DAY TWO: Wrappin' it up
Hey everyone. That's two days of puffery and inanity out of the way, which means we're past the hump. I'm thankful ... like a South Carolina turkey.
The best is yet to come for you all, of course. Gene Chizik leads off tomorrow morning.
Until then, though, let's review the best of today's drivel.
Photo credit: Butch Dill/AP
Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.
The best is yet to come for you all, of course. Gene Chizik leads off tomorrow morning.
Until then, though, let's review the best of today's drivel.
- Vanderbilt coach Robbie Caldwell, pictured at left, revealing that his first job was inseminating turkeys.
- South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier pats himself on the back for only having one player arrested during his time in Columbia, though he noted the charges were dropped. Why are college players being arrested more often? Spurrier says it's because law enforcement actually enforces the law now.
- Caldwell becomes the first SEC coach in history to reference "frog giggin'" when asked about what he did for fun growing up in rural South Carolina.
- Georgia receiver A.J. Green's awkward no-comment answers when asked about reports that he attended the spring party in Miami that has piqued the NCAA's interest.
- Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino reveals that his players must "friend" the team's director of football operations if they plan to have a Facebook page. That allows coaches to monitor what players says on their pages. Gives you that 1984 vibe, no?
- Spurrier says he's no longer the coach who gives outlandish answers, explains that he's not winning enough to be that guy.
Photo credit: Butch Dill/AP
Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.
posted by Jay G. Tate at
5:23 PM
97 Comments:
No comment...
Another great day of coverage, JGT. Thanks!!!
BRILLIANT!
You think Chiz will be even remotely entertaining tomorrow?
Thanks for all of your hard work!
Tiger in MS - are you newly posting? If so, WELCOME!!! If you've been posting all along, it's obvious I don't pay attention.
Chiz will be plain as Jane.
I've seen a couple of newcomers to HABOTN this week. Welcome to them all.
JGT, great substance from B'ham! Thanks for your hard work and getting the Hotties excited for kickoff.
I can understand the friending thing on facebook. It goes along with the banishment to the abyss policy here at HABOTN if you don't friend JG on facebook. We have to have rules.
If we didn't have rules, what would SFC constantly flaunt?
I'm almost afraid I asked that question.
TiM - welcome.
Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm thankful we now have an HC who is plain-vanilla boring with an open mic in front of him.
It beats being deathly afraid of him saying something mind-bendingly stupid.
It's my pleasure, peeps.
Beat ua-t, graduate players, stay out of trouble
Beyond that, I don't care if he's a dull speaker, orates like MLKjr, or speaks like Miss SC.
is the innernettes working any better today jgt?
i second the "great substance" remarks.
i do not and will not have a facebook page. so i will not be friending any of you ever. no offense... i can waste plenty o' time right here on the HABOTN.
i'll get one when i have to get the bar code tattoo on my wrist.
tell that to lsu fans tht. they have les miles and he won a mnc.
i bet the arky dofo's fb page is blowing up with friend requests this afternoon.
chip, you will give in to the pressure and join crackbook one of these days.
Welcome TiM.
I like Chizik just the way he is. He can be funny from time to time. I saw it on "Auburn Everyday". He ins't too silly and he isn't too much of a hard @$$. And there is no way he will compare football to the World Trade Centers.
But he will beat ua-t.
Before December.
No, this is my first time to post. I have been reading daily for 2 years but it just dawned on me to follow and post comments.
ch=b - i did the facebook thing briefly a year or so ago, not from pressure, but from curiosity over what the hubbub was about. Less than a month later, I deactivated the account.
Except I'm still FB friends with Harrison, and now with Chip Chip.
We're darn glad you decided to speak up, TiM. There's a lot of quiet Hotties who should join the chit chat.
'Preciate the great media dais coverage, JGT...
if this mysterious new blog we keep hearing about has a "friend" option, i will friend you all. until then, i hope facebook servers crash early and often. US productivity would instantly increase at least 10%. i also love seeing people freak out when they can't access their page for 5 minutes. i guess there is some good in facebook.
Great job Jay G, can't wait to see the "substance" that is brought tomorrow.
Mr. Cincy's going to be happy! Outlaw Josey Wales is on ION network on Sunday at 3 pm
and 6 pm
and 9 pm!!!
THT,
He was quite despondent that he missed it last week. I must make sure he knows it is on Sunday.
I have finally gotten caught up with all of Jay's news and read all the comments. Good job everyone! I love Robbie Caldwell. He is a hoot.
Welcome Tiger in MS!
Auburn is magnificent as always. Lots of sprucing up being done. I wanted to stay.
New Blogggg???
Every time I hear NEW something electronic that will be better, bigger, faster, easier I shudder cause I know ther is change acomin. Change for old geezers means trouble and many hours of saying what the hell is going on, it worked yesterday but poof gone today.
Welcome TiM. We been running a bit low on TiMs of late. Glad to see you picking up the slack.
As for Chizik, he is to be jugged by the number of bullets Jay is able to generate. The goal is five or less, with four of those containing the phrase "day by day".
