When ESPN did their ridiculous mid-Summer series on America’s “Titletown,” I knew that it was simply an effort to drive up ratings in a downtime of the sports year. 

When they declared Valdosta, Georgia (huh?) as Titletown, I laughed out loud and threw something at my television.  Well, in my mind I did.

Like it or not, people, Titletown, USA is either Boston with all of its recent successes… or Gainesville, Florida.  And Gainesville’s successes are more recent, so UF’s hometown would get my vote.

The Gators have now won two national championships in football in the last three years… to go along with two national championships in basketball in the last three years.

As Urban Meyer said after lifting the crystal football last night, Florida SHOULD be able to compete for championships. 

But until the Gator athletic department brought in guys like Steve Spurrier, Billy Donovan and Meyer, they never had.

Now it’s hard to imagine a day when they won’t be competing for national titles.  And they’re doing it in what’s usually the toughest conference in America.

Eventually, other programs will catch up.  Every school goes through dips.

But for now, the SEC is Florida’s world and everyone else is just living in it.  Even if that turns your stomach to read it.

Here are six random thoughts I had while watching the Gators’ 24-14 win over Oklahoma last night:

(more…)

It’s D-Day for Florida, Oklahoma and college football fans everywhere.

For Florida and Oklahoma because they play in the BCS Championship Game tonight.

For everyone else because today’s the day when the BCS set-up is most easily compared to a playoff plan.  And that seems to be what a LOT of sportswriters are talking about today.

Cecil Hurt of The Tuscaloosa News writes that once again, the BCS will leave us with controversy at the end of the college football season.  At least four teams can claim a piece of the national title this season.  Four!

Kevin Scarbinsky of The Birmingham News hopes that Kyle Whittingham, Mack Brown and Pete Carroll tell the BCS to stick it and vote their own squads #1 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

As Geoff Calkins of The Memphis Commercial-Appeal puts it, tonight’s game is “for some of the marbles,” it’s “for half the enchilada,” “the kit but not the caboodle.”



And finally, Bill James, the math geek turned baseball genius who created sabermetrics, is calling for a boycott of the Bowl Championship Series.

Why?

1)  There is a profound lack of conceptual clarity about the goals of the method.

2)  That there is no genuine interest here in using statistical analysis to figure out how the teams compare with one another.  The real purpose is to create some gobbledygook math to endorse the coaches’ and sportswriters’ vote.  (True, except sportswriters’ votes no longer count.)

3)  That the ground rules of the calculations are irrational and prevent the statisticians from making any meaningful contribution.

4)  That the existence of this system has the purpose of justifying a few rich conferences in hijacking the search for a national title, avoiding a postseason tournament that would be preferred by the overwhelming majority of fans.  (Ding, ding, ding… we have a winner!)

James goes on to provide some solutions, which you can read more about right here.

Here’s what you don’t want to miss from the SEC’s West Division today:

MSU:  After tonight’s game, Dan Mullen the Florida offensive coordinator hopes to be celebrating.  Then tomorrow, Mississippi State’s new head coach will be back in Starkville to meet with his new team.

MSU:  While Mullen works double-duty for one last game, State has announced that eight new players are enrolling this week… including six juco transfers.

MSU:  Kyle Veazey of The Jackson Clarion-Ledger does an excellent job of trying to assign a dollar value to the mentions that State will get tonight whenever new coach Dan Mullen is shown on television.  Interesting angle.

UM:  With the Rebels’ season practically destroyed by knee injuries to Eniel Polynice, Trevor Gaskins and Chris Warren, Andy Kennedy is still searching for a second scoring threat to go along with David Huertas.

LSU:  The hiring of Ron Cooper as secondary coach is now official.  And Cooper sounds thrilled to be in a football hotbed (as opposed to Columbia):  “When I got here and they showed me around, I realized that there’s an atmosphere and attitude about this program that makes great things possible to achieve.  It didn’t take me long at all to see this is a special place.”

Ark:  John Pelphrey has lit a fire under his Razorbacks and their fans.

Ark:  That fire has led to a better non-conference record than even Pelphrey imagined.  “I never thought we’d be 12-1, just being very honest.”

AU:  “When I think of Auburn, I think of physical football — tough and hard-nosed”  That’s they way new defensive coordinator Ted Roof summed up his views of what Auburn’s been… what he wants Auburn to be.  He also feels that Auburn is “a great product to sell.”

AU:  Tigers fans were probably very happy to see Gus Malzahn’s Tulsa offense cut through Ball State in the GMAC Bowl this week.  Of course, they probably liked the looks of Tony Frankin’s spread at Troy, too.

AU:  The new hires have Auburn fans (and sportswriters) singing a different tune about the Tigers’ new head coach.  Some have even started calling Chizik, “The General,” for some reason.  (How long before a Tennessee fan brings suit?  Wait, it’s Bama folks that do the lawsuit thing, isn’t it?)

Bama:  The Crimson Tide football team got three new members yesterday via early enrollment.

The SEC is in trouble in terms of basketball. 

Half of the teams in the league are ranked below 100 in the latest RPI ratings.

With the exception of Tennessee’s wins over Georgetown and Marquette and Arkansas’ wins over Texas and Oklahoma, there just aren’t many big positives for the league so far.

