Wednesday morning buffet

Plenty to nosh on this morning…

• It sounds like Elijah Holyfield is having a tough time with his ankle injury.
• More Sony Michel is coming.
• The Egg Bowl is back on Thanksgiving.
• Mike Leach isn’t having a fun week.
• Missouri may be planning on giving Georgia a dose of its own version of old man football.
• Next year Georgia plays South Carolina in November.  Steve Spurrier doesn’t approve.
• If you’re interested, Fox Sports is broadcasting this week’s Ohio State-Oklahoma game in virtual reality to your smartphone.
• Good luck with this week’s pick ’em.
• Those of you who think the key to being a great college head coach is obsession might find this story about Urban Meyer of interest.
• What’s so scary about getting rid of the transfer eligibility rule?

Okay, but can he play “Sandstorm”?

Promises, promises.

Harvey Updyke goes to Columbia.

I don’t know what I like better about this story — that South Carolina’s punter was arrested for malicious injury to tree, or that Boom isn’t suspending him for a game.

I don’t think this is what they mean when they say, “rest in peace”.

Then again, as metaphors go, this ain’t bad.

Thanks for everything, Spurdog.

You want to buy into the notion that Richt left Georgia’s cupboard a little bare for Kirby Smart?  Boys, you have no idea what bare really looks like.

As dismal as what Boom’s inherited looks like and as mediocre as his term was at Florida, you know what the worst part is?  This.

Optimist: In four seasons, UF never ranked worse than 33rd in S&P+. Whether you appreciate the style (and it’s hard to at times), his baseline is pretty high, higher than South Carolina has managed over the last couple of years.

That’s right.  Florida at its worst under Muschamp was better than South Carolina the last couple of seasons under Spurrier.  Which leads to…

Pessimist: Yeah, but in four years, UF never ranked better than 29th only once, and that was with top-10 recruiting. Now he’s at a school that only recruits at a top-25 level. In terms of stars vs. results, he underachieved, and now the caliber of the roster he inherited is lower.

The prognosis isn’t pretty, doctor.  And Bill didn’t mention something that might make things even worse.  Check out Florida’s turnover margin under Muschamp:

• 2012:  +15
• 2013:  minus-2
• 2014:  +2

In other words, Boom’s one great year was accompanied by a stellar turnover margin.

Meanwhile, South Carolina finished 2015 with a +5 turnover margin, good for 32nd nationally.  If you’ll recall this handy little chart from the folks at Pick Six Previews,

it was literally the one bright spot in team performance last season for South Carolina.  If that regresses to the mean, there ain’t much left for ol’ Will to hang his hat on, it would seem.

Tuesday morning buffet

Eat.

• There may be a difference between compliant and committed, but some preseason happy talk in Athens always sounds familiar.
• In Columbia, too.  They’re buying in!
• Where have you gone, Georgia transfers?  (Sad to hear about Tramel Terry’s latest setback.)
• Just because most SEC coaches participated in satellite camps doesn’t mean they have to like it.
• Seth Emerson ranks Georgia’s 2016 opponents in order of importance.
• Larry Fedora is an advanced stats advocate.
• You can take Kirby Smart out of Tuscaloosa, but you can’t take Tuscaloosa out of Kirby Smart.
• Commitment announcements just keep getting sillier.
• Junior’s gonna Junior.
• Andy Staples sets the bar:  “Unlike former co-worker Jim McElwain, who didn’t face high expectations when he took over at Florida, first-year Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart is expected to compete for championships immediately. Otherwise, why did Georgia fire Mark Richt? “

Agent Muschamp’s honeymoon

It’s not every day you see a Gamecock fan urge his fellows thusly:  “… let’s be patient and let Muschamp go to work.”