Welcome to this installment of TWIN. I didn't come across a whole lot of interesting stories this week but the state of Texas did manage to keep things interesting. Starting elsewhere and ending in South Bend.
Four TCU Football Players were arrested in a drug sweep that also snagged 13 other students. Shortly thereafter there were reports that as many as 82 players had popped positive on a surprise drug test that Gary Patterson administered after a highly sought after recruit alerted him to some drug use. By this afternoon the waters had calmed quite a bit and the number of players that had popped positive was back down to a much more believable 5.
The TCU scandal broke shortly after the Big XII released a 2012 conference football schedule that included both the Horned Frogs and West Virginia playing in the league. Perhaps the TCU players felt like they needed to kick the party up a couple of notches since the Southwest Conference castoffs were finally being let back into the club with Texas, Tejas Tech and Baylor. The guys over at Frogs O' War are still sifting through the fallout.
More after the jump.
While everyone's attention was averted by the Frog Cartel all of the non-BCS conferences joined forces to slap together what feels like an 87 team frankenconference that is sure to fill stadiums, turn on TV sets and create numerous thrilling matchups in mid-December bowl games.
Back to the state of Texas. SBN finally figured out how to import the massive Barking Carnival archive and we now have our former FanTake mothership back in the same hood with us. If you have never sampled the wares of Scipio Tex, Sailor Ripley and the rest of that crew you probably should. They do it up right.
Back when I was a West Texas HS Football Coach's kid, the Odessa Permian Panthers and Midland Lee Rebels were as big as high school football programs could get. The Coach had a great AAAA team but those two schools owned the bigger AAAAA ranks. When the Old Man got knocked out of the playoffs we would typically drive to go watch Permian and/ or Lee play the next weekend. A couple of times we even saw the two rivals re-match in the playoffs. So I am admittedly biased towards all things Friday Night Lights. It really reminds me a lot of my childhood.
When Buzz Bissinger's book came out I read it twice in a row and loved it. When the movie came out several years later I loved that too. It remains one of my all time favorite sports movies. When the TV series came out I was skeptical but I actually ended up really enjoying the hell out of that too. To this day when I want a guaranteed eye roll from the wife I just say "Texas Forever" Tim Riggins style.
Just when I thought it was over Peter Berg started talking about making a new Friday Night Lights movie. The rough plan for this one will be centered around the fictional characters in the TV version vice Gary Gaines, Boobie Miles and the others that were featured in the book and the original movie. The storyline for this one will roughly parallel that of the Mike Leach vs. Texas Tech saga. Sounds like Coach Eric Taylor might have his hands full. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
What else?
Jerry Sandusky's wife Dottie apparently tried to run down a reporter with her car. How is he only on house arrest? Seriously.
Will Muschamp relieved Frank Verducci of his duties as the Gators offensive line coach. Supposedly Verducci interviewed with the Kansas City Chiefs and Champ wasn't digging that too much.
Is BK going to land Davonte Neal or what? I am fighting the urge to get excited.
The OFD Comment of the Week is brought to you courtesy of irishspartan. NDZibby teed this one up for him under Burger's fantastic first installment on the Evolution of Brian Kelly's Offense.
What did I miss?
Have a great weekend OFDers, we are going to have a great discussion around here next week. I can't wait.....