CFB New World Order; NU’s Good Report Good & Another Day Another 2013 ‘Cat…Plus More…

Wow. I didn’t see this day coming. And no, I don’t just mean the college football playoff, I literally meant today’s overflow of college football and Northwestern-specific news. Let’s break it down.

The Four-Team Playoff

By now you’re well aware the conference commissioners and that rep from that school in Indiana emerged yesterday with an agreement in principle to a four team college football playoff.  The basics of what the commissioners will propose to the  BCS Presidential Oversight Committee next week in DC include a seeded system, meaning a committee will select the four seeds.  Additionally, the semifinal games will be played WITHIN the BCS bowls and the two bowls will rotate. The national title game will be bid out to the highest bidding city. ESPN.com reports the potential revenue for this system will generate between $400million – $500million, more than double the current treasure chest.

 Reaction has been across the board and candidly, moments like this were made for Twitter. ESPN College Gameday host Chris Fowler tweeted:

They said I was a dreamer (they being Corso, Herbie)  but I always thought we’d see a cfb playoff! Applause to compromising commissioners

Many of the national writers were more clincial in their assessment and offered up some good statistical gems like the fact there have been five non-BCS undefeated teams since its inception and none of them have been ranked in the top four. Pac 12 commissioner Larry Scott acknowledged that there will continue to be controversy even with a committee in place and flat out acknowledged “not everyone will be satisfied” and mentioned, gasp, that will persist until there is an 8-team or even 16-team playoff. And, if you’re looking for the counter to the Fowler perception then I suggest checking out the Blutarsky blog, a Georgia bulldog site, which neatly encapsulates a sentiment that can be seen popping up from the proletariat bloggery.

To me, this feels like a baby step, but one in the right direction. As I’ve mentioned several times, Fitz is a huge proponent of the bowl system, which I feel will likely not get completely erased in our lifetime, but it could. This process was overtly a compromise. The power conferences looked for a way to satiate the consumer, while insulating their perch as stewarding as much money to their member schools and even trying to save, in the B1G/Pac12 case, what’s left of the tradition of the Rose Bowl.

Perhaps this is why I was so “meh” about the whole thing. I’ve long been a proponent of modeling the FCS playoff system, you know, the single best argument to counter why there shouldn’t be one at the FBS level? Schools who actually do put academics first, but yet, somehow manage to play playoff games in December when most schools are on break anyway.  The “kids wil miss school” argument was such a joke at least it hasn’t come up in this whole process. I should be more excited than I am, but I feel like we’re smack dab in the middle of the extended eight or 16-team playoff inevitability. You can bet the financial gain for the power conferences will lead the way there. It will impact Northwestern from a cashflow standpoint, just as this current system will.

‘Cats Land 2013 RB Xavier Menifield

There is nothing better than getting online and learning about a new Wildcat commit. OK, I lied. Basking in the glow of a win in the fall is better, but for June? No way. WildcatReport.com’s Louie Vaccher was interviewing the Chatsworth (Sierra Canyon HS), California RB last night and he reported that it was clear NU was at the top of his list. Within an hour of the interview Menifield had committed to Northwestern and the 5-10, 185 pounder had yet to step foot on campus. Talk about a statement.

Menifield is known for his blazing speed as he runs a 4.45/40, but he was so excited by the 1-2 combo of Northwestern’s academics and B1G affiliation he felt confident in becoming a ‘Cat. Menifield rushed for 1,500 yards and scored 35 TDs last season.  My only trepidation was the fact that the last two transfers – RBs Adonis Smith and Arby Fields – were both California natives. Third time is the charm (with all due respect to RB Jordan Perkins (Lodi, CA)), right? Obviously that has zero bearing on Xavier and I’m thrilled to have him join the Wildcat family. Menifield had offers from Air Force, Army and Wyoming. Congratulations Xavier and welcome aboard!

‘Cats Best APR Football Team in FBS and FCS

Congratulations to Northwestern Athletics in general for an outstanding APR report card. The APR is the NCAA report card for athletic programs that accounts for graduation rates, grades and general academic standing of a sports team. Northwestern football was tops in the nation. Eight of the NU programs received perfect 1000 scores while NU football scored a 997 for 2010-2011 and a multi-year score of 995 which is tops in the FBS. NU is tied with Davidson for FBS and FCS football. Click here to get all the info on how well we did.

Rovell To ESPN/ABC

CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell (and diehard ‘Cats fan) has returned to his former employer, ESPN.  The Big Lead reported the news yesterday and Rovell has since confirmed the move where he will also do work for ABC News specifically in the food and beverage sector. Rovell, a Twitter fiend, will be making the move after his last day at CNBC, which is July 6. Congrats to Darren!

Three Chiers For Ajou

Bill Carmody made it official yesterday announcing that Chier Ajou is indeed a Wildcat. What did not happen is the NCAA approval of his playing, yet. Ajou is reported to be the tallest player in NU history at 7-2. I’d love the top five list of runner-ups. Rankin? Esch? Kreft? What a fun post. Anyways, Ajou adds a unique dimension to a Carmody team and one we’ve lacked for much of his tenure…height. Ajou joins Sanjay Lumpkin, Kale Abrahamson (6-7) and Alex Olah (6-11) for the incoming class along with power forward Nikola Cerina (TCU transfer) and Jared Swopshire (Louisville grad) as one of six “newcomers” to a team that returns four starters from last year’s NIT squad. It is quite an amazing extreme makeover for a team that returns 80% of its starters. Official release can be found HERE.

Everybody’s All-American

Congrats to NU golfer Eric Chun who was named honorable mention All-America yesterday. Chun posted the fifth best stroke average in school histor behind three Luke Donald averages and Jess Daley.

Medal Stand

The Big Ten awards a medal of honor to a male and female athlete selected by each university. Northwestern recipients were field hockey player Chelsea Armstrong and baseball player Francis Brooke. Check out more here.

Seen Around Town

I saw a full page color ad of Luke Donald yesterday promoting an in-store appearance in NYC at a Ralph Lauren store. Ralph Lauren is the official outfitter of Luke and sports his own US Open line of clothing.

NU Kids In Town

Welcome to the new online Northwestern source, www.InsideNU.com.  The site is run by several current undergrad Medill students and they’ve been up for all of a day, but have some great content previewing each of the NU units (thanks for saving me the time)! They’re promoting themselves as the only independent NU source that will attend every game and from my perspective this is a great thing. The more the merrier. Welcome to the party.

Programming Alert

We’ve got some fantastic content coming up on LTP. Black Shoe Diaries is going to give us a Penn State preview, we’ll check in on the recruiting process that was for Matt Alviti with his family and a few new Purple Mafia Profiles are in the works with a former tennis star, the ideal fan and a former star player.

LTP Ticket Challenge

Thanks to Mark (see yesterday comments) we’ve inched and I mean inched closer to the 25% of goal mark for NEW season tickets. Mark used the +1 to his existing pair of season tickets and it’s a wise move. I need to dedicate a post to the Nebraskanomics of ticket buying this season. I added four single game tickets for that one which cost about $300 when it was all said and done which is more than one full season ticket. Considering the fact the LOWEST priced single game tickets on secondary sites for the Nebraska game START at $125, it is a no brainer to get season tickets this year even if your friends only intend to go to a couple of games. You can only get single game tickets assured if you have a season ticket. Let’s get this thing moving. Email me at laketheposts@gmail.com to share your story.