SECRET AGENT MEN
Mark Richt maintains radio silence
This would trouble me if I'm a Georgia fan. Almost every player in this saga -- except some of the players at the hiring agency that is North Carolina football -- has received a verdict of some kind. Not so with A.J. Green.
"I'm just gonna do what I was told," Richt said. "And that was just don't make any comment on the A.J. Green situation. So in any way shape or form, I'm just gonna say no comment."
Which is what he should do. But it's getting harder and harder to believe that we've heard everything there is to know about this.
Spurrier: Nothing changes
The defense will prepare the same either way, which is also what they should do. But it would help if Chris Culliver weren't facing his own NCAA questions.
Spurrier also speculated that Georgia WR A.J. Green's status wouldn't be known until gametime. He was held out of UGA's game Saturday, amid the swirling NCAA cloud.
"As we’ve learned, we might not know until Saturday morning if he’s playing," Spurrier said of Green. "Georgia might not know until then. … Some days they (the NCAA) wait until the last day to tell you whether they’re playing or not. They tell us who plays and we go at it. That’s how you have to operate."
It shouldn't be, not for Georgia or South Carolina or any other school. But it is.
He won't answer those questions
So The Post and Courier put an interview with Green to better use (I guess): Asking him about the celebration penalty against LSU.
"I still don't understand that call. I was trying to get back to the sidelines, but the guys wouldn't let me get back there. They were lifting me up and then the ref threw the flag. To me, that's part of the game. It's an emotional game."
Not in the NCAA's eyes, it's not. Maybe that's what this is all about.
At UNC, John Blake (cough cough) 'resigns'
First, let's translate the statement issued on Blake's behalf by UNC. What it says:
"While I have enjoyed my tenure at the University of North Carolina, it has become apparent to me over the course of the past few weeks that my presence has become a distraction to my family and to this great university, too," Blake said.
What I'm guessing it means:
"While I have enjoyed the opportunity to further my practice of sending players to agent-friends, it has become apparent to UNC over the course of the past few weeks that getting rid of me is the only way to try to mitigate the nuclear weapon the NCAA is pointing at the school."
All that ALLEGEDLY, of course.
Now, let's read between the lines and see if we can figure out why Blake's resignation was announced when it was.
Asked directly if Blake had received money from agents while he was coaching, [Wade] Smith responded: "That's a complicated question. I should not deal with that, with answering that, while the investigations are ongoing."
Wade Smith, in case you're wondering, is identified in the story as "a prominent Raleigh lawyer and North Carolina football standout from 1956 to 1960 [who] has been working with Blake." In other words, he's on Blake's side.
And if you really want to suspend all that disbelief and say that Blake resigned, then answer this: Why is he getting a buyout for resigning?
If you didn't see Marvin Austin's wonderful outfit Saturday
Please follow the link and see the picture at the top of the blog post. If it was an attempt to disguise himself, it failed, as the picture by one of the state's papers and the cameos during ABC's broadcast of the game show.
OTHER NEWS
Never change, Steve
Spurrier talked about more than Green on his conference call.
Spurrier, who had a free Saturday to watch football since his team played on Thursday last week, was asked if any teams across the country particularly impressed him. "You mean other than Jacksonville State?" he replied.
Houston Nutt, you have now been Spurrier'd.
No, Mr. Walker, I'm afraid you're wrong about that
Rod Walker apparently uses a gimmick from his other beat at the Clarion-Ledger to discuss the Ole Miss game: The "Sunday Morning Hangover."
Welcome to Sunday Morning Hangover, where we discuss Saturday’s game. (Well considering I’m just serving as your interim beat writer, this may be the only hangover.)
I doubt that very seriously. I see many, many hangovers in Ole Miss' future.
It's hard to argue with the sentiment, though
We'll of course have more in the weekend review later, but Mike Pouncey says he knows what happened to Florida.
I take full credit for messing up the whole offense.It was all on me. I’m the leader of the offense and I let the guys down.
That is a bit unfair. Pouncey was hardly the only problem for Florida (or even the offense) on Saturday. No word on whether Pouncey cried or promised to be the hardest working player you've ever seen from now on.
Thankfully, we have screen shots
Some will argue that this Les Miles tweet was a mistake. I think it was his actual reaction to Saturday night's game. It has unfortunately been deleted from his account.
A faux pin by Vince Dooley?
I missed this Saturday on Twitter, but apparently Vince Dooley wore a Tennessee pin to his son's first game as head coach of the Vols.
Within seven minutes of this newspaper’s Wes Rucker tweeting about the pin, he’d received at least 10 tweets from Georgia fans that mostly echoed Jason W.’s terse response: "Vince is wearing a T pin? He’s dead to me."
Mrs. Dooley was not in good shape at the game -- apparently more nervous than when her husband was coaching -- and Johnny Majors was in good spirits. Er ... I mean ...
In any case, it's a nice human-interest story if you're into that sort of thing.
Phrasing is everything
I know Tennessee player have to have been excited after their win. And it's quite possible that a beat writer's question set this up. But Chris Walker of Tennessee should never, ever have said this.
Oh, we already know the bar has been raised.
The bar? Really? You don't say.
The worst kept secret in college football
GameDay is headed to Tuscaloosa this weekend.
The Forcier is no longer with them?
Why did you hear something this weekend about Tate Forcier maybe transferring?
"All you need to know is I’m out," Tate Forcier said when a reporter from AnnArbor.com attempted to ask Forcier about Coach Rich Rodriguez’s decision to play Denard Robinson and Devin Gardner ahead of him in a 30-10 victory over Connecticut.
Forcier then reportedly declined further comment or explanation.
Ah, well, that's why. So is it true?
Really, Houston Nutt wants to know if it's true.
Forcier's father: Not so fast
Mike Forcier says he wants no part of a transfer, according to mgoblog.
I really think Rich Rodriguez is trying to make a true leader out of him on and off the field. Again, no one sees everything that goes on inside. Tate is a competitive, emotional kid that was having mixed emotions.
Which is understandable. But Forcier certainly didn't do himself any favors Saturday.