We need to come up with questions for Jay to ask the Chiz. How about, what is the likelihood of the team coming out with "The Safety Dance" playing. I would save it for a big game, because I am pretty sure it will confuse the other team.
I'm on Facebook solely to friend my kids and keep an eye on them. That's not big brotherish, it's parenting.
Same with the coaches. It's what you have to do on the Internet.
whatever happened to fat bottomed girls as the intro song? i thought that was a lock.
jasteve, i posted this earlier today. i pretty much had you mind and wanted to make sure you didn't miss it because of the rapid fire succession of bloggin'
malzhaffense
see ya next week after you finish reading it.
NoVA Tiger.....same here only now we have one for work and all my family including my 85 yrold mom has one.
Cincy you said hoot. You must be old fashioned like me.
Thanks Jay....fun was had by all.
Has anyone seen if single game basketball tickets are on sale.
the folks on the pay sites work overtime finding these gems.
tbillie
in all honesty, i hope the class did help improve his writing skills. i remember doing peer reviews in freshman english at AU and being stunned that many of my classmates could not make as complete a sentence as this guy. my spousal unit is in grad school and some of the papers she has to review are shocking as well. mainly because the people are in grad school. if any find this link in poor taste, have our man zap it.
I had to stop reading after the 1st paragraph. It made my head hurt.
Okay chip.....'bout half way through I just had to skim and watch some video.....too much x and o for me. I just enjoy watching the game. The guy in front of me diagrams almost every play.
CH+B,
Have they even released a schedule, much less individual game tix?
Jay,
As a resident of the city of Atlanta and Falcons season ticket holder that listens to sports talk radio in Atlanta...
Petrino will not speak to Atlanta media. Period. Ever. His time with the Falcons didn't exist as far as we know.
Do coaches have handlers at these events that dictate what questions can be asked in relation to each coach?
I hate that man and wish nothing but the worst for him but it's that much more frustrating that I can't ever hear him sweat for being the slimy prick that he is.
bellefay - you shouldn't be so vague with your feelings.
WERK and CH=B - no schedule yet, hopefully next month. ONly season tickets available now. Can't sell single game tix until they have a schedule.
Can one of youse tell me what you gotta do to insert a clickable link within a comment? It is a mystery to me.
They need to hurry up. I want to be at that first game.
I'll email it to you Baldy. Can't post it here because it will not show up the way it's typed.
well, I'm trying to email. I can receive, but I'm having a heck of a time getting one to go out.
epic finish on the Col de Tourmalet today.
Thanks for the excellent link, chip chip. Yea, it is a ton of info. The plays listed there are very common, but the motion Malzahn uses and the variety of formations used to run the plays is a bit different than what you typically see.
I think of basically 3 types of offenses these days: spread, misdirection, and power. While every offense has elements of all three, you can see the emphasis in specific teams. Malzahn is a misdirection guy. Leach is a spread guy. Saban is a power guy.
I spent some time studying the Leach offense and noting the difference between it and Malzahn's offense. They are vastly different.
Leach emphasizes spacing, thus the spread. His offense is similar to what I think Franklin was trying to do. The emphasis on spacing is why people compare his offense to a basketball offense.
Malzahn's offense reminds me more of Paul Johnson's offense, which also uses a lot of options and misdirections. Rich Rod and Meyer are definitely in this group too.
Using the spread to describe Malzahn's offense is definitely misleading.
Thanks THT, it came through. Much obliged.
Regarding the offense discussion, one thing I keep hearing opposing fans say is that Malzahn runs a "high school offense" and opposing fans saying things like "it will only take a year or so to figure out this offense."
My question: Is this a "high school offense"? What separates a "high school offense" from a "collegiate offense"?
The fact that you can basically have 3 different options from the same formation would seem to be enough to keep folks from being able to shut this offense down.
To insert links, just do the following.
<a href="URL">link name</a>
replace URL with something like www.habotn.com and name with HABOTN.
The high school offense thing is hilarious. It is what people say when they don't understand the offense. The spread and it's derivatives are used throughout college football these days and to some degree in the NFL. So, if someone says it is a high school offense, they are just saying they don't know what they are talking about.
That's always been my assumption, but I never played football beyond pee wee, so wasn't sure what exactly they were seeing that was supposedly so simple about this offense.
To show someone the link syntax, you have to type something like this in.
<a href="URL">link name</a>
I am by no means an expert. I just read a lot because I am curious. I certainly could never coach or play, but I admire the people who do.
And a lot of Malzahn's offense is simple. It isn't that he invented the inside trap or jet sweep. He just does a lot of things to disguise what is going on. He tries to make it look complex to the defense, but also keeps it pretty simple so the players can execute it. That is what any good coach does. The offense doesn't determine how good a coach is. It is how well he is able to teach the players to execute it that makes him great.
you could see from the film cut ups how confused the lbs and safeties were at times.
