Nice gig if you can get it.

I would have expected to read something like this on April 1st, because it sounds like a practical joke, but the Marietta Daily Journal dateline is August 25th.

“Rumors have been swirling in recent weeks over the Board of Regents and what is said to be a plan for some bold moves just before Gov. Sonny Perdue leaves office. As the storyline goes, Perdue — who is joined at the hip with UGA President Michael Adams — would consider being named by the Board of Regents as president of the University of Georgia at the end of his term. In exchange for the creation of an open seat via the resignation of Adams, Adams would then be in strong consideration to become the system’s new chancellor. Sound crazy? Well … so did borrowing $21 million in the middle of a world financial meltdown. But Perdue pulled that one off didn’t he?

“But wouldn’t the new governor decide those matters? Not if the constitution means anything. Of all the board’s current members, only one has a term that ends in 2010. In fact, most of the members have terms that last well into the next governor’s first term in office. If they are willing to risk not being reappointed by the next governor, they could pull off an Adams-Perdue move with very little difficulty…

Admit it.  You thought it couldn’t get any worse.

I wonder what Sonny’s position on playoffs is.

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There must be some way out of here…

This post has nothing to do with football (unless you get lost frequently traveling to games).  I just wanted to alert you to a story that I find truly surreal.

Getting into the nitty gritty of OSU

If you’re looking for some detailed, detached analysis of what Oklahoma State brings to the table this season, brother, the Intertubes have your back.

Start with these two posts at the excellent Missouri blog Rock M Nation:

• Preseason offensive preview
• Preseason defensive preview

What I get from those is (1) it’s a shame that Georgia’s not playing the Cowboy offense next year, when all of their studs are gone; (2) OSU had a much worse pass rushing defense than Georgia did last year; (3) there may be conditioning issues on the defensive side of the ball that Bill Young needs to shore up.

Burnt Orange Nation takes a look at the OSU defensive line in this post.  For all the focus in Stillwater on upgrading the pass rush, there’s something else a defensive line has to be able to do well – stop the run.  That bunch looks a little small, at least in comparison with what Georgia sees in the SEC in many games.  It’ll be interesting to see how those guys hold up to four quarters of pounding by a big offensive line and a big back like Samuel.

Yeah, but how excited will we be in the third quarter?

In 2009, Georgia fans are lucky in this regard, but as the Wiz points out, there’s a pathetic trend that’s developed with regard to the opening week schedule in D-1 football.

… The reality is that Week 1 is full of laughable matchups involving Division I-A teams chalking up easy victories against I-AA opponents. How bad is Week 1? According to data provided by Marty Couvillon of cfbstats.com, 38 of the 74 games (51.4%) involve I-A teams playing a I-AA opponent. It’s likely the highest number and percentage of such games in a week’s schedule since the NCAA adopted the divisional setup in 1978.

It’s the start of a new season, so I’m sure there’s an attitude among ADs that any college football action gets us going this time of the year.  But over half of the games against lower division schools?  That’s beyond lame.

Kiffin watch: we’re all sensitive people.

Is this something we really needed to know?

… But there’s also a private side to the new Volunteers coach. In a story in The Tennessean, Layla Kiffin explains what it is like be the wife of coach in Knoxville and how her husband is a lot more sensitive that (sic) his brash public persona.

“He’s got a really big heart. He’s a great dad. And, he’s got a really soft side to him. He cries in the girl movies.”

I’ll never be able to watch Sleepless in Seattle again without thinking of Junior.

If only the SEC were as flashy as Eddie George.

You know, I have to admit that the Heisman Trophy doesn’t exactly rock my world, but I respect the job that Chris Huston does covering that subject at his HeismanPundit blog.

It’s just that his blog would be a more enjoyable read if he could lay off his obsession with knocking the SEC at every turn.  This time, it’s about why the SEC hasn’t produced more Trophy winners than it has:

… What no one will talk about is that for most of the last 30 years, the SEC’s Heisman chances have been hampered by conservative, unimaginative, grind-it-out offenses.  Defense may win championships, but offense wins Heismans.  While other leagues were opening it up and putting up fancy passing numbers, the SEC (until recently) was content to run off tackle and play defense.  Players from the SEC may have had NFL-level talent, but they didn’t have the college production that players from other leagues had.

