Oink.

During the Gator Bowl broadcast, viewers were treated to Mississippi State’s athletic director using a less than flattering metaphor in referring to Cecil and Cam Newton.

This year’s game should be a friendly meeting.

Jim Delany’s bad day

2011 did not get off to a roaring start for the Big Ten commissioner.   An 0-5 day tends to humble a man.  In Delany’s case, it was humbling enough for him for him to render praise to the SEC without a hint of sarcasm.

How far does the Big Ten need to go to catch the SEC, the league to which you’re most often compared?

JD: They’ve won four national championships in a row. That says everything to me. We’ve had some competitive success, but they have the edge. Until we beat them, they deserve the edge. Whether it’s in an individual contest or a conference contest, you test yourself against the best and you get measured. If you want to be .500 or if you want to win 70 percent of your games, you can schedule that. A lot of people do in September. What it really comes down to is how you play big games against great opponents on big stages.

Good thing Ohio State goes into the Sugar Bowl with its full contingent of players, all committed to the program’s future.

Yawn.

This is what I don’t get about the art of being an athletic director.  You get rid of a guy after realizing that the program has plateaued and the fan base has grown financially apathetic… and you replace him with basically the same kind of coach?

… Edsall ran a Connecticut program progressing from the F.C.S. to the F.B.S., from Independent status to the Big East; Friedgen didn’t inherit a powerhouse, but one could say that Friedgen had it easier at Maryland than Edsall did with the Huskies.

Of course, Edsall didn’t have to play in the A.C.C., which helps the bottom line. Yes, Maryland was more talented, but Connecticut played the likes of Rhode Island, Colgate and Northeastern over Edsall’s first handful of seasons. The bottom line: over a dozen years at Connecticut, Edsall posted a 74-40 mark; Friedgen went 75-50 over 10 years with Maryland.

Each went to one B.C.S. bowl — Edsall to this past weekend’s Fiesta Bowl, Friedgen to the 2002 Orange Bowl. This is how things work: much like it pays to suffer a loss in September than in December, Maryland looked at what happened yesterday, not nearly a decade ago.

Well, maybe Maryland didn’t take a close enough look: can you say that Connecticut’s 2010 season, B.C.S. bowl or no, was more impressive than what Friedgen’s team achieved this past season? Nine wins for Maryland — in the A.C.C. — and eight for the Huskies — in the Big East.

I have a blogger’s rooting interest in Mike Leach being a head coach again, but taking that out of the equation, how is this move supposed to inspire the Maryland fan base?

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UPDATE: Edsall told his (former) UConn players about his departure by conference call… a day after he made Jordan Todman get up and tell his teammates in person that he was leaving early for the NFL draft.  Real class, there.

Adding insult to injury

I got an e-mail on this, and also noticed that something appeared to have happened when I looked at the video summary of the Liberty Bowl at ESPN, but it’s apparent that Washaun Ealey received a lovely parting gift from a UCF player after the loss.

That explains the hostility.

Like most of us, Ron Franklin is contemptuous of sideline reporters.  Unlike most of us, Ron Franklin has the opportunity to express his contempt directly.

Longtime ESPN announcer Ron Franklin was pulled off ESPN’s Saturday Fiesta Bowl radio broadcast by ESPN executives after an incident involving the veteran broadcaster and ESPN-TV sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards.

Scheduled to work on the ESPN-TV broadcast of the Chick-fil-A Bowl Friday, Franklin and Edwards were part of a production meeting before the game that was also attended by ESPN announcers Ed Cunningham and Rod Gilmore. During the meeting, the subject of Gilmore’s wife Marie being elected Alameda (CA) mayor came up.

As Gilmore, Cunningham and Franklin discussed the subject, Edwards tried to join the conversation.

When she did, Franklin said to her, “Why don’t you leave this to the boys, sweetcakes.”

Edwards responded to Franklin by saying, “don’t call me sweetcakes, I don’t like being talked to like that.”

Franklin then said, “okay then, a–hole.”

After the meeting Edwards reported Franklin’s comments to ESPN management.

Pretty snappy comeback there.

I’m sure this will be compared to the earlier incident Franklin had with Holly Rowe which got him in trouble at the WWL, but the difference here is that this was an off-air incident.  Indeed, it’s a credit to the professionalism of Franklin and Edwards that there was no apparent on-air hangover from the incident during the bowl game broadcast.

Of course, it’ll be interesting to see how ESPN deals with Franklin, given its strong record in reacting to inappropriate comments by its broadcasters.

Back to you, guys.