Lane Kiffin, master of disguise

When he’s not racking up secondary violations by the bushel, Junior finds the time to push the limits on the NCAA rulebook in other ways (h/t DrSaturday).

USC routinely shuffles numbers between games for a variety of reasons. But, according to NCAA rules, “Numbers shall not be changed during the game to deceive opponents.” If cited, the infraction calls for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

However, officials typically monitor only the numbers worn by offensive linemen, which in college must be between 50 and 79.

Asked if Kessler’s number switch during the Colorado game was meant to deceive, Kiffin said, “We’re just playing within the rules of college football.”

The NCAA football rule book includes a section called the “The Football Code” which is part of the American Football Coaches Assn.’s Code of Ethics. In a list of “unethical practices,” the first item is “Changing numbers during the game to deceive the opponent.”

The hilarious thing here is that the Laner felt the need to do this in a game against 1-6 Colorado, which currently sits at #159 in Sagarin.  Sure it’s perverse, but you’ve got to love a guy who’s that comfortable in his dickitude.  Maybe if he took all his attention to that and devoted it to game planning instead, Southern Cal wouldn’t keep losing to Stanford.

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What’s that definition of insanity again?

Same song, different verse.

Commings opined that there was a motivation gap between last year and this year.

“I think last year people didn’t expect much from us. I guess that made us want to come out and play harder,” he said. “This year we started out, what, top five, I don’t know what it was. But we started out higher, and then I guess people were like, ‘All right, we’re good.’ I guess people felt like we didn’t have much to prove.”

Good Lord.  Over the past half-dozen years, I’ve honestly lost count of the number of times I’ve heard a Georgia player express himself in similar fashion.  At some point in time, you’d think they’d figure it out.

Maybe they need a shrink instead of a special teams coach.

Hate. It’s what’s on the menu.

Now this is what I’m talking about.

Time to quit whining and remember why this is one of the great weekends of the regular season.

The people in this video know it.

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UPDATE:  Mr. Gillett offers up some nicely played Gator bait.

… Finally the Gators have the vocal, emotional leader they’ve needed all this time. Finally they have someone who appears ready to lift them from the ranks of the mediocre and achieve something meaningful. And he’s neither a mercenary spread guru like Meyer nor a loyal Florida alum. He’s a product of the Gators’ arch-rival to the north, someone who once wore the colors of the team they’ll be going up against on Saturday.

That’s got to gall a lot of Georgia fans, certainly. But deep down, below the smiles and Gator chomps the Florida faithful have proudly displayed as they’ve cheered their team to its undefeated record and No. 3 national ranking, it surely galls Gator fans just as intensely, if not more so. They’ve stood by their team through decades of obscurity, hoping someone might finally help their program live up to its potential and achieve something meaningful — and the man who’s made it happen, the man who did what no one before him could do — is a product of the University of Georgia.

But don’t worry, Gators, we don’t begrudge you your current excitement, nor the unprecedented success that one of our own has brought to your program. Every team has its day, and the sleeping giant in Gainesville was bound to be awakened eventually; it’s ironic that it took a Georgia fan to do it, but we’re as proud of Will Muschamp as we are of all of our alums. When you do the Gator chomp at us in Jacksonville this weekend, we know it’s mainly a taunting gesture, but we also know that deep down you’re extending those arms to us with three words on your mind: “Thank you, Georgia.”

You know what, Florida? It takes a big man to say or even think that. And you’re welcome.

Of course, I wouldn’t mind in the slightest if Muschamp left Jacksonville this weekend still never having tasted victory as a Dawg or a Gator.

If you’ve won Mark Bradley…

My intent this week was to alternate optimistic and pessimistic takes on the Georgia-Florida game.  Today was going to be one on the plus side.

But then I saw that Mark Bradley, of all people, has already gone there with this.

This isn’t exactly a revelation, given that I made the prediction nearly five months ago, but here, for late tuners-in, it is: I like Georgia over Florida. Believe it or not, I’m not alone.

The many men of Scouts Inc. — Todd McShay, Steve Muench and Kevin Weidl – have declared on ESPN Insider (link requires registration) that the Bulldogs will beat the Gators 26-23. Their reasoning, conveniently enough, dovetails with what I’m now thinking. Back in May, I was thinking Georgia would simply be the better team. It hasn’t been to date, which doesn’t mean it can’t be Saturday.

From the Scouts Inc. preview:

Signs can’t always be trusted, especially in rivalry games. So don’t be surprised when Georgia turns in its most emotionally charged effort of the year. For 60 minutes, all the elite individual talent on Georgia’s defense will work together as a unit, and it will be enough to hand the Gators their first loss of the season.

So now I don’t know what to think.

Bradley does make a good point.  Season-wise, the least statistically productive unit that will step on the field Saturday is the Gator offense.  The catch is that Florida’s play on defense and special teams has been more than good enough to offset that.

But I sure would love to see what would happen if Florida was forced to turn to the pass to win the game.

Post-rant reax: birth of a slogan

Shawn Williams can now claim his first moment of inspiration.

Mike Gilliard said he felt disrespected by Shawn Williams. Said he went out today and "tried to knock the shit out of everybody."

— Anthony Dasher (@AnthonyDasher1) October 23, 2012

Okay, it’s not exactly GATA, but it’ll have to do.  I’m wondering what effect it’s going to have on t-shirt sales in Jax this weekend.

If the Georgia defense does wake up in time and plays its best game of the year against Florida, who’s going to be the first person to make a serious effort to compare Williams’ blow up with this?

Musical palate cleanser: lighten the mood, baby.

I think we’re all in need of a little ear candy this morning.  Here’s something that’s been stuck in my head lately – The New Pornographers’ cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Think About Me”.  It’s a Christine McVie piece of pop fluff from Tusk that for some reason Lindsey Buckingham thought would shine with minimal production.  All that did was make the song sound even more inconsequential than it already was.

The Pornographers go the other way and out-Mac the Macsters (dig those shimmering rhythm guitars pushing things along).  It’s poppy but it’s so exuberant and there’s so much going on that you overlook the fluffiness.

See?  Life doesn’t suck so much, does it?

Me loves Neko Case, by the way.