At least they’re outdoors.

Ray Drew toughs it out.

Freshman Ray Drew, who hasn't played much, on how close he's been hanging near Todd Grantham during games: "If he farts, I can smell it."

— Seth Emerson (@SethEmerson) October 4, 2011

We’re getting dangerously close to the realm of too much information here.

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The Mumme Poll returneth!

GTP and Third Saturday in Blogtober are pleased to announce that the best fan-based college football poll on the interwebs (probably because it’s the only fan-based college football poll on the interwebs) is back for its fourth season.

Those of you who are MP veterans don’t need an explanation of the hows and whys.  Those of you who are unfamiliar with approval voting and what we’re trying to do with the Mumme Poll should start here.  (It’s okay; we’ll wait for you.)

The basics haven’t changed from last year.  Every voter will cast a ballot for the ten best teams in the country and a designation for the nation’s best team (the latter is used purely for tie-breaking purposes so that there’s always a clear-cut #1 in the poll results.)  The votes are tallied and the school receiving the most votes is ranked first.  The rest of the standings are also determined in the order of total votes received.  Other than the tie-breaker, you do not place your selections in order, as that’s what the total tally is for.  There will be a vote after every week left in the regular season, starting with the games of Week Six, and there will be a final vote after bowl season finishes.

And the Mumme Poll is a fan poll, not a blogger poll (not that those two characterizations are mutually exclusive).  We welcome the participation of any college football fan.  From anywhere – this isn’t just for Georgia fans, or SEC folks.

Here’s what has changed:

• Most importantly, the Mumme Poll has moved to a new place.  If you bookmarked last year’s site, get rid of it.  This year’s home is here.
• As you can see when you click on the link, registration is now open.  Follow the directions in the upper left corner of the site and you’ll be good to go.  Registration will remain available until noon on Saturday, so you have plenty of time to sign up.
• Please make sure you give us a viable e-mail address, as Tide Fan has gone to considerable effort to make sure we have a working e-mail reminder/notification of every week’s vote that will be sent out to you.
• We are extending the period to vote out an additional day.  You will be able to cast a vote until Tuesday midnight EST every week.  That should give us all more time for thought and discussion.
• As for the vote-gaming problem we had last year with Auburn and Oregon, Tide Fan has come up with a few new monitoring wrinkles that we’re hopeful will let us crack down on the offenders to everyone’s satisfaction.  (It won’t hurt if we hear from you about that, either.)

As always, we use a vote after Week Five to test things out and make sure we’re completely operational.  Those of you who register before Wednesday morning should receive an e-mail notification that the site is open for voting.  Those of you who do, please go and cast a ballot.  We don’t really care which schools you vote for this week and the results won’t be published.  We just want to see if the site works correctly.  (And, yes, even if you don’t vote, you can still register through Saturday morning.)

This remains a labor of love for us.  Other than playing it straight, the one thing we ask of everyone who wants to take part is that you stick with us for the season.  Tide Fan (who deserves a major pat on the back for all the offseason tweaking he’s done) and I have made adjustments to make the poll vote more user-friendly than it has ever been, so be friendly, user.

If I’ve missed something here, or if you’ve got any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to raise them in the comments.  We’re looking forward to having you all along for the ride again this year.  Jump onboard.

Was he or wasn’t he?

Unfortunately, the video evidence isn’t convincing one way or the other on that Crowell touchdown run that wasn’t about whether he stepped out-of-bounds:

Two impressive cuts to get into the end zone, though… especially that first one, where he undresses Nickoe Whitley.  No wonder #5 needed to relieve himself afterwards.

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UPDATE:  Richt thinks the run was legit.  Not that there’s much he could have done about it at the time.

“If I had to do it again, I would have challenged it or at least asked permission to challenge it but the answer might have been the whistle blew,” Richt said

Richt said he will talk to SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw today.

Upon further review, MSU edition

One observation and one dumb question after watching the replay:

• I’m almost embarrassed that I didn’t mention Jarvis Jones in yesterday’s post.  Mea culpa.  My excuse is that it really takes watching the broadcast to appreciate fully what he’s brought to that side of the ball this year.  He’s the Swiss Army Knife of Georgia’s defense:  run support, pass coverage, rushing the quarterback are all things he’s asked to do.  He’s the best player Grantham has at his disposal and if he’s not seriously in the mix for all-SEC at the end of the season, it’s either because he’s gotten hurt or because there are a bunch of folks who aren’t paying attention.
• Could one explanation for Georgia’s sudden second-half offensive malaise be staying in the no-huddle while in clock-burning mode?  It’s got to take something out of the linemen in particular having to stay in their stances while everyone looks to the sideline for what seems like an interminable amount of time.  (On the other hand, it’s only fair to mention that the Dawgs did grind out a five-and-a-half-minute drive in the fourth quarter which chewed up a lot of clock at a key time even if it didn’t result in a score.)  I don’t sense that the players feel comfortable with that combination, but maybe that’s just me.

Random morning etiquette question

If Florida and Notre Dame faced off in a bowl game this season, what would be the over/under on the number of f-bombs thrown by the head coaches during the game?

Bonus question:  what would it be if Penn Wagers’ crew were officiating?

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UPDATE:  Here’s what calm, cool and collected looks like (h/t The Wiz of Odds).

SEC Power Poll, Week 5

Two hard questions this week:  Which school is the SEC’s third best? And does anybody care?

1. LSU (5-0, 2-0).  I don’t think this week’s Tyrann Mathieu/Jeff Driskel match up is going to work out too well for Florida.
2. Alabama (5-0, 2-0).  C’mon, Tide fans.  You know this is just an academic exercise until November 5, anyway.
3. Arkansas (4-1, 0-1).  Once again, the Hogs are looking like a very, very good Conference USA team.
4. Auburn (4-1, 2-0).  The Tigers have raised winning ugly to an art form this season.
5. South Carolina (4-1, 2-1).  You’ve made your bed, Steve Spurrier, and now you get to lie in it.
6. Florida (4-1, 2-1).  Florida’s Bataan Death March of an October gets off to a painful start.
7. Georgia (3-2, 2-1).  Rulers of the state of Mississippi.  Now it’s on to Tennessee.
8. Tennessee (4-1, 0-1).  Cupcake time is over.
9. Mississippi State (2-3, 0-3).  Can you say overrated?  I thought you could.
10. Vanderbilt (3-1, 1-1).  No bye-week bounce for the Commodores.
11. Mississippi (2-3, 0-2).  A win as a road underdog to a WAC school may not sound like much, but it’s still a better week than Kentucky had.
12. Kentucky (2-3, 0-2).  Has it reached the point yet when a win over Vandy would be considered an upset?