Auburn’s grassy knoll

I love conspiracy talk, especially in college football.  Crooked refs, conference commissioners with agendas, head coaches’ secret plans to do something totally against their own vested interests – it’s all great.  Even though I don’t believe a word of it, it’s always fun to get some insight into how certain unbalanced parts of certain fan bases tend to… well, think may not exactly be the operative term here… let’s go with “internalize visual data which does not accord with their accepted world view”.

So, in that light, I present to you a viral e-mail that’s making the rounds on the Plains and was forwarded to me today.  I doubt it all, but it’s a hilarious read nonetheless.

from a player in my lab…i had befriended one of the senior lineman…he was responsible for signaling in plays…he said that this past week was the hardest preparation week they have had all year…the reason…all of the signs that are used had to be changed…apparantly after the utm game, one of the utm coaches came up to tubbs and told him that his signs had been known by every team he’s played since franklin left…not only that, but mark richt called tubbs the week before the uga game (btw mark richt may be my new favorite coach because of this) and told tubberville it was in his best interest to change all of his signs because he knew all of them…wonder why we started going to a huddle now???…from everything i gather, coach tony franklin put those bad boys out there for the world to know…it can be traced back to arkansas is what coach richt said…so for the past however many weeks, every team we played either knew our signs, or had the opportunity to know them…i’m not saying that that’s an excuse for our offensive woes, but it could explain how we looked so predictable and how kodi makes a majority of his completions after the play has broken down…i knew franklin was a snake, but if this is true, i hope he never coaches again…i hope he has to go door to door selling his books and video’s…he’s dead to me…

Two questions about this:  (1)  Didn’t Auburn’s offense suck before Franklin was let go?  (2) Richt couldn’t wait until after the game to let Tuberville know?  Sheesh.

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UPDATE: Jeebus. Maybe we’re supposed to detect the faint whiff of smoke from this after all.  Jerry at The Joe Cribbs Car Wash links to this article where Tubby kind of hints around the edges about… something:

… in football, having your signs stolen shouldn’t really be an issue. But it’s one of the numerous reasons coach Tommy Tuberville ditched the arm-flailing method of communication brought to the Tigers by Tony Franklin for the old-fashioned huddle technique for Saturday’s game against Georgia.

“You just take too many things for granted that if you’re signaling and people are seeing what you’re doing,” Tuberville said. “When you’re huddling, only 11 people in that huddle know what you’re going to do.”

Tuberville couldn’t pinpoint any examples of supposed sign-stealing.

“As coaches, you’re always wondering why are they slanting this way or doing that,” Tuberville said. “It’s probably not happening, but it gives you peace of mind for your players and coaches.”

Methinks this is still crap, but there you go…

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Mumme Poll, Week 12

Stability is the name of the game this week.  Only one voter missed out, and we wound up with the same number of teams receiving votes as we did in Week 11.  There was also little change in the overall standings, although the Gators have moved into a three-way tie for first place.

MUMME POLL – WEEK 12 RANKINGS

T1.    Alabama (41)

T1.    Texas Tech (41)

T1.    Florida (41)

4.      Texas (40)

5.      Oklahoma (30)

6.      Southern Cal (11)

7.      Penn State

8.      Utah

9.     Georgia

10.    Ohio State

11.    Oklahoma State

12.    Boise State

13.    Missouri

T14.  Michigan State

T14.  LSU

T16.  Cincinnati

T16.  Oregon State

T16.  Pittsburgh

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COMMENTS:

• Most common comment this week from voters:  “This was the easist ballot I’ve filled out all season.”
• Second most common comment this week:  “I didn’t change any of my votes from last week.”
• Given the above, biggest surprise this week was Georgia swapping positions with Ohio State from the Week 11 voting.
• Only one top five vote was cast for a school that didn’t appear on all the ballots – Boise State.
• Once again, Penn State has the distinction of being the only school receiving votes on all of the ballots cast that didn’t get a single top five nod from anyone.
• Bloggers posts about the Mumme Poll:  A Bulldog In Exile; Runaround Sue’s.

The further adventures of how the mighty have fallen

You’ve certainly got to admire the priorities of the Tennessee athletic department these days.

Although you’d think they’d be saving a bundle on doughnut-related expenses next year.

I was sad because my team had no championship, until I met a coach who had no bowl game.

Mr. Westerdawg has a post up about fan perspective that’s worth a read for most Georgia fans.  Basically, life could be a lot worse – and if you’re a Michigan fan, it is.

