The SEC: Up is down, and Vandy is really down

Who is getting it done in the SEC in basketball this year? There are a few surprises, a few disappointments, and a few real stinkers.

First, the standings:

Overall Standings:
#	Team	Conference			Overall				Comments
		W	L	Pct	W	L	Pct
East-1	Tennessee	5	1	0.833	18	2	0.9		No surprise here. They are the odds-on favorite
East-1	Florida	5	1	0.833	18	3	0.857		Gators expected to be good, but not this good. Favorable early schedule so far, though.
East-3	Kentucky	3	2	0.6	9	9	0.5		Maybe about right, but their overall record stinks.
East-4	Georgia	2	3	0.4	11	7	0.611		About to get worse, most likely.
East-5	Vanderbilt	2	4	0.333	17	4	0.81		What a surprise, but their schedule does get easier.
East-5	South Carolina	2	4	0.333	10	10	0.5		About right. Could move up.
West-1	Mississippi State	5	1	0.833	14	6	0.7		Significantly better than expected. The remainder is a bit tougher, but not that much. Can win the West
West-2	Arkansas	4	2	0.667	15	5	0.75		About right, but beating MSU has them on the move up.
West-3	Mississippi	3	3	0.5	16	3	0.842		Surprised early, but having road trouble. Still have to go to Arkansas, Kentucky, and Alabama.
West-4	Auburn	2	4	0.333	12	7	0.632		Maybe better than expected, but likely to get worse.
West-5	Alabama	1	5	0.167	12	9	0.571		WTF? Loss to Georgia on the road. They still have to play the tough road games.
West-5	LSU	1	5	0.167	8	12	0.4		I'm not sure I expected them to be this bad.

Right now, The SEC has 4 teams in the AP top 25 with one on the verge, and 5 in the coach's poll. The SEC currently ranks 5th in the RPI just below the Big East. The ACC is on top of that measurement. As of right now, you would have to figure that the SEC will get 5 teams into the tournament, although six is a real possibility if things don't change too much at the top.

Up until Wednesday, the Mississippi State Bulldogs were looking very strong, but that stopped abruptly at Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday. Joswalt at RazorBlog has the details:

Jarvis Varnado can't block shots while he's sitting on the bench.

He also won't block them if he's under the basket and the other team is shooting 3-pointers, and Arkansas made more than enough perimeter shots for a 78-58 win over Varnado and Mississippi State (No. 25 ESPN/USA Today) on Wednesday night.

Vanado has been a holy terror this year, leading the nation in blocked shots. But if you stay away from him or keep him on the bench, he can't help, and the Razorbacks defeated a rising MSU team by 20 points. Arliss at Mississippi State Basketball is a man of few words about this one:

That was ugly! Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. I'm glad that one was over. It makes me sick to talk of it anymore. Lets move on and rebound against the Vols on Saturday. Go Dawgs!!!

Sometimes, it's better to forget the bad ones and just look forward. MSU has been tough this year, and they get to find out just how tough against the Vols in the Hump this weekend. A quick look at the Bulldogs' turnover statistics (15.2/game) against a team that is better than anyone in the league at prying the ball away doesn't give me a whole lot of confidence in the Dawgs' chances. Not only that, Chris Lofton is on something of a tear lately, and as joswalt said above, Varnado can't block three pointers.

But the Dawgs have the 5th best defensive points/possession statistic in the entire USA, and are holding teams to 31% 3-point shooting (well, except for Arkansas). But the Vols get a lot of their offense from turning people over in the backcourt and getting layups. If that happens, MSU is in deep doo-doo.

Vanderbilt is surely tanking at the moment. They lost ugly Wednesday to Ole Miss, and are the Commodores worried? Well, Bobby O'Shea at Vanderbilt Sports Line says that Vandy fans may have reached a good time to ... panic!

I know it's hard to tell over the radio, but something about the way this team is playing leads me to believe we are either lazy or dumb. It's possible it could be both. Still, I am now giving VSL Nation permission to panic.

A perusal of the stats finds much more than rebounding as an issue. Vandy's offensive efficiency was an incredibly dismal 89.2, and their effective FG% was only 42.8%! Butt-ugly, that is the term for Vandy's offense, and without their offense, they are way vulnerable. Shan Foster, who was shooting a remarkable 50% from 3 as little as two weeks ago, has gone 9/35 in the last 3 games for a whopping 28%. Won't get it done. No way. Andrew Ogilvy, who was dominant in the paint up until the Kentucky game, has gone from a 65+% shooter to 37% from the floor the last 4 games. The object of the game is still to put the ball in the basket, guys.

Parish Alford asks, was it good D or bad O:

Good D or Bad O: A little of both I think. I saw Ole Miss work hard at contesting shots, but I also saw Vanderbilt get back, get feet set and get some good looks that were just missed.
On the whole I think shots were contested better. Even a few 3s the Commodores hit were made over defenders charging out and hands extended.

Having not seen the game, I can't speak to his point authoritatively, but I can say this -- when we look at the stats over the last 4 games for Vandy's offense, I think there is a much stronger argument for bad O than good D. No knock on Ole Miss, but Vandy has been cranking out some stinkers lately. But then again, you don't get to 89% OE without some help.

Around the SEC bloggers

We are in that time of year where the remnants of the college football season is, in the words of Montgomery Gentry:

Gone like a freight-train, gone like yesterday
Gone like a soldier in the civil war, bang bang

That's right. Gone. We are in that long, 7-month period where recruiting and the NFL draft will be the only things to talk about, and glory on the field is over half a year away.

Ethanator1088, The SEC Football Blogger, thinks that this is a good time to reminisce a little, like back to Auburn's 2004 undefeated season in which it was denied the Hajj to the BCS championship:

Let me get right to the point. Auburn was gypped. They were cheated. They were “ done wrong”. They should have won the national championship. This is the best reason for a college playoff. I do not care if you are an Auburn fan. If a team goes undefeated through the SEC, they deserve a shot at the National Championship. It is idiotic to think otherwise.

