With conferences eagerly working to line up and lock in partnerships with bowls for the 2014-19 cycle, the slate of games for 2013 — the last year of the current cycle — was released by the Football Bowl Association yesterday.

The dates and times for the SEC’s games are as follows (all times Eastern):

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl

Nashville, TN

Monday, 12/30, 3:15pm

SEC versus ACC

AdvoCare V100 Bowl

Shreveport, LA

Tuesday, 12/31, 12:30pm

SEC versus ACC

AutoZone Liberty Bowl

Memphis, TN

Tuesday, 12/31, 4:00pm

SEC versus Conference USA or AAC (old Big East)

Chick-fil-A Bowl

Atlanta, GA

Tuesday, 12/31, 8:00pm

SEC versus ACC

TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl

Jacksonville, FL

Wednesday, 1/1, 12:00pm

SEC versus Big Ten

Capital One Bowl

Orlando, FL

Wednesday, 1/1, 1:00pm

SEC versus Big Ten

Outback Bowl

Tampa, FL

Wednesday, 1/1, 1:00pm

SEC versus Big Ten

Allstate Sugar Bowl

New Orleans, LA

Thursday, 1/2, 8:30pm

SEC versus BCS qualifier

AT&T Cotton Bowl

Arlington, TX

Friday, 1/3, 7:30pm

SEC versus Big XII

BBVA Compass Bowl

Birmingham, AL

Saturday, 1/4, 1:00pm

SEC versus AAC (old Big East)

Ten bowl partners.  Three games against the ACC.  Three games against the Big Ten.  Not a single game outside the SEC footprint.

Our take?

For the love of all that’s holy, is there no way to shake things up a bit?  (Of course there is and we’ve talked about it before… but it’s not going to happen.)

Earlier this week, SI.com’s Stewart Mandel tried to piece together what the next cycle of bowl games might bring us.  His SEC projections were: Sugar, Capital One, Outback, Gator, Belk (in Charlotte), Music City, Meineke Car Care of Texas (in Houston) and then possibly the Liberty, AdvoCare v100, or the-bowl-soon-to-be-known-as-the-bowl-previously-known-as-the-BBVA Compass Bowl.  The SEC will also have an occasional path to the Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens.

That’s two new games on a regular basis.  The Belk Bowl is at least technically outside the SEC’s borders, though not by much.  Unfortunately, it will likely feature yet another SEC/ACC clash.

The Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas will probably be another matchup against the Big XII.  It would be played indoors at Reliant Stadium.

As for the carry-over games, the Sugar will match the SEC against the Big XII when not part of the College Football Playoff.  The Capital One will still be an SEC/Big Ten game.  Ditto the Outback Bowl.  The ACC and Big Ten will flip-flop sending teams to the Gator and Music City bowls to face the SEC.

Yawn.

Sorry, but that’s still pretty blah.  There’s not a single matchup with the Pac-12.  And unlike the Big Ten’s national bowl lineup — which will stretch from Yankee Stadium to Florida to San Diego — the SEC continues to stick within its own region come the holidays.

We get that shorter travel makes things easier on SEC fans, but couldn’t one long-distance bowl be added to the schedule?

It looks now like the ACC will be facing the Big Ten in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.  Aren’t there some SEC fans out there who would have liked to see the SEC and Big Ten trade in the Gator Bowl for a cold-weather date in the house that replaced the House that Ruth Built?

And while Juarez, Mexico has gone from tourist destination to crime capital, fans staying on the US side of the border in El Paso might have enjoyed seeing an SEC squad face a Pac-12 team once a year.  Instead, the ACC will keep its slot against the Pac-12 in the Hyundai Sun Bowl.

The SEC knows how to make money and it knows how to win bowl games.  If only the league knew how to excite its fans come bowl season.  The same ol’ same ol’ just doesn’t get the job done.

SEC Football

1. Georgia tight end Ty Flourney-Smith is transferring.  Played eight games last year without a catch. Could he return to the team?

2. Indoor practice facility not a priority right now at Georgia.  Mark Richt: “Do we have to have it? I don’t think we have to have it, but like I said it would be nice to have it.” UGA athletic board approves $92.3 million budget.

3. Will Georgia have the best offense in the SEC in 2013?  MrSEC has an opinion. What about Florida State/Georgia in 2016 – “long, long shot.”

4. Alabama coach Nick Saban on high school all-star games.  ”We don’t think football’s a dangerous game, so we don’t worry about guys getting injured.”

