SEC Football

1. Kentucky defensive back Ashely Lowery, injured in a car wreck over the weekend, is out of ICU and in a regular hospital room. Could be leaving soon. “We’re hoping by the end of the week.”

2. Seth Emerson imagines a nine-game SEC schedule for Georgia where the Bulldogs have only five games in Athens.  ”That would be hard for UGA to stomach.”

3. Mike Bianchi on Florida coach Will Muschamp: “Does Gator Nation realize how much in demand Muschamp is – and will be?”

4. Muschamp on Twitter – why do they call it a hashtag?

5. Kevin Sumlin on expectations for his A&M team.  ”This is a team that didn’t play in a BCS game. It’s a good place to start, but it’s not a good place to end.”

6. Dan Mullen on expectations at Mississippi State. “Eight wins is kind of a baseline for us…”

7. No tight end or primary H-back has caught more than 24 passes with Gus Malzahn as coach.

8. Ole Miss depth chart released – only members of top-10 recruiting class to show up are those already enrolled.

9. Former Arkansas quarterback Brandon Mitchell reportedly considering five schools -   South Florida, NC State, UAB, Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State. Some other schools being mentioned.

10. Tennessee defensive back Daniel Gray is transferring.

11. Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham on Vanderbilt: “They compete and they’re very competitive.”

12. With the North Carolina game set for 2015 in Charlotte – here’s a look at South Carolina’s non-conference schedule for the next three seasons.

13. Opening weekend of the 2013 college football season features both South Carolina/North Carolina and Ole Miss/Vanderbilt on ESPN Thursday night.

14. ESPN’s Chris Low ranks the top 20 SEC prospects for the 2014 NFL draft.

SEC Athletic Department Revenues – (our breakdown from yesterday)

15. Alabama’s athletic department has now generated $100 million + in revenue for five straight years.

16. Auburn cracked the top 10 nationally – school record $105.9 million in 2012.

17. Not included in the numbers for Ole Miss - $11 million in contributions held at the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation.  School will change the way it reports next year.

SEC Basketball

18. Father of Trae Golden disputes notion of academic problems at Tennessee for his son – calls reports “totally inaccurate.”

19. Incoming freshman Darius Thompson expected to get first crack at replacing Golden.  Coach Cuonzo Martin:  ”We feel great about him.” Jordan McRae invited to Kevin Durant Skills Academy.

20. Making the case for a practice facility at Arkansas.

21. Georgia assistant coach Kwanza Johnson still weighing possible move to TCU.

22. Missouri will play in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational in November.

Extras

23. NCAA Study: Gambling among men who play Division I sports fell from 58 percent to 50 percent from 2008 to 2012.

24. Claim: The players in those college football video games?  Oh, they’re real (and spectacular).

25. Does Tim Tebow have a future as a baseball player?

1. Matt Hayes on the new Florida football: “It’s man on man, helmet on helmet, best man wins.”

2. Andy Staples: “ Florida has needed a win like this since Tim Tebow graduated.”

3. Will Muschamp: “That was typical 1980 SEC right there today.”

4. Mike Bianchi on Florida (Saturday): “Brace yourself, Florida fans, because it’s not gonna be pretty.”

5. Mike Bianchi on Florida (Sunday): “Make room for the undefeated Florida Gators – the newest member of the Southeastern Conference’s fraternal order of heavyweight contenders.”

6. Glenn Gilbeau on LSU: “This is a sloppy, uninspired, average football team.”

7. What was Hugh Freeze thinking when going for it on fourth down from his own 39 late in the game?

8. Mike Herndon: “This one is going to take a long time for Hugh Freeze to live down.”

9. Gene Wojciechowski on South Carolina: “This isn’t the old Spurrier. This isn’t the old Spurrier offense.”

10. Mark Bradley: “South Carolina was bigger, faster, stronger, tougher and yes, better-coached.”

11. Connor Shaw now 13-1 as a starting quarterback for the Gamecocks.

12. A sneak peek ahead at next week’s marquee matchup: South Carolina travels to LSU.

13. What’s at stake next week for Tennessee at Mississippi State? Either a win against a ranked opponent for the first time since 2008 or an 0-3 start to the SEC season with Alabama and South Carolina looming.

14. What about Derek Dooley’s job status? “By Halloween, we will have a better idea about how things stand.”

15. 22 freshmen have seen action this season for Kentucky.

16. “Is the promise of a better tomorrow enough to retain Joker Phillips?”

17. Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari awards two walk-ons scholarships for the upcoming season.

Fact: A runner has been accused of seeking cash from Mississippi State on behalf of Cameron Newton.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we turn things over to Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel.


“Cam Newton has failed the integrity test and will not get my Heisman Trophy vote.  No matter what.”


At least Bianchi’s not just tossing Newton from his Heisman pool because of this recent accusation — an accusation that Newton’s family denies and that Auburn officials feel has no connection to them.  He still can’t forgive Newton for possessing a stolen laptop prior to leaving Florida.


