Tripping on the victory lap

Leave it to the White House not to be able to pat itself on the back and know its college football geography at the same time.

Big Ten football is BACK! 🏈 pic.twitter.com/bEYemfKqxm

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 16, 2020

Unless it turns out raiding the SEC for new members is part of the deal to re-open the Big Ten…

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Overwrought

Hyperbole, anyone?

Note the date: 9/16/20, the day the vaunted Big Ten became the SEC. It choked. It got scared. It sold its soul for football. My @usatodaysports column on the darkest day in Big Ten history: https://t.co/uaWfgpgSqO

— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) September 16, 2020

The idea that any P5 conference just now in the year 2020 “sold its soul for football” is delusional to start with, but to pretend today is a bigger black eye for the Big Ten than Jerry Sandusky and the institutional coverup that enabled a serial child molester borders on the truly offensive.

Oh, and fuck you with the “became the SEC’ holier than thou crap.

The Big Ten returns.

Minds changed.

B1G news: Big Ten’s council of presidents & chancellors, based on new medical evidence, voted for Big Ten to play football starting Oct. 23-24, sources told @Stadium. Yahoo reported first. League schedule expected to culminate w/Dec. 19 B1G title game, source said

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 16, 2020

That works out to an eight-game schedule, if I’ve counted on my fingers correctly.  Which begs a couple of interesting questions…

First, will a conference playing fewer games get an equal shake with the selection committee?  Second, with almost no margin for error on the calendar, how soon does the Big Ten start lobbying the playoff folks to modify the 12/20 (the day after the B1G championship game) announcement of the CFP field?

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UPDATE:  One bright spot I don’t want to neglect…

🔸🔹 #Illini #Jointhefight #ILL pic.twitter.com/g2kQPzEuvT

— L U K E F O R D🇺🇸 (@lukeford82) September 16, 2020

Your 9.16.20 Playpen

Thoughts from a DGD…

I’ll never understand why some Americans think they have a right to tell other Americans to leave their country. It’s easier to demonize than to discourse. And much more destructive. @forthewin https://t.co/ia6J9Il8Gt

— Benjamin Watson (@BenjaminSWatson) September 16, 2020

And with that in mind, the comments are yours.

Bill Connelly’s SEC East preview

Honestly, given the uncertainties of the season, I’m impressed by anyone giving a preseason preview a stab.  Bill has SP+ to fall back on, which helps, I’m sure.

Here’s one key observation for each of the seven division teams (2020 SP+ ranking in parenthesis):

• Vanderbilt (110):  “… SP+ projects the Commodores as at least 17-point underdogs in every game on the schedule.”
• Missouri (44):  “And with six SP+ top-25 opponents in their first seven games, the Tigers’ attack will have to jell immediately to avoid a rough start.”
• South Carolina (36):  “After going 9-4 in his second year, Muschamp has won just 11 games in two years. Brutal schedules aside, the Gamecocks’ production hasn’t matched their potential, and they are, per SP+, projected favorites in just three games this fall.”
• Kentucky (22):  “SP+ projects UK 22nd overall; that would be the Wildcats’ best ranking since 1977 if it holds. It’s a shame that, with this year’s 10-game league schedules, that translates to only about a .500 record or so…”
• Tennessee (19):  “A top-25 performance might earn you only a .500 record this year, but even if the offense remains too iffy for the Vols to threaten in the East, they’re going to be an awfully tough out.”
• Florida (5):  “… Trask posted a 25-to-7 TD-to-INT ratio and finished 10th in the country in Total QBR. But he thrived at least partially because of the game plan. His passer rating was 169.6 on first down, 148.0 on second and 139.2 on third, and Florida ranked only 53rd in blitz downs success rate. When conditions were favorable, he thrived. When they weren’t, he didn’t. And that was with Van Jefferson and Freddie Swain, last year’s top wideouts. They’re both now gone.”
• Georgia (4):  “The Dawgs were 24th overall in success rate in 2019, but they didn’t make many big plays, and once they were behind schedule, drives fell apart — they were 11th in standard downs success rate but 102nd on passing downs. That’s what you would expect from a triple option-offense, not one overflowing with blue-chippers.”

SP+ only predicts two of the seven will emerge with +.500 records (Georgia and Florida, natch), two going 5-5 (Tennessee and Kentucky) and the other three with losing records.  If you had to pick the biggest surprise in the East, which team would you choose?

I got ‘yer spring practice right here.

My favorite comment from Smart’s presser yesterday:

We’re a week from the game and we’re just finishing spring practice. We’re behind but we’re even with everybody else.

“We’re behind but we’re even with everybody else” is my new 2020 mantra.  T-shirt that bitch!

You can’t lose if they don’t score.

You can wrap this quote around me like a warm blanket.

ESPN's @ESPN_BillC: "Georgia's defense is probably the most proven unit on any side of the ball in college football this year, but you still have to score.”

— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) September 15, 2020

Sure, sure, Bill, but how much?

Another offensive depth chart update

Jake Rowe is back, “(u)sing all the information we’ve gathered to this point” to update things on the offensive side of the ball.  No surprise at this point that Mathis has moved to the top of the QB list, but there are a few other changes worth mentioning here:

• “White and Cook have been excellent this preseason. If the buzz is any indication of how they’ll play, the Bulldogs transition at running back should go pretty smoothly.”  Okay, that’s not a change per se, but it’s still a nice confirmation that maybe Monken is going to make better use of Cook’s skill set.
• “… and early on in camp we felt Robinson would be the guy to spell him. But the freshman early enrollee has tapered off some late in preseason practice while Rosemy has really come on.”  Not really a surprise in that all of the true freshmen receivers are bound to have their ups and downs in the early going.
• On the other hand… “We’ve had Burton listed as a slot receiver most of the way but he was the flanker with the first-team for most of the third scrimmage. He also had his best scrimmage with big plays against two experienced Georgia cornerbacks. There’s some buzz to suggest that he might be a little ahead of Landers at this point but both are likely to play.”
• “We felt for the longest time that Robertson might move back to the outside as a senior but we’re now told that he has been getting a lot of work in the slot.”  Color me a little disappointed by this, as I think Robertson is better suited for the outside, but Rowe is probably onto something when he suggests the move may be triggered by the Blaylock injury.
• “Hill is the starter at this spot and came into camp with a few kinks to work out. The biggest was his struggles with shotgun snapping but based on what we’ve heard, that hasn’t been a problem.”  That is good to hear, to put it mildly.
• Raise your hand if you saw this coming before the preseason:  “It’s going to take one heck of a development for Condon not to be Georgia’s right tackle. He split first-team reps with McClendon in the first scrimmage but he has been the No. 1 right tackle in the past two scrimmages. Sources indicate that he is getting better and better at that spot, especially when it comes to pass protection and playing with power. One thing that really helped him was his ability to learn and adapt to the new offense.”

Anything else worth noting?

Déjà vu all over again

Quick question:  does this quote from Smart give you the warm and fuzzies?

Could there be similarities between how the QBs will be handled in 2020 to it was handled in 2018 ? “There could be yes.”

Your Daily Gator plays the “r” card.

Yeah, this must be exactly why D’Wan Mathis is getting the starting job.

The black QB stuff is obnoxious, but the “stuck on the bench and doesn’t appear to fit the OC’s system” line is hilariously tone deaf criticism, considering the history of Florida’s current Heisman Trophy candidate.