Cock -n- Fire

NOT THE END. A NEW BEGINNING

2007-08-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

Well, this is it. The 450th and last post to Cock & Fire.

I'm moving to SB Nation. The new site is:

Garnet and Black Attack

I write this glad and hopeful for the opportunity the move presents. But it is also a little bittersweet.

I loved doing Cock & Fire this way, establishing the site on my own, the Internet equivalent of the old land claims in the West. And there was something rewarding about seeing people reading something I had worked hard to produce.

But SB Nation is a great place for sports blogs, and it's an honor to have your name up there with the likes of Sunday Morning QB, Burnt Orange Nation, Dawg Sports, Roll Bama Roll, et al. In fact, I don't think there's a college football blog at SB Nation that I haven't read at least once, and I've never read one I wouldn't recommend.

And as I considered the move, something else came to mind: I don't have the talent to promote a blog enough to catch up to the platform SB Nation offers, I don't have the technical ability to do the bells and whistles they can do, and I don't have the equipment to build a community the way an SB Nation site can. And that community is something I want to build.

In other words, I can provide the content, but they can build a better blog around it.

All that put together really made it an easy decision. I've loved my time here, and I'll always remember fondly the readers and commenters and even the hecklers that made it all possible. Thank you for finding a few minutes out of your day to look at what I did, and hopefully you figured out what I was trying to do at least half the time. Because if you did, you were doing a better job of figuring it out than I was.

It's been a fun ride so far. I look forward to continuing it, and having even more fun, at my new blogging home.

Hope to see you there.

THE SEASON AHEAD: PICKING THE SEC

2007-08-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

No more procrastinating. The first SEC game of the year is in less than 24 hours as C&F writes this, meaning it's time to throw the conference picks out there and allow you to feast on them, ridicule them, whatever. A note: The three toughest games are in conference, not overall.

EAST

1. Florida (10-2, 6-2)
It's easy: Everyone in the East, with the possible exception of Vanderbilt, has a reason to believe they can win. When that's the case, go with the status quo. Florida has Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin and plenty of other weapons on offense -- not to mention that Urban guy. On defense? Yes, they're green on defense, but Charlie Strong can put together a good enough defense for them to win the division again. THREE TOUGHEST GAMES: at LSU, vs. Georgia, at South Carolina

2. South Carolina (9-3, 5-3)
This is the year ... they compete. It's not the year they win. C&F hopes that people give him the benefit of the doubt for not being a homer here -- he's laid out pretty defensible reasons for eight of the wins. The Georgia game or a surprise somewhere along the road should be good enough to reach a ninth win. (But getting benefit of the doubt? For this? -- ed. Yeah, C&F knows; not likely.) THREE TOUGHEST GAMES: at LSU, Florida, at Tennessee

3. Tennessee (8-4, 5-3)
Fall to third by virtue of the tiebreaker with South Carolina. I think the Vols have a lot of good pieces. Just not quite enough. Erik Ainge will do fine, for all the knocks he's taken on this site. But there's not much else to the offense, with the exception of LaMarcus Coker, who came back ~~so Tennessee has a prayer of winning~~ on the advice of doctors. THREE TOUGHEST GAMES: at Florida, South Carolina, at Alabama

4. Georgia (7-5, 4-4)
Again, just not sold on Matt Stafford or the offensive line or the wide receivers or anything else on offense, really. They've got some talent on defense -- hello, Paul Oliver -- but not enough to contend for a title. If C&F is wrong, he'll issue a mea culpa. But he doesn't think that's going to happen. THREE TOUGHEST GAMES: vs. Florida, South Carolina, at Tennessee

5. Kentucky (6-6, 3-5)
C&F almost wants to be wrong on this one, because it would be such a good story. But you have to have more than one good year to prove it's not a fluke, so Kentucky still qualifies as a potential fluke. C&F is a lot more worried about getting this one wrong than Georgia. THREE TOUGHEST GAMES: LSU, Florida, at South Carolina

6. Vanderbilt (5-7, 1-7)
Again, this is the one team in the division who can't seriously entertain dreams of winning. Part of this is the luck of the draw, with Alabama and Auburn rotating onto the schedule. Add to that the fact that they're in maybe the most competitive division in football this year, and it gets ugly. THREE TOUGHEST GAMES: at Florida, at Auburn, at South Carolina

WEST

1. LSU (11-1, 7-1)*
C&F is tempted to go ahead and pencil in two losses for this team, by sheer virtue of Les Miles, as he has threatened to do. But this team is too talented for Miles to blow more than one game. Oh, and they've got one of the easiest conference slates in the SEC. Two losses would actually put him on the hot seat. That said, don't be surprised if the Bayou Bengals end up 12-0 or 10-2. THREE TOUGHEST GAMES: Florida, Auburn, Arkansas

2. Auburn (9-3, 5-3)
It's not hard to count to five SEC wins with a schedule that includes Mississippi State, Vandy, Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama (with Georgia the only one of those games on the road). But this team beat Florida, Arkansas and LSU away from Jordan-Hare? Not bloodly likely. Brandon Cox might be better, but he won't be that much better. THREE TOUGHEST GAMES: at LSU, at Florida, at Arkansas

3. Alabama (8-4, 5-3)
Nick Saban takes the first step toward living up to the hype with a solid if not spectacular season. Finishing third in the division might not be exactly what the most rabid Crimson Tide fans have in mind -- particularly with a loss to Auburn included in the three defeats -- but you have to think Saban would be satifisfied with that. THREE TOUGHEST GAMES: LSU, Tennessee, at Auburn

4. Arkansas (7-5, 4-4)
Who knows? This could be lowballing or highballing the Razorbacks after a bizarre offseason. It's just hard to see a team go through that turmoil and say, "You know, there goes a program that's aiming for a trophy." And you know there's another shoe to drop here. There has to be. THREE TOUGHEST GAMES: at LSU, Auburn, at Tennessee

5. Ole Miss (4-8, 1-7)
Does this really need any explanation. Okay. Ed Oregeron really hasn't seemed to know where he wants to take this program since he got there. They only conference games on the schedule that look winnable are at Mississippi State and at Vanderbilt. And the Commodores are not bad enough to lose to the Rebels. THREE TOUGHEST GAMES: LSU, Florida, at Auburn

6. Mississippi State (3-9, 0-8)
Don't, under any circumstances, give Mississippi State the edge in any conference game. C&F isn't saying there's no hope for this program, but it's hard to see anything to cheer the hearts of Bulldogs. Can Sylvester Croom have what it takes to turn them around? We probably won't know, because it's hard to see him surviving this season. THREE TOUGHEST GAMES: LSU, at Auburn, at Arkansas

*Conference champion

Go ahead, tear it to shreds. But C&F will not wither in the glare of criticism.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN 2007: THE NATION

2007-08-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

1. Can anyone knock off Southern Cal? And will it matter if they do? There are plenty of suspects -- among them Cal, UCLA, Nebraska, Oregon and even Oregon State -- but someone will have to beat the Trojans at least once to keep them out of the NC game. (Yes, C&F is well aware he left Notre Dame off the list. It was intentional.) If not, go ahead and put the other USC in Notre Dame around New Year's Day and John David Booty in New York as a Heisman candidate.

2. BCS controversy. There will be one. An undefeated Hawaii or Boise State complaining about two one-loss BCS teams making the NC game? Three -- or even four -- undefeated teams? Three -- or even four -- one-loss teams with a credible case to take on an undefeated No. 1? With a Hawaii or a Boise State thrown in for fun? Keep watching; something will happen.

It will happen. But why?

3. Is the Big East for real? Last year's biggest bowl wins for the Big East (Louisville over Wake Forest, West Virginia over Georgia Tech) didn't keep the momentum going for a conference that still bases its reputation on a long-ago night in the Georgia Dome. Another strong season by Rutgers, as well as South Florida proving its worthiness to be mentioned in conversation (by beating Auburn?), could finally bring some respectability. But don't count on it -- a few bowl wins over SEC teams and perhaps well-regarded ACC teams would probably have to be thrown in to be considered a "real" BCS league.

4. Mid-major mania. Boise State's win in the Fiesta Bowl has everybody trying to figure out who will be the "next" Boise State. First of all, there will never be another Boise State -- and anyone who watched that game as it unfolded knows why. There was something seemingly unbelievable about it, something that captivated even someone with no interest in the WAC or the Big XII. And even if there is another one, it come just like it did in 2006 -- when we least expect it.

5. Can the ACC bounce back? Not back to the NC game; that's still a year or two off. But can they at least be regarded as on the same level as the SEC, Big Ten, Big XII or Pac-10? Much will depend on how a few teams perform, namely: Virginia Tech, Florida State and Miami. Like it or not, as goes these teams (in the public eye), so goes the league.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN 2007: THE SEC

2007-08-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

1. The quarterbacks. Have there ever been so many untested and/or unproven quarterbacks in this many important places in the SEC? Matt Flynn at LSU and Tim Tebow at Florida will begin their first season as starters; they lead the preseason favorites in the SEC West and the SEC East, respectively. At Tennessee, there remains the question of whether Good Erik or Evil Erik will show up. At Auburn, you have Brandon Cox. Georgia's excited about the potential (and late-season performance) of Matthew "Keg Stand" Stafford. South Carolina starts Blake Mitchell ... eventually ... maybe. Arkansas has Casey Dick. Even Ole Miss and Mississippi State have questions under center. Is it going too far to say the team with the most proven quarterback is Kentucky?

2. Darren McFadden. Yep, he deserves an entry all to himself. Opinion is divided over whether Arkansas can overcome the Trouble in Nuttistan to at least remain relevant in the SEC West. McFadden could be the difference. Yes, he is a player that could single-handedly power the Hogs to respectability. If Dick turns out to be halfway good, they could be unstoppable. Whichever way Arkansas goes, McFadden might as well reserve a plane ticket to New York -- he'll at least be on the Heisman shortlist.

3. Year of the Underdog. This is particularly true in the East, where there might not be parity, but the gaps between the teams are not that large. In fact, you could make a credible case that the difference between Florida and Vanderbilt is smaller than ever -- and far smaller than the difference between LSU and Mississippi State. That means underdogs will ruin someone's season, and there could be a shake-up in the Big Three in the East. By the way -- don't count Bama completely out in the West. They've got talent. They just need to have their brains cleared of the Mike Shula neurotoxins.

She can help you, Nick.

4. No BCS title? It doesn't look like it this year. LSU will likely suffer its usual Les-plosions and lose two games. Florida can't make it out of the East undefeated. No one else looks like they can even dream about it. And the likelihood that there will be a one-loss SEC team that can get the breaks Florida did to overcome ESPN's USC/Big Ten/Big XII lovefest.

5. Coaches, coaches, coaches. Four schools now have coaches with national titles in their personal trophy cases: Florida (Urban Meyer), Tennessee (Phil Fulmer), Alabama (Nick Saban) and South Carolina (Steve Spurrier). Another can make an argument for having been robbed (Tommy Tuberville in Auburn's couldawouldashoulda 2004 season). And this Mark Richt character at Georgia ain't bad, either.

GAMECOCKS 2007: FIVE THINGS TO WATCH

2007-08-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

1. Protection, protection, protection. C&F is going to try not to be too repetitive with the "5 things to watch in 2007" feature, but this one cannot be overstated: The offensive line has to keep Blake or Chris Smelley or whoever's under center (are we sure Syvelle's out of eligibility?) upright. Blake makes mistakes for many reasons, but one of the top ones is a lack of protection. There are three new starters on the line, and they have to step up, or the dreams of competing in the SEC will turn to dying hopes of remaining bowl eligible.

2. Cory Boyd tilts the balance. Boyd and backup Mike Davis have to continue to provide balance for the offense. It's pretty clear that Blake is probably not the guy to lead South Carolina to an SEC title; that said, being a solid SEC team is not out of reach. But it depends entirely on whether the running game can take some of the pressure off Mitchell. If it can, it will both help cover up Mitchell's weaknesses and divert some of the defense's attention.

3. Georgia. The State has made the point ad nauseum, but it's a point worth making. The winner of South Carolina-Georgia ends up in the SEC East race until late in the season, while the loser usually ends up in a lower-tier bowl. This is as close to a must-win as it comes if the Gamecocks want to have the kind of 8-4 or 9-3 season that would prove the program is still on the rise. If not, plan on visiting another bowl named after a word found in the U.S. Constitution.

Not just bad for a game. Bad for a season.

4. Closing things out. The story of 2006 was sickeningly similar every time South Carolina faced the best in the SEC: Get into a position to win, then make the critical mistake and watch it slip away. The 15-minute time of possession for Auburn in the third quarter; Tennessee pulling it out in the fourth quarter; the turnover to Arkansas on the decisive drive; and, most painfully of all, the decision not to permanently injure Jarvis Moss before the critical kick against Florida. Even if the Gamecocks just want to be competitive, they have to learn how to close out the wins against the Big Three and the Western powers.

5. Stop the run. This is the one thing that Tyrone Nix's defenses have not done well. The 146.8 ypg coughed up in 2006 were not terrible, but the numbers were worse when individual games and situations are considered. SEC rushers had considerably better luck, including 219 yards posted by (who else?) Darren McFadden. Four different backs -- McFadden, Auburn's Kenny Irons, Clemson's C.J. Spiller and Houston's Jackie Battle -- each scored 2 TDs against South Carolina. South Carolina will play two of those backs again in 2007. Success against the run will be the key to the defense this year.

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK 14 WILL MISS YOU, TOO

2007-08-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

And so we come to Week 14, when there will be one last period of joy followed by great weeping and gnashing of teeth among college football fans. At least until bowl season begins.

Yes, Week 14 is the week you want to come and the week you want to avoid. It will provide some of the championship games and some of the last-minute rivalries and wrap-ups. But it will also leaves you empty -- without college football for ~~a whole month~~ two weeks, if you count the jimsfriedsausage.com American Virtue Bowl. Whatever will you do?

Nothing to do, nothing to do.

But there's a fairly good slate to send you off. Rutgers at Louisville kicks off the weekend with the ESPN Thursday game at 7:30 p.m. This could decide the Big East championship, which might or might not be a bid deal, depending on what you think of the Big East. Pitt at West Virginia could also play a role, with that game not yet scheduled but likely to air Saturday on ESPN or ESPN2.

Also in schedule limbo are the MAC and Conference USA championship games -- again, if you care -- on ESPN or ESPN2.

There is tradition in the form of Army vs. Navy, a noon telecast on CBS

And there are several Pac-10 games that could end up being important, particularly if the conference race is somehow undecided. Oregon State goes to Oregon on ESPN2 at 4:30 p.m., the same time UCLA goes across town to USC on ABC, and Cal plays Stanford on Versus at 7 p.m. Arizona at Arizona State, a rivalry game if nothing else, is on at 8 p.m., but ESPN hasn't decide which network to put it on. The only consequence? Who is the best team in Arizona.

But the marquee match-ups are still likely to be the championship games. They line up nicely for those wanting to watch only the big games. The ACC tilt kicks off at 1 p.m. on ABC, the SEC game at 4 p.m. on CBS and the Big XII showdown is on ABC at 8 p.m.

Then, silence.

FOR THE FOLKS WHO DON'T READ ON THE WEEKENDS

2007-08-26T21:57:00.001-07:00

Shame on you.

A guide to the previews that have moved since Friday morning:

WEEKS
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13

OPPONENTS
Florida
Clemson

OTHER SEC TEAMS
Alabama
Auburn
Ole Miss

Yes, C&F is well aware that the other SEC team profiles are not nearly as exhaustive as the oppoent's profiles, but he assumed South Carolina readers -- his first responsibility -- would be less interested in these teams, so less was done on them.

Next up: Week 14, followed by all manner of picks and predictions.

PRESEASON BLOGPOLL, TAKE TWO

2007-08-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

Ignore the Delta arrows, as the Blogpoll apparently views these votes as the preliminary votes (again).

But after much thought, C&F has completed his actual, factual preseason Blogpoll ballot:

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas	25
2	Michigan	24
3	Southern Cal	23
4	LSU	22
5	West Virginia	21
6	California	20
7	Wisconsin	19
8	Florida	18
9	Virginia Tech	17
10	Auburn	16
11	Rutgers	15
12	Nebraska	14
13	Oklahoma	13
14	Louisville	12
15	Ohio State	11
16	South Carolina	10
17	Florida State	9
18	UCLA	8
19	Arkansas	7
20	Southern Miss	6
21	Hawaii	5
22	Tennessee	4
23	Penn State	3
24	Brigham Young	2
25	Oregon State	1

Dropped Out: Oregon

Justification, excuses, impressions:

--Auburn. Moves down from 6 on my initial ballot to 10. This has as much to do with my own uneasiness as I wrote the preview of the Tigers as it has to do with anything else. I still view them as a sleeper team, but a lot of things have to break their way. Again, bigger drops could follow when we have actual results to go on.

--Arkansas. Up to 19 from 22. Based in part on thoughtful commentary from Peter Bean at BON. Peter is right in that Arkansas returns a lot of pieces from last year's SEC West championship team. But I, like the Mayor, am worried about the trouble in Nuttistan.

--Hawaii. Up to 21 from 24, in part because of SMQ's argument that an undefeated WAC team should be high in the rankings but a once-defeated WAC team shouldn't make the poll. I disagree that a once-defeated team won't make the poll, but I do think Hawaii can run the table. The problem I have is that I can't justify moving Hawaii above teams that I currently think are better, regardless of where they might end up.

--Oregon State. I convinced myself to swap out the two Oregon teams, though I still think the Ducks could re-emerge. I just think the Beavers are the better team right now.

--Other things. I think there might have been some assorted shuffling here or there, but it was mostly to move the teams listed here up or down.

THE SEASON AHEAD: OLE MISS

2007-08-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

C&F still finds it hard to believe -- even with all the recruiting issues -- that this is what Ole Miss fans had in mind when the school fired David Cutcliffe after his first losing season. Ed Orgeron enters his third year having posted a 3-8 season and a 4-8 season.

Could there be some improvement this year? Sure. Could Orgeron eventually shake off the mocking of the photosphere and lead the Rebels to the top of the SEC West? Maybe. But one wonders if the road would have been this long had Ole Miss kept Cutcliffe.

OFFENSE

Brent Schaeffer is out and Seth Adams is in as starter at QB. (Schaeffer, in fact, has been shuffled over to WR.) But this offense is built around BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who rushed for 1,000 yards even and 7 TDs while challenging Verne Lundquist's tongue. The receivers are question marks.

DEFENSE

This is a huge question mark for the Rebels this year, in part because of new faces (they lose their top three tacklers) and in part because of new coordinator John Thompson. Yes, our old friend is back in the SEC. It's doubtful, though, that Orgeron will allow Thompson to have his defenders doing summersaults, back flips and triple lutzes the way they did when Thompson was with the Gamecocks. SS Jamarca Sanford is highly regarded.

Watch this, men.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Joshua Shene was 14-of-17 on FG attempts last year, including a long of 52 yards. Rob Park averaged 38.9 yards a punt. Dexter McCluster averaged 21.1 yards a kick return, with Marshay Green averaging 11.2 yards on punt returns.

COACHING

Again, Orgeron hasn't had much success so far, and he'll need to show tangible signs of progress to stay off the hot seat. Another 4-8 season could start the grumbling in Oxford.

THE SEASON

But another 4-8 season is exactly what C&F sees, with likely wins at Memphis, against Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State and at Mississippi State. Vanderbilt could be another win. But beyond that, the Rebels play Missouri, Florida, at Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, at Auburn and against LSU. Personally, C&F thinks the Commodores are better than the Rebels, so he'll stick with 4-8.

THE SEASON AHEAD: AUBURN

2007-08-26T20:50:00.000-07:00

What to make of this Auburn team? This is a tough one for C&F, who might very well be more of an Auburn homer (he grew up a Tiger fan) than a South Carolina homer when it comes to analysis -- simply because there’s more of a reason to feel confident about Auburn than South Carolina, at least based on past performance. (To be clear, he still favors the Gamecocks over the Tigers when they face each other.) And it’s easier to see the warts on a team when you’re looking at it more closely, so he sees more of South Carolina’s shortcomings.

This, though, looks even to C&F like it could be a rough season for Auburn.

OFFENSE

The wild card is Brandon Cox. If he improves -- and the WR corps takes a leap forward -- it could be a big year. But the line is in disarray, something that plagued the team last year despite an 11-2 record. Auburn allowed 35 sacks, an average of almost three a game. Brad Lester is a solid running back. Al Borges is good at making do, but that will be a stiff challenge with this unit.
DEFENSE

Quentin Groves and his 11 sacks have to scare opposing offensive coordinators. Josh Thompson, with 4.5 sacks among his 43 tackles, isn’t exactly a slouch. The line backing corps is full of thin resumes. The secondary returns three starters.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicking is a question mark, as is punting. Tristan Davis, the likely kick returner, was solid handling those duties in 2006.

COACHING

Don’t underestimate Tommy Tuberville, He survived a coup that ended up claiming higher-ranking officials in the Auburn hierarchy, and his last five years has gone (from most recent to least) 11-2, 9-2, 12-0, 7-5 and 8-4, with each year capped off by a defeat of Alabama. Auburn has gone bowling every year since 1999. Tuberville also has two solid coordinators in Borges and Will Muschamp.

His ears can also generate enough wind to power a small city.

THE SEASON

The schedule this year is manageable. (Is it ever not for Auburn?) But there are two tough nonconference games to kick things off: Kansas State and South Florida both come to the Plains. Mississippi State, New Mexico State, Vanderbilt, Mississippi, Tennessee Tech, at Georgia and Alabama are all good chances for wins. But at Florida, at Arkansas and at LSU all look difficult. A 9-3 season looks good, but 8-4 might be more reasonable. No one should rule out 7-5, meaning Bobby Lowder will be fueling up the plane any moment now.

THE SEASON AHEAD: ALABAMA

2007-08-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

Beat Auburn. That has to be the first goal on Nick Saban's list this year. (Though removing all memory of what Mike Shula taught them from his players' minds would be a close second.)

C&F asked one of the most rabid and knowledgeable (though blatantly homeristic) non-blogging Alabama fans he knows -- that would be his sister -- what would be the minimum she would consider successful this year. Her answer was a .500 season and beating Auburn. C&F then asked which would preferable -- going 9-3 with one of the losses being to Auburn or going 5-7 with one of the defeats being of Auburn. Her reply was that she'd take the 5-7 season.

OFFENSE

QB John Parker Wilson is now expected to be the best thing at Alabama since Gene Stallings, and he wasn't bad last season in his first year as starter. He went 216-for-379 for 2,707 yards and 17 TDs against 10 INTs. Alabama's offense is stacked with returning starters, including all five linemen and star WR D.J. Hall, who caught 62 passes last year for 1,056 yards and 5 TDs. Terry Grant will apparently start at RB when all is said and done, with Jimmy Johns moving around, even at fullback. Major Applewhite should have considerably more success as OC than Shula.

DEFENSE

Say what you want to about his inability to stay in one place for more than four years, Nick Saban knows how to run a defense. He doesn't have as much returning talent on the defense. Apparently, Simeon Castille's recent brush with the law won't keep him off the field, or won't do so for very long. Good thing for the Tide; he had six picks and has the second-highest number of tackles (71) among returning players in 2006.

SPECIAL TEAMS

This was a sore spot for the Tide last year, particularly as Jamie Christensen (13-for-17 on FG attempts) and Leigh Tiffin (8-for-13 ) struggled as place-kickers. P.J. Fitzgerald returns as punter. Javier Arenas handles returns.

COACHING

Love him or hate him, Saban does the one thing that ingratiates fans to him: He wins. Michigan State has never been the same since he left, LSU still has not quite matched the success he had, and Miami ... Well, for the most part, Saban wins.

THE SEASON

There are, to C&F's surprise, eight very winnable games on the schedule: Western Carolina, at Vanderbilt, Georgia, Houston, Mississippi, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Louisiana-Monroe. Arkansas is also within reach, though Florida State in Jacksonville will be difficult. LSU and Auburn are reaches. But 8-4 looks pretty good.

GAMECOCKS 2007: vs. CLEMSON

2007-08-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

For Clemson fans who might wonder when C&F will stop using that picture to represent them, the answer is simple: Never.

The reason is that the Tigers sorely test one of C&F's tenets of rivalries, and often force him to break it: Always respect the other guy. Even when he was an Auburn fan, C&F respected Alabama's tradition. Even as a South Carolina fan, he respects that Mark Richt has done an incredible job coaching the spelling-challenged Dawgs. And even as he despises the razor-thin, last-gasp victories Phil Fulmer's teams always seem to eke out against the Gamecocks, he respects Fulmer's ability to consume nine boxes of Twinkies a day.

Did somebody say "Twinkies"?

But Clemson fans find a way to nullify it -- mostly because they refuse to acknowledge that the 1980s are over, Danny Ford is no longer buying players and the rest of the country does not see the Tigers as a national power -- as fans do -- and instead sees them as a very good ACC team, nothing more.

Clemson's last league title was in 1991. It's last (and only) national title was a decade before that.

None of that is to say that South Carolina is any better, or indeed even as good -- it has won the annual showdown with the Upstaters only twice between Holtz and Spurrier. And the Holtz regime produced the 63-17 nightmare in 2003.

But instead of being content to be considered as the best team in their state, the Tigers insist on being seen as one of the nation's premier programs. Sorry, it ain't so.

