Around FCS: The Perils of Perrilloux

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05/15/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - EX-LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux is in search of team. And Jacksonville State is in need of a quarterback.

So who cares about the suspensions, legal issues and failed drug tests in this mercurial athlete's past? Just grab your shotgun and proceed to a marriage of convenience.

Jacksonville State offered the former national high school player of the year a scholarship during his visit to the Alabama campus on Tuesday, and Perrilloux announced he had accepted that offer on Wednesday.

The Gamecocks were one of a multitude of FCS programs that lined up to court the talented but troubled player.

LSU coach Les Miles has already granted Perrilloux, who has two years of eligibility left, and Jacksonville State the release needed to complete the transaction.

JSU dismissed talented senior starter Cedric Johnson a couple of months back for "violating team rules," but now coach Jack Crowe and his staff are willing to jump from the frying pan and into the fire with Perrilloux.

When Johnson was kicked off of the team, the Gamecocks were left without a scholarship player at quarterback, so the presence of Perrilloux stands to greatly improve JSU's chances of winning an Ohio Valley Conference title, or reaching the NCAA playoffs.

If Perrilloux doesn't ruin his new team's chemistry first.

Even if Crowe had reconsidered the scholarship offer, there were as many as 25 FCS teams waiting in line for a chance to woo the signal-caller.

Perrilloux had originally planned a trip to Mississippi next week to visit Jackson State, another school in desperate straits at quarterback. He had already taken a trip to Alabama A&M, and it seems that just about all of the SWAC is lining up to wine and dine a player who once boasted he would be the first player to win FOUR Heisman Trophies.

Someone should have told him that Ohio State running back Archie Griffin was the only player to win that prestigious award more than once. Now Perrilloux will cast his eyes on the Walter Payton Award, an honor that no one has won more than once.

Sam Houston State raised eyebrows a couple of years back when it brought in quarterback Rhett Bomar, the centerpiece of an extra benefits scandal at Oklahoma, along with offensive lineman J.D. Quinn (now at Montana). But Bomar's mistakes paled in comparison to Perrilloux's background, and Bomar has shown himself to be genuinely contrite and regretful for his past failings.

I'm all for giving a youngster a fresh start and a second chance, but at what point do you throw away good sense and proceed with a win-at-all-costs attitude?

It is easy to find this type of attitude every day at the FBS level. But when you start to see FCS teams lowering their standards, someone needs to stop and take notice.

Perrilloux is a kid that was expected to star for the defending BCS champion, but got into so much trouble that those Bayou Tigers felt it was best to separate themselves from him. If a team at LSU's level gets rid of a kid like this, what does that say about the baggage he will bring to another program?

I remember a few years back when Marshall, never the most integrous of programs, brought in a troubled athlete who even Notre Dame and Florida State didn't want. Randy Moss spurred the Thundering Herd to the 1996 I-AA national championship, but not without his share of off-field incidents.

No one is expecting Perrilloux to lead Jacksonville State or some other FCS squad to those kind of heights, but the risk of damaging his new team is definitely something to worry about.

Still, there are obviously coaches throughout the subdivision that will roll those loaded dice and pray they don't come up snake eyes. Such is the temptation of winning.

THE NUMBERS GAME

Die-hard FCS fans can tell you that San Diego quarterback Josh Johnson threw 43 touchdown passes with just one interception. They can tell you that Georgia Southern has a record six championship flags hanging in Paulson Stadium, and that Alcorn State's Steve McNair passed for 14,496 yards.

But I learned some other stats recently that caused me to step up and take notice. The chances of someone finding a perfect match for a blood marrow donor are just one in 80,000. Only about 250 matches are made in a given year.

A couple of weeks back, I participated in the blood marrow donor program at Villanova University. It was as simple as filling out a few forms and having a swab of my cheek taken.

Over the past 16 years, Villanova football coach Andy Talley has hosted bone marrow testing drives, resulting in several thousand potential donors being tested and entered into the national bone marrow registry.

This year, Talley expanded his efforts by partnering with the Fox Chase Bone Marrow Transplant program. Calling their partnership the First and Goal Program, Talley and Fox Chase were able to talk eight other football programs into holding testing during their spring football games.

Other schools to get involved included Penn, Harvard, Massachusetts, Northeastern, New Hampshire, Maine and Wagner from the FCS ranks and one FBS program - Temple. Talley is hopeful that more schools, particularly ones from other regions of the country, will get involved in this simple but important program in the future.

In 2006, Villanova kicker Joe Marcoux learned he was a perfect match for a cancer victim. That December, Marcoux donated some of his blood marrow to help extend the life of the woman.

Hopefully, there will be plenty more stories like this, as Talley continues his work in promoting this much-needed program.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.









MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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