Around the Blue Turf 9/21/2011

Boise State QB Kellen Moore moves into lead in Heisman Tracker poll

Boise State senior quarterback Kellen Moore surged into the lead of a tight race this week in the Idaho Statesman Heisman Tracker, a poll of 10 media members from across the country.

The voting was so close that Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck received four first-place votes to Moore’s two but ranks second in overall points. South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore is third with three first-place votes and Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson is sixth with the last first-place vote.

Moore was the only player named on all 10 ballots and he was first or second on six of them. Luck, Lattimore and Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones appeared on eight ballots each.

Here are this week’s results:

1. Kellen Moore
QB, Boise State, senior
35 points (2 first-place votes)
Last week: 3rd
Moore climbed to the top after a 455-yard, five-touchdown outing on national TV at Toledo. He’s on pace to shatter all of his career highs and is completing 78.9 percent of his passes.

2. Andrew Luck
QB, Stanford, junior
33 (4)
Last week: Tied for first
Luck gained a first-place vote this week and still got passed by Moore. He hasn’t done anything to grab the nation’s attention yet, but he’s playing solidly enough to retain his favorite’s status.

3. Marcus Lattimore
RB, South Carolina, sophomore
28 (3)
Last week: 7th
He leads the nation in rushing at 178 yards per game and is carrying a Gamecocks team that is in the national championship hunt. The Gamecocks don’t face Alabama or LSU during the regular season so they could be in contention all season.

4. Landry Jones
QB, Oklahoma, junior
19
Last week: Tied for first
He lost his two first-place votes after going 18-of-27 for 199 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in the Sooners’ win at Florida State.

5. Robert Griffin III
QB, Baylor, junior
15
Last week: 4th
He leads the nation in pass efficiency with a ridiculous 244.52. He has thrown eight touchdown passes and no interceptions.

Others receiving votes: QB Denard Robinson, Michigan (11, 1); RB Trent Richardson, Alabama (4); RB Chris Rainey, Florida (2); QB Geno Smith, West Virginia (1); WR Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State (1); QB Brandon Weeden, Oklahoma State (1).

Here’s our panel: Jenni Carlson, The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City); Anthony Gimino, Lindy’s (Tucson, Ariz.); Coley Harvey, Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel; Josh Kendall, The State (Columbia, S.C.); Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland); Andrew Logue, Des Moines (Iowa) Register; Tom Luicci, The Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.); Mike Prater, Idaho Statesman; George Schroeder, The Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.); Kyle Tucker, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.).

Voters ranked their top five candidates. Scoring was five points for first, four points for second, three points for third, two points for fourth and one point for fifth.

ESPN Experts’ Poll

Sept. 20, 2011

ESPN experts: Andrea Adelson, Edward Aschoff, Brian Bennett, Rece Davis, Heather Dinich, Pat Forde, Kevin Gemmell, Chris Low, Ivan Maisel, Todd McShay, Ted Miller, Dari Nowkhah, Adam Rittenberg, Mark Schlabach and David Ubben

Tracking the Candidates

Sept. 20, 20111Andrew LuckQB | StanfordNext Game: 10/1 vs. UCLAThe Cardinal didn’t start firing on all cylinders until the second half but once they found their rhythm, they were able to sweep aside Arizona on the road. Luck passed for 325 yards and two touchdowns.

2Kellen MooreQB | Boise StateNext Game: 9/24 vs. TLSAMoore was at it again Friday night, carving up the Toledo defense at every turn. The senior quarterback threw for 455 yards and five touchdowns. He also had a career-high 32 completions in 42 attempts.

3Marcus LattimoreRB | South CarolinaNext Game: 9/24 vs. VANThe numbers tell the story: 37 carries, 246 yards and three touchdowns. Lattimore scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter to save South Carolina against Navy and allowed the Gamecocks to run out the clock on a 24-21 win.

4Robert Griffin IIIQB | BaylorNext Game: 9/24 vs. RICEMother Nature halted the game in the third quarter, but there was still plenty of time for Griffin to impress. He passed for 265 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 78 yards in Baylor’s win over Stephen F. Austin.

5Landry JonesQB | OklahomaNext Game: 9/24 vs. MIZZJones passed for just 199 yards and threw his first two interceptions of the season, but he accounted for both of Oklahoma’s touchdowns in a road win at Florida State, including the go-ahead touchdown pass to Kenny Stills in the fourth quarter.

