College Football weekly news and notes

NFF News

Fan voting began last Thursday as the NFF & College Hall of Fame announced its continued support for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award, which is on display for the second year in a row at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind. The unique award honors college football coaches from all divisions of play for their combined coaching excellence, sportsmanship, integrity, dedication to academics, and community leadership based on a collective vote from fans, Hall of Fame voters and the media.

Backed by Liberty Mutual - the sixth largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. - the 2007 version of the award has been expanded from the inaugural 2006 award, which was presented to one winner only (Greg Schiano of Rutgers), to include a coach from all four NCAA divisions. Each winner will receive $50,000 from Liberty Mutual to support his civic and charitable activities, $20,000 in scholarship to his school's alumni association, and will be recognized in the permanent Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year display at the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.

Three major exhibits recently have opened at the NFF College Hall of Fame, and they have been well attended in the early going.

The 2007 Enshrinement Class exhibit features biographies of the players, jerseys, awards, and other memorabilia. This year's class features such renowned names such as Bobby Bowden, Emmitt Smith, and Charlie Ward.

The Race for the Pantheon 2007 exhibit spotlights current college football players. Each year individual awards are presented to outstanding players on both sides of the ball. College football preseason yields eleven individuals as the front- runners to win the postseason Pantheon awards, including the prestigious Heisman, Outland and Lombardi awards.

The 1967 Indiana Hoosiers "Have a Cinderella Season" exhibit features memorabilia from that spectacular season. Coming off a 1-8-1 season in 1966, third-year coach John Pont and his team were not among the favorites in the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers finished the 1967 regular season with a 19-14 victory over Purdue to close 9-1 with a share of the Big Ten title. The 1967 season was the first and only time Indiana went to the Rose Bowl.

Executive director of the Heisman Trophy Rob Whalen and Southland Conference commissioner Tom Burnett visited the newly remodeled National Football Foundation offices in Irving, Texas, last week.

Play It Smart Alumni on College Gridiron

As part of an on-going series throughout the fall, The NFF tracks the graduates of its Play It Smart program as they make their mark on the college gridiron. This week: Ray Rice (New Rochelle HS, New Rochelle, NY) became Rutgers all-time leading rusher, running 37 times for 175 yards and 3 touchdowns in a win over Navy... Cal receiver Desean Jackson(Long Beach Poly HS, Long Beach, CA) totaled 134 all-purpose yards, including a 73-yard run in the Golden Bear's victory at Colorado State... Rushing for 76 years on 14 attempts, South Carolina running back Cory Boyd(Orange HS, Orange, NJ) scored the only touchdown in the Gamecocks upset of the no. 11 Georgia... True freshman Vonzell McDowell (Rainier Beach HS, Seattle, WA) came up big in Washington's upset of Boise State with an interception at the 2-yard line with less than 3 minutes to play. Click for the full Play It Smart Alumni Report

Military Heroes Honored

Washington State honored Petty Officer 2nd Class (SEAL) Michael A. Monsoor posthumously for his extraordinary sacrifice and service to his country in a ceremony prior to the Cougars' game against San Diego State last Saturday.

The award was presented to the Monsoor family by WSU President Elson S. Floyd as part of Puget Sound Armed Forces Appreciation Day activities. The 15-person U. S. Navy Parachute Team, the Leap Frogs, also performed in support of the armed services. Petty Officer Monsoor died on Sept. 29, 2006, in Iraq after throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives several SEALS near the explosion. Army lauded two more American combats heroes with a special "Wheels for Warriors" presentation at last Saturday's Army-Rhode Island football contest.

Sgt. Luke Shirley, an infantryman originally from LaBelle, Fla., received a specially equipped conversion van from Operation Support Our Troops (OSOT) and the Wheels for Warriors program, a Rhode Island-based charitable organization that provides modified vans to severely wounded service members. The van was presented in honor of Lt. Robert A. Seidel III, a 2004 West Point graduate killed in action on May 18, 2006. A native of Emmitsburg, Md., he was a rifle platoon leader with the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment when his vehicle was struck by an enemy IED in northwestern Baghdad.

Kentucky admitted all active military personnel free on Military Appreciation Night last Saturday against Kent State.

Two-Minute Drill

The Associated Press is allowing its voters to cast ballots for non-FBS teams starting with the Sept. 10 national survey. The last non-current-FBS member to be ranked in the then-AP Top 20 was Colgate with a 9-0 mark at No. 20 in the Nov. 7, 1977, national ratings.

