Posted by Chip Patterson

Former Miami Hurricane Glenn Sharpe has been arrested on murder charges in Georgia, according to a local report.

CBS Miami is reporting that Sharpe, 28, is accused of killing Christopher Galloway on Feb. 2 at his home near Stone Mountain, Ga.. Members of the DeKalb County Sheriff's office arrested Sharpe on Thursday at his Lawrenceville home without incident.

Sharpe was named the Brian Piccolo Award winner by the ACC in 2006 after overcoming two serious injuries to make his way back to the field, but is best known for his play in the 2003 BCS National Championship Game. Sharpe was involved in the controversial pass interference call in overtime that gave Ohio State the opportunity to defeat Miami 31-24 in the second overtime.

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Posted by Chip Patterson

Spring football is in the air, and with our Spring Practice Primers the Eye On College Football Blog gets you up to speed on what to look for on campuses around the country this spring. Today we look at Duke.

Spring Practice Started: Wednesday, February 22

Spring Game: Saturday, March 31

Three Things To Look For:

1. Making sense of a crowded quarterback position. The Blue Devils return two-year starter Sean Renfree at quarterback. The senior has accumulated 6,325 yards and 32 touchdowns in his career as a Blue Devil, and is one of the most talented quarterbacks in the ACC. But head coach David Cutcliffe also used redshirt sophomores Brandon Connette and Anthony Boone often during the 2011 campaign. Both players are gifted runners and good complements to Renfree, but the pair have not been healthy/activated at the same time for an entire season. Cutcliffe even suggested there is a chance both backups could see snaps together in a game this season. With Sean Schroieder, Rob Collins, Mackenzie Soverign, and early enrollee Thomas Sirk; the Blue Devils have seven quarterbacks on the roster for spring practice.

2. Breakout stars. Duke returns 17 starters from last season, making them one of the more experienced teams in the ACC. But injuries have taken a toll on the Blue Devils during the offseason, and as many as six potential starters will be limited or out for a majority of spring practice. That list includes wide receiver Connor Vernon, who enters his senior year just 843 receiving yards shy of Peter Warrick's ACC record. With so many starters sitting out spring practice, Cutcliffe has encouraged the rest of the roster to "go take somebody's job." There could be a key contributor in the making that shows up this spring, one that could help the Blue Devils get over the hump.

3. Fixing the small mistakes. David Cutcliffe enters his fifth season with a 15-33 record. As News & Observer's Edward G. Robinson points out, that's five more wins than Duke's previous eight seasons combined. But while the improvement might be significant by Duke's standards, the Blue Devils have much higher expectations in 2012.

“We’re hunting another level of play,” Cutcliffe said. “We all know that we’ve played close games. We’ve been in a lot of games since we’ve been here really. Last year, we really did play at another level. And that level is not good enough. We have to make plays that win games. And consistently make plays that win games.”

Eight of Duke's 18 losses over the last two seasons were decided by a touchdown, with three in 2011 by five points or less. A field goal here or a defensive stop there could have put the Blue Devils back in the postseason for the first time since 1995.

To check in on the rest of the ACC and other BCS conferences, check out the Spring Practice Schedule. 

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Posted by Chip Patterson

CBSSports.com's Brett McMurphy and Dennis Dodd have been reporting from the BCS meetings this week in Dallas, as many of the decision-makers in college football debate the best postseason format for the sport.

The 11 conference commissioners, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, two BCS officials and a BCS attorney have begun discussing the possibility of a plus-one format to determine the BCS National Champion. The current BCS contract ends after the 2013-14 season, allowing for a new format beginning with the 2014 regular season.

On Friday, Brett McMurphy joined Tim Brando to discuss the momentum behind the BCS plus-one format.



For more from Brett on the BCS meetings, check out his blog, McMurphy's Law.

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Posted by Chip Patterson

The NCAA announced on Friday the approval of rules changes in college football, including moving the kick off from the 30-yard line to the 35.

