1. Freeze Takes The High-Road With Mullen

2. Will LSU Have A “Fat Cat” Quarterback In Liggins?

3. Texas A&M Makes Schedule Changes For 2012

4. Clemson A.D. Shoots Down Big 12 Rumors

5. UT’s Rubio No Longer Part Of Football Program

1. Did Nick Saban lobby to get West Virginia into the SEC?   Alabama coach is friends with West Virginia senator.

2. Raises all around for Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina staff.

3. Touring Tennessee’s new $45 million football facilities.

4. Former Tennessee wide receivers coach Charlie Baggett will receive a $425,000 buyout.

5. Ranking the new coaching hires: Urban Meyer No.1, Gus Malzahn No. 4., Hugh Freeze No. 10.

6. Former Alabama safety Mark Barron is recovering from a double hernia surgery - will miss NFL Scouting Combine.

7. Georgia at Mississippi State. A win today by Mississippi State will mean nine of 14 Rick Stansbury team’s in Starkville have won 20 games. The return of Marcus Thornton has given the Bulldogs hope.

8. South Carolina at Arkansas. The end of a brutal stretch for the Gamecocks.

9. Tennessee at Florida. Gators haven’t forgotten their second-half performance in Knoxville. Vols 0-7 on the road this year.

10, NCAA athletes should be careful who picks up the tab for their plane tickets.

11, Alabama at LSU.  Crimson Tide go for fourth straight win  Tony Mitchell remains suspended. Tigers expect full-court pressure.

12. Auburn at Ole Miss.  No more Mr. Nice Guy in practice for Auburn’s Tony Barbee. Struggling Rebels have lost three of four.

13. Kentucky at Vanderbilt. Wildcats to rely on defense. Kevin Stallings on Anthony Davis: “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anybody like him.”

14. John Calipari on UK fans and ESPN’s GameDay at Vandy.  “Don’t ruin it.”

15. Jay Bilas: “It’s sort of like an all-day infomercial for the home team.”

16. Gary Parrish: “John Calipari’s team is going to lose Saturday night at Vanderbilt just like I watched Billy Donovan’s second national championship team at Florida once lose at Vanderbilt.”

Extras

17. “40 Minutes of Hell” documentary debuts tonight.

18. Selection Sunday is a month away.  Here are eight questions for the committee.

19. Former Arkansas quarterback Mitch Mustain considers a career in professional baseball.

20. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz: “In the last 13 years, nothing has changed as much as the pace of recruiting.”

1.  Selfishness is a good thing for Auburn hoopster Kenny Gabriel.

2. Strong bench play is helping Alabama turn its season around.

3.  Micheal Sanchez’s bum shoulder just means more adversity of the Arkansas basketball team.

4.  This writer finds it ironic that Jordan Jefferson — a player Les Miles was so loyal to — has decided to speak out about poor coaching in the BCS title game.  (Excellent point.)

5.  Jefferson, by the way, has pleaded innocent to charges stemming from an infamous preseason bar fight.

6.  Dee Bost and Arnett Moultrie led MSU to a 70-60 home win over Ole Miss last night.

7.  For the Rebels, the loss was a hit to their slim NCAA Tournament hopes.

8.  For the Bulldogs, it was further evidence that State has a world of potential.

Tennessee likes playing Memphis in basketball for recruiting purposes, but they don’t like playing the Tigers in football (there’s more to lose than to gain).

Memphis likes playing Tennessee in football for financial reasons, but they don’t like playing the Vols in basketball (because it gives UT a recruiting foothold in the Bluff City).

With Memphis joining the Big East, the two cross-state schools may finally be axing their relationship.  Tiger hoops coach Josh Pastner wants to kill the series and further build a wall around Memphis.  He also wants to avoid playing Arkansas in Memphis.  Why let nearby schools woo his local talent?

In the past, UT has told the Memphians that if they continue to want to get nice paydays from Vol football games, they would have to keep scheduling the Vols in hoops.  For that reason, Memphis AD RC Johnson has always kept both series alive.  But Johnson is now stepping down and the Tigers are entering a BCS-level — read: more monied — conference.  So he’s tune is changing:

“Particularly now with the Big East, I think that should be a decision now between Josh and the next athletic director. That’s changed a lot now.  We used to worry about our (nonconference) schedule for name and RPI. Now, that’s basically been a role reversal. It’s not nearly as significant.

