Sports Illustarted came out with their ranking of FBS coaches and Randy Edsall stood at #65. Not awful, until you see that he's ranked 10th out of 12 in the ACC.


http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-05-01/college-football-coach-rankings-acc-conference-frank-beamer-paul-johnson-dabo-sw

Of course the top of the overall list is SEC-dominated. Actually, getting ranked in the middle of the pack overall is pretty generous for a coach whose team went 2-10 last year. And SI has him trending "down. Epically down." Let's hope the 2012 Terps makes SI eat their words.

Phil steele was on, as he always is, on Friday's. For those not familiar, folks call in and ask him anything they want about teams all over the country.... Someone called in and asked about our Terps and what we should expect this year.

Phil basically said that he LIKES when a new coach comes in and says "its' my way or the highway" and that their is always alot of turnover, but the next season is always MUCH better because everyone thats still there wants to be there and has bought into the system, He said our injuries just decimated us last year and if we can stay healthier with our roster (including a bunch of 4 or 5 star recruits) that we are in the running for his most improved team list.

He thinks we'll win our first 3 games and then everyone will be believers in the system and the team and we are off and running from there!

What then really shocked me was that, the definition of his most improved list is teams with a losing record that can MAKE A BOWL!!!! Wow - if Phil Steele thinks we got a good shot at making a bowl, we just might all be pleasantly surprised this year.

Tallahassee Regional No. 1 Florida State UCF Mississippi State Bethune-Cookman	Palo Alto Regional Stanford New Mexico State Georgia Tech Cornell
Los Angeles Regional No. 8 UCLA San Diego Virginia Tech Army	Fullerton Regional Cal State Fullerton Arizona Pepperdine Rhode Island
Chapel Hill Regional No. 5 North Carolina Coastal Carolina East Carolina UNC Wilmington	Lexington Regional Kentucky Louisville Michigan State Kent State
Eugene Regional No. 4 Oregon Ole Miss Gonzaga Hawaii	Charlottesville Regional Virginia Appalachian State St. John's Monmouth
Baton Rouge Regional No. 2 LSU Missouri State Tulane Southern	College Station Regional Texas A&M Arkansas Southeastern Louisiana Jacksonville State
Gainesville Regional No. 7 Florida Miami Washington Florida Atlantic	Gary Regional Purdue Oregon State Indiana State Wright State
Columbia Regional No. 6 South Carolina Clemson Elon USC-Upstate	Raleigh Regional NC State College of Charleston Georgia Marist
Waco Regional No. 3 Baylor Dallas Baptist Sam Houston State Oral Roberts	Houston Regional Rice TCU Texas Stony Brook

Last five in: Indiana State, Michigan State, Gonzaga, Tulane, Elon

First nine out: Maryland, Long Beach State, Wichita State, Auburn, Wake Forest, Utah Valley, Texas State, Stetson, Oklahoma State

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/blog/_/name/ncaa_baseball/id/7900378/south-carolina-gamecocks-replace-kentucky-wildcats-latest-bracketology-projections-ncaa-baseball

First off- I should say that I actually don't believe they are going to leave the ACC... Here is a great piece that I read and completely agreed with by @Chaddscott "Why they'll stay"

With news of Louisville informing the Big East its looking elsewhere and obvious unhappiness at other schools in the conference... means the following scenario could still come about but in a slightly different fashion because now Notre Dame needs to find a place for its olympic sports with the Big East unravelling.

But... If Florida State and Clemson leave for the BIG 12... while disappointing, it will serve as a red carpet to the Irish. The ACC will be way more desperate to land the National Factory that is Notre Dame, and Notre Dame will use that to their advantage in negotiating their terms for entering the conference as a full member.

Terms:

1) Modified individual tv revenue contract (allowed to have own but certain percentage to conference, tiered rights)

2) ACC must take Navy (at least in football)... *the irish would have a 9 game conference schedule that now can include their rivalry with navy, therefore leaving room for their game against USC and a big ten opponent (more on navy at the end).

3) Football division alignment changes for scheduling... The Irish brand is the eastern seaboard, midwest and SoCal. They serve the midwest with its home games and a non-conf big ten matchup. SoCal is served with its annual matchup with USC. Now the interesting part- Besides Navy, the 6 ACC schools that ND has the most interest in playing every year would be [rivalries] Pitt, Miami, GT and [fan market] 'Cuse, MD, BC(rivalry too). After looking at about 25 different division combinations I felt just one was by far the strongest and school pleasing conference wide. And crazy enough, there aren't many drastic changes:

Atlantic Team - - Coastal Team (Team's permanent cross-divisional rival in same row)

Notre Dame - - GT *An old traditional rivalry renewed... (people forget about the irish history of Atlanta area)

Navy - - Wake *Now familiar (met 7 times in last 12 years)... battle of the smallest enrollment

Maryland - - UVA *People can say whatever, THIS WONT CHANGE... and I'm happy it wont.

Pitt - - Miami *A Big East rivalry renewed... (5 years from now- what's the Big East?)

BC - - VT *No changes here, been like this since divisions were made and both schools happy

Syracuse - - Duke *Private/NonSectarian war... basketball and lacrosse success with turn to football hatred

NCst - - UNC *Yow's mad because they are in the more northern division so I kept UNC with them

-I decided this based on the Irish's preference, power distribution and keeping ACC traditionists as happy as possible. Irish gets everything they want except Miami is the odd team out of their permanent schedule. They still play 2 of 6 years rotating and actually, this rivalry became what it is because of the huge implications of those games. Now the ACC hopes that most of their meetings are in the conference championship game where they belong. As for power distribution, I believe both divisions are very close to equal with Coastal being slightly tougher. Plus this doesnt change much. ND/Navy take FSU/Clemson's spot in the atlantic so the only switch in the divisions was BC and Wake.

