Best of the SEC - Weekend Edition

And the nominees are:

• Settling the Big 10/1 vs. SEC debate The Power T argues that the SEC thumps the Big Ten, and gives some ... interesting reasons why.
• Snake Oil: More On Over-signing Pete Holiday tries to sort out the whole Alabama oversigning thing with impressive reasoning and sound logic.
• Gutsy Losses and Moral Victories: How Many is Enough? Outstanding, honest and factual look at the state of Georgia basketball by MaconDawg.

And the winner is MaconDawg at Dawg Sports.

Folks, this is everything a great blog post should be. MaconDawg strikes exactly the right tone in discussing the pros and cons of Dennis Felton's coaching career at Georgia so far. Dennis Felton has done a lot of good things at Georgia, but he can no longer duck the fact that he is responsible for the problems he now has:

Let's get this out of the way right now: Dennis Felton is in fact to blame for the majority of the "bad luck" that has befallen his team this season. I'm a firm believer that you cannot expect a coach to cook dinner unless you let him shop for the groceries. But when a coach routinely whips up cheezewhiz on crackers with shrimp flavored Ramen, he has to take the heat for it. I was willing to give Felton the benefit of the doubt when he was kicking Jim Harrick's players off the team.

He is exactly right. Felton is responsible for bringing in Takais Brown and Mike Mercer. They were his best players, and either they were so badly behaved or he is so stringent that they are off the team, a casualty of discipline that has been the only meaningful hallmark of Felton's tenure so far except for tough defense.

I understand that a coach can only do so much when it comes to evaluating players. Sometimes, they all make mistakes. But I think MaconDawg is right to wonder about what he calls "a rash of reactive discipline." His conclusion:

Today's Tennessee game was a gutsy performance by a team that was outmanned and outgunned but refused to back down. I think that we'll see some more of those performances this season. But we don't go to Stegeman Coliseum to see gutsy losing basketball. And Dennis Felton has yet to show that he can do much other than deliver gutsy losses. 5 years in, the guts are keeping him from getting fired. However "the state of the program" is going to remain a topic of discussion as long as the losses keep coming as part of the package.

Gutsy losses are great for the first year or three of a new coach. But after five years, some hard questions should be asked. I personally like Dennis Felton a lot, and hope he brings Georgia back from this mire of irrelevance in which they are currently entrapped. But sooner rather than later, Felton had better produce some tangible results, or the next giant sucking sound we could be hearing in Athens is Felton's career headed down the drain. Herrick is long gone, and he is out on that limb all by himself, saw in hand.

May this be the last word on the subject

Pete Holiday at Fanhouse has produced this response to the now-protracted debate about Alabama's oversigning of players. As we have noted, this has been a very passionate, and lately, downright nasty debate between Alabama fans and, essentially, Michigan fans lead by Cook. Lots of pixels have been darkened in angry invective, which makes it all the more appropriate that Pete's commentary has a nice, calm, reasoned tone in spite of putting down Cook for his ... uh, rather purple prose.

But once we're past the Fanhouse Baby, Pete gets to the point:

The crux of Brian's argument is that if, come August, a team has more than 85 players who should be getting football scholarships, the overage will need to be unceremoniously dumped to come within the NCAA's limitations. This is an undeniable fact. Brian would have you believe that makes him right and everyone else stupid, but there's more to it than that. First, it's a hypothetical situation which has not yet come to pass and is far from a certainty. Second, there's a lot of room for reasonable people to differ on "who should be getting [a] football scholarship[]."

The responding posts by Alabama bloggers tend to focus how the 86+ scholarshipped class will not come to pass. One factor for which Brian did not originally account was non-athletic scholarships. He attempts to dismiss this by asserting: "Anyone on scholarship and on the football team counts against the 85 limit."

This, of course, is false. Take, for example, Bryant Scholarship players (the Bryant scholarship is given to sons and daughters of his former players), as demonstrated quite clearly by The Capstone Report (whose author continues to butcher my last name) by simply citing the NCAA rule. The gist of it is this: non-athletic scholarships don't count until "the student athlete engages in varsity intercollegiate competition." So, with all due respect to Mr. Cook, he needs to take another read through the NCAA Bylaws.

Pete's essential argument boils down to the same one I made earlier, only fleshed out considerably. I said, "Let's wait and see what happens," and Pete is saying not only that, but, "Here are some of the ways Alabama could get around the problem of having to dismiss qualified players." That makes a lot of sense, and I know at UK we have been able to offer some of our players scholarships in other sports, academic, or hardship scholarships. All of these are perfectly valid and not at all a sign of abuse, scofflaw, or moral or ethical turpitude.

I think Pete is exactly right in his analysis. Brian is correct in asserting that this is a situation where abuse and unethical behavior are certainly a possibility, but he seems to be saying that there is no ethical way out of this situation. That seems patently false to me, and surely Brian is smart enough to know better. If he isn't, well, at least Holiday is attempting to enlighten him.

Alabama grabs a generous mittenful of the Deadly Yellow Snow ...

Great googly-moogly! This Brian Cook vs. the Alabama Blogger Universe has truly reached the point of a genuine throwdown. There are so many posts on this subject that I simply must look at as many as possible before my fingers fall off.

By the way, the "Best of the Day" will be back tomorrow. I'm running low on time today.

OK, into the breach. First, we have His Blognificance, Orson Swindle at EDSBS noting the dustup for the second time this week, and linking to OutsideTheSidelines post at RBR:

Roll Bama Roll responds to Brian Cook’s slam of Alabama’s 4732 scholarship class this year. Many insults are paid to Brian’s hair, but as someone with an NHL-worthy playoff beard right now, we can’t say shit other than Brian is oversimplifying the case a bit (Alabama skoolz, represent!), but he’s not totally wrong here.

What is the whole hair thing about, anyway? So Brian looks like I did in 1975 -- at least he still has hair, unlike yours truly.

So, perhaps understandably, Brian Cook responds from his own blog, MgoBlog, rather than Fanhouse where he started the dustup. He decides, for whatever reason, to expand his scorn to the entire SEC rather than just Alabama:

There are two separate issues here.

