Wednesday brunch buffet

Umm, umm good…

• Chris Low says, “This signing class could be what puts Auburn over the top this season.” How reasonable an expectation is that in the SEC?
• And the final word from Arkansas on Hatgate – hey, don’t accuse us of being as over-the-top as some of our fan base is!
• John Pennington says Dawgnation shouldn’t read too much into Darryl Gamble’s comments about the coaching change.  I guess if Gamble had said the new coaches didn’t know what they were doing, that would have been significant.
• Once you get past the insults and craziness, Joe at Coaches Hot Seat Blog makes some good points about what’s wrong with the Coaches Poll.
• This general look at what’s involved in changing from a 4-3 defensive scheme to a 3-4 is worth a read, but some of the comments are hilarious.  Gallows humor is alive and well at Washington State.
• Poor ole Corch Meyers:  “Meyer said Tuesday his team’s abundance of highly rated freshmen is a challenge in Florida’s current recruiting efforts.” I’ll bet you there are over 100 head coaches who’d be happy to swap problems, Corch.
• Mark Richt updates the depth chart, sort of.
• Neat piece by Year2 at Team Speed Kills about the end of first time national champs in college football.
• I don’t know about you, but I’d like to see A.J. Green’s momma give Mark Curles a piece of her mind.

Mid-majors musical chairs – maybe?

BYU is rumored to be entertaining the notion of leaving the Mountain West Conference to become a football independent and a member of the WAC for all other sports.

Of course, if we are to believe the official Twitter feed (yeah, I know) of Colorado State, it’s a done deal.

If true, that certainly qualifies as a weird development.  In fact, it’s hard to see who comes out a winner in this.

• BYU. The big question, of course, is what are they thinking?  The Mountain West is on the verge of obtaining a coveted AQ slot in the BCS.  BYU as an independent doesn’t have a shot in hell of obtaining that.  If the BYU brass has convinced itself that it can cut a Notre Dame-type deal with the BCS, I want some of what they’re smoking.  The only short-term gain I can see for the program comes if it turns out BYU can cut a deal for broadcast rights on its own that’s more lucrative than what it gets from the MWC.  And my guess is any immediate advantage to be gained there is likely to be offset from the revenue the conference would have gained with the automatic BCS slot.
• Mountain West. They can kiss that slot goodbye.  The conference could have survived Utah’s jump to the Pac-10 with the arrival of Boise State, but losing its two biggest attendance draws and one of its big media markets is a different story.  And you’ve got to figure TCU is in play now; if the Horned Frogs leave, that very well could mark the end of a conference that was on the verge of scoring a very valuable concession from college football’s powers.  That’s one fast fall.
• TCU. What a screw job.  You’ve got to feel for Gary Patterson, who’s played the long game on the BCS as a means of vying for a national championship and was on the verge of seeing that come to fruition.  Now that’s all about to blow up.  Although I’m sure it will be courted, it’s likely that there aren’t many palatable choices the program will be able to choose from.  It doesn’t draw well enough in football (nor is it particularly strong in other sports) to be an attractive candidate for a BCS conference.  It can stay in a weakened Mountain West and probably ensure that conference’s survival for the moment, but for what gain in the end?  Not that moving to, say, Conference USA does much to help, either (other than to gain a bunch of in-state rivalries).
• Boise State. I have this picture in my mind of a person going up on an escalator, full of excitement about the party at the top… only to see everyone at the party suddenly going past, riding the down side.  Bummer.
• Orrin Hatch. If anything, this strengthens his resolve.  The Catholics get a special financial arrangement from the BCS, and the Mormons don’t?  Like the Ground Zero Mosque (or however they’re demagogueing that today), this cannot stand.

Never a dull moment.

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UPDATE: The Wiz fills in some of the blanks here.

“Those other cats, they have to slay their own dragons.”

From a great Mike Leach interview with Richard Deitsch at SI.com, you gotta love this:

SI.com: Have you soured on college football?

Leach: No, not at all. Even at Tech, there was a lot of great years. In the 10 years I was there, a lot of the disruption was the revolving door. Tech is a school that has both a Chancellor and a President, and in 10 years we had three chancellors and five presidents. And I got along with two chancellors and four presidents, which I think is pretty high, really.

Pretty good batting average… although he didn’t take a swing at this fastball:

SI.com: Can an analyst who is involved in litigation with a school be objective about a school’s football team?

Leach: I think they can about the team, certainly. Anything that I had going did not involve the team. There are a couple of administrators at the top who had agendas of their own, and bottom line wanted to save money to the extent where they have not even paid me for last year. So I think that’s on them and not the team. When I was there I thought we had the best fans in college football and it was the most prosperous 10 years Texas Tech ever had. We won more bowl games than Texas Tech had in all the rest of their history combined. We had the highest graduation rate of any public institution in America for the last two years of any Top 25 team. I think there was a lot to be proud of for our players, our fans and our coaches who contributed to that. Those other cats, they have to slay their own dragons.

The cool response would have been, “I think that’s a better question for Craig James.”

Investigative journalism at its finest

For once, I can understand why Urban Meyer treats the local media with contempt.

… When asked about it [Renee Gork’s firing] following Tuesday’s practice, Meyer said he wasn’t aware of the situation and asked for some details.

“What did she do? Wore a Gator hat?,” Meyer said.  “I don’t get it. ”

When reporters gave him a thorough explanation, Meyer responded: “It’s really hot outside.”

Yeah, the weather.  Outdoors.  As in, “maybe you assholes ought to go check that out.”

Women weaken legs!

Just ask Derek Dooley, who needs every excuse in the book he can lay his hands on these days.