And that will probably be bad news for March.

Seth Emerson of The State in Columbia looks at what experts from Jerry Palm to Joe Lunardi are saying about the SEC’s post-season hopes in his latest column.

It’s a solid overview of the conference was league play is about to get under way.

UPDATE — Kyle Veazey of The Jackson Clarion-Ledger gets the take of some league coaches on whether or not things are down from past years.  The answer?  Absolutely.

Urban Meyer says he has no problem with the coaches at Utah, Texas and Southern Cal lobbying for their schools to receive a piece of college football’s still mythical national championship.

“That’s absolutely what they should do,” Meyer said.  “I’ve got news: I’m representing the University of Florida, and I’m an employee of the University of Florida and I represent my players, most of all I’m going to fight like a dog to take care of them.”

Good for him.  He’ll make his case for UF without dousing the cases of other coaches who feel they are just as deserving.

Kudos to Meyer.

He also said that he thinks a playoff may someday become a reality.

“I think at some point in time it might happen.  I didn’t believe that a few years ago, but I feel now the discussion is out of control.  I can’t imagine any guy that enjoys football not discussing that wherever he’s at.  So I imagine at some point that might happen now.”

I’d like to think so, too, but the money just doesn’t add up for the 65 or so big money schools in BCS conferences.  They control 90% of the bowl money and it’s not financially smart for them to split up the revenue into smaller pieces.  (As much as I hate to write that).

As we wrote in our “Why there won’t be a playoff” piece a couple of weeks ago, if a playoff does someday come, it will be driven by the smaller schools banding together to push litigation or legislation that forces it.

And that’s just what Utah’s state attorney general is toying with.  With the Utes finishing as the nation’s only undefeated team but OUT of the BCS title game, Mark Shurtleff is investigating whether or not the BCS violates federal antitrust laws.

This is the kind of thing that can work, even if it seems silly and is basically a waste of taxpayer dollars.  But he’ll need politicos from states like Idaho, Hawaii, Nevada, etc to join him in pushing the proverbial envelope.

As you might have read/heard elsewhere, Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo has fired head coach Jeff Jagodzinski for interviewing with the New York Jets last night.

According to sources, DeFilippo believes Jagodzinski was “disloyal” when he scheduled the interview for the NYJ head coaching job before speaking with him.

That is a legitimate issue.  “Jags,” as DeFilippo calls him, should have given his boss a heads-up.

But firing a coach because he interviewed elsewhere is a bit over the top if you ask me.

I’ve heard numerous talking heads say that Jagodzinski should have been fired, that he wasn’t living up to the spirit of the contract he signed just two years ago.

There’s only one problem with that point of view: it’s wrong.

If Jagodzinski had left BC for the Jets there would most certainly have been a buy-out clause in the contract.  If he paid that buy-out, then he’d have fulfilled the contract… just as he would have by coaching out the length of the deal.

Look, I like the idea of an Ed Orgeron sticking to his commitment to Lane Kiffin and Tennessee in spite of a larger offer from Les Miles and LSU.  It shows that a man wants to live up to his commitments.

But if Southern Cal were to offer Orgeron $1.5 million (just blowing smoke here) and a head-coach-in-waiting deal (would NEVER happen), who could blame Orgeron for forwarding his boxes from Knoxville to LA?

And the same goes for Jagodzinski.  The American system is set up so people can freely choose where they want to work.

The New York Jets would pay him more per year than BC was.  Those kinds of dollars can change the way a family lives.  That kind of money can change the world for future generations of little Jagodzinskis. 

The man would be crazy NOT to have talked to the Jets.

So for DeFilippo to insist that his coach not interview is too much for me.  Dare I say… it’s un-American?

If DeFilippo doesn’t want his coaches to ever interview for other jobs, he should write that into the next guy’s contract.  Otherwise, if the guy leaves and pays his buy-out, he IS living up to the contract and to his commitment to BC.

Circumstances change in life.  Not everything is cut and dried — even if we wish it were — and DeFilippo (and other ADs and coaches) needs to remember that.

There’s not much I can add to this story, so I’ll just link you right to an excellent piece by Paul Newberry of The Associated Press.

You might not like Mr. Newberry’s description of the SEC as “the league everyone else loves to hate,” but it’s still a pretty interesting read.

“Gridiron Supremacy?  Look No Further Than SEC.”

Joe Lunardi has posted his first “Bracketology” report of the season over on ESPN.com and I guess that means we can now accurately predict how the NCAA tourney field will shape up.

Oh, of course we can’t… and neither can Joe Lunardi.

But here’s his version of the bracket if the tournament field were to be selected this week.

Just want to know which SEC teams made it and where, look no further:

Kentucky got the 11th seed in the Midwest (Indianapolis) playing 6th seed Marquette in Miami.  (UK is also one of the last four teams to get in, according to Mr. Lunardi.)

Florida got the 8th seed in the West (Phoenix) playing 9th seed Illinois State in Kansas City.

Tennessee got the 7th seed in the South (Memphis) playing 10th seed Boston College in Philadelphia.

And that, my friends, is that.  Just three SEC teams have played their way into Mr. Lunardi’s field so far.

