Alabama wins BCS National Championship Game, beating Notre Dame 42-14
Final AP Poll: Seven SEC teams in top 25
Alabama 1, Georgia and Texas A&M tied at 5, South Carolina 8, Florida 9, LSU 14, Vanderbilt 23
LSU could lose as many as eight juniors early to the NFL
Ole Miss QB Bo Wallace will have surgery on his shoulder this week
Backup Florida QB Jacoby Brissett will transfer
Georgia QB Aaron Murray will return to Athens for his senior season
Vanderbilt WR Jordan Matthews will return to Nashville for his senior season
Chris Wilson is leaving the Mississippi State staff to become Georgia’s defensive line coach
Tennessee basketball player Jeronne Maymon will take a medical redshirt and miss the rest of the season
For all your SEC news and headlines check out MrSEC.com every single day

Brent Musberger calls tonight’s Alabama-Notre Dame BCS title game “the ultimate matchup in college football”
Tonight’s game is expected to challenge records for television viewership
With gamblers backing Alabama, the Crimson Tide has become the biggest BCS title game favorite in a decade
LSU could lose as many as eight juniors early to the NFL
Ole Miss QB Bo Wallace will have surgery on his shoulder this week
Backup Florida QB Jacoby Brissett will transfer
Georgia QB Aaron Murray will return to Athens for his senior season
Vanderbilt WR Jordan Matthews will return to Nashville for his senior season
Chris Wilson is leaving the Mississippi State staff to become Georgia’s defensive line coach
Tennessee basketball player Jeronne Maymon will take a medical redshirt and miss the rest of the season
For all your SEC news and headlines check out MrSEC.com every single day

Dan Mullen has hired Geoff Collins from Florida International as his linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator.  Chris Wilson was promoted to D-coordinator to replace Manny Diaz who split for Texas.  So Collins is actually replacing Diaz (as linebackers coach) and Wilson (as co-coordinator).

Collins’ FIU defense led the Sun Belt conference in total defense, scoring defense, pass efficiency defense and turnover margin. 

“Geoff has shown the type of immediate impact he can bring to a defense by what he did at Florida International last season,” Dan Mullen said in a press release.  “He’s a smart young coach that has great experience, and he’ll bring the same kind of aggressive attitude and philosophy that we expect from our defense at Mississippi State.”

1.  In terms of RPI rankings, the SEC West — if it were its own conference — would rank between the Big South and Southland.  Ouch.

2.  Ole Miss will face a tough test in Gainesville tomorrow.

3.  The Rebels need RPI-boosting wins against the SEC East.

4.  Continuity played a role in Chris Wilson landing the defensive coordinator position in Starkville.

5.  New receivers coach Angelo Mirando is young — just 25 — but he got an early start down the coaching path.

6.  Will Muschamp opened up on the radio today about Charlie Weis and recruiting.

7.  Billy Donovan is focused on stopping Ole Miss’ Chris Warren tomorrow.

As expected, last year’s co-defensive coordinator will become this year’s plain ol’ defensive coordinator at Mississippi State.

Dan Mullen announced via release this morning that defensive line coach Chris Wilson will replace Manny Diaz as the Bulldogs’ lead D-coordinator.  But MSU still needs to find a replacement for Diaz the linebacker coach.  Whoever the new linebacker coach is will carry the co-coordinator title that belonged to Wilson this past season.

Mullen also promoted graduate assistant Angelo Mirando to replace receivers coach Mark Hudspeth.

Hudspeth left State to become the head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette.  Diaz left Starkville to become the defensive coordinator at Texas.

Before joining Mullen’s staff last offseason, Wilson spent five years on Bob Stoops’ staff at Oklahoma.

It’s just not easy for traditional second-tier programs to become top-tier programs.  First you have to find the right head coach.  Then he has to find the right players and the right assistants.  Then they all have to mesh together well.

But as soon as that happens — and for a lot of school that never happens — the traditional top-tier programs start circling like buzzards over roadkill.

In the case of Mississippi State, the buzzards this offseason have included Miami and Texas.  And while the Bulldogs have now lost defensive coordinator Manny Diaz to the Longhorns, the upside is that MSU is now winning enough to get noticed by the big boys.

Fans don’t like losing coaches to other programs, but it beats the hell out of losing games instead.

No one in Starkville should blame Diaz for leaving.  Texas is one of the top five programs in the country.  They have deep pockets and a deeper recruiting base.  They have a history of winning and play in a watered-down league that now (sans championship game) offers an easy route to BCS bowls.  In addition, assistants at Texas move on to head coaching jobs (see: Gene Chizik and Will Muschamp).  MSU simply couldn’t match what Mack Brown had to offer.  Most schools couldn’t.

So now MSU is left looking for a new defensive coordinator — who will be the school’s fifth in five years — as well as a replacement for receivers coach Mark Hudspeth.

The defensive coordinator slot will likely go to co-coordinator Chris Wilson.  In fact, Dan Mullen has already told one recruit that Wilson will get the job.  That should make for at least some continuity as the Bulldogs transition to yet another new DC.

But the bottom line is this: Other schools don’t come sniffing around unless you’re winning.  Winning, by default, increases the chances that those who are leading your school to victory will leave. 

But it’s better to have won games and lost coaches… than never to have won games at all.

I think Tennyson wrote that.

1.  Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and strength coach Scott Cochran could get raises today.  (Smart was connected to the Florida job, but will remain in Tuscaloosa.)

2.  This writer says there’s no reason for the biggest stars at Bama and Auburn to return for their senior seasons.

3.  Cam Newton says Papa Cecil will be in attendance at Monday’s BCS title game.  (Tickets are going for about $180,000.)

4.  This writer believes Newton the Younger will provide a bright future for some NFL franchise.

5.  Stats don’t matter to Auburn’s defense.

6.  This Arkansas writer tries to Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive after last night’s Sugar Bowl loss.

7.  While the football Hogs were losing in New Orleans, John Pelphrey was taking his worst beating yet — 79-46 — at the hands of Texas.  A bad night in the Ozarks.

8.  LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis says he’s never had a linebacker as versatile as Kelvin Sheppard.

9.  Hey, fans, Gary Crowton was frustrated by the Tigers’ offense this year, too.

10.  Ole Miss is still searching for an identity as they prep for a game at SMU tonight.

11.  A loss to the Mustangs could crush UM’s NCAA Tournament hopes…

12.  And the Rebels might be without Trevor Gaskins due to a hamstring pull.

13.  If Manny Diaz leaves for Texas, defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator Chris Wilson would likely replace him in Starkville.

14.  It looks like the rest of Dan Mullen’s staff will stick around another year.