“They’d be throwing away 2½ billion dollars—at least.”

The NFL-ization of college football steadily continues.

While ESPN has right of first refusal and an exclusive negotiating window before the bidding process is opened, a BCS source told Sporting Newsthat the goal is to get ESPN, NBC, Fox and CBS to bid on some or all of the package and drive up the price.

The new college football postseason television model could look a lot like the NFL postseason model: the most important game rotated annually among television partners.

Anything that gets Thom Brennaman back into the college football postseason would be awesome.

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UPDATE:  In case you were wondering where that attitude was coming from…

The SEC and Big 12 both wanted the semifinals to be played outside the bowl system, according to a source from the BCS meetings.

Bidding out all three games — the semifinals and championship — would have maximized revenue but relegated bowl games, to use a basketball analogy, to NIT status.

The Big Ten wanted to protect the Rose Bowl, which likely will have a semifinal game every third year. The Pac-12 and ACC also didn’t want to adopt a system that felt so corporate and could be easier to lead to an eight-team playoff.

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“In the SEC, there’s football season and there’s recruiting.”

I did a double take when I saw this, but Rodney Garner has spent half his life as an SEC coach.  I wonder how many others can say that.

Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead…

and the University of Georgia still has 2012 football tickets for sale to the general public.

Georgia’s offseason “honey do” list

There’s always room for improvement in every facet of the game, of course, but I thought I’d itemize what Georgia was really, really bad at in 2011.  It turns out that there are five statistical categories in which the Dawgs found themselves outside of the top 100 teams in the country (stats, as always per cfbstats.com).  In all their glory, they were:

• Field goal percentage:  101
• Opponents’ long punt return plays (30+ yards):  110
• Tackles for loss allowed:  112
• Opponents’ punt returns:  116
• Opponents’ red zone conversions:  116

It’s nice to see contributions from all phases of the team there.  The first four illustrate the shortcomings we’re all nervous about – offensive line and special teams.  It’s the last stat that surprises, given how well the defense played overall.  But you could argue that it was the most costly.

How many of those problems do you see big improvement on from Georgia this year?

Musical palate cleanser: what’s that spell?

I like to think I’m a tolerant guy.  Most of the time, I’m willing to listen to an opposing point of view with an open mind.  But some things brook no dissent.  So when I proclaim this to be the greatest break up song in the history of recorded music, don’t bother to tell me differently.  (Definitely NSFW.  Because it has to be.)

That Jackson Browne verse slays me every time I hear it.