College Football Weekly News and Notes

-Courtesy of The National Football Foundation

First BCS Standings to be Released This Weekend

The first BCS standings of the 2007 season will be released Sunday by the National Football Foundation. The standings will be announced on the Fox Television Network at approximately 4:15 p.m. (EDT). On the weeks when Fox televises an NFL doubleheader, the standings will be announced after the second game at approximately 7:30 p.m. (EDT or EST). Of note in the BCS Standings, Cincinnati and USF of the Big East Conference enter Oct. 13 games ranked among the Top 20 in all major national polls and have the opportunity to become the 73rd and 74th schools to make the BCS Standings since 1998.

NFF News

2007 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Tom Brahaney of Oklahoma will have his On- Campus Salute at Saturday's OU-Missouri Big 12 Conference showdown in Norman. Brahaney starred at center on 1970-72 Oklahoma squads and played in the "Game of the Century" against eventual national champion Nebraska in 1971. The final two teams on which he starred at OU finished No. 2 in the final national polls. He lives in Midland, Texas, and is in the oil business.
The NFF will release its list of Draddy Semifinalists on Wednesday, Oct. 10. From this group, up to 15 will be chosen as the 2007 National Scholar-Athlete class and be named finalists for the esteemed Draddy Trophy in an announcement set for Thursday, Oct. 25. The Draddy winner, given a $25,000 postgraduate scholarship as the nation's top football scholar-athlete, will be announced on Tues., Dec. 4 at the NFF's Annual Awards Dinner at the prestigious Waldor=Astoria in New York City.

The NFF University of Georgia Chapter successfully completed an All-Star membership drive, which accounted for 50 new members. An All-Star membership ($100.00) includes a membership in the National Football Foundation and also two tickets to the chapter's annual dinner. Mason McWhorter, president of the UGA chapter, presented Jack Bush - the first subscriber to the All-Star campaign from Athens, Ga. - with his local membership certification. Georgia head coach Mark Richt appeared at the dinner drive and remains a strong supporter of the UGA chapter. Bush was an outstanding tackle on Georgia's national championship team of 1946. He was a teammate of Charley Trippi and John Rauch - both College Football Hall of Fame members.

Two-Minute Drill

Four of the Top 12 teams in the previous Associated Press poll fell last week to leave just 11 teams in the 119-member NCAA FBS undefeated prior to the first BCS Standings of the year Sunday. The surviving 11 after Week Six of the 2007 season are Arizona State, Boston College, California, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Hawai'i, Kansas, LSU, Missouri, Ohio State, and USF. There are eight unbeaten teams in NCAA FCS led by 6-0 Southern Illinois.

Notre Dame's trek to Pasadena to face UCLA last Saturday was the Irish's first since the 1925 Rose Bowl against Stanford (coached by College Football Hall of Famer Pop Warner). NFF tri-founder Grantland Rice was the noted columnist for that game while Hall of Fame head coach Knute Rockne led Notre Dame to its last bowl appearance until the 1970 Cotton Bowl... Chadron State RB Danny Woodhead became the all-divisions' NCAA career rushing leader with 7,441 yards after last week's triumph over Western New Mexico... South Alabama is re-visiting plans for possibly adding football to its sports program... Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas-San Antonio are also investigating the start of football in the near future... Massachusetts is exploring a move up from the NCAA FCS to its FBS... Auburn's 1957 national championship team celebrated its 50th anniversary at last week's AU- Vanderbilt contest... Syracuse lauded its 1987 11-0-1 Sugar Bowl team last weekend and named QB Don McPherson and Paul Frase from the '87 crew as honorary captains for the SU-West Virginia clash. AT&T and Syracuse also sponsored pregame complimentary cellphone calls to family members overseas prior to the SU-West Virginia game last Saturday... Nicholls State (La.) tied a NCAA record for team pass interceptions returned for touchdowns with four last week against Northwestern State... Boston College's student applications from areas of the South almost have doubled in recent years as a result of membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference and football success... Fordham is celebrating "125 Years of Fordham Football" (dating to 1882) at all home games this autumn... Wichita State held its 37th annual observance last week of a chartered plan crash which took the lives of 75 student-athletes, administrators and supporters near Silver Plume, Colo., on Oct. 2, 1970... Oregon State's "Giant Killer" team of 1967 enjoyed its 40th reunion last week during OSU-Arizona festivities. The '67 Beavers downed No. 1 Southern California and No. 2 Purdue and tied then-No. 2 UCLA en route to a 7-2-1 finish... UCLA is recognizing each of its national- record 100 NCAA championship teams and 1954 football wire service titlist during 2007 home encounters... UAB has scheduled a home- and-away series with Ole Miss for 2009 and '12. The Blazers have also come to agreements with Troy and Florida Atlantic.... Western Kentucky reached a school-high 9,175 last week in season ticket sales... Indiana State has joined such schools as New Mexico State in wearing pink ribbon decals on its uniforms to support October National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the Susan G. Komen Foundation... Portland State held a "Black Out Day" against Northern Arizona last week.

