Operation Gruden: Back in Play

This time it might be for real. Jon Gruden is headed back to the Sunshine State.

REPORT:

After Peter King single handedly shot down these Gruden to Miami rumors on Sunday night, they are surging back with even greater fervor. Canesport.com reports that Gruden and the University of Miami's Athletic Director are meeting Wednesday to finalize the deal. This is the second rumor, but you heard the first rumor here FIRST! I still believe Gruden will have a tough time adjusting to College Football life but I believe he has the charisma to bring UM back to the days of Jimmy Johnson. Let's see how this plays out, but SportsbyBrooks.com and Steve Groten of the South Florida Sun Sentinel have been on top of this latest report.

There's a storm coming ladies and gentlemen. Jon Gruden may be headed back to the south to get an even better sun tan.

P&W's Daily Round Up: November 30th

Mike Leach: YARRGG MATEY. ESPN GIMME HERE

NFL:

The NFL has only levied $25K fines against Corteland Finnegan and Andre Johnson. There will be no suspensions.

Ben Roethlisberger sprained his right foot in the Steelers OT win against the Bills. He should be good to go for Sunday.

Chargers teammates are insisting Vincent Jackson did not fake an injury against the Colts.


MLB:

The Rockies are close to locking in Troy Tulowitzki to a contract extension that would keep him in Colorado for another 10 years.

The Rangers have signed C Yorvit Torrealba and RHP Mark Lowe. Torrealba is projected as their starting catcher, while Lowe should help the bullpen.

Although the same cannot be said for Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera's talks with the Yankees are reportedly going smoothly.


NBA:

Antoine Walker has signed in the D-League. The veteran forward has been out of the league for a few years, and has had gambling problems.

The Heat's troubles continue, as Lebron and Spoelstra have to come out publicly again, and insist everything is fine and dandy between them. The Pat Riley coaching countdown begins...


NCAA FB:

Bo Pelini says Nebraska might play for the Big 12 championship using both Taylor Martinez and Cody Green at quarterback.

TCU will be joining the Big East in 2012-2013. This is great news, as they will now have an automatic qualifying bid for the BCS.

Boise State kicker Kyle Brotzman and his family have received numerous harassing phone calls for his performance in last week's game.


NCAA BB:

Duke is still number one in the Coaches Poll, and UCONN, with their upset of Michigan State and Kentucky are number nine in the poll.

Jacob Pullen has broken KSU's all-time 3 point record, breaking Steve Henson's previous record of 240.

It's Monday... You Know What That Means.. STATS BABY

Pat Lazear has anchored arguably the best defense in the country

• West Virginia now has the 2nd best scoring defense in the country behind TCU. In West Virginia's 11 games, they have not allowed any more than 20 points in a game. With one exeption. They gave up 21 points to little brother. Marshall
• After the beatdown of Arizona, Oregon has taken back the top spot in total offense this season. Oklahoma State moves back to #2 in the rankings
• I am a patron of Time of Possession. You all know that by now. Nevada DOMINATED possession against Boise State. The count? Nevada: 35:21... Boise State: 24:39. Argue it with me, but they won the game.
• Baylor loves penalties. Their tally is up to 101 flags for 933 yards. They are headed to a bowl game though
• Navy has big time discipline. They are the opposite of the Baylor Bears. Only 39 penalties!
• Luke Kuechly has 171 tackles on the season. This is the most amount in one year in the whole NCAA in a very, very long time.
• In spite of Clemson's struggles, Da'Quan Bowers has 15 sacks on the season.
• Justin Blackmon is pure skill. He has 18 touchdowns for 1665 yards.
• Stanford and NEVADA (baby) are right on the top of 3rd down conversions. Stanford with an awesome 57% and NEVADA (baby) with 55%

NFL Afternoon Round-Up: What We Learned

Sam Bradford: The quarterback of a playoff-bound team?

Chad Henne showed a lot of resilience today, coming back from demotion and injury.

Cassel to Bowe is quickly becoming one of the most lethal combinations in the NFL.

The Mike Vick cinderella story is losing a bit of its luster.

The Rams are uh, leading the NFC West.

The Buccaneers proved they can play with the big dogs. Although it could be argued the Ravens aren't a top dog anymore.

The Early NFL Round-Up: What We Learned

 

Matty Ice continues to be a worthy draft pick for the Falcons

 

What we learned from the early games

If there were still doubters about the Falcons, there are none anymore. Their defense really impressed against Aaron Rodgers.

The Steelers got lucky as Steve Johnson dropped a potential game-ending pass in OT.

Few believed this to be possible, but the Peyton Hillis for Brady Quinn trade actually continues to look worse for the Broncos.

The Jaguars proved themselves to be a serious division contender, but the Giants were too much at home.

Brett Favre won... yay!...

