College category, Page 56
Big Ten changes course, aims for October start to football
The Big Ten is going to give fall football a shot after all. Less than five weeks after pushing football and other fall sports to spring in the name of player safety during the covid-19 pandemic, the conference changed course Wednesday and said it plans to begin its season the...
Wisconsin chancellor says Big Ten football on hold until questions answeredVideo
The University of Wisconsin chancellor said Tuesday that Big Ten football will remain on hold until there are answers to questions about covid-19 testing and tracing, along with possible long-term heart issues related to the coronavirus. Chancellor Rebecca Blank said once the Big Ten leaders have their concerns addressed “we...
Despite inexperienced QB, Oklahoma remains favorite in Big 12Video
Oklahoma is 3-for-3 in winning Big 12 championships and making the College Football Playoff since Lincoln Riley became coach of the fifth-ranked Sooners. Those titles came with three quarterbacks: two Heisman Trophy winners and a Heisman runner-up for Oklahoma who started their college careers at other Power Five schools. The...
President Trump wants Big Ten to play footballVideo
The Big Ten Conference, already in court and under pressure from players and parents over its decision to cancel fall football, is hearing from President Donald Trump. Trump tweeted Tuesday that he had spoken with Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren about reinstating the fall season. “Had a very productive conversation...
Notre Dame playing for 2 titles this season
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Most seasons at Notre Dame, expectations include questions about contending for a championship. This year, there are questions about two. One of the most unusual seasons in the history of college sports is about to begin, and it includes a pandemic-prompted wrinkle for the 10th-ranked Fighting...
Covid-19 cases push N.C. State-Virginia Tech game back 2 weeksVideo
N.C. State’s season-opener at Virginia Tech was postponed for two weeks Wednesday because of a cluster of covid-19 cases among Wolfpack athletes. The delay comes two days after N.C. State paused all athletic activities. The school didn’t specify which programs were impacted when it announced a cluster of 27 positive...
Video prompts Western Carolina football players to propose boycottVideo
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A Western Carolina University football player called on teammates to boycott team activities after several racist videos involving students at the school circulated on social media. Sophomore safety Jaylon McMillon said he and other members of the Catamounts football team agreed during a Zoom video Sunday not...
Former Pitt assistant Aubrey Hill dies at 48 after cancer battleVideo
MIAMI — FIU said Sunday night that wide receivers coach Aubrey Hill, a standout player at Florida before becoming a longtime coach at Miami, Pitt and other stops, died after a lengthy bout with cancer. He was 48. “Aubrey was loved and adored by so many who saw him not...
Parents of Ohio State, Iowa players ask Big Ten to reconsider not playing in fall; rash of positives for SoonersVideo
A group of Ohio State football players’ parents Saturday joined parents of players at Iowa in calling for the Big Ten to overturn its decision not to play this fall because of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said nine Sooners tested positive for covid-19 after he gave his...
NCAA calls off fall sports championships; college football not affectedVideo
The NCAA called off fall championship events — a move Thursday that does not affect major college football — because not enough schools will be competing in sports such as men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball during the first semester. NCAA president Mark Emmert made the announcement in a...
Senators lay out plan for college athletes bill of rights
A group of senators led by Cory Booker of New Jersey and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut on Thursday released a plan for reforming college sports with an athletes bill of rights. The legislative plan calls for college athletes to have the ability to earn money for their names, images and...
Covid-19 concerns can’t dampen Clemson coach Dabo Swinney’s enthusiasmVideo
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Clemson coach Dabo Swinney couldn’t hide the wide grin as he talked at last about watching the Tigers workout on the field. “Once we got on the field, it was awesome,” Swinney said Thursday after the opening practice of fall camp. “Just a blessing to be able...
Former WPIAL star Phil Jurkovec receives NCAA waiver, eligible at Boston College
Former WPIAL star quarterback Phil Jurkovec, who transferred from Notre Dame to Boston College in January, was granted an NCAA waiver Tuesday that makes him immediately eligible. The Pine-Richland graduate has three years of eligibility remaining. Boston College begins preseason camp Thursday. At Notre Dame, Jurkovec played in six games...
