Stewart Mandel’s “wow” factor

Do they not have the Internet in Montana?  Because otherwise, I’m at a loss to understand this Stewart Mandel status report:

… What began as a quarterback derby in Athens has devolved into a quarterback panic. Redshirt freshman Murray, ranked only behind USC’s Barkley and Texas’ Garrett Gilbert in Rivals.com’s 2009 quarterback rankings, will take over the reins this fall just as Georgia fans always imagined. But the Tampa native didn’t exactly wow observers this spring. In fact, classmate Zach Mettenberger finished spring on even footing, if not slightly ahead of Murray.

Contrast Mandel’s “even footing, if not slightly ahead” with Mark Richt’s recent announcement of the post-spring depth chart.

“We see Murray ahead of Logan right now,” Richt said. “It’s just a matter of, on a consistent basis, [Murray] performed better than Logan at this point. That’s really all there is to it. It’s the usual things -– accuracy, decision-making, those types of things.”

After briefly hesitating, Richt answered the inevitable question of whether Murray would have been No. 1  even if a third quarterback, Zach Mettenberger, had not been kicked off the team on Sunday. The answer, Richt said, is yes.

“I’m not out to hurt anybody worse than they may have been hurt to this point,” Richt said, “but Aaron would have been the No. 1 quarterback.”

Those aren’t even close.

But what does Richt know?  He’s only a coach, not an observer.

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“They know what 17- and 18-year-old men want and what gets them excited.”

I posted something last year about a disturbing trend in college football recruiting – that secondary violations were becoming something to take a certain degree of pride in as a promotional device for programs.

So I hear an echo in Trooper Taylor’s voice about the NCAA rule change regarding Tiger Prowl.

… [Gene Chizik] was in town Monday to participate in the Montgomery Auburn Club’s annual barbecue banquet. He spent plenty of time answering questions about the NCAA’s latest rule, and Auburn should consider it a badge of honor.

Assistant coach Trooper Taylor indicated as much last week, saying “we must be doing something right” when the NCAA begins restructuring its policies to undermine Auburn enterprises.

On a certain level, I understand the sentiment.  But there’s something sort of questionable about envelope-pushing like this, particularly when it sounds like Chizik intends to keep looking aggressively for a new edge and when he cites Big Cat Weekend as a success.  Then again, it’s Auburn.  What could possibly go wrong?

Giving me the willies

It’s not the fact that Mike Hamilton “ran into Lane and Layla” the other night that bothers me.

It’s that people are following Mike Hamilton’s Twitter feed that does.

Four dead in Ohio

Today is the fortieth anniversary of the Kent State shootings.

There’s an article out that interviews three of the football players on the 1970 team, one of whom is Nick Saban.

Nick Saban, then a Kent State freshman, now is a national championship coach at Alabama. Four decades later, he can still remember students lying on the ground and ambulances rushing away.

“I’d never seen anybody shot before,” he said over the phone Monday. “Even though I didn’t see them shot, I saw them after they were shot.

“It’s a horrible thing. There’s not a May 4 that goes by that I don’t think about it. Really think about it.

“Forty years seems like a long time. But it doesn’t seem that long to me.”

It’s worth a read.

You spin me right round, Jackets, right round…

Tech Nation is having a tough time letting go of the postponement of the Alabama-Georgia Tech series, particularly in light of Mal Moore’s comment that the decision came at the request of Tech’s AD.

“Their athletic director (Dan Radakovich) contacted me and said they wanted to postpone the series and we were willing to work with them,” Moore said. “We do want to resume the series at some point in the future, but we did not work out any dates at this time.”

So the spin has been fast, furious and creative.

From The Hive, we learn that it’s ESPN’s fault.

That’s topped by this post, though, in which we learn that the games were postponed because of  – get ready – pending SEC expansion.  In fact, we’re assured there that “… Tech & the SEC have already been in contact to gauge preliminary interest between the two parties.”

The things you can learn on the Intertubes.

I’m surprised nobody’s blamed Obama yet.

Tuesday morning buffet

Plenty of offerings.  It’s not banned in Valdosta, either.

• This came out of nowhere:  CFN, in its (by its own admission) ridiculously early bowl projections, puts Georgia in the Orange Bowl.
• A meme gets legs:  “Now, Farrell said he’s talked to recruits that have been told by other schools in the SEC that Richt’s job is in jeopardy after this season.”
• Matt Hinton dissects one of the dumbest expansion rumors out there.
• How do you write a story about the Geathers family without a single with almost no mention of Georgia?
• With regard to that silly post at Tomahawk Nation about LeMay and the Georgia program, I played the picador to Kyle’s matador.
• I predict right now that this becomes a bigger story as the year goes on.  And that Bill Hancock is going to sound like an idiot about it.
• Head coaches may come and go, but it’s good to see that some things never change at the University of Tennessee.
• How hard is it for people to understand that the NCAA doesn’t control the D-1 football postseason?  This post is stupid, even by Bleacher Report standards.