Skunked

For a team that went heavy on youth this season, it’s probably a little disconcerting to find that Georgia has no players on this year’s SEC All-Freshman team.

“We probably don’t want to be dark on that last weekend…”

For those of you who don’t get why I fret about an expanded college football postseason weakening the significance of the best regular season in organized sport, consider that the Big 12 is weighing the idea of moving its last week of regular season games to the same weekend as other conferences’ championship games so it won’t get lost in the shuffle by the selection committee.

But after finishing their regular season on the last weekend of November, the Sooners fell from the No. 3 slot to No. 4 in the final Playoff ranking – leaving Big 12 members wondering whether and how much they were impacted by not having that 13th game (or in the parlance of the selection committee, a “13th data point”). Oklahoma was one of six teams in its conference sitting out while other Playoff contenders were still playing.

“You just want to have a presence,” TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte said. “It’s not about a statement game. It’s about being relevant that day.”

Twenty years from now, these guys are going to wonder what happened to them.  And they still won’t really know.

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“The members are going to have to figure out, what’s the purpose of bowl games?”

… NCAA President Mark Emmert told reporters Wednesday at the IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum. “Is it a reward for a successful season or is it just another game that we’re going to provide an opportunity for?”

Coming from the guy who was more than willing to pimp out another round of March Madness to any network that would pay for it, that’s rich.

Oh, and Mark?  Have you checked with ESPN to see how Mickey feels about cutting back the bowls?

The NCAA and the new amateurism

Welp, this settles it.

NCAA's Oliver Luck on why there's an open market for coaches pay and not athletes: Coaches are adults.

— Michael Casagrande (@ByCasagrande) December 10, 2015

That is mockable on so many levels I hardly know where to start.

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UPDATE:  Er, uh…

“I probably misspoke some,” Luck told AL.com. “It doesn’t have to do with age, necessarily. When you’re 18, you are an adult. There are certain things you’re not allowed to do. But by in large, you can do other things in life. It’s more about the relationship that historically existed on campuses and that relationship that university has with a coach or a professor or staff person is different than it has been with a student. I think if we change that relationship, we’ll have lost our way because traditionally, that’s the way.

“I may have put too much emphasis on the adult vs. an 18-year old because they’re both adults technically. Although there are some limitations on what 18- or 19- year or 20-year old can do.”

There’s a reason Stacey Osburn keeps her mouth closed most of the time.

Splitting the baby

I admit at first glance I thought this AJ-C header – “Mark Richt may attend Senior Gala but Jacob Eason won’t” – was simply another cynical attempt to troll Georgia fans, but it turns out to be something a little more surprising.

Accurate.

Former Georgia coach Mark Richt has been invited to return to Athens to attend the Bulldogs’ annual Senior Gala on Saturday. But he won’t have any interaction with UGA’s recruits while he’s in town.

Quarterback Jacob Eason and many other of the Bulldogs’ elite recruits who will be in town on an official visit this weekend will be “attending another event” at the same time as the Gala, according to UGA officials.

That’s different than usual. In past years, the Senior Gala has been a highlight event for some of the most important recruiting prospects the Bulldogs entertain every year.

That displays a deft PR touch that has been sorely lacking from B-M of late.  Pretty Smart… er, smart.  Whoever came up with the idea, well played, sir or madam.