Today, in amateurism

Hey, lookie what’s going on sale!

Brian Kelly says #33trucking hats are going on sale this weekend. They cost $26. Just FYI.

— Laken Litman (@LakenLitman) November 2, 2017

In plain English, they’re hats promoting Notre Dame running back Josh Adams.  I don’t need to explain how much Adams will be making from this, do I?

I’m sorry… what was that you said about it being the front of the jersey that counts?

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“Marge, get me our Congressional lobbyist on the phone. Right now.”

Buried in the tax bill introduced in Congress today is a provision guaranteed to send chills up and down the body of every athletic director and school president in America.

Dat’s right — as Dupree explains, “The tax break that people can take advantage of when purchasing season tickets for college athletics would be repealed under the GOP plan.”

Bricks are being shit as you read this.

Lard ass lament

A $340 million renovation of Neyland Stadium that doesn’t involve seat widening?  Waste of good money, if you ask me.

“It’s a great opportunity for us just to show that we’re a pretty good team.”

A few more random thoughts on South Carolina:

• From Josh Kendall:  “The Bulldogs are the first ranked opponent South Carolina has played this season. The Gamecocks’ four SEC wins have come against teams with a combined 1-18 conference record.”  Now, all you can do is play who’s on your schedule, so no denigration intended, but it does make it harder to analyze SC’s quality at 6-2.  Georgia, by comparison, has played two ranked squads in Notre Dame and Mississippi State.
• Bill Connelly’s advanced stats back that disparity up further.  The range of the Gamecock’s opponents’ S&P+ rankings runs from 35 to 103, with six higher than seventy;  Georgia’s runs from 9 to 103, with three above seventy.
• “With Georgia running a pro-style offense, the Gamecock defense will most likely be in more of a 4-3 formation…”  Maybe so, but the chess match is still going to come down to what Muschamp does with his safeties.
• We may want to keep an eye on Dante Sawyer, though.
• Going back to Bill’s percentile performances, note that S. Carolina is 2-2 in its four games with performances under 50%, including that win over NC State.  That’s a sign of two things to me, good coaching and a little good luck.  Also noteworthy is that the ‘Cocks haven’t been blown out in either of their two losses, one by ten points and the other by a touchdown.
• Before he went out with his injury, Deebo Samuel might have been the most valuable player to his team in the SEC, but South Carolina’s done alright in his absence, going 4-1.
• Common opponents:  Tennessee (UGA 41-0; SC 15-9); Vanderbilt (UGA 45-14; SC 34-27); Missouri (UGA 53-28; SC 31-13).

All in all, this South Carolina team takes me back to what Muschamp did in his second season at Florida, albeit with much less talent.  Those Gators were offensively challenged (12th in total offense in the conference), but rode their defense and turnover margin to a great season.

No, I don’t think there’s enough in Columbia to come down to Athens and grab a win, but I do think Muschamp’s done a good job of keeping his team in games all season long.  I’ve confidently picked Georgia to cover its last three conference games, but I’m not so sure the Dawgs will take South Carolina by 25.

Quarterbacks are like beer. You can never have too much.

Michael Elkon makes an excellent point in this piece about quarterback depth in the SEC East.  It backs up in another way why I can’t be bothered with taking sides in an Eason vs. Fromm debate.

Basically, if you’re a Georgia fan, what’s important has never been which of the two should start.  It’s been what kind of boat Georgia would be in now if Eason had gone down without Fromm being on the roster.

Which is kind of why I won’t care about the next round of debates should Justin Fields show up next season.  Just sayin’.

In the SEC, everything is relative.

I was prepared to do a little mocking when I saw this post about Kentucky being in the midst of a truly special season, until I saw this:

Despite the criticism and lack of convincing wins, the Cats have a real shot to go 9-3 this season. Just how special would that be? Mark Stoops could join Bear Bryant and Fran Curci as one of three coaches to win nine regular-season games at Kentucky. It might not be one of the most talented teams in Kentucky history, but it could end up being one of the most five successful teams the program has ever fielded.

Whoa.  Bear was a legend and Curci cheated, so, yeah, when you consider the history, Stoops really does have a shot at a special season at UK, no snark intended.  Well done, sir.

And you think bowls are meaningless.

FSU is actually contemplating the rescheduling of its (until now) cancelled game with Louisiana Monroe.

If the football gods have a sense of humor, I think we all know what the perfect outcome would be.