“We will not compromise the integrity of our program.”

Hmmm… three Alabama 1-AA schools have holes at quarterback.

Ryan Perrilloux is a quarterback currently without a school.

Can you guess where this is going?

Gentlemen, start your engines.

Quarterback Ryan Perrilloux, whose extraordinary talents on the field at LSU were often overshadowed by off-the-field problems that finally forced his expulsion from the team, could wind up playing in Alabama.

The Birmingham News has learned Jacksonville State head coach Jack Crowe has had contact with the Perrilloux family.

JSU has received a release from LSU to talk to the 21-year-old LaPlace, La., native, who played as a backup to Matt Flynn in the Tigers’ 2007 national championship season.

(h/t The Wizard of Odds)

Looking ahead

In case you’re interested, or even if you’re not but have some time on your hands, some of the online publications are starting to put out their previews on every D-1 team’s upcoming season.

The New York Times’ The Quad is running its previews from worst to first, starting with #119 Utah State. It’s publishing one preview each day, but so far no Georgia opponent has appeared.

That’s not the case over at College Football News, which starts out its preview with Auburn. The gist of it?

… While normally the expectations would be tempered a bit with the new offense being put in, there’s no reason the Tigers can’t be in the thick of the SEC title chase in a year when almost everyone in the West is revamping or retooling in some way. The defense, even with star coordinator Will Muschamp off to Texas, has the potential to be every bit as strong as last season’s group that led the league in points allowed and was second overall, and the offense, even if it takes a little bit to get going, isn’t going to be worse.

The schedule works out well, the overall talent and athleticism is there, and head coach Tommy Tuberville remains one of the nation’s best and most underappreciated head coaches.

No, this isn’t a national title type of team, there will still be a few too many ifs in the offense, but there’s no reason to not going into the year looking for a trip to the SEC title game.

Whatever it takes: Feinstein wants a playoff.

Somehow I knew that John Feinstein had a lot more in him about last week’s rejection of a D-1 playoff by the BCS commissioners than a mere commencement address, Plato or no Plato.

Of course he does.

In a few breathless paragraphs he manages to place Delany, Swofford and friends in the rhetorical company of Eight Belles’ handlers, Roger Clemens, baseball’s steroids users and, for good measure, the Bush White House. All in case you aren’t exactly sure where he might be coming from on the topic.

So where is he coming from? Well, if you’re not an enthusiastic playoff proponent, buddy, he’s got news for you – his “meaning” trumps your “meaning”:

… What it boils down to, though, are the 66 BCS presidents and their mouthpiece commissioners who keep insisting the emperor’s new clothes look great, when it is clear that he is buck naked. There are even those in the media who parrot their comments and say things like, “The regular season has meaning in college football.”

Really? If you want meaning, create a 12-team playoff with four byes and home games in the first round. The teams at the top would be fighting for a week off, the next group for a home game, and the last few for a chance to make the field. There would be meaning at the end of that regular season.

The thing is, Feinstein then hedges his bets. Mere words, no matter how persuasively written, evidently won’t do the trick on their own. Action must be taken. First, Congress – yes, those wise people with whom we place so much trust and respect – is urged to act…

This is one time though when Congress should step in and say “enough.” They should threaten to take away tax breaks from BCS schools if they don’t change this system. That would get their attention.

or, if that doesn’t work, then the NCAA should flex its muscles and do the dirty job.

… Of course if the NCAA wasn’t so busy trying to take over summer basketball, it could put an end to this in a heartbeat: All it has to do is say the following: if you want your basketball team to be eligible for the NCAA tournament, you must participate — if invited — in the NCAA division I-A football tournament. The BCS schools will squirm and pontificate and threaten to break away from the NCAA but they won’t. Remember, basketball is the money-maker at far more schools than football, regardless of what you hear from the football apologists.

Feinstein starts the paragraph following this with “The great irony here is the short-sightedness of the BCS buffoons.” Actually, the great irony here is that, after accusing the BCS of being an illegal cartel, he proposes that the NCAA bring it to heel by resorting to action that would violate U. S. anti-trust law.

And as for his assumption that the BCS folks might engage in a bit of teeth gnashing and posturing and then acquiesce in the end, the Platonic scholar might want to brush up on his history. It’s not like the universities haven’t taken on the NCAA over that kind of action before – and won.

Since he opened the door with the political comparisons, I’ll take my cheap shot here and say Feinstein just needs to pitch this to the right politician.  It’s a match made in heaven.

Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

Ladies and gentlemen, another great moment in sports punditry, courtesy of Dennis Dodd, who, in ranking the Florida Gators at #6 in his current preseason list, shares this insight about why those Gators will excel in 2008:

The only questions are the defense and how to keep Tim Tebow upright and healthy.

Let’s see… that covers about sixty percent of the team’s performance. Besides that, they’re perfect.