Surprise! Arkansas gets its man.

Didn’t see this one coming.

BREAKING: Wisconsin's Bret Bielema agrees to become Arkansas coach. Story soon. #hogs #wps #badgers #sec—
  (@AP_Top25) December 04, 2012

Bielema’s got a good track record – three 11-win seasons and a bunch of Rose Bowl trips.  Good pick up for Arky.

I like the hire for a couple of reasons.  One, it’s a nice knee to the balls of Jim Delany (you know Slive is smirking as you read this).  Second, this was one of my favorite dick moves of the past decade.  Nothing wrong with making JoePa apoplectic during a game.

Hope somebody gives him the low down on cell phone usage, though.

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No, no, you don’t need to come in. We can just discuss this on the phone.

I wonder what they talked about.

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UPDATE:  Whatever it was, it doesn’t matter.  Auburn’s made its decision.

Auburn is expected to name Gus Malzahn its new head football coach today, according to multiple sources. The move will reunite the man with a playbook full of offensive wizardry with the university where he served as offensive coordinator just a season ago.

Malzahn and the Auburn search committee are expected in Auburn tonight.

Bet Kiehl Frazier is a happy camper tonight.

If it’s December, it’s time to blame the BCS.

Gotta love this complaint:

How many times have we heard from BCS supporters that — all together now — the BCS gets it right?

OK, sure, the BCS got it right with No. 1 Notre Dame versus No. 2 Alabama in the Discover BCS National Championship Game.

Damn it, I hate when that happens.

The BCS is a construct.  It’s not a person or a group of people.  It’s an arrangement that’s designed to do two things.  Wojciechowski identifies the first one.  The other isn’t to set up a bunch of compelling bowls that match “the best teams in the best games”, as he puts it.  It’s to make sure that major conference greedheads like Delany and Slive control the conditions that allow most postseason revenue streams to flow into their respective leagues.  That’s it.  (NIU’s Orange Bowl appearance is simply a historical accident due to Delany’s conference blowing itself up this year as a result of a child molester and a liar and the Big East bleeding competent teams faster than it can replace them.)

And no, the four-team playoff isn’t going to make that much of a difference.

Others receiving votes

My favorite Coaches Poll vote this year comes from Todd Graham.

Arizona State’s Todd Graham and Arkansas State’s Gus Malzahn should lose their voting privileges, immediately and forever.

Graham voted his unranked Sun Devils 20th, even though they went 7-5, lost four of their last six and beat one team with a winning record (Arizona).

He did not vote for USC, which was also 7-5 and beat his team by three touchdowns.

In fact, ASU didn’t receive a single vote in either the AP or Harris polls, and it had just eight points in the Coaches’ poll.

Six of those eight points came from Graham. The other two? From Malzahn, who used to work for Graham.

We already know Graham’s shameless.  At least he’s consistent, though.  (The only thing that would make this situation better is if he’d negotiated a clause in his contract that got him a bonus if ASU received more than 5 points in the last regular season Coaches Poll.  And I wouldn’t put it past Graham to have done that.)

The enemy of my enemy… is still Notre Dame.

I know it’s been a rough year on the Plains and I know it’s a bitter rivalry, but if this story is true, some Auburn fans have lost their goddamned minds.

Ignore the game, wish for a meteor to strike the stadium, plan on attending a wedding – anybody’s wedding – that night, that’s all more than fine, but wear a shirt with this logo?

Ugh.  That’s just pathetic.