After castigating Booty and Cotu below for whining, I'll bet you think I am going to do the same thing here. But you would be wrong. I think Ethanator1088 is right. Auburn wasn't necessarily robbed because they were a better team than either of the eventual contestants, although I think I could make a sound argument they were. Rather, they were robbed by the system which forces a choice between two of three virtually equal teams in every respect without giving them a chance to settle the matter on the field.

Of course, I have agitated over this all year long, and since we are entering the interregnum between this season and next, I expect to agitate some more. But not today.

Moving to the sport that tends to occupy our attention during said interregnum, it seems that Ole Miss easily dispatched a tough Mississippi State [UPDATE: OOOps. Got that one backward. Thanks to Marcus for pointing out my egregious error, and apologies to MSU for my faux pas. Too much blogging lately.] Mississippi State dispatched an Ole Miss team that has been on a roll yesterday at the Hump. Strands of Crepe Paper has the word:

The score on this one says it all. State beat us tonight like a drum at a sold out Humphrey Coliseum. Charles Rhodes completely had his way inside, scoring 26 points on 12 of 14 shooting. Curtis, Kenny Williams and Malcolm White were continuously schooled inside and stayed in foul trouble.

Ole Miss has announced its arrival as an SEC force, for this year at least. I really expected MSU to do better, and as a Kentucky Wildcat fan, this isn't encouraging after MSU beat Kentucky in a tough game at the Hump. As a Kentucky fan, the MSU loss now doesn't seem so bad. Kudos to Ole Miss MSU, and Parrish Alford tells the tale from the Rebel side of things:

What’s next? State wasn’t a must-win game. The biggest loss in the last two games was at Auburn, because that’s a place the Rebels were favored and a road game they could have won. It was going to be far more difficult to win at State.

To my mind, the ultimate act of disrespect to a rival is to say something like the above. Just another game. Meant nothing. Ouch.

Turning back to football, Third Saturday in Blogtober has an update on Alabama's search for a new Offensive Coordinator, and the name ... Jim McElwain. Your reaction is probably the same as mine, and his: Jim Mc-who? The Tide Druid is also reporting on this.

Joel at Rocky Top Talk is reporting that Eric Ainge was named the offensive MVP for the South in the Senior Bowl. Kudos to Ainge and the Vols. In more Volunteer news, Georgia went up to Tennessee to challenge the knot-headed Volunteers in hoops, and got sent home bloodied and humbled. Lawvol at Gate 21 has the call:

In the process of laying it to the Dawgs, Tennessee secured its 27th consecutive victory in the Tommy Bowl. and improved to 17-2 on the season. Chris Lofton — apparently feeling the juice once more — scored 27 points, including 6 three-pointers. Lofton has been steadily improving over the last few games, which is good considering now is when the Vols will need his shooting ability most — in the heart of the SEC schedule.

Paul Westerdawg at The Georgia Sports Blog has the view from the other side:

Here's my issue with the game...no the program as a whole. My source of frustration if you will. I'm no hoops guru, but I know three things to pretty much be unshakable, unwavering hoops truths:

1. If you don't hustle defensively on the road, you don't win.

2. If you don't pass well or move without the ball effectively, you're easy to defend. I think it was Bobby Knight who said, "The easiest man to defend is the man standing still."

3. Moving and passing intelligently do NOT depend on talent.

Speaking as a person who is a hoops guru (well, I like to think so, anyway), I think he is dead right in all three areas.

Finally, the Bleacher Report gores one of my all-time favorite oxen -- Bobby Petrino. Seems the game of musical defensive coordinators has left Petrino the odd man out, and not Spurrier after all:

[Ellis] Johnson left his position at Mississippi State around a month ago to be the new defensive coordinator at Arkansas.

Then he moved on to join sleazeball extraordinaire, Bobby Petrino, to rebuild the Razorbacks. Well, that marriage also lasted just a month.

Now Arkansas is the odd man out: The only party without a defensive coordinator. I think it is great. Petrino deserves it.

See, it seems that Spurrier stole Johnson away from Petrino. Ah, [dis]loyalty -- it's not just for head coaches anymore.

A basketball post!

Yes, I know I should blog more. So sue me. It has been a tough couple of months. I promise to try to do better.

So, here we are in SEC basketball season. Time for SEC teams to start doing the work, because they certainly didn't do much work in the non-conference season (I'm looking at you, Kentucky, LSU, and South Carolina).

From Statsheet.com, here are the current SEC standings as of today:

Team Conference Overall W L Pct W L Pct Loading data... East-1 Tennessee 2 0 1 14 1 0.933 East-1 Florida 2 0 1 15 2 0.882 East-1 Kentucky 1 0 1 7 7 0.5 East-4 Vanderbilt 1 1 0.5 16 1 0.941 East-5 Georgia 0 1 0 9 5 0.643 East-5 South Carolina 0 2 0 8 8 0.5 West-1 Mississippi State 2 0 1 11 5 0.688 West-1 Arkansas 1 0 1 12 3 0.8 West-3 Mississippi 1 1 0.5 14 1 0.933 West-4 Alabama 0 1 0 11 5 0.688 West-4 Auburn 0 2 0 9 5 0.643 West-4 LSU 0 2 0 7 9 0.438

The SEC clearly needs to do some work in it's non-conference schedule, as having the tenth toughest is not at all what I would like to see. When the MAC, the MVC and the WCC all have stronger out of conference schedules than the SEC, I can't blame a soul for claiming that the SEC is scheduling cupcakes. Yeah, we do have a pretty good record against them, but we surely could do better, collectively.

This year, Tennessee looks like the class of the conference, although Vanderbilt has been making a lot of noise with a 16-0 run. The 'Dores did trip up yesterday against my Wildcats, and that was a game I am proud to win. Take nothing away from Vandy, though -- Rupp Arena is a tough place to win, and Kentucky badly needed a victory, whereas the Commodores may be getting a little overconfident. While it is easy to take UK for granted this year, Vandy just showed why you don't want to do that.

At this particular moment, Alabama is really struggling. They are 11-5 overall, but a young Florida team came into Coleman Coliseum Tuesday and spanked them. Even thought the final margin was only seven, the game wasn't that close. The Alabama Basketball Blog wonders what happened to Richard Hendrix's free-throw shooting. My response to him is that Hendrix's best season has been a whopping 62%. He shot 59% Tuesday. That's close enough for me.

