Okay, a simple question

What is the greatest SEC 🏈 game you’ve ever attended?

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) September 14, 2020

For me, it’s got to be the 1980 Cocktail Party.  And you?

They’ll do it every time.

Lest we forget, the NCAA is still doing its damnedest to lock down NIL legislation in a way most favorable to itself and its member schools.  Part of the process involves a survey sent to Division I athletic departments last month by the NCAA Legislative Solutions Group, the faction charged with developing NIL legislation.  Ross Dellenger has the receipts.

No, there’s nothing particularly shocking in it if you’ve followed the process much.  But there are a few choice examples of hypocrisy worth sharing, starting with my favorite:

According to the survey, athletes will be prohibited from endorsing commercial products or services that conflict with NCAA legislation, citing examples as “sports wagering and banned substances.” This could receive stiff pushback. The college sports gambling industry is fast on the rise. In fact, the University of Colorado last week became the first school to strike a deal with a gambling outfit.

While they seem pretty consumed with preventing college athletes from cutting promotional deals that conflict with existing institutional sponsorship arrangements, they seem surprisingly sanguine about… boosters?

According to the survey, the NCAA still plans to allow boosters to strike NIL deals with athletes as long as they are not recruiting inducements, but the survey asks athletic directors if the term “booster” should be more narrowly defined because of its broadness.

Finally, here’s a funny concern from the same folks who insist college athletes are already handsomely compensated for their contributions to the money making machine.

Should an athlete’s NIL deal include a financial maximum or ceiling? It’s a topic that’s been bantered about this year. While the survey doesn’t specifically address that, it does ask administrators an interesting question about an athlete’s NIL financial details. “Should the membership establish a specified dollar amount of a transaction that would trigger enhanced scrutiny from involved institutions, the NCAA, or a third party administrator?” it says.

Makes me wonder which college athlete is shrewd enough to be the first one to hire Jimmy Sexton as his agent.

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Siren song, 2020

Chip Towers:  “Others who saw Saturday’s scrimmage were impressed by the play of flanker Matt Landers …”

Honestly, I hope he’s turned a corner, because if he hasn’t, social media is gonna be brutal.

“I’m not the only one missing a lot of streaks.”

Greg McGarity won’t be making the trip to Arkansas for the season opener.

“There are a lot of individuals that aren’t going to be able to travel this year that have traveled on the charter — like our radio crew and coaches’ wives,” McGarity said. “Unless you absolutely have an essential role to play, we just don’t want to go there. … I think it sets a good example, too, that my gosh, the AD isn’t even going with the team.”

He’s absolutely right about that, of course, but I can’t help thinking that Michael Adams is somewhere right now shaking his head in disbelief over that comment.

Moar scrimmage chatter

Sorry, folks, I don’t subscribe to any of the local services, so if you want hush-hush talk about who did what in last Saturday’s scrimmage, I’m gonna have to outsource that to DawgOutWest at Dawg Sports.  Which I’m happy to do here:

I suspect we’ll all be kept guessing when it comes to the starting quarterback, but here’s some notes from Saturday that (we think) we’re more certain about:

• Freshman phenom Jermaine Burton impressed at wide-receiver and as a punt returner while running with the first-team units. IF Burton can emerge as a legitimate threat that defenses have to respect then it will be massive for the UGA offense. It would keep defenses from throwing extra men at George Pickens, and we all saw what Pickens can do to man coverage during the last few games of the 2019 season.
• James Cook and Zamir White continue to look like the two-headed monster that we’re hoping they’ll be. White has been showing his pre-ACL agility, and coupling that with some powerful finishes to his runs. Unlike his predecessor, Monken doesn’t seem to be perplexed about how to utilize the Swiss Army knife that is Cook. Observers say he’s been getting the ball on passes out of the backfield, lining up in the slot and carrying the ball well. Excuse me while I drool over this thought for a few moments…

Okay, I’m back.

• Darnell Washington continues to get rave reviews, and I continue to tingle with anticipation for my purchase of a black #0 jersey with “BIG O” written on the back.
• Freshman running back Daijun Edwards has been a surprise so far in camp. He might not see a ton of carries in a loaded running back corps, but he’s been flashing speed and power on his carries. Look for him to get some reps on special teams units and wherever else the coaches can get him on the field.
• Running backs Kendall Milton and Kenny McIntosh were in non-contact jerseys for unknown reasons. That makes the emergence of Edwards all the more important.
• Nolan Smith and Jermaine Johnson look to have made “the leap” in the offseason. It will be exciting to watch them rush the passer this fall.
• Lewis Cine looks to be filling the void left by JR Reed nicely.
• Freshman defensive back Jalen Kimber had a pick-6 while working with the first team defense against the first team offense, and senior Safety Richard LeCounte also had an interception
• Jared Zirkel is looking like the heir apparent to our departed King Hot Rod. Folks are speaking highly of his big leg.
• Quay Walker got some first-team reps at inside linebacker alongside Nakobe Dean.

