Wednesday morning buffet

Grab your plate and utensils.  (Napkins are optional.)

• California is on the verge of passing laws on student-athlete stipends that will run afoul of NCAA rules.
• In case you wanted a fashion review of Georgia’s new branding effort, here ’tis.
• Texas A&M wants Johnny Manziel to be treated just like any other student when he’s on campus.  Except for the full-time bodyguard, that is.
• Is there a Krispy Kreme in Johnson City, Tennessee?
• Good nuts and bolts interview with Vandy offensive line coach Herb Hand, if you’re interested in what that offense tries to do scheme-wise.
• And speaking of Vanderbilt’s offensive line, I didn’t realize the ‘Dores were able to redshirt their entire freshman class last year.  That’s how you build for the long haul in the SEC.  (Or anywhere, really.)
• Georgia’s players claim to have learned one lesson from the Boise State game.
• This post caused me to ask the musical question – when the day comes that gay marriage is legal in the South, will that bring more conflict with the unwritten rule about not having your wedding in the fall?  Hmm… maybe the religious right’s missing an argument here.

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A match made in Hog Heaven?

This will never happen in a million years, but, damn, I’d sure love to see it purely for the extra-curricular entertainment value.

According to former Tennessee assistant Doug Matthews on Nashville radio yesterday, Arkansas officials have spoken to his former boss Phillip Fulmer about the vacant head coaching job. He doesn’t know how serious they got, but there have been discussions between them:

“I know Phillip has had conversations with them,” Matthews told the radio show. “And when I say with them, all that is going to take place behind the scenes.

“But everything I’m hearing from Arkansas is the spring game, I think, is this Saturday. ‘Let’s get through spring. Let’s see where we are.’ But I think they’ll either go with a guy that they’ve got on the staff or they’ll bring in someone to be — caretaker’s the wrong word — but bring someone in who has been through it all before.

“If there is a place for Phillip, that will be the place.”

Doughnuts, subpoenas and Spurrier’s catty comments… I’ve missed ‘em all.  Throw in a fan base that knows its way around a FOIA request, and you’ve got a heady brew for blogging.  Unfortunately, it sounds way too good to be true.

Friday morning buffet

Is there such a thing as overbuffeting?

• Michigan, you have one of the most iconic uniforms in the business.  Is this really necessary?
• Brophy Hemlock at Brophy’s place gives you six reasons why you need to be able to throw quick.
• Groo looks at why Title IX makes paying student-athletes problematic.
• Fulmer for AD:  feel the momentum!
• Dawg fans, if you’re looking for straws to grasp in 2011, Georgia hasn’t had back-to-back losing seasons since 1963.
• Chris Brown takes you through the basics on dropback pass protection.
• On playoffs and the BCS, the Mountain West tries to keep its options open.
• Meanwhile, the WAC just hopes to survive after being gutted by the MWC.
• It’s probably not a good sign that upon being told his story and Ohio State’s story don’t match, Jim Delany’s response is that his was an “un-refreshed recollection.”

Of course he would.

That’s mighty big of him:  Fulmer tells ESPN that he’s “open to discussing” the Tennessee AD job.

I’m sure that clears up a lot of uncertainty people in Knoxville had about whether he was interested in the position.

Christmas day buffet

Hey, my people are eating Chinese today, but here are a few things we can all taste:

• Marc Weiszer gives us a status report on Georgia’s 2010 class.
• I have a feeling that Philip Fulmer’s idea of his market value and the market’s idea of his market value are vastly different.
• Lane Kiffin is still causing trouble in Tennessee.
• Nice catch on Terrelle Pryor and who needs the money in his family.
• And Stewart Mandel tells Dawg fans that we have every right to be miffed about the NCAA’s ruling in Tatgate.
• But don’t worry, baby.  The NCAA promises to get it right next time.
• A.J.’s one-handed catch against Colorado makes Doc Saturday’s ten-best-plays-of-the-year list.