I don’t have any influence on whatever the next athletics director decides he or she wants to do. But from a personal standpoint and as an AD, I always felt it was to our advantage. Every coach I worked with didn’t want to play them, and I understand that. But the in-state thing I always thought was kind of a special thing.”

Pastner’s take is written in stone:

“I do know that the Tennessee series needs to be cut after next year. Whether we’re going into the Big East, Conference USA, any other league, we don’t need to play that series. No disrespect to Cuonzo Martin, because I think he’s a heck of a person and he’s done a great job. This is just strictly about I believe what (former Tigers) Coach (John) Calipari felt about it. There’s no need to play it, and I’ve not wavered on that stance since Day One I got the job.

So next year is the last year of the contract. I expect and hope that we are done with them in terms of playing them in the nonconference, obviously unless the Big East-SEC Challenge forces you to do that. That’d be out of our control.”

Calipari actually suggested the game be played in Nashville each year as part of a “Governor’s Cup” type series.  Anything to keep the Vols out of Memphis.  Pastner wants the rivalry dead, period.

And if he gets his wish, new Tennessee AD Dave Hart should scratch Memphis from his list of potential non-conference opponents for his football Vols.

After signing day last week, Vanderbilt coach James Franklin told a group of Commodore backers that those players who decommitted from Vandy were “not men of honor” and “not men of integrity.”  He did not mention anyone by name, but most assumed that he was referring to defensive end Josh Dawson who decided on the eve of signing day to stay in his home state and attend Georgia rather than VU.

As a result of his words, Franklin took some heat.  Now, he’s backtracking a bit… and blaming the media (of course):

“First of all, it really wasn’t written the way it was delivered. I think the biggest thing is when a kid commits to Vanderbilt, I go into great detail and make sure they understand what they’re doing – that they understand ‘commitment’ and ‘what commitment means.’ That I’d say if five other schools come in and offer you, would you change your mind? We make sure everybody is on the same page: the kid, the parents, and the high school coach. We explain it in real detail. I would just rather a kid not commit to us than commit and not be completely sure what he’s going to do. When you lose a kid, it hurts your heart. You feel bad, like all college coaches do, because you feel like your institution is the best possible place for that kid. So when you lose them, it hurts.

I think I probably would’ve worded some things differently [that I said that day]. And I think it would’ve probably been reported a little differently than it was intended. But it is what it is. I have great respect for all the young men that committed to us. I have great respect for some of the men that changed their minds and went in another direction. They thought it was in the best interest for them and their family. But it hurts when you lose a guy when you’ve been recruiting him for a year.”

So Franklin wishes he’d said things differently.  And clearly he still thinks those players who decommitted from Vandy don’t understand “what commitment means.”

Then how exactly is any of this the fault of Jeff Lockridge of The Tennessean who initially tweeted the coach’s exact words?  Franklin tries to blame the press for not putting his words in context but he admits he chose the words poorly and that the context — turns out — looks pretty dead-on correct.

Michael Carvell of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked several coaches about Franklin’s “not men of honor” comments and Vandy’s coach didn’t get a lot of support.  Especially from new North Carolina coach Larry Fedora who lost quarterback Patton Robinette to Franklin at the last possible moment (Robinette actually left orientation at UNC to sign with Vandy):

“What does [Franklin] say about the kids that were committed elsewhere and de-committed from their places to go to his place? That’s my comment. What is his comment on those people? He’s got someone in his recruiting class that did that very thing. He’s saying those guys are not men of honor? Basically, he’s saying he has got kids in his own recruiting class that are not men of honor. He said that, and I didn’t.”

We pointed out as much last week when writing of Franklin’s clear double-standard.  The AJC asked the coach if he saw his stance as being a double-standard:

“I think you get frustrated, and you get upset because kids commit to you.  But you’re exactly right. It was like the year before, when we got in here at the last minute and only had a month left for recruiting, we got kids to de-commit to us. I think that’s a very, very valid point.”

At least he admits that his comments post-signing day were out of line.  And in this instance he doesn’t try to blame the evil press for twisting his words.

1.  Billy Donovan wants Florida’s 3-point defense to improve.

2.  With a win over Tennessee tomorrow, the Gators will post their 14th consecutive 20-win season.

3.  When Kentucky visits Vanderbilt tomorrow, the game will likely hinge on the Anthony Davis-Festus Ezeli matchup.

4.  UK officials want fans to stop selling a popular poster of Davis.

5.  South Carolina AD Eric Hyman says he can’t imagine the USC-Clemson rivalry coming to an end.

6.  Steve Spurrier is expected to get a pay bump to $3.3 million today.

7.  New Tennessee O-line coach Sam Pittman likes all the returning starters in his camp.

8.  Freshman Jarnell Stokes’ banged-up hand remains a concern for UT hoops.

9.  With Kentucky and ESPN “Gameday” coming to town, Vandy basketball is going to get an all-day commercial tomorrow.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve received an email or two asking if the SEC would move to 16 schools once Clemson and Florida State joined the Big 12. As if such a move were a done deal.

