Not with a bang

Thus endeth Greg McGarity’s last administrative challenge.

Georgia’s regular season is over.

Two days after learning that Vanderbilt would not be coming to Sanford Stadium for what was supposed to be the final game of the 2020 season Saturday, the No. 8-ranked Bulldogs ceased efforts to find a non-conference fill-in, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned. An announcement from UGA is expected later today.

That means Georgia’s regular season ends at 7-2. Those holding tickets for Saturday’s game will be refunded, persons familiar with the process said.

Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity declined comment.

Give him credit — at least he’s consistent. All that’s left are the PR regrets in his exit interview with the press.

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Prime Time’d

BREAKING: 🚨 Flip Alert 🚨

The #1 CB in the JUCO rankings (#2 NATL.) has just Flipped his Commitment from Georgia to Jackson State 🤯

Coach Deion Sanders is proving to be an elite recruiter instantly ‼️ pic.twitter.com/cCnkRUjiAu

— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 16, 2020

Tell me you saw “Deion Sanders flipped a recruit from Kirby Smart” coming.

Law of the land

No joke — this is an effing big deal.

The Supreme Court announced Wednesday it will hear an appeal from the NCAA and 11 of its top-level conferences in a case that challenges the association’s restrictions on the compensation athletes can receive for playing college sports.

The justices’ decision to take the case adds a momentous element of uncertainty to an enterprise that has been shaken by state and Congressional legislative efforts concerning not only athletes’ ability to make money from their name, image and likeness, but also the fairness of their overall treatment by the schools for which they help generate billions of dollars annually.

“I think it would be hard to overstate the potential significance of it for a number of reasons, primarily because it is so rare for the Supreme Court to hear any cases involving the sports industry, much less college sports,” Gabe Feldman, director of the Tulane Sports Law Program and Tulane University’s associate provost for NCAA compliance, said in an interview earlier this week. “And then, in this case, particularly to hear a challenge to the NCAA amateurism rules.”

I have no idea how this will go, but the consequences are significant, to say the least.  It’s certainly got “be careful what you wish for” potential for the NCAA, but maybe Emmert’s at the point where a judicial Hail Mary is seen as his best option.  Stay tuned.

Today, in tortured analogies

College football fans that are against expanding the playoffs are like the people that never wanted to stop going to Blockbuster video and hated Netflix.

— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) December 16, 2020

Danny, you’re trying too hard.

Your 12.16.20 Playpen

This is Herschel Walker’s son.

This is Christian Walker. His dad is Herschel Walker, an NFL player who won the Heisman and has been friends with Donald Trump for almost 40 years. Christian Walker was raised in a pro-Trump bubble that blinded him so he rejects reality as a coping mechanism. pic.twitter.com/Eu7LEwnoiZ

— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) December 15, 2020

I honestly don’t know what to say.  You might, though.  Have at it in the comments.

Shoe is funny.

If you’re a Gator fan, it’s gonna be a long offseason.

Carriages Fine Clothier in Baton Rouge is offering 20% off all shoes this week, but…

You gotta ask for the “Dan Mullen Discount.”

Epic.#GeauxTigers @LSUfootball pic.twitter.com/NsabsLm6IN

— Denny Burk (@DennyBurk) December 15, 2020

Hope those boosters have a sense of humor, Dan.

(h/t)

It’s early signing day, peeps.

🚨🚨Lane Kiffin wearing "Merry Flipmas" shirt during his Monday press conference leading up to Early Signing Period!🚨🚨

We don't deserve him. pic.twitter.com/9fMq6IwoF4

— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) December 14, 2020

macondawg tees up a nice summary of today’s likely happenings, but with Kirby’s track record, it’s certainly not unreasonable to expect a surprise or two along the way.

I’ll try to update when I see fit, but feel free to post developments in the comments.

Not sorry

Well, it’s time to beat the small sample size horse again.  Check out this chart Graham posted.

And this explanation:

If you don’t speak math, what this shows us is that JT has more than doubled Stetson’s season output of predicted points added. He has done that while playing half the games that Bennett did.

Like it or not, it’s apparent after three games.  The offense is significantly better because there’s been a clear upgrade at quarterback.  But let’s not stop at numbers.  Check out these two throws Daniels made in the Missouri game:

Five-straight TDs on third down for JT Daniels 👀 pic.twitter.com/2tmTW1jTxJ

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) December 12, 2020

George Pickens became an afterthought w/Stetson Bennett as the signal caller for the Dawgs offense.

Insert JT Daniels, Pickens has re-emerged!

Last game, 5 catches, 126 yards, & 2 td performance. Pickens is trending in the right direction for the 2021 season! pic.twitter.com/tikgELFNj1

— Damian Parson 🏈 (@DP_NFL) December 14, 2020

Jake Fromm, for his strengths, never made those kind of throws.  In his defense, the offense was never structured to design for plays like those.  Which is my way of saying there’s also been a clear upgrade at offensive coordinator this season.

If Kirby is able to bring the band back on offense next season, watch out.

While I’m on the subject of Tim Brando…

Shot.

Who’s favored means ZERO to me. It’s a body of work thing and the body of work of all those teams is better than Georgia. I grade what I see. Georgia’s issues haven’t changed. They are a one dimensional offensive football team. Needs to change. Once it does? They’ll win an NC!

— Tim Brando (@TimBrando) December 14, 2020

Chaser.

Barta says there was a lot of discussion about moving Florida below Georgia, in part bc of how much better UGA has been with JT Daniels. But head to head result prevailed.

Also, noted UF didn't have Kyle Pitts last week.

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 16, 2020

I get the impression Tim hasn’t been watching as much football as he claims he has.

Won’t happen. Do I need to remind ya about a game years ago with Boise St. during the BCS era? Thank you!

— Tim Brando (@TimBrando) December 14, 2020

Not recently, anyway.

The fix is in. The fix has **always** been in.

Tim Brando’s righteous indignation is so cute.

Committee in the @CFBPlayoff is no longer even subtle about their Power 5 Bias! Absolutely CORRUPT! @GatorsFB loses to a 3-5 LSU team at home and drops 1 spot! @GeorgiaFootball over rated since the jump, and @GoBearcatsFB keep dropping? There’s no I repeat NOTHING but corruption!

— Tim Brando (@TimBrando) December 16, 2020

U mad, bro?

I actually prefer Pat Forde’s cynicism.

In the latest flagrant case of brand-name bias, Florida was dropped exactly one spot in the Top 25 after what was easily the worst loss all season for anyone ranked in the CFP top nine. The Gators were 23 1/2-point favorites at home against an LSU team that came into The Swamp 3–5, with key players opting out and injured, with a freshman quarterback making his first college start.

Those Tigers bore no resemblance to the 2019 national champions, and yet the committee seems to have considered that massive Florida flop to be a quality loss—quite likely because the name “LSU” and the purple-and-gold laundry carries specious cache. The Gators were injected with helium when they should have had stones tied to their tails.

This is probably the point where I need to mention that Florida’s athletic director is on the selection committee. I’m sure the well-respected Scott Stricklin followed protocol and recused himself from discussing his team, but apparently his colleagues were terrified of hurting his feelings when he came back into the room.

But they took their hats off!

I really don’t understand why all these pundits waste so much time and bandwidth punching holes in the selection committee’s work.  The jokers running the college football playoff telegraphed their intent for all to see when they chose to abandon the BCS, which, for its flaws, at least made use of computers for some of its assessment.

The CFP is a monetary delivery system for the P5, nothing more, nothing less.  Further expansion won’t change that.  Just deal with it.