Stacy Searels, I take back every nice thing I said about you.

This explains a lot.

… Jones was a freshman in 2008 when he blocked for Knowshon Moreno, who could make a three-yard gain for what might have been a two-yard loss for another tailback.

“I know my freshman year when I was blocking for him, they just told me to cover somebody up,” Jones said. “Don’t even worry about moving him because Knowshon will make you right. Now we really take pride of getting him off the ball and making it easier for Isaiah so he’s making his cut four yards down the field instead of at the line of scrimmage. That’s big for a running back. He knows he’s got four yards from the get-go. Then he can make a move, and hey that’s seven or eight off the pop. That’s always nice to have for him.”  [Emphasis added.]

As a run-blocking scheme, that doesn’t work so well once Moreno is gone, of course.

I’d call that half-assed coaching, except I may be giving too much credit.  How about three-quarters-assed coaching?

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Doubt this ends pretty.

Bruce Feldman has left ESPN for CBS.  With that, I suspect we’re going to start hearing about where some of the bodies are buried in the Leach/James affair, like this nugget:

“They knew about it,” Feldman says of his work with Leach. “They benefitted from my access. They put me on ‘SportsCenter’ multiple times the day he got fired.” Feldman even went so far as to tell ESPN’s lawyers that Leach had documents that could eventually lead to his bringing legal action against the network. “I specifically told them that he had proof that he was going to sue ESPN. I said, ‘You guys are going to have a problem here and I’m connected to this and you need to figure this out.’”

If Leach’s suit ever sees a courtroom, it’s going to be riveting.

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UPDATE:  Riveting, I tells ‘ya.

… When contacted by SI.com this afternoon, ESPN spokesperson Mike Soltys offered the following about Feldman’s interviews this morning: “We have significant disagreements with his account,” Soltys told SI.com. “Beyond that, we are not commenting.”

Said Feldman: “If ESPN has issues with this, we can all put our hands on the Bible and sit and go under oath about what was said and what was not. Regardless of what ESPN says, Leach is suing them. Whatever my involvement is here, it will come out. I’ll be put on the stand.”

Your obligatory “keys to the game” post.

I think it’s mandated in the College Football Bloggers Handbook that you have to do one of these posts for the first game of every season.  Since I’m on record as saying this Georgia team is a complete mystery to me right now, it’s the only reason you’re seeing this.

If you want the lengthy version, OBNUG‘s as good a place to start as anywhere.  (Although about those SEC officials – if you Boise State fans hear the name “Penn Wagers” announced, start high-fiving each other.  It’ll be a good night for you on the officiating front.)

Me, I’m keeping it simple.  For all the talk about what’s on the line for both schools, about the two quarterbacks, about Crowell’s debut, I’m going to stick with two keys.

The first is line play.  I don’t think Georgia has to be dominant on the lines to be successful Saturday night, although that certainly wouldn’t hurt.  But it does have to hold its own there so that Murray and Crowell have a chance and so that the linebackers can lead the defense to improve on last year’s abysmal third-down showing.

The second is psychological.  As Barrett Sallee puts it,

Georgia’s season and Mark Richt’s job do not – I repeat DO NOT – hinge on the outcome of the Boise State game. As a matter of fact, as long as the Bulldogs don’t get blown out, and figure some things out in the process, the game will serve as a nice primer to the SEC season, which begins in earnest for the Bulldogs the following week between the hedges against South Carolina. With that said, if Georgia gets in a hole early, look out! The culture of losing crept into Athens last year, which is a dangerous thing for any football team. If Georgia doesn’t come out looking sharp against the Broncos, the wheels could come off really quickly, and that’s not good news for anybody in Athens.

If I’m Boise State, I’m doing everything I can to throw that early knockout blow.  If Georgia starts to doubt itself, this game will be over soon after.  On the flip side, if Georgia can weather the early storm (watch those turnovers, fellas) and find itself in no worse shape than a close contest after the first quarter, I like the Dawgs’ chances as the night wears on.  Overall, they’re more physically talented and they’re deeper than the Broncos.  They’ll be in the game as long as their heads are.

Let’s hear what you guys think.

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UPDATE:  Doug, you ignorant slut.

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UPDATE #2:  Similar thoughts at OTA.

“I really believe competing against each other has made both of them better.”

I notice the OBC failed to mention Florida’s 1997 season here:

… When Spurrier hears criticism of his decision to rotate quarterbacks, he points back to his Florida days when the Gators won SEC titles alternating between Terry Dean and Danny Wuerffel and later when Rex Grossman and Jesse Palmer took snaps.

Yet shifting around quarterbacks hasn’t worked quite so well at South Carolina.

Spurrier switched between Blake Mitchell and Chris Smelley in 2007 and neither really established themselves in a 6-6 season.

He also refused to pick a starting quarterback between Garcia and Shaw before last year’s opener.

Then he was criticized for yanking Garcia after two fourth quarter fumbles in last year’s 35-27 regular-season loss to eventual national champion Auburn. Shaw came in and ended two promising drives with interceptions. Shaw didn’t see meaningful playing time the rest of the season.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I have a hard time believing Spurrier has given Garcia a fifth pass just to gin up a little extra competition at quarterback.  But I have to admit if anybody’s arrogant enough to do it, it’s Steve Spurrier.

I hope he is.  As much as South Carolina has going for it on paper, wrecking the confidence of his quarterbacks would be just the way to derail a promising season.  It’ll certainly be something for us to watch in Week 2.

Thursday morning buffet

Fill up and then settle down tonight.

• Would the SEC go ahead with a 13-team conference schedule next season?  John Pennington’s compromise suggestion makes some sense if it comes to that.
• The most overrated program of the last decade is… (Hint:  “Rocky Flop”).
• Why don’t they just cut to the chase and name an ESPN exec as Big 12 commissioner?  (h/t The Wiz of Odds)
• “I will do anything.”  (h/t evan)
• Yeah, that Florida real estate market is really in bad shape right now.
• Hello, Isaiah.
• Brandon Smith and Bacarri Rambo were at yesterday’s practice “getting all the reps”.
• This is why you should always be skeptical about preseason happy talk.

Pomp and circumstance

The preseason is OVAH, my friends.  We’ve suffered long enough.

This clip should bring a smile to your faces.  For all the right reasons.

(h/t David Caple)