5. CBS will kickoff its SEC coverage this fall with Alabama at Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon, September 14th. How the SEC bowl schedule shapes up for 2013.

6. LSU closing 2014 season with Texas A&M?

7. South Carolina A.D. Ray Tanner on non-conference scheduling: “I was very much involved in doing the deal with North Carolina for the 2015 opener in Charlotte.”

8. Why South Carolina “has a chance for a special season.”

9. Vanderbilt coach James Franklin with some Twitter advice.

10. The future is now for senior Ole Miss defensive back Brishen Matthews.

11. Andy Staples on SEC scheduling models: ”The SEC has tossed tradition before, and sometimes with happy consequences.”

SEC/College News

12. Former Alabama A.D. Mal Moore posthumously honored as Athletic Director of the Year.

13. Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium listed as one of the nine most unique fields in sports.

14.  Email from University of Tennessee’s vice chancellor for student life - “intolerable situation.”

15. Tim Tebow’s name brought up in connection with the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit against the NCAA.

SEC Basketball

16. LSU guard Corban Collins leaving, looking to play at another school.

17. None of Kentucky’s freshmen will take part in the U19 World Championships this summer (neither will sophomore Willie Cauley-Stein). John Calipari: “Most of it is, they didn’t want to play. I’m not forcing kids to do anything,”

18. Tennessee’s Jarnell Stokes and Florida’s Michael Frazier II get invited to the training camp.  Bill Donovan is the coach of the team.

19. Florida’s Will Yeguette underwent arthroscopic knee surgery Wednesday.

20. Harvard assistant coach Yanni Hufnagel joining the staff at Vanderbilt. Dan Wolken: “Big -time move”

21.  NBA scout on former Missouri guard Phil Pressey. “I like his energy, he’s a good passer, he just has to realize he’s not Nate Robinson.”

22.  Cleveland has the No.1 pick but it doesn’t mean former Kentucky player Nerlens Noel is headed there.

Extras

23. Sometimes it’s better to say nothing at all.  European Tour CEO tries to defend Sergio Garcia:  ”Most of Sergio’s friends are coloured athletes in the United States…”

24. Auburn one of the 15 fastest-growing cities in the U.S.

25. The cheapest 25 pro sports teams to watch in person.

Former Penn State quarterback Steven Bench has picked a new school as his transfer destination, but that school’s not in the Southeastern Conference.  Today, Bench announced via Twitter that will attend South Florida, where he’ll be eligible to play immediately (due to Penn State’s NCAA penalties).

Bench had also considered Mississippi State and North Carolina State (before the Wolfpack landed ex-Arkansas quarterback Brandon Mitchell via transfer earlier this week).  The Bulldogs’ starting quarterback, Tyler Russell, will be a senior this season.  Bench will be a sophomore this fall and would have been looking at a year on the bench and then a competition for the MSU starting spot in 2014.

South Florida has a new coach in Willie Taggart and an immediate opening quarterback in 2013.

The return of Paul Finebaum is underway.  The former syndicated radio host will be introduced on various ESPN radio properties throughout the day. 

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that Finebaum would be leaving Birmingham for Charlotte and a new job with the four-letter network.  That gig will include a new ESPN radio show, 100 TV appearances per year on ESPN’s television networks, and a television simulcast of his new radio show on the just-as-new SEC Network once it launches in August of 2014.

ESPN has put out a press release on the hiring today.

The move makes sense on a number of levels for ESPN and the SEC.  First and foremost, it’s cheap programming.

This week, ESPN reportedly whacked some 400 employees in a massive staff cut designed to enable the Haliburton of sports to meet its budget projections.  ESPN has paid billions of dollars to professional leagues and college conferences for the rights to air their games.  They’ve snatched up star on-air and online talent from their competitors time and time again.  At some point, selling enough advertising to cover all those costs was bound to become a concern (as those dismissed by ESPN this week have discovered).

Facing the need to lay people off and with a brand new all-SEC channel fueling on the launch pad, ESPN needed to find some cost-efficient programming.  Enter Finebaum.  His work will be seen and heard across multiple platforms.  A simple simulcast of his radio show — a la Howard Stern, Dan Patrick and others — costs basically nothing.  Stick a couple of cameras in a room and just air what radio listeners are already hearing.  Smart move.

Finebaum also provides the new SEC Network with an anchor personality that ESPN can build programming around.  Three or four hours or programming per day are now locked into place.  There’s now a face to put on billboards, a character to use in on-air promotions.  It’s not just the SEC Network for sale at this point, it’s the SEC Network with Paul Finebaum.

