NCAA Football Thread

[Teh One Who Knocks]

They got SMOKED! It was pathetic. So disappointed.

And then they lost to Utah State last night

[DemonGeminiX]

Utah's defense played really tight.

[RBP]

[DemonGeminiX]

[DemonGeminiX]

Hahahahahaha... Georgia Tech loses to Ole Miss.... hahahahahahaha...

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Bwahahahahahahahahaha....Alabama was whining that the one loss shouldn't have kept them out of the title game and that they are still the best team in the country....and then go out and lose to Oklahoma

[DemonGeminiX]

I wanted Auburn to win.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Me too, I fucking hate FSU

[deebakes]

i had to mute the tv when i was watching last night because i couldn't stand the fucking chant that fsu fans do all the fucking time

[DemonGeminiX]

http://msn.foxsports.com/college-foo...workers-012814

CHICAGO -- Football players at Northwestern are spearheading the formation of a first-of-its-kind union for college athletes.

Outgoing Wildcats quarterback Kain Colter joined union leaders Tuesday in Chicago to announce the creation of the College Athletes Players Association.

He says the NCAA currently dictates conditions. He says athletes need "a seat at the table" to guarantee safeguards against injuries and to ensure adequate financial compensation.

The first step is to apply for certification by the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of Northwestern football players. The hope is to be successful, then look toward other schools.

United Steelworkers official Tim Waters spoke alongside Colter. He says the key issue is whether college football players are employees. He says if they're deemed employees, they have the right to organize.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Yeah, good luck with that

[Teh One Who Knocks]

by NESN Staff


Alabama head coach Nick Saban is doing everything he can to make his life as a defensive-minded coach easier. Saban fully supports the NCAA rules committee on a proposed change that would prevent teams from running the hurry-up offense. The change would allow defenses to substitute players in the first 10 seconds of the 40-second play clock. If an offense snaps the ball before the 29-second mark, they would be flagged for delay of game. Saban spoke to the committee about the rule. “Coach Saban asked for the opportunity to meet with the committee and talk about this,” NCAA coordinator of officials Rogers Redding told ESPN.com on Thursday. “It’s not routine, but it’s not unique, either.” Obviously, not all coaches are in support of the rule. Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy and Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez, who both run up-tempo offenses, have come out against the proposed change. The committee will meet March 6 to decide whether to approve the rule change.

[DemonGeminiX]

Say goodbye to college football scholarships...

Revolutionary ruling: Fed agency says Northwestern players can unionize

CHICAGO -- In a stunning ruling that could revolutionize college sports, a federal agency said Wednesday that football players at Northwestern University can create the nation's first union of college athletes.

The decision by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board means it agrees football players at the Big Ten school qualify as employees under federal law and therefore can legally unionize.

"Based on the entire record in this case, I find that the Employer's football players who receive scholarships fall squarely within (federal labor law's) broad definition of 'employee,'" Peter Sung Ohr, the NLRB regional director, said in his 24-page decision.

An employee is generally regarded by law as someone who receives compensation for a service and is under the direct control of managers. Players argued that their scholarships are compensation and coaches are their managers.

The Evanston, Ill-based university argued college athletes, as students, don't fit in the same category as factory workers, truck drivers and other unionized workers. Immediately after the ruling, the school announced it plans to appeal to labor authorities in Washington, D.C.

Alan Cubbage, Northwestern's vice president for university relations, said in a statement that while the school respects "the NLRB process and the regional director's opinion, we disagree with it."

The specific goals of the College Athletes Players Association, or CAPA, which would take the lead in organizing the players, include guaranteeing coverage of sports-related medical expenses for current and former players, ensuring better procedures to reduce head injuries and potentially letting players pursue commercial sponsorships.

But critics have argued that giving college athletes employee status and allowing them to unionize could hurt college sports in numerous ways, including by raising the prospects of strikes by disgruntled players or lockouts by athletic departments.

For now, the push is to unionize athletes at private schools, such as Northwestern, because the federal labor agency does not have jurisdiction over public universities.

Outgoing Wildcats quarterback Kain Colter took a leading role in establishing CAPA. The United Steelworkers union has been footing the legal bills.

Colter, whose eligibility has been exhausted and who has entered the NFL draft, said nearly all of the 85 scholarship players on the Wildcats roster backed the union bid, though only he expressed his support publicly.

CAPA attorneys argued that college football is, for all practical purposes, a commercial enterprise that relies on players' labor to generate billions of dollars in profits. That, they contend, makes the relationship of schools to players one of employers to employees.

In its endeavor to have college football players be recognized as essential workers, CAPA likened scholarships to employment pay -- too little pay from its point of view. Northwestern balked at that claim, describing scholarship as grants.

The NCAA has been under increasing scrutiny over its amateurism rules and is fighting a class-action federal lawsuit by former players seeking a cut of the billions of dollars earned from live broadcasts, memorabilia sales and video games. Other lawsuits allege the NCAA failed to protect players from debilitating head injuries.

NCAA President Mark Emmert has pushed for a $2,000-per-player stipend to help athletes defray some of expenses. Critics say that isn't nearly enough, considering players help bring in millions of dollars to their schools and conferences.

During the NLRB's five days of hearings in February, Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald took the stand for union opponents, and his testimony sometimes was at odds with Colter's.

Colter told the hearing that players' performance on the field was more important to Northwestern than their in-class performance, saying, "You fulfill the football requirement and, if you can, you fit in academics." Asked why Northwestern gave him a scholarship of $75,000 a year, he responded: "To play football. To perform an athletic service."

But Fitzgerald said he tells players academics come first, saying, "We want them to be the best they can be ... to be a champion in life."

An attorney representing the university, Alex Barbour, noted Northwestern has one of the highest graduation rates for college football players in the nation, around 97 percent. Barbour insisted, "Northwestern is not a football factory."

http://msn.foxsports.com/college-foo...nionize-032614

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The AP Pre-Season Poll

[RBP]

NIU over NU!!