With a trio of weapons like Zac Robinson, Dez Bryant, and Kendall Hunter (not to mention probable All-American tackle Russell Okung clearing the way), you’re going to be hearing an awful lot about the Oklahoma State offense leading up to the season opener. Dismiss the buildup in “HAHA 35-14 2007 WE’VE HEARD THAT BEFORE” style if you like, but at the very least the experienced playmakers on the OSU offense are going to leave the much less experienced Georgia offense with very little room for error.

Put it this way: the Cowboy offense averaged 29 points in their losses last year and never scored fewer than 20 points. If the Georgia defense can’t hold them well below that average, the pressure will be on Joe Cox and the Georgia offense to be both efficient and productive out of the gate in Cox’s first start since 2006.

The Georgia Sports Blog started it off with a look at the matchups in the trenches when OSU has the ball. It’s a formidable line, especially at tackle, but he noted that Georgia should have the advantage in the interior. Chris Brown added to the discussion yesterday with a look at the Cowboy scheme and what plays are most effective. He observes that, despite the spread and the notoriety of a high-profile QB and WR, they are still very much a run-first team and led the Big 12 in rushing with over 3,000 yards in 2007 (and 2008).

Does pwd’s confidence in Georgia’s ability to stop the run hold up against a productive running game? If you put any stock in the 2007 game it does. Georgia held OSU to 70 rushing yards (99 yards total by the running backs). That’s not a shutdown on the Ron Dayne or Javon Ringer level, but it was a quality result against a team that would prove to be productive on the ground.

As pwd points out, that same job is easier said than done this time against a pair of senior offensive tackles, one of whom is a sure first-round NFL pick next year. The positive news is that a healthy Rod Battle has done it before against Oklahoma State. He and Marcus Howard were relentless in 2007 and helped lead the Georgia defense to record five sacks. Battle is back and healthy, but Howard of course is long gone, and Justin Houston won’t be available.

All of this leads me to think that the biggest challenge facing the Georgia defensive ends might be as much containment as it is pure pass rush. Even if Owens and Atkins are effective up the middle, Oklahoma State will test Georgia’s ends, linebackers, and secondary with the speed option and zone read. We’ll find out quickly whether Georgia’s tackling woes could be cured during the offseason.

Containment is just as important against the pass – with a mobile quarterback like Robinson, it’s going to be tough to affect him just from a push by the tackles. There are few things more demoralizing for a defense than watching a quarterback scramble out of a sure sack only to run for a first down or buy extra time to find his receiver.

Brown notes that “The Cowboys’ best pass play last year was often ‘Just throw it up to Dez'” and stresses the need for OSU to find a bit more diversity in the passing game. We saw this in action two years ago. Georgia did a fair job keeping Adarius Bowman from breaking out in 2007 (4 catches, 65 yards, 1 TD). OSU’s leading receiver that day was actually TE Brandon Pettigrew (7 catches, 85 yards). No other player caught more than one pass. This year, though, Pettigrew is gone, and expected TE replacement Jamal Mosely was arrested during the summer and might be suspended. For the Cowboys to find much diversity in the passing game, they’re going to have to turn to some receivers who put up fewer than 20 catches last season.

Yes, Steve Spurrier (or, more accurately, the South Carolina ballot) was the one who made the unforgivable omission and didn’t include Tim Tebow as their first-team quarterback. It’s really pretty sad to watch this play out with a mealy-mouthed apology and actually attempting to correct the “mistake”.

Pat Forde has a good point…when we talk about credibility and the coaches’ poll, we’re usually talking about the secret ballot stuff and transparency. But even if the ballots are public, does it matter that they’re really being filled out by an SID or the director of operations or anyone but the head coach whose name is on the ballot?

Anyway, hopefully Tebow will issue absolution and we can move on with our lives. But before we do…Tebow (or anyone else) wasn’t a unanimous choice by the media either. Just as bad, one media ballot named Ole Miss their choice for SEC champion instead of Florida. We look forward to the investigation.

And by the way…why was Julio Jones a unanimous pick by the coaches and not A.J. Green? Huh? HUH?

I’m kind of looking forward to Friday afternoon after every SEC coach has denied voting Tim Tebow anything but Supreme Lord and Master. Anyone want to lay odds on a reporter calling for the ballots to be published?