Believe it or not, Rusty Smith was not able to get a win against the Texans. Go figure....

P&W Video of the Day

This is extremely well done by Dane Sazenbacher to humorously bring up a serious topic. And when LeBron is flaunting his douchiness, this is extremely good. Kudos to the Ohio State football team here.

Pat & Warren's Sports Talk On iTunes

Hey guys! In addition to revamping our daily round-ups and breaking news stories, we are now officailly on iTunes!

Check us out right here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/warrenlent-blog-talk-radio/id357578109

Let us know what you think and be sure to keep in touch with us at all times on Twitter and beyond. We are ready to take this to the next level!

REPORT: Jon Gruden TO MIAMI

Is Gruden Headed to Miami?

According to reports, Jon Gruden will be the next head coach of the University of Miami. This is coming after the firing of Randy Shannon. This is a great hire if it is true because Gruden can bring a new life to a floundering program. I will be interested to see how Gruden is in College though because he has been used to managing talent for a very long time instead of developing it. The last time he coached in college was in 1989.. things have drastically changed since then. Let's see how this develops for the Hurricanes as more news is sure to break.

P&W's Top 25: Week 14

Rank	Team	Record	Last
1	Auburn	12-0	1
2	Oregon	11-0	2
3	TCU	12-0	3
4	Wisconsin	11-1	5
5	Stanford	11-1	6
6	Ohio State	11-1	8
7	Michigan State	11-1	10
8	Virginia Tech	10-2	12
9	Arkansas	10-2	13
10	Missouri	10-2	14
11	Oklahoma	10-2	17
12	South Carolina	9-3	16
13	Texas A&M	9-3	15
14	Nevada	11-1	18
15	Nebraska	10-2	19
16	Boise State	10-1	3
17	LSU	10-2	7
18	Oklahoma State	10-2	9
19	Alabama	9-3	11
20	Florida State	9-3	NR
21	Northern Illinois	10-2	20
22	West Virginia	8-3	NR
23	Utah	10-2	24
24	Maryland	9-3	NR
25	Connecticut	7-4	NR

Randy Shannon Fired

Randy Shannon did not get the job done at Miami

After 4 medicore years, the University of Miami has fired Head coach Randy Shannon. Shannon lost earlier today to the University of South Florida 20-17. Clearly the U is looking for results that Shannon has been unable to give them. This was the year that Miami was supposed to be ACC champs and bringing the glory back to Coral Gables. I see this as a good move for Miami, but they cannot make two bad moves in a row, or else they will be in the dumps for a longer time than many think. Look out for some names in the near future that will open up the coaching search for the U of M.

Friday Lived Up to Its Hype

Auburn @ Alabama:

The Crimson Tide DOMINATED the first quarter and most of the first half. In a flash it looked like Auburn's national championship hopes had been dashed. Heading into the second half, though, the game was a different story. Alabama failed to assert themselves early in the second half and Auburn's team stuck with their gameplan. The defense really impressed me because after being shredded in the first half, Roof and his staff created a way to shut down Alabama: Get to the quarterback. Fairley and company were amazing in the second half. This game was won in the trenches. Kudos to Auburn for coming all the way back from 24-0 to keep their National Championship hopes alive.

Arizona @ Oregon:

Arizona played extremely well in the first half, but it was not good enough. Arizona made too many mistakes to stay close in the second half. As usual, Oregon turned it on in the second half to win easily. One more game to go for the Ducks: CIVIL WAR TIME.

Boise State @ Nevada:

Wow.. Kaepernick and Vai Taua went out with a bang. In the last game of their collegiate careers, both of them break the NCAA record for the best running combo EVER. Oh, and they also beat Boise State and ruin their BCS chances. Nevada was running the ball at will against Boise State and kept themselves in this game. After the first missed field goal Nevada Chris Ault said "That was it, I knew it was our destiny."

Nevada is destined to win the WAC

P&W Week 13 CFB Picks

I went 17-7-1 last week. I'm feeling it big time guys!

