Wednesday lunch buffet

Dig in, folks.

• If you’ve got questions about Coach Tereshinski’s goals as the S & C coach, go talk to Arthur Lynch.
• Expect to see this story get waved in our faces over the next week.
• ESPN‘s Edward Aschoff puts two Georgia offensive linemen on his SEC division all-star team.  The only other school that gets the same treatment is Alabama.  (By the way, the issue with eating at the Varsity ain’t about getting bloated.)
• The Zooker sure can pick ’em.
• See if you can spot the Freudian slip here.  (My apologies – and admiration – to Low if that was a deliberate pun.)
• Shakin the Southland runs an analysis of SEC football attendance from a Clemson perspective.
• Check out Georgia recruit Quayvon Hicks’ new trim.  (h/t Bryan Fischer)
• Hard to believe, but Georgia played a road game against VMI, of all schools, in 1966.
• This is hugely good news for Tennessee.
• And kleph charts SEC offensive and defensive red zone production.  Mike Bobo comes off pretty well.

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Follow the money, my ass.

Included in Andy Staples’ sad but true guide to avoiding NCAA sanctions is this gem:

5. Plausible deniability is your greatest ally

Butch Davis’ name doesn’t appear in the NCAA’s notice of allegations against North Carolina despite what appears to be widespread corruption in the football program. That’s because Davis — as far as we know — built enough walls to keep himself from getting tarred. Young assistants, remember this and you’ll go far. The head coach never meets the money guy. He never meets the handler. He never meets the agent runners. All business is conducted through assistants and lower-level employees. That way, no one can count phone calls between the coach and the handler on phone lines whose records are public because of state open records laws. We know exactly how many times Tressel corresponded with Terrelle Pryor’s handler, Ted Sarniak, and we know exactly how many times Oregon’s Kelly called or texted Lyles. Head coaches, whatever you do, DON’T SEND THE HANDLER A HANDWRITTEN NOTE THANKING HIM FOR “ORCHESTRATING” SOMETHING. I’m looking at you, Chip Kelly. Follow this rule, and you can escape a scandal by sacrificing an assistant or an athletic department employee. Just remember the sacrificial lambs always must get paid…

Remember, institutional cluelessness isn’t always a state of mind.  Sometimes it’s a deliberate strategy.  Not that we should expect the NCAA to be able to tell the difference.

No wonder that mountaintop gets sort of lonely.

Mark Richt is one of three coaches who have a chance to reach a milestone this season – 100 wins as an SEC head coach.  What’s interesting about the company he could join isn’t that it’s a relatively small group (thirteen at present), but that the accomplishment hasn’t translated into more job security.

Check out that list.  There are more coaches there who got sacked than you might expect.

If perception is reality…

perhaps that’s because some are too bloody lazy to ask why.

… My problem is the fact that schools like UGA and UT wind up looking worse in the public eye for doing the right thing and complying with open records laws in the proper way. There should be a reward for such activity, but instead those schools are the ones singled out by national media and bloggers just because the information being discussed simply isn’t made available at other institutions.

But no one mentions that, meaning the problem is a lack of awareness. Most people don’t understand (or care about) the way information is passed along by SEC schools, so they also don’t know what information is not being passed along.

So be sure to remember this the next time a fan of another SEC school ribs you about some kind of minor violation being reported at Georgia.

Make them an offer they can’t refuse.

It’s no secret that many find the NCAA dysfunctional.  It’s bad enough that even the organization itself knows something needs to be done soon to get its act together.  (As to what that something is, we’re still waiting to hear.)  The question I’ve got is whether the natives are beginning to get restless.  And this shot across the bow fired by Jim Delany makes me think that perhaps some are.

… Simmering in the background is speculation that failure to find common ground now could lead the 60-some richest and most prestigious programs — all powered by football — to break away to conduct their affairs as they see fit.

Starting with the Big Ten’s Jim Delany and Southeastern’s Mike Slive, who run the colleges’ two dominant conferences, officials insist that’s not on any agenda. “Don’t blame structure,” Delany says, “until you have a group of core presidents, athletic directors, commissioners and coaches who are willing to embrace real change” and are shot down.

“At that juncture,” he says, “then I think it’s fair to look at how else you get it.”

We’re moving closer to the day when Delany and Slive, plus those who choose to align with them, threaten to take their ball home if the NCAA doesn’t embrace what they want.  (And if you don’t think they’re already in the process of making a list and checking it twice, you’re more clueless than Mark Emmert.)  Can the mid-majors live with what the big boys want?  Stay tuned.

Kiffin watch: leaving a mark

With the passage of time, Junior’s legacy at Tennessee has become even more impressive.

Lane Kiffin's only recruiting class at Tennessee had 22 signees. At least 9 have been arrested at least once.

— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) July 5, 2011

Less than half of Lane Kiffin's 22-man Class of 2009 is still on Tennessee's football team.

— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) July 5, 2011

Don’t you love “at least 9” “at least once”?  I guess it’s difficult to be precise.

Damn, I miss him.