Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

March is all about madness and even though we’re less than a week away from games tipping off, and we still don’t know where teams will land once the brackets are officially announced. While tracking bubble teams is half the fun of the final weekend of the season, trying to figure out which teams will earn a No. 1 seed in each region is another thing to watch and as it stands now, the field is still shaky.

Right now it’s looking like Gonzaga, Indiana and Louisville stand as locks for a No. 1 seed in the tournament but when it comes to the Duke Blue Devils, who suffered another upset loss at the hands of Maryland earlier in the week during the ACC tournament, things get hazy. The loss was Duke’s fifth of the season, meaning of the teams who could potentially get No. 1 seeds in the big dance, Duke falls back in the pack and no longer stands out with Gonzaga as a team with less than five losses.

Even if Miami doesn’t win the ACC tournament, Duke might be on the second line when the brackets are drawn out on Sunday. In that case, Kansas would earn the final No. 1 seed as a Big 12 title gives them 13 wins over top teams in the country.

The ‘Canes best chance at getting a No. 1 seed would have been to play and then beat Duke in the ACC Championship game. But Duke’s loss to Maryland actually hurts Miami’s chances to lock down a No. 1 seed as it weakens Miami’s strength of schedule to an extent and makes their win over Duke in Coral Gables look less impressive than it was.

But nevertheless, the Hurricanes do still have an outside chance at locking up a No. 1 seed, but they’re a bubble team in that regard and the bubble is on the verge of popping. Things can still go their way, but there are more things working against Miami to balance the scale which means Miami’s looking at a No. 2 seed, but that’s nothing at all to complain about.

Dec. 3, 2011; Charlotte, NC, USA; The ACC logo hangs over an entrance before the game between the Clemson Tigers and the Virginia Tech Hokies at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports

Following in the footsteps of many of the biggest conferences in college sports, the Atlantic Coast Conference and its athletic directors are discussing the possibility of starting their own television network.

Here is more from the SportsBusiness Journal, on the possibility of an ACC Network:

While its media rights are tied up with ESPN for the next 15 years, that hasn’t stopped the conference from beginning the process of deciding whether such a channel is feasible. It hasn’t had formal talks with ESPN, which would have to play a big role in any ACC channel since the network controls the league’s rights.

But ACC Commissioner John Swofford has quietly been exploring a branded channel and began floating the idea for it in the fall, around the time that Notre Dame joined the league in all sports but football. The Fighting Irish have committed to play five ACC opponents in football each season, but it will maintain its independence.

By having it’s own network, the ACC would be bringing in additional revenue that would allow them to compete financially with the other major conferences. It wouldn’t be collegiate sports if a decision did not involve making more money.

The big issue for the ACC will be convincing ESPN that it should help with the network. If ESPN isn’t keen on the idea, then any discussions of the potential ACC Network can be thrown out the window and according to the report, ESPN is ”lukewarm” about the idea.

If there is to be an ACC Network, it doesn’t look like it will be happening anytime soon, but it is worth noting that the early discussions are in place.

Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

The 2013 quarterback class isn’t one that is too exciting to begin with, and it could be losing a potentially sexy name and prospect in Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd. All signs are pointing to the junior quarterback to return to the Tigers for his senior season, meaning he likely won’t be declaring for the NFL Draft before the deadline on January 15th.

Currently, NFL scouts have informed Boyd that teams are viewing him as a third round pick at the earliest, and that’s not sitting well with him. Boyd has had cold feet about entering the draft since it was first brought up, and his true intention is to try and win a Heisman Trophy his senior season. Boyd stated that he would only forgo that plan if he’s going to be a top tier draft pick.

That doesn’t appear to be the case next year, which means Boyd will likely return to Clemson next season.

Boyd’s father Tim Boyd told the Post and Courier that his son is leaning towards returning, which when combined with the pre-existing factors already established, is pretty much all the indication that you need that Boyd is going to skip the draft this year. But the question becomes will Boyd help or hurt his stock by returning to Clemson.

