A potential class-action lawsuit that threatens  the NCAA amateur student-athlete model has the association fighting back in court.

A federal-court filing on Thursday revealed just how big the stakes are and what college officials fear could be the end of certain athletic programs at some schools, including football, at the FBS level.

Specifically, should college football and men’s basketball players be paid?  Here’s what Texas A.D. Deloss Dodds and women’s A.D. Christine Plonsky had to say in the filing:

Texas “has no interest in a model that would force us to professionalize two sports to the detriment of the balance of the athletics department’s sports, fitness and educational programs.”

Wake Forest University president Nathan Hatch went even further.

The school ”might cease playing Division I or Football Bowl Subdivision sports entirely if pay-for-play became a reality…

“Instituting a pay-for-play model, even if the payments are deferred to after graduation would change the nature of the relationship Wake Forest has with its football and men’s basketball student-athletes. It would, essentially, turn those teams into professional squads. That would not be acceptable to Wake Forest.”

One issue that has university officials worried – Title IX and gender equity concerns.  California State University system chancellor Timothy White included this in his statement:

“Paying male athletes for their participation in sports would seriously undermine the objectives of Title IX and CSU’s ability to remain in Title IX compliance.”

These filings come as a result of  a judge’s  ruling in January allowed plaintiff’s lawyers to proceed with efforts to have the case certified as a class-action. The suit, initially filed against the NCAA and video-game maker Electronic Arts back in 2009, contends that, among other issues, defendants violated anti-trust law by conspiring to fix at zero the amount of compensation athletes can receive for the use of their names, images and likenesses in products or media while they are in school.

SEC Football Finals
LSU 20 – Arkansas 13 (Friday)
Georgia 42 – Georgia Tech 10
Tennessee 37 – Kentucky 17
Alabama 49 – Auburn 0
Florida 37 – Florida State 26
Vanderbilt 55 – Wake Forest 21
Texas A&M 59 – Missouri 29
Ole Miss 41 – Mississippi State 24
South Carolina 27 – Clemson 17

Georgia Tech at Georgia. MrSEC Pick:  Georgia 41, Georgia Tech 24
Kentucky at Tennessee. MrSEC Pick:  Tennessee 24, Kentucky 21
Auburn at Alabama. MrSEC Pick:  Alabama 38, Auburn 7
Florida at Florida State. MrSEC Pick:  Florida State 20, Florida 13
Vanderbilt at Wake Forest. MrSEC Pick:  Vanderbilt 27, Wake Forest 17
Missouri at Texas A&M. MrSEC Pick:  Texas A&M 42, Missouri 17
Mississippi State at Ole Miss. MrSEC Pick:  Mississippi State 28, Ole Miss 27
South Carolina at Clemson. MrSEC Pick:  Clemson 30, South Carolina 24

Final regular season weekend of SEC action – all 14 teams in action with one game on Friday, the rest on Saturday.

LSU at Arkansas. Les Miles team hits the road to Razorbacks country and open as a 14-point favorite in this Friday afternoon game.

Vanderbilt at Wake Forest. Seeking their 8th win of the season, the Commodores go on the road and open as 8.5 point favorites.

Georgia Tech at Georgia. Bulldogs open as 14-point favorites against their in-state rival.

Kentucky at Tennessee. The Volunteers, sans coach Derek Dooley, open as 14-point favorites in a battle of two teams that will have new coaches in 2013.

Auburn at Alabama. Crimson Tide opens as a 34-point favorites. As far back to the 1970′s, this looks to be  the largest spread point in this rivalry. That line is down to 31 or 31.5 at many offshore books.

Florida at Florida State. Listed at even at ESPN, most places don’t have a line on this game yet.  Jeff Driskel’s status could have an impact here.

Missouri at Texas A&M. Aggies open as a 16.5 point favorite against a Missouri team seeking to become bowl eligible.

Mississippi State at Ole Miss. Listed as even at ESPN, you can find Ole Miss as a one-point favorite at some off-shore books.

South Carolina at Clemson. Gamecocks open as a four-point underdog against the Tigers.

Yesterday we caught you up on the coaching murmurs we’ve heard in talking to people at Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as an industry source.  Everyone’s got their own sources but we feel confident enough in ours to state again that we’re hearing:

* John L. Smith is finished at Arkansas (whether he wants to admit it or not) and TCU’s Gary Patterson — who gave the most non-denial denial ever when asked about it — is AD Jeff Long’s top choice as a replacement.  We think this one pretty far down the pike, too.

