Jan 8, 2013; Fort Lauderdale FL, USA; The coaches trophy which was awarded to the Alabama Crimson Tide was on display during head coach Nick Saban winning coach press conference at Harbor Beach Marriott Resort

If all of the betting odds that were making the rounds didn’t get us excited for the start of the college football season, the Football Bowl Association released a list of all 35 bowl games that will be played to end the 2013-14 season. The start of the new year is just under 100 days away, but feast your eyes on the bowl schedule and let the excitement for next season build.

Here is the full list of bowl games. Look them over and let us know which game you are looking forward to the most:

US PRESSWIRE

For the first time since the hoax scandal broke, Manti Te’o has gone on record as to what really went down on his end when it comes to Lennay Kekua’s existence. Te’o sat down with ESPN reporter Jeremy Schaap to let the world know that he had nothing at all to do with Lennay Kekua outside of falling in love with her via the internet.

“I wasn’t faking it,” Te’o said to Schaap in a top secret interview that only ESPN was apart of. “I wasn’t part of this.”

The interview was suppose to be this earth shattering clarification from Te’o, in which he denied his involvement but also gave the world his side of the story. But we literally learned nothing we didn’t already know or assume about the whole scandal.

“When (people) hear the facts, they’ll know,” he said. “They’ll know that there is no way that I could be part of this.”

Schaap appeared on SportsCenter to tell the world what Manti Te’o had told him about the hoax. Schaap said that Te’o had vehemently denied being involved in the hoax, however contrary to reports that say Te’o met Kekua on Twitter, Schaap says Te’o told him the duo met through Facebook during Te’o's sophomore year.

“[Te'o] said [the relationship] got started on Facebook when he was a sophomore at Notre Dame,” Schaap said on SportsCenter. “He made a Facebook connection with someone reporting to be Lennay Kekua, and over the course of the next year there was occasional contact.”

Te’o also showed Schaap Facebook posts and messages from people that say they knew Lennay, but when Te’o tried to set up dates on Skype, the plans always fell through.

Schaap said that when Jack Swarbrick said in his press conference Wednesday that Manti Te’o found out about the hoax on December 6th, what he really meant was that was the date Te’o found out Kekua wasn’t dead — a revelation that apparently “utterly confused” the linebacker.

“He was told some story about how [Kekua's] been hiding from drug dealers,” Schaap said. “I know it sounds fantastical, but he sounded very convincing in the way that he laid this out.”

Te’o told Schaap that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo contacted him two days ago to tell him that he was indeed the one behind the hoax, and that Tuiasosopo apologized for everything he had done to him throughout the entire ordeal.

As to the reports that Te’o said he had met Kekua in person, the linebacker admitted he lied to his father about meeting her. Te’o told Schaap that his parents thought he was meeting Lennay one night and when she never showed up, he lied to his parents after the fact to avoid the issue with them. He also admitted to “misleading” the media regarding meeting Kekua in person, as he didn’t want to embarrass himself.

Schaap said they wanted to get Te’o on camera, but Manti refused citing the fact that he wanted a more “intimate” setting without “20 people in the room” while he talked.

Really, we learned nothing more than we already knew or thought we were going to hear from this top secret exclusive interview with Te’o. Manti told Schaap he hopes the buzz around the story goes away and that he can get on with his life, but as we all know this very much is not going anywhere anytime soon.

US PRESSWIRE

Since the story broke on Wednesday, the defense of Manti Te’o regarding the dead girlfriend hoax he’s wrapped up in, was that he –like everyone else– had no idea the woman wasn’t real until just recently. Many have begun jabbing holes in that story, but a friend of the man widely reported to have been behind the hoax has come forward saying Ronaiah Tuiasosopo indeed tricked Te’o without the linebacker ever knowing about it.

And Te’o isn’t the only one this has happened to.

The woman wished to not be identified, but said Te’o had nothing to do with the hoax and that Tuiasosopo admitted to duping the Heisman finalist in a tearful confession at his church.

“He (Ronaiah) told me that Manti was not involved at all, he was a victim. … The girlfriend was a lie, the accident was a lie, the leukemia was a lie,” said the woman. “He was crying, he was literally crying, he’s like ‘I know, I know what I have to do.’”

In addition to Manti Te’o, the woman said Tuiasosopo has done this before.

Outside The Lines did an investigation into the matter, and in addition to interviewing the woman, they sought out others who claim they’ve also been tricked by Tuiasosopo. J.R. Vaosa and Celeste Tuioti-Mariner both said their cousin began an online relationship with a woman who turned out to be Tuiasosopo.

“When Lennay said she was gonna be at this park one day, we’d go to the park and Ronaiah pops up and then we go to the gym in Orange County where the kids have volleyball tournaments, Ronaiah’s there,” Vaosa said.

