Best year of your life

Gotta love this quote from Aaron Murray on why he’s coming back:

“I know that coming back I’m not going to have any regrets,” Murray said. “I felt if I did decide to leave I would always have the regret maybe of what could have been, what might have happened if I stayed one more year. I didn’t want to live like that. I really wanted to give one more go-round.”

Te’o vs. Jones

Emerson points out how stellar Jarvis’ year was.

– Jarvis Jones finished the season first in the nation in sacks, at 14.5, one ahead of the next man. How impressive is that for Jones? He missed two games with injury, and played triple-option teams in two others.

– Jones also finished first nationally in tackles-for-loss, with 132.

Not to knock the Notre Dame star, but did anyone feel like ‘Bama schemed for him last night to the same extent it did against Jones in the SECCG?

It’s not much, but it’s something.

Small consolation from Gene Wojciechowski’s take on last night’s title game.

The three proudest teams in America today are Alabama, Texas A&M and Georgia. Bama, for the obvious reasons; the Aggies, because they’re the only ones to have beaten the Tide this season; Georgia, because it was 5 yards short from upsetting Bama in the SEC championship.

Still, it beats what the pundits were saying after the 2011 season ended.  Or what they might have said if the Dawgs had lost to Nebraska.

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UPDATE:  True ‘dis.

Murray on watching BCS title game: "It was painful to watch. I'm happy the SEC won of course."

— Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) January 8, 2013

Problems, problems

All I’ve got to say about this is that if figuring out who the third-string quarterback will be turns out to be one of Richt’s biggest challenges next season, it’s gonna be a damned good year.

It’s the singer, not the song.

Jim Delany, December 8, 2011:

Delany then launched into an explanation of why a playoff would be bad. He brought up potential risk of injury (which no one cared about when schools approved a 12th regular-season game for all FBS schools), potential devaluation of the regular season (wouldn’t happen) and his league’s longstanding love affair with the Rose Bowl (a perfectly legitimate issue). He then described the plus-one — the four-team playoff that has received increased support since the all-SEC BCS title game was set on Sunday — as a “slippery slope” that would lead to an eight- or 16-team playoff. On that point, he is 100 percent correct. In the end, Delany could think of only one good reason for a playoff. “The only strong argument you can make for it is financial,” Delany said. “I don’t think the other arguments for it are very strong.”

Fast forward to yesterday.

“The commissioners and presidents wanted to go long because they wanted to stop further speculation about eight teams and 16 teams,” Skipper said. “They put a stake in the ground that, for 12 years, it’s going to be the same. I don’t think there’s any contemplation that there will be any change to that.”

Hancock: “They’re [commissioners] committed, and the presidents are too,” Hancock said Monday morning at the annual Football Writers Association of America breakfast. “I tell you on Jan. 7, 2013 I don’t see anything that would change.”

Bets, anyone?

Meet the new boss.

Who couldn’t have seen this coming a mile away?

The college basketball selection committee uses a computer-rating called the Rating Percentage Index (RPI) as one of many tools to pick the field.

Hancock said they could not make an RPI equivalent for football.

“We ran an RPI and it was not accurate” because there’s not enough information coming out of a 12-game regular-season, he said.

“How I envision it, and I think the commissioners do to, is (the committee will) have everything at their disposal. They’ll have computer rankings, they’ll have the writers’ poll, they’ll have the coaches’ poll, and they’ll look at it all but at the end of the day it’ll come down to the eye test. It’ll come down to common sense.

“Who did you play? Did you win your conference? Where did you play? Who was injured when you played that game? What about common opponents? What about head-to-head?”

So basically it’s like a bunch of people sitting in a bar shooting the breeze, minus the big screen TVs, hot wings and alcohol.  Sounds very settling-it-on-the-fieldy to me.

In case you’re that naive, here’s what the new regime is really about.

