That brings a whole new meaning to GATA.
Daily Archives: January 17, 2022
Nixing NIL
Leaving Nick Saban at a recruiting disadvantage? Inconceivable! And in this case, the Alabama legislature knows exactly what that word means.
The lawmaker who last year pushed a state law to allow college athletes to be compensated whenever their name, image or likeness is used in promotional material is now trying to undo it.
House Bill 76 was approved by the House State Government Committee without any debate on Wednesday.
“It’s just a straight repeal of what we did last year,” sponsor Rep. Kyle South, R-Fayette, told Alabama Daily News. “We were thinking that the NCAA last year was going to go in one direction and they ended up adopting basically a different rule that was kind of a blanket for everybody.
“And it left us in a place where our state law was more restrictive than what the NCAA adopted,” South said.
So, states that adopted nothing, including Michigan and Texas, are now at a recruiting advantage for college athletes now because they’re working solely off the NCAA guidelines, South said. Twenty other states passed legislation related to student-athlete compensation in 2021, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“That’s kind of the gist behind (the bill),” South said. “It may be the shortest-lived law on the books, passed one session and repealed the next.”
I would assume, Kirby being his usual on-the-mother self, that Georgia will follow.
Filed under Alabama, Political Wankery
Bodied language
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, in discussing his reasons for opposing expansion of the CFP field beyond its current four-team makeup, made a point I’d like to hear addressed by Georgia players:
“We’ve tried to get feedback from [our athletes] and for us, it’s been Clemson,” he said. “They don’t want to play any more games. They don’t. I don’t know what Georgia and Alabama felt like after Monday night, but Clemson student-athletes that have participated, they don’t.”
Somebody ask that at the next player presser, okay?
Filed under BCS/Playoffs, Georgia Football, The Body Is A Temple
An alternate theory of the crime
Maybe ‘Bama lost the natty because they didn’t feel disrespected enough.
Filed under Alabama
Biting the bullet: reviewing my 2021 SEC preseason predictions
Once more into the accountability breach, my friends. It’s time to look back at my conference preseason predictions to see how much ass I wound up showing.
And, don’t forget this evergreen reminder: schools are listed in the same order as they were in my preseason post, with this season’s won-loss totals.
[Ed. note: Please read that last sentence again, carefully, before you blast me in the comments for not agreeing with the order of presentation. You’ll save us both a lot of time. Thanks!]
SEC WEST
ALABAMA (13-2, 7-1)
- What I said: Same as it ever was in Tuscaloosa. There are plenty of people who think the Tide are a lock to lose a regular season game. Okay, but to whom?
- How I did: That would be Texas A&M, stud.
- Final grade: B
TEXAS A&M (8-4, 4-4)
- What I said: The non-conference schedule is soft. The crossover games are against Missouri and South Carolina. The defense under Elko will be nasty. This team will go as far as the o-line, which lost a bunch of starters, and a new quarterback will take them. The offense isn’t cutting edge, but Fisher will game manage the Aggies to no worse than nine, and probably ten, regular season wins.
- How I did: That new quarterback thing didn’t take them as far as I thought.
- Final grade: C-
AUBURN (6-7, 3-5)
- What I said: Somebody said Harsin hired two coordinators better suited for 2013 than 2021. That may be true, but I think Auburn’s success this season boils down to whether Bo Nix evolves into a functional SEC quarterback. From where I sit, it feels like a seven-win season is coming.
- How I did: Bo didn’t.
- Final grade: B-
LSU (6-7, 3-5)
- What I said: This is the SEC’s biggest mystery team, and it’s because Orgeron’s management skills are, shall we say, questionable. Does his new staff recapture some, if not all, of the 2019 magic? Your guess is as good as mine. The Tigers will be better, but I’m hedging my bets at eight, maybe nine, wins tops.
- How I did: The Tigers were not better.
- Final grade: B-
OLE MISS (10-3, 6-2)
- What I said: They’ll be fun to watch, for sure, but that defense has a way to go. And they’re still digging out from under the rubble from the NCAA sanctions. They get the Vols and Vandy from the East and the non-conference schedule is certainly manageable. There could be as many as eight wins in store for them.
