Current SEC scheduling approach appears to be…

… throw enough shit up against the wall to see what sticks.

South Carolina’s president suggests that the conference is going to hold on to one permanent cross-division matchup, although some of those which have been in place for twenty years may be changed.

South Carolina will apparently play Texas A&M as its future permanent cross-division SEC opponent in football.

South Carolina president Harris Pastides told our Rob Brennan that A&M seems like the only option for a permanent cross-divisional rival in football. The Gamecocks have always played Arkansas as its cross-divisional opponent from the west.

Now keep in mind that Pastides is the same guy who came out of the gate assuring one and all that the conference would be going to a nine-game slate, so it’s probably prudent to take all that with a grain of salt.

Also, this.

(cont) Slive: "Nothing is set yet." Me: "USC president Pastides just announced this before a baseball game." Slive: "Well good for him."

— Andy Shain (@AndyShain) March 3, 2012

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UPDATE:  Tyler looks at the South Carolina fan poll on this and is amused.

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Lies, damned lies and Georgia’s 2010 football season

I’m becoming convinced that the only losing season of Mark Richt’s career is something from which you can’t use statistics to glean any insight.

In fact, I think it’s getting to the point where you can use it as a rebuttal to almost any statistical argument (“Oh, yeah?  What about 2010 Georgia?”)

Take Matt Melton’s well-researched look at Phil Steele’s “turnovers + turnover” point (more accurately turnover margin).  Melton breaks down the turnover margin of every D-1 conference team in conference play over a four-season period and looks at how a team coming off a significant turnover margin performance does in the following season.

He finds thirty-five teams which compiled turnover margins in conference play of minus-10 or greater.  Only five of those teams saw their conference records decline in the following seasons, one of those being Georgia in 2010, of course.

Here’s the chart he made of those teams in BCS conferences:

I guess we can thank Ole Miss, at least.

What a weird year it was.  Don’t do that again, fellas.

10,000,000 hits…

and to think it was a Willie Martinez post that put me over the top.

Thanks so much to every one of you who drops by on occasion.  Here’s hoping you’ll have a lot of great reasons to come by GTP the next ten million times.

“The time at Georgia we had some really great games.”

It looks like this was the week Willie Martinez was unleashed upon the Alabama media.  There’s a more complete transcript of what he had to say here, if you’re interested.  If you’re like me, you’ll be fascinated by this:

On Martinez’s philosophy for his defensive backs:

We want them to be a group that’s very consistent in how they prepare every day knowing what they’re supposed to do and being very detailed. Not being very complicated and confusing. They have to work together. I would like for them to start fast, finish fast. You’ll hear that a lot.

The No. 1 job in the secondary, and this is not an earth-shattering answer, is not to give up the explosive plays. With that you have to be very consistent in how you prepare every day. Every detail in a coverage or a defense is very important. Don’t do more than you have to do. They have to play together. They have to be a unit both on and off the field. Whether you’re on the football field or in the weight room, it’s got to be something where they’re pushing each other.

Okay, just kidding.  That’s about as bland a version of coachspeak as you’ll hear uttered.

And about him and BVG – why the magic?

Just like everywhere across the country, there’s certain guys that work well with certain guys. It’s kind of like coming out of the same tree. You have some core beliefs that are very similar. We’re different in our personalities but from a football standpoint we believe in the same things. The delivery might be different but the message is the same.

Look at the bright side, Tigers fans.  When VanGorder inevitably leaves in a couple of years, at least his replacement will be able to step in seamlessly and soldier on without missing a beat.  The message is the same, after all.  Trust me on this.