(Yes, C&F realizes that he's wading right back into the fray after being beaten down by the Georgia faithful. But in regards to Clemson, to paraphrase Goldwater, moderation is no virtue, and extremism no vice.)

OFFENSE

O-line. This must be one of several things that keeps OC Rob Spence up at night. Four starters are gone. Line coach Brad Scott sounds relatively confident, but South Carolina fans well know that confidence on Scott's part is not a reason for the opposition to worry. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Quarterback. Will SAVIOR OF THE PROGRAM Willy Korn get to play? Maybe. But probably only as a backup. That leaves the fate of the Tigers, at the start of the season anyway, in the hands of junior Cullen Harper. Harper was 14-of-20 for 155 yards and 2 TDs in limited action last season. But Clemson could be in a full-blown QB controversy by this point of the season, and Baby Bowden's job being on the line would only exacerbate the problem. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Wide receivers. Tyler Grisham returns after a 2006 campaign that saw him get 25 receptions, 264 yards and 3 scores. Aaron Kelly, though not technically a "returning starter" by TSN's definition, had more catches (30) and yards (355). No one else on the depth chart has more than 15 catches. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Running backs. If it weren't for McFadden and Jones in Arkansas, the DavisSpiller monster would be the best returning RB tandem in the country. Read TSN and weep.

Spence wants both players on the field at the same time and for Spiller, the team's most explosive threat, to get more touches.

Greaaaaaaaaat. Combined, the duo ran for well over 2,000 yards and scored 27 TDs last year. ADVANTAGE: CLEMSON

DEFENSE

Defensive line. Gaines Adams leaves, taking his 17.5 TFL and 12.5 sacks with him. Phillip Merling and Dorell Scott return, having combined for 14 TFL and 6 sacks last year. With 4 sacks, Ricky Sapp is solid. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Linebackers. Two-thirds of the corps are returning starters, including Nick Watkins, last team's lead tackler with 116 stops, seven for loss and a sack. Antonio Clay (95 tackles, 9.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks) is another key cog in the defense. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Secondary. Another solid unit for the Tigers. FS Chris Clemons had 102 tackles and broke up eight passes. In all, the returners are responsible for 6 INTs. Overall, not much of a drop-off for a unit that allowed 177.7 yards a game last year. ADVANTAGE: CLEMSON

SPECIAL TEAMS

Alas, Jad Dean has moved on.

No more of this. Sniff sniff.

The kickers are untested. But Ford is likely to be the returner again, at least on kickoffs, where he averaged 32.8 yards. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

COACHING

They might be 1-1 against each other since Head Ball Coach came to Carolina, but there's really no comparison between Baby Bowden and Steve Spurrier. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

RESULT

Davis and Spiller might be the only consistent part of the offense, while the defensive unit is solid. But even if they were stocked on both sides and the Gamecocks were starting 22 true freshman, there is only one way C&F can call this game. LIKELY WIN

WHERE SOUTH CAROLINA WOULD BE

If everything pans out as expected, they finish the season 9-3 or 8-4, a tangible sign of progress over 2006 but almost certainly not good enough to win the SEC East. A Capitol One Bowl invite might be an outside possibility, but the best chance is likely a return to the Outback Bowl, and possibly another rematch against the Buckeyes. The floor is likely the Peach Bowl, which would also be fine with this metro ATL-based fan.

THE REST OF THEIR SEASON

Baby Bowden will be hard pressed to continue his streak of eight-win seasons. Tough matches loom in Florida State, at Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Boston College. La-Monroe, Furman, at N.C. State, Central Michigan and at Duke are wins. The swing games are at Maryland and Wake Forest. Give them 7-5, with 8-4 not out of the question. Even with Bowden, a 6-6 season would almost require effort. The hot seat index on him will be tremendous.

A FEW LINKS YOU OUGHT TO READ

2007-08-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

Because previewpalooza has left me unable to do The Thread and other linking as much as I'd prefer...

First off, let C&F do something he usually avoids and point you in the direction of a Ron Morris column. It's about Cory Boyd. C&F hasn't gotten all the way through it yet -- you'll need a while to finish it -- but it's already impressive.

Second, if you've ever wanted to see C&F publicly humiliated, here's the place to go. The Mayor cuts apart some of the poorly-formed thoughts in C&F's "Georgia doesn't own South Carolina" post. C&F's reponse is here. He posts this exchange for the advantage of anyone who might have read the original post but not seen the debate that followed.

Finally, the best CFB blog on the web weighs in on our beloved conference. Yes, SMQ is going through the SEC, including video of the Gamecocks' beating Georgia in the last seconds on the '93 games, leading Munson to sound like he's about to jump from the press box. C&F eagerly awaits the binding picks for the East -- which, sadly, will beat his own. Back to previews...

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK 13 COULD GET UGLY

2007-08-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

Week 13 will be violent. Blood will run freely through the streets. Roving bands will threaten the countryside. A dark cloud of mayhem will hover over the land.

Yes, this is the weekend when rivals large and small meet, when games between a team that's 1-10 and one that's 2-9 can captivate a state because it is the game of the year.

This is Week 13. Only they're all wearing helmets.

This being the week of Thanksgiving, there are several good games on Friday, continuing the American tradition of preventing things like family and friends from getting in the way of football.

At 1 p.m. ET, the Egg Bowl between Ole Miss and Mississippi State still has no television home. Not that it would be a crushing below to humanity if this game doesn't hit the airwaves; we aren't talking about a clash of the juggernauts here. But the rivalry has produced some interesting games in the past.

Arkansas goes to LSU at 2:30 p.m. on CBS in a game that will be both a rivalry meeting and a match-up with conference title implications. LSU, of course, is the odds-on favorite to be the SEC West's representative in the championship game; Arkansas would love to derail that dream, and could also be in the running for the division title.

An hour later, ABC features would-be Big XII South champion Texas at Texas A&M. Yet another game where the upstart rival would relish knocking the favorite out of the championship picture, and with Oklahoma likely to be not far behind the Longhorns, the Aggies could get that chance. And don't rule out the (outside) possibility that the Aggies could also be playing for the division title.

The Friday slate finishes up with a 9:05 p.m. tilt between Boise State and Hawaii on ESPN2. Even if Hawaii could win the WAC without defeating Boise State, it would probably be an empty feeling for the islanders if they did. And there's no guarantee they won't need to beat the Broncos to claim the crown.

The Saturday schedule is too full to get into too many details. Witness:

--Alabama at Auburn, where the Tigers will awkwardly chant, "Fear the opposite index finger." Nick Saban has made it a priority to beat the Plainsmen, in part because it's that important to Tide fans.
--Clemson at South Carolina. More on this one later, though Spurrier would love to be able to win two in a row over a rival coached by a Bowden.
--FSU at Florida. Meyer is 2-0 against the Seminoles, perhaps the most painful part of FSU's recent slide.
--Georgia at Georgia Tech. Ah, C&F will miss Reggie Ball, who could find new and hitherto unimagined ways to implde against Georgia. Now Chan Gailey has to find a way to lose this game all by himself.
--Tennessee at Kentucky. Whether this is a big "rivalry" game or not, it's still another chance for a Kentucky team that lost by five in Knoxville last year.
--Duke at North Carolina. A game that could have no other conceivable reason to watch other than to see how Butch Davis will do in the second most important rivalry meeting between these two schools.
--Oklahoma State at Oklahoma. If the Sooners go in a game behind Texas, this one becomes that much more important.
--Utah at BYU, 2 p.m., CSTV. The only college football game called the Holy War.
--Virginia Tech at Virginia. The Hokies have won four of the last five.

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK 12 NOT LIKE LAST YEAR

2007-08-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

Week 12 will be the last for some who embarked on a bruising schedule with no bye weeks. For South Carolina, it will be a bye week. And there's a bit of a let-down after Week 11 and its powerful tilts, but there are nonetheless a few good games on the schedule.

If you're willing and able to stay up late Friday, you might be doing yourself a favor to look in on Hawaii at Nevada, an 11 p.m. broadcast set for ESPN2. Because C&F placed Hawaii in first in the WAC and Nevada second, he'll say this is an important game and a potential conference championship clincher.

This will undoubtedly lead to a scenario where two disastrously bad teams play each other in a rain-soaked, 27-24 (a low score for a WAC game) eyesore.

The headline game, though, is once again Ohio State at Michigan. Now, this year's meeting will not be THE ENORMOUSLY IMPORTANT, ALL-CONSUMING GAME OF THE CENTURY, as was (supposedly) last year's tilt. If the Wolerines come into this game undefeated again, the Buckeyes would like nothing better than to once again deny the Maize and Blue a shot at the crystal football.

This year, not the apocalypse.

Another rivalry with potential conference and BCS implications will be Miami's trip to Virginia Tech, which is a big favorite to take the league this year. These two teams have disliked each other since their days in the Big East; the rivalry hasn't diminished since they moved to the ACC.

The Big East, meanwhile, still has a couple of mildly interesting games, with Louisville going to trend conference pick South Florida and Pitt traveling to Rutgers.

In the SEC, revenge will be on the spelling-challenged Dawgs mind when Georgia hosts Kentucky. And Vanderbilt will visit Tennessee in a rivalry that has been decidely lopsided.

BLOGPOLL ROUNDTABLE: OVERRATED/UNDERRATED

2007-08-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

The first Blogpoll roundtable is about as simple as it can be.

Who is overrated?

I've already given the reasons I think No. 1 Southern Cal, No. 2 LSU, and No. 14 Georgia are overrated, so I won't belabor the point. (Brian at mgoblog also makes good points about the Dawgs.) Instead, the team called out here will be No. 6 Oklahoma.

To clarify, I'm not going to try to make the case that the Sooners aren't a good team. I have them ranked at No. 13. But I think No. 6 is a touch too high. They still have problems at QB. Granted, that wasn't a huge problem last year, but there was an heir apparent ready to step in when Bomar caught a case of viral stupidity.

The running game could, could take a step back. Even with the injury, Adrian Peterson gained 1,012 yards and 12 TDs on the ground -- can Allen Patrick pick up the load? It looks like he will, but there's a huge difference between starting five games and starting 12. And a subpar running game could lead to all kinds of problems with the passing game, etc.

On defense, the Sooners lose a lot of experience everywhere except the secondary.

Again, a good team. But there are just too many question marks to put them in the Top 10, must less place them just a step outside the Top 5.

Who is underrated?

Of course, it's a given that I'll say South Carolina is underrated, but I'm not going to complain too much. Spurrier has said over and over again that the Gamecocks have to earn respect, and I agree. I would say Auburn might be too low, but even I put them in the Top 10 on a provisional basis, assuming that Brandon Cox gains his composure, to I won't gripe.

I do wonder, though, if we're giving enough credit to unranked Oregon State. (Gasp! An SEC blog picking a Pac-10 team! What is the world coming to?) This is a team that won 10 games last year and knocked off Southern Cal. Yes, they lose a starting QB, but they bring back WR Sammie Stroughter, fresh off a 1,293-yard campaign, and Yvenson Bernard, who rushed for 1,307 yards and 12 TDs. The o-line should also be good. Plus, there's a lot of experience returning on defense. If somebody convinced me to drop one of the teams off my ballot -- or if I can just eyeball someone I no longer trust -- the Beavers are probably the first team to move into the Top 25.

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK 11 IS HOT

2007-08-24T21:32:00.000-07:00

This, college football fan, is what has gotten through the last 10 weeks. This is why you've watched regional coverage of horrid afternoon games on ABC, the questionable noontime Big Ten match-ups on ESPN, the Thursday mid-majors game.

This is a week.

Scarlett:Week 11::Katie Holmes:Week 1

Where to begin? How about on Thursday night, when there are two games worth watching. The usual 7:30 p.m. ESPN Big East game is No. 10 Louisville at No. 5 West Virginia. The Mountaineers will be trying to avenge last year's 44-34 and, if they have beaten Rutgers in Week 9, all but lock up the conference championship.

The other Thursday tilt is TCU at BYU, televised on Versus at 9 p.m. This one could be for the Mountain West crown, so it's a mid-major game worth watching.

Then we get to Saturday. At 8 p.m., in a game that's a lock for ABC Saturday Night Football, No. 1 Southern Cal travels to No. 12 Cal for a game that will be one of the best chances for the Trojans to get knocked out of the NC race and a huge match-up in the Pac-10 race. At 11:05 p.m., Fresno State at No. 23 Hawaii is probably worth watching if it's televised and nothing else is.

The unscheduled games make the rest of a great week.

No. 20 Arkansas comes to No. 17 Tennessee in a conference tilt that could just as easily be between two top-flight teams or two middling ones. Here's the key question: Which of these coaches will run the ball more? C&F's money is on Nutt.

The South's oldest rivalry is also scheduled this week, as No. 15 Auburn travels to No. 14 Georgia with revenge on its mind. The 37-15 clobbering on the Plains last year was a strong repudiation of the Tigers' claim to have a part in the NC discussion. It also put a nail in the coffin of the Tigers' SEC hopes.

No. 7 Florida comes to No. 22 South Carolina after two straight years when they either lost or should have lost to their former Head Ball Coach. Spurrier has said he wants to contend for an SEC crown in 2007, and the only way to do that is to at least be competitive in this game.

Across the state, Wake Forest comes to Clemson. Think that's not a good game? Then you've never seen Clemson and Wake Forest play. Even when they were the dregs of the league, Wake gave Baby Bowden's Tigers headaches. Oddly enough, the cow-tippers beat Wake 27-17 last year.

This is the week we play Wake? Excuse me while I cry.

But that's not the ACC's biggest game this week. No, that distinction goes to No. 18 FSU's trip to No. 8 Virginia Tech. The Seminoles and the Hokies are favorites to finish atop their respective divisions, making this a likely preview of the league's championship tilt.

The Big Ten also has a key battle, with No. 3 Michigan traveling to No. 9 Wisconsin for only the second true conference test, and the only one this year on the road. If the Wolverines are 10-0 at this point, defeating the Badgers will make them the heavy favorites when the Buckeyes come to Ann Arbor in Week 12.

And don't forget No. 4 Texas hosting Texas Tech, a not-insignificant game in the Big XII.

GAMECOCKS 2007: vs. FLORIDA

2007-08-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

First off, go ahead and give the Gators credit for bring the crystal football back to the conference to which it rightfully belongs.

Just remember who got Florida's first one, okay?

For the Gamecocks, last year's defeat in the Swamp was one of the most painful losses of the year. They did practically everything right. They were in a position to fell the giant, to knock the (sorta) hated Gators out of the NC race, and to notch their second straight season of beating Florida, something that I don't believe has ever happened.

And then Jarvis Moss strapped on his rocket pack and made what has to be one of the greatest special-teams plays I have ever seen.

Good riddance, No. 94.

Jarvis Moss is gone. So are, ahem, nine of the Gators' starters on defense. Nine. Not to say that's what's left are redshirt freshmen who don't have a clue. There's a goodly number of upperclassmen, and no one wins a NC because their starters are great and their backups aren't even good.

That said, this will not be the same defense that carried Florida to Glendale last year. On the other hand, the offense gets weapons Andre Caldwell, Percy Harvin, Cornelius Ingram and Tim Tebow back for what could be a second run at the SEC crown.

OFFENSE

O-line. A unit that allowed 23 sacks last year returns four starters, with right guard the only hole that needs filling. Redshirt freshman Maurice Hill is the expected starter there. Three of the starters are 300+ lbs.; the other two weigh in at 297 and 298. ADVANTAGE: FLORIDA

Quarterback. Accomplishment, or hype? Because the hype that surrounded Tim Tebow is almost unbelievable. If you're a Gamecock fan, think Stephen Garcia. Then double that. You have a good idea of how excited the Gators faithful were, and still are, about Tebow. The human bulldozer ran for 469 yards and 8 TDs last year. The question, of course, is (to quote thousands of people), "How will he do when everyone knows he's going to throw. If how he ran when everyone knew he was going to run is any indication, pretty well. And he wasn't exactly bad passing last year, going 22-for-33 for 358 yards, 5 TDs and 1 INT. Still, without having seen Tebow play a full game, C&F cannot give him the nod. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Running backs. For the most part, Urban Meyer has not exactly been pleased with his running backs since coming to Gainesville. In fact, the top two returning rushers for Florida this year are Tebow and Harvin (428 yards, 3 TDs), who's listed as a WR but moves all over the field. But Meyer seems pleased this year with Kestahn Moore. Moore averaged a touch over 5 yards a carry in limited action last year (54 carries, 289 yards), scoring twice. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Wide receivers. Caldwell returns having caught 57 balls for 577 yards and 6 scores. Harvin grabbed 34 passes for 427 yards and 2 TDs, and is (to C&F, anyway) a scaryscaryscary player who is dangerous no matter where he lines up or where he gets the ball. Ingram is the only other returning starter with double-digit receptions, snagging 30 for 380 yards and a TD. ADVANTAGE: FLORIDA

Has anyone ever told him about the virtues of transferring?

DEFENSE

Defensive line. Derrick Harvey, who was a monster last year with 35 tackles, 13 for loss and 11 sacks, returns for 2007. But the other three projected starters have total of 1.0 sack among them. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Linebackers. No starters return. Zero. Nada. A.J. Jones, a likely starter at SLB, is a redshirt freshman. Brandon Spikes and Dustin Doe combined for 37 tackles last season, 2 for loss. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Secondary. Reggie Nelson, the harvester of lives, is -- you guessed it -- no longer with the Gators. Florida does have one returning starter in Tony Joiner, who had 59 tackles, 2 INTs and broke up six passes. The other starters were not statistically significant. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

SPECIAL TEAMS

This is an interesting one. Brandon James will return kicks and punts, as he did last year in a so-so performance. On the kicking side, well ...

Put it this way: Meyer offered a guy a scholarship for making kicks. (HT: EDSBS) In practice. Probably because Chris Hetland made 40 percent of his FG attempts last year. Or, put the way Meyer probably saw it, Hetland missed 60 percent of his FG attempts last year. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

COACHING

There are few coaches in the SEC that can even make you pause and think about this. Urban Meyer is one of them. He's that good. He went to Bowling Green ... and won. He went to Utah ... and won. He's now at Florida ... where he won. Meyer has the potential -- if he's not just a serial job-hopper -- to create a legend at Florida. But he hasn't been around long enough to give one of these two great coaches the definitive edge. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

RESULT

C&F's heart says to go with the Gamecocks. And this is a winnable game. But that's different than saying it will be done. These guys are the defending SEC and national champions, and you have to give them the best shot at winning this game unless and until South Carolina opens the year in excellent form or the Gators struggle. LIKELY LOSS

WHERE SOUTH CAROLINA WOULD BE

Again, given that all C&F's predictions comes true, the Gamecocks could be 8-3 or 7-4. The Clemson game, for which South Carolina will have two weeks to prepare, will then be the difference between great (9-3), good (8-4) or standing pat (7-5). Would you really have it any other way?

THE REST OF THEIR SEASON

Florida will be 2-0 after hosting Western Kentucky and Troy at the Swamp. Tennessee comes to Gainesville, and then the Gators go to Ole Miss, so Florida in all likelihood starts 4-0 before running into a tough stretch where they will play Auburn, at LSU, at Kentucky, vs. Georgia, Vandy and at South Carolina. Four of those will start with the Gators favored, but they could lose to both Auburn and LSU. The season wraps up with home tilts with Florida Atlantic and FSU. The most likely record is 10-2, but the chances of a 9-3 record also look good -- better than 11-1.

COOK'S GOOSE ... ER, COOKED?

2007-08-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

Um, when did we become Miami?

Emanuel Cook was invited to jail by police who found him and a friend with a gun. The University of South Carolina then invited him to leave campus.

Cook, who is charged with unlawful possession of a pistol, was released from the Richland County jail on a personal recognizance bond this afternoon.
Under university policy, students found with a firearm in their possession are "summarily suspended" and are prohibited from taking classes or living in university housing, USC spokesman Russ McKinney said. ...
As the officers approached, Gore attempted to hide something inside a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria and would not comply with commands to show officers his hands, the report stated.
Cook told officers there was a gun inside the car. Police discovered a loaded magazine while frisking Gore and found a High Point .380 inside the glove box after Gore told officers of its location.

Aww, c'mon. That doesn't look dangerous.

Chris Hampton looks likely to step in here. In three fewer games, Cook had 11 more tackles and 2.0 TFL more than Hampton, who was the starter. Hampton, though, had 2 INTs to none for Cook.

UPDATE: Spurrier voices support for Cook, but doesn't threaten to leave. "He's a good young man and obviously was at the wrong place at the wrong time. You've got to choose your friends. Supposedly, the gun was not his (Cook's) but he was with a guy with a gun. You're guilty by association."

THIS JUST IN: MITCHELL STILL IRRESPONSIBLE

2007-08-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

Sigh.

What can you say?

Blake Mitchell has been benched for the first week, says Spurrier. Though it's not really anything new -- the attendance issues that brought on the suspension have already been reported, it's yet another sign of Mitchell's lagging record in the leadership department.

Spurrier said Mitchell plans to appeal. If the suspension is upheld, Chris Smelley, a redshirt freshman from Tuscaloosa, Ala., will start next weekend against Louisiana-Lafayette. Spurrier said Tommy Beecher also would see action. ...
Under the athletics department's class attendance policy, which was amended in May, athletes are assigned points for unexcused absences from class, tutor sessions or study hall. Athletes who accrue too many points can be suspended for as many as two practices and two games. ...
"I'm 100 percent behind our class attendance policy," Spurrier said. "There's no reason in the world why only one or two guys are in trouble."

First of all, I think we can all agree that it's a good thing that Spurrier supports this particular policy. Let's give ESPN a couple weeks to focus on something else.

What, I'm supposed to, like, go to class and stuff?

Secondly, humor C&F as he floats a possibility out there. What if, what if, Chris Smelley has a great game? Not a good game -- this is, after all, Louisiana-Lafayette -- but a great game, something like 300 yards passing and 4 TDs? Might Spurrier be tempted, somewhere in the back of his mind, to extend the benching?

Of course, he would. But whether he will do it or not, that's another question.

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK 10 BEGS YOU NOT TO THROW THE CHAIRS

2007-08-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

Ah, the chill of November sets in as Week 10 rolls around. Or, if you live in the South, the slightly cool but in no way shiver-worthy drop in temperatures. If you ever wondered what it tastes like to grill your Thanksgiving turkey on the sidewalk, an average T-Day in Columbia should do the trick.

And have no doubt, it will be frosty in Tuscaloosa, because No. 2 LSU is coming to town to play the Crimson Tide. And you know what that means...

It's crazy time!

Admit it: This is appointment television. (Though we don't know the time or place of the appointment yet.) It's like The Jerry Springer Show with an audience of 92,000 and a football game thrown in for free.

Oh, the plot lines. Will Les Miles drop the F-bomb? Will he berate some hapless fan? Will Nick Saban literally rip Miles' arm off after the post-game handshake? Will there be a post-game handshake?

Sure, Alabama probably won't be a factor in the SEC West race at this point, but they'll be a good team. And C&F will already unveil his prediction: Nick Saban will beat Les Miles in their first game. He's tired of listening to the guy's diatribes, mostly because he doesn't have time for that ----.

There are also some games that are interesting because of -- wait for it -- the football being played on the field. Novel, ain't it?

First, on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. ET, No. 8 Virginia Tech travels to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech. You might remember the Jackets humbling the Hokies in Blacksburg last year, and Beamer and crew would like nothing better than to make it a long night for the Wreck faithful.

On Saturday, No. 22 South Carolina visits No. 20 Arkansas in a clash that could have major implications for both. At any rate, this rivarly -- manufactured as it is, I am developing something of a hard spot in my heart for the Hogs -- is marked mostly by close games. The teams have, from time to time, traded humiliating blowouts with one team running up the score, usually saying it was only retaliation for the other guy's transgressions. It's scheduled for 2 p.m., though that could change if TV gets involved.

The only other scheduled game is the 8 p.m. tilt between Oregon State and No. 1 Southern Cal. The game is in L.A. this year, and the Trojans have some unfinished business against the Beavers, who improbably won last year to take the first chunk out of the other USC's NC dreams. Likely destined for ABC Saturday Night Football, though ESPN or ESPN2 are also possible locales.

Three other conference match-ups that could shake things up: No. 9 Wisconsin goes to No. 11 Ohio State, one of the Badgers' most severe road tests; No. 25 Texas A&M heads to No. 6 Oklahoma; and No. 18 Florida State goes to Boston College in what could be a showdown between the ACC Atlantic's top two teams.

Throw in an in-state grudge match between No. 3 Michigan and Michigan State, and it's about all you can ask for.

Even if you're still trying to figure out why Les Miles kicked Nick Saban in the shins.

GAMECOCKS 2007: at ARKANSAS

2007-08-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

By the way, you know they still play football at Arkansas, right?

You could be forgiven for forgetting after an offseason that included:

--The departure of the offensive coordinator under mysterious circumstances.
--The departure of the uber-recruit quarterback after the departure of the offensive coordinator, and all but certainly as a result of the OC leaving.
--Freedom of Information requests and assorted lawsuits.
--Continuing fallout from a bizarre and murky chain of e-mails, with the details filled in by conspiracy theorists.
--The revelation that (married) head coach Houston Nutt set a land-speed record for sending text messages to a notably female local television anchor.

