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COACHING CAROUSEL
Dan Mullen is 1A at Miami
I say it as a fact because of Mullen's "denial," if you can really call it that.
"Oh? That’s nice. You’d probably need to talk to my wife about that. She’s around the corner and she really likes Starkville, Mississippi."
There's no mention of whether Rick Cleveland asked the obvious follow-up question: "What does she think of South Beach?"
For his part, Mississippi State AD Scott Stricklin also ain't talking, though university policy conveniently keeps him from doing so.
Stricklin, citing MSU policy, would not comment on whether Miami or a firm in charge of the coaching search had asked for permission to speak to Mullen.
There's plenty of reasons to think that there's some fire to this smoke.
Sun Sentinel backs that up
First, a bit about how committed Jon Gruden is to Monday Night Football:
A source told the Sun Sentinel on Sunday that Gruden, currently an analyst for ESPN, initiated contact with UM a few weeks before Hocutt fired Shannon on Saturday night.
But back to Mr. 1A.
According to a one source, Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen likely would be the Hurricanes' next choice if an agreement isn't reached with Gruden.
Again, it's getting really hard to ignore all this. The question is how much the potential of Miami would come into play. Miami is not as wealthy as you might think based on its reputation, though the question would still likely be by how much the Hurricanes might outbid the Western Division Bulldogs instead of whether they would.
Mullen on the Egg Bowl: ‘We’re never losing to this team again’
Well, yeah. It's easy to say that when you've played your last game against them
Gus Malzahn also issuing non-denial denials
It's that time of the year, I suppose.
"The only thing I’m focused on is this game and trying to do the best job I can to help our team," he said. "I don’t pay much attention to it. I guess it would be a little flattering that your name is out there, but I don’t get caught up in that."
He gets caught up in actually having a contract offer in hand.
Vanderbilt rumors lead Gobbler Country to go to Bud Foster Alert Level: Guarded
That's not even duct-tape level, folks, so it doesn't sound like they're very concerned right now.
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Of course, they only need him to play for three quarters
South Carolina says there's no reason to worry that Stephen Garcia's mysteriously injured arm will keep him out of the SEC Championship Game.
"He should be fine by Saturday night," Spurrier said of the country's 14th-rated passer.
Vegas has put the game back on the board for now.
The fine should be $180,000
The SEC can fine Auburn if Cam Newton doesn't talk to the media after Saturday's game, with the amount to be decided by Commissioner Mike Slive.
The highest cost for an SEC Championship Game ticket
$10,000. That's one you take the verification center before buying.
OTHER NEWS
Just when you thought it might go away, MusicGate grows
And now we've added hypocrisy to the mix.
Justin Brant, director of Crimson Tide Productions, which oversees elements of game-day presentation at University of Alabama football games, participated in selecting the songs -- "Son of a Preacher Man" and "Take the Money and Run" -- and was in the control room while they were played, The Tuscaloosa News has learned.
Brant still has his job, according to the News, which raises the question of why he hasn't been shown the door. But Alabama also hasn't really answered the question of why it was so important to fire the other guy in the first place, so I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
Alligator Army tells John Brantley to leave
But not because mlmintampa thinks John Brantley is a bad quarterback.
Meyer kept Brantley around because he couldn't stand to lose a top QB recruit from 40 minutes south on I-75. Brantley has been a good soldier, but when he got his shot, Meyer failed him.
There's no doubt that the offense wasn't optimized for Brantley's skill set. And there's almost no doubt that the 2011 offense will be much different.
B.J. Scott looks likely to transfer from Alabama to South Alabama
He was a five-star recruit in 2008, and the reason you're unlikely to have heard of him is that he never caught on.
I'll be honest, his struggles are really nothing short of mystifying. He wasn't a character case, that much we know for certain, otherwise he wouldn't have lasted three years under Saban. A lot of people speculated that he could never grasp the playbook, but we've never seen anything at all to confirm that, and he was a good student in high school so I tend to doubt that was the case.
Sometimes, things don't work out and there just isn't an easy reason for it.
Texas A&M is going to the Cotton Bowl
This could be a problem for Arkansas if South Carolina wins Saturday and the Capital One Bowl decides to go with someone else. (Not that the SEC would be likely to allow that, but humor me for a moment here.) That could knock the Razorbacks all the way down to the Peach Bowl if the Cotton Bowl wants to keep from hosting a rematch -- which is probably one of the reasons why the SEC would not allow it.
Roll Bama Roll brings up another good point
All signs seem to indicate that, with Arkansas regular season opponent already scheduled to play in the game, it will be the Tide vs. the Aggies.
That basically leaves either Alabama or LSU, and for what it's worth LSU opens the 2011 season at JerryLand against Oregon, so that may be a consideration that comes into play as well.
Jerry Jones Death Star ahead!
If both of them are still there, that is
Mark Richt could coach against Howard Schnellenberger -- his former coach -- in 2012. Florida Atlantic has scheduled a game with Georgia, showing that Greg McGarity is basically importing wholesale the scheduling philosophy he learned at Florida.
Kenny Rogers and the Mississippi Secretary of State's office has a date
And it's after the SEC Championship Game, which should give you an idea of the time frame on all these investigations.
Site Note
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