"Honest to God, I can't even respond to it," Glenn said. "Maybe, I don't know.

"I don't remember that. Honestly I don't. It's what it was."

Joe Glenn Flips Utah the Bird originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:52:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Perhaps the most painful part of watching Wyoming was that they performed like UVA thought they were supposed to this season. Like the Cavaliers, the Cowboys suffered through a season where they relied on youth, developing an unheralded but very effective defense (9th in the NCAA in 2006) and seeing growth from a southpaw QB who spent the offseason undergoing surgery. That said, TCU better not order that MWC just yet, because as bad as Virginia played, Wyoming is a legit team.
  

• Jameel Sewell is either still injured or he's going to get Al Groh fired. Groh basically gave up on 2006 being anything other than a rebuilding year by handing the keys over to Sewell even though Kevin McCabe was a: clearly the QB who gave Virginia the best chance to win at the time and b: still eligible to play in 2007. Sewell didn't get a lot of help, but when a TV graphic showed he was 10-19 at one point, the crowd at Q's in Brentwood acted like they just saw a "Dewey Defeats Truman"-level typo. He overthrew his TE's badly and was often reduced to throwing three-yard out patterns about five inches from either sideline. The highlight of the day was a screen-type pass to freshman Dontrell Inman (who looks like he has the jets to step up) who dashed for 14 yards, but it was on a 3rd and 18. Rarely did a third down pass go past the actual first-down marker, complete or incomplete. Though his play in 2006 inspired Aaron Brooks comparisons, if he doesn't heal or improve, we might be left with a more academically scrupulous Bryson Spinner. (I realize that comparing black QB's to other black QB's perpetuates stereotypes, but Dan Ellis, Matt Schaub and Christian Olsen had the mobility of spry dirigibles).
  

• Line of the game: 3-5, 15 yards. Now, those numbers would've probably represented Sewell's most effective drive of the game, but they were actually those of Pete Lalich, which, if I were a betting man, probably has the UVA faithful brandishing their pitchforks. Lalich may be the most touted QB prospect Groh's ever had, but once again, the supposed plan was that he could redshirt 2007 and apprentice under Sewell for two seasons and smoothly transition into Program Savior. Instead, by playing a handful of minutes in a game that was essentially over, Groh either admitted that 2006 was a ruse or that, really, Lalich is going to be playing some serious minutes because he's clearly the only other guy on the roster that gives UVA a chance to win. Of course, if he was thinking a little more creatively, he could've handed things over to...

• ...Vic Hall who set all manner of Virginia high school QB records before being transformed into a corner. Now, despite the effectiveness of Marques Hagans, UVA was probably not likely to give a 5'9" (wink-wink) guy another shot. What that also means is that you have a 5'9" cornerback who, all talent aside, probably shouldn't be isolated when it's obvious that a fade pattern in the red zone is in the offing, which is exactly what happened when Wyoming scored its first touchdown of the game.

• In accordance, I wondered during the offseason whether UVA's performance on defense was a result of their own excellence or their crap competition. I'm beginning to think the latter is the case; Karsten Sween looked like a superstar, and perhaps he is. It doesn't hurt, however, when UVA's defense played a Charminized zone that made me think they were up against mid-90's Florida State. Between five and twelve yards- whatever Wyoming wanted, they could have.

UVA vs. Wyoming: Atrocity Exhibition originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 03 Sep 2007 17:21:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Drama!

You may not know it given Syracuse University's performance on the gridiron the last two seasons, but the Orange have bigger fish to fry than the Wyoming Cowboys.

As Donnie Webb of the Syracuse Post-Standard reports, Syracuse backed out of its 2009 trip to Laramie, Wyoming. The contest constituted the final leg of a home-and-home series which began last season in the Carrier Dome.

Joe Glenn, head coach of the Cowboys, is not particularly pleased with the $200,000 check that Syracuse mailed to Laramie:

"It's just horrible, and it shows no class (by Syracuse)," Glenn told the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle of Cheyenne. "We signed the contract, and we went out there last year to play them. It doesn't show much character on their part."

"I've got a new favorite team this season," Glenn quipped. "Anybody who beats Syracuse."

"They leave a hole in our 2009 schedule, so if you want to wish bad luck on somebody this year, wish bad luck on Syracuse," Glenn said. "They signed a contract to come to Laramie and play, and they didn't honor it so I'm putting all kinds of voodoo on them."

Methinks that Glenn is going to have to buy a lot of hats and t-shirts this season in order to support his new love of everything that manages to topple the mighty Orange.

Outside of Glenn moving into Randle Patrick McMurphy territory, the real issue here lies with the poor construction of the arrangement. The buy-out clause governing the agreement only required either side to pay a fee of $200,000. Poison pill provisions are designed to make contracting parties adhere to the duration of the contract; in effect, such provisions are to provide strong incentive to maintain the status quo rather than upset it.

Why, then, did Wyoming not increase the poison pill clause to an amount that would remove alternatives to completing the series? The Cowboys obviously wanted Syracuse to visit Laramie. To not ensure -- through contract -- such circumstances occur puts the onus on Wyoming for not carrying out its responsibilities. Fingering Syracuse as the villain merely obfuscates the fact that Wyoming shoveled just as much dirt out of the grave as the Orange did.

To assume otherwise is to absolve Wyoming of its responsibility to protect its interests.

Wyoming Coach Calls Syracuse Classless originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sun, 05 Aug 2007 19:43:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In its annual meeting Tuesday, the MWC Board of Directors voted unanimously to retain Kelly Crabb, the lawyer originally hired and retained last week by BYU and Utah, in efforts to clarify the nature of the TV contract and delineate distribution strategies of The mtn. network.

Crabb will work with Commissioner Craig Thompson and an ad hoc committee made up of three Board members - BYU President Cecil Samuelson, Texas Christian University Chancellor Victor Boschini and Colorado State University President Larry Edward Penley. The conference presidents spearheaded the TV deal that the MWC settled on a year ago with the network co-owned by Comcast Cable and CBS' College Sports Television.

However, there is widespread displeasure because of the troubles in getting The mtn., distributed.

But the big service the mtn. network has provided for the MWC has been the flexibility in the athletic schedules, specifically in football.

"Saturday afternoons is when I believe we should play football," Whittingham said. "That's what the mtn. has done. Our home schedule is all Saturday afternoon contests. I think that's a big positive."

Fitzpatrick also noted that the mtn. offers unprecedented coverage within the conference, including on-campus cameras and televised coverage of MWC sports such as swimming, baseball and softball, which are enjoying exposure never seen in the conference before.

Learning from the mtn. originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:44:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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