As Chris Low points out, the coaches might be the wrong people to be asking.

Talking about whether Georgia really did still have open slots in its 2010 recruiting class, we speculated yesterday that “at this stage that Georgia knows exactly whom they’d like to take those remaining scholarships, and those few know who they are.” Sure enough, not 24 hours have passed and two more commitments have come out of the woodwork. They’re both significant.

The first was Florida athlete Nickell Robey. Robey was one of Georgia’s top cornerback targets, and he got his family’s blessing to commit after visiting last weekend for Dawg Night. He’s the cousin of Bulldog tailback Carlton Thomas and, like Thomas, could be considered on the small side for his position. At 5’8″ and 165 lbs., he’ll draw comparisons to Tim Jennings, but Robey’s offer sheet was much longer than Jennings’. Everyone from Virginia Tech to Florida had offered Robey before he settled on the Bulldogs.

Robey’s commitment was followed this morning by word from SW DeKalb defensive end T.J. Stripling. Stripling, rated the nations #28 player by Rivals.com, stands 6’6″ and had offers from almost all of the area’s top programs. Some had expected a commitment from Stripling a few weeks ago when SWD teammate Kendrun Malcome committed to Georgia, but Stripling chose to wait. In the meantime, Georgia received a commitment from defensive end Dexter Morant, and many assumed that the Bulldogs were finished at the position with four DE commitments. The Dawgs had room though for one of the nation’s top players, and it’s possible that one or two of the five DE commitments could end up at either defensive tackle or even linebacker.

The Dawgs now have 18 commitments, and all but five are on the defensive side of the ball, and there might be more defenders yet to come. If nothing else, the Dawgs should have one hell of an intramural basketball team with defensive end commitments going 6’5″, 6’6″, and 6’7″.

If it’s time for the annual preseason polls, it must be time for the annual griping about preseason polls. This year BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall adds a “philosophical” objection.

“I don’t think it’s possible to pick, nor do I think philosophically there ought to be a preseason poll, period,” BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “There shouldn’t be a preseason conference poll nor a preseason national poll. Maybe after game six, then possibly there would be enough information to make a determination. The rest of it is just speculation, things to talk about that don’t matter much until we know something.

Given the way we decide our champion, it should be no surprise that college football fans obsess over polls. The body of the previous season is barely cold before the media start lining the teams up for the next season. Why? Well, yes, lists and rankings are easy pieces to bang out, but fans eat it up. We line up to buy our Steele, Athlon, and Lindy. We know they’re guesses, but who cares? Even if you delay official polls, nothing at all is going to derail the fans’ appetite for polls or the industry that feeds it. There will just be two fewer polls in a sea of dozens.

Mendenhall and others so set against preseason polls should try this exercise: halfway through the season, sit down and jot down your rankings. (No peeking!) See how much they differ from the rest of the polls which have had six weeks to adjust. My guess is that the two sets of rankings will be almost indistinguishable.

The AP poll after week 6 of the 2008 season had a top 5 of Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, LSU, and Texas. Eventual national champion Florida wasn’t even in the top 10. What is it about delaying the poll a few weeks that’s supposed to give us a better read on the season versus the preseason polls? At least the preseason AP poll had both national championship participants in its top 5.

A list of Georgia football offers for the class of 2010 might challenge the team limit of 85 scholarships much less the limit of 25 for a single class. Many of those offered will simply choose to go elsewhere. But as a class with limited room fills up, some find their spots taken and their offers no longer valid.

Take the case of Texas cornerback Kacy Rodgers. A week or so ago he was down to Florida and Georgia. Suddenly this week he commits to Miami without even visiting. Sudden change of heart? More likely Georgia and Florida both sent signals that Rodgers no longer had a spot waiting for him. It’s part of life in college sports, happens with every program every year, and we usually don’t hear about it because the communication is smooth.

Things can go very wrong when the communication breaks down. That seems to have been the case with QB/WR Devin Burns from Carver High School in Columbus. Burns received an offer from Georgia during the spring, but of course the recruiting outlook has changed much since then. Burns came to Athens along with several other top prospects over the weekend, and he intended to commit. The Georgia coaching staff flubbed communicating the fact that Burns’ spot had been taken, and the Georgia coaches were left in the embarrassing position of scrambling to rescind the offer before Burns had a chance to commit.

