Well, now it makes sense.

I’m gonna miss those futile up the middle runs on third-and-fifteen.

Carlton Thomas is suspended for at least the first game of the season.

The rising junior from Frostproof, Fla., violated team rules back in the spring, three persons familiar with the situation confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. As per Georgia Athletic Association student-athlete policy, Thomas has to sit out 10 percent of scheduled games this season.

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In case you need a laugh this morning…

This has absolutely nothing to do with college football.  At least I hope it doesn’t.

(h/t The Agitator)

Two sides to every Egg Bowl

You get the impression that Houston Nutt and Dan Mullen took very different approaches in preparing for their first two face-to-face meetings?

First, the Nuttster:

Marcello: In the past you said it took some time for you to fully realize the importance of the rivalry with Mississippi State. Will you approach the game differently this year?

Nutt: When I was at Arkansas, it was nine out of 10 times we had beaten Mississippi State. When we got here, the first year it was a 45-0 (Ole Miss win). Nobody said much about it. The last two years have not gone our way, and so there’s been a lot of talk on the other side. You just sit and you learn each year.

We really tried to make it very important last year. That is one of the biggest games of the year, and when you have that rival – Ole Miss-MSU in the Egg Bowl – it’s something very, very special. Our players know that and I think our coaches know that.

Compare that with Mullen:

Marcello: Last year after the Egg Bowl, you said, “We’re never going to lose to this team again.” You stand by that?

Mullen: That’s the plan.

Marcello: What if Ole Miss beats you this year? How will you react?

Mullen: We better work an awful lot harder next year. I’ll be honest with you, I don’t ever plan on losing to them. Hopefully I never have to come up with that scenario.

Before he came to Ole Miss, Nutt coached many years at a school that didn’t have a natural conference rival.  It sounds like it’s taken some time for him to realize how to prepare for that kind of game.

No silver lining

The one good thing I thought we could take from the Richard Samuel move in the short term was that Grantham felt comfortable enough about linebacker depth to give his blessing to giving up one – specifically, that there was nothing to worry about with regard to Jarvis Jones’ eligibility.

So much for that.

… Grantham is treating the Jarvis Jones situation the way he would an injured player. Georgia and the NCAA are looking into Jones’ connection to a former AAU coach, and his status for the start of the season could be in question.

Jones is the first-teamer at the “Sam” outside linebacker spot.

“We’re gonna prepare at every position as if the guy that’s the first team player is the guy, and then if he goes down then he’s the next guy. We’re always gonna have guys in place,” Grantham said. “(If Jones can’t play) we could move a guy around, it could be a guy who’s here now, it could be a freshmen.”

That Dream Team had better be one loaded bunch.

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UPDATE:  Ben Dukes sees things differently.

… And as for those who see the situation with Samuel being akin to those of Brandon Miller and Kiante Tripp, I have to say – coaches must always do what is best for the team. If Kiante Tripp had been an incredible Defensive Lineman or Offensive Lineman, he wouldn’t have been moved around so much. Had Brandon Miller boasted an amazing skill set at either DE or OLB, he would have lived at one position for 4 or 5 years instead of bouncing around. As a RB two years ago, Samuel was not the best on the roster. He was younger, more immature than those around him. He was moved to LB to shore up numbers there… but other roster moves (additions of transfers, moving players, signing new LBs) have increased the depth at that position greatly. So, the coaches have to do what is best for the team. At LB, Samuel could easily get lost in the shuffle. At RB, he may once again have a chance to be a real difference maker.

I like Ben’s blog a lot, but I’ll be honest with you – I don’t find that convincing.  No question that coaches have to do what’s best for the team and that shoring up depth goes with the territory, but so does talent evaluation.  It’s not position movement per se that’s troublesome here; it’s the repeated bouncing around from spot to spot that does.  (That’s what makes his Brandon Miller example different from Tripp and Samuel.  It’s also why Tripp’s name became a Lexicon entry.)

I hope the Samuel moves works out for all parties concerned.  And I know Samuel says this time it’s permanent.  But if Crowell fully lives up to expectations and there’s a rash of injuries at linebacker, is anyone going to be surprised if there’s speculation about moving Samuel again?

Class assignment

So in the vast scheme of things, is it more important for Boise State to win the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff, or for Georgia not to lose it?

Discuss.