The Stresses of Signing Day

Springfield (Mo.) Hillcrest's Dorial Green-Beckham announced he would
be staying in Missouri to play for the Tigers, making this sportswriter very
happy. But signing day can be unnecessarily stressful for coaches and
players, even though there's no telling what will happen in four years.

How much faith would you put in a 17-year-old? If you're a major college football coach, the next four years of your program could depend on whether or not a fresh-faced teenager picks your school over Rival U.

For some, signing day can lead to the highest of highs for a program. My alma mater experienced this when Dorial Green-Beckham decided to stay in Missouri. The same could be said for people like Stillwater High's Jesse Vester, who received an unexpected offer and signed with Oklahoma State on the same day.

But there's also a flip side. Arkansas was crushed when Green-Beckham — who had previously posed for a photo in an Arkansas jersey — spurned the Razorbacks for a chance to play in Columbia.

Across the country, Cassanova McKinzy made his college decision not on academics or a program's prestige. Instead, he chose Auburn over Clemson because when he visited Clemson there wasn't a Chick-fil-A near campus.

Leave it to a guy named Cassanova — a man who obviously got his name from his love of food — to make a decision on something as frivolous as decent grub. I, too, often get bit by the Chick-fil-A bug, but I would not make a decision based on a fast food restaurant.

My guess is that four years down the road, the linebacker will switch to defensive line after snacking on chicken sandwiches. And if I were a wagering man, I'd say that Clemson is about to get a Chick-fil-A within the next month, as per direct orders from Clemson coach Dabo Swinney.

It isn't just teams and coaches that feel the stress on signing day. The look on Prichard (Ala.) Vigor High's Darius Philon said it all.

Philon looked exhausted as he told his high school he was undecided before putting on an Alabama hat. As it turns out, the prized defensive lineman didn't sign with the Crimson Tide, instead sending a letter of intent to Arkansas. According to the Mobile Press-Register, Philon's decision came after a late request by Alabama to have Philon greyshirt.

All in all, there's a lot of pressure on teams and coaches to make an immediate decision. It doesn't help that ESPNU broadcasts signings throughout the day.

As members of the media and fans, we all need to take a step back  from high school recruiting. This is supposed to be a joyous and special occasion for the young athletes and the teams they sign with. Let's let them enjoy the moment.

I Shift You Not

One of the stipulations to keeping the Big 12 together was
that Dan Beebe resigned as commissioner. After nearly
losing four teams to the Pac-12 earlier in the week, it seems
like the Big 12 is here to stay — for next year, anyway.

Well that was much ado about nothing.

All week, no matter where you turned you couldn't help but hear the rumors surrounding the Big 12 Conference. First, Oklahoma and the boys in the south tried to jump ship to the Pac-12, then Missouri started to look toward the SEC.

And while we all sat on the edge of our seats waiting to see who would go where, we forgot one simple thing — you might want to check with the conferences themselves before you decide to join their conference.

Like Spirit, the Auburn eagle, the Big 12's hopes of dismantling crashed and burned when Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told the world that he was happy with 12 members in a midnight press conference. Oklahoma and Texas already had the green light to join the Pac-12 and Oklahoma State was in the process of getting the go-ahead when Scott made his decision.

Much to the dismay of one Columbia sports editor — a man who enjoyed the comparison of conference shifts to plate tectonics — the conference somehow survived the weekend. The only major shifts came in the form of Syracuse and Pittsburgh heading to the ACC.

Now the nine remaining members must go back to the league they once tried to demolish with their tails between their legs. And I, along Mike Gundy, could not be happier. Those die-hard football fans saw Oklahoma State's 3 a.m. finish in Tulsa last week. Could you imagine if that happened every weekend? It's a strong possibility with trips to the West Coast each weekend — no thank you!

Some fans are upset that there wasn't the massive tectonic shift that shook the college sports scene, but there were hundreds of sports reporters that breathed a sigh of relief with Scott's announcement. So, now that all this is over, can we put it behind us and just play football — at least until next season?

And remember kids, if you want an invite into someone's house — or in this case a conference — it's best to ask permission before you barge in with guns blazing.

The Good, The Bad And The U-G-L-Y

Maryland's season got off to a rocky start with new
uniforms. It's hard to say whether the uniforms were
punishment for Miami's Shapiro-gate or just a well-devised
distraction to help the Terrapins get a season-opening win
over the Hurricanes.

We finally made it.

After an offseason full of arrests and scandals, the college football season finally kicked off this past weekend – for better or worse.

Much like the offseason there were some bumps and bruises. Auburn nearly tripped out of the gate against Utah State, the Fightin' Irish of Notre Dame didn't put up much of a fight against Skip Holtz's South Florida squad and the ol' alma mater struggled against Miami (OH).

Then there were the were teams like Ohio State – crushing Akron without five members of its team and quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Or Oklahoma State dismantling the Ragin' Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette with Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon.

But perhaps the most shocking event of the weekend came on Monday night. Miami has already been through its toughest offseason ever, with Nevin Shapiro's atomic bomb. Turns out they were served their punishment when they saw Maryland go from bad to worse in their jersey selection. One can only hope things will get better for the Terps and their 38 uniform combinations.

Speaking of uniforms, hopefully you were able to adjust your television sets back after watching the Boise State-Georgia game. It's fine that Boise State wants to join the likes of Oregon as Nike U, but Georgia should seriously consider burning those uniforms given the tradition surrounding the program and the SEC.

There were definitely some winners and losers in this first week. Not all the winners won their games,  and not all the losers lost. But if there's one thing we've learned, it's that we have a long season ahead of us.

And it could be made even longer if someone doesn't stop the Under Armour-Nike train that is running rampant across college football, turning once traditional garbs into nothing more than high school uniforms.