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Earlier on TSK: SEC Baseball: Thursday (In)action Leaves South Carolina, LSU in the Lead
Our wrap-up of Thursday's games and what they mean.
Could DeLoss Dodds and the B1G blow up the playoff plan?
At the very least, the two are headed for one dandy collision. Remember how the B1G wants to make sure that the Rose Bowl is "preserved" in the playoff. This is not so much an issue for Dodds.
"This entity needs to be separate," Dodds said of the final grouping of four. "It needs to be their own bowls, their own TV, their own sponsors. Those four selected would not play in the bowls. And I’d have ‘em bid it out to cities and stadiums for the three games, and I favor neutral sites for the games because using the campuses (as host sites, at least for the two semifinal games) would be too much of an advantage."
This will probably become the de facto position of the Big 12 as the playoff negotiations continue. Fun times ahead.
The city of Atlanta has two more years of existence
When the Alabama fan base meets the West Virginia fan base in an early-season football game -- let's just say that Gen. Sherman will look like a civic booster when those fans are done. Great football game, but the odds of postseason celebrations and disappointments getting out of hand are somewhere north of 105 percent.
Academics? Depends on how much it costs us
Remember all that talk about how the B1G is more interested in academics than the SEC? Well, it seems the university presidents in the Up North Conference are even more interested in money than academics, at least when it comes to their network.
Five years later, the network is running less academic coverage than ever as it generates tens of millions in revenue for the conference and boasts of 51 million subscribers. Citing low ratings and poor production quality, the network and university presidents agreed to slash academic programming and emphasize quality and ratings over quantity.
Again, this wouldn't be a big deal if the B1G hadn't spent so much time making it a big deal, with Jim Delany essentially saying it's easier for SEC teams to recruit because those schools don't care about academics as much as the northern institutions. The B1G only cares about academics until it impedes the flow of money -- just like the SEC.
Bobby Bowden wants Florida State to stay in bad conference so they can win
Really, that's essentially what he said. Not in as many words, of course, but take a look at the statement yourself.
"You say, ‘Well, gosh, they’re much stronger in those conferences.’ Yeah! They beat up on each other and you can’t hardly get there. You know what? Florida State, wait ‘til you get good enough to rule the ACC then you start looking for someplace to jump. But my opinion? They should stay right where they are."
Really, this could become a rallying cry for keeping the ACC together. "The ACC: The conference so bad that even Florida State could dominate it."
Call it 'The Kiffin Rule'
The NCAA plan for revising its rules could lead to a major crackdown on recruiting violations -- including big fines and suspending coaches for a variety of violations that might have been "secondary" in the past. Now at whom could that possibly be aimed?
Corbin Berkstresser suspended
Really, this is not on any level a surprise. The length of the suspension could depend on the decision of Boone County prosecutors.
Mississippi State and Baylor end basketball series
Rick Ray would rather not play such a tough game right after the Maui tournament, apparently.
I love the smell of giggity in the morning
Houston Nutt is coming to satellite radio. That is all.
The last of the original Arkansas Expats bloggers retires
I was excited when the Expats site was added to SB Nation and am sad to see the last member of the original crew go. But the site lives on.
Old Dominion headed to Conference USA
That leaves one less landing spot for the WAC refugees.