The day after kickoff: What SEC blogs are saying

Well, the first game of the season has come and gone in the SEC.

First stop -- Mississippi State:

• "On the bloody morning after ..."
  
  
• " ... One tin soldier rides away."
  
  
• ESPNU can't find Starkville with both hands.
  
  
• Derek Pegues just had a case of the cramps. Good news for MSU fans.
  
  
• MSdawg has questions, questions, questions ...
  

From LSU:

• "A win is a win, but as I commented in the game thread, Henig was our MVP." I guess every silver lining must have a cloud somewhere. It sucks to be the MVP of the opposition, though.
  
  
• Richard Pittman at Geaux Tuscaloosa thinks the LSU offense needs some serious work.
  
  
• If LSU returned interceptions for 122 yards and MSU passed for 136 yards, does that mean their net yardage is 14 yards passing? (Just kidding, guys).

From others who had a comment:

• Mergz at Saurian Sagacity has comments about MSU, LSU and a note to Louisville.
  
  
• Scott at The Hog Source also has thoughts.
  
  
• Patrick Donahue at Loser with Socks has doubts about LSU, doubts about MSU, and ... well, just doubts.
  
  
• MaconDawg at Dawgsports: "Michael Henig staying upright long enough to throw 6 interceptions may actually be progress over last season." Well, progress of a sort, I suppose. You also have to love his take on the Louisville game: "So that's what bringing a knife to a gunfight looks like ..." Yeah, I reckon that's right.
  
  
• Senator Blutarsky at Get The Picture has a more sober review.
  
  
• The Tide Druid grades both teams. Alchemist at Eight in the Box adds his perceptions.

UPDATE: Gregg Ellis says that Croom has reinstated Josh Riddell, formerly suspended QB today. I'll bet after last night's 6 interception performance by Henig, this will cause a few eyebrows to elevate. But I'm sure that didn't have anything to do with it ... ;-)

Game Day: Best of the SEC

Today is game day for Mississippi State and LSU, and the kickoff for the 2007 football season. Today, we'll be looking at the teams who have the biggest games this week: MSU, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia, and LSU.

Kyle Veazey is excited about the new Wendy's in Starkville, but less than thrilled about the Dawgs vs. the Tigers. Jeremy at Mississippi State Sports Blog is more more upbeat, and has links to MSU's game notes for both State and LSU. Travis at Hail Dear 'Ole State scoffs at MSU coach Sylvester Croom's rationalization for dressing out the Dawgs in white uniforms.

On the LSU side, Richard Pittman at Geaux Tuscaloosa describes his game routine. Tigersmack does the Garfield/Les Miles cartoon thing.

Will Collier at From The Bleachers looks forward at Auburn's team, the schedule, and Kansas State. Auburn91 at Track Em Tigers takes a long look at K-State from soup to nuts, and pronounces Saturday's game as likely to be a "low-scoring slugfest."

Jon at Fulmer's Belly is concerned about Erik Ainge's broken pinkie finger. He notes the Florida game falls square in the middle of Ainge's recovery schedule. I think he'd better worry about Cal. Jai Eugene at Loser with Socks does enough tongue-in-cheek worrying for both of them, though. Meanwhile, Joel at Rocky Top Talk has a more serious look at the game, with some help from the Cal blog, The Band is Out on the Field. And Doug Coffin at The Power T measures the heat of Phil Fulmer's seat, and does it in style.

Finally, we look at what will be happening between the hedges in Athens on Saturday. Macondawg at Dawg Sports suggests a special cocktail to commemorate the occasion. Ludakit at the Dawg-gone Blog is more circumspect, and takes a look at the things the Dawgs need to do to win. David Ching at the Georgia Bulldog Blog examines a spreadsheet sent to him by an OSU fan, and analyzes the analysis.

Good luck to all the SEC schools in their first test. May you be injury free and play your best.

Jerrell Powe: Smarter than the NCAA

What a blogswarm over the Jerrell Powe situation. It seems that yesterday the NCAA ruled that Powe was ineligible to play football until 2008, but in spite of that fact, he could still attend school at Ole Miss, keep his athletic scholarship and attend classes.

Erik at Deepsouthsports calls the NCAA ruling "bat-shit crazy", and at first glance, I am inclined to agree with him. Either Powe is eligible for an athletic grant-in-aid, or he isn't, and if he is eligible for an athletic scholarship, why in the name of all that is holy can he not play football?

