“We are not prepared to compromise on the case.”

It looks like they’ve entered the end game in the O’Bannon suit.

Electronic Arts Sports and Collegiate Licensing Company have settled all claims brought against them by plaintiffs in the Sam Keller and Ed O’Bannon lawsuit over the use of college athletes’ names, images and likenesses, according to a court filing today.

Terms of the settlements are confidential until presented to the court for preliminary approval, the filing said. “This settlement does not affect Plaintiffs’ claims against Defendant National Collegiate Athletic Association,” the filing stated.

Meanwhile, the NCAA is hiring more lawyers and vowing to fight all the way to the Supreme Court.  All of this is pretty amazing when you consider the organization could have settled this in the beginning for a relative pittance.

It won’t surprise me, if O’Bannon makes it that far, to learn that the NCAA seriously lobbies Congress for an antitrust exemption.  The NCAA has just started to fight, by damn!

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He don’t get no respect.

I’m not surprised or offended that the pundits in this clip are picking LSU to win Saturday, but I don’t know how you analyze the game without a single mention of Aaron Murray – especially with the way Dennis Dodd ends up, musing about who might emerge from the game as the potential SEC player of the year.

Interesting how the kid with the fourth-highest rated passer rating in the country is so easily dismissed.

More and more, it’s looking like…

Alabama has cancelled its home-and-home series with Michigan State “due to uncertainty with the SEC schedule.”

Smells like nine-game conference scheduling to me.

“Big-screen TVs close to your own refrigerator are pretty compelling.”

Especially when the guy making that observation devoted himself to making the on campus game day experience less enjoyable.

The problem now is that many of the solutions to this…

David Walter Banks for The Wall Street Journal

… cost money, whether it’s installing wi-fi, so that fans can “communicate in real time with somebody on the other side of the stadium” or better scheduling, which would mean more home-and-home series.  And the longer ADs wait to do something about it, the risk they run is that more people are going to feel like this:

This worrisome dynamic was evident last Saturday, when Georgia hosted North Texas on a drizzly afternoon and one tailgating troupe near Sanford Stadium kept dry underneath tents. Lounging in lawn chairs, with a makeshift bar to their right and their buffet and beer-pong tables behind them, students who said they had tickets to the game being played across the street instead were glued to two flat-screen TVs. “There are a ton of people who prefer this,” said Sam Little, a junior at Georgia. “They can actually watch the game instead of deal with the crazy atmosphere.”

Why do I get the feeling that no matter how things go, the only folks that are going to come out ahead are ESPN and CBS?

Something else I don’t get.

Say what you will about Michael Carvell, he’s right on about this:

RELATED: Because UGA is recruiting so well in the state of Florida, it makes you wonder if Greg McGarity will ever change THIS POLICY which still baffles some in recruiting circles.

Tendencies

Some pretty neat stuff about the LSU offense from UGASports.com‘s Jake Rowe:

• 1st Down – Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron has chosen to go with the run game just a tad under 70% of the time in 2013.

• Second down and long (7 or more yards) – This down and distance is also a run heavy down for the Tigers as they keep the ball on the ground 54% of the time.

• Second down and medium (4-6 yards)- Second and medium is another situation where the Tigers like to run the football. Cameron has called on the running game 63% of the time in 2013 in this situation.

• Second down and short(less than 4 yards) – The Tigers keep the ball on the ground 68% of the time on this down and distance.

• Third down and long – This is a pass-heavy down as the Tigers have gone to the air 82% of the time. This is also a down where LSU tends to max protect with the offensive line, running backs, and tight end.

• Third down and medium – This is second pass-heavy down and distance for LSU at 77% pass.

• Third down and short – The Tigers tend to keep it on the ground on third and short with a run rate of 79%.

Nothing very tricky there.  This really is shaping up as a game in which the team that executes best wins, pure and simple.

Jim Delany rages against the machine.

Everyone’s favorite conference commissioner thinks student-athletes not getting paid is so unfair… to the schools.

“I think we ought to work awful hard with the NFL and the NBA to create an opportunity for those folks. We have it in baseball, we have it in golf, works pretty good, we have it in golf, we have it in hockey. Why don’t we have it in football, basketball? Why is it our job to be minor leagues for professional sports?”

Well, Jimbo, you gotta admit you’re getting paid pretty well for that job.

Delany’s not stupid, just cynical.  He knows exactly why things are the way they are with the NFL and NBA.  And he also knows that he can work as hard as he wants to with them and it won’t change anything.

But it does give him a handy excuse to hold off on change at the college level, too – “Fellas, be patient.  We’re talking to the NFL and NBA about changing the status quo, but you know these things take time.”

He’s just trying to be helpful.

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UPDATE:  As you might expect, John Infante has some chioce thoughts about Delany’s comments.

“So what does that mean for Saturday’s LSU-Georgia game? Points, probably.”

Bill Connelly says, based on last year’s numbers, we should have seen this year’s SEC offensive explosion coming.

“I’m glad to be here. As I told them, any way I can help.”

For some reason, Butch Jones thought it would be a good idea for Phil Fulmer to drop in and give a little pep talk to the team.  Aside from making sure everyone in the room knew that he had nothing to do with Tennessee’s present troubles, it’s hard for me to guess what helpful suggestions he might have passed along.  Any of y’all have an idea?