The Sooner Women’s Gymnastic team has been selected as the No. 1 seed in the Regional to be held in Champaign, Illinois on April 7th. The other No. 1 seeds include: UCLA, Nebraska, Georgia and Alabama. The Sooners finished the season 19-3 and No. 2 in the country.

They will compete in the Regional against Illinois, Denver, Stanford, Kentucky and Illinois-Chicago.  The top two from the Regional will move on to the Championship in Georgia, which will be held April 20-22.

The Sooners have won 4 Big XII Championships out of the last 5 under head coach, K.J. Kindler. Coach Kindler is the Big XII coach of the year, while Junior Brie Olson was named Big XII All-Around Champion. Senior Megan Ferguson was named Big XII Specialist of the Year.

The Regional is scheduled to start at 4:00 PM, April 7th at the University of Illinois. You can view the Regional Draw Results HERE.

*In other news, the football team is back on the field this week after Spring Break, so more football news should be coming in soon.*

It’s that time of year again, the National Football Foundation has mailed out their 2012 College Football Hall of Fame ballots, and we have two Sooners who are on the list. One of them has been on the list before, and didn’t make the cut, but since I get to vote this year, maybe we can change that.

The first Sooner listed is the one, the only: Brian Bosworth. The Boz. The great No. 44. Bosworth played for Barry Switzer and the Sooners from 1984-1986 and was a consensus first team All-American 1985 and 1986 and All Big 8 his entire time at Oklahoma. Bosworth was an open book while he was a Sooner, known for his wild hair and unabashed hate for the NCAA; he once publicly called the NCAA the National Communist Against Athletes. He was banned from the 1987 Orange Bowl and wore a shirt with that slogan on it on the sidelines. He did what no one thought could be done: he made Barry Switzer’s mouth drop open. Switzer kicked him off the team.

For as much as Bosworth may have been considered ‘wild’, he was a damn good football player. Bosworth was a strong side linebacker, who is considered by several to be one of the best tacklers to ever have played the game. His style of tackling would never fly in today’s college football world, he was known to tackle a little high. He was put on Sports Illustrated‘s All-Century team in 1999 as one of the best linebackers to ever play the game. He also made College Football News’ Top 100 players to ever play the game. Bosworth was the first player to ever win the Butkus Award, given to the best linebacker in college football. He actually won the first two and remains the only linebacker in history to have ever won the award more than once.

Bosworth was also book smart, he was an Academic All-American in 1985 and graduated ahead of his class. He was able to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft and was picked up by the Seattle Seahawks and didn’t pan out as he had hoped. After his football career was over, The Boz turned his talents to the movies and television. He also has two nephews, Kyle and Korey Bosworth, who played football for UCLA and are now free agents in the NFL.

The other Sooner on the ballet is Rod Shoate. Shoate was also a linebacker for the Sooners. He played from 1972-1974 and became only the second Sooner three-time All-American. With the speed of a running back   and amazing strength, he was a dominant force at Oklahoma. His 420 career tackles placed him third on the all-time list. Shoate was a four time All-Big 8 player. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in 1975 and was there for seven years. He then later played in the USFL for the New Jersey Generals and the Memphis Showboats. Rod Shoate died in 1999 at the age of 46 from an on-going illness.

Both the Boz and Shoate deserve to be in the HOF and hopefully for the Boz, this will finally be his chance.

Here is the entire ballot, in case you were interested.

Tomorrow is National Signing day for the college football world. What that means is that we get to see who will be coming on to join the Sooners for the 2012 season, and help Oklahoma continue on for the Chase for Eight.

As I reported last week, we have six players who are already enrolled in school, and will get to begin Spring ball with the team in a couple months. The six include:

Wednesday, I will be doing a live update on the site with each player who signs his NLI with the Sooners. Coverage starts at 9:00 AM.

Ever wondered what a National Letter of Intent looked like? Wonder no more, click HERE to see what exactly the players will be signing tomorrow.

These kids have big decisions to make tomorrow, and I know some of them are on twitter. Sooner Nation needs to remember that tweeting a potential player asking him to commit to Oklahoma in the next 24 hours is wrong, and just plain creepy. I doubt an 18 year old boy is going to base his life changing decision on you telling him where to go. It’s also against NCAA rules to do so. If you are a Sooner Club member, guess what, you’re a booster and the NCAA frowns on boosters recruiting players, right? Don’t be that guy who ruins a kids career. Let’s also not attack players who DON’T commit. It’s their choice, not yours and if they don’t want to go to Oklahoma, that’s their loss. Move on and get familiar with the kids who do sign.

Everyone excited yet?

Apparently it’s actually in consideration.

With the Cotton Bowl Classic moving to Cowboys Stadium, could this be the next BCS bowl game?

The conference commissioners and presidents who are in charge of the postseason bowl games met to discuss the current state of the BCS and possible changes they could make to appease the masses. Topics discussed Monday in San Francisco included, a mini-playoff system in conjunction with a new plus-one format.

