He had his reasons. Nobody said they had to be good reasons.

According to Joe Schad, Mike Gundy’s rationale for blocking Wes Lunt’s transfer to half the known college football universe is based on three factors:

• That Lunt allegedly cited a desire to transfer “closer to home” and that those blocked schools are not “closer to home.”

• The belief that at least some coaches at some interested schools improperly contacted Lunt.

• The possibility Oklahoma State could face some of the blocked conferences in a bowl game.

The third one is my favorite.  I’m surprised Gundy stopped at 37 schools.

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If you love somebody, set them free.

Mike Gundy’s decided he wants to be this year’s Randy Edsall.  Wes Lunt is a quarterback who’s left the OSU program, and his list of schools blocked by Gundy numbers an astounding 37.

Now it’s not all Gundy’s fault.  He can do this because the system lets him.  Still, there’s something wrong when the same guy who flirted with taking a job at Tennessee just a few months ago can now block a kid from enrolling at the same place.

Maybe Gundy was one of the coaches who called Jimbo Fisher to give him some moral support about Matthew Thomas.

Monday morning buffet

Step right up and start your week.

• ESPN looks at recruiting pitches for every SEC school and finds Georgia’s biggest problem with this year’s recruits is too much depth.
• Mike Bobo dishes up some Dawg porn on Justin Scott-Wesley.
• Kentucky outduels Spurrier for a four-star quarterback’s commitment.  Interesting.
• Doc Saturday’s most memorable hit in college football should be a crowd pleaser here.
• This is pretty funny.  It would be even better if it were true.
• Barrett Sallee takes a look at what makes Aaron Murray good, takes a shot at the decision not to spike at the end of the SECCG in passing.
• More big school separation talk here.
• Here’s something else Corch brought with him from the SEC that probably isn’t being welcomed in his newer surroundings.

Once again, when you’ve lost Tony Barnhart…

Mr. Conventional Wisdom backs Mike Slive’s play for increased player compensation – and the likely consequences of such a move.

You don’t know me, Nick. You just think you know me.

Nick Saban, bless his heart, is trying very hard to make me love him.

Big Ten Conference schools have talked about not scheduling any more football games against teams from the FCS.

That, of course, is the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly Division I-AA. That would mean no more games against teams such as Northern Iowa in Big Ten country and Western Carolina in the South.

What would Nick Saban think of the Southeastern Conference going in that direction?

“I’m for five conferences – everybody playing everybody in those five conferences,” the Alabama coach said Thursday night before speaking at a Crimson Caravan stop. “That’s what I’m for, so it might be 70 teams, and everybody’s got to play ’em. …”

Saban reiterated his desire for the SEC to expand from eight conference games to nine per year for each team.

“For the guys who whine about their fixed rivalries, we have games until 2017 with opening games, so we’re going to play somebody else,” Saban said. “I mean, strength of schedule is important, but also, how about the fans? Don’t they want to see good games and all that?

And then he had to go and spoil it all by saying something stupid.

“And the better the games – maybe you don’t have to win every game to be in the championship game. You know? The Giants won the Super Bowl, and what did they lose? Six or seven games a couple years ago? It’s called competition.”

Coach, if I wanted that sort of competition, I’d just go buy Falcons tickets.

Tuesday morning buffet

Lots of goodies to sample today.

• Seriously, why did it take so long to figure out Tommie Frazier belongs in the College Football Hall of Fame?
• Georgia’s new young alumni ticket deal is off to a fast start… which probably means students had better start showing up at games.
• Rodney Garner, staying in touch.
• Not just no, but “Oh, hell no.”
• Kolton Houston is the subject of next Sunday’s ESPN’s “Between The Lines”.  I hope his situation gets plenty of attention from it.
• One way you know the preseason is really underway – Paul Myerberg’s previews have started.  Hooray!
• President Obama plays to the crowd at Ohio State.
• I wouldn’t count on much, but if you’re interested in Matthew Thomas’ options after announcing he doesn’t want to go to FSU, John Infante has the info.
• Rumor has it that ESPN and the SEC will split the profits from the SEC Network 50/50.
• This, on the other hand, bites.

