It’s mid-March, and I’m not sure what’s more mad: the NCAA Tournament itself or all the drama it causes year after year. For an annual event, it sure knows how to create controversy. Everything from complaints about the team rankings to the supposed difficulty of the region is called into question and discussed at great length.

If you’re in to that sort of thing, you’re in luck because the NCAA Tournament, better known as March Madness officially starts today.

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Today, the country’s top high school football players announced which universities they will attending. More importantly, which college football teams they’ll be playing for. Here is a list of the nation’s top 10 football recruits and where the schools with which they signed

• Robert Nkemdiche - Ole Miss



• Max Browne - USC
• Reuben Foster - Alabama
• Su’a Cravens - USC
• Thomas Tyner - Oregon
• Laquon Treadwell - Ole Miss
• Laremy Tunsil - Ole Miss
• O.J. Howard - Alabama
• Henry Poggi - Michigan
• Ty Issac - USC

See more at the New York Times and MaxPreps.com. Read the rest of this entry »

Who says you have to be a British teenage wizard to enjoy a good Quidditch game? Last weekend, 300 college students from the Midwest USA proved that these traits are not at all a requirement to participate in a Quidditch cup. The students were from various universities, including Purdue, Ball State, University of Michigan, and Ohio State University.

“I was going to be in club soccer, but when I heard about Quidditch, I wanted to try it,” said Michael Koester, a freshman at Ball State University. “The great thing about this you don’t have to be a great athlete. I’ve made so many friends, and we have lots of fun together.”

It seems that Koester isn’t the only one who now prefers Quidditch, a fantasy game with players who ride on broomsticks, to other sports.

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All college students know that having a good football team is something to be proud of. The bragging rights are endless, especially when your team beats your conference rival. Bleacher Report recently announced the top 50 college football programs, based on “national championships, conference championships, postseason success, Heisman winners, All-Americans, and [number of] wins.”

Does your school make the list? If so, feel free to brag; I know I will be doing my fair share of bragging. Look who’s number one! Boomer Sooner!

1. University of Oklahoma. The number one team in the nation is the University of Oklahoma Sooners, who have had a .765 winning percentage since 1945. They have won seven national championships and won their conference 39 times. Don’t forget that the Sooners have finished the season ranked in the top five 29 times, and it’s easy to see why Crimson and Cream are the best school colors around.
2. Read the rest of this entry »

Athletes give us something to get excited about while we are in college. Whether they are shooting baskets, scoring touchdowns, or crossing the finish line first, college athletes are an integral group of students at every school. It makes sense that these athletes - who are almost seen as heroes at some schools - should receive some sort of compensation for their efforts, which is why most people think athletes receive full scholarships to the school they attend. However, a new report shows this isn’t true.

Researchers at Ithaca College recently reported that the “average ‘full scholarship’ Division I athlete winds up having to pay $2,951 annually on school-related expenses.” These expenses include everything from campus parking permits to school supplies.

“It’s really deceptive to use the words ‘full scholarship,'” said Ramogi Huma, head of the National College Players Association. “There’s never an explanation for recruited athletes that the price for attending school falls short of the scholarship amount.” Read the rest of this entry »

This weekend had some really interesting football games. Alabama and Arkansas battled it out on Saturday while Boise State’s blue-clad players blended in with their blue football field, securing a win for the Broncos against the Oregon Beavers. The University of Texas lost against UCLA, while the Oklahoma Sooners scraped out a victory over the University of Cincinnati Bearcats.

Here are the scores for the rest of this weekend’s football games:

No. 19 Miami 31- Pittsburgh 3

No. 4 TCU 41 - SMU 24

No. 1 Alabama 24 - No. 10 Arkansas 20

No. 2 Ohio State 73 - Eastern Michigan 20

No. 3 Boise State 37 - No. 24 Oregon State 24

No. 5 Oregon 42 - Arizona State 31 Read the rest of this entry »

If you have been paying attention to college football for the past few decades, you know that the University of Oklahoma has been considered a football powerhouse. On September 3, 2010, the Sooners changed this trend into a fact, when they won their 800th game as a school team against Utah State University. This makes the University of Oklahoma Sooners the seventh Division I team to become a member of the 800-Wins Club.

See when the other members, Michigan, Texas, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Ohio State and Penn State, earned their invitation to this elite club. Read the rest of this entry »

With the recent closing of Dana College, the Great Plains Athletic Conference is left with a few empty spots in its schedule.

Conference commissioner Corey Westra says schedules through the 2012-2013 season were already set when Dana announced its closure last week. Affected sports are football, basketball and volleyball.

Dana College has been an active member of the conference for the past ten years. This recent development has conference commissioners scrambling to alter the 2012-2013 athletic season. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s no denying that sports instill college students with school pride and spirit. Sports programs are valuable, but when schools are investing more money on the football field than in the classroom, it may be time for some colleges to re-think their spending.

In early June, The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics called for several financial and academic reforms. One in particular wants NCAA schools to set aside at least 20 percent of their income from the football Bowl Championships Series for the classroom.

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If South Carolina Gamecock and Oklahoma Sooner players had any Father’s Day plans, hopefully they took care of them in the morning. Because they spent the rest of their Sunday at the ballpark.

After suffering through two rain delays that delayed the game over six hours, the Sooners then had to wait out a ninth-inning rally by the Gamecocks.

Trailing 4-2 in the ninth, the Gamecocks got a break when leadoff batter Kyle Enders smoked a ball under the third baseman’s glove. After a single and a walk sandwiched around a strikeout, South Carolina had the bases loaded with only one out.

But then Sooner pitcher Ryan Duke tied up Whit Merrifield on a 2-2 pitch, forcing him to pop up for the second out.

With one out to go, Duke may have felt the pressure as he walked the next batter on four pitches, none of which were especially close, making the score 4-3. Read the rest of this entry »