Chip Towers spotlights a report that Bill Hartman did about the recruitment of Herschel Walker. Like Chip, this is new to me though it might be old hat to some of you. I can’t imagine the circus that such a recruiting battle would cause these days with the whole process much more public. People who have followed recruiting much longer than I have maintain that Herschel’s recruitment was a sea change in how people followed and paid attention to recruiting, and this report doesn’t do much to discredit that argument. Check out the report and the video that goes with it.

While we’re talking about #34, not everyone was pleased to see Walker win the 1982 Heisman. Eric Dickerson and Craig James will be honored at this week’s Doak Walker Award banquet, and the Dallas Morning News suggested that splitting carries in the SMU system might have cost Dickerson the 1982 Heisman.

“I always tell Herschel he’s got my Heisman,” Dickerson said.

Unfortunately the trophy was the one thing that couldn’t be purchased by an SMU booster. Walker probably told him to come and get it.

On the occasion of North Carolina’s visit to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech tonight, the AJC has a nice piece on the role that UNC coach Roy Williams had in the career of Georgia coach Mark Fox. Though Williams didn’t have a vacant position to offer Fox while Fox pursued his master’s degree, Williams – then the Kansas coach – allowed Fox to observe the operation of the program and provided Fox with a blueprint for running a successful, highly-efficient program.

Their relationship has continued through the years with Williams providing advice and support along the way as Fox climbed the ladder. Williams’ advice to Fox upon arriving at Georgia was to “be patient.” For a motivated coach used to winning, the challenges of taking over a program in rough shape can be frustrating. Patience will definitely be required as Fox tries to elevate the program, but his results so far should provide even more encouragement. Fox might even return the favor and share some motivational words with Williams – both teams are 3-7 in their respective conferences this year.

An astute observer took the opportunity of this article to question Fox on the weekly radio show about the possibility of playing the Tar Heels down the road. Fox indicated that there was a good chance of such a game taking place – neither team is afraid to step out of conference.

Georgia and UNC played a series of exciting games just over ten years ago. Carolina escaped with an overtime win in Athens in 1997 after Georgia blew an 8-point lead with three minutes left in regulation. That game was supposed to match Tubby Smith against Dean Smith, but Tubby bolted for Kentucky and Dean retired before the 1997-1998 season. With Ron Jirsa and Bull Guthridge roaming the sidelines, it was still a thrilling game in front of a packed house at Stegeman.

The teams met again a year later in Chapel Hill in the preseason NIT. It was Georgia’s turn to make a late charge from behind, but this time the home team prevailed at the end.

The NCAA Football Rules Committee has had its annual meeting, and their endorsement of one key rule change for the 2011 season is causing quite an uproar this morning. Specifically:

The NCAA Football Rules Committee endorsed a proposal Wednesday that penalizes unsportsmanlike conduct as a live-ball foul beginning in the 2011 season. The change would mean, for example, that if a player makes a taunting gesture to an opponent on the way to scoring a touchdown, the flag would nullify the score and penalize the offending team from the spot of the foul.

It seems like a pretty narrow focus. Consider: taunting/unsportsmanlike penalties after a non-scoring play (say, a sack) have resulted and will continue to result in a 15-yard penalty after the play. No change there. How about unsportsmanlike penalties after you score? No, “penalties for dead-ball misconduct fouls (for example, unsportsmanlike behavior after the player crosses the goal line) would continue to be assessed on the ensuing kickoff or the extra point/two point conversion attempt.” No change there. The only time a score would be taken off the board is when players make “a taunting gesture to an opponent on the way to scoring a touchdown.” Think Deion Sanders high-stepping it down the sideline.

In other words, this new rule wouldn’t have changed a thing about A.J. Green’s penalty last year. That sham of a penalty occurred in the end zone, so the score would continue to stand under the new rule. The rule is dumb, but its application will be much, much narrower than people seem to think. Most excessive celebration happens after a score, and that’s specifically exempted. Think about it this way – when was the last time you saw someone draw a taunting foul during a live play? Those are the only situations to which this rule applies. The misapplication of the unsportsmanlike penalty is reason enough to reconsider the whole thing, but we’re not going to see that many scores come off the board.

