Third and Willie lives!

Technically, it was fourth down, but the principle stands.

https://twitter.com/ESPNChing/status/378987532891213825

College Football Insider, please.

SEC, you can’t stop this meme.  You can only hope to contain it.

They shall overcome.

Arthur Lynch makes an interesting point.

Q: What was the key to playing better versus the Gamecocks?

A: “I think the biggest deal for us was those penalties. We cut them down to I think two on offense. And, in hindsight, they didn’t hurt us as much as they did the week before. That’s what really separated us. And the turnovers, of course. But I think the penalties were a bigger deal in terms of that aspect of our offense and I think that’s why we had so much success Saturday.”

Against Clemson, Georgia’s offense got called for eight penalties.  Of those eight, only two occurred on scoring drives.  Against South Carolina, the offense cut its penalties down by half.  More importantly, Georgia scored on every drive in which there was a penalty, except one, the eight and a half-minute drive to close out the game.

Playing in front of the home crowd helped.  But you still have to appreciate the resiliency.  That last score came on a third-and-13 conversion.

It’s a very good offense, and it’s gaining confidence in itself.

Spurrier’s problem with the media

… is evidently that he can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.

Spurrier being Spurrier, he discussed Finebaum for a few minutes and slipped in a nice jab at rival coaches.

“Oh, I do his show maybe twice a year,” he told me. “I don’t do a lot of them. We get a lot of requests all the time. Some head coaches they enjoy doing that and they feel like it’s positive publicity for their school and their team. I don’t like to do them all the time — I’m still coaching. When you’re trying to call the offense and run the plays you’ve got a lot on your mind. Most of the head coaches, that’s what they do, they talk to the media. They don’t coach anything so that’s what they do. They talk. I try to still coach.”

PAWWWLLL, I’m just wondering how thin the OBC’s schtick is wearing with his peers.  I’ll hang up and listen.

Anchor down, or man overboard?

Shit’s gettin’ real in Nashville, where Chris Boyd entered into a plea deal that will him keep out of jail and perhaps lead to him being reinstated on the football team.  However, there’s a catch.

Vanderbilt wide receiver Chris Boyd, 21, of Roswell, Ga., pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of trying to help cover up the June 23 rape of a 21-year-old Vanderbilt student in a dorm room. The plea deal allows Boyd to escape a felony conviction, any time spent in jail and a permanent mark on his record — so long as he testifies against four teammates charged with rape and stays out of trouble for a year.

It sounds like he’s ready to testify against more than just the four who’ve been charged.  And that may have some significant repercussions.

The plea also opened the door to new, disturbing details about the early morning hours of June 23, when prosecutors say four of Boyd’s former teammates raped the student while she was unconscious. Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman said in court that Boyd, Vanderbilt tight end Dillon van der Wal and starting quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels carried the partially nude woman from a hallway where she had been dumped back into the room of one of the men prosecutors say sexually assaulted her.

Those details drew Vanderbilt University even deeper into the rape case, prompting officials there to address prosecutors’ allegations that their tight end and star quarterback not only had information about the rape, but were actually in the dorm shortly after it happened.

“As of this date, no additional players have been suspended or dismissed from the football team. Vanderbilt is monitoring the criminal process,” wrote Beth Fortune, vice chancellor for public affairs, when asked about the inclusion of van der Wal and Carta-Samuels in prosecutors’ account of the rape.

At a minimum, you’ve got to figure there are more suspensions and plea deals coming down the turnpike.  If Franklin can hold things together throughout this, he’s really a helluva coach.  Which is why I sort of have to laugh when I hear the media asking Saban if the Fluker matter is a distraction to his team this week. You want a distraction?  This is a distraction.

Aaron Murray really likes his tailbacks.

Just ask him.

Q: I’d think Todd Gurley makes your life a lot easier, too.

A: Oh yeah. Watching film on him, he’s by far in my opinion — anyone who watched him would probably agree with me — the best player in the country. I don’t think there’s anyone like Todd.

Q: Player?

A: Player. I would take him. If we were doing a fantasy draft, I would take him first pick above anyone else. There’s no one like him out there.

Q: You talked during the offseason about getting him and Keith Marshall the ball through the air and both of them had touchdown catches against South Carolina. Obviously, that was a functional part of the offense on Saturday.

A: Oh yeah. We want to get those guys the ball any way we can. Both of them are tremendous out of the backfield. Everyone sees them as running, running, running, but I don’t think either of them have dropped a pass ever. Great hands, knock on wood, but both of them have great hands and like I said, you get the ball in their hands anyway possible and let them be them.

Q: Once they’re on the corner, it seems like it’s not even fair.

A: Yeah, it’s done. Especially Keith with his speed. You get Keith in the open field, and no one’s catching him.

They combined for three catches, 62 yards receiving and two touchdowns against South Carolina.  Throw in Hicks, who’s averaging better than 30 yards a catch, and that’s quite a group.  It’s early, but it’s looking like this is the best receiving backfield Richt’s had.

All I’m waiting on is for them to burn somebody on the wheel route.  Turnabout is fair play, after all.

Sexy sexxed up sex

As far as I can tell, the only difference between SI‘s piece on sex at Oklahoma State and, say, your typical Bleacher Report boobtastic post is that there’s no slide show.

There’s also nothing alleged in SI‘s article that’s even close to being in the same solar system as a NCAA violation, so it’s hard to see what the point to it is.  Other than sex talk, of course.