$aban going nuts was a good clip. his vaunted d was pretty confused most of that afternoon. he was lucky bammer didn't have to respect the qb running the ball or the deep pass really. if newton had been at the helm of that game, we may have blown them out. the offense just had its usual swoon mid-game. the piled up some yards but didn't put points on the board.
i also love the pace aspect of creating the 5th quarter. AU had kiffykin's team sucking wind midway through the Q2. the offense slowed down and let them creep back in and make it interesting. i don't think gus has run his system with this much complete talent on offense. mcfadden and jones were better than anything AU currently has on offense, but everything else, i would argue, is better than what he had to work with at arky.
i particularly liked the ole miss lb that was heading right at the rb to make the tackle and suddenly reverses direction to go cover the option on the back side as todd sprints out into space without the ball.
and feng is a bammer for saying that. there is no way bammer is not cheating.
Don't get too excited about Newton yet. The reason he left Florida is likely because he was noted for his lack of accuracy throwing the ball. I don't believe he thought the could compete with Brantley. Whether Newton is as accurate as Todd remains to be seen. If he is, he will be a better QB, regardless of if he runs. There were some throws Todd just couldn't make with his arm, and they weren't the deep balls. It was the mid range passes that required him to thread the needle. I like how he did throwing deep.
AU a-day on espnu right now.
This comment has been removed by the author.
i thought newton left for receiving stolen property. i'm just going on my uneducated opinion but todd put too much air under deep balls to me. i bet if you line em up, newton could out distance todd by 15+. accuracy could definitely be an issue. i just thing newton would/will give defenses two more dimensions they really really have to respect instead of just kind of being aware and focusing on the running game. more playmakers at wr stepping up will hopefully give newton a bigger window to throw into sometimes. adams still amazes me he fought through so much double coverage to have the year he did.
this has been the chip chip and steve show featuring baldy. gnite. going to watch aday in hd.
case closed
You are right that Todd put a lot of air under his deep balls. He just did a good job with ball placement. A QB with a good arm can throw a lot of passes that Todd wouldn't attempt. I think it was the Georgia game where he had Fannin wide open right in front of him about 20 yards down field. He managed to drill it into the dirt in front of him. I don't think Todd trusted his arm when he needed to put a lot of zip on the ball.
Good morning! Chizik substance today! It's Friday, Hotties!!!
It's (way too) early in Pigeon Forge, TN and eagerly awaiting Chizikian substance.
It's way too early everywhere this side of the Atlantic.
So it goes.
It's way too early for me to be up on a day off from work.
Mornin' Hotties!
Bellefay - I concur
TiM - welcome
Lookin forward to the Chizspeak.
Tried to read the TBillie link from Chip. Got somewhat through the second sentence and decided I'd rather stick a spike through my eye than read what was left. Way to go Clempsun.
Good morning all.
Welcome Redgp88...1st post?
Last nights premier of the Chip and Steve comedy show gets two thumbs up from Buddy the movie critic pouch. What's that, dogs don't have thumbs.Oh well.
What's the over/under on controversial comments from Chizik today?
ehyou- Chizik will be the most boring presser all week. Book it.
ehyou,
It's 0, and I'll take the under. He'll have negative controversial comments.
Morning folks.
I like to see the new blood coming in here. It helps to make up for the loss of favorites like j-z and Carmela. It also helps to dilute the waste we know as Jet.
Keep Hate Alive.
Who is this j-z that everyone keeps talking about?
Hi Hotties. Who knew you could sweat so much at 5:30 in the morning?
I concur that there is zero percent chance Chizik says something controversial, but wouldn't it be fun if he did? Although I really like that I don't have to worry about him every time he opens his mouth like you do with some coaches.
Norm ...
I can't be diluted or muted.
I won't be contained or restrained.
I will gesticulate and pontificate.
And, you, Norm, I will annoy, then destroy.
Your pal,
Jet
CURSES! He's still here.
I just love to see the bond between Jet and Norm.
J-Z = Orville Redenbacher Man of the Year 2008-1010.
Kicker on a stick!
Kickers = the most important player on the team. There is a reason they call it "football".
"Kicker on a Stick"; well, if nothing else, we know who NOT to ask to create a specially designed avatar.
Chizik is on Jox right now. Sorry, but he is just boring to listen to. Nothing wrong with that, just not a must hear IMO.
what are y'all waiting for?
the fine folks in KENNESAW GEORGIA have 43 days til kickoff!
GO TIGERS!!!
WARRRRRRRRR EAGLE!!!
WERK - it's never too early to be up on a day off from work. It's hard to enjoy not having to go to work if you aren't conscious.
WOOT-WOOT!
READY FOR SOME CHIZ THIS MORNING!
LEE ZIEMBA ON NOW:
http://www.sportsradio740.com/
CHIZIK speaking, JGT BLAWGIN!
CHIZ THREAD UPZ....
This comment has been removed by the author.
Benji Roland!
Roland the Thompson Gunner!
Van Owen was a real SOB.
Hi Solehuddin. I found what I'm looking for here, too. So I have no need to look at your web site. Now get lost, or I'll send Roland after your head. He could use one.
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