“When I found out about the Samoan football player (and) his girlfriend, his Grandma died the same day, I was like, ‘Whoa this is crazy,’ I feel so bad for him, so I just looked him up,” Vaosa said. “I found out his girlfriend’s name was Lennay Kekua. And right when I read the name Lennay Kekua, I immediately thought of Ronaiah. Then I thought of my cousin — that this has to be the same person.”

The woman Outside The Lines spoke to, says she fears what Tuiasosopo might do to himself now that all the blame in the hoax is going to fall on him and him alone.

“I (still) am worried for him (Ronaiah), not just him and his family but I know that you can’t judge people like that and that’s why I continue to just encourage (him) to come out and tell the truth,” she said.

The Outside The Lines piece was researched and reported by longtime ESPN journalist Shelley Smith.

US PRESSWIRE

If you’re just waking up or getting off work, Deadspin sent a sonic shockwave through the sports community about an hour ago when they reported that Manti Te’o's deceased girlfriend never actually existed and that we had all been duped into believing a hoax. While Deadspin remains that only outlet reporting the news, it has nevertheless taken off and hit the stratosphere and Notre Dame has released a statement via their Facebook page saying that Te’o is as much a victim in this as everyone else.

[RELATED: Deadspin: Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend Was a Hoax]

From Notre Dame’s Facebook page:

On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia. The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators.

Dennis Brown
University Spokesman | Assistant Vice President

Details surrounding the story are still coming in, and Te’o hasn’t confirmed or denied any of the accusations made in Deadspin’s report. At the moment all we have is Deadspin’s report, the evidence within that report and Notre Dame’s statement on the situation.

US PRESSWIRE

All college football season long, one of the most uplifting and inspirational stories was how Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker and team leader Manti Te’o overcame the death of his grandmother and girlfriend on the same day, eventually leading his team to the National Championship game.

Te’o did indeed lose his grandmother on September 12, 2012, but according to a report from Deadspin, Te’o didn’t lose his girlfriend. In fact according to Deadspin, the girlfriend Te’o said he lost never existed.

In an extensive report, Deadpsin gives evidence that heavily suggests that Manti Te’o never actually met the woman known as Lennay Kekuna, and that everything about her was made up by a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.

There was no Lennay Kekua. Lennay Kekua did not meet Manti Te’o after the Stanford game in 2009. Lennay Kekua did not attend Stanford. Lennay Kekua never visited Manti Te’o in Hawaii. Lennay Kekua was not in a car accident. Lennay Kekua did not talk to Manti Te’o every night on the telephone. She was not diagnosed with cancer, did not spend time in the hospital, did not engage in a lengthy battle with leukemia. She never had a bone marrow transplant. She was not released from the hospital on Sept. 10, nor did Brian Te’o congratulate her for this over the telephone. She did not insist that Manti Te’o play in the Michigan State or Michigan games, and did not request he send white flowers to her funeral. Her favorite color was not white. Her brother, Koa, did not inform Manti Te’o that she was dead. Koa did not exist. Her funeral did not take place in Carson, Calif., and her casket was not closed at 9 a.m. exactly. She was not laid to rest.

Credit: US PRESSWIRE

The BCS is a system that has been under intense criticism for the last five years — well really since it’s inception, but the bulk of the hate has materialized and avalanched in recent years. It’s been called a system of favorites, a flawed system and a system that doesn’t accurately reflect the best teams in the country.

While BCS cronies starkly defend it as a money grubbing legitimate system of ranking college football teams, we’ve had yet another slip up when it comes to the BCS and it’s rankings.

It’s called the Colley Matrix and it’s one of six computers that rank and make up the BCS standings. However, it’s final and official ranking of the 2012 season places Notre Dame as the No. 1 team in the country despite being blown out in the Championship game by the consensus No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide.

The final rankings in the Colley Matrix had Notre Dame at No. 1 with a score of .973997, ahead of No. 2 Alabama, which came in at .961139. Every other system of ranking, both computer and human, ranked Alabama over Notre Dame because, ya know, they crushed them in a head-to-head matchup. But the Colley Matrix remains the sole outlier, and seems to be violating it’s own laws.

The Colley Matrix follows seven specific guidelines, as it:

1. has no bias toward conference, tradition, history, etc., (and, hence, has no pre-season poll)
2. is reproducible,
3. uses a minimum of assumptions,
4. uses no ad hoc adjustments,
5. nonetheless adjusts for strength of schedule,
6. ignores runaway scores, and
7. produces common sense results

Let’s get the magnifying glass and zero in on guideline No. 7, as the Matrix is truly ignoring reality when it comes to common sense.

The BCS will be a virtually defunct system when it comes to picking a national champion in 2014, but we still have to live with it and it’s agonizing existence for one more year. Alabama’s final ranking atop the BCS and college football was in no way harmed by the Colley Matrix glitch, but it serves as a painful reminder of just how flawed a supposedly perfect system is.

