Apparently, having friends in high places does not work every time.
Former President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reportedly went to bat for SMU and Stanford as they tried to join the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
Despite their efforts, the ACC is leaning toward no expansion at this time, Yahoo Sports reported on Thursday.
Bush and former first lady Laura Bush, who live in Dallas, attended SMU. It is the home of the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
Rice works as a professor at Stanford and serves as director of the Hoover Institution. She was a member of the first three College Football Playoff selection committees.
Sports Illustrated reported that the ACC voted down Stanford and Cal. The conference needed 12 of 15 current teams to vote in favor of expansion, and four opposed the motion, the SI added.
SMU, whose boosters have deep pockets, was willing to forgo the first seven years of TV money to join the ACC, Yahoo Sports reported.
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DEION SANDERS TO COLORADO PLAYERS: FIGHT!
Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he was not happy when he saw players walking away from a practice fight on Wednesday.
The former Dallas Cowboys star, in his first season with the Buffaloes, watched a brief battle break out between running back Anthony Hankersjon and safety Jaden Milliner-Jones, ESPN reported.
Offensive tackle Gerad Christian-Lichenhan, who stands 6-foot-10 and weighs 310 pounds, told Milliner-Jones he did not appreciate his aggression.
Some teammates joined in. Others did not. Assistant coaches tried to make peace.
Sanders did not like what he witnessed.
“I seen two of you walking off, over there, and you’ve got a key teammate fighting,” Sanders groused in a video posted by his son, quarterback Deion Sanders, Jr. “Where they do that at? Where they do that at?”
Not here, his players replied.
“If one fights, we all fight,” Sanders fumed. “You understand that? I don’t want to see you all walking off when somebody’s fighting. Never again!”
Colorado opens the season on September 2 at TCU.
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EXTRA POINTS
— The Tuohy family said it is ending its conservatorship with former NFL and Ole Miss player Michael Oher, the subject of “The Blind Side” movie. Oher filed a lawsuit, saying he was never adopted by the family or given profits from his life story. The family called his moved a “shakedown.”
— Former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald will serve as a parent volunteer for Loyola Academy’s football team. His two sons attend the school.
— Former Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne has won the starting job at Auburn. He will start the Tigers’ September 2 opener against UMass in new coach Hugh Freeze’s debut.
