Tuesday, August 31, 2010

My name is Earl








Above: A photo of Hurricane Earl taken from space. (NASA) Right: The devastation from Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana (Jeremy Peppas)
Hurricane Earl is headed to the Carolinas and then move north along the East Coast.

Why, of course, we here at Poolsville pray for the people who could be left battered and bruised by a Category 5 hurricane hitting town.

This is also a college football blog and while we are sensistive to those whose lives might be impacted, we also wonder about the impact Earl could have on the games this weekend.

And, in particular, the much ballyhooed Boise State-Virginia Tech game to be played in D.C.

While the current forecast calls for Earl to hit D.C. on Friday, if the storm is delayed, lingers on the ocean before making landfall or causes epic devastation, will the game be played?

And just in case anyone has forgotten what a hurricane can do, above is a photo I took in Metairie, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina but before Hurricane Rita arrived in 2005.

I wasn't anywhere close to a body of water, assuming I don't count the fetid water that had pooled up in the streets and ditches.

College Football's Best Five Games of Week 1

They are calling it the biggest non-conference football game of the season and the biggest game in Boise State history. But the Wall Street Journal says this game represents more than that -- a Boise State victory would usher in an historic moment that could bring about a New World Order in college football. So, hey yo, I guess it's survey time. Are you tuning in to see more of the BCS? Or, does everybody here want to see the N-W-O?

Note that all times listed below are Central (suck it, Eastern), and that the home team is always listed last except in the case of a neutral site like the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game and Monday night showdown. Also note that all correct picks are worth two points -- there are no bonus-point games this week.

It's Week 1, so let's do this. For $800 and the Ramon Escobar Trophy, the gold standard of college football pools and subject of an upcoming column by the dean of Arkansas sportswriters, Harry King, and for the Shields-Yada Cup, Davis Cup, and all the other contests within the pool, and for the right to flaunt your 5-0 to the likes of pool heel Jeremy Peppas and the School of Noise, and for the love of all that is great in college football like Chief Osceola, Ralphie, Uga, Howard's Rock, the Play Like a Champion sign, the 12th Man, the $50 handshake at Alabama, the parade of tractors at Auburn, and, yes, even the ceremonial cleaning up after Bevo... it's time.

Pittsburgh - Utah
7:30 p.m., Thursday, Versus
Line: Utah by 2

Connecticut - Michigan
2:30 p.m., Saturday, ABC/ESPN2
Line: Michigan by 3

Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game
LSU - North Carolina
7 p.m., Saturday, ABC
Line: LSU by 3

Cincinnati - Fresno State
9 p.m., Saturday, ESPN2
Line: Fresno State by 2

Boise State - Virginia Tech
7 p.m., Monday, ESPN
Line: Boise State by 2

Good luck.
****#****

Monday, August 30, 2010

A Word from Pat Dye about the SEC West Coaching

"On the SEC West side there are great coaches as well. I think Gene Chizik is going to be a great coach at Auburn. He has already had one successful year and I think he is destined to be a great coach. Nick Saban has proven he is a great coach. Les Miles has got his critics, but he has won a national championship. Bobby Petrino has proven he can win at Arkansas. Houston Nutt is a little squirrelly, but he has had his great years. He seems to have his great years when he is not supposed to have a great year and when he is supposed to have his great years something always happens. Dan Mullen has done a great job at Mississippi State and I would say right now that football enthusiasm at Mississippi State is at an all-time high."

(nothing left to add after that humorous nugget - AubieJones)

Friday, August 20, 2010

Razorback Kickoff Luncheon Report

A Poolsville contributor attended Friday's Razorback kickoff luncheon and files this report.

You might remember that last year a friend and I went to this. Tickets were $25 and basically we got a sack lunch. Well, just back from this year and the food was much better -- salad, rolls, chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and dessert.
 
Every table but ours had a Razorback at it. We were close to Alfred Davis -- he is taller than I thought and not overweight. Big Tex was close as well and he has dropped some pounds.
 
After the band played and we called the Hogs, Jimmy Dykes thanked the sponsors and such and introduced dignitaries (JFB, Coach Hatfield) and led into Jeff Long, who spoke for about 5 minutes. He was upbeat, but I really can’t tell you much of what he said. Same old “feel good” stuff.

