1.  Vanderbilt looked pretty sharp in its return from Christmas break, besting Manhattan 86-48 last night.

2.  Amazingly, the Jaspers have a player who has just one hand.  Really.  Cool story.  And he scored his first career point against Vandy last night.

3.  The biggest story at Tennessee in the 2000s was the dismissal of Phillip Fulmer.

4.  In basketball news, Memphis and Tennessee were ranked #1 and #2 the last time they met at the FedEx Forum.  Not so tonight.  (And we’ll get no Bruce Pearl squeeze of Erin Andrews, either.)

5.  Naturally, tonight’s game between two 9-2 clubs isn’t getting the hype of past Tiger-Vol matchups.

6.  Memphis folks say the pressure is all on UT for a change.

7.  South Carolina’s opponent in the Papajohns.com Bowl is united by several close losses and one off-field tragedy.

8.  Carolina expects UConn to run right at ‘em.

9.  Stephen Garcia lacked accuracy during a wet practice yesterday.

10.  According to this notes report, USC will use a three-player rotation at offensive tackle.

11.  Steve Spurrier has some happy memories at Birmingham’s Legion Field.

12.  In basketball news, Darrin Horn credited his team for battling back in an 85-76 road loss at Boston College last night.

13.  Without Dominique Archie, there’s just too much pressure to score on Devan Downey.

14.  Trash-talking fans will be out in full force when Louisville and Kentucky matchup tomorrow.

15.  Louisville’s Edgar Sosa says that UK fans have already been writing him on Facebook, “real disrespectful, stuff that doesn’t even have to do with basketball.”

16.  The Cats have been stretching defenses with their hot outside shooting.

17.  This writer believes John Wall is more than just a superstar — he’s a guy who’ll do the dirty work, too.

18.  It’s been an emotional week for Charlie Strong as he winds down his time at Florida.

19.  New Orleans looks like Cincinnati-South this week.

20.  Ryan Stamper says the Gators were overconfident when they lost to Alabama earlier this month.  “… We were up on that high throne and felt like we couldn’t get beat.”

21.  This columnist wonders why Urban Meyer created such a pre-game distraction for his team with his retire/un-retire decisions.

22.  Since Tim Tebow began playing at Florida, there has been an incredible increase in the amount of money given to the non-profit Evangelical organization his father runs.

23.  You wanna talk about extreme makeovers… just look at Florida’s projected starting lineup for 2010.

24.  So who would make the Gators’ all-decade team in football?

25.  Billy Donovan’s team handled the Presbyterian Blue Hose 79-38 last night.  (Is the women’s team called the Blue Hose, too?  That might sound a bit funny when talking about ladies.)

26.  Just as John Chavis talk appeared to be heating up, Mark Richt has now said that his search for a new defensive coordinator could stretch into the middle of January.  (Also, Richt reiterated that Rodney Garner is not in the running for the job and “he knows that.”)

27.  On the basketball court, Georgia improved to 7-4 under first-year coach Mark Fox with a 64-47 win over Pepperdine last night.

28.  Fox’s team played solid defense as the Dawgs gave their coach a victory over his mentor, Tom Asbury.

1.  Virginia Tech coaches are trying to figure out how UT will use Eric Berry, but the Hokies’ quarterback says he’s usually used “like a linebacker” in the box.

2.  Tech’s coaches say they have a lot of respect for the 7-5 Vols.

3.  If UT can win the Chick-fil-A Bowl tonight, they might finish in the Top 25.  If not, it will mark the first time since 1985 that Tennessee has gone through an entire season without being ranked for at least one week.

4.  Lane Kiffin doesn’t see many weaknesses on the Virginia Tech defense.

5.  Kiffin doesn’t view tonight’s game as a springboard for 2010, but he does think it would be a good step for his program.  “To finish winning four out of the last five games, to win our last four SEC East games to finish second in the East, then to come to what I would consider a BCS bowl and playing a Top 11 opponent that’s been to the Orange Bowl the last two years in a row, won the Orange Bowl a year ago and only had one player drafted off that team, it shows you how talented this team is that we’re going to play.”

First, that’s a helluva run-on sentence.  Kiffin talks like I write.  Second, did he really say that he considers the Chick-fil-A Bowl to be a BCS bowl?

6.  Here are five keys to a Volunteer victory over Virginia Tech.

Cat Scratches will host a scouting preview this week for the Kentucky-Louisville game by bringing in Matt May of The Cats’ Pause and C.L. Brown of the Louisville Courier-Journal. On Thursday at 12:00 p.m. May and Brown will join us for a live chat to give their thoughts on the matchup, what the keys are to the game, who fans should look out for and more. The 30-minute chat with the reporters will offer fans an inside look at the game from the people who are closest to the teams.
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1.  Alabama tight end Colin Peek has been Mr. Clutch for the Tide this season (as opposed to Mr. Transmission).

