Players Lost from Teams and Impact on Bowl Games

[sandgk]

Seems like we have a rash of these going on right now. I know some of this has been reported in the Police Blotter Thread but it is useful to wrap it up in one place when it impacts bowl bound teams.

USC has missed having 2 star players take a bow, but will be at full strength for the Rose Bowl. Texas had what seems for now to be a near miss of its own earlier this week. So how are the rest of the bowl bound teams handling the distractions leading up to their games?

Certainly other teams are not so lucky .. and he upshot tilts the table in several games.

Case 1 - Wisconsin, already up against on paper to keep pace with the Auburn Tigers now Wisconsin must try to go toe to toe without the help of Booker Stanley. He had been a pretty reliable back-up and short spell back. Now Wisconsin must look elsewhere when the main rock handler gets winded.

Case 2 - Clemson, this one really tilts the table.
Senior tight end Bobby Williamson and sophomore defensive end Kwam Williams are academically ineligible to play in the game against Colorado on Dec. 27 in Orlando, Fla., the school said Tuesday. Junior receiver Kelvin Grant was dismissed for violating unspecified team rules. Whether that is enough to place the game in the hands of a Colorado team in its own kind of turmoil is far from likely. Does put the cat among the pigeons.


Case 3 - Missouri safety and captain Jason Simpson will not travel with the team to the Independence Bowl after being arrested for marijuana possession over the weekend. (Idiot - just my opinion on this). This will likely help Spurrier's cause when they meet Missouri on Dec 30th.


Case 4 - Northwestern - that paragon of academic virtue has the following casualties -- defensive tackle Trevor Schultz, cornerback Deante Battle and receiver Kim Thompson out for the Sun Bowl against No. 17 UCLA. Thompson was out on policy violations, but the other two are academically ineligible. Definitely a table tilting change, the NW / UCLA clash was looking to be a shoot-out, now Northwestern may have to (literally) run for cover.



There are other literal casualties for sure, injuries incurred during practice have Florida's sophomore safety Nelson, which may cause changes on both sides of the ball when Iowa meets Florida. However, this post is more about those self-inflicted non-physical losses, the type that can arguably provide more difficulty for a team.