Issue #1. Alabama is unlikely to actually have the nation's top recruiting class because a large chunk of it isn't going to get to campus. This is an irritation I have with the guru rating services and not an issue with Alabama per se. The best example of this phenomenon was Auburn's class last year, thirty-strong and top-ten on signing day but reduced by a third by the time fall practice rolled around and decidedly not top-ten.

This is indisputable. We even looked up the numbers last year. SEC teams often sign guys with little or no chance to qualify, and their swollen classes end up looking better than they actually are. The average SEC team experiences an attrition rate double that of the average Big Ten team, but this is not accounted for.

Does this remind anyone of the famous Jim Delaney letter to Big Ten fans? That's where Delaney essentially suggests that Big Ten schools were simply too good for many of the recruits that wind up in the SEC:

I love speed and the SEC has great speed, especially on the defensive line, but there are appropriate balances when mixing academics and athletics. Each school, as well as each conference, simply must do what fits their mission regardless of what a recruiting service recommends. I wish we had six teams among the top 10 recruiting classes every year, but winning our way requires some discipline and restraint with the recruitment process. Not every athlete fits athletically, academically or socially at every university. Fortunately, we have been able to balance our athletic and academic mission so that we can compete successfully and keep faith with our academic standards.

Brian Cook took up that cause in this post, and Senator Blutarsky at Get the Picture had some fun with what Brian had to say:

The rest of Brian’s post, which purports to be an examination of the “ethical obligations” schools have with regard to educating their recruits, reminds me of that famous quote from Bismarck about sausages: “To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making.” Anyone who wants to watch college football without being consumed by doubt over the academic standing of the kids suiting up needs to become a fan of the Ivy League, fast.

For the rest of us, the issue isn’t (or shouldn’t be) whether some kids are admitted to college with lesser academic credentials, or that somehow these same kids are able to progress towards a degree once in school. We know that happens at all D-1 schools, and for a variety of reasons, like legacies, financial contributions, affirmative action, athletics, etc.

Uh huh. The current debate is essentially a belated and expanded continuation of the one started by Delaney's letter, with Cook and MGoBlog carrying the water for him. Not that Cook's original Fanhouse post pointed this out, because that was all about Saban and Alabama, but with his recent comments Cook has now expanded it to include the earlier debate.

Meanwhile, Roll Bama Roll isn't quite done yet. Todd at RBR decides he needs a crack at Brian Cook to go along with OTS's earlier remarks:

I won't bother with Issue #1 since it's a personal beef between Cook and the recruiting services, and I couldn't care less about how or why he thinks Alabama shouldn't be considered the #1 recruiting class in the nation until the fall. But Issue #2? Fuck you. He can blather on and on about OTS's "voodoo math" and moronic points since OTS called him out on his haircut (and in this very post I've already referred to him as a "dick") and therefor name calling is fair game, but this is where he's a gigantic ass that should shut his whore mouth:

I could do without all the gratuitous profanity from both bloggers, and the whole "hair" thing as well. Personally, I think #1 is kind of important, and there was a lot more there for my interests that perhaps for Todd's. I reject the condescending argument that essentially boils down to "The SEC is better because it sets low academic standards so they can sign better athletes." That is wrong on so many levels. First of all, if the Big Ten places their academic standards so as to exclude more people from joining it's hallowed halls and getting an education, I'm not sure that's something to be particularly proud of. Second, the Big Ten may think of itself as the Ivy League, but it isn't. What this boils down to is just more excuse-making for a brand of football who's time has largely come and gone.

But on his second point, Brian Cook and I are in far more agreement than disagreement:

The fucking point is that fucking Alabama is going to kick kids off the fucking team for no fucking reason. The point is not that violating the NCAA's made-up limit is evil. The NCAA limit is there because the NCAA would like you to not kick kids off the fucking team, but for various reasons the rule's pretty easy to skate around. The issue is not 32 > 25. The issue is that 70 + 32 > 85.

I'm not sure he's right about the reasoning for the rule, but I agree that kids should not be kicked off the team if they are offered a scholarship, accept it and qualify for it. We have had this discussion around UK circles (albeit for the basketball team -- we never have to worry about a surfeit of talent in football), and I am firmly on Cook's side of the argument. If Alabama does wind up withdrawing scholarships from qualified players just to bring on a better player, that is a real problem, and they should be ashamed.

But before we get into all this bitterness and foul language, shouldn't we wait for that nefarious event to happen? Bobby Petrino did just this very thing a player a few years back, only he did it before the player actually made it to campus. In other words, he just blithely broke his word to another young man who had committed to a scholarship offer because he found someone better. That is just plain unethical.

Moving right along, Third Saturday in Blogtober has a few words for Brian, and the most relevant point he makes is this:

But what I do want to hit on is the fact that Brian is guilty of the same thing he’s often called out members of the MSM for over at MGoBlog. Knowing not of which he speaks. Brian has no clue how many players Bama signed aren’t going to qualify, no matter how many hacks he references. Even if he did know, he makes it out like it would be the school’s fault for the player not having the grades.

This is a fair point, and one, I think, Brian Cook would have done well to consider. If Alabama engages in unethical conduct by getting rid of players who came in good faith, fully qualified, then he has a right to scream to high heaven. But the truth of the matter is, attrition due to grades, injury, lawbreaking, etc. are unfortunately routine and the high probability is that at least 15%-25% of not only Alabama's class, but of other large classes all around the USA, will wind up not qualifying for one reason or another completely unrelated to how well they play.

Why take on this issue now? The only reason I can figure is that he wants to make a partisan case, an excuse, really, for the fact that the Big Ten has failed so miserably against the SEC, and continues to look like maybe the third or fourth best football conference in the land. I could be wrong. He'd probably tell me I'm wrong. I don't care. That's what I think, this is my damn blog, and ... there you go!

Finally, the Tide Druid weighs in and says it's all about getting licks in on Saban, and basically says that Cook is no better than the World Wide Leader in that regard:

When you’ve been fed the ESPN spin that Saban is worse than Bobby Knight himself, it is probably a natural urge to take a pot shot at Saban to make your new coach look better. Of course, it could just be due to the fact that Saban used to coach at Michigan State.

I don't know, I suppose he could be right. Who knows what loathing lurks in the hearts of bitter rivals, and sometimes a coach that you hated at your rival carries the burden of that hatred with him forever and ever, amen. Still, if Cook is just trying to gig Saban, why is he whacking on the whole SEC at the same time?

