Maybe he mistook him for Aaron Rodgers.

I don’t know what it is about KC Joyner and his penchant for using stats to come up with all manner of bizarre conclusions and predictions about the SEC, but all I can say after reading this doozy…

ESPN’s K.C. Joyner has ranked his top quarterback-receiver tandems in the SEC  going into the 2012 season, and his choice for No. 1 is going to surprise a lot of people.

He has Vanderbilt’s Jordan Rodgers and Jordan Matthews at the top of his list.

In choosing his top tandems, Joyner used a list of metrics from the 2011 season that detailed such things as how the combo fared in short pass yards per attempt, vertical yards per attempt and overall yards per attempt.

… is that it’s time to get some new metrics, bud.

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Eight is enough.

Per Jim Delany, no nine-game conference slate in the near future for the Big Ten.

Big Ten commish Jim Delany: Eight league games, instead of nine, when the conference collaboration with Pac-12 begins.

— Brian Hamilton (@BrianHamiltonSI) May 16, 2012

Mike Slive would like to point out that the SEC collaborates, too.  With the Sun Belt Conference.

Will Muschamp haz a funny.

One true sign of a Gator head coach is an ability to mock conference opponents.  Will’s getting there.

… When someone asked if he could share some insight on what the atmosphere will be like when Florida travels to College Station to play Texas A&M, Muschamp, who spent two years as defensive coordinator for the University of Texas, had this to say:

“It will be a very SEC-like atmosphere,” Muschamp said. “It’s one of the few places in the Big 12 that I would say that about.

“You ever been to College Station?” Muschamp asked. “It’ll be the only time you go.”

He’ll be here all week, ladies and gentlemen.  Try the veal.

The Big Ten abandons on-campus semifinals.

Jerry Hinnen’s got all the details here.

… With all three Big Ten A.D.’s saying much the same thing within a matter of minutes of each other, it couldn’t really be much more obvious: despite Delany’s backing, the on-campus semifinal proposal has failed within the Big Ten. And it’s certainly not going to get any traction elsewhere, with the number of other conferences willing to risk playing a national semifinal in a Midwestern midwinter numbering somewhere between zero and zero. The idea is dead.

He’s got the same question about that as I do.  Why give that up?  Surely it’s not all about a Rose Bowl fetish.  (It’s not like Nebraska’s Harvey Perlman’s been a fixture on the subject for decades.)  And if it’s about having a chit to trade for other concessions in the post-BCS haggling – Delany’s conference champs-only proposal being the most obvious one – why give it up publicly now?

I’m not buying this “bowls or bust” rationale, either.  You can structure a small playoff with on-campus semis that still leaves the bowls intact.  It just takes a little effort.

And just to show you how absurd this gets, rather than stand his ground on the more fan-friendly on-campus sites, Michigan State’s athletic director hopes instead that the NCAA will help families pay for the travel expense of going to an additional postseason game.  (I assume that wouldn’t extend to Michael Adams’ family.)

Honestly, I can’t figure this one out.  Anyone out there have a clue?

“But I am very interested in making sure everybody understands the rules and the parameters of why we made a call.”

Oh, Steve Shaw, how I’d like to believe you when you say things like this.

Shaw said he wants to continue to incrementally make SEC officiating more transparent, within reason. He is considering providing a midseason review on the SEC Digital Network of some correct and incorrect calls from that season.

“That’s kind of the next phase,” Shaw said. “I’d like to do that. As you know, these plays are so important to the fans that sometimes a midseason point might not be the right time. But we do that for the officials every week. We have the material.”

Okay, fine.  So where do you go from there?

Shaw believes critiquing calls publicly would require discussing mistakes for credibility purposes.

“We do have incorrect calls,” he said. “I can assure you from the conference perspective those are not ignored or washed over. They’re dealt with harshly and deeply at times. But how do we do this with the fans?”

Hey, I’m a fan.  So let me give you a suggestion for a starting point.  It’s right here:  “Four SEC officials from 2011 — three active and one working instant replay — won’t return due to performance or retirement, Shaw said.”  Tell us who you dismissed for performance and why.  It’s not like you’re burning any bridges.  Making the reasons for the terminations transparent serves to increase fan confidence in the SEC office and lets other officials know where the limits on shoddy work are.

Think about it.

Is the Auburn brain trust on the same page?

Brian VanGorder is making plans.

With the arrival of new defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, Auburn fans may see a shift in the type of players the Tigers are recruiting on the defensive side of the ball. With his NFL background, VanGorder is likely to pursue larger and stronger players at every position and the secondary is no exception.

Wait, wut?  “The secondary is no exception”?  Has anyone run this by Willie “Smurfs make the best defensive backs” Martinez?

The Edsel of conference expansion moves

What struck me in reading this post about the value ACC schools bring to the table isn’t that FSU is getting screwed.

It’s that whoever had the thought to invite Boston College into the conference as a shrewd choice to gain access to a new market is a complete idiot.  If he or she is still working for the ACC, they all deserve what they get from here on out.

More shit Saban doesn’t have time for.

He delivers a polite backhand to Spurrier’s division games only proposal.

“I think the other division games you play on the other side are important to our fans and there’s a lot of tradition involved in some of those games. I think if you minimize the importance of those games, that wouldn’t be in the best interest of our league.”

By my count, that’s five coaches who’ve gone on the record about it.  Current score:  pro-OBC 3, anti-OBC 2.