TCU football coach Gary Patterson apologizes for repeating racial slurVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU football coach Gary Patterson apologized Tuesday for repeating a racial slur when telling a player to stop using the slur in team meetings. Patterson’s tweet came a day after school Chancellor Victor Boschini said the nearly 20-year leader of TCU’s program, who is white, had...
Minnesota star WR Rashod Bateman to skip season, turn proVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota star wide receiver Rashod Bateman will pass on a 2020 college football season that has been complicated — and threatened — by the pandemic. Bateman announced Tuesday he has opted out amid concerns about the coronavirus and will forgo his remaining two years of eligibility to enter...
Big 12 football teams can play 1 nonconference gameVideo
Big 12 schools agreed Monday night to play one nonconference football game this season to go along with their nine league contests as plans for the pandemic-altered season continued to fall into place. The Big 12’s university presidents signed off on a 10-game schedule, adjusted to deal with potential disruptions...
After talk of collaboration, conferences go their own way for college football
Plans for the 2020 college football season — if it is played — should start coming into focus this week. They will trickle down from the top of major college football, with Power Five conferences putting in place revised schedules they hope will make it easier to manage potential disruptions...
College basketball stuck in holding pattern during pandemic
Baseball has begun its coronavirus-delayed season with limited long-distance travel and no fans in the stands. The NBA has its Disney World bubble. The NHL will have two bubbles, in Toronto and Edmonton. NFL rookies began reporting to training facilities last week as teams build up toward the start of...
Division I leagues urge patience from NCAA on fall sportsVideo
More than two dozen Division I conferences have urged the NCAA Board of Governors to hold off on making any decision about conducting fall championships until a majority of leagues determine whether to hold regular-season competition during the pandemic. A letter from College Commissioners Association president and Ohio Valley Conference...
NCAA: Test all athletes for covid-19 within 72 hours of game
The NCAA says college football players should be tested for covid-19 at least 72 hours before a game, players with high-risk exposures to the coronavirus should be quarantined for 14 days and everybody on the sideline should wear a mask. The nation’s largest governing body for college sports on Thursday...
College hoops coaches move to eliminate standardized testing
DES MOINES, Iowa — Men’s and women’s college basketball coaches are proposing the NCAA eliminate standardized testing requirements from initial-eligibility standards, calling exams such as the SAT and ACT “longstanding forces of institutional racism.” The proposal Thursday came out of the new committee on racial reconciliation formed by the National...
AAC lays out covid-19 test plan ahead of NCAA announcementVideo
The American Athletic Conference will require all its schools to test football players for covid-19 at least 72 hours before competition. The announcement Thursday by the American comes ahead of the expected release of recommendations from the NCAA and the Power Five conferences for testing before games and other protocols...
NCAA approves bowl eligibility adjustment for FCS victories
Major college football teams will be permitted to count two victories against second-tier Division I teams toward bowl eligibility this season. The NCAA Division I Council’s blanket waiver loosens current rules that allow Football Bowl Subdivision teams to count only one victory against Football Championship Subdivision schools toward bowl eligibility....
Shady Side Academy alum Skyy Moore, Penn State’s Pat Freiermuth selected to Biletnikoff Award watch list
New Kensington’s Skyy Moore, a Shady Side Academy graduate and rising sophomore wide receiver at Western Michigan in the Mid-American Conference, has been named to the preseason Biletnikoff Award watch list. The Biletnikoff Award is presented each year to the nation’s top college receiver by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation....
John Steigerwald: Overreactions will keep sports from being played
I’ll believe it when I see it. That’s been my attitude for months when it comes to the return of the four major sports. What has happened lately to make me believe we’ll be seeing some semblance of a season any time soon? Major League Soccer isn’t part of the...
