The thing about drawing lines in the sand…

… is that they’re always easy to erase.

A Big Ten Conference mandate of not scheduling FCS football programs has been modified to put the Division I younger brothers back in the conversation again.

North Dakota State athletic director Matt Larsen said he’s been told the new policy is a direct reflection of the nine-game Big Ten schedule. On years where a Big Ten team has four home league games, it will be allowed to put an FCS team on its slate.

Gotta fill those bowl slots, right, Jimbo?

Selfishly speaking, the sad part here is that this move reduces the pressure on the SEC to toughen its scheduling.

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“Friday night football is beautiful,” he said, “and no one wants to disrupt that.”

Well, except for the Big Ten and its new television agreements.

After all, those $20 million bonuses to your programming director don’t pay themselves, boys.

“Recruiting moral high ground” is an oxymoron.

I don’t follow Wisconsin recruiting, of course, so it’s interesting to see what utter nonsense the program’s decision to revoke its offer to Ben Bryant is, based on its recent track record.

Yes, the contact, offer and tweet could have been contributing factors, but if those were the reasons, the Badgers are hypocrites. A player being committed to another school hasn’t stopped Wisconsin from going after them, most recently offering defensive tackle Apu Ika (Salt Lake City), who has been committed to BYU since last summer. And the tweet thing? Doesn’t hold water, either. Safety Reggie Pearson (River Rouge, Mich.) committed to the Badgers in August 2016, and a week later tweeted an offer he received from Arkansas. He remains a member of Wisconsin’s Class of 2018.

The author goes on to surmise that the real impetus behind the revocation was that Bryant no longer fit into Wisconsin’s plans, a conclusion that doesn’t require a huge leap in logic to make, and then adds this observation:

No matter what, this is an unfortunate black eye for Wisconsin. Pulling a scholarship is a rarity for the Badgers. The program, especially under former coach Bret Bielema and current coach Paul Chryst, has carried itself as being somehow morally superior when it comes to recruiting. Bielema once famously called out Ohio State coach Urban Meyer for “illegal” recruiting tactics, and saying, “We at the Big Ten don’t want to be like the SEC in any way, shape or form.” Bielema was in the SEC less than a year later, but his point stands. Wisconsin has recruited the right way.

This latest move, though, suggests the Badgers may not be holding that moral high ground any longer.

A message that will no doubt be reinforced on the recruiting trail.

Mighty touchy, ain’t we?

The latest recruiting fooferaw involves a quarterback from Illinois neither you nor I likely would have ever heard of, except for (1) he received an offer from UGA and (2) that offer set in motion a bizarre chain of events… well, maybe more curious than bizarre.

The story begins with the offer, and the kid’s polite acknowledgement.

Humbled to receive an offer from The University of Georgia pic.twitter.com/o1wK07XVaZ

— Ben Bryant (@benbryant_7) May 12, 2017

From there, the going gets weird.  Wisconsin, which held his commitment, didn’t take kindly to the news.

So Ben Bryant tweeted about an offer from another school so the #Badgers dropped him. I'm naturally suspicious here. https://t.co/PeUsCIRAgC

— Steve Wiltfong (@SWiltfong247) May 13, 2017

There’s a giant “wait, wut?” trying to emerge here.  Surely Wisconsin wouldn’t yank an accepted offer merely because another school offered, would it?

Oh, yes, it would.  And don’t call it Shirley.

pic.twitter.com/nh1Xw55koA

— Ben Bryant (@benbryant_7) May 14, 2017

Understand, this was unsolicited.  There was no visit planned.  No talk about keeping options open, let alone jumping ship.  It wasn’t even his second offer.

This is the Johnson Doctrine on steroids.  Or it’s the move of a program that grabbed the first shabby excuse it could get its hands on to jettison a recruit in favor of a better option.  (“Honestly, communication with UW and my feeling of being a part of ‘the family’ has been subpart at times and during several visits,” is a pretty good hint Wisconsin lost its loving feeling.)  Either way, you’d have to expect this little story is about to become weaponized on the recruiting trail.  With good reason.

By the way, young man, you’ve done nothing to beat yourself up over.  Better luck with your next college choice.

Virtue is its own reward.

Man, the educating young minds the conference broadcast business is kicking some righteous ass these days.

Big Ten Conference commissioner Jim Delany is set to receive more than $20 million in future bonus payments, according to information in the conference’s new federal tax return and a comparison of that document to prior years’ returns.

Yep, everybody’s going broke.

Today, in headers

Somebody thinks he’s pretty clever.

Let’s play two!

Apparently, almost every human being in the state of Maryland had better things to do yesterday than watch a spring practice game.

https://twitter.com/SBNationCFB/status/856186152352595969

Remember, Jim Delany had to have this program to grow the Big Ten Network with more eyeballs.