D1.ticker Top Ten - The most clicked stories of the past week |
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CSA Search & Consulting is proud to partner with the University of Colorado on the search for their next Director of Athletics! Go Buffs! |
#10: Clemson’s Military Appreciation Day flyover on November 22 featured a C-17 cutting across Memorial Stadium at the exact final notes of the national anthem, and The Post and Courier’s Jon Blau notes the plane nearly missed its mark by 45 seconds as Senior Day ceremonies ran long. To adjust, Lt. Col. Scott Huebel’s Charleston crew killed time with sharp turns and fought glare and a bug-splattered windshield to locate the stadium. Huebel: “Aviation is hours and hours of boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror.” The aerial photography component required even more coordination: Clemson creative staffers Blaze Watson and Kyle Coulter shot stills and video from a door-less helicopter 2,000 feet above the C-17, a setup that required FAA waivers delayed for weeks by the federal shutdown. Maj. Trey Kennedy and Maj. Ian Fields secured approval only days before kickoff, and helicopter pilot Scott Dunn guided the shoot, telling his passengers: “If you look over at me and you see me nervous, then you should get nervous.” The timing ultimately hinged on Clemson alum Maj. Alisha Stroble and spotter Maj. Taque Pitino, who synced the aircraft to the Tiger Band by radioing live cues from the stadium roof as fireworks hit the “rockets’ red glare.” Huebel had to push the C-17 to max power in the final seconds to hit the 4:25 PM target. More. (link)
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#9: In his interview leading into halftime of the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State, Ole Miss Football HC Lane Kiffin offered this about the midfield skirmish moments before & pointed to Bulldogs AD Zac Selmon: “We're just trying to play clean football, man. We're trying to execute and play really good football. For a whole sideline to try to fight and leave their own sideline, including their athletic director, I've never seen anything like it. We're trying to play football here. We're not trying to start a fight so our university can get credit for fighting people.” (link)
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#8: Kansas State Football “intends not to accept a bowl invitation” following a players’ vote, per FootballScoop’s John Brice. (link)
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#7: “Sparky" returned to Mountain America Stadium for the Territorial Cup match-up against Arizona, courtesy of the Arizona State grounds crew, which created a special nearly full-field graphic of the Sun Devils’ mascot. Take a look. (link)
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#6: ULM officially introduced new AD SJ Tuohy, who specified that he wanted to take an AD role at a place he could help build: “There’s a lot of ADs in the country who wake up and their one thought is ‘I hope I don’t mess this up.’ It is a weird time in college athletics. The penthouse and the outhouse are very close these days in college sports and I did not want to be at a place where you are maintaining the status quo. Nothing excites me less than that. … This is a place that has a great opportunity and a great foundation to build on and it is not as far off as people think. You look around, it is a place that wants to win. It has people that want to win. It has a great foundation and it is not a job where you wake up and say, we just have to stay afloat. We are going to build and grow and when you do that people will take notice.” More: “Our key to winning at Monroe is simple. We have to win the margins. We have to be better at small decisions, about how we are stewarding money, how we are spending money, how we are raising money, the choices we are making for our student-athletes every day. We have to be the best small-decision makers in the country.” Full presser. (link)
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#5: U.S. Congressman Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) advises that “if the Commissioner of the Big 10 would spend LESS money trying to buy votes with DC lobbyists and make MORE of an effort to STOP being a bullying jackass, then Congress could get on with passing some reasonable legislation to fix college sports.” (link)
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#4: Hawaii football student-athlete and Lou Groza Award finalist Kansei Matsuzawa provides another reminder of why college football is awesome. Come for the leis, stay for the emotion. (link)
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#3: The NCAA Volleyball Championship field was announced with top seeds Nebraska, Kentucky, Texas and Pittsburgh, respectively. The Big 12 led all conferences with 10 teams in the field, followed by the Big Ten (9) and the ACC (7). Rounding out the top 16 were, in order, SMU, Stanford, Arizona State, Louisville, Texas A&M, Creighton, Wisconsin, Purdue, Minnesota, Indiana, USC and Kansas. (link)
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#2: Now-former Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin told SEC Network’s Marty Smith that Mississippi State fans broke into the Rebels’ locker room twice, including stealing QB Trinidad Chambliss’ jersey at 3 a.m. (link); Here’s the first-person footage. (link)
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#1: A group of Ole Miss supporters saw former Rebels HC Lane Kiffin off at the airport in much the same spirit that Goose greeted that MiG at the beginning of Top Gun. (link)
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