South Florida was named the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week, following the Bulls' overtime win at Auburn... SMU honored its 1982 Southwest Conference and Cotton Bowl Champion team with on-campus visitors including RB Eric Dickerson and QB Lance McInhenny at last Saturday's game vs. North Texas... Connecticut started a "Husky Walk" routine on its trip to the stadium to allow fans to see the student- athletes prior to kick-off... Buffalo and Missouri will play for the first time on Sept. 20, 2008, in Columbia, Mo... Illinois has sold out the student sections for the remainder of the '07 season... Iowa State has engraved commemorative coins for $15 with the face of new head coach Gene Chizik... Since the announcement that Arkansas Baptist would have a junior college football program this season, enrollment at the school has quadrupled... Birmingham-Southern has increased its total available positions for student-athletes from 200 to 400 since adding football... The Emerald Bowl began public sales last Wednesday and is set for Dec. 28, 2007. Tickets are available online at www.tickets.com... Distinguished NFF member and longtime Georgia athletics legend Loran Smith has just released "How 'Bout Them Dawgs?" as part of the Georgia Football Vault Book Collection... Noted columnist Pat Dooley's new book "Game of My Life: Memorable Stories of Florida Gator Football" includes interviews with 31 UF football standouts about their favorite contests. The tome is available at Amazon.com and Florida area bookstores... 1971 NFF Gold Medal Award recipient and former Eureka College football player, the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan is no. 2 and Starbuck's founder Howard Schultz, who earned a football scholarship to Northern Michigan University, is no. 18 among USA TODAY's 25 most influential people of the last 25 years... Arkansas' 2007 helmets feature three special logo stickers. The Razorbacks have a "VT" logo in support of Virginia Tech in the wake of its on-campus tragedy. Arkansas also has a "JFB" sticker for John Frank Broyles, retiring UA athletics director ending his 34-year tenure in Dec. 2007. Players also have a "DN" sticker as a tribute to Danny Nutt, the former Arkansas assistant coach who was forced to resign last summer due to ongoing health issues. The Arkansas Athletics Department has also launched a "Recycle with the Razorbacks" campaign at football games... Kentucky has sold a record 51,000 season tickets, about 14,000 more than 2006 sales... Division III Heidelberg (Ohio) snapped a 36- game losing streak with its 37-26 win over Oberlin (Ohio) last weekend.

The Connecticut football training facility, designed by HOK Sport Venue Event, has achieved LEED Silver Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. This is the first LEED Silver Certified collegiate sports facility in the country... Florida has moved its Ring of Honor to the top of the north end zone to accommodate more names... Tennessee unveiled a renovated natural grass playing surface, non-smoking areas away from the stadium bowl, new message boards, and several physical amenities at Neyland Stadium last week in the home opener against Southern Miss... Wake Forest's Groves Stadium will be renamed BB&T Field in 2008. A naming ceremony was held in Winston-Salem, N.C., last Saturday... Florida State president T.K. Wetherell opened his President's Box to 50 students, 50 faculty and 50 staff and up to 150 guests of those who were invited to the box by a random drawing before the FSU-UAB game.

The Big 12 Conference selected Dan Beebe, former senior associate commissioner and COO, as its third commissioner last Wednesday... West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez had his contract extended through 2013... Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan has received a contract extension through the 2011 campaign... Chuck Shelton returned to Delaware State as assistant AD/football operations of the DSU program.

Boeing has become the official sponsor for the Apple Cup, which will be awarded to the Washington-Washington State winner in the schools' 100th series game on Nov. 24... XOS Technologies has signed on with Tennessee to become the first football squad to use the new XOS PlayAction Simulator powered by EA SPORTS... Southern Miss has become the third school nationally to feature a high definition message board, manufactured by Capturion Corp. and the Busby Co. of Laurel, Miss... Zinch.com has signed an agreement to assist in clearances for applications for students and student-athletes at MIT, Stanford and Yale... Franklin & Marshall has signed a broadband webcasting agreement for selected games with B2 Networks... The Big East Conference has partnered with JumpTV Inc. to design and power the conference's new multiplatform broadband environment.

NFF College Hall of Fame head coach Ara Parseghian will be honored with a statue at Notre Dame Stadium inside Gate D. Dedication will be on Sept. 22 when the Fighting Irish host Michigan State... A statue of former Heisman Trophy winner Jason White of Oklahoma was unveiled prior to the Sooners game against Miami. The statue joins those of OU's other Heisman winners Steve Owens, Billy Vessels and Billy Sims... The 42nd annual Dallas All Sports Award Banquet includes dozens of dignitaries and top award winners: Lamar Hunt Award - Dick Vermeil (presenter Clark Hunt); Emmitt Smith End Zone Award - Darren Woodson (presenter Emmitt Smith); Pat Summerall Award - James Brown (presenter Pat Summerall); Tom Landry Coach of the Year Award - Tony Dungy (presenter Tom Landry, Jr. ); DASA Courage Award - Ron Springs and Everson Walls (presenter Norm Hitzges); Field Scovell Award - Bobby Bragan (presenter Talmage Boston)... QB Bruce Plummer and TE Bruce Hardy are two of the inductees into the Arizona State Hall of Fame... The Ole Miss M-Club Hall of Fame has added former greats Curtis Weather and Everett Lindsay to its ranks... All-America football student-athletes Alex Van Dyke and Marty Zendejas will be inducted into the University of Nevada Athletics Hall of Fame... Former Duke football standout and assistant coach Bob Cox is one of five inductees into the Duke Sports Hall of Fame... Arkansas State honored grid notables Tom Reese and Jim Wiseman at its annual Hall of Fame banquet last Friday... Former Aggies coach Jackie Sherrill and former player Richmond Webb were inducted into the Texas A&M athletics hall of fame... Iowa State will induct former football standouts Troy Davis, Ike Harris, Luther Blue, Merv Krakau and coach George Veenker into its athletics hall of fame... Butch Reynolds was Ohio State's honorary captain for last week's encounter with Akron.

The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is accepting applications for the annual Volney Meece Scholarship for any son or daughter of a FWAA member. Please visit www.FWAA.com for details.