Sunday morning buffet

We’re getting close and you need to eat.

• Andy Staples’ SEC preview has some nice bits about Georgia, but, alas, no SEC East title.
• Can a defense in football force turnovers?
• Non-football, but Washington Monthly has Georgia ranked second among national universities for most bang for the buck and seventh for all schools.
• Yeah, Corch is still kind of a dick.
• The AJ-C‘s “College Football Insider” ranks Manziel the third-best QB in the conference because “he has plenty of maturing to do”.  I had no idea that affected his play last season.
• Loran Smith thinks Mike Bobo still needs defending.
• Here’s a handy index for this year’s media guides.
• Kyle King, in a nice review of Bill Connelly’s new book, confirms that my memory isn’t totally shot, at least not yet.
• Arthur Lynch, on Georgia’s 2011 mindset:  “We knew the talent we had, but we didn’t know how to win, if that makes sense.”
• In case you’re wondering what kind of off time starting defensive backs get for being charged with misdemeanor assault in College Station, here you go.  (Hint:  less than you’d get in Athens, but you already knew that, right?)
• If you’re looking for more information on Georgia’s first opponent, read Paul Myerberg’s preview, complete with a Georgia Tech ding.

Regrets, he’s had a few.

Tell us something we didn’t already know, Corch.

Urban Meyer told @LeBatardShow today that he felt like he compromised his core values at the end of his Florida tenure to win.—
Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) July 31, 2013

I guess that means he was settling for the top 2% of the top 1%.

In Montana, they like Mark Richt’s style.

Poor Corch.  That’s seems to be the theme of Stewart Mandel’s sensitive look at why Urban Meyer is taking so much crap from the media these days.

The scrutiny is expected. There’s no avoiding it when you’ve won two national titles. But it sure seems he’s being held to a harsher standard than some of his peers.

“Some of his peers” turn out to be two:  Les Miles and Mark Richt.  Of course.  Although Mandel manages to pull his punches when it comes to Georgia’s coach.

Georgia coach Mark Richt’s program has had rashes of offseason arrests and suspensions, though less so this year. He and the Bulldogs have taken heat for it. But Richt, widely regarded as one of the classiest coaches in the profession, is largely praised — rightfully so — for his firm disciplinary stances (some of it mandated by a rigid school drug-testing policy).

So what exactly is his point?  Beats me – if Richt’s getting credit that Meyer isn’t because Richt is perceived as doing a better job of holding his players accountable when they misbehave, isn’t that how things should work?

Why I like Will Muschamp a little more today.

I don’t think I need that sarcasm meter for this.

Muschamp: “We appreciate our friends from Ohio making sure we follow NCAA rules. They certainly know something about NCAA rules.”—
Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) July 16, 2013

Boom, Corch!  Boom, indeed.

BTW, who’s down with a Florida-Ohio State bowl game match up?

No Seat 37F for this guy!

This piece is the journalistic – using the term in its loosest sense – equivalent of Leave Britney Alone.  (NSFW, in case you’ve never heard it.)

Think I’m kidding?  Check out this overwrought passage:

No, Meyer’s “crime” in this saga isn’t this pretense by the media that he was too lenient with Hernandez and other players at Florida. His crime is that he is now the head football coach at Ohio State, and it looks for all the world like Meyer has the Buckeyes poised for a lengthy period of dominance not just in the Big Ten, but nationally.

And that, as we have learned since January of 2001 when Tressel was hired at Ohio State, is completely unacceptable in the eyes of the media.

So now, we are to believe that Urban Meyer is to Hernandez what Dr. Frankenstein was to his monster, that Meyer is solely responsible for creating a soulless being, then knowingly and callously foisting this creature onto an unsuspecting public.

And now it is Meyer who is facing the angry torch-bearing mobs of the media, demanding justice for alleged crimes against humanity perpetrated by someone else.

This is all so predictable: The media is going to see who got away with what under Meyer at Florida, then see who is getting away with what under Meyer at Ohio State.

Not that the media actually cares about finding criminals on campuses — they could do this at every school in the country — they just don’t like the marriage of Urban Meyer and Ohio State. That’s a monster that needs to be eradicated from the face of college football.

I’d love for somebody to get him to read this embarrassing POS out loud.  I bet his voice quivers.

Not letting up

If you go to Mike Bianchi’s website, you’ll be greeted by this poll:

Daily poll: Which #Gators athlete committed worst crime during #UrbanMeyer era: Vote here: 740thegame.com/pages/openmike…—
Mike Bianchi (@BianchiWrites) July 10, 2013

How many questions about Corch do you expect to hear at next week’s SEC Media Days?

 

Everything is relative.

Love this quote from the Urban Meyer Innocence Tour:

Q: What do you recall of Hernandez’s brushes with the law during his time at Florida?

