Pay to replay

Man, I wonder if anyone has suggested this to Steve Shaw yet.

It costs $300 to challenge a gymnastics score at the Olympics. Seriously. $300 cash has to be handed to the judges. Utterly amazing..

— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) August 15, 2016

Talk about a whole new revenue stream…

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Moving to Montana

Stewart Mandel forecasts a lukewarm debut for Kirby Smart.

SEC East No. 3: Georgia (7-5, 4-4 SEC)

New coach Kirby Smart will likely be relying on a true freshman QB (Jacob Eason), not an ideal scenario in the SEC.

I could be wrong, but I don’t think that’ll go over too well.

False bravado is false.

Hoo boy, Auburn.

… But that presentation does help explain what Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs meant when he said this to myself and Chris Carlin last week in an interview for a SiriusXM show: “There are 12 other programs [in the SEC] that would love to be in our position.”

No hard feelings, Maurice.

Tide Nation reacts to Smith’s departure.

Nike scratches the itch… again.

Another day, another shoe for the discerning Dawg fan.

Whither the quarterbacks?, ctd.

I’ve got a follow up question for some of you guys who think Smart’s just playing hide and seek with Gene Chizik on who the starter will be.  Per Chip Towers,

Smart expressed a level of frustration with regard to the ongoing quarterback competition. Once again, he indicated that none of the three played to significantly better than the others to the point of establishing some distance on the depth chart. So Jacob Eason, Greyson Lambert and Brice Ramsey will continue to rotate repetitions with the No. 1 offense evenly. But they can expect to that pared down at the end of this week. Scrimmage No. 2 coming this next Saturday will be a big determining factor.

So, if that’s the case, how does Smart parcel out the reps after the next scrimmage?

The Big 12 has a plan.

Even if it isn’t readily apparent to the rest of us…

Filed to CBS Sports: Remember those 18 schools on @Big12Conference expansion list? At least 1 doesn’t know how it got there.

— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) August 15, 2016

That Bob Bowlsby is a genius, amirite?

Mr. Conventional Wisdom shares some advice.

Most of today’s column, inspired by the Maurice Smith transfer situation, is fairly inoffensive and even, by Barnhart’s standards at least, challenging, as far as Greg Sankey goes.

But then he has to go and end it with this:

Here’s one final point: It is not good for the SEC to have a narrative out there that two of its coaches – Nick Saban and Kirby Smart – are having some kind of turf war of mentor vs. pupil. I know the talk-radio fans find it highly entertaining. But it is bad for the SEC.

Mike Slive had to intercede in 2009 between Urban Meyer and Lane Kiffin when those two boys were getting a little too frisky in public. I would suggest that Sankey put in a call to Saban and Smart with the simplest of messages: “This ends now.”

What, pray tell, is “this”, exactly?  Neither coach has called the other out in public by name, or questioned the other’s transfer practices.  (To a large extent, that’s because with regard to non-graduate transfers, they’re both the same.)

The edgiest things have gotten between the two is that Smart has come out for allowing graduates to transfer freely, but even there, he’s avoided direct criticism of Saban about the Black transfer from Alabama or the Pappanastos transfer to Alabama, both of which are easy targets.  If that’s as bad as it gets, then perhaps Mr. CV should offer a brief smack down of Bert for  publicly backing Saban’s approach.

To compare what’s gone on in this case with the sniping we saw between Corch and Junior is, frankly, a bit insulting to both Saban and Smart, about whom the worst anyone can say is that when it comes to each other, they’re competitive.  In my book, that’s a long way from outright contempt.

Then again, you can’t be conventional if you can’t wallow in a little “both sides do it” when you think it’s needed.  I’m sure the parties involved will give Barnhart’s advice the attention it deserves.

Whither the quarterbacks?

In the wake of Saturday’s scrimmage, there is a lot of scuttlebutt out there regarding Georgia’s quarterbacks that I would summarize as follows:

1. Greyson Lambert has performed as the coaches expected, given his experience.
2. Brice Ramsey has been the pleasant surprise of the three, and has legitimately inserted himself into the starting quarterback battle.
3. Jacob Eason has the best arm of the three, but has not performed as well as the other two this month.

None of the three, let me add, has been what you might call a home run to this point, which is why Smart was still holding off on announcing that anyone had emerged sufficiently to deserve a greater share of practice reps after Saturday.

What I’m curious about isn’t who you think ought to start, but rather what you think the current status of the group says about both them as well as Smart and Chaney.  For example, that Eason remains in the pack despite a lesser showing to date might indicate that the coaches would prefer to go his way, all other things being equal, when the season starts.  (What that in turn says about Kirby’s expectations for 2016 is a line of inquiry for another post.)

I doubt Lambert as Mr. What You’d Expect is a surprise to anyone, but I wonder if his status is an indication of faith in Chaney’s ability to coax a competent performance out of previously inconsistent quarterbacks.  Whatever else you want to say about Chaney, he does enjoy a good track record in that regard.

And then there’s Ramsey, who, let’s be honest, was basically written off by a large portion of Dawgnation and the pundit class.  If Chaney has indeed turned him into a functional SEC quarterback who earns the starting gig — and, yes, we’re a long way from knowing that — what are the ramifications for Georgia’s chances this season, for what that says about Schottenheimer’s ability as a position coach and Eason’s future?

Let’s hear your answers and any other thoughts you might have on the subject in the comments.

Monday morning buffet

More for the chafing dishes…

• Meet this year’s crop of first-year head coaches.
• CFN posts Georgia at 19 in its preseason rankings.
• You know why I can’t get on board the Gus Bus yet?  The quarterback situation:  “After the first two weeks of preseason camp, Malzahn’s early “sooner rather than later” comment has been replaced with his “we want to be sure” statement after the second preseason scrimmage this past weekend.”
• Bill Connelly’s Tennessee preview comes down to one word — “if”.
• Jacob Park, from backup quarterback at Georgia to backup quarterback at Iowa State.
• Nebraska is the latest program to adopt rugby-style tackling.
• Ed Aschoff looks at the evolution of the middle linebacker in today’s SEC.
• Tim Kaine thinks he’s just the guy to bring the Border War (Kansas-Missouri) back to life.  After reading this blog post, it sounds like he’s set himself a tough task.