(Keep in mind, this was posted before Arkansas’ win over Texas last night.)

Here are the top stories, blurbs and links from across the SEC West today:

Bama:  Alabama looked good early, but struggled late as Clemson pulled away to a 66-59 win on their home floor last night. 

Bama:  Ronald Steele didn’t find the loss to the 12th ranked Tigers all bad.  “We’re encouraged by this.  But every game, we just hit a point where we let down a little bit.  We need to find a way to play solid the entire game.”

Bama:  Clemson owes Alabama $72,000 for stealing away Kevin Steele from the Tide.

AU:  After building up his offensive coaching staff, Gene Chizik has hired Ted Roof to oversee his defensive staff as his defensive coordinator.  Roof comes to The Plains after a one-year stint at Minnesota, following a head coaching position at Duke.  Another solid hire for Chizik.

AU:  Even Paul Finebaum of The Mobile Press-Register writes: “Perhaps we better put a hold on that obit for Gene Chizik, after all.”

AU:  One player who’ll never play a snap under Chizik is cornerback Jerraud Powers.  He joins defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks in leaving Auburn early for the NFL’s riches.  (Or what they hope will be NFL riches.)

AU:  On the basketball front, Jeff Lebo needs to win and win now.

LSU:  “It was an old fashioned butt-whipping.”  That’s how Trent Johnson described his team’s 91-61 blowout loss at Utah last night.  Turns out, the Tigers didn’t have much of an answer for 7′2 Luke Nevill after all.

UM:  Chancellor Robert Khayat has announced that he will be retiring at the end of June.  When you look at the support and backing he’s given to projects involving Mississippi’s athletic facilities, that should be sad news for Rebel fans.

“From the first time I met him, it was obvious that the chancellor was a man who had a vision,” said Rebel basketball coach (and alleged cabbie-puncher) Andy Kennedy.

UM:  Houston Nutt got a $50,000 bonus for getting Ole Miss to the Cotton Bowl.  I’m sure that means a lot to a man who now makes $2.5 million per year.  Nothing like a little pocket change.

MSU:  Rick Stansbury says his team is as confident as can be heading into SEC play, having finally adjusted to the four-guard line-up he introduced in December.

MSU:  Ravern Johnson, who poured in 26 points against Western Kentucky on Monday, is one of the guys helping to build the Dogs’ confidence.

Some news, notes and scuttlebutt on the Tennessee salary situation everyone is talking about, on the end of Steve Spurrier’s honeymoon at South Carolina, and on Urban Meyer’s views on undefeated teams.

Tennessee’s salary pool won’t reach $6 million

By the time Lane Kiffin completes his football staff, Tennessee will be the nation’s pace setter for assistant coaches’ salaries.

But the total amount paid to the football staff - including the head coach - will rank between third and fifth in the SEC, according to Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton, who I spoke with this week. (more…)

Everyone’s always so willing to run to extremes.

Auburn has hired four black assistants in the past few weeks and now a lot of media folks want to say, “see there’s no such thing as racism in college football.”

The real issue, as mentioned earlier today, is the lack of black HEAD coaches, of course.

And while a writer that I really like — Kevin Scarbinsky of The Birmingham News — sees Gene Chizik’s diverse hires as a reason to fire a shot at Charles Barkley, there’s a serious piece to this story that’s been forgotten.

While discussing the Barkley claims on ESPN.com, Mark Schlabach revealed that two SEC football coaches told him prior to Chizik’s hiring that Turner Gill would never get the Auburn job because he is married to a white woman.

So let’s throw the lightning rod Barkley out of the discussion.  Schlabach is pretty well respected among media types.  What about his claims?

Can they be disspelled because Chizik has hired four black assistants? 



Surely I’m not the first person to think that:

1) Auburn took a beating in the press (overblown as it was, if you ask me)

2) the school was basically called a racist institution by one of its most famous alums

3) that might not be too much of a help in recruiting black athletes

and 4) the best way to prove that the school is not racist is to hire black assistants to appeal to black players.

Well, now Mr. Schlabach’s revelations are being backed by a black coach who’s come out and said that he believes race is still a factor in hires and that his white wife is a drawback when it comes to landing a head coaching job.

That coach?  Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong. 

The guy is certainly qualified to move up.  He’s coached under national title-winners Steve Spurrier, Lou Holtz and Urban Meyer.

He’s at the right school, too.  Coach for a winner and usually you go to the top of the coaching list.  See: Dan Mullen, UF offensive coordinator who just got his first head coaching gig.  And he was able to stay in the SEC to get it.

According to Strong, he was passed over for a head coaching job at a Southern university in recent years.  (Not to mention the fact that no one came after him this year, though his young defense is a big reason UF is in the national title game.)

“Everybody always said I didn’t get that job because my wife is white,” Strong said yesterday.  “If you think about it, a coach is standing up there representing the university.  If you’re not strong enough to look through that (interracial marriage), then you have an issue.”

He went on to say that his wife “makes no calls and she plays no defense.”



There are some who say that flat-out overt racism is the reason that there are only seven black head coaches at 119 FBS schools.

Others would have you believe that racism is a thing of the past and has nothing to do with this.

Like most things in life, I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle.  And this issue won’t be going away until both of the above groups admit that there IS a problem, but it’s not as pure as “all whites hate all blacks.”