What are we to make of Ole Miss this year? Andy Kennedy has just done a bang-up job in his second season getting these guys to play ball, and they nearly came into Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday and handed the mighty Vols their hind parts. World Class Glass says, "Don't blame the refs:"

Some will blame the referees on this game, however that is not why
we lost. The referees let alot of calls go both ways. Yeah they missed
a call at the end, but that was not the reason. As Kennedy said in post
game, "We aren't going to get any calls"

Officiating is something we all gripe about, but it is part of the game. When you are the visiting team, you have to expect to overcome officiating in order to win. What hurt Ole Miss was their relatively poor field goal percentage, fully 5% down from their season average. But you have to give the Rebs credit -- only ten turnovers against the UT pressure is exactly the kind of ballhandling presence you need to have any chance at all to beat the Vols at home.

Ghostofneyland at Third Saturday in Blogtober found some high comedy in one of Tom Hammond's comments about Bruce Pearl:

“Bruce Pearl already over there jacket off. He usually doesn’t do that until the second half.”

I nearly spit out my Diet Dr. Pepper. I looked at my dad, whose eyes
widened and jaw slacked open. “What did he just say??” my dad asked,
bumfuzzled. Surely Bruce wasn’t over on the sideline in front of 21,000
people doing what my dad and I (and we’re not dirty-minded people)
thought Hammond said he was doing.

Heh. That's funny right there, I don't care who you are. I think the pics of Bruce with young blonde hotties over the summer must have had more of a ... ahem ... subliminal impact than many might think.

Well, that's all for now.

The SEC goes Nutts

Hump day. I posted that on a blog one day and somebody asked me what that meant. Maybe I am dating myself a bit, but good grief.

Just so all you Mississippi State fans out there don't get confused, hump day doesn't have anything to do with your gym. It means "over the hump", as in heading on the down side of the week. Just kidding.

Moving right along, there are understandably lots and lots of blogs and news items and what have you about Houston Nutt and his trip down I-40 to Oxford. I have to admit, I wasn't surprised Arkansas and Nutt parted ways. I was surprised that they spun it as an amicable parting when nobody is going to believe it. All I can say is, Nutt came out waaaayyy ahead in this deal money-wise, and all his recruits appear to be fleeing their vows to Fayetteville like rats deserting a sinking ship. Is this karma, Razorback fans?

HogBlogger writing for RazorBloggers has the explanation of why Houston Nutt had to go. Basically he cites a number of weird email exchanges that is just to complex for me to get my mind around, but sums it up this way:

It’s easy to say that the real issue was that a small group of fans were simply out to get Houston Dale…but that is a total cop-out. The things I’ve mentioned above are part of the public record today and have been so for quite a while. These things alone are enough to justify why Houston Dale had to go. No fan caused his, or his wife, or his coaches, or their wives, involvement in the e-mails. Houston and Diana Nutt did this to themselves.

Interesting. I think maybe you had to be there. Scott at the Hog Source says Nutt will be missed:

As you all know by now, Houston Nutt has “resigned” from the head coaching job at Arkansas. Not alot of resignations come with a payout of 2.4-3.5 million bucks, sounds more like a buyout where they let him go out on a high note. They are alot of people out there who dislike Houston Nutt, and those are the ones that really made it public. The unfortunate thing is that it wasnt public how many people really did like him. Love him or hate him there is one thing for sure, he will be missed.

He, along with his brother Danny Nutt helped bring in 2 of the best players that have ever played Arkansas Razorback football. We, over the last 10 years, have had one of the best running games in the country.

Sunday Morning Quarterback decides to skewer the Hog fans a bit:

Actually, I think Nutt did a fine job at Arkansas: three division titles, two ten-win seasons, however many bowl games, etc. He was 18-8 there the last two years with wins over Alabama, Auburn, LSU, and Tennessee, and was a few minutes away in three very close losses this season from finishing the regular season 11-1, almost entirely with one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in the country (Marcus Monk) on the bench. At Arkansas, that's a solid record on the field.

It's not necessarily his fault that the crazy underbelly of his Ozarkan fan base gave the impression the program was careening out of control and helped drive away possibly the program's most significant recruiting class in decades while specializing in vicious personal attacks, lawsuits, and melodramatic amateur sleuthing.

Heh. Funny, that. What isn't funny is the whole recruiting class thing. As a Kentucky fan, though, I can't be too upset that Nutt's departure drove the best player in the state of Kentucky to decommit from the Hogs and become a Wildcat. So hey, I'm feeling a little sympathetic towards Nutt. For sure, though, he doesn't need it. Will Collier writing for From The Bleachers has this observation:

That's mind-boggling. Here we have a middling, just run off from his own alma mater coach who'd be the biggest clown in the SEC if not for Les Miles and Ed Orgeron (and I guess now I should limit that to Miles)... and Sexton's got two founding members of the conference firing their coaches and upping the ante to hire the guy. Yeah, they're founding members who ain't what they used to be by a long shot, but still.

Hey, that's mister 3.5 million-buyout+2.4million/year middling, just run off from his own alma mater coach to you, bub. Houston may be a Nutt-case, but his banker just don't care.

I have to give it to the Arkasas Athletic Administration -- they really know how to generate publicity for themselves. First they go through the whole Heath/Altman/Gillispie soap opera in basketball, and now this. The bad news is that it doesn't look as likely to work out well for the football team. But who knows, maybe I'm wrong about that.

Some Friday SEC Action

Some hot and heavy action in the SEC for a Friday. We have one really important game today for the SEC (Arkansas at LSU) and one game that is really important for the two teams involved (Mississippi at Mississippi State, otherwise known as the Egg Bowl).

Well, the Egg Bowl is over and done, and MSU wins 17-14. Jeremy at Mississippi State Sports reports:

After trailing the rebels for most of the game, the Bulldogs tied the game on a punt return for a touchdown by Derek Pegues. Adam Carlson put the Dogs on top with a 48-yard field goal with 12 seconds left to play.