Navy (95 percent), Northwestern (94 percent) and Boston College (93 percent) were the top three FBS members on the NCAA's overall Graduation Success Rates (GSR) charts released last Wednesday. Boston College (91 percent) and Nebraska (83 percent) finished 1-2 in the football-only graduation category. FBS football squad GSR rates improved two percent from 65 to 67 percent over the last two years while NCAA FCS team rates climbed from 62 to 65 percent since 2005.

The NCAA Division I-A Athletic Directors Association is encouraging the likely interviewing of at least one minority candidate for every NCAA FBS head coaching vacancy starting with the conclusion of the 2007 season. ADs will be encouraged to utilize "specified, acceptable standards" in interview and hiring practices, according to a recent directive. The association is also incorporating a calendar function on its Web site that helps match schools needing games with schools that have openings on their future schedules... Rutgers has made football staff additions in Peter Casey (director of football operations), Gene Bataille (director of football relations) and Dennis Scuderi (director of recruiting operations).

The Chick-fil-A Bowl and Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue have declared Saturday, Oct. 13 as "Youth Football Day in Georgia." The bowl is encouraging youth football teams, leagues and associations to hold celebrations Saturday at their respective game sites and fans throughout the state to support these leagues by attending a youth football game that day... The FedEx Orange Bowl is holding a "Power of Orange" giveaway with such grand prize amenities as a three-night hotel stay for two, two FedEx Orange Bowl tickets, one parking pass for FedEx Orange Bowl, two tailgate party tickets, two Fan Fest tickets, and two Coaches Luncheon. In addition, one winner from each Atlantic Coast Conference school will receive an iPod and iHome Prize Pack with a 80GB iPod and iHome clock radio. Please go to the FedEx Orange Bowl or ACC Web sites for contest details... AT&T Cotton Bowl officials led a weekend tour of visiting media to the construction site of its new 2010 home - Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas - last Friday... The Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl is within 2,000 tickets of selling out for '07 and introduced a special VIP area with premiums for VIP purchasers.

The USF-West Virginia contest on ESPN2 was the second-highest viewed college football game all-time on "The Deuce" with 2.6 million households... LSU-Tennessee had the largest audience ever with a 2.7 Arbitron national rating (2.7 million homes) in 2005... The NFL Network aired its first-ever regular-season college game last Saturday, a Florida A&M and Winston-Salem State match-up. The broadcasting team was Spero Dedes and Sterling Sharpe... Former SMU quarterback Chris Sanders has joined the FSN and FSN/Southwest studio telecast team for Saturday game coverage... Ohio State standout lineman Bill Willis' No. 99 jersey will be retired from service after the 2008 season. Other Ohio State retired numbers since 1999: Archie Griffin (45), Vic Janowicz (31), Howard "Hopalong" Cassady (40), Les Horvath (22), Eddie George (27), and Charles "Chic" Harley (47). Willis is 86 years old and lives in Columbus, Ohio, along with two of his three sons... Stellar football stars of yesteryear Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson, Calvin Hill, Harvey Martin, Roosevelt Leaks and Larry Centers will be inducted into the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame on Dec. 1 in Dallas... Notre Dame has scheduled construction for the $26.3 million Joyce Center (named after NFF Distinguished American Award recipient Rev. Edmund Joyce) for athletics in Oct. 2008... 2006 NFF College Hall of Fame inductee Chad Hennings joins football legend Brock Strom and former director of athletics Col. John Clune as honorees in the inaugural Air Force Academy Sports Hall of Fame... Pittsburgh plans to honor standout RB Curtis Martin (1991-94) at Saturday's tilt with Navy. Martin ended as the No. 4 career rusher in NFL history after finishing with the Panthers... Miami (Fla.) standouts Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Dany Garcia Johnson have given $1 million to the Miami Football Facilities Renovation Fund... Baylor will add gridiron stars Melvin Bonner and Gary Grimes to its Athletic Hall of Fame in Oct. 19 ceremonies... Western Michigan inducted football standout Dale Livingston into its 2007 Athletics Hall of Fame class... Arizona State's Sun Devil Club has launched a Web site dedicated to membership and special events... USF Bulls athletics merchandise has become the hottest-selling group on a percentage basis nationally via the internet after recent wins over Auburn and West Virginia and a No. 6 ranking nationally... 2006 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Ferris State's Mike Klobucher has been selected as Division II Conference Commissioners Association 2007 National Scholar-Athlete of the Year, presented by Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.

Each Thursday, The National Football Foundation will post a viewers guide for all televised match-ups featuring all Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) schools.

DL Taylor Bradford of Memphis died on Oct. 1 in Memphis, Tenn.