Until folks start to admit that, I can borrow only from Seinfeld.

Tony Barnhart of the AJC shares with us thoughts on five different SEC topics today… and here they are:



1)  The decisions by Rodney Garner and Stacy Searels to stay at Georgia tell you volumes about Mark Richt.
 
Mr. Barnhart goes so far as to tell unhappy fans who claim Richt is too much of a goody-goody to battle Urban Meyer and Nick Saban that “you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”



2)  It’s time to give Gene Chizik some credit for his hires.

Mr. Barnhart particularly likes the hire of Trooper Taylor and the fact that Chizik is hiring a diverse staff.  You can check my views on this subject right here.



3)  Tennessee will have the highest paid staff in college football.

You heard that right on this site back in late November.  Mr. Barnhart seems to think that Tennessee is way overpaying for their staff… and they might be, but their overall coaching salaries (including the head coach) will rank in the upper-middle of the conference.

Tennessee is simply slicing up the pie differently than their conference brethren. 



4)  If Florida beats Oklahoma, they won’t have to worry about sharing the national title with Texas… who had to come from behind to win in the last seconds against Ohio State.



5)  Tim Tebow’s comments are a non-issue.  Ditto for the comments from Oklahoma that are being overblown by a crazed media.

Here are the links and top stories from the SEC’s West Division on this Tuesday morning:

AU:  The big talk on The Plains is offense these days.  Guz Malzahn’s super-sonic spread is all the rage.  According to his quarterback at Tulsa, Tiger fans had better get ready to see a lot of speed.  “Everything we do is fast.”  Yep, sounds like a “smashmouth” offense to me.

AU:  Chizik’s latest hire is Trooper Taylor from Oklahoma State.  Taylor will be Auburn’s receivers coach and assistant head coach.  Taylor developed the reputation as one of the SEC’s best recruiters when he coached at Tennessee earlier this decade.  Rivals.com named him one of the nation’s Top 25 recruiters in 2005 and 2007.

Bama:  Kevin Steele — Alabama’s defensive head coach, but not their defensive coordinator — has accepted Clemson’s offer to become the Tigers’ defensive coordinator.  As we told you last week, Steels is a South Carolina native.

Bama:  The Tide’s basketball team isn’t off to the start they’d hoped (RPI-wise), but  a win over 12th ranked Clemson on the road tonight could cure a lot of ills.

Bama:  Ronald Steele, who called last year’s 87-61 home loss to the Tigers “embarrassing,” will be looking to even the score.

LSU:  Les Miles made the hiring of defensive coordinator John Chavis official yesterday.  “Obviously, he’s pursued excellence his entire career,” Miles said.  “He had a great defense this year with a team that was not a successful team, and that speaks to great morale.  It speaks to a team that is playing defense just to play defense.”

“I need someone who understands and knows what to expect, what we’re comfortable with in the type of defense we run here.  I want great defense.”  While considered an expert as an SEC coordinator, Chavis was not a key recruiter for Tennessee in recent years.  The move to a more fertile recruiting base like Louisiana should help make up for any shortcomings.

LSU:  Joining Chavis will be former South Carolina assistant Ron Cooper (coaching LSU’s secondary) and Brick Haley (who played for Chavis at Alabama A&M).  Haley will handle defensive line duties after years spent with the Chicago Bears, Mississippi State, Georgia Tech, Baylor, Clemson, Houston, Troy and Austin Peay.  Move much?

LSU:  6′6 guard Terry Martin will be back on the court when LSU battles Utah in Salt Lake City tonight.  Martin has been serving a four-game suspension.  His return is a positive, but I’m not sure just how much help he’ll be against Utah’s 7′2 center, Luke Nevill.

Ark:  John Pelphrey was happy with his team’s win over Oklahoma last week, but he sees Texas (tonight’s opponent, you can see it on ESPN2) as “a different animal.”  “In my personal opinion, I just think Texas is deeper, there more of them up front, they’re longer.”

Ark:  Whether Oklahoma underestimated Arkansas or not, you can bet that Texas won’t.

Ark:  On thing to watch tonight will be the battle between a pair of schoolyard buddies.  Freshman guards Varez Ward (Texas) and Courtney Fortson (Arkansas) were teammate through much of their youth.  Tonight they’ll step on the floor in different jerseys for the first time since they were in the seventh grade.

MSU:  Now THAT’s how you wrap up your non-conference schedule.  Rick Stansbury’s team Stansburied Western Kentucky 95-67 last night nailing a school record 14 three-pointers.  The Bulldogs are 10-5 heading into Saturday’s SEC opener with Arkansas.

MSU:  While things are on a positive tip for the Dogs right now, the same can’t be said for sophomore forward Kodi Augustus.  After playing early in the season, Augustus has disappeared from the rotation.  His coach won’t say anything more than “coach’s decision” and the young man is no longer available to the media.  Hmmm.

UM:  If Ole Miss wants to pull off a huge upset at Florida on Saturday, they’ll need to find another scorer to go along with David Huertas (20.1 ppg).

Many of the good folks down in Alabama have probably heard a whole lot of what I’m about to relate, but for those people around the SEC who are wondering what exactly went down with Andre Smith… here’s a thumbnail breakdown.

