APU

If anyone’s entitled to protest the NCAA, it’s Kolton Houston. (h/t Seth Emerson)

A month from now, nobody’s going to remember how sloppy today’s game was.

Although I won’t have forgotten how wet I got watching it.

Georgia, North Texas, yoots and the spread

Between the weather, the opponent, the desire to get the starters out as soon as possible… well, I won’t be surprised if Georgia doesn’t cover today.  And that may not be such a bad thing, if it’s mainly about getting a bunch of fresh faces some real work in a game, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

There might be a temptation to use Saturday’s game against unheralded North Texas as the warm-up game that Georgia didn’t get prior to facing Clemson and South Carolina. And Georgia could yet use it that way, but there was no way the Bulldogs were going to admit that publicly.

Still, with another mega-matchup looming next week against No. 6 LSU, the ninth-ranked Bulldogs are hoping to take control early against North Texas and save some key players from further injury risk.

If that happens, a number of younger and inexperienced players will get an extended look.

Turnover margin is the one thing I worry about going in, but if the Dawgs can avoid being sloppy, take control of the game early on and cruise playing a bunch of backups, I’ll live if they don’t win by thirty.

Consider this your game day thread invitation, those of you staying dry.

“I’m a firm believer that an employee should get paid for his work.”

I’m not surprised by what Arian Foster said about getting paid while at Tennessee.  I’m only surprised that more players haven’t told similar stories after the fact.

The NCAA can hug itself as closely as it likes in the mantle of amateurism that it’s weaved, but it’s hard for student-athletes to appreciate it when they get smacked in the face by imagery like this:

“… There was a point where we had no food, no money, so I called my coach and I said, ‘Coach, we don’t have no food. We don’t have no money. We’re hungry. Either you give us some food, or I’m gonna go do something stupid.’ He came down and he brought like 50 tacos for like four or five of us. Which is an NCAA violation. [laughs] But then, the next day I walk up to the facility and I see my coach pull up in a brand new Lexus. Beautiful.”

I’m not advocating paying players here.  But I sure can see how the current set up can be hard to swallow.

At least Tennessee’s current players can take comfort in the sympathy shown by Dave Hart.

“We can’t speak to something that allegedly happened a long time ago,” Dave Hart, Tennessee vice chancellor and athletic director, said in a statement. “What we can say is that the values and priorities of our athletics department and football program are aligned, and the constant education of our student-athletes regarding the rules and the consequences of their choices is of the highest priority.”

Let them eat cake, Knoxville-style.  The kids may go hungry on occasion, but at least they’ll know why.

A meteor game down on its luck

The Florida-Tennessee series ain’t what it used to be.

It’s been 3,290 days since Tennessee kicker James Wilhoit’s 50-yard game-winning field goal sailed through the uprights of Neyland Stadium’s north end zone. The Vols last beat rival Florida in 2004, and the Gators have won two SEC titles and two BCS championships in that time frame. Tennessee is on its fourth head coach since that night.

Now that Georgia-Florida has become competitive again, Gator fans may have to replace cries of “3-18” with “0-8”.