Over the years, Finebaum has gained a reputation for being able to stir just about any pot.  Consider him the Woody Woodpecker of radio sports coverage, an instigator of the highest class.  And nothing is better for ratings — TV or radio — than a controversial host.  If you track it backwards through Rush Limbaugh’s heyday to the 1980s rise of Morton Downey Jr. and beyond you’ll find that those radio hosts who’ve become the biggest stars have typically had two kinds of listeners — those who love them and those who hate them.  When folks choose to tune into someone they do not like just to hear what he’s going to say next, that’s money in the bank.  And that’s Finebaum.

ESPN officials are also surely counting on a number of Finebaum’s craziest callers to tag along as the host moves from one outlet to another.  Anytime this site has questioned Finebaum’s decision to give the nuttiest nuts on the fruitcake a voice on his radio show, we’ve always been met with cries of “You just don’t get it” from the Finebaum faithful.  (Which is pretty much exactly what I used to say to my father about Guns ‘N’ Roses and NWA.)  Many, many, many people tuned into Finebaum’s old show just to hear the lunatics.  Remember, it was on Finebaum’s Birmingham-based show that Harvey Updyke first admitted to poisoning the trees at Toomer’s Corner in Auburn.

Bizarro callers who’ll insult one another like pro wrestlers and conspiracy theorists who believe the world is out to get their favorite team are ratings gold.  It’s reality television for radio.  I can’t relate to it, but millions of Americans actually enjoy watching and listening to numbskulls as entertainment.  If some of the same screamers and hollerers who backed Finebaum before join him once again, that’ll be a good draw for the new SEC Network.

But while Finebaum’s callers could drive ratings, they could also hurt the league’s image.

Assuming some of the loons do follow Finebaum to ESPN and the SEC Network, the stereotype of dumb, redneck Southerners will be amplified outside the SEC footprint.  Both ESPN and the SEC have said that they want the SEC Network to get into as many homes nationally as ESPNU.  That’s a lot of homes.  In a lot of places.  All pointing and laughing at the insane followers of the SEC who will dial up Finebaum’s show.

Read the rest of this entry »

Receiver prospect Cordell Broadus has a snared himself a new scholarship offer to go along with previous offers from California, Duke, Oregon State, Southern Cal, UCLA, Washington and Tennessee.  LSU is the latest school to put an offer on the table.

So why is this story on our homepage and not just on the recruiting page?

Because you might have heard of Broadus’ father — Snoop Lion.  Though you might know him better by his pre-Rastafarian name — Snoop Dogg.  And Snoop Dogg’s ties to LSU and its coach might help the Tigers’ chances in the race for Broadus.

The rap star is a massive sports fan and has backed a number of colleges over the years with Southern Cal’s and LSU’s jerseys being among his favorites to wear in public.  At one time he also had a house in Baton Rouge.  And in 2008, he popped up with Les Miles at a Rotary Club meeting, prompting Miles to say: “I defend his music and am much more a fan of the person.”

Snoop Dogg, er Lion said he showed up at the event (pictured below) “to give my love and support to Coach Miles.”

At the moment, Broadus seems to be more wowed by Southern Cal’s offer, having grown up a Trojan fan.

Still, Miles’ friendship (?) with the junior-to-be’s father can’t hurt LSU’s chances.

After Tyrann Mathieu’s alleged admission that he failed double-digit drug tests for weed while in Baton Rouge, we’ll let you insert your own joke about the Tigers now chasing the son of a tried and true Rastafarian.

In the words of Broadus’ father: bow wow wow yippee yo yippie yay.

Nick Saban knows a little something about defending national championships.

He’s done so three times already and this season will be his fourth try at it.  (Though he would say with a brand new team, there’s no “defending” anything.)  After the first two BCS crowns he won (LSU 2003, Alabama 2009) his teams failed to recapture the magic the following season.  His 2011 title-winning squad, however, gave way to another national champion in 2012.

The trick to reaching the top of the mountain again?  Starting from scratch.  Saban knows it and consistently tries to get his players to understand it.  Yesterday, he said the same to a group of Alabama fans at a booster event:

“Michael Jordan’s old statement is: No matter how many game-winning shots you’ve made in the past, the only one that matters is the next one.  Well, that’s all that matters to us…

I think we’re still trying to find ourselves and find an identity as a team, which every team has to go through as you re-invent yourself.  So we’ll see how that goes over the summer.”

