And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for

If it weren’t Week 0, I wouldn’t be nearly as excited for this group of games…

… but it’s Week 0, damn it!  Of course I’ll have my butt in front of the tube at 2:30.  I’ll check in on the Vandy game this evening, even if it’s just out of morbid curiosity.

Mmmm.  Feels good to be back.

What say you?

He passed the audition.

This is kind of wild when you think about it.

Lovett was a tough matchup for the Bulldogs that cold night in Columbia. He led the Tigers with six receptions for 84 yards, including a 36-yarder that set up an early touchdown. If not for a second-half ankle injury, Lovett might’ve inflicted more damage against Georgia.

Luckily for the Bulldogs, they won’t have to game plan for Lovett when they meet Missouri in Sanford Stadium on Nov. 4. Lovett was one of the first high-profile players to enter the NCAA’s transfer portal in its new December window, which opens right after the conference championship games. By Dec. 22 – the day before Missouri faced Wake Forest in the Gasparilla Bowl – Lovett committed to Georgia.

… As for Lovett, the Bulldogs love having him aboard. Since they game-planned for Missouri in Week 5, they knew Lovett was a matchup nightmare in the slot.

“We saw what he did to us when we played him and just felt like he was a really good player and would be a good asset to the program,” Smart said. “Once we were around him and knew what kind of person he was and his family, we felt like he was a good fit and a good match. It’s just a tremendous blessing.”

I’m trying to think of another player Smart has brought in under similar circumstances and I’m drawing a blank.  (Yes, I know Thomas had a couple of catches for Mississippi State, but he wasn’t the same kind of factor in that game as Lovett was in his.)  In any case, it’s pretty cool.

I’ve said it before, but I’m expecting big things from him this season.  They can’t say they don’t know what they’ve got in him.

The Big Ten follows LSU.

It’s becoming a trend now.

The Big Ten said Friday it will make football availability reports mandatory on game days during the 2023 season, making it the only Power 5 conference to actively distribute such reports.

Big Ten schools will be required to submit availability reports at least two hours before kickoff to the conference office. Each program’s reports will be released on the conference’s website and on X (formerly Twitter). If a school doesn’t send in its injury report within two hours of the start of the game, it could be disciplined.

“The well-being of our students, coaches, and staff, as well as the integrity of our competitions are of paramount importance,” Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said in a statement. “Enhanced transparency through availability reporting and partnering with U.S. Integrity (USI) strengthens our efforts to protect those who participate in our games as well as the integrity of the games themselves. I’m grateful for the collaboration of our schools, coaches, and administrators.”

Look for this to be followed by the other major conferences.  It’s another sign of the growing impact of gambling on college sports.

Any way you can

I can’t say I’m a huge admirer of Brian Kelly, but, damn, I sure would have loved it if somehow he’d managed to pull this off.

LSU exhausted all options in an attempt to restore the eligibility of defensive tackle Maason Smith for the top-10 showdown against Florida State next weekend, including attempting to schedule a Week 0 game, coach Brian Kelly said in an interview with Yahoo Sports.

The school filed multiple appeals to the NCAA while exploring a way to hurriedly reschedule a nonconference game for this weekend. The Tigers play Grambling State in Week 2. Smith would’ve presumably served his suspension in a Week 0 game and then been eligible against the Seminoles in Week 1.

Logistically, it didn’t work out.

“We looked at all the options out there, certainly, and wanted to make sure that we examined everything that was possible,” Kelly said. “We looked at everything. We looked at a Week 0 game to bring in another opponent prior to Florida State. We looked at every imaginable option, but time ran out.”

Telling the NCAA “I got ‘yer suspension right here” would have been a priceless FU.  Too bad LSU couldn’t manage it.

(Not so) Great Expectations

What does it sound like to you when you hear a coach speak like this?

Florida had a pretty subpar season in 2022 by its standards, with the first year of the Billy Napier era ending with a 6-7 record. But what would success for Florida in 2023 look like?

Napier backed out all the way big picture when asked that very question.

“I’m not into comparisons on rebuilds,” Napier said. “I think that we have been tasked with not just being competitive here, we want to accomplish significant success big picture. We know what this place is capable of.

“I think what we try to do is get consumed with the impact that we can have on the player as a person, as a student, as a football player. We want to teach a set of values. We want to develop the player as a person relative to what he can accomplish when the game is over.”

Yeah, me, too.  Billy sounds like a guy who keeps checking his hole cards trying to figure out how he missed drawing to that inside straight.

He sounds that way to the author of the linked piece, who follows that quote with this:  “In other words, success for Florida in 2023 might not be measured by wins and losses.”

I think that depends on who’s measuring, hoss.