MSU is now 7-5, and has some really interesting bowl possibilities. MSU hasn't been to a bowl since 2000, so this has got to feel really, really good to Bulldog fans. Congratulations to MSU and to Coach Croom on a fine year. MSU is a team on the rise in the SEC.

Parish Alford, writing for Ole Miss, had this cryptic post:

I hope everyone saw it. You wouldn’t believe it otherwise. Read it tomorrow in the Daily Journal.

I will. Apparently, MSU came back from a 14-0 deficit after 3 quarters with scores including a 75 yard punt return and ended with a 48-yard career field goal for the MSU kicker. Croom was apparently running around the stadium with the MSU flag. Big day for the Dawgs.

As I write this, LSU is in serious jeopardy against Arkansas. Arkansas has just scored the go-ahead touchdown, 28-21, and now the Tigers have all of 5 minutes left to save their shot at the BCS title game. It doesn't look good for the Tigers. Fanhouse has the tale at the moment, and LSU needs another miracle comeback to save its championship hopes.

Mississippi State and Georgia have a big weekend

What a weekend. I am out doing stuff for one weekend and come back to find -- more upsets, more weirdness more ... well, just more.

First of all, home stuff. My UK Wildcats got drubbed by a Mississippi State team that is beginning to show signs of relevance in the SEC East. That makes two (2!) ranked teams that have been Croomed this year in the SEC, Auburn and UK. I'm thinking the Bulldogs are doing something right, and it's beginning to show. Yes, Kentucky had numerous offensive skill players out and had to run most of the second half with a fifth-string halfback, but part of being a good football team is finding ways to win when you have injuries.

MSU proved that while UK may (I say may -- I have a few more doubts now) be a good football team, they sure can suck in a given game. But lest we be guilty of the false assertion that MSU was handed the game by UK, let me point out that the Bulldogs played outstanding, smash-mouth football and beat the Wildcats in every way possible. It was a big win for the Dawgs, who now are only one game away from bowl eligibility, and a big loss for the Cats, who have justifiably dropped precipitously in the polls and limp into their bye week loosing 3 of their last 4.

The Wildcat Fan Report wonders what happened to the Cats:

The Kentucky offense, on the other hand, seemed like they were just meeting one another for the first time. Woodson threw several passes behind receivers and apparently thought Derrick Locke could catch a ball with his ankles as that’s where he threw at least three screen passes. And Joker Phillips astute play calling was on display late in the game on 3rd-and-2 in two down territory when he lined Woodson up in the shotgun and called a draw to Moncel Allen that went nowhere and then put Woodson back in the shotgun on 4th-and-2 only to see a collision between Woodson and Allen result in a turnover on downs. Why are you running a draw and trying to fool the defense when you have two downs to get two yards? Line up and go off tackle twice!

I also felt like I was watching a team from the twilight zone, somehow stuck in a 1992 time-warp and through the magic of a space-time discontinuity, manifesting itself in the bodies of current UK players. Well, who said the Universe makes sense?

Georgia had no such issues with Florida in the Cocktail Party, though. I had a feeling the Dawgs were due, and they punched the Gator's ticket to 3 SEC losses yesterday. Welcome to the world of getting smacked in the puss by a bye-week team, Gators. You did it to Kentucky, now Georgia showed you how it feels to be on the wrong end.

GatorPilot at Orange and Blue Hue is suffering from some vapors -- of the equine excrement variety:

Congrats to Georgia, the better team on this night. May God have mercy on the souls of Gator Nation. This is the kind of loss that makes a Gator fan’s heart explode.

Tonight I dream dark, cloudy, troubled dreams… and I’ll wake up screaming on 3rd and short every time.

Which is horseshit.

I know just how he feels, but probably don't feel it as sharply. At Kentucky, we have just figured out that losing a game is actually a bad thing, not something that should be expected. It will take a lot more success for our hearts to start exploding, I'm afraid.

What is interesting is that both Kentucky and Florida seemed to lose the game almost the same way -- an unsatisfactory defensive effort compounded by futility on the offensive end. Sacks of your previously-Heisman-contending quarterback, fumbles, interceptions, oh, my!

Mergz at Saurian Sagacity had this to say:

We were out coached, outplayed, and just plain beaten, which is made all the more the shame by the fact the ticky-tacky antics of the Georgia coaches should have allowed us to beat them silly. The same group of players that stamped on Vandy’s logo thought is somehow advisable (assumedly with the nod of the coaches) to all run on the field after the first TD. There is an old saying about “acting like you have been there before” when you score a TD. Instead, the entire Georgia team acted as if it was the first TD they hade ever seen. If the Gators did that, I would be embarrassed beyond belief.

Well, I sense frustration with the Dawgs' antics. Since I didn't see the game, I'm going to look to some Bulldog blogs for an explanation (an doubtless, a defense). David Ching of the Georgia Bulldog Blog had this contemporaneous post expressing incredulity:

Rushing the field after that touchdown is either the smartest thing Mark Richt has ever allowed or the dumbest. We're going to find out shortly.

Given the implied criterion of outcome here, I'd say David's a firm vote for "smartest", as his follow up post suggests. Over at Dawg Sports, a diarist named randomterrace addresses this article by Terence Moore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution blasting the Bulldogs for conduct unbecoming a football team. Dawg Sports makes several points athwart those of Moore, but concludes thus:

Mr. Moore - your column was stupid. You are a fool. But it's hard for me to stay mad at you, because I know you didn't mean it. I suggest your editors shove your computer off your desk, get in your ear about lazy, self-serving contrarian columns, and demand something more from you, something the AJC can be proud of. In short, they should follow the estimable example of Mark Richt.

Undoubtedly, this was a stunt designed to inspire the Dawgs who have played anything but inspiring football this season. But the apparent domino effect on Georgia was that it had multiple personal fouls called for everything from facemasking to unsportsmanlike celebration.

Kevin Brown of the Bleacher Report condemns Richt for allowing the celebration, suggesting that it could have provoked a bench-clearing brawl, while Mike Bianchi, a notorious Gator homer writing for the Orlando Sentinel, applauds the move as "brilliant."