Mandatory Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier this month, Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd raised some doubt as to whether or not he’d enter the 2013 NFL Draft his April. After some consideration, Boyd has announced that he will return to Clemson for his senior season in an attempt to boost his draft stock and make a run at winning a Heisman Trophy.

Really, this is the best move Boyd could have made. Had he entered the draft, scouts were projecting him as a late second to early third round choice at best. Boyd said he was committed to trying to help bring an ACC title to Clemson and win a Heisman Trophy, and it would have taken a premium projection to get him to bolt.

That projection never came, so Boyd is returning.

[RELATED: Georgia's Aaron Murray Will Return for Senior Season]

With the success of Russell Wilson this season, many thought that Boyd might have a chance to beat the stereotype that short quarterbacks can’t be elite in the NFL. Wilson is preparing to play the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Playoffs, but that has nothing to do with Boyd. Thankfully, Boyd realized this and decided that playing his senior season really can’t hurt his stock.

Obviously it can hurt his stock, but logic suggests that if he can build on the season he had this year with the Tigers, not only is an ACC title possible but a Heisman isn’t out of reach either.

Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Usually in college football, players who are going on to the NFL play their hearts out in bowl games to boost their draft stock. Even players that aren’t going to the NFL love to play, just because playing in a bowl game is the pinnacle of some guys careers. But Dane Ebanez, despite playing for the Oregon Ducks for four years and being named scout team player of the year two years in a row, had never ever played in a bowl game.

His teammate, Keanon Lowe, was determined to change that. With around 2:27 left to go in the game, Lowe suffered an injury and has to be replaced on the kick team by Ebanez. The only thing was, Lowe wasn’t injured at all, he had faked the injury as to allow Ebanez to play in his first and final bowl game of his college football career.

Ebanez will be leaving Oregon now that the season is over, because he can’t afford his $70,000 in student debt. Ebanez is a walk on at Oregon, and therefore if he’s not starting, the incentive to pay to be a student athlete who sits on the bench isn’t there for him.

So on his way out the door, Lowe allowed Ebanez to end his college football career on somewhat of a high note. Sure it was only just one play, but it’s more than just the thought that counts.

In a blood sport that showcases it’s best talent and leaves guys like Ebanez behind, it says a lot about the type of guy Lowe is. The Fiesta Bowl wasn’t much of a contest, but the real-life Rudy moment was without a doubt one of the top highlights.

McCarron flamboyantly called a timeout and got into Jones’ face. The massive center was not having any of what his quarterback was saying and shoved McCarron out of his face. Alabama had to punt the ball, but on their way to the sidelines, McCarron was still jawing at Jones who was walking very far away from him.

GIF via GIF.mocksession.com

The weirdest part of this whole ordeal was that the Crimson Tide were up 42-14 at the time.

McCarron admitted that at practices this year, he’d regularly get into it with Jones, but it would never boil over into anything physical. In fact, McCarron and Jones room with each other when they’re on the road and have a very close relationship.

After the game, Barrett Jones said that it was a snap count issue.

“We were on a snap count, I was right but it’s whatever,” he laughed. “It’s truly a caring relationship.”

Alabama won the game, McCarron and Jones both apologized to each other after the game so no harm was really done. But one thing that was put on display is the intensity this team has, even when they’re up 42-14.

Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Katherine Webb is dominating Twitter when it comes to the National Championship game, and that says a lot about both the quality of the game and the quality of Webb. But while Brent Musburger publicly got all hot and bothered for Webb, Arizona Cardinals defensive end Darnell Dockett thought he was being private when he tried to woo her.

Dockett accidentally publicly tweeted Webb his phone number, asking her if she wanted to go to Wing Stop, only the tweet wasn’t private — it was very much public.

He deleted the tweet, but not before it was retweeted first.

DD, they deliver!RT @ddockett: Aye @_katherinewebb hit me (240) 464-4150 when game over, lets go to wing stop then King of diamond,

— TomahawkNation.com (@TomahawkNation) January 8, 2013

Dockett later tweeted that his tweet to Webb was supposed to be a direct message.

Shit that was suppose to be DM!

— DARNELL DOCKETT (@ddockett) January 8, 2013

Brent Musburger quipped when he was hitting on Webb from he booth, that quarterbacks get all the women. Dockett clearly took offense and tried to show that defensive guys get their fair share of the ladies — even if they’re already taken.

By the way, turns out the phone number is for a youth cheerleading leading coach in Maryland, a coach who has a very full voicemail box thanks to the Cardinals defensive end. Kudos to Dockett for trying though, at least he closer in age to Webb than Brent Musburger is.

During Monday night’s broadcast of the BCS National championship game, Musburger made it his business to point out how ridiculously hot A.J. McCarron’s girlfriend.

It didn’t really start out that creepy, and from they way people were reacting you’d have though Musburger had gotten really dirty in his description of Katherine Webb.