And to top it all off, star WR Marcus Monk -- the only returning wideout on a team that wasn't exactly a passing juggernaut in 2006 -- will likely miss the first few games of the season.

So how do you feel, Houston?

We're ready for glory.

All of this chaos surrounding a program that, hang with me in the memory department again, is the defending SEC West champion. The controversy has also increased the pressure on the Razorbacks to win in order for Nutt to survive, though some believe that he is out the door even if school administrators don't dismiss him.

OFFENSE

O-line. The offensive front loses three starters, though all are replaced by juniors or seniors. Even with the older replacements, though, it seems unlikely that the line will be able to match last year's performance, which included allowing only nine sacks. At this point in the season, both teams' lines should have come together, but there's no way to tell. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Quarterback. Starting five games and playing in 10 as the Hogs adopted the always successful QB carousel, Casey Dick's performance was abysmal. Sorry, there's no other way to put. He completed 49.2 percent of his passes for 991 yards. In his quasi-defense, his TD-to-INT ratio got all the way back to mediocre, with 9 TDs against 6 INTs. Could he improve? Sure. And he has to for the 'Backs to have a good year. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Wide receivers. Monk should have returned by now, though whether he will regain his stride is always a tricky question for a WR. The only other returning players to have a number of receptions in the double digits? Runnings backs and tight ends, all. Fortunately for the Razorbacks, at least in this game, they'll be competing with a team that will also begin the year with a relatively green receiving corps. But C&F wonders if there won't be an experience gap in this game given the likelihood that Houston Nutt's playbook has 867 running plays and four pass plays -- one of them the Hail Mary. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Running backs. Scary scary scary good. If Darren McFadden wasn't in Arkansas and getting Heisman buzz, it's not inconceivable that Felix Jones would be. Both rushed for much more than 1,000 yards, with McFadden scoring 14 times and Jones putting up 6 TDs. Both also had more than 100 receiving yards and scored a combined 4 TDs. Oh, and did I mention that McFadden was 7-for-9 with 3 TDs and an INT as a quarterback? Boyd and Davis can't even come close. No two human beings can.

Now, it's fair to question whether McFadden will be able to have that kind of success when every team in creation will be putting seven or eight men in the box -- nine or even ten isn't entirely out of the question, particularly when Monk's gone -- until the Hogs prove they can throw. But consider this: Arkansas failed in 2006 to pass for 100 yards in four games, those against Alabama, Auburn, Louisiana-Monroe(!) and LSU. McFadden's yardage totals in those games, respectively: 112, 145, 129 and 182 yards (that last figure against the vaunted LSU defense). He totaled 5 TDs in those games. And Jones also carried for 141 yards and a score against La-Monroe, who must have wondered why the Razorbacks were allowed to actually use the Pepsi machine as a running back.

Did somebody get the tag number for that semi?

ADVANTAGE: ARKANSAS

DEFENSE

Defensive line. The Hogs lose terror Jamaal Anderson, who had 65 tackles, 19.5 of those for loss, 13.5 of them sacks. That said, they keep Antwain Robinson, who had 68 tackles, 14.5 for loss, 8.5 of them sacks, and an interception. Ernest Mitchell is also no slouch, with 9 TFL and a sack. Other likely starters don't leap off the page, but this unit should be fine. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Linebackers. Again, a star departs, this time in the form of Sam Olajubutu, who led the team with 115 tackles, among them 10 TFL and 2.5 sacks. The returning Weston Dacus, overshadowed because of the obvious relish for announcers in calling the name "Olajubutu," had 95 tackles in his own right, including 8 TFL and 3.5 sacks. But again, other potential starters are untested. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Secondary. Chris Houston had 3 INTs and 13 passes broken up in 2006. Guess what? He's gone, as well. FS Michael Grant, the only returning starter, also had 3 INTs, but little else to recommend him. There's some talent here, but not a ton of experience. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

SPECIAL TEAMS

The kickoff unit was solid, but the Hogs will have to improve on an awful FG performance. Punting will be handed to Jeremy Davis, responsible for much of the 3-point woes last year. Jones averaged 24.1 yards per kick return; Peyton Hillis, tapped for the sole responsibility in punt returns this year, averaged 11.5 yards on eight attempts last season. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

COACHING

Houston Nutt has yet to win an SEC title, despite having his chances. And he's crazy. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

RESULT

This is a frightening game for South Carolina. It basically comes down to this: can the Gamecocks stifle Darren McFadden? Nothing in their history suggests they will -- though a late-game comeback at the WB last year almost led to a victory, and these teams often go back and forth. But the game is at Arkansas. PROBABLE LOSS

WHERE SOUTH CAROLINA WOULD BE

A loss would make the Gamecocks either 8-2 or 7-3, pending the Georgia outcome. Suddenly, the game against Florida might not be that decisive after all, depending on what the Gators have done. A good travel reputation, though, keeps the hope of a New Year's Day bowl alive. South Carolina will need to split the last two (at least) to make that a certainty.

THE REST OF THEIR SEASON

This team is a wild card. They could tank -- which would switch this game over to a probable win for South Carolina -- given the losses on defense and the scandal. But Darren McFadden is one of those rare players who just might be able to carry a team on his own, particularly with a supporting cast that includes Jones and a healthy Monk. Granting that they are as good as they should be, the Hogs will begin the season on a roll, probably winning at least four of five games off the bat (Troy, at Alabama, Kentucky, North Texas, UT-Chattanooga). Three other likely wins lurk on the schedule in the form of a road game at Ole Miss and home tilts with Florida International and Mississippi State. But LSU on the road and Auburn are likely losses, while a trip to Tennessee is treacherous. The best chance is for 7-5 or 8-4. Anything less would be a disappointment, but it's hard to count up nine wins on this schedule. But if an early-season loss ot Alabama or Kentucky gets things going downhill, that record could fall to 5-7 or even 4-8.

INTRODUCING THE SEC POWER POLL

2007-08-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

This year, 16 bloggers are slated to take part in the inaugural SEC Power Poll, a set of intraconference rankings with more team speed than anyone else in the country.

The concept is fairly simple. Every week, after having made the enormous sacrifice of studying a weekend of college football -- life as a blogger is hard -- our erudite pollsters will send in ballot ranking each of the teams from 1-12. Clutching a calculator for dear life, C&F will tally the results and post them here each Tuesday.

Without further ado, the bloggers who have currently agreed to take part are...

In the East: For Florida, David at Orange and Blue Hue, Mark at Swamp Ball and Orson at EDSBS; for Tennessee, Joel at Rocky Top talk; for Georgia, Kyle at The Wishbone; for Kentucky, Glenn at A Sea of Blue; for Vanderbilt, Joshua at Vanderbilt Sports Line; and for South Carolina, yours truly.

In the West: For Alabama, Todd at Roll Bama Roll, Newspaper Hack at Journalism is for Rockstars, Stu at Tide Druid; for Ole Miss, Erik at Deep South Sports; for Mississippi State, Jeremy at Mississippi State Sports Blog; for Arkansas, the Hog Blogger; for LSU, And the Valley Shook; and for Auburn, Jay at Track 'Em Tigers.

Yes, C&F realizes that both Florida and Alabama are relatively overrepresented right now; this is a problem he is striving to correct by recruiting others. If you have an SEC blog that has a fair amount of original content during football season and are committed to what you're doing, drop me a line at laughin 98 (((at))) hotmail (((dot))) com. Or you might hear from me. Obviously, bloggers from the underrepresented schools will get priority.

(Coincidentally, not being asked should not be taken as a slight. Some people were left off to avoid asking more than three bloggers from one school at a time, with the choice often being capricious, and others were simply forgotten in the haze of writing e-mails at 12:30 a.m. And some of you guard your e-mail addresses like they're Dick Cheney's secure and undisclosed location.)

This is intended to be a conversation starter among SEC blogs and the public at large about who's the best team, regardless of whether their schedule or division creates an easy path to Atlanta. So feel free to cuss, complain or otherwise comment here. I'm sure most of the bloggers would also welcome comments on their individual ballots at their sites, as long as they're not death threats or offers for a GRE//AT DE@L ON V!AGRA!!!

The first poll is scheduled to come out Sept. 4. Be sure to join us.

GAMECOCKS 2007: at Tennessee

2007-08-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

Figuring out the Vols. Perhaps the most unenviable task I have this preseason.

Will Erik Ainge be "Good Erik," the freshman who helped lead the Vols to the SEC title game in 2004 and had a good season last year? Or will he be "Evil Erik," the one who imploded and couldn't outplay the least talented Clausen in 2005 as the Vols slouched to a 5-6 record?

And what, exactly, is up with LaMarcus Coker, penciled in as the No. 1 running back? Who is to be Ainge's go-to wide receiver with the departure of Robert Meachem? How much weight will Phil Fulmer gain if the season goes badly and he turns to food to self-medicate?

OFFENSE

O-line. There are issues here, as Ainge loses his blind-side protection but has three returning starters on the right side. The Vols gave up just 19 sacks last year, though, and Fulmer will do his dead-level best to make sure that Ainge and his perhaps fragile psyche don't get shattered by onrushing defensive ends. By this point in the season, Tennessee should have figured this out; the hope is that South Carolina will have done so as well. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Quarterback. Are there two quarterbacks anywhere in the nation that are more alike? Success, failure, success, etc. Judging from last year, though, Ainge could have a good season, going 233-for-348 for 2,989 yards, 19 TDs and 9 INTs. This is a tough call, because we've seen what both of these young men are capable of and been awed, and we've seen what both of these young men are capable of and been horrified. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

I will become one with my inner Peyton.

Running backs. The Coker suspension, if it continues this late in the season, could be problematic. Arian Foster, who averaged 3.5 yards on 91 carries for 5 scores, is the heir apparent. Montario Hardesty did about the same. That, of course, all relies on what conditions Coker must meet and what timetable he has in which to do it. With Coker, they're even up with the Gamecocks. Without, Boyd and Davis clearly have the edge. With that note, C&F will go with the average. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Wide receivers. No starter wideout returns. C&F will repeat that: No starting WR returns. Robert Meachem and his 71 catches, 1,298 yards, 11 TDs -- gone. Jayson Swain and his 49 grabs, 688 yards and 6 scores -- gone. While Lucas Taylor played in 13 games, he had just 14 catches for 101 yards. Rogers, with five catches in three games, is untested. Ainge will have to get some production out of his returning senior tight ends, Chris Brown (31 receptions, 239 yards, 1 TD) and Brad Cottam (14 catches, 182 yards). ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

DEFENSE

Defensive line. End Xavier Mitchell headlines this group after racking up 7.5 TFL and 4.0 sacks in 2006; most of the rest had either limited time or limited resumes, though end Antonio Reynolds had 5 TFL and a sack. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Linebackers. A tough corps returns two starters, who combined for 22.5 TFL and 6 sacks last year. If South Carolina's line is still in disarray and a No. 1 receiver hasn't stepped up, these guys could have good nights. Not that the Gamecocks' unit is shabby. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Secondary. The Vols lose CB Jonathan Wade's 52 tackles, 4 INTs and 13 pass break-ups, but FS Jonathan Hefney returns after a 2006 campaign that included 96 tackles, 5 picks and three break-ups. Every other likely starter is largely untested. The Gamecocks aren't as thin on experience, but they also don't have a proven quantity like Hefney. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

SPECIAL TEAMS

One word: Colquitt. This time it's Britton, but does the first name ever matter with this clan? They're all created by Phil Fulmer is some diabolical underground chamber. Neither returner did much last year, but the Gamecocks didn't either. ADVANTAGE: TENNESSEE

The first name changes. Nothing else does.

COACHING

Spurrier vs. Fulmer. We've seen this before -- many, many times. Almost every time, the Head Ball Coach gets the better of the Rotund One. The record is more even, 1-1, since Spurrier came to South Carolina, but both games were thin affairs that had more to do with lucky bounces and key plays than with one team being better than the other from kickoff to kneel-down. (South Carolina outgained Tennessee by 70 yards and seven first downs last year, and the Vols needed a 17-point, fourth-quarter rally to win.) In other words, the dynamics haven't changed. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

RESULT

This has usually been a volatile game. During the Holtz years, the Gamecocks seemed to get closer, closer, closer and yet always fall short. Spurrier got them over the hump in his first year, but couldn't outrun the luck feedback from the improbable 2005 season. Someone might look at all the times C&F gave South Carolina the advantage and say he's overestimating the Gamecocks. But if he's wrong, he's underestimating the Vols. This is a down year for Tennessee. But the game is in Knoxville. I would say toss-up, but another exemption (in addition to the Georgia game) makes the whole excercise pointless. Understand "probable" means 50 percent plus one. PROBABLE WIN

WHERE SOUTH CAROLINA WOULD BE

The Gamecocks would be either 7-2 or 8-1 going into their game against Arkansas if they pick up the win. But the difference could be dramatic between 8-1, when the collision with Florida will look decisive, and 7-2, where the Gamecocks might instead be trying to climb into an upper-tier (but non-BCS) bowl.

THE REST OF THEIR SEASON

Again, this is a down year for the Vols. Cal and Florida are likely losses, while Georgia and Arkansas will be tough home games. Southern Miss at home and Alabama on the road are trap games, with the game against the Crimson Tide being a rivalry to boot. The Vols also have to travel to Kentucky after edging the Wildcats 17-12 at home last year. But there are some easy wins in Arkansas State, at Mississippi State, La-Lafayette and probably Vanderbilt -- though the Commodores could be tricky. The best C&F sees for the Vols is 8-4, though neither 9-3 nor 7-5 is impossible.

THE SEASON AHEAD: IN WEEK 9, GAMES COME WITH LIQUOR

2007-08-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

Week 9 is crunch time. By now, the teams who are going to be in contention for conference or even the national title have run a gauntlet of eight or nine games and have more than likely seen at least one test. Conference races have taken shape; most of the teams know what they need to do and what else needs to happen for them to end up at the top of their league or in the championship game.

And some other teams, well...

They just keep getting better and better.

Two interesting games precede the official start of the weekend (unless, of course, you're at Georgia, where the weekend begins on Wednesday and ends on Tuesday), with Boston College taking on Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Thursday and Boise State traveling to Fresno State on Friday. The BC-Tech game -- both are expected to compete for their division crowns -- airs on ESPN at 7:30 p.m., while the two States meet on ESPN2 at 9 p.m.

At 3 p.m. Saturday, the other USC heads to Oregon in a game that is perpetually billed as an opporunity for Southern Cal to lose and perpetually ends up with the Trojans leaving the Ducks weeping into their neon yellow uniforms. FSN will carry the game.

The only other game actually scheduled at this point is the tilt between Ohio State and Penn State in State College, slated for ABC Saturday Night Football at 8 p.m. This could very well be little more than jockeying for second or third fiddle in the Big Ten, but it could be a big game if the Buckeyes are making enough noise to put Michigan on warning.

But the unscheduled matches are some of the best. Minnesota at Michigan will likely decide the fate of anything other than the Little Brown Jug, but there's some merit to that, I suppose.

Fighting over a 100-year-old liquor container is so stereotypically Midwestern.

West Virginia goes to Rutgers, where the Scarlet Knights will try to avenge the loss that officially ended their Big East championship dreams. The Moutaineers will, in all likelihood, still be in the national championship race at this point, and Rutgers will like nothing better than to derail those dreams.

Nebraska meets Texas in what is likely to be a preview of the Big XII championship game. You wonder if a Huskers win might be counterproductive, particularly if it's the first blemish on the Longhorns' record and gives them a revenge motive for the title tilt. Just throwing that out there.

The SEC East race will be clearly defined, and maybe decided, based on the outcome of two games this week. First, the Gamecocks head to Knoxville to take on the Vols. If Tennessee has managed to defeat Florida and Georgia at this point, South Carolina will be all that stands in their way. Besides, who wants to miss a game between Fulmer and Spurrier?

Speaking of Florida and Georgia, they're playing at ~~the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party~~ the Globe's Biggest Display of Debauchery and Hooliganism. Some would say this game alone could determine the SEC East champ; C&F, by this point, surely doesn't have to recount why he thinks this is nonsense.

GAMECOCKS 2007: vs. VANDERBILT

2007-08-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

This could be the year for Vanderbilt. And when you talk about "the year" for Vandy, you don't mean a national championship or conference crown; you mean they could actually make it to a bowl game.

Can somebody please get this man six wins?

But oh, the schedule, which C&F will discuss more in a minute. It's Vanderbilt's curse that when they don't have the talent, they have the schedule. When they have the talent, the schedule gets tougher. And when they have the talent and the schedule, they lose to Middle Tennessee State University and end up going 5-7.

OFFENSE

O-line. All but one of last year's starters return for Commodores. The line was solid, if it didn't necessarily excel, surrendering 19 sacks, including two for the Gamecocks. And with a quarterback like Chris Nickson, who led the team with 694 rushing yards, they don't have to be great, they simply have to give him a little time. ADVANTAGE: VANDERBILT

Quarterback. Chris Nickson is the kind of guy who would get some attention -- not a ton, but some -- if he were at a school that had a chance of playing its final game after Christmas. He's a mobile if not exceedingly accurate QB, completing 54.8 percent of his passes (160-292), though his TD-to-INT ratio was a less-than-desirable 15-to-13. But he averaged 57.8 yards a game last year on the ground and had nine rushing TDs. (Which, to C&F, is a 24-to-13 ratio, but nobody seems to agree with him on that.) The Gamecocks shut him down last year; he went 4-for-15 with two picks and no TDs. Look for improvement in his second year running Bobby Johnson's system. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Wide receivers. The guy who really is being overlooked by the casual football fan is Earl Bennett, who caught 82 passes for 1,146 yards and 6 TDs. But he was also shut down by South Carolina last year, catching only four passes for 16 yards. Whether they can do that again is an open question. George Smith returns, and Sean Walker is penciled in at the other WR spot. Smith had 21 catches for 313 yards and 3 TDs last year; Walker grabbed 16 balls for 204 yards and a pair of scores. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

I had 1,146 receiving yards last year. Who am I?

Running backs. Besides having one of the longest names in the SEC for a player not found on Ole Miss' roster, Cassen Jackson-Garrison had trouble keeping up with Nickson, rushing 152 times for 614 yards and 5 TDs. While having Nickson helps, Jackson-Garrison will have to do better for Vandy to have a good year. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

DEFENSE

Defensive line. Two starters return in Curtis Gatewood and Theo Horrocks, who last season accounted for 14 TFL and 12 sacks. Steven Stone, expected to start at end, had 6.5 TFL and half a sack. Would-be starting tackle Gabe Hall had 9 tackles in 2006, one for loss. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Linebackers. Starters Marcus Buggs and Jonathan Goff return to the cops. Goff led the team last year with 93 tackles with 6 of those for loss, including 2.5 sacks. Boggs had 10.5 TFL and 2 scaks. Brandon Bryant, expected to start on the weak side, contributed 2 TFL in time as a backup. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Secondary. The Commodores are stacked at safety, where two returners are located and returning starting CB Joel Caldwell has been shifted. Ryan Hamilton and Reshard Langford combined for four picks last year. Myron Lewis and D.J. Moore are expected to start at CB, with Moore having a pick and getting some starting time in 2006. Lewis was limited. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

COACHING

Bobby Johnson has done about as well as could be expected. He doesn't have as much to work with as any other coach in the conference. And he does well every year. But without even a bowl berth to his name, it's hard to define how good he is. So far, he's 0-2 against Spurrier. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

RESULT

Despite all the statements of "ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA" you see up there, don't be fooled. Vanderbilt is a decent team that just has the misfortune of being in the SEC East. And the Commodores are always in the game. Last year, Vandy's opponents scored 23.7 points a game. The 'Dores scored 22.0. Among the teams that they lost to by a TD or less: Alabama, Arkansas, Ole Miss and eventual NC Florida. Vanderbilt also beat Georgia. If the Commodores manage to start winning some of these games, they could be dangerous. LIKELY WIN

WHERE SOUTH CAROLINA WOULD BE

If all of C&F's projections are correct up to this point, the Gamecocks are at least bowl-eligible at 6-2, and could be in a strong position for the division race with a 7-1 record. But they have yet to endure the Orange Crush, which comes next. After Vanderbilt, South Carolina travels to Tennessee and Arkansas before coming home to close out the season against Florida and Clemson.

THE REST OF THEIR SEASON

Again, the schedule is all that stands between this team and a December game. There are likely wins against Richmond, Ole Miss, Eastern Michigan and Miami (OH). Games against Alabama and Georgia and at Auburn, Florida and Tennessee are probable losses in addition to South Carolina. That would leave Vanderbilt needing to upset one of those teams to avoid having to defeat both Kentucky and Wake Forest to get bowl eligible. Worst-case scenario is likely 4-8, though C&F would put his money on 5-7 and give Vandy the slimmest chance of a 6-6 record and trip the promised land of the postseason.

INITIAL BLOGPOLL BALLOT

2007-08-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

C&F's initial blogpoll ballot, with some description below (The Ranks will be posted later), for your bashing pleasure. Feel free to tell me where I've been excessively stupid which, give the rate of corrections for the past few weeks, might be a higher bar for C&F than for most.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas	25
2	Michigan	24
3	Southern Cal	23
4	LSU	22
5	West Virginia	21
6	Auburn	20
7	California	19
8	Wisconsin	18
9	Florida	17
10	Virginia Tech	16
11	Rutgers	15
12	Nebraska	14
13	Oklahoma	13
14	Louisville	12
15	Ohio State	11
16	South Carolina	10
17	Florida State	9
18	Southern Miss	8
19	UCLA	7
20	Tennessee	6
21	Penn State	5
22	Arkansas	4
23	Brigham Young	3
24	Hawaii	2
25	Oregon	1

Dropped Out:

Justification, excuses, impressions:

--The Top Three. Yes, C&F is going contrarian again. Even after listing all the reasons C&F thought he might not rank Southern Cal at No. 1, he thought about doing it all the same. But that seemed too Corso-ish, so C&F went with the courage of his convictions, even to the point of dropping Southern Cal to No. 3. As forTexas as No. 1 -- Colt McCoy is leading the offense again, and the only real cause for concern in C&F's eyes is a touch of inexperience on the o-line. (And everyone has questions this year.) If Michigan avoids the "huh?" game, there seems to be little to keep them from going undefeated and being a great team.

--LSU. Don't trust Les Miles. Just don't trust him. Until he shows that he can avoid snatching two defeats from the jaws of a flawless season, the team will always debut here at no higher than No. 4. Plus: What do we actually know about Matt Flynn other than he had one good game against Miami a year and half ago?

--Auburn. This is probationary status, under the idea that Brandon Cox won't regress again this year. The first time C&F sees signs that Cox still doesn't get it, he reserves the right to knock the Tigers way, way down.

--Rutgers/Louisville. Yes, I think Rutgers is better than Louisville, particularly with the Cardinals trying to grasp a new system.

--South Carolina. Call me a homer, but I think this is about right for them this year.

--Georgia, TCU, Boise State. I've already outlined problems with Georgia. I think BYU will beat TCU this year. I think Hawaii is better than Boise State, whom everyone seems to forget has to replace most of the skill players on last year's Cinderella offense.

Again, more justification will follow in The Ranks, which will also come after the tweaking that will inevitably come over the next week or so before the final preseason Blogpoll.

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK 8 HATES SOMEBODY

2007-08-16T21:17:00.000-07:00

Rivalries are what make college football truly great. They're more developed, more passionate than in the professional version, and great moments and blown calls are remembered far longer.

The most bitter intrastate rivalries are often saved up for the end of the year. But some of the midseason grudge matches are also keepers. And this season, The Third Saturday in October -- made famous by an SEC border battle -- is also home to a few other heated games. The Third Saturday in October this year is Week 8.

Of course, the matchup that makes the week well-known is the tilt between Tennessee and Alabama, held this year in Tuscaloosa. It will mark the first time Nick Saban matches wits as Alabama coach with Phil Fulmer, though some of the drama will be gone since we know Fulmer will not be dodging subpoenas.

Keep your eyes open, boys. They won't take me down without a fight.

Nationally, the game likely to get the most attention is Southern Cal's trip to Notre Dame, a game that could severely test Charie Weis' gameplanning ability. Count on the Irish to be heavy underdogs in this showdown, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on NBC.

Though the Trojans have lost one of their favorite plays for South Bend.

Other rivalries will go toward shaping a conference or division race. Auburn visits LSU for the renewal of one of the most bizarre rivalries in all of college football. Fires, weird calls, the sudden inability of a place kicker to place the ball anywhere close to between the uprights -- anything can and often does happen in a game that just as often decides the SEC West. It's currently scheduled for 8 p.m., though with two big SEC games on, negotiations between CBS and ESPN could change that. The Eye could also try a doubleheader with the Alabama-Tennessee game.

Miami at FSU has only been spiced up since conference implications were added, and that has helped to push the game back from the first week of the year, where the ACC and ABC placed it the last couple of seasons. Both of these programs will also be looking to prove they have reclaimed their greatness. Time and network TBA, though it's a strong candidate for ABC Saturday Night Football if the two teams are having good seasons.

Not quite as big a deal emotionally will be Cal's visit to UCLA, but it could determine who has the best chance to knock off Southern Cal, aka who will be the second-place team in the Pac-10. South Florida at Rutgers, an potentially important battle in the Big East, airs Thursday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.

GAMECOCKS 2007: at NORTH CAROLINA

2007-08-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

When C&F first heard that Butch Davis had taken the head coaching job ath North Carolina, he wondered whether the former Miami leader had lost his mind. If you wanted to find a bad team -- just bad -- you'd be hard-pressed to find a better candidate than the Tar Heels.

