College football notebook 7/22

In the notebook today we have a new spin on stadium use, the NCAA’s agent dragnet continues, Georgia recruits acting a fool once they leave the Peach State and K-State doing something I didn’t think I’d ever see…

Florida Atlantic’s radically student friendly stadium

Ted Hutton of the South Florida Sun Sentinel shared some pics of Florida Atlantic’s new football stadium, as well as the following tidbits:

There was a lot of talk about keeping the stadium open during the week. This area could become a student lounge, with internet access and indoor and outdoor seating.

The idea is that students who live in the dorms can wander over and use the facility as a study or social area, so the stadium becomes more than just a place to gather five or six times in the fall.

It could also be the site of watch parties for away games. All that sounds good to me.

The more use the stadium gets between games, the better, especially with it located right next to the dorms and in close proximity to everything else on campus.

Be a shame to have it locked up 360 days of the year. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

You wanna know what would happen to students trying to get into places like Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn or Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on a non-game day? It would be like a lot like this, only more violent:

The NCAA’s anti-agent rampage continues

With the NCAA already sorting out who has and who hasn’t been partying with agents in South Beach (those investigations have already touched Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina) and whether or not Maurkice Pouncey took $100,000 from an agent while still at Florida, college football’s reigning Heisman Trophy is also being scrutinized.

Alabama’s Mark Ingram apparently attended a party on May 12th in Washington D.C. at the District nightclub. The party was a celebration for players who’d just been drafted, and the guest list included Florida’s Joe Haden. TMZ provides some more details:

The University of Alabama says Ingram is on the up and up. The Compliance Department tells us, “Mark asked if he could visit Joe Haden at his home in Baltimore. We checked with the NCAA and they approved this trip as long as Mark provided receipts for his expenses.” (TMZ.com)

As with the Marvin Austin investigation at North Carolina, the NCAA probably needs more details on how travel was paid for and who picked up the tab once Ingram was in D.C.  I hope for the sake of Alabama fans that Ingram hasn’t followed Austin’s lead and uploaded a ton of pics to Twitter that would cause even more head scratching among NCAA investigators.

Why do recruits lose their heads once they leave the Peach State?

It’s been a bad summer for highly recruited wide receivers from the Class of 2010 who left the state of Georgia to play elsewhere.  First, Tennessee’s Da’Rick Rogers got into that bar fight in Knoxville and his status with the team is still uncertain.

Then word came last week that Notre Dame’s Tai-ler Jones was nabbed at a party in South Bend and charged with underage drinking.

The other highly prized Georgia wide receiver from the Class of 2010 who left the state was Markeith Ambles of McDonough, who followed Lane Kiffin to USC after being considered a Tennessee lock.  Ambles was ranked by Rivals as the state’s second best recruit behind Rogers (Jones was tabbed as the state’s 9th best prospect).

As of this writing, there is no word on Ambles having gotten in a brawl at a club or getting nabbed with a brew in his hand.  But there’s still some summer to go…

2010’s biggest scheduling surprise

Remember Bill Snyder’s first run as Kansas State coach?  Back then, you had a better chance of being abducted by a Sasquatch family than seeing Snyder’s Wildcats schedule a decent out of conference opponent.

Take the 1998 team that won the Big 12 North for example, they played the following OOC murderer’s row: Indiana State, Northern Illinois and ULM. Those teams ended up with a combined 12-21 record and K-State beat the three of them by a combined score of 201-14.

Fast forward to the present day and K-State is trying to get back up that mountain following a 6-6 season.  But in very un-Snyder-like fashion, the Wildcats will attempt to do so while not feeding exclusively on cupcakes.  Oh, the Missouri State and North Texas games should be W’s, but the other two non-Big 12 opponents are UCLA and UCF.

I know, it’s not like Snyder will be leading his team onto the field against Alabama and Penn State.  But two OOC bowl teams visiting Manhattan in the same season?  That’s strange for me to see on paper.