Tag Archives: Vanderbilt

2014-15 College Sports Social Media Awards

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All I do is win, win, win no matter what.

All I do is win, win, win no matter what.

I hope you enjoyed the appetizer of the ESPYS because it’s time to recognize the more important stuff. The social media masters in our NCAA bubble. Social Media award

Last year, my post was a big hit and I went all out this time. No I didn’t see everything on Twitter and Facebook and if I did I would be a synthetic on Humans. Trust me, I saw enough, but feel free to let me know if there was something you think I should have recognized. Now let’s take a look at these manufactured awards.

Best way to embarrass your players: Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt had a great spring sports season with baseball and tennis, so with all the excitement can you blame the track team for taking a nap to recharge? Apparently, their own teammate could not. Anchor down means staying on the internet forever.

Worst use of a statistic: UConn Football
I get it UConn football, you are constantly trying to get your team out of the shadows of the best basketball programs in the country. The countdowns though are coming across as desperate.

That’s right, we are counting down to play a FCS team! Not Rutgers, not Boston College, not even Temple but FCS Villanova. Get your tickets now!

Even worse was the punting statistic. In a 12-game season 66 punts is 5.5 punts a game. That’s a problem as UConn gave up the third highest points in American Athletic Conference play last season. Roughly 30 points per contest. Don’t brag about forcing punts when you are being scored on every other possession.

Best use of democracy: Georgia Tech
Who knew the Yellow Jackets would go to the public for fashion advice?

Best presentation of starting lineup: Missouri
There were plenty of great designs out there for starting lineups in basketball but I like what Missouri did here with the black and white contrast. Now that’s some good layering in the photo edit.

Best soccer starting lineup: East Tennessee State
While I liked what Missouri did for basketball I have to give ETSU credit for their soccer efforts. I gotta have more tactical lineups like these.

Most insecure: North Dakota State
I seriously don’t know what I did. I was a big fan of the Bison winning numerous FCS titles and getting on College Gameday too. This hurts NDSU.

No longer on the Christmas card list.

No longer on the Christmas card list.

Best prognostication: Georgia State
In what ended up being the most entertaining game of the NCAA Tournament, the Panthers knew that an upset was in order thanks to an official box score. Sorry Baylor.

Most shameless advertisement: FIU
FIU has always been in need of cash and well… let’s have a word from our sponsor.

Selfie of the year by mascot: Kentucky
Here is a school not in need of cash. Why every team should have a midnight madness like Kentucky.

Best at making announcements: Northern Illinois
NIU is developing a tradition of making a big deal about future football games. And I have to say #SchedulePalooza is pretty cool. The Huskies drop hints making fans work a digital scavenger hunt to determine the teams NIU will play in a few years.

Worst graphic: Arizona
The defensive player of the week has NO EYES! What an incredible performance by her!

Worst logo placement: Siena
You may accuse me of having my mind in the gutter but a woman’s waistline should never be used for branding. Or a man’s for that matter. Siena is a great follow but this post was not one of the best.

Best costume by a media member: Shae Peppler
Going back to a Miami school with Shae Peppler of Campus Insiders somehow pulling off an Al Golden for Halloween. Didn’t know his tie was so iconic.

Best female media personality to follow: Nicole Auerbach
Auerbach is one of the few who covers college basketball and football equally. She is also one of the few women to be on television as a college football expert for the Big Ten Network. Plus she retweeted me last year. So all the power to her.

Best male media personality to follow: Pat Forde
Until Seth Davis covers other sports besides basketball, Pat Forde is and will always be the man.

Most Harsh: UTEP
This about sums it up.
http://www.midmajormadness.com/2015/3/17/8240159/utep-miner-athletics-uses-twitter-to-put-down-their-own-player

Best food promotion: Iowa State
Now that is a social media promotion.

Best photo shoot: Tie between Pepperdine and Bowling Green State
Yeah I whiffed with a tie but how are you supposed to choose between these two?

Best social media rivalry: MAC vs. the Sun Belt
A great way to have the other bowl games be more impactful is to have the conferences duke it out Twitter. Well done MAC and Sun Belt. Well done.

Best tweet: Jacksonville State
Now this photo demonstrates what college sports should be all about. Playing for your school, having fun and getting that degree. You can stop advertising NCAA. We have found your marketing tool.

Best team selfies: Niagra Women’s Basketball
Have you ever been stuck on the interstate for 24 hours because of a snowstorm? No? Well here is what it looks like.

Best way to celebrate a milestone: New Hampshire
Reaching 700 wins in any sport is a big deal. You truly have to put your body into it.

