Friday morning buffet

Dig in, people.

• Phil Steele serves up the love for Aaron Murray and Georgia’s defense (!) this Saturday.  (Maybe that’s why he calls it his “Fantasy” column.)
• The Hat ponders moving Gary Crowton to the sidelines.  Mike Bobo can tell you how well that works, Lester.  On the other hand, it’s not like things could get any worse for LSU’s offense, right?
• Wow. Bryce Brown claims he saw Nu’Keese Richardson, Mike Edwards and Janzen Jackson in an elevator and became aware the three were “on their way to rob a convenience store” on the night of their arrests.
• Speaking of Junior’s success stories, “Andrew Luck and Stanford are favored by 10 points over USC this week, marking the first time the Trojans have been double-digit underdogs since September 1998.”
• Here’s a list of Georgia’s five all-time greatest players.
• “I don’t even know what that is…” Meet the college football passing efficiency stat.
• What can Georgia fix? Year2 tries to make sense out of what he saw in the Georgia-Colorado game.
• None of Tennessee’s top five players in the secondary weighs more than 190 pounds.

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All this, and more.

Georgia’s defense…

• struggles on the d-line
• struggles in the secondary
• struggles with focus and preparation

and yet manages to compare fairly well statistically with Alabama’s defense in Saban’s first season.

___                           ’07 Alabama___   Georgia (Current)               Georgia (EOY)
Points/game:                     22                                         21.6                                       21.6

First Downs:                      235                                        82                                         213

Rushing Yards/Play:      3.43                                    3.44                                        3.44

Total Rushing Yards:     1614                                   670                                        1742

Passing Yards:                 2877                                     952                                       2475

Total Offense:                     5.0                                         5.4                                       5.4

Interceptions/Yards/TD:   19/235/0                 5/44/1                             13/114/3

Fumbles/Recovered:        15/5                                         6/1                                     16/3

Opp. 3’rd Down Conv. %    40.39%                        42.86%                              42.86%

Opp. 4’th Down Conv. %:    61%                                      75%                                    75%

Opp. Red Zone Conv. %:     89.47%                        90.91%                              90.91%

Closing the barn door after the horse is long gone

Some well intended, but ultimately useless, commentary posted at the NCAA site by the commissioner of the Horizon League:

… The primary reason sports exist on university campuses is that it is intended to add value to the educational experience of the participants. Simply put, college athletics is supposed to be about an educational experience that focuses on competing, learning and serving. It is not primarily and was not intended to be an overtly commercialized enterprise that emphasizes brand, market share and TV ratings.

Talk to the hand, Mr. LeCrone.

… Boilermaker fans (or readers with a general cleat fetish) may want to head over to Purdue’s official website at some point in the next 32 hours, where they’ll find the opportunity to bid on a pair of size 14 Nikes worn by All-Big Ten defensive end/future first-rounder Ryan Kerrigan during the 2009 season. You know they’re real because they “feature many marks and scuffs authenticating them as game-worn,” and because Kerrigan autographed them. Early bidding for this small piece of one of your favorite players is only up to $175.

What’s that? You thought peddling memorabilia actually used by student-athletes in amateur competition was outlawed by the NCAA? Didn’t Georgia receiver A.J. Green just miss an entire month’s worth of games because he sold a game-worn jersey for some “extra cash” last January? Silly: It’s perfectly fine, as long as it’s the professionals at the school, the manufacturer, the retailer and the NCAA that profit from the sale, and not the impressionable student-athlete himself.

Honestly, I don’t know how these guys keep a straight face as they lecture us on the sins of commercialism.  As even LeCrone admits, “The NCAA, once primarily a regulatory outfit focused on enforcement and championships, now actively manages programs in revenue generation, branding, marketing, promotion and positioning the “Blue Disk.”” It’s just good bidness, right?  Especially if you can cut off competition from the very kids you both regulate and exploit.

Just how down are you?

CFN’s Brian Harbach writes something that strikes me as a tad hyperbolic.

… UGA has lost four straight games, the most recent loss to a Colorado team that will at best finish 5-7 this year. There is a decent chance that Boulder loss could end up being worse than Ole Miss’ loss to Jacksonville State… [Emphasis added.]

But maybe it’s just me.  So, I thought, this is a perfect opportunity to gauge your pessimism – it’s time for another reader poll!

As always, add your comments.