One thing going against Boyd is his height, and although Russell Wilson has had success this season, NFL franchises need more disanalogies before they can draw a conclusion that involves them taking a shot on Boyd in the first or second round. Even winning the Heisman doesn’t guarantee  Boyd as a top prospect in next year’s draft.

We love stories of players overcoming adversity to find success. Boyd’s height is a bump in the road, but it’s not a death knell in his potential NFL career.

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Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

There was a significant piece of bulletin board material spewed out of Northern Illinois this past week ahead of the Discover Orange Bowl, when quarterback Jordan Lynch said that the Florida State Seminoles had not seen an offense like the Huskies before, and insinuated that the Noles didn’t stand a chance.

The Noles fired back in two ways on Tuesday night, first by beating Lynch and the Huskies 31-10. But Seminoles linebacker Vince Williams fired back after the game saying that he still didn’t fancy Lynch as a quarterback.

“He’s terrible,” Williams said of Lynch after the Orange Bowl. “I can’t believe they tried us like that. They tried our life, man. … He’s not good at all.”

Williams said that he was pretty much flabbergasted by Lynch’s comments prior to the Bowl game, continuing that most of the guys inside the Seminoles locker room thought Lynch must have lost his mind.

“It motivated us a lot. That was straight-up bulletin board material. First of all because of how much success our defense had. We’ve been really, really good and nobody’s ever said anything like that to us. So we were like, ‘this man must have lost his mind.’”

It seems that Lynch and the Huskies were a cute story, but they may have gotten a bit overconfident when it came to their chances against one of the best defenses in the country. The Seminoles answered Lynch’s trash talk by holding his offense well under 300 yards on the night.

Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Cowboys and Indians are meeting in Texas to kick off the 2014 college football season. In press releases from both universities, Florida State and Oklahoma State have confirmed rumors that they will be facing off in the “Cowboys Classic” on August 30, 2014. As has been the case with past Classics, the Seminoles and Cowboys will be squaring off at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“We are pleased to be playing Oklahoma State and with the exposure the game will provide our program and our university,” said FSU athletic director Randy Spetman. “I know that our fans will be excited about visiting Texas Stadium and the Dallas area. It is a football venue that is second to none.”

This season the Alabama Crimson Tide bested the Michigan Wolverines, and the first ever Cowboys Classic the year prior saw BYU overcome Oklahoma. It has been announced that LSU and TCU will play each other in next year’s installment.

When Florida State and Oklahoma State meet in 2014, the game will serve as the season opener for both schools.

“The announcement of this game is timely for Florida State in that we have in the past few weeks begun a determined effort to regularly schedule high-profile non-conference football opponents,” Spetman continued. “We are in the preliminary stages of exploring both home-and-home and neutral site games with prominent programs in the near future.”

Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-US PRESSWIRE

After a crazy Saturday in college football that saw the Nebraska Cornhuskers get obliterated by the Wisconsin Badgers, an interesting and bizarre scenario has presented itself and it’s looking like it will play out. With the loss by Nebraska, the opportunity arose for the Northern Illinois Huskies to earn an at-large BCS bowl bid — and all signs are pointing to them securing that.

As we reported last night, the Huskies needed to crack the Top 16 of both human polls in order to get a significant chance at securing a high enough ranking in the BCS. As off the release of the USA Today Coach’s Poll and the AP Top 25, the Huskies were ranked No. 16 in both.

Now ESPN bowl prediction expert Brad Edwards is saying he’s calling the Orange Bowl bid to go to the Huskies, which means the Florida State Seminoles will take on Northern Illinois in the Discover Orange Bowl.

This has a trickle down effect, as Oklahoma is no longer in a BCS bowl. Had the Huskies not cracked the rankings high enough to secure the at-lage bid, the Sooners were on their way to a 2008 National Championship rematch with the Florida Gators in the Nokia Sugar Bowl. However, since Louisville won the Big East, or at least the majority share of it, the Cardinals will head to the Sugar Bowl to take on Florida while the Sooner are subject to falling back on the Alamo Bowl.

