With the advent of high-level television productions in college football, it's awfully easy to be an armchair ref these days. Heck, even the absence of such luxuries doesn't stop fans from pretending to be experts; just go to any football game where the referee has to do anything at all ever and watch the crowd for proof.
So CBS's Dennis Dodd, on a whim, got a hold of the NCAA's official, um, Official Exam. It's 100 questions, none of them obvious, and most of them downright ruthless. Dodd scored a 46.
But Dodd's just a journalist, which is somewhere lower than "blogger" and higher than "poodle" in terms of intellect. Certainly Blogfrica's preeminent authority on all things pigskin, Sunday Morning Quarterback, would do far better, yes? No, not really. 55.
Naturally, I couldn't resist the temptation. How hard can it be, right?
Hasty still aspires to play football, somewhere, next year. Most likely he'll head to a lower-division school to maintain some eligibility. If he were to transfer to a D-1 school, not only would he have to sit out a full season due to transfer rules, but he would also lose a year of eligibility, meaning he'd have only one season left to play in '09.
While Hasty would have helped this fall, his departure shouldn't have a huge impact on the UW depth chart. Sophomore Brandon Johnson is currently number-one at running back, and there are several other young players at the position that will compete for carries this fall.
What happened with Hasty? Here was one of the highest-touted running backs to come out of Washington, a player who scored an amazing 50 touchdowns his senior year. He was the most talked-about recruit with Tyrone Willingham's first recruiting class in 2005. Blessed with decent size and excellent breakaway speed, many thought he could evolve into the next great tailback at UW. Yet his entire UW career is summed up with six carries for 18 yards? Maybe most of all, it was a trust issue between Tyrone Willingham and Hasty. There just wasn't any trust left in Willingham's tank after the various issues that occurred during Hasty's stay at UW.
Hasty has maintained decent grades, to the point where at least one option could be that he simply gives up football and becomes a full-time student at UW to finish his degree. Let's hope he's learned his lesson and is ready to get on with the next phase of his life.
While football programs everywhere start their summer workouts, there is some major unfinished business at Washington. The help wanted sign is amazingly still sitting in the athletic director's window, now several months after the opening was created.
For a quick background, it started back in December when former athletic director Todd Turner announced he was stepping down as the AD. Turner put in over three-and-a-half years of work in the athletic department, with some notable hires including Tyrone Willingham and more recently, women's basketball head coach Tia Jackson. But things took a turn for the worse in recent times. Turner was a target for disgruntled Husky football fans, especially when Willingham was retained for the upcoming 2008 season despite an 11-25 record at UW. Meanwhile the athletic department has been trying to get a much-needed stadium renovation drive off the ground, but that effort struggled to get going under Turner's watch. And finally, Turner admitted at his parting press conference that he had more or less burned out and the expectations of the university compared to Turner's vision were simply no longer on the same wave length.
Scott Woodward has been the acting AD ever since. Woodward was initially a candidate for the AD job, and there was widespread speculation that he would eventually land the position. But back on May 1st, Woodward surprised many when he announced he would no longer pursue the job. The idea was that he was doing such a good job in his current position as VP of external affairs that it was in the best interests of University President Mark Emmert that Woodward stays right where he is.
The Seattle Times has decided to leave no instate Division I-A program unbashed, following up their epic series on Washington's wacky ways under Rick Neuheisel with an expose on the disaster train that is the Washington State Cougars program.
Most of the article is the usual blah blah blah about very large men getting into very minor legal trouble. Since WSU was terrible during the period in question and the coach is now an ex-coach, there's not much outrage to be generated. But... Washington State is located in Pullman, which is sort of a legendarily horrible little town just down the road from appropriately named Moscow, Idaho. And never has a town been blown up in two sentences like this:
"WSU is a hard school to go to, man," [ex-DB Courtney] Williams says. "You ain't got nothin' to do but get drunk and smoke weed, and not go to class because you're too tired from doing what you're doing."
As WSU Football Blog ruefully concludes, "ouch." They have much more on the situation, too... if you're interested, check them out.
Outside of what appears to be a firmly entrenched Bud Foster, there's been no defensive coordinator in the ACC that's been as sought after in the past few years as John Tenuta. Even as Georgia Tech's offense could be most generously described as "erratic" under Reggie Ball and "competent" under the stewardship of Taylor Bennett, the Yellow Jacket defense could be relied on for its aggressiveness, possibly due to the pent up rage that comes from spending time in one of the south's few public school with almost no hot chicks.
And yet, after a rather inauspicious cameo as GT's head coach in this year's Humanitarian Bowl, Tenuta was not retained under the new Paul Johnson regime. Even more shocking was that Chan Gailey managed to land a job first, Basically, if you're a BCS school with a DC opening, Tenuta may have already been rumored as going to you. Originally, he was a blue and maize lock until the whole Les Miles thing went to sea (yuk, yuk). Then it was South Carolina. Or was it Arkansas??? And just this morning, Washington denied any involvement, so the question must be asked- where you at, Virginia?
Tenuta's ultimate ambitions are unclear, and I have no idea what kind of interview he is, so it's difficult to say that he'll take a position that can lead him to that plum head coaching gig. I mean, Ty Willingham supposedly has one year left to get it together, but then again, Tenuta's Pac-10 roots are almost nil, and the furthest west he's been as a coach was SMU in the '90s.
