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Corn Flakes: My Son The Gopher, Rooting Interests, Concussion Study

It’s a cornucopia of topics as football starts rolling today!

By Jon Johnston
Capitol One Orange Bowl - Florida State v Michigan Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

The youngest son moved into his dorm at the University of Minnesota on Monday. He is officially a Gopher. He will attend his first football game as a Gopher tonight when Minnesota takes on Buffalo to kick off the 2017 Big Ten college football season.

I will probably be attending a Minnesota game besides the one against Nebraska. I guess it’s my chance to learn more about the University of Minnesota than I already know. He will be participating in symphony band this year, so no doubt we will be attending concerts as well.

I won’t find it that hard to root for Minnesota in a number of their sports with the exception of when they play Nebraska or when their loss in any sport will benefit Nebraska in any sport. On the other hand, I will probably find a loss to Minnesota more painful than most of you knowing full well that my son will be giving me never-ending crap about it.

There’s only one good outcome from all of this and that’s for the rest of eternity, or as long as I’m alive on this earth that Nebraska never loses in any sport to Minnesota. Here’s hoping.

The “Row The Boat” thing is everywhere at the University of Minnesota campus. It’s on billboards near downtown Minneapolis. It’s on stationery, any piece of marketing material you can imagine. Yes, I did buy a T-shirt. However, I wonder how long it’ll be before everyone gets tired of hearing the same phrase over and over and over and over and over with regards to Minnesota football.

I want to say that all of us should root for all the Big Ten teams in whatever game they’re playing, especially Big Ten West teams. Then I pause. And I think, holy ship, I hope that Wyoming beats Iowa.

I am unsure about Michigan versus Florida. Jim Harbaugh – don’t like him. I could care less what Harbaugh did in the NFL mostly because I don’t care at all that much about the NFL. So far at Michigan he’s lived up to the hype in terms of being mouthy and gathering attention, but he ain’t won no championships. Still, in order to root against Michigan I would have to root for Florida. When it comes to cases like this you have to select the Big Ten team because they’re going against the SEC.

They scheduled the Nebraska game right up against what might be one of the best college football games of the season, Alabama versus Florida State. I’m gonna have to figure out how to watch these things on two TVs or a tablet. Maybe I’ll record the Alabama versus Florida State game and then not pay any attention to social media, ha ha ha ha. Fat chance of that.

NEWS

Knevel headlines Central Scouting Bureau September rankings - CFL.ca
David Knevel, a Brantford, Ont. native, tops the September list. Knevel plays collegiately at Nebraska and is expected to start the season at right tackle for the Cornhuskers. Last season, the 6’9”, 315-pound tackle appeared in 10 games (started eight) and helped the Nebraska offensive line rank as the Big Ten’s best unit in protecting the passer. In his career, he has appeared in 23 games and was named an Academic All-Big Ten selection in 2016.

Numbers to Know: Arkansas State is More than Just Sacks | Hail Varsity
Yes, the Red Wolves bring a potent pass rush to Lincoln, but there's more going on with one of the Sun Belt's best teams. Here a few key numbers to keep an eye on this Saturday.

The Petey Post: What To Watch in Week One | Hail Varsity
In this week's edition, Derek runs through five things he's going to be keeping an eye on when college football begins.

GOPHERSPORTS.COM Game 1: Buffalo at Minnesota :: University of Minnesota Official Athletic Site :: Football
5. Minnesota enters the 2017 season with the least experienced quarterbacks among any Power 5 team, which is one of the reasons why both Conor Rhoda and Demry Croft will play against Buffalo.

Kirk Ferentz voluntarily takes $50,000 pay cut – CollegeFootballTalk
Iowa confirmed Tuesday that, back in June, Kirk Ferentz‘s base salary as head coach for 2017 was reduced by $50,000, from $2.47 million to $2.42 million. “Coach’s salary for all subsequent years shall remain at the amounts listed in the Head Coach contract effective February 1, 2016,” the release added

Bill Snyder The Teacher

There I was, the new head coach of the losing-est Division I football program in history, about to meet with his players for the first time. It was in the old athletic building at Kansas State. There was no carpet — just cold, hard cement — and 10 metal folding chairs. When the players began to trickle in, I started counting, surprised at how few of them there were — only 47. Back then, a team could have 95 players on scholarship, and we had less than half of that. In fact, we had the lowest number of scholarship players in the country.

An excellent story about what Bill Snyder went through to get where he is.

Collision Course: A Spectator report on the science of hard head knocks | TheSpec.com

Yet in the case of the retired players, it had been years — perhaps decades — since they’d last suffered a concussion or repeated blows to the head.

Interesting, while at the same time rather terrifying. There shouldn’t be any doubt in anyone’s mind that football is a dangerous sport. After reading continual articles on brain injuries, it shouldn’t be a question that football over the long term is also dangerous.

One needs to keep in mind that steps have been taken to make the game safer – such as taking time after a concussion so that a player can heal, establishing concussion protocols, and rules changes that take away some of the big hits that may have cause problems before.