The official BCS rankings have not yet been released, and Northern Illinois needs to rank at the very least No. 16 in order to secure the Orange Bowl bid. But at the moment, all signs are pointing to the Huskies securing the bid and pulling off one of the more miraculous seasons a lower ranked college football program has had in some time.

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

The SEC is the talk of college football and has been for the past week (but what else is new), but one school has been raking in the attention and it’s one not in a title game and one that doesn’t even have a head coach. With Jon Gruden saying no to Tennessee, the search for a new coach continues and Dave Hart may be looking to steal his next coach from a school that already has one.

Jimbo Fisher is currently seeing his coaching staff decimated with the loss of defensive coordinator Mark Stoops heading Kentucky and likely others to follow, the question is will Jimbo stick around in Tallahassee for another year or bolt to another job and another opportunity.

The Big Lead is suggesting that Jimbo hasn’t been as big a success at Florida State has people have lead on, and that a fresh start at Tennessee might see him soar to a new level.

Is it harsh to call Fisher an underachiever? Perhaps. Seasons of 10-4, 9-4 and currently, 10-2 (with two games left) are very strong – until you dive deeper. Fisher’s only been at FSU three years since taking over for Bobby Bowden, but he’s reached two ACC title games and he’s 2-0 so far in bowl games.

Depending on how much you read into preseason polls though, Fisher has been a mild disappointment

There is the immediate question of why would Jimbo leave for Tennessee?

First off there’s a matter of money. Fisher is owed a lot of money from the Seminoles next season, and as was the case with Auburn, if Jimbo is going to leave FSU the checkbook will need to come out hard.

And then there’s the matter of Fisher saying he’s not interested in leaving Florida State. Again, money is always the deciding factor in these discussions and Fisher wouldn’t be the first coach in the history of the world, or college football, to say no but really mean yes.

Perhaps the damning piece of evidence against Jimbo leaving is the fact that he’s in better shape at FSU than he is at Tennessee. If Fisher’s staff is going to be decimated by other schools, he’d be in the same spot he is at FSU that he’s be at over in Tennessee. The perk is Jimbo would be able to assemble his own staff with the Vols, but he doesn’t quite have the pull in his name yet to attract big name guys or to entice married men to divorce their schools.

However, it’s not out of the question and if Dave Hart give Fisher enough in terms of money and power we could see him leave Florida State. But for the time being, it doesn’t look likely that Fisher is going anywhere but Tallahassee.

Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-US PRESSWIRE

It’s championship Saturday for most of college football today, and for the rest it’s the final day of the regular season. Mostly everyone is going to be watching the SEC championship game between Alabama and Georgia which is basically a de facto national semifinal game with the winner earning the chance to play Notre Dame for the national championship.

But there is more than one game on Saturday and there’s more than one championship game on, so let’s take a look at your complete viewing guide.

Conference USA Championship Game

• Winner earns a berth in the Liberty Bowl

SEC Championship Game

• Winner earns berth in National Championship game

ACC Championship Game

• Winner earns berth in Orange Bowl

Big Ten Championship Game

• Winner earns berth in Rose Bowl

Big 12

• 7 Kansas State wins Big 12 Title with WIN
• 12 Oklahoma wins Big 12 Title with WIN and Kansas State LOSS
• 21 Texas clinches berth in Alamo Bowl with WIN
• Oklahoma State clinches berth in Alamo Bowl with WIN and Texas LOSS
• TCU clinches berth in Alamo Bowl with WIN and Texas and Oklahoma State LOSS

Big East

• UConn clinches berth in BBVA Compass Bowl or Liberty Bowl with WIN and Pittsburgh LOSS
• Pittsburgh clinches berth in BBVA Compass Bowl or Liberty Bowl with WIN and UConn LOSS

The Rest of the Action

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

As with any head coaching search, particularly in the world of college football where every university thinks they can get what they want (see: Arkansas and Les Miles). While Arkansas isn’t trying to pry any SEC coaches away from their teams, they’re looking not too far short of that in the ACC, specifically a few hundred miles west of Baton Rouge in Tallahassee.

