Quick shots from Pundit Corner

Bad news for Mark Richt – Stewart Mandel has given up:

… I’m done defending embattled Georgia coach Mark Richt. Even with star receiver A.J. Green back in the lineup (and making ridiculous, falling-down, one-handed catches), the Bulldogs couldn’t even beat hapless Colorado, falling to 1-4 with a 29-27 loss. Caleb King’s fumble in the final two minutes cost a shot at a possible game-winning field goal. “It’s bad luck, man. Nothing’s falling our way,” said Green. It’s going to take more than luck for UGA to avoid a losing season.

You know what they say:  when you’ve lost Mandel, you’ve lost Montana.

Meanwhile, Dennis Dodd proves once again he’s got the best research staff in college football reporting.  Taking a shot at the Coaches Poll (nothing wrong with that), Dodd tweets this:

Trouble for the shady credibility of the coaches’ poll. NMSU coach Walker says asst handles ballot. Yikes.

One little problem with that.  As Jerry Palm notes:  “he doesn’t vote. lol.”

D’oh!  It’s a trap!

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“What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is a-goin’ on here?”

If a picture is worth at least a thousand words, these two shots from a Matt Hinton post would make a novella.

First, the thrill of victory:

Then, if there’s ever a photo to go with the “deer caught in the headlights” entry in the Cliché Dictionary, it’s this one:

That is just too painful for words.  Even a thousand of ’em.

Kiffin watch: not going according to plan

“I don’t think teams are intimidated to play us because we’re not playing well.”
— USC coach Lane Kiffin

Sounds like it’s time to say or do something outrageous.

Up to the challenge

For those of you who are skeptical that, even in a year like we’re seeing in Athens, changing assistant coaches has little immediate positive impact on a team’s performance, I give you this.

There may not be crying in football, but there is booing.

I hope Mark Richt’s right about this, but I sort of fear he’s waving a red cape in front of a bull when he says,

“We can’t sit around and cry about it because if we do, we’re really going to be in trouble,” Richt said. “There’s a lot of history of both these teams being ranked when we play and now we’re both sitting there without a win in the SEC. A little bit different circumstances for both teams, but a very important game for both of us.”

A Georgia loss would send the Bulldogs to their first 1-5 start since 1905.

Richt said he’s not concerned with fans turning on the Bulldogs or his players being affected by negativity.

“I think it’s a minority of fans who will really come out and be horribly negative with our guys and this coaching staff,” Richt said. “I think the majority of our fans are true blue and they’re going to support us no matter what because we’re their team and they love the team.

“Walking off that field at Colorado, I thought the fans that showed up there were phenomenal before, during and after the game. … Everybody’s disappointed, but I don’t see many fans getting real nasty.”

I think that theory is going to be tested Saturday.  I remember the crowd at the Auburn ’99 game.  At the time, I didn’t join in, but I didn’t cringe, either.  Mike Bobo’s got a chance to play Kevin Ramsey, especially after the fifth time he sends Carlton Thomas to run between the tackles.  Trust me, Coach, it’s not company you want to keep.

I got your mitigating circumstances right here.

You want to know why Marcell Dareus got two games shaved off his suspension and A.J. Green didn’t?  Dareus had somebody to give up.

Former University of North Carolina associate head coach John Blake called Alabama defensive lineman Marcell Dareus this summer and lobbied for him to consider employing agent Gary Wichard, an Alabama source confirmed Sunday.

Dareus reported the information to the NCAA when it interviewed him during its investigation into violations of improper benefits received by Dareus and players at several other schools, including North Carolina.

It’s just like watching a suspect get sweated in a Law and Order episode.

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UPDATE: Weslye Saunders, don’t you know it’s the guy who speaks first who gets the best deal?

Yo, Vinnie’s not a college football fan.

There’s an interesting Marist Poll out about football viewing habits.  Regionally speaking, interest in college football is pretty consistent throughout most of the country, except in the Northeast, where it’s clear that they could care less.

No wonder the Big East is rumored to be chasing TCU.

By the way, I know we think the college football hot house we inhabit is somehow representative of the larger world around us, but that ain’t so.

54% of U.S. residents are college football fans.  This includes 12% who watch college football a great deal, 10% who enjoy a good amount of it, and 32% who say they follow it a little.  46% do not watch college football at all. [Emphasis added.]

Orrin Hatch, take note.

(h/t Jonathan Chait)

SEC Power Poll, Week 5

I don’t think there’s any question at this point in the 2010 season that from top to bottom, the SEC West is far superior to the East.

1. Alabama. A 25-point evisceration of Florida by a team which offense was described by Gary Danielson as having lost interest during the second half is, well, scary.
2. Auburn. Pretty much a process of elimination pick this week, but Phil Steele’s preseason call that two undefeated teams would meet in the Iron Bowl stands a respectable chance of happening.
3. LSU. Technically, the Tigers lead the SEC West today.  Yeah, I know how sorry they looked on Saturday, but this team is undefeated against a five-game slate of BCS conference-only opponents.  The quarterback situation is killing them, though.
4. Arkansas. Another process of elimination pick.  The Hogs played Alabama closer than Florida did, so here they go.
5. Florida. They’d rank higher with a healthy Jeff Demps, but he ain’t and they don’t.
6. South Carolina. If they want to win the East, a win Saturday night would be a huge step towards that.
7. Mississippi State. Big drop from sixth to seventh.  They haven’t lost a game they shouldn’t, so that makes them the kings of the lower tier for now.
8. Vanderbilt. They probably don’t belong here, but that win against Ole Miss still retains just enough of a cachet for me to rank them ahead of the Rebels one more week.
9. Ole Miss. They can score, but they can’t stop anybody.  Still, they’ve got a conference win, which is more than you can say for the bottom feeders in the East.
10. Kentucky. We’ll always have Kentucky. We didn’t have; we lost it until they came to Oxford. We got it back last Saturday.
11. Tennessee. There’s no place for moral victories in a power poll, Vols.  You have a great chance to fix that this Saturday, though.
12. Georgia. You could have made a lot of money putting down a bet in the preseason that the loser of the Georgia-Tennessee game would be the only team in the SEC without a win over a BCS conference opponent at the mid-season point.