Signing Day Cap Can Even Playing Field

Another National Signing Day has passed and once again the SEC is on top.

For the fourth time in the past five years, Rivals.com gave Alabama and coach Nick Saban a national recruiting title, inking three five-star prospects. SEC schools also made up five of the top 15 recruiting classes according to ESPN's experts.

It's no doubt that the SEC's success on signing day has helped translate to six consecutive national titles on field. But there's a seldom talked about factor helping those southern schools.

SEC members are notorious for oversigning, where a school signs more recruits than available scholarships. That allows SEC coaches to take more gambles and erase mistakes by revoking scholarships.

During the SEC's title dominance, four of its six champions signed at least 14 more players than their opponent in the four years leading up to the game.

Auburn signed 19 more than Oregon, Alabama signed 18 more than Texas, LSU signed 14 more than Ohio State while Florida signed 16 more than the Buckeyes. The only exception was Oklahoma, who signed three more recruits than Florida.

But the playing field is starting to level, and that's great for college football as a whole.

The SEC passed a soft cap limiting the number of signees between Dec. 1 and May 31 to 25 to comply with the NCAA. What that does is limit a coach's ability to manage their roster and possibly replace athletes who may not qualify to play in the Fall.

"You used to always have that buffer to cover yourself for guys who won't make it (academically) if you oversigned by two or three. Now, not only would you lose the guy who may not make it, but you also lose the guy who may fill that place," ESPN recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill explained to AL.com.

Another move that could level the recruiting field and make college football better is offering multi-year scholarships.

Several blue-chip programs including Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan in the Big 10 reportedly offered those scholarships this year. In the SEC, only Auburn and Florida said they gave extended scholarships.

Again, this will limit a head coach's ability to replace players who may not live up the hype with new "top" recruits.

It remains to be seen if that could become a recruiting advantage, but the rule gives student-athletes some protection from losing their scholarships due to how they play or if they get hurt.

The SEC still has the upper hand with huge fan bases, bigger budgets and a football-crazed culture in the South. But for fans who wish the conference would stop dominating BCS title games, these signing day changes could be a small chink in the armor.

NCAA Hides Behind Statistics

As the saying goes, there's lies, damn lies and statistics.

In the name of higher academic standards the NCAA board of directors decided to talk big, but in reality do nothing.

On Thursday, the NCAA decided that in order to play in the postseason, schools must have a four-year average Academic Progress Rate (APR) of 930 or better. That equates to graduating about half of the players on a given roster.

For that, the headlines will praise them. Already the Knight Commission, a college sports watchdog, commended the change.

But APR does not equate to student athletes actually graduating from college.

Of course, like all good formulas it can be manipulated.

APR is calculated by allocating points for eligibility and retention, two factors that research identifies as two indicators of graduation. Each player earns a maximum of two points per term, one for being academically eligible and one for staying with the college.

It's not hard to keep athletes academically eligible.

BYU could struggle with
the new APR rules.

Football factories, Boise State now included, have it down to a science with most freshman and sophomores studying general studies (or football). Just because a player is eligible does not mean they walk away with a degree.

APR is also weighted to help the Alabamas of collegiate sports, while it hurts some of the smaller Division I institutions.

Places like Idaho and Washington State have their APR's killed due to retention struggles. Winter's brutal on the Palouse.

Also under the new rules, BYU might have seen a postseason bowl ban turning in an APR score below 930, despite the fact that most of the athletes really do earn a diploma.

But this should standout as a red flag. Among the "Big Six" BCS conferences, the SEC, known for its academic prowess, had exactly zero schools below the new APR benchmark.

APR scores have been trending upward in recent years as universities figure out how the beat the system.

NCAA President Mark Emmert says the higher APR benchmark sends "a clear signal to the world about what we care about and what we stand for."

Unfortunately, Emmert and the NCAA are going to hide behind their statistics. They may talk tough, but the system can be beat, and this reform is just a smoke screen.

A Texas Sized Mess

Texas isn't bigger than an entire conference, and could get gored.

College conference cannibalism has made a mid-season return. It's back in full fury.

So if the idea of Syracuse and Pittsburgh moving from the Big East to the ACC isn't sitting well, blame Texas.

