If Lane Kiffin didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him.

At this point, all I can figure is that Junior’s going after some kind of record.

Back in the saddle again

Remember that whole bit from Charlie Weis about how he was giving up the offensive coordinator reins so he could become more involved with the whole team, all that touchy-feely stuff?

“I talked to former players and current players, and I think the biggest issue as I looked at this is if you’re playing freshmen and sophomores, it’s not the same as when you’re playing juniors and seniors. The maturity level of the players is not the same. So you can’t take for granted that 18- and 19-year olds are the same as 21- and 22-year olds as far as how you can coach them and the maturity level…”

Screw that.

He’s even contemplating staying upstairs in the booth during the game.  How Paterno-ish of him.

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GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!

For those of you who dismiss the whole playoffs-dimish-the-regular-season argument, this post of Michael Elkon’s ought to be required reading.

“I think our guys learned from their mistakes.”

Yes, I know it’s early, and, yes, I know that talk is cheap, but color me encouraged by what Marcus Washington and Rennie Curran have to say about the maturity of the team’s leadership in David Hale’s blog today.

Kiffin watch: kicking ass and taking names

Perhaps you recall this excerpt from the Sports Illustrated puff piece on Junior I linked to the other day:

… Lane flew back to Tennessee less than 48 hours after his son was born. He’d arranged to have someone fetch him at the airport, but the driver was 25 minutes late. “I came back and within five minutes I’d fired the guy who was in charge of the guy who’d been sent to pick me up,” says Kiffin. “Here’s the point: We need to win. That’s 25 minutes that Nick Saban and Urban Meyer had that I lost because somebody was late picking me up at the airport.”

That’s 25 minutes he could have spent mending fences with coaches in Palm Beach County, Florida, I guess.  But I digress.  Which is easy to do with Junior.

Anyway, it turns out that the Laner – surprise! – is full of shit.  Or at least full of himself. (h/t Capstone Report)

… Despite what you might read in Sports Illustrated, new Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin hasn’t contributed to Knoxville’s unemployment rate.

“He has not fired anybody,” UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said Thursday afternoon. “If he said he has fired somebody, that’s not true. I don’t know if he said it from a standpoint of making a point that ‘We’ve got to get this right.’ But he didn’t fire anybody.

“You can’t just fire anybody at Tennessee, particularly when you’re talking about non-contract employees. There’s a process.”

I suppose it’s too much to hope that there’s a tape of the meeting where it was explained to Kiffin that he couldn’t, you know, just fire people.  Still, I won’t complain.  Junior is living proof that God loves college football bloggers.  Thank you, Lord.

Friday morning tidbits

Here’s this morning’s sampler platter:

• Florida State and Miami are moving their game up to a prime time Labor Day slot, so that all of America can get an early look at how far behind the Gators these two once proud programs are, dadgumit.
• The Orlando Sentinel is amused to find that Nick Saban defined integrity as “a strict adherence to a standard of values and conduct, personal honesty and independence; soundness in everything you do and every decision you make.” And managed to do it with a straight face, to boot.
• For those of you who thought that Florida would recast its offense this season so that the GPOOE™ could demonstrate that he could get his ass under center just as successfully as Tom Brady, nah.
• Another SEC rookie head coach speaks:  judging from this quote, Gene Chizik has decided to go with the detachment-from-reality route instead of unjustified arrogance, making Dan Mullen the most intelligent member of the class by process of elimination.

“I’ve been doing this for 23 years,” Chizik told the lunch-time crowd. “I’ve never been fired. I’ve never taken a job I sought. They’ve always sought me.

“I believed if you worked hard and did things right the opportunity would come to me. And in 23 years, I’ve never made a bad decision. I’ve never failed in this position.”