Finally, Nico at Roll Bama Roll decides it's time for everyone to chill:

Okay everybody. Calm down. Bama fans calm down. Michigan fans calm down. This has turned into a parade of ridiculousness on both sides. I don't have time to fully address this right now since I'm about to go out of town for the rest of the day, but suffice it to say that I think both sides have escalated this well beyond where it should be. It's okay to disagree but I don't like the personal attacks and I don't like the generalizations about people because of their place of origin. This has all gone way too far.

I think he's right. When the ugly language comes out, it's time to pull ourselves back in to rational debate, not wild invective. It befits neither side of the argument to descend into complete emotional chaos over this, and cooler heads need to prevail.

Kentucky gets "Commodored," and the posts of the day

So I suppose you are expecting me to dodge the whole Kentucky-Vanderbilt debacle. Nah. As much as I hate to talk about it, it is what it is. Heaven knows what happened to Kentucky, but one thing is for sure -- Vanderbilt was excellent. Sennsm at Vanderbilt Tailgate was a bit surprised:

Ok. WTF happened last night? I dont think anybody saw that coming in a million years. I hope we can play with that intensity for the rest of the year. UK couldnt do anything right.

Yeah, that's pretty much right. Geaux Tuscaloosa goes into a bit more detail:

It was ugly. I turned it off and went to bed with just under 10:00 left in the game, after Vandy took out all of its starters. Vandy was winning by about 40 at the time. The game ended 93-52. I'm here to tell you it could have been worse. Kentucky had 11 points at halftime, and was losing by 30. The opening minutes of the second half were no better, as Vandy quickly built its lead to 40, and just cruised that point on.

Ugly is right.

Moving on (can you tell I don't want to think about that anymore?) to the best blog posts of the day, the winner today is Jeffrey Macloud at LSU "Tigerbait". Jeffrey looks at the strength of the SEC using the AP poll. He does a nice job of analysis and references his sources. Here is a taste:

In an effort to binge post, here's another longish entry. This was motivated by a comment made by one of my compatriots on TigerForums. Paraphrasing, he said that he thought the SEC was the strongest it had ever been.

This sounded right to me, but I wondered. So I looked into it. Here's what I found.

Go check it out.

The runner(s) up come from Fanhouse, in a tit-for-tat between Brian Cook and Pete Holiday. First, Brian Cook:

If you wandered over to the various recruiting sites on signing day you probably noticed big banners proclaiming Alabama's return to power via the nation's top recruiting class. This is due in large part to the enormous number of recruits that put pen to letter of intent for Nick Saban: 32, a full seven more than the NCAA's yearly limit of 25. Only Miami managed to stretch the boundaries of the rule further, signing 33.

Brian's point is that the "oversigning" of recruits is essentially unethical, and how the NCAA needs to do something about this abuse.

Of course, Pete Holiday is an Alabama fan and had his own response to Brian's accusations. According to Holiday, and contrary to the impression left by Cook, Saban isn't the only and arguably not the worst "violator" of this policy. In fact, Pete cites Brian's own favorite team's coach, Rich Rodriguez:

It's also not unique to the 2008 recruiting year. Clearly Brian didn't like having his team's coach called out, and he went to bat for Coach Rodriguez, defending him against the "snake oil" comment made by Purdue's Joe Tiller. Now he's saying that over-signing is what a real snake oil salesman would do, so let's take a look at Coach Rodriguez's recruiting numbers at WVU. In the six seasons from 2002-2007, Rodriguez signed fewer than 25 only twice (2004 and 2006), and on two occasions signed 33 (2002 and 2005). He signed 25 and 28 in 2003 and 2007 respectively. So, in 6 years of recruiting, Rodriguez sold snake oil (to use Cook's metaphor) half of the time.

Ouch. I think this round goes to Holiday.

Best blog posts of the day in the SEC

The post of the day was this outstanding analysis by Saurian Sagacity. Mergz blogged about an analysis he has done on 111 D-IA football teams' recruiting efforts, basing his talent estimates on Rivals.com ratings over the last four years.

This is quite an impressive undertaking. Here is a taste:

It does show however those schools that have been most successful over the past 4 years in attracting the big names – the talent every school wanted. Thus in that way it shows where the most desired recruits have chosen to play their college ball in the past 4 years.

It also shows, if the near past is any indication, the limited pool of possible schools from which a mythical national champion will be named as in the past 4 years, the eventual MNC was a name somewhere in this top ten list.

It's amazing and somewhat frustrating to those of us who cheer for schools not in the top ten, or even top 25. The only consolation I could find for the Kentucky Wildcats is that they are about mid-pack, and given our limited football tradition, I don't expect that to change radically in the next decade or so.

I have always wanted to do an analysis like this, and now I must think of something else to write about.

Runner up for today is this post by OutsideTheSidelines at Roll Bama Roll looking at the University of Alabama's domination of it's home-state recruits, and the substantial failure of Auburn to make inroads into said domination. This is an interesting, complex (and quite lengthy) read detailing the failure of the Auburn program to recruit well at home, even among recruits that were Auburn fans growing up. Here is a taste:

The only real success that Auburn had in recruiting this year was with former commitments to previous classes, and they did not even have complete success in that area. Raven Gray was a commitment to the 2006 class, and he has enrolled, admittedly a very big signing. Jermaine Johnson was a good addition, but he was an academic casualty from the 2007 class, and may not qualify this year either. Enrique Davis would have been a huge commitment, but he ended up going to Ole Miss after Auburn changed directions with the offensive coordinator.

I would love to hear an Auburn response to RBR's post, not so much because RBR is indicting Tuberville for recruiting malpractice -- they are 'Bama fans, for heaven's sake, what would you expect? -- but more because their larger point seems to be that Auburn is doomed to second-class status in the state very soon even though they have been dominating Alabama. The big question that I have is about this assertion:

Saban is as at least as good of a coach as Tuberville, and likely better, and at the current rate the talent level that Alabama will have will dwarf that of the Auburn roster in the very near future.

So what say you, Auburn fans? Has Tuberville's lack of recruiting doomed you? Is Bama about to dominate your future? Is Saban a better coach?

We will see, I guess.