While the ball will be kicked from the 35, players on the kicking team can't line up for the play behind the 30-yard line. According to the NCAA, this is intended to limit the running start kicking teams used to have during the play.

Also, touchbacks on free kicks (kickoffs and punts after a safety) will be moved to the 25-yard line instead of the 20. Touchbacks on all other plays will remain at the 20-yard line. According to the Football Rules Committee, this change is meant to encourage more touchbacks from the receiving team.

These changes are a result from examining NCAA data that showed injuries occur more often on kickoffs than in any other phase of the game. By encouraging touchbacks they will limit the amount of times the play is used, especially as higher scoring (see: Big 12) has resulted in more kickoffs.

Another rule change announced Friday could end up affecting games, possibly even more so than the kickoff rules. According to the NCAA, if a player loses his helmet on the play - facemasks and fouls don't count - he must sit out the next play.

Here is the wording from the NCAA release:

Another new rule that goes into effect next season is if a player loses his helmet (other than as the result of a foul by the opponent, such as a facemask), it will be treated like an injury. The player must leave the game and is not allowed to participate for the next play.

Current injury timeout rules guard against using this rule to gain an advantage from stopping the clock. Additionally, if a player loses his helmet, he must not continue to participate in the play, in order to protect him from injury.

If a quarterback or running back loses his helmet late in the fourth quarter of a close game, you can bet coaches will be screaming for flags. Sometimes helmets just pop off, and there could be cases where there is no threat of injury. Regardless, that player must sit out the next play.

Two more adjustments announced on Friday:

The rules panel also approved new wording in the football rules book regarding blocking below the waist. Offensive players in the tackle box at the snap who are not in motion are allowed to block below the waist legally without restriction. All other players are restricted from blocking below the waist with a few exceptions (for example, straight-ahead blocks).

There will also be a new rule prohibiting players from leaping over blockers in an attempt to block a punt. Receiving-team players trying to jump over a shield-blocking scheme has become popular for teams in punt formation. Receiving-team players try to defeat this scheme by rushing into the backfield to block a punt. In some cases, these players are contacted and end up flipping in the air and landing on their head or shoulders.

 
At the core, all of these changes are meant with the intent of improving player safety. As more medical research reveals dangerous aspects of the sport, changes such as these will be necessary to keep football thriving.

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Posted by Chip Patterson

With both the ACC and Big East still trying to work out last minute complications in the 2012 regular season schedule, the league's have needed member schools to make some adjustments. Miami and South Florida have announced a change in their scheduled meeting for 2012, from Nov. 24 to Nov. 17.

The in-state battle has been moved "in order to accommodate the conference scheduling needs of both programs," according to the official release. The 2012 meeting at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens is the second to last scheduled meeting in the series. The Hurricanes will travel to Tampa to face the Bulls on Nov. 30, 2013. Miami currently leads the series 3-1, but the pair have split the last two meetings - both decided by a field goal.

The ACC and Big East are both accustomed to releasing their regular season football schedules by this point in the calendar year. The ACC has been working around the challenges presented by by both West Virginia's cancellation with Florida State, and Georgia Tech's rearranging in order to kick off the season with a Labor Day showdown against Virginia Tech.

According to CBSSports.com's Brett McMurphy, the Big East is close to adding Temple as their eighth team for 2012. If this rescheduling has been done to accommodate both conferences, that would suggest that the ACC and Big East are nearing a conclusion to this headache of a process.

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Posted by Chip Patterson

Pittsburgh head coach Paul Chryst has been busy filling out his first coaching staff, as the Panthers near the opening of spring practice. Over the weekend Chryst announced a realignment on the offensive side, but still needs to fill the positions of quarterbacks coach and running backs coach. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, former Wisconsin quarterback Brooks Bollinger will likely be named the Panthers' quarterbacks coach for 2012.

