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The evolution of a bug into a feature

And if the coach breaks a few secondary rules along the way, so what? Did anyone make him stop recruiting those players? He knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s pushing the envelope to its limits and until the NCAA pushes back harder than a slap on the wrist, he knows the Vols will get their recruit more times than not.

from “Kiffin is crazy — like a fox”, Mark Wiedmer, Chattanooga Times Free Press, February 19, 2009.

I really am amazed at how quickly this whole contempt for secondary recruiting violations thing has taken off.   And it’s certainly not just a creation of Junior’s, either.

But this Andy Staples’ column indicates that we’re already entering into the next stage, one in which secondary violations aren’t merely ignored, but are embraced:

… The secondary violation has become one of the best recruiting tools in a coach’s arsenal because, thanks to an insatiable media, every secondary violation that comes to light offers a massive publicity boost. Auburn, a program most of the nation ignored after coach Gene Chizik‘s offseason hiring, got a small bump from its completely legal tactic of sending assistant coaches to high schools in stretch limos during the spring evaluation period. But after Big Cat Weekend and the potential violations that have kept the story alive, Auburn is getting name-checked across the country.

Unless the NCAA stiffens the penalties for these violations, it may behoove programs in need of buzz to commit them. [Emphasis added.]

Holy Mother of Crap, that’s twisted.  Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around the concept that deliberate rule breaking – in some cases, on a repeated basis – is somehow something positive for a football program to project.

If that’s really the current state of affairs, I don’t see how the NCAA can’t step in and put some teeth into enforcement.

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Glory days

The Sporting News’ Matt Hayes interviews Steve Spurrier.  There are no great revelations, but it’s still kind of sad to see the OBC embrace mediocrity the way he has:

Q: Do you feel now, after four years, that it might be a lot harder to get South Carolina to the top of the SEC than you first thought?
A: We’ve won 28 games the last four seasons here. That’s the best four-year run in our school’s history…

Rank the home schedule

Over at Eleven Warriors, Jason has a post up that’s too good not to steal from.  So I thought I’d take a similar look at Georgia’s 2009 home schedule through the lens of the marketplace to get an idea of how Dawgnation currently ranks the quality of the games.

Via StubHub, here’s how we value things right now, from most desirable to least (I took an average of the price ranges, with one exception, as you’ll see):

1. LSU
2. South Carolina
3. Auburn
4. Arizona State
5. Kentucky
6. Tennessee Tech

(I tossed out the high end of the Kentucky range, as somebody is clearly tripping by offering two tickets in Section 129 for $1177 each.  The prices drop into the $500 range if you remove that outlier, which I’ve done.)

That actually looks about right to me.  Your thoughts?