Then they had each captain come up and asked them questions. After one serious question, they asked them a silly one. Ryan Mallett was asked if it were the last play of the SEC championship game and we were down by 6 and we had to throw a long ball, how far could he throw it? Mallett said he would be pumped and probably could throw one 120 yards or so.

Next came Ramon Broadway, who is good in front of the crowd. He was asked several silly questions such as, Who would be the best teammate if one had to go on "Dancing with the Stars"? His answer was Big Tex. Tex got up and Ramon broke into a rap song and Big Tex started moving. Ramon called him “sweet feet.”

Best "American Idol?" Damario Ambrose. He sang a short gospel song. He was chosen for this last year and has a great voice. Best "Survivor" candidate? Rudell Crim because he has a snake and Ramon said anyone who could keep a snake would do OK on "Survivor."

Best Mallett imitation? Dustin Cain, who did kind of a touchdown signal with his arms and shook his head a particular way. Best Coach Petrino imitation went to Pat Jones on the defense who did the normal Coach P. quip: “What were you thinking? Get back in the huddle.”

Next came DJ Williams, and Jimmy mentioned the keyboard playing and asked how he got into it. He talked something about Alicia Keyes, who used to be hot. Jimmy said "used to be?" and then he pulled a table cloth off of something to reveal a keyboard. DJ called up Matt Marshall and he played “Lean on me” and Matt sang. They weren’t sure of all the words, but DJ is talented and Matt sang well. They got a standing O.
 
After that there was a video of some of last year’s highlights and that pumped up the crowd. After that Coach P. spoke mainly the normal coach speak.
 
A friend heard from the Razorback player at his table that Marquel Wade, a great-looking freshman wide receiver, has gone back to Florida. Something about his SAT or ACT. I will investigate.
 
A couple of interesting tidbits I heard: If you are a Broyles-Matthews donor, you might have gotten a notice that there are boxes available at Bud Walton Arena for basketball season. A friend sitting with me said his company was invited to buy one and another friend told me the same thing. Another group dropped its basketball tickets from eight to four and got a call from Shaun Rochelle at the Foundation about it. Obviously, the donation dropped as well. Shaun asked why and the answer was given that basically two of the eight tickets were used for most of the games last year and you couldn’t give away the rest. He said that’s what he needed to know. A lot of that is going on.
 
Speaking of basketball, next year Jeff Peterson is predicted to be the point guard, plus Nobles is back and I think Ricky Scott or the other newcomer guard plays it as well. If we get the third triplet, Madden, he wants to play point as well. And in the past two weeks there have been two other point guards we are in on. How many point guards do we need? I want to hear about centers and big men.
 
Will go to the scrimmage tomorrow, but really don’t expect to see much because no way do they want anyone hurt. I expect it will be players trying to get noticed for the second or third team.
 
Also, I read the report about yesterday’s scrimmage, and I don’t believe the No. 1 offense ever went against No. 1 defense.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

NCAA football attendance for 2009

In its infinite wisdom, when the NCAA released football attendance figures for 2009, it did not list the schools in descending order of attendance after the top 30. Instead, it released the attendance figures in alphabetical order, to which I say, What good does that do!

So if you are like me and want to see the FBS attendance figures in their proper order, I've done the NCAA's job for them and compiled the following list of average home attendance. Note that all schools listed below the break had attendance figures worse than the top school in the lower division (Montana in the FCS).

Attendance is everything in college football. If you don't believe me, check the last 10 winners of the national championship in red. My motto is that fans have no right demanding that their team finish any higher than their own attendance rankings.

Attendance is also important because the top 81 teams make it into the Project Playoffs plan, which is the world's best plan for a college football playoff and conference realignment. Click the above link for this week's updated playoff seedings!