Best to chat with: Southern Miss
Want to chat with your favorite Golden Eagle? You don’t even have to leave your laptop.

Best video series: American Athletic Conference
American Rising hosted by Hali Oughton became the most informative regular on my news feed this year. The AAC is still new and an odd mix of schools so this media effort helps get it organized for fans.

Best conference on Facebook: Mountain West
For Facebook, I want to see photo galleries. The Mountain West does a tremendous job of providing exactly that for most of its games. This Facebook banner is pretty good too. MWC 7 teams

Best conference to follow: Big West
The Big West celebrates every holiday, offers plenty of photos for every sport and how can you beat this?

Best video by a school: South Florida
A great way to promote a sport like volleyball. This promotion idea was cute and I hope that more videos like these will increase interest for the volleyball program at USF.

Best game show by a team: Florida State Sand Volleyball
On the other side of the state, FSU tried some video ideas of its own with a game show theme. I’m all for getting sand volleyball more attention even in cheesy ways like this, but I don’t think you need two parts here. Still, the effort is to be applauded.

Best school to follow on social media No. 5: Georgia Southern
Now to the top five schools to follow on Twitter. The Eagles made some nice info graphics for their teams this year. Here is a look at a soccer example.

Best school to follow on social media No. 4: Western Kentucky
WKU promoted their sports equally with photo shoots and other promotional graphics. The Hilltoppers had fun too with this color coordinated seating chart.

Best school to follow on social media No. 3: Oregon State
No school made better use of its color scheme on social media than the orange and black of Oregon State. Their posts were hard to miss.

Best school to follow on social media No. 2: Colorado State
Colorado State did an excellent job using photography. It always seemed to grab my attention with the bold colors the Rams would use.

Best school to follow on social media No. 1: Kansas State
The best combination of game updates, photography, promotions, statistics and design has to be Kansas State. The Wildcats were active promoting every game from every team and every result. I feel like I’m in the know about K-State despite living a few states away.

Plus how do compete with a promotion like this?

Tough Day for the Sun Belt

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Why is Western Kentucky still here?

Why is Western Kentucky still here?

While the Big 10 has been berated by media folk (rightfully so) one league had an even worse week. The Sun Belt went 0-10 Saturday against schools ranging from LSU to Abilene Christian. Yikes!

It was not completely negative as Georgia Southern gave Georgia Tech a scare losing 42-38 in Atlanta. UL-Monroe was only down 10-0 at LSU after the first half, but the Tigers put the upset to bed with a 30-0 final score. After that… well…
Troy State fell to 0-3 as FCS Abilene Christian shocked it 38-35. That was the probably the most winnable game for the Trojans.

Arkansas State, Louisiana and South Alabama were handled by power conference schools. Idaho was uncompetitive at home against MAC weakling Western Michigan. Texas State surrendered 28 straight points to Navy at home before scoring its first touchdown. UTEP controlled New Mexico State the whole way and Georgia State did what Georgia State does against Air Force. The Panthers even turned to advertising for content on Twitter. Not good.

This doesn’t mean the Sun Belt Conference “sucks” as we like to label struggling leagues. There were disappointing performances to be sure but the Sun Belt is in a bad spot geographically speaking. While the MAC and Conference USA gets to pick at the struggling teams of the Big Ten and Big 12, the Sun Belt is stuck scheduling the SEC. That never ends up well.

The MAC didn’t do great this week either but when a Bowling Green defeats Indiana people tend to forget how badly Central Michigan, Ball State and Kent State played.Sensor Scans

With no big win among the conference other than ULM over Wake Forest in week 1 (not flashy) it’s hard to cover the stinky games up.

Southern Miss Stays Positive

What do you do when you’re getting blown out by No. 2 Alabama? Talk about the field goals your kicker is making and not about the extra points he never tried. The Golden Eagles lost 52-12 but did kick a field goal in each quarter. If that makes Southern Miss fans feel better.

Vanderbilt Hides Football

Forget about “Anchor Down” as Vanderbilt was losing to MAC doormat UMass on Saturday. The Commodores rallied to get their first win but not before reporting on how the school’s cross-country team did on Saturday. This resulted in this awesome exchange.

Vanderbilt might be able to “AnchorDown” against FCS Charleston Southern so fire up that 2-10 season Commodores. You’ll always have cross-country to turn to.

FCS Power Faceplants

No. 15 Sam Houston State was seen as a contender for the FCS playoffs but I’m sure that changed after Colorado State Pueblo destroyed it Saturday. Did I mention that Colorado State Pueblo was Division II? This is like an episode of “Defiance” being better than an episode of “Doctor Who.” It should not happen.

