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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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College
Notebook No. 12
Monday, August 1, 2005
By Denny O'Brien |
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New feel surrounds C-USA
football gathering
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C-USA Preseason Prognostications
C-USA East — UAB:
The Blazers are ready to move to the next level.
C-USA West — UTEP: Miners' debut will be a happy one.
C-USA Champ — UTEP:
Mike Price and Jordan Palmer are too much to handle.
Offensive Player of the
Year — DeAngelo Williams, Memphis; Tigers RB a future NFL
star.
Defensive Player of the
Year — Chris Moore, East Carolina; Pirates' heartbeat is a tackling
machine.
Coach of the Year — Watson Brown, UAB: If Blazers take the East, he should be a
shoe-in. By Denny
O'Brien |
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©2005 Bonesville.net
MEMPHIS — The meet and greet at this year's
Conference USA football media day will be different than in years past. Much
different.
Not only will there be five new programs
represented at the annual event on Tuesday, but the setting has changed as
well. After a two-year run at the Downtown Marriott, C-USA coaches, players,
and media members will convene at the Memphis Hilton, which served as East
Carolina's headquarters for the 1994 Liberty Bowl.
Festivities kicked off last night with a
Liberty Bowl reception, in which coaches and league administrators
socialized with game officials and corporate sponsors. They will continue
today with the annual Liberty Bowl golf tournament, in which coaches, league
officials, media members, and sponsors will compete in a Captain's Choice
format in both a morning and afternoon flight.
The tournament is followed by the annual
dinner at Ridgeway Country Club.
Media Day begins Tuesday with a 30-minute
discussion on instant replay, which C-USA will install this fall. That is
followed by a pair of sessions involving the league's coaches, who will meet
with the print media during the morning and with television crews in the
afternoon.
College Sports Television (CSTV) will
televise the event live. For those who do not have access through their
cable or satellite providers, CSTV's coverage also can be streamed over the
Internet from
CSTV.com and
ConferenceUSA.com.
Liberty buzz
It looks like it could be another week or
so before we know the future of the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. The feeling
around Memphis is that the game's executive director, Steve Ehrhart, is
leaning towards a long-term deal with the Southeastern Conference, but the
other half of the equation is a little foggy.
One option Liberty Bowl officials are
weighing is pairing an SEC representative with a team from another Bowl
Championship Series league to give the game more national appeal. But at the
same time, the game maintains a strong relationship with the University of
Memphis, so there could be enough of a sentiment to retain ties with C-USA.
It wouldn't be a stretch to consider Memphis, a C-USA charter member, to be
the league's flagship school.
The ACC is among the leagues with which the
Liberty Bowl had been previously linked, but it was reported last week that
no agreement would be made between the two. The Big East, however, remains a
strong possibility, and Liberty Bowl officials like the idea of maintaining
a relationship with Louisville.
Missing in action
Several marquee players will be missing
from this year's Media Day. UTEP quarterback Jordan Palmer, Houston
quarterback Kevin Kolb, and East Carolina linebacker Chris Moore are the
biggest headliners missing from the occasion.
Their presence could have taken some of the
attention off Memphis runner DeAngelo Williams, a pre-season All-America
selection, Heisman candidate, and projected NFL first rounder.
Introducing...
Not only will Tuesday be Marshall's
inauguration into C-USA, it also will be the first big public setting for
new Thundering Herd coach Mark Snyder. Snyder became the Herd's head coach
when Bob Pruett retired somewhat abruptly in the off-season.
East Carolina's Skip Holtz is another
first-year coach who will be making the rounds with the C-USA media.
Tour stop
The Memphis Commercial Appeal is
making a tour of SEC and C-USA schools and several other programs of
regional interest. The paper will publish its preview of East Carolina this
Friday.
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02/23/2007 02:00:16 AM |