We have more this information, but I don’t believe it will damage the sport much more than it already has. Lawyers may damage the sport as their lawsuits make it impractical for high schools to have teams, but I don’t honestly believe that people will care all that much. Everyone knows smoking is bad for their health, but they still do a lot anyway. Everyone knows eating tons of salt and fat is bad for them, but again, they do it anyway.

With regards to parents keeping their kids out of football... what terrified me most about raising three kids was them getting behind the wheel of an automobile. Everything else they did wasn’t even close. Every time we do anything in life, there is a risk involved. Life is not safe. In many ways, it is a crapshoot.

The best thing you can do is be aware of what you’re getting into, and enjoy life as it comes.

Noah's Arc | Eleven Warriors

Who is Ohio State's alpha wide receiver? The answer shouldn't surprise you.

Last year Tim Beck took a lot of crap about the Ohio State offense. He’s no longer there. I think will be interesting to see whether or not the Buckeyes will improve that much. Last year they had a difficult time catching the ball with the exception of the Nebraska game.

The Florida Gators open with a road challenge for the first time in forever - SBNation.com
The Gators haven’t played a game like this in decades.

Group of Five, Independents preview: Playoff contenders | SI.com
Can a Group of Five team finally make its way to the playoff? They're all long shots, but here's the ones with the best shot.

Houston's coach asked for Hurricane Harvey donations, and college teams sprang to action - SBNation.com
Schools around the country are sending support to Houston for hurricane victims.

Lane Kiffin fires back at anonymous sources with emojis and SMHs - SBNation.com
The FAU coach’s ongoing image rebuild remains rocky.

J.J. Watt wanted to raise $200,000 for Hurricane Harvey relief. He's topped $5 million - SBNation.com
J.J. Watt’s initial goal for Hurricane Harvey relief is looking like nothing.

Then There’s This:

Here’s the Athletic Department release about all the new stuff at Memorial Stadium. No, I didn’t bother re-writing it.

Husker Fans to See Numerous Upgrades at Stadium

Nebraska fans attending Saturday’s season opener against Arkansas State will see a new and improved Memorial Stadium game-day experience upon their arrival.

The highlights of the game-day upgrades include five new HuskerVision screens, additional ribbon boards, more Husker Fan Shop locations in and around Memorial Stadium, a more user-friendly Huskers.com and a new captioning service for fans.

“We always think fans first when we look at our game-day presentation and experience at Memorial Stadium,” Nebraska Senior Associate Athletics Director David Witty said. “We know fans have options on how and where they watch Husker football games, but our goal is always to make a trip to Memorial Stadium a can’t-miss experience. We are confident the changes for 2017 will be positive additions to the stadium.”

Below is a closer look at some of the changes at Memorial Stadium in 2017:

HuskerVision Upgrades

  • All five existing HuskerVision screens were replaced this summer, including new “wrap around” screens on the Northeast and Northwest towers. The wrap around screens allow fans in the North Stadium a view of the game action, replays and other HuskerVision features without having to turn around.
  • All new HuskerVision screens have greatly improved resolution (10 mm).
  • Two ribbon boards on the East Stadium balcony have been replaced with new ribbon boards running the entire length of the balcony facade (3.3’ tall x 380’ long).
  • An additional ribbon board has been added to the upper facade in the East Stadium The ribbon board is 471 feet long. All of the ribbon boards are 16 mm resolution.

Husker Fan Shop

  • Nebraska fans will find more shopping options at the Husker Fan Shop, the official apparel store of Nebraska Athletics. This includes game-day shopping options, as well as more options to shop throughout the year.
  • Throughout the year, there will now be three primary locations for Husker Fan Shop including the Pinnacle Bank Arena store (M-F, 10-6; Sat. 10-5, game days), a store in the East Stadium by Gate 18 (M-F, 10-4; game days) and a new store in the College of Business on Vine Street (M-F, 10-6; Sat. 10-5, game days).
  • All three stores are owned and operated by Fanatics Inc. Returns and exchanges can be processed at any of the three locations.
  • On game days, Nebraska fans can find Husker Fan Shop locations throughout the stadium as well as the three primary store locations. Merchandise will be reviewed and updated after each game to keep items fresh throughout the 2017 season.

Huskers.com

  • More than 60 percent of traffic on Huskers.com in the past year came from mobile devices. A recent re-design of Huskers.com focused on making sure that fans have a seamless experience on the site when moving from desktop to mobile viewing.
  • Fans visiting Huskers.com on their mobile devices on game day should find the site easier to navigate and more user-friendly.
  • The site also features more efficient game-day information pages for all Husker athletic events and venues.
  • Purchasing tickets on Huskers.com has become more efficient and easier to navigate.

Captioning

  • A new pilot captioning program will be in place at Memorial Stadium this fall. The new program will enhance the football game-day experience for our hearing impaired and deaf fans, or for anyone who has difficulty hearing the PA announcements or referee’s calls.
  • The captioning program will utilize mobile devices and a Twitter feed at @HuskerCaption.
  • The full release on the pilot captioning program can be found at Huskers.com at http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=211662675

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