But Musburger flirted with a creepy line, slowly crossed it then slowly came back.

And I’d like to point out that Dee Dee Bonner is not a mutt. Musburger probably should have directed his words towards McCarron’s mother seeing as she’s a lot closer to his age. Had Musburger done that, we probably would have reacted the same way, but the creepiness factor wouldn’t have been as high as it was.

For the record, Katherine Webb is 23 years old and Brent Musburger is a ripe 73 years of age. Not only are we getting a really bad national championship game, we got a situation that was about two seconds away a Chris Hanson appearance.

But is says a lot about a National Championship game when the most talked about moment didn’t even happen on the field and was only mildly related to the game itself.

Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Tonight’s BCS national championship game seems to heavily favor the Alabama Crimson Tide, but ESPN College GameDay expert and usual goofball Lee Corso isn’t conforming with that notion. In fact, dressed as a leprechaun, Corso went with the upset of Notre Dame over the defending champion Crimson Tide.

Corso has made a career out of being the goofy and lovable old guy, that dresses up in weird mascot costumes and happens to pick college football games. Corso probably has the easiest, funnest job in the entire country, but he occasionally rocks the boat with his picks.

Then again Corso isn’t known for his college football picks. Watching Corso harkens back to being a two year old watching Barney. You didn’t really know or care what was going on, but that giant purple dinosaur was about the coolest thing you had ever seen and you were hypnotized by it on a daily basis while you sat and played.

That’s what watching Corso is like, and it’s pretty much the same format. We sit around, talking about shapes and numbers while an old white guy dresses up in costumes and dances for our amusement.

Who cares about Alabama or Notre Dame, lets just get three hours with Lee Corso. That way nobody loses and everyone walks away a better person.

US PRESSWIRE

The stage is set for a historic showdown: #1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish versus #2 Alabama Crimson Tide.

In this matchup, Notre Dame is 5-1. However, the last time the two teams played each other was in 1987.

Alabama is on their way to winning their third national championship in four years. The Crimson Tide are known primarily for two things: their defense and their running game. Many analysts argue that the current defense for the Tide is the weakest defense they’ve seen in five years. However, the running game is still at the top of their game. Alabama is 50-0 when rushing for more than 140 yards. A huge key to a Notre Dame win is stopping the run.

Notre Dame’s quarterback Everett Golson might be a redshirt freshman, but his maturity does not reflect that. After starting the season very rocky, he has done a complete 180 the second half of the season, continuing the Irish’s perfect season. All season Golson has thrown for more than 240 yards only twice. The Irish must make key plays against this top-notch defense to be successful. Their offense line needs also needs to protect their quarterback, and allow him the time to make those plays.

Perhaps the greatest attribute to the Irish team is their red zone defense. All season they have allowed only nine touchdowns in the red zone, two of those rushing. In order to stop Tide RB’s like Eddie Lacy and TJ Yeldon, they must be firm on the goal line. Eddie Lacy is known to be a powerful running back, so this matchup will be very interesting to watch.

I think the main component of this game is defense. Notre Dame needs to put pressure on Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron, and capitalize on any mistakes he could make. The Crimson Tide need to keep Golson contained, he is not only an accurate thrower but he is able to run. The Tide fell to Texas A&M and quarterback Johnny Manziel, who like Golson thrives on his mobility. The winner of tonight’s game will be the team whose defense steps up when the stage is set.

Location: Sun Life Stadium

Time: 8:00pm ET/7:00 CDT

Nat’l TV: ESPN/ESPN 3D

Announcers: Brent Musburger/Kirk Herbstreit

Live Stream: ESPN 3

‘Bama Radio: ESPN Radio (Click Here to find your local affiliate)

Notre Dame Radio: IMG Radio Affiliates

Satellite Radio: XM Radio Channel 129

Weather: Clear, 82°F

Line: Crimson Tide -9.5

Prediction: Notre Dame 20, Alabama 34

Credit: US PRESSWIRE

The Alabama Crimson Tide will be lead by the ever popular A.J. McCarron on Monday and it will be the second straight year that he’ll be doing so. But had doctors not saved his life back in 1996, we may never have seen McCarron grow up to become the star quarterback of the Crimson Tide.

McCarron was 5 years old in 1996, but on August 4th — a Monday– he was fighting for his life, bleeding to death after having the left side of his face crushed in a jet-skiing accident while vacationing with his family. McCarron’s younger brother Corey recalls the accident that alomst ended the life of his older brother and robbed the world of a great talent.

“I was next on the WaveRunner that day,” Corey said. “I was with my grandpa in the car and I was waiting my turn. And they never came back. I remember I was grabbing the door in the hospital room not wanting to leave, and my mom was trying to get me out.”