1 Michigan 108,933
2 Penn St. 107,008
3 Ohio St. 105,261
4 Texas 101,175
5 Tennessee 99,220
6 Georgia 92,746
7 LSU 92,489
8 Alabama 92,012
9 Florida 90,635
10 Nebraska 85,888
11 Southern California 84,799
12 Oklahoma 84,778
13 Auburn 84,614
14 Notre Dame 80,795
15 Wisconsin 80,109
16 Texas A&M 76,800
17 Clemson 75,793
18 South Carolina 75,369
19 Michigan St. 74,741
20 Florida St. 74,345
21 Iowa 70,214
22 Kentucky 69,594
23 Virginia Tech 66,233
24 Arkansas 65,112
25 UCLA 64,547
26 Washington 64,356
27 BYU 64,236
28 Missouri 64,120
29 Illinois 59,545
30 California 59,472
31 Oregon 58,544
32 West Virginia 57,317
33 North Carolina 56,607
34 North Carolina St. 56,422
35 Mississippi 55,767
36 Mississippi St. 53,792
37 Oklahoma St. 53,719
38 Pittsburgh 53,446
39 Arizona 52,555
40 South Fla. 52,553
41 Georgia Tech 51,584
42 Minnesota 50,805
43 Kansas 50,581
44 Purdue 50,457
45 Texas Tech 50,249
46 Colorado 50,088
47 Rutgers 49,113
48 Arizona St. 48,556
49 Virginia 47,986
50 Miami (FL) 47,551
51 Kansas St. 46,763
52 Iowa St. 46,242
53 Utah 45,155
54 Maryland 44,452
55 Oregon St. 42,328
56 Indiana 41,833
57 East Carolina 41,742
58 Stanford 41,436
59 Syracuse 39,043
60 Connecticut 38,229
61 TCU 38,187
62 UCF 38,078
63 Hawaii 36,725
64 Baylor 36,306
65 Boston College 35,716
66 Air Force 35,656
67 Vanderbilt 35,015
68 Cincinnati 33,957
69 Fresno St. 33,578
70 Boise St. 32,782
71 Louisville 32,450
72 Wake Forest 31,791
73 Navy 31,728
74 Southern Miss. 30,696
75 UTEP 29,010
76 Army 27,997
77 New Mexico 26,944
78 Duke 26,314
79 Washington St. 25,909
80 Memphis 25,795
81 Houston 25,242
82 Tulane 25,147
83 San Diego St. 24,464

84 Northwestern 24,190
85 Colorado St. 23,643
86 UNLV 22,775
87 Tulsa 22,502
88 Marshall 22,236
89 SMU 21,348
90 Middle Tenn. 20,517
91 Western Mich. 20,330
92 Louisiana Tech 20,000
93 Central Mich. 19,702
94 Wyoming 19,494
95 La.-Lafayette 18,666
96 Troy 18,413
97 North Texas 18,228
98 UAB 17,987
99 Ohio 17,947
100 Arkansas St. 17,689
101 Nevada 17,500
102 Akron 17,382
103 Temple 17,379
104 New Mexico St. 16,511
105 Toledo 16,285
106 Utah St. 15,971
107 Buffalo 15,960
108 Kent St. 15,512
109 San Jose St. 15,344
110 Fla. Atlantic 15,326
111 Northern Ill. 14,889
112 Western Ky. 14,103
113 Bowling Green 14,044
114 La.-Monroe 13,889
115 Rice 13,552
116 Idaho 12,546
117 Miami (OH) 11,810
118 Ball St. 10,888
119 FIU 10,204
120 Eastern Mich. 5,016

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Mike Irwin puts the swerve on Hogville

"The Razorback Internet fans have gone completely crazy."

That's what NWA TV guy Mike Irwin said on KARN's "Sports Rap" on Wednesday after being asked about the firing of Renee Gork after she wore a Florida Gators hat to a Bobby Petrino press conference.

Irwin then told hosts Shawn and Wally that the Internet people -- and you know who you are -- went way over the line when they went after Gork personally, sent her hate e-mails, asked her employer to fire her, tried to organize an advertiser boycott, and mined her personal information from Facebook and Twitter to use against her.

He's right -- many of the Razorback fans on the Internet are disgusting people and use sports as an outlet to put that on display. When you are mad at the coach, it's an easy excuse to let out all the frustrations of your life on that target.

But perhaps this quote from Irwin struck you as a little odd considering his history.

Irwin was once a leader of that Internet mob on Hogville as the ball was rolling to unleash the hate machine on Houston Nutt. His minions went after Nutt personally, asked his employer to fire him, sent hate e-mails, and you know the rest of all the absolutely bizarre ends these people went to in order to oust Nutt.

