Why it is so easy to mock the NCAA.

Georgia gets hit with two serious sounding Level I secondary violations due to (1) Mark Richt giving out his phone number and (2) not knowing how to use his cell phone correctly.

The fact that Georgia isn’t going to be penalized for this isn’t a feature, either.  Why have the stigma if there are no consequences?

The NCAA rulebook makes the IRS tax code look simple.

Did Richt jump or was he pushed?

Ah, the happy talk commences.

… The overhaul of the Georgia football team was a slow one. Rather than a Saturday night massacre, it happened in piecemeal fashion, one change at a time. Almost all the players left with a push; after a 6-7 record, a low-key housecleaning was taking place.

“I felt like it was building up (the last few years), and it was time to happen now,” junior tight end Orson Charles said. “Last year we had a couple people who didn’t want to follow, and they were still on the team. My freshman year they were still on the team. And this year, I guess Coach Richt said, ‘No, not this year.’ ”

Departures aside, I give Richt credit for presiding over a quiet offseason in Athens.  But ultimately how much of the credit is he entitled to take?

… Richt said earlier this summer that players have realized there was a connection between the on-field losing and off-field problems. It was also clear that athletics director Greg McGarity and school president Michael Adams gave Richt their own nudge about the behavioral issues. McGarity, hired just before last season started, quietly urged Richt to clamp down.

A couple of running game “did you know?”s

First, take heart, Georgia fans:  recently, very highly touted freshman running backs do trend towards being good first-year contributors for their teams.

Second, would you have guessed this?

… Last year the Vols were the SEC’s worst rushing team. They averaged less than 2 yards per attempt in eight league games.

It’s hard to imagine that a team was worse than Vanderbilt in any offensive category last season.

The Addazio effect

In one year, John Brantley managed to go from being the second best quarterback in the SEC to the fourth best quarterback in the state.

Is the world catching up to Paul Johnson’s triple option?

Good teams seem to be figuring something out.

… In fact, the numbers are trending downward. In 2008, Georgia Tech went 3-1 against ACC opponents with a .500 record or better and only 2-2 in 2009. Last year the numbers were even worse as the Jackets went only 1-3.

So do teams with a chance to prepare.

… Since Johnson took over at Georgia Tech in 2008, the Yellow Jackets are 21-6 when teams have one week of practice or less to prepare.

Compare that to a 5-8 record against FBS opponents that had more than a week to prepare. Making matters worse, Georgia Tech is 0-3 in bowl games under Johnson, having been outscored 80-24 in the three contests.

Throughout his tenure the Yellow Jackets have averaged 3.0 rushing touchdowns per game when facing a team with a week or less of preparation. That number drops more than half of a rushing touchdown (2.3) in games against teams with more time to prepare.

They score significantly fewer points when teams have the extra prep time, averaging 23.0 points per game in such contests, compared to 30.7 in all others.

There’s some overlap between the two, certainly.  But that still doesn’t bode completely well for the Jackets in 2011.

This season, Georgia Tech has three games (NC State, Virginia, Virginia Tech) in which its opponents will have more than one week to prepare for the Yellow Jackets. With Georgia Tech, Johnson is 3-4 against those three teams.

Luckily for Johnson, there may not be many other ACC teams with above-.500 records his team will play.  But those two trends indicate that October could turn out to be a tough month for Tech.