“You know what, I think the Bulldog Nation likes a little piss and vinegar.”

Mark Richt reflects on the Grantham-Franklin exchange after last year’s Vanderbilt game.

(By the way, Coach, with regard to what was going through your head leading up to that doomed field goal attempt in the Outback Bowl, instead of reflecting on Walsh’s career point total then, I sure wish you’d have given all your attention to his stats on kicks of 40 or more yards.)

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Would you buy a used TV contract from this conference?

I doubt anyone is surprised to hear that CBS has been able to bump its ad prices for SEC telecasts up 10% over last year (h/t MrSEC.com).  But the fine print might surprise you.

… Buyers say there will be a lot of college football games to advertise in this season, especially with Fox adding primetime games to its schedule. But CBS’ SEC package has a limited number of high-rated games with top-ranked teams and the threat of a potential sellout is pushing agencies to do business now and pay CBS’ price.  [Emphasis added.]

Get that?  It’s not the new teams and the new markets driving the increase.  It’s the teams that were already conference members, highly ranked this season – like Alabama, LSU, Georgia and South Carolina – that are.

Now maybe there’s added value we’re not seeing yet.  But that CBS is already getting a premium without even knowing what the final product looks like should tell you everything you need to know about how badly Mike Slive and his crack team of negotiators undervalued the conference when it struck those deals with CBS and ESPN.  And – no offense to everyone at Missouri and Texas A&M – what an awkward move the conference had to make with expansion to correct its error.

Gee, I wonder how the SEC will do with the next set of broadcast deals.  A sixteen-school conference may be just around the corner.

Wednesday morning buffet

Here’s your hump day nosh.

• And The Valley Shook’s Billy takes a crack at the “SEC – Year of the Quarterback” almost-meme.
• Rogers Redding is disturbed.
• North Carolina grads, I feel your pain.  But, if true, your school deserves to fry over it.
• Preemptive war, ESPN-style.
• Craig James thinks Mike Leach is evil.  But at least there aren’t any dead hooker rumors haunting the Pirate.
• I’m sort of surprised Cornelius Washington didn’t rate a mention on this list.
• SOD claims he needed a defensive coordinator who’s on the same page with him.  But check out the quote about Wilcox in Matt Hayes’ SEC coaches rankings.
• Will a four-team playoff mean extra championship chances for the SEC?

“Accountable.” You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Now he tells us.

Ellis Johnson on Finebaum: "It was not a fact that Spurrier did not hold (Garcia) accountable. We frankly didn’t have anybody else."

— Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) May 8, 2012

Conference expansion and a half-assed defense of Les Miles

While showering this morning, it occurred to me that there’s another possible explanation that explains Les Miles’ sudden embrace of Steve Spurrier’s division record über alles proposal.  Miles isn’t being gutless so much as calculating.  He’s playing some version of three-dimensional chess against the SEC office.

Don’t scoff.  Here’s the math as he sees it.  LSU has Florida as a permanent cross-division opponent.  Even if you don’t believe Will Muschamp is the second coming of Steve Spurrier, the Gators recruit too well over time ever to be any less than a tough out.  Now, Auburn has Georgia and TAMU winds up with South Carolina.  But that SOB Saban has an enfeebled Tennessee that’s in the midst of a rebuilding program that seems to have gone on for half a decade now (and if SOD gets canned after this season probably has another five years to go).  And the rest of Miles’ division gets the Jugdish, Mohammet and Lonny of the East.

That wasn’t so great when you played three cross-division opponents, but it was tolerable because things rotated often enough to spread the burdens and benefits.  But what was unlikely under the old scenario – and, remember, it’s not as if what Spurrier has sour grapes about has been a routine occurrence – becomes a much greater possibility under a two-crosser arrangement.  Going forward, the best hand Miles can hope to be dealt is Florida and an easy team.  That’s the worst case for several of his divisional rivals.  And on the flip side, years like this, when LSU plays Florida and South Carolina, will never be a possibility for some.

That’s what sticks in Les Miles’ craw right now.  So what can he do to fight city hall?  Given that he doesn’t want a nine-game conference schedule, which would at least restore the old cross-divisional equilibrium, he’s only got one other choice:  kill the permanent cross-divisional opponent requirement.  And the way he’s figured to do that is to build support for a proposal that anybody outside of Columbia, South Carolina thinks is pretty silly.  But it’s leverage.  From there, the deal is pretty obvious:  the coaches back off on Spurrier’s proposal and the conference gives up the permanent cross-divisional game.  Who doesn’t love a fair compromise?

Honestly, I have no idea if this is what’s going on inside ol’ Lester’s head.  (Does anybody besides Miles know what’s going on inside there?)  But if you see more coaches jumping on board with Miles and Spurrier as Destin approaches, you might want to keep this in mind.

And if it happens that I’m right about this, remind yourselves that this is what we get because Mike Slive can’t competently negotiate a TV contract.