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October 19, 2009
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com

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A shocking story out of Connecticut saddened the college football world when it broke early on Sunday, as UConn cornerback Jasper Howard died after being stabbed on campus in an altercation following a school-sponsored dance. Details are still coming out about the murder, but I just read an update that revealed that two of Howard's teammates were with him when he died. What a horrible tragedy.

Jasper Howard
Jasper Howard was a solid defender for Connecticut. (Icon SMI)

Howard projected as a mid-round prospect at the cornerback position. He was 5'10" (or 5'9" depending on who you believe) and weighed 180 pounds, so he didn't have prototype size for the CB position on the NFL level. But Howard had excellent punt return skills, which likely would have boosted him above others in that . Until this season he had been overshadowed by former Connecticut teammate Darius Butler, now a cornerback with the New England Patriots. But that doesn't matter anymore. A 20-year-old man lost his life, and there's nothing that can be done to change that sad fact. My sympathies and condolences go out to Howard's family and teammates at Connecticut.

I've entered day five of "intermittent internet access" zone here at the Draft King palace. I'm nonplussed by it, as it's tough to do research on players when you have a 30% chance of the internet being in non-active mode. It turns out that the Comcast Motorola cable modem here is malfunctioning, so tomorrow that one gets replaced by a new one.

My buddy Jimmy DiTraglia has been breaking my balls about the Titans being off to an 0-6 start. All's fair in turnaround -- I busted his chops relentlessly in 2007 when his favorite team, the Dolphins, began the season at 0-13. But there's really no comeback to what happened yesterday to the Titans, a 59-0 thrashing by the Patriots in the snow at New England. It could have been worse, if you can believe that, but New England called off the dogs rather early in the second half. Life after Jim Schwartz (now the head coach of the Lions) has been difficult for Tennessee's defense.

The Cardinals beat the Seahawks yesterday in a rather decisive fashion, but that didn't stop my buddy Scott, a longtime Florida Gators fan, from mocking Cardinals DB Antrel Rolle. As Scott told me, he had a seat very close to the Arizona players, and he went to work on Rolle with some heckling, shouting things like "Hey, Rolle, the U sucks!" Finally Rolle (who went to the University of Miami) turned around to face his accuser. Scott promptly served him up a Gator Chomp, which in turn prompted Rolle to do a derisive mock Gator Chomp back at him. That managed to top my best heckling story of the weekend, where my brother rudely and loudly booed the MTSU mascot as we made our way to our seats for Mississippi State's win at Middle Tennessee on Saturday.

While I sat in the cold and wind in Murfreesboro, TN for that game, the big college battle of the weekend took place in Dallas, as Texas took on Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry game. It appeared that college football fans everywhere would be treated to one more Bradford vs. McCoy showdown, but that ended quickly, as Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford suffered a reaggreviation of the shoulder separation he originally sustained in the season-opener against BYU. I still consider Bradford to be the best QB prospect out of all draft-eligible quarterbacks, but that shoulder injury could end up haunting him.

The first BCS rankings are out, and it was interesting to see Boise State sitting at the #4 spot. The word I keep hearing is that the fix is in for Boise State and that the Broncos won't have an opportunity to play in the BCS Title game. This should surprise no one. If you think that past seasons don't impact the rankings, consider this: would Boise State really be ranked ahead of unbeaten Iowa and unbeaten Cincinnati if they had posted 6-6 records for the past few years? Of course not. But this is but one of a number of shameful by-products of a horribly broken system that is controlled by powerful university presidents and conferences.

Don't be tempted to think that the Broncos will be given any opportunity to play for the BCS Title. Even if Oregon runs the table from this point out (meaning their humbling loss at Boise State in week one would be their only loss), poll voters will do "what's right for the business" (to steal a like from Vince McMahon), whether it means continuing to leapfrog unbeaten Boise State with one-loss teams in voting or outright low-balling the Broncos, particularly in the anonymous coaches poll.


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