According to multiple reports, Florida State Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher is one of Auburn’s top targets to replace Gene Chizik, whom they fired on Sunday. While Auburn is batting their eyes at Fisher, he reiterated that he’s a married coach and won’t be cheating or divorcing his current program any time soon.

“I’m very happy right here.” Fisher said. “I’m content to be here, this is where I want to be. We’re building something special. We’ve got great players. We’ve got great players to come and be here. It’s a great place to live, my family is set up in this community, and I plan on being here a long time.”

If Fisher were to renege on his word, he wouldn’t be the first guy to do it. Let’s not forget Nick Saban’s adamant plea that he wasn’t going to coach Alabama and leave the Miami Dolphins in the dust — which was exactly what he proceeded to do.

But Coaching Auburn and coaching Florida State does not equate to leaving a terrible NFL franchise to take over a prominent SEC program. Granted, Auburn is just two years removed from a National Championship, Jimbo and the Seminoles are geared up far better to make a title run a lot sooner. The ACC is considered by many to be a soft conference especially in comparison to the SEC, and the Noles have a heritage when it comes to college football dominance.

Besides, Fisher is in line to get a significant salary bump from the near $3 million he made this year, so if Auburn wants him they’ll have to come hard and large with the checkbook.

US PRESSWIRE

While the ACC had filed a lawsuit against Maryland for leaving the conference, they may be getting an addition as the Cincinnati Bearcats are making a strong push to join the ACC.

Should Cincinnati join, the ACC would get stronger in not only football but basketball as well. Usually when a school transfers conferences, one sport benefits heavily while the others just have more competition, not necessarily better competition. The Bearcats aren’t known for their football team, but it’s one that has pretty consistently made bowl games over the past few years. But the real addition to the ACC would be the Bearcats basketball team, as they routinely finish in the USA Today and AP Top 25 year after year.

The Bearcats are, in fact, one of only six teams to have finished in the USA Today Top 25 in both football and basketball and those making a push for admittance into the ACC are flashing the fact that Ohio is one of the newest and most “fertile recruiting ground and expands the geographic footprint of the ACC.”

Oh, and there’s the fact that Cincinatti’s endowment is more than $1 billion, something the school mentions is twice that of the amount Maryland boasted, a school that just bolted to the Big Ten.

$1 billion mends a lot of wounds.

There are also academic reasons to add Cincinnati as ”the school is tied for 34th among public research universities, according to the Center for Measuring University Performance. That’s in line with several other ACC schools”.

It’s not a done deal that the Bearcats will be moving to the ACC, but it looks like we’re in store for another winter filled with conference realignment, as if Cincinnati moves, they’ll be the fifth such school to do so with the announcement today that Tulane and East Carolina have moved to the Big East.

Mandatory Credit: Phil Sears-US PRESSWIRE

Florida State has made a name for itself with some stout defense this season, and the man behind that magic is getting rewarded with a head coaching job. Seminoles defensive coordinator Mark Stoops will be heading to Kentucky to fill the coaching void there for the Wildcats.

Joker Phillips was fired some three weeks ago, and since then we’ve had a slew of firings in the NCAA but no hirings to speak of until now. Stoops will join his brother Bob as a head coach, but the road for Kentucky is not going to be an easy one. However, the university believes that if things are going to turn around, Stoops is the guy to do it.

“New beginnings always provide a sense of excitement,” athletic director Mitch Barnhart said in a statement.  “That’s why today I’m excited for Mark Stoops and his family as they provide a new beginning for our football program, fans and players.

Interestingly enough, Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher said yesterday that his defensive coordinator had not interviewed for the head coaching job at Kentucky, and now a day later the job belongs to Stoops. This came on the same day another report surfaced that Stoops had himself told the university to shove their head coaching job.

That obviously has changed.

“I am thrilled to be named the head football coach at the University of Kentucky,” Stoops said.  “My family and I are excited and looking forward to becoming a part of the Big Blue Nation.”

Stoops made sure to thank Jimbo Fisher, a guy that helped him get back on the map and apparently didn’t know of or didn’t want to believe or talk about Stoops leaving Florida State.