Thursday morning buffet

Lots of little niblets for you to sample:

• The power of the blogosphere:  hiring Phil Fulmer as Tennessee’s AD is a bad idea because Spencer Hall created the Fulmer Cup rankings.
• Greg McGarity is ditching the Damon Evans approach to scheduling in favor of Jeremy Foley’s.  (h/t Leather Helmet Blog)
• Maybe I should have thought of this before last Saturday’s game. (h/t The Wiz of Odds)
• PlayoffPAC is at it again.  The best part is the punch line:  “As to whether the complaint, even if successful, will help the PAC’s goal of a playoff system, Sanderson argued that “when we raise awareness about these types of irregularities, the need for change becomes more apparent.”” Yes, because if there’s one thing we can count on, it’s that the next set of people in charge of the postseason won’t be consumed by greed.
• I’m not sure if Georgia’s any worse than most schools about this, but Nick Williams is getting frustrated about being Tripped.
• Gary Williams thinks paying players a $200 a month stipend will fix something.  He’s just not very clear about what that might be.
• The Pac-10 looks to reinvent itself as a post-modern conference:  “Another concept to be raised is splitting the northern and southern schools but using three scheduling “pods” of four teams to provide a rotating schedule that would allow northern teams to play in California regularly. Under that scenario, each team would not be guaranteed to face each divisional opponent each season.” Why even bother with divisions, then?
• USA Today takes a look at student athletic fees.
• It looks like Georgia’s not the only team playing in Starkville Saturday night with an experienced offensive line that’s been struggling.

Life with Fulmer

Oh, snap.

I really don’t get Phil Fulmer’s crusade against Junior – not that he’s engaged in it, of course, since it’s clearly meant to obscure his own contribution to Tennessee’s current fall from grace, but that he actually expects people to buy into it.

Judging from comments like this, he’s got more work to do.

… We’re not alone.  A lot of you sent me email this weekend to alert me to a story that proves we are collectively making a difference.  Former Tennessee head coach (shown below looking like he’s sustained a head injury) was quoted by CBS Sports saying the following:

Tennessee is a very proud program as we all know with great traditions and the people of Tennessee felt betrayed to be honest with you. They were embarrassed, felt jilted with all the cost of the change there was. Kiffin, he left Tennessee with basically his hat in his hand and a bunch of NCAA compliance questions.

Many in our community are glad that he is gone. He never really embraced the traditions, the values of the program or the community for that matter. And often his arrogant attitude turned people off. The bigger question in my opinion is how does a guy like this end up with two jobs with historic football teams like Tennessee and USC.”

You may remember Phil Fulmer from his 5-7 season which lead UT to hire Lane Kiffin in an attempt to help the school have a less fat head coach.  Fulmer is also the only college coach to have not won a national champion while having Peyton Fucking Manning on his team…

If you make demands on Phil Fulmer, the terrorists win.

Remember a few years ago, when everyone got on Kellen Winslow, Jr. for his soldier tirade?  It seems to me that this comment from Tennessee’s former head coach travels in the same territory:

“… My last few years, if you talked about only winning nine, it was an act of terror, and now they’re pushing and hoping to win six to get into a bowl game.”

Now we know why his coaching fell off in the last three seasons – he was worried that Mike Hamilton was going to go all Bin Laden on him.  That last two-year contract extension must have scared the hell out of Fulmer.

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UPDATE: John Pennington writes that Fulmer is angling for Mike Hamilton’s job.

The irony there is so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

Thursday morning buffet

Should be something in here you’ll like.

• Brent Musburger welcomes Mike Leach to the profession (and probably hopes to knock back a cold one or two with him later).
• Meet Les Miles, the incredible two-faced coach.  (Okay, so it’s not that incredible.)
• Evidently the hot seat meme hasn’t made it to Montana.
• Marlon Brown is starting to intrigue me.
• Dawg porn:  Dean Legge interviews Mr. Aggressive, Todd Grantham.
• This interview will come as a complete shock to you.
• Funny, you don’t look Tebowish.  (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
• The AJ-C discovers Georgia’s turnover margin story.

Kiffin watch: no hard feelings

So, Phil Fulmer, do you have anything nice to say about your successor?

“First thing, I’m a Tennessee guy. I want Tennessee to always do well, and I want us to do it with character and integrity, which we’ve always done, and to appreciate our traditions and our history. Appreciate what other coaches and players have done here prior to me, and what others will do after me or Derek or whoever. We didn’t have that (with Lane Kiffin)…”

But didn’t you leave Junior in a tight spot, talent-wise?

“The knock on the talent, we had four guys play in the Super Bowl, we had two first-rounders this year, looks like four or five guys are going to be drafted,” Fulmer said after the first round of the draft. “I think it’s just par for the course when somebody replaces somebody and they have maybe a holier-than-thou attitude of arrogance or whatever. Then that’s just kind of normal…”

Oh.  Okay.  But what about that new sense of spirit that was part of the Laner’s plan?

“There are certainly good players at Tennessee, and it’s a shame what we’ve gone through with losing as many guys from the program for whatever reason, counting the really good players that I had committed my last year.”

Thanks for sharing, Coach.