As you know, early in Sugar Bowl week, Nick Saban suspended his left tackle (who is also his best player) for concerns that he’d been in contact with agents.

Saban would not go into detail, only saying that the move was institutional and not an NCAA concern.

Smith has been mum for the most part. 

His attorney has said that the young man did not talk to any agents.

What his attorney didn’t say was that “no one from Smith’s family has spoken with any agents.”  That’s the rub according to sources who keep a watchful eye on the Bama program.

It is believed by many that one of Smith’s relatives, possibly an uncle who likes to think of himself as a pseudo-agent, contacted a number of possible representatives for Smith after the Auburn game.

The agents made their pitches to this family member.  That’s all fine and clear.  NCAA problems arise when papers get signed… not from talking.

It’s not believed that Smith, himself, spoke with any of the agents or that he signed any documents.

However, when his family chose an agent (or led the agents to believe a choice had been made), one of the agents who wasn’t chosen contacted Alabama and blew the whistle on what the family member was up to.

And that’s when Alabama got spooked. 

Remember back to the Antonio Langham case.  Langham signed a napkin during a Sugar Bowl trip in 1992 promising to deal with a specific agent when he turned pro.

In 1993, he played the entire season for the Tide.  Alabama football hasn’t been the same since. 

The Tide was forced to forfeit all of their victories in ‘93 and that one probation led to a spiral of mess-ups, screw-ups and cheat-ups.  The Langham situation brought more scrutiny to how the Tide did their football business… and that’s when the other stuff was exposed.

So, a decade-and-a-half later, Bama is finally back in the Sugar Bowl and they get word that their best player has some connection (through family) to agents.

Nothing was signed.  No money changed hands.  No gifts (we think) were received.

It was NOT necessary for Alabama to suspend Smith.  However, with the Langham situation in mind… like a frightening scarecrow warning them off… the Tide administration pulled a Barney Fife and nipped things in the bud.

Saban went along with the University’s decision and that was that.

Bama went on to lose big to Utah with John Parker Wilson getting pounded into the turf eight times.  In fact, Smith missed two games this past season and in those two games, Alabama gave up half their sacks for the year.

The loss could serve as a motivating factor for the Tide, however.  “Unfinished business” will be the new battle cry. 

And you can bet that Alabama players (and their families) will think twice about speaking with agents in the future.

The Alabama state attorney general is still looking into the case from a legal perspective.  Former Miami running back Melvin Bratton is the agent most rumored to be at the center of the investigation. 

Bama’s loss to Utah won’t help his situation, you wouldn’t think.

We’ll keep you updated as more develops, but I thought a solid little summary of the situation was in order at this point.

You can read the full predictions by clicking here, but this is the list of five predictions ESPN.com’s Chris Low has made for the 2009 SEC football season:

1)  Tim Tebow will come back

2)  The breakthrough team in 2009 will be Ole Miss

3)  Julio Jones and AJ Green will become the top receivers in the country

4)  Steve Spurrier will walk away from Carolina after next season

5)  LSU will get back to their attacking style of defense

Not to go all “Match Game” on you, but the SEC is sooooo bad, the league doesn’t even have a team ranked in top blank of the RPI.

If you said “top 20,” you’d be right.

There are a number of different wannabe RPI rankings out there… none are the official “double secret” NCAA RPI rankings, but many of them come close.

One is provided by RealTimeRPI.com.  In it, things look pretty bleak for the SEC right now:

Tennessee is the league’s toughest team and they’re only ranked #21 in this morning’s listings.

Here’s the full rundown:

21.  Tennessee
45.  Florida
66.  Arkansas
75.  Kentucky
76.  Vanderbilt
84.  Ole Miss
100.  Auburn
106.  South Carolina
118.  LSU
181.  Mississippi State
198.  Alabama
217.  Georgia

Don’t expect those RPI rankings to climb too much when conference play begins.  You don’t raise your rating by beating bad clubs… and that’s what the SEC is currently full of.

Perhaps the SEC will get the benefit of the doubt in March, but I wouldn’t bank on it.  This looks like a four-bid league to me right now.

Tony Barnhart of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution understands just how whacky the current bowl system is.  Today he writes that by week’s end no less than FOUR TEAMS can lay claim to a piece of the 2008 national championship:

The Oklahoma/Florida winner, Texas, Southern Cal and Utah can all make compelling cases.

And before you go mocking Utah, take a look at their resume (and what they’ve done in recent years).

David Climer of The Tennessean did… and he’s giving the Utes his backing for #1.

Here are the big stories and top links for this Monday morning in the SEC West:

Folks in Alabama have already turned their eyes toward the fall of ‘09.  Following the Tide’s Sugar Bowl loss to Utah, the team will certainly have motivation.  Bama supposedly has a stable of capable quarterbacks to go with that motivation… but you saw how new quarterbacks did in the SEC this year. 

Left tackle Andre Smith, suspended from the Sugar Bowl, is indeed heading to the NFL, but his lawyer says he’s made no contact with a sports agent.  Alabama and the NCAA say there was no violation of an NCAA rule.  Smith’s agent says that should be proof that his client didn’t speak with an agent.  So what happened that led Nick Saban to suspend Smith?

