Talking more of those Georgia is doomed in 2010 blues

Did you know that Georgia will start an inexperienced player at quarterback this coming season?

As David Hale points out, that’s not exactly out of character for the SEC as a whole.

… Ryan Mallett, in his one-and-a-half seasons as a starting QB at the college level, has more career touchdowns than the bottom eight players on that list combined. Oh, and he’ll miss the spring with an injury.

Even in years past, there has at least been a clear-cut top of the SEC QB depth chart, but this season, not one passer in the league has more than a year and some change as his team’s starter.

That lack of experience shows up dramatically on the road, where the above listed QBs have a combined record as starters of 12-17 — and that record is bolstered by a 6-0 mark from Greg McElroy and Morgan Newton. The supposed class of SEC QBs, Mallett and Stephen Garcia, meanwhile, have a combined record of 1-9 in opposing stadiums.

The non-conference quarterbacks the Dawgs will face don’t bring any more to the table (except for Nesbitt’s running ability):

Georgia’s non-conference slate includes:

— Josh Nesbitt, who rarely throws and lost his only big-play receiver to the NFL

— whoever starts for Idaho State and ULM

— Tyler Hansen, whose career numbers at Colorado (55% completions, 9 TDs, 8 INTs) fall in line with what UGA is going to see around the SEC

David thinks that Garcia may be Lakatos’ biggest challenge this year, but I think that game presents even more of a test for what Grantham and Belin can get out the linebackers.  In any event, it looks like there are plenty of quarterback coaches besides Mike Bobo who’ll need to earn their pay in 2010.

Advertisement

“Texas had options.”

I can see where Michael Elkon wanted to go with this analogy, but he realizes that he can only take it so far.

… Let’s say that Colorado went to the Pac Ten and Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas joined the Big Ten. At first glance, that would leave Texas in an eviscerated Big XII. However, the Horns would still have options. One suspects that the SEC would jump at the chance to add Texas along with Texas A&M or Oklahoma, as would the Pac Ten.

That, it turns out, is probably the glue that’s holding the Big XII together right now.

… Basically, the Big 12’s formula for distributing its football television revenue is: 50 percent divided equally among the schools, the other 50 percent based on appearances.

Which means Texas, OU and Nebraska will reap more than Baylor or Iowa State. In 2008, the difference between the largest payout (Texas) and the smallest payout (Baylor) was approximately $2.7 million.

That might seem grievous, considering the economic prosperity of leagues that share media revenues equally (SEC, Big Ten, National Football League). But the current system was necessary to formation of the Big 12 in the mid-’90s.

“It’s the foundation upon which the conference was formed,” said UT athletic director DeLoss Dodds. “It’s not something going to be changed easily.”

Changing would require a vote of 9-3, and while the topic pops up every few years, a Big 12 school would be foolish to vote for change and risk losing Texas to another conference. Change it now, and the Longhorns might scram before sundown.

When the Big 12 was formed, “Texas had options,” said then-OU athletic director Donnie Duncan, who with Dodds put the league together. “Those options haven’t changed.”

Nope.  In fact, they’re probably getting ready to be enhanced.

He acknowledged talking about a shared TV network possibility with both the Pac-10 and Atlantic Coast Conference. The proposal would also allow Big 12 schools a chance to maximize individual TV revenue. Think a possible Longhorn or Cornhusker cable network, for example.

“I don’t think you can come out and say, ‘We’re going to do a traditional deal or we’re going to do a network deal,’ ” Beebe said. “I think we have to be open to all possibilities.”

It’s good to be the king.

You can only do so much with a linebacker recruit at quarterback.

Either that, or Scott Loeffler really was chopped liver last year.  Remember all the great things that were predicted for the GPOOE™ last season?  Loeffler was going to make Tim Tebow into a new man.

… Having one of Tom Brady’s formative influences on the staff can’t be bad, but Loeffler’s presence isn’t just a matter of name-dropping association. Loeffler is a top flight qb coach who won’t just work on Tebow’s reads and footwork, but will also build in some new pro-style patterns into the speread option. Tebow has to evolve as a qb, and that’s not bad news, as it means he could possibly be better in 2009 with the right framework.

So how did that whole hope-and-changey thing work out?  Swimmingly.  From the horse’s mouth:

“But there are things that I can get a lot better at — my fundamentals. I’ve never been asked to shorten or quicken my release and not have a loop in it. [Emphasis added.] The changes I’m making have gone very well and it’s becoming more and more natural to me.”

Urban Meyer is the P. T. Barnum of college football.  It’s amazing that the press doesn’t call him more often on outright BS like that.  I guess they’re too worried about their seating arrangements.

************************************************************************

UPDATE: Hey, at least they had a big meeting about it.

… Of course, the question the critics will ask is this: Couldn’t UF coaches overhaul Tebow’s motion while still winning national titles? According to those close to the UF coaching staff, Meyer, incoming UF quarterback coach Scott Loeffler and Tebow himself conferred on this very question when Loeffler replaced former QB coach Dan Mullin before last season. Their conclusion: It was too risky.

Tuesday morning buffet

Grab that plate, campers, and dig in.

• Mike Hugenin points out that it’s not a good thing when your starting quarterback is out for spring practice.  Great line:  “Mallett struggled last season against good defenses. Given the state of Arkansas’ defense, he would not have gone against a good defense this spring.”
• Georgia ranked as the eighth best program of the past decade. Not bad for a regional power.
• Texas Tech raises ticket prices.  Who knew Tommy Tuberville had that kind of cachet?
• Zooker to Illinois fans:  It’s not me; it’s you.
• So how do black assistant coaches go about increasing their chances to get ahead in the college ranks?  The findings from this study may surprise you a little.
• Georgia’s rushing numbers improved in the wake of Moreno’s departure.
• Which again reminds me – what is it about Georgia fans and Matt Stafford?
• David Hale makes me a little nervous about the offensive line.

Less derrieres in the seats in 2009

The NCAA has published attendance figures for college football’s 2009 season, and, surprisingly, SEC attendance fell slightly from the previous season, despite the fact that Mississippi State led all Division I schools in average attendance increase from 2008 (+10,339).

The culprits for the slide?

• Tennessee, down 2,228
• Alabama, down 126
• Auburn, down 2,301
• South Carolina, down 5,160
• Arkansas, down 3,628
• Vanderbilt, down 3,445

No doubt there are a variety of reasons for those figures, with the economic downturn being the most significant, I would think.  (As for the rest of the conference, Georgia was unchanged, Florida, Kentucky and LSU were slightly up and Mississippi had a healthy bounce of about 5%.)

Overall, it was the first drop in overall attendance for college football in five years.