Today, in plain speaking

It’s gonna be hard to top this one:

Dan Mullen addresses off field issues with his Florida Gators—including players spotted with bb guns painted to look real and an actual, loaded AR-15 “I have a no-weapons policy, but I think — it’s not like you’re not allowed to have a gun.” https://t.co/8gHHqQrBgu

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) August 2, 2018

The only way I can parse that sentence for it to have any logical sense is to say he means that a gun isn’t a weapon… well, unless he means that he, Dan Mullen, has a no-weapons policy personally, but that doesn’t extend to his players.

Ah, hell.  I give up.

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Eligible to be eligible

Saw this news drop a little while ago:

Florida says NCAA has ruled transfer WRs Trevon Grimes and Van Jefferson eligible to play in 2018. Big news for the Gators

— Mark Long (@APMarkLong) August 2, 2018

That’s seen in certain quarters as good news for another program nearer and dearer to our hearts.

More good signs for Demetris Robertson and Georgia: https://t.co/TxX5Mfta38

— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) August 2, 2018

Does that mean that Greg McGarity’s not engaged in any preemptive groveling with the NCAA about Robertson’s immediate eligibility?  My, the times are a-changin’.

“Everybody wants to talk about that …”

Member of the media questions whether the Georgia football program can get past a matter that only members of the media continue to obsess about.

Fortunately, we’re only a month away from real football.

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UPDATE:  If there’s a question that deserves asking, it’s this:

Georgia — Now what?

Kirby Smart had about as big of a breakthrough as anybody could have hoped for in 2017. Thing is, the only way to improve on it is to actually win a national championship, and that’s pretty damn hard. It’s far more likely that the only place to go is down. The next challenge for the Bulldogs will be to maintain consistency in the face of a schedule that will see them as a favorite in every game, and by heavy margins in most instances.

I’m pretty sure that’s the one Kirby’s been asking since the national title game.

Go for it.

Is this another nail in the Jake Fromm coffin?

Who are the most aggressive quarterbacks in the SEC when throwing on 3rd down? pic.twitter.com/kPOzlk3fo2

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) August 1, 2018

Nah.  Just messin’ with you.

Seriously, for someone whose future gets questioned as much as Fromm’s, the stats that keep popping up showing what kind of year he’s coming off don’t support it.

Georgia and the latest FPI rankings

• Up to number three (technically, it looks like the Dawgs are tied for second with… wait for it… Alabama).
• Favored in every game, with the closest call against Auburn at home (66.7% chance of winning against the team with the number seven ranking in FPI).
• 50th in strength of schedule.  (For all the crap Saban gets, the Tide sits at 28th.)

“Would you like to be the governor when HOPE dies?”

Unlike some of you, I firmly believe that casino gambling in Georgia is a question of when, not if.  There’s simply too much money to brush aside forever.  Not just for state government, either — those integrity fees are gonna look mighty attractive to the folks at Butts-Mehre.

Bonus consideration:  “Unlike other companies that require heaps of taxpayer-funded incentives, he added, casino magnates aren’t asking for major tax breaks.”  Talk about your win-win!

Thursday morning… ah, hell, Urban Meyer buffet

I mean, let’s just cut to the chase today, shall we?

• Andy Staples has a nice, hoisted on his own petard take (“Urban Meyer has spent his career speaking in absolutes.”) on Corch’s situation.
• Brett McMurphy thinks it’s bullshit to believe Shelley Meyer didn’t tell her husband anything.
• Andrea Adelson brings it all back home:  “A decade ago, Urban Meyer built a championship program at Florida, burnishing his reputation as one of the greatest coaches in the game despite his bringing in and keeping troubled players. Nobody really cared all that much. Florida football was rolling, and though the arrest reports kept growing, not one administrator came down on Meyer or the way he handled his players.”
• The legal issues surrounding Meyer suggest rather loudly that a settlement is likely in the works.
• I’m not a criminal defense attorney, but I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to believe that, generally speaking, “ZACH SMITH’S OTHER LAWYER WEIGHS IN” isn’t a good look.
• Leave it to Clay Travis to hammer at the real hot take concerning this mess.
• And Travis is wrong.  Everybody knows that the only hot take that matters right now is “this whole situation is absolutely going to be used against the Buckeyes on the recruiting trail.”

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UPDATE:  The guys at Eleven Warriors do a great job.  They’re also Ohio State loyalists.  That’s how you get to a post devoted to hair splitting.

McMurphy claimed the text messages implicated Urban Meyer.

“In these text message conversations, it showed that Urban Meyer knew about this,” he told Van Pelt.

Later, however, when pressed by Van Pelt about evidence linking Meyer to knowledge of the allegations, McMurphy wavered.

“I do not have any direct evidence—any text messages from Urban Meyer who said he knew about it,” McMurphy said.

“I find it hard to believe that the same couple [Urban and Shelley Meyer] counseled in 2009—she has evidence, she knows of domestic violence in 2015, that they completely ignore it and they have no knowledge.”

Kinda puts a whole new spin on “he said, she said”, don’t it?

“I’m still throwing away random bricks around the office.”

It didn’t dawn on me until I saw this article, but Jeremy Pruitt didn’t keep a single member of Booch’s staff in the transition.

Now I ask you — is that any way to treat five-star champions of life?

Kirby prepares to get biblical on their asses.

Get ready.

“Iron sharpens iron,” Smart said. “We’re going to have some of the most epic battles for who is going to be right guard, who is going to be left guard, who is going to be the starting defensive tackle. That’s what drives us to have success is those battles that happen throughout camp.”

The fun starts Friday.

“from his scholarship with no restrictions.”

I dunno… shouldn’t this be, like, an NCAA violation, or something?

At a minimum, it has to offend Nick Saban’s delicate sensibilities.  That ought to count for something.