We’re always the nice ones.

South Carolina’s playing Georgia in Columbia, y’all, come hell or high water.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley: "What we have informed USC is we will not be able to give any state support for that game."

— Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) October 5, 2016

That’s comforting.  It should be lovely this weekend.

The path of the storm tracked moved toward the east, but the National Hurricane Center said in a 5 p.m. statement Wednesday that “when a hurricane is forecast to take a track roughly parallel to a coastline, as Matthew is forecast to do from Florida through South Carolina, it becomes very difficult to specify impacts at any one location.”

The forecast calls for an inch of rain total Friday and Saturday with winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour on game day, but the chance of rain is 60 percent at night, according to weather.com

South Carolina played a game last year at LSU after it was forced to move due to devastating flooding in the Columbia area.

“We don’t want to do it again this year,” Bloom said.

Bully for you.  Even if the weather isn’t awful, infrastructure will be strained to the max with all the evacuees from the coastal region.  And no state support makes that tougher.  So what if it’s impossible for the school to get its shit together Saturday night?

Hey, no problem.

That followed what South Carolina executive associate athletic director Charles Bloom said earlier on 107.5 FM in Columbia the chance of the game moving out of Columbia is “very, very minimal,” according to The (S.C.) State.

He said there is a “potential” to move the game to Sunday or Monday.

Morehead said he had not heard of moving the game to a different day and didn’t want to say if he would be willing for the game to be played then.

“If the (SEC) commissioner calls me with a proposal, we’ll discuss it, but that has not yet been discussed yet,” he said. “I know they’re having some calls later this afternoon on the issue. …We have a great commissioner. He’ll work through the issues with the two schools and we’ll have a good outcome.”

You can already see where this is going, can’t you?

By the way, one of the two teams involved in this potential scheduling debacle has an off week following this weekend.  I leave you to figure out which team that is.

 

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When in doubt, do it for the children.

The NCAA’s  Division I Council has introduced a few new proposals for D1 to consider, among them:

• The proposal would make accommodations for two, 72-hour early signing periods beginning on the last Wednesday in June and in mid-December.
• Increasing the limit on the number of assistant coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision from nine to 10 is another.

With regard to the latter, I just love the justification.

FBS programs can have a maximum of 85 players who receive grants-in-aid. Additionally, most programs have walk-on players. The Football Oversight Committee felt the addition of another coaching staff member will benefit football players.

“There was unanimity around the table on the addition of a 10th assistant coach being allowed (in FBS),” Bowlsby said. “We feel it is appropriate from a student-athlete welfare standpoint. The ratio of coaches to student-athlete is much higher in football than other sports, and this helps address that.”

Thank Gawd.  You know how football players all over America have been complaining about that.

“Isaiah went and fought so that organizations like the NCAA can exist…”

And the NCAA deeply appreciates your service, son.

Easy (like Sunday morning)

This is likely a matter of context, but Chip Towers is getting the impression that if Saturday’s Georgia-South Carolina game can’t go off in Columbia because of of weather associated with Hurricane Matthew, the wheels are already in motion to move the game to the Georgia Dome that night.

Of course, there already is a game scheduled to be played in the Georgia Dome on Saturday. Georgia State plays its home games there and it is hosting Texas State at 3:30 p.m. The game is set to be broadcasted on ESPN3.

However, persons with knowledge of the situation say a scenario is being discussed in which the Panthers’ game would be moved up to noon. Then the Georgia-South Carolina game would be moved back to 8 p.m. That would then build in enough time for the Georgia Dome staff to reset for the Georgia game.

Again, none of this is official. As of Tuesday evening, Georgia State officials said they have not been contacted by anybody from UGA or South Carolina. Georgia Dome officials also declined comment.

Obviously losing a home game with all the attendant logistical issues is not an attractive option for the ‘Cocks.  And, as The State’s Josh Kendall notes, Carolina’s been down that road before and didn’t like it.

South Carolina could move the game, but it’s unclear where it would go. Gamecocks officials have not had any discussions with Georgia Dome officials about playing the game there, USC athletics director Ray Tanner told The State via text on Wednesday morning. Although Clemson’s stadium is available on Saturday, any game in the state would take the same law enforcement and public service resources that could be needed for hurricane response.

Georgia’s Sanford Stadium obviously is available, but after playing a home game on an opponent’s field last year (the LSU game) the Gamecocks likely will try whatever they can to avoid that option, especially since the Bulldogs are a division rival.

Which leaves one other option:  don’t change the venue, change the day.

What about a change of day? Most of the forecasts for Matthew still suggest the storm will be past the South Carolina coast by Sunday. Anybody got anything going on Sunday?