The fallout has been severe: the Bulldogs are “banned” from recruiting Carver according to Carver coach and Auburn alum Dell McGee. McGee has been in contact with the Georgia coaches who admitted their screw-up, but his ban remains in place for the time being. The ban won’t hurt Georgia much this year, but Carver usually has several D-1 quality prospects, and that will be the case again next year.

Complicating things is the NCAA rule that June 1st – July 31st is a quiet period for recruiting. That means that only on-campus contact is permitted with prospects. That’s why on-campus camps are so important – it gives the coaching staff a chance to evaluate and have contact with prospects that would otherwise be against the rules. For that reason, contact with prospects during this time either has to happen on-campus or indirectly through high school coaches. On the other hand, the prospect may call almost any time he likes. Burns confirmed his offer in late spring, but McGee admits that Georgia “didn’t know about (Burns’) intent to commit.” Communication during this quiet period hasn’t been clear in either direction.

Mark Richt is doing what he has to in this case and admitting complete fault in the face of an emotional reaction by the Carver coach. We’ve talked about “bans” before when it was Spurrier getting the boot, and ultimately it’s the relationship with the school that matters. The outcome here will likely be that Georgia gets a bit of egg on their face, Richt and staff cowtow, and the ban is lifted after a while. Just as it makes little sense for Georgia to alienate an in-state high school, it also doesn’t make much sense for the high school to shut out a top 10 program for very long.

McGee for his part did a bit of overreaching in his assessment of Georgia’s recruiting. He assumes that “Georgia still has scholarships left. It isn’t like they ran out of scholarships. That wasn’t the case.” While we’ve all done the math and figured out that Georgia still has a few slots left without public commitments in the 2010 class, it’s also reasonable at this stage that Georgia knows exactly whom they’d like to take those remaining scholarships, and those few know who they are. Georgia wouldn’t rescind a scholarship if it didn’t have a firm grasp on the numbers and how the last few commitments will go. “They ran out of scholarships” is exactly what’s going on, and at least Georgia is dealing with the cleanup now instead of oversigning and cutting the kid down the road.

SEC Media Days get underway this week, and the coaches will take time from counting TV money long enough to meet the press before we get into the serious business of preseason camp. The headlines across the conference are familiar enough to anyone who’s been around during the offseason, but hopefully there will be a few new good ones to come out of the week.

To get ready (and maybe save you some time later in the week), here are the obvious story lines for each program in convenient Twitter-sized bites:

Alabama: Avoiding a drop-off. Schedule sets up. Defense is stout – 1992 stout? Julio is a star – can McElroy deliver, and is losing Andre Smith that big?

Arkansas: Holy schedule. Is Mallett really the next big deal? Michael Smith healthy = a must. Offense seems primed; can they stop anyone?

Auburn: Bigger impact: Chizik or Malzahn? What can be made out of Kodi Burns and the offense? Seven defensive starters back, but only one Auburn a preseason all-SEC?

Georgia: Replace Stafford and Moreno? Is Cox up to the job? Leadership, injuries, offensive line, defensive ends. AJ Green and who else?

Florida: ZOMG TEBOW – unanimous? Forget the spread option – the entire defense is back. If they can stay hungry and protect TT, what can stop them?

Kentucky: Hartline meh. Trevard Lindley, Micah Johnson yay. Veteran OL. How to make the most of Randall Cobb? Success = another minor bowl.

LSU: Hey, remember us? QB play could make or break the season. Can Chavis bring back the defense? Reloading on the DL. B-R showdown with Florida.

Mississippi: Huge expectations. Snead is the real deal, but can anyone protect him like Oher? DL looks decent, but after that…

Mississippi State: How quickly can Mullen change culture? Not much expected right away, but maybe they can score occasionally now. Uh, oh: Anthony Dixon FAIL?

South Carolina: Putting all hope in Garcia. Spurrier in twilight, or does he still have it? Norwood’s 34th season. Replacing McKinley and the Cooks.

Tennessee: Kiffin & Co. How far can they ride Berry? If only Berry could QB and throw to himself. Welcome absence of subpoenas.

