NCAA College Football

The University of Michigan announced Tuesday they were firing head coach Rich Rodriguez. Rodriguez spent three seasons at the helm for the football team in Ann Arbor. The final game under Rodriguez was a 38 point loss in the Gator Bowl.

The Wolverines in Rodriguez’ three season went 15-22 overall and 6-18 in games against the Big Ten. When playing against the Wolverines two biggest rivals in Ohio State and Michigan State, Rodriguez went 0-6.

The University will buy out the final three years of his contract. Over that time, the former West Virginia coach will be paid $2.5 million. Nine starters on both sides of the football return next season for Michigan. That includes quarterback Denard Robinson.

Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh has been cited as a potential replacement for Rodriguez, but nothing has been done to this point.

The LSU Tigers got great news on Monday. They found out their top running back Stevan Ridley would be eligible to play in the 2011 Cotton Bowl on Friday night. The Tigers will take on the Texas A&M Aggies at Cowboys Stadium.

Ridley was initially ruled ineligible on December 22nd for a “one time” academic violation. The Tigers appealed the ruling, and Ridley was found eligible to play.

On the season, Ridley ran the football 225 times for 1042 yards and 14 touchdowns. This comes after last season, where he was only able to get into the end zone four times for the Tigers.

LSU comes into the game with a 10-2 record, while the Aggies have won five straight games and are 10-3 coming into the game. The Tigers finished the regular season ranked 30th in the country with 179.2 rushing yards per game. On the season, LSU had a tough time finding the end zone with consistency, including just 16 points against Tennessee and 17 when playing Auburn.

2011 BCS National Championship Game

Location: Glendale, AZ

Oregon Ducks (12-0) vs. Auburn Tigers (13-0)

Date: Monday January 10th, 2011

Time: 8:30 pm EST

Point Spread: Auburn Tigers -2.5

Over/Under Line: 74

Preview: On January 10th, 2011 the BCS National Championship Game will be played in Glendale, Arizona. Two of the three teams with unbeaten records in BCS play will square off. The Oregon Ducks, out of the Pac Ten Conference, will take on the Auburn Tigers, out of the Southeastern Conference.

The Big Ten Conference after winning their first two games of the bowl season; with Illinois beating Missouri and Iowa beating Missouri had a dreadful day on Saturday. The Conference lost all five games on the biggest bowl day of the season.

The day started with the Big 12’s Texas Tech Red Raiders downing the Northwestern Wildcats. Northwestern made a late running, scoring 32 points in the second half, but it was not enough in the loss.

The next result was one of the most embarrassing for the conference. The Alabama Crimson Tide came into the game and absolutely blasted the Spartans of Michigan State. Alabama scored the first 42 points of the game in the 49-7 result.

The third loss for the conference was a little bit closer. The Florida Gators downed the Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State led 24-14, but saw the Gators scored the final 23 points of the game in the 13 point win.