Detente

If the SEC expanded into Texas or deeper into Florida to form an expanded conference, it would not only be the best conference competitively speaking, but it would also finally overtake the Big Ten in shared revenue to its teams. That's something that the big Ten may not want, according to Dennis Dodd over at CBSSports. Right now, the B10 gets $22 million to each team as opposed to the SEC's $17 million. If expansion happens, the sleeping southern giant would overtake first place quickly, especially since TV contracts would certainly have to renegotiated. So, maybe the Big Ten will just posture and sabre-rattle until the rumor fades, like some Cold War of college football superpower. If so, we're getting all Nixonian Realpolitik up in here and Mike Slive's playing Kissinger.

Slive actually looks like an attendant at SALT I

Southern Comfort

We SEC'ns should feel pretty good right now. As a league, we've won 4 titles in a row and have consistently been the best conference through the last decade or so. Plus, we'll probably still be on top, despite what ever circumstances are shaken out by the Big Ten's expansion. No matter how many teams they grow to, we'll match 'em, and with better quality teams/football markets at that.

Scenario One: The Big 10 adds one team

Big fuckin' deal. We started the 12-team look.

Scenario Two: 14-Team Expanded Conferences

If the B10 and P10 jump to 14 teams, it would be necessary to match that growth. The upside? The SEC has a plethora of talented neighbors to choose from. We could either reach deeper into Florida and add natural rivals FSU-Miami, or head west (young man) and bring in Texas-Texas A&M.

Now, I know what you're thinking: Why Texas A&M? Because the lone star state is full of stubborn fuck-heads who use their legislature to draw lines on the map of cfb. It's why Baylor, not TCU, is in the B12 now, and it's why Texas didn't join the SEC in '92 when we first expanded. The boots and Beam set just won't let the 'Horns play outside without their asthmatic cousins, the Aggies. If not for that, I'd say screw A&M and grab for Oklahoma. Hell, you have to fly into Tulsa to travel to Fayetteville, anyway.

Either way, the SEC would be drilling deeper into talent rich, football obsessed states that provide rabid fanbases and spend mega bucks on the college variety of their favorite sport. And, Texas could finally be telling the truth when they say they play int he toughest league in the land. That's a win-win.

Scenario Three: 16-Team Mega Conferences

Easy: Do both options listed in scenario 2. That's a win-win-win, mofos.

What if we can't shake loose both pairs? Well, there's always Clemson, GA Tech, and the NC schools to look at, as well as other southwestern options across Texas and Oklahoma. For more reading, check out Clay Travis' rankings of possible SEC editions.

However it all shakes out, there's a good chance that the Big East, ACC, and Big-XII could be dead by 2011.

Is Logan Gray Leaving?

Gray met with CMR today, but has not made an official decision. If he does leave, the only other remaining scholarship QB that would remain behind Aaron Murray is frosh. Huston Mason.

Honestly, I hope he stays. Depth is a major concern; if not for talent, at least for the sake of someone who knows the system. I was also hoping to a sprinkling of option plays and multiple-RB spread sets with Gray out of shotgun to mix things up. Of course, we still have Branden Smith for that, you know, mister "I averaged 40 yards a carry" last season. Besides all that, we now have to ask ourselves: who will fair catch for us?

Expounding Expansion

Well, it's time for FTS to finally address the expansion issue again. I tackled Big Ten expansion over the summer, but now that expansion seems more reality than fantasy, the possibilities are bigger than even I imagined. It's very likely that the B10 will pick up not just one team, but three...or even five! No matter what they do, the waves of this change will be felt across college football. One team? The PAC-10 expands to 12 in two seasons, tops. They create a 14-team league? The majors follow suit and the mid-majors adapt or die. 16 teams? Everything changes: the Big East dies, the B12 reforms, whole conferences disappear, with teams consolidating into 4 major super conferences, the BCS crumbles and a playoff inches closer and closer. So, once again, all that is college football hinges on the Big Ten.

Before we get into all the what-ifs that could befall the cfb universe, let's focus on the league at hand; what should the Big Ten do? First, the most obvious (but least likely): They pick up Notre Dame and settle with 12 teams. This will not happen, as Notre Dame, unless the shake-up is seismic, will choose to retain its football independence. Besides the Irish, why talk about the other one team additions? It's been done.

Moving on.

14 Teams

If the Big Ten decides to make the move to expanded conference, it would make sense that it would consist of two seven team divisions. Perfectly do-able, especially considering the PAC10 already plays 9 conference games. When choosing teams, I agree with JoePa that the B10 should pull one team from the west and two from the East to even things out.

Western candidates: Missouri or Iowa State. As I've said before, I like Mizzou for this, but State's not a bad call and either way, the Big-XII has to regroup.

Eastern candidates: Ooh...sorry, Big East, but it looks like the death knell for your f'ball competitiveness. Who's up? Well, how about Pitt, WVU, Rutgers, Syracuse, and Louisville. If I was choosing two, I'd go Pitt and...uh...I guess the 'Cuse. It's tough not to pick Rutgers there, though. Honestly, either way's a good call. WVU does not fit the mold in other way other than they play sports and beyond these four teams, you're too far east.