If there’s a gray area where we’ll see the most controversy, it’s on plays where the ballcarrier dives into the endzone. We’ve seen cases where there was doubt whether the player dove to avoid a defender or was just showboating. Under this new rule the infraction technically occurs in the field of play, so the ball would come back to the 15 or so. (Yes, I’m thinking of a certain player and game too.)

What we might see more of is ejections.

In these cases [when the contact is clearly flagrant and dangerous], the committee is instructing officials to eject student-athletes more frequently when warranted. The group will distribute several video examples to officials, coaches and conference administrators to educate and clarify what types of plays should result in an ejection. Additionally, any flagrant foul will automatically trigger a review by the offending player’s conference.

There are several other rules changes bundled with the one getting all of the attention. All of these rules are still proposals and still must be NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel. Some of the highlights:

– Call it the “Tebow Rule?” Players wearing eye black must now keep it solid black – no Bible verses, shout-outs to the home area code, or other messages. I wonder whether this applies to messages written elsewhere on the body. It might be more fitting to call this the Pyror Rule and not the Tebow Rule. Bible verses and area codes are one thing, but using the eyeblack to make more controversial statements might be the motivation for this rule.

– Any injured player, including those with a concussion or showing signs of a concussion, must be cleared by an “appropriate medical professional” before returning to the game. The rule though leaves it up to the school to define what an “appropriate medical professional” is. Mike Leach probably isn’t what they have in mind.

– Teams will be allowed to have TV monitors up in the booth. The home team must ensure that feeds and equipment are identical for both teams. While I doubt many coaches will have time to kick the feet up and enjoy Uncle Verne’s delightful description of the action unfolding in front of them (if there’s sound at all), implementation will be interesting. Will teams choose to provide the actual television feed to the booths or just use the feed that the rest of the stadium sees on the scoreboard video screen? You can imagine the benefits of replay aiding the decision whether or not to use a timeout to force a review.

– There will be a pregame DMZ. The committee recommended that no players allowed between the 45-yard lines beginning 60 minutes before kickoff during warmups.

– Raise those hemlines! Discerning teams with an eye on fashion might want to note that there will be no more requirement that pants must cover the knee. Scandalous!

– While they’re revamping kickoff coverage during this offseason, Georgia coaches will note that college football is considering following the lead of the NFL by banning the use of the “wedge” by return teams.

– Punters using the “rugby punt” who run outside of the tackle box are now fair game; they will lose their protection as kickers.

– UCLA and USC are no longer outlaws. Both teams can wear contrasting colored jerseys jerseys of color if neither team or conference objects.

If it’s Signing Day, it must be time for points and counterpoints about the value of recruiting services and rankings. I can understand the doubts (but, really, how many times do we have to hear Thomas Davis’s name in these discussions?), and I can understand why many journalists don’t care to touch the subject. Following recruiting can be borderline obsessive, harassing, and at times straight up creepy. It used to be the province of subscription newsletters and 900 numbers. Now it’s big business online and into the mainstream. Did you think ten years ago that the ESPN crawler would be flashing a commitment by some 3-star cornerback who picked SMU over Central Florida and Maryland? Me neither.

Doc Saturday does the work – with actual math – and finds out that top-rated prospects are much more likely (per capita) to become All-Americans. Not all of them do – not even half of them or even most of them. That’s the basis of much of the criticism of recruiting rankings, but, as Brian Cook reminds us, those critics often < ahref="http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/53433/when_evaluating_recruiting_services,_dont_forget_to_divide">forget to divide.

With 120 FBS schools signing 20 or more prospects each year, that’s at least 2,400 guys entering Division I. The Rivals 100 or whatever list of top prospects you use makes up less than 5% of the incoming class nationwide. It’s reasonable that you’re going to have several individual success stories from among that 95%. 50 of the 93 All-Americans Dr. Saturday examines – the majority – were rated 3 stars or lower. That’s impressive until you do the math and see that those three-star or lower prospects make up the long tail which contains over 85% of incoming players.

The recruiting rankings might not be able to identify which specific prospects will make it big, but if they could they’d be several steps ahead of even the best coaches.