Irwin left his position as an administrator on Hogville only after the TV station he worked for told him to.

Mike Irwin, I salute you for putting the swerve on your former following.

You know the nastiness on the Internet message boards has gotten bad when even its former spokespeople are disowning what is going on there.

Some of these Razorback message boards have become Public Enemy No. 1 to Razorback athletics, and they continue to self-destruct the program and put the state in a negative light nationwide. With Gork, the dorks struck again.

When Booth Rand was running things on Pigpen, he would never let this nonsense get out of hand. But the guys running the Pigpen spawns seem to thrive in this stuff and delete any dissenting and rational thought.

And one more note on Renee Gork: She is married to Mike Capshaw -- and wasn't he one of the beat reporters on the campaign to fire Nolan who was in the group that got chewed out at the infamous press conference?

In which I enrage the message boards

Since I didn't call for the radio reporter's firing, nor challenge some national writers to a duel to the death, I'm now next in the firing line.

Five Things

Friday, August 13, 2010

NC A&T Takes Early Lead for
College Marching Band of the Year




And in case you don't know what song they are playing and why this is so brilliant...

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Alms to the Boar:
Rey Pygsterio issues statement on drastic increase in donation requirements in order
to purchase Razorback football tickets

Man, you people are living in a dream world, and I bet most of you championing this move aren't even contributers to the Razorback Foundation in the first place.

Razorback Stadium has only sold out one time since expansion thanks to those $125 indoor club seats. That tells you the demand. So if there isn't enough demand to sell out the stadium, what makes you think there is enough of a demand to raise the donation levels?

This move by Jeff Long is going to have exactly the opposite effect. Season ticket sales will go down as more people who were previously season-ticket holders decide to just buy on a game-by-game basis and avoid paying the donation.

Long's philosophy of building a program is straight out of a management textbook and would never have been successful in establishing the Razorback brand.

Like Shields said in a recent column, if it is only about money, the Razorbacks have already lost. The UA athletic department already has plenty of $$$. What Long wants is more $$$.

If the University of Arkansas athletic department is a business, it needs to stop begging for handouts from its customers and its parent company needs to stop taking taxpayer money from the state.

Let me throw out a disaster scenario. Say Arkansas goes 8-4, which would be below most fans' expectations for the year, and then Petrino leaves to take the Michigan job.

Who is going to be buying tickets with a huge tax (donation) attached to them after that?

And after a few years when fans start grumbling that the additional money has provided no additional wins, well, we ain't seen nothing yet compared to the fan implosion that is coming on that day.

The Democrat-Gazette story says Arkansas football has only 14,116 season ticket holders. 14,116!!! And that includes season tickets at two stadiums. I wonder what is the average number of seats each ticket holder purchases. If the average is four, which I bet is too high, that's still just 56,464 season tickets sold. That number doesn't exactly tell me there is a huge demand out there willing to pay all this additional money.

Oh yeah, by the way, the football program had a $20-million profit last year, according to Forbes magazine, which put it at 17th best in the country.

Yet the UA wants more for a new locker room and Broyles Center. Sorry, Petrino, you've got all kinds of great facilities, so make due with your poor little locker room and stop complaining. And I don't see anything wrong with the Broyles Center that warrants an emergency update in this economy.

And why can the UA charge this amount for seats, yet I can't resell them at the same price without getting the attention of the police?

I love hearing all these media people, who never have to actually buy tickets or donate to the Razorback Foundation, talk about how this is such a great idea.

The UA must really be nervous about this for Jeff Long and Chris Wyrick to travel to Little Rock the day after the announcement to sell this snake oil to the media. They spent an hour on 103.7's "The Zone" in studio and probably have several other stops today. It also underscores how important Central Arkansas and the southwestern two-thirds of the state are to the program financially.

Meanwhile, I have decided to take my $3,000 that they are requesting for donations in order to get my same seats and just buy a recruit a car because that will have a lot more of an impact on winning games than a new locker room and updated Broyles Center.