North Carolina went 3-9 last year, with the wins coming against I-AA Furman, N.C. State and Duke. To add insult to injury, they beat Furman by a field goal and Duke by a point. Losses included a 52-7 torching at Clemson and a 23-0 defeat at Virginia.

Excuse me, coach, when was your last mental exam?

But then C&F realized that Butch Davis was doing on a much larger scale what Spurrier did in 2005 -- if he couldn't get his old job back (and Miami was at least going to wait to offer Davis, and might not have done so at all), then the competitive side of him wanted a challenge. For his part, Spurrier at least found a program with a pulse. Davis faces the football equivalent of Weekend at Bernie's.

Not that there isn't any promise at North Carolina. N.C. State and Duke haven't exactly been powerhouses in recent years, despite infrequent good seasons from N.C. State, so the state is wide-open in terms of recruiting if Davis can show tangible signs of progress. In 2007, he has to worry about minimizing the embarrassment.

OFFENSE

O-line. The center and right side of the line return. The unit allowed 22 sacks last season, while the Tar Heels averaged about 113 yards a game on the ground. This isn't a lost cause, but it also isn't likely to wow anyone's front seven. Still, trust South Carolina's offensive line only when it shows it can perform. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Quarterback. Your candidates here are redshirt freshman T.J. Yates, who went 10-15 for 163 yards and 3 TDs in the spring game, and CAm Sexton, who completed 42 percent of his passes last year (57-136) for 840 yards, 4 TDs and 8 INTs. Either one is likely to have a rocky year, even in the ACC. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Wide receivers. Hakeem Nicks is the most valuable of the group, catching 39 passes for 660 yards and four scores last year. (Which is an accomplishment when you consider the Tar Heels' success through the air.) Brandon Tate is favored by some to win the other starting position, despite catching just five passes for 72 yards in 2006. Brooks Foster caught 38 balls for 486 yards and 2 TDs. Joe Dailey? North Carolina fans might recognize him from last year. When he played quarterback. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Running backs. No one currently on team ran the ball 100 times last year. Justin Warren carried it seven times for 77 yards and a TD. Richie Rich, called a "co-starter" in his player bio (no one else is thusly identified) has carried the ball once for -1 yards. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

He could also start at tailback.

DEFENSE

Defensive line. The members of this season's line got 14 TFLs and 9 sacks last year. The totaled 90 tackles all year and return two starters from a unit that surrendered almost 173 rushing yards a game last year. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Linebackers. Durell Mapp, the sole returning starter, got 87 tackles last year, including four TFL. The other options are less attractive; only one other potential starter (Chase Rice) has more than 30 tackles. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Secondary. The linebackers who come back actually have more interceptions (2) than the returning members of the secondary, who have none. The only returning starter is Jermaine Strong, who was unimpressive. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

COACHING

Davis has never actually won a national championship, but laid the groundwork for the Hurricanes' 2001 crown. His experience at the NFL's Cleveland Brown was ... less than ideal, but that makes him no different than Spurrier on that count. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

RESULT

North Carolina will be a difficult opponent for anyone who faces them down the road; Davis should have success turning the Heels into a tough team. But this year is part of the rebuilding effort. It's not impossible for North Carolina to win, but it's hard to see any scenario where it actually happens. WIN

THE REST OF THEIR SEASON

A long, long four months awaits Davis and his team. Games against Virginia, at South Florida, at Virginia Tech, against Miami, at Wake Forest, against Maryland, and at Georgia Tech are probably also lost causes. The opener against James Madison is winnable, as is the last game against Duke. The contests at East Carolina and N.C. State are tough. Another 3-9 season should be welcomed by Heels fans; 2-10 is likely and 1-11 is not out of the question.

GAMECOCKS 2007: vs. KENTUCKY

2007-08-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

C&F will admit that Rich Brooks might have proved him wrong. Brooks always looks confsued, bewildered, lost on the sideline. Maybe it's his age, perhaps it's his general demeanor, possibly it's that he really is confused. Or maybe it's just C&F.

Why are these people carrying me?

But Brooks could just turn out to be the right man for the job at Kentucky. The Wildcats finished an almost-historic 8-5, with a 4-4 SEC mark good enough to tie for third in the division. They also beat ~~Florida~~ Georgia 24-20 and gave Tennessee heart palpitations (no small matter for Phil Fulmer) before falling 17-12 in Knoxville. (Now, if Kentucky had actually beat the national champs, that would have been something. That's what C&F gets for writing previews at 12:30 a.m. Thanks to gatorhippy for pointing out the mistake.)

This could be a breakout year for the boys from the Bluegrass State; many of the key pieces of last year's Cinderella team return. And C&F puts no stock in this "they can't sneak up on anybody this year" tripe; if you don't prepare for every game against an SEC team, you're an idiot.

OFFENSE

O-line. The Wildcats lose the right side of their line and center, but they keep the left side intact. Whether any of that is a good or a bad thing depends on what you think about last year's unit, which allowed 39 sacks. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Quarterbacks. Perhaps you've heard of Andre Woodson. You should have. The 6' 5", 230-pound gunslinger scorched secondaries across the league last year, including South Carolina's. He was 264-419 (that's 63 percent) for 3,515 yards, with 31 TDs against only 7 INTs -- a performance that would have gotten him at least mentioned for a truckload of awards were he at any school expect Kentucky. He might get at least a mention for some honors -- the Heisman? -- if his team catches fire this year. ADVANTAGE: KENTUCKY

Wide receivers. Of course, Woodson had help. Keenan Burton and Dicky Lyons might be the best returning tandem of WRs in the SEC. Burton pulled down 77 receptions for 1,036 yards and 12 TDs. Lyons caught 50 balls for 822 yards and nine scores. There's no reason to believe they won't be part of another impressive air attack. ADVANTAGE: KENTUCKY

Running backs. Like Cory Boyd, Rafael Little is a dual-threat running back. He rushed 140 times last year for 673 yards -- respectable if not spectacular -- and caught 31 passes for 392 yards. He scored a total of five times. Boyd is more of a threat to score. South Carolina backup Mike Davis has a step up on Kentucky's Tony Dixon. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

DEFENSE

Defensive line. Kentucky recently lost Nii Adjei Oninku, who besides tying Verne Lundquist's tongue in knots was expected to start at end for the Wildcats. But Oninku wasn't a huge factor as a backup last year, so it's hard to tell how big a hit this will ultimately be. The two returning starters on the line were responsible for 13 TFL and 9 sacks. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Linebackers. All three members of the starting unit last season return, though Johnny Williams was listed below Sam Maxwell on the preseason depth chart. Weakside linebacker Wesley Woodyard was a machine, with 122 tackles, 9.5 for loss, a pair of sacks and a pick. Middle linebacker Braxton Kelley was second on last year's squad with 82 tackles, 4.5 of those for loss. Neither Williams nor Maxwell were game-changers. This is the slimmest of edges for the Gamecocks. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Secondary. Returning starters Marcus McClinton and Trevard Lindley combined for six interceptions last season. But opponents averaged almost 269 yards in the air last season. Unless that improves in 2007, South Carolina's pass coverage should be better than that by this point of the season. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

SPECIAL TEAMS

Lones Seiber returns to place-kicking duties despite hitting just 57.9 percent of his FG attempts last year. Tim Masthay averaged 39.2 yards a punt and had three kicks blocked. Keenan Burton gained 765 yards on 31 kickoff returns last year, with Little picking up 317 yards on 14 punt returns. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

COACHING

Brooks has enjoyed success at Kentucky, at least last year, and elsewhere, but ultimately he's still a sub-.500 coach overall (108-139-4) and in Lexington (17-30). You have to wonder if he'll be able to sustain the success of 2006. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

RESULT

This is maybe the most frightening game on the schedule when it comes to "should" wins. Kentucky is a solid team, and last year's 24-17 result happened largely because, as Brooks pointed out afterward, South Carolina's trick play scored a touchdown while Kentucky's fell flat. The Wildcats should be better this year; then again, so should the Gamecocks. C&F would call this game a toss-up, but he's trying to avoid that in these previews. The game is in Columbia; that should be enough to tip the balance in the Gamecocks' favor. PROBABLE WIN

THE REST OF THEIR SEASON

The Wildcats start out with five games they should win -- Eastern Kentucky, Kent State, Florida Atlantic, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt -- and five teams they have at least a reasonable chance at, in C&F's estimation -- Louisville, Arkansas, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. Games against LSU and Florida are probably losses. Bowl eligibility and a 6-6 campaign are likely, though 5-7 isn't out of the question. Going 7-5 will be difficult, given that the most winnable swing games (Arkansas, South Carolina and Georgia) are all on the road. A second-straight .500 season should be cause for celebration in Kentucky; anything more will be a solid accomplishment and will likely mean the 'Cats ruined someone's season.

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK 7 WON'T GIVE YOU CAVITIES

2007-08-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, even the most fast-food loving, cholesterol-packing, transfat-scarfing American wants nothing more than a healthy meal. It can taste good and, heck, it might be the only thing you eat all month that won't significantly increase your chance of cardiac arrest.

Good. And good for you.

So it is with Week 7. There aren't necessarily any games that are going to make you lean back and go, "I can't eat anymore." But the games are good enough to keep you entertained. And let's face it: It's a Saturday in fall. You're going to be watching college football. What else are you going to do? Something productive?

Sure, you could do this. But why?

Plus, Clemson has a bye, so there's no danger of flipping the channel and unwittingly seeing a combination of purple and orange that will make blood pour from your eyes.

The action begins Thursday with another revenge match-up, this one in the form of Florida State at Wake Forest, set for 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. FSU's 30-0 humbling at home at the hands of surprising Wake last year was arguably the low point of a sour season for the Seminoles. If FSU is on the way back up (and everyone, C&F included, seems to think that's the case), a convincing win at Wake's place would be one way to prove it.

Other revenge opportunities also leap out from the schedule. Auburn visits Arkansas at 7 p.m., looking for a chance to get back at the team who knocked them out of the SEC championship game last year. Georgia goes to Vanderbilt, time and network TBA, looking to exorcise last year's 24-22 defeat at Sanford Stadium.

One of the only, if not the only, intriguing nonconference games is the border battle between South Carolina and North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Otherwise, it's conference, conference, conference. Wisconsin visits Penn State in a 3:30 p.m. game on ABC, both teams battling to be a legitimate runner-up to Michigan in the Big Ten or -- with a break -- conference champs themselves.

LSU goes to Kentucky, where the Wildcats will try to prove they belong among the big boys by knocking out a conference favorite. The Wildcats from Arizona will face Southern California in Los Angeles in what could be a trap game for the Trojans. Missouri travels to Oklahoma in a cross-division battle that could be a contest between runners-up or could be a preview of the conference championship game.

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK 6 COME WITH BOXING GLOVES

2007-08-13T20:52:00.000-07:00

Conference dominance. Sometimes, who is or isn't in the big game for a conference title at the end of the year (at least in the ACC, SEC and Big XII) can come down to one game. Or a game can preview what many believe will be the title game once it rolls around in December. Will the winner of that game have to triumph again?

Are you ready to rumble?

And as October sets in for Week 6, those big-time games begin in earnest.

But the weekend starts with the battle to be a potential Cinderella story in the SEC East, as Kentucky comes to South Carolina for an ESPN Thursday night bout at 7:30 p.m. For South Carolina, though, losses at Georgia and LSU would make this a season saver. For Kentucky, the pressure isn't likely be high, since they'll have had only one conference game, at Arkansas two weeks earlier.

Scheduled games are a bit rare, but those that will find their way to television at some point in the day are plentiful.

The headliner in the SEC is Florida at LSU, an 8 p.m. tilt that could very well be a sneak peak at the championship game. Florida is a heavy favorite to hold on to its East division crown, while all that stands between LSU and Atlanta is Brandon Cox suddenly discovering the magic of error-free football.

The undercard is Georgia at Tennessee, which could be the difference between second and fourth, depending on how South Carolina and Kentucky do.

In the Big XII, the big battle is the same game every year: Oklahoma vs. Texas in Dallas. The time is yet to be determined by the conference and TV bigwigs, though it's traditionally an afternoon game. It will likely determine the Big XII South champion, which is sort of like winning the Republican primary in Utah.

Undercard action is Nebraska at Missouri, one of which will win the chance at the ritual humiliation that is the lot of the Big XII North champion.

And let's call it the Revenge Conference for a week: Rutgers' defeat at the hands of Cincinnati in 2006 ended its NC hopes and ultimately sealed its fate in the conference race. This year, the Bearcats visit the Scarlet Knights. The undercard here comes when Virginia Tech goes to Clemson after humbling the Tigers at the height of their ACC contender buzz last season.

By now, the fun has really gotten started.

THE THREAD: C&F ISN'T GOING PRO YET

2007-08-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well, it doesn't look there's going to be much suspense when it comes to whether Darren McFadden will go pro after this season.

Over the weekend, his mother said flat-out that the Arkansas RB/QB/WR/last hope will be headed for the NFL and the ~~higher~~ salaries it offers.

"He told me [Friday], 'Mom, I'll be through in December,'" Mini Muhammed said. "I said, 'What you mean?' He said, 'I'll be through.' That's what he told me."
Asked if that meant her son would be entering the draft and joining the NFL, Muhammed said, "Yeah. He'll be making big money." ...
In Fayetteville on Wednesday, McFadden told ESPN.com that he did not anticipate making a decision on his future until after the season was over.
"A lot will have to do with how I perform this season, McFadden said.
Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said much the same thing Wednesday when asked about McFadden's pro future.
"We'll make the right decision," Nutt said, noting that the Razorbacks have been through this several times in recent years with underclassmen leaving early for the draft.
Arkansas football spokesman Kevin Trainor said Friday night that the school had no response to Muhammed's statements. Trainor did reiterate that McFadden and Nutt stand by their Wednesday comments that there will be no decision on McFadden's future until after this season.

After his comments, Nutt quietly wept for five minutes.

First of all, C&F trusts what McFadden told mama over what he told ESPN.com. And McFadden's mother is right -- the man with no seeming limit on what he can do (save perhaps place-kicking) will make "big money." (Btw, December? Is he already putting Arkansas in the Peach Bowl? Music City Bowl? No bowl at all?)

The problem C&F has with early leavers is that they often don't know what they're getting into. Did Sidney Rice talk to anybody about the difference in guaranteed money -- most NFL contracts are written in promises, dreams and mirages -- between being a Top 10 pick and a Top 50 pick? Maybe he did, but C&F bets that a lot of these young men -- and let's not forget they are young men -- don't.

They talk to agents and experts and listen to the Mel Kipers of the world and think they can make money NOW. Why waste another year in school? Why risk injury?

What they don't understand -- or tend to forget as agents mentioned number these guys have never dreamed of -- is that the extra year can make the difference between huge money and playing time and spending four years on several pro teams' practice squads before quitting in frustration.

On the other hand, C&F also loves what Houston Nutt said: "We'll make the right decision." C&F imagines McFadden's first reaction was, "Who is this 'we' of which you speak?"

McFadden has apparently already made a decision, and it looks to be the right one. The question is how many players will make the wrong one when January rolls around.

Elsewhere this weekend:
--For those who don't read over the weekend, the previews that have posted since Friday afternoon include: South Carolina vs. Georgia, South Carolina vs. S.C. State, Week 4, South Carolina vs. LSU, Week 5, South Carolina vs. Mississippi State.
--Sorensen supports Spurrier. After the board of trustees supports Spurrier. And Spurrier had these problems all along. The question is, who exactly is making decisions up in Columbia and why are we still wrestling with issues that everybody says should have been taken care of. "Clearly, the lateness in the summer in making that final decision is undesirable." You might think that's a mealy-mouthed quote, but that's about as strong as things get coming from the Midwesterner. But the university brass still seems to be convinced that the solution to APR is getting rid of students who need help to graduate instead of giving them the support needed to graduate. It's easy to leave people behind when you've already gotten the benefits of a degree, right?
--A good piece in The State summarizes the issues surrounding redshirting and what it might mean for Garcia and Smelley. Some people have already made up their minds on Garcia. (Shocker, I know.) Spurrier says Garcia needs more time (shocker, I know), and the two phenoms are still knotted for No. 2.
--Got milk? And Gatorade? Hey, it it works, you can call it Husky-ade and get Keith Jackson to narrate your commercials. No, really, you don't have to thank me.
--Georgia Tech's quarterback can beat up your quarterback. And maybe even your defensive end. AJC scribe Matt Winkeljohn -- who already has one of the best names in newspapers -- really deserves a raise for essentially getting out of the way of an amusing story.

GAMECOCKS 2007: vs. MISSISSIPPI STATE

2007-08-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

Pity the Bulldog faithful. Their program has won nine games in the last three seasons, even after the school administration tried to do the right thing by hiring the first black head coach in SEC history.

Pity Sylvester Croom? Maybe. No one can deny that for all the good Jackie Sherrill might have done in the past, his last few years left the program in shambles. Indeed, Sherril won one fewer game in his last three years, and lost two more, than Croom has in his first three seasons. But, at some point, Croom has to prove that he can be the coach to take Mississippi State to at least respectability.

What did I get myself into?

The schedule won't do him any favors this year. Two of the three SEC East teams the Bulldogs face in 2007 are fast risers Kentucky and South Carolina. The other is Tennessee. And they have to travel to Morgantown for a nonconference game with West Virginia. So even without having to go through the SEC West, four tough games present themselves.

So is the program optimistic? Judge for yourself.

From MSU's Web site. In reference to a scrimmage.

OFFENSE

O-line. The Mississippi State front returns all three starters from last season, at least according to the depth chart, and the only underclassman listed is sophomore Johnny Carpenter. Some changes could unsettle things a bit, but Croom also could be using the depth chart as a motivator. (See below.) One hopes that the South Carolina line will have come together at least a bit at this point. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Quarterbacks. The Gamecocks made their own luck, to some extent, in this category last year when they knocked Michael Henig out of the game. Whether the Bulldogs could have beaten them in any event is doubtful; without their starting QB, it was almost impossible. Henig also didn't have much luck when he finally worked his way back after sitting out September. He went 74-for-169 with 7 TDs and 9 INTs on the season. Whether Croom, who has to know the clock is ticking, will stay with Henig through another rough stretch is an open question. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Wide receivers. Last year's top wideout, Tony Burks, ended up third on the depth chart after a disappointing spring, though that might be a motivational tool on Croom's part. In 2006, Burks caught 35 passes for 850 yards and 5 TDs. No one else had more than 30 grabs. Transfer Brandon McRae, who led I-AA Morehead State with 28 catches for 361 yards in 2005, can pitch in this year. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Running backs. Anthony Dixon averaged 55.7 yards over 12 games last season, though he started only five. No one else on the squad ran for more than 250 yards in 2006. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

DEFENSE

Defensive line. Only Titus Brown returns to a unit that issued 22 sacks and 78 TFL last year. But Brown was responsible for 7.5 and 14.5 of those numbers, respectively. Avery Hannibal has limited playing time. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Linebackers. Gabe O'Neal (40 tackles, 3 TFL) and Jamar Chaney (66 tackles, 7.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks) return. Overall, a solid corps of linebackers, but not at the same level as the Gamecocks' squad. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Secondary. Derek Pegues led the team with four interceptions last year, returning two for TDs. De'Mon Glanton also had a couple of picks. Anthony Johnson and Marcus Washington saw the field only briefly in 2006. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

SPECIAL TEAMS

Adam Carlson returns as placekicker despite getting just two touchbacks in 31 attempts -- a number that will almost certainly not get better with the rule change. Blake McAdams averaged 38.2 yards a punt last year. Pegues averaged 86.4 yards in returns last year, including 14 yards a punt and 23.7 a kickoff. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

COACHING

When Sylvester Croom makes the Bulldogs a factor in the conference, this will be worth more than a few words. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

RESULT

This may be the surest chance for an SEC win for South Carolina on the conference schedule. The Gamecocks struggled to a 15-0 win in Starkville last year in the first game of the season, but this time the game is in Columbia and is later in the season. WIN

THE REST OF THEIR SEASON

It looks like another long season for the Bulldogs. LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama and Arkansas also look like losses this year. Tulane, Gardner-Webb, UAB and Ole Miss could be wins, but even with all of those in the W column, it will be a 4-8 campaign. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, 3-9 or 2-10 seems more likely.

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK 5 IS AT A NEUTRAL SITE

2007-08-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

Ah, the allure of a neutral site game. Almost assured national television coverage, given the game is any good to begin with. A 50-50 split on revenues. And when you happen to be closer to the neutral site than your opponent, all the better.

In one of the most interesting nonconference games of the year, Alabama and FSU clash in Jacksonville, a city which apparently exists simply to host football games, during Week 5. This is old money, in the form of the Crimson Tide, versus new money, in the form of FSU.

Why ya reckon they made a football outta crystal?

It's odd to call anything at FSU "new," given the fact that their coach could be the great-grandfather of many of is his players. But the first FSU national championship came in 1993 -- after the Tide's last championship. (Something I would hasten to advise FSU fans not to mention while in Jacksonville. It could be hazardous to your health.)

Neither of these teams will get any TV mileage out of their current prominence because, face it, they have none. Several years of offenses orchestrated by Jeff Bowden and Mike Shula have proven that no tradition is safe from being left crumpled in a dark alley, bleeding, shivering and begging for someone to call 911.

But the tradition will bring it to television, and give us a game time.

Another rivalry that gets traction merely from the history and names of the programs involved is Air Force at Navy, a 1 p.m. game that airs on CSTV. So as long as you don't have CSTV, you don't have to feel unpatriotic for not watching it.

The two games airing Thursday and Friday have potential. In a clash of two of the consistently better mid-major teams in college football, Southern Mississippi travels to the land of the blue turf to take on Boise State. (Psssst -- watch out for the Statue of Liberty.) That's Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ESPN.

The next day, West Virginia journeys to South Florida at 8 p.m. in an ESPN2 game. Revenge could be on the Mountaineers' mind, given that the Bulls helped derail their Big East/national title dreams last year. USF, meanwhile, will be trying to prove that it has arrived.

Back to Saturday, the intraconference slate isn't shabby, either.

Auburn goes to Florida, with the time and network to be announced. If Al Borges has finally cracked the code of Brandon Cox, this could be a good shootout in the Swamp.

Two coaches that have well-established means meet in the best ACC game of the week as Clemson heads to Georgia Tech in the battle of the auto-pilot programs. Will this be part of Baby Bowden's eight wins or Chan Gailey's seven? Again, time and channel forthcoming.

Two interesting Pac-10 games on the week: Washington hosts Southern Cal as its year of purgatory continues. But don't label the Huskies losers yet; given a competent clock official, Washington would have had a decent chance at upsetting the other USC last year. (Yes, C&F is aware that "competent" and "official" don't belong in the same sentence when discussing the Pac-10.) The 8 p.m. game is either likely or going to be included in ABC's Saturday Night Football, depending on who you listen to, though it's also probably destined for regional coverage.

Cal at Oregon is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., meaning that it is almost destined to also be on ABC's slate, more than likely also for the West Coast. (C&F tries to break out of his East Coast bias, but The Man is keeping him down.)

GAMECOCKS 2007: at LSU

2007-08-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

Has ever so much athletic talent been coached by a man with so little intelligence? Okay, so that might not be a fair question to ask in a conference that includes Houston Nutt and at least one school so embarassed by their last coach that some fans refer to him as [NAME REDACTED].

This guy:Les Miles::Mississippi SAT scores:South Carolina scores.

In any case, it has been a bizarre off-season for LSU head coach Les Miles, who called out the football prowess of the Pac-10, Big XII, ACC and the nation of Sierra Leone. This after he said that the school had a new rival in "f-ing Alabama" -- an emphatic statement for a man who had few links to the SEC or the state of Louisiana before he became the Tigers' coach.

But Les Miles' saving grace -- probably -- is the amount of talent he has. There appears to have been little if any drop-off in recruiting since Nick Saban left, though the truth of that statement will be tested in the next few years. For this season, LSU continues to reload. The question likely isn't whether the Gamecocks will lose this game, but by how much they'll fall short.

OFFENSE

O-line. Until the season begins, there is quite simiply no reason to favor the Gamecocks in this category in any game against BCS-caliber opposition. Only a "PUSH" will result when they face an opponent with an equally untested front unit. That's not the case here, as LSU returns all but one starter from last year's line, which allowed 19 sacks. ADVANTAGE: LSU

Quarterback. So was Matt Flynn hanging 40 on Miami in the 2005 Peach Bowl an example of his skills or a mirage of greatness? Last year, he went 12-for-20 with 2 TDs and 1 INT and 133 yards, largely in mop-up time. (The hardest opponent he took the field against was Kentucky.) C&F has sensed few rumblings out of Baton Rouge that he is doing poorly in the new offense Gary Crowton is installing, though he has heard few rumblings generally. Blake Mitchell has more time in the system and more playing time, but that might not be the best thing for him to lean on given the results. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Wide receivers. LSU loses almost 1,800 receiving yards with the departures of Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis, but Early Doucet is a capable replacement as the No. 1, hauling in 59 passes for 772 yards and 8 scores last season. Both teams lack a proven No. 2. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Running backs. The Tigers rushed for around 166 yards a game last year with no apparent leader on the ground. Jacob Hester returns as the fullback after leading the team with 440 yards and 6 TDs last season. Keiland Williams rushed 436 yards and 5 scores. With Boyd and Davis, this could be the only solace for the Gamecocks. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

DEFENSE

Defensive line. Tyson Jackson returns after logging 8.5 sacks in the 2006 campaign. The rest of the line isn't exactly the most solid in the world, but Bo Pelini hasn't put a bad squad on the field since coming to LSU. Last year, the Tigers put the QB on the ground 39 times. ADVANTAGE: LSU

Surprisingly, he accounted for just one of those sacks.

