Today, in bowl season news

This header absolutely RULES.

Next year is next year.

Judging from this comment about who will play at offensive left tackle against TCU, Kirby Smart’s done finished with future player development for 2016:

“I think right now we just got Isaiah there because Tyler missed practice back home,” Smart said. “But Tyler’s cleared, and we expect him to play. How we’ll start them, I don’t think we’ve decided yet. We plan to rotate those two guys.”

Smart said it’s not unusual for Wynn to work with the first team at left tackle, which is something he has done throughout the year at practice. Smart noted it would be “a little different” if Wynn starts against the Horned Frogs.

Smart also added that any decision wouldn’t be made with the 2017 season in mind.

“We’re not looking at it from the perspective of next year,” Smart said. “We’re looking at it at now, the best chance to win this game from a health standpoint. He gets those reps all the time. We do it in the game with a change-up from a conditional standpoint.”

It sounds like he’s motivated to get that eighth win.  Now if that attitude just trickles over to his players…

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“So what is Alabama’s secret?”

You can, if you like, buy into the New York Times’ myth making and chalk it all up to Nick Saban being the college football epitome of Mr. Small Stuff, or you can take the prosaic approach and believe it’s more about the remarkable sums of money Alabama pours into its football program year after year after year.

From the 2014-5 fiscal year, here’s what each school in this year’s college football playoffs spent on football:

• Alabama:  $48.3 million
• Clemson:  $27.3 million
• Ohio State:  $29.2 million
• Washington:  $29.1 million

That’s a helluva spread, especially when you consider that Ohio State typically generates more athletic department revenue than ‘Bama does.  Ultimately, this is why I have a hard time believing that the importation of the Process into Athens, Georgia is going to be seamless.

Sure, it’s not that UGA doesn’t have the money to compete.  Georgia pulled in $116,151,279 for the same fiscal year, good for 15th nationally.  And if you’re looking for a positive note from that, keep in mind that Jon Solomon has this for you:

Since 2005, no school has won football’s national championship while ranked outside the top 20 in total athletic revenue.

But when it comes to spending money on football, Georgia hasn’t been in the keeping up with the Joneses department, let alone the Sabans.

For starters, check out the football operating expenses, including the cost of scholarships per scholarship football player, for Alabama and Georgia, over the last four seasons data has been reported:

• 2011:  Alabama — $363,722; Georgia — $275,701
• 2012:  Alabama — $376,320; Georgia — $279,480
• 2013:  Alabama — $465,127; Georgia — $318,965
• 2014:  Alabama — $347,050; Georgia — $293,724

The gap has narrowed between the two programs, but that’s still the financial equivalent of Mark Richt’s roster management snafus.

From 2009-14, Georgia’s football spending per player increased 21%.  That’s less than the SEC median (27%).  It’s also less than the median for all FBS programs (31%).

Now, you can spend money wastefully, of course, and you don’t have to look very far afield for examples of that.  But if you aren’t going to keep up on the spending front, you sure as hell better have the smarts to build a better mousetrap than the expensive one they’ve got in Tuscaloosa if you expect to show up in Atlanta for a conference title game.  That hasn’t been the case for a while now.

Now the obvious caveat here is that we’re two seasons past the data available, and one of those is Smart’s first season in Athens.  It’s reasonable to expect that we’ll see a narrowing of that financial spread when those spending numbers come into view.  What remains to be seen is whether the dollars Butts-Mehre spends are enough to keep up with Saban on the field in the coming years.  A couple of years from now, we should have enough information to assess both.

“We weren’t negotiating.”

Next time, Minnesota, you might think about explaining the situation to your players before they decide to launch a boycott.

On a related note, I would have been more shocked if this hadn’t happened.

“He’s handled it just fine.”

Question for you here:  is Kirby being curt because he’s pissed about the fine, or because he doesn’t have time for this shit?

The Book of Corch

Dabo’s trying to find any edge he can for this week’s semi-final game against Ohio State.

Dabo Swinney is looking for a little extra insight into his opponent and friend in the College Football Playoff. The Clemson Tigers coach is hoping to find it hidden in Urban Meyer’s book.

No, not that book.

Butch Jones IS 2016’s champion of life.

Really.  Just ask him.

#Vols' Butch Jones said many coaches are "calling me saying how did you do it? How did you manage? You’ve had so many adversities happen."

— Rhiannon Potkey (@TennesseeBeat) December 26, 2016

Unless he’s got guys calling him to ask how he managed to hang on to his job after blowing a division title that was offered up to him on a platter, color me skeptical.

Which isn’t to say I’m not amused.  Ass covering Booch is the best Booch, after all.

Will the last member of the class of 2013 to leave early please turn out the lights?

Shaun McGee, we hardly knew ‘ye.