponement of fall sports

The drama surrounding Nebraska and the Big Ten continued today as eight football players filed a lawsuit against the conference surrounding the decision to cancel fall sports. According to the Omaha World-Herald, the eight Husker players represented in the case are Garret Snodgrass, Garrett Nelson, Ethan Piper, Noa Pola-Gates, Alante Brown, Brant Banks, Brig Banks, and Jackson Hannah.

The suit, which was obtained by the Omaha World-Herald, lists three specific counts against the Big Ten:

  • Wrongful interference with business expectations — that the season represents an opportunity for players to work towards a career in football and develop brands for name/image/likeness use later.
  • Breach of contract by not holding an actual vote within its Council of Presidents and Chancellors.
  • Declaratory judgment by either not actually voting on the decision or being unable to produce evidence of a vote.

The Big Ten has already drafted a response that claims the lawsuit has “no merit.”

We will continue to update you on this developing story at BadgersWire when more information becomes available.

 

Big 12: Exploring Conference, College Football Playoff expansion

Ivan Maisel of ESPN thinks now is the best time for conference expansion. Longhorns Wire explores how to expand the Big 12, playoffs.

Is there a better time than right now to explore the idea of conference expansion? ESPN’s Ivan Maisel doesn’t think so. In a recent post on ESPN Maisel stated now may be the best time to have that conversation. After all it wasn’t that long ago that Nebraska was looking to play football despite the Big Ten’s stance on a postponement of the season.

Hey, here’s a great idea during a pandemic: Let’s have West Virginia fly 1,400 miles to play a Big 12 game at Texas Tech on Oct. 24, but let’s not allow West Virginia to play Pittsburgh. After all, the Panthers, 75 miles away, are in the ACC.

Before the Pac-12 broke the emergency glass on its 2020 season, the conference approved of Colorado flying 1,300 miles to play at Washington but thought it too risky for the Buffaloes to drive 100 miles to play at Colorado State.

And there’s Nebraska, which a decade ago sued for divorce from the Big 12 (née Big Eight), dissolving a marriage consummated in 1928 to grab the money and security and money and money offered by the Big Ten. Last week the Big Ten told Nebraska it couldn’t play football this fall, which went over in the Cornhusker State like, oh, I don’t know, stalk rot.

Maisel brings up a good point about traveling during a pandemic. Teams can’t play those who are reasonably close but yet are expected to fly across the country to participate in a conference game that is deemed safer. For instance any Big 12 team traveling to Morgantown, West Virginia doesn’t seem like the best move. So in the interest of shaking things up, we look at how the Big 12 could expand.

First is the new North Division.

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