A: Relatively speaking, he had very minor stuff. He was questioned about being a witness (to a shooting), and he had an argument in a restaurant (in which Hernandez allegedly struck an employee in an argument over an unpaid bill), and he was suspended one game (reportedly for a failed marijuana test). Other than that, he was three years a good player. That was it.

“Relatively speaking”?  Relative to what – other Gator players?

Looks like we’re gonna need a bigger Seat 37F.

I’m not sure why Corch decided he had to go there – anybody think Saban would have wasted his time on this shit? – but go there he did.  Texting with old media buddies…

“I just received an email from a friend where there is an accusation of multiple failed drug tests covered up by the Univ. of Florida or the coaching staff,” Meyer wrote in a text to The Sun. “This is absolutely not true. Hernandez was held to the same drug testing policy as every other player.

“He was an athlete at Florida 4-to-7 years ago and there are some comments being made that are not correct. Our staff, myself and our families worked very hard to mentor and guide him. Prayers and thoughts are with the family and friends of the victim. Relating or blaming these serious charges to Univ. of Florida, myself or our staff is wrong and irresponsible.”

… and new.

Two things there.  First, nice weasel words about UF’s drug policy.  Unlike a certain institution which shall remain nameless, at Florida, a student-athlete doesn’t go down for his first drug offense.  Last time I check, “multiple” means more than one.  And since we do know that Hernandez was suspended at one point for failing a drug test, all we’re left with is parsing whatever “covered up” is supposed to mean there.

Second, about that mentoring… well, Corch is entering “when did you stop beating your wife?” territory with that “worked very hard” stuff.  Why was it necessary to do so?  And did he realize it wasn’t taking?

Of course, if you want more distance, the next step is the one Meyer’s family is taking – it’s nobody’s fault but Hernandez’.  Certainly, there’s a basic level where that’s the case. But let’s not lose sight of Urban the Pious. Corch, like almost every one of his peers, has no problem proclaiming his sacred duty to mentor the kids he looks to sign as he travels the recruiting trail.  And afterwards, for that matter.  So which is it?

Honestly, he’d have been smart to keep his mouth shut.  This is just more grist for the mill.

Billy Clyde Puckett would call that a semi-denial.

My, these are some carefully chosen words.

Employee Michael Taphorn suffered a burst ear drum when punched by Hernandez, and initially told police he wanted to pursue charges. But he later had second thoughts, according to the supplemental report.

Taphorn stated he had been contacted by legal staff and Florida coaches about a possible agreement in the case. A Florida spokesperson told ESPN.com’s Andy Katz Tuesday night that “No one from the university’s general counsel’s office was involved in this matter.”

Well, that eliminates half the usual suspects.  It’ll be interesting to hear if Corch, who’s already getting his back covered by the local media (the power of Seat 37F?), issues a denial for the other half.

Gator trouble

Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Bianchi’s wet dream.

Coming up: Does Aaron Hernandez being entangled in murder investigation taint the #Gators in any way? Listen: 740thegame.com/pages/openmike…—
Mike Bianchi (@BianchiWrites) June 21, 2013

And with this story coming out in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, it’s pretty obvious that Florida’s getting a lot of unwanted attention about its… um, support of student-athletes who run into trouble.

As prosecutors prepare to try former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez on murder and gun charges, new details have emerged about a 2007 bar fight at the University of Florida that suggest the incident was far from trivial.

According to a 2007 police report obtained Monday by The Wall Street Journal, Hernandez had a brush with the law at Florida before he’d even played a down.

That’s what made him one of Corch’s top 1% of the top 1%.

Speaking of Meyer, that’s got to be the one disappointment for Bianchi – that he’s no longer around to bask in the warmth and love of the Gator media on the subject.  But that doesn’t mean Bianchi can’t reminisce about the good old days.

When Urban Meyer coached in Gainesville, we media cynics used to call Johnson the most valuable member of UF’s staff even though he doesn’t actually work for the Gators. Even so, he was Meyer’s ingenious and innovative “defensive coordinator” because he was so effective at defending some of the Urbanator’s gun-toting, bar-fighting miscreants and malcontents.

Fun times.  Even if Corch is reluctant to join in.

Urban Meyer when asked for his thoughts on the Aaron Hernandez situation: "I'm not going to talk about that."—
Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) July 01, 2013

Where’s a Seat 37F when a guy needs one?

**********************************************************************************

UPDATE:  By the way, that witness called over to try to intervene in the bar dispute?  None other than His Tebowness.  Timmy may not have been able to stop Hernandez from throwing a punch, but it seems like he helped get the ball rolling on the fix.

Hernandez told the officer both he and Tebow had already called then-UF football coach Urban Meyer and informed him about the incident.

A day later, the investigator officer told Hernandez’s attorney, Huntley Johnson, he would not be pursuing charges in connection with alcohol served to minors at the restaurant, but he wrote, “it would be noted in the report so the coaches could handle it internally.”

That was thoughtful.