Of all that, while the confirmation that Georgia appears to have running backs again this year is comforting, possibly the biggest news there is Burton’s potential emergence.  As DOW notes, the impact of having another legit receiving target can’t be underestimated for this offense.  Sure hope it’s sustainable.

Thoughts?

The Big 12’s little weekend

COVID, shmovid, this isn’t the way you want to start a season ($$).

The Sun Belt went 1-20 against the Big 12 from 2010-19, then 3-0 on Saturday.

Louisiana beat Iowa State 31-14, Arkansas State beat Kansas State 35-31 and Coastal Carolina beat Kansas 38-23.

Saturday marked just the second time in Big 12 history that the conference suffered three nonconference losses on the same day to non-major conference opponents.The other was Sept. 11, 2004, when Kansas State lost to Fresno State (WAC), Nebraska lost to Southern Miss (C-USA) and Texas Tech lost to New Mexico (Mountain West).

The Big 12 is 4-3 this season. Along with the three Sun Belt losses, Texas Tech needed to stop a two-point conversion late to hold on against FCS Houston Baptist 35-33.

Yeesh.  Ironically, (and I know this is getting a little ahead of things here) this puts enormous pressure on two of the Big 12’s winners, Oklahoma and Texas, to avoid any slippage in conference play.  I mean, if you can’t look any better than a Sun Belt team, do you really deserve a CFP slot?

Lincoln Riley’s “opportunity”

Things were a little dicey for Oklahoma in its opener.

Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley confirmed after the No. 5 Sooners’ opening victory over Missouri State that the game Saturday night had been jeopardy of being postponed or canceled because of the Sooners’ COVID-19 cases.

Earlier, the Springfield News-Leader reported that Missouri State president Clif Smart told the school’s board of governors that the game had been in doubt.

“It hung in the balance for a little bit, but we were able to do it,” Riley said after the 48-0 victory. “Thankfully, we were able to.”

Several Oklahoma players were out, including kicker Gabe Brkic and running back T.J. Pledger. Brkic was a preseason second-team All-American. Pledger was listed as the starting running back. Anton Harrison, a true freshman who was listed as the starting left tackle, also did not play.

Riley wouldn’t confirm why they were out. He said earlier in the week that he would no longer release team COVID-19 testing results.

Obviously, Missouri State posed little threat, but what Oklahoma would do under similar circumstances against a conference opponent aren’t clear.  What is clear is that the public won’t likely know what Riley’s call would be until the last minute.

Again, you’ve got to be crazy betting on college football this season.

Week Two SP+ rankings

Really, not much movement at the top, which isn’t surprising, seeing as the SEC is still out.

Seven SEC teams in the top 15.  And check out the gap in defensive SP+ between Georgia and number two Pitt.  (That’s why Georgia is closer to Clemson than the Tigers are to the Tide right now.)

Scrimmage chatter: quarterbacks

Kidding, not kidding.

There were a number of boosters who were allowed to watch this week, so presumably nobody’s fee-fees were hurt, which makes it kind of inevitable there would be more info leaking from this scrimmage than the previous one.  Perhaps the best news is that it doesn’t appear any other quarterbacks are dropping out.

Quite the contrary, at least according to Aaron Murray’s take.

“Had the opportunity to head to Athens yesterday to watch the Bulldogs scrimmage and just like everyone else, I think all eyes were on the QB position. How would those guys perform? I thought it was a great scrimmage. I thought everyone looked really good, had their moments to shine. In speaking with Todd Monken before, I think one guy we both feel has a lot of potential, a lot of upside, is D’Wan Mathis.”

He was actually given the nod yesterday to get with the ones in the first half to start the scrimmage off and he didn’t disappoint. I thought he looked really comfortable in the system. He’s a kid with a lot of, like I said, a lot of upside — big arm, athletic. He showed that both inside the pocket, outside the pocket, had some great runs throughout the first half as well. I think he’s someone you continue to work with, has a chance to be pretty darn special, just needs those live, in-game reps. I thought JT (Daniels), when he did take over in the second half, looked comfortable. He looks healthy, waiting to see when he gets cleared.”

I thought the guy to me that looked the best yesterday of all the quarterbacks was Carson Beck. Lucky for him he was going against the No. 2 defense, not that vaunted No. 1 defense that UGA is going to be able to put out there this fall but he looked really comfortable, big, strong arm. He, too, just like D’Wan also made plays both inside and outside the pocket. He’s someone I’m interested in watching over these next couple of years, how his development takes off within this system. But all three quarterbacks, like I said, I thought played really well…”

As mentioned, Mathis got the start, but it sounds like Daniels got plenty of situational work in his time out there.  I’ll stand by my feeling that every day that goes by without Daniels being cleared to play makes a stronger case for Mathis to start.  At some point, whether they like it or not, the coaches are going to have to commit.

Fabris Pool results, Week 2

Things are starting to feel normal again, as this week saw a four-way tiebreaker at the top.

Congrats, pdxdawg.

Leading the seasonal race at this early juncture is Gen. Stoopnagle (congrats on the promotion, by the way).