Division II knows how to "Bring the Thunder"

Division II knows how to “Bring the Thunder”

Even more surprising is how this game was never close. The ThunderWolves were up 14-0 after the first quarter and 27-0 at half. The 47-21 final was actually the result of mercy and garbage touchdowns by the Bearkats.

It’s going to be hard for Sam Houston State to come back from this one but maybe it was a learning experience for the Bearkats. One can only hope.

The Misfits of College Football

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These four are actually in a better situation than most of the Sun Belt.

These four are actually in better situations than most of the Sun Belt.

With teams changing conferences for better TV contracts at the expense of geography, there has become a high number of teams that are on Exile Island. These are schools that are in a conference that may not be a suitable fit for them.

10. Vanderbilt: SEC

The Commodores have revitalized their football program in the last decade winning three bowl games but are still far from winning a SEC title. Vanderbilt is the only school in the conference with an academic focus while the other 13 programs have boosters making deals with recruits off the books.

But the real issue is not that the SEC is wrong for Vandy as much as the ACC might be better. Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Duke and Boston College share Vanderbilt’s academic interests and could form some nice rivalries. Heck, the Demon Deacons and the Commodores have met the past four seasons so might as well play in the same league. Duke even won their division last year; something Vanderbilt has no chance of doing in the SEC East. That’s partly why James Franklin bolted for Penn State. Vandy should do the same with the SEC.

9. West Virginia: Big 12

The Big 12 was in need of reinforcements after being raided by practically everyone three years ago. West Virginia was in desperate need of a home as the Big East was imploding. The result was the strange union of a program in the Appalachian Mountains joining a conference with a Great Plains identity.

The Mountaineers have gone 6-12 in Big 12 play since joining in 2012. Pittsburgh and the “Backyard Brawl” was an exciting rivalry but now the closest thing to a rivalry WVU has left is … Iowa State. You can’t blame West Virginia though as it is making the best out of a tough situation. WVU’s men’s soccer team has joined the Mid-American Conference if that tells you how unusual things are. Note the MAC logos in the bottom right.

8. East Carolina: AAC

East Carolina is joining the American Athletic Conference this year. Too bad no one from the American Athletic Conference is near them. Conference USA was a melting pot of schools too but the Pirates could point to a history of rivalries in that conference. I liked Marshall, Southern Mississippi, and UAB for them. Plus, the American is a lateral move for the Pirates.

That’s a great looking court but will there be any rivalry games there?

7. San Diego: Pioneer

The only FCS school on the list is in a league that does not offer athletic scholarships for football. The Pioneer Football League is great for schools that are doing to the minimum of having a team on the FCS level so the other sports can remain Division I. San Diego though is the only conference member out West. The closest rival is all the way over in Iowa in Drake.

It’s not a disaster for the Toreros as they have won five PFL titles. Last year, however, San Diego disqualified themselves because they awarded improper financial aid to players.

Might be time to switch to a conference where that’s legal USD.

6. Rutgers: Big Ten

Getting use to seeing Rutgers in the Big Ten seems impossible. The Scarlet Knights better understand that folks in Big Ten country don’t want to see their team.

At all.

The Midwest has to hear New Yorkers hurl “Fly-Over Country” insults at them all the time and now you have a program from the New York area entering their conference? Good luck to any Big 10 team selling tickets when Rutgers comes to town.

5. Maryland: Big Ten

That's not going to match Penn State's helmet very well is it.

That’s not going to match Penn State’s helmet very well is it.

If Rutgers is a bad fit, than Maryland is even worse. The Terrapins with their rotation of crazy uniforms clashes with the traditional mindset the Big Ten has. Maryland has thrown away all the rivalries it made in the ACC to play… Rutgers?

What remains to be seen is how will this move impact recruiting. Maryland had access to the high school football strongholds of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina through its ACC rivals. Will those recruits want to play for a Big Ten school now? Will recruits in Michigan and Ohio want to play in Maryland? The Terrapins better pray the answer is yes to both questions or this move will backfire badly.

The Terps are happy today, we’ll see how long that holds up.

4. Connecticut: American

While Maryland left the ACC, Connecticut would probably trade anything to be in it. The American is mostly made up of former Conference USA programs in the South. Only Temple, a program that’s been passed between conferences like a hobo between train stations, is nearby. The Huskies will have to cultivate new rivalries and find a way to tap into the Texas and Florida recruiting markets to make this work. Or UConn can just bite the bullet in football every year and focus on its basketball teams. That will work too.