Ray Melick of The Birmingham News writes something that I completely agree with today: bowl games don’t “prove” very much, they’re exhibition games played a month after the season, and half the match-ups are fruity.  Good column… you should read it.

Gene Chizik is filling out his coaching staff… and Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State probably isn’t too happy about it.  Not only has Chizik added former Iowa State assistant Jay Boulware (special teams) to his staff, he’s also hired Curtis Luper (running backs) from Oklahoma State and is wooing OSU’s Trooper Taylor, too.

Luper said he’s working hard to recruit Taylor to The Plains.  “He’s a phenomenal man.  He’s a great recruiter, great coach, great person, I could go on and on.”

John Pelphrey has been named The Northwest Arkansas Times’ Men’s Collegiate Coach of the Year.  That ranks just below the Nobel prize and the Oscar in terms of awards and honors.  Why did Pelphrey win?  He’s bringing passion back to Razorback hoops.

Indeed Hog fans are loving their team’s blue-collar work ethic.  Whether diving for loose balls will be enough to upset #8 Texas is anyone’s guess.  After seeing what the young Razorbacks did to Oklahoma, Texas’ Rick Barnes is taking UA seriously.

Garrett Temple and the LSU Tigers took their defense to new heights on Saturday night.  Against Southeastern Louisiana.  Baby steps, I guess.  Baby steps.

Ole Miss is hoping to build off of a Cotton Bowl win, a Top 15 ranking and a 9-4 record next year.  But with key losses across the board, Houston Nutt will have to do some solid recruiting in the next month.

Mississippi State’s 17-point win over Houston this weekend was a step in the right direction.  A win over Western Kentucky tonight would also help to boost the Bulldogs’ current RPI which is hovering way down in the 180s.

MSU’s RPI hole is so deep — and the SEC is so down — that Kyle Veazey of The Jackson Clarion Ledger is already thinking an SEC Tournament title might be MSU’s best shot at the NCAA tourney in March.

While I’m still putting together notes from SEC points East and West, I thought I’d link you to an interesting story by Stewart Mandel over at SI.com.

A couple of weeks ago, much to my chagrin, I penned a piece explaining why I don’t think we’ll be able to reach a playoff for college football anytime soon.

Unfortunately, money seems to be in the way.

But the following is at least a little positive for playoff fans: the tv ratings for the three BCS bowls played so far are way down overall.

The Orange Bowl drew only a 6.1 rating for Cincinnati and Virginia Tech.  That’s a new low for a BCS bowl.  The Champs Sports Bowl (Florida State vs. Wisconsin) drew a similar audience.

The Sugar Bowl between Alabama and Utah did just a 7.8 rating.  That’s an increase over Georgia/Hawaii last year, but still very low.

The Rose Bowl did it’s usual 12ish rating.

The drop in ratings ties directly to the creation of a fifth BCS game (the BCS Championship Game was taken out of a bowl and made its own game) in order to appease the small, non-BCS conference schools who were threatening legal action.

Will falling ratings lead to a playoff?  Not anytime soon.  ESPN has already spent $500 million on the BCS package for four upcoming years… so the decline in ratings (and ad revenue) is their problem.

But if the BCS ratings continue to drop — for ALL the BCS bowls — then you might seen a monetary advantage in moving from the bowl system to a playoff system.

Just don’t count it.  I’m guessing the ratings for the BCS’ big games (OSU/Texas, USC/Penn State, and Florida/Oklahoma this year) will continue to do well for years to come.

One great player — even a lineman — an make a difference

I believe one player can make the difference in a game, if it’s a great quarterback, running back, receiver or defensive player.
           
But I didn’t believe an offensive lineman could make that much difference - until now.
           
I don’t know if Alabama would have beaten unbeaten Utah if left tackle Andre Smith had played (he was suspended for alleged improper relations with an agent). But I would have liked the Crimson Tide’s chances in the Sugar Bowl.
           
With Smith, maybe Alabama moves the ball better early and doesn’t fall behind 21-0 in the first quarter. With Smith, maybe Alabama runs the ball more effectively - Glen Coffee and Mark Ingram combined for 62 yards on 21 carries for a team that averaged 196.5 on the ground during the season. Counting sacks, Bama netted 31 rushing yards
           
With Smith, there’s no doubt in my mind Tide quarterback John Parker Wilson wouldn’t have been sacked eight times. Alabama allowed 17 sacks all season.
           
Most of Utah’s sacks came from the left tackle spot vacated by Smith.
           
With Utah ahead 28-17 in the fourth quarter and Alabama forced to throw, the Tide was unable to protect against the Utes’ smaller but quicker defensive front.
           
No SEC team dominated Alabama’s offensive line the way Utah’s did.
           
It didn’t help that Smith’s replacement, Mike Johnson, suffered a first-half injury, causing the Tide to shuffle its blockers. For most of the game, only two Tide linemen played their regular position.
           
If not for Wilson’s mobility, the sack total could have been 15 as Wilson eluded rushers and scrambled out of trouble repeatedly.
           
This isn’t to take away from the win by Utah, a team which deserves to be ranked in the top five. It just emphasizes the significance of losing one great player - even if it is an offensive lineman.
 