In the final analysis, it probably wasn't Richt's finest moment, nor the Bulldogs when it comes to sportsmanship. This is a symptom that we are seeing more and more often -- the idea that winning is more important than what happens along the way. But Urban Meyer has no cause for outrage. That last-second time out against Auburn in their home loss earlier in the year is an example of how a coach can do something totally unsportsmanlike and get applauded for it. I think, in the end, it was karma from that action that got repaid in kind on Saturday.

Yeah, Georgia was wrong. But Florida deserved it, Urban Meyer in particular. So if you want to take some high ground, Gators, try earning it with your actions. That way, condemning others who act classlessly will ring a bit less hollow.

Better late than never

OOPS! Wednesday I said I would look at two teams today, and two teams tomorrow, meaning Thursday -- and yet, I didn't post on Thursday, or Friday for that matter. Oh, well, life happens.

So now, we shall proceed to look at the two SEC games I didn't look at Wednesday, and without further ado ...

Mississippi State at Kentucky

This game is important for Kentucky. They are still in the SEC East race, but there is no way they can get to Catlanta without help. But more important even than that is the perception shared by many in the SEC that Kentucky cannot sustain their level of play, and is due to return to form and drop games they should win.

Kentucky Sports Radio takes a look at the UK-MSU game, and raises the specter of Happy Gilmore:

After a hard-fought, human-growth-hormone induced loss, it will be nice for the Cats to get back to their winning ways by going all Bob Barker on the Bulldogs (Does he mean Bob Barker as in when Bob Barker fought Happy Gilmore, or is that an allusion to neutering your dog? Both, kids.) The thought here is that Kentucky wins in such convincing fashion that College Gameday will actually be on the Vanderbilt campus in a couple of weeks to again witness the majesty that is UK Football.

Heh. Well, whatever, but if the Gameday boys show up in Nashville, be looking for the 5th Horseman to ride into town as well.

Greg Ellis from Inside Mississippi State was flying to Lexington for the game, but wound up in Louisville:

I was supposed to land in Lexington. Funny thing, though. I didn’t. Instead, I landed in Louisville. Thanks, Northwest, for overbooking. Wouldn’t have been so bad had my hotel not been in Lexington, along with the rental car. Oh well, that’s baseball. But, I finally made it. That’s all that counts. Just three hours late.

Man, what a drag. Enjoy the game, Greg.

Ole Miss at Auburn

The Tigers are coming off a disappointing loss at LSU in a game they arguably should have won. Ole Miss comes off a brutal beating at the hands of the Arkansas Razorbacks. Ryan at The Auburner hasn't quite moved on from LSU:

The general reaction on the plains has been mostly depression mixed with anger… if that’s even possible. The emotional cycle that has been going on this week goes like so:

1) Remembrance: The worst part of the cycle. Just when you think you have forgotten about the weekend and had moved on with your life only to relive the moment that Les Miles escaped death… again. This phase is often brought about by something that slightly resembles the… ‘Incident.’ For instance, I was driving up Donahue and noticed a sign for “Gourmet Tiger”… WRITTEN IN PURPLE! After that blow to my mood, I had trouble driving faster than 5 miles per hour.

2) Anger: Comes about 45 seconds after the first phase. It’s hard to beat ourselves up for losing on a roll of the dice. This stage consists mostly of questioning the referee’s sexual orientation and Les Miles’ alliance with Satan.

3) Arrest: Vandalism, assault, tax fraud, you name it. You can’t be held responsible for your actions as a result of phase 2. Les Miles took unnecessary gambles and it worked out great for him, why not me?

4) Bail: This is where you find out who your true friends are.

5) Trying to forget: It’s hard, but at some point you gotta move on… or just try to think of something else. Hakuna Matata anyone?

6) Remembrance: Rinse and repeat.

The Plainsmen are playing some of the best football in the league right now, and have redeemed their earlier loss to the MSU Bulldogs. But they have to beat Ole Miss to retain even an outside shot at the West, and even then, they will need help from LSU.

WorldClassGlass thinks the Rebels will have difficulty defeating the Plainsmen in Jordan-Hare, and isn't looking forward to the game:

We all know the Rebels story and it has been a bad season for them. They have been competitive in their two biggest games at home, but are coming off a week in which they played their worst football in the Coach O era.

While I think the Rebels will not play as bad as they did last week, I think they will have a lot of trouble hanging with the Tigers. This is a very big game for the future of the season for the Tigers. With an early evening kickoff(UMAA does not know what that is), the atmosphere at Jordan Hare should be rocking and the fans should be pumped up.

All that being said, I think the Tigers will beat the Rebels by about two or three touchdowns. It will be interesting to see if Seth Adams will return to play similar to earlier this season or if he will continue his interception filled play as the past several games.

I always enjoy the trip to Auburn and look forward to another trip, however I am not looking forward to the game.

As a Kentucky fan, I know exactly what this feels like. Up until the last couple of years, any fine Kentucky blogger could have written sentiments exactly like this one. Rebuilding is difficult, even near-impossible in the SEC when you are are mired in the lower tier. Every year brings more of the same frustration.

Ole Miss, at one time, was a dominant power in the SEC. Will we ever see a return of those halcyon days?

Croome backs up Orgeron: Alabama gets calls

The call that was reversed on the field in the Alabama-Ole Miss game on Saturday is not done causing controversy. This Mobile Press-Register piece reports that despite the SEC official position that the reversal was correct, Orgeron, his AD Pete Boone still vehemently disagree. That isn't surprising.

What is surprising is this comment in the same piece attributed to Sylvester Croome, the Mississippi State coach:

Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom said Monday the more successful programs get gets a lot of calls in their favor. Croom, a former Alabama center and assistant coach, said he noticed it while playing for the Tide and he has noticed it even more while coaching against his alma mater.

Ouch. Croome is essentially accusing officials of favoring Alabama on the field, as well as the other successful programs in the SEC.

This is actually a disturbing accusation, coming as it does from the coach of an avowed foe of Ole Miss, and a former player at Alabama. I want to clarify a couple of things before I go on. One, I'm not accusing Alabama, or any other SEC team of wrongdoing or misbehavior or any of that. The officials made the call, and Alabama had nothing to do with the review. It was a close call, no question, but in this writer's opinion, the SEC officials erred. There is no clear and convincing video evidence either a) that the player was not forced out of bounds, or b) that even if there were, the Ole Miss player actually touched the ball first. There is some evidence of both, but certainly it is not indisputable or even strong enough to be considered "clear and convincing". Therefore, the call on the field should have stood up.

