Whoever coined the phrase “don’t sweat the small stuff”…

obviously wasn’t a politician.

“We’ve had some fun with them — a prestige tag and Florida tag are oxymorons,” Johnson said. But this time the Senate leader says he’s dead serious.

A war with Florida and Alabama would be timely, too. Georgia lawmakers have already picked a border fight with Tennessee. Napoleon might not advise it, but a three-front offensive would be exciting.

And these are the people that run our state. Sigh.

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UPDATE: This AP story surveys what some of Georgia’s neighbors’ tag policies are. Florida sure knows how to gouge, doesn’t it?

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You can’t tell the players without a scorecard.

Jeezus. Nick Saban may the be the only coach in America who has as much work ahead of him to get his super duper recruiting class enrolled as he did to get it signed on the dotted line in the first place.

Nick Saban isn’t an accountant, although he does have to crunch some numbers between now and August and he has mentioned balancing the checkbook before.

The Alabama coach announced a signing class of 32 players on Wednesday, which exceeds both the annual signing limit of 25 and the overall scholarship limit of 85…

So exactly who will the bell toll for? It’s not a short list.

… But those two signees boost Alabama’s overall total to approximately 85 players, the maximum number allowed, and the Tide loses just 15 seniors. So not only must Saban reduce his signing class from 30 to 25, he must reduce his current roster of non-seniors from 70 to 60 to accommodate the extra players.

The signing class will probably include several players who will not meet the minimum SEC academic requirements to earn admission to Alabama. That group includes Davidson tailback Jermaine Preyear, Mississippi cornerback Alonzo Lawrence, Huffman defensive lineman Marcel Dareus, Hargrave lineman Kerry Murphy and possibly receivers Melvin Ray and Devonta Bolton.

If the remaining 24 players all qualify and at least two of those previously mentioned make the grade, Alabama coaches will have to delay someone’s enrollment until 2009 or bring in a player as a walk-on, as former coach Mike DuBose’s staff did with Terry Jones Jr. in the late 1990s.

Once Saban gets his class to 25, he has to figure out a way to get the current group of returning scholarship players down to 60. Last year, he offered academic scholarships to four players with recurring medical issues, including receiver Tyrone Prothro.

Several players qualify for that status this year, including junior receiver Will Oakley, who has batted recurring hamstring injuries; outside linebacker Zeke Knight, who has experienced recurring dizzy spells through heart-related problems; guard B.J. Stabler, whose three knee surgeries have not cured him of problems that prevent him from sitting out practice because of the knee; and defensive back Chris Lett, whose case of juvenile diabetes has prevented him from practicing, much less playing with the team.

Whew! Got all that?

But that’s not the punch line.  This is:

… Even if he lost those players, there could be as many as six more scholarship players that would need to leave the team before the incoming class reports in August.

Not that anybody should know, or care, for that matter.

“That’s not something we’re going to address publicly or make a public issue,” Saban said, “or is it something I think anybody needs to be worried about.”

I could be wrong about this, but I think it will be hard to keep this stuff a secret when his team steps on the field in the opener against Clemson.  Unless Saban doesn’t allow the sale of programs this season.

All the right moves

I was going to post something sarcastic about what is surely the most earth shattering development in college football this month, but I knew that if I waited, someone would do a more in-depth shredding of the genius than I cared to.

And I was right.

By the way, doesn’t all the import of Weis’ move to give up playcalling remind you of something closer to home? Except for the fact that Richt didn’t feel the need to have Bill Belichick validate anything and that he didn’t trumpet the move to the press in advance, but instead quietly gave Bobo the chance to work without intense scrutiny, it’s just alike!

Oh yeah, except Richt could actually call a good game against a top 20 defense when he turned over the reins, that is.

“It’s just one of those things…”

I get a sense of doom and foreboding when I read stuff like this.

… Munson, who has been the radio voice of the Georgia Bulldogs since 1966, cut back on his schedule last season and did only home games. Right now, that is the plan for the 2008 season, which would be his 43rd behind the microphone for the Bulldogs.

“I’m hanging in there,” Munson said. “That’s the best I can tell you.”

Mmmph.  I hope he’s got enough in the tank to make it back at least one more year.  At a bare minimum, the man deserves a kickass farewell tour.

This is perfect.

Kevin Hart and Jerry Glanville.  When you think about it, is there any doubt in your mind where Hart needs to play college ball?  It’s a match made in heaven.

(h/t The Wizard of Odds) 

We have to admit it’s getting better… it’s getting better all the time.

When last we left our intrepid heroes, the head football coaches from the two D-1 programs in the Palmetto State, both were  plainly upset about the inability of the pointy heads in the admissions offices at their two respective institutions of higher learning to get with the program.

The football program, that is.

But it’s clear with the passing of a year that time heals all wounds. Check out Steve Spurrier, channelling his inner Chico Escuela:

“The university’s been very good with us,” Spurrier said Wednesday.

That’s nice.  Tommy concurs.

“I applaud our administration for working out a system that pretty much levels the playing field,” Bowden said Wednesday.

Yay!

So what exactly did the schools do?  South Carolina doesn’t say explicitly, but at Clemmins the steps taken to grease the skids

… included not tying admissions to the national letter of intent and letting the athletic review committee use a program’s NCAA graduation success rate and academic progress rate in a sliding scale to determine a student-athlete’s admission.

And with that, peace in our time.  Everyone involved is at least… well, let’s let Tommy have the last word here.

… Spurrier doesn’t expect to call any recruits with bad admissions news this time around. And Bowden thinks Clemson’s policy changes were “awful advantageous” this year.

In addition, Bowden says, those in academics at the school and those in the “athletic arena are relatively happy with where we are.”

Everything is relative, you know.

I think Tommy came out the big winner on this.  According to Scout, Clemmins recruiting ranking rose from 23rd in 2007 to 11th in 2008.  South Carolina’s numbers actually fell from 7th to 34th in that same period.  (Rivals tells a similar tale with its rankings.)  Maybe there’s room in Columbia to do a little more tweaking with the admissions process.

After all, if at first you don’t succeed…