Bring on the cupcakes

Schedules, schedules. This is the biggest complaint about football teams every year. Every team's partisans makes the case that it's team is better, regardless of who they play. But as reported by Charles Rich of Fanhouse a while back, the cupcakery is becoming not just a nasty trend, but a strategic plan. What I think we are seeing is coaches and athletic departments noticing that despite Hawai'i's ludicrously weak schedule, anyone who can manage an undefeated or one-loss record has a chance at a BCS bowl and the big bucks that go along with it.

We have already seen this tendency even among the elite of the most topheavy conferences like the Big 10. Ohio State had either the 53rd or 54th toughest schedule in the land, depending on who's numbers you use, while Hawai'i clocked in at either 112th or 132nd. Kansas clocked in at either 74th or 80th. All these teams wound up in BCS bowls (OSU in the BCS championship). What is the lesson here?

True, LSU was a 2-loss team and wound up in the BCS championship, so we can't say that schedule strength isn't a factor -- it clearly is. But the lesson here appears to be that unless you really are the best football team in the land, you'd be better off to schedule like Hawai'i and Kansas than LSU. Having the toughest schedule in the land didn't really help Ole Miss or UCLA.

Quinton McDawg of Georgia Sports Blog suggests that teams aren't holding up their end in scheduling, and proposes a solution:

Many teams have done their part simply because they have a rival they hate. Florida has Florida State. Florida State has Miami. Georgia has Georgia Tech. South Carolina has Clemson. Meanwhile, teams like Texas, LSU, and Penn State can pick and choose when they want to play these games and when they want to sit out a year. (By the way, I'm not picking on those teams because they typically do a decent job of nonconference scheduling, but they don't have a team out of conference that they have to play. They have a choice.) It seems unfair to have one power team with the option to play a big nonconference game while others do so as a matter of course.

I would respectfully suggest to Quinton that this is not by accident, but by design. These days, teams are looking harder for I-AA opponents than they are BCS opponents. Could the NCAA enforce a scheme where all BCS teams were required to schedule at least one BCS out-of-conference opponent? I don't think Duke could handle the load, they'd be getting calls from every team in the nation.

The tendency these days seems to be "schedule easy, go to a bowl." Let's face it, no matter how much derision weak schedules draw from bloggers like Quinton and I, the bottom line is, going to a bowl means the big, sweet dollars and exposure for recruiting. Given the choice between having a few journalists and bloggers laugh at your schedule and a visit to the Orange Bowl, I think most coaches and AD's would say "I'll take the Orange Blowl, keep your praise."

Until there is a true and enforceable penalty for scheduling pastries, this problem is bound to get worse before it gets better.

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.

Booty still arguing that USC should have been in BCS Champoinship

You know, hearing the USC players and some fans continually argue that "they wuz robbed" is getting old. Not that it will stop anyone, but at least I have a blog to vent about it on. Got some cheese? Ready for some whine? Take it away, John David Booty:

“After the Rose Bowl we knew, and I think a lot of people around the country knew, that we should have been in that game,” said Booty, the Trojans’ quarterback. “And we would have been if we hadn’t hit a little rough patch there during the middle of the season.”

So let me get this straight. It says here that you lost to Stanford at home. Standford was a team that won 4 whole games all year, and lost to *ahem* Notre Dame! The loss to Oregon was on the road and definitely against a worthy opponent, but losing at home to Stanford is as unforgivable, in the BCS championship game sense, as losing to Appalachian State (arguably a much better team). LSU, on the other hand, lost multiple overtime games to two teams that went to mid-level bowls.

So I really wish you would do us all a favor, JD, and be a man and a leader. Own up to the fact that your team's big bowl blowout was against a team that half the SEC could have beaten, and accept it. We are all very sorry you were hurt for the Stanford game, but if you were so important to the team that it can't even defeat an overwhelmingly inferior opponent at home without you, what chance had you against LSU -- or Ohio State, for that matter?

Not to be outdone, Georgia's kicker, Brandon Cotu, aught to close his pie hole as well. Cotu brings us a Southern vintage of Booty's whine:

“We definitely had an argument for being the two-loss team that should have had the opportunity to move forward and play for the national championship,” Coutu said. “If we had played any of the other teams, I think we definitely would have given them a game, if not won.”

WAAAAHHH. Good grief. You couldn't even hold serve at home against South Carolina, a team that also failed to make a bowl appearance, and Tennessee drubbed you in Knoxville. They didn't just beat you -- they beat the living daylights out of you, and LSU beat Tennessee. So by what twisted logic do you consider yourselves justified in making such a claim? Spare me, and yourself further embarrassment and just stuff a sock in it.

22 players from the SEC in the Senior Bowl

As an SEC blogger, I try not to trumpet the accomplishments of my home team, UK, very often. I promised when I started this blog that it would not be UK-centric, and I think I have lived up to that commitment.

However, Kentucky is well known not to have near the football tradition of most other SEC schools, and LSU is no exception. But this year, thanks to one of Kentucky's most outstanding senior classes in many decades, they turn out to have as many players in the Senior Bowl as the national champs, four for each.

On the South squad, the SEC dominates, having no less than 22 out of 52 players from SEC schools on its roster. The breakdown looks like this:

School	Players
Kentucky	4
LSU	4
Alabama	3
Auburn	2
South Carolina
Arkansas	3
Vanderbilt	1
MSU	1
Ole Miss
Georgia	1
Florida	1
Tennessee	2
Total	22

According to this article, the SEC is not only leading in number of players, but in smack talk. Well, I think they may have earned the right to talk a little smack, anyway.

Congratulations to all the SEC schools for their outstanding participation in the Senior Bowl this year, and good luck to all involved.

Sad news for the SEC

Sad news today for all SEC fans. Steve Spurrier's mother has apparently passed away. Marjorie Spurrier was 86 years young. Sometimes, tough years just get tougher.

I lost my mother only last year, and I know how it feels. Whether we are close to our mother or not, there is an emotion that is ... deep in the race, and hits very hard when we lose the face we first saw from our cradle. My sincerest sympathy and best wishes go out to Coach Spurrier and his family. There are no words that will soothe such a loss. The impact of losing a mother cannot be mitigated or softened by the fact of its inevitability.

God bless you and yours, Coach, and may He comfort you with His presence in this difficult time, and ease the burden of your sadness.