Bottom line -- The SEC is circling the wagons around officials who are not applying the proper standard for review, and are winging it based on their judgment. That conflicts with the way that video review is supposed to work. I have no problem with changing the standards for review, they just shouldn't do it situationally, as appears to be the case here.

Another disturbing thing is that this same replay official has evidently been involved in other controversial plays. Not only that, but according to the same piece, the Ole Miss radio analyst virtually called this shot before the game even started. The final annoying fact in all this is that the replay official involved is not being made available to answer press questions (see the Press-Register piece above).

But even more insidious is Croome's suggestion that SEC officials favor the better teams in the league. That is worrisome, and given the fact that this claim flies in the face of Croome's presumed loyalties, concerns me more than a one-off screw-up. Unfortunately, officiating in the college world is as opaque as the Iranian government, and they appear just as likely to defend the indefensible. That needs to change. The more opaque and insular the officials make their review processes, the more likely you are to wind up with this.

Gameday! Week 7

Time for a quick look around the SEC blogosphere to see who is saying what about today's games. Let's get right to it:

The Hog Blogger reports on some kind of weird soap opera going on in Arkansas, and suggests university involvement in supressing "Fire Houston Nutt" aerial banners via a third-party detective service. Wow, Houston Nutt's situation over in Arkansas appears to be approaching the definition of "untenable".

Save The Shield, a Vandy blogger, seems to be pulling against the Wildcats in the game with LSU:

LSU -9.5: This one I went back and forth on, but 9.5 isn’t that much given the talent gap between the two teams. Hope LSU isn’t flat after last week’s Game of the Century of the Week though.

Frankly, I hope the Tigers are very flat. But I'm not counting on it.

GatorPilot at Orange and Blue Hue claims he has sworn off Florida State schdenfreude, but I think I detect some.

Henry Gomez, Saurian Sagacity:

Close observers of the Gators know that last year's BCS Championship was the result of a stingy defense and not offensive fireworks. I've been having an ongoing debate with a friend about the reasons for the the two Gator losses we've suffered this year. I contend that the fault lies largely with the defense, while my friend blames the offense.

The Tide Druid talks to his gut, which seems to be arguing with itself about Alabama's chances against the Ole Miss Rebels today. His conclusion?

For some reason, I think Ole Miss might win. Still, I think the Tide can win easily if we actually play a more consistent game. Not to dis Ole Miss, but I think Alabama controls the outcome of this game more than the Rebels. Just watch the game and see.

Kyle King at Dawg Sports has a bottom line prediction for Georgia at Vanderbilt:

In five games this season, the Commies have scored 19.5 points per game against Division I-A opponents. In six games this season, the Bulldogs have allowed 21.0 points per game to Division I-A opponents.

In six games this season, the Red and Black have scored 24.3 points per game against Southeastern Conference competition. In five games this season, the Music City Sailors have allowed 25.3 points per game to Southeastern Conference competition.

My Prediction: Georgia 24, Vanderbilt 20.

Jerry Hinnen at The Joe Cribbs Car Wash finds our newsfeed here useful, and takes MSNBC's article lauding the SEC to task:

Accuracy, please. Snatched off the useful Best of SEC newswire is this piece of fluff from MSNBC. On the balance I agree that the SEC is still the nation's best conference, blah blah blah. But honestly? I think the league might have been a bit overrated entering this season. LSU is all that and a bag of cajun-style potato chips, of course, Florida is a worthy No. 2 as anyone who saw their slugfest last Saturday would attest, and if this were a chessboard South Carolina would make a fine bishop alongside LSU's queen and Florida's, like, almost-queen ... but who else? Kentucky is not a contender until they start allowing less than 12 yards a carry. Auburn has potential, obviously, but could likely lose to a Sun Belt team if they put their mind (not) to it. Tennessee rolled over and died in Gainesville, but are apparently still light years better than the toothless Dawgs, themselves road winners over the reeling Tide. MSNBC guy touts the number of SEC teams in the top 25, but I'm not sure even in this insane season more than those top 3 belong in the top 20. I hope I'm wrong. We'll see.

I think Jerry has a good point. Yes, we may still be overall #1 here in the SEC, but arguably not nearly as strong as the pre-season pundits predicted (try saying that 3 times fast). Perhaps Kentucky can step up and prove themselves worthy today, and perhaps we go 1-0 out of conference this weekend. But right now, we are very top-heavy.

Rocky Top Talk takes UT fans to task over Fulmer, and (reasonably, if you ask me) asks the Vol Nation for patience:

The most danging piece of evidence I have against Fulmer, though, is this picture. Just look at it. What is he doing? Going for a fist bump when obviously the assistant is leading with a high-five? Can't he get on the same page as the coaches on his staff? And is he wearing a championship ring? How dare he, when he hasn't won one of those in ten, er, nine... what is it, eight years! The audacity!

This is eerily reminiscent of Kentucky fans and Tubby Smith, and we all know how that worked out. Can you see Fulmer preemptively taking a job at, I don't know, Michigan (should Miles say no) or TAMU or even Arkansas (Nutt is very likely to be unemployed after this season, in my opinion) to get away from the hot seat he has now in Tennessee? Well, at least the Vols won't get accused of racism, at least until they hired a replacement. Then, all bets would be off.

Seth at the Hotty Toddy Blog says it's time to beat 'Bama, and they've done it before -- 8 times in 50+ attempts. I'd say they are due, and this year is certainly a year where it is very possible.

Enjoy gameday, folks.

Some quick SEC previews from around the blogosphere

Today, we'll be letting some of the SEC's best bloggers tell us what they expect this Saturday.

Georgia at Vanderbilt

Hunker Down Dawg Blawg, Georgia:

We need this game in a bad way. We have to right the ship and get out of Nashville with a win. At this point, after what I saw last week, I don’t even care about style points or anything like that. While a stylish blowout win a la Ole Miss two weeks ago (my how two weeks can certainly change one’s perception of this team) would certainly make me feel better about things, at this point, I just think we all need a win. We can’t let that complete meltdown last week result in the spiral out of control we saw last year.

