GSU game time set

Per the AJ-C, 12:30 PM.  The game will be shown on pay-per-view.

“It’s as simple as that.”

Here’s an exercise in self-delusion.  The article starts out with this lede…

Nick Saban has Jimmy Johns.

Terry Bowden had Robert Baker.

Bowden, who still is hurt by the 1998 arrest of Baker on one count of trafficking cocaine and two counts of distribution, says Saban may not have had much choice but to support Johns prior to the revelation of Johns’ arrest on charges of selling cocaine.

… and goes downhill from there.

“Players haven’t changed,” Bowden said. “Parents have. You know, I had guys who only flunked drug tests in the summer, because they’d go home and their parents smoked (dope). You don’t think that doesn’t drive a coach crazy?”

It’s always somebody else’s fault.

(h/t The Wizard of Odds)

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Tool time with Terence.

I’ll give Urban Meyer credit for one thing.  He’s smart enough not to get baited by the AJ-C’s Terence Moore.

… You had to ask the Big Gator about what nearly was the Big Brawl last October between his Florida team and the victorious one from Athens.

Meyer said, “It wasn’t a brawl.” Then he paused, before adding after he flashed a smile, “It was … I don’t know what you would call it.”

Moore wouldn’t take the hint.  First, a bit of revisionist history:

… You would call it a classless move by normally classy Mark Richt, the Georgia coach. With his Bulldogs having dropped 15 of their previous 17 games against Florida, he decided they needed additional motivation. That’s why, after Georgia scored first in the game, he ordered his players to rush into the end zone and act crazy enough to get an unsportsmanlike penalty.

One, two, and then a slew of Gators threatened to leave their sideline to charge the massive Dog Pile, but Meyer kept pulling them back.

Not exactly.

Moore’s not satisfied.  But Meyer won’t give him much.

… Will Meyer be as kind this year when the two teams meet in Jacksonville, with Georgia supposedly chasing a national championship and with Florida likely seeking revenge for the near-brawl, or whatever you call it? “Well, it’s not like we’re in a conference where you just have one game to play,” Meyer said. “We’ve got Tennessee. We’ve got Miami. We’ve got LSU. We’ve got Arkansas. We’ve got South Carolina. We’ll be ready to go for that [Georgia] game, though, but I’m not worried about that now. I’m not having my team worry about that game now.”

Sounds like Moore will be severely disappointed if a Gator or two doesn’t engage in some physical retribution this year.

Yeah, but where’s the bathroom?

Check out what $2,500 will get you this season at Kansas football games:

How much would you pay to flop down in a cushy leather recliner behind the end zone at KU’s Memorial Stadium?

What if they threw in free food and drinks, along with flat-screen TVs to watch the replays?

You could recreate most of this experience in the comfort of your own home a helluva lot cheaper.  Well, not this, I suppose.

… The new seats will be 6 feet off the ground and 10 yards behind the end zone. Close enough for a long pass to land in a fan’s lap.

“It’s up close and personal,” Marchiony said. “I think that adds to the excitement.”

That’s quite a bit of money for what’s less than the greatest vantage point.  And if you want to keep the chair after the season, that costs extra.  Whatever – it looks like it’s working.  50 of the 56 seats have already been sold for this season.

(h/t The Wizard of Odds)

Burger branding

For the football fan who has everything, I give you The Grill Topper.

“That ain’t right.”

From Garnet and Black Attack:

… Steve Spurrier is 21-16 at South Carolina in three seasons…

Yes, the mark is the best for the first three years as Gamecocks head coach since Joe Morrison went 20-14 from 1983-85. (And more consisent; the Man in Black was 5-6, 10-2 and 5-6.) And it marks the first time South Carolina has had three straight winning seasons since a four-year strech from 1987-90 (8-4, 8-4, 6-4-1, 6-5). And Spurrier is so far the first Gamecocks coach with more than one year of service to not have a losing season since Billy Laval (1928-1934) — who actually had a 5-4-2 mark in 1932.

That’s an amazing run of mediocrity.  And consider who it’s swallowing.  Whatever you think of Spurrier as a person, there’s no denying that he goes down as one of the greatest coaches in SEC history.  Yet even someone with his status hasn’t been able to elevate the program.  You have to start wondering if the job is bigger than the man.  Blowing out the back end of the season, highlighted by a loss to Vandy, after jumping out to that great start with visions of Atlanta dancing in the Gamecocks’ heads certainly contributes to the doubts.

As the wheels came off the wagon down the stretch for the ‘Cocks last year, there’s one moment that I thought captured the state of the program:  Cory Boyd on the bench watching the replay of Darren McFadden’s 80 yard TD in the game where USC’s defense was absolutely shredded.  Play by play man Mark Jones notes the emotion that so palpably played across Boyd’s face at the moment.

I give Spurrier credit for giving every indication that he intends to battle this out (which is more than he did in Washington), but where do things go if South Carolina doesn’t hit the 10 win mark soon?  And if Spurrier can’t get the program there, who can?