Here's why athletic directors are frowning this morning...
We've been saying it for years: snowballs are just a gateway weapon to screwdrivers and knives: Two Utah football players and a recruit they were hosting at a university-sanctioned party are recovering after being attacked by knife- and screwdriver-wielding assailants on Friday. The escalating factor in the scuffle? A snowball.
Freshman defensive end Paul Kruger (same name as his father), junior defensive lineman Greg Newman and Kruger's younger brother David, a recruit who plans to sign with the Utes next month, told the men to "shut up" and "get out of here." Kruger's father said Newman threw a snowball at the car during the exchange and the occupants then got out of the vehicle.
As mentioned in the article, the Deseret News obtained all the information about the attack from the father of one of the victims. That's not so great if you're looking for unbiased information (Paul, he explained, then ran over to the men and said, "Look this is not worth getting into a scuffle over."), but awesome for things you'll never hear east of the Continental Divide (Kruger's father said Meredith (he couldn't recall her last name) saved his son's "bacon" by immediately calling 911 for an ambulance when his blood pressure began to drop).
While there is no immediate word, there is speculation that UW will "clean house" in regards to the defensive coaching staff. That would include the ouster of longtime Willingham defensive coordinator Kent Baer among others. The Husky defense was not only one of the worst in the conference and the nation in 2007, but it was the worst in school history in terms of yards allowed.
Why keep a coach who has gone 11-25 and finished at the bottom of the conference? Why not make a change when you've just seen Willingham become the first coach in school history to roll out three consecutive losing seasons? There are a few reasons. Mainly three million of them, as in the amount of money it would take to buy out Willingham's remaining two years on his original five-year contract. There's Jake Locker, the redshirt frosh who burst onto the scene to become the conference's Freshman of the Year, a rising star in the Tim Tebow mold. The idea to shake things up at this point might hurt Locker's development. And, on the plus side of the ledger, Willingham has really done well this year in recruiting, especially the last few weeks. Washington has been securing some of the top recruits in the state, and currently project to have the 18th ranked class in the nation this year. Even better, there are more verbal commitments rumored to be on the way over the next few days. So in the end, UW President Mark Emmert and athletic director Todd Turner decided to keep things as they are. Will it pay off as UW tries to return to national relevance? Much to the chagrin of many Husky fans, we'll have to wait at least through the 2008 season to know the answer.
"Our review of the game included study of the game tape by Coordinator of Football Officiating Dave Cutaia, Director of Instant Replay Verle Sorgen, football administrator Jim Muldoon and me, review of game reports from the officiating crew and instant replay officials, communications with the two institutions and follow-up communications with the referee of the game.
"We regret that there was flagrant misconduct on the part of some players which led to four ejections from the game, that there was an injury to Washington quarterback Jake Locker which increased the emotions of the players and that the instant replay crew failed to stop the game to review the play at the goal line with just under three minutes to play. On the play, it was ruled Oregon State's Yvenson Bernard fumbled. However, it appeared his knee had touched the ground before he lost the ball...
"We do believe the instant replay officials did not perform properly on the Bernard fumble play. There was human error in that while reviewing the available replays the crew failed to notify the game officials to stop play before the ball was snapped for the next play. It was not the fault of the equipment. The game should have been stopped and the play reviewed. The members of the IR crew have been reprimanded."
Locker actually made it back to the stadium and the Husky sideline with a few minutes left in the game. He was in street clothes and wearing a neck brace, but at least he was walking on his own.
Washington, however, has stated that they will not be rushing Locker's return. He will be undergoing rehab and with a 3-7 record with three games remaining (Cal, Washington St. and Hawaii), it is unlikely he will play again this season. Frankly, there is nothing to be gained by rushing him back at this point. The Huskies have no chance of going to a bowl and Locker has a very bright future ahead of him.
All year I've had a running conversation with my colleague Charles Rich about what conference has the worst officials. He's made good points about certain situations in the ACC and I can name plenty of Pac-10 situations beyond the obvious Oregon/Oklahoma fiasco.
Tonight's performance may top that.
I didn't immediately see it, but a friend did and what follows is a piecing together (along with what I'm reading on various message boards) of the play in dispute between Oregon State and Washington.
First, 
While football programs everywhere start their summer workouts, there is some major unfinished business at Washington. The help wanted sign is amazingly still sitting in the athletic director's window, now several months after the opening was created. 
Bill Doba... not so much.
Outside of what appears to be a firmly entrenched Bud Foster, there's been no defensive coordinator in the ACC that's been as sought after in the past few years as John Tenuta. Even as Georgia Tech's offense could be most generously described as "erratic" under Reggie Ball and "competent" under the stewardship of Taylor Bennett, the Yellow Jacket defense could be relied on for its aggressiveness, possibly due to the pent up rage that comes from spending time in one of the south's few public school with almost no hot chicks. 
Despite a Pac-10 cellar finish for the Washington Huskies, despite an underwhelming 11-25 record over the last three seasons, and despite a ton of fan angst openly wishing for former Atlanta coach Jim Mora, it appears 
All year I've had a running conversation with my colleague 