Wildcard: Cincinnati. They should be considered - and passed up - for obvious reasons.

16 Teams

Like a kid in a candy store, the Big 10 could reach anywhere they wanted to find the 5 teams needed to fill out to sixteen. Here you would basically have two almost autonomous 8-team conferences. You'd obviously rotate off-division series like in a 12-team league, but certain match-ups would be few and far between. The options would also be open to divide almost anyway, be it East/West, North/South, Land/Lakes, etc. For the sake of balance, let's say 2 from the west and 3 from the west would do the trick and go from there.

West: Missouri and Iowa State. Or, if we're getting nuts here, bypass Iowa State again and reach for Nebraska. Think about it, the B10 already has the Iowa market on lock and that in-state rivalry won't be as big as others across the conference.

East: Pitt, Syracuse, and......Rutgers. Why? Pitt makes a great addition, despite the fact that PSU's got the state's market on lock. Any extra revenue from a major urban area's fan base is a boost, which is why Pitt's a better pull than Iowa State out west. Beyond that, Syracuse and Rutgers would give the league exposure across two of the most populous states (NY and NJ) as well as football dominance in the nation's largest market. Think about the marketing power a league could have that was the dominant football conference in Chicago and NYC. It's too much to pass up.

Wildcards: Cincinnati, again. Or, everybody says "fuck geography" and the Big Ten pulls the Texas stunt. The state legislature would somehow force Texas A&M to go to, like a mother making her oldest son take his little brother to play outside. Once you do that, you my as well try to pull OU and Nebraska...and start setting up for a championship game on the moon!

Stay Away From

Please, Big Ten, do us all a favor and leave all the MAC teams where they are. They don't need to be called up. Hell, most of the Big East doesn't need to be where they are.

There's much to be said about he fallout that the Big Ten's decision will have on other leagues across the country. If they expand, the PAC-1o will almost assuredly follow, and if they jump to 14- or 16-, expect the SEC to follow suit. The Big-XII will play as much keep up as they can, but if they lose their big dogs, it'll be the SWC all over again. Hell, we could even see Texas in the SEC! As for the ACC? Well, once the football schools jump ship for wealthier shores, they could merge with the remaining Big East also-rans and form the Super, Mecha, Robo-Voltron of basketball conferences, because as a football league, they'd be dead.

What the hell is happening?

Unbelievable. It's weird. I never have this kind of tongue tiedness.

Flabbergasted. I watched over two and a half hours of the NFL draft and see only one QB come off of the board. And then I see a SUPPOSED DRAFT GURU, who coaches a RUN FIRST TEAM, that just traded for ANOTHER starting QB, trade UP INTO THE FIRST ROUND for the 3rd best player available at his position.

Hmmm. Oh, I see. Playing Al Davis twice last year must have rubbed off on Josh McDaniels.

And on the front page of NFL.com is not a picture of Bradford or Suh, but a picture and story of the miraculous voyage of the man whose name I refuse to give.

Really? Yeah, really!

I'm looking for reasons here. And no one on NFL.com or ESPN.com can give a rational one. He is Pat White. Sure he has determination, work ethic, and leadership. But we have proven that you don't NEED that in the NFL (ie Rothelisberger, VYoung). And he also has a HUGE gaping hole in his motion, something that everyone agrees will come back through muscle memory. Ask yourself how well have UF QB's done in the past (Grossman, Palmer)? And when are we going to stop trying to draft run first QB's for pro style offenses (ASmith, PWhite) It hasn't worked before and it won't work now. We can just pray (and yes we know he will) that the Denver community will be a better place and that the 50,000 community service hours that he puts in are worth the millions of dollars that taxpayers are about to waste on his eye black messages, inpirational (blah blah blah) speeches, and crying when the Broncos miss the playoffs yet again.

Who's crying now? Probably me, because this ridiculous move lost me $100. And there are STILL two better QB's on the board. If you want him so bad, trade up in the 2nd round and I promise, he would still be there.

But as Mel Kiper put it last night, you can't be this fantastic jesus christ meets captain america leader (i paraphrased that) that everyone talks about if you are not on the field. Well congratulations, Mr. McDaniels, but you just wasted a first round pick, in a league where they are treated as gold, for a guy who will do nothing but lead the team prayer before games.

And it's Murray...!

Aaron Murray is no. 1 QB on the Dawgs' depth chart. But, honestly, who's surprised?

HEADS ROLLING

Now the backup punter is gone. While it's not a big loss, it's still a good sign of the line Richt's drawing with behavior and discipline. Let's hope it carries over to the season and corrects the personal fouls, unsportsmanlike conducts, and other various on-field douchebaggery.

NOW we should be ashamed of Tiger Woods

Cheating? Multiple Mistresses? Dirty, graphic texts? Who gives a shit? But this? This is UNACCEPTABLE, Tiger. You should be ashamed of yourself and deliver an apology for everyone in the world with good taste in music.

