Bielema’s future in question at Arkansas
Arkansas football coach
Bret Bielema had a direct answer this week when he was asked if either he or his representation had taken part in any conversations recently with athletic director Jeff Long about his future.
"No," Bielema said. Turns out, it was Long's future that should have been up for questioning — the decade-long leader of the Razorbacks athletic program and former OU senior associate athletic director was fired Wednesday.
Arkansas senior associate athletic director Julie
Cromer Peoples was named as Long's interim replacement as the search for a new department head begins.
What isn't as certain — given that Chancellor Joseph
Steinmetz didn't answer questions outside of his statement announcing Long's firing — is whether it will be Cromer Peoples, Steinmetz or the school's Board of Trustees who is in charge of handling the more immediate question hounding all of Arkansas:
What to do with Bielema?
Long was resolute in his support of the fifth-year coach until he stopped talking publicly and started declining interview requests earlier this season.
"I'm 100 percent behind Bret Bielema," Long said in September. "He's our football coach; he's building a program and he's doing many, many things right."
Since then, Arkansas' football season has taken a turn for the worse — a seemingly constant for a program that's never quite regained its footing in the SEC since the Bobby Petrino scandal and his firing in the spring of 2012. The Razorbacks are 33-40 overall and 13-33 in the SEC over six seasons since Petrino's motorcycle accident that exposed his mistress and other misdeeds.
Bielema's been in charge for the last five seasons. Arkansas is 29-32 overall under the former Wisconsin coach, 11-27 in the SEC — and facing difficult home games against No. 17 Mississippi State and surging Missouri to close out the season.
NFL prospects Darnold, Rosen to meet in rivalry game
Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen were born four months apart in 1997, and they grew up on opposite sides of Los Angeles' sprawling metroplex. As two of the nation's top quarterback prospects, they chose opposing sides in the crosstown collegiate rivalry.
After a redshirt season and an injury kept them apart for two years, they'll finally meet on the field for the first time Saturday.
Rosen leads UCLA (5-5, 3-4 Pac-12) into the Coliseum to face Darnold and No. 12 Southern California (9-2, 7-1) in what might be LA's only chance to see both of its big-time NFL prospects between the same hash marks.
While the Trojans have outplayed the Bruins overall, their quarterbacks' raw numbers are remarkably similar. Darnold has passed for 3,198 yards with 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, while Rosen has 3,094 yards passing with 21 touchdowns and nine interceptions despite missing one game due to a concussion.
Former UNC player's estate sues ACC, NCAA
Representatives of a former North Carolina football player's estate are suing the Atlantic Coast Conference and the NCAA, saying they ignored the dangers of concussions and it led to Ryan Hoffman's death.
Sandra LaMountain and Noah Hoffman brought the 39-page lawsuit on behalf of Ryan Hoffman's estate and filed it Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, North Carolina.
They allege negligence, breach of express contract and unjust enrichment. They argue that both groups failed to protect and promote the safety and well-being of the players, and breached a contract with the players by failing to properly educate and warn them of the long-term risks of concussions.