The spread spreads, SEC style

An alert reader passed this article on to me.  It’s about the current state of the art, from the perspective of the two Mississippi schools, in offensive scheming in the conference and how defenses are attempting to deal with that.  It’s well worth your time to read what both coordinators have to say about the spread and what they’re doing with it, as well as how successful others are at defending what they’re doing.  (And you won’t want to miss what Ole Miss QB Bo Wallace had to say about Georgia’s defense.)

What makes the piece so enjoyable is the pragmatism on display.  There’s no Gang of Six talk; it’s more about what works and what doesn’t.  And at heart these coaches are realists.  Take this quote from Dan Mullen at the end:

“The general consensus,” said Mullen, “of who the top three teams in the SEC were last season were Alabama, LSU and Georgia. Pro teams, all three of ’em are under center, I-formation teams. Any offense can beat any defense. I can beat any zone blitz if I’ve got the right play called. And any defense can stop any given play if you have the right kind of defense called. You see that in good old Tecmo Bowl, right? Just hit the right button and Bo Jackson scores.”

Good stuff.  Make sure you read the whole thing.

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Gimme those conference schedule talking blues.

Shorter Mike Slive:  Of all the conference scheduling formats out there, nine games is certainly one of them.  For sure.

Wednesday morning buffet

The buffet is sticking with the college game this morning, thank you very much.

• Mark Richt says SEC head coaches are in favor of an early signing period, explains why.
• Hey, here’s something refreshing – an article about Johnny Manziel that actually sticks to football talk.
• To answer this question, probably not.
• Mike Slive would prefer if you didn’t ask him about Auburn right now.
• Here’s another SEC quarterback rankings list, if your you’re interested.
• Does Georgia need for its offensive line to be dominant?  Its head coach doesn’t think so.  (That worked out in 2003, admittedly.)
• Is the Pac-12 considering going to an eight-game conference schedule?
• Texas A&M is about to make Kyle Field into one big ass stadium.

Don’t stay in school, kids!

I’m having a hard time understanding the hard-on the press has gotten recently about star college players going pro as soon as possible.  There was the Lattimore injury which led to a bunch of discussions about whether Clowney ought to sit this year out to preserve his big pay day in the 2014 draft, for instance.

Now it’s Matt Barkley falling to the fourth round of the draft.  Matt Hayes wants us to believe That Changes Everything.  And you know why?  Because an agent told him so.  No shit:

“The days of players coming back for the love of the game or winning a national championship are over,” said one NFL agent.

My first thought upon reading that – well, actually my second thought, as my first was why an agent thought it was prudent to give that quote without allowing a name to be attached – was to wonder whether somebody’s been paying attention.  This past draft was chock full of juniors who elected to leave early, many of whom left teams with legitimate chances to challenge for a national title.  Nor is that anything particularly new.

There have been and will always be players who go to college to get ready to play on the next level and leave as soon as they have a shot at a pay day.  (Same with agents who want more clients.)  Just as there have been and will always be those like Aaron Murray and Jake Matthews, who, contrary to Mr. Anonymous, do get something out of the college experience and choose to stay, regardless of what happens to the Matt Barkleys of the draft.

The only thing that seems to be different these days is that the press is more willing to call into question a kid’s judgment for not doing everything he can do to take the money and run.  That strikes me as a funny way to cover a sport.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Mindful of Tommy Perkins’ Afghanistan analogy, let me just say this about Kentucky’s serious recruiting outreach into Ohio:  go ‘Cats, go!  Anything that makes Corch have to devote even an ounce more of his energy and attention to defending the home front and not coming down south to raid is a plus in my book.