“Nick is still our starting quarterback.”

Remember this?

Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said Marshall and Mincy will “suffer the consequences” for their transgressions, but has not stated what the punishment will be for either player, neither of whom have spoken publically since their run-ins with law enforcement.

Behold the consequences!

Auburn won’t open the season with quarterback Nick Marshall under center for the defending SEC champions, but they won’t have to wait long before he trots out onto the field for the Tigers.

Head coach Gus Malzahn told reporters on Friday that Marshall would not start the game against Arkansas but that he would play in the game.

I do not think that word means what Malzahn thinks it means.

Does this coaching staff make my butt look fat?

I know that dictating your philosophy comes with the territory when you’re a defensive coordinator, but, seriously, how did Todd Grantham plow ahead like this with Jordan Jenkins last year?

“I was close to maybe 270 (pounds) in January. I think I was maybe 268. I bulked up for the last coaching staff, and then they wanted everybody to lose weight. Going through mat drills at that weight was the most awful experience I’ve ever had. That’s when I realized, ‘I need to lose weight. It’s not natural. I don’t feel like I can move as well.’ Then after dropping the weight and eating healthy, I feel better when I run. I feel a lot more durable and that my endurance has gone up.”

After a promising first year, Jenkins clearly regressed last season.  He wasn’t a disaster – he still managed to lead the team in tackles for loss – but he was a disappointment.  That quote explains some of it.  If you’re Grantham, how do you let size for size’s sake take precedence over a player clearly feeling physically uncomfortable with his bulk?

***********************************************************************

UPDATE:  On the other hand, this should scare the crap out of some offensive coordinators.

#UGA's Leonard Floyd: "I'm in the best shape of my life, really…I feel like I am back in high school. I am fast like I was in high school"

— Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) August 1, 2014

Couldn’t stand the weather

When you’re working on the the longest drought among the Power 5 conferences and Notre Dame without playing for a national championship, you grasp at whatever straws you can.

How tough has recruiting been in the Big Ten? Delany used weather as one selling point, saying it mimics NFL weather if a recruit wants to play at the next level. “Nobody has better weather than we do in August, September and October, and then you have NFL weather in November,” Delany said.

Boy, that ought to send kids flocking to the Big Ten banner, Jim.

“Despite what Updyke did, Finebaum still had a soft spot for him.”

Honestly, between the two of them, it’s impossible to say for whom I have more contempt.  Gah.

Number one, number one

Here’s what ESPN has to say about its top rated player in the SEC this season.

1. Todd Gurley, RB, Georgia Bulldogs
Coaches, players and sports writers can agree on at least one thing: Gurley is a beast. At SEC media days, nearly every player surveyed by ESPN called Georgia’s lead tailback the most intimidating player to tackle in the league. Reporters, meanwhile, made Gurley a first-team All-SEC choice, awarding him the second-most votes overall. If he can stay healthy, he’s the league’s best shot at winning the Heisman Trophy. With 2,374 yards in the past two seasons, only Nebraska’s Ameer Abdullah has more career rushing yards entering 2014.

Man, I sure hope we get a full and healthy year out of him.  Go out with a bang, Todd.

Honestly, I can live without this.

Let’s face it – would you rather have a ticket with a coupon you could trade for a burger after the game, or a ticket that smells like a burger before the game?

“If we keep knocking, it’s going to be good for us.”

If you have to use one word to describe Mark Richt’s coaching tenure, consistent is a pretty good one.  Unfortunately, that encompasses this less than satisfactory trend.  If 2014 is going to be a year in which somebody answers the knock, that’s a trend Richt’s team is going to have to buck.

And considering that Georgia comes out of the gate playing two ranked opponents, we’ll know soon enough about that.

“The buzz has naturally died down at Georgia Tech.”

CFN’s Georgia Tech preview is a real treat.

It’s becoming increasingly evident that the Yellow Jackets just might have peaked after all in 2009.

Georgia Tech won 11 games and the Atlantic Coast Conference five years ago, helping make head coach Paul Johnson the toast of Atlanta for a brief time. Since then, the school has gone 23-25 versus FBS opponents, making Johnson’s seat, well, toasty. The Jackets are clearly stuck in neutral, with no end to the mediocrity in plain sight. In a decision that was both symbolic and immediately impactful to the current squad, starting QB Vad Lee voluntarily decided in January that his career would benefit from a transfer to FCS James Madison.

The best part of that is Georgia Tech’s peak still included a loss to one of Richt’s weakest squads.  Simply Chantastic.

Ah, geez.

Malcolm Mitchell, fragile flower.

***********************************************************************

UPDATE:  Details.

***********************************************************************

UPDATE #2:  While we’re on the topic, this doesn’t sound too promising, either.

Richt on Justin Scott-Wesley: "We're not sure when he'll be able to play a game of football for us. But we think it'll be this season."

— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) August 1, 2014