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New Year's Day Bowl Wrap-Up

The "Grandaddy of them all" was one for the ages... at least in Columbus. The conservative, old school style of Ohio State proved to be too much for Oregon today with the Buckeyes pulling out the victory 26-17. The Buckeye defense smothered Jeremiah Masoli and the Ducks high-octane offense. Oft criticized Buckeye quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, carried Ohio State's offense on his back to victory. Pryor threw for a season high 266 yards and rushed for an additional 72 yards. Pryor's stats were impressive, but his poise and improvisation in the clutch are what set the Buckeyes apart today. Pryor was named the games MVP and the sophomore quarterback will enter the 2010 season with the confidence that he can win the big game. 

Earlier in the day Florida State sent off legendary head coach Bobby Bowden with his 389th career win. The Seminoles knocked off No. 18 West Virginia, 33-21, in the final game of Bowden's storied 44-year career as a head coach. We're going to miss Bowden, but we're glad he left the game a winner because that's what he is.

In the final BCS game of the night the Florida Gators embarrassed the Cincinnati Bearcats 51-24. This was one of the least-entertaining Sugar Bowls in recent memory as Tim Tebow and the Florida offense dismantled the Bearcats defense. Tebow padded his career stats with a career day completing 31 of 35 pass attempts for 488 yards and three touchdowns. Tebow also ran for 51 yards and a touchdown. Not too many were surprised that the Bearcats were outclassed by the Gators, but they didn't expect #4 Cincinnati to lay down like they did. 

There is more bowl action tomorrow and the rest of the week capped off with the BCS Championship game on Thursday January 7th pitting the Alabama Crimson Tide against the Texas Longhorns. A great Alabama defense vs. veteran quarterback, Colt McCoy, should make for a great finale to the 2009 college football season. 

Best College Football Facilities in the Country

Whoever said academics are more important than football clearly didn't go to a football school. I don't know what the student rec center at MIT looks like, but I'll bet any nerd out there it's not nearly as palatial as Oregon's football complex. This isn't a comprehensive list, but these are the college football facilities that caught our attention. What is your favorite?

LSU Tigers - Recently built this $15 million football only facility. LSU is one of only a handful of schools in college football with a full 100-yard indoor, climate-controlled football practice facility. New state-of-the-art turf, SportExe turf was installed in 2006. To simulate game conditions, the surface is crowned in the middle and all lighting is on the sides of the field. PS - they have a dedicated "recruiting" room at the facility. (click here for video tour)

Ohio State Buckeyes - What does a $21.5 million renovation get you? How about another Big Ten Championship and one of the nicest football complexes in the country. The 53,000-square-foot expansion was financed by fund-raisers outside the athletic department budget. The Woody Hayes Athletic Center now totals more than 78,000 square feet of facilities, offices, and meeting rooms. (more)

Nebraska Cornhuskers - The Huskers haven't been Nation Contenders for about a decade but that doesn't change the fact that Nebraska is one of the premier college football programs in the country. The Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex is one of the finest facilities in all the land. Among other things, the facility boasts a 40 foot waterfall in the atrium that greets visitors. The Huskers also did not skimp on the football locker room, which features world-class carpentry and state-of-the-art technology. (video tour of the Osborne complex)

Texas A&M - A&M is definitely the odd-ball of this group because although they're a Big XII team, they usually aren't mentioned in the same breath as Texas and Nebraska. Not any more. The Bright Football Complex is a 125,000 sq/ft Taj Mahal of college athletics. The facility cost a mere $27 million and boasts one oft the largest locker rooms in the country. The Aggies are on the rebound this year and we're pretty sure the Bright Field House won't hurt future recruiting efforts. (more Bright Football Complex here)

Alabama Crimson Tide - The Tide are the top team in the country right now and their football facilities aren't too far behind. The Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility is simply one of the finest facilities in all of college athletics, highlighted by a brand new state-of-the-art 20,000 square foot strength & conditioning center, new coaches' offices, a player's lounge, recruiting room, and team meeting rooms. (click here for more pictures)

Texas Longhorns - Obama "clowning" in the Texas trophy room? Yep! If football is religion in Texas, then the Longhorns football complex would serve well as a place of worship. Texas' enormous locker room facility features 125 personalized eight-foot-tall open lockers, a spacious team meeting area, five flat screen TVs, new lounge area seating with game tables and its centerpiece, a three-dimensional, lighted 20-foot Longhorn on the ceiling. (more from Texas)

Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Notre Dame's Guglielmino Athletics Complex looks like more like a billionaire's estate than a football practice facility. With exception of Oregon, Notre Dame may have the finest football complex in the nation thanks to the Guglielmino family. Fat-boy Charlie Weis had to move out this month to make way for new head man, Brian Kelly. We're pretty sure it will be easier for Kelly to recruit at Notre Dame than at Cincinnati.

Florida Gators - The Brand new James W. "Bill" Heavener Football Complex in Gainesville is adjacent to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The new complex was funded entirely by private donors to the tune of $28 million. There were only 16 donors, which means 16 Florida alums felt that $1.75 million wasn't too much for their football teams practice facilities. I don't think Western Michigan and Ball State have that kind of support from their boosters. (more about Florida's new facility)

Michigan Wolverines - Michigan's Board of Regents approved a $26.1 million renovation to the football facilities. The Wolverines new indoor practice field is the finest in the country, and the centerpiece of the programs facilities... well... the newly renovated Big House is the centerpiece but the indoor practice facility doesn't suck! 

Oregon Ducks - Straight from an episode of The Jetsons, without question the Ducks have the finest facilities in college football... maybe even all of sports. Of course this was all made possible because one of Oregon's most famous alums is mega-billionaire, Phil Knight, founder and Chairman of Nike. Knight and Nike poured millions of dollars into Oregon's athletics program, which includes the football complex, which is second to none. Put it this way, the facility is nicer than a W Hotel and each locker cost $26,000. That's over $2.6 million just on lockers. (check out the video tour here)

Texas Tech Fires Mike Leach

(Fuck yall, I'm outta this bitch!)

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Texas Tech head coach, Mike Leach, was terminated today "with cause effective immediately" according to a statement made by the University. Leach and his attorney had planned on appealing the school's decision to suspend him from coaching in the Alamo Bowl in a Lubbock courtroom this morning at 8:30, but that appeal became moot. Sources close to Leach and the University have said that relations between the coach and the school's administration have been rocky for some time and the Adam James debacle was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

Leach will reportedly be paid $400k/year for the remaining 4 years left on his contract and an $800k signing bonus is being disputed as we speak. Leach spent 10 years as the head coach at Tech and despite some "quirky" and "outside-the-box" coaching techniques he was a winner and players respect him. The real loser in this is Texas Tech University because they will not be able to find a better head coach than Leach. Ironically the winner in all this is Leach because some school will pick him up and he'll get paid $400k to coach his new team.

Take that Red Raiders!