Tom Luginbill’s analysis is about as deep as a kiddie pool.

Tom Luginbill’s hot take, ladies and gentlemen:

One national college football analyst doesn’t believe Nick Fitzgerald and Mississippi State are done with their upsets any time soon. ESPN’s Tom Luginbill expects Mississippi State to continue winning this week at Georgia and said so during his appearance with Frank Frangie on ‘The Frangie Show’ on 1010XL Jax Sports Radio.

The biggest reason: Mississippi State quarterback Fitzgerald. Luginbill believes the elusive Fitzgerald, who dominated in last week’s 37-7 victory against LSU, is likely to cause Georgia’s defense fits in the battle of the Bulldogs.

“If you’re Georgia, the biggest thing you’re concerned about is now you’re going to have to contend with a quarterback in Nick Fitzgerald that’s not a thrower and not just a runner,” Luginbill said. “He’s a dynamic play-maker. He can do it all. He’s the focal point of their offense, so that’s a lot to prepare for.”

That’s a kind of challenge that Georgia hasn’t yet encountered in its meetings with Appalachian State, Samford or even Notre Dame.

“This is going to be the first test against an opponent that brings some real challenges to the Georgia defense,” Luginbill said.

First test, eh?

Dare I bother to point out that right at the moment Notre Dame is ranked 23rd nationally in total offense and Mississippi State is 24th?  Or that Brandon Wimbush has accounted for more total yards than Nick Fitzgerald?

I don’t mind the lazy, uninformed commentary.  It’s people like Luginbill getting paid to furnish it that drives me up the wall.

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It’s a Southern thing.

From the New York Times’ look at The Bitter Southerner (among other South-oriented publications):

After nearly going under during the recession, Garden & Gun’s bimonthly issues are now fat, thanks to the humming economy and the avoidance of a list of topics, once enumerated by the editor in chief, David DiBenedetto, that might offend its readers: “politics, religion and SEC football.” (Don’t hold them to the last one.)

At least now I know what I’m doing wrong here.

Requiem from a heavyweight

Last night, UCLA clawed back from a 34-point second-half deficit with seconds remaining to beat Texas A&M 45-44.  Ordinarily, it would take years of skilled observation and expert analysis for someone to be able to fully grasp the impact of the game’s result.

Fortunately, for the rest of us there’s Mr. Conventional Wisdom.

This is bad for @AggieFootball on so many levels.

— Tony Barnhart (@MrCFB) September 4, 2017

Tony didn’t need Twitter’s full 140-character allotment to explain it, either. That’s how you know you’re in the presence of a master.

Today, in misplaced righteous indignation

Some columnist (h/t), his panties in a complete wad over Temple’s… um, innovative plan to sponsor jersey numbers, sputters out this:

How long before someone who donates $50,000 per year for four or five years tells the athletics director he’d like the football coach removed and wants a significant role in the selection of the next coach?

Greg McGarity says, “hold my beer”.

Control freaky-deaky

The University of Texas — read that as head coach Tom Herman — has just decreed that beat writers who cover the Longhorns may not post on social media during post-practice interviews.

“Our hope is that you would take time to review your post and re-listen to the questions and answers in an effort to increase accuracy and insure the necessary context in each of your social media reports.

“We hope this will not only allow everyone more time to craft those commentaries/reports, but also allow necessary time to absorb full context,” the statement continued. “It also will be beneficial in providing full attention for follow-up questions or the next line of questioning during the actual interviews. Thank you in advance for adhering to this new policy.”

It’s good to see that Herman’s already got things going so swimmingly for his program that he’s now got time to teach the media how to do their jobs, too.

Meanwhile, in Athens, Greg McGarity silently wonders if Herman may have been Georgia material after all.

Dusting off a meme

You gotta love this Gridiron Now post that’s all Danger, Will Robinson! about Georgia’s opener against Appy State for burying the lede in the last paragraph.

The 2007 Appalachian State team that knocked off Michigan went on to win a third consecutive FCS title, helping catapult the program toward FBS status. Since starting the transition to college football’s highest level in 2013, the Mountaineers have yet to ambush another Power Five conference team, losing at Georgia in 2013, in a return to Michigan in 2014, at Clemson in 2015 and to Tennessee and Miami last season.  [Emphasis added.]

Hey, look, Nicholls gave Georgia a game last year, any given Saturday, yada, yada, yada… I get it.  But to pretend that a Sun Belt team that’s yet to beat a P5 program presents an existential crisis because of a ten-year old upset is really straining to make a mountain out of a molehill.  Just ask Georgia’s 2013 team.

Today, in why we need the media

As far as Dan Wolken’s advice goes about coach-worship, I can take it or leave it, because that’s not the world we live in, but his think-piece is totally worth reading just to find this out:

Whatever Freeze was doing to make enemies across the Southeast, it was often hard to distinguish what rival coaches saw as the greater transgression — the program’s loose relationship with the NCAA rulebook or his in-your-face piety.

Coaches who recruited against Freeze didn’t merely roll their eyes at him, and they certainly didn’t laugh, except when it came to the nickname a few called him behind his back: Jimmy Swag.

Jimmy Swag is an awesome enough tag that I wish its creator would step forward and claim every accolade due him.