By now this is pretty well-worn ground, but I’ll just add the points I try to keep in mind during recruiting season:

• Recruiting ratings aren’t perfect. Neither are the evaluations of coaches who are paid much more for their expertise.
• Ratings can’t take into account intangibles like academics, an enjoyment of firearms, or brooding over that girl back home.
• Since not every top prospect pans out, you’d rather have more than fewer and increase your odds.
• Ranking players gets sketchier the greater the geographic area covered. High school football is just too big to see everyone out there.
• Need matters as much as talent. You can fill your class with top-rated receivers, but not filling needs on the offensive line or in the secondary will lose you games.
• Highlight videos are just that. You notice how they never show anyone fumbling or missing a tackle?
• If you ever find yourself saying or agreeing with the statement “give me a bunch of 2-and-3 star guys who bleed [team colors] over some 5 star prima donnas,” don’t operate heavy machinery. Yes, of course we’d all like a fleet of 5-star guys who grew up reenacting in the backyard our team’s most famous highlight, but prospects choose schools for any number of reasons, and not all of them are warm and fuzzy. Give me the best talent every time.
• When in doubt, look at the offers. Again, the enormity of high school football makes it possible for many guys to fall through the Tim Jennings-sized cracks and become the exceptions to the rule. But on the whole you’d rather be competing against your peers for a prospect and not the teams you schedule for Homecoming. There might be a reason why your Top 10 program is going after a guy also considering Akron and UMass, but it should be a good one.

Not much of course, but the Dawgs – a unanimous pick to finish last in the SEC East – do share one bit of ignominy with the traditional ACC powers. As of today, 2+ months into the season, neither Georgia nor Carolina nor Duke has won a true road game. Last night’s upset of Duke by N.C. State in Raleigh kept the 0-fer going.

Duke will be the first team with a chance of breaking up this unlikely trio when they visit Clemson this weekend.

Mississippi State 72 – Georgia 69. It hurt. Georgia twice led by 13 on the road in Starkville and appeared to have the game in hand. Inability to get the ball upcourt against pressure combined with deadly outside shooting by MSU allowed the hosts to erase Georgia’s late lead and eventually win the game. MSU finished the game scoring 21 of the game’s last 26 points. Georgia has played three good SEC teams to the wire, but they haven’t been able to notch that first win yet. They’ll get another chance on Wednesday against Tennessee. 8-8 overall, 0-3 SEC

Georgia 73 – Arkansas 63. The Lady Dogs rebounded from Thursday’s ugly loss at Vanderbilt with a convincing win at Arkansas. The final margin was ten points, but Georgia led by as many as 25 late in the second half. The biggest difference from Thursday’s loss was backcourt production. Ashley Houts and Jasmine James combined for 22 points, 19 assists, and just 3 turnovers. At Vandy, they managed a combined 14 points, 6 assists, and 6 turnovers. Freshman Jasmine Hassell’s 14 points matched the production of the two starting post players. This was a potentially dangerous game: Arkansas stunned Georgia in Athens last year, and the trip to Fayetteville lay between two important games against Vanderbilt and Tennessee. 17-1 overall, 4-1 SEC

Lakatos hired as defensive backs coach. Georgia announced the hiring of Scott Lakatos on Monday. He’ll coach the secondary. Lakatos was at UConn since 2004 and has primarily coached in the northeast. UConn has had a decent defense over the past few years (especially relative to the talent in place), and their pass defense was a big part of that. He’s also put several players into the NFL including Tyvon Branch and Darius Butler. We’ll learn more about Lakatos after a Monday afternoon teleconference. With the hire of Lakatos and coordinator Todd Grantham, Georgia has one remaining vacancy on its staff.

Alabama 196.275 – Georgia 195.5 The Gym Dogs started off the new season with a relatively shaky win over Stanford, and SEC rival Alabama handed them their first loss of the season over the weekend. Losses in gymnastics aren’t as devastating as they are in other sports – your average score matters more than outright wins or losses. You can look back at the 2005 team that lost four straight meets during the season and rebounded to win the SEC and national titles.

Commitments honored Georgia commitment Da’Rick Rogers of Calhoun was named the MaxPreps Small Schools National Player of the Year. Rogers, one of the best prep receivers in the nation, visited Athens over the weekend and by all accounts had a good visit. There’s still some concern whether he’ll visit Florida, but for now Rogers continues to be committed to Georgia. Meanwhile, safety Alec Ogletree of Newnan and defensive tackle Garrison Smith of Douglass were named Bobby Dodd national players of the year at their respective positions by the Touchdown Club of Atlanta.

