(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
One of the things about living in Las Vegas is that you sometimes miss out on the seasons changing.
If I still lived back east or in the Midwest where I went to school, October is the time of year you definitely start to break out the long sleeved t-shirts, sweatshirts and jackets—maybe even wear a fleece vest a few days during the month.
Yesterday in Las Vegas, it was 83 degrees during the day.
Yeah, I do miss the leaves falling. But I’ll take the lack of fall and the hot summer for the relatively mild winter.
What does this have to do with college football?
Well, as the calendar page turns from September to October, it is time to start focusing on those traditional rivalries, think about homecoming opponents and count the magic number as your team reaches bowl eligibility—or is eliminated from postseason contention.
With that in mind, let’s look at four newsworthy stories from this past week in Four Downs:
1) Injuries Pile Up
It all started before the season even began, when Oklahoma lost tight-end Jermaine Gresham to a knee injury.
The OU lost Sam Bradford in the season opening loss to BYU.
It’s all gone downhill from there for lots of teams.
It came to a head last weekend when Oregon lost cornerback Walter Thurmond for the season with a knee injury.
Baylor has lost dynamic quarterback Robert Griffin for possibly the rest of the year with a knee injury.
Tim Tebow suffered what looked like a severe concussion against Kentucky.
Hawaii just lost quarterback Greg Alexander on Wednesday night to a knee injury against Louisiana Tech.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
I know, I know: Injuries are a part of the game.
It just certainly seems like we’ve lost a lot of big names this season already.
2) Mike Leach bans Twitter, suspends one of his players
After a gut-wrenching loss to Houston last Saturday, apparently there is discord in Red Raider nation.
Mike Leach stripped offensive guard Brandon Carter of his captaincy and suspended him indefinitely for violating team rules (an always nebulous suspension).
Leach also banned the use of Twitter by Red Raiders players after linebacker Marlon Williams asked, according to sources, why he was still in a meeting room when, “the head coach can’t even be on time.”
Williams' Twitter account was closed and the post deleted soon afterwards.
Carter had also expressed frustration with how the season was going on his Twitter page after the game, although I do not think that the suspension had anything to do with the tweet.
It seems to me that Coach Leach, who is nothing if not loquacious, might be overreacting a bit to the fact that the team has lost two straight games.
It’s not like they’ve lost to awful teams; Texas is a national title contender and Houston is a pretty good team, having already taken down Oklahoma State.
Tech gets a chance to right the ship this week facing New Mexico at home. New Mexico is also dealing with their own internal problems right now, since an investigation is ongoing involving Mike Locksley punching one of his assistant coaches in the face during a staff meeting last week.
3) LeGarrette Blount—Returning to a field near you soon?
While it is not definite yet, Oregon head coach Chip Kelly has left the door open for running back LeGarrette Blount’s possible return to the Ducks this season, although the reinstatement could not happen before November 7th.
Blount was suspended after losing his composure after the Ducks were defeated by the Boise State Broncos on September 3rd.
After the loss, Blount punched Boise State linebacker Byron Hout in the face after Hout taunted Blount during the post-game celebration. Blount also had to be physically restrained by coaches and security as he was escorted back to the Oregon locker room.
The educator in me says that this can be a good thing: Blount only gets reinstated if he meets certain conditions laid out in a contract that Kelly drew up and Blount signed last week. The onus is on Blount to demonstrate that he belongs back on the field by what he does academically, behaviorally and in a football capacity.
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