The gap, she is closing.

At least in the minds of SEC East sports information directors:

In AL.com’s 74th annual SEC Spring Football Report, Alabama ran away with the Overall voting in the poll conducted by the Southeastern Conference’s 14 football information directors.

The Crimson Tide, the West Division pick, topped the field with 12 first-place votes and one second for 168 points. East Division pick Georgia, which has been to three title games in a row, received one first-place vote, six seconds, four thirds and one fourth to finish with 149 points, 10 points ahead of Florida and LSU, which tied for third with 139 points.

A school could not vote for itself in either the divisional or Overall poll.

The East Division voting alone says Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs, who have owned their division since his arrival in 2016, are no longer a gimme against Dan Mullen’s Gators, who have dropped three straight in their annual rivalry game.

In the voting of the East Division football information directors, Georgia received five first place votes and one second for 35 points. Florida totaled two firsts and four fourths for 32 points.

I’ll be honest with you here — I can’t figure the math out.  By my count, two firsts and four fourths adds up to 24 points.  So that doesn’t make sense, but, then again, I can’t figure out how seven votes were cast for first place.

I guess that’s how you “no longer a gimme” the SEC East race.

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A measure of mediocrity

So, David Hale tweeted this today:

Yards/Play on 1st down (P5 vs P5)
1 LSU, 9.5
2 Bama, 8.22
3 Okla, 7.6
4 Florida, 7.5
5 Clemson, 7.44
6 OhSt, 7.4
7 USC, 7.17
8 Wisc, 7.0
9 IowaSt, 6.88
10 Minn, 6.85
11 UNC, 6.74
15 Miami, 6.4
21 FSU, 6.21
25 VT, 6.08
41 GT, 5.67
59 Lville, 4.98
63 Duke, 4.15
65 Rut, 3.04

— 😷💫🅰️♈️🆔😷 (@ADavidHaleJoint) June 29, 2020

He also tweeted a link to a spreadsheet he compiled listing all 65 P5 offenses.  Care to guess where Georgia fell?  Answer here.

If you’re too lazy to look it up, well, it was 6.04, good for 28th.  Five SEC teams, including Florida and Tennessee, did better.

At least Coley was better than Georgia Tech.

Today, in I saw it on the Internet, so it must be true

Come for the attention grabbing tweet…

2020 SEC Order of Finish. pic.twitter.com/SGkbkQvU4E

— CFB Savages (@CFBSavages) June 27, 2020

… and stay for the equally insightful comment thread it generated.

But don’t laugh.

They’ve been experts for almost two months.

(h/t)

“The NCAA doesn’t impose. It can only recommend.”

Shot.

“As a parent, I empathize with you on the importance of knowing more about the environments your sons could be going back to,” Emmert wrote. “Our role is to provide guidance. . . . State and local protocols around COVID-19 vary based on each school’s location. . . . As such, it is the responsibility of each campus to do all they can to support and preserve the health of student-athletes.”

… The NCAA occasionally has taken a more expansive view of its oversight powers — most notably when it levied severe punishments against Penn State in 2012 over the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse case, penalties the association eventually reduced after years of litigation — but it historically has delegated health and safety issues to individual schools, according to Tim Nevius, a former NCAA investigator who now works as an attorney representing college athletes.

But, Nevius noted, the NCAA is governed by a board of university presidents empowered with bylaws that allow for emergency actions. If the NCAA’s board wanted to mandate universal coronavirus safety policies, Nevius believes, it could.

“This is an extreme situation in which central leadership, I think, would be very valuable for protecting the health and safety of the athletes,” Nevius said.

Chaser.

NCAA is getting a lot of grief over this policy. But no in-person recruiting keeps NCAA coaches from feeling pressured to travel. And it theoretically could disincentivize large youth sports travel events from occurring. Safety first. https://t.co/soKMpVWGeI

— Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonAspen) June 28, 2020

Reality.

When they say it’s not about the money…

Tide lives matter

When you’re the mayor of a small Alabama town, you can threaten the lives of gay and transgender folks without suffering any serious consequences, but, buddy, when you take on Nick Saban and the Alabama football program, it’s a totally different story.

It’s an old story, too.

(h/t)

Zeus, the 2019 edition

Here you go, Zamir White’s entire first season for Georgia:

His strength and his vision stand out for me there.  He’s got the skill package to be an effective lead back this season.  What say you?

Your Daily Gator reads Athlon, is impressed.

What starts out as a fair reference to Florida’s 2020 schedule edge turns into a victory lap for the coaching excellence of the Portal Master™.

There is certainly some legitimacy to the thought that the Florida Gators football schedule for 2020 is easier than it has been in some time and some have said it is the easiest in the Southeastern Conference this year. All the teams on that schedule have to be coached by someone and sure enough it turns out that only three of the SEC’s top eight coaches are coaching any of the eight SEC teams the Gators are facing in 2020.

The ranking of the list of coaches I am drawing from comes from Athlon Sports’ magazine and the annual summer blitz that they offer for college football fans has Florida head coach Dan Mullen riding second on that list of coaches this time around. With Alabama’s Nick Saban in the pole position of the coaching rankings and the Crimson Tide not on the schedule in 2020 that means Mullen is ranked ahead of every other coach on the schedule.

The top name on the list is Georgia’s Kirby Smart who resides just behind Mullen in the ranking at No. 3 in the SEC.

In head coaching matchups, Dan Mullen is 0-3 against Kirby Smart.  According to ESPN’s preseason FPI, Florida has a projected 37.3% chance of beating Georgia this season.

At the No. 4 spot is a guy that started out middle of the pack in his first few years at his current program including a 6-2 mark as the interim coach at LSU when Les Miles was let go in 2016.

In head coaching matchups, Dan Mullen is 2-2 against Ed Orgeron.  Also, unlike Mullen, Coach O wears a national championship ring he earned as a head coach.  According to ESPN’s preseason FPI, Florida has a projected 45.6% chance of beating LSU this season.

And the third and last of the top coaches of teams that the Gators and Dan Mullen will face in 2020 is Kentucky’s Mark Stoops at No. 7.

In head coaching matchups, Dan Mullen holds a 5-2 record against Mark Stoops.  One of those two losses, though, came in the Swamp and ended a 31-game losing streak.  (FPI likes Florida’s chances against Kentucky, to be fair.)

You can see why the Portal Master™ enjoys the reputation he has among the Gator faithful.  Athlon, too.

You pays your money and you takes your choice.

Michigan State has put football season ticket sales on hold and has done the fair thing for those who have already bought season tickets.

MSU is giving those who already paid for season tickets three options: opt out and convert their payments to donations to the Spartan Fund; roll over their payments for 2021 and not attend this fall or receive full refunds for the upcoming season.

‪Also, the option still exists for those who paid and do want tickets or have paid a deposit to proceed as planned and wait for revised procedures. No action is required.

As far as being fan friendly goes, that’s the gold standard.  Let’s see how many schools eventually wind up falling short of that.

Bombs away

Continuing with a mini-theme, here’s some more Newman stat porn:

Top passing grades on throws 30+ yards downfield ➡️ returning power-five QBs:

1. Jamie Newman, UGA transfer – 96.2
2. Sam Howell, UNC – 95.7
3. Jayden Daniels, Arizona St – 94.3 pic.twitter.com/pUxU7cyYhU

— PFF College (@PFF_College) June 26, 2020

Musical palate cleanser, boom, baby edition

Get your Monday morning shakin’ with The Gap Band.

The camo really makes the video, no?