The committee also discussed getting rid of the auto-qualification process. Currently there is 6 AQ conferences. Rumor has it that the new BCS model will set up a 4 team National Title playoff scheme over the course of two bowl games. The winner of the two bowls will advance to play in the National Championship; meaning a 5th BCS game will likely be added to the mix.

The executive director of the BCS, Bill Hancock, said not to be looking for a more expansive playoff plan anytime soon. “I do not hear a groundswell of support” (for major playoff system) Hancock said.

If the new format does get implemented, some conferences have the ability to see two of their schools in the hunt for the crystal ball. The current BCS contract expires in 2013 and may very well end up adding another bowl to the BCS games in 2014.

All this comes at a time of major conference realignment shifts and the possibility of the Big East losing their AQ status due to the lack of football schools left in the conference.

The committee will meet again on January 9th in New Orleans during the National Championship game and then again in April. Let’s see what they can come up with.

Sometimes, change is good.

It is being reported that a booster for the University of Miami allegedly provided thousands of illegal benefits to over 72 athletes between 2002-1010. The same booster was also arrested for a 930 million dollar ponzi scheme…

According to Yahoo Sports:

In 100 hours of jailhouse interviews during Yahoo! Sports’ 11-month investigation, Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to: cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and on one occasion, an abortion.

Also among the revelations were damning details of Shapiro’s co-ownership of a sports agency – Axcess Sports & Entertainment – for nearly his entire tenure as a Hurricanes booster. The same agency that signed two first-round picks from Miami, Vince Wilfork and Jon Beason, and recruited dozens of others while Shapiro was allegedly providing cash and benefits to players. In interviews with federal prosecutors, Shapiro said many of those same players were also being funneled cash and benefits by his partner at Axcess, then-NFL agent and current UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue. Shapiro said he also made payments on behalf of Axcess, including a $50,000 lump sum to Wilfork, as a recruiting tool for the agency.

To read entire Yahoo Sports article, click here. It is damning. One of the most damning accusations I have read on an NCAA team in a long time.

Yahoo is claiming to have done a full investigation, and audited over 20,000 pages of financial records to back the claims by the booster. Shapiro has been a booster for the Canes for over a decade, and could potentially be the downfall of the entire program.

New Miami head coach Al Golden is now in charge of a sinking ship. NCAA investigators arrived on campus this past Monday.

Golden’s response to the media:

We’re not going to let this knock us backward,” Golden said Tuesday before a morning practice. “We have great kids on this team to the extent that they may have made a mistake. OK, that’s fine. But that’s also part of growing up. What we have to teach them now is if something did occur, let’s be honest and move forward”

Remember Miami also lost their athletic director, Kirby Hocutt, to Texas Tech recently. Hocutt was the AD from 2008-2010. Seems like he got out just in time.

Miami is already on probation and this could be the ‘second strike” violation. Which means there is a possible chance a death penalty sentencing if this is true. While I don’t think that would happen, the option is there.

The NCAA Investigators have been on a rampage this off season and it doesn’t seem to be backing down anytime soon. This has been one of the craziest off-seasons I have seen in a long time.

I guess Shapiro’s theory was, he’s in jail, might as well take everyone else down with him.

What do you think will happen to “The U” ? Are they done, or will they get a slap on the wrist? I say harsh penalties are coming and they will need to send up flares to find their way out.

Former head coach Jeff Capel with Steven Pledger

This Thursday, Oklahoma admitted to serious NCAA violations regarding the mens basketball team.

This is the second time in five years the Sooners have commited major NCAA infractions. A disposition report from NCAA investegators, states that Oklahoma does qualify as a repeat offender, but concluded that penalties are not going to be issued in this case. From the newest NCAA report, there are no more allegations under investigation and the Sooners are not going to be charged with a failure to monitor or lack of institutional control. That is IF the NCAA accepts OU’s self-imposed penalties. If they do and if any program at the school commits any type of violation while under probation, the penalty to the University will be harsh.

NCAA Bylaws does state that repeat rule breakers can face a minimum of having that particular sport dropped for one or two seasons and the removal of scholarships provided for two seasons.

Oklahoma asked the NCAA for self-imposed discipline; To place the program on two more years of probation, vacate wins from 2009-2010 season, take away one scholarship, two official visits and ten face-to-face recruiting days this coming year.

The first set of violations come from recruiting phone calls made by former coach Kelvin Sampson back in 2006. The newest case is from former assistant the school said former assistant coach Oronde Taliaferro, who NCAA rules by failing to report a player had received an extra benefits and by lying to Oklahoma and NCAA investegator staff. Taliaferro later resigned when he realized that he would be a key component in the NCAA  investigation.

Taliaferro said about the investegation:

“I know all too well about running into walls and watching my own mother fight to help get me to a better place. It is hard to not have compassion for other’s struggles, Sometimes good people make a poor decision, and that’s what happened with everyone involved in this particular matter. That does not excuse anything at all.”

Former head coach, Jeff Capel, who was fired this year, was not named in any part of the investigation.

