Is Gurley getting to the NCAA?

NCAA President Mark Emmert told USA TODAY Sports the next calendar year is a “good time to have a discussion” about whether the current rules related to college athletes and autographs are still proper.

Like I said, when all is said and done, Todd Gurley’s college career may have a very significant non-playing legacy.

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Survive and advance, Georgia.

I’m telling you, the pundits are starting to come around.  Here’s something from Matt Hinton’s piece surveying the present groundwork for playoff entry:

After surveying the field, I’m almost tempted to jump onboard with Georgia, which has looked solid since its September 13 loss at South Carolina despite its reliance on a pedestrian quarterback and the extended absence of the best player in college football. Then again, UGA is coming off a bye week, and this is the kind of season that can start to make not playing look like a virtue simply because it means not losing.

And this week it’s on to Agent Muschamp, while Auburn and Ole Miss chew on each other.

Patience, grasshoppers.  This team has a chance.

Let the festivities commence!

If you can’t get up for Cocktail Party week, Jack, you dead.

The womens like it.

I’m impressed with Mississippi State’s Josh Robinson’s game.  And it sounds like he’s a pretty funny kid.

#MississippiState RB Josh Robinson…on his prodigious butt: "I think that's why the women come to the game, to be honest."

— Brian Hamilton (@BrianHamiltonSI) October 26, 2014

Yeah, baby!

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UPDATE:  Speaking of Robinson, he definitely kicked some butt on this run.

Eh, I’m sure Mickey has our best interests at heart.

Why, Andy Staples, I never knew you were such a cynic.

This is why I question the concept of the committee meeting and releasing weekly rankings from this Tuesday until the first week of December. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament selection committee meets at season’s end, when résumés are complete, and then chooses the teams. That should also be what the football committee does, but the elimination of the BCS left a rankings release show-sized hole in ESPN’s programming schedule. ESPN pays the equivalent of the GDP of certain banana republics to televise this playoff. If it wants a weekly rankings show, it’s going to get one. While I understand the business side of this decision, I worry it will force committee members to become too caught up in the week-to-week ebb and flow of the season, and to get too married to notions that may be true in early November but are proven false by early December.

ESPN driving a course of action that college football doesn’t really need because of naked self-interest?  I’m shocked, shocked, you would suggest something like that.

Fabris Invitational Results, Week 9

Another pick ’em, another logjam at the top.

STANDINGS for WEEK 9

Rank	Selection Name	Standings Adjustment	W-L	Pts	Tie Breaker Game 35-42
1	wstanford	Adj	9-1	9	34-42**
1	3rd & Grantham	Adj	9-1	9	28-45
1	georgiajeepn	Adj	9-1	9	17-31

Congrats to wstanford for pulling out the win in the tiebreaker.

On to the season…

SEASON STANDINGS through Week 9

Rank	You	Selection Name	W-L	Pts
1		Valley Dawg	57-33	57
2		georgiajeepn	56-34	56
2		Turfman25	56-34	56

Tight race continues.

SEC Power Poll, Week 9

It was a week with plenty of exciting games, but few outright upsets.  So there’s not that much movement in my power rankings this go ’round.

1. Mississippi State.  Don’t mistake struggling on the road in the SEC with suddenly not being as good a team.  That being said, I would be a little concerned about that secondary, Bulldogs.
2. Auburn.  The 2014 version of the Tigers is looking more and more like the 2013 version – ridiculously good running game, efficient passing and just-good-enough-to-get-by defense.
3. Mississippi.  That’s the kind of ending you get when you don’t have any experience playing pressure cooker games on the road.
4. Georgia.  The farther into the season we get, the less this team looks outmatched by the other top teams in the conference.
5. Alabama.  My vote for conference MVP goes to Amari Cooper.  In the two games he’s been held to less than 100 receiving yards, Alabama’s lost one outright and squeaked past Arkansas in the other.
6. LSU.  Les Miles has a winning record in games in which his team has trailed in the fourth quarter.  And to think there are still idiots out there convinced he can’t coach.
7. Missouri.  I’m almost embarrassed placing the Tigers here, but hey, they’re 6-2, 3-1.  You got a better choice?
8. Texas A&M.  At least the Aggies’ defense didn’t embarrass itself this weekend.
9. Florida.  The Gators aren’t getting a bye week bounce; they’re getting a benched Driskel bounce.
10. Kentucky.  Flawed, but fun to watch.
11. South Carolina.  As much of an offensive genius as he is, Spurrier’s not genius-y enough to overcome his team’s shortcomings on defense.
12. Arkansas.  Dominated UAB as much in the first half as Georgia dominated them the week before.
13. Tennessee.  With everything you already know, why in the world would you start Nathan Peterman in a conference game?
14. Vanderbilt.  Speaking of starting quarterbacks, who gets the nod next week for the Commodores?  And, does it matter?