“We don’t even try to focus on the negative.”

This is a nice story about Georgia’s quiet offseason – “Georgia hasn’t registered a single point in the latest Fulmer Cup Standings…” – but I gotta tell you, if things blow up in the next month, I’m blaming Weiszer for the jinx.

Over their dead bodies

Word comes down that the NLRB will soon issue its ruling on the Northwestern players’ bid to unionize.  And with that, Andy Schwarz’ piece asking if Stanford would really follow through on its claim of moving to Division III to avoid the consequences of that is worth rereading.

Man, between Stanford and the Big Ten, D-III football could be all the rage soon.

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Larry Scott’s modesty

Well, now we know who doesn’t have the biggest Johnson.

Scott, undoubtedly referring to the SEC’s penchant for flaunting its distribution figure: “We’re not into, ‘Look how big mine is.’”

— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) July 30, 2015

If you don’t got it, don’t flaunt it, I guess.

“Size doesn’t always equate to strength.”

For those of you concerned about the run defense, particularly the run defense up the middle, Mark Richt wants you to pay no attention to players’ weights.

Richt acknowledged Monday night that the Bulldogs have slimmed down as a team for the 2015 season. Georgia players generally will play lighter this season across the board.

“We have trimmed up; there’s no doubt about it,” Richt said. “That goes back to Coach (Mark) Hocke, our strength coach, and the amount of running these guys are doing. We are not a fat team at all. … We are lighter than we’ve been for a while.”

During the Q&A portion of Monday night’s event, a fan wondered if that might hurt Georgia at the point of attack, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

“Just because you trim down doesn’t mean you lose strength,” Richt said. “Size doesn’t always equate to strength. Now it’s harder to move a bigger man, no doubt. But if the guy’s in greater condition and can play harder play-after-play, then you have a chance to sustain throughout the ball game.”

Sure hope there’s a lot more sustaining on the dive play this year, that’s for sure.  If I recall correctly, Herrera and Wilson had nineteen tackles apiece in the last Tech game.  Not exactly a recipe for stopping the run.

The Three Amigos

Something you’d better get used to between now and opening day – any discussion about the Auburn-Louisville game (and Ian Boyd’s post is a good one) is going to bring up the subject of former Georgia players, at least in passing.

Expect to hear some red and black talk on the broadcast, as well.  And not because those are Louisville colors, either.

Urban Meyer has lost control over something.

Ohio State bombshell: DE Joey Bosa, WR Dontre Wilson H-backs Jalin Marshall and Corey Smith suspended for opener at Virginia Tech.

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) July 30, 2015

And Mark Schlabach wins the Intertubes today with this gem.

Of course, there's still a chance the #B1G might get involved and Buckeyes' star players won't be suspended until Hawaii game

— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) July 30, 2015

Mark May lives to fight another day.

Although it’ll be on ABC instead of ESPN.

The ABC and ESPN studios will also see changes for 2015. John Saunders will continue to anchor Saturday’s ABC studio coverage, along with second-year analyst Mack Brown and 10-year ESPN analyst Mark May, who will make the switch from ESPN’s studio.

Enjoy that, Mack.

Meanwhile it looks like ESPN’s already groomed its next Mark May.

ESPN’s new studio trio features host Adnan Virk with analysts Joey Galloway and Danny Kanell, who will handle pre-game, halftime and post-game reporting on Thursday, Friday and Saturday during the season.

Oh, goody.  I look forward to another season of SEC trolling/bashing by Kanell.  Well, I would if I actually watched ESPN in the studio.

The most useless thing in college football

For some reason, the Coaches Poll makes its 2015 appearance next week.

And just a reminder about the one unquestioned achievement of the CFP:

The Coaches Poll used to count for one-third of the formula that was used to determine the BCS standings and national championship participants, but is not part of the determination of the College Football Playoff, which uses a selection committee to determine participating teams.

That’s almost enough by itself to make me stomach a sixteen-team playoff field.  Almost.

Your O’Bannon update

At the New York Times, you’ll find a nice summary of where things stand with just a couple of days to go before the expiration of Judge Wilken’s delay in the order going into effect.

One thing worth reiterating is this:

After the three-week trial last summer in Oakland, Calif., Wilken found that the N.C.A.A.’s rules were illegal. This does not mean universities must share licensing money with players, only that the N.C.A.A. cannot prevent them from doing so.

If the appeals court doesn’t grant the stay the NCAA seeks, I figure Auburn will be out of the gate on this before the weekend is over.

“There needs to be a level playing field here, some way.”

As noted before, Georgia’s raised its COA figure to middle of the pack by SEC standards.  And Seth Emerson reports it’s a fluid situation.

McGarity said UGA, especially Morehead, will be keeping an eye on COA figures around the SEC and the nation, in the hopes it levels out. If not, they’ll revisit Georgia’s next year.

“Our president has been very involved in the whole issue of cost-of-attendance,” McGarity said. “He has been very vocal in his concern about an uneven playing field, about the consequences that has now become evident, even in our conference, about the vast differences.”

It’s not that they’re scared of what they’re paying players.  It’s that they’re scared of what everyone else is paying them.