Something to crow about

No knock on the kid in question, who was the Big South Freshman of the Year, but that the transfer of an FCS defensive back who will have to sit out the 2017 season is a legitimate cause of celebration for South Carolina fans should give you some idea of how bare the last few seasons of Spurrier’s recruiting left the cupboard for Boom.

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Where it all began

I’m not exactly sure why — warm feelings of nostalgia, maybe — but West Virginia’s defensive coordinator is looking at film of the 2006 Sugar Bowl to prep for the Mountaineers’ bowl game against Miami.

“I have studied that film (of the Sugar Bowl) a little bit,” defensive coordinator Tony Gibson explained. “It is very similar to what they are doing now in Miami is similar to what they were doing back in 2006. We have it, we have watched it, I haven’t shared it much with the kids at this point, it’s more for coaches to look at.

“Again, they are a run team first, they run with power, they are more of a conventional offense, an old-school get in the “I“, it is going to look different for our guys, it is going to look foreign.”

Old man football, indeed.

The Amazing Mr. Baker

While I’m not ready to attribute the superpowers this David Paschall piece credits Deandre Baker with having (okay, I’ll grant you that Briscoe’s departure can be tied to Baker’s emergence, but McGraw played a different position and Hurd’s on a different team, for goodness sake), I will say that if you take a look at Georgia’s pass defense game log for this season, it’s hard not to see that Baker’s move into the starting lineup had some effect, at least in one area.

Need help?  Okay — Georgia’s defense gave up 11 passing touchdowns in the first five games of the season and only one in the last seven.  Sure, Missouri and Ole Miss made a chunk of difference there, but still, one in the last seven is one in the last seven.

If you’re looking for a little more evidence, check out the monthly progress here.

If the improvement is a mirage based on the schedule, I guess we’ll find that out for sure in the bowl game, as TCU is 24th nationally in passing yardage.