The continuing playoff adventures of Bernie Machen

He says he’s got the big mo’ on his side:

Florida president Bernie Machen said Wednesday that he is gaining increased support among leaders of Southeastern Conference schools in his push for a playoff for college football in the former Division I-A.

But he’s worried that time is short:

Machen said the SEC needs to lead the way and that time is a factor.

“We need to have these considerations now,” Machen said. “Fox wants now to extend our existing BCS deal and if we do that, we’re going to be stuck in the same place for the next six to eight years…

And that would be really, really bad, because we’d be stuck

with a system that could obviously be better.

Obviously. Better.

It’s the relentless logic of playoff proponents that I have the hardest time refuting…

CFN looks at 2007 SEC schedules.

Pete Fiutak of College Football News has an analysis of the 2007 SEC schedules up today that’s definitely worth a look.

First off, here’s how he rates the schedule difficulties for the twelve schools:

Toughest schedules
Based on home games as well as who the teams play. when

East
1. Florida
2. Georgia
3. Tennessee
4. South Carolina
5. Kentucky
6. Vanderbilt

West
1. Auburn
2. Mississippi State
3. LSU
4. Alabama
5. Arkansas
6. Ole Miss

The only thing I’d really quibble with on that list is his judgment that any school in the conference has a weaker schedule than that of Arkansas, which, barring a plane crash, will be bowl eligible just by showing up on time for its games.

If I’m reading the rest of his story correctly, he’s predicting that it’s likely that no team in the SEC East will have a losing record in 2007. Whoa.

Oh yeah – I can already tell that I’m weary of “Georgia fans know how good Vanderbilt can be” type comments. Let’s not give anyone a reason to write that kind of stuff again for a long time, guys…

An early peek at the men of Troy

No, not those Trojans.

I’m talking about Troy University, a November 2007 opponent on Georgia’s schedule. Sunday Morning Quarterback has an early assessment of Troy in this post, which, given the fact that the reigning Sun Belt Conference champ ain’t exactly the most high profile program going, is worth a look simply because there won’t be too many more opportunities to learn much about them.

The return of envy and jealousy: from the “I wish I’d written that” department

Confession time:  I went through a stretch in my life when I couldn’t stand college football.

My undergraduate degree is from the University of Virginia.  One thing I learned there, during the Sonny Randle era, was how truly wretched a D-1 football program could be.  The low points were so low – how do you choose between a 40+ point blow out by what was up to then the worst D-1 team in the country or beating frickin’ VMI by one point because the Keydets elected to go for two at the end of the game and didn’t make it? – that I gave up on college football and didn’t get my mojo back until I got to Athens.

Believe me, I was but one of many.  I had a friend who referred to the regime of the coach who got fired before Randle was hired (his best season was something like 4-7, I think) as the “glory years”.  So it should go without saying that most Wahoo football fans are longsuffering.  Al Groh is just our latest cross to bear.

Which brings me to the subject of this post:  Ian Cohen is a blogger who has written about Virginia football and in so doing has done a consistent and entertaining job of describing the ups and downs in Charlottesville (more of the latter than the former lately, unfortunately).  His post from yesterday about the Hoos’ top returning WR’s season ending injury (can you have a season ending injury before the season starts?) is a classic.

If you’re a Dawg fan, you can certainly feel his pain about the Virginia receiving corps, which, to put it kindly, hasn’t made its mark to date.   For example, here’s what he has to say about the now leading returning wideout for ’07:

… Maurice Covington is promising, if sparingly used, and figures to be the key target. He also leads the returning receivers in yardage from 2006…45. 135 feet in one season. God.

But the best lines are directed at some of the dearly departed from last year.  He characterizes a couple:

• Deyon Williams: 75% injury-plagued, 25% indifference-plagued
• Fontel Mines: speed of a tight end, hands of a lineman

Fair warning:  I’m gonna have to steal that “injury-plagued, indifference-plagued” tag at some point in time.  It’s too tempting not to use.

Read the whole thing.  If you’ve ever tried to figure out how to use a snuff film or the Washington Nationals’ pitching staff as an analogy for football futility,  he can show you the way.  Good stuff.

More Georgia spring practice info

As always, David Ching roolz:

• defensive tackle and linebacker notes here (click on links to his Columbus Ledger-Enquirer articles, too)
• Mark Richt’s comments on developments to date here

The big story to me so far is Sturdivant taking over at left offensive tackle. I know that someone untested is likely to start there, protecting Stafford’s blind side – that’s just what the current situation all but dictates – however, I thought it unlikely to be a true freshman, heralded or not.  I’ve got to believe, though, that when Richt says things about Sturdivant like “(t)he value of midyear is gonna be huge in this thing”, the coach is pretty convinced he can make a go of it.