3. Massachusetts: Mid-American

UMass turned down an invitation from the MAC to become a member in all sports earlier this year. The move makes sense for the Minutemen as the Atlantic-10 is better for basketball but the football program is stranded. UMass will have to find a home in the next two years and the American is not buying for right now.

And nor should they. The Minutemen have been cannon fodder since joining FBS in 2012 going 1-11 both seasons. UMass must audition well or it will be Sun Belt or Independent for the Minutemen. Neither are good options.

2. New Mexico State: Sun-Belt

Speaking of Sun Belt, that leads us to New Mexico State, who will joined the conference this year after spending time as an independent. The Aggies were a loser in the dissolving of the WAC as the Mountain West didn’t want them. Problem is that is the only league that makes since for NMSU.

In the Sun Belt, New Mexico State will be spending most of its time playing against teams in Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana. That will be tough recruiting players from that far away but to be fair, New Mexico State has never been able to recruit anyway. The Aggies have not played in a bowl game since, gulp… 1960.

Well look at the bright side NMSU, you have a live cam of them installing the new field at your stadium. If that cheers you up I don’t see how.

1. Idaho: Sun Belt

Come get your summer tan at Moscow, Idaho.

Come get your summer tan at Moscow, Idaho.

That’s right folks, because when you think Sun Belt you should think … Idaho? It was the only choice the Vandals had in terms of staying in the FBS. Idaho will blow their travel budget flying out to the opposite, diagonal corner of the country for away games. The school has returned to the Big Sky Conference in the other sports.

Like New Mexico State, Idaho is doing the best it can do by playing in the Sun Belt. Unlike New Mexico State, Idaho has had some recent success, going 8-5 and winning a bowl game in 2009. Just don’t mention the 4-32 record the past three seasons.

Both the Aggies and the Vandals need to have some success in their new league soon, as justifying the costs of FBS football in a conference you clearly don’t belong in is difficult.

Georgia’s bad schedule

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It was a great game that ESPN wanted. Clemson knocked off Georgia Saturday Night in what many believed to be Clemson’s start to a championship campaign. I’m not so sold but it was a great win.

The point is not so much about Clemson as it’s about making a good schedule. Georgia has done what might be the dumbest scheduling possible. Opening at Clemson and followed by South Carolina is insane. The Bulldogs have no chance to recover and for what? To play a game on national television against a school from South Carolina? That’s what they are doing this upcoming Saturday.

Asking a road team to come win a game here in the first week is like asking Batman to fight crime on Krypton.

Asking a road team to come win a game here in the first week is like asking Batman to fight crime on Krypton.

There is no upside to recruiting as they have that state covered by playing South Carolina. If Georgia scheduled Ohio State then it could score recruits in the Midwest. The Bulldogs would also have a chance to impress pollsters in an area that may not otherwise pay attention to them.

In other words playing Clemson was redundant and unnecessary for Georgia. Now they have a beat up team playing a rested South Carolina squad Saturday (Gamecocks played Thursday). The Bulldogs could be 0-2 next week.

If Georgia had won Saturday you might be thinking I would have called it a smart gamble. Even if Georgia won it would have a fleeting victory that would have been wiped out if it lost to South Carolina. That’s the game that matters as winning the SEC East to get another crack at Alabama in the conference championship is everything to Georgia. Well, that and beating the holy hell out of Georgia Tech.

Now to some awards for week one.

Public Enemy: Florida State
Florida State pounded Pittsburgh Monday night and looked great. Especially their new freshmen Quarterback Jameis Winston. Don’t get too full of yourself kid.

Cannon Fodder: Elon
Elon lost to Georgia Tech on Saturday 70-0. The Phoenix (yes, that’s their name) fumbled on their second play and gave up two interceptions for touchdowns. Elon did miss a field goal at the end of the first half so it’s not like they didn’t get a chance to score. That’s something? Right?

Headshot victims: Oregon State, Kansas State, South Florida, Connecticut, and Iowa State.
These BCS conference schools all lost to FCS teams. That’s like being a named a registered sex offender. Enough said.

Best Game: Ole Miss 39 Vanderbilt 35
Vanderbilt converted on fourth and 18, scored a touchdown to take the lead with a minute to go, and still lost. That’s like taking the lead in the Mario Kart with the finish line in view only to take a turtle shell from behind before crossing. I felt bad for the Commodores but I was so happy to see a great game on college football’s first day back. Man I missed it.