Gee, thanks, ESPN.

For some unknown reason, game time for South Carolina has been set at 4:30 pm.  Just lovely.

I can’t remember another game at Sanford which started in the late afternoon like that.  Anybody else know?

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UPDATE:  Oh, yeah.  There was a previous South Carolina game with an odd start time.

@TravHaney I'd forgotten about that. It was 5:45 in 07.

— ABH Sports (@abhsports) June 2, 2011

If Nike designed a playing field…

this is probably what it would look like.

Holy Mother of Crap, that’s hideous.

Why are Big Ten coaches concerned about SEC recruits?

Here’s the thing that bugs me with all the overwrought hand wringing about SEC oversigning:  if reform is supposed to be about doing the right thing for student-athletes and recruits…

Oversigning has embarrassed the SEC, and while some of the coaches are loathe to let go of a competitive advantage, the ADs and presidents seem to understand that strengthening the rules on this particular issue won’t dilute the quality of the football in the conference that has won the past five national titles. “We need to protect the kids,” Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin said. “We’re the biggest and the best conference around. We need to be leaders.”

… then why should the following matter to the SEC?

Coaches in the Big Ten would argue the proposal doesn’t go far enough. Coaches in the Big 12 — where half of the schools are chronic oversigners — probably would side with their colleagues in the SEC West, where everyone oversigns. Coaches at schools that only occasionally sign more than 25 when a need arises probably would side with Dooley.

Fine for me, but not for thee.

You’ve got to love how college coaches whose compensation has benefited at least partly by the level of NFL salaries can embrace a rookie pay scale without batting an eye.

As Barry Alvarez puts it, ‘‘(t)hat’s just good business.’’

Miley Cyrus always brings me down.

Dawg fans, you should appreciate this.

Harvey Updyke and the cowbell compromise

I’m not sure which offends me more – that Mississippi State invoked the Toomer’s Corner poisoning in defense of its fans’ flouting of conference rules on artificial noise or that the strategy seems to have worked.

Disillusionment’s bitter tears

Someone is very, very disappointed with Mark Richt.

… Richt missed a golden opportunity to be regarded as the second coming of Bobby Dodd and we are moving him out of the list of people against oversigning.  It would have been perfectly acceptable for Richt to say that the same thing Muschamp said today, but instead Richt went back on his previous stance by saying he’s okay with oversigning as long as everyone knows what’s going on up front.  We have always had a lot of respect for Mark Richt on this site for his previous stance on oversigning — it would have been nice for him to take a stand, publicly, in front of his peers.

“We don’t over-sign,” Muschamp said. “That’s a policy we have at the university. We’ve been successful, so it’s not an issue for us.”

http://www.alligatorarmy.com/2011/6/1/2200334/will-muschamp-at-sec-spring-meetings-day-1

We’ll be moving Muschamp to the “against oversigning” list.

With that in mind, it’s worth mentioning that Richt and Muschamp both voted in favor of maintaining the signing class limit at its current level of 28, along with every other coach in the conference.

“Value”? I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Remember WAC commissioner Karl Benson’s reaction to Jim Delany’s bitch slap?

“The BCS has provided greater access,” Benson said. “Look at 120 schools, 11 conferences and to establish opportunities for those student-athletes. To play on the big stage, we’ve been to the big stage. …

“The problem,” Delany interrupted, “is your big stage takes away opportunities for my teams, to play on the stage they created in 1902.”

Responded Benson: “I think the group of five (non-automatic qualifying BCS conferences) has established value in the last five years.”[Emphasis added.]

Your conference has a funny way of showing that, Karl.  As of this season, no school in the WAC boasts a 2010 home attendance average over 20,000.

Things ain’t exactly looking up for the WAC going forward, either.  Unless you think Texas-San Antonio is an attendance fireball.

So you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance.

Steve Spurrier still can’t bring himself to say it about Stephen Garcia.

“I think one [more suspension] and he’ll be finished,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said of his senior quarterback.

“I think”?  Garcia is the Edwin Edwards of college football.