Linebackers. Darry Beckwith returns from a 65-tackle 2006. Ali Highsmith and Luke Sanders flank him. None have particularly impressive numbers, but great things are expected from them this year. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Secondary. Despite the loss of LaRon Landry, the Tigers are still stacked in the defensive backfield. Johnathan Zenon had 4 INTs, returned them for a total of 81 yards and scored twice. Craig Steltz also picked off four passes, returning them a total of 111 yards. Chevis Jackson broke up 14 passes. Free safety could be the one weakness. ADVANTAGE: LSU

SPECIAL TEAMS

So when your team allows 1,032 kick return yards, is that a bad thing if the reason for that is that you kicked the ball off 52 times? Doucet was nothing special in kick returns, which he will do this year, and had limited experience returning punts, something he will likely also handle. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

COACHING

Please. Steve Spurrier would mentally lap Les Miles before the LSU coach even figured out a race was being held. Despite being left with a full cupboard the last two years, Miles still doesn't have a conference crown to show for it. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

RESULT

Despite several pushes on individual units, the Tigers are the better team, and the game is played in Baton Rouge at night -- a tough win for anybody. If the Gamecocks are truly ready to aim for an SEC crown, they better keep the game competitive. But unless Spurrier knows something the rest of us don't, or LSU is just the beneficiary of undeserved hype, South Carolina will need a miracle to win. LOSS

REST OF THEIR SEASON

LSU is a preseason favorite to play their way to New Orleans for the NC game. With Arkansas imploding in pseudo-scandal and Alabama trying to recover from the Mike Shula Experiment, Auburn is the only thing keeping the LSU Tigers from a trip to Atlanta. They, too, will face LSU in the Bayou. And while anything can -- and usually does -- happen in that game, look for LSU to make good on the projections. Assuming, of course, that Les Miles can at least pretend to be sane for four months.

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK 4 IS MURKY

2007-08-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

It should be pointed out that once you reach about Week 4, it becomes much more difficult to figure out what will be the marquee matchups -- and even harder to decipher which ones will be televised. Conventional wisdom could be in tatters by this time, and television schedulers will wait until then to find out which games are worth televising. No one would have thought last August, for example, that Louisville at Rutgers would be a major turning point in the season.

Granted, it was a Thursday game, but it never would have made this preview last year as a must-watch.

Whoda thunk it?

That said, you will not see any wild-eyed projections from C&F. He will not in any way endorse the Temple-Bowling Green battle as a big game. In all likelihood, it will be a clunker. But just keep that in mind as you read the rest of the previews.

There is an interesting cross-section game on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., as Texas A&M travels to Miami for an ESPN telecast. At this point in the season, Dennis Franchione will have either proved nothing or have already made several resume-preparing trips to Kinko. The U will have already visited Oklahoma but still be trying to find out what it has.

On Saturday, Penn State goes to Michigan in a game where the time and possible TV alignment are unknown. The implications are unknown at this point as well, and might be known at least until after the game; Michigan will be a player in the conference race, but Penn State doesn't play another major game except a home tilt with Notre Dame before this one.

Georgia faces its third possibly difficult game in four weeks as it goes to Tuscaloosa for a between the spelling-challenged Dawgs and the Crimson Tide. Also TBA is Arizona's journey to Cal. Don't forget that the Golden Bears' meltdown against the Wildcats was the first sign that they were overblown as a threat to the Trojans.

As for scheduled games, Michigan State's trip to Notre Dame at 3:30 p.m. could always be interesting given the ability of the Spartans to confound expectations and the fact that both teams could be struggling. Head coach Mark Dantonio could get buzz, though, by knocking off the Irish in a nationally televised game on NBC.

Don't slap yourself, Mark. It didn't make this guy look good.

The next interesting match-up is likely to be at 7 p.m., when Kentucky visits the circus that is Arkansas. The Wildcats will be looking to make a statement in their first SEC game, while Arkansas will still be trying to prove that the preseason chaos hasn't rendered them irrelevant.

At 8 p.m., the Gamecocks head to Baton Rouge as South Carolina takes on LSU. Most people -- C&F included -- expect LSU to win this game. But if the Gamecocks can keep it close, they unquestionably become a team to watch in the SEC East race, particularly if South Carolina defeats Georgia.

The only ABC Saturday Night Football game (8 p.m.) of real interest will be perpetually disappointing Iowa's trip to Wisconsin. It's the first conference game for either, so it could prove as a strength check for both.

Those are all the games that look interesting now. By mid-September, things could look very different.

GAMECOCKS 2007: vs. SOUTH CAROLINA STATE

2007-08-10T23:44:00.000-07:00

Why? Why why why why? Why did the NCAA allow teams to add Division I-AA (no, C&F is not calling it the championship division) team to their schedule annually and still have the wins count toward bowl eligibility? Yes, C&F knows, it's money. And the lack of any apparent connection between the NCAA and logic.

But it just sets the stage for bloodshed. Custer had better odds than most of these teams.

Even I'm not that stupid.

That said, C&F has no interest in testing the odds. So, as was the case with Louisiana-Lafayette, here's a somewhat abbreviated preview of the tilt with yet another Bulldog team -- the second of three squads (Georgia, Mississippi State) to use that creative moniker.

OFFENSE

QB Cleveland McCoy completed 51.4 percent of his passes last year, going 94-183 for 1,224 yards, 10 TDs and 9 INTs. But he completed 57.1 percent against Howard, 63.2 percent at Morgan State and 61.5 percent at North Carolina A&T to close out the regular season. William Ford, he of the 752 yards and 10 TDs, returns. Still, the Gamecocks have far more power on this side of the ball. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

DEFENSE

Only four of South Carolina State's opponents managed to score 20 or more points in 2006, and they averaged a measley 18.5 points a game. The defense has a decent amount of experience. But losses vs. Bethune-Cookman and at Coastal Carolina to end September were ugly. Again, there's little reason to believe they can contain the Gamecocks. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

SPECIAL TEAMS

Nothing commends the State performance on special teams. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

RESULT

Again, as close to a sure thing as the Gamecocks are likely to get.

GAMECOCKS 2007: at GEORGIA

2007-08-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

Before C&F gets to the actual substance of the preview against Georgia, he wants to make sure to rebut what Hey Jenny Slater said in its own preview of the South Carolina-Georgia matchup in recent years.

We own their asses to the tune of a 44-13-2 all-time record, so it’s not like they’re some kind of bitter historical rival, but their constant “We’re gonna whip your asses this year” shit-talking backed up by no discernible evidence gets them 4.5 points.

That our constant promises of defeating the spelling-challenged Dawgs in a given year has not produced a victory since 2001 is undisputable; that we have somehow be "own[ed]" is a notion clearly coming from not having watched the game over the last several years. (Or watching it through red-and-black-colored shades.)

In fact, in the Richt Era, the average score of the game has been 18.0-9.8 -- slightly more than a touchdown. Take out an aberrant 31-7 drubbing in 2003, and the average score has been 15.4-10.4. Neither of those points to being owned.

In fact, among the five straight losses was the 13-7 debacle in the mud in 2002, when the Bulldogs outscored the Gamecocks 10-7 in the fourth quarter in a game that was essentially in doubt until then; the come-from-behind 20-16 game in 2004, in which Lou Holtz decided to calll 58 consecutive quarterback draws; and the 17-15 failure to execute in 2005, a game that South Carolina essentially lost by 10 yards on flubbed fieldgoals and a missed two-point conversion pass that would have won the game.

If you want to use games from the early 1990s or the 1980s to prove your point, that's fine. Five words for you: Steve Spurrier versus Ray Goff.

The "discernible evidence" boils down to the statistical evidence that eventually, the bounces go back your way, the luck of the other guy runs out. It's called reversion to the mean. On the other hand, 15-of-17 -- now that's getting owned.

On to the preview.

OFFENSE

O-line. The South Carolina offensive line is in disarray at this point; no one can deny that. But the Georgia front also looks like it's going to take a while to take shape. Going on past performance though, Georgia should be able to put together a better effort than South Carolina can; whether it will be enough to hold back the Gamecocks' defensive front is another question. ADVANTAGE: GEORGIA

Quarterback. Matthew Stafford has been much ballyhooed this year as perhaps the best QB in the SEC -- but he has yet to prove it on the field. Last year, Stafford completed just 52.7 percent of his passes and threw 7 TDs against 13 interceptions. Many of those numbers notably improved toward the last half of the year, but not notably enough (in C&F's opinion) to justify the hype. Quick quiz -- of Stafford and Mitchell last year, who had the better TD-to-INT ratio? Mitchell. Better rating? Mitchell. Higher yards-per-game average? Mitchell. But C&F is not sold on Blake until he proves that he can win the critical game with skill and not luck. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

7 TDs, 13 INTs: Best QB everer!!111!!

Wide receivers. This one is also tough. Both teams are likely to start few if any of the players that started last year. The only returner among either team to catch more than 50 balls is Kenny McKinley. Some of the receivers for both teams have shown promise on the practice field in the preseason, but that is far, far from doing it during the games in the SEC. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Running backs. Kregg Lumpkin and Cory Boyd are about even on every major stastical category, though most of them tilt ever so slightly in Boyd's favor. But C&F thinks the Gameocks have a touch more depth -- he'll take Mike Davis over likely backups at Georgia any day -- and Boyd has the clear advantage when it comes to contributing to the passing game. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Cory Boyd: Good runner, good receiver.

DEFENSE

D-line. Georgia loses a lot of experience along the line, including both of their leading sackers. This year's starters had 3.5 sacks between them last year -- less than the Gamecocks' Eric Norwood. South Carolina's line is also green, but is surprising coaches -- they can't tell if the o-line is that bad or the d-line is that good. Again, not enough to judge on either side. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

Linebackers. If respect for South Carolina's secondary comes from reputation, the linebackers might actually be the most proven part of the team. The Brinkley twins combined for 12 sacks (even if one of them played mostly on the line last year). Georgia's linebacking unit has little experience and little to show for it. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Secondary. Again, this is mostly rep this year on South Carolina's side. Captain Munnerlyn had a nice season with some playing time, grabbing a couple of interceptions. Carlos Thomas also took a couple away. Brandon Isaac was out last year; Emanuel Cook could go either way. Also not much on the Georgia side in the way of experience. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

SPECIAL TEAMS

Mikey Henderson and Asher Allen return the ball well. Brandon Coutu might simply be the best place-kicker in the SEC, and possibly the country. The Bulldogs do lose known commodity Gordon Ely-Kelso as their punter. For the Gamecocks, Ryan Succop should be fine, but the return game is coming off a season that was just bad. ADVANTAGE: GEORGIA

COACHING

Yes, Mark Richt is a great coach. Yes, he's gotten the better of South Carolina in all except his first year. But the guy on our sideline is still Steve Spurrier. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Tell Mark to call me when he's got six.

RESULT

This is one of those games C&F hates to hazard a guess at. Every year it looks like Georgia should win, they do. Every game it looks like Georgia should lose, they don't. If someone placed a gun to C&F's head and told him to decide, he'd probably go with Georgia. It's like the Cubs; you don't pick them to win the World Series until they do it, because otherwise you're just placing your teeth in front of someone with steel-toed shoes and asking them to kick you as hard as they can. Officially? C&F wimps out. The teams are just too evenly matched, and this game is just too early in the season. TOSS UP

THE REST OF THEIR SEASON

Mark Richt is a great coach, so don't count Georgia out of anything yet. But they have a good chance of landing anywhere from No. 2 to No. 5 in the SEC East this year. Kentucky is good, and if South Carolina beats Georgia, they could start off the season 0-2. (Oklahoma State's trip to Athens is looking better and better for the Cowboys from where C&F sits.) Lose to Alabama or Tennessee, and the season could be over (in terms of conference championship hopes) before October is done. I see four certain wins on their schedule. Games that could go either way: South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia Tech. Out of respect for Mark Richt, though, I give Georgia a 7-5 baseline every year. This year, that's probably all they'll get.

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK 3 HEATS UP

2007-08-09T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well, before getting underway on the Week 3 preview, C&F has to clean up a mess he made earlier -- namely, omitting the Sept. 3 game between FSU and Clemson in Dearth Valley. Forgive C&F his stupidity.

That didn't take long.

Include it under Week 1 if you want or Week 2, but the Monday game is at 8 p.m. on ESPN and well worth watching. The only question is, if the game is at the beginning of the year, can it still save Baby Bowden's job?

On to Week 3.

It's not quite "Footballpocalyse," as EDSBS dubbed last year's extravaganza, but Week 3 is nonetheless a good one. Having dispensed with a couple of nonconference games and wanting to save some for midseason breathers or homecoming games, some teams roll out their initial conference efforts. Others try to capitalize on two weeks of tuning up to bring in their first conference foe. Still others, like South Carolina ... return to horrible nonconference matchups like the Gamecock's tilt with S.C. State. So it's not perfect.

The weekend begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, when West Virginia goes to Maryland for a cross-border rivalry matchup. Maryland is a decent team, but West Virginia is top-5 material. That said, it's a rivalry game, so anything can happen. It's on ESPN.

You might skim Iowa at Iowa State on Versus at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, but the next big games start two hours later, when Michigan hosts Notre Dame (ABC) and Tennessee travels to Florida (CBS). Also on the plate is the next step in the gradual dismemberment of Washington as Ohio State comes to town (ESPN).

I hate my athletics director.

Arkansas comes to Alabama at 6:45 p.m. on ESPN, as college football's craziest coach takes on the shadiest. But, alas, the contest between Kentucky and Louisville at 7:30 p.m. airs only on ESPN Classic. If you have it, don't talk to me. The one year the game could be a good one, and they shuffle it off to a second-tier network. (No, Jim Delany, I'm not talking about the Big Ten Network.)

The highlight of the 8 p.m. time slot is USC at Nebraska, as the Huskers give Southern Cal its first test of the year on ABC Saturday Night Football. For ACC fans, there's a pretty significant showdown between BC and Georgia Tech on ESPN2.

The offbeat nightcap is Florida State's trip to Colorado at 10 p.m. on ESPN, though the game could quickly turn into a rout if the Buffaloes haven't figured out that "it's Division I football, brother!"

THE THREAD: ALSO REFUSING POLYGRAPHS

2007-08-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

Before he talks about this case, C&F should make it clear that he has never tried out for any sports team, never played any team sport more organized than the local flag football league -- and didn't do that very well.

That said, he still finds it difficult to believe that the disappointment of losing a competition for the starting punting job at a Division I-AA team could lead someone to try to harm another human being, to stab the leg that was earning a student his education.

But that's exactly what a jury found Mitch Cozad did when they convicted the backup punter of second-degree assault even as they rejected a charge of attempted murder.

His mother, Suzanne Cozad, shouted at prosecutors, "You all know he passed the polygraph, you all know it."
Gavaldon told reporters that Cozad had taken a lie-detector test and had passed, but he said polygraph results are inadmissible in Colorado courts. ...
Gavaldon told jurors it was Kevin Aussprung, a student living in the same dorm as Cozad, who stabbed Mendoza. After the verdict, Gavaldon said Aussprung declined to take a polygraph test.
Aussprung adamantly denied he was the attacker.
His attorney, Bill Crosier, said Aussprung wanted to take a polygraph but was angry and nervous over the suggestion that he might be the attacker, feelings he thought might cause the machine to falsely indicate he was lying.
Crosier said he suggested Aussprung take the test another day, but "the operator didn't call me again."
District Attorney Ken Buck ... a former college punter himself whose son is a freshman linebacker at Army, said the verdict sends a message that Americans take sports too seriously.
"The message is that it's never, ever appropriate to try to hurt somebody, first of all, and second of all, over something as stupid as starting on the football team," Buck said.

C&F would like to take this moment to point out what many people don't know: Polygraphs are not admissible in most courts because they are best used as an investigative tool. They read whether or not a person is nervous and upset. If you're overly nervous about giving an answer that would exonerate you, an interrogator knows to push harder.

On the other hand, a pathological liar (and C&F is not in any way implying that Cozad is one) can pass a polygraph with little trouble. So the whole issue of who would and wouldn't take a "lie-detector test" is a red herring.

Meanwhile, at Northern Colorado, there's football to be played, a game against Hawaii on the docket. And the players just want to move on. But you have to wonder how. How can a team move on when one of its members is trying to survive a horrific attack, while another is now preparing to be sentenced for that act? And how much harder does it make it that all of that is tied to the very sport you're trying to play?

This has been a story for months. And still none of it makes sense.

Elsewhere:
--Person has an interesting post on how players' heights and weights on the official roster can be ... er, different than those listed when they were being recruited.

Brian "Hollywood" Maddox, the Anderson tailback featured on ESPNU's "Summer House" series, began camp at 5-10 and 214 pounds (shorter and lighter than his 5-11, 225 listing in February).

Can the entertainment biz really give you an eating disorder that quickly?
--A would-be case against the UCLA receivers coach will not result in charges under odd circumstances.

Prosecutors rejected the case against Scott and his cousin, Timothy Williams, because witnesses and victims were either unavailable or uncooperative, said Jane Robison, a district attorney's spokeswoman.

A coincidence, I'm sure.
--More bizarreness from Nuttistan, as the father of a former player alleging steroid use in the program, recounting the atrocious manners of the Ayatollah Housteihni and labeling one coach "a dumb ass." C&F is unsure whether Mr. Tucker meant "a dumbass" or an unintelligent burro. Discuss amongst yourselves.
--SI surveys the players and finds that a plurality would like to play for Pete Carroll if they weren't on their current team. Bless you, angels. NC favorite is Southern Cal, while McFadden takes the preseason Heisman, both running away.
--Finally, the text-message ban will stand, at least for now. "that sux," Urban Meyer texted C&F in an exclusive interview. "nbd. well win ltr"

THE THREAD: A RETURN TO ACADEMIC QUESTIONS

2007-08-08T20:26:00.001-07:00

Following up on the Steve Spurrier controversy, The State delves into the CW that academics and athletics are in conflict and, no surprise, backs up what everyone (apparently including the author) believed to begin with: There is a conflict, and it does bear on the admissions flap.

But a larger issue remains: Should a public university such as USC have standards higher than the NCAA minimums? ...
The NCAA minimum standards are a sliding scale: The higher the grade point average, the lower the SAT or ACT test score needs to be and vice versa. But the Gamecock coaches complain that the new admissions process has been decided by a committee, without much definitive word on what exactly is needed. ...
"No committee, unless they can look inside a young man and determine his desire to get an education, his commitment, can determine whether a kid can graduate or not," [former Baylor coach Chuck] Reedy said.
Of course, much of USC’s worry is based upon the academic progress rate (APR), the NCAA’s new measuring device for academics, which penalizes schools for poor classroom performance by its athletes. South Carolina has cited the APR as its reason for raising standards in order to avoid the loss of future athletic scholarships.

The emphasis, of course, is C&F's. But C&F would go even further: If South Carolina's institutional goal is to admit only students who can graduate, then the university is doing a damn poor job of it.

In fact, the most recent figures available (from this PDF) show that the four-year graduation rate for the South Carolina cohort that entered school in 2002 is 44.9 percent. The five-year rate for the 2001 class is 59 percent, and the six-year rate (which, for some reason, is the industry standard) for the 2000 group is 62.4 percent.

In other words, almost four in 10 students who come through the admissions process don't graduate in six years -- and few of those left behind after that are going to graduate at all, if you follow the natural trend of the numbers.

The numbers for the 1996-99 cohorts of South Carolina football players (back when the numbers were even worse than those above for the general population) was 64 percent according to the NCAA's calculation, about 54 percent according to the federal government. (The numbers are from this PDF; the gap comes from a methodology difference.) When you look at the NCAA "Graduation Success Rate" -- which is, after all, what the university is puportedly worried about -- student-athletes are doing about the same or maybe better than their counterparts.

But even if that were not the case, to use "academic reform" as a reason to not admit students runs contrary to the spirit of reform, or at least what the spirit of reform should be. The point should not be to raise graduation rates by any means necessary; instead, it should be to graduate more of the students you would have admitted before academic reform was put in place.

In other words, is the emphasis on graduating student-athletes or only admitting "the right kind" of student-athlete so you can get the graduation rate up without expending any extra effort?

The job of a public university is not to weed out undesirable students who are otherwise qualified out of some vague notion that they might not be able to graduate. Granted, the school can't graduate for the student, but the university is supposed to provide the resources necessary for the student to graduate. If no more than six out of every 10 students walk off your campus with a diploma within six years of beginning classes, something is wrong with the system, not the students.

This isn't a tirade against the University of South Carolina. I received my diploma there, and am proud of having graduated. In four years, if it matters. I think it's a pretty good public university. Low college graduation rates are a problem that reaches far beyond the state of South Carolina and far beyond athletics departments. It's a problem for many states, across the board.

If you want to find a way to graduate more students (athletes and non-athletes alike), I'm all for it. But if you want to use the sanctimonious pseudo-conflict between academics and athletics as a shield for keeping qualified students out because they might drag down your numbers, then go ahead and call "academic reform" what it is.

A sham.

Elsewhere:
--Are watch lists even worth the paper they're printed on anymore? Sorry, but when Blake Mitchell has the potential to be named the nation's best quarterback, something's wrong there. Or these guys are watching a different QB than the one C&F sees on a weekly basis.
--Break out the crumpets! Yale is the favorite to win the Ivy League.

Hello, I'm Mike McLeod. You've never heard of me, but NY Times loves me.

--Frank Beamer has discovered the enemy from last year's Peach Bowl -- and it's a spy. Hey, Valerie Plame's got to find work somewhere, right?

A covert Virginia Tech operative. C&F will not reveal his sources.

--Oregon's newest twist? Going to China. C&F has no interest in seeing the uniforms for that game.

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK 2 BETTER THAN NASCAR

2007-08-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

Week 2 starts off with at least one disadvantage: No Saturday Night Football on ABC, which means no drunken Musberger slurring his way through an incoherent rant about those bloggers and their Interwebnetworld.

No, instead ABC -- or, more appropriately, ESPN on ABC (as if you were unaware of the DISNEYESPNABCHALFOFSOUTHAMERICA corporate juggernaut) -- has decided to show racing. On a Saturday night in the fall. Racing.

You want fast? There's LSU. You want collisions? Watch Jimmy Clausen get his skull beat in when Penn State's linebackers spend more time in the backfield than Notre Dame's running back.

Notre Dame QB only wishes it felt this painless.

But Week 2 still has intriguing nonconference battles, and at least one conference rivalry sometimes overlooked by the chattering class.

For the early set, there's the 11:10 a.m. ET game between West Virginia and Marshall. Aside from the fact that it is an unspeakable crime against humanity to televise a football game that starts before noon ET, it probably won't be a very good one. Marshall is expected to be a middling team in Conference USA. West Virginia is thinking national title. Unless some prominent football program starts talking about offering Rich Rodriguez a job, look for this one to be over by the end of the first half.

Go ahead and issue the severe couch-burning warning.

Noon -- which is, after all, when football games are supposed to start -- brings a pair of hmmm matchups. Not be-in-front-of-our-TV-because-you've-got-to-see-this games, but interesting nonetheless. Nebraska at Wake Forest is set for ESPN, which is also the network that's supposed to be showing WVa-Marshall. Steve Slaton might be fast, but C&F is relatively sure he can't warp time, which means both games are probably regional action. Or there's a misprint on the schedule. Either is possible.

Also in the lunchtime hour is Miami (FL) at Oklahoma, which is on ABC, I guess before the racin' gets underway. Oklahoma is on the way down and Miami is getting very cozy, so this could be an interesting one.

Another pair of good games begins at 3:30 p.m. ET, when Oregon travels to Michigan, (referees in tow?), looking for an improbable victory, and Boise State visits Washington to continue the divine punishment for whatever enormous sin Tyrone Willingham committed. Apparently, however the Broncos-Huskies match will be regional action on FSN; the rest of us get the thrilling tilt between Fresno State and Texas A&M. Goody.

At 5:45 p.m., one of the most underrated rivalries in the SEC begins, as South Carolina goes between the hedges at Georgia. This is a scene-setter for the race in the East. Whichever team wins this game usually goes into November with title hopes. The loser often ends up playing in Nashville, Shreveport or Memphis come late December. The match is on ESPN2.

But wait, there's more. Fifteen minutes after the USC-UGA kickoff, Notre Dame takes a trip to Penn State, likely to have unspeakable things done to it unless JoePa accidentally spills his coffee in the booth and electrocutes the entire Nittany Lions coaching staff.

The somewhat interesting games keep stacking up from there. at 6:30 p.m., there's BYU at UCLA, on Versus. The 7 p.m. hour brings us TCU at Texas on FSN, when things calm down a bit before another upset special in South Florida at Auburn hits ESPN2. I know; it's shocking. Auburn actually schedules two BCS nonconference opponents -- in a row.