This explains why Florida State and Miami have had no trouble producing Heisman Trophy winners despite being located in the South, while the SEC as a whole has had just two–both from Florida teams with advanced offenses–since Bo Jackson won in 1985.

For real?  Take a look at the last twenty years of Heisman Trophy winners.  How many of those guys had resumes that were the result of cutting edge offensive schemes?  Five?  Fer Chrissakes, Ron Dayne won a Trophy.  In the last fifteen years, Ohio State’s had as many Trophy winners as Florida.

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UPDATE: Mr. Elkon adds a few choice thoughts here.

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UPDATE #2: HP clarifies his initial post in response to this one.  Evidently when he wrote about “advanced offenses” he didn’t mean cutting edge.  They’re just offenses in which “you’d better have guys who can throw the ball and put up numbers.  And if you have a great running back, he’d better get a lot of yards.” How can I argue with that?

By the way, before I get accused of it, I don’t think there’s a voter bias against the SEC in the Heisman balloting.  I just think HP’s reasoning here is inane.

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UPDATE #3: I’m starting to get bored with this, but in response to HP’s last comment –

GTP now mocks this rationale as ‘inane’, but if it’s not bias and it’s not lack of offensive production, what is it?

If you don’t gain a lot of yards, you won’t win the Heisman.  If a league has only one back in 20 years go over 1,700 yards and relatively few 3,000-yard passers compared to other conferences, what do you expect?

let me give two specific examples in rebuttal.

First, a player that HP dismissed in his initial post, Garrison Hearst.  Per Wikipedia,

Hearst attended the University of Georgia, and played football there for three years (1990-1992), leading the nation in touchdowns (21) and in scoring (11.5 points per game) in his junior year. During his career, he established new school and Southeastern Conference records for points scored in a season (126), total touchdowns (21), rushing touchdowns (19), and average yards per carry (6.8)*. Hearst was a consensus All-America selection, the Doak Walker Award recipient, ESPN‘s ESPY Winner for Outstanding Collegiate Athlete and SEC Player of the year in 1992. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting.

That’s third, as in two slots behind Gino Torretta.

Too partisan an example?  Then how about this one:

[Tim] Couch’s career totals at Kentucky included completing 795 of 1,184 passes (.671 completion rate) for 8,435 yards (including 4,275 passing yards during the 1998 season alone) and 74 touchdowns (including a 97-yard touchdown pass to Craig Yeast against Florida on September 26, 1998). Couch still holds the NCAA record for completion percentage in one game (minimum of 40 completions) at 83.0% vs. Vanderbilt (44 of 53) in 1998 and for completions per game (36.4, 400 in 11 games) that same season. He also left Kentucky holding NCAA records for most completions in a season (400 in 1998), most completions in a two-year period (763 in 1997-1998), most completions per game in a two-year period (34.7, 1997-1998) and career completion percentage (67.1%). His 1998 records of 4,151 offensive yards in a season, 377.4 offensive yards per game and 4,275 passing yards, stood as Southeastern Conference records for years after his departure.

Couch’s numbers his last season?  How about 430 for 601 (a 71.5% completion rate), 4611 yards passing and 38 touchdown passes?  He finished fourth in the Heisman balloting in 1998, behind such luminaries as Michael Bishop and Cade McNown.

There are plenty of other examples.  Those are just two I pulled off the top of my head.

So, to echo HP’s question, if his reasoning isn’t inane, what is it?

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UPDATE #4: OK, I lied.  Sorry, but I can’t resist pointing you in the direction of Michael Elkon’s follow up to HP’s second post.

We interrupt this Gator lovefest to bring you…

ESPN shows off its financial commitment to the SEC with the first episode of its SEC Weekly studio show at 4:30 PM today.  As you might expect, Florida and the GPOOE™ are the featured subjects, but at least there are a couple of bones being tossed our way:

… The inaugural show will also take a look at first-year coach Lane Kiffin and his Tennessee Volunteers, and the Georgia Bulldogs’ fifth-year senior quarterback Joe Cox. The show will also feature a profile on Georgia football legend Herschel Walker and women’s soccer player Carrie Patterson.