Ain’t too proud to beg.

Dooley the Younger would have us believe that he doesn’t really care if his defensive coordinator stays or goes.

… That said, if somebody on his staff wants to leave, Dooley isn’t going to stand in their way.

“I’m not going to beg a guy to stay, because I got thousands of ’em right behind him waiting for their job,” Dooley said.

Thousands.  Man, it must take him forever to weed through resumes.

No fair counting message board posers, though.

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Random mid-day question

If Mike Leach really does become Maryland’s next football head coach, will they ever play on Thursday nights?

A toker’s guide to college football programs

Let’s hear it for the University of Florida, which has a five-strikes-and-you’re-out policy regarding positive testing for recreational drug use (only three other schools are as lenient).  Wonder how that fits in with The Florida Way.

Consider the source.

I know all of you will be shocked, shocked to find out that Nick Saban and sports agents have wildly varied advice for college juniors who are considering a decision to come out early for the NFL draft.

Special.

A.J. Green wants to let us in on a little secret.

Receiver A.J. Green expects a huge sophomore season from quarterback Aaron Murray.

How big?

“He’s going to be something special,” Green said. “He’s probably going to be up for the Heisman next year.”

I know what would help there, A.J.

Early Liberty Bowl thought

There’s a nice post over at cfbstats.com about which quarterbacks got off to the best start on their team’s opening drives this season.  If you saw the graphic CBS posted during the SECCG, it’s no surprise that Cam Newton leads the list, but I’m more impressed right now with the fifth name there, UCF’s Jeff Godfrey.  Here’s the line that the next quarterback Georgia faces has compiled in his (true!) freshman season: 21 for 28, 263 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs and a 189.26 passer rating.  It’s that last stat which ranks fifth nationally on the list.

Those numbers ain’t bad, particularly for a true freshman.  They show he’s got some skills and an offensive coordinator who does a good job scripting opening series.  Given Georgia’s defense’s track record during opponent’s opening drives this season, that has the potential to lead to an anxious moment or two early on.

Pass me that bottle.

One thing suddenly dawned on me after reading this quote from Mark Richt about how Orson Charles’ game developed this year in response to a certain mid-season development.

“I think A.J. showing up helped,” Richt said. “Any time you’re here and A.J.’s there, he’s going to get some attention and create more space down the middle of the zone where tight ends tend to work. But I think there came a time when he quit focusing on that part of the game and played hard and let the chips fall where they may. That seems to have worked out for him.”

The Liberty Bowl Drinking Game!

It’s easy.  Every time one of the announcers comments on how A.J. Green’s return to the lineup after four games positively benefited some aspect of Georgia’s offense, take a drink.  Every time the analyst mentions how A.J. forces the safeties to play differently, take a drink.  Every team either mouth intones about how a defensive coordinator has to account for A.J. on every single play, take a drink.

Luckily, Bob Davie isn’t part of the broadcast team.  You’d have to buy an extra case if he were and you wanted to play.

Let the hair splitting commence.

I’m sure I’ll get a hundred indignant reasons why this is totally irrelevant to the Georgia-Florida game, but it turns out that over the last five years the team which has to travel the greater distance to a neutral site bowl game wins more than fifteen percent of the time.  Quite a bit more, in fact.

In the coming college bowl season, San Diego State plays in San Diego, Hawaii makes the long hike to Honolulu from its main campus in Manoa, and Maryland might as well take the Metro to its game at Washington’s RFK Stadium.

But all that shouldn’t discourage teams like Tulsa, Boston College and Stanford, all of which will trek more than 2,500 miles for their final games. In 163 bowl games over the past five years, the team that was forced to travel farther is 83-80.

Just sayin’.