- How I did: I didn’t see a ten-win team coming, mainly because the defense didn’t suck as bad as I thought it might.
- Final grade: D
MISSISSIPPI STATE (7-6, 4-4)
- What I said: Leach has done what he’s done in his first year at previous stops: rip apart everything at the seams and rebuild from there. It took him two or three seasons to show improvement and there’s no reason to think it’ll be any different at MSU — other than the fact he’s trying to reinvent the wheel in the SEC West. I’ll say five wins, as the non-conference schedule is soft and they get Vandy.
- How I did: It wasn’t my year predicting the performance of teams from Mississippi, I guess.
- Final grade: D
ARKANSAS (9-4, 4-4)
- What I said: You could say the Hogs exceeded expectations last year, but that’s because the bar was set very low. This year’s schedule, like 2020’s, is brutal and it’s hard to see where there are more than four wins on it.
- How I did: Er… I meant four conference wins. Yeah, that’s it, that’s the ticket.
- Final grade: F
SEC EAST
FLORIDA (6-7, 2-6)
- What I said: My gut tells me UF will be a better team than we want it to be. No, the Gators won’t be as good on offense as they were last season, but it’s hard to see how they can be any worse on defense. The problem is that they’ve drawn Alabama as their floating cross-division opponent. The rest of the schedule is fairly manageable, with the key game being against LSU. Nine or ten regular season wins seem doable.
- How I did: My gut didn’t know shit about Florida.
- Final grade: F
GEORGIA (14-1, 8-0)
- What I said: Stability at quarterback is huge. So is Monken having a full preseason to work on installing his offense. The early injuries are a little concerning, but Georgia looks like a team that will improve as the season goes on. There shouldn’t be more than one regular season loss.
- How I did: Can’t complain.
- Final grade: A
MISSOURI (6-7, 3-5)
- What I said: I’m not on the Mizzou bandwagon yet. Drinkwitz did a good job in a tough year for them, but the team tailed off as the season progressed, and I don’t think Bazelak was very good in the second half. The Tigers didn’t beat a team with a winning record. Missouri has the early soft schedule that it typically relies on to build momentum; it doesn’t face a ranked team until week seven and only faces two others after that. Seven wins.
- How I did: Not perfect, but pretty accurate.
- Final grade: A-
KENTUCKY (10-3; 5-3)
- What I said: They are making a major change on offense, with a new quarterback, to boot. Hard to think there won’t be growing pains. Fortunately, they’ve got a stout offensive line and some good backs to lean on. The schedule is favorable, too. This could be an eight-win team in 2021.
- How I did: The changes on offense worked out better than I anticipated, which is how UK managed a 10-win season.
- Final grade: D+
SOUTH CAROLINA (7-6, 3-5)
- What I wrote: What a mess. The roster is lacking in talent for an SEC program. The schedule has three teams ranked in the preseason top ten. Vanderbilt is worse, but I’m not sure by how much. Four wins is as good as it gets.
- How I did: Shane Beamer did a terrific job milking seven wins out of this team.
- Final grade: F
TENNESSEE (7-6, 4-4)
- What I wrote: A brutal offseason in the portal, where the Vols lost many of their best players. They’re making a major stylistic change from Pruitt to Heupel. Still, given the state of the East and a soft non-conference schedule, this team has a decent shot at bowl eligibility.
- How I did: Pretty much spot on.
- Final grade: A
VANDERBILT (2-10, 0-8)
- What I said: This was an awful team in 2020, so bad that I’m not defaulting coaching staff turnover as a con. The talent was lacking, but last year’s Vandy staff flat out sucked. The other blessing here for the ‘Dores is a return to non-conference play. They could win three games this season. Maybe.
- How I did: They di’int.
- Final grade: A
Overall, not one of my better efforts. How did things turn out for you?
Filed under SEC Football
Get The Picture 