And since UA athletics have become solely about money, I plan to start dressing like Matthew Lesko to games except the suit will be red with dollar signs.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Five Things: Mo' Money, mo' problems edition

Why, yes, I did write about the increased extortion ... I mean, donation ... structure announced by the Razorback Foundation.

http://swtimes.com/blogs/times_record_sports_blog/article_34cb6088-a58b-11df-befa-001cc4c002e0.html

Razorback practice report: Wednesday

A Poolsville contributor provides a first-hand account of the Arkansas Razorbacks' football practices...

When I got there at 8:30 they were scrimmaging 11 on 11 and tackling to the ground. At first the focus was on running the ball and the defense shut the run down (not necessarily a bad thing ). When they started mixing in some passes, the running opened up some. Broderick Green and Kniles Davis had some good runs. Kniles does drop swing passes that Broderick catches.

I have never seen Mallett so on with his passes both short and long. Chris Gragg and Greg Childs made some great catches. All four tight ends (DJ, Ben, Austin Tate, and Uekman) looked very good. All caught passes and were active downfield blockers. When the were running the ball, Brandon Mitchell looked very good with his fakes and keepers. He also threw the ball well on short passes. It seemed that nothing went right today for Tyler. He dropped snaps from under center and was overthrowing receivers.

They mixed up the kickoff and punt returners. The only two kickoff returners were Marquel Wade and Maudrecus Humphrey. Wade, who is probably the fastest on the team, dropped the first two kickoffs (I feel sure that Dennis Johnson will handle kickoffs in the first game). However, he made some good catches as a receiver. In track, Wade says he wants to run the 100, 220, and 440! The most consistent punt returner with no drops is the speedster from Tulsa, Julian Horton.

Once again, Hocker outkicked Tejada. Still, the farthest kick was only 2 yards into the end zone. The punters were their usual inconsistent selves.

The conditioning of this team must be great. It is very hot and with them now in full pads and tackling to the ground I have not seen anyone even limp off the field and not be ready for the next play. The depth on this team is so good that even the threes are pretty good. They freely substitute offensive and defensive ones and twos by group and then substitute the threes individually.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Luis, why no invite?

Razorback practice report: Tuesday morning

A Poolsville contributor provides a first-hand account of the Arkansas Razorbacks' football practices...

This entire deal with the jersey numbers is getting to be ridiculous. You go to practice and there are guys getting reps, but you don't have a clue who they are. Neither the web site nor the media guide has these. You know they have this information -- why can't it be posted or printed up? They did it in the past.

They were in the stadium this morning. Practice time was moved up because of the heat and they were through by 10:15.

Almost the entire practice was 11 on 11 with no tackling to the ground and all passing plays. Including the freshmen, it is very impressive how many quality receivers they have. The only QB to have a rough day was Brandon Mitchell. DJ had a great day receiving as did the walk-on from CAC and UAPB-transfer Ryan Farr.

There are four freshmen wide receivers who look ready to play if one of the veterans should get hurt -- Marquel Wade, Julian Horton, Maudrecus Humphrey, and Javontee Humphrey.

Today there was a new receiver with #19 who got a lot of reps, so I do not think he is a walk-on. The first week of practice we thought #19 was Price Holmes from Batesville. Since the SID guys don't give us any information for the practices, it makes it really hard to find out about some of the players.

They practiced kickoffs and Hocker had a very good day kicking them high and barely into the end zone. Tejada's kicks went nearly as far but were more like line drives.

It is so hot out there that if I were a football player thinking about quitting, today would be the day. I really admire the work and hustle of Coach John L. Smith who is almost as old as me. I just hope he does not drop dead out there.

Monday, August 09, 2010

Central Florida's best recruiting video ever



George O'Leary is a recruiting genius to have allowed this photo shoot to take place with UCF alumna Shanna McLaughlin. There is no telling what kind of recruits he could have gotten with this approach at Notre Dame.

And somewhere down in El Paso, Mike Price just got a great idea.

Eastern Washington installing RED turf



Another reason to outlaw all artificial playing surfaces in college football.

Friday, August 06, 2010

Because we know how to keep up our homes?

Razorback Practice Report -- Day 1

A Poolsville contributor provides a first-hand account of the Arkansas Razorbacks' first day of football practice...

Finally it is that time of year again…

I went to the veterans practice yesterday (couldn’t make the newcomer one at 3 because of work, but hope to make it today). The veteran’s practice was supposed to start at 6:30, but when I arrived they had already started.