“I have wrestled with the integrity issue all season in regards to whether I should vote for Newton.  In the end, I decided, the laptop incident at UF would have been enough to keep me from putting him atop my ballot.  Now, after the charges coming out of Mississippi State, he won’t be on my ballot at all.”


Personally, I think we should wait a bit before declaring Newton a witch.  I mean we haven’t even thrown him in the water to see he if floats yet.

No, no, in all seriousness, I know that Bianchi is in the majority on this one.  I’m the bleeding heart softie who believes we all rush to judgment too quickly in this society.  And I’m also the guy who gets tired of hearing people rip other people for their lack of “integrity.”  Mainly because in my view — being people — the rippers likely have little more integrity than those they’re ripping. 

I don’t know Mike Bianchi, but I wonder if we assigned a private eye to do some background on him if we’d find anything in his past that might make us question his integrity.  I’m guessing so.  And I’d say the same for just about everyone out there.  Including me.

But an accusation has been made.  Columnists will call for Hell to be paid.  Opposing fans will wag their fingers at Auburn (while secretly praying that their school isn’t next on the chopping block). 

From a Florida perspective, at least the Hell to be paid won’t be paid out of UF’s coffers.  As George Diaz — also of The Orlando Sentinel — writes:


“It’s easy to Monday Morning Quarterback the Cam Newton saga from his days at Florida.  Should coach Urban Meyer have tried harder to keep him?  What were they thinking letting him go when he was such a good fit for the offense? 

“Now it’s obvious we should all come to the same conclusion:

“Cam Newton is no longer a feel-good story.

“Good call, Gators.”


Good call, indeed. 

And for the record, I’ll have no problem blasting Cecil Newton if it turns out he really was shopping his son’s services.  I’m just choosing to wait and see if there’s more to this mess than a single ESPN story before I render judgement.  Again, call me crazy.

Content provided by John Clay’s Sidelines.

Jeff Van Gundy (AP photo)

Ten random notes at 10:

1. Brandon Knight is really good, but the player I was most impressed with Tuesday night was Terrence Jones. Had seen Jones in practice back before Canada trip, but that was an injured Jones, and in no way shape or form the Terrence that scored 29 points in Tuesday night’s scrimmage.
2. That said, this team really needs Enes Kanter.
3. As for the Harrellson tweet controversy, I’m not the first to say this, but I think Calipari’s reaction to Josh’s tweet was similar to Josh’s reaction to Cal’s comment.
4. Terrible, terrible story today about a tragic death during Notre Dame’s football practice. A 20-year-old student and video crew worker died when the film tower he was working from fell.
5. Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel asks the obvious question: How long before Pat Riley takes over coaching the Heat?
6. Rooting for a short World Series only because it means the less we are exposed to Tim McCarver.
7. On the other hand, I welcome the return of the NBA for the return of Jeff Van Gundy.
8. I’m guessing Derrick Locke does not play Saturday.
9. I’m in Rupp Arena busy liveblogging the Blue-White scrimmage on Tuesday when this pops up on my Tweet Deck from @bickett (I don’t even follow @bickett): @KySportsRadio I’m sitting behind @johnclayiv at the game. His Live Blog looks lonely.” The tweet itself didn’t bother me. What bothered me is that if he was sitting behind me, he had a clear view of my ample bald spot.
10. In honor of Herm Edwards being on the ESPNU broadcast crew for Saturday’s UK-Mississippi State game:

With Chris Rainey set to return to the Florida offense this week — possibly at running back — Urban Meyer is taking a good amount of heat. 

Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel says that Meyer could’ve/should’ve taken a stand against domestic violence by dismissing Rainey, who was arrested last month for sending a text to a former girlfriend that read, “Time to die b-tch.”

For his latest column, Bianchi contacted an official for a Florida-based domestic violence shelter.  When any athlete raises a finger — or threatens to raise a finger against a woman — domestic violence shelters are an obligatory stop for sports columnists.  And it may well be a good stop, too.

I’ll not defend Rainey’s text.  It was ugly.  It was stupid.  It deserved some amount of looking into.  Perhaps that text did reveal the player’s attitude toward women or give a glimpse of a smoldering, violent temper.  Or perhaps this was just a text sent in anger by a 20-something.  I’ve gotten mad enough to say, “I’d like to kill that guy,” without actually meaning it.  Most of us have.

So I’m split on Bianchi’s tack.  Rainey’s transgression was serious.  And it’s worth noting that even though the women who called the police said they didn’t want him arrested, Rainey was still cuffed and stuffed when cops arrived.  Maybe they viewed him as a hot head, too.

But at the same time, he did not actually take action against the woman in question.  Nor does he have a history — that we know of — of ever taking any action against a woman.  Or of threatening another woman. 

So did Rainey truly commit an act of domestic violence?  Or did he send an out-of-character text message while in a rage? 

Meyer knows the player better than I do.  So does the girlfriend who spoke on his behalf in court.  But Meyer and the Gator program surely would have helped their image by erring on the side of caution and tossing Rainey.

FOR ANOTHER TAKE ON MEYER’S DECISION…
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