Greed is a systemic problem in college football right now, but the University of Texas' push to create its own TV network dedicated solely to "burnt orange" caused a political earthquake in the Lone Star state, now everyone's feeling it.

Briefly here's what happened.

The Big 12 conference lost two of its members (Nebraska and Colorado) to other conferences who wanted to expand to hold a cash cow, also known as a championship football game.

Texas toyed with new Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott's idea of creating a 16-team super conference, but decided it was better off in the midwest. But they got their own prize, the OK to create their own TV network.

Already there's one red flag. Conferences have networks, not individual schools.

Equally culpable in this mess, ESPN, who got involved and brought with it a $300 million over 20 years to partner with the Longhorn Network (LHN).

Here's where things spiraled out of control.

Texas planned to use the LHN to televise high school football games, many of which would showcase its own recruits. Not only does break an NCAA rule, but it would create a glaring recruiting advantage.

So Texas A&M, always the little brother of the Longhorns, said enough is enough is jumping ship to the SEC.

Now the Big 12 conference, not only has math problems with nine members, but everyone else in the league senses it's going down and is looking to leave too.

So as the major conferences grow even larger, the fans and anyone who stills cares about college basketball are losing out.

Think it will be the same to have Syracuse playing for a basketball title in Greensboro, N.C. instead Madison Square Garden?

Think Pitt fans will travel down to Chapel Hill to watch a football game? They didn't even travel to Charlotte to watch a bowl game.

I didn't go to school that it made sense to travel to watch games, but friends I know who were at those schools talk about road trips as part of the college experience.

That's not possible with geographic sprawling conferences.

Conferences used to form based on geography, convenient for travel and for creating rivalries.

Kiss that goodbye. Right now, it's all a big money grab.

And the great conference swap happening right now is thanks to Texas and ESPN.

Nebraska "Husked" Helping Athletes Learn

College football is ready to kick off a new season, but it's probably not ready for reform.

From Columbus to Auburn, Chapel Hill to Coral Gables, scandal is hitting major programs like the plague.

NCAA investigators might be more interested in a couple tarnished early season matchups than the fans. The luster is off the Oregon-LSU game at Cowboys Stadium. And Ohio State at Miami is in a league of its own weeks later.

But the scandal that popped up this summer that was most amusing: Nebraska was trying to help its student athletes learn.

Despite a commitment to learn, it's against NCAA rules to provide textbooks beyond required reading.

So because Cornhuskers athletes got about $60 for "recommended" textbooks, the university had to self-report to the NCAA and fined itself $28,000.

We'll know if the hammer will come down harder on Nebraska in October, but it's ridiculous that they are even in this position.

Fighting for the 'Fighting Sioux'

The long arm of the NCAA has been busy this year.

With allegations surfacing that 72 Miami Hurricanes were showered in cash and other impermissible gifts, eight major football programs have landed in trouble.

But instead of moving with its full force to clean up college football, the NCAA is still crusading to banish nicknames that are "abusive and hostile" and politically incorrect.

That's why North Dakota's Board of Higher Education decided to retire the Fighting Sioux moniker last week.

They did so to avoid NCAA sanctions in their attempt to move to Division I, which would include refusal to let UND host postseason NCAA tournaments and a ban on uniforms depicting the logo.

The problem with the NCAA ax aimed at nicknames, is that the organization only deemed American Indian specific mascots as "abusive and hostile" while ignoring plenty of other equally offensive mascots.

In a matter of minutes a laundry list can be generated of schools with "hostile" nicknames, which are not limited to: the Crusaders, which brings up medieval religious violence; Cowboys, associated with conquering the West; and the Fighting Irish, another national caricature which brings up notions of drunkenness.

While there's certainly a difference between "Redskins" and say "Seminoles," seems like a silly ban to just go after the Indian nicknames.

The University of North Dakota could have kept the 'Sioux' name but dropped the 'Fighting' under NCAA rules, if two Sioux tribes agreed on the name, but they couldn't.

Dropping the 'Fight' may have bolstered UND's chances to keep the moniker. Chief Sitting Bull was a great warrior, but also a spiritual leader, something "Fighting Sioux" doesn't exactly represent.

Regardless, you can chalk another victory up for the NCAA and its rules, but shouldn't they really be worried about other issues.