“First of all, I want to thank Jimbo Fisher and Florida State University for allowing me to be the defensive coordinator at Florida State.  It has been three of the greatest years of my life.  I am grateful for the support of all Seminole fans as we focus on the ACC Championship.”

The only question now is, can Stoops bring that defensive style north to Kentucky, or was he just getting lucky with recruits down in Tallahassee?

Mandatory Credit: Melina Vastola-US PRESSWIRE

The Florida State Seminoles are reeling from a loss to the Florida Gators, but the bad news didn’t end with the loss. The Noles will be without leading tackler Tank Carradine, who will miss Florida State’s last two games after suffering an ACL tear. Head coach Jimbo Fisher stated that the injury to Carradine was non-contact.

After starting the season as a backup defensive end, Carradine moved up into the starting role after an injury to Brandon Jenkins. Once in the starting role, Carradine become the one of the country’s best defensive players and was without a doubt the Noles best player on either side of the ball. He led the team in tackles, and is second in sacks and tackles for loss.

Fisher said that Carradine took the news with high spirits, but the injury is still devastating.

“He was mature, he handled it very well,” Fisher said. “Of course (he was) very sad because he wanted to finish the season with his teammate. It’s a very sad moment but he understood and handled it very maturely.”

Worse yet, Carradine’s draft stock rose exponentially during this season, and he’s leaving gobs of money on the table after suffering this injury. Carradine is a senior and will enter this upcoming April’s NFL Draft, but he’s now going to be lucky to be selected on the third day.

As for the more immediate future, the Noles will have to replace Carradine with freshmen Mario Edwards Jr. and Giorgio Newberry when Florida State meets Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship game. Fisher and the Noles will also have no choice but to go with the duo of freshmen for whatever bowl game the Noles get into.

Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-US PRESSWIRE

Movement between confrences in college football has become the norm in the last few years, and it has had a ripple effect in other sports. It was monumental a decade or so ago when Miami moved from the Big East to the ACC, but now it seems every year we have one or two major programs switch conferences.

Maryland is going to vote on Monday whether or not their the next big name school to move.

According to a report, the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents will meet at 9 a.m. Monday to vote whether to accept an invitation to join the Big Ten Conference, thus leaving the ACC. But if Maryland moves, it seems it will be a package deal that includes a team from the Big East.

Should Maryland vote to move to the Big Ten, Rutgers would follow them from the BIg East and thus a massive deal will have been made that could make the Big Ten a major conference, and at the very least will wide the revenue net for all the schools.

Last season when major schools switched conferences and it seemed schools were basically being bid on or persuaded to come to a certain conference, the Big Ten had grand plans to add Rutgers, Maryland and possibly Syracuse. The reasoning behind this is all about money, and has little to do with the competitiveness of the conference.

If Maryland and Rutgers move to the Big Ten, the Big Tn Network would then have a huge market on the East coast, thus expanding potential revenue further than just the midwest. Right now, the furthest east the Big Ten Network necessarily reaches is Pennsylvania, but adding two East Coast schools has always been the plan — for obvious reasons.

There is no certainty that Maryland will vote to join the Big Ten, but according to ESPN, Under Armour founder and Maryland uber-booster Kevin Plank is “100 percent” behind the Terrapins moving from the ACC to the Big Ten. The vote is set for early morning Monday so by the afternoon, we could have yet another school switch to another major conference.

(Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-US PRESSWIRE)

Now that the first Saturday of the college football season is behind us, we get to look forward to how the polls will stack up, and who got rewarded. We had our first 60-plus point performance, and our first 80-plus point game as well. There were close calls and blowouts all throughout the TOp 25 and some teams have yet to make their debut. But before we get too far past our first Saturday, let’s take a look at the unofficial Fansided.com Top 25 for next Saturday.

NOTE: This will be updated as Top 25 teams play throughout the week…looking at you Virginia Tech. 