6Russell WilsonQB | WisconsinNext Game: 9/24 vs. SDAKWisconsin’s new quarterback has added another dimension to its offense and is drawing envious (and worrisome) glances from across the Big Ten. Wilson has been impressive in leading the Badgers to three breezy victories. Will he be able to sustain the momentum come league play?

Mountain West talking football merger with Conference USA

In this quickly changing landscape, Thompson said the Mountain West has reached out to apparent fragile members of the Big 12 and Big East about joining his league. He’s also had several conversations with TCU, a current member of the Mountain West that is scheduled to join the Big East next year, about remaining in or rejoining the league.

Thompson said only league presidents can issue an invitation, but they “would probably’’ endorse the idea, if TCU showed interest.

The Mountain West and Conference USA discussed a partnership last year, but the Mountain West backed away from a full-blown merger, Thompson said in July. Now the leagues are discussing a football-only “consolidation.”

“The timing is right to be proactive in that,” Thompson said.

Thompson said a “federation” between the two leagues could help from a television perspective, creating a league that stretches from Hawaii to the East Coast and offers all-day programming and increased marketing and sponsorship opportunities. He said automatic qualification in the BCS would be a part of it.

“A big goal or ambition would be to have an AQ BCS berth. … (AQ status) has to be part of the conversation and part of the purpose. It gives you, again, the stability and a quantity and a number going forward,” he said. “You’d have roughly one-fifth of today’s FBS.”

Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky said his league is closely monitoring the realignment moves. The league membership is East Carolina, Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Rice, SMU, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, Alabama-Birmingham, Central Florida and UTEP.

“We are working on some creative consolidation strategies that have the potential for positioning our members well into the future. We are particularly intrigued by cooperative possibilities with the Mountain West,” Banowsky said in a statement.

Thompson said the partnership could be like the AFL-NFL arrangement before their merger in 1970. The leagues maintained separate schedules, but played a common championship which became the Super Bowl.

He said it would make sense if the leagues had the same number of teams. Conference USA currently has 12 teams. The Mountain West will have 10 in 2012 when TCU leaves and Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii join.

“Two business-as-usual, quasi-separate leagues getting together (for a title game),” Thompson said.

Thompson said several athletic directors from each conference are working on the potential deal. He called it “conceptual” at this point.

“It’s in the discussion stage,” he said. “There’s a million moving parts on something like this.”

BRONCOS NOT CONTACTED

Boise State has not been contacted by any conferences nor have the Broncos submitted applications to any other leagues, Interim Athletic Director Curt Apsey said Monday. Apsey said the Broncos are not looking to make any move, having spent the better part of the past decade seeking to get into the Mountain West. Boise State joined the league July 1.

But he said it is important for the Mountain West to find ways to generate additional revenue for its members.

“I don’t think you sit back and wait from a conference standpoint,” Apsey said. “It’s important, if you can, to put your conference in the best light as it pertains to your ability to make money and to stay competitive.”

Boise State football coach Chris Petersen said he has not spent much time thinking about conference realignment.

“We want to play in the best conference we can,” he said. “You like it when there are these natural rivalries and the proximity is close.”

Petersen said the recent moves are frustrating.

“So much of this stuff is about money once again,” he said. “Everybody panics once again.”

How I see conference realignment.

There sure is a lot stirring when it comes to conference realignment and the way I see things shaking out,

The PAC will get what they want from Texas and OU to allow both Okie state and Texas Tech in, leaving the big 12 with just 4 schools in the conference, while Uconn and Rutgers will be picked off by the ACC, leaving just 5 schools in the Big east to merge with the Big 12 3 short of 12 and 7 short of the 16 everyone but the B1G seem to be shooting for. With the knowledge brought to us by the New York Times article this week one thing stands out to this Boise State fan, of all the non AQ teams out there Boise State brings the most to the table. Once the transfers start taking place Boise State will be the first ones called.

There is just too much bad blood in the big 12 and there is a huge Pacific Shark in the water and if there is to be super conferences that makes economic sense forget the geography here then the PAC only choice is to bend to both the Texas and Okie state governments requirements of taking Tech and Okie State with them, their only other choices are to pass on OU and Texas and wait for schools like Boise, Fresno and San Diego to grow up. Boise is 10 years away from being a legit PAC school, but once the Big 12 collapses they will fit right in with the new big 12.

As for the Big east attempts to stay afloat, I don’t put too much into it. For one once Texas and OU leave the Big 12 will get very aggressive grabbing every team then can that fits and that mean WV who already wants out, Cinncy, Louisville  and possibly SFU as well then there is nothing left to save add in Boise State, Air force, BYU, and SMU and you’ll have quite the conference to move forward with.