Leonard Floyd and three letters you don’t want to see.

Great.

Georgia junior linebacker Leonard Floyd, considered a top defensive player in the country, underwent an MRI earlier this week on his surgically repaired shoulder, according to a source.

Floyd, who missed the Belk Bowl in December and spring drills, was absent from practice Tuesday due to soreness, but the MRI revealed no damage. He’s expected to return before the season opener Sept. 5 against Louisiana-Monroe.

Maybe it’ll turn out to be nothing, but all things being equal, I’d rather not have to worry about him dealing with that.

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UPDATE:  This is good news, though.

Leonard Floyd back at practice today with no apparent limitations. pic.twitter.com/0OlVAvs8CK

— Seth Emerson (@SethEmersonAJC) August 12, 2015

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The 2015 Fabris Invitational is a thing.

Email invites are going out as you read this post.  Just do the same thing to register as you’ve done in seasons past.

If you haven’t played before, but would like to participate now, click here.

And, no, the first week’s pool isn’t ready yet.

Of course he isn’t.

Blogger at Roll Bama Roll isn’t too impressed with state legislator’s move to have Auburn claim a few more national championships.

The difference between the SEC and the Big 12

Heather Dinich, of all people, speaks truth to power about CFP expansion.

Only when there is a major controversy will we see major change. If the Big 12’s spot on the bubble becomes permanent, then a conversation about expansion becomes valid. If the SEC is left out of the playoff? It expands faster than Alabama writes checks to Nick Saban.

Yup.

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UPDATE:  This would really make certain heads explode.

Now, Urban Meyer’s team is clearly the overwhelming favorite to repeat — my colleague Stewart Mandel also picked them to win the conference. But it’s not far-fetched that the Big Ten could have two teams earn a playoff spot in 2015. That’s how talented Michigan State is. The Spartans are led by a talented senior QB in Connor Cook. They have both an experienced O-line and a fierce group of D-linemen. They can also win big points with the committee if they can knock off defending Pac-12 champ Oregon when the Ducks visit East Lansing in Week Two. The bad news for Mark Dantonio? MSU has to visit Columbus to face the Big Ten’s resident powerhouse, and Ohio State is loaded.

I can’t wait to hear Herbstreit’s take on that.

Kicking in the kicking game

Once again, a story about a Georgia special teams player looking outside to fix a problem:

Punter Collin Barber spent the months between spring practices and preseason camp working with his personal kicking coach, Marc Nolan.

“We worked a lot on just my steps and really focusing on my drop, my drop placement,” Barber said. “Just really following through and walking forward. I would kick it and fall off. I worked on kicking it and actually keeping my head down and walking forward through the ball. It really benefited me a lot. That’s what I’m trying to focus on this camp.”

I’m not advocating canning another assistant to open up a spot for a dedicated special teams coach – really, with the current staff, whom would you let go?.  But if the NCAA ever green lights staff expansion, and Richt doesn’t add one then, it would be a case of coaching malpractice.

So you’re saying there’s a 4.4% chance?

Here’s something that will cause a double take:  SportsLine rates Georgia as having the fifth-best chance of running the table in all of D-1.

If that’s really true, then the Dawgs’ national title odds are undervalued at 33-1.

Feelings, nothing more than feelings

Barry Alvarez believes stats serve a purpose in his role as a member of the selection committee.  They exist to help support his personal feelings about a team.

“We found that the statistical and analytic side of the stats that we were charting supported what he was seeing, that yep, [Mississippi State] is a really productive team and a team that’s going to win a lot of games and beat good teams,” he said. “It was very validating for him to come up with his opinion of a team early on and then have the statistical and empirical data match that or validate that.”

How fortunate for the statistics – and Barry.  Because nobody wants to walk into the room armed with little more than a smile and a ‘Well, here’s what I’m seeing, these are my opinions,’ line for the others.

That being said, you think Alvarez would have come to a different conclusion if he couldn’t find any stats in support for it?  Me neither.

“(We’re) more mean.”

Jordan Jenkins says the defense is playing with more of an edge this season because it reflects the demeanor of the defensive coaching staff (“They’re all nasty”).  In particular,

“Nobody’s going to mess with Coach Rocker. At the end of the day when Coach Rocker’s out there, even now, nobody’s going to mess with Rocker…”

(Photo by John Kelley/UGA Sports Communications)

Gee, I can’t imagine where he got that impression from.

More on that two-team race in the SEC East

Kirk Herbstreit believes that the SEC East will come down to Tennessee or Georgia this season, with a slight lean towards the Vols.

So does Phil Fulmer.  Although with Fulmer, you get the bonus shot taken at South Carolina. Old habits die hard.  (Speaking of which, I bet Spurrier files that away for future reference.)

“If they’re going to let us play after midnight, they should let us practice and train after midnight.”

Dan Mullen is standing at the crossroads of broadcast demands and NCAA rules and isn’t happy with the view.

The Bulldogs open at Southern Miss with a 9 p.m. local time kickoff on Sept. 5. The next week, they host LSU with an 8:15 p.m. kick.

“The schedule changes how we prepare because we play at, like, midnight every kickoff. It is hard,” Mullen said. “Our first two games, you expect they’ll still be going on past midnight, which is kind of ridiculous. But that’s just the way it is.

“That will change how we prepare closer to game week, because I’m usually asleep by then. I’ve got to be rocking and rolling in the fourth quarter. Our guys aren’t used to physically performing.”

You’d best plenty of rest, big fella.