We are within four weeks of football and much is afoot, so, ere you bed down for the night, you need to get up to speed on happenings in the intercollegiate athletics blogosphere and elsewhere. Here, for your edification, are a few noteworthy tidbits:
- As always, I am left to wonder: "Was it something I said?" All right, so I had a little fun at Auburn's expense and Jerry Hinnen fired back. I responded (or so proclaimed the Best of the SEC Blogs) "respectfully but with [my] own set of valid points" in what was, "[a]ll in all, excellent rivalry rejoinder of the highest quality, and a credit to both bloggers both for their wit and aplomb." That was how I saw it, too, but Jerry suggested that I sit down in that chair right there so he could show me how it's done. I'm going to concur in TideDruid's assessment of the exchange as "a friendly, yet passionate, tête à tête" and leave the last word to my old friend NCT.
- Hey Jenny Slater's Doug Gillett has provided previews of Georgia's first three opponents, which are all well and good, but I must take issue with Doug's recent ranking of the five ugliest cars in America. How, I ask you, did this abomination not make the list?
That's a sign of the Apocalypse, right there. The PT Cruiser is the illegitimate love-child of a surreptitious back-alley tryst between a late-model Volkswagen Beetle and a hearse. Seriously, this thing is a crime against nature and an atrocity of the sort that ought to have its designer standing trial in The Hague.
- MaconDawg already alluded to this, but it deserved amplification: Steve Spurrier, that noted disciplinarian, punished his starting quarterback by holding him out of practice. Elsewhere in college football, another coach took a different approach, opting to emphasize character over cosmetic decisions not to throw his charges into the brier patch. Meanwhile, Sunday Morning Quarterback hilariously noted Georgia's offseason woes.
- Out-of-conference scheduling is a frequent subject of stories, diaries, and poll questions here at Dawg Sports, so I would like to direct your attention to Ryan Ferguson's argument that S.E.C. slates are tough enough:
But in '07 the SEC has seemingly gone out of its way to bring top matchups to the college football fan. Two time national champion FSU (#21) will play two SEC teams in '07. Virginia Tech (#9), Missouri, West Virginia (#6), Oklahoma State, North Carolina, Clemson, Louisville (#11), and Cal (#12) round out the top-tier OOC slate.
The fact is, the SEC is tough both inside and out.
While we're on the subject of non-conference scheduling, it has been reported that, although my 18 months' worth of effort to get Michigan on Georgia's schedule came to naught, the Wolverines have inked a deal to play Utah. Well, then. As penance for ducking the 'Dawgs, I think Maize and Blue fans should be forced to spend the weekend in Cleveland. Oh, wait, they did that already? All right, then, I guess we're cool.
(Insert obligatory "What is a Ute?" reference here.)
- In the spring of 2006, I radically realigned the college football conferences from sea to shining sea. Do great minds think alike? Evidently, they do. (My thanks go out to Conquest Chronicles for bringing this one to my attention.)
- Finally, this has nothing whatsoever to do with college football, but I think Sean Connery should be cast to play the villain in the next James Bond movie. Maybe that's just me.
Admit it . . . you'd be rooting for him to grind that pathetic little Daniel Craig goober into a fine powder.
Take that for what it's worth . . . and get some sleep, why don't you? You have a busy day tomorrow.
Go 'Dawgs!