Corey says that at age 4 he didn’t fully grasp what was going on inside his brother’s hospital room, but when doctors gave grace news to his worried mother, Corey began to put the pieces together: his older brother and backyard football pal, was dying and could be handicapped from that point on.

“They told my mother he might die. They said he would be mentally handicapped. They said he would be blind,” Corey said. “Now he’s the quarterback at Alabama. I think it’s a miracle.”

A.J. survived the accident and didn’t suffer any debilitating long term mental effects. Last winter, Corey –who is a college tight end– announced that he would be transferring to Alabama to play with his brother. He didn’t play any downs in 2012 but is expected to see action next year. According to A.J., his brother is one of the main reasons he’s staying another yea with the Tide.

“That’s one of the big reasons I’m staying around next year.” A.J. said. “I think he has a great opportunity to play, and hopefully we’ll be able to relive some moments like we did when we were young.”

Now, on a Monday over 16 years after tragedy almost ripped the McCarron brothers apart, they are back together and ready to Roll Tide.

“I know my mom’s cried like eight times already, seeing us together here.” Corey said of being together with A.J. in Miami ahead of the BCS National Championship game. “I have to sit back and look at this as a gift from God.”

A.J. McCarron continues to live a life that can’t be scripted, and we’ve only just tasted the beginning of what has so far been an amazing ride for the McCarron brothers.

You can follow Josh Hill on Twitter and  you can also‘Like’ Fansided on Facebook. 

Follow @Fansided

Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports

Last month, it was reported that the SEC would leave Quinton Dial’s punishment up to the Alabama Crimson Tide when it came to how his hit on Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray would be handled. As expected, Alabama will not be suspended or discipline one of their best defensive players for the National Championship game this Monday against the Notre Dame Irish.

The hit on a defenseless Murray is still debated today, with Alabama fans claiming it was a clean and legal hit, and others saying that the hit was uncalled for, as the play was happening downfield.

What defendants of Dial point out, is that Murray had just thrown an interception, and was therefore a potential tackler on the play. All Dial was doing as throwing a block, thus taking Murray out of the play as a defender.

However, those bothered by the hit note that Dial’s helmet makes contact with that of Murray’s and that the viciousness of the hit was uncalled for given where Murray was in relation to the ball carrier. Upon a frame by frame replay, it’s clear that Dial lowers his head and leads with his crown when going in to hit Murray even as much as Alabama fans don’t want to believe it.

Clear contact is made between Dial’s helmet and Murray’s helmet, there is no logical or intellectual way of denying it.

Nevertheless, there was no way that Alabama was suspending Dial for the hit when they didn’t have to. That doesn’t mean the hit was legal, it just means that Alabama is taking advantage of a situation they’d be moral to oblige.

If Dial was not leading with his head, he could have lowered his body more than he did. Instead, he seems to have deliberately lead with the crown of his helmet, which is a hit the NCAA has made an example of numerous times this season.

But the SEC is it’s own government and because it’s the NCAA’s biggest football conference, it wasn’t going to be bossed around. Dial’s hit was malicious, but Alabama can’t be told what to do and the NCAA’s limp power is on full display when it comes to the discipline of Dial.

You can follow Josh Hill on Twitter and  you can also‘Like’ Fansided on Facebook. 

Follow @Fansided

If there’s one thing college football loves to do, it’s make money. One way to make money is to unveil a new uniform every five minutes to keep up jersey sales and to lure in new recruits. There was once a time when football jersey’s were for cataloguing players and weren’t fashion statements, but the times have changed.

Alabama will be wearing new uniforms for the National Championship game on Monday, and they really don’t look all that different from the ones they usually wear, which is both a good and bad thing.

On the surface, the jersey’s look no different. Usually a team will change up the color scheme, mess with the logo on their helmet or just draw wings on their jerseys like Oregon did. But while the look of the jerseys aren’t wildly radical, like the Crimson Tide themselves, it’s what’s under the hood that makes these really special.

Nike is calling it their most innovative uniform system to date, and it’s fitting that the Tide will wearing them. It suits the Tide extremely well to conform to the norm of wearing a new jersey, but making the changes in science rather than the aesthetics.

According to the company, Alabama’s new uniforms are the lightest weight uniforms they’ve ever put out, and combines just about every innovation Nike has ever had when it comes to making their uniforms easier to play in.

From Nike:

The Crimson Tide uniforms will be upgraded to include Nike Chain Maille Mesh – a lightweight, ultra-breathable material that emphasizes improved thermoregulation. This new fabrication is incorporated into the back and under the arms of the jersey for exceptional ventilation without sacrificing durability. The white-on-white look, embellished with crimson accents, creates the iconic, bold silhouette for which the Tide is famous.

Alabama will also wear the new Nike Pro Combat Hypercool Speed Top featuring Nike Dri-Fit fabrication that transports moisture and sweat from the skin to the outside of the top, leaving the body cool and dry. Regulated for the weather with increased breathability and a streamlined fit, this revolutionary baselayer top features new innovative venting systems including laser perforation pods in a unique design pattern that help the body regulate temperature. It also features reinforced bonded seams as well as premium mesh underarm gussets for increased thermoregulation.

