Texas’ departure for Pac-10 “imminent”

The departure of Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to the Pac-10 is imminent, four sources within the Big 12 said Monday. One source said commissioner Dan Beebe’s last-minute plan to save the conference has “zero” chance to succeed. Another source said it is “very unlikely” to succeed. Texas’ interests in being aligned with the research opportunities and academic missions of Pac-10 schools is driving the decision, along with money. Beebe’s last-ditch plan included an emotional plea about preserving rivalries and maintaining the best welfare of the student-athlete, one source said. Texas A&M is now most likely to join the SEC, a source within the Big 12 said. This move, in the wake of Colorado and Nebraska’s departure, would further diminish the chance of Beebe’s plan succeeding, one source said. Texas’ decision is expected to come no later than Tuesday. – WABC-TV

Pac-10 wants to end hotel rooms for home games

If the Pac-10 Conference has its way, the practice of college football teams staying at hotels the night before a Saturday home football game will be history. As part of its cost containment measures, the conference has introduced legislation that would prohibit schools from housing football teams in hotel rooms the night before home games. The Division I legislative council will vote on the proposal, and several others, at January’s NCAA convention in Atlanta. The Pac-10’s proposal claims the change would help integrate athletes more fully with the student body. – Indianapolis Star

UPDATED HOT SEAT LIST!!!

Who will be the first coach fired in 2008? Check out Football Rumor Mill’s UPDATED HOT SEAT LIST!!!

ESPN VIDEO: Oregon State Shocks Top-Ranked USC

ESPN VIDEO: Beavers ride Rogers’ 186 yards to upset of top-ranked Trojans…

Willingham Era Nearing an End?

The pressure on Washington Coach Tyrone Willingham continues to mount.  Could a loss to Stanford end the embattled coach’s tenure?  Columnists from the San Francisco Chronicle and Seattle Times weigh in…

 

Few days go by in Seattle without a discussion about Tyrone Willingham’s future as the Huskies’ head coach. And this week, with Washington coming off a bye, the topic is back with a vengeance. The Huskies are 0-3 after losses to Oregon, BYU and Oklahoma - all Top 25 teams at the time (Oregon has since dropped out). And the view from up north is that an 0-4 start, with a home loss to Stanford on Saturday night, would be a disaster, sealing Willingham’s fate as a soon-to-be-fired coach. If the Huskies lose to the Cardinal, who are 3 1/2-point underdogs, it will be the first 0-4 start of Willingham’s coaching career. Willingham said Tuesday he hopes his team’s first three games, perhaps the most difficult opening stretch in the country, will be useful over the final nine games. – San Francisco Chronicle

 

In a week when there are more questions than ever about the future of Tyrone Willingham at Washington, he again comes face-to-face with the school where he once seemed to have all the answers. There aren’t any recruits left on the Stanford roster from Willingham’s seven years there. No coaches remaining on the staff. But he still has legions of devoted former players and friends in Palo Alto, many of whom will watch with mixed emotions as the Cardinal plays the Huskies on Saturday in Seattle. They know what a loss could mean for Willingham. – Seattle Times

VIDEO: ESPN College Football Spotlight

ESPN’s Jim Basquil hosts College Football Spotlight for Wednesday, September 24, 2008…

“Feeling Pressure” at Syracuse

Syracuse Coach Greg Robinson thinks his boss, AD Daryl Gross, is simply “feeling pressure” because he lives in a “political world.” Apparently, Robinson thinks his lack of success as a head coach has nothing to do with that “pressure”…

 

Read more on Robinson from Alan Trubow of the Austin American-Statesman:

 

Former Texas co-defensive coordinator Greg Robinson appears to be on his way out as Syracuse’s head coach, most likely at the end of the 2008 season.

 

“It isn’t working out,” Syracuse athletics director Daryl Gross said. “It’s very disappointing. … He has some work to do out in front of him.”

 

Robinson has guided the Orange to a 2-22 record in the Big East the past three years. He led the Texas defense for just one season, in 2004, before leaving for Syracuse.

The Orange ended a seven-game losing streak Saturday with a 30-21 defeat of Northeastern, a Football Championship Subdivision school.

 

“He gets a lot of crap,” Robinson said of Gross. “I understand it. You know what? (Syracuse football) ain’t as bad as people think. He’s feeling pressure. … He’s got a political world to live in. My world is not that way.”

VIDEO: Weekend Preview

ESPN’s Doug Flutie previews this weekend’s games including USC-Oregon State, Alabama-Georgia and Illinois-Penn State…