The meme picks up speed.

It’s getting to the point where any burp in the world of college football can only mean one thing:  Mark Richt is on the hot seat!

Today, we get this six-degrees-of-Mark Richt story:

By negotiating a contract extension for athletic director DeLoss Dodds beyond August 2011, the Longhorns retained an invaluable resource in an uncertain college landscape.

In the process, the talk of Mack Brown moving into the athletic director’s office by 2011 stopped. So did the speculation that head coach-designate Will Muschamp would then take over on the Texas sidelines…

… Expect considerable hand-wringing from Texas fans about keeping Muschamp. Remember Tennessee’s off-season pursuit? Concern is justified.

Three prime coaching spots could come open by December – Florida (where Urban Meyer’s health remains a question), Georgia (Muschamp’s alma mater) and LSU (where Muschamp was once defensive coordinator). Each would be attractive.

By December, hmmm?  I guess I can look forward to plenty of blog traffic this winter.

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War Damn Saliva

Spencer Hall is getting plenty of Intertube acclaim for his sabotage suggestion, and deservedly so, but, jeez, after looking over the list of official options, it could be argued that he’s doing Auburn fans a favor.

For a school that’s justifiably proud of one of the best pre-game moments in college football…

… that’s some sad music there.

Well, no wonder.

Before you get too excited about Athlon giving Georgia its preseason fifteenth-ranked blessing, you might want to check out its version of the Dawgs’ 2010 schedule.

Sept. 4	UL Lafayette
Sept. 11	at South Carolina
Sept. 18	Arkansas
Sept. 25	at Mississippi State
Oct. 2	at Colorado
Oct. 9	Tennessee
Oct. 16	Vanderbilt
Oct. 23	at Kentucky
Nov. 6	Idaho State
Nov. 13	at Auburn
Nov. 20	Georgia Tech
Nov. 27	Northwestern

I’m just pissed off I have to cancel my plans for Jacksonville this season.

The lighter side of expansion

Amidst all the sturm und drang roiling college football now with regards to conference expansion/rejiggering, there are still a few giggle-worthy moments worth your attention.

For example, the sounds of silence you hear from Nashville and Stillwater are those of doors not being knocked on.

Vanderbilt’s top athletics official said he would be surprised if the Big Ten approached the school about switching conferences despite a report saying that was an option.

So would Jim Delany, I suspect.

Prominent Oklahoma State booster T. Boone Pickens believes his alma mater should stay put in the Big 12.

Speaking at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, Pickens said Wednesday that he doesn’t think Oklahoma State should move to another conference “before you’re required to make that decision.”

Because the Cowboys, no doubt, are overwhelmed with more offers to move than Texas.  Maybe T. Boone is worried about a hostile takeover of the Big 12.

And he probably should be, because based on this tweet from Rock M Nation, conference commissioner Dan Beebe just received the proverbial kiss of death.

Craig James says Dan Beebe is “the right guy” to combat conference expansion. What’s the opposite of “QED” by chance?

Meanwhile, even a move that makes sense – Boise State moving to the Mountain West – is the subject of some nicely set up mockery from Brian Cook.

The new conference would be guaranteed a BCS bid for the single year of its existence, at which point the Pac 10 and Big 12 will tear it limb from limb and keep the shiny bits to themselves. But 2011 will be cool.

With that, humor hour ends.  We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming of angst and unfounded speculation.