Today, in Finebaum’s Profiles in Courage

Good Lord, even for Finebaum this is embarrassing.

On Thanksgiving, worth noting the courage of Mike Slive bringing A&M and Mizzou to the SEC. Both schools have had major impact.

— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) November 27, 2013

Yes, let’s make sure we give thanks for Mike Slive having the courage to make the only move he could to break a TV deal that wasn’t measuring up to what the Big Ten and Pac-12 were getting.  I know I’m particularly thankful that the SEC has managed to sabotage its football and basketball scheduling as a result of that courageous action.  Slive is just like a fireman rushing in to a burning building to save a young child… except for the fire and the kid.

Gah.

Mumme Poll, Week 13

New team at the top this week.

Rank	Team	Votes (Top pick)
1	Florida State	25 (14)
2	Alabama	25 (11)
3	Ohio State	25 (0)
4	Oklahoma State	24
4	Missouri	24
6	Clemson	22
7	Auburn	21
8	Michigan State	20
9	Stanford	18
10	Baylor	16
11	South Carolina	11
12	Arizona State	7
12	Wisconsin	7
14	LSU	5
15	Northern Illinois	4
16	Oregon	3
16	Fresno State	3

COMMENTS

• It’s interesting how the number of voters has steadily dwindled this season, yet the ballot distribution remains credible.
• Conference breakdown:  SEC – 5; Pac-12 – 3; Big Ten – 3; Big 12 – 2; ACC – 2; MAC – 1; MWC – 1.

Look who’s shopping at the oversigning store.

Butch Jones may have just gotten to the SEC, but he’s been quick to embrace that “25-man signing cap is just a state of mind” attitude.

Schools can still backcount and grayshirt their way right past the 25-man “limit.”  Take Tennessee’s Butch Jones as the latest example.  He’s putting together a top five recruiting class in Knoxville as we speak.  His program appears to have room for as many as 30 signees in February (thanks to backcounting), but the Vols are already up to 33 commitments.  And they’re still out recruiting.  Jones offered up this tease to a booster group yesterday:

“If I can find a way to sign 35 guys, I’m gonna sign ‘em.  There is a plan in place.  It’s very strategic but it’s all gonna work out.  I promise you.”

The “secret plan” Jones has in mind is anyone’s guess, but it’s hard to imagine he’s found a loophole that’s not been taken advantage of by someone else somewhere else.

What is it with Tennessee coaches and plans?

Anyway, the idea that Jones has found a loophole in the signing rules that Nick Saban hasn’t… well, let’s just say I’m skeptical.  Pennington’s likely right to surmise that some of those prized recruits ready to show up in Knoxville next year are going to get a “not so fast, son” message pretty soon.  Or there may be a few medical issues cropping up on the current UT roster that will require some untimely retirements.  Or both.

You gotta break a few eggs if you want to make an urnge omelet.  Does anybody think the Vol fan base will care?  Hells no – anything Jones does that emulates Nick Saban is a feature, not a bug, in their book.

Nerds win! Nerds win! Nerds win!!!!

Shit’s gettin’ real, Stingtalkers.

There is a comment thread titled “I am happy Aaron Murray got injured” on stingtalk.com, a Georgia Tech sports message board not affiliated with the school.

It was started on Sunday at 2 a.m. and has more than 130 subsequent comments on it. Some commenters are siding with the theme of the thread’s title and some are denouncing the thread.

Georgia receiver Chris Conley doesn’t need to go far to find motivation to go against the Yellow Jackets. He hears about threads and comments like on stingtalk.com and he looks at his Twitter mentions.

“But just some of the comments that were made about players on the team being injured, namely players that just got injured, it kind of pissed some people off,” Conley said. “It rubs them wrong. There’s not searching for motivation for this game.”

Georgia players are pissed off about something you wrote!  If you’re a faceless tool hammering on a keyboard, that probably generates more satisfaction than you’d get if your football team actually won the game.  Best of all, you can keep reliving the glory with your virtual mates in thread after thread after thread.  It’s nice to have something to cling to on those dark nights when somebody reminds you that your team has a winning percentage of 8.33% against Mark Richt.

The football team may not be winners, but every one of you online warriors can make that claim.  And you didn’t even have to suit up and take a hit on the field.  Boy, won’t that be a hoot to discuss at next year’s Dragon*Con.