Nashville Ballerz, Vanderbilt:

Here’s the truth: Vanderbilt is good enough to play in a bowl game this season but not good enough to overcome shoddy quarterback play. Whether it’s Nickson or Adams at the controls Saturday, one needs to get the VU offense moving again and keep this season on track while there’s still time.

LSU at Kentucky

A Sea of Blue, Kentucky:

Our offensive line will face a challenge of Davidian proportions. If they can find some formula to protect Woodson and create holes for our backs to hit through LSU's mighty defensive front, great things can happen for UK. LSU can't win a shootout with anybody, but normally, they don't have to face one.

LSUPhootball, LSU:

Monica Says: In order for Kentucky to win this game, LSU has to tackle the same way they did against Florida during the 1st half, Jarmon and Woodyard need to stop LSU’s rushing attack, and Woodson needs to be mistake-free, which isn’t that much of a stretch considering he’s thrown 18 TD’s and 2 interceptions. Coach Rich Brooks also needs to mix up the play calling and utilize Little and not rely on Woodson as much as he has this year.

Tennessee at Mississippi State

Rocky Top Talk, Tennessee:

Vols to the Wall asks the question on every Vol fan's mind: Can Tennessee run the table? College Football News apparently thinks we can at least get to the SEC Championship game because they have us slated for the Capital One Bowl (as the SEC No. 2) against Wisky. And yeah, Mississippi may be Josh McNeil's home, but Dave Hooker states the obvious anyway: There's nothing sexy about Mississippi State, but cautions us to not take the Bulldogs too lightly. Indeed, Mississippi State's defensive front presents some problems. And finally, on the Vols' front, Ghost of Neyland is headed out for vacation, but he's left a poem in his wake.

Kyle Veazey, MSU:

In today's Clarion-Ledger, the main Mississippi State story is on the offensive line. It has played well thus far, sure, but J.B. Grimes thinks it can play much, much better. The notebook is led with some of the MSU staff affiliations to UT — Pat Washington, Woody McCorvey, Brad Pendergrass.

Alabama at Mississippi

Roll Bama Roll, Alabama:

Nico:
I feel strongly that we'll win, but that it won't be an easy layup by any stretch of the imagination. We just aren't a team that's capable of blowing mediocre teams out of the water yet, and until we're there, I'll be nervous. This one will probably be down to the wire as usual.

World Class Glass, Ole Miss:

So this game is a toss up for me. I feel like it can go one way or the other. I think the Rebels will come into the game fired up like they have the past several home SEC games and will be in this game for a couple of quarters. On the other side Alabama will probably be more focused for this game than any other one this season. If the Rebels are going to beat Saban while he is at Alabama, they better do it now before he begins to recruit his players.

Auburn at Arkansas

Track Em Tigers, Auburn:

You can bet Darren McFadden and Felix Jones will get their yards. The key for the Auburn defense will be stopping the big play. Last year, McFadden reeled off a 63 yard run that broke Auburn’s back. In all, Arkansas had six runs that accounted for 144 yards of rushing. Things will have to be different this year for Auburn to have a chance.

The Hog Source, Arkansas:

I reluctantly admit it. This game carries our season in it’s hands. It just seems like if we fail as this one task, the significance of all that follows dwindles to dust.

Tuesday Morning Quickies

• Paul Westerdawg says it's never too early to hate the Gators.
  
  
• Senator Blutarsky shows us some damned ugly uniforms.
  
  
• Sylvester Croom says MSU is getting way too many penalties. Maybe, but not as many as Tennessee, Alabama or Georgia. Correction to my goof (obvious if you followed the link) -- MSU is the 4th best in penalties, so I don't really know what Croom is complaining about.
  
  
• Arliss at Mississippi State Basketball is counting the days until basketball season, currently at 11 days, 12 hours and some odd minutes.
  
  
• Eric at DeepSouthSports one-ups ESPN on the whole "______________ Saturday" thing.
  
  
• Tuberville to TAMU? Wouldn't shock me.
  
  
• Will Collier says that Auburn has its mojo back. Certainly had it on Saturday.

What SEC bloggers are saying: Week 5 preview -- UPDATED

This is a compendium of the SEC bloggers who have provided a week 5 game preview in the last day or so.

• FSU vs. Alabama Preview - The Capstone Report.
• Arkansas vs. North Texas - The Hog Blogger.
• Auburn side of Auburn at Florida - The Joe Cribbs Car Wash.
• Florida side of Auburn at Florida - Year 2.
• Tulane at LSU - Geaux Tuscaloosa.
• Ole Miss side of Ole Miss at Georgia - World Class Glass.
• Florida Atlantic at Kentucky - A Sea of Blue.
• Georgia side of Ole Miss at Georgia - Georgia Sports Blog.
• South Carolina side of Mississippi State vs. South Carolina - Leftover Hot Dog

You will note that four are missing. UT is idle this week, and for the others, I will provide a link to them when/if their respective bloggers complete them.

Around the SEC Blogs: Thursday AM edition

As I prepare for what promises to be another glorious day of backbreaking drudgery, I think I'll take a few seconds to look at some of the good stuff around the SEC blogs this morning. I'll start with some of the blogs who thoughtfully linked us in the last day or so:

Diezba at Star & Stripe apparently misread the SEC Power Poll ballot of Garnet and Black Attack as the actual compiled vote of the SEC bloggers submitting ballots, and visited a little scorn on them in an earlier post. He has since recognized his confusion, and is pleased to see Vanderbilt isn't in the pollster's basement after all:

Well, to be perfectly honest, we were quite upset that it was the conference vote-tally that put us there. One of our eagle-eyed regulars spotted the error on our part (i.e., that it was the South Carolina people, not the Conference in aggregate, who ranked us 11th), and so we humbly retract our general derision of the Conference as a whole; instead, we redirect it solely at the Carolina blogs ('cause they were the culprits who put us in at 11th).

