Football Ticket Cutoff Scores 2013

If your sense of things is that demand from the fan base is solid, but not as rabid as it was a few seasons ago, you’d be right.

If you made a $250 contribution to the Hartman Fund, you’re getting season tickets.  And if you ordered away tickets to Tennessee and Auburn, you’re getting those, too.  No problem getting a single game ticket to the Kentucky game, either.

Maybe McGarity can explain how more cupcake games will increase demand.

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Now he’s just screwing with us.

I love Phil Steele for the massive amount of data accumulation he bombards us with every year, but there are times when he pushes the analytical envelope a little too far.  This is one of those times.

The Final 14 Teams Who Fit the
National Championship Mold in 2013

Alabama	Notre Dame
Florida	Ohio St
Florida St	Oregon
LSU	South Carolina
Michigan	Stanford
North Carolina	Texas A&M
Northwestern	Vanderbilt

I will eat whatever hat Mr. Steele cares to furnish if Vandy winds up closer to a national title game than Georgia does this season.

“When in doubt throw the flag.”

Ole Miss beat writer Parrish Alford explores the legacy of consistency Mike Slive has left SEC officials on enforcement of the new targeting rules.  He, like me, is puzzled by Slive’s response to two plays from last season:

Elston’s hit fell within a range of gray area that allowed for his suspension as the league enforced its policy. The initial contact was below the helmet, and Elston’s momentum carried him higher into the hit.

Dial’s hit — You can see it here — was clearly an effort to target Georgia’s starting quarterback. Elston — Here it is — was at least trying to make a play.

If the rule of thumb is “When in doubt penalize and eject” it would seem that we can expect an increase in the number of ejections.

Safety is the top priority. It’s easy to talk about safety and more difficult to achieve it in a naturally aggressive sport whose participants are from the beginning of tackle football praise for inflicting pain and punishment.

The quest for safety needs to include equal application of the rules.

There was enough in Elston’s hit for debate. There should have been no debate about Dial’s hit, and nothing happened.

I questioned Slive’s decision to suspend Elston.  But once he went there – “the result of a flagrant and dangerous act” – he left himself open to exactly the kind of skepticism he received after he did nothing about Dial.  And now he’s dumping the problem on officials who will have to react in the heat of the moment?

I don’t see this ending well.

Tuesday morning buffet

I got what you want.

• John Infante wisely notes that bad NCAA defense (Kolton Houston!) and bad NCAA criticism share certain components.
• Roll Bama Roll ain’t seeing much positive in Kentucky’s and Missouri’s 2013 futures.
• Another fine SEC tradition:  hotel price gouging.  Y’all come back now, heah?
• How do you score on Alabama?  (Hint:  it’s not easy.)
• Sequestration may have an effect on the service academies’ athletic budgets.
• The Wall Street Journal likens Mark Emmert’s latest move to sailing a large ship.  My maritime analogy would be more about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but what do I know?
• If you take a look at Phil Steele’s 2013 Combined Experience Chart, you’ll find Georgia right smack in the middle, which is pretty much what you’d expect.

Why Georgia won’t win a national title this season.

It’s not that I’m pessimistic about the Dawgs’ play, as I like their chances to make a third straight trip to the SECCG.  But as Pat Forde points out, the skids sure are greased for a number of top ten teams.  Take these three tidbits as examples:

• The only time Alabama plays 2012 bowl teams on consecutive Saturdays is Nov. 9-16, when its home game against LSU is followed by a trip to Mississippi State.

• If Ohio State isn’t 12-0 headed to the Big Ten championship game, something went wrong. The Buckeyes play just five FBS teams that had winning records last year, avoid Nebraska and Michigan State in inter-divisional play, and draw Wisconsin and Penn State in Columbus.

• The only team more likely to go 12-0 than Ohio State is Louisville. The Cardinals, who flash back to their any-night-of-the-week scheduling of a decade ago with five non-Saturday games, don’t play a road game against a team with a 2012 winning record until Dec. 5, at Cincinnati. The toughest test at home could be Oct. 18 against Central Florida.

Even if Georgia avenges last year’s defeat with a win over the Tide, it’s still going to be difficult to overcome twin undefeated teams if there’s a loss on the Dawgs’ slate.  You can bet a 13-0 Ohio State squad will play for the title; the question will be if Louisville’s strength of schedule does it in.  Under those circumstances, I wouldn’t underestimate the power of SEC fatigue.  (I can hear the ESPN “if only there was a playoff this season” speculation now.)

And that’s assuming no other top ten school jumps into the picture with a stellar year.  Unless Georgia plows through with its own 13-0, it looks like a very tough row to hoe from my perspective.

The Flea Flicker

I came across this clip of one of Georgia’s iconic plays the other day and thought it was worth sharing.

And remember, ‘Bama fans, he’s only down if they call it.

“The academic part, it’s like you have to try to fail.”

You only get one guess as to which school that commit is referring.