Herbie sounds smitten. Kirk Herbstreit remembers watching Tim Tebow the first time several years ago.

I said to (ESPN's Chris) Fowler, we were standing on the sidelines: 'It's like Roy Hobbs or something from the movie The Natural.' I'd never seen anything like it. And it'd just been a love affair from that point on. I could only imagine what it's going to be like his last go-around.

He also says the Golden Tebow is likely the best player ever. This could be a long, long season.

Herbstreit also praised Alabama's starting quarterback.

I think Greg McElroy will be one of the big surprises in the SEC this year. I think, as a junior, he has enough experience, just being around the program, being around John Parker (Wilson), being around (offensive coordinator) Jim McElwain to understand what this offense is about. ... I think he's going to have a huge year.

Nice words. But there doesn't appear to be a love affair there. 

It's like a $3 billion game of chicken
The AP and Gannett are fighting the SEC's new media rules. As in, not accepting credentials. The argument is essentially one in which the SEC is trying to enforce an old-school version of newspapers and the news organizations are showing vision for once.

"The credential restrictions would be untenable," Mark Silverman, editor of the Tennessean, told Editor & Publisher. "They fail to recognize that we are not just a newspaper. We use a variety of mediums and I believe we are going to be able to make a prior restraint argument."

The fight really doesn't help anyone. The AP has dozens of newspapers across the South that rely on it for game coverage and the SEC probably wouldn't have gotten $3 billion from CBS and The SEC Network ESPN if not for the fervent interest helped out by wall-to-wall coverage of the league.

Tennessee fans, Joel wants to save your nose hairs
Rocky Top Talk pleads for patience for Jonathan Crompton.

But even if we are in this camp, we still have to choose whether we'll support Crompton. If we do not, we'll likely spend the first several games terrified of the epic FAIL we're so convinced will happen.

Vols fans can be patient for a while. But it will end in 5... 4...

They would probably rather not
Paul Gattis has an interesting approach for the Tennessee faithful.

But bad as Crompton was last year (five interceptions, four TDs, 51.5 completion rate -- and mere numbers somehow don't quite tell the whole story), just remember Erik Ainge.

Which one?

There goes 35 consecutive starts
C Josh McNeil's streak for Tennessee looks to be over with another round of knee surgery. The helpful prognosis from Lane Kiffin says the injury could cost McNeil "anywhere from three weeks to his career being done."

Randall Cobb is back in practice
This still strikes me as a bizarre injury story.

Saban doesn't have time for that fishing ...
On crappiegate:

"I really can't comment on that," Saban said. "I think the institution has shown great integrity in the way they've handled the situation. It's in someone else's hands, and until it gets decided, I have no comment."

If integrity is either not telling the truth or blowing up a friendship for no reason -- the only two ways Alabama's story makes sense -- then, yeah, they acted with integrity.

They might be giants
As part of his SEC Week, Dr. Saturday notes Ole Miss' losses last year to outfits like South Carolina and Vanderbilt, Dr. Saturday finds the hobgoblin of little minds to be the difference between Ole Miss contending and just having another nice season.

That consistency is the difference between a respectable bowl game and a division title with the BCS at stake, and it's the one quality this team demonstrably lacked last year.

Either way, it's better than what the Rebels were looking at a few years ago.

The Doc isn't high on Vanderbilt
A reminder of the awfulness of Vandy's offense underscores why some are doubtful about another bowl trip.

But then we wouldn't have heard Rece, Mark and Lou say 'The Touchdown Maker!' every Saturday
Urban Meyer almost lost players. Like, a lot of them at a particular position.

"As a matter of fact, I went through this -- every receiver we've ever had at Florida at one point quit. Think about that. From Dallas Baker to (Riley) Cooper and all those guys right in between -- at one point, every one of them."

They stayed, he says, to graduate. Sure. 

Potential QBs for the Vols?
Miami loses two more signal-callers to transfer. Does Randy Shannon have anyone left to put under center if Jacory Harris goes down?