Henry Gomez at Saurian Sagacity looks somewhat askance at Heisman Pundit's most recent straw poll regarding Tim Tebow:

The Heisman Pundit sends a mixed message in this post where he omits Tebow on the list of six players he characterizes as having "the best chance at actually winning" but then making Tebow the number 2 vote-getter if the vote were held today.

Here at Best of the SEC Blogs, notable Kentucky fans that we are, we feel Henry's pain. HP also tends to think that André Woodson isn't really in the race, yet notes he winds up 5th in the balloting this week.

However, we tend to agree with HP. The Heisman is a very political award, and history demonstrates nothing if not that the committee is hostile to the idea of awarding it to underclassmen. Despite HP's assertion that it doesn't seem to be a huge concern, it is our opinion that this is so only so long as the Gators do not lose. As soon as they do, Tebow's fortunes are likely to take a much more significant turn for the worse than might otherwise be the case.

Even though we would like to believe that Kentucky's Woodson belongs in the discussion, the odds against a UK season better than 8-4 are overwhelming. Kentucky is a powerful offensive team, but isn't without exploitable weaknesses there, and with the Galactus of LSU's defense looming down the schedule, and Florida also there, a loss seems inevitable. If Kentucky were to go 10-2, I think Woodson would have about a 25% shot. Less than that, and he is merely invited.

What I just said about Woodson goes double for Tebow, primarily because of his underclassman status and the fact that he is 70% of Florida's offense right now. Even though Henry argues persuasively that he shouldn't fall under the "Andre Ware rule", it will be an argument that is harder and harder to make if the offense doesn't become more balanced at UF.

Erik at DeepSouthSports decides he has just about had enough of Ohio State fans. This post is great because it has lots of words not in the English language, i.e. "douchebaggery", "turdulent", and even the dreaded "jort" makes an appearance. What's more? There's video!

Senator Blutarsky at Get The Picture sees Georgia's next game against Ole Miss as a classic "trap" game. I think he might be right.

Joel at Rocky Top Talk directs us to this post at AOL Fanhouse, judging the temperatures of various SEC coach's derrières. The usual suspects are on the spit, including Fulmer and Nutt, but the author also makes note of Ed Orgeron, Sylvester Croom and Tommy Tuberville. Our take -- Fulmer, followed by Nutt and Tuberville. If Tuberville loses to Saban, we could see Plainsmen with pitchforks.

Finally, Richard Pitman of Geaux Tuscaloosa takes a long look at college football polls, and concludes they suck worse than black holes:

So, you have a situation where teams are initially ranked based on factors that have little to do with actual football ability, yet those initial rankings won't change in the face of additional evidence unless a team either loses or looks really really bad. Looking merely bad, like Auburn did after during its Week 1 win against Kansas State, won't make you move down. Looking really good won't make you move up unless a team ahead of you does something to look really bad.

It's an indefensible system. And yet, talking heads defend it all the time. Well, maybe they don't "defend" it exactly, but they often spout the indefensible assumptions as if they are gospel. You'll frequently hear something said like, "I'll vote them #1 until someone beats them," or "USC proved it was #1 last night by beating up on Nebraska." In a sport where not all teams play each other and rankings are determined by vote, voters are expected to exercise discretion and use judgment, but they don't. They pretty much just apply a generally agreed-upon set of rules that don't make a whole lot of sense when you really think about them.

While I truly feel Richard's pain, and we all claim not to pay attention to polls, the truth is that polls are like a train wreck happening right in front of you. No matter how gruesome it gets, you can't ignore it.

That's all for now, folks.

A little more hindsight, and a little more foresight

Today we'll be continuing to look back at some of last weeks games, then begin looking forward to Saturday.

Ryan at The Auburner looks back at the Kansas State game. He's a little disappointed in Brandon Cox and the O-line, but otherwise gives the team a thumbs up.

The Tide Druid takes a look ahead to the Vanderbilt game, and takes a detailed look at what the Vandy offense did against Richmond, hoping to derive some insight from the statistics. Todd at Roll 'Bama Roll also analyzes the 'Dores offense. Bobby O'Shea at Vanderbilt Sports Line has part of the Vandy side of the story, and Diezba at Star & Stripe has the rest.

Mlmintampa writing for Aligator Army, the new SB Nation Florida blog, takes a look at the Troy Trojans. Meanwhile, The Hog Blogger, who's team just defeated the Trojans, says that Marcus Harrison is back, while casting a baleful glance Houston Nutt's way.

Senator Blutarsky at Get The Picture finally gets around to watching Georgia-OK State, and concludes that the Dawgs were just plain workmanlike in their victory over the Cowboys. Meanwhile, Kyle King of Dawg Sports looks at several SEC upcoming games, and has some interesting observations. For the record, Kyle hates Auburn, and I think he manages to get that into every post he makes. But he still picks them to beat USF this Saturday.

Seth at the Hotty Toddy Blog has a Q& A with Every True Son, a fan blog of their next opponent, Missouri. He also wonders if Missouri is taking Ole Miss seriously.

Travis at Hail Dear 'Ole State wonders "After four years why the hell are we still running plays that don't work?" Good question, that. Kyle Veazey looks at Tulane running back Matt Forté.

Cocknfire at Garnet and Black Attack can't get enough of the Michigan debacle. But he still manages to note Darth Vizor has made a few changes in response to Saturday's close call. Flounder at Leftover Hot Dog blogs Blake.

Early Game Day: Best of the SEC

It is finally the first Saturday of football season, and all eyes are on college football. Today, we'll be looking for the best of the game day posts.

• Memphis Tider is excited. He mentioned there is already talk of some warmth on Phillip Fulmer's backside.
  
  
• Todd at Roll 'Bama Roll gives us his picks, and who he is watching. Doesn't think Florida looks especially impressive, and neither do I, particularly on defense where they are rebuilding.
  
  
• Kyle King at Dawg Sports has a Game Day checklist.
  
  
• Parrish Alford has lots and lots of Ole Miss game day updates at his blog.
  
  
• Flounder at Leftover Hot Dog has a game day post.
  
  
• Rocky Top Talk has lots of game day stuff, and a really, really early open thread.
  
  
• Save the Shield has a Vandy Game Day post, full of predictions, cupcakery ... lots of fun.
  

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.