An interesting look at spring game attendance

While there were a few surprises when you look at the final spring game attendance figures from the past few weeks, one thing should not surprise you. The SEC dominated.

Seven of the top ten attendance figures came out of the SEC, with Texas (#7), Nebraska (#4), and Ohio State (#10) occupying the other three spots. To no one's surprise, Auburn and Alabama occupied the top two spots, while Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Texas A&M, and Georgia rounded out the other SEC programs in the top ten.

Even Vanderbilt, who drew 14,000 fans to their spring game, beat out the attendance of five Big Ten schools (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maryland, Purdue, Illinois).

For a full list of the rankings, as well as the attendance figures, take a look at the chart that the guys over at SB Nation put together.

The bottom four teams (Georgia State, Tulsa, Hawaii, and Akron) failed to crack the 2,000 person mark.

Video: 'Choosing Greatness'

Here's another great video from Toledo, this one entitled "Choosing Greatness".

While most of the clip is highlights from spring ball, the last minute is full of fun activities and motivational moments that that the team participated in over the off season

Toledo has done a great job with these videos over the past year, and as fall approaches the clips will get better and better.

And the official College Football Playoff logo is....

After a full week of voting, an official logo for the College Football Playoff has been chosen.

Fans had four choices, shown below, and the winner was option No. 2 on the top right.

Described on the playoff's official website as "representing the ascent of teams to the playoffs, two gold brackets surround a 'virtual' football, and allude to the championship trophy," Logo 2 was a runaway winner, garnering 38 percent of the vote, outpacing Logos 1 and 3 by more than a dozen percentage points each. Logo 4 came in fourth with 13 percent of the vote.

Here is a rendering of how the playoff logo could look on Jan. 12, 2015, the night of the inaugural College Football Championship at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The conference commissioners have stated nothing has been decided about a trophy for the new system. The crystal football was one of the BCS's few victories, but the powers that be may throw the baby out with the bathwater in an attempt to cleanse the game from a decade and a half of toxic BCS fumes. If the crystal football is indeed retired after the final BCS National Championship at the Rose Bowl, one would have to think its replacement will be modeled  after the logo and its majestic golden brackets.

Video: The Gary Andersen era

Gary Andersen hasn't been in Madison long, but this video does a good job capturing the excitement that has surrounded the program since Andersen and his staff took over.

Hang in there, college football is just a few short months away.

Georgia Tech's new business cards are one of a kind

Georgia Tech's staff has some unique new business cards.

Not only is the metal business card pretty unique, but the shape is surely the first of its kind in college football.

Any other interesting designs out there?

(H/T to Georgia Tech assistant director of football ops Mike Huff) 

Mic'd up with the defensive line at Illinois

At this time last year Greg Colby was the head coach at Millersville University, a Division II program in Pennsylvania.

This spring, Colby has been working to put his stamp on the Fighting Illini defensive line, and you can tell by his attention to detail and knowledge of the game and overall approach to the game that he's got a few years under his belt being the head man in charge.

Colby will have his work cut out for him, as two of Illinois' defensive lineman were taken in the NFL draft over the past few days.

Excellent off the field look at Steve Spurrier and his motivation

Every time that Steve Spurrier approaches a microphone every one in attendance sits on the edge of their seat waiting for the old ball coach to drop some old school wisdom or give his unique (and often controversial) perspective on things.

Off the field, things aren't a whole lot little different for the coaching veteran and his family, as there is never a dull moment around Spurrier, according to the Post and Courier who did a nice write up yesterday detailing Spurrier's life off the field. The article has some interesting insight from his wife and kids on what life is like for Steve away from the sidelines.

As Jerri (Spurrier's wife of 46 years) puts it, being married to Spurrier is "like hanging on to the back of a train. You just hang on you go and it's never boring. It's always fun. We never stop."

Like we said, never a dull moment around the old ball coach.

Every Sunday the kids and grandkids get together for family dinner, and maybe a round of golf, and Wednesday they all go to the football facility for dinner with the coaching staff and their familie. For Spurrier, having the entire family close by makes the coaching life much more enjoyable.

“It makes it very comfortable to continue coaching when you’ve got just about your entire family and grandkids in your hometown. Once you think about it, if my family was all in Florida doing something else, it would be hard to just try to say, ‘I’m way off doing my own job.’ Especially if you don’t have to.” Spurrier explained

Take a look at the whole article here, which delves further in Spurrier's family, a little of his childhood, and what his father taught him about sports and the importance of winning ball games.

Photo: Jim Tressel suits up for charity game

The guys over at Eleven Warriors put together a good read on what Jim Tressel is up to now, beyond his duties as the vice president of strategic engagement at Akron.

For example, this past Saturday Tressel laced up his sneakers and joined a handful of his former players on the hardwood for a charity basketball game dubbed "The Comeback Project". The charity event raised money for a youth center in Youngstown, OH. Tressel, who was introduced to the crowd as "the President of Youngstown" reunited with players like Maurice Clarett and Prescott Burgess for the event.

"It's one of the blessings about growing up in Ohio, and I'm sure everyone has pride in where they grew up. Our good folks never forget about one another, and they invest their most valuable things, which is their time to help their communities." Tressel said about the even

During our Midwest tour through Ann Arbor, East Lansing, South Bend and Columbus, we heard from a number of coaches that they; expect coach Tressel to return to the sidelines sooner than some might expect (but it would take a good opportunity, not a rebuild). 

The Eleven Warriors article points out the impact that Tressel has made in the lives of his players, the value he places on developing relationships through the good times and the bad, and serves as a perfect example of why he'll don the headset sooner rather than later.

Below is a look at Tressel during the game.