Ah, what do they know?

Isaiah Crowell is named the AP’s SEC freshman of the year.

I blame Bobo, of course.

Well done, gentlemen.

https://twitter.com/#!/marcweiszer/status/143712295489503232

And neither are seniors.

Everyone’s favorite Coaches Poll ballots are here!

The public ones, of course.

And they’re chock full of all the bias/self-interest/conflicts of interest we’ve come to know and love:

• Nick Saban wasn’t taking any chances.  He ranked Oklahoma State fourth, behind LSU, his beloved Tide and Stanford.
• Speaking of Stanford, David Shaw did the same thing.
• Tommy Tuberville put ‘Bama third – whether for historical reasons or for conference solidarity, I don’t know.
• Steve Spurrier shoved Boise State down to eleventh, while ranking his team eighth.
• Les Miles went with the rematch.
• All six SEC coaches voting picked Alabama #2.  And if you now count Gary Pinkel as an SEC head coach, make it seven.

On the Georgia front, just a few notes:

• NC State’s Tom O’Brien voted Georgia seventh.  Hunh?
• Bronco Mendenhall was the only coach to leave Georgia off his ballot.  I guess he had to make room for his BYU vote.
• The only SEC coach to vote Georgia lower than its #18 finish?  Nick Saban, at #20.
• Mark Richt’s picks look pretty conventional.  He didn’t cast a vote for any school which didn’t wind up in the coaches top 25.

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UPDATE:  Holee crap on a stick.  Dave Braine is a Harris Poll voter.

The sad sound of a rich man not getting his way.

T. Boone Pickens wants to do something.

“If we don’t get in the BCS (championship game), I’m not kidding you, if I have the power to do it, I’m going to have an investigation,” Pickens said after OSU’s 44-10 Bedlam victory Saturday night.

There’s more where they came from.

You know how people refer to Ohio as “The Cradle of Coaches” because so many head football coaches have come from schools in that state?

Well, it looks like Arkansas is becoming Ole Miss’ crib.

The refreshing voice of a reasonable man

This is why I have always admired Gary Patterson:

TCU, even with two losses, came close to earning a berth to its third-straight BCS bowl. But the Horned Frogs are headed to the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 21 in San Diego to face Louisiana Tech, the WAC champion. And coach Gary Patterson said that’s OK.

“It’s only our fault,” Patterson said during a news conference Sunday evening after the final BCS standings were unveiled. “There’s no one to blame but TCU because we had two losses.”

No politicking.  No whining.  Just a classy acceptance of reality.

Of course, he’s no doubt licking his chops at his improved BCS prospects next year when TCU joins the Big 12.  He deserves ’em.

Why they lost.

In a GTP exclusive, it’s been disclosed that Coach Richt invited this guy to give the halftime locker room speech:

Epic fail.  No wonder Sanders Commings complained that the team lost its focus coming out for the second half.

No word on the midget’s whereabouts at the time, though.

If it’s so easy, how come there’s all that yelling?

The rematch (or should I call it The Rematch?) is on, the bowls are set and the BCS is back on the hot seat (Mark Richt’s not using it now, anyway).

The BCS is being blamed for every perceived shortcoming in college football except for what Mike Bobo’s being blamed for (I could go on like that forever), but here are my two favorite bullet points:

• The match ups suck!  This year’s poster boy is the Sugar Bowl, with its choice of Virginia Tech over Kansas State, because this is supposed to matter:  “The Wildcats are also ranked higher than Virginia Tech in both human polls and all six computer polls, as if anyone still cares about that sort of thing.”  But it doesn’t, except in the title game, and it never has.  By the way, it’s a funny thing, but most of the upper tier bowls have pretty good match ups this time around.  The Sugar’s not interesting, but the Rose and Fiesta look compelling.  And while the teams in the Orange Bowl aren’t ranked particularly high, there should be plenty of offensive fireworks.
• Alabama or Oklahoma State?  Ah, the angst.  Can you feel it?  There’s just one thing I wish playoff advocates would explain to me.  When you get down to it, the BCS is a one-game playoff.  How is the debate we’re hearing this time about #2 vs. #3 going to disappear magically with a bigger playoff?  In other words, what’s different about it from the argument over the merits of #4 vs. #5?… or #8 vs. #9?… or #16 vs.?… well, you get the idea.  The answer, of course, is that it’s not a damned bit different.  This simply isn’t a problem an extended playoff solves.  Rather, it’s just fuel to add to the extension fire.

Back in the saddle again

… or at least on the right side of New Year’s Day again.

“When we went to the Sugar Bowl in 2007, we thought we should have been going to the national championship, to the Rose Bowl,” Georgia senior punter Drew Butler said recently. “I don’t want to say we were upset with it, but we thought we deserved better. Then you go to the Capital One Bowl the next year and you want to be back to the Sugar Bowl. And then you go to Shreveport and Memphis back to back and you just want to be back in Florida…”

Here’s a quick statistical snapshot of Michigan State, which looks to be as accomplished defensively as Georgia, perhaps not as solid offensively but slightly better on special teams (not that that’s a high bar to cross, it seems).

You wonder if Sparty’s going to come into the game with a bit of a chip on the shoulder, given that the Michigan team it soundly whipped is headed to the better bowl game.

The good news for Georgia should be that the walking wounded will have a month to heal, giving the offensive line and running backs group depth again, as well as getting Tyson and Gilliard back on the field.

More to come, obviously…

This should tell you everything you need to know about this year’s SECCG.

LSU scores 42 points and Georgia improves to third nationally in total defense.