LSU Vindicates the SEC and Les Miles Mouth

I have taken a long two weeks off from blogging, but it is time for me to salute the LSU Tigers, champions of the BCS.

In many ways, the outcome of this game was predetermined by Ohio State's fast start. It was a moderate improvement by Ohio State, but except for the first quarter, there was never really any doubt who the best team was. Despite this, LSU made a few poor decisions and mental errors that could have cost them dearly. But alas for Ohio State, LSU was able not only to recover from their mistakes, but to play very clean football while the famously poised Buckeyes took no less than five major penalties, every one of them personal fouls and every one of them costly.

Nobody can argue with Les Miles now. I think we can all safely say that when he said of the Pac-10, "They're going to play real knockdown, drag-outs with UCLA and Washington, Cal-Berkeley, Stanford - some real juggernauts," he nailed it. How is a comment about the Pac-10 relevant to this game? If you think it was only intended for the Pac-10, I think you are mistaken. That was meant for the ears of every non-SEC FBS team.

And the SEC? All the SEC has done is delivered two BCS championships in a row, both over Ohio State in convincing fashion, and the BCS championship 4 out of the 10 years of its existence, two more than any other conference. The SEC also went an astonishing 7/9 in all its bowl games, dropping only 1 BCS bowl out of 3, including the BCS championship. SEC fans have been utterly vindicated in every meaningful way when they asserted their superiority over the rest of the nation's football conferences. For at least the last 2 years, and arguably for the last 5 or 6, the SEC can lay claim to being the best college football conference in all the land.

Congratulations to the LSU Tigers for bringing the crystal back to the conference where it may well stay for most of the next decade, and where it truly belongs -- with the best football conference in the land. Looking forward, the SEC is likely to have 2 and possibly 3 teams ranked in the top five pre-season next year, and as many as 8 in the pre-season top 25. Pretty sweet.

So now, it's time for some comments from the LSU bloggers, who are probably much hung-over this morning from celebration last night.

And The Valley Shook says this wasn't all about SEC speed:

Clearly, the SEC Speed thing was overblown. Best I can tell, no one saw it coming (with the exception of SMQ and possibly Pete Fiutak at CFN): the SEC isn't a bunch of Nancy Boys who can only outrun other teams to victory; LSU, at least, can win - and has won - by simply being more physical.

That is simply indisputable. Clearly, Ohio State had speed. LSU won this game with speed in the defensive secondary and power in both lines, as well as overall athleticism. This game was as much about LSU power as it was anything else.

Louisiana Love notes Harry Coleman's nearly flawless performance all over the field:

What didn't reserve safety Harry Coleman do for LSU's defense? In the first quarter, the sophomore from Baldwin, La., recovered a muffed punt return by LSU's Chad Jones at the Tigers' 16. In the second quarter, Coleman blitzed and hit Boeckman, forcing him to underthrow a pass down the left sideline. Cornerback Chevis Jackson intercepted the pass and returned it 34 yards to the Ohio State 24, setting up the touchdown that put LSU ahead 24-10 at the half. Coleman added another fumble recovery early in the fourth quarter, after linebacker Ali Highsmith drilled Boeckman on a fourth-down play.

The kid was simply everywhere, all the time. It was a game-long highlight reel. Richard Pittman at Geaux Tuscaloosa calls the game "fairly boring."

How did the rest of the SEC bloggers see the game? Predictably, as a win for the SEC, which it was. Cocknfire at Garnet and Black Attack could speak for many:

There is a sense of pride in this conference. One Wisconsin fan I know was astonished that I root for every SEC team -- except, of course, Georgia -- when it comes to bowl games. He could never see himself rooting for Michigan or Ohio State. He seemed to see this as a uniquely Southern phenomenon.

It does seem passing strange to me that conference affiliation seems to be much weaker in other conferences. I would have assumed that all conference's fans were similar in the respect that they pulled for their conference first, except for rivalries. This is anecdotal evidence to the contrary.

Ryan Ferguson, writing for Fanhouse, says that even though preparation is usually the difference, it wasn't so in this game:

How did LSU win this game? First, from top to bottom, they simply fielded better players. QB Matt Flynn easily outplayed and outmanaged Todd Boeckman. LSU's offensive and defensive lines controlled the line of scrimmage for most of the game. LSU's receivers were faster and more physical, and made big plays when it really mattered.

Indeed. At then end of the day, it was all about who brought the talent, and LSU had more, especially in the trenches where championships are won and lost. LSU's lines simply pushed the much-vaunted OSU "big uglies" around all night. And if that wasn't enough, OSU's receivers were simply out-athleted by LSU's secondary in one of the biggest athletic mismatches, offense to defense, I can remember. It is truly a wonderful thing when you don't have to play zone in the secondary, and you can send extra people flying into the backfield at the quarterback. The game just becomes so much easier.

Henry Gomez at Saurian Sagacity wonders what could be more embarrassing than losing two consecutive BCS championships by lopsided margins:

What could be more humiliating than losing two consecutive BCS SHAM-pionships to SEC teams by a combined score of 79-31?

Ouch!

PS, LSU has scored 265% more than OSU allowed per game this year. LSU has scored 10 more points than Illinois which had the previous high-water mark against OSU this season with 28.

Ouch, indeed.

Kyle King of Dawg Sports, in a post before the game, goes all Rodney King on us:

On this, the night of the B.C.S. national championship game, I interrupt my review of the Mark Richt record to offer a few words in defense of interconference unity. I have tried and tried to promote good relations between the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference, which is an objective in which some Big Ten fans are interested but others evidently are not.

I think interconference love is fine, as long as every other conference in America acknowledges the obvious fact of SEC football superiority. I'm certainly willing to acknowledge the accomplishments of other conferences -- as soon as they actually have any.

King notes for the record that Ohio State was anointed into this game last year and, for all intents and purposes, this year as well, while the Tigers had to fight, claw and scratch their way through superior competition just to have the right to prove the obvious fact that at least two and arguably three SEC team could have won this game.