Vanderbilt: How do they follow up a bowl win? QB position unsettled – shocker. 9 starters back on a good defense, but D.J. Moore tough to replace.

The coaches’ preseason all-conference teams are out, and Hale has the complete list. The nine Georgia representatives are pretty much who you’d expect, though some fans probably might be surprised to see Prince Miller and Rashad Jones get mention. (You shouldn’t be.) Florida’s 16 representatives were far and away the most, and LSU, Alabama, and Georgia were all pretty close at the top of the list. Though Georgia had nine players receive preseason honors, only two (Green and Curran) were first-teamers. But that’s not a surprise, is it?

On the whole, the lists more or less validate what we’ve known about the team. On defense, the representatives are the defensive tackles, Curran, and the returning defensive backs. Georgia’s questions at defensive end, two new starters in the secondary, and hit-or-miss play at the other linebacker spots are familiar offseason story lines. Green’s first-team selection was expected, and the three other representatives on offense are all offensive line starters. It’s that offensive line that drew my attention.

Georgia has two second-teamers and a third-teamer on the preseason lists. Not bad – only Florida is better represented (with two first-teamers and a second-teamer, not to mention a TE). Before you note that Sturdivant might be underrated because of his injury, he didn’t make the preseason lists at all last year *before* his injury. He had a great freshman season, and his ability to perform with any competency at all made the 2007 season possible. But he was still a freshman.

For the first time in several years, we’re able to talk with confidence about both depth and quality experience on the line. That’s an improvement and worth something. It should be a very solid unit (health permitting of course), and we know they will be well-coached. If Georgia had decent lines given the circumstances of the past two seasons, how good can they be with a bit more experience, health, and depth?

That said, does the absence of first-team candidates (and this is all-SEC, let alone all-American) lead anyone to think that we might be building this line up a little too much as the strength of the offense? I don’t mean that they’ll fall apart – we’ve seen too much from the projected starters to know better. I mean that a lot of us are depending on this line not only to protect and maximize the production of Cox but also to clear the way for a muddled group of tailbacks. Are they to that point yet, and is it possible for the line to do everything we need of it without at least one dominant all-SEC first-teamer? It doesn’t take a Ciron Black to have a good line, but do you need those kinds of stars to make the line the “brick wall” that will allow the rest of the offense to come along?

Of the projected starters, I think Boling is the most likely to make a postseason first-team list. As a junior he’s one of the most experienced of the group, he’s remained healthy, and (again depending on the rest of the line holding up) he’s starting off at a position where he’s done very well. Others like Glenn and Jones are definitely coming along, but as sophomores it’s probably too soon for them to vault to the top of the conference. As for Sturdivant and Vance, we’re all holding our breath waiting to see how they come back from major injuries.

Congratulations to Trey Thompkins and Ashley Houts who both earned gold medals as members of world championship teams over the weekend.

Thompkins and Team USA beat Greece to win the FIBA under-19 world basketball championship. If a basketball gold medal seems like a non-story, these current U-19 players were barely drawing breath when the US won its last U-19 gold 18 years ago. The USA finished the competition at 9-0; all other nations lost at least two games.

Thompkins played in all nine games and averaged 10.6 PPG and 5 rebounds per game while shooting over 54% from the floor. His most productive game was an earlier outing against Greece where he put up 22 points on 10-14 shooting. He followed that up with a near double-double against Puerto Rico.

Houts helped Team USA win the World University Games, and the team clinched the gold with a convincing win over Russia. Like the men, the women ran through the tournament field undefeated.

Houts started three of the seven games and averaged just over 19 MPG – a far cry from the 39+ minutes she averages in college. Houts put up 8.3 PPG on very solid shooting: 52.6% overall and 47.1% from behind the arc. She can’t be happy with her assists-to-turnovers (11 to 14), but she did add 12 steals on the defensive end.

That’s the good news. The bad news? That means that over a third of the 37 signees aren’t on campus. Included in those yet to report are highly-regarded signees Bobby Massie and Jamar Hornsby. In the case of Massie and others, academics are at issue. Hornsby has some additional problems you might have heard about.

On the Georgia front, the only 2009 signee not working out on campus is Kwame Geathers, and he’s expected to join the team Real Soon Now™ which has been SOP for the arrival of pretty much every member of the Geathers family over the past few years.

