September 19th update

Big East joins Big 12 in limbo

• In the mid 2000's, the Big East lost three of its biggest football schools (Virginia Tech, Boston College and Miami) as those schools defected to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. Recently two of the Big East’s best basketball schools decided to follow their former conference mates to the ACC.
• Pittsburgh and Syracuse were granted acceptance to the ACC on Sunday after it was reported they submitted applications to join the conference on Friday. Connecticut is rumored to be frantically attempting to join Pitt and Syracuse in defecting to the ACC. These moves, if they go through, will make the ACC far and away the undisputed basketball powerhouse conference and would cripple the Big East, which used to be in the running for that title.
• While the Big East is facing danger, the Big 12 may already be on the brink of oblivion. Texas A&M university announced two weeks ago that they will be leaving the Big 12 to join the South Eastern Conference. Nebraska began play in the Big Ten this year and there has been rumors of powerhouses Oklahoma and Texas looking at their options as well. There has been controversy from the members remaining in the Big 12 who do not want to let Texas A&M out of the conference, led by Baylor University, are scared that the exit will lead to a mass exodus and the eventual dissolution of the conference.
• As with most things in life, these moves are motivated by money, in these cases by television contracts. The more marquee schools each conference can get in the two biggest college sports (football and basketball) the more they can charge for television rights, however for Pitt and especially Syracuse to abandon the Big East has already created a small uproar.


Injuries already marring 2011 NFL season

• Michael Vick had the Eagles in a good position to win but after suffering a concussion and being knocked out of the game the Falcons rallied to win 35-31 in a game that also saw Jeremy Maclin suffer a huge, illegal hit that at first looked like it could have caused a concussion.
• Speaking of injuries, no one has been massacred so far this season like the Chiefs and the Colts, two division winners last season. The Colts lost Peyton Manning for either most or all of the season and had to release former defensive player of the year Bob Sanders because of his injury history and have had WR Austin Collie suffer two (you guessed it) concussions in the past 12 months.
• The Chiefs have arguably had even worse luck, losing superstar safety Eric Berry (who played every snap last year on defense and made the Pro Bowl), Tight End Tony Moeaki who was an up and coming offensive weapon and made one of the nicest catches you'll ever see last season, tough linebacker Brandon Siler who was signed this offseason to shore up the run defense and now, the coup d'etat, Jamal Charles (who ran for 6.38 yards per carry in 2010 which was second in NFL History. All are out for the season and the Chiefs have looked shocked and demoralized, losing by a combined 89-10 to two last place teams from 2010.
• Tony Romo played with broken ribs, Miles Austin caught 3 TD passes and Jesse Holley caught a 70+ yard pass to get the Cowboys down to the one yard line as the Cowboys rebounded from a tough loss to the Jets the week before to defeat the 49ers 27-24 in OT.
• Ravens NT Terrence Cody suffered a concussion and returner David Reed had his arm in a sling after a 26-13 loss to the Titans who got production from people other than star RB Chris Johnson.
• Arian Foster, last year's rushing yards leader, came back briefly from a hamstring injury but then left although the Texans were lucky enough to get production from Steve Slaton and Ben Tate on the ground and beat the Dolphins.
• In matchups of healthy teams, the #1 draft pick of this year's NFL draft Cam Newton continued to shatter rookie passing records, throwing for 432 yards and rushing for a TD in a close 30-23 loss to the defending Super Bowl Champion Packers and Tom Brady had another great game, throwing for 423 yards and 3 TD's in a win over the Chargers, bringing him to a staggering, cartoonish 940 yards and 7 TDs after just 2 games.
• Don't forget to watch Monday Night Football, as the Giants who have lost 4 defensive backs and 6 defensive players to injury (and might be without star DT Justin Tuck and WR Hakeem Nicks) take on the Rams who have lost star RB Steven Jackson to a quad injury for a few weeks, WR Danny Amendola with a dislocated elbow, and have Sam Bradford banged up with finger injury on his throwing hand.