With the unexpected rise of the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles in this year’s NCAA Tournament, it wasn’t much of a surprise that bigger schools with more prominent men’s basketball programs would come sniffing around coach Andy Enfield. After all, that’s the nature of the sports beast. If you’re a little dog like FGCU, no measure of momentary success and national prominence is going to keep you in the conversation when a much bigger, wealthier dog like the University of Southern California comes calling, with its gorgeous campus and national spotlight. Oh yeah, and its giant bags of money.

“USC is one of the best basketball jobs in the country,” Enfield said. “I’ve been familiar with USC for many years. I’ve been doing this a long time. When I met (USC athletic director) Pat Haden, his vision was the same as mine.

“USC was where I wanted to be.” (Via the L.A. Daily News)

Yeah, I’m sure that stings a little, and some people feel bad for FGCU. To them I say, “Don’t.” This is sports, sports are a business and business is business. After guys like Shaka Smart and Brad Stevens, Enfield was going to be a pretty sexy name to bigger programs looking to turn things around. So don’t be upset with Enfield for being a traitor or something over-the-top like that. Wish him well and hope that a new guy comes in and continues what he started this year.

What FGCU fans can be upset about, and the subject of this week’s BEEF THURSDAYS installment, is that USC straight up tried to steal the Eagles’ Dunk City moniker. As you can see above, USC helped itself to Dunk City as recently as yesterday. Fortunately, the Trojans since doubled back and removed it. But still, that’s not cool, Trojans. Not cool at all.

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Los Angeles high school senior Jake Davidson achieved Internet fame last week when he posted a very creative video prom invitation addressed to two-time Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model Kate Upton. Bless her busty heart, Upton Tweeted at Jake and played along like a good sport, as she even called into NBC’s Today when Jake was being interviewed about his crush, because Matt Lauer has nothing better to do.

But now the fame is over, because Upton did a little crushing of her own. And by that I mean his heart.

“It was so flattering,” Upton, 20, tells PEOPLE. “The video was so cute, and I really appreciated it. There was something about it that I knew I had to respond.”

“When a guy has a good sense of humor and confidence, that’s attractive,” she says. “This video was creative and funny. It made me laugh, and everyone loves a good laugh!

“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go with him or not, due to my schedule,” she says. “I want to, but I just don’t know if I can make it work. But I really appreciated being asked; it made me feel really great!” (Via People)

Sure, that’s not a definitive “No”, but we’re all old enough to read between the lines. But if I can, I’d like to take a moment to have some real talk with Jake, from one bro to another, now that he can just focus on finding a girl at his school to take to his prom and awkwardly try to make out with at the end of the night.

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Not Miss July Shanna McLaughlin. She's wonderful.

Ah the joys of being a Conference USA football fan. Not only do I get to watch NFL action tonight, but also my favorite NCAA football team, thanks to the fact that nobody really gives a crap about non-BCS conference on Saturdays. And if this isn’t fun enough, my team also used to be in the MAC, which meant that we had Tuesday, Wednesday and even Friday night games. What a hoot that was.

So while I’ll be saddled up at my favorite watering hole, er, I mean in my season ticket seat at Bright House Stadium in Orlando, here are some games that you can watch tonight from the comfort of your favorite watering hole, er, I mean home.

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Good meme. Well done.

I’ve long admired Lane Kiffin’s coaching career, from his days as an assistant at USC, to his head coaching gig with the Oakland Raiders, to his stint as the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, and now his tenure as the coach of the USC Trojans. I don’t admire everything he’s done because he’s been great at it. No, I admire it because short of Cosmo Kramer, nobody has ever fallen ass backwards into fortune and success quite like this guy.

But this is about today, and barring any idiocy in his lavish recruiting style, Kiffin will probably be at USC for a long time, because 18-year old kids like living and playing in Southern California. And we can make fun of Kiffin all we want for being arrogant or for saying he wouldn’t vote his team No. 1 when he clearly did, but it’s not going to change the fact that the guy is who he is.

That’s why the Bane Kiffin meme is so perfect. The guy’s an unapologetic, brash menace that most likely won’t be stopped this season, and we love puns. So everything works out great. We hope that this new Tumblr parody continues throughout the season, and we celebrate it today with several of our favorites and a few of my own.

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"So I'd like to stay another year and nail many, many attractive college girls."

If USC quarterback Matt Barkley enters the 2012 NFL Draft, he is a Top 10 draft pick, without a doubt. Depending on whether or not the Cleveland Browns decide if they’re content with Colt McCoy instead of selecting one of three seemingly sure-fire NFL QBs, he could even be a Top 5 pick. Of course we also need to see how the Top 10 unfolds, with so many terrible teams still jostling for position, but in my cold, dark heart, I know he was going to be a Miami Dolphin.

And then he had to be a big ol’ jerk and stay at school for his senior year.

Matt showed Kiffin an ornament he had made for him that had Barkley and Kiffin embracing after the USC-Colorado game in November, in which Barkley set the school’s single-game touchdown passes record. Below the picture, it read, “2011 Great Memories.”

Kiffin looked at the ornament hastily made out of cardboard and said, “That’s neat. Cool ornament, Matt.”

Barkley then said, “Turn it over, Coach.”

Kiffin had to read the hand-written inscription twice for the words to sink in: “One more year. To the memories next year.”

(Via ESPN LA)

My overwhelming disappointment aside, this is a bold but understandable choice by Barkley. On one hand, he loses the substantial payday he was guaranteed as one of the three franchise QBs – the others being Robert Griffin III and that Stanford kid nobody talks about – taken in the first round, but he doesn’t necessarily seem like a guy who is too worried about waiting another year for that coin.

On the other hand, he can help guide the Trojans out of their humiliating suspension by making a National Title run next year, and if they look anything like they did this season, the Trojans will definitely be in the thick of it. And that stinks, because nobody wants to see Lane Kiffin win.

Back in November, Ohio State President Gordon Gee told the Associated Press that teams like TCU and Boise State didn’t deserve to play for the BCS title because those programs don’t have strong schedules like the teams in the BCS automatic qualifier conferences. Said Gee:

“Well, I don’t know enough about the X’s and O’s of college football,” said Gee, formerly the president at West Virginia, Colorado, Brown and Vanderbilt universities. “I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it’s like murderer’s row every week for these schools. We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day. So I think until a university runs through that gantlet that there’s some reason to believe that they not be the best teams to [be] in the big ballgame.”

Boise State lost to Nevada two days later, ruining the Broncos’ BCS hopes, but TCU continued to steamroll opponents, as the No. 3 Horned Frogs finished with a 12-0 regular season record. The Frogs added their exclamation point on New Year’s Day, when they defeated Wisconsin 21-19 in the Rose Bowl. Wisconsin, of course, finished 7-1 in the Big 10 just like Ohio State. So for Gee’s comments, a mysterious TCU supporter has gently extended his middle finger by posting the banner image above on 20 electronic billboards throughout Columbus, Ohio. Well done.

While we can chalk this one up as a W for the little guys, as TCU was the first ever non-automatic qualifier to win the Rose Bowl, Gee and the rest of the big boys are probably still scoffing at the Frogs while they refill their high balls and light cigars with $100 bills. But tread lightly, big conference presidents. TCU will be in the Big East soon enough, so if you thought the Frogs had an easy road now, just you wait.

In the meantime, I was a little surprised to find out that TCU wasn’t the only school to have mystery billboards popping up around the country. Follow along after the jump…

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