Then, a day that began early ends with a late game, a 9:15 p.m. showdown between Virginia Tech and LSU. Both teams are heavy favorites to at least make their conference championship games, while LSU is riding a wave of national-title publicity. Even if their coach is -- there's no kind way to say it -- one of the dumbest coaches in America. Bengals in the bayou at night? Trouble for the Hokies, C&F says.

GAMECOCKS 2007: LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE

2007-08-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

It is against the Gamecock fan creed to call anything a sure win. Mostly because, when the Gamecocks are involved, there is no such thing as a sure win.

United States vs. Yugoslavia? Sure win. Goat vs. the Cubs? Sure win. South Carolina vs. any team whose players have operative use of at least two limbs? We'll see.

With Steve Spurrier at the helm, the Gamecocks should feel relatively comfortable that Louisiana-Lafayette will end up in the win column. But we take a look at the Ragin' Cajuns anyway, mostly because not doing so would almost ensure defeat. It's called tempting fate.

~~You wouldn't do this, either.~~ Never mind.

In 2006, the Ragin' Cajuns' strategy was fairly simple: Run. The Cajuns attempted 276 passes last season, completed 51.4 percent of those, and must replace their starting QB this year. Which means their strategy this year should be: Run.

This brings us to Tyrell Fenroy, a likely all-conference back (at least if TSN is to be believed, and C&F sees no reason to doubt it), who rushed for 1,197 yards and 10 TDs, picking up 5.4 yards a carry. He was a key reason Louisiana-Lafayette outrushed opponents by more than 700 yards in 2006 (2,264-1,522).

BCS teams, though, seemed to be able to contain Fenroy and Co., with LSU holding the Cajuns to 113 yards on the ground and Texas A&M slowing them down enough to keep rushing yardage at 154.

The run has been a problem for South Carolina the last two years, but there is reason to believe that will improve this season. ADVANTAGE: GAMECOCKS

On the defensive side of the ball, no immediate playmakers from the last campaign stand out, though DE Rodney Hardeway returns to try to improve on his 9 TFL and 5 sacks.

All opponents meted out 331 yards a game against Louisiana-Lafayette. Accordingly, BCS opponents lit the Cajuns up. LSU rushed for 170 yards and 3 TDs and passed for another 299 yards and three scores. Texas A&M piled up 225 yards on the ground to go with 5 TDs, while the passing game added 271 yards and 2 TDs. The Cajuns get DC Kevin Fouquier from Florida International, but it should be too little too late for this game. ADVANTAGE: GAMECOCKS

As far as special teams, neither the Cajuns nor South Carolina did anything worthy of noting. But USC didn't impress in the SEC. Louisiana-Lafayette fails to stand out in the Sun Belt. ADVANTAGE: GAMECOCKS

So this is as close as things come to a sure win for the Gamecocks. You would think.

BECAUSE BASEBALL IS MY FIRST LOVE

2007-08-07T21:01:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: Not No. 756.

I am not one of those who believes that Barry Bonds did what he did honestly, or that he is in any way fit to take the crown from Hank Aaron. The second of those two sentiments, about the man who will always to me be "The Home Run King" (even if the record is later broken cleanly), has only grown stronger since I moved to Atlanta.

But the chase is over. Barry Bonds has hit more home runs than any other man in the history of professional baseball. Through fair means or foul, that is an accomplishment.

And as he paid homage to the fans, his opponent and -- on the verge of tears -- his father, Barry Bonds took on a dimension I had rarely seen before, a quality I had never noticed.

He seemed human. Not larger than life. Not a villain. Not a hero. Just a man.

And it touched me. Not the same way it would have had Ken Griffey Jr. been the one to break the record, or if Alex Rodriguez breaks it in the future. But it touched me.

I guess, in some way, that's worth something.

THE SEASON AHEAD: WEEK ONE = KATIE HOLMES

2007-08-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

Week 1 of the college football season is sort of like your first day out of jail. You'll hit on the first woman you see. Even if it's Mildred in accounting, the bespectacled 20-something who spends all night watching The Bachelor on demand and sobbing over its beautiful romance.

Or even her.

But fear not, college football fans. No, the schedulers never put a Jessica Alba out there, but rarely is Mildred to be seen. Instead, rate the beginning of the season a Katie Holmes -- cute, even if she is a little bit spacey and has a kind of a creepy, stalkerish husband out there. Yeah, you'll hit on her gladly, but with no expectation it will go anywhere, in part because it would be wrong, in part because of the creepy husband and in part because she believes spirits sprang from volcanoes millions of years ago. (Sadly, I'm not making this up.)

The first nationally televised game of the season begins at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, Aug. 30, when Tulsa goes to Louisiana-Monroe. This game, for some odd reason, is on ESPN2, despite airing at the same time as Miami (OH) at Ball State, a game that at least has a chance of not putting you to sleep. If you're home by 7 p.m. (i.e., you don't live in Atlanta), watch this game to warm up.

But the real game that night is LSU at Mississippi State, which kicks off one hour later. Besides the fact that this is the first "real," nationally televised game of the season, there are a few reasons to watch it. First, to see if Matt Flynn can hang 40 on a team not named Miami. Second, to see just how scary good LSU's defense is going to be. And third, to see if this is the week that Sly Croom's voice actually causes the stadium to implode.

If Les Miles is rendered unable to speak, millions will thank you.

At the same time on Friday, there is a forgettable game between Washington and Syracuse. Forgettable because, let's face it, both of these teams will be forgotten by October.

But, ah, Saturday, that is when the games get underway for real. The Colorado/Colorado State rivarly matchup at 12:30 p.m. ET is on FSN. Yeah, it's a game between two teams that are going nowhere fast, but it's a rivalry, so it can tide you over.

At 3:30 p.m. ET, the day begins in earnest. On NBC is Georgia Tech at Notre Dame, in which we will find out if Gaileyball has lost its magical ability to leave us awed at the sheer volume of its underachievement. At the same time, ABC airs Wake Forest at Boston College (at least in the ACC region), a game that could give us a good clue as to whether Boston College is going to be a contender this year and whether Wake Forest was a one-year wonder or an underdog with staying power.

The 5:30 p.m. matchup, when Arizona travels to BYU, could be an intriguing matchups between a couple of dark horses -- 'Zona to compete in the Pac-10, BYU to maybepossiblywithahalfdozenbreaks get into a BCS game. That game is on Versus, which is actually a network. They're the folks that do hockey.

At 6:45 p.m., Georgia hosts Oklahoma State in what is becoming a popular upset alert. That game is on ESPN2.

The prime-time slate is a mix of intriguing and flat-out good. Kansas State goes to Auburn at 7:45 p.m. That's right, both Auburn and Kansas State have scheduled a nonconference game against a BCS foe. The same week, even.

Then, at 8 p.m. on ABC, we get the marquee matchup of the night: TENNESSEE AT CALIFORNIA. Both of these teams have been tantalizing at times the last few years, even good at moments. Tennessee is a team that has stagnated in the last three or four seasons, though, while Cal is the team that is always on the upswing, but never able to cross the mountain.

There are more games on throughout the day, but those are the good ones. Not bad for a first day of college football. Just enough to get you interested in the weeks yet to come.

GAMECOCKS 2007: BEWARE PUNS ABOUT TWINS

2007-08-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

The sportstainment storyline on the Gamecocks' defense, should it excel, was set to be twins. The Brinkley duo of Casper and Jasper (above) were set to lead the linebacking corps, while Dustin and Jordin Lindsey were projected to be backup MLB and starting DE, respectively.

You could almost read the headlines and hear the cutesy ESPN lead-ins. "It's raining twins." "Twice as nice for South Carolina." Etc.

That storyline has taken a bit of a hit recently, as the Lindsey twins are on thin ice academically. That would include Dustin, who's already flunked out once. (And our admissions standards are too high? Just what, exactly, constitute "standards" at the NCAA? "Show me your hand. Okay, you qualify.")

In any case, the Brinkley twins are nonetheless expected to play, and will be the tough core to what should be a strong Gamecocks defense. Between them, Casper and Jasper logged fully 30 percent of the team's tackles for loss last year and 38.7 percent of USC's sacks. Jasper not only lead the team with 107 tackles, he had more than twice as many as the next player. (Marvin Sapp, 51.)

From one end to the other, though, the defense is expected to be good. Real good. Not '92 Alabama good or '06 Florida good, but good all the same. That is key to an offense that, with Blake Mitchell at the helm, could be the football equivalent of devouring French fries drenched in mayo and heading for the nearest roller coaster. Possibly fun, or possibly an experience that will earn you a lifetime ban from Six Flags. By the way -- six-year-olds are loudmouths about things like that. Just saying.

Skip the French fries. Trust C&F on this one.

The line, even sans J-Lindsey, includes promising young players like Eric Norwood and Ladi Ajiboye, a true freshman. CB Captain Munnerlyn, who grabbed two interceptions in limited playing time last year, should be a key part of the secondary, with CB Carlos Thomas lining up opposite Munnerlyn. Safeties Brandon Isaac and Emanuel Cook shared the spring most improved honors for their position.

Not that the fact that South Carolina's defense should be a top-notch unit this year should suprise anyone. Last season, they held opponents to an average of 18.7 points a game -- including surrendering just 19 at eventual national champion Florida. Sure, they gave up 146.8 yards a game on the ground, but limited opponents to just 190 yards through the air and had one more interception (14) than passing touchdowns allowed (13). They also held opponents to a 37 percent third-down conversion rate.

Inconsistency, though, hobbled the unit at times. Clemson scored 28, Arkansas scored 26 and Tennessee put up 31. None of those numbers are black marks when you look at the offenses involved and the sometimes bizarre bounces that went against South Carolina, but the standards change when you start talking about competing for conference crowns.

Meanwhile, defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix has always impressed C&F. It's something about his demeanor, the way he carries himself and (most of all) the huge difference once he began calling the shots part of the way through the 2005 season. How much longer before some other school snatches him up as a head coach? I don't know; ask Charlie Strong how easy it is for a black man to become a head coach in the NCAA by simply fielding quality defenses year in and year out.

I'm not dropping this until somebody gives him a job.

C&F is not sure that the defense is a make-or-break proposition for a successful season this year. But he does believe the difference between a good defense and a great defense could be the difference between a return to the Liberty Bowl and Spurrier's goal of contending for an SEC title.

If that happens, all the ESPN, Sports Illustrated and USA Today puns will be well worth it.

THE THREAD: CHILL OUT, MAN

2007-08-06T18:49:00.000-07:00

Take a step back. Breathe. There, isn't the world beautiful?

The media has been going crazy over Steve Spurrier's threat to leave if no changes are made to the admissions process, and rightly so. When a legendary coach says he might bolt a ... well, not legendary program, fans and beat writers get a bit antsy.

Well, it's okay, because the South Carolina board of trustees is on the case. There also seems to be a sense on the board -- judging from their comments -- that this wasn't something that no one was aware of until Sunday.

Dr. Eddie Floyd, a former chairman of the board, said USC had "adequate" warning this was a problem and that it was "a failure of leadership" to correct it.
Floyd said he didn't know if that failure was that of USC president Andrew Sorensen, USC provost Mark Becker or athletic director Eric Hyman.
"This is an academic problem," said trustee Othniel Wienges, chairman of the Intercollegiate Activities Committee. "Coach shouldn't have to say anything."
Herbert Adams, chairman of USC's board of trustees, said changes should be
made and that he expected they would be.
"I talked with the president, and he said basically what they're trying to do is get a little quicker read on kids so they don't waste the coach's time and not waste the athlete's time," Adams said.

But even if no one was taking action immediately, it might not be the end of the world. Let's take a look at the actual text of what Spurrier said. All of it can be found here. Like the beat writers, I've excerpted things, but a bit more fully and with different emphasis.

The president has already told me how we're going to change how we do admissions here, but I think we need to get it out to the high school coaches and the players out there that this is not going to happen again. As a head coach, one of the big things I've always tried to follow, in a player-coach relationship, honesty has to be the centerpiece of everything you have to do with your players. And it starts when you recruit them. ... But we had a plan in place that if we oversigned, there's a perception out there that South Carolina oversigned and that they are just getting rid of guys, and that's not true. That's not true on our coaching staff. We had a plan in place to grayshirt if they all qualified. ... Again, I'm not criticizing the president, he said we're going to change how we do it. We're going to change, but for our creditibility, mine and the coaching staff, I just want the high school coaches, the parents of the players and all of them to know that that's not going to happen here if I continue to be the coach, and I plan on being the coach here a long time. ... We suffered a severe blow cred[i]bility wise around North Carolina, Anson County, where Michael Bowman is from, and Jacksonville, FL where Arkee Smith is from. I'm trying to do what I can to help that right now and to try to restore whatever credibility that we can get in those schools. As long as I'm the coach here, we're going to take guys that qualify. If not, then I'm going to have to go somewhere else because I can't tell a young man you come to school here, he qualifies, and not do that. [EMPHASIS C&F's]

This is what it looks like to C&F: Spurrier was trying to get the word out that this won't happen again, something he repeatedly stressed. In order to get that word out, Spurrier had to make sure that people took notice. One way to do that -- whether you're serious about it or not, and C&F thinks he is -- is to say that you'll quit if things don't change. Spurrier recognized the enormous rumor mill that was generated when we thought he might be talking to Alabama, and knew which button to push. Mission accomplished.

Again, C&F thinks the threat wasn't an empty one. But look at what Spurrier says: Sorensen "has already told me how we're going to change how we do admissions here." That's a key phrasing. If Sorensen tells Spurrier that the school is going to change the process, that still means the details have to be ironed out. Telling HBC how the process is going to change is another matter.

True, C&F might be parsing the words too closely on that one. But it appears that Spurrier wasn't trying to issue an ultimatum, at least not one he expected to have to act on. Instead, he seems to be saying: "Don't bail out on this." It's an insurance policy. And, most importantly, it shows the high school coaches and players who might wonder what's going on at South Carolina that Spurrier is dead serious about this.

C&F isn't oblivious to the potential for this to blow up. But he feels much better about it than he did several hours ago.

Elsewhere:
--A kicking Colquitt is looking to take over all the leg-related duties at Tennessee. Meanwhile, the TFP and Fulmer take coach-speak to an extreme.

Fulmer mentioned there were several confrontations on Sunday because of the high energy.
"They are trying to take the challenge that's out there for them," Fulmer said. "J.T. is leading the way and him and Demonté both had really good days today. That's encouraging as heck."

Fulmer also calls World War I "fisticuffs on the continent."

Gentlemen, gentlemen: Stop this confrontation.

--Wisconsin RB Lance Smith is back on the team despite pleading guilty to two misdemeanors that could lead to nine months in the clink. The charges againt Smith include pushing his girlfriend, keeping her in his apartment against his will and taking ... her shoes? He does know how hard it is to run in heels, right?
--Notre Dame will have a QB this year. Shhhhh. It's a secret.
--Less of a secret is what Derrell Hand was up to Thursday afternoon. That would be soliciting a prostitute. Allegedly, of course. Man, there's more and more competition to prove who can do the most creative thing with scholarship money.

THE THREAD: GOING SOUTH CAROLINA ON YOU

2007-08-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Back when C&F created The Thread -- has it really been a week? -- he intended it mostly to be a way to handle non-South Carolina stories on a daily basis. Alas, he has 43 preview items(!) he intends to complete by Aug. 25, meaning the number of other posts has to be seriously curtailed.

Overwhelmed? No, not at all.

So The Thread will be handling both for a while. This post is mostly to catch up on several South Carolina stories that have cropped in the past few days, the most ominous being a flare-up that has Steve Spurrier threatening to leave the Gamecocks. (HT: Leftover Hot Dog)

University of South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said Sunday the school's administration has promised to make changes in the admissions process in the wake of two football recruits being denied admission.
And Spurrier raised the specter of his leaving if changes were not made, although he quickly added he hoped to be at USC for years to come.
"As long as I'm the coach here, we're going to take guys that qualify (academically under NCAA guidelines)," Spurrier said. "If not, than I'll have to go somewhere else because I can't tell a young man, 'You come to school here," he qualifies and not do that. And we did that this year."

Ouch.

C&F has never put much stock in outsiders who say, "Spurrier is frustrated with losing at South Carolina (or not winning enough) and would love to leave," because they seem to overlook the fact that Spurrier said when he came to USC that he wanted the challenge.

This, though, is something different. This is Spurrier apparently so frustrated over obstacles to getting the pieces he needs to South Carolina that he's willing to leave if the administration tells him he has to coach with one hand tied behind his back.

Spurrier's frustration -- and the reasons for it -- are even clearer in Person's story on the subject.

Speaking for 3½ minutes on the topic, Spurrier punctuated his points by jabbing his eyeglasses in the air. Though he carried a page of handwritten remarks to the microphone, he never referred to them. ...
"In my opinion, we made a mistake in doing this. I'm not criticizing the president. He said we're going to change how we do it. But for our credibility -- mine and the coaching staff -- I just want the high school coaches, the parents of players and all them to know -- that that's not going to happen here if I continue to be the coach," said Spurrier, who agreed to a contract extension last year that gave him a $500,000 raise and keeps him at USC through the 2012 season.
"I plan on being the coach here a long time. We can have a heckuva big-time college football program here at South Carolina if we want to do things the right way," Spurrier added. "Hopefully, and I truly believe this is the last year this is going to happen because I can't operate like that. I can't operate misleading young men."

The dispute here seems to key in on one thing: Spurrier doesn't want to have to explain to people that he recruited them, got them cleared by the NCAA, then hit a speed bump when it came to actual admissions. And it's not just embarassing to the program in the areas where it happens -- it's a nationwide embarassment when every other day brings reports that players are academically ineligible for South Carolina.

The first question that comes to mind is, if these recruits are being pursued by big-time programs (and they are), why are these players having a problem getting into USC that seems to go beyond what they would face elsewhere? Let's face it, and C&F says this while being a proud alumnus of the University of South Carolina: Our admissions standards have never been the most stringent in the country. And it's not as if Spurrier has a reputation for recruiting vagrants and vandals. So what gives?

No, USC should not sacrifice nascent changes in academic respectability to satisfy the demands of the athletics department. But this seems to go beyond that. And if it needs to be changed to keep Spurrier at South Carolina, the school needs to do it. He's trying to build a winner -- the right way. We might not get this chance again.

Elsewhere:
--The Lindsey twins are in trouble, Garcia and Richardson are back, Blake returns after being barred from practice for a day. Got that? Not that Blake's out of the woods yet. "Spurrier also declined to answer a question about Mitchell's leadership, but he said the situation has not affected his spot on the depth chart." Looks like Sorensen isn't the only guy HBC is upset with.
--Coaches cracking down on players. C&F loves it. Best part of Person's post: "Lawing, a veteran coach who had a previous stint at USC under Sparky Woods and Brad Scott, never went ballistic and kept the cursing to a minimum."

THE THREAD: SPURR-IOUS ARGUMENTS

2007-08-03T22:58:00.000-07:00

So the coaches' poll is out now, and there's very little surprising about the ranks, except the fact that nine voters looked at Florida and said, "Replacing a four-year starter at QB and almost the entire defense? No biggie."

I'll put Florida No. 1 even if only Laura and Barney support me.

The other USC starts out at No. 1, followed by LSU and the Gators. Texas and Michigan round out the top five. West Virginia, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech and Ohio State are in the top 10. Also of note: Rutgers is No. 16, UCLA is No. 17, and midmajors take 22-24 (TCU, Boise State and Hawaii, respectively.)

Going beyond the official rankings, South Carolina tied Notre Dame for 29th with 90 points, far short of the 209 garnered by No. 25 Texas A&M. Memphis got five points (!) and Kentucky drew one, as did Duke.

Which brings us to a controversy over Steve Spurrier's habit of reserving the 25th spot on his ballot every year for the school that provided his first job as a college head coach. This is using the term "controversy" loosely, because it mostly seems kicked up by USA Today, which trotted out a deputy managing editor to slam one of the voters in a poll run by ... USA Today. Journalists usually don't like to be a part of the story; apparently, USA Today now feels comfortable initiating a story by blasting Spurrier.

Said Jim Welch, USA TODAY deputy managing editor for sports: "It's clear that what once might have seemed quaint has begun to lose its charm. We're hopeful that before next season the coaches association can prevail upon Coach Spurrier to find another way to salute his former team — or that Duke gets better in a hurry."
Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, whose members vote in the poll, said Thursday that he plans to discuss the vote with Spurrier.

First, as long as there is one person ranking Memphis No. 21 or several people ranking the Tigers somewhere, C&F would argue that the poll has bigger fish to fry.

Second, seeing as how this is a preseason poll that has little or no bearing on or resemblance to reality, C&F can't imagine what the problem is. If Spurrier were putting Duke No. 1, then there would be a problem. But a tip of his cap to a team that he will remove as soon as it loses -- which, let's face it, should happen the first week of the season -- doesn't damage the "integrity" of the poll.

At least we're aware of Spurrier's vote and the reason for it. For all we know, somebody could be ranking the other USC No. 1 because they like the uniform or making Ohio State No. 10 because, gosh darn it, they just love Jim Tressel's sweatervests.

Nice duds. Here's 16 points.

Preseason polls have little, if any, validity. They're hocus-pocus, a mix of what a team did last year, how many returning starters it has, recruiting, rumor, news reports and scheduling. Actual performance? Eh, not so much -- a key reason C&F would not miss preseason polls if they disappeared.

When Spurrier voting for Duke costs someone a shot at a BCS bowl or a national championship, you've got a point. Until then, it's just sanctimonious whining from someone who obviously takes their poll a lot more seriously than do the rest of us.

Elsewhere:
--The president of the Univeristy of Texas will stand by his Mack, despite the slightly negative publicity generated by a Longhorn crime spree. Brown? He's "disappointed," and apparently at his football students, not just the press.
--Three South Carolina players are leaving or not even joining the team. Dakota Walker and Matt Raysor are bolting for greener pastures while Arkee Smith's appeal fell on deaf ears.
--Ryan Perrilloux is back at LSU. I've got 3-to-1 odds that he gets suspended again.

THE THREAD: THE END OF THE ROAD FOR PROTHRO

2007-08-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, a player you've never heard of comes from out of nowhere and does something incredible. It can be a flash that is soon dimmed or it can be just a peek of the brilliance to come.

What, then, do we make of Tyrone Prothro?

In case you don't know -- and how could you be a college football fan and not know? -- Prothro is responsible for maybe the greatest college football play of the decade: The Catch. In a single grab, Prothro showed all the attributes -- focus, hands, body control -- that you could possibly want in a receiver, and he showed more of them than you would think any one person could have.

Yes, he caught this ball.

Prothro's college career likely ended Thursday when Alabama decided to put him on a medical scholarship and all but conceded he will never come back from a devastating broken leg suffered just a few weeks later against Florida.

Prothro has had at least three operations on his left leg, the latest coming in March, since injuring it while attempting to make a leaping grab in the end zone against Florida.
"We do have a plan to try to continue further his rehabilitation and are hopeful he can come back and play football someday," Saban said. "The medical staff is 99.9 percent sure that this is a long-term issue we're dealing with and that it would be unusual for a guy to ever come back."

The announcement isn't really a surprise; it would have taken a minor medical miracle for him to come back, and everybody knew that shortly after it became clear just how bad the injury was.

But this has the air of finality to it. Is this what they call "closure"? You wanted the uncertainty, the possibility, the hope that Prothro could defy the odds. You wanted to think that it wasn't over, and that you could see the guy take the field again.

That dream is gone.

It's gone, and it seems so unfair. This wasn't the guy who got in trouble off the field. This wasn't the guy who didn't go to class. He was left in a blowout by a coach who wanted his players to set a record, one of many horrible decisions that marked the Mike Shula era, and the resulting fluke injury destroyed his shot at greatness.

The tragedy for us is that we won't be able to see that greatness unfold.

Elsewhere:
--Joining several of his colleagues, including our own Steve Spurrier, Florida head coach Urban Meyer now has a Web site. (Actual site here.) "its gr8," Meyer texted C&F in an exclusive interview. "www rulz." This story says Nick Saban could have site up soon, but C&F doubts it. Nick Saban doesn't have time for that.
--More trouble at Texas, this time for freshman DT Andre Jones. A warrant was issued for Jones' arrest because of his alleged association with an alleged armed robber. While the alleged armed robbery was in progress. And it gets better for Mack Brown. Despite promises to turn himself in, Jones is now considered a fugitive.

It was the one-armed man, I tell you!

--The USA Today coaches' poll hits stands Friday. Two guesses: Southern Cal will be No. 1, and South Carolina won't be ranked. Didn't promise the guesses would be bold.
--It might be a delayed reaction, but the war of words between Michigan and Jim Harbaugh got uglier Thursday, with Mike Hart said the former Wolverine is "not a Michigan man" and Lloyd Carr calling Harbaugh "elitist." Or maybe he was talking about Jim Delany.

THE THREAD: FROM POINT-SHAVING TO LEG-STABBING

2007-08-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

C&F is trying to post sparingly over the next few days so he can get some of the pending preview work done. So far, he still plans to preview each conference, each SEC team and a little bit more about the Gamecocks. Also, look for changes and a couple of new features in the days ahead. Not too much info now.

But The Thread must go on. And there is skullduggery! Scandal! And water balloons! (Believe it or not, a different water balloon controversy than yesterday's.)

Friends don't let friends throw water balloons.

We begin, though, with investigations -- new and ongoing.

