Daily Archives: April 2, 2015

NCAA Football

There Could Be Potentially Four New Bowls In 2015

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Teams that go 6-6 in the Group of Five conferences could have more chances for a postseason game (Scott Halleran/Getty Images North America)
Teams that go 6-6 in the Group of Five conferences could have more chances for a postseason game (Scott Halleran/Getty Images North America)

There Could Be Potentially Four New Bowls In 2015

It was reported on Monday that Little Rock, Arkansas and Tucson, Arizona could be in the running to host a new bowl game in 2015. Add Austin, Texas and Orlando, Florida as two new cities who have applied for a bowl game as well.

Little Rock, Tucson, Austin, and Orlando applied for bowl certification for the 2015-16 season by the Wednesday deadline according to Brett McMurphy at ESPN.

“As long as the standard to go to a bowl remains 6-6, commissioners will be pressured to have bowl games for all their conference teams to play in,” an industry source told McMurphy. “That’s why you keep seeing more and more bowls added.”

If all four new bowls were to be approved, that would make a total of 43 bowl games (including the College Football Championship Game) for the 2015-16 and 84 teams to fulfill all the slots. In 2014, there were 81 bowl eligible teams with only 76 slots up for grabs. Three other teams, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, and Old Dominion, were not eligible for a bowl game despite having a record at 6-6 or better due to their transition from FCS to FBS.

In the event that there are not enough 6-6 teams, teams at 5-7 would be used to fulfill all the bowl slots.

Also according to McMurphy, the four new proposed bowls would have the match ups of:

Austin bowl: American Athletic versus Conference USA

Tucson bowl: Mountain West versus Conference USA

Orlando bowl: American Athletic versus Sun Belt

Little Rock bowl: American Athletic versus Sun Belt

Unsurprisingly, the AAC is pushing the new games and they will be expanding to 12 teams in 2015 with the addition of Navy. Temple finished 6-6 in AAC play last year, but did not get a bowl invitation.

For the television broadcasts, it appears ESPN does not want to show any of the new games.

“Fox Sports, CBS Sports Network and NBC Sports Network are the likely networks that would televise the new bowls, a source said. Industry sources said ESPN/ABC, which televised 38 of the 39 bowl games last season, does not have any interest in televising any of the new bowls.”

NCAA Football

Sheroid Evans Out For Spring

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Sheroid Evans goes for a fumble against Kansas State in 2012 (Jamie Squire/Getty Images North America)
Sheroid Evans goes for a fumble against Kansas State in 2012 (Jamie Squire/Getty Images North America)

Sheroid Evans Out For Spring

The Texas Longhorns will be without cornerback Sheroid Evans for the rest of spring following an injury to his knee. Head coach Charlie Strong confirmed the news on Wednesday night following a report from Orangebloods.com.

Texas’ Twitter account also confirmed the news on Wednesday.

Evans, a senior, suffered the injury during a non-contact play and there is no indication on the severity of the knee injury.

Evans is expected to see plenty of playing time at cornerback with 27 appearances in his career. In 2011, he had 8 tackles and a forced fumble in 13 games. In 2012, he recorded 5 tackles in 9 games. 2013 was his best season with 14 tackles in 5 games, but he torn his ACL against Iowa State and missed the rest of the season. The knee injury was bad enough that it also led to him redshirting all of the 2014 season.

With Evans out for spring, John Bonney and Jermaine Roberts will see more reps. Both Bonney and Roberts redshirted in 2014 and will be redshirt freshman in 2015.

NCAA Football

8 Terrapins Granted Medical Hardship

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Quarterback Caleb Rowe was among 8 Maryland players to receive a medical hardship exemption (Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images North America)
Quarterback Caleb Rowe was among 8 Maryland players to receive a medical hardship exemption (Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images North America)

8 Terrapins Granted Medical Hardship

A total of eight Maryland Terrapins have been granted a medical hardship according to head coach Randy Edsall on Wednesday. The Washington Post listed the following players:

Quarterback Caleb Rowe (ACL), defensive back Daniel Ezeagwu (knee), defensive back Alvin Hill (knee), tight end Andrew Isaacs (knee), defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson (knee), wide receiver Taivon Jacobs (knee), running back Albert Reid (knee), and linebacker Cavon Walker (foot).

Rowe played in the first four games of the season before injuring his ACL. He went 34 of 54 (63%) for 489 yards with 5 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. He is expected to be the starter in place of C.J. Brown who graduated. Brown started all 13 games going 189 of 354 (53.4%) for 2,288 yards with 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Hill started the first four games of 2014 while recording 13 tackles and picking off one pass. Isaacs started three of the first four but only recorded 2 catches for 3 yards. Jefferson started the first three games en route to recording 8 tackles and a sack. Jefferson also started all 13 games in 2013, which makes his return a boost for the defensive line.

Reid played in four games in 2014 making one start. He had 61 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Walker played in only 2 games in 2014 recording 6 tackles, but was a special teams player in 2013 playing in all 13 games.