Dasher Could Be Out For MTSU

The Blue Raiders could be on the verge of taking a devastating blow to its hopes for the 2010 season if star quarterback Dwight Dasher is suspended by the NCAA for his possible involvement in unpaid loans.

News of this broke out yesterday when someone came out and said Dasher hasn't paid back a loan that exceeds $1,000.

Shortly after that a teammate of Dasher came out and said he is missing money as well and is not sure what could have happened to the money.

This is all under current investigation by multiple organizations including police authorities and the NCAA.

It's important to note that nothing has been proven yet so there should be no judgment placed on Dasher until something is proven.

If Dasher is indeed found guilty and suspended by the NCAA then the Blue Raiders can pretty much kiss their chances goodbye of winning another bowl game this season.

The man that would replace Dasher if he was suspended from playing would be Sophomore Logan Kilgore. He was rated a three-star recruit by Rivals.com so the Blue Raiders do have talent to fall back on.

As good as Kilgore may be, I'm not sure he would even do half of what Dasher is capable of doing.

There's little time for all of this to be cleared up as the season opener is just 11 days away against Minnesota.

With the the Blue Raiders being at home, if Dasher is able to play then I give them a decent chance at pulling off a major upset over the Big Ten opponent.

However, if Dasher is forced to miss the game then the Blue Raider almost have no chance at winning with an inexperienced quarterback.

If Kilgore becomes the regular starter then I could see the Blue Raiders saving face in the Sun Belt schedule with the exception of those pesky Trojans from Troy.

Leach Fired Under Bizarre Circumstances

Yet another football program will have to fill a head coaching vacancy after Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach was fired today after being accused of mistreating an injured player.

Leach has always been known to have an unorthodox style of coaching, but if what he's being accused of is true then I'm at a loss for words.

According to the family of sophomore receiver Adam James, Leach had James stay in a small electrical closet during practice.

Since Leach has yet to make a statement denying the allegation, I have to accept that it's true.

What I'm wondering is what good would come out of leaving a player with a concussion in a small closet? It doesn't make sense to me.

Some old school guys will question whether or not we're getting a little to sensitive to the way coached treat their players. Coaches like Bear Bryant used very tough tactics to build up their players. However, stuffing a player into a dark closet seems unnecessary. Like I've said before, it's football, not the Marines.

Texas Tech had a little bit of a drop off from last season's success, but they were still a solid team. I'm thinking that Texas Tech wanted Leach out anyway and this was just a good excuse for doing so.

And the Coaching Carousal Keeps on Moving

College football has certainly seen it's share of coaching changes this year. Another change just rocked the sports world as Urban Meyer has announced that he will step down as head coach of Florida due to health reasons.

This all comes just weeks after Meyer turned down a coaching opportunity at Notre Dame, which he has always held in high regard. With that said, I Meyer is completely genuine in his reason for leaving.

There were hints that this might happen earlier in the season when Meyer said that it basically wasn't fun anymore. He's been coaching in college for 24 years now.

I haven't always agreed with Meyer on things, but I've always respected him overall as a coach. He is an excellent recruiter and took not just Florida, but also Utah, to new levels.

Meyer also stated that for the 24 years that he's been in the business he has completely ignored his health and that he wants to starting paying more attention to his family. There's no better reason than that.

You have to respect Meyer for that considering he's walking away from a $24 million contract that was suppose to run through 2014. We'll have to see how that all plays out.

Meyer finished with a 56-10 record at Florida, including 32 wins in the SEC over five seasons.

So who will replace Urban Meyer and take over for a program that is still one of the best in the nation? It's really hard to speculate, but you know it will be a big name. Whoever it ends up being, I'm sure that this coach will leave his current program out of the blue much like Brian Kelly did to Cincinnati.

Coaching Changes (2009-2010)

• Urban Meyer (Florida)
  
• Charlie Weis (Notre Dame)
• Brian Kelly (Cincy)
• Turner Gill (Buffalo)
• Mike Sanford (UNLV)
• Butch Jones (Central Michigan)
  

Michigan Pushing Players Too Hard?

It's been a turbulent couple of years for the Michigan Wolverines that includes a coaching change, losses to Appalachian State and Toledo, the first losing season since 1967, and now allegations of players being pushed too hard by coach Rich Rodriguez.

Rodriguez has expectantly denied the reports saying that they are aware of the rules. You may know the rules, Rich, but that doesn't mean you follow them.

The NCAA has specific rules laid out on how much the players can practice and, more or less, be held away from the classroom.

The rules basically say that a during the offseason the players are allowed to spend eight hours on mandatory workouts. During the season, practice time can reach up to 20 hours a week under NCAA standards. Multiple players have said they exceeded those limits easily.

Numerous players from this year's team and last year's team has agreed that they were pushed too hard.

Maybe the biggest name was former wide receiver Toney Clemons who said in an ESPN interview that all the reports are true.

However, there are some former players who are saying they never noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Either way, this is another huge blow to a football program that has so much history and tradition. We are basically watching it crumble before our eyes.

Whether or not the allegations are true, this will hurt recruiting tremendously. The families of top named prospects won't be crazy about sending their kid to a school that has this kind of a reputation.

Many people say that all great powers must come to an end. Well, this could be the beginning of the end to the winningest football program in college football history.

Kiffin Commits Another Recruiting Violation

Either Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin didn't do his homework on the NCAA rulebook or he's a cheater. Maybe even a little of both.

Either way, Kiffin recently committed his sixth recruiting violation since becoming the head coach of Tennessee football.

His latest violation was video taping by media outlets of his meetings with future recruits. The funny part is it was taped by ESPN cameras for Outside the Lines.

I might have to give Kiffin a free pass on this one. The fact that even ESPN may not have been aware of this rule is pretty funny.

Kiffin is setting himself up for more and more pressure going into the upcoming season. He already has to deal with the Florida Gators being furious after he called out their coach as a cheater. He has also lost several recruits during the offseason.

Who knows, maybe Kiffin will turn out to be a good NCAA coach who can return this spiraling program to prominence once again. One thing is for sure, he has to stop with all the violations before the NCAA gets involved with this and starts a serious investigation.

All these violations, which have all been secondary violations, may not end up hurting the football program in the long-run. It is getting them a lot of attention on a national level.

However, if UT follows up these troubling offseason with another poor season like 2008, then Kiffin could face an enormous amount of scrutiny from a fan-base that has little patience.

Stay tuned for my SEC football preview which will be in a couple of weeks!!!!

Crompton Had Death Threats During 2008 Season

Vols quarterback Jonathan Crompton, who is heading into his 4th year with Tennessee, has said that he received two death threats via e-mail during the Vols' seven-loss season in 2008.

If this story is true then this is just another example of how low Vols fans can really go. There is nothing wrong with being a passionate fan of your team, but at the end of the day it's just a game and Crompton is only human.

Besides fans can't really put all the blame on Crompton for Tennessee's failure last season. Tennessee has slowly been on the decline since they won the National Championship in 1998. You can't put all of the blame on Crompton and you most certainly can't give someone death threats no matter how bad they may be.

Crompton really had no help last season on offense. Tennessee's defense was good at times but the offense was horrible. You need a good rushing attack to compliment the passing game and Tennessee only ranked 9th in the SEC in rushing offense.

These fans have to learn to seperate a game from real life. It's still not really established whether Crompton will start at quarterback next season or if it will be Nick Stephens, who actually played a little better last season.

Either way, you can't ruin someone's life over a game. A quarterback isn't going to play any better for your team if he's too busy sorting through all the death threats in his inbox. Give the guy a break Rocky Top!