Finally, we go for the record to the camps of non-SEC bloggers, and breathe deep of schadenfreude as they tread the sour grapes of defeat into the wine of misery. Mike at Card Chronicle will lead the way:

One of the most memorable college football seasons of all-time will come to a close tonight with a game that will undoubtedly be overwhelmingly forgettable. If LSU wins, then a two-loss team that fell to 6-7 Arkansas and 8-5 Kentucky will be deemed more deserving a national champion than two one-loss teams (one of which won a BCS game), and five other two-loss teams. If Ohio State wins, then it will be a team that defeated a grand total of one ranked opponent (Outback Bowl loser Wisconsin) in the regular season that will be crowned as the nation's best.

I can scarcely recall a post anywhere so disrespectful of a team's on-the-field accomplishments. I think Mike is trying to somehow escape the fact that bitter rival Kentucky defeated the football Cardinals who provided new meaning to the term "overmarket and underperform" coined by UK president Lee Todd of a couple years back. Rather than acknowledge that LSU's victory here validates not only Kentucky's victory over Louisville, but the entire SEC, he would rather just say "feh."

The Buckeye Blog wrote a redemption post before the game, proved pretty prescient, at least in part:

This game will come down to defense. The Buckeyes have one of the best in the land and I believe they will shock the LSU offense coming out of the gate. If LSU can adjust, we have a game on our hands. Likewise, a healthy Glenn Dorsey will give the Buckeye offense a run for their money. The offensive line needs to get on him early to give Wells the running room he needs.

The game did come down to defense -- LSU's. The Buckeyes did shock the Tigers early. The O-line did get Wells off early. Almost all that he hoped for came to pass -- in the first half of the first quarter. The rest went, well, less according to his script.

Some Buckeye fans have so far decided to take the high road. Men of the Scarlet and Gray writes:

As for LSU, I hope the media gives them the props they deserve. None of this “yeah-but-USC” argument. Any team that puts up 31 unanswered points against the best defense in college football is, without question, the best in the country.

Indeed. This is a classy post by a classy blog. The "USC is better" meme will no doubt be repeated endlessly, and not without at least the thinnest connection to reality. Unfortunately, because we still have no form of playoff as we have lamented many, many times, and since the Pac-10 as well as the Big Ten are adamantly opposed to a playoff or "plus one" game, I'd say it's fitting they are hoist on their own petard. Still, lemming-like, we will see many in the media dutifully vote USC as the number one team, regardless of tonight's result. They may even be voted #1 by the AP. It wouldn't surprise me in the least, especially after their "traditional" bowl format provided them with an overmatched opponent for them to crush.

And lest you not take my word for it, perhaps you'll accept that of the Southern Cal blog Conquest Chronicles, who writes:

Today there are some who seem to think that SC would actually have a claim to a split title depending on the outcome of tonight's BCS title game against Ohio State and LSU.

For those who would actually pine for a split title I would say...STOP IT!

We don't deserve it and it shouldn't happen. From the Baton Rouge Advocate via Wolf's blog:

J. Barker Davis of the Washington Times isn't buying it.

"Georgia -- just beat the lamest BCS team in history," Davis said. As for USC, whose 24-23 home loss to 4-8 Stanford was one of the season's biggest stunners, "The Trojans did less with more than any team in the nation this season and should be ashamed for having the audacity to do any stumping after the Stanford debacle."

What can I say? The guy is right on the dot, and it is very forthright of him to say so.

I expect to have more later today, but I make no promises. Blogging for me is a "when I have time for it" activity these days.

Oh, Dear ...

Just bumped into a couple of posts over at the Wizard of Odds. Seems that upper body painting is all the rage for women these days, especially where sports teams are concerned.

I will present to you two different models:

1. Alabama fan lady
2. LSU fan lady

Submitted for your approval.

Sorry, Bama fans ... Geaux Tigers!

Looking at the SEC bowls

The first bowls in which SEC teams are involved are coming up this Saturday. The lineup looks like this:

Bowl	Date	Time	TV	Satellite Radio	Matchup	Payout / Team	My Pick / Confidence
Liberty	29-Dec-07	4:30 PM	ESPN and ESPN-HD	X140	Mississippi State vs. UCF	$1,700,000	UCF / 60%
Independence	30-Dec-07	8:00 PM	ESPN and ESPN-HD	XTBA	Alabama vs. Colorado	$1,100,000	Alabama / 60%
Music City	31-Dec-07	4:00 PM	ESPN and ESPN-HD	XTBA	Florida State vs. Kentucky	$1,600,000	Kentucky / 75%
Chick-fil-A	31-Dec-07	7:30 PM	ESPN and ESPN-HD	XTBA	Auburn vs. Clemson	$2,915,000	Auburn / 60%
Outback	1-Jan-08	11:00 AM	ESPN and ESPN-HD	X140	Tennessee vs. Wisconsin	$3,100,000	Tennessee / 55%
Cotton	1-Jan-08	11:30 AM	FOX-HD	XTBA	Arkansas vs. Missouri	$3,000,000	Missouri / 70%
Capital One	1-Jan-08	1:00 PM	ABC-HD	XTBA	Florida vs. Michigan	$4,250,000	Florida / 85%
Sugar	1-Jan-08	8:30 PM	FOX-HD	X144	Georgia vs. Hawaii	$17,000,000	Georgia / 55%
BCS Nat'l Championship	7-Jan-08	8:00 PM	FOX-HD	X144	LSU vs. Ohio State	$17,000,000	LSU / 55%

The SEC being involved in a total of 9 bowls including the BCS championship game is a testament to just how good the league was this year, and in my mind, validates Les Miles' pre-season comments about the league. Obviously, that validation could be mitigated by a poor performance by SEC teams, but we'll just have to wait and see.

As you can see, I am not nearly as confident in some of the outcomes as Vegas appears to be, but I do pick more SEC winners. To be honest, I was tempted to pick OSU over LSU -- it is a very close call. OSU's defense has been excellent, and I agree with Mergz at Saurian Sagacity.

I'm going against the grain on the Auburn/Clemson game. Clemson has many more injuries/suspensions for this game than Auburn, and with the exception of the thrashing at Georgia, Auburn's defense has been very strong the second half of the year.

I wanted desperately to pick Arkansas, but I just can't. With a coaching change, the turmoil they have endured, the lack of a true passing game, the fact that they only beat 3 winning teams all year, the question marks in their defensive secondary against good passing teams (of which they only played one all year, and lost). Missouri just seems like a much better team to me, but when you have Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, anything, including this, is possible.