The committee will attempt to have the highest-seeded teams in the semifinal pairings play closest to home. There will be no limit to how many teams from a conference can be selected for the final four, and the committee will not avoid pairing teams from the same conference in the semifinals.

Mike Slive has the biggest woody you could possibly imagine right now.

Fabris Invitation bowl pick ’em results

Congrats to ImOpen!, who took first place honors with a 24-11 record.

Bowl Game Standings
Rank	Selection	Edit Points	Enter Picks	W-L	Pts	Tie Breaker AL-ND 42-14	Tie Breaker Winner
1	ImOpen!’s picks		Edit Picks	24-11	24	24-17
2	Fitzdawg’s picks		Edit Picks	23-12	23	45-17
2	wilcodawg’s picks		Edit Picks	23-12	23	28-14
4	wtjoyner’s picks		Edit Picks	22-13	22	42-14
4	Chunky A’s picks		Edit Picks	22-13	22	42-7
4	Dawgfan0000’s picks		Edit Picks	22-13	22	41-13
4	SCarolinaDawg’s picks		Edit Picks	22-13	22	35-14
4	DawgBiscuit’s picks		Edit Picks	22-13	22	31-14
4	Sweet D’s picks		Edit Picks	22-13	22	31-17
4	Biggen’s picks		Edit Picks	22-13	22	28-17
4	Ugadawgz80’s picks		Edit Picks	22-13	22	24-13
4	reeldawg’s picks		Edit Picks	22-13	22	24-17
4	What’s The Good Word’s picks		Edit Picks	22-13	22	24-10
4	Milldawg’s picks		Edit Picks	22-13	22	23-10

I finished 30th. January 1st was not a happy day for me. I got killed, going 0-6.

We had 295 participants, so I doubt I’m going out on a limb by assuming that y’all want to do this again next season.

My SEC Power Poll ballot, final edition

Is there anyone out there who would rank Notre Dame higher than seventh in a SEC power poll?

1. Alabama.  Call ’em a dynasty; call ’em what you want.  All I know is that three national titles in four years is pretty damned impressive, no matter what the label.
2. Georgia.  The difference between first and second?  About fifteen feet, give or take a few inches.
3. Texas A&M.  Helluva debut, fellas.  Now we’ll find out if you have staying power.
4. South Carolina.  Give Spurrier credit.  There aren’t many coaches who have built two top ten programs in the history of this conference.  And with the ‘Cocks, it was essentially from the ground up.
5. Florida.  Given the state of the Florida offense, Muschamp was working all season with a thin margin for error, as the bowl game showed.  Getting eleven wins out of this team was good coaching.
6. LSU.  There’s something almost comforting about watching a Miles-coached team get back to losing a game or two it shouldn’t.
7. Vanderbilt.  James Franklin is the toast of Nashville.  It’ll be interesting to see where this program’s ceiling is.
8. Mississippi.  I’m still wrapping my brain around Ole Miss winning seven games this season.
9. Mississippi State.  Second half fade and Egg Bowl loss are concerns.  If Freeze can recruit decently, you have to wonder if Mullen is in for some tough sledding.
10. Missouri.  This season exposed the Tigers’ personnel shortcomings.  Pinkel’s got some work to do in that department to make the program consistently competitive.
11. Arkansas.  I suspect we’ve heard the last of John L. Smith.
12. Tennessee.  I have this mental image of Derek Dooley sitting in a leather recliner in front of a warm fireplace with a glass of whiskey in his hand asking himself, “Sal Sunseri?  WTF was I thinking?”.
13. Auburn.  Has any coach fallen faster than Gene Chizik?  And you can’t say he didn’t earn it – that was the worst Auburn team I’ve ever seen in person.
14. Kentucky.  Even Joker Phillips knew he was presiding over an epic dumpster fire.

The saddest day of the year

Eight months.  Eight freakin’ months ’til we get more college football.  Obama ought to declare today a national day of mourning.

The only redeeming feature of the day is that the new season of Justified starts tonight.