Frankly, I wanted to go to see one thing. Earlier in the day, a friend reported that his son had seen Mallett and Stumon (that day) in a convenience-type store, and the son reported Mallett had a noticeable limp. However, I did not notice any limp at practice. Mallett jogged between drills and looked OK. I didn’t see him do any sprinting or moving around the pocket a lot, but they are in shorts and shoulder pads so I
didn’t expect to see much.

One thing that is so different about college practices from my old-old high school days is that there is no conditioning work. They are either in drills or running plays. I guess when you are up there all summer working out, you don’t really need it because you are already there. I guess what I am saying is when they practice there isn’t a lot of “make-work” going on, if you get my drift.

Coach P’s practice still amazes me about how organized they are. Each of the managers carries a sheet and all the time they are consulting it. Between drills and when the team is getting their water breaks, these guys and girls are working and it has been lined out. Two of them were setting up cones for some drill and they were not haphazardly setting them down -- they were going by a diagram and measuring them out. Another thing is how much responsibility they give to the graduate assistants. Under Nutt, these guys might have been holding a dummy or throwing passes to the offensive backs. Under Coach P, they are given a coaching assignment and then are left alone to do it.

OK, when I walked in I passed by the running backs. Both Ronnie Wingo and Knile Davis have put on some muscle -- both guys looked chiseled. When they were running plays, you could also see a difference. Last year, both were a little tentative -- not now. All four of the backs hit the holes at full spend, and there weren't any pauses to hit a hole or decide what cut to make. I didn’t get up close to Broderick Green, but later at a distance he looked quicker (of course, until they get in pads, I will still wonder if he is ready to lower his shoulder and ht the hole hard). Dennis Johnson is still impressive -- in the touch scrimmage they had, he was the best runner inside because he is so short and low to the ground and he is just hard to find. We are going to be good in this area.

Mallett and Tyler both looked pretty sharp in their throws. Some were off, but for a 1st practice they looked better than I would have thought. Mallett threw some swing passes the backs that were perfect- just enough speed and touch. Tyler looked confident. I didn’t see him drop any snaps and as I stated plenty of times last year – he does a good job of spotting the open receiver. Neither QB ran any options that I saw.

Brandon Mitchell was not at the veterans practice -- at first Jerry (my cohort and contributor) and I were worried about this and then we decided he was at the newcomers practice (later confirmed by a local sports writer). Speaking of which, I thought they would practice first and then be there with the veterans, but I heard Coach P is going to have them practice on their own for the first few days and then move them in. I believe he thinks it will help them not be so intimidated and will know the offense or the defense better because they will get more time devoted to them -- that is another reason I want to go to the newcomers today. We also discussed the scout QB situation since Nick Petrino is no longer on the team and Jacoby Walker is out with his injured ACL, but the paper reported there was a kid, Brian (?) from a Catholic high school in Louisville I think that will do that.

Jerry arrived at practice before me and said they were already working on the punting. He said Dylan Breeding was killing the ball. I told him I will believe he is better when I see him do it under pressure. Clay Henry reported on Hawgs Illustrated that one of the freshmen was the best punter for the day. As a side note, I did not see Steve Cox’s son on the roster. He was supposed to walk on as a punter. I don’t know what the deal is there. I know they can invite only X amount of walk-ons to summer practices, and maybe they feel a punter doesn’t need to be at the official practices and he will be there when school starts. Or maybe there was an error and he was left off. Just don’t know. I plan to find out today. They practice punt receiving again later in practice and Dennis Johnson, Jarius Wright, Cobi Hamilton, and Joe Adams were catching punts and I saw each of them drop at least one. I hope one of the freshmen is better. I like the early season emphasis on this. Coach P was right there watching this.

Hard to tell much about the defense since no hitting was going on. However, both Elton Ford and Tramain Thomas had interceptions. Tyler and Mallett each threw one. Both bounced off the receivers first. Jerry Franklin (#34) looks huge as does Tenarius Wright (#43) and the kid who played tight end last year (#90). No fat boys on the defense. I've got to believe they are going to be better. I plan to spend more time this year on the defense.