* Gene Chizik is thisclose to having the curtain fall on him at Auburn and surprisingly Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher continues to be connected to the job.  There’s no question he dislikes having a one-loss team that’s out of the BCS title picture due to the ACC’s perceived weakness — he could remedy that by not losing to a team like NC State or Wake Forest every year — but we believe he may just be making a play for more power on FSU’s campus.  If not Chizik, would Bobby Petrino finally land on the Plains?

* Kentucky has already pulled the plug on Joker Phillips and we believe the two most realistic “gets” for AD Mitch Barnhart are Louisiana Tech’s Sonny Dykes and San Jose State’s Mike MacIntyre.  Those names are certainly getting a lot of play from the folks we’ve spoken to.

* Tennessee’s Derek Dooley is done and AD Dave Hart might be done, too, if he bucks the school’s biggest boosters in an effort to save the embattled coach.  We don’t think Hart’s that crazy, we just believe he’s trying to mark his territory one year into his Knoxville reign.  We’re told that Tommy Tuberville’s name has gained “traction” in recent days — no word on what his slap of a grad assistant might have done to his chances — and that Al Golden will definitely be in UT’s mix as well.

Another name that’s making the rounds today is that of Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy.  Various outlets have tied Gundy to the Arkansas job, the Auburn job, the Kentucky job and the Tennessee job.  Could he wind up at one of those places?  Sure.  But the fact his name has been connected to all four jobs suggests that either a) some reporters are just throwing out big names for the sake of gaining pageviews or b) Gundy’s agent is throwing his client’s name around in order to remind OSU brass and fans that they’ve got a sought-after coach.

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James Franklin has pushed so many right buttons since his arrival at Vanderbilt a year ago that many folks forgot just how many buttons needed to be pushed to steer the Commodore football program from troubled waters to tranquil seas.

In 2011, he won over a fanbase that was tired of being treated like a doormat each fall.  His post-game comments after last year’s tight loss to Georgia were for Vandy fans a cross between Tim Tebow’s Promise and Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.  There were six wins (granted against Elon, UConn, Ole Miss, Army, Kentucky and Wake Forest) and those victories brought a bid to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.  Along the way, the Dores came within five points of Georgia, three of Arkansas, five of Florida and six of Tennessee.  VU was giving even big-name SEC foes all they wanted.

Off the field, Franklin sold his program to starved fans, recruits and the media.  Recruits responded in historic fashion for VU last February and his list of commitments is above average again this year.  Media members have responded even more positively than the recruits.  After a single 6-7 season at Vanderbilt, Franklin’s name was attached to much higher-profile jobs all across the US fo A.  Matt Hayes of The Sporting News put the icing on the cake by ranking Franklin as America’s 25th best football coach.

But now people are starting to remember just what kind of job lies ahead of Vandy’s fiery, energetic, salesman of a coach.  The Dores are 1-3.  They’ve lost to South Carolina and Northwestern in come-from-ahead-to-lose fashion.  And after a route over tiny Presbyterian College, Vanderbilt was dismantled on national television by Georgia 48-3 in Athens on Saturday.

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Linebacker Larenz Bryant from Zebulon B. Vance High School in Charlotte, N.C., committed to South Carolina on Monday.

Bryant, who’s considered the nation’s 10th-best inside linebacker by ESPN RecruitingNation, chose South Carolina over Florida, Clemson, Virginia and Wake Forest.

The timing of Bryant’s commitment is somewhat surprising. He told Rivals.com earlier this month that he would likely make his decision near the end of his senior season. It’s possible Bryant could still take visits this fall, which would leave open the possibility of him changing his mind.

Bryant is the 18th prospect to commit to South Carolina’s class of 2013.

All week we’ve been counting down the 50 SEC games that this writer is most interested in watching this fall.  It hasn’t been a pure countdown as we’ve done things week-by-week… and if you want a full breakdown on how/why games were chosen, you can scroll back on our homepage and read Part One of the series.

But as it shakes out, our final 10 games are the final 10 games scheduled for the SEC’s regular season.  Perfect.

Here’s how those games stack up in yours truly’s eyes:

Week Thirteen (weekend of November 24th)

10.  Vanderbilt at Wake Forest — A meeting of these two fine universities’ teams has become an annual affair.  By this point, James Franklin’s reputation will have either fallen back to earth a bit… or he’ll be mentioned in connection with jobs all over the place.

9.  Missouri at Texas A&M — Scheduling oddity: Mizzou will be traveling to College Station for the third-straight year and looking for its third-straight win.  Unfortunately, this one will probably still feel more like a Big 12 game than an SEC contest.

8.  Mississippi State at Ole Miss — Dan Mullen has owned Ole Miss since he arrived in Starkville and he’s been happy to let everyone know it.  Can Hugh Freeze pull a surprise upset in his first season and recapture the The Golden Egg?

