And Now We Play The Waiting Game, 8/12

Only three more football-less Saturdays until we can finally stop talking about Ohio State, what we're going to look like on offense, etc. Until then...

The Times They Are A'Not Changing: I don't really care to discuss today's NCAA hearing at length; just Google News it and you'll get enough versions of the same story to last you till next year. In any case, the NCAA will proceed at a pace that would make Terrence Cody look positively Denard-esque, which isn't anything new. While we all know what we want to happen, it won't, and we'll all be frustrated but this is the NCAA we're talking about here. It's like trying to make sense of Dadaist art. Whatever happens, happens, and there's no use wasting any more time thinking about it, especially with real, actual football on the way. And that's all I have to say about that.


CtK Day 22: 

On Denard: "I don't know if I've ever seen a more explosive guy with his hand on the ball." You'd obviously expect Mattison to say something like that, but I wonder where Denard ranks on Mattison's list in a fluff-free environment?

Exit Schnellenberger: As somewhat of a history buff, this post from EDSBS is excellent (not to mention well-written, as usual).

Above all, you will remember the suits, the anachronistic skin of a coaching generation long since shed for khakis, team shirts, and the crass trappings of the sleepless modern technocrat coach. We once got an email from a reader who was In New Orleans around the same time FAU was preparing for the New Orleans Bowl. The reader had seen Schnellenberger, standing outside a restaurant in the Quarter,wearing a blue sport coat, pink shirt, and white pants. Immaculate from cuff to collar, and striding with the deliberate purpose of a man with a bellyful of creole butter and spiced meats, he struck a match and lit a cigar. The reader sounded awestruck, and should have. It's not often you see real live nobility in the flesh, and it will get rarer and rarer still with the retirement of one of college football's last grand dukes.

College football will be losing a legend after this season. He has had a truly remarkable career, despite the fact that his coaching flame begin to flicker at FAU of all places. Hopefully this isn't the end of EDSBS's always hilarious Schnellenberger rankings. Suspenders!

Conference Expansion: With TAMU to the SEC looking like a good bet, the first domino has fallen in the dreaded but inevitable transition to the Super Conference Era. Of course, the SEC will be looking to add another member,  with a number of names coming out already, including: WVU, Virginia Tech, Clemson, OU, and Oklahoma State, FSU, and Miami. If expanding the SEC's recruiting footprint is the main concern, you'd think that Clemson, FSU, and Miami would be out, but who knows. In any case, strong rumors are circling via a vis FSU's potential move to the SEC, a rumor which FSU AD Eric Barron goes all Johnny Tightlips the issue, saying it's just a rumor but that it could happen.

I'll go on record as saying that super conferences would be incredibly stupid, but whatever. I just don't see the appeal of four massive conferences that are geographical nightmares and make no sense whatsoever, but it's obviously all about the Benjamins. If the Big Ten expands, it has to be Notre Dame or Texas plus somebody else (it's not really important who, as long as one of the two teams are ND or UT), but neither are exactly likely, what with the Longhorn Network for Texas and ND's history with the Big Ten being what it is. I actually kind of like the Big Ten's current set-up, and I would hate to see us expand for the sake of it.


More camp notes (QB-focused) from 11W...sounds like Fickell is tentatively leaning on Bauserman, as I expected. Completely unrelated, but DT Jonathan Hankins seems poised to have a big season for the Buckeyes, making Michigan's strange pseudo-recruitment of him even stranger. The infamous Branch picture from the '06 PSU game shows up in EDSBS's picture countdown. Mike Gundy...44, still a "man." Arkansas loses starting tailback Knile Davis for the season...a huge blow for a team that will seriously contend with Alabama and LSU in the SEC West. Tyler Wilson figures to be a pretty good replacement for Mallett, but this is one less weapon at his disposal (that offense is still loaded, though). Forde compiles a list of underachievers...normally I don't really care for Forde at all (and I still don't after this), but this list is relevant simply for the fact that it's a reminder that Dabo leading the Tigers to another mediocre year could quite possibly mean RR will have a job again, which I, for one, would be genuinely happy to see.