If Alabama could win yet another BCS title this season, it would be Saban’s fifth national crown and the Tide’s fourth in five years.  At that point you go from talking about “historically great” to “legendarily great.”

So what can a blues legend do with a legendary trucker song?  He can turn it into a funked up rocker that sounds just as slick today as it did upon its release 45 years ago.

Everyone’s got a favorite artist and when it comes to the blues, I’m a Taj Mahal man.  Not the building, the man.  And if you’ve never heard the work of the man named Taj Mahal, check out his pulse-quickening version of “Six Days On The Road.”  Everything about it — from the guitars to the vocal delivery — is dead-on perfect.

If you think you know the song without ever hearing this version… you don’t know the song.

“Got my air hose runnin’ clear, baby, you ought to watch the way I shift my gears.”

SEC Football

1. Les Miles bid to end permanent opposite-division rivals finds a backer in Matt Hayes: “Auburn, LSU and Florida are impacted most by the SEC’s standing scheduling rule of one permanent opponent from the opposite division.”

2. Seven Auburn signees have arrived on campus and enrolled in school.  Remaining 13 signees expected to enroll over the summer

3. Auburn fullback Jay Prosch is 6-foot, 259 pounds and has 5.9 percent body fat.

4. Prosch makes Bruce Feldman’s annual “Freak List”.  No. 1? South Carolina’s Jadeveon Clowney.

5. Incoming Georgia freshman Shaun McGee on saying no to Nick Saban: “Anything he says to you, you’re kind of in awe because you’re like ‘Man, this is a really powerful guy.’ He was really hard to say ‘no’ to.”

6. Why sophomore kicker Marshall Morgan is one Georgia’s ten most important players this season.

7. What kind of impact can Ole Miss expect from senior offensive tackle Derrick Wilson.

SEC/College News

8. Longtime Vanderbilt booster John Rich dead at the age of 85.

9. Assessment of Tennessee A.D. Dave Hart: So far, so good.

10. Paul Finebaum headed to Charlotte to join ESPN.

11. Appeals court revives lawsuit by former Rutgers football player against video game maker Electronic Arts.

SEC Basketball

12. Vanderbilt A.D. David Williams asked about coach Kevin Stallings reportedly blocking Sheldon Jeter from transferring to Pittsburgh.  ”We, as an administrative body, stay out of the middle of that. I don’t investigate that. I don’t ask about it.”

13. LSU assistant coach Robert Kirby has resigned to take a similar job at Memphis.  Kirby had spent one-year at LSU, bulk of his career at Mississippi State.

Extras

14. “Joebots” trying to drive Bill O’Brien out of Penn State?

15. Memphis the favorite to host conference tournament for new AAC conference.

16. Hotdog, popcorn, or a glass of Merlot? University of Toledo wants to add beer and wine to its concession stand menu.

Scott Pioli made a name for himself in the NFL – first as V.P of player personnel for the New England Patriots and then as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs.  While at New England, the Patriots did battle with Nick Saban’s Miami Dolphins.  Now Pioli is defending a former NFL rival and current Alabama coach.

Speaking to Mike Florio, Pioli was asked about his reaction to former Dolphins assistant Tim Davis calling Saban “the devil.”

“I’ve got to be honest, I was terribly disappointed. You know, I know Nick Saban, I’ve worked with Nick Saban for a number of years back in Cleveland.  First of all, I didn’t like it for Nick.  I know Nick is a tremendous coach and he’s a tough worker and he’s a tough boss but I know a lot of people who are tough bosses.

“I’ll say this about Nick, though:  I think he’s tough but he’s fair. He doesn’t ask anything of people that he hasn’t done himself or that he won’t do himself.”

Davis not only worked with Saban at Miami but also took a job under Saban at Alabama and that really got Pioli fired up.

“[Davis] spends a year out of football, can’t get a job, Nick creates a position at the University of Alabama to help a guy who’s been unemployed he shows his loyalty to the guy, brings him in, creates a position, pays him. This guy made the choice to come work for Nick and now a couple years later, he’s bashing a guy who really helped him… I just don’t understand the mentality of people who are given opportunities, they seize the opportunity, they get paid, and then some time in the future they start to air dirty laundry or their hard feelings toward someone. I just don’t understand why people can’t keep their mouths shut and move on.  So, to me, it’s one of these trends in sports that I see, that I just, truly disappoint me.”