Bollinger started four years at Wisconsin, finishing his career in 2003 with a 30-12 record and three bowl victories. As a redshirt freshman, Bollinger was in the backfield with Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne when the Badgers won the 2001 Rose Bowl. Bollinger still holds the Badgers' school rushing record for a quarterback, collecting 1,767 yards and 26 touchdowns.

Chryst was never Bollinger's offensive coordinator at Wisconsin, but served as tight ends coach in 2002 when he was the starter. Bollinger is currently serving as head coach at Hill Murray High School in St. Paul, Minn..

According to the Post-Gazette, Bollinger is expected to be named quarterbacks coach in the next few days "barring any last minute snags or changes."

Pittsburgh starts Spring Practice on March 15, check out the full schedule of Spring Practice Dates

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Posted by Chip Patterson

When the ACC announced that unusual circumstances had delayed the release of the 2012 schedule, many believed it was a direct result of West Virginia canceling their Sept. 8 trip to Tallahassee to play Florida State. But with the Seminoles have now filled that slot with Savannah State, and indicated the full ACC regular season schedule should be released "shortly."

But the ACC still needs to wait for one more team before releasing that schedule.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Georgia Tech's agreement to open the season against Virginia Tech on Labor Day has forced a schedule shuffle that has not yet been solved.

“Hopefully, we’re getting to a conclusion, but it’s been pretty frustrating,” associate athletic director Wayne Hogan said Wednesday.

“We’re close, I hope we can announce something pretty soon.”

Georgia Tech was scheduled to play Middle Tennessee on Sept. 8, but with a short week following the trip to Blacksburg on Monday night (Sept. 3) the school would prefer to schedule an FCS opponent for that weekend.

The game against Middle Tennessee will be played later in the season. The Yellow Jackets' original opponent for opening weekend, Southern Louisiana, has been removed from the schedule.

The Yellow Jackets and the Hokies have combined to win every Coastal Division title since the league expanded to two divisions in 2005. In each season the winner of the matchup, usually played later in the year, has gone on to the ACC Championship Game. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN, just like the Maryland-Miami opener in 2011.

For much more on Georgia Tech, follow Yellow Jackets RapidReports

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Posted by Chip Patterson

West Virginia's decision to cancel their Sept. 8 game with Florida State in the 2012 schedule on Feb. 3 left the Seminoles in a bind as they scrambled to fill the slot for their seventh home game. On Wednesday, the school announced that the Mountaineers would be replaced with a visit from Savannah State.

“West Virginia’s announcement at the 11th hour really put us in a very difficult position,” said FSU Director of Athletics Randy Spetman in the official release.  “We contacted every BCS school that had an opening in hopes of replacing WVU with a BCS opponent, but none of those few schools could make it work either because of our dates or theirs.  It is important for our fans to realize that the schools we contacted during the search did not pass on the 2012 game out of concern for the competition, but because of challenges they faced with schedule changes this late in the year. 

  “We worked with Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Cincinnati, Syracuse and Pitt to name a few along with our current non-conference opponents and television partners, but reached a point where our options simply dried up. We might have been able to play on the road at some BCS schools this season, but that would cost our fans and the university one of just seven chances to play a home game and also would have a negative impact on our local economy.”

Florida State's announcement included a guarantee that the entire 2012 schedule will be released by the ACC "shortly." The release of the regular season schedule was pushed back by the league because of "unusual circumstances" (West Virginia's cancellation), so fans can assume the full ACC regular season schedule should be on the way.

The school has already predicted a huge loss in revenue with West Virginia dipping out at the last minute. The first loss in revenue begins with the change in ticket sales. Single-game tickets for the Mountaineers early-season visit - likely to be a Top 25 matchup - was set for $70. On Wednesday, the school announced a $40 single-game ticket price for the Savannah State game.

For more on Florida State, be sure to follow the Seminoles RapidReports.

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