Ch-ch-changes?

There’s an interesting quote from Matthew Stafford in yesterday’s Athens Banner-Herald.  In discussing the ups and downs of all the new players on the offensive line, he said

“I know they’re going to make mistakes just like I am trying to learn this new offense,” he said. “We’ll gel, get together and it will be a lot better.”

By “new offense”, is he simply referring to those teammates who’ve never played in Athens before, or does he mean that Coach Bobo is making some substantive changes in the offensive scheme from what Mark Richt ran previously?

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T. Boone Pickens: Dancin’ with Mister D.

So where did T. Boone Pickens get the idea to insure some elderly Oklahoma State boosters for the benefit of the football program?

… After learning that some churches were generating revenue from life insurance policies that had been purchased for aging members, Pickens floated the concept to Holder, a fellow alumnus who served for decades as golf coach before being named athletics director in 2005.

Jesus saves!

Don’t worry – it’s a carefully considered program.

… Oklahoma State’s donors were selected because their age, gender and health “best matched the university’s needs,” said John Lee, chairman of Dallas-based Management Compensation Group, which is managing the insurance program. To put it less delicately, the donors selected are expected to die in a timely manner to generate the $250-million payout.

“Delicately”, indeed.

… Only two of the prospective donors hung up when Larry Reece, Oklahoma State’s executive director of major gifts and development, broached the subject.

Only two. Well done, my man!

No word yet on whether Oklahoma State is looking at a new Cowboys mascot…

(courtesy AllPosters.com)

Pickens has prided himself on being a trend setter. This project is no different.

… Mark Mallady, executive vice president of Collegiate Financial Services, a Williamsburg, Va.-based firm, agrees that other college athletic department fundraisers soon will be working the phones.

“Their thinking is that ‘we’ve got donors giving us millions of dollars each year,’ ” he said. “But what happens when the donors die? Is there a plan or a policy to replace what they’ve been giving?”

Pickens concurred: “You will see other [similar] deals in the near future” at other nonprofit organizations.

Does this give anyone at the school the creeps? Let’s just say Mr. Reece is very clear-eyed about his mission:

“I’m not going to say that the response has been all positive,” Reece said. “But we believe that athletics is the front porch of the university. That’s how you advertise nationally. Right, wrong or indifferent, you don’t see the science bowl on ABC. You see the Cotton Bowl and the Final Four.”

If this is what goes on on the front porch at OSU, I’d hate to see what they’re cooking up in the basement…

(h/t The Wizard of Odds)

Eye of the beholder

So how were the Florida Gators able to win the MNC this year?

It depends on who you ask, I suppose.  Jim Delany, Big 10 commish, would point to lax academic standards in recruiting certain types of players as the key.  Other Big 10 supporters found that Florida had a scheduling advantage over the Buckeyes.

But the Gator coaches tell a different story.   According to head coach Urban Meyer,

“I think the fastest team wins nine out of 10 times if the fundamentals are equal and everything else. That’s how we recruit and why we do what we do.”

And co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison actually took the novel approach of preparing his kids for their opponent (something his Ohio State counterpart could stand a few pointers on):

In his presentation, Mattison noted the predictability of the Ohio State offense. For instance, of the 90 sets he scouted in which the Buckeyes had two backs and a tight end, they ran 80 times.

The week of the game, Mattison’s wife, Ann, asked their son Bryan – who will be a senior defensive end and captain at Iowa this fall, and had sat in on Florida’s film sessions – whether the Gators were outmatched.

The answer, according to Greg Mattison: “No, I think they’re going to kick the crap out of them, because dad’s defense was calling out plays before they’d run them.”

(h/t SEC Blog – The FanHouse)