“Great idea, boss!”

Jeremy Pruitt knows who butters his bread.

Pruitt explained how the Hall of Fame former Tennessee initiated the recent practice adjustment and why it should benefit his players in the long run.

“Really it was Coach Fulmer’s idea,” Pruitt said after Wednesday’s practice. “I thought it was a great idea. We’ve never done this any at the other places I’ve been, but you’re talking about 15 or 20 minutes at the end of practice…”

Either he’s quickly mastered the art of sucking up, or knows how to throw the right kind of bone to keep someone off his back.  Only problem either way is that it’s Fulmer we’re talking about here.  If push came to shove, neither theory would matter.

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Throw the damned ball, Minutemen.

Weirdly enough, Saturday may pose something of a unique test for Georgia’s defense this season.  Per Seth Emerson ($$),

… UMass, this week’s seemingly overmatched opponent, will be the highest-ranked passing offense, at least statistically, that Georgia has faced to this point. The Minutemen are averaging 8.7 yards per attempt and 299.1 passing yards per game, both of which rank in the top 20 nationally.

Granted, they’ve played Sagarin’s 115th ranked strength of schedule, but, still, committed to the pass is committed to the pass, no?

Goal-line offense is the new black.

I sort of hinted at this the other day, but Kirby’s gone right out and said it:

“… Not being able to score touchdowns inside the 2, 3 yard line,” Smart said. “To be honest, it’s no longer a physical thing, it’s a mental thing where you get over it by sometimes changing your demeanor and making sure you’re going to out-physical and out-will your opponent. Early on, we’ve been out-willed.”

It’s to Kirby what Jacksonville was to his predecessors, a black hole mindset.  And I’m not sure he’s got any idea how to overcome it, other than continuing to dig.

“When you get in the red area, you’ve got to bully-bully, say you’re running it down their throat,” Smart said. “We should be good at that. Georgia should be good at that, you know what I mean?”

“Bully-bully”?  I thought that was a Bud Light punchline.

I assume at some point, they’ll come out of their funk.  After all, it wasn’t an issue last year.  I just hope the time comes sooner than later.  Settling for field goals against the likes of ‘Bama is not conducive to staying with them.

Burn, baby, burn

If you’re looking for the definition of a lock down corner, I think this will do until something better comes along.

Which SEC defensive backs have been burned on the fewest percentage of their targets in coverage? pic.twitter.com/rp87imD2HY

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) November 14, 2018

Oh, you want some more of that?  Okay.

Deandre Baker has been lockdown in coverage for Georgia this year pic.twitter.com/6OmwCqIGKx

— PFF College (@PFF_College) November 15, 2018

But y’all keep throwing his way.  It’s cool.

“It would be a fun embrace of Cinderella for a sport that hates Cinderella.”

Dan Wetzel is rooting for Georgia to run the table through the SEC Championship Game.  That’s not because he’s a huge fan of the Dawgs.  They’re just a means to an end he’s been jonesing for.

One of the things that can change that thinking is when enough of college football is repeatedly left out of the playoff, rendering even historic, so-called Power Five conferences to second-tier status. Many believe the 2012 BCS title game featuring two SEC schools — Alabama and LSU — was a chief motivation for the other leagues to ditch the BCS and create the four-team playoff.

Well, if you think eight is great, if you want to increase not only the number of thrilling playoff games, but also turn these snoozy November Saturdays into a free for all where all the major conference championship races matter, then the tipping point is laying right there to be had.

All it requires is seven results, all but one of which is the predicted outcome.

Notre Dame wins out, defeating Syracuse and USC.

Alabama defeats the Citadel and Auburn.

Georgia defeats Massachusetts and Georgia Tech.

And then … Georgia upsets Alabama in the SEC title game.

That’s it. If those seven games go like that, then the College Football Playoff will feature two SEC teams (Georgia and Alabama, which isn’t dropping past four due to one loss) and an independent (Notre Dame).

One other conference will claim the other spot. It’s most likely the ACC, since Clemson is heavily favored to win out.

It could be any league though. It doesn’t matter because you’d have just two conferences represented in the playoff field … and three major conferences wondering how in the world they ever agreed to a playoff of just four squads?

Oh, my stars!  It’s the end of the world as we know it.

Dan’s world has a place in it for Central Florida, not because the Knights are one of the very best teams in college football, but because they’re not.

Much of the debate this fall about the playoff has centered on whether it is inherently unfair to programs outside the Power Five — most notably Central Florida, which is on 22-game win streak but stands virtually no chance of making the playoff.

UCF, due to its schedule, isn’t being mistreated by the committee, though. That said, an eight-team playoff would allow room for it to come in as a No. 8 seed and take an underdog swing at whoever earned the right to be No. 1.

I know my snark isn’t going to sway any of you committed eight-team advocates, but I’ll leave you with a question just the same.  How does any of Wetzel’s argument for an eight-team field not apply equally to a sixteen-team field?

Another sign you’re playing quality ball

We’ve all been critical at times about the staff’s management of the last couple of minutes of the first half (last Saturday being a huge, pleasant exception to that).  Based on this, maybe we’ve been overly harsh about that.

..@mlombardiNFL turned us on to importance of the last 4 min of the 1st half. Just added new ranking looking at this. Top 5 FBS tms in '18 w/highest scoring diff in last 4 min of 1st half: @FootballUGA @AlabamaFTBL @FresnoStateFB @ClemsonFB and @WVUfootball. These teams are 45-4.

— SportSourceAnalytics (@SportSourceA) November 14, 2018

Hard to do better than that.

In fact, that’s so good that even with the halftime adjustments we’ve credited as one of Kirby’s strengths, Georgia is slightly worse, relative to others, when you factor in third quarter starts.

Loving our new CBTN Middle 8 Ranking. Looks at scoring differential in last four minutes of 1st half & first four of 2nd half. Top five in 2018 are: @WVUfootball @ClemsonFB @FootballUGA @USUFootball and @AlabamaFTBL. These teams are a combined 46-3. Hat tip to @mlombardiNFL.

— SportSourceAnalytics (@SportSourceA) November 14, 2018

I’m impressed.

That’s so Maryland.

At this point, is anyone even the least bit surprised by this?

Former University of Maryland football coach DJ Durkin continued to communicate with assistant coaches and develop game plans for the team after being placed on administrative leave amid media reports alleging abusive treatment of players, according to multiple sources.

The sources said Durkin told a task force that assistant coaches sent him game film to review so he could help create game plans.

Sources also said Durkin’s continuing role was shared with and discussed by the state university system’s Board of Regents, which cleared him Oct. 30 to return as coach before he was dismissed one day later by university president Wallace Loh.

Whether university officials approved Durkin’s involvement while on leave is in dispute. Durkin told the regents his activity was approved by athletic director Damon Evans, two sources said. And Durkin told the task force he was responding to requests for advice from the assistants and that the university had not limited such contact.

More to the point, is anybody buying this?

But in a statement late Wednesday, a university spokeswoman said Durkin “was not to perform coaching duties while on administrative leave” and that neither Evans nor Loh had granted permission for him to do so.

I think you’ve got your answer right here.

The university declined to make Evans available to be interviewed. Durkin’s attorney Jeffrey Klein said his client would have no comment. Former regents chairman James Brady and vice chairman Barry Gossett also declined to comment for this article.

That Damon Evans is still gainfully employed there is something.