Michigan @ Ohio State
Line: -17 OSU
Spread: Michigan

South Florida @ Miami
Line: -12 Miami
Spread: South Florida

Mississippi State @ Mississippi
Line: -3 MSU
Spread: Mississippi

Florida @ Florida State
Line: -2 ½ FSU
Spread: Florida

Kentucky @ Tennessee
Line: -2 ½ Tennessee
Spread: Tennessee

South Carolina @ Clemson
Line: -2 ½ South Carolina
Spread: Clemson

Cincinnati @ Connecticut
Line: -2 Connecticut
Spread: Connecticut

Boston College @ Syracuse
Line: -3 ½ Syracuse
Spread: Boston College

Iowa @ Minnesota
Line: -15 Iowa
Spread: Iowa

NC State @ Maryland
Line: -2 NC State
Spread: NC State

Virginia @ Virginia Tech
Line: -23 Virginia Tech
Spread: Virginia



Kansas @ Missouri
Line: -24 Missouri
Spread: Kansas

Georgia Tech @ Georgia
Line: -14 Georgia
Spread: Georgia Tech

Michigan State @ Penn State
Line: -2 Michigan State
Spread: Michigan State

Oklahoma @ Oklahoma State
Line: -2 ½ Oklahoma State
Spread: Oklahoma

Washington @ California
Line: -6 ½ California
Spread: Washington

BYU @ Utah
Line: -8 Utah
Spread: BYU

Oregon State @ Stanford
Line: -13 ½ Stanford
Spread: Oregon State

LSU @ Arkansas
Line: -3 ½ Arkansas
Spread: Arkansas

Notre Dame @ USC
Line: -4 USC
Spread: USC

P&W: What Went Down Over Turkey Day Break

NFL:

Vince Young texted an apology to Jeff Fisher. Obviously, Fisher wasn't too happy about that, saying, "I'm not a real big text guy. I'm not really into this new-age stuff. I don't twitter or tweet. But I think face-to-face is a man thing, OK?"

Brett Favre has decided the Vikings struggles are due to a offense that is too complex. OK Brett....

The Redskins have placed RB Clinton Portis on IR, ending his season early for second consecutive year.

Philadelphia Eagles CB Asante Samuel has been fined $40K for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Giants WR Derek Hagan.


MLB:

C Victor Martinez has signed a 4 year/$50 million contract with the Detroit Tigers.

Rangers DH Vladimir Guerrero has been named the most outstanding DH in the American League.

Yankees are telling Derek Jeter to test the open market if he does not like the 3 year/$45 million contract they are offering him.

NBA:

The Miami Heat have lost three in a row. Could life get any better?

Celtics G Delonte West has broken his wrist, and his prognosis should be determined tomorrow.

The Cavaliers have banned anti-Lebron James apparel when the Heat visit the Cavs. They can ban whatever they want, it's still going to be one ugly scene.

CFB:

Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is suing ESPN for libel and slander. He has already been fired from Texas Tech but wants to "set the record straight."

Cam Newton, Kellen Moore, and Andrew Luck are the finalists for the Maxwell Award, which is given to the nation's top QB.

The president of the University of Ohio State says Boise State and TCU are not worthy of playing in the BCS title game. What do you think?


CBB:

In the longest Division III game ever, Skidmore beat Southern Vermont 128-123 in 7 OT's.

Rick Barnes has won his 500th game.

Number 2 MIchigan State was upset by Kemba Walker and UCONN last night in the Maui invitational. UCONN would later go on to beat Kentucky in the Maui Invitational final

The Statistics of Saturday: Week 12

 

Andrew Luck makes it back on here for his offense in general as well as this video. ^^^

My favorite segment of the week. I love my statistics and I'm ready to share the big ones with you. Let's get it started.

• Oklahoma State is still the best offense in the country for the second week in a row. The Cowboys now average 552 yards per game
• Stanford continues to stay on top of the time of possession race with their average of 35.14 minutes. That's 58%. Damn
• Nevada is in ninth place in the Time of Posession category which could come in handy this Friday against Boise State. Control the ball, possibly control the game
• Luke Kuechly now has 161 tackles this season. That's an average of 14 per game. <----- BOOM
• Not fully comprehending why Oklahoma State is playing so well? They convert almost automatically in the red zone. They have a scoring % of 95
• Stanford and Nevada are back up here once again with 3rd down conversions. This directly effects the time of possession
• West Virginia could be the best defense in the country. They hold their opponents to 21% conversion percentage on third downs
• Miami leads the country in tackles for loss with 95. Their defense is underrated, but they can't seem to rise above 8 wins.

P&W's Top 25: Week 13

Rank	Team	Record	Last Week
1	Auburn	11-0	1
2	Oregon	10-0	2
3	TCU	11-0	3
4	Boise State	10-0	4
5	Wisconsin	10-1	6
6	Stanford	10-1	7
7	LSU	10-1	5
8	Ohio State	10-1	8
9	Oklahoma State	10-1	9
10	Michigan State	10-1	12
11	Alabama	9-2	11
12	Virginia Tech	9-2	13
13	Arkansas	9-2	14
14	Missouri	9-2	15
15	Texas A&M	8-3	20
16	South Carolina	8-3	19
17	Oklahoma	9-2	16
18	Nevada	10-1	17
19	Nebraska	9-3	9
20	Northern Illinois	9-2	NR
21	NC State	8-3	NR
22	UCF	8-3	NR
23	Arizona	7-3	NR
24	Utah	9-2	25
25	Southern Miss	8-3	NR