While other schools are looking to make a fashion statement, the Alabama Crimson Tide are using the science and innovation to actually be faster, stronger and better than everyone else in the game.

Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports

Former Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones used to be a fat man, but he still managed to get a Playboy Playmate to get into bed every night with him. On top of that, he’s become somewhat of a Twitter celebrity with his bizarre and often incoherent tweets. Jones utilized the latter skill to display his displeasure with how the Florida Gators played in the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday.

Jones, who is a self-proclaimed die-hard Gator fan, said he hadn’t seen such a pitiful display from a football team in all his years, or words to that effect.

Never seen a more undisciplined football team in my life. As a life long UF fan, that was embarrassing.

— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) January 3, 2013

In true and bizarre Chipper Jones fashion, he followed that tweet up with one that implied (for some reason) that the Gators were rotting from the inside.

I can handle getting beat, but to show ur asses in front of the whole country? Sure hope the inmates ain’t running the asylum down there! — Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) January 3, 2013

The best guess as to why Jones said that, is because he can. That’s not a complicated reason, but it’s the only conclusion you can draw when discussing why Chipper Jones tweets what he tweets. Jones finished up his twitter rant by taking a pop shot at the Gator fans who were apparently calling him out for criticizing the team.

I love being an objective gator fan. The bull gators out there can’t stand it when confronted with the truth about their teams performance!

— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) January 3, 2013

While Jones was a little outrageous, and has a reputation on social media of being that way, he wasn’t entirely wrong. The Gators bounced the Georgia Bulldogs out of a BCS bowl by finishing ahead of them, and the way they repay the system is to get blown away by an average Big East school in Louisville.

Chipper Jones is now retired from baseball, he’s got a banging playmate girlfriend, he’s got more money than most of us will make in out lives and he’s a Twitter machine. In other words, he’s got a lot of time to let us all know that even if we have a firmer grasp on the English language and know how to properly use Twitter, our lives will never be as awesome as Chipper Jones’.

You can follow Josh Hill on Twitter and  you can also‘Like’ Fansided on Facebook. 

Follow @Fansided

Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

The BCS title game is a weekend away, and already the anxiety across the country is building. This isn’t a title game where a flashy young quarterback has lucked his team into the big game, or a matchup between to “second tier” programs. THis is a battle of historical titans, as Alabama and Notre Dame square off with everything on the line.

One of the reasons this matchup is so much better than ones we’ve had in the past, is the eclectic mix of fan bases involved. On the one hand, you have the Alabama fans, who are as rabid as any fans in the country and rival the loyalty of most NFL fan bases. If there’s one thing people should know about ‘Bama fans, it’s that you should probably not mess with them on game day.

On the other side we have Notre Dame fans, who pride themselves on intellect as much as they take pride in their historical football team. Irish fans aren’t nearly as ferocious as ‘Bama faithful, but once they get on a roll, even the Tide need to be mindful of Domer homers.

Mike Golic, from ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike in the Morning, is one of those Domer homers and regularly takes public pride in the fact that he’s Irish alumni. He also reguarly makes it known that his son happens to be following in his shoes, and is currently playing for the Irish, and will be representing the Golic’s in the title game on Monday.

When cameras followed the elder Golic into a diner in Conneticut, way far north of the Mason-Dixie line, he encountered an interesting site in a predominately Irish-friendly hang out.

Much to the surprise of Golic and his his posse, already sitting in the diner were two Alabama fans who were a long way from home.

Even better, the two fans — in rabid ‘Bama fan fashion– began chanting ‘Roll Tide’, never once fearing for their lives. It helps that the diner was full of overweight, middle aged men and it really helped that the two ‘Bama fans happened to be fairly attractive young women.

Golic and company took the jesting in stride, and even paid for the women’s food, but only on the condition that they switch their allegiance from Alabama to Notre Dame. The Alabama gals kindly refused to root for Notre Dame, but gladly accepted Golic’s offer to pay for their food. Gloc did manage to get a ‘Go Irish’ out of the fans, but they stuck to their Alabama guns.

In a sport that can feature some pretty nasty fan interactions, it’s nice, refreshing and a little odd to see rival fan-bases acting so civil towards one another. But like the BCS title game might go, when all the joking is put aside, the Irish ended up paying for the Tide’s lunch.

Is that an omen, or just a coincidence?

Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

When it happened, we all expected a flag. When it wasn’t flagged we all awaited the news of a suspension but Alabama defensive end Quinton Dial is one of the luckiest players in college football at the moment, as the bureaucracy of the National Title game has dictated that Dial will not be suspended for his helmet-to-hemet hit on Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray in the SEC Championship game two weeks ago.

