Sunday morning buffet

It’s been approved by a high-ranking SEC official.  Trust me on this.

• The top 55-paid government employees in the state of Washington are either coaches, administrators, professors or other staff at state universities.  At least the coaches don’t cost the taxpayers any money.
• Mike Gundy is a sensitive soul.
• Mike Bobo and Will Friend like what they see out of the first team offensive line.
• Derek Dooley’s got the problem of balancing work against the risk of injuries.
• Dan Shanoff takes yesterday’s hot issues of SEC expansion and playoffs and cooks up this gem.
• You think Todd Grantham is happy about Jarvis Jones’ situation being resolved?  “What do you think? Put yourself in my shoes and what would you think?”
• While a little overstated, Jeff Schultz makes a fair point about hypocritical financial priorities in a world of NCAA amateurism standards and conference expansion news.
• If you’re Isaiah Crowell, it’s not easy being a rock star in Athens.

Elsewhere in the world of college football hyperventilation…

Those who weren’t losing their shit yesterday over SEC expansion found another ball to pick up and run with:

Athletic directors of the newly expanded Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences found consensus on a “plus-one” football national-championship proposal at meetings early this week that could signal movement toward a revamped Bowl Championship Series.

Now the Times went on to note that the consensus didn’t even amount to a recommendation, but that didn’t stop folks like Dan Wetzel from letting visions of playoff sugarplums start dancing in their heads.

Of course, reality struck shortly afterwards.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany on Saturday told the Tribune that conference athletic directors do not favor a “Plus-One” playoff system.

Delany termed a Seattle Times story reporting a pro-playoff “consensus” among Pac-12 and Big Ten athletic directors as “erroneous,” and Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott called it “incorrect.”

The Times got similar feedback in its followup.

The problem the ADs are struggling with – reducing the role of the Rose Bowl in years when it doesn’t host a national championship – doesn’t seem insurmountable to me.  Where is it written that the first round of games have to be hosted by the bowls?  Why not play the semi-finals at the home fields of the highest ranked seeds?  You cut down on fans’ travel expenses, promote a real incentive for playing hard in non-conference games and leave the current significance of the bowls intact.  It’s not that hard a concept to flesh out.

Besides, when Playoff PAC gets done, there may not be any bowls left to host games.

How many high-ranking officials does the SEC have?

The Sporting News quotes “a high-ranking official from the SEC” who says that SEC presidents’ meeting which Pete Thamel reported would take place today will in fact not occur.

So the SEC is leaking like a sieve on this.  Which means that either Mike Slive is about to burst a blood vessel or two, or else he’s having a great time jacking the media around.

What’s interesting is that both stories are similar on one major point.

… An SEC source told SN that SEC presidents would have no interest in adding a 14th team from a state in which there is already an SEC team. That would eliminate Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech as potential expansion targets.  SEC-team Kentucky might not be opposed to Louisville joining the SEC, however.

Louisville, hunh.  How mediocre a 14th school is Texas A&M worth?

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UPDATE:  Score one for Pete Thamel.

“The SEC Presidents and Chancellors met today and reaffirmed our satisfaction with the present 12 institutional alignment. We recognize, however, that future conditions may make it advantageous to expand the number of institutions in the league. We discussed criteria and process associated with expansion. No action was taken with respect to any institution including Texas A&M.”

Your move, TAMU.  The SEC’s lawyers have spoken.