David Cutcliffe turned down interest from Tennessee and will stay at Duke. Word is coming out that one of the main points of contention had to do with the contractual mess left in the wake of Lane Kiffin.

At issue were the six assistant coaches Tennessee still had under contract, many with multi-year, guaranteed deals. Cutcliffe would have had to retain at least some of those coaches if he came to Knoxville, which meant he would have had to leave some of his current Duke staff behind in Durham.

Cutcliffe’s loyalty to his assistants essentially got him fired at Ole Miss, and it seems to have been the sticking point that kept him from leaving Durham this time. Multi-year contracts can be valuable in attracting a top-quality assistant to your program, and Tennessee made headlines last year for breaking the bank to put together their all-star staff. The money tied up in those assistants though is now coming home to roost, and it has prevented them from landing the next name on their list.

We’ve since learned that Tennessee will reportedly hire Derek Dooley from Louisiana Tech. It would be a great move for Vince’s son, but Dooley will have a tough job of selling his program to fans when they realize that they’ve gone from someone with the career success of Phil Fulmer to Lane Kiffin to someone who is a career 17-20 as Louisiana Tech’s head coach.

We wish Dooley well in the Corleone sense – that is, as best as his interests don’t conflict with ours. But since he’s coaching at Tennessee, those interests will clash early and often. Hopefully he knows better than to come looking for assistants in Athens.

Confirmation comes this morning of the news that broke late last night: Todd Grantham is Georgia’s new defensive coordinator. We’ve learned some additional details since last night:

• Grantham will finish out the season with the Cowboys. That was announced by Cowboys coach Wade Phillips this morning.
• Grantham will be replaced by former Syracuse head coach Paul Pasqualoni.
• According to Phillips, “this came up” – apparently meaning Grantham’s decision – at 9:00 Thursday morning during the Cowboys’ practice.
• Grantham’s deal is for 3 years at $750,000 per year according to Anthony Dasher of UGASports.com. That would make him the third-highest paid defensive coordinator in the nation.

Grantham stated that he looks forward to bringing a passive, uninsipred defense to Georgia that opponents would salivate over on film. No, actually, Grantham said this:

“I would like to thank Coach Mark Richt and Damon Evans for the opportunity for myself and my family to be part of the University of Georgia community,” said Grantham. “I’m very excited about being part of a staff that will work tremendously hard to return Georgia football to one of the premier teams in the SEC. To the fans and boosters of the University of Georgia, I understand the passion and standard of excellence expected. I look forward to developing an aggressive, physical, attacking style defense that offenses will not look forward to playing against.”

It sounds good…looking forward to seeing it in practice.

A few more thoughts:

• In December, the Banner-Herald reported that “Athletic director Damon Evans said this week that Georgia would be ‘competitive,’ in attracting candidates for any openings with salary and possibly offering multi-year contracts.” Some were skeptical just how willing Georgia would be to open up the checkbook, but the outcome shows that Evans meant every word of it, down to the multi-year contract – a first at Georgia for an assistant.
• Along those lines, I would imagine that Mike Bobo and his fellow assistants are smiling today. They’re not going to have their salaries more than doubled to $750,000, and they probably won’t see multi-year contracts. But the value of being an assistant at Georgia just went up today.
• Grantham’s decision to remain with the Cowboys probably won’t matter with recruiting. Georgia has plenty of great recruiters elsewhere on the staff. What mattered from the perspective of recruiting is that the uncertainty was removed. Grantham has everything up to videoconferencing at his disposal once the dead period ends should he need to contact anyone. Do we cheer for the Vikings regardless?
• Grantham, considered a 3-4 proponent, will surely be asked about what scheme he plans to bring to Georgia. I hope his answer goes something like this: “I have experience working with both a 4-3 and 3-4 defense, and I don’t intend to decide that right now. We’ll spend the next few months meeting with and getting to know the players in the program and decide as a staff which personnel and scheme gives Georgia the best chance to field a competitive and successful defense in the SEC.”
• Along with assembling the rest of the staff, we’ve heard rumblings about changes coming to Georgia’s conditioning program. We’d expect that to be wrapped up within the next two weeks as mat drills and pre-spring conditioning usually kicks off around or just before Signing Day.
• Wade Phillips had some very nice things to say about Grantham: “He’s grossly overqualified to be the defensive line coach. I knew that he would be a coordinator pretty quickly or even a head coach – he’s got all those qualities.