When he’s not bankrolling the Oklahoma State football program, T. Boone Pickens is of course at the forefront of the energy industry. In business just as in sports you win some and lose some, and a change in plans has Pickens with a bit of an inventory problem on his hands.

Plans for the world’s largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle have been scrapped, energy baron T. Boone Pickens said Tuesday, and he’s looking for a home for 687 giant wind turbines.

Pickens has already ordered the turbines, which can stand 400 feet tall — taller than most 30-story buildings.

“When I start receiving those turbines, I’ve got to … like I said, my garage won’t hold them,” the legendary Texas oilman said. “They’ve got to go someplace.”

That’s correct…Pickens’ garage will only hold 356 of the 30-story turbines. He could always put up a few around campus to clear the smoke.

Everyone is all over the announcments of the ESPN/ABC crews for the 2009 season, and the names range from the celebrities (Musburger and Herbstreit) to the familiar (Dave Neal) to the cringeworthy (Matt Millen) to the unknown (Carter Blackburn?).

Georgia fans will recognize two of the names brought on as part of the deal to enhance ESPN’s SEC coverage. Former Bulldog starts Matt Stinchcomb and David Pollack will join the team: Stinchcomb as studio host for the syndicated SEC games, and both Pollack and Stinchcomb as studio hosts for ESPNU games. Both will also be a part of the SEC Weekly show on ESPNU alongside host Cara Capuano.

When Stinchcomb was part of the G-Day broadcast you got the impression that it was kind of an audition, and he came across well. The powers-that-be in Bristol must have agreed. Pollack similarly has built experience on local Atlanta sports radio and seems at ease behind the microphone.

Of all the moves (oy, Andre Ware), I’m glad to see Nessler join the top ESPN crew. It’s not that Mike “Britney Spears” Patrick was BCS on Fax bad, but ESPN has spread him so thin across so many sports that he never really seemed (to me) as someone who could be the face (or voice) of primetime college football. Now of course Nessler isn’t a football-only guy and is as well-known for his basketball work as anything else, but he does have a strong football background and local ties – longtime Falcon fans will remember him as the play-by-play guy in the 1980s.

And of course, you can’t have an early afternoon SEC game without a Dave. Amen to that and Osmose commercials.

ESPN Regional Affiliates

It was announced last month that Peachtree TV would carry the noon ESPN Regional game of the week (can we just keep calling it the JP game to keep things straight?). But that was only for Atlanta. As with JP/Raycom/Lincoln Financial, the ESPN Regional games will be shown on a network of local stations throughout the southeast. Since the Peachtree TV announcement, other affiliates have been announced. This is still a work-in-progress (I don’t see a Macon affiliate, for example), but here’s a partial list:

Georgia

• Atlanta, GA – WPCH (Ptree TV)
• Augusta, GA – WRDW (CBS 12)
• Columbus, GA – WXTX (Fox)
• Savannah, GA – WTGS (Fox)
• Albany, GA – WALB (NBC 10)

Florida

• Jacksonville, FL – WJXT (News4)

Carolinas

• Charlotte, NC – WAXN (TV64)
• Columbia, SC – WIS (NBC 10)
• Greenville/Spartanburg, SC – WSPA/WYCW

Other updates and affiliates can be found here.

The Palmetto State is home to some of the nation’s more rabid football fans. Clemson is the ACC’s closest analogue to an SEC school, and South Carolina fans are known for being loyal even through lean years. But with an unemployment rate over 12%, South Carolina has been impacted by the recession more than all but a couple of states. Naturally the economy has taken its toll on demand for the luxury of watching and supporting college football.

Clemson’s season ticket sales are down 12%, and the school expects lower revenue not just from ticket sales but also corporate sponsorships and individual contributions. “As a result, Clemson projects it could fall between $1 million and $2 million short of projected revenue for next year’s budget.” It’s somewhat of a cruel twist of fate that Clemson’s success in growing its fan base is causing it pain now. “Clemson figures to be among the hardest hit in the ACC because it is believed to possess among the largest pools of season-ticket holders.”

