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Sprints Listens to Steve Spurrier and Watches John L.'s Money // 10.08.12

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Steve Spurrier is truly back, Part 75

If only he managed football games as well as he's managed his bankruptcy
John L. Smith is a likeable guy who's gone through more than his fair share of tragedy in recent weeks. And we've generally stayed away from the bankruptcy stuff, except for a mention here and there, because it's really not that much of our business.

All that said -- this looks kind of shady. Essentially, JohnL was able to get the university to structure his contract so that the lion's share of his earnings from Arkansas will come on Dec. 31 or later. Which also happens to put them on the other side of his bankruptcy filing. Coincidentally, I'm sure.

"It was an obvious attempt to avoid having to turn the cash over to the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee and alter the amount of income he had to show," said Scott Ehrlich, a professor and bankruptcy expert at the California Western School of Law.

The obvious caveat here is that a lot of people who are declaring bankruptcy are careful about the timing of that declaration and pay attention to how they handle their money around that time -- but most of them aren't newsworthy because they're not the head coach of an SEC football program. At least, in name.

Still, this is not the kind of questions that Smith and the Arkansas administration want to be dealing with as they try to salvage what's left of their season. Not that they can really blame it on anyone else but themselves.

Not cool
Christian Robinson had a hard enough night Saturday without having to return home and find a reminder of just how difficult that night had been.

"Came to a house that was egged and rolled. Seems that people turn on you when you're not perfect. Thought we were in this together."

Mark Richt was pretty sanguine about the whole thing, which I guess is why he's called "Mark Richt." But the fact of the matter is that we all need to learn to calm down a little bit about these games. The guys playing them are at most 21- and 22-year-olds (generally) who are doing the best they can of juggling football and class and being college students. Give them a break.

Missouri is apparently a land of great optimism
You might have heard that Missouri lost to Vanderbilt over the weekend. And you might have heard that they lost their starting quarterback in that game. And further, you might have heard that the backup quarterback completed less than a third of his passes. But with Alabama coming to town, Missouri players are ...

"As I can see, you don’t have any faith in Missouri, but I do" Missouri cornerback Kip Edwards told a reporter who asked that question. "We can beat anybody. It starts in practice."

... irrationally exuberant, it would seem. Sure, no on expects Missouri players to trot out there and say that next week's game is already over, and there is always the slimmest possibility in college football of an upset. But, oh, are they in for a bit of a surprise.

This could be an issue
If you saw LSU's defense after Kwon Alexander went down in the game against Florida -- well, that where things really started to go south for the Tigers. And heading into a stretch that has most of the best teams on LSU's schedule looming, it's not exactly the time to be losing defensive starters.

Chad Bumphis is good
If you've followed SEC football at all over the last several years, you know that, but the one Mississippi State record he's set so far and the ones he's aiming for just confirm it.