To get things going, here are a few items to chew over:

• In terms of addressing needs, Chip Towers thinks the hay is already in the barn for Mark Richt.
• CFN agrees.  (Let’s revisit that offensive line situation in a few months, okay?)
• A Georgia legislator makes a funny about Chester Brown’s plight.
• MaconDawg makes a few projections about some of the targets still out there.

So share with us – your hopes, your dreams, your tears, your fears.  What do you think is in store for the Dawgs on the recruiting front in the next few days?

If you’re only here for the pigskin, feel free to skip.  My feelings won’t be hurt.

Prepare to have your life changed forever:

• Former President John Tyler, born 1790, has two living grandchildren.  He is also the only deceased President who is not officially mourned.
• Watch Wolf Blitzer, whom I can’t stand, get destroyed on Celebrity Jeopardy.  (And check out the big brain on Andy Richter.)

I’m through now.

… they’re the fourth Super Bowl team in the last five years that got there by “getting hot” on the heels of a meh regular season, following the ’07 Giants, ’08 Cardinals and ’10 Packers — all of which made it to the championship round after finishing 10-6 or worse, and two of which wound up hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. It’s not an anomaly. It happens all the time. And every time, the regular season means a little bit less.

So when playoff opponents in college football chant “Every Game Counts,” this is what they mean: The 9-7 New York Giants (or their campus equivalent, in the event of an FBS playoff) have not advanced a legitimate claim on a championship, did not deserve the opportunity they have now taken advantage of and threaten to cheapen the concept of a championship season. To which I have to say, as an advocate of level playing fields and the virtues of competition: They’re right. It’s thoroughly frustrating to glorify teams for “getting hot” at the expense of superior outfits that have consistently outperformed them on the whole, effectively overturning three or four months of results in three or four weeks.

In the NFL, that may be inevitable. In college football, it is not. And I also have to say, as a playoff advocate in the college game: It can’t happen here…

Ah, that’s good.  Real good.  But it’s far from the whole story.  And that’s my problem.

First off, Matt goes on to assert that “it would be impossible for the college football equivalent of a 9-7 NFL team to make the cut in any logistically feasible bracket…”, but that simply ain’t true.  Ask Dan Wetzel, or anybody else who thinks a 16-team playoff in which all conference champions are eligible is a swell idea, about that.

But there’s a more underlying reason at the root of my disagreement.  Here’s his vision of what a D-1 postseason should aspire to:

… In other words, the format should be (and would be) structured so that there is no doubt that the winner of the playoff is the most accomplished team as a result of winning the playoff. That means (as opposed to the BCS) setting the bar low enough to allow every deserving candidate a legitimate opportunity, but also (as opposed to the NFL, or the NCAA basketball tournament) setting it high enough that only the deserving candidates can clear it. It means being inclusive to generate a legitimate, competitive field, and exclusive enough to avoid diminishing returns.

Who can argue with any of that?  Allow Judge Chamberlain Haller to retort.

The people who call the shots don’t care what the Matt Hintons of the world care about.  (Note that Matt cites the NCAA basketball tourney as an example to avoid.)  They’re in it for one primary purpose, to maximize a revenue stream for themselves.  The current floundering over what to do with the BCS and the bowls in the wake of recent declining numbers is all about the money.  So is conference expansion.  (Just ask Larry Templeton.)

Nobody’s going into this exercise trying to make sure that the undeserving are kept out.  Oh sure, that may happen.  But if it does, it’ll be nothing more than a happy accident.  In the short run, in the medium run and in the long run, there are two goals:  buck up the postseason numbers and don’t do anything to harm the regular season revenues.  And if whatever course they set in the next few months doesn’t do the trick down the road, they’ll be back at tweaking the deal again.  And again.

These are the people who were prepared to tell you what a great thing a 96-team basketball tournament would be.  Some of them probably even believe it.  To think they have different instincts about college football is foolish.  They know what playoffs are designed to do.

… Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson heard about Miami’s flirtations and had a 20-minute phone conversation with Crawford on Thursday. Crawford said his Georgia Tech scholarship will be jeopardized if he boards the plane to Miami on Friday.

“Coach Johnson basically said ‘If you’re looking around, then we’re looking around,’” Crawford said. “He said if I take my visit to Miami, they are bringing in a guy at Georgia Tech this weekend for a visit. If that guy commits, then he takes my spot.”

It takes Paul Johnson twenty minutes to tell a kid “if you make that trip you’re dead to me”?  The man’s communication skills are clearly overrated.

Is Crawford willing to take the risk? “I’m still visiting the University of Miami this weekend,” he said.

“If you ask the average Republican voter… he’s remembered for the scandal at SMU and using his position at ESPN to get a wildly popular coach fired. He is by far one of the most hated men in West Texas.”

That’s not hyperbole. Last year Stefan Hankin of Lincoln Park Strategies threw Craig James into a statewide poll and found that James was less popular in West Texas than Barack Obama.

“It’s not that people in West Texas don’t like him,” said Mayes. “It’s that nobody likes him.”

Which, again, makes you wonder what the WWL sees in the guy.

(By the way, if you want to hear what Leach’s attorney said on Finebaum’s show about James, here you go.)

“The one thing that gets lost is we’re in this predicament because the SEC invited Missouri,” Neinas said. “But the SEC was willing to play with 13 [rather than 14] next season. We made an offer to Missouri that was financially beneficial to stay for another year. Missouri made the decision not to accept.

“We had a teleconference call with those in the SEC, Big East, ACC, Mountain West and Conference USA. We all agreed we could save money and avoid litigation if all held serve for 2012-13. All agreed. But Missouri made a very selfish decision. It’s been very disruptive. Missouri gave us notice in November [of 2011] and it’s pretty difficult to move forward then.”

Because, you see, if Missouri had agreed to stick around in a place it wasn’t wanted anymore, Neinas’ conference wouldn’t have had to raid the Big East as abruptly as it did.  Yes, if only Missouri could have behaved as nobly as every conference has in handling expansion/realignment.  What a happier world we’d all be living in right now.

• “It is just the state of Georgia.”
• More hope for Auburn:  “While college coaches have struggled transitioning to the N.F.L. — take note, Chip Kelly — N.F.L. defensive coordinators have largely experienced a smooth transition to the college game.”
• Awesome piece by Chris Brown on the long-term impact of the 2000 meeting between Northwestern and Michigan.  It’s another illustration of why college ball is so much more fun to follow than the NFL.
• Speaking of which, Brophy’s righteous rant shouldn’t be missed.
• “Bleacher Report, the home of thousands of amateur sports bloggers, is getting more professional.”  I’ll leave the punchline to you.
• Georgia is back on the Fulmer Cup leader board.
• Maybe I’m missing something, but isn’t this kid about to run afoul of the Johnson Doctrine?
• The latest Harris Poll shows college football’s popularity remains constant, tied for second with professional baseball among Americans.

Dinner, church and jail – all in a day’s work.

Mike Leach's lawyer tells @finebaum that Craig James called Tx Tech coaches from ESPN booth DURING GAMES, telling them to play son Adam.—
Mark Nagi (@MarkNagi) January 25, 2012

Phone records, please.  I sure hope this sucker gets to court soon.