Sunday, December 31, 2017

Sports Reporters Embarrass Themselves Over False FSU Ineligibility Story



Sports Reporters Embarrass Themselves Over False FSU Ineligibility Story


Two days ago, reports began to surface that the 6-6 Florida State Seminoles may not be bowl eligible, because their 77-6 win over Delaware State University came at the expense of an ineligible team.

“The sleuths in the college football section at Reddit first detailed Thursday morning why FSU’s win over Delaware State may not officially count,” writes the “Dr. Saturday” section of Yahoo Sports.

“Here’s the issue in a short summation. FCS schools can have a maximum of 63 full football scholarships divided among all members of the team as the school sees fit. Over the past two seasons, Delaware State has spread out an average of just under 55 full-time scholarships to 70 players. Here’s where that obscure rule comes into play. In order for an FBS team’s win over an FCS team to count, the number of full-time scholarships awarded must equal 90 percent of the maximum (63). Delaware’s state average of 54.8 is under 90 percent.”

FSU did respond. “Florida State has received confirmation from Delaware State that the 90 percent requirement is satisfied for the 2017 season, allowing the victory to be used in determining bowl eligibility,” reports the Tallahassee Democrat. “Media reports suggesting otherwise failed to account for a long-standing NCAA rules interpretation that permits institutions to use academic scholarships and other forms of non-athletics institutional aid received by student-athletes in the computation of this requirement. These media reports represent incomplete information, as they only reflect athletics scholarships received.”

In addition, the NCAA backed FSU’s statement, The Orlando Sentinel reports.

Oops.

The problem came from so many venerated publications relying on a story generated by someone on Reddit known as “bakonydraco.” This journalist also writes such sports stories as “Ohio State-Michigan as Austria-Hungary”

As for the site itself, I decided to check out Reddit. I was invited to “Become a Redditor” before I had even viewed my first article. In addition to dabbling in sports reportage, the site also features lots of ads to buy gold, as well as the story “ULPT: Don’t smoke but want a smokers break? Buy a cheap E-cig with 0mg nicotine and go and join the rest of them,” and this one: “I had a bird that would drop seeds into the carpet and my air conditioner leaked. Surprise grass popped up overnight!” as well as purported photos of the Abominable Snowman.

We’re not sure why The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated and the New York Post would run this story considering the source. Thankfully CBS, SB Nation, and ABC News, reported both sides of the issue, including the refutation of the “Reddit” story and the NCAA ruling.

One can only imagine the editor at The Washington Post asking “You mean this was our source?!”


This is more than just deciding whether FSU keeps a streak of 36 straight seasons of going to a bowl game or a chance at getting 41 straight winning seasons. It’s about trends in journalism, where writers can’t wait to post anything just to be the first to do it, or to get clicks. This explains the woefully pathetic media trust scores (11% among Republicans, 34% among Democrats, and 15% among independents) from the Pew Research Center polls. Meanwhile, there is serious corruption in politics, economics and even sports. Nobody is going to trust the press if they keep doing this, and we need their accuracy more than ever these days.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His Twitter account is JohnTures2.

2017-2018 Bowl TV ratings





Burke Magnus @burkemagnus Dec 28




Thursday, December 28, 2017

Wealth Gap in college athletics

Interesting to note.

There are huge gaps within the P5 as well.


AP Top 25Verified account @AP_Top25 Dec 21

FSU records post season 2017


SingleShot     @Singleshot25 16 hours ago


- Has at least 28 all-time bowl wins
- Been to at least 36 straight bowl games
- Has at least 41 consecutive winning seasons (Longest active streak in the country)
- Has the most wins over the last 30 years

Andrea AdelsonVerified account @aadelsonESPN 16 hours ago

Corey ClarkVerified account @Corey_Clark 16 hours ago

Tomahawk Nation @Tomahawknation 16 hours ago  

will @willzminame 18 hours ago    


College Sports Apparel Deals FSU #16


2017

Here are this year's top 20 NCAA apparel deals

FSU #16

5 Nike schools make more.  None that I am aware of had to make logo changes like FSU did.

Louisville only ACC school higher (#6)


2016

The 65 Most Valuable College Sports Apparel Deals



college apparel deals (img)

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Random Recruiting Notes (update)


12/27



12/22


From an unofficial database pull:

79.8 percent of committed prospects signed during early signing period (so far).

65.1 percent of the total class signed (using projections to last year's total signees).

Get ready for 35% of the drama in February.




Ronald Darby “ 5 Star DB “
Jalen Ramsey “ 5 Star DB”
Tarvarus McFadden “ 5 Star DB”
Derwin James “ 5 Star DB “
Levonta Taylor “ 5 Star DB “
Stanford Samuels “ 5 Star DB”
Jaiden Woodbey “ 5 Star DB “



12/21


A lot of uncertainty heading into the 1st ever Early Signing Period.
Results are in:

- Roughly 66% of Top 300 recruits officially signed
- 68 of Top 100 officially signed
- 10% of Top 300 are "committed" but did not sign
- 24% of Top 300 are still uncommitted/unsigned



Prospects who signed yesterday:
ESPN 300: 201
Top 100: 68

Prospects who are committed, but didn't sign:
ESPN 300: 30
Top 100: 10

Prospects who are still uncommitted:
ESPN 300: 69, including four five-stars
Top 100: 22




Whoever takes over at Oregon should make it an emphasis to retain Raymond Woodie on staff. Was ranked the No. 1 recruiter in the Pac 12 before Taggart left for FSU.



Updated ACC class ranks after early signing day
No. 5 Clemson
No. 7 Miami
No. 14 Virginia Tech
No. 17 Louisville
No. 23 NC State
No. 31 UNC
No. 36 Florida State
No. 42 Virginia
No. 50 Duke



12/20


Crazy contradiction. With the commitment of 5-star DB Jaiden Woodbey, moves from No. 70 to No. 51 in Rivals' rankings, but is up to No. 3 in the average star rankings. Recruiting news on .




RT if your school hired a new head coach yet has a 77% blue-chip ratio for its 2018 recruiting class.

(This is only

Replying to
247Composite ranked by “Avg”
93.97 Ohio St
93.58 Texas
93.02 Georgia
92.81 Clemson
92.73 SoCal
92.56 FSU
92.44 Bama

's recruiting class jumps from No. 63 to No. 44 and dead last to 7th in the ACC with Jaiden Woodbey's commitment.

Current blue-chip defensive back commits:

'18:
5* Woodbey
4* Samuel
4* Lytton

'19
5* Dent
4* Watson

And that's without '19 4* Gant who will probably commit to FSU.


Way down there at No. 36 in the current recruiting class rankings? Florida State. ($$$)

Florida State is currently 36th in ESPN's Class of 2018 ranking after being in the top 5 of the class ranking each of the previous 4 years.

Florida State's 2018 Class is currently ranked 60th of the 65 Power 5 programs



Crazy day for recruiting. After Rosendo Louis flipped to South Carolina, FSU's recruiting ranking had dropped to No. 70! Updates on .








Crazy to see 's recruiting ranking in the 60's. Where do you think FSU will finish in the final recruiting rankings? Early Signing Period updates: .




Number of 4⭐️ and 5⭐️ players on current roster
• CFP Top 8

Clemson: 40
Auburn: 45
Oklahoma: 37
Wisconsin: 6
Alabama: 69
UGA: 54
Miami: 25
Ohio State: 63