Here is why the ACC accepts these terms:

1) YOU GET NOTRE DAME... arguably the most prized football school in the country, and obviously the prestige, academics and other successful sports it brings to the conference. (This more than makes up for losing Florida State and Clemson)

2) ACC becomes the GOOD GUYS of the college world. What has become of college athletics? Presidents selling out long standing tradition for new money and loyalty has no meaning. Bringing in Navy shows that the ACC appreciates all the things people feel have been forgotten in the business of colleges these days. Navy doesnt add money or market... just history, prestige and superior academics, which the ACC wants to rival, if not pass the B1G in that category.

Why Navy? and Why Not Navy?

Navy's academics are supreme, and they have much better athletic success then people realize. Even with their small enrollment, extremely high admission standards and academy responsibilities they have a Learfield Sports ranking of 90, which puts them in front of future ACC member Pitt. Besides a competitive football team they have success in baseball, M/W lacrosse, M/W cross country and track, and W basketball even made the NCAA tournament this past year.

One very "BIG" issue though. Actually it's more of a small issue. Navy has height restrictions for enrollment therefore it will be even tougher to field a competitive mens basketball team. I just dont see them even bringing their basketball teams over to the ACC.... WHICH means Navy will not be a full member and therefore will probably be a football-only member.

So welcome Notre Dame(full member) and Navy(football only) and Rutgers (non-football)

Yes, the ACC has not allowed non full members, but they will allow this (they get ND remember?). Not all schools in the ACC even compete in the same sports (lacrosse and syracuse doesnt even have a baseball team). So why can't Navy be football and another school will take all of the other spots in the conference sports? Two schools come to mind- UConn and Rutgers. School survival is no longer about football in this case. Both these schools need a better/stable home then where they are now, and I'm willing to bet they'd both send their football team elsewhere to get a membership in the ACC for everything else. UConn especially, but I have a feeling BC wont change their minds on letting them in and they will have ND on their side with this one. (UPDATE: Conn gov. wants rivalry with BC... Looks like UConn is pushing hard to mend this relationship and move to ACC) That means it's up to Rutgers. Great academics, AAU member and gives us NJ/NY market. Not a basketball power but the combination of ND/Navy/Rutgers turns out to be a major win for the ACC.

Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich told the Big East board of directors that the Cardinals want to be in the Big 12 or the ACC, opting for transparency by making members aware of his school's true intentions.

When Bob Bowlsby took over as the Big 12 commissioner last week he said that while he won't presume the direction that the Big 12 is going to go as far as expansion, if expansion helps the Big 12 advance its agenda the conference would "at least consider that."

Well, if Louisville gets its way, the Big 12 may be expanding again in the future.

Report: U of L wants out of the Big East

*This may be a tad lengthy, but please hear me out*

On Sunday, Maryland DII Club Baseball won their Regional Championship and earned a bid to the Club Baseball World Series in Columbus, GA starting on May 18th. Upon winning, we discovered that we needed to come up with thousands of dollars to make the trip. Together with Campus Recreation Services, we estimated that the trip would cost around $10,000, money we simply didn't have. We already had paid the for the majority of the trip to the regional tournament in Southern VA out of our own pockets.

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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/10/michael-davis-brother-of-vernon-and-vontae-charged-with-murder/

This is very sad for Vernon and subsequently Terpnation.. I was wondering since the kid is 19, was he ever a D1 prospect? Obviously when you have 2 brothers that are all americans, 1st rd picks, and pure studs there is something in the bloodline. Was Mike Davis every recruited by us? by anyone? Did he even play football?

Do people that are tapped into the area know the full story behind this?

Jeff Baker had a recent interview with the Turge and talked about the progress some of the players are making and the potential incoming recruits will have to contribute. They are coming in at a great opportunity to get playing time early and get a chance to go up against the big boys from day one.

I think Len and Faust will be monsters. Both sound like gym rats who will be much improved from last season.

Articles can be found at http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/terps/tracking-the-terps/

Fun read during a slow news period.

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Just came across this on ESPN this morning while "learning" about forest ecology.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/story/_/id/7907691/report-ncaa-looking-top-kentucky-wildcats-recruit-nerlens-noel

It appears as though the NCAA is looking into Noel for some reason, having contacted his old high school coach (before he went to Tilton) and speaking with him for over an hour. He says they didn't specifically ask him "investigation-type questions", but it could be interesting to see how this turns out. Not sure what Calipari would be up to, but he'll come under some major heat if some sort of violation is found.

Anyways, this could change the complexion of the MD-Kentucky game on Nov. 9th. Needless to say, if something happens with Noel (which I don't think is likely), I will sport full MD body paint and a turtle shell for the entirety of a week. You're move, NCAA.

Haven's seen this anywhere else on the site so I figured I would post it. It's a Prisbell article on Dwayne Morgan who says that no one is recruiting him harder than Maryland.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/maryland-basketball-likes-what-it-sees-in-dwayne-morgan/2012/05/07/gIQA3fH68T_story.html

Sounds great to me! He is already 6'7 and will probably keep growing for a while. Also, he dunked on his mom.