Chavis likes LSU tradition, talent
 
One reason former Tennessee defensive coordinator John Chavis took the job at LSU over Clemson is his feeling that the Baton Rouge Tigers have a better shot at winning a national championship.
           
LSU has won two national titles since 2003.
           
Clemson hasn’t won one since 1981 and hasn’t won an ACC title since 1990.
           
But I think there are three other factors that contributed to Chavis’ decision.
           
One, no SEC team has had as much defensive line talent since 2000 as LSU. In fact, only Southern Cal rivals LSU for producing defensive linemen this decade.
           
Consider these guys: Jarvis and Howard Green, Marcus Spears, Claude Wroten, Chad Lavalais, Glenn Dorsey, Kyle Williams, Markeise Hill, Charles Alexander, Tyson Jackson,  Ricky Jean-Francois, Marlon Favorite, Rahim Alem, Al Woods and Kirston Pittman, to name more than a few.
           
Secondly, Chavis’ familiarity with the SEC. He knows the other coaches, he knows the personnel, he knows the schemes. The transition to LSU will be more seamless than the move to Clemson.
           
Thirdly, I believe Chavis has a strong desire to prove to the Tennessee administration it made a mistake by firing Phillip Fulmer and the entire defensive staff. Chavis has a long memory, and he would like nothing better than to whip the Vols in Neyland Stadium or Tiger Stadium or the Georgia Dome.
 


Bowl results aren’t defining 
                      
The results of bowl games are not THE defining moment for determining the strength of a conference.
           
If that were the case, the Pac-10 would clearly be the nation’s best conference after going 5-0 in bowls, Conference USA would rival the Big 12 and SEC for second best, the Big East (3-2) would be better than the ACC (4-6) and the Big Ten (1-5) would be a no better than the WAC.
           
However, bowl games can be an indicator.
           
And from all indications, the SEC - 6-9 against BCS non-conference opponents in the regular season — has gained a measure of respect.
           
The SEC was 5-2 heading into the national championship game between Florida and Oklahoma. It beat a one-loss team from the Big 12, the Conference USA champion, a team that played for the ACC title and a 14th-ranked team from the ACC.
           
Thanks to huge breaks, Vanderbilt beat Boston College and Kentucky upset East Carolina. Vandy got eight first downs and needed a muffed punt for a touchdown to snap the Eagles’ nation’s best eight-game bowl win streak. Kentucky returned a kickoff for a score, then got a game-winning fumble recovery return.
           
LSU and Ole Miss thoroughly outplayed Georgia Tech and Texas Tech, respectively. And underdog Utah took it to Alabama.
           
I’ve felt this season that many SEC offenses were inferior and that SEC defenses were overrated due to playing against poor offenses.
           
To a degree, the bowl numbers bear that out.
           
Only one SEC team had more than 331 total yards - Ole Miss piled up 515 against Texas Tech. And only two SEC teams exceeded their regular season scoring average - Ole Miss with 47 points (40 by the offense) and LSU with 38 (31 by the offense).
           
Vandy’s offense had 200 yards, eight first downs and nine points. Kentucky’s offense scored 12 points. South Carolina had a field goal until a meaningless touchdown in the final minutes.
           
In the seven bowls, SEC offenses averaged 314.3 yards while allowing 346.3 yards per game. SEC offenses scored 21 points per game while defenses allowed 19.1 points.            

And four SEC offenses scored no more than 12 points in a bowl game.
           
Still, the SEC’s 5-2 mark (2-0 against the ACC) is a solid showing.
            

 
How long will Spurrier remain at SC?
 
By far, South Carolina turned in the worst performance by an SEC team in a bowl.
           
The Gamecocks were disinterested and noncompetitive in a 31-10 loss to Iowa, which recorded the Big Ten’s only bowl victory.
           
Two of Steve Spurrier’s players - Captain Munnerlyn and Eric Norwood - declared for the NFL the day of the game. I wonder if they declared at halftime. And, leading tackler Emmanuel Cook was academically ineligible while tight end Jared Cook looked in like November he had his eye on the NFL, not Florida or Clemson.
           
I wouldn’t call that a revolt against Spurrier, but it’s evident he doesn’t command the respect of the Gamecocks the way he did the Gators. And do you really think Spurrier is thrilled about coaching quarterback Stephen Garcia next season?
           
South Carolina’s offense doesn’t figure to be any better next year, considering the personnel losses. And the defense loses at least six key players.
           
If Spurrier doesn’t win at least eight games next season, he might get frustrated to the point of stepping down.
           
In four years in Columbia, he’s 28-22. That’s not his idea of fun. And he’s done nothing to add to a rather empty trophy case - except win a minor bowl game.

TUSCALOOSA - Alabama left tackle Andre Smith announced his intention to declare for the NFL Draft late Saturday night. (more)

NEW ORLEANS — The small contingent of Utah fans chanted “No. 1, No. 1″ as Brian Johnson stood bobbing back and forth on the podium erected on the Superdome field, his fingers held aloft in a “U.”

Four years ago, Johnson, then a freshman, watched as Alex Smith led the original BCS busters to an unprecedented Fiesta Bowl win. But if Smith and Co. had thrown a stone at college football’s elite, this David instead casted a boulder as No. 7 Utah (13-0) dominated No. 4 Alabama 31-17. (more)

Said it before. Time to say it again.

