Early in the season, following NC State’s embarrassing loss to Akron, HC Chuck Amato rambled on about the unfair advantage the MAC and other C-USA schools have over NC State. Because they aren’t held to the high academic standards of NCSt. It was bizarre, freaky, factually inaccurate and instead led to more scrutiny as to the poor graduation rates of NC State football.

So, why, oh why, did Randy Edsall start whining about academic standards at UConn?  Edsall has since backpedaled, and even Coach Wannstedt took a nice indirect swipe at the malarky.

Edsall attempted to back away from his comments on a Big East coaches teleconference yesterday, saying that he simply meant that the academic standards at Connecticut are much higher now than they were when he began. Wannstedt responded, “It is real simple, look at the graduates from the University of Pittsburgh, and it speaks for itself. I wouldn’t even go any further than that.

The most unhappy person out of all of this. UConn B-ball coach Jim Calhoun who would like no scrutiny of academics, especially when it comes to his team. Edsall, really shouldn’t be casting any aspersions on any other programs — academic or otherwise. Especially in a season where he had to dismiss one player from the team for credit card fraud and suspend another for fighting in a wing joint. On the bright side, at least they weren’t academic issues.

Syracuse blogger Matt Glaude has a much more factual-based takedown of Edsall’s insanity.