DSS quotes Powe's lawyer as claiming that the NCAA just established a new category of qualifier. He calls it the Jerrell Powe category, but I call it some kind of crazy Solomonic solution that calls the integrity of the NCAA itself into serious question. How can a person qualify for a scholarship, yet be forbidden to play? The very concept itself is illogical, unreasonable, and, well, bat-shit crazy.

Of course, now Powe's lawyers are talking about filing for relief under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and given that the NCAA has contradicted nearly every rule it has and quite possibly the very justification for its existence, it's hard to imagine that the Powe won't prevail either on appeal or in a lawsuit.

Anyway, there is lots of other blog reaction, both positive and negative. Seth at the Hotty Toddy Blog has a quizzical reaction, and defers to Sunday Morning Quarterback, who had this to say:

Such pure humanitarianism is only possible motivating factor for the university, which has obviously admitted a student whose qualifications - the ones entirely invalidated by the NCAA - are woefully inadequate; according to the Association, Powe's coursework verges on non-existent, but he apparently will remain at Ole Miss until he finds a way onto the field, come hell or high water, or, I dunno, bad knees. This is the kind of academic environment Steve Spurrier can appreciate.

SMQ is right -- what motivation can Ole Miss possibly have to give Powe a scholarship of any kind? Based on this NCAA ruling, the very word "scholarship" is an oxymoron if Powe's scholastic work was worthless. To paraphrase Mr. Spock from Star Trek The Original Series, "There is no fact, no extrapolation of fact, or theory ..." which makes sense out of this mess. It is lacking any semblance of reason.

Powe would best be served if he would just give up and spend two years in JUCO, but I suspect that isn't what will happen. By not following anything like their own rules, the NCAA has opened themselves up to a "whadthefxup?" by any number of judges under any number of grounds.

True to form, Loser With Socks' Jai Eugene skewers Powe, Ole Miss, Deepsouthsports, and nearly everybody but the NCAA. Well, I got to give it to him, he makes some resounding arguments against Powe's matriculation to Ole Miss. Looks like to me, though, that even with his 15(!) on the ACT (don't start with the 'cultural bias' crap, I don't want to hear it), he is smarter than the buffoons at the NCAA who handed down this gem of a ruling. Bat-shit crazy, indeed.

Injury/suspension report from around the SEC blogs

OK, today we are still in the game week mode as we move quickly toward the first football of the SEC 2007 season. As you know, we don't have a lot of big games coming up this week, but there are at least 3 or 4 games that have a little bit of mystery to them.

But we'll get to that. First, let's have a look at the injury and suspension reports from blogs around the league:

Alabama:

1. WR Keith Brown and MLB Prince Hall suspended 1 game (Via BamaPride)
   
2. Brian Motley, broken ankle (Via The Capstone Report and Eight in the Box)
   

Arkansas:

1. DE Marcus Harrison arrested, suspended indefinitely (Via the Hawg Blawg)

Georgia:

1. Safety Antavious Coates, career ended, torn ACL (4th time) (Via Georgia Bulldog Blog)
   

Auburn:

1. Tailback Brad Lester, day to day due to academics (Via Track Em Tigers)

South Carolina:

1. Emanuel Cook, suspended over the weekend on a weapons charge, has been reinstated at USC. But the bad news for Cook doesn't end there. Check out the details at Leftover Hot Dog.

For other injury/suspension news, check here.

Choosing from among the stars: The 75 greatest moments in the SEC

Roy Exum writes today for the Chattanoogan.com about an attempt by colleague David Paschal to define the "75 Greatest Moments" in the SEC throughout the length and breadth of it's storied history (evidently available to print subscribers only). Exum was rather shocked, to say the least, that Paschal led off with Hal Mumme instituting the "Air Raid" offense at Kentucky.

Now, I am a Kentucky fan, and I do look fondly on the somewhat goofy memories of that first season, the amazingly good results we had with Mumme's new scheme, his endearing if somewhat whimsical obsession with all things Jimmy Buffet, the wailing air-raid sirens every time his TV show came on. Kentucky fans have been largely bereft of any kind of football glory since the heady days of 1976 and 1977 when we shared the SEC regular season championship with Georgia and Alabama, respectively, up until then. Never mind that he left under a cloud of distrust and doubt -- for a couple of years there, Hal Mumme gave Kentucky fans something different, and not just in terms of victories on the gridiron.

But even this Kentucky fan has got to agree with Exum. There are so many great moments in SEC football, choosing among them would seem to be like choosing from among the stars in the sky. Heck, Roy wheels off quite a few classics just ruminating over his column. Still, he comes to the conclusion that even though he didn't agree at first take, Paschal's article made him think about the impact of the "Air Raid", about the fact that it brought UK its first victory over Alabama since 1922.

