Gone and forgotten

It looks like Tennessee’s found an immediate use for Nu’Keese Richardson’s old jersey.  The Vols have loaned it out for a bowl game promotion.

The Chick-fil-A mascot in a cow costume posed for pictures Thursday wearing an interesting UT jersey: No. 7, Nu’Keese Richardson’s number.

By the way, Richardson wants everyone to know that he wasn’t the recipient of any favors from those Tennessee recruiting hostesses.

If you don’t understand why Notre Dame still gets fawned over…

here you go:

During a 6-6 season in which NBC broadcast seven home games and the first of a new annual series of off-site, prime-time games, the network averaged 3.7 million viewers…

Notre Dame’s eight games were, on average, seen by more viewers than the number who watched ESPN’s schedule of several gazillion games (2.87 million), but fewer than ABC’s (6.1 million) or CBS’s (7.0 million).

As long as the Irish are a better draw than most of the conferences in the country, they’ll get catered to.  We may not like it, but that’s the reality.  And everyone who thinks it’ll be easy to shunt Notre Dame (“make ’em join a conference!”, right?) aside for a playoff or a revised BCS formula had better realize that the school would fight like hell to prevent that.

Friday morning buffet

Grab that plate and get your fill, folks.

• Well done, young man – Drew Butler wins the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s best punter in his first season on the job.
• If the Zooker can’t recruit, what’s the point to having him as your head coach?
• It looks like the Outback Bowl folks knew what they were doing when they invited Auburn.  (And how many tickets to the ACCCG did Georgia Tech sell?)
• This round of coaching musical chairs surprised me:  Florida’s Billy Gonzales is moving on to LSU.  (And make sure you read the comments in the second paragraph of the post.)  [UPDATE: Meyer’s already moved to hire a replacement for Gonzales.]
• On the other hand, news of Florida juniors leaving early for the NFL draft doesn’t surprise me.
• And at least Florida doesn’t have one recruiting advantage over Georgia right now.
• James Carville commenting on Ari Fleischer’s role as BCS media flak is as amusing as you might expect.
• Rex Robinson responds to the recent heated criticism he’s taken in response to a post at his blog.
• The AJ-C‘s Tim Tucker blogged about this yesterday, but here’s the actual link to the posting of the open position for defensive coordinator at Georgia.  Yeah, the “Standing for long periods of time” qualification is pretty funny, but I’m disappointed that the field for ‘Closing Date’ reads “Open Until Filled”.  What, does that mean Richt won’t close the deal on Kirby Smart by the end of the day today?  This is just more proof that he’s letting the program slide!  (NOTE: Sarcasm alert, for those of you who are snark-impaired.)

Kiffin watch: “The deer that makes the most noise gets shot.”

As we learn of the first matter at Tennessee that Junior concedes isn’t part of the plan, John Pennington makes a fair point in his comparison of the Laner and the Nuttster as to whether there isn’t a bit of a double standard in play (my first thought upon hearing of Nu’Keese Richardson’s dismissal was that he’d be hearing from Ole Miss at some point in time), but let’s face it – Kiffin’s brought much of this on himself, for reasons which still puzzle me.

And now you have to wonder if certain chickens aren’t coming home to roost.  As Pennington puts it,

… Nothing wrong with delivering an insult.  Hometown fans love that kind of stuff.  But the man who insults other coaches, other programs and angers the league office to boot had better be ready when all the insultees start trying to get even.

That’s why there are rumors that other coaches are eager to rat out Kiffin’s program.  That’s why some coaches got the word to Ray Melick of The Birmingham News that Kiffin’s appearance on ESPN’s “College GameDay” might have been a breach of etiquette.

Kiffin is a wanted man.  He made himself a wanted man with his statements and actions.

Add to that the departure of two assistant coaches in lateral moves after only one year on the job and you have to wonder if there aren’t some cracks starting to show in the structural framework of the UT program.  Time will tell, of course, but those Spurrier comparisons look silly right now.  The Evil Genius didn’t finish worse than first in a division until his eighth season at Florida.  With a coaching staff already in need of revamping, Eric Berry’s likely departure for the NFL and the need to break in a brand new quarterback next season, it’s hard to see how Junior’s track record is going to come anywhere near the same time zone any time soon.

A change is gonna come.

As thrilled as I am to see Charlie Strong leave the SEC, I have no idea whether he’ll succeed as a head coach at Louisville.  But then again, the latter is a sentiment I’ve felt many times before (including the case of Strong’s predecessor, for that matter).  What I find most refreshing about this hire isn’t that it tugs at your heartstrings, but that the vast majority of the Internet chatter I’ve read over the past day or so in reaction to it has been over whether or not Strong has the coaching chops to succeed at his new gig.  Agree or disagree, it’s been about the man’s resume and his abilities, which is how it should be.

Similarly, it’s good to see news like this (even coming from Dienhart, a notorious rumor monger when it comes to coaching changes):

Cincinnati, seeking a new head coach in the wake of Brian Kelly’s departure for Notre Dame, has asked for permission to talk to Houston coach Kevin Sumlin, Rivals.com has learned.

Sumlin just finished his second year at Houston, leading the Cougars to the C-USA West title and league title game this season. Sumlin was named 2009 C-USA Coach of the Year and has an 18-8 record with two bowl appearances.

Sumlin is the kind of guy who should be a hot prospect to move up the food chain in the D-1 coaching ranks.  That he’s being mentioned in this setting without any racial subtext (forget about whether that’s justified or not for the moment) makes me think that maybe college football is starting to get its act together without the heavy hand of government interference giving a shove (hear that, Oregon?).  I can’t see how that’s anything but good.