We laughed off the rumors and went on about our business.

But apparently those rumors spread far enough through the Carolinas to spur TigerNet.com to ask Clemson AD Terry Don Phillips if there was any meat on them bones:

“There is no substance to that.  None.  The Big 12 has a committee formed — I guess you would call it an expansion committee — to look at the future of the Big 12 conference.  I would suspect without knowing that part of the charge of that particular committee would be to look at continual expansion because they are no longer the Big 12.  They have lost their championship game and so I would suspect they are looking at it.  But in regard to Clemson or Florida State — of course I can’t speak for Florida State but I do have a pretty good feel for that part of the country — but I don’t feel like they have talked with anyone and I can say for sure with Clemson there is no substance to that.”

Asked if anyone from the Big 12 had contacted Clemson officials, Phillips said, “No.”

When Oklahoma AD Joe Costiglione said last month that the Big 12 would look at expanding at some point in the future, it was only a matter of time before far-fetched rumors began to zip through cyberspace.  That’s happened.  And naturally, those rumors have kicked up questions about the SEC’s plans.  But until there is a major change to the college football landscape, we firmly believe that the Southeastern Conference will remain a 14-school league.

Add another name to the list.  This time, the name of a quarterback who looked incredibly limited during LSU’s loss to Alabama in the BCS Championship Game.

Jordan Jefferson told WCNN-AM in Altanta yesterday that he, too, was unhappy with the Tigers plan of attack in the big game:

“I think we should’ve spread them out a little bit more, put the ball in different passing areas, use our talent on the receiving side,” Jefferson said. “We had that in as far as play-calling, we just didn’t get to it.

We have great guys in those areas and sometimes we just wonder why we don’t use those guys. But we’re not the one calling the plays. We still have to go out and execute what the coaches and coordinators are calling. We can’t complain as players, but sometimes we do question that…

I definitely didn’t expect for it to play (out) like that.  Alabama was a little bit more prepared than us. There was a lot of things that we should’ve did different to catch a rhythm on offense. To win a type of game like that, you’ve got to win all three phases – offense, defense and special teams – and we just didn’t get over that hump to winning those phases. We kind of fell short in that game.”

Tiger fans will love the part about Alabama being a little bit more prepared.  I’m sure that won’t be used against Les Miles on pro-Tiger messageboards.

While Jefferson shot down “many rumors that are not true,” he did confirm that LSU practiced one plan and then called another on gameday.  The ex-Tiger said that his team had studied Utah’s 2007 Sugar Bowl victory over Bama before this year’s BCS title game, but to no avail.

“We were going to spread out our guys to make sure we’d get them the ball.  But once we got in the game, it wasn’t how we practiced.”

The biggest question now?  When are players and ex-players going to stop talking about what went wrong that night in New Orleans?

Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity opened up yesterday regarding the SEC’s soon-to-be sorted out football scheduling format.  Unfortunately, he offered nothing new.

First, don’t expect the SEC to go to nine games in 2013:

“The general feeling is we want to stay with eight.  But we have not sat down as a group of ADs to talk about 2012 and beyond.  We just had to get 2012 solved to move forward.  So who knows what 2013 through either a two-year or six-year rotation.  But that’s what we’re going to meet to (talk about) and dedicate a whole day to (during the SEC’s women’s basketball tournament).”

The fears of a nine-game slate are the same — you can’t schedule as many patsies:

“Nine games, and Georgia Tech, that makes 10 games.   If you ever wanted to schedule Clemson or Ohio State, like we have, then that only leaves one guarantee game.  That’s a pretty tough schedule.  Fans would love it.  But I don’t know if your coaches or players (would).  That’s strapping it up 11 of 12 weeks there.  You have to have some time where some players play who never get a chance to be on the field.”

The ACC has announced that it will go to a nine-game conference slate when Pittsburgh and Syracuse begin league play.  The Big Ten and Pac-12 will engage in a yearly conference-versus-conference agreement that will guarantee that both leagues’ teams will face at least nine BCS opponents per year.  In addition, the ADs at Iowa and Michigan have already stated that facing nine BCS teams per season won’t lead them to end their annual series with Iowa State and Notre Dame, respectively.