Along those lines, Coach Rodriguez passes on some advice to college football fans who have taken things a little too hard.

“It’s amazing some of the things that people would say (on a message board) or yell at you of a personal nature,” Rodriguez said Monday. “You almost want to tell them, “Get a life.’

“There’s a whole lot bigger problems. Look at the economy.”

Umm… I’ll pass on the snarky comment about how much Rodriguez makes a year compared with the salary of the typical Michigan fan who’s endured a season which will end with the Wolverines staying home during the bowls for the first time in 34 years.  But could you imagine Mark Richt telling Georgia fans to get a life?

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UPDATE: Dawg fans, it really could be worse.  A lot worse.

Paving that road to hell, again

Dennis Dodd gathers the reaction of several BCS movers and shakers to President-elect Obama’s call for a D-1 college football playoff, and, needless to say, doesn’t find a whole lot of enthusiasm in response.

You can almost hear the ice dripping from Jim Delany’s mouth when he says this:

“I think it’s that time of year. Whether it’s the president-elect or college football coaches or fans debating it, the First Amendment is alive and well.”

“Certainly it’s an important issue for college football and colleges. Where does it stand in the list of challenges we have in America today? I would say it’s not very high.”

The President-elect or college football fans? LMAO.

Dodd does point out one thing I’d forgotten:  Biden’s no fan of the BCS, either.

… Obama’s comments have added weight not only because he is about to become leader of the free world. His vice president has been a strident BCS critic. Around the time the Senate Judiciary Committee convened hearings on the BCS in 2003 Joe Biden called the BCS system “rigged” and “un-American”.

This could get interesting.  If there’s one group of folks who truly believe in the mantra of “it’s so easy”, it’s Washington politicians.  After all, they’ve done a fantastic job of fixing every other problem we’ve faced, right?

“I never dreamed my jersey would be retired.”

It’s easy to forget how dismal a state Georgia football had fallen into by the mid-50’s.  The program which had been a national powerhouse in the previous decade posted only three winning records and appeared in a mere two bowl games from 1950 to 1959.

In 1957, going into its last game of the season, Georgia had won twice in nine games.  It had been shut out in three of those matches and averaged scoring less than ten points a game all year.

But that was the least of the Dawgs’ concerns.  For in that game, they were facing a Georgia Tech team that had beaten Georgia eight straight years beginning in 1949.  For the most part, the games hadn’t been close, as Tech had outscored Georgia over that stretch 156-39.  Georgia hadn’t scored a touchdown against the Yellow Jackets in four years.

Tech that season didn’t have that much of an offense either.  Like Georgia, Georgia Tech had been shut out three times already.  But Coach Dodd’s defense had been stellar up to that point, pitching three shut outs of its own (including a 0-0 tie against Florida) and the Dawgs traveled to Atlanta to face a Tech team with a winning record of 4-3-2.

But things would be different this time, thanks to Theron Coleman Sapp.  Here’s the story of the game from a terrific piece about Sapp in Georgia Trend magazine:

… After a scoreless first half, Sapp recovered a fumble at midfield. On third and 12 at the Tech 39, quarterback Charlie Britt hit Jimmy Orr with a 13-yard pass for a first down at the Tech 26. From then on it was all Sapp … Sapp … Sapp.

He crashed into the Tech forewall on six consecutive plays, down to the Tech 1-yard line. On fourth down Britt again handed off to Sapp, who powered his way into the right side of the Tech line for the Dogs’ first touchdown against Tech since 1953 and the only touchdown of the game. Ken Cooper converted the extra point, giving Georgia a 7-0 victory…

Fourth and goal was a gutsy call for a team that hadn’t scored a touchdown in four years.

You want to know how big a deal that score was?  In Georgia’s long history, Sapp is one of only four players, including Frankie Sinkwich, Charley Trippi and Herschel Walker, to have his jersey number retired.  Pretty impressive for a guy who only scored six touchdowns in his entire career as a fullback.

I’ll leave it to Coach Dodd, always classy, to describe what Sapp’s play meant in the series.

The late legendary Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Dodd said of Sapp, “Walker won the national championship for Georgia (1980) and was awarded the Heisman trophy (1982) but to older Bulldogs who suffered through the 1950s, Sapp’s breaking the drought was greater. He silenced eight years of bragging from Tech students and alumni. Breaking the drought was a remarkable achievement.”

The Drought-Breaker