Will move over to coach quarterbacks: Steve Kragthorpe is stepping down from his duties as LSU offensive coordinator after it was announced today he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Kragthorpe will stay on the Tigers staff as quarterbacks coach. “I am very excited to coach the quarterbacks,” Kragthorpe said in a statement released by LSU. “When I was the offensive coordinator, before this happened, it was all of us together in the same room. … We have a great staff and a great group of guys. I hope for the next 10, 12 or 14 years that I can be here at LSU coaching the quarterbacks.” Greg Studrawa, who has been LSU’s offensive line coach for four seasons, will take over as offensive coordinator. Studrawa was offensive coordinator at Bowling Green from 2003 to 2006. LSU football coach Les Miles says it was a “battlefield promotion” for Studrawa. “This promotion for Greg gives us reason to not miss a beat and to continue on. First, Kragthorpe is going to be in every huddle, every play call and in the press box. He will assist fully with game plan, and the passing game will be called with him and Billy Gonzales’s (LSU’s wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator) thumb on it. Coach Studrawa will understand how to get it done.” Kragthorpe joined the LSU staff earlier this year, after stints as a head coach with Tulsa and Louisville.
Oklahoma is No. 1: LSU started its fall practice today ranked fourth in the USA Today preseason college football poll. The Tigers got two first-place votes in the poll, in which 59 college football coaches participate. Oklahoma topped the poll, with 42 first-place votes. Alabama, who LSU travels to play Nov. 5, was ranked second, with 13 first-place votes. Oregon, with whom the Tigers open the season on Sept. 3 in Arlington, Texas, was ranked third. Other preseason rankings of note to Tiger fans include South Carolina, which came in at No. 12, Arkansas at 14, Auburn at 19, Mississippi State at 20, Georgia at 22, and Florida at 23. See the full poll here.
Will SEC follow? Big Ten football teams will begin playing nine conference games instead of eight in the 2017 season. The conference announced the change today and it came as no surprise. When the league expanded to 12 teams by adding Nebraska and split into two divisions this year, Commissioner Jim Delany said a nine-game conference schedule was being strongly considered. The move will leave Big Ten teams with three slots in a typical 12-game regular season for nonconference opponents. Since major college football went to a permanent 12-game regular-season schedule in 2006, booking nonconference games has become more of a challenge for many schools. That’s the case for teams playing in the toughest conferences, trying to avoid taking on too many strong out-of-league opponents. The Pac-10, now the Pac-12, has been playing a nine-game conference schedule for several years. The Big Ten has been playing an eight-game conference schedule since 1985. The SEC currently has an eight-game conference schedule.
