Monday morning breakfast buffet

It ain’t the Sho-nee, but here’s what I’ve got for you this AM:

• Alabama cornerback Marquis Johnson says the Tide is back.  Except it never left.  Or something like that.  “We sent a message to the rest of the SEC,” cornerback Marquis Johnson told reporters. “It’s not like we were hungry. We already knew we were on top. It’s like we’re coming from the back to show everybody else we’re the team from the past. This is a new identity. Look out.” Once we parse that, Marquis, we will, buddy.
• Scoff at Damon Evans’ “branding” strategy all you want, but one good result that comes from a win like Saturday night’s is that the West Coast media pays attention to a team that it may not have followed that closely before.  Exhibit “A” is this very complimentary article about the Dawgs by the Los Angeles Times’ Chris Dufresne.
• Speaking of that win and the West Coast, CFN’s Pete Fiutak points out that scheduling cuts both ways and that Southern Cal may need all the style points it can garner.
• If you ever see an SAT question that starts off “Georgia is to South Carolina as South Carolina is to…”, Garnet and Black Attack’s cocknfire has your answer.
• Mr. Westerdawg shakes off his jet lag to point out something very special about this week’s Alabama-Georgia game.  And it has nothing to do with jersey colors.
• Talk about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic:  Tennessee is taking another look at walk-on punters.  That ought to get the fan base pumped.