Man, Nick Saban’s got his work cut out for him.

You’ve got to respect the serious cognitive dissonance of an ESPN piece that lays out the proposition that Alabama is the SEC team with the most to prove right next to a chart showing six ‘Bama players on their preseason All-SEC team.  (No other school has more than two.)

One can only hope Nick’s up to the challenge.

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Wednesday morning buffet

One thing about August — it gets easier to fill the chafing dishes.

• Based on yesterday’s scrimmage notes, it sounds like Sam Pittman is indulging his inner mad scientist a bit.
• Damn it, Andy, you didn’t have to go there:  “Evans was fired as Georgia’s athletic director in 2010 following an arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence.  That case involved a woman who wasn’t Evans’s wife and a pair of red panties.”
• And while we’re on the subject of Damon Evans and Maryland, this seems like a relevant question.
• Bruce Feldman ($$) plans to watch how the new NCAA blocking rules may impact Georgia Tech’s offense.
• FSU’s cut a deal to conduct some of its preseason work at IMG.  I bet Jim Harbaugh disapproves.
• It sounds like Arkansas’ offensive line situation is a mess.
• I’ll take obvious answers to duh questions for $200, Alex.
• The guys at And The Valley Shook! rank the SEC’s defensive backfields and the top two look right to me.
• “Contracts for Texas A&M’s assistant football coaches contain a clause that specifically names failing to report a Title IX offense to the proper channels as a fireable offence.”  Probably need that in the AD’s contract, too.
• Football Study Hall asks, “What makes the optimal college football offense in today’s game?”

Today, in “stick to sports”

I’m sure those of you continually offended by political references in the world of sports will rise up to condemn Chris McDaniel, seeking any attention he can get as he runs for a US Senate seat a second time, who evidently objects to Ole Miss replacing Colonel Reb with a new mascot.

The political correctness dominating Ole Miss is embarrassing.

— Sen. Chris McDaniel (@senatormcdaniel) August 12, 2018

Fergit, hayul!

Handled with care

If I may borrow from another insurance ad, it appears that Jake Fromm was in good hands last season.

Which SEC quarterbacks were hurt by drops the most in 2017? pic.twitter.com/M09oc14GLM

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) August 10, 2018

We may owe a few Dawg receivers apologies, gang.

Those cupcake games aren’t gonna play themselves.

The SEC, where playing a road game against a non-conference opponent just means more.

Notice a trend? (btw, of the four teams tied at 13, two are South Carolina and Kentucky)

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) August 9, 2018

Considering that UK and South Carolina have home-and-home series with non-conference rivals, geez, that’s impressive.

Bottom line — they’ll keep doing it as long as they can get away with doing it.

“Yes, that Derek Dooley.”

Missouri’s new offensive coordinator has Bill Connelly pondering black thoughts.

In theory, Dooley can simply build complexity on top of what Heupel had established, giving Mizzou the capability to hit the brakes (Heupel’s offense was fourth in Adj. Pace last year) and come up with a Plan B for when solid defenses slow down the base attack.

It’s not hard to see the potential downside, though. Going from simple to complex, from “spread” to “pro-style” — though those terms grow more fungible each year — could lead to you misplacing your strengths in the name of fixing weaknesses.

And by god, if Dooley prevents us from seeing another year of Lock-to-Hall deep balls, he should be banished from college football.

New Mizzou motto:  if it ain’t broke, let SOD break it.

Chicks love the deep ball, ctd.

That Jake Fromm… what are we gonna do with him?

Which SEC QBs throw the best deep ball?

Among returning QBs, here's how they stack up in terms of adjusted completion percentage. pic.twitter.com/wM8ixgBRJf

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) August 9, 2018

As long as the run threat remains credible (duh) and the offensive line continues to improve, I don’t expect Fromm’s gonna lose his place there.