I hear those glass houses are a bitch to insulate, too.

Jim Delany sez:

… I wish we had six teams among the top 10 recruiting classes every year, but winning our way requires some discipline and restraint with the recruitment process.

Brian at mgoblog sez:

This is the long way of saying that the much discussed SEC bitchslap delivered by Jim Delaney in this line…

I wish we had six teams among the top 10 recruiting classes every year, but winning our way requires some discipline and restraint with the recruitment process.

…is just true. You cannot consistently sign 28 player classes without regularly discarding players before their time is up, and where do these guys go once you throw them overboard? I’m guessing the answer is not Harvard.

Nope – according to Matt Hayes at The Sporting News, they go to Ohio State:

… Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Larry Grant, linebacker, Ohio State. Grant committed to Florida last season but couldn’t enroll in school because he failed to pass a math class required by the SEC. So where did Grant end up, you ask? Ohio State.

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This little piggy’s banned from the sideline.

From The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

Thousands of e-mails flit across the Internet each season about the University of Arkansas football team. Most are ephemeral.

Two e-mails sent in December were different. They had an impact on the team and its fan base far beyond the norm.

One triggered official sanctions against the writer from Coach Houston Nutt, and a personal response from Chancellor John White. The other e-mail was read by Nutt’s wife, Diana, and forwarded by her to a Springdale business with a comment that could be considered unflattering toward members of the team from Springdale.

Both were written by the same booster — a Little Rock woman named Teresa Prewett who has ties to the Nutt family…

Two things about this. One – how often do you expect to see the word “ephemeral” in a local paper’s piece about the Arkansas football program? Two – exactly how stupid is Houston Nutt’s wife?

And here’s some first class BS from the Nuttster about it:

On Wednesday the Democrat-Gazette requested an interview with Diana Nutt through Houston Nutt. Houston Nutt said he discussed the situation with his wife, and said “nothing’s going to gained or served by talking to her.”

Houston Nutt did say that Diana Nutt received and forwarded the Dec. 6 e-mail to the business in Springdale.

“I did acknowledge, I just found out a couple weeks ago she did do that,” Nutt said. “She admits it.”

How did he find out? Did he hack her computer? Send her to bed without supper until she confessed? What? This sure doesn’t sound like a couple that communicates real well. Maybe the Nuttster’s been tied up with all that reading he’s been doing.

Once again, truth is stranger than fiction. In case you’re wondering, the upshot from all this stupidity was:

A month later, an investigation was begun by the university at the request of Mustain’s mother, Beck Campbell. It led to a letter of apology to Mustain from Prewett, a note of reprimand from Houston Nutt to Prewett and a letter to Campbell from White.

As a result of her “Interception King” e-mail, Prewett was banned from the sidelines of Razorbacks football games, a spot from where she had watched at least two games in the past, and forbidden to contact any Arkansas football players. The e-mails may have had other consequences. On Jan. 16, Mustain received the letter of apology (it was dated Jan. 8 ) from Prewett, the same day he announced he was leaving the Razorbacks football program. Campbell said that the two e-mails contributed to Mustain’s decision to ask for his release…

You can read the whole sordid tale here.

The NCAA: making special teams more special

The Wizard of Odds notes that one of the new NCAA rules changes proposed in the wake of the demise of Rules 3-2-5 and 3-2-5-e is likely to have a significant impact on the game next year:

… Kickoffs are moved from the 35-yard line to the 30. For the past two seasons, the rate of kickoffs per game has been just under 11. Marty from cfbstats.com sends along this data: In 2005, kickoffs from the 35 resulted in touchbacks 30.36% of the time. From the 30, this number dropped to 8.54%. In 2006, the numbers are 28.46% and 8.43%. [Emphasis added.] With fewer touchbacks, the clock moves and the potential for big plays — something every fan cherishes — are increased. This is going to put a premium on special teams play.

In the wake of this, it will be worth watching to see if coaches change the composition of players on their kickoff teams to include more front line kids.