2.  Nick Saban likes the way his team has been handling business as it prepares for the BCS title game.

3.  There aren’t a lot of bowl-related activities for the players who make the national title game.

4.  Bama quarterback Greg McElroy is disappointed in the firing of Mike Leach… a man he initially committed to.

5.  In basketball news, Alabama wore down Tennessee State 77-65 last night…

6.  But they looked sluggish in doing so.

7.  Auburn fans will probably hear the name Zeke Markshausen quite a bit tomorrow.

8.  AU likes to run and Northwestern likes to pass, but both teams are similar in tempo.

9.  Ted Roof has had his defense sticking to the basics this week.

10.  The Tigers wrapped up bowl preps with a good practice yesterday.

11.  Here’s a breakdown of the Outback Bowl matchup.

12.  Arkansas players are trying to forget their last bowl experience — a 38-7 loss to Missouri in the 2008 Cotton Bowl.

13.  Defensive coordinator Willy Robinson is worried about big East Carolina receiver Dwayne Harris.

14.  Bobby Petrino has treated the Liberty Bowl experience as a business trip, not a reward.

15.  ECU’s defensive coordinator doesn’t believe there’s such a thing “as an average SEC team.”

16.  In basketball news, Baylor took advantage of its size advantage to pound Arkansas 70-47 last night.

17.  Penn State has an experience advantage at quarterback over LSU.

18.  Offensive coordinator Gary Crowton says he’s happy to get the help of new passing game coordinator Billy Gonzalez.

19.  Crowton is confident in his offense heading into tomorrow’s game.

20.  As we wrote yesterday morning, the turf at the Capital One Bowl is a concern.  Crowton says, “We’re both going to be slower, which is not a good thing for anybody.”

21.  On the hardwood, LSU needs to start playing better basketball on the road.

22.  Houston Nutt and Mike Gundy have shared a lot of common ground.

23.  As a coach, Nutt just tries to be himself.

24.  Oklahoma State All-American left tackle Russell Okun injured his knee in practice this week and his status for Saturday is unknown.

25.  Rebel linebacker Patrick Trahan is ready to play on the big stage.

26.  After the Cotton Bowl, offensive coordinator will be looking to replace about 2,800 yards of offense on next year’s team.

27.  Three Rebels will be headed to the Senior Bowl this year.

28.  Mississippi State’s athletic budget has grown from $17 million to about $40 million in the past decade.

29.  Rick Stansbury says his team’s effort will have to improve if its to win at San Diego today.

Yesterday, ESPN played the world the tape of the 911 call Urban Meyer’s wife made just hours after the SEC Championship Game earlier this month.

While sports fans listened to the tape of her trying to wake her husband — who was out cold on his bedroom floor following chest pains — Meyer was “going 100 percent” at the Gators’ practice yesterday.

Smart.

“He’s going 100 percent and he wants to win this final game and end this season on a good note for us seniors and the (juniors) leaving,” Tim Tebow said.

Linebacker Ryan Stamper added that he hadn’t seen any change in Meyer’s intensity level this week.



I suppose this dead horse can officially be considered beaten at this point, but I once again say:

If you pass out on the floor with chest pains and you have a cyst on your brain that causes pain during stress, you need to walk away from the game.  Not walk away from the offseason.  Walk away from the game.

And Gator fans had better be prepared to hear questions about Meyer — his health, his involvement in the program, his future — again and again and again this offseason.

Tony Barnhart of The AJC points out that every other element of the Gator program will now be placed in the backseat behind the Meyer “will he or won’t he” saga.

Also, Mr. Barnhart makes an excellent observation regarding Meyer’s definition-of-vague press conference last Sunday:

“When you hold a press conference like the one Meyer had in New Orleans, it is your best opportunity to get the entire truth out.  It is your chance to get ahead of the story and control the message so that others don’t do it for you.  Because if other shape the message you’re not going to like it.

“But if you start leaving out details because they are uncomfortable, then the media starts digging deeper to see what else you’ve left out or potentially misled them about.  And once the media catches you in a lie or a half-truth, you’re toast.  The story takes on new life and will last for as long as there are new facts to find.”

For example, a coach and school officials might claim that said coach checked himself into a hospital for dehydration, when in fact 911 tapes later reveal that he was rushed to the hospital after collapsing with chest pains.

You can cite privacy issues.  You can say, “Well, that’s his business.”  But it was still a lie.  And that brings into question everything else Meyer and Florida officials have said about this mess.  (And anything else for that matter.)



I can tell you where many media folks would like to turn next — to Meyer’s doctor or doctors.  If just one anonymous source who has knowledge of this situation reveals that Meyer HAS been instructed by doctors to walk away, Meyer, Bernie Machen and Jeremy Foley will all look very, very stupid.