And when you're under investigation, there's nothing better to do than talk to the local newspaper. Scooter McDougle, he of the point-shaving scandal at Toledo, held forth to The Blade about how innocent he is.

The University of Toledo football player who the FBI said earlier this year was at the center of an alleged point-shaving scheme proclaimed his innocence yesterday and said he never recruited other UT athletes to fix games.
Harvey "Scooter" McDougle, Jr., 22, said the FBI mischaracterized his relationship with Detroit-area gambler Ghazi "Gary" Manni, who federal agents said in a sworn affidavit conspired with Mr. McDougle to affect the outcomes of UT football and basketball games. ...
He said he and Mr. Manni were friends and admitted to going to dinner and to a casino with him, but claimed he never shaved points or asked other UT athletes to do so. ...
Mr. McDougle said he did once meet Mr. Manni at a casino, but was only there to "play some games" and said he paid for those games with "my own money."

In the whole article, which is far too exhaustive to even just drop quote all the relevant paragraphs here. Suffice it to say, the FBI isn't at liberty to talk too much, and it's questionable that McDougle should be. (The young man does have a lawyer at this point, doesn't he?)

In any case, McDougle's argument is that he either (a) played well or (b) was injured when the alleged point-shaving occured, which made it hard for him to do so.

Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is looking into whether college athletics departments improperly allowed lenders to use logos and the like to hawk their wares. The defense offered by Kansas, the one school the AP could reach, are weak to say the least.

"If they had contacted us, we could have given them a very reasonable explanation, as I'm sure a lot of schools could have," said University of Kansas Athletic Director Jim Marchiony. "Kansas athletics does not have a direct relationship with UFS. UFS has a direct relationship with a Kansas athletic rights holder, which was ESPN Regional -- but that has now been taken over by Host Communications."
He said the university doesn't provide students names to the lender or receive any payment from UFS. He called the relationship a sponsorship, which allows the lender to use Kansas logos "just like the local grocery store that signs an agreement with Host."

Because there's no real difference between buying a rutabaga and taking out a student loan.

Elsewhere:
--Water balloons cause even more trouble, this time for a BYU player who got a bit too irritated at a liquid assailant.

BYU linebacker Terrance Hooks pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor charges stemming from an incident in April in which he kicked in two apartment doors while looking for a person who reportedly threw a water balloon at his girlfriend from a third-story window.

Priorities, Mr. Hooks, priorities.
--The Northern Colorado punter stabbed in the leg, allegedly by his backup, broke into tears on the stand during his testimony. There are also vague allegations -- which the judge apparently found not very credible -- that prosecutors were trying to fudge on the qualifications of a witness.
--And New Jersey feels good about Rutgers' chances for an invite should the Big Ten choose to expand and Notre Dame turns them down, as expected. One key point that it's hard to disagree with: Rutgers couldn't say no.

THE THREAD: MIDWESTERN INVASION IMMINENT?

2007-07-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

The Big Ten, it's a-growing. Or at least it wants to. Conference Emporer Jim Delany has cast his eyes across the landscape of this continent and is looking for the latest prize he can add to his domain.

To Notre Dame, and victory!

This is, of course, not news to many of you, especially those who have been reading mgoblog, which has chronicled this pretty thoroughly.

Texas is one college mentioned as a possible new member of the conference. Another name that has now (curiously) surfaced -- though C&F cannot tell why -- is Florida. (HT: EDSBS)

Florida? It's by no means out of the realistic realm. More snowbirds are from the Midwest than any other area. Think UF wouldn't move? Think again.

Wow. Just how powerful is the crack up there in Pennsylvania?

Why stop at Florida? Hawaii might be in play. And if they turn down the Big Ten, C&F hears the Hiroshima Raccoons might be looking for a new conference home.

The most bizarre part of Mr. Jones' effort here is the "Think again" comment, which seems to suggest he knows something. Which, of course, is laughable for anyone suggesting that Florida would move to the Big Ten.

For one thing, the Big Ten is waaay too slow for Florida, while we all know the Big Ten is too smart for those of us in this har southron part o' the cuntry.

What, exactly, causes someone to think this? Who sits down and goes, "Which team might fit in the Big Ten? Which team might ... Eureka! I have it! Florida, one of the southernmost states in the country and a program near the coast used to warm weather shall join a Midwestern conference!" (By the way, ask the Big East how that worked out for them.)

Big Ten expansion is actually something C&F has advocated for years. The most logical candidate, though, is Notre Dame. After that, who knows? C&F, coincidentally, would like to see the Pac-12 (Boise State? Hawaii? Fresno State?) and an expanded Big East -- though how, exactly, that league would grow to 12 is still a mystery. (Central Florida? Southern Miss? And then?) Yes, teams in the Big 12, the SEC and the ACC do have a tougher path the NC game, though the ACC really has more pressing issues keeping it away from the crystal football.

But the proposals ought to be within the realm of human logic. Nonsense like this does nothing to advance the idea.

Elsewhere:
--Speaking of the Big Ten, Michigan is the favorite to win, says the media, followed by Wisconsin and Ohio State. ~~So years of dealing with Lloyd Carr have taught you nothing?~~ [C&F: Brian points out in the comments section that this was a cheap shot, and I agree. I was trying to make a joke about Carr's habit of falling short of expectations in recent years, but he has won all or a share of the conference titles for five of the last 10 years, making this particular jab unfair. I'm leaving it there as part of the whole standing policy of correcting errors while keeping them visible.]
--And Georgia players think they've got it bad because their mopeds keep getting pulled over. That's nothing, says Indiana tight end Blake Powers, who was arrested for tossing a water balloon.

According to a police report, Powers admitted that while a car in which he was riding was stopped at a traffic signal, he had tossed a water balloon through the open window of another car, striking the driver in the head.
The driver, Paul Wampler, was an Indiana University police officer who had just gotten off work and was heading home.

Hopefully the Hoosiers' QBs will show better judgment in choosing their targets.
--The jury has been chosen for Mitch Cozad who, you will recall, is accused of taking the first-string punting job far too seriously. Like, stabbing someone too seriously. Apparently, watching "CSI" was a major strike against you.
--It's August. College football begins this month. And C&F is woefully, woefully behind in his preview material.

THE THREAD: RETRO IS COOL

2007-07-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

Everything old, it seems, is new again -- from the revival of a coaching career that should really be over to the renewing of a rivalry that was on hiatus in name only.

Michigan and Notre Dame, together again. After much weeping and gnashing of teeth among their fan bases, the Wolverines and the Fighting Irish have decided to keep playing each other until 2031. The schools decided to extend the contract one year for every extra inch on Charlie Weis' waistline.

How many more years are we going to get beaten senseless?

Here we go again. One season after he was forced to can son Jeff Bowden, Pappy Bowden has decided to ~~hire~~ ~~retain~~ accept his son Terry as an "observer" of the FSU program. What exactly does an observer do?

Terry Bowden will have no input on plays or defenses, and he's not going to act as a consultant, either, Bobby Bowden said. Both of those scenarios have been the subject of rumors over the past week.
"Terry's not going to be helping with the program. Someone misunderstood," Bobby Bowden said Sunday morning at the Florida Sports Writers Association's annual gathering of the state's college football coaches. "He's not a consultant. I ain't asking him nothing." ...
Bobby Bowden said Terry, who will also spend time with his brother, Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, is eager to coach again.

As an Auburn fan in the 1990s, there was nothing more thrilling than seeing Terry Bowden coach the Tigers to an undefeated season as a finger in the eye to the college football establishment that had (probably rightfully) banned the program from the postseason.

But it all collapsed in the painful, awful coda that was the beginning of the 1998 season. And you know what happens when Auburn coaches underperform.

Fire up the plane.

The circumstances of his firing remain slightly mysterious, but do the proper Google search and you can come up with the rumors of why Bowden "really" left the program.

At least Pappy knows enough to keep this son away from having anything to do with the actual success of FSU.

Elsewhere:
--Mack Brown has found the culprit for his players' problems. It's the reporters. "It's very interesting that when you have 130 kids, and 128 of them do everything right, if one gets in trouble, you stir it up about one or two." Mack, there's a job waiting for you in the Bush White House's Iraq operation if you want it.
--Georgia fans have found a different culprit. It's the Athens police department. But the chief of that department says that when you're driving a moped the wrong way on a one-way street with a suspended license, it is your fault.
--The jury is being selected for Mitch Cozad's trial. But his aunt wants you to know that he's "a wonderful young man." When, of course, he's not allegedly stabbing people.

END OF 'THE GENIUS'

2007-07-30T18:31:00.001-07:00

Bill Walsh, inventor of the West Coast offense and former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and Stanford, died Monday at the age of 75.

THE STATE: WOMEN-FOLK UNDERSTAND FOOTBALL

2007-07-29T19:58:00.001-07:00

When your state has a reputation for redneckery, perhaps it's not the wisest move to marvel at the football knowledge of women who turn out at a football camp.

Alas, that is exactly the path The State chose to take in its story about Spurrier's football clinic for women.

The women, who had signed up for USC coach Steve Spurrier's third-annual Ladies Football Clinic, hadn’t been dropped off kicking and screaming by their husbands, to learn the fundamentals of the pigskin. ...
That's because, like a number of women at the clinic, they’re not average fans.
They want to share in as many USC football experiences as possible. Saturday, they stood elbow-to-elbow with Spurrier and nodded their heads as he said, "We’ve got to play a lot smarter than we did last year."
Football is their passion. ...
The women who come to the clinic, she said, know football.
"We can talk football with the boys, sometimes we can talk better football," she said, laughing.

Well, sakes alive! Women who know football!

Houston Nutt is looking into how he can hold one of these.

There are some interesting anecdotes in the story, but it's mostly a fluff piece.

Some of the participants like Derrick, who has attended the women's clinics since Brad Scott coached the Gamecocks in the 1990s, consider the day a belated birthday present. (Her birthday was last week.)

C&F would simply say that a football clinic led by Brad Scott can hardly be considered a birthday present.

Becky Derrick's previous 'birthday present.'

ESPNU GETS GAMECOCK FOR 'REALITY' SHOW

2007-07-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

It's already time to begin questioning the decision-making ability of South Carolina's latest running back.

That'd be Brian "Hollywood" Maddox, who willingly decided to take part in a reality show on ESPNU.

That's right, a reality show. On ratings juggernaut ESPNU.

Maddox, a running back from Anderson, is one of six freshman football players featured in the second season of ESPNU's "Summer House," a reality show that puts participants under the same roof for a week and pits them against each other in a variety of physical and mental competitions. ...
Maddox said an ESPN representative contacted him during his senior year at T.L. Hanna High to see if he would be interested in joining the "Summer House" crew. Though he was a littler nervous before his first flight without his parents, Maddox arrived safely to Jersey City, N.J., where the six players lived with "House Dad," Chris Spielman, an ESPN college football analyst and former Ohio State linebacker. ...
The winner of the daily challenge was awarded with the master suite for a night, accompanied by unlimited use of the phone and computer. ...
During this week's show, Spielman removes Internet privileges for the entire group after one of the players exceeds his allotted time on the computer.

Who, exactly, is going to watch this? Set aside for a moment that the show is on ESPNU, which means that a good portion of college football fans are likely to be unaware of its existence. Why would you want to watch a bunch of largely unproven college football players trying to impress Jonathan Vilma with their cooking while Chris Spielman tries to keep order?

Hopefully, for Maddox's sake, he won't take part.

THE THREAD: INTRODUCTION AND LIQUOR

2007-07-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

Introducing The Thread, a daily look at the college football stories and trends that are making headlines.

Obligatory blustery introduction aside, today The Thread kicks off with a look at the simple fact that Big XII LBs, in particular, seem unable to handle their liquor.

First came word of the arrest of Oklahoma State LB Alex Odiari, who was arrested simply for the act of being in a bar. Usually, this is not illegal, except that Odiari is 20. Ah, but Odiari was also not content with going for the underage drinking citation, getting the most bang for his buck by violating a protection order while in the bar illegally.

Stillwater police responded to a report of a possible emergency protection order violation at Willie's Bar at 12:36 a.m. Friday and found Odiari's ex-girlfriend, who claimed Odiari had violated the order by making contact with her inside the bar. ...
The emergency protection order was issued July 5. In it, Odiari's ex-girlfriend claimed he had thrown her to the ground, thrown her against a wall and repeatedly grabbed or shoved her in their "dating relationship" that had existed since 2006.

Little hint: If you're going to enter a bar illegally, best not to violate a protection order while you're there. If you're going to violate a protection order, best not to do so while illegally in a bar. Better yet, don't do either.

Of course, Oklahoma State is already dealing with allegations that its players have extraordinarily bad behavior where women are concerned. We're talking about sexual-assault level bad behavior. Not that head coach ~~Gary Barnett~~ Mike Gundy seems overly concerned.

Chris Collins' presence on the Cowboys' football roster — and his prominence in their dark-horse designs on a Big 12 South title — is raising eyebrows.
Hanging over Collins in his hometown of Texarkana, Texas, is a felony charge of sexual assault related to an incident involving a 12-year-old girl in May 2004. One of four men charged, Collins has pleaded innocent.
In the meantime, he's at OSU and readying for the 2007 season. He'll stay, coach Mike Gundy said Wednesday, "until he leaves or somebody comes and gets him." ...
"I don't think that there's any doubt Chris would say that he made a mistake, and I don't agree with what happened," Gundy said. "But we gave a young man an opportunity to make up for something because of the investigation we did over the phone, and I'm a believer that … he deserves a second chance."

Investigation over the phone. Way to be thorough.

In fairness, the incident allegedly occured in 2004, putting Collins somewhere around the age of 15, which means the age difference was not as large as it might seem today. But sexual assault is still sexual assault.

Meanwhile Texas' linebackers stick to the good, old-fashioned way of wracking up the criminal charges: driving while intoxicated. In this case, the alleged tippler is Sergio Kindle.

The sophomore was taken into custody around 2:30 a.m. after failing a field sobriety test, according to Austin police. He was later released from Travis County Jail. ...
"We're aware of Sergio's situation and are disappointed anytime one of our players is accused of wrongdoing," Texas head coach Mack Brown said in a statement. "We take a strong stance against drinking and driving and will thoroughly investigate this situation."

Hopefully not over the phone.

Texas also has repeat-offender status. DE Henry Melton got tagged for DWI June 1.

But the Big XII is not alone. In fact, Washington State right guard Andy Roof has gone for a combo, getting a drunk-driving charge after having been caught imbibing while not yet 21. Give him credit for asking the head coach to level with the media, but it'll cost him the season anyway.

Pac-10 player, leader of liquor-laden malfeasance. Les Miles could not be reached for comment.

Elsewhere:

--Threats aside, Boise State RB Ian Johnson has married cheeleader Chrissy Popadics, bringing the Fiesta Bowl fairy tale full circle.
--Proving that the Detroit Lions will try anything -- anything -- at WR, the team signed Reggie Ball to a one-year contract. C&F's favorite option on the AJC poll: "Pardon me, I'm laughing so hard I don't know what to think." Imagine what new-old teammate Calvin Johnson must be thinking.

We did what? Is it too early for me to retire?

--The rule change regarding kickoffs is going to dramatically alter the college game. Actually, no, it won't.

THE SEASON AHEAD: MID-MAJORS

2007-07-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

It strikes C&F that he has yet to preview any of the conferences in the country for the 2007 season. Seeing as how it is now late July, this could put him on pace for an all-night posting session August 29, something he has no intention of doing.

Not following the Harry Reid theory of blogging.

So returning to an aspect of previewing that has gone neglected, C&F presents his preview of the mid-major conferences. All of them. In one post. Hopefully not a mammoth one, all things considered.

Tolstoy will not be writing C&F's previews.

A quick tour around the mid-major world:

WAC

The Diagnosis

Yeah, yeah, everybody knows about Boise State and its amazing victory over Oklahoma. But that was last year, and now Zabransky and much of his cast of characters are gone from the Broncos. In fact, just five starters return on offense -- four of those along the line. The only returning skill-position starter would be Ian Johnson, who could be distracted by the whole marriage thing and only rush for 1,500 yards this year.

All of which opens the door for the Hawaii Warriors, who return uber-quarterback and Heisman candidate Colt Brennan, he of the excellent name and single-season TD passing record, along with 75 percent of his starting wideouts. They stand to loosen Boise State's five-year stranglehold on the WAC championship.

But can he run the Statue of Liberty?

The Ranks

1. Hawaii
2. Nevada
3. Boise State
4. Fresno State
5. San Jose State
6. New Mexico State
7. Louisiana Tech
8. Idaho
9. Utah State

CONFERENCE USA

The Diagnosis

In the East, it's all about the gold -- the Golden Eagles and the Golden Knights. But mostly the Golden Eagles, with Southern Miss widely seen as the hands-down favorites to win the division and the conference.

The West is trickier, with defending conference champion Houston losing quarterback and centerpiece Kevin Kolb. Tulsa picks up Arkansas castoff OC Gus Malzahn, who will team up with co-coordinator Herb Hand -- one of many great names in a conference that features Southern Miss P Britt Barefoot and Marshall WR Darius Passmore. But I digress. SMU, still returning from its stint on the death penalty, could also play a role.

The Ranks

East
1. Southern Miss*
2. Central Florida
3. Marshall
4. ECU
5. Memphis
6. UAB

West
1. Tulsa
2. SMU
3. Houston
4. Rice
5. UTEP
6. Tulane

*Conference champion

MOUNTAIN WEST

The Diagnosis

Staking your reputation on picking the winner of the Mountain West has recently turned into a fool's errand. So no reputation is staked here, even though C&F's picks are binding and will be reviewed at the end of the season, unlike some pundits C&F could point to.

Not that C&F would mention names.

The two teams mostly seen as the contenders to beat in the MWC -- TCU and BYU -- are both thin on returning players on offense, though both have a good crop of returning players on defense, particularly TCU. The mental dartboard throws things to BYU as far as C&F is concerned, with the Cougars getting TCU at home.

The Ranks

1. BYU
2. TCU
3. New Mexico
4. Wyoming
5. Utah
6. San Diego State
7. Air Force
8. Colorado State
9. UNLV

MAC

The Diagnosis

Ah, the MAC, one of the originators of the increased interest in mid-major football, from Marshall's run in the early part of the decade to Northern Illinois' 10-2 campaign in 2003 to Miami OH's 13-1 season the same year. One of those teams, Marshall, is gone, and Northern Illinois has fallen on hard times.

But there is reason for hope for Miami to win the East this year, with returning senior QB Mike Kokal looking for another solid season and RB Brandon Murphy healthy again. The toughest conference road tests come during the first week of the season at Ball State and last week of the season, when the Redhawks play Ohio.

As with C-USA, things get messier in the West, where Western Michigan, Ball State, Central Michigan all could plausibly lay claim to at least a shot at the division title.

The Ranks

East
1. Miami OH*
2. Ohio
3. Bowling Green
4. Akron
5. Temple
6. Kent State
7. Buffalo

West
1. Western Michigan
2. Central Michigan
3. Ball State
4. Northern Illinois
5. Toledo
6. Eastern Michigan

*Conference champion

SUN BELT

The Diagnosis

Every SEC athletic director's favorite mid-major conference has seen six teams win at least a share of the conference crown in the last five years, including 5-6 Louisiana-Monroe in 2005. Does Troy's 41-17 waxing of Rice mean the conference is on the rise? Who knows? Schedulers in the SEC obviously don't think so -- the Sun Belt has a dozen games slated against the likes of Florida, Tennessee, LSU, Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama and even Kentucky. (Oklahoma State could almost join the conference, while Oklahoma, Louisville, Virginia, Clemson, Texas A&M, Penn State, Maryland, Miami and Kansas will also feast on at least some Sun Belt puffery in 2007.)

Mmmmm, Sun Bel..I mean, cupcakes.

The Ranks

1. Troy
2. Middle Tennessee State
3. Louisiana-Monroe
4. Louisiana-Lafayette
5. Arkansas State
6. Florida Atlantic
7. North Texas
8. Florida International

SEC MEDIA DAYS: THE CONCLUSION

2007-07-27T23:28:00.000-07:00

Les goes the extra mile. Attempting to soothe any wounds he might have caused by a bizarre series of off-season statements slamming "f-ing Alabama," several major football conferences and perhaps Desmond Tutu (C&F is looking into those allegations), Les Miles was downright conciliatory Friday as SEC Media Days wrapped up.

"At the end of a recruiting season where there was a lot of hearsay and innuendo, there were some heated exchanges," Miles said. "I can tell you that I did have emotion, and I certainly regret any choice of words that you described that I made.
"No, I am not in any way derogatory towards Alabama. I look forward to competing with them and their coach."

By the way, if you're looking for Nick Saban's name in that statement, you won't find it. You also won't find it in any other account of Miles' comments.

Not that all is well between Miles and ... that other guy.

Wednesday, Saban threw a grenade asserting that a member of his staff at Alabama, C.C. Thompson, had her tires slashed when she went back to Baton Rouge to attend a wedding (Thompson worked for Saban at LSU and in Miami). LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette disputed the story, saying he called Thompson and she told him that she initially thought her tires had been slashed but that someone had merely let the air out of them.

Well. That makes all the difference in the world.

Really. Of his many transgressions...

We're No. 4! We're No. 4! After listening to Steve Spurrier say his team could go to Atlanta, the assembled media paid South Carolina a little more respect. No, they didn't go crazy and put the Gamecocks in first place in the East. Or second. Or third, for that matter.

For the sixth consecutive year, the Gamecocks were picked to finish fourth in the Eastern Division in media voting announced Friday. But USC earned 11 first-place votes, by far the most it has received since division play began in 1992. USC received four first-place votes last year.
Three voters picked South Carolina to be the SEC champion, the most to ever do that. Previously, USC had received four such votes total.

The previous high for championship votes was two, in 2002, one of the seasons of which C&F chooses not to speak.

In other media voting news, Ryan Succop and J-Brink made first-team All-SEC.

The Booming O. Those looking for a soul-shaking vocal performance from Ed Orgeron weren't disappointed. But C&F can't help but wonder if, in posting a story about O's search for a quarterback, the Clarion-Ledger's Web site wasn't trying to send a message.

Freudian slip?

Fulmer: Ainge like a woman. In trying to draw a comparison between his team and the Lady Vols, Phil Fulmer might very well have said his quarterback is woman-like.

"You have to have a Candace Parker-type player in your program to be able to do that."
Fulmer says senior quarterback Erik Ainge, named the media’s second-team All-SEC quarterback Friday, has the ability to be an impact player in the mold of Parker. ...
"I think Erik Ainge can be that kind of football player that our team rallies around, that takes the bull by the horns and makes the plays that help you win a championship," Fulmer said.

The pressure might getting to Phil. Have a donut or ten, Phil.

SEC MEDIA DAYS, PART II

2007-07-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

Nicktator or St. Nick? Was he abrasive, brusque or angelic? It depends on who you talk to. Rapoport tried to crack a joke and Saban's emotionless side took over.

I began one question to Nick Saban like this: "Nick, you may not have noticed, but everything you have done in the offseason has made news..." He did not laugh. I guess things like that aren't funny, because Saban was serious about it.

Saban also apparently makes a concerted effort not to smile while giving his John Hancock to Bammers and others who had nothing else to do but gather outside a hotel for a glimpse of the second coming of Bear Bryant. If you take out the whole integrity and accomplishment at Alabama part of it.

I only smile when puppies die.

Dennis Pillion sees Saban trying to make up with the press types. Unless, of course, you talk about the whole I'm-not-going-to-be-the-next-Bama-coach-except-that-I-am thing.

Fans seem to have their answer.

"We're absolutely excited," Alabama fan Casey Carlisle, 26, of Birmingham, said. "This is a step up from previous coaches. We understood that we were on probation and all of that, so there weren't a lot of big coaches looking to come here. Mike Shula, we appreciated the job he did, but we knew he wasn't a long-term answer. This is the kind of hiring that shows we're back."

Remember: This is a man who has yet to coach a single down for the Crimson Tide. I can show you some Lou Holtz/South Carolina quotes circa 1998 if you want to see them.

Oh, and the media guide C&F mentioned in his Day One wrap-up, with Saban on the cover? He's actually on both covers.

Spin session. Apparently, Mississippi State is afraid its players might do something like leak the name of an undercover CIA operative, because it feels the need to coach players on talking with the media. The article notes the Bulldogs are not alone in the idea.

The cornerback strolled to the table first and Karem advised him, and the other half-dozen players in this hour-long session, to pause before answering every question, starting with the first. "That way, when the questions get more difficult, it doesn't look like you're panicking when you pause," he said. ... "One thing I want to stress is the importance of understanding how the players need to manage their personal brands and their personal image and how that becomes a very important part of football or whatever sport they're representing," he said.

Brand? Are we talking football or Right Guard?

Are you ready to step up? And do you have to be coached to do it?

Cox rocks? Phillip Marshall of The Huntsville Times sees reason for optimism about Brandon Cox this season. He points out that all but two of the last nine senior starters for Auburn went to the SEC championship game, won the conference title or went undefeated, and one of the exceptions had "record-breaking offensive production." No pressure or anything.

Vanderbilt Dreamin'. Bobby Johnson sees a big year for Vandy this season. How big a year? Maybe not the same level as WR Earl Bennett is thinking.

We are thinking BCS bowl. That's what we've been talking about. We are working hard to do that. We believe we can do that.