Grantham won’t be put to the test for another 7+ months, but for now Georgia has the man they’ll charge with rebuilding the Georgia defense that had deteriorated over the past couple of seasons. Fan reaction has been almost overwhelmingly positive, though it’s hard to tell how much of that has to do with relief over this long process finally coming to an end. The reality of getting down to work and producing results will come soon enough. For now, enjoy the weekend and tune in on Sunday at 1:00 to see Grantham’s current team and defensive line in action.

Photo: Dallas Morning News

Tom Dienhart, national senior college football writer for Rivals.com, is reporting that Dallas Cowboys defensive line coach Todd Grantham has signed to become Georgia’s defensive coordinator. According to Dienhart’s Twitter account,

Grantham’s deal is signed. it is for 3 years. he will be third highest paid DC in the nation.

Of course this announcement is just the beginning. Just a few of the questions we’ll be asking:

• There are still two other openings on the Georgia defensive staff, and Grantham figures to have input on those vacancies.
• It also remains to be seen if Grantham will remain with the Cowboys during their NFL playoff run.
• Given Grantham’s background as a defensive line coach, it also will be interesting to see how those duties are allocated between he and Rodney Garner.
• Grantham has experience with a 3-4 defensive alignment, but will he bring that look to Georgia? Do the Dawgs have the personnel to run a 3-4?

You’ll learn plenty about Grantham over the next few days, but start with the Grantham bio on Wikipedia. He has both college and pro experience, and he’s worked with both Frank Beamer and Nick Saban. The Leather Helmet Blog also has comprehensive biographical information. If you’re a Rivals.com subscriber, don’t miss this endorsement from Beamer.

Grantham has been defensive coordinator one other time in his career. From 2005-2007, he was the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns – a position he chose over interest from Nick Saban in Miami. He got results, but he was fired after a disappointing 2007 season under some strange circumstances.

I won’t consider this over until he actually shows up in Athens, but it’s a relief to start to see the end of the process. I don’t care about the snark and hand-wringing from the Atlanta media, but some concrete news is important with fewer than three weeks left until Signing Day. We’ll see how Grantham (and, soon, the rest of the staff) play on the recruiting trail, but at least Mark Richt now has an answer for those questions.

A Knoxville store owner is starting a drive to send Kiffin-themed “It’s Time” Tennessee gear to the devastated island.

Burks said Wednesday that any customer who brings in an “It’s Time” T-shirt can get 20 percent off the purchase of a new shirt. Burks said he’ll ship the old shirts to Haiti, which was devastated by an earthquake on Tuesday.

For those of us who were wise enough never to buy such things to begin with, there are plenty of other ways to donate to the relief effort. The easiest: text “HAITI” to 90999. $10 will be donated to the Red Cross for Haitian relief and billed to your cell phone.

Lane Kiffin, Norm Chow, and Ed Orgeron are all reuniting at Southern Cal. Will it turn out to be a pretty successful reunion along the lines of the Eagles or will it be more like David Lee Roth rejoining Van Halen?

Lane Kiffin and staff escape in the recruiting helicopter to avoid the rioting masses in Knoxville.

I’ll start with a more serious thought – instead of rioting or protesting, Tennessee fans and students should be partying. They’ll take a hit in the short term, but it pains me to say that they’ll be better off without Kiffin than they would have been with him. Put it this way – after everything shakes out I would wager that Southern Cal is looking for their next coach before Tennessee is. We know from boring stability here at Georgia, and – while it has its pitfalls – it’s not all bad considering.