7.  Kentucky at Tennessee — It’s entirely possible that one or both of the coaches in this game will be coaching for his job.  After snapping a 26-year losing streak to the Vols last fall, can the Cats actually start a streak of their own?

6.  Georgia at Georgia Tech — When it comes to “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate,” anything can happen.  But with Mark Richt’s buyout dropping and expectations rising, UGA’s coach needs step on the Insects from the Institute (hat tip to the late, great “Leonard Postosties.”)

5.  South Carolina at Clemson — This classic rival could be even more heated than usual after Dabo Swinney’s December rant claiming that USC is “never going to be Clemson” regardless of its current three-game win streak.  “My kids’ grandkids won’t live long enough to ever see this really become a rivalry,” he said.  Game on.

4.  Florida at Florida State — Two ex-Nick Saban assistants who both left their fans feeling a bit disappointed last season will meet up in Tallahassee.  So which team’s fans will feel better about their future after this game?

3.  Auburn at Alabama — The Iron Bowl.  Enough said.

2.  LSU at Arkansas — It’s the Friday after Thanksgiving and this clash between the Hogs and Tigers could decide — or help decide — who goes to Atlanta from the SEC West.  Also, if you believe Jackie Sherrill, this could be one of the last times these teams meet so late in the season.

Week Fourteen (weekend of December 1st)

1.  The SEC Championship Game — Well, duh.  Expect the favorite in Atlanta to be right in thick of the national championship picture at kickoff time.

If you want to see the SEC’s complete grid schedule, click right here.

Last Friday, the Big 12 and the SEC announced that the two leagues would come together to create their own bowl game featuring the champions of both conferences (in the unlikely event one or both should fail to reach college football’s new four-team playoff).

Almost immediately, emails started to pour in here at MrSEC.com.  The gist was as follows: “If the Pac-12 and Big Ten can partner in the Rose Bowl and in a new round-robin regular-season scheduling agreement, why can’t the SEC and Big 12 do the same?”

Makes sense.  And the press has started getting behind the idea, too.

Yesterday, Cecil Hurt of TideSports.com — a hybrid of Rivals.com and The Tuscaloosa News — wrote the following:

“But with all the talk about the changes in postseason football, and particularly the new SEC-Big 12 ‘champions’ matchup, doesn’t it seem sensible that the conferences – especially what now appear to be the four soon-to-be super conferences (the SEC, the Big 10, the Big 12 and the Pac-12) should take charge of opening weekend as well. With the coming playoff, even a four-team playoff, it makes more sense than ever.

To be honest, a Georgia-Oklahoma game would seem far more compelling to me on Labor Day than New Year’s Day, if those teams are out of the playoff picture. Not every matchup can be Alabama-Michigan, and not every one can sell out an NFL-sized stadium in a neutral city in a matter of hours.”

It’s a good piece.  You should read it.  But there are two things standing between the plan Hurt and many fans support and reality.  And both are already being used by people inside the SEC as reasons to avoid adding a ninth conference game.

* First, if SEC coaches don’t want play a ninth league game, why would they be in favor of playing a ninth game against a team from the second-most successful league of the BCS era?

* Second, if SEC athletic directors don’t want to play a ninth conference game because it would mean giving up a home game every other season, why would they want to give up a home game every other season in order to play a team from the Big 12?

While schools in the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and Pac-12 are fine with playing a minimum of nine BCS-level foes per year, many SEC schools want to cap things at eight for bowl eligibility purposes.  (Southern Cal, for example, will play nine Pac-12 games, one game against a Big Ten foe each year, as well as its yearly tilt with Notre Dame.  That makes 11 BCS-level games per year.)

Additionally, the folks in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have pointed out often that they already have a built-in BCS-level game as part of their schedules thanks to their in-state rivalries with Florida State, Georgia Tech and Clemson.  (Kentucky fans would argue that Louisville is a major conference team as well, but the Big East is far from a major conference anymore.)

This brings us to what could be a better option altogether for the SEC… if the league actually wants to help tap the brakes on conference expansion.

Last year, the SEC welcomed in Texas A&M and then Missouri from the Big 12.  That move destabilized the Big 12 until ESPN and FOX stepped in to dole out major cash to the league in an effort to hold it together.

Just last week, the SEC aided the Big 12′s rejuvenation process with the aforementioned bowl partnership.  That gave the Big 12 more stability moving forward, but in turn, it made the ACC appear even more vulnerable.  If the ACC is vulnerable, then massive realignment is still a possibility.

We’ve been told repeatedly from sources at just about every SEC school that no one in the league is anxious to become a 15- or 16-team conference.  Just this week, interim Big 12 commissioner Chuck Neinas told an Austin, Texas radio station that an “SEC colleague” had told him not to expand past 12 because 14 is “unruly.”