Remember, when asked at his presser if a doctor had told him to leave the game, Meyer said he’d rather not answer the question.  Why would he say that if he hadn’t been told to hang ‘em up?

Mr. Barnhart is right — as usual — to say that this situation “is just beginning.”  More questions will come.  More sources will speak out. 

And all the while Meyer is still coaching 100 percent with no drop in his intensity level.

Boy, I don’t like where this thing seems to be headed.

John Chavis still seems to be the top candidate for the Georgia defensive coordinator position.  And as we told you yesterday, he didn’t quell the rumors when given a chance during a Capital One Bowl press conference.

Asked point blank during the presser if he would be coaching in Baton Rouge next year, Chavis said, “Like I said earlier, I’ll be happy to talk about the bowl game and anything beyond that, I want to leave it like it is.”

According to Glenn Guilbeau of The Shreveport Times, sources inside the LSU athletic department told him that the Tigers are trying to match Georgia’s offer to Chavis… which is believed to be about $600,000.

Mr. Guilbeau also writes that Chavis made $500,000 in 2009, not the $450,000 that everyone else is reporting.  That might take into account bonus money.

Defensive line coach Brick Haley — who was rumored to be a candidate for the Mississippi State defensive coordinator job — might be on Mark Richt’s list as well.

Chavis’ wife split time between Baton Rouge and Knoxville this year.  His sons also still live in Knoxville, where their father coached for 20 years before Phillip Fulmer’s staff was shown the door.  Athens is a heckuva lot closer to Knoxville than Baton Rouge.  Plus, landing at Georgia would give Chavis a chance for yearly vengeance against the school that he feels done him wrong.

Also, if Chavis does take the Georgia job, he will have at least two openings on his staff to fill.  That might be a chance for him to bring in some of the men who worked under him at Tennessee.  Dan Brooks (from Clemson), Steve Caldwell (out of coaching this year) and Larry Slade (who is still currently on Charlie Strong’s new staff at Louisville) might all be on a potential Chavis/Georgia staff.

Chavis and current Georgia defensive line coach Rodney Garner worked together at Tennessee in the late ’90s.  Their history — good or bad — could lead Garner to stick around or depart from Athens.  IF Chavis winds up taking the UGA job.

Former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville is being tossed out as a potential candidate for the open slot at Texas Tech, but I’m still guessing it’s a long shot the former SEC coach will land in Lubbock.

Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com believes Tech should promote Ruffin McNeill… but if they don’t hire him (or Arizona offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes), Maisel thinks Tuberville’s “unflappability may calm the roiled waters in Lubbock.”

Kirk Bohls of The Austin American-Statesman suggests Tech talk to Tuberville among others.

Chuck Carlton of The Dallas Morning News also puts Tommy Tuberville on his list of five candidates to watch.  “This would be a major move,” he writes of a potential Tuberville hiring.

FootballCoachScoop.com — which it seems posts every rumor it receives… and posts it as “BREAKING NEWS” — reports that Tech has already contacted Tuberville.  Red Raider AD Gerald Myers says school officials “definitely have not made any contacts with anybody.”



McNeil makes sense in terms of continuity within the program, but Tech officials really need to appease their fans on this one.  I don’t think that would mean promoting a defensive coordinator at a school known for offense.

Dykes is the son of former Tech coach Spike Dykes, but the fact Arizona got skunked last night by Nebraska (a conference-mate of Tech) might not help his chances.  For that matter, Arizona has been known for its defense, not its offense over the years.

Art Briles of Baylor (a Tech alum) has been mentioned, but I’m not sure that his track record at Baylor would excite many Red Raider fans.

June Jones of SMU (formerly of Hawaii) might just fit the bill.  His offense is usually near the top of the nation’s statistical charts and he just led the Mustangs to their first bowl game since the death penalty in the 1980s.

Kevin Sumlin of Houston is another big offense guy.  He made Case Keenum a household name this past season and came close to capturing Conference USA’s title.

And then comes Tuberville.  Not known for his wide-open offenses, would Tubs dare run a spread offense?  There’s no way he and Tony Franklin would ever pair up again, but it would be interesting to see Franklin’s offense IF he got to bring in his own assistants.

For my money, I’m guessing Jones or Sumlin will be the guy.  Tuberville has a better name and better track record than either of those coaches, but he’s a far cry from Leach’s bizarro personality and his philosophy is conservative.  In addition, he’d probably demand more money than anyone else on the Tech list. 

Devan Downey had 29 points and seven assists, and Brandis Raley-Ross scored 13 points for South Carolina (8-4).
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The Razorbacks struggled in the second half and fell to the Baylor Bears on Wednesday night.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Freshman reserve John Jenkins scored 15 points to lead Vanderbilt to an 86-48 victory over Manhattan on Wednesday night.
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