• My first thoughts upon hearing the news went right to two people: JaWuan James and Lance Thompson. James is a standout offensive lineman at North Gwinnett who committed to Tennessee over Georgia. I have no idea if he’d reconsider, but he’ll have to make a decision soon: James is one of several early enrollees already on campus, and classes are set to begin. There are (unconfirmed) reports that those early enrollees would preserve their eligibility and be able to sign with another team if they don’t begin attending classes. Ed Orgeron is certainly working that angle as he tries on his way out the door to poach several of them. No doubt the door would still be open for James at Georgia; he’s one of the nation’s best prospects at a position of need for Georgia.
  As for Thompson, the Georgia native was Tennessee’s linebackers coach and has been a successful defensive coach for several area programs. Yes, he has a long relationship with Georgia Tech, and it will be interesting to see whether Paul Johnson puts Al Groh on hold to consider the availability of Thompson. I don’t think Thompson would be a candidate for the defensive coordinator position at Georgia, but he’d be a slam-dunk upgrade as linebackers coach. We don’t know whether he’s been offered a chance to head west with Kiffin, but his background, family, and recruiting contacts are all here in the southeast. He might not even leave Tennessee. There’s a timing issue also – Georgia has floated the idea that the new defensive coordinator will have input on the other defensive coaching vacancies, and Thompson might be off the market by the time Georgia settles their coordinator search (all the more reason to wrap that up ASAP).
• I was waiting for HeismanPundit to weigh in on this story, and he doesn’t disappoint. No one has sounded the alarm about Kiffin louder.
• One of my favorite observations last night came from Chris Brown of Smart Football. “Anyone else find it weird that thse all star USC coaches all are back, but now under Kiffin instead of Carroll?” Think that’s a pretty important detail?
• Then there’s the classic message board comment: “Like getting a divorce from a stripper.”
• Of all the names that are floated for the Tennessee job, David Cutcliffe strikes the most fear into the hearts of Georgia fans. We know why. I think we can relax though. First, I’m not so sure he gets the call, though he probably should. Other than it being unseemly to leave a program after one year (ahem), why didn’t they go after him when they had an opening last year? Is his health still a consideration? Also, Cutcliffe the coach seems to have slightly less juju over Georgia than Cutcliffe the coordinator.
• Along those lines, it’s not 2004 anymore. I understand why fans are excited to have Norm Chow back at Southern Cal, but his star seems to have faded somewhat from those glory days. You can blame the players and situations around him over the past five years, but then you’d also have to admit some pretty poor career decisions.
• And finally…as angry as people are in Knoxville, they’re not too thrilled in L.A. either.

Exaggeration or not, I believe this will be the one thing I remember about this story:

Despite what seems like a pretty solid consensus to the contrary, something tells me to go with Texas.

Bonus MVP: Jordan Shipley

It’s a great night to be a Georgia Bulldog. The evening started off with Mark Fox’s hoop Dawgs defending their home court. Outside shots fell, McPhee hit the shot of his life, and Thompkins took over as the Dawgs (again) sent a ranked and more talented Tech team home. More on that later.

If seeing Tech lose once wasn’t enough, Iowa came through with a nice win in the Orange Bowl. The Jackets couldn’t muster but a single scoring drive on offense, and Iowa was able to break open a close game with a late score. On behalf of the Bulldog Nation, we thank the Hawkeyes for giving us the chance to enjoy two Tech losses in a single evening.

If even that isn’t enough for you and you’re still up, Rudy is on CMT right now. Tech has lost on the court, the gridiron, and even in the movies tonight. Sleep well.

Image: Anti-Orange Page

No other way to do this than to go down the random thoughts that have been bouncing around all evening.  It’s a massive and sudden announcement that has stopped the college football world in its tracks.