So how could the SEC make more money, fend off “strength of schedule” attacks from rival leagues (by guaranteeing nine BCS-level games per year), and help save the ACC?  All the while making sure those folks already playing ACC schools don’t balk?

The answer is pretty clear.

In his column yesterday, Hurt suggested a series of Big 12-SEC games be played on opening weekend each year.  Not bad.  But if the SEC truly wants to slow expansion, we believe it should set up a series of annual games against the 14 ACC schools instead.

SEC coaches would likely be less worried about an ACC game tacked onto the schedule than a game against a Big 12 foe.  Playing most of those games at neutral sites and grabbing a sponsor and an overall television partner would quiet SEC AD’s groans regarding lost income from lost home games every other year, too.

The SEC’s television partners have already asked the league to start scheduling better games toward the end of the season.  For that reason — as well as the fact that USC-CU, UF-FSU, and UGA-GT already play at the end of the season — we would suggest lining up neutral site ACC-SEC rivalry games over the final two weeks of the season.

The ACC and SEC share a major corporate partner in AT&T.   Now let’s say ESPN, AT&T and nine NFL cities/stadiums all cough up dough to create the AT&T SEC-ACC Football Challenge each season?  How much money would that be worth?  How much would that help the SEC in answering cries that its teams only play eight guaranteed BCS-level foes per season?  How much would such income — and a partnership with the SEC — help stabilize the ACC.

Answer to all: A bunch.

As a hypothetical, let’s imagine that Carolina-Clemson, Florida-FSU, and Georgia-Georgia Tech continue to play each other on a home-and-home basis.  Ditto Vanderbilt and Wake Forest which are winding down a seven-year home-and-home contract themselves.  If Kentucky squawked over having to play both Louisville and an ACC foe, give them a permanent home-and-home rivalry with the ACC’s traditional cellar-dweller, Duke.  There’s already a hoops rivalry there between the fanbases.

That leaves nine schools from each league to pair with one another each season.  Those schools could rotate foes on a regular basis, always meeting on neutral sites.  Here’s an example of what might be possible in a single season:

Alabama vs Pittsburgh at LP Field in Nashville, TN

Arkansas vs North Carolina at The Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA

Auburn vs Syracuse at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ

Clemson at South Carolina (permanent foe, home and home)

Kentucky at Duke (permanent foe, home and home)

Florida State at Florida (permanent foe, home and home)

Georgia at Georgia Tech (permanent foe, home and home)

Kentucky at Duke (permanent foe, home and home)

LSU vs Virginia Tech at FedEx Field in Washington, DC

Missouri vs Virginia at The Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO

Mississippi State vs North Carolina State at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC

Ole Miss vs Maryland at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, MD

Tennessee vs Boston College at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA

Texas A&M vs Miami at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX

Wake Forest at Vanderbilt (permanent foe, home and home)

Other stadiums and cities could be used based upon a bidding process and availability — Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, the Superdome in New Orleans, Reliant Stadium in Houston, Yankee Stadium in New York, etc, etc.  Those sites could rotate in and out, too.  The above is just an example of what’s possible.

Lining up a year-in, year-out sponsored series of late-season football games against the ACC would accomplish three things:

1.  It would bring in more dollars for both leagues (which should be enough to get the ACC on board with such a plan).

2.  Those dollars and the credibility of partnering with the SEC could help hold the ACC together (and prevent the SEC from having to expand again so soon after going two new teams).

3.  It would guarantee each SEC foe at least nine BCS-level contests per season, which would aid the league in the polls and computer rankings.

We at MrSEC.com understand the thinking behind a Big 12-SEC regular-season partnership to rival the Big Ten’s new deal with the Pac-12.  But we believe the better play would be in setting up an annual SEC-ACC partnership.  Better for the ACC.  Better for the SEC.  Better for the stability of the college football landscape.

This fall, Vanderbilt will have non-conference games against Northwestern, Presbyterian, UMass, and Wake Forest.  James Franklin wishes the Dores’ schedule were even easier:


“Most people in this league are playing one BCS game or one tough game and then three games they should win.  We’re playing two.  We should just be playing one of those.  I can make an argument, if you studied our schedule, that we have one of the toughest out-of-conference schedules, and we shouldn’t.”

Missouri is the only other SEC school scheduled to face two BCS-member teams this fall — Arizona State and Syracuse.  The Tigers will also play Southeastern Louisiana and Central Florida.

Fans want wins and bowls, but for $50+ a ticket they also want to see something more than a glorified sparring session with a tomato can.  Coaches would line up 12 such chumps if they could.