And lo! The Humanitarian Bowl is no more. America's theoretically preeminent cold-weather bowl game has been redubbed the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, and the logo is absolutely amazing. The rebranding became necessary after the Humanitarian Bowl and their last sponsor, uDrove (a company that makes trucking equipment that sounds eerily similar to the auto-pilot trucker boxes from an old Simpsons episode), decided to go their separate ways. I'm still waiting for one of those cooked up statements that says the sour cream on the potato/football signifies the cool, smooth flavor of the WAC, while the potato/football represents the earthy goodness of the MAC. Maybe it's the other way around. Whatever.
Decide for yourself. Do you think that Southern Miss is infringing on Iowa's logo? I'm tempted to say yes, and the US Patent and Trademark Office thinks so too. All legal I think Hinton hit the nail on the head: that Southern Miss logo is lame, and USM made a mistake switching from the old one. Just another victim of the late 90s, man. Thank God that's over.
Look! Another completely not thought out player compensation idea that has no idea of ever happening. Colorado head coach Jon Embree thinks players should be given "about $50,000 or so" for graduating. That massive HARUMPH HARUMPH you just heard was every college student ever who never got a monetary reward for graduating. I get where he's coming from, but this plan is dead on arrival. Unless he wants an unfathomably large Title IX suit hanging over college athletics, you'd have to pay every scholarship athlete, male or female, the same amount if they graduate. You can count the number of schools that can afford that on zero fingers.
Translation: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. Mike Locksley thinks New Mexico will make a bowl game this season. In his first two seasons, the Lobos are a combined 2-22. If they were to make a bowl game, New Mexico would really be...PUNCHING ABOVE THEIR WEIGHT.
And now for the sad news. Thoughts and prayers to the Michigan State family after the passing of former defensive end Bubba Smith. Smith was a monster at East Lansing before becoming the first overall pick in the 1967 NFL Draft. However, he's better known to us younger folk as Hightower from Police Academy. RIP, big man.
Nope, not done yet. LSU offensive coordinator Steve Kragthorpe is stepping down before coaching a game in Baton Rouge after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He'll remain on staff at LSU to work with the quarterbacks. Again, thoughts and prayers to Coach Kragthorpe and his family. Parkinson's is a slow and terrifying ordeal to go through, and I think it's safe to say we all hope the process goes as well as it possibly can for them, considering the circumstances.