Overall, though, I pick SEC teams in 7 of the 9 games in which league schools will participate. If that were to come about, it would be a very strong showing by the SEC and, in my mind at least, a validation of the pre-season hype.

Over the next few days, I will be linking to team blogs as they begin to evaluate their team's bowl appearance.

The Tide Druid also has SEC Bowl picks over at his site.

Jumping in while the water is warm

The big news around the football world, of course, is Florida State's mass suspensions due to academic improprieties. Because Florida state is playing Kentucky in the Music City Bowl, I'll have to write this piece from a bit of a Kentucky-centric perspective.

First of all, Kentucky has known many years of football futility and many years of basketball success. Today, the fortunes of the two sports at Kentucky seem oddly reversed, as Kentucky struggles to integrate a new coach into their basketball program, and the football program prepares for the culmination of two of its most successful years in memory. It is a strange juxtaposition, but good fodder for commentary.

Comes now Florida State with some 36 players suspended for the Music City Bowl, some of them several games into next season as well. The reasons for these suspensions include the academic cheating scandal, violations of team rules, injuries or "other reasons," leaving the Seminoles with a total of only 43 scholarship players available for the game. The list includes a total of 13 players who had started games at one point or another in the season for Florida State, and the lines seem to be the biggest sufferers of attrition.

As most watchers of football know, the lines are often the difference between bad teams and good teams. Lots of bad teams have good skill players, but without the lines, they are very limited in how far they can go in any given season. Florida State's biggest and perhaps only advantage over Kentucky has taken a thunderous hit, and it is unclear if the remains will be enough to make FSU competitive for the game.

From a Kentucky standpoint, this is a disappointment. UK fans always wanted to face Florida State at it's best, mainly because an opportunity to play and perhaps even defeat one of the great college football programs in the nation is good for our program. Unfortunately, the Music City Bowl will now be all about the FSU suspensions, and Kentucky must face the fact that they will be playing in a no-win situation. If the Wildcats win, it will be because of the the suspensions. If they somehow lose, it will be proof that Kentucky football is still the same as it always was, and can't even beat a team that has 25% of its best players missing. That will be the story line, true or not.

But the reality is, Kentucky has always been a destiny-blasted football program. How can we truly complain if that gets thrown in our face yet again just when things start to look up? As a Kentucky fan, I don't blame Florida State -- if it hadn't been them, it would have been someone else. The one positive in all of this is that Kentucky, who has a long record of compliance issues with the NCAA, actually winds up looking like good guys for once. At least, that is the silver lining I have found. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Besides, why should Kentucky fans blame Florida State when there are so many Florida fans to do it for us? I must have truly must have lived a sheltered life for the last 20 years, because I had no idea of the visceral hatred the Gators have for the Seminoles. I knew they were rivals, but I had no idea it was almost as bitter as Alabama and Auburn. I suppose the fact that they play in different conferences mutes the rivalry a bit, like Kentucky vs. Louisville or Indiana in basketball. The rivalries that get lauded as the "best" always seem to be in the same conference.

But back to the Gator schadenfreude at the expense of the Seminoles. Mlmintampa, writing for Alligator Army, gives us perhaps the archetype of the disgust Florida fans feel for FSU:

When we first wrote about the FSU cheating scandal in September, it was limited to 23 athletes in several sports. But, St. Nick has given us an early Christmas present.

As many as 20 Florida State football players will be suspended from playing against Kentucky in the Dec. 31 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl, as well as the first three games of the 2008 season, for their roles in an alleged cheating scandal involving an Internet-based course, a source with knowledge of the situation said Tuesday morning.

Excuse me for a moment.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!

Wait, Mlm -- now tell us how you really feel. But I gather that this is just typical of the kind of joy that Gator fans have felt at the troubles of their rival. Orange and Blue Hue also engages in a bit of schadenfreude. But all that taken together doesn't match this post from Chris at The Gator Blog:

I hate Florida State. So much that I can barely get through writing out the school's name. I would rather see the entire school disband and Tallahassee be swallowed by a sink hole, if it weren't for the fake that I wouldn't get the satisfaction of beating them once a year.

I hate Chris Rix, Geno Hayes, Sebastian Janikowski, Thad Busby, Mickey Andrews, Jack Childress, PK Sam, Lorenzo Booker, DeCody Fagg, Peter Warrick, "The Choke at Doak," jump passes, flare passes to the RB, Samari Rolle, Chief Osceola, his dumb flaming spear, the FSU flag boy, Chris Weinke, Leon Washington, "the echo of the whistle," Darnell Docket, Greg Carr, and especially you, Bobby Bowden.

I hate that they changed their foundation date so they can "beat out" us. I hate that they count 31-31 a win, I hate that they altered the record books to count a 21-19 "win," I hate the Swindle in the Swamp, I hate that they give free rides to Seminole Indians to prevent being sued. I hate the Warchant, I hate the website Warchant, I hate everyone who posts there, I hate Dot, and all their delusionole (ha!) fans. I hate that they talk "band smack."

I hate that they make me root for Miami once a year, and that they made me root for Tennessee and Georgia. I hate that Tallahassee is the capitol of this state. I hate that FSU is so crappy that we get downgraded to noon ESPN2 games (like last year).

You know Navy's losing streak to Notre Dame? I want that against Florida State...only 40 years from now, I want to still be beating them.

Now that, my friends, is an impressive rant against a team. That is loathing of a character I can barely comprehend, and I can comprehend quite a bit. That is visceral, it is active and it has the vitality of hot battery acid.

AEM at SEConds to Victory has another impressive rant against FSU. Now, I don't know his partisan affiliation, but he berates the Seminoles for moral turpitude:

I have just one little thing to say: Are we kidding? When is it going to be enough and when is someone that can do something about it, such as the NCAA, going to show us that the people making a paycheck for doing nothing are actually making a paycheck because they are doing something? Don’t get me wrong, I blame a lot of people for this mess. The kids that need to understand the true meaning of “student athlete”, the school for not having the guts to send these kids packing and setting an example once and for all, and of course the NCAA for not delivering a harsher punishment to the players, while having no problem that the tutors have been sent away.