The most interesting part of this story is that before Quinton Dial, who plays for the Crimson Tide in case you didn’t already make that correlation, the NCAA was cracking down hard on helmet-to-helmet hits by issuing next game suspensions for guilty players.

Dial’s hit was vicious, it was without a doubt helmet-to-helmet, but there will be no suspension coming from it.

In a statement on their investigation, the SEC ruled the following:

“The Southeastern Conference has completed its review of video from the 2012 SEC Football Championship Game. Several plays involving both teams were reviewed. After review, all subsequent action will be handled internally by the two institutions and the conference office is satisfied with their actions.”

So basically, at a moment when a conference should step in and govern, they’re letting the inmates run the asylum — because there’s a lot of money riding on a possible suspension of Dial in the National Championship game.

Not only did SEC Coordinator of Officals Steve Shaw say Dial should have been penalized, he turned right around on himself and said Dial’s hit on Murray wasn’t as severe as other helmet-to-helmet hits that resulted in suspension this year.

To be specific, he said the “nature of the play was different”, apparently meaning Murray needed to be a step short of being decapitated to have drawn a penalty and for Dial to have been suspended.

Dial may miss a half, or a series but Alabama is not going to suspend their defensive end for the biggest game of their season. Despite the NCAA lowering the hammer on other institutions for violations outside of football, when it comes to violations on the field the NCAA apparently goes brain dead.

To be fair to Nick Saban and Alabama, the SEC brutally botched another ruling earlier this year when redshirt freshman LaMicheal Fanning body-slammed a Missouri running back. The conference didn’t suspend Fanning but Saban and the University told Fanning not to travel with the team to their next game against the Volunteers.

But it’s highly questionable that the SEC is conveniently fumbling the ball on a call that could play into the conference winning it’s seventh consecutive national championship. At the same time, we all have to ask ourselves, when wasn’t college football rotten and corrupt?

Dec 8, 2012; New York, NY, USA; Texas A

Every year there is much made about who will win the coveted Heisman Trophy. As is stated numerous times during the ceremony, the list of past winners is long and legendary, and while not all went on to have great NFL careers (or one at all), winning the award no doubt solidifies the recipient aong the titans of college football.

The 2012 Heisman Trophy had three very deserving candidates, a freshman, a field general and an inspiration that happens to play linebacker. All deserved to win, but only one took home the hardware and joined the list of legends.

The Heisman likes a good story as much as it likes stats and performance, and that was the case tonight as Johnny Manziel took home the award. Not only did Manziel put up insane numbers this year, breaking records and arriving on the scene with a bang, but he’s now made history. Never before had a freshman won the Heisman until tonight.

Manziel turned 20 years old two days ago, and is the first freshman to win the award. There will be much debate as to whether he earned it with stats or with popularity, but not a lot of people can doubt his status as a finalist. To contrast against evidence the haters possess, Colin Klein didn’t hit it big until this season, and Manti Te’o was still growing as a player and a person when he was a freshman.

There is still much growing for Manziel, but he’s made strides at an incredibly young age and while possibly controversial, the one time backup quarterback and YouTube sensation is now a Heisman winner and no one can take that away.

Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

The Tennessee Volunteers have been at the forefront of some pretty juicy coaching rumors, but like that super hot girl in high school they’ve all been nothing but teases. From Jon Gruden to Jimbo Fisher and everyone in between, it seems that no one actually wants to coach the Volunteers.

Two more possible candidates have taken their names out of the hat, as Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy has stated he is not leaving his program to accept a job at Tennessee. Louisville head coach Charlie Strong also stated yesterday night that he won’t be heading to the SEC either and will instead stay put with the Cardinals.

Now that at least four candidates have flat out said no to them including one without an actual coaching job at the moment, an interesting question is raised: does anyone really want to coach Tennessee or do they just like being desired?

When the Vols fired Derek Dooley, they assumed that the Volunteer history and the promise of playing in the SEC would lure at least one viable candidate or big name to their school. The Vols are coming off some harsh sanctions brought on by the one year Lane Kiffin spent there, and they’re in desperate need of rebuilding after the destruction.

Plus they play in the most popular conference in college football, which affords them a chance to get back on top quicker than most schools may be able to. The only thing holding them back is a good coach, and apparently none of them are interested.

The Vols coaching search is going through stages: first stage is the stage where you think everybody wants you. You walk into the party, the music is pumping, people are feeling good and you think every sexy, scantly-clad women present wants to bed you. Then they all look at you and walk away like you’re the guys from A Night At the Roxbury and you slowly realize you’re not that great.

Panic mode hasn’t set in and you’re still not ready to settle for the last girl on the bar-line, but you begin to see that could very well be the outcome of of you’re night out. That’s exactly where Tennessee is right now, none of the top-tier women want them, and it’s starting to snowball from there.

