Kiffin watch: not the legacy they had in mind, but a legacy nevertheless

Somehow, this surprises me not in the least:

… The first source said Tennessee expects to receive a letter of inquiry from the NCAA in the near future. As part of a broadened inquiry, the NCAA is expected to interview other former Vols coaches, including Kiffin, about recruiting methods at Tennessee, including the timing of coaching staff contacts with high school players, a source said.

Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton declined to comment on the nature of any ongoing investigation but said Friday: “It’s been publicly acknowledged that the NCAA has followed up on allegations related to our football program last fall. We have not received a letter of inquiry and can’t comment any further at this time.”

Tennessee acknowledged it committed at least six secondary violations during Kiffin’s tenure. The NCAA said the large number of secondary recruiting violations could warrant classification as a major violation.

One source said “a ton of people” have been interviewed regarding Tennessee’s recruiting methods, including recruits who signed with Tennessee to play for Kiffin.

Vol fans, just remember to tell yourselves it’s all part of the plan.

Consistency, thy name is Adelson.

I thought you guys might get a kick out of Andrea Adelson’s ESPN.com post about the coaches poll top 25, or at least this excerpt:

Overrated: Florida, Texas, Virginia Tech. We listed reasons for the over-ranking of Florida and Texas. Now to the Hokies, who are at No. 6. It seems expectations are too high for the Hokies every season. Yes, they return a very talented RB duo and Tyrod Taylor at QB, but the defense only returns four starters and the schedule is brutal. This seems a bit high for a team that has averaged three losses over the past six seasons.

Overrated, Part II: Penn St. at No. 14 and LSU at No. 16. Penn St. lost lots of defense and has uncertainty at QB; LSU has a great defense, but everybody is waiting on Jordan Jefferson to step up. This was also a team picked to finish fourth in the SEC West in the preseason media poll.

Notice a name missing there?  You would think a school which she ranked #64 on her own preseason list would be a no-brainer overrated at the coaches’ #21.

Maybe she’s really impressed with the news that came out of the first four days of fall camp.

Maybe the problem is that Jacksonville isn’t far enough away.

Phil Steele notes that Georgia has the second-best road record in all of college football over the past decade.

Interesting choice of words

In reflecting on Chris Rainey’s good-riddance-to-last-year’s-bad-attitude-Gators comment, Chris Low writes this:

… OK, maybe it is a cliché. But in the Gators’ case, they genuinely believe it.

They also believe that last year’s team, as good as it was and as talented as it was, might have had a God complex about it.

God complex, hunh… wonder where he might have gotten that impression from.

Cracking the case wide open

No doubt you’ve heard about certain enterprising Georgia fans getting caught bypassing the normal process for obtaining tickets to the October 2nd game against Colorado.

Note that I typed “enterprising”, not “bright”.  (h/t The Wiz of Odds)

Dave Plati, spokesman for the athletic department, said it was obvious that Georgia fans were the culprits in the ticket scam. The first giveaway: Some e-mail addresses used to buy tickets included terms like “UGA” or “Dogs.”

‘Ya think?

Friday morning buffet

Varied, if not necessarily nutritious.

• It’s good to know that the Dawgs found something humorous about last year’s game in Knoxville, since I didn’t.
• On top of everything else, Mike Hamilton evidently has no fashion sense.
• Julio Jones overrated?  Hey, I didn’t say it.
• Colorado picks up a Southern Cal refugee.
• Marc Weiszer looks at Georgia’s offensive options at tight end.
• The Big Ten decides not to freeze its collective ass off at its first championship game.  Wusses.
• Belated congratulations to the 2008 Washington State Cougars, the worst team in conference play in the BCS era.
• How much is 2001 like 2010 for Mark Richt?  Doug Gillett counts the ways.

First week lines

CFN has the betting lines for the first week of the season.  Here are a few numbers of interest:

• Georgia is a 25.5 point favorite over ULaLa (by the way, when did they start referring to themselves simply as “Louisiana”?).
• Vegas thinks it’ll be a fun week for the SEC, as every team in the conference but one is favored in its opener, from ‘Bama getting 39 against San Jose State to LSU’s -1.5 against North Carolina.  Vandy is the only underdog, against Northwestern.
• Favored in a runaway to win the Big East, Pitt is a three-point underdog at Utah.  Hmmm…
• Rice is only getting 28 points against Texas?  Unless the Owls’ defense is much, much better, they could be down by 28 at halftime.
• I’m not sure I want to touch Oregon State getting thirteen at TCU.
• Or Boise State giving three against Virginia Tech.

Preseason Coaches Poll: throwing darts against the wall

It’s the usual grab bag that comes from lazy thinking and no real world results to base an analysis on:

2010 preseason poll
Rank	Team (first-place votes)	2009 record	Points	Final 2009 rank
1.	Alabama (55)	14-0	1,469	1
2.	Ohio State (4)	11-2	1,392	5
3.	Florida	13-1	1,245	3
4.	Texas	13-1	1,240	2
5.	Boise State	14-0	1,215	4
6.	Virginia Tech	10-3	1,052	10
7.	TCU	12-1	1,051	6
8.	Oklahoma	8-5	1,035	NR
9.	Nebraska	10-4	1,001	14
10.	Iowa	11-2	952	7
11.	Oregon	10-3	940	11
12.	Wisconsin	10-3	778	16
13.	Miami (Fla.)	9-4	728	19
14.	Penn State	11-2	508	8
15.	Pittsburgh	10-3	492	15
16.	LSU	9-4	476	17
17.	Georgia Tech	11-3	455	13
18.	North Carolina	8-5	445	NR
19.	Arkansas	8-5	438	NR
20.	Florida State	7-6	374	NR
21.	Georgia	8-5	312	NR
22.	Oregon State	8-5	263	NR
23.	Auburn	8-5	260	NR
24t.	Utah	10-3	169	18
24t.	West Virginia	9-4	169	22

• Post-Tebow Florida at number three jumps out a bit. So do three Big 12 teams in the top nine, particularly offensively challenged Nebraska at nine.
• Boise State-Virginia Tech game is definitely the  first week heavyweight matchup.
• Why is FSU at number 20?  I guess for the same reason Arkansas is at number 19.  (And wouldn’t those two have made for an entertaining early season pairing.)
• I am shocked, shocked at the absence of Notre Dame.  Charlie Weis, you really damaged the brand.

All in all, count it as an endorsement for the Mumme Poll’s insistence on withholding a vote until after Week Six is in the books.

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UPDATE: For what it’s worth, USA Today provides thumbnail sketches for each of the top 25 teams here.