Hopefully none of us have any illusions about the role of money in the modern major athletic department. But what does it say when there’s a pretty good indication that the pursuit of that money puts one of the teams at a competitive disadvantage?

Read here for the background.

By itself this might sound like sour grapes. But grumbles about the Nike equipment isn’t a new issue. Certainly Georgia has had plenty of success despite the bats, and Peisel’s missed grand slam opportunity stands out because of an otherwise outstanding pitching performance by Fresno.

It’s a bigger issue than one series or at-bat. It’s one of the most powerful athletic departments in the nation telling one of its teams that inferior equipment is “good enough” because Nike says so.

We’ve seen Central Michigan on our schedule before. They’ve been named Marshall or Central Florida or UAB or Troy. It’s that team that’s not quite a cupcake, made a bowl the year before, but they’re not BCS material. They’ll have a standout QB or receiver that racks up incredible stats in his conference and will likely have some pretty good numbers against the Dawgs too.

This time that guy is Dan LeFevour, Central Michigan’s junior QB. You’re probably sick of the dual-threat QB, but LeFevour definitely qualifies: only he and Vince Young have thrown for 3,000 yards and rushed for 1,000 in a season. He even caught a TD pass. There’s no question that the CMU offense flows through him, and HeismanPundit has named him a darkhorse if not for 2008 then for his senior season in 2009.

HP has an interview with LeFevour, and it’s worth a read. Georgia and Purdue are the big nonconference challenges for the Chippewas this year, and he discusses the team’s readiness for a game in Athens.

You’ve got a big game against Georgia coming up. How will you guys approach playing a game in such a hostile environment?

We’ve had some experience with that. We played at Kentucky last year. We’ve played at Michigan and Clemson and Purdue. We just need to remember that we’ve been in that situation before and carry it over to this game. As long as we are ready mentally, we should be ready to play.

The closest of those games was at Kentucky where CMU closed to within two points in the 4th quarter before falling 45-36. How about those other games? Michigan (41-17), Purdue (45-22), and Clemson (70-14) weren’t quite as close. There was also a 52-7 loss at Kansas to open the 2007 season.

Central Michigan can definitely be a dangerous team. They pushed Kentucky in 2006, and they came back on Purdue in the bowl game rematch last season once the Boilermakers went to sleep on a big halftime lead. Without breaking them down, the formula seems to be what it usually is against these kinds of teams: take the opponent seriously, jump on a weaker defense to put up some points, and don’t sleep on a lead. If nothing else, it will be a treat for Georgia fans to see someone of LeFevour’s talent competing opposite Stafford, Moreno, and Georgia’s own Heisman darkhorses.

Well-deserved.

David Perno, who recently led the Georgia baseball team to its third College World Series appearance in the last five seasons, has agreed to a new five-year, $2.25 million contract, Director of Athletics Damon Evans announced on Wednesday.

The new contract amounts to an annual increase of $150,000. Playing for the national title always makes those postseason evaluations a little more pleasant than usual:

“First of all, I’d like to say that I really enjoyed my discussions with Damon after the College World Series, and we’re excited about the future of the Bulldog baseball program,” Perno said. “I’m very pleased with the opportunity to be at Georgia and hope to be here a long time. The support we’ve received from our administration is very much appreciated.”

That support from the administration will be tested soon as the future of Foley Field becomes more of an issue. Georgia baseball continues to set attendance marks, and everything from concessions to practice space could use improvement. At the same time, Foley’s location doesn’t necessarily lend itself to much expansion.

It seems odd to say after Perno’s seventh year on the job, but there are those who up through this season questioned Perno’s fitness for the position. This new contract is a sign that Georgia baseball has its man. Now let’s do something about those odd-numbered years.

I’ll let the story speak for itself…

Georgia football player Michael Lemon is a suspect in an alcohol-related battery incident Saturday night that sent a University student to the hospital with a severe eye injury, according to an Athens-Clarke County police report.

Read the whole thing. It’s not a favorable account.

It gets better…Trinton Sturdivant and Justin Anderson were apparently booked on “simple battery” charges. (hat tip to Steve Patterson of UGASports.com) It’s unknown at this time whether those arrests were related to Lemon’s incident. Way too early to make heads or tails of this story yet, but for those of you keeping score at home that’s over half of Georgia’s projected starting offensive line (when you include Boling) that has been arrested over the offseason.

UPDATE: It seems as if the incidents are not related. More information on the Sturdivant / Anderson incident is available from ESPN. Still doesn’t look good for Lemon, but I wouldn’t be surprised if charges are ultimately dropped against the two offensive linemen.