All the receivers dropped balls in the drills, especially Cobi Hamilton, but once they scrimmaged (touch) with the D-backs, they made the catches. Joe Adams and Greg Childs looked very good. Chris Gragg, the TE from Warren, has put on some weight and has huge legs. If he stays healthy, I think he will catch a lot of balls. DJ Williams looks slimmer to me and moved really well.

Jerry and I sat on the west side of the practice field because at 6:30 if you sat on the east you would be staring directly into the sun. Unfortunately, the offense does most of their practicing on the east field so we were farther from the action. The other problem with sitting on the west is there are ants everywhere and you are beating them off the entire time. My wife is friends with Jeff Long’s secretary, and I had her get on Facebook and make a friendly suggestion that they get some agri-people to come down and spray that area. I am not holding my breath on that one, though.

Speaking of tight ends, on the first play from scrimmage, Austin Tate, a 6'6" RSFR from Harrison, caught the first pass. Why was he on the first team? Ended up he was playing fullback and got a number of reps doing this. Van Stumon was with the newcomers because of his DUI. Lance Ray (#82) WR RSFR from Florida, made some good catches, as did DeAnthony Curtis (#23).

Last point is that Coach P spent more time with the defense than I have seen before. I am not sure if he is taking more of an interest here or maybe wants to let Coach Garrett gain some authority with the offense.

Go Hogs!

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Five Things (Preseason)

It's with a mixture of sadness and joy that I announce Five Things (aka Things I Think I Think) has found a new home.

Yes, it's going legit.

That said, I'm not done with Poolsville. Not by a longshot ... mainly because there some things I can get away here that I can't elsewhere. Like extreme levels of snark and the posting of somewhat questionable photos and videos and links about college football.

Anyway, I hope you'll forgive me for selling out to The Man. I know Matt hasn't been this crushed since he discovered wrasslin is fake.

What? Oh, Matt has a rebuttal to that last sentence? OK then ...

Monday, August 02, 2010

A response to Stewart Mandel's web column attacking Houston Nutt and Jeremiah Masoli

Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated wrote a hit piece Monday on Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt's decision to allow Jeremiah Masoli on the team, and the column seems to have sparked a firestorm of activity from those critical of giving Masoli another chance to play college football.

I am anxious to read Mandel's column in November discussing Masoli's chances of winning the Heisman Trophy and acknowledging that Nutt made a great decision to bolster an otherwise rebuilding offense with an experienced quarterback custom made to run the Wildcat offense.

But until then, I'm going to re-read this week's column and point out the many errors in it, starting with...

• Nutt didn't hire Gus Malzahn to keep a quarterback recruit. He was forced to hire Malzahn by then-AD Frank Broyles because Broyles thought it would appease the fan outcry for Nutt to hire an offensive coordinator (a fan cliche anytime they are not being entertained by enough passes in the offense when the team isn't winning) and at the same time deliver a heralded quarterback and his overbearing mother.

• Nutt did not get the nickname "Right Reverend" for his strong Christian values. I never heard the name in Arkansas until it was delivered through the magic of television by ESPN's Rece Davis, who I assume dubbed him that for his sometimes preacher-like inspirational locker-room speeches. As a sidebar, I will add that the Right Reverend probably has stronger Christian values than Pastor Floyd, who leads the church where Malzahn and Mustain attended and whose school is responsible for ruining it for every other private high school in Arkansas thanks to its unscrupulous recruiting and then running up the score on the likes of Lavaca and Hector.

• Nutt's hiring of Malzahn and signing of the infamous Springdale players had very little to do with the 10-win season and SEC West title. In fact, it probably worked against the team the entire year. What led to so many wins? Try current NFL stars Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.

• Nutt is correct that Malzahn's offense wasn't working, and to this day it has yet to be effective at Auburn. In fact, Gene Chizik said at SEC media days that the team needs to run the ball more this season to control the clock, which is exactly what Malzahn's offense doesn't do.

• To say that a vocal minority of Razorback fans unleashed the hounds is an understatement. They unleashed a disgusting campaign of hate for a guy who was giving everything he had to win games for this group. It was the second time Razorback fans formed a mob to run a coach out of town, the first time being against Nolan Richardson. Both instances revealed a very ugly side of Razorback fans that I have yet to see anywhere else in the country, college or pro. Dale Brown said it best: "What happened to Nolan Richardson at Arkansas is a crime." What happened to Nutt wasn't too far behind.