Fandsided.com Top 25 (1-15)

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE FANSIDED TOP 25

The biggest fall will be Michigan. Voters may have been more forgiving if Michigan had actually made it an entertaining football game. Because Michgan got blown away by Alabama, they will surely suffer in the rankings, but in that same breath it was a loss against the No. 2 team in the country so the fall won’t be as severe as it could have been.

With Michigan falling to 15 in out unofficial poll, teams are reaping the benefit — namely Arkansas. West Virginia also climbs into the Top 10 after a severe beat down of Marshall. Because South Carolina struggled past Vanderbilt, they end up falling two spots to No. 10. It’s not a horrible fall but the Gamecocks don’t get any breaks for playing a sloppy football game.

The same is said for Oklahoma, who inched past unranked UTEP. The game ended up looking like it was more one-sided then it actually was. Yeah, Oklahoma pulled away in the fourth quarter but in comparison the the blowouts had by LSU, Alabama and especially Oregon, Oklahoma falls just one spot to No. 5.

Because Michigan falling to No. 15 vacated some spots just outside the Top 10, Texas, Clemson, Michigan State and Wisconsin all move up one spot. Only Texas really performed like a contending team but their weighted against those had by the other three schools doesn’t really hold water. But Wisconsin, Michigan State and Clemson winning by slim margins in their games really hurt their chances of sliding into the Top 10. Had Clemson dominated for more of the game than they did against Auburn, they may have been considered to pass Michigan State and even Wisconsin.

(Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE)

The Clemson Tigers survived their first major scare of the 2012 campaign Saturday when the inched past rivals Auburn 26-19 to preserve their No. 14 ranking in the AP Top 25.

It was a hairy affair for Clemson, who at one point in the fourth trailed Auburn by three. But they corrected their mistakes and were able to close out their rivals by scoring the last 10 points of the game.

Basically all the credit can go to Clemson running back Andre Ellington who finished the night with 228 yards. The offense for Clemson literally ran through Ellington who carried the ball 25 times and made the most of each carry, averaging almost 10 yards per carry on the night. Quarterback Tajh Boyd aided the running attack with 58 huge yards of his own, but also managed to keep Clemson in it with his arm.

Boyd finished the night with 208 yards, but his biggest stat was his late touchdown that sealed the deal for the Tigers and allowed their tired defense to not only rest but get some much needed breathing room.

Auburn almost shocked the world though, and took Clemson right to wire in what was accurately touted before hand as a sizzling matchup between two rivals. They came close, but couldn’t pull it out in the end. They may still have thrown a kink in Clemson’s title plans.

With Michigan getting trashed in what’s ending up to be a boring matchup, teams below the No. 8 spot will rise and that may include Clemson. But in that same breath, the Tigers didn’t dazzle in their opener against an unranked opponent. The fact that No. 12 Wisconsin limped past an unranked Norther Iowa team may aid the Tigers rise in the Top 15. They won’t crack the Top 10, but even though they struggled against an unranked, albeit formidable opponent, they should still see themselves higher than No. 14 come the release of the new rankings.

(Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE)

UPSET ALERT: #14 Clemson 26, Auburn 19 — 4th Qtr

In one of the biggest rivalries in college football, the No. 14 ranked Clemson Tigers are nursing just a three point lead over the Auburn Tigers, after Auburn made a field goal to head into halftime.

Auburn’s defense has held down Clemson’s passing game for the most part, but they’ve allowed running back Andre Ellington to sizzle, amassing 148 yards in the first three quarters. If the Tigers of Auburn are going to want to have any chance of pulling off this upset, they’ll need to clamp the bleeding occurring in their run defense quickly.

They’ve managed to do that for the most part, allowing Ellington under 50 yards in the second half.

Clemson has a lot on the line and with the game tight, not only are they in jeopardy of losing the game at this point, but they’re in danger of looking bad in the Top 25 standings. With Michigan getting blasted by Alabama, Clemson will be in a position to move up a few spots in the standings.

But that’s not going to happen if they can’t hold down Auburn in the second half. Auburn, on the other hand, would like nothing more than to make sure that an ACC Clemson repeat gets derailed tonight.