Good luck with that.

SEC MEDIA DAYS, PART I

2007-07-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

Ah, the preseason has officially begun in the SEC.

Why does C&F say that? Because Media Days are here.

Mostly a gabfest, yes. But they bring some scraps of news, a couple of amusing comments and no end to gossip and speculation. Look at Day One's goodies.

Spurrier speak. HBC is once again causing a stir with his comments, his best dinger coming against Clemson ... or Kentucky ... or both.

We thought we had done something good beating Clemson. And then Kentucky beat 'em also. And Clemson was a real good team. At one point in the year they were a dang good team. I don't know what exactly what happened to them.

He happened, Steve.

Spurrier also repeated his goal of winning the SEC -- something Cory Boyd said left the team "giggling like a bunch of little kids" -- and said he would coach "at least five more years."

(Outside the meetings, freshman TE Mat Williams is looking at leaving the team, according to The State. Not a huge loss, but yet another example of the sometimes-odd attrition that has hit the highly-touted recruiting class.)

Cartoon image fulfilled. For anyone who things of Nick Saban as the Nicktator ... well, his debut on the Alabama media guide actually sounds like Soviet propaganda.

Loved the caption below a full-body shot of Saban superimposed over Bryant-Denny Stadium: "The Process Begins."

The Process? That sounds almost painful.

Follow my Five Year Plan or you will go to the salt mines!

Groves a tad bit obsessed. Speaking of Saban, his comments about dominating Auburn seem to have riled up the Tigers' Quentin Groves. Perhaps a bit more than is healthy.

We have it in our weightroom, I have it my locker. I have it over my bed at home. I have it in my bathroom when I wake up in the middle of the night. ... They are a great team, but to say you work 365 to dominate one team, you have 11 other games. You go 1-11, hey, where is the $4 million?

Heisman campaign underway. Arkansas is already starting to politick for Darren McFadden to get the most coveted award in college football. The school plans to set up a Web site to support the effort, and Houston Nutt has offered to text message the voters many, many times.

Are any of those voters women?

BOYD'S TURN

2007-07-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

This could be one of the shortest of the "Gamecocks 2007" previews. Why? Because this is one of the most locked-down positions on the field.

Cory Boyd will be the feature running back this season. Period.

The question is whether he can develop into the kind of consistent running threat that South Carolina needs, particularly with the questions that continue to hover over Blake Mitchell and the offensive line.

Boyd was solid in 2006, running for 823 yards and averaging five yards a pop while grabbing 35 passes for another 406 yards. In all, he scored 10 TDs.

But Boyd ran for 100 yards only three times last season -- against Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Clemson. He got to 94 yards against Houston and 93 against Mississippi State, but never got above 80 in any other game.

Nonetheless, expectations are high. Rivals.com pegs Boyd as the best player on the Gamecocks offense.

In fairness, part of Boyd's problem reaching 100 yards a game came in the form of Mike Davis, who carried the ball 100 times last year. Davis got more carries and yards against Florida and Auburn. Look for Davis to be used more as a breather for Boyd this year than a secondary back.

Boyd's biggest positive is his absolute refusal to go to the ground. He's not exactly Jerome Bettis, but you would still probably have more luck bringing a caffienated bison to the ground than trying to put Boyd on the turf.

Boyd has seen his share of setbacks. His first two years were spent under Lou Holtz, when running plays were largely confined to the quarterback running into the nearest defender. Boyd missed 2005 due to discipline problems.

This is his year to step up. If he does, it could ease some of the pressure on the passing game and make Boyd an offensive force in his own right. If he doesn't, Spurrier's goal of an SEC title looks even more far-fetched.

FOOTNOTE ON WEIS

2007-07-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

C&F hates to leave any thread untied, so he will return to the story of Charlie Weis and his now-rejected claim of malpractice against Massachusetts docs.

The doctors were cleared Tuesday by a jury.

The jury deliberated almost three hours before finding Massachusetts General Hospital surgeons Charles Ferguson and Richard Hodin were not negligent.
Weis, 51, who won three Super Bowls as offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots, accused the surgeons of negligence for allowing him to bleed internally for 30 hours before performing a second surgery to correct the complication. ...
Mone told The Boston Globe he doubted Weis, who he said was flying back to Indiana and could not be reached for comment, would appeal.
"Obviously, Mr. Weis and I are disappointed. We recognize these cases are very difficult. They involve very complicated medical facts, and the jury listens to very different views on complicated medical facts. Medical malpractice cases are very difficult," Mone told the newspaper.

The decision not to appeal is probably the best for the Notre Dame program, which doesn't need a distraction, and the stomaches of college football fans.

College Football Live is bad enough without Corso talking about internal bleeding.

Meanwhile, Danny Nutt got good news from his doctor.

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

2007-07-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

In a year where we've celebrated Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron (though C&F wishes that were under better circumstances), it's hard to deal with the fact that racism and sports still mix.

You'll remember Ian Johnson. You'll remember his part in the dramatic Boise State triumph over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. You'll remember his proposal to fiance Chrissy Popadics. You'll remember how everyone was thrilled when she said yes.

Well, almost everyone.

BOISE (AP) — A Boise State University running back who scored the winning points in the Fiesta Bowl, then proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend on national television, has hired security for his weekend wedding because of racial threats, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
Ian Johnson, who is black, and his fiance, Chrissy Popadics, who is white, are due to be married Saturday in Boise. ...
"You take it for what it is — the less educated, the less willing to change," Johnson told the Statesman. "But we're not acting like we're naive to all the stuff that's going on. We know what's been said. We're going to make sure we're safe at all times. It's an amazing day for us, and we'd hate to have it ruined by someone."
He didn't describe the threats — or the heightened security measures the couple have planned — in detail.
"It's unfortunate that it involves a certain protocol being followed to ensure that nothing happens," Johnson said. "It's really sad because a lot of people that are probably doing it are the same people who were cheering me on."

Sad. Just sad.

You hate this? Racism is just one of your problems.

In some ways, Johnson's reaction shows he's worthy to be put near the names C&F wrote of at the top of the post: Classy, down-to-earth, more mature than any human being should have to be. It's exactly the kind of reaction C&F likely wouldn't have if he was threatened because his fiance was of another race.

C&F wishes Mr. and soon-to-be-Mrs. Johnson the best on their wedding day.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL LIVE: THE REVIEW

2007-07-23T21:21:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, there is a seminal moment in a sport, an incident or innovation that changes the game forever.

With any luck, the premiere of College Football Live will not be one of those moments.

The show opens -- bizarrely -- with the Grambling State University band, bedecked in their gameday uniforms for no apparent reason other than being a set piece for the first episode of an ESPN news/talk show.

Lee Corso, for his part, seems to be confused by the whole concept. "What are we doing here? Can you tell me?" So Corso is already in midseason form.

Where am I? Connecticut? What game is going on there? Does this hat work?

And now it's time to speed through the ESPN storylines du jour. Corso returns to "Ohio State lost because of the 51-day layoff"; Herbstreit notes curiously that Southern Cal's spot at No. 1 is "almost a foregone conclusion," though he seems to blissfully forget ESPN's complicity in that; and less than five minutes in, we've already got our first look at the Virginia Tech story, which will be touching until ESPN tries to tie it together with, say, Branden Ore's sore hamstring in Week 7. ("Another tragedy has struck the Hokies...")

Did they mention that the show is INTERACTIVE? Well, that's the second time they've done so. And as evidence of this interaction, they present ... a poll. Ooooh. Shiny. "We've got much more than that for you," Rece Davis notes, helpfully, after pointing out that many ESPN shows offer online polls.

The highlight of the program, in a freak show sort of way, was the Les Miles interview. It doesn't take long for Rece to make his way to the bizarre hit job Les did on every major football conference outside the SEC.

"This is a bad news time. That's all there can be," Miles says, in a response that would defy the most valiant effort at diagramming its sentences.

Ah, screw it.

Davis quickly moves on, as if dealing with a mildly delirious patient who is best handled by simply agreeing with or ignoring everything he says.

Asked about Saban taking over at Alabama, Miles refers to "the team that he'll coach," then responds to a question about whether he's avoiding mentioning the Crimson Tide's name by talking about how he doesn't like "those teams in red."

It's as if he's thinking, "I can't say 'f-ing Alabama' on TV, can I?"

And the show is INTERACTIVE. Did they mention that? Look, Rece is being handed e-mails with questions for Corso and Herbstreit RIGHT NOW! Nothing notable in this segment -- which is INTERACTIVE. Corso sticks by his Spurrier won't win the SEC at South Carolina line, which simply means he's still bitter over the Holtz firing, and the viewer who suggests that Kentucky could defeat Southern Cal is rightly dismissed.

Rece promises they'll be back every weekday.

Oh, goody.

SKETCHY, OPTIMISTIC, NONBINDING PREDICTIONS

2007-07-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

A break from the nuts and bolts look at the Gamecocks for a look from the 50,000 foot level.

Namely, what can be expected from the schedule South Carolina faces this year.

More specifics -- and more binding selections -- will come later, including in team-by-team breakdowns of the schedule. This is just where C&F sees things standing right now.

A few caveats: There are no locks in the "LOSS" column on the principle that no games should be written off at the beginning of a season. And C&F will admit up front that some of the predictions are on the optimistic side. Don't worry. It's late August; there's plenty of time for pessimism in the weeks ahead.

LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE. The Ragin' Cajuns are expected to be a middle-of-the-pack team in the pungently horrific Sun Belt conference, which is only Division I-A thanks to the dent of history. La-La is in rebuilding mode on offense. A trap game? Hardly. WIN

AT GEORGIA. Always a difficult game to call, because most of the teams' matchups have turned into Georgia wins, but only after bizarre or heartbreaking moments in what is a blossoming SEC East rivalry. The spelling-challenged Dawgs are a trendy pick to at least do well in the East -- and maybe win it -- though that is largely because of QB Matthew Stafford, RB Kregg Lumpkin and the reputation of head coach Mark Richt. UGA has been decimated by the loss of starters and could be stung by a home upset at the hands of Oklahoma State. TOSS UP

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE. Barring a catastrophe, this shouldn't turn into another version of last season's game against Wofford. Shouldn't. If it does, a rough season could be ahead. WIN

AT LSU. The Bayou Bengals return to the schedule in what should be the most difficult game on a difficult slate. JaMarcus Russell is gone, but the Tigers are expected to be fine with starter-in-waiting Matt Flynn. And LSU consumes talent the way Phil Fulmer consumes Twinkies. Barring a Les-splosion, this is is not a good game for the Gamecocks. The one hope South Carolina has? It's fairly early in the season, and the Tigers could still be working through some kinks. PROBABLE LOSS

Did somebody say Twinkies?

MISSISSIPPI STATE. Playing in Starkville last year, the offense was startlingly sluggish -- a precursor, perhaps, of the trouble ahead. But Sylvester Croom has yet to show that he can post anything close to a .500 record at Mississippi State, and the Bulldogs are expected to end up in the SEC West cellar again next year. And the game is in Columbia this season. PROBABLE WIN

KENTUCKY. A Thursday showdown between two schools that could be the surprise stories of the East this year. If the magic happens, odds say it will only happen to one or the other, since a South Carolina-Kentucky one-two punch would almost certainly come days before President Bush admits he has made mistakes graver than sending Sammy Sosa to Chicago. QB Andre Woodson is scary good. WR Dicky Lyons and RB Rafael Little have the potential to be gamebreakers. A defense that got gashed in 2006 -- a lot -- returns more experienced. Could be a fun battle for the team that wins, a heartbreaker for the loser. Give South Carolina the slightest of edges with the battle set in Columbia. TOSS UP

AT NORTH CAROLINA. Butch Davis is expected to turn around the Tarheels -- in a few years. John Bunting left little behind for Davis to pin his hopes on, and UNC is expected to do poorly in the middling ACC. The next matchup between the teams, in 2010, could be an interesting one. This should be an easy victory for South Carolina on the road. PROBABLE WIN

VANDERBILT. Pity Bobby Johnson. He's seen as a great coach for Vanderbilt, and he's 15-43. The 2005 season promised a shot at the postseason until a disastrous implosion against Middle Tennessee State. He again has one of the most talented squads in Vanderbilt history, but it is Vanderbilt history. All that said, if there is a good chance for the Gamecocks to be shocked at home, this is the game. LIKELY WIN

AT TENNESSEE. Figure out Tennessee. Please. And let me know if you do. The program seems to have slipped since 1998, and became particularly stagnant over the past two seasons. Evil Erik Ainge showed up in 2005, followed by Good Erik in 2006. Vols fans are hoping that '05 was a sophomore slump and they can avenge that season's loss at the hands of the hated Spurrier at Neyland. But Ainge has little experience around him, and this will be the third game against a likely bowl team in four weeks, following a home game against Georgia and road trips to Mississippi State and Alabama. TOSS UP

AT ARKANSAS. An even tougher Nutt to crack. (Rim shot, please) No, Darren McFadden has not gone anywhere. Nor have Marcus Monk and Felix Jones. But the defense has been hit by a loss of experience and the program itself has been rocked by a series of "scandals" that, let's face it, could only happen in Arkansas. TOSS UP

I need to teach Houston how to start a real scandal.

FLORIDA. If LSU is the hardest game on the schedule, this is easily the second-toughest. Despite a defense that will lose almost every starter it had and the departure of the puzzling QB Chris Leak, the Gators are still a favorite in many corners (including this one) to reclaim the SEC East crown. South Carolina's structural engineers are already working to make sure that Williams-Brice can withstand any damage QB Tim Tebow might cause, while WR Percy Harvin should be one of the most frightening players (to opponents) in the SEC. If South Carolina somehow manages to get by Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas, this one could be for the SEC East title. LIKELY LOSS

CLEMSON. If the Gamecocks are still standing during the final week of the Orange Crush, they take on the Tiggers at the WB. Spurrier vowed after the 2005 loss that he would never be defeated by Clemson again, and has so far made good on the threat after a 31-28 squeaker at Death Valley. History isn't on South Carolina's side; Clemson has gone 4-for-5 during each of the last two half-decades. The future of Tommy Bowden could play a key role in this game: A perceived or real threat to his job -- or an early firing -- could motivate the Tiggers. Meanwhile, Clemson will have run its own gauntlet leading into the game, with games against perennial heartburn Wake Forest and Boston College leading up to the Palmetto State showdown. There's always the DaviSpiller monster. TOSS UP

That would give the team five wins with two likely losses and five toss-ups. If a gun were put to C&F's head, he would move Kentucky and Clemson into the win column and push Tennessee into the loss category without making any commitment on Georgia or Arkansas -- two games that have been historically volatile. That sets up anything from a 7-5 to a 9-3 season, which seems about right.

HEADED TO SABANATION

2007-07-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

Posting will likely be nonexistent over the next few days, as C&F heads to the ancestral homeland of ~~Sabanation~~ Alabama.

C&F hopes to avoid scenes like these.

If all goes well, regular blogging will resume Saturday or Sunday.

PRAYERS FOR DANNY NUTT

2007-07-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

Nothing snarky or sarcastic about this story, which is odd for C&F's approach to SEC West rival Arkansas. But you don't joke about anything that has "bleeding" and "brain" in the same sentence. Long story short, Danny Nutt, the Hogs RB coach, co-creator of the Wildcat and -- most important -- a human being, is out at Arkansas because of bleeding from his brain stem.

The university calls the condition "serious," and while C&F is no medical expert, he would tend to agree based on the description.

Godspeed to the Nutt family and friends.

Rival or not, C&F offers prayers for Nutt.

FIRING AWAY, 07.18.07

2007-07-17T21:15:00.001-07:00

A busy day for Gamecock football sees more money for the Head Ball Coach, more word on the punishment for Quintin Richardson and a most accurate portrayal of our starting QB.

--Payday moves for Spurrier. As expected, the board of trustees approved a restructured contract for the Head Ball Coach, making his contract years run January-December instead of July-June (which is how most government years run). Both sides say it just makes sense, and Spurrier plans to end his seven-month-long delay on signing the deal.

As for Spurrier, the 62-year-old said he remains happy at USC and plans to sign the amended contract "in the next day or two."
"It wasn't any big deal," Spurrier said. "I was just trying to get it the right way."

--Quintin's fate with USC policy. Spurrier said Richardson's punishment for a marijuana arrest will follow university policy. In the same link: Eligibility issues might be working themselves out, with LB Curtis Rice out due to injury, things looking good for WR Joseph Hills and LB Melvin Ingram, and DBs Arkee Smith and Akeem Auguste still waiting.

--Robert over at Third Down Draw has the word on NCAA 08. Obviously, the game's makers have studied Blake Mitchell very, very well.

First drive, he goes 4-4, 58yds, 1td. He then proceeds to go 0-12 with FOUR PICKS over the next two and a half quarters. ... My roommate comes home from the bar and so we play Gators-Gamecocks. Blake torches the UF defense for about 295yds, 3tds.

No word on whether he tries to get underage women into bars.

SPURRIER CASHES IN. AGAIN

2007-07-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

HBC's contract is almostfinallyactuallyclosetobeing done. The delay? Giving him more money for time he's already spent as the Gamecocks' coach.

You'd be smiling, too, if you had his contract.

If C&F ever needs an agent, he's getting Spurrier's.

Amid overtures from Miami and Alabama about their coaching vacancies this past December, Spurrier agreed to a $500,000 raise and a one-year contract extension. More than seven months later, Spurrier has yet to sign the deal.
The way it was structured, the amendments to Spurrier's original, $1.25-million annual deal were to take effect July 1. But with USC’s athletic department now in better financial shape, the executive committee of the Board of Trustees is expected to re-structure Spurrier's contract again and make the raise retroactive to Jan. 1.
The executive committee will vote on the matter today. ...
Spurrier's contract after the raise is worth a guaranteed $1.75 million annually and runs through the 2012 season.
It includes incentives that would pay Spurrier as much as $900,000 if the Gamecocks win the SEC and BCS titles and Spurrier is named national coach of the year.

Um, isn't giving HBC a bonus for being "named national coach of the year" almost redundant should he somehow manage to guide South Carolina to the BCS title? Unless the opponent is Temple, C&F has trouble imagining how anyone else could be chosen.

Just pay the man and get the contract signed. Lord, how long does it take?

NEW YORK POST: PLUS-1 HAS BEEN CONCEIVED

2007-07-17T10:18:00.001-07:00

Never trust ESPN, installment No. 546.

Vacationing from his real job, C&F was sitting back and watching ESPN when they announced what appeared to be important news: College football could move to the "plus-1" format for a national championship as soon as 2011, according to a report in New York Post.

Could it be? Was it true? Was college football finally close to the system that could resemble a playoff without killing the relevance of the regular season?

What was in this magical NY Post story?

The question has changed from, "Will There Ever Be a College Football National Championship Game?" to "How Soon Will It Happen?"

Well, that's promising -- though it falls into the claptrap that there somehow is not currently a national championship game, an esoteric argument that essentially comes down to the opponents of the BCS saying there isn't a championship game because the championship game format we have is not the one they want. College football has a championship game; it might not be a good one, but the winner is acknowledged as a champion by the sport at large. It matters not how you get there, as long as their is a declared champion -- contested or not.

C&F will now step off his soap box and quote more from the NY Post story.

Sources in several conference offices, athletic directors and television networks told The Post that support is steadily growing for a "Plus-1," format in which there will be a national championship game following the playing of two "semifinal games."
The first title game could be played in 2011.

This is the big scoop? "Support is steadily growing for a 'Plus-1,' format"? That's been going on for at least three years. But maybe they're just setting something up here.

"There haven't been any official discussions among conference commissioners, but the overwhelming sense is that that's where we're headed," one conference source said. "There's simply too much money at stake and there's been too much debate with the current system."

Haven't been any official discussions? Then what, exactly, is the news here? That the schools and conferences are finally acknowledging that there is debate outside their clique about the validity of the current BCS?

This just in ... C&F has learned that man has walked on the moon.

Under the new format, the top four teams would be seeded, probably using a voter/computer formula similar to the current BCS system and a sixth major bowl game would be created.
The four top-seeded teams would play in two "semifinal" games, using the existing bowls -- Orange, Sugar, Rose, Fiesta and the current BCS title game on a rotating basis -- with the two winners meeting in a newly created bowl. Theoretically, it would leave less argument over who's No. 1.

Ah, the BCS' answer to every problem: Let's create another bowl! That'll fix it!

BCS:Bowls::George W. Bush:Troops

Meanwhile, the New York Post is "breaking" the news about a playoff format that we've been discussing for years.

This simply reinforces what you already know about ESPN and the NCAA: When it comes to common sense being put into action, believe it only when you see it.

RICHARDSON: TRULY SORRY

2007-07-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Quintin Richardson has apologized for the whole alleged pot-possession-at-the-same-apartment-complex-I-was-shot-at incident.

"I have made some bad decisions recently. I am truly sorry," Richardson said in a statement released by his attorney, Neal Lourie. "I realize that I have to turn my life around.
"This is not the person I want to be and it is not how I want my community to view me. I have to move forward and concentrate on improving myself, going to school and hopefully playing football."

C&F has no power to do anything about this, since he is not the HBC or in a position to place his "thoughts" on a third-party Web site, but would be inclined to give Richardson the proverbial second chance. As long as he stays away from the apartment complex.

Quintin, a constructive tip: Stay away from this neighborhood.

SPURRIER ON THE WEB

2007-07-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

We-e-e-e-ell, the Head Ball Coach has decided to jump on board with this Interwebnet stuff.

That's right, you can go to SpurrierHBC.com to get a glimpse into one of college football's greatest minds -- for the low, low price of $100 a year.

Doesn't that look like a bargain?

You can only get a little bit of access to site features here and there if you don't have a free trial -- which, of course, is only a way to make sure you don't just do the trial and just keep forking over money to Spurrier and South Carolina athletics department, which is to get "more than half" of the money made.

So how intimate will the access on SpurrierHBC be?

Spurrier won't be his own webmaster or post his own blogs; that responsibility lies on Greenville, S.C.-based Champion Communications, which is charging about $10 a month to read the latest musings and other goodies from one of college football's most opinionated personalities.

It's like being in his head!

But if the sites are all about recruiting, as advocates say, then why charge them to see what's on there? And if you give them free access while everyone else has to pay, is that an illegal benefit?

C&F plans to wait for the inevitable quoting on ESPN, in The State, et al to see if the site is worth the price of admission. Best guess? Spurrier's "thoughts" -- or the ones created for him by Champion -- will be sanitized and less off-the-cuff than what will be heard in his press conferences and Gamecock Club speeches.

Though the site does deliver one poke in the eye. The available episode of the Steve Spurrier Show is the 2006 Clemson game.

FALL FASHION IN TUSCALOOSA: STRAW HATS

2007-07-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

I want to make it clear that the next sentence should not insult the overwhelming majority of Alabama fans.

But a segment of the Bama fan base is crazy. Not passionate. Not irrationally exuberant.

Crazy. Whacked. Nutso. Not in frequent communication with the planet Earth.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- The popularity of the houndstooth hats like what Paul "Bear" Bryant wore may soon be surpassed by a new hat in town: The Nick Saban straw hat.
Ever since the University of Alabama head football coach was first seen wearing the straw golf hat during football practice, UA bookstores began stocking them.
They quickly began flying off the shelves.
"I had someone call in yesterday and wanted the exact hat and the exact brand that Saban wears," said Whitney Foster, a sales associate at the University of Alabama Supply Store on Thursday. ...
He wanted the supply store to put in a special order. ...
University of Alabama specialty tags also have increased in sales by 15.1 percent during the first quarter of 2007 compared with the same period last year.
Last month, UA tags sold out at the Tuscaloosa County license commissioner's office. It's the first time that has ever happened, said License Commissioner Jeff Brown. ...
As football season looms, the Saban rage is expected to grow, Burdette said. ...
Students can even buy banners with Saban's sayings. One of them, available at the UA Supply Store, reads, "What I would like every football team to do that we play is to sit there and say I hate playing against these guys." [EMPHASIS IS C&F'S]

I wonder if they have a banner with one of Saban's most heartfelt declarations: "I'm not going to be the Alabama coach."

Come on, boys. We'll get our frigging license tags!

In any case, I feel compelled to point out that I know Alabama fans -- and had some bizarre interactions with them during the "there's a jet headed from Augusta to Columbia to New York to Minnesota to Tuscaloosa...SPURRIER'S COMING TO BAMA" period -- and some of them are just not right.

This is not a problem unique to Alabama among SEC schools. Much of the UGA fan base is incredibly obnoxious -- though alums will swear up and down that these people did not actually attend the university -- and the Gamecocks fan base does have a few people that already foresee a 14-0 campaign for the SEC and national title next year, despite the fact that our quarterback could very well take a shot at breaking Chris Leak's Wonderlic score if he wants to.

But Bama's fundamentalist fan base -- I call them Bammers -- seem to be even more neurotically inclined than even the other diehard SEC homers.

I've estimated Bammers constitute 5 percent or so of the actual fan base, but roughly 96 percent of the online fan base. (I'm focusing mostly on the message boards here; most of the Bama blogs I've interacted with have been no more or less crazy than most of us bloggers.) These are the people that were posting messages in forums with titles like: "Spurrier's first NC at Bama: Year 1 or Year 2?" and are probably, at this very moment, planning a "John Parker Wilson for Heisman" campaign.

Maybe they can sell straw hats to raise money for it.