The ball’s dropped on a New Year, but one thing hasn’t changed.

Alabama is not back.

Not all the way.

Not yet.

Not after Utah 31, Alabama 17. (more)

NEW ORLEANS — The 2008 season may still be remembered as the one that marked the turnaround for the University of Alabama football program. But this week in New Orleans will evoke other memories. (more)

Tony Barnhart of the AJC breaks out a few post-New Year’s opinions for us today.  Among them:

1)  Knowshon Moreno will stay at Georgia, Matthew Stafford will leave.

2)  It’s painful watching South Carolina and The Ball Coach.

(In Barnhart’s view: “There needs to be a lot of soul searching in that football program in the off-season because something is not right.”)

3)  The SEC will go 3-0 today.



By the way… that’s a whopping 50 links on the site today.  Happy New Year’s from all corners of the conference.

Over at ESPN.com Chris Low tells you who to watch, what to watch and why to watch in regards to each of the SEC’s three bowl games today:

The AT&T Cotton Bowl — Ole Miss vs Texas Tech

The AutoZone Liberty Bowl — Kentucky vs East Carolina

The Allstate Sugar Bowl — Alabama vs Utah

And here’s the news from across the SEC West:

There are two big things going against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl tonight: the distraction and suspension of Andre Smith and the fact that Utah has a lot more to gain from the game than Bama does.

Nick Saban isn’t buying Utah as being nine points worse than the Tide.  “I don’t think you (the media) have the proper respect for the team that we’re playing.  It’s only because they don’t have a big name, play in a big-name conference.  But they have good football players that have beaten big-name teams from big-name conferences this year.”  Michigan for one.

John Parker Wilson is Alabama’s all-time best quarterback in terms of passing numbers.  He was a finalist for several national awards this year.  Does he now deserve to be thought of along with the great Tide quarterbacks of yesteryear?  “I would like to think so,” he said.

Kevin Steele, Alabama’s “head defensive coach,” but not their “defensive coordinator, is probably headed to Clemson after tonight’s Sugar Bowl.  But Saban doesn’t seem too worried about staff turnover.

Last Alabama nugget — we talked last week about a college football playoff and why it will never happen.  BCS schools control too much of the money in the current system and wouldn’t want to share it with the smaller schools in the country.  For example: Alabama’s $69.5 million budget nearly triples Utah’s budget.

We usually don’t link you to pay-per-read information, but since the major news outlets in Alabama aren’t reporting on Auburn today, we’ll make a quick exception.  It seems that Gene Chizik is pretty interested in speaking with South Carolina’s Ellis Johnson.

Fans and media alike were surprised/shocked by the impressive performance of LSU in their 38-3 whipping of Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.  One group that wasn’t surprised?  The Tiger players.

LSU might have been up 38-3 with nine minutes to play, but Les Miles isn’t apologizing for the fake punt he ran against Tech.  A schmuck move, to be honest.  There was no way Tech was going to score five touchdowns in nine minutes.

What does Miles like about quarterback Jordan Jefferson?  “He’s a cool customer.  He’s not flustered.  He thinks it through.  He’s very competitive.”

John Pelphrey was determined to make sure his young team didn’t celebrate their upset of Oklahoma too much.  He called an early morning practice for yesterday morning.

Marcus Monk is Arkansas’ all-time leading pass receiver with 27 career touchdown catches.  So folks in Fayetteville are used to seeing him do amazing things.  But 12 points, six rebounds and six-for-six free throw shooting against Oklahoma was almost unbelievable for a guy who’s been on the basketball team for two weeks.

The win over the Sooners was just one game (played at home, which is huge), but it does show the potential of Pelphrey’s team.

Arkansas didn’t have the final record that Bobby Petrino wanted in his first season, but he’s happy that his team showed improvement as the year went on.

Mississippi State has dropped five of their last eight games, but the players don’t feel it’s due to a lack of effort.  “Right now we’re playing hard,” said guard Barry Stewart.  “We just got to find ways to win.  I think we’re coming with experience, and we got to start turning it up soon.”  I don’t know what exactly that means.

Ole Miss coaches know that Texas Tech is going to make plays against them.  The question is: How big will the plays be.  “They’re going to catch balls,” said defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix.  “They’re going to run.  What we have to do is minimize those plays.  When a catch is made, we have to be there to make a collision.”

If form holds, Ole Miss needs to build a lead in the first half against the Red Raiders.  On the season, UM has scored 222 first half points, but only 148 in the second half.  If they play that way today, they’ll need to have a good-sized halftime lead if they want to hang on for a victory.

Predictions from across the country see the Cotton Bowl as a tight shoot-out.  And folks are split on who they see winning it.

Here are a couple of stories for each SEC West school on this New Year’s Day:

Nick Saban spoke with the media about the Andre Smith suspension for the first time yesterday.  Here are all of his reponses during the Q&A.  The big point: Smith violated no NCAA rules, just university rules.  This was Saban being pro-active in suspending his best player before a BCS bowl game.  I say it again: Nick Saban is the best coach in the SEC.  Like him or not, he’s top