New head coach Lon Kruger has his hand full in turning the program around. And so far, so good. Seems to be nothing but positives coming out of the mens program lately.

Goes to show that cheating doesnt always necessarily make a program ‘winners’.

The Football Bowl Association released the bowl schedule today for all this seasons upcoming bowl games. The payouts on some of the bowls are quite interesting…

Here is your complete list: BOWL SCHEDULE via FBA

It just keeps getting worse for the Buckeyes.

Ray Small

Former wide receiver, Ray Small, has told the school’s student newspaper that he indeed did sell his Big 10 Championship rings, memorabilia, and received special car deals while a player at Ohio State.

He told the newspaper that this was a common thing happening during his playing days there.

Small revealed in his interview:

We have apartments, car notes,” he said. “So you got things like that and you look around and you’re like, ‘Well I got (four) of them, I can sell one or two and get some money to pay this rent.”"It was definitely the deals on the cars. I don’t see why it’s a big deal.”

“They have a lot (of dirt) on everybody,” Small said, “cause everybody was doing it.”

Small also admitted to using the services of the tattoo parlor, the very tattoo parlor that was under investigation for drug-trafficking that led to the OSU improper benefits case.

Small on the tattoos:

If you go in and try to get a tattoo, and somebody is like ‘Do you want 50 percent off this tattoo?’ You’re going to say, ‘Heck yeah.”

They explain the rules to you, but as a kid you’re not really listening to all of them rules,” “You go out and you just, people show you so much love, you don’t even think about the rules. You’re just like ‘Ah man, it’s cool.’ You take it, and next thing you know the NCAA is down your back.”

This story by a school-affiliated newspaper is damning evidence. This is the beginning of the end for the Buckeyes. The NCAA has been pretty soft with them so far. There is no way they can ignore this.

No official response has come out of OSU yet.

According to several sources, the NCAA has denied the University of Southern California’s appeal against infractions they received almost a year ago. No other school has ever received harsher penalties from the NCAA since Southern Methodist University was given the “death penalty” back in 1987.

The original football allegations are linked back to Reggie Bush. Bush was said to have been taking illegal payments, gifts, and and a $760,000 home that his parents were living in rent-free. The NCAA deemed USC had “lack of institutional control” and were “striking at the heart of NCAA amateurism”.

The sentence they received: A football postseason ban for the 2010 and 2011 seasons and the vacating of all wins in which Bush competed from December 2004 through the 2005 season. Bush also had his Heisman Trophy taken away.

This loss of appeal also means that the Trojans will vacate their National title from 2004. The Trojans had a perfect season and played the Sooners in the National Championship Game. Pounding them 55-19.

The 2004 title will remain vacant, with no winner.

USC had appealed to have the amount of scholarships taken away and their post-season bowl ban for two years be cut in half. Thirty scholarships were taken away from USC for 3 years.

USC’s team will be allowed to sign only 15 players to scholarships for the next three seasons. To throw salt in the wound, the Trojans will not be allowed to compete for the conference’s first-ever Pac-12 Championship game.

Rival’s USCfootball.com says:

Of further concern, the NCAA’s unprecedented additional sanction allowing players affected by the postseason ban this year to immediately transfer to another institution without sitting out a season would still be in play for this year’s seniors.

While USC did not release the appeal it filed with the NCAA for its Jan. 25 hearing, the hope has been that the NCAA’s favorable treatment of both Ohio State and Auburn, who were allowed to play in this year’s BCS bowl games despite serious allegations against each program, would play in USC’s favor.

Apparently it is NOT going to play in their favor.

Hearing that the appeal has been denied is not really what the Trojan faithful are wanting to hear at the moment.

With the appeal being denied by the NCAA, will this cause widespread panic by the other schools under investigation?

No official statement has been released by USC Athletic director, Pat Haden.

The NCAA has issued a statement today regarding the forming of a task force to “examine the licensing procedures of football bowl games”. Earlier, they announced that there will be no more new bowls added for the next three years.

According to the press release,

The NCAA Division I Bowl Licensing Task Force will examine several areas, including governance and oversight by bowl sponsoring agencies, conflict-of-interest rules and policies, advertising and title-sponsorship standards, and the oversight and reporting of financial management of bowl games.

The current requirements that sponsors must meet in order to be licensed are:

1. Generating bowl-based revenue equal to or greater than all of the contractual financial commitments from the two  participating institutions and conferences.
2. Averaging either actual attendance of at least 25,000 or 70 percent of stadium capacity over a rolling three-year period.

Currently the Fiesta Bowl and the Insight Bowl, who are run by the same organization, are under investigation of illegal use of funds; among other things. The NCAA plans on continuing their investigation into late Spring.

All other existing bowls are expected to meet the rules and regulations enforced by the new task force and change accordingly to new enforcements.

Do you think this new task force will actually help crack down on illegal dealings in the bowl system or keep continuing to turn a blind eye? Would the task force have even been formed if the information about the Fiesta Bowl had not come out?

Only time will tell.

You can read the NCAA statement and press release here.