Throwing his sword in the ring

In case you were wondering, yeah, Mike Leach is interested in the Ole Miss opening:

“I haven’t heard from anybody, but I’m not too hard to find,” Leach said. “It’s a great job. I’m sure the (Ole Miss) administration has a certain individual it is looking for, and I’m sure they’ll find the right guy.”

Not that it’ll happen.  I expect that Mississippi winds up doing something just as bold and provocative as Maryland did.  Ask the Terps’ fan base if that’s worked out well so far.

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UPDATE:  Nutt thinks Leach is an option worth considering.

On Brando, Nutt says next coach will have to do something 'a little' different on offense, points to former TT HC Mike Leach.

— Patrick Ochs (@PatrickOchs) November 8, 2011

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It’s not enough.

The New York Times is reporting that Penn State is in the planning stages of terminating Joe Paterno’s coaching career “perhaps within days or weeks”.

Oh, and how’s this for a profile in courage?

Paterno was to have held a news conference Tuesday but the university canceled it less than an hour before it was scheduled to start.

They need to raze the administration to the ground.

Derek Dooley condones underage drinking.

Just kidding.

In case you didn’t follow Tennessee’s game against Middle Tennessee last Saturday – and, let’s be honest, who did? – you may not be aware of the dicey situation Dooley faced with his kickers (h/t Graham Watson).

… The game ball went to Derrick Brodus. [Michael] Palardy was hurt. He hurt himself Thursday after practice, but we thought he could be fine. He couldn’t go. [Chip] Rhome went out there before the game and pulls a muscle so we didn’t have a kicker so we had to make a call to the frat house. This is no lie. We called the frat house and had a policeman go get him and he goes out there, suits up and nails three PATs and afield goal. He got the game ball. I was proud of him. Great story. I’m going to write a book one day about the things that happened to me over the years. I had to find a kicker out of a frat. I didn’t know what we were going to do. Just when I think it has all happened to me, we are going out to pregame without a kicker.”

Hmm… frat house.  What does Dooley think redshirt freshmen kids do with their time at the frat on a Saturday during football season?

“He [Rhome] went out there like the kickers do before pregame and they all come back in a panic. I said `let’s get an APB out on Brodus.’ It’s a good thing he wasn’t having too much fun on a Saturday afternoon. I told the coaches, `Hey — an intoxicated Brodus is better than nobody. Get him. Just get him here. Give him a breathalyzer.’ Fortunately he didn’t do anything bad.”

If Brodus had been drinking, do you think Knoxville’s finest would have waited to cite him until after the game?

It seemed like a bad idea at the time.

As someone who was critical of the implementation of the no-huddle offense in the Boise State game, it seems only fair for me to admit that after nine games, Richt and Bobo are on to something.

If you’ll recall, both of them defended its use after the season opener, citing a need for Georgia to run more plays on offense.

“Well we wanted to get more plays, which we didn’t do on Saturday,” offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said. “But we’re committed to doing it, and more plays equals more opportunities, and more chances to score.”

Guess what – it’s doing just that.  Take this comparison of plays per game with Auburn, a fair one I think, given Malzahn’s reputation for running up the play count on offense (all stats via cfbstats.com):

	2011 PPG	2010 PPG
Georgia	72.67	62.62
Auburn	65.44	67.71

Georgia in 2011 is running ten plays more per game than a year ago.  And Bobo is calling seven plays a game more than Malzahn is this season.  Georgia, in fact, leads the SEC in offensive plays run.

Before you say so what, consider that Georgia is outscoring Auburn by more than a touchdown a game in 2011.  Last year, that stat was in favor of Auburn by more than 9 points per game.  Some of that is personnel driven, no doubt, particularly with regard to the absence of Cam Newton, but let’s not forget that Georgia’s success is coming in the absence of A.J. Green.

It’s fair to say that Georgia’s offense is far from a finished product this season.  It’s more accurate to call it a work in progress.  But you’d also have to say it’s heading in the direction that Bobo and Richt planned for it before the season started.

My Week Ten Mumme Poll ballot

Last week’s top ten was threatened, but outside of Nebraska, wasn’t shook up too much.  All I can figure is that the Big Ten doesn’t want a team in the top ten.

My ballot this week:

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Boise State
• Clemson
• LSU*
• Oklahoma
• Oklahoma State
• Oregon
• Stanford
• Texas

COMMENTS

• Maybe there simply isn’t a tenth-best team in the country right now.
• In the end, I went with Texas because the Horns made me hold my nose less than any other team I could put in that spot.
• That being said, I have this sinking feeling that we’re overrating the Big 12 as a whole right now – especially after watching a fairly feeble Kansas State offense rip up Okie State’s defense.
• Other schools under consideration:  Kansas State, Georgia (I can’t believe I just typed that), Georgia Tech (ditto), Houston (couldn’t you guys have played just one decent team this year?) and Southern Cal.
• It took 35 minutes to put the ballot together, although it seemed like a lot longer.  34 minutes and 23 seconds of that were spent on finding a number ten team.  Approximately.

Moving on from “Nick Who?”

It sounds like Gabe Wright is bucking to become the designated asshole on Auburn’s defensive line.

… Next week, Auburn visits Athens, which means Wright will meet one of his former high school teammates from Columbus, Ga. Running back Isaiah Crowell could face Wright in Athens, although Crowell is suspended for Georgia’s game against New Mexico State Saturday because of a failed drug test, according to the Associated Press.

A Wright-Crowell showdown would be their first public appearance together since they sat side-by-side on signing day, when one chose Auburn and the other chose Georgia with theatrics.

Crowell upstaged every recruit in America when, instead of putting on a Georgia cap, he pulled out a bulldog puppy.

After the ceremony, the dog disappeared.

“From what I hear,” Wright said, “he just rented it.”

If a camel is a horse designed by a committee, what’s next for Ole Miss?

Ole Miss has canned Houston Nutt and Pete Boone… sort of.

Ole Miss football coach Houston Nutt is out and athletic director Pete Boone will step down by December of 2012, Chancellor Dan Jones announced today.

Nutt, who is making $2.76 million this year, will coach the final three games of this season — Saturday vs. Louisiana Tech, Nov. 19 against LSU and Nov. 26 at Mississippi State. Nutt, 54, is in the second year of a four-year contract and will be paid $6 million over the next five years in severance, said Boone.

So Boone is sticking around for another year, but won’t be involved in the process of selecting the Nuttster’s replacement.  That decision, instead, will fall on the collective shoulders of a committee.

… Former Ole Miss football star Archie Manning and FedEx executive vide president Mike Glenn will co-chair a search committee for hiring replacements for Nutt and Boone.

And why not?  That approach served the school so well the last time it went that way, right?

There’s a reason Ole Miss is the only school in the SEC West that’s never reached the SECCG.