Now, just to make up for even making you think about shitty-ass Nickelback for even a nano-second, I give you a palate cleanser to get you through the rest of your day:

Mettenberger Out

So, Mettenberger is gone; booted from the program with nothing but a simple "team rules violation" to see him out the door. I know it drops the QB chase down to two, but I say good riddance. It's nothing against ZM personally, but why invite more trouble to the program? He did perform the best of all the QB's at G-Day, but I think we can recover...especially since he was going to miss game one (at least) anyway.

The real story here is "why" he was booted. According to Claude Felton, there was not a new incident that occurred. That must mean that the violation stemmed form last month's arrest down in god's country. What are the realistic possibilities here:

1. Since, as the Remerton police report, the investigation into the Spring Break incident is still ongoing, perhaps some detail has popped up that Richt didn't know before. Whether it be battery, sexual assault, or some other extra charge heretofore unmentioned, it must certainly have been big to earn the big boot.

2. This one's more likely in my mind: Richt imposed a team level punishment on ZM and said QB didn't hold up his end of the bargain. Perhaps it was local community service, Habitat work, tutoring, etc, and the kid just flaked. Or, maybe he thought his G-Day performance earned him a pass on disciplinary expectations.

Either way, he's gone now. And, while it might be a loss of a talented kid, I like the precedent it sets going into 2010; that's two players kicked off the team in a month. And that's a great image boost to a coach and a program who have seemed lax on the disciplinary front in recent seasons. Yep, now Zach's free to transfer and play at a smaller school somewhere. Hey, maybe he can play for Valdosta State - since he seems to like it down there so much and all.
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UPDATE: Hey, there might be a silver lining here after all: Christian LeMay, possibly the highest rated QB of the class of 2011*, has moved UGA higher on his list now that the QB race has simplified.

UPDATE 2: Oh yeah, almost forgot: Suck it, Oconee County. You wannabe elitist, white-flight, racist pieces of shit. Where's your hero now?
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*UGA is also on Braxton Miller's, another 5 star QB prospect, looooong list.

Receiving a Receiver

Chris Conley, the state's best WR, has given UGA a verbal commit. He became the fifth commit for 2011. He refused any media coverage of the reveal:

"He’s kind of a low key kid that doesn’t really think greatly of himself, and a kid of his recruiting stature could have made this a national media kind of deal,” North Paulding coach Heath Webb said. “He chose not to have any media there. He wanted to celebrate with his teammates and coaches. That’s indicative of his personality.”

I like him already.

I promise...

...that very soon, I'll be back in true form, tackling spring ball, proposed and rumored conference expansions, and gearing up for summer previews of the upcoming season. I've been a bit busy and generally kinda down lately, but that's all changing as paid vacation approaches! Until then, enjoy MTS' cartoon for the Tea-baggers:



I think I might even get started this weekend with an addition to the Good, Bad, and Ugly Power Polls.

You Can't Tell From the Angle...

...but this mouse has HUGE BALLS.


Link here. H/t reddit.

The S.O.B. is almost here!

This weekend the Arooo Brewery will be unveiling batch #4, our SOB (HW1's Strawberry Orange Blonde). We hope it is crisp and light with more of a straw than orange flavor.

Also, we will be brewing the wort for batch #6 and for the first time, I have no ideas in my head. I do know that I want to make something with honey in it. The beer should be ready around Memorial Day. Any ideas?

Lastly, the Cuban P is just 3 weeks away and wow does it have a nice strong vanilla smell to it. I hope it holds through the next few weeks. It should be around 7.5% and super thick (I hope).

The Right Call

Mark Richt cut serial troublemaker Montez Robinson; he will not be missed. And, I gotta say, I like the firm hand. Discipline is not a bad thing to have on a football team.

Richt, you want a real program?

If you do, then cut these assholes. If not, then all your high mightiness and christian rectitude mean jack shit. One thing I'm not is a player apologist. I've heard people - intelligent people I like and trust - try to play the game of defending shitheads, whether the actions happen off the field (assault, drugs, etc.), or on it (chop blocks, unsportsmanlike conduct, etc.), but you won't find it here. You want to drive without a license? Drink underage? Get rowdy, have a good time, pick-up chicks, fight a little bit, maybe even smoke pot? I don't give a shit. But when you cross a line like this, you're done. You're not a young person in college making the mistakes of life anymore, you're a scumbag. I don't care if you're the best player on the team, you do this kind of shit and you're gone. Period.

Jesus, I hope this story is just a fucked up April Fool's joke...
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UPDATE: In the heat of the moment, I forgot to include one phrase: "If they're guilty". Obviously we don't have all the info yet. But, if it's true, these guys need to G-O-N-E from this program.

BTW, there's more details here.
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UPDATE: And, yes, if it's true, we'll certainly be making it higher on the Fulmer Cup big board over at EDSBS.