And round and round we go.  We’ll see if this latest salvo sets off any more reactions or draws a comment or apology from Davis, who is now Florida’s offensive line coach.  Saban last week called the comments “terribly disappointing.”

If you’re a fan of the blues then you have to know the names Robert Johnson and Elmore James.  And if you know the names Johnson and James, you likely also know the song “Dust My Broom.”

Johnson — the legendary bluesman who supposedly sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroads in exchange for guitar lessons — wrote and performed the original version of the song in 1936.  Fifteen years later in 1951, James released an updated version featuring his electric slide guitar and some re-worked lyrics.

Blues aficionados often debate which of the two versions is best.  According to the MrSEC iPod, it’s James’ electrified track.

“No, I don’t want no woman want every downtown man she meets.”

Over the weekend it was learned that Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy was blocking quarterback Wes Lunt from transferring to Southern Miss, Central Michigan, Pac-12 schools, SEC schools, any schools whose names end in R or start with Q, etc.

Yesterday, we wrote that it was time for the NCAA to create a uniform transfer policy that — for the most part — would take the power from coaches’ hands in such situations.

Now, a day later, there’s yet another such situation.  This time Vanderbilt hoops coach Kevin Stallings is reportedly blocking sophomore-to-be Sheldon Jeter from transferring to Pittsburgh.  Jeter is a native of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.  Over the weekend, Stallings had said: “Sheldon has indicated that he’d like to play closer to home and we wish him the best.”

Not sure about your take, but Pittsburgh would indeed seem closer to Beaver Falls than Nashville.

According to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, however, Stallings — for an unknown reason — has decided to place a black-and-gold roadblock between Jeter and Pitt.  One would guess that Stallings feels someone in the Steel City has tampered with his ex-player.

If Jeter still wants to attend Pitt, he can transfer there and pay tuition for his first year or he can appeal Stallings’ decision to the Vandy athletic department (though it’s doubtful the Commodore brass with take the ex-player’s side over the current coach’s).

The irony here is that Vanderbilt was one of the schools OSU’s Gundy scratched from Lunt’s list of options.  Round and round we go.

Offense or defense?

Running or passing?

We wanted to know which statistics provided a more accurate gauge of overall success during the 2012 SEC football season.  When talking about the SEC, defense is usually the first word out of the mouth of any coach, fan or pundit.  Should it be?

From looking at six key (yet simple) statistics, the answer is yes.

Yesterday, we found that passing defense (opponents’ yards-per-pass-attempt) was more closely related to SEC wins and losses than passing offense (yards-per-pass-attempt).

This morning, we found that rushing defense (opponents’ yards-per-carry) was more closely tied to SEC wins and losses than rushing offense (yards-per-carry).

Now, we’ll compare the yards-per-play numbers of each school on offense and on defense (opponents’ yards-per-play).  Which statistic do you think served as a more accurate predictor of gridiron success?

2012 SEC Total Offense / Yards-Per-Play

The top three teams in this category all finished with six of more SEC wins.  Also, the two SEC squads that went winless in 2012 ranked at the bottom of this chart.  Obviously, offensive ability matters.

It just doesn’t matter as much as team’s defensive ability.  Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Florida and LSU all ranked in the bottom half of the SEC in yards-per-play on offense yet those four teams went a combined 24-8 in league play last year.  Meanwhile, Tennessee, MSU, Arkansas and Ole Miss all finished in the top half of the league in this measure while compiling a combined record of 10-22.

If our previous conclusions hold water, teams’ overall defensive rankings (opponents’ yards-per-play) should be the most telling of the six statistics we’ve broken down.

2012 SEC Total Defense / Opponents’ Yards-Per-Play

How’s that for lining up correctly?

The seven SEC squads with winning league marks in 2012 all ranked in the top half of the conference in yards-per-play allowed.  Those teams totaled a combined record of 44-12.  The seven squads with SEC winning percentages of .500 or lower all ranked in the bottom seven of the league in this category.  Those teams finished the year 12-44.

To take things even further, the top four teams in this category (Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and LSU) went 26-6 in the SEC in 2012.  The six teams that ranked in the middle (Vanderbilt, Georgia, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Missouri and MSU) went 27-21 combined.  And the four teams that the bottom of the table?  Kentucky, Arkansas, Auburn and Tennessee finished a combined 3-29 on the season.

We wanted to know if defense really did trump offense in the Southeastern Conference last year.  The numbers say it did.  Whether it’s rushing defense, passing defense, or total defense, SEC wins and losses are still most often determined by strength on defense, not on offense.