Friday morning links

We have some breaking news to tend to this morning -- stay tuned on that -- so today's blog is gonna be a little shorter than normal.

Wild game in Blacksburg last night. You gotta wonder what would've happened had Joshua Nesbitt stayed healthy, because Al Groh's defense was actually doing a rather good job of slowing down Virginia Tech's prolific offense.

I thought Nesbitt's backup, Tevin Washington, showed some promise despite some glaring timing issues when he first entered the game. His throws actually have some zip, and he's an elusive runner.

Now if the Jackets could just find a receiver who could, you know, catch the ball. Stephen Hill has dropped two deep balls in Georgia Tech's past two games, and both have been tremendously costly.

The Jackets basically have been eliminated from the Coastal Division race, and it's been a struggle in Paul Johnson's third season. Losing to Kansas? Geez. That defeat gets more inexcusable by the week.

But can anyone produce statistical evidence that repeated exposure to Johnson's flexbone allows defenses to bottle it up?

For my money, Bud Foster is one of the best defensive coordinators in the business.

Here are the rushing numbers he's allowed to the Yellow Jackets:

2008: 278
2009: 309
2010: 346

To be fair, Virginia Tech's defense is a bit sketchy this year after losing a lot of guys from 2009. But the Hokies basically had a month to get ready for last night's game (Central Michigan, Wake Forest, Duke, open date). And Foster's staff took an offseason trip to Iowa to get some pointers on how to stop the flexbone.

Georgia Tech rushed for 200 yards in the first half with Nesbitt, and 146 in the second half without him.

To me, the big question facing Johnson at Georgia Tech is whether he can recruit. But this notion that everyone is going to "figure out" his system based on yearly exposure to it needs to be put to bed.

OK, that's the end of my mancrush-fueled intro...

Looks like Nesbitt is gone for the season.

Tony Barnhart wonders if mere allegations will cost Cam Newton the Heisman Trophy.

And he nails it with this passage:

If it can be proven that Cecil Newton was shopping his kid around to the highest bidder, there is special place in Hell reserved for him. I don’t care if he runs a church or not or if he calls himself a preacher. You just cost your kid everything that matters in life–reputation and integrity–for a few pieces of silver. I just pray this is not true because if a man of God will pimp his kid, then we are all pretty much lost.

And if somebody paid cash for this kid and it can be proven they should do some serious jail time. Former Alabama booster Logan Young was convicted for basically doing the same thing. Do you people never learn?

And if somebody paid cash for this kid and it can be proven that there is a direct connecton to the Auburn athletics department, then the school is going to get hammered and it should.

North Carolina's president says Butch Davis is not in danger of losing his job.

Gotta say that surprises me. Really surprises me.

In Ann Arbor, the NCAA lets Rich Rodriguez off the hook.

And finally, Caulton Tudor weighs in on Clemson and Kyle Parker's decision to play another season of college football.

Will it forever be known as the $900,000 mistake?



LW