At South Carolina, the bad economy comes hand-in-hand with the poorly-timed introduction of a seat licensing plan (similar to Georgia’s Hartman Fund). Though the program has raised over $6 million for the program, the fallout over the plan is speculated to be behind the resignation of Bryan Risner, a “central figure” in the licensing plan. The plan has caused attrition in the Gamecock Club and has had an impact on ticket sales.

Demand seems to be holding up not only for Georgia but also Georgia Tech, but it’s certainly not a time for any program to rest on its laurels.

“Impermissible snacks” have been in the news this week thanks to the University of South Carolina’s report of secondary NCAA violations. Snack food is serious business, and even the NCAA realizes that there are some things you wouldn’t serve a starving dog, let alone a prime student-athlete.

We’re all about NCAA compliance here, so we realize that just what is and isn’t a permissible snack might be unclear. The NCAA rulebooks actually spend a good six pages on the subject, and the Pac-10’s controversial proposal to remove sushi from the list caused no small amount of debate at last year’s rules committee meeting. So that we’re in the clear, here is just a sampling of the impermissible snacks to avoid at your tailgates this fall:

Fritos. I know they’re popular, easy to find, and can even team up with chili. But there’s still this fact: no one smells good after eating Fritos. They smell like pets’ feet.

Shrimp cocktail. Shrimp is great in a low country boil or a gumbo, but few things are less appetizing than shrimp cocktail that’s sat out on the tailgating table in the hot sun for more than a minute or two.

Salami. See Fritos. Cold cuts are great and convinient to have at a tailgate – just not the ones that you’ll smell like for the rest of the day.

Cauliflower. Many fruits and veggies are fine – celery and carrots can be easily dipped and go well with wings and other finger food. But there’s just no place for cauliflower. It’s not visually appealing, it’s awkward to hold, and most of us have deep and unpleasant memories from being forcefed cauliflower as a child. Why risk bringing up your guests’ repressed traumatic childhoods over a vegetable?

Beef jerky. Jerky is fine if you’re finding your inner Bear Grylls in the woods for a week, but at a tailgate you really should have fresher and tastier sources of meat. That’s what the grill is for, after all. Besides – with the current Slim Jim shortage gripping the country, it would be irresponsible to waste our nation’s scarce jerky reserves in a setting where there are better ways to eat animals.

Smartfood popcorn. A tough call here – I love the stuff. But there’s no way of avoiding the finger-licking-good residue that builds up after you realize you’ve been eating the stuff constantly for the past half hour and have gone through a good 3/4 of a bag. Ordinarily this is no problem, but most tailgates don’t lend themselves to easily removing the powdery cheesy slurry that forms on the fingers after a good handful or 47 of the stuff. If you tailgate at an RV or right near a public washroom, consider yourself lucky.

Bad salsa. Salsa is too easy to make yourself to serve the bad stuff. You might as well break out the Fritos rather than serve chips with the bottled sludge that’s basically warm chunks of tomato + hot sauce.

Rice cakes. Even if you’re going to pile 3 pounds of pulled pork on top of them, this is no time to be serving rice cakes.

Most flavored chips. Salt-vinegar-jalepeno-mango chips might be the greatest thing you’ve ever tasted, but tailgating is as much about community as anything else. Have stuff that most everyone might like.

Add yours in the comments. We’ll get Damon Evans to sponsor legislation to put ’em on the list next year.

It’s Georgia week over at SEC blog Team Speed Kills, and they’re following their pattern of light previews leading up to predictions later in the week. Today there’s an interesting look at the “Richt does his best under low expectations” meme. I have to agree with the conclusion – it’s not as if Georgia came from the “Others Receiving Votes” field before Richt’s SEC championship seasons. At that level, we’re often talking about the difference of a single game, and while Georgia might have “disappointed” in 2004 and 2008, a combined 5 losses in those two years wasn’t exactly the faceplant of, say, the 2000 Alabama team. There’s been very little difference between Richt’s “underachieving” teams and those that we celebrate, and at TSK points out, how the other teams in the division fare has a lot to do with it. Would we remember 2005 and even D.J. Shockley the same if Urban Meyer’s first team doesn’t lose to South Carolina?

Keep reading over there through the week. The predictions should be fun with several toss-up games. Even for rabid partisan Georgia fans it’s hard to get a read on this year’s team, so it’s always interesting to see what those less familiar with the team think.