• First, our thoughts have to be with Meyer and his family.  The issue doesn’t seem to be life-threatening (in the immediate sense, at least), but it was obviously serious enough to force a man who lived the game of football to readjust his priorities and step away.  Hopefully it’s a hiccup in a long life.
• It’s so unusual to see someone at the top of their game – coaches come and go all the time, but this has to be as big of a shock as it was when Spurrier took to the podium at the start of the decade.  The biggest difference is the health issue.  We’re not saying goodbye to Meyer, so it’s not quite a Lou Gehrig moment.  Ara Parseghian and Bo Schembechler will be mentioned as analogues, but were either really the dominant personalities in the sport when they stepped down? 
• Georgia fans may never know how close Mark Richt came to a similar decision a few years ago during his wife’s battle with cancer. Facing one’s mortality, especially with financial concerns all but moot, has to make even the most driven professional place work far down the list of priorities.
• As much as we hate to admit it, the SEC was better off for having Meyer around.  He’s a big part of the reason why the conference is going for its fourth consecutive national title.  The coverage that will nauseate most of us leading up to the Sugar Bowl is a reminder that this is a national sports story that will dwarf almost every other college football story up to and including the national title game.
• One has to wonder when and where he’ll resurface.  Again, he’s not dying.  He’ll have time to step away and spend time with his family while addressing his health.  It’s not hard to imagine a bright and effective communicator stepping into broadcast media at some point.  Will we ever see him on a sideline again?  He’s only 45.
• The SEC East was already pretty wide open heading into 2010, and this news only adds to the unpredictability.  The top three teams in the division – Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia – all face big turnover and will be starting a new quarterback.  Is South Carolina, with an experienced quarterback returning, a dark horse among a chaotic field?
• Bulldog fans shouldn’t be too giddy just yet – Georgia’s problems with Florida go far beyond the coach on the other sideline.  Even Ron Zook had a winning record in Jax.
• Some might think it crass that Georgia and others began contacting Florida commitments less than an hour after the announcement.  But back to Gehrig – we’re not hovering over Meyer’s death bed waiting to see if he’ll emerge from a coma.  He’s made the decision to step away from coaching, and that decision – not to mention the departure of the offensive and defensive coordinators within a year of each other – has immediate implications in recruiting. 
• Not going to get too wrapped up in the Florida coaching search except to say that it will introduce some new dynamics into the ongoing Georgia searches. Will Florida be replacing more than a new coordinator on defense as a new head coach takes over?
• Notre Dame might have inadvertently avoided a repeat of the 2005 battle with Florida over the next big head coach.  Or is Brian Kelly re-examining that five-year Notre Dame contract tonight for a buyout clause? 
• Charlie Strong is an interesting case.  Meyer didn’t wake up this morning and decided to step down.  All accounts are that he’s been considering it since “recent developments” (including a hospitalization following the SEC Championship game).  Strong took the Louisville job in the meantime, but we have to think he would have been a candidate to replace Meyer.  Meyer didn’t reach a decision until the past few days, but did Strong have a chance to see it coming?
• Will Meyer take on the “emeritus” role and hang around the program?  I hope for his sake he’ll retreat into the privacy he’ll need to focus on health and family, but it will be tempting to remain around a Gator community that wants him around. That scenario wouldn’t bode well for the next coach though; Meyer’s shadow will loom large enough without the former coach popping up everywhere. 
• As with Zook, I don’t envy the next Florida coach.

Since it’s a slow time before the bowls and it might be January before we get any concrete news about the new coaches, I’ll throw out a topic that has been getting a lot of play, of all places, in the legal blogosphere: should replay officials review plays de novo?

de novo, in the legal context, means to review a case fresh; that is, without considering the original outcome. Applied to football replays, de novo review would mean that replay officials would review the play and make a ruling based on the video without consideration for the ruling on the field. That’s contrary to most replay systems currently in use which defer to the field officials and require “indisputable video evidence” in order to overturn a call.

Why remove the burden of indisputable video evidence and instead ignore the original call? It centers around this one assumption: a replay official, with multiple angles and time to study the call, almost always has the advantage over a field official making the call in real time.

What about instances where the video replay is inconclusive? It could still be argued that the judgment of the replay official is the right way to go. If several moments and multiple camera angles aren’t enough to establish a conclusive ruling, why would the original call made in the heat of the moment be any more accurate?

Go back to calls like the LSU interception against Alabama. With the ruling on the field of a catch out of bounds, the burden under the current standard is to prove conclusively that the defender’s foot was in bounds. Based on the outcome of the review (the call was upheld), we conclude that the standard wasn’t met. But under a de novo review, the booth would be free to consider the play and the number of angles without being constrained by the ruling on the field.

Since there are a lot of educated minds kicking this topic around, some good points have been raised. Overuse of replay and its effect on the game’s pace are vaild concerns. There are also disagreements over whether multiple video angles really can provide a better look at a call than an official who is in great position to see the play. That’s especially valid considering the non-standardized equipment and video quality in the booth that’s often poorer than what home viewers see.

PS…regardless of the standards used for review, I’ll beat my drum here again for unmanned cameras positioned at goal lines.

PPS…I do like Josh Patashnik’s point about the arbitrariness of calls, especially when it comes to spotting the ball. It’s always amused me that the officials can eyeball the placement of the spot for every play – including the one that sets the chains to begin with – and yet the decision to award a first down depends on a (relatively) precise measurement.