Thanks, Delany.

Never underestimate the ability of college coaches to innovate based on new developments.

Freshman ineligibility has only been a topic of conversation for a few days now, but Ohio State head coach Thad Matta is already tired of answering questions about the topic.

“It’s been a nightmare,” Matta said Saturday. “All of our coaches are dealing with it.”

Reports surfaced earlier this week that the Big Ten was looking into the idea of making freshmen ineligible to compete in football and men’s basketball. It’s a far-fetched idea, really, but it appears there’s some serious discussion going on.

Matta, however, said he doesn’t believe freshmen will ever be ruled ineligible to play. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t already been asked about it recently on the recruiting trail.

“I tell you what, I’m dealing with more issues on that in recruiting. We’re getting crushed in this thing,” he said. “It’s not going to happen, but why they linked the Big Ten to it I don’t know. I’ve been dealing with that the last couple days trying to explain if it does happen, which it’s not going to, but if it does it’s not just the Big Ten it will be across college basketball.”

Now, if somebody would start dropping that topic on the football recruiting trail, we might just see Corch’s head explode.

Echoes of Athens

Two great tidbits from this SI.com profile of Bobby Petrino’s program (“they may be dicks, but at least they’re consistent!”).  First, ol’ Toddster’s still taking the occasional shot when he can:

Despite all that, Grantham turned down chance to join Jack Del Rio’s staff as the Raiders defensive coordinator, an opportunity he admits “excited and interested” him. Grantham credited Jurich—“the best AD I’ve worked for”—and the Louisville community for convincing him to lay roots in the ACC. [Emphasis added.]

Ah, can you feel the love, Greg?

Then, there’s the Second Chance Kickoff Classic, coming your way this fall.

Two players who Grantham coached at Georgia, corner Shaq Wiggins and safety Josh Harvey-Clemons, are eligible transfers and should add immediate talent to a depleted secondary. The Cards’ defense won’t wait long before it faces a true test: The program opens the 2015 season against Auburn in Atlanta.

Harvey-Clemson and Matthews, together again.  What do you figure the over/under will be on the number of times the broadcasters bring up you know what during that broadcast?  As long as they mention neither is still in a Georgia uniform, I guess we can take it as a backhanded compliment.

“You can’t have the animals running the zoo in a college education.”

Pat Fitzgerald thinks it was a tragedy that he had to spend time “educating” his seniors about unionization.

It sure would have been a lot easier if somebody would have just made it illegal. Then you wouldn’t have to spend any time explaining yourself.

“I just want ’em to enforce the rule they have.”

Hey, it’s Son of 10-Second Substitution Rule!

If it’s February, it must be time for a college football rules proposal — and the inevitable pushback.

Several prominent coaches are riled up about a proposal, passed last week by the NCAA Football Rules Committee, that would reduce the distance offensive linemen can be downfield on a pass play from 3 yards to 1 yard beyond the line of scrimmage. The proposal came about after the rise of so-called “pop” passes or “packaged” plays, in which a quarterback has the option to run or pass, but linemen block as though it’s a run.

Enter the usual suspects.

The amount of opposition to the current proposal isn’t clear. But coaches including Graham, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, Ole Miss’ Hugh Freeze and Baylor’s Art Briles told USA TODAY Sports they’re asking that the proposal be withdrawn. Instead, they’d like officials to make the current rule a “point of emphasis,” calling it tightly and throwing flags if linemen stray beyond the 3-yard boundary.

Malzahn, Freeze and several others have called Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, the chair of the football rules committee, to express their opposition. They’re also making their view known in official comments to the rules committee during a two-week feedback period that began Thursday. If it isn’t tabled, the proposal is scheduled to be considered March 5 by the NCAA’s Playing Rules Oversight Panel.

“This is the second year in a row I’ll be involved in (pushing back against a proposal),” Freeze said.

All we’re missing to square the circle is Bert shedding crocodile tears about players’ health.

You know what’s funny – all these coaches acknowledging the refs have done a crappy job enforcing the rule, and we got stuck with this.