Heck, how about that "hail mary" pass back in 2002 when LSU pulled off the "Bluegrass Miracle?" Or Alabama winning the Iron Bowl on a last -second 52 yard field goal in 1985? Or Herschel Walker -- just about every play? The list could literally go on forever.

But ultimately, Exum doesn't think that the Mumme offense even hits his top 750, and you know, I would probably agree with him. But if one were to try to pick 75 or even 175 great moments from the SEC, calling any of them worthy of the moniker "greatest" is going to get second-guessed from the bayous of Baton Rouge to the hills of Knoxville. But just as Exum said -- no matter who picks what, they all make us think -- and they are all great.

Best of the SEC: Game Week

As we all know, this is it -- game week. It's time for all the SEC football teams to show us what they are made of, who's on first, put the petal to the metal, git it on, git 'er done -- well, you "git" it. So all this week, we are going to be looking first to game posts -- the best analysis, the best prognostication, etc., regarding this weekend's games.

While some of us in the SEC will be cupcaking our way through Saturday, a few of us, most notably Tennessee and MSU will not. Georgia has a fairly worthy opponent, and so does Ole Miss. For the rest of us, it is more like a scrimmage weekend, but at least we aren't scrimmaging against ourselves.

• Lexvol at VolNation is ready to get this party started!
  
  
• Jon at Fulmer's Belly is way too excited for words.
  
  
• Joel at Rocky Top Talk has some Cal links for those in need of the opposition's views.
  
  
• Memphis Tider is stoked about game week.
  
  
• Joswalt at RazorBlog has the Arkansas depth chart for the Troy game.
  
  
• Jerry Hinnen at Joe Cribbs Car Wash continues to post his A-U pre-view.
  
  
• Mergz at Saurian Sagacity has a good look at games that matter in Week 1. He utilizes his talent rankings to get his conclusions.
  
  
• Kyle King at Dawg Sports mocks the SEC cupcakery of Florida, Alabama, Kentucky and Arkansas. Davy Crockett also makes an appearance.
  
  
• David Ching at the Georgia Bulldog Blog lauds Mark Reicht for at least trying to extract his foot from his mouth without employing the services of a physician.
  
  
• Richard Pittman of Geaux Tuscaloosa looks at the LSU/Mississippi State contest. Unsurprisingly, he likes LSU's chances.
  
  
• Kyle Veazey asks his readers how he should cover game week on his blog.
  
  
• Parrish Alford has a report on the Ole Miss Game Week press conference.
  
  
• John Clay at Sidelines blog provides the Kentucky depth chart for the Eastern Kentucky game.
  
  
• Seamus O'Toole at Vanderbilt Sports Line has a game week post -- well, sort of.
  
  

A Sunday Basketball Post: Who is getting the job done recruiting in the SEC

Yes, yes, I know it's football season. I know basketball season isn't for a couple of months. But we do need to perform a little roundball coverage, and that's what we're doing today.

The question for today is, who is getting the job done recruiting wise in the SEC for 2008 so far? Yes, we have a long way to go before we assign ratings to teams for recruiting, but let's take a look at the top three performers so far in both the East and the West.

SEC East

1. Florida -- Billy Donovan is once again taking it to conference rivals. 5-star stud C/PF Kenny Kadji from IMG Academy leads the way. 4-star PF Allan Chaney from New London, CT has also pledged to the Gators. 3-star small forward Ray Shipman and point Erving Walker round out the class.
   
   
2. Kentucky -- Billy Gillispie has only has one player committed so far, but it is 5-star point forward DeAndre Liggins from Chicago.
   
   
3. Tennessee -- Like Kentucky, Bruce Pearl has only inked one commit at this point, 4-star center Philip Jurick of Chattanooga.

SEC West

1. Alabama -- For a guy who's coaching skills may best be described as mediocre, Mark Gottfried continues to prove that he can tap the talent in his home state, and it is considerable. Jamychal Green, a 5-star stud power forward leads the class, followed closely by 4-stars Tony Mitchell (small forward) and Alabama SG (and brother of current Tide player Ronald) Andrew Steele.
   
   
2. Mississippi State -- Rick Stansbury is working on what is unquestionably his best recruiting class ever, pillaging Kentucky for 5-star shooting guard Scotty Hopson, and gaining the favor of in-state 4-star Romero Osby. 3-star Virgina point guard Demarquis Bost rounds out the class.
   
   
3. Arkansas -- John Pelphrey has obtained commitments from 3-star point guard Terrance Joyner from Mendenhall, Mississippi, and unrated small forward Chris Gragg.