Now I am become Cornelius, the destroyer of offenses.

That picture Radi Nabulsi posted on his Twitter feed today of Cornelius Washington overwhelming newbie lineman Mark Beard reminds me about the physical freak whom I thought a couple of years ago at Grantham’s first G-Day game was destined for greatness in the 3-4.

It was frustrating last year – just as it looked like he was starting to become the dominant player I’d expected with back-to-back big games against Mississippi and Mississippi State, he was suspended for the next two and never really took off after he returned.

It’s his time to shine.  Offenses are going to focus on stopping Jarvis Jones and Washington should be a beneficiary of that attention.  Whether he can take advantage of the opportunity remains to be seen, but I bet Grantham’s let him know what’s at stake, both for this year and for the NFL.

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Friday morning buffet

You’re about to survive another working week, so dig in.

• I’m looking forward to seeing Ray Drew at the G-Day game.
• Georgia is getting better national title odds than any SEC teams not named Alabama or LSU.
• No Pac-12 team will play in one of those neutral site openers unless all broadcast rights are given to the conference.
• Aaron Murray believes he’s at his best when he’s having fun playing.
• But he’s not happy Malcolm Mitchell is on defense this spring.
• I’m sorry to see this news.
• Michael Carvell actually wanted to know if SOD ever thought about hiring his dad to recruit for Tennessee.  Jeebus.
• As a prediction, it’s not that interesting, but as a reflection of conventional wisdom it might be:  CFN picks Georgia to go on a winning streak against Florida.
• Urban Meyer employs the Johnson Doctrine.  It works.

Envy and jealousy: you nailed us.

Bruce Feldman’s terrific piece about college coaches who never played the game is worth the price of admission just for this one-liner:  “there are two things in America every man thinks he can do: work a grill and coach football.”

I’m seriously thinking of changing this blog’s motto.

Brrrrrrrrackets!

Pondering Mike Leach’s 64-team football playoff, Graham Watson dishes out a “just shoot me” thought:

Let’s just stop and think about this for a second. Work out in your mind the nation’s top 64 schools, including several from the nonautomatic qualifying conferences. This really isn’t much different from choosing teams for bowl games minus six schools. Would it have been fun to watch LSU play UCLA in a first round game? Perhaps if you’re an LSU fan, but otherwise probably not. Upsets aren’t as common in football as they are in basketball so those early matchups might not be as attractive.

Still, it’s an intriguing prospect if for nothing else than excitement. March is one of the best times of the year for college athletics. Doing something similar in football would generate the same type of excitement.

Less upsets plus boring early matchups equals playoff fever.  Oy.