Friday morning buffet

You’ve just about made it through another working week.  Reward yourself by indulging in a few of these tasty morsels:

• Jeremy Hill’s lawyer thinks “them’s fightin’ words!” will make for a good defense in a criminal assault case.
• Will Friend thinks offensive line chemistry is overrated.
• The SEC has a new plan for lesser bowls:  the conference will pick the participants and will force lower ticket guarantees.
• The NCAA puts the kibosh on hash tags on football fields.
• If the general rule of thumb is that two starting quarterbacks are one too many, then Gus Malzahn has a problem.
• This year has seen a record number of early enrollees.
• When it comes to openers and bye weeks, Mark Richt’s teams have been above average.
• Pat Dye:  SEC! SEC! SEC!

Everything you need to know about the current state of big-time college athletics, in one sentence.

I mean, this says it all.

Major-college athletics departments increased the amount of money they generate by nearly $385 million in 2012, but they increased operational spending by more than $665 million, a USA TODAY Sports analysis finds.

There ain’t enough money in the world to make that math work.  It’s just that the geniuses running the game haven’t come to grips with that yet.  Which is why we’re not done with conference realignment and postseason issues.  Not even close.

Don’t stay in school, kids!

I’m having a hard time understanding the hard-on the press has gotten recently about star college players going pro as soon as possible.  There was the Lattimore injury which led to a bunch of discussions about whether Clowney ought to sit this year out to preserve his big pay day in the 2014 draft, for instance.

Now it’s Matt Barkley falling to the fourth round of the draft.  Matt Hayes wants us to believe That Changes Everything.  And you know why?  Because an agent told him so.  No shit:

“The days of players coming back for the love of the game or winning a national championship are over,” said one NFL agent.

My first thought upon reading that – well, actually my second thought, as my first was why an agent thought it was prudent to give that quote without allowing a name to be attached – was to wonder whether somebody’s been paying attention.  This past draft was chock full of juniors who elected to leave early, many of whom left teams with legitimate chances to challenge for a national title.  Nor is that anything particularly new.

There have been and will always be players who go to college to get ready to play on the next level and leave as soon as they have a shot at a pay day.  (Same with agents who want more clients.)  Just as there have been and will always be those like Aaron Murray and Jake Matthews, who, contrary to Mr. Anonymous, do get something out of the college experience and choose to stay, regardless of what happens to the Matt Barkleys of the draft.

The only thing that seems to be different these days is that the press is more willing to call into question a kid’s judgment for not doing everything he can do to take the money and run.  That strikes me as a funny way to cover a sport.

Tuesday morning buffet

Mercifully, it’s a Tebow-free buffet.

• “The cool thing is I would’ve beat the crap out of my body and now I don’t have to,” Pollack said. “I couldn’t do what (David) Greene has done and be an insurance guy. I have to have football in me and it’s in my blood. If I weren’t doing this I’d be coaching.”
• Here’s a suggestion to let current players serve on the selection committee.  Would they be paid for that?
• David Greene likes what he sees out of Georgia’s offense.
• How bad was Auburn’s offensive line last season?  This bad:  “Ball carriers got back to the line of scrimmage less than 80% of the time…”
• Fighting the NCAA – it’s not just for Jerry Tarkanian anymore.
• Athlon ranks the SEC running backs, and Georgia finds itself with #1 and #4 on the list.
• Before you ask yourself what kids like Bray and Geathers were thinking by leaving school early for the NFL draft, consider that they could have taken steps to keep the option of returning to college after the draft, but chose not to do so.
• Tech fans, the AJ-C has your consolation for the lousy draft right here.
• Mark Schlabach’s preseason top 25 list (I know, I know) is ordered by which teams have the easiest path to an undefeated season, which is how you get Ohio State at number one and Louisville fourth.
• Or if you’d prefer to look at another man’s win projections for next season’s top 25, here you go.