I’m good, thanks for asking.  Not sure how thrilled ESPN will be with that, though.

I have no idea what’s coming, but it’s pretty clear that if they’re not going to play in Columbia Saturday night, they’d better come up with a Plan B real soon.

Kirby Smart, keeping it real

Georgia’s head coach addresses the perception that his calling players out publicly isn’t the best policy:

“I don’t know. I think I’d leave that for y’all to judge,” Smart said. “I mean, I don’t think as many kids look at the stuff as you think they do, but if they read that we’re challenging them physically, then we probably are challenging them physically to their face, so they already know that. They know it’s an honest opinion; it’s not a motivating tactic; it’s just honesty.

“I just think when you’re honest with players, they trust you more. I would rather just tell them exactly like I feel.”

In the end, that really is the proof in the pudding.  It’s not important whether the public airing of grievances sits well with the fan base; it’s whether the kids are turned off by it that matters.  There are quotes in the article from Sanders, Smith and Kublanow that indicate the message is being accepted in the spirit in which it’s given, but who’s to say that malcontents would step up and disagree on the record?

In short, I’d expect that this is simply a part of everything that goes on when there’s a coaching change and a new mentality surfaces in the program.  Some players will have no issue with it, while others will drift away after the season ends.

Just out of curiosity, for those who are a bit squeamish about letting the world in on this kind of stuff, what do you think of this as an effective rebuttal?

Kublanow wasn’t on the team in 2012 when then-senior safety Shawn William had his famous pre-Florida rant, which caused waves but lit a fire under the defense.

Then-head coach Mark Richt reacted to Williams’ rant by saying he preferred such things stay behind closed doors. And Richt would rarely publicly criticize his players.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of four-game suspension.

This is how an athletic director takes proactive steps to avoid having a season derailed.

Due to the recent increase in autograph demands of Louisville star quarterback Lamar Jackson and other student-athletes, the Cardinals will no longer be allowed to autograph items because of NCAA eligibility concerns.

“We decided to take this measure as more of a proactive approach to protect the eligibility of our student-athletes,” a Louisville spokesperson said in a statement provided to ESPN. “Furthermore, certain steps needed to be taken to insure that third parties were not benefitting commercially on the signatures of the student-athletes.”

There is no indication that Jackson or any other Louisville player violated NCAA rules regarding autographs or has been compensated for autographs, the spokesperson said. The decision was made because the autograph demand of players had increased after the recent success of the football team.

Gee, I wonder what might have inspired that call?

Louisville’s autograph ban decision was to ensure none of the Cardinals commit any NCAA violations — specifically in regard to NCAA bylaw 12.5.2.1, which has sidelined two of college football’s biggest stars in recent years.

In 2014, Georgia running back Todd Gurley received a four-game suspension from the NCAA for “accepting more than $3,000 from multiple individuals for autograph memorabilia and other items over a two-year period.”

Yeah, that’s what I thought.  Rocket science, for the win!

Shooting the breeze, after five weeks

Friend of the blog Parrish Walton was gracious enough to invite me to bloviate in a podcast about what I’ve seen from Georgia so far this season.  Click here if you’re inclined to give a listen.

We’re gonna need a bigger bag of popcorn.

Let this sink in for a moment.

Baylor University officials were mostly mum Tuesday following the resignation of Patty Crawford, the school’s first full-time Title IX coordinator, other than to say the school was surprised by the move and found “troubling” a request by Crawford “to retain book and movie rights” regarding her time at Baylor, which included the yearlong sexual assault scandal the school is trying to move past.

Eh, how much could those rights be worth?

Media reports Tuesday afternoon indicated Baylor offered Crawford a $1.5 million settlement in response to a human resources complaint alleging retaliation that Crawford filed against Reagan Ramsower, Baylor’s chief operating officer and senior vice president.

Hoo, boy.  Now the school is denying the numbers, but even so, the spokesperson for Baylor didn’t deny the media reports that she was offered $50,000 to sign a confidentiality agreement.  Which she turned down.

“Ms. Crawford wants to make sure her story is told so the public knows what is really going on at Baylor, and women there can receive the protection they deserve,” Dunn said in the release. “Patty is justifiably proud of what she was able to accomplish, but also profoundly troubled by what she views as Baylor’s efforts to impede her ability to fully perform her Title IX responsibilities.”

Hoo, boy, indeed.

*************************************************************************

UPDATE:  Did I say hoo, boy?

Former #Baylor Title IX coordinator Patty Crawford told CBS she filed complaint with US Dept of Education last week

— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) October 5, 2016

Yeah, this is gonna go well.