In other words, only the SEC is scared of guaranteeing nine to 10 games per year against BCS competition.

Clearly, the goal of most SEC athletic directors is to keep more teams bowl eligible via laughable non-conference schedules.  We find that to be embarrassing and we believe it will eventually bit the league right in the polls.  But then again, it’s you the fan who gets to pay 50+ bucks a seat to watch Jackson State come to town… just so you can then travel to Memphis to watch your 6-6 SEC squad play in the Liberty Bowl against a Conference USA team.  Fun, no?

Additionally, McGarity makes it clear that some of the league’s oldest, most-stories, most-important rivalries could still go away:

“I think if you ask Alabama and Tennessee, like us and Auburn, we’d like to retain the (permanent cross-divisional) games.  But does that work?  What do the other 10 schools think?  Those four schools like having those games but there’s no other East-West match-up that has that piece of history to it.  So I don’t (know) where that fits in.”

A history lesson for Mr. McGarity: Ole Miss and Vanderbilt have played 86 times.  That’s one of the 10 most played rivalries in SEC history.  If the SEC is about everyone being equal, then that rivalry means something, too.

Also, you can bet Missouri likes keeping its toes dipped in the deep recruiting waters of Texas thanks to its cross-divisional partnership with Texas A&M.

But in the end, Georgia’s AD is right about one thing:

“With 14 teams, not everybody will be happy.  Some will have a problem with everything.  But we’ll make decisions based on the best situation of the league.”

Well, there’s nothing better for the league than protecting the very thing that made it great — long-time, heated, tradition-rich rivalries.

The best way to do that is to go to a nine-game conference slate or somehow convince the NCAA to dump its requirements for conference championship games.

1.  Florida will try to bounce back from a clubbing at Kentucky when they host Tennessee this weekend.

2.  Georgia put a whoopin’ on Arkansas to climb out of the SEC cellar.

3.  This writer believes John Calipari has his best shot at a national title with this year’s Kentucky team.

4.  South Carolina has now lost 10 basketball games in a row to Tennessee.

5.  The Vol football team will be a lot more multiple on defense next season.

6.  Meanwhile, assistant coach Darin Hinshaw wants more production from his receiving corps.

7.  After a sluggish first half, Vanderbilt dropped 49 on LSU in final stanza to win 76-61.  (Up next: VU hosts top-ranked Kentucky and the Dores have toppled the last four #1 teams to visit the West End.)

Would the real Gene Chizik please stand up?  Is the guy who won five games in two years at Iowa State?  Is he the man who’s led Auburn to two 8-5 campaigns in three years?  Or is he multi-millionaire, top o’ the line coach who led the Tigers to their first national crown in decades?

That’s what many Auburn and SEC fans would like to know following last year’s post-Cam Newton season.  But Auburn AD Jay Jacobs isn’t reading too much into last season because he says he and Chizik knew early on what was coming:

“2010 was a magical year for us.  Back when I interviewed Gene in December ’08, we knew that 2011, as far as the number of players, was going to be challenging.  I couldn’t be more proud of how the guys played.  There was only one institution that played more freshmen than we did this past season.  I’m proud of how hard they worked and how they stayed to the task at hand and continued to build this foundation that’s going to take us back to an SEC championship.”

Sounds good.  And we believe it’s too soon for anyone to start writing Chizik off as a one-year wonder.  But…

For Jacobs to have known back in 2008 that the roster would be so full of holes in 2011, he would have to have foreseen some real problems coming with Chizik’s first two signing classes.  After all, 43% of the players from Auburn’s ’09 and ’10 classes aren’t at Auburn or never arrived.

For that reason — while we say it’s way too soon to panic on the Plains — we also aren’t buying Jacobs’ “we knew it was coming” message.

Texas A&M is trying to hurriedly put together its 2012 non-conference football schedule and three changes were announced yesterday:


1.  The Aggies opener on September 1st with McNeese State has been dumped and A&M is paying $200,000 to cancel it.

2.  A&M will instead open the season in Shreveport, Louisiana against Louisiana Tech on Thursday, August 30th.

3.  South Carolina State will visit Kyle Field on September 22nd.


A&M still has one more non-conference slot to fill for November 17th.

The switch from McNeese State at home to Louisiana Tech at Shreveport insures that the Aggies first-ever SEC contest — against Florida on September 8th — will also be the school’s home opener.