He makes a strong point. It is a bit short of compassion, but I can't say that he doesn't have it right -- spare the rod, spoil the child and all that. NCAA institutions are utterly guilty of self-interest in their lopsided application of the rules, and the NCAA itself is a willing accomplice. At the end of the day, the pursuit of lucre will always triumph over moral integrity, even in the hallowed halls of the academic institutions and the Association itself. This may seem a cynical view, but given the discordant history of responses by both the schools and the NCAA itself, it's hard to ascribe any real moral authority to those worthies.

Finally, Ian Cohen at Fanhouse wins the "Best FSU Lede" contest with Did You Get Suspended by Florida State?:

Seriously, check your voicemail: Florida State's gone on a suspension spree two weeks out from their Music City Bowl tilt with Kentucky, with as many as 20 Seminoles missing out on Nashville in December and possibly the first three games of next year. This all stems from an alleged online cheating scandal that's already claimed the jobs of two academic assistants (they were only trying to assist!). I mean, all things considered with online classes, I'm amazed this doesn't happen more often.

Ah, well. At Kentucky, we have to take life as it comes. We are still looking forward to playing Bowden & Co., and hopefully beating our second ACC team in a row at the Music City Bowl. It will be a less than perfect ending for Kentucky's seniors, win or lose, but it is surely better than sitting home and watching others play football during the holidays.

Mr. Touchdown wins the Heisman

So Tim Tebow was chosen for the Heisman trophy, breaking the sophomore curse. Congratulations, Mr. T. You definitely earned it with your play this year. I would have voted for McFadden, myself, but both men were certainly worthy, and Its wonderful that the Heisman is back in SEC hands.

So what is the reaction from around the blogosphere? Well, the first place I always turn for Heisman information is the Heisman Pundit. But today, there is a liveblog with HP doing the honors over at Orange and Blue Hue, and you can replay the entire liveblog from there.

But Heisman Pundit also has stats and pics on his own blog from the cermemony, which he attended. Very cool.

Ryan Ferguson, who also writes for Orange and Blue Hue, had this to say at Fanhouse:

What, you weren't surprised?

Oops. Sorry.

Tim Tebow became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night. He joins two former winners from the University of Florida: Steve Spurrier and Danny Wuerffel.

When Tebow's name was announced, he made his way to the podium and took a minute to compose himself. The speech started slow, gained steam, and then started looping: the Gators QB thanked his Savior first, family second, and players/coaches/etc. third. Then he did so again. And again.

Great stuff. Tim Tebow is truly an amazing football player, and I cannot even imagine what kind of an impact he will have on the NFL when he eventually finds his way there.

Mlmintampa writing for Alligator Army is understandably as proud as if he were Tebow's papa:

It is impossible for me to express how proud I am of Tebow. As fans, we take ownership of these guys as if they were our brothers or sons, so to see our guy thanking offensive linemen by name along with Jesus was pretty great.

So true. Living vicariously through athletes is a kind of national pastime here in America like nowhere else. Tebow seems like a very humble and grounded young man. Florida fans should be proud.

Year2 has more Florida fanblog reaction:

Only 4 schools have more Heisman winners than Florida does - Notre Dame, Ohio State, and USC each with 7, and Oklahoma with 4. Florida is tied for fifth with Army, Michigan, and Nebraska. When you compare Florida’s tradition with the rest of those schools (about 30 good years out of 101), that’s not too shabby at all.

No, indeed, that isn't shabby whatsoever. It's always great when an SEC school brings home the hardware, and this year we had both first and second place.

Speaking of second place, let's get some reaction from the Arkansas bloggers. TipsterHog, writing for Razorbloggers Network, has lots of links to the media reaction. Whole Hog Sports had this quote from D-Mac himself:

“I have no regrets,” McFadden said. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it the same way. I love all my fans back home. I don’t think they are going to disown me because I didn’t win the Heisman.”

You were awesome, brother. I'll never forget the game you had against South Carolina, it was simply some of the most fantastic running I have seen. D-Mac will be an unbelievable NFL stud, in my opinion. He is a winner in every meaning of the word.

Now just a few quick reax from around the other SEC schools, starting withGeux Tuscaloosa:

Tim Tebow is an outstanding player who had an outstanding year. He did things that have simply never been seen before on the college football field. We've simply never seen a strong-armed quarterback who is also a power running back and also a natural team leader. Or at least, we've never seen it from someone playing at so high of a level as Tim Tebow does.

It amazes me how much responsibility on the football field this kid has. Almost every play runs through him. On 90% of the offensive plays, Tebow is either throwing the ball, taking the ball on a designed quarterback run, or running an option play that requires him to read defenders and choose to either keep it or give it to a running back.

Indeed. Add to that his amazing durability, and you have Larry Czonka (am I dating myself here?) with Bob Griese's arm.

Of course, Orson Swindle has a little ... err, different take on the Tebow Heisman:

Tim Tebow won the Heisman Trophy this Saturday in New York, an award all but ensuring an end to his lifelong streak of athletic excellence.

...

“I’ll follow the example of my boyhood hero Danny Wuerffel and help those less fortunate by preaching the word and working in the community. It would also really help if I didn’t have to throw anything ever again, since I couldn’t toss a sandwich wrapper into a wastebasket with any accuracy now. I would also appreciate not being jostled or bumped.”

A chorus of chuckles rose from the Heisman voters, who included Troy Smith, Gino Torretta, Chris Weinke, and Andre Ware.

Heh. No doubt, winning the Heisman is no guarantee of continuing success. I think, though, in Tebow's case, it is really hard to imagine that he is the next Gino Toretta. But you have to love this finish:

The only two-time winner of the award, Archie Griffin, was unable to comment for this story. Griffin has been on bedrest for 32 years following the awarding of his second trophy, after which he became so weak he could not stand or feed himself. He is said to be happy for Tebow and is also extremely fond of a nice, warm bowl of nutritious chicken broth.

Only Swindle.

Finally, we go to Third Saturday in Blogtober:

This year, several coaches who received a “vote of confidence” are looking for jobs and a few coaches who vowed loyalty have interviewed elsewhere. Also this year, an honest-to-God kid with no arrest record who blushes at the thought of girls won the Heisman.

Somehow, I doubt if Tebow blushes at the thought of girls. But now that I think of it, there was that man-kiss earlier this year ... ugh. Maybe TSIB is right about that, after all ...