If I were Nelson Muntz, I know what I’d be doing right now.

Muntz, seen channeling his inner Urban Meyer.

“I’ve declared. I’m committed.”

This from a man who makes Bobby Petrino look like a rock of stability.

No word yet from Gamecock Nation about how this affects South Carolina’s anticipated eighth year in a row preseason MNC.

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UPDATE: Spurrier is hiring Ellis Johnson as his new defensive coordinator to replace the nomadic VanGorder. Johnson – at least until a few hours ago – was Bobby Petrino’s defensive coordinator at Arkansas.

Two thoughts on this. First, there are levels of karma here that I, as a mere mortal, can never hope to comprehend fully. VanGorder, after all, came into play for Spurrier to hire in the first place because Petrino bailed out on the Falcons… who then hired VanGorder back.

Second, can you imagine what the meeting between Johnson and Petrino must have been like? I mean, Johnson’s got to be sitting there thinking something along the lines of if this sumbitch says one word about loyalty I’m gonna laugh in his face. (Of course, it might have been easier to take Petrino’s departure announcement and just change the names of the locations where appropriate.)

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UPDATE #2:  Unsurprisingly, there are some interesting quotes from the OBC’s presser.

1. The subtle dig.   You might say why didn’t you hire [Ellis Johnson] the first time. The answer is I should have.
2. The strange timing.  Fortunately right now none of those coaches bought houses. In fact I don’t think any of them have signed contracts so it’s a clean move.
3. Tooting his own horn.  I had a chance a year or so ago to get more money but that’s not my deal anymore. Money’s not my deal.

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He needs some wheels.

As a Georgia fan, I have no dog (heh) in the Terrelle Pryor hunt, but judging from this, this and this, I’d say that if the kid chooses Ohio State or Michigan as his school, it stands a strong likelihood of adding fuel to an already strong fire.

It would be amusing if Pryor wound up at Oregon, though.

Don’t hate me ’cause I’m pretty, y’all.

There’s a reason for that.

I’ve come across a new sin laid at the feet of the BCS.

… Unfortunately, in the age of the BCS nonsense, a Sun Belt co-champion is not as highly regarded as a run-of-the-mill team from a so-called Major conference.

If “highly regarded” means “capable of selling more than 3,000 tickets to a mediocre bowl game”, well, yeah. Although what that has to do with the BCS escapes me.

And what’s with the “so-called Major conference” crack? The Sun Belt finished last season with a glittering 3-23 record against schools in BCS conferences. Not exactly the stuff by which legends are made.

More on Moore

Gator KGB at Saurian Sagacity tells us why Bianchi’s story on Urban Meyer’s recruitment of stud WR Carl Moore – and Moore’s girlfriend – is a load of hooey.

Meanwhile, the Wizard of Odds has a piece up that suggests that Superman himself may have committed a (minor) recruiting violation in speaking to Moore during the process.   Of more interest to me is that Smith is starting to backtrack on her story.

But Smith was telling a different story on Wednesday. This account from the Miami Herald’s website:

” ‘[Meyer] never called me personally,’ Smith said. ‘Carl sometimes didn’t have his phone or his phone would get cut off. So, he had given Coach Meyer my number and [Moore told Meyer], “If you call my number and I don’t answer or it goes to voice mail, call Maranda because I’ll be with her more than likely,” and that’s how he got a hold of Carl.’ ”

“Smith said on Wednesday that she ‘never talked to Coach Meyer about life or anything for more than two seconds.’ Smith said that Meyer would call her and then ask to speak with Moore.”

That’s certainly a convenient explanation.

I still think this is nothing more than a tempest in a teapot.  A sign that it’s becoming more serious:  if the media starts referring to this as “Moore-gate”.

You gotta watch out for those “gate” suffixes.