That’s not a terrible thing however, but Tennessee has set the bar so incredibly high by flaunting out names like Gruden, Fisher, Gundy, and all the other names that this search is quickly looking like a disaster even though it’s not.

Sure, a big name has the chance to rebound the program quicker, but it’s high risk, high reward.

If the Vols were to settle for a lesser known name, things could still work out in their favor — it just might take a little longer. But by swinging and missing so fast and so hard, the Volunteers are making this a situation that whoever steps in, no matter how big or small the name is, it’s a high risk, medium reward type deal.

And nobody wants to get tangled in that mess.

Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber- USA TODAY Sports

For years, analysts and fans alike have been railing on the BCS system for not allowing in teams that aren’t from major conferences. Boise State was long the poster child of the BCS system’s prejudice towards the Alabama’s, Florida’s and Ohio State’s of the college football world and their mathematical and systematical tight rope allowed in no outsiders.

Boise State eventually got in, but it was clear that they’d be the only ones. That’s until Northern Illinois got through the tightest of loop holes in the BCS system and weaseled their way into a BCS Bowl game.

The Huskies won the MAC title on Saturday and needed to finish at No. 16 in the BCS or higher to somehow secure a BCS bid over other probably more deserving major conference schools ahead of them. But this comes with the territory and is the nature of the game, when Boise State was constantly getting screwed in favor of less deserving, the same outcry was had.

But that’s where it gets annoyingly hypocritical, and ESPN talking head Kirk Herbstreit spearheaded said hypocrisy by losing his junk over NIU getting into a BCS Bowl over the like of Clemson, Georgia and Oklahoma.

On last night’s bowl selection show, instead of the analysts breaking down how Northern Illinois making it into the BCS was a way of giving the middle finger to the BCS system and how stupid it is, the fireballs were launched at NIU and how having the Huskies in a BCS Bowl is, as Herbstreit said, “a joke” and reflects the “sad state of college football”.

Here’s what I don’t get, for years we’ve been saying why doesn’t the little guy get a chance and when said little guy gets a chance, it’s as though the Huskies have beaten to death out mothers with aluminum soup cans whilst wearing Bugs Bunny suits. I was under the impression that ESPN analysts were on board with the notion that the BCS system is a joke.

Oh, that was before they became financially involved with them.

Obviously, the Huskies getting into a BCS Bowl game is going to be controversial but it further proves that the BCS is a stupid system, and those railing against the team rather than calling for a new system are missing the point.

Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

This was the game that had virtually no drama surrounding who would get in, rather we were waiting for it to become official. The drama is all about who will win the National Championship: will is be Manti Te’o and the inspirational Notre Dame Irish or will Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide win back-to-back titles?

It has all the makings of what should be one of the more classic title fights we’ve seen in some time, if just for who is involved. The Irish are in their first title game in over twenty years and are making their first ever appearance in a BCS National Championship game. In fact it’s Notre Dame’s frist trip back to a BCS Bowl game since their 2007 trip to the Sugar Bowl that saw them get blown out by LSU.

Alabama has much more heritage in not just title games but the BCS era title games, as the Tide have appeared in a BCS Bowl game in some capacity in three of the last four years with two of those games being National Championship wins. But despite his success at both LSU and Alabama, Nick Saban has yet to lead a team to back-to-back titles, and he set up very well for something legendary come January 7th.

There will be much debate between now and January 7th and this game will be talked to death, but we could talk about it every minute of every day until kickoff and interest and excitement will remain at a high.

It takes two special teams to have even the common fan interested in the title game and Alabama and Notre Dame are two of those teams.

Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

With reports that Northern Illinois has indeed finished in the Top 16 of the BCS and that the rankings released tonight will reflect that, Louisville is moving bowls but they will remain in the BCS Bowl Series.

The Oklahoma Sooners will not. With the Huskies earning a bid in the Orange Bowl, Oklahoma has been bounced from the Sugar Bowl and will instead be playing in the Cotton Bowl against old Big 12 foe Texas A&M.

What this  means for Louisville is that they will be shifting from the Orange Bowl to the Sugar Bowl to face the Florida Gators. Louisville earned the right to a bowl game over the Sooners as the Cardinals won the majority share of the Big East title. There was some early speculation that the Cardinals would get passed over for the likes of Pittsburgh but the final rankings put any doubt to rest that Louisville was BCS bound.

The Florida Gators also looked iffy when it came to a BCS berth but thanks to the loss by Georgia on Saturday, the Gators BCS hopes were all up guaranteed. Had Alabama lost, conspiracy theorists could have argued that voters would have been more generous to the Crimson Tide but the Bulldogs didn’t plummet that far.

However, it was far enough to keep them out of a BCS bowl game.

Louisville doesn’t match up that well against the Florida Gators, and some critics of the selection BCS system are saying these games will all be one sided blowouts, but this is college football and in Bowl Season, anything is possible.