• Nutt packed his bags for Oxford because our idiot fan base and chancellor were going to fire him anyway. What do you expect him to do? Not pursue a great job in the best conference in the country? And he's been a great success at Ole Miss, much more of a success so far than his successor at Arkansas.

• Masoli is a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender who wanted to come to a team that had just lost its back-up QB and was considered to be in a rebuilding year after losing its primary offensive weapons. What coach in his right mind would not consider that? Let's face it, fans only remember wins. After losing seasons, you never hear a fan say, "Well it was really a great year because all the kids had a lot of character even though we went 4-8."

• Nutt's attitude toward discipline? You just cited a player he kicked off the team, for crying out loud. You are really bending the facts to support your argument here.

Morally ambivalent? Dirty? Nothing could be farther from the truth in describing Nutt. Just ask his players. You owe him an apology -- and I expect to see it when the experiment pays off for Masoli and for the Rebels.


And in case you forgot, scoreboard says...

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A game–changer?

Jeremiah Masoli in action for Oregon. Masoli has said he will now attend Ole Miss.

(Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)


Jeremiah Masoli’s enrollment at Ole Miss is going to get some scrutiny both positive and negative.

At least it seems Masoli gets it. He told SI.com reporter Andy Staples, that “they're going to get some criticism for taking me.”

He also noted that he’d be a walk-on and his hope that by paying his own way, it would take off some of the heat that will be coming to Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt, who, like just about every other coach in the country, has no problem playing former jailbirds.

At this point, you’re saying but not my coach. High school, college and the pros, it doesn’t matter. In northeast Arkansas, a star high school running back was arrested for beating up his girlfriend on Thursday. Friday morning his coach bailed him out and he played that night. Ryan Mallett has been arrested for being drunk on Dickson, he’s still a Heisman Trophy candidate. Leonard Little killed someone and is still with the Rams. The list goes on and on.

The coaches are making a bet. They’re saying that as long as the player in question delivers, they aren’t going to get fired for it. Losing gets a coach fired. Taking on bad seeds and then having a bad season will get you fired, down the road.

Taking on a bad seed, winning and going to a decent bowl game will get you a contract extension.

Stewart Mandel also checked in with some hand-wringing and navel gazing at Houston Nutt.

That would be the negative reaction.

On the flip side, a Yahoo columnist called Masoli the league’s most accomplished quarterback in the SEC at the start of the season.

Based on his numbers, Masoli should be — assuming he isn’t a head case, doesn’t have any injuries and reports in shape — near the top of a weak SEC quarterback crop.

After Mallett, the league hits a sharp decline.

Masoli was a run-first, passing threat and 5-11 and 220, not built like a classic pro prospect. He should, however, be able to pick up Nutt’s relatively simple offense and wouldn’t need to sub out when Ole Miss goes to the wildcat/hog/rebel that just lets the guy who get the snap do what he wants.

Plus with Ole Miss’s cupcake schedule, Masoli should have the offense down and the Rebs at 5-0 before hitting the meat of the SEC schedule with back-to-back games at Alabama and Arkansas before heading home for a game with Auburn. With Masoli, Ole Miss is an easy 8-4, and likely better. Without him, well Ole Miss was picked to finish last in the SEC West.

Burglary and possession of marijuana were among Masoli’s problems at Eugene, but he also stayed in school and got his degree. So, maybe, he isn’t quite the thug his detractors have made him out to be.

Sports Illustrated was again on the scene and wrote as much.

While that story seems to clear Masoli of much of the problems, trouble seems to follow him around, but maybe that trouble won’t cross the Mississippi River.

To get to Oxford, Masoli is taking advantage of a rule that allows college grads with eligibility remaining to transfer to another school to get a master’s degree. It happened last year with the Duke guard — Greg Paulus — who went to Syracuse for football.

It doesn’t happen much at the high-profile schools, but the NCAA allows it, and mid-major basketball programs take advantage of it regularly.

Masoli was a legit Heisman Trophy candidate at Oregon and now takes his talents to the SEC.

Ole Miss should be better as a result. If all you care about is winning football games, this is a good thing. If you care about anything else, this should give you some pause.