Gameday

And here we are, right where we were to start the season -- in Atlanta, at the Georgia Dome, against an SEC team with Tigers as the mascot.

LSU's passing fancy

Interesting story by the New Orleans Times-Picayune on LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger

Virginia Tech's disappearing act

In the bustle of a college football season, sometimes you don't think as much about some peripheral developments as they're happening. But then, during some late-December days of decompression when you actually have time to reflect, you look back at some events and say: "Wow."

On presidential control, and links

(Hilarious illustration of Ohio State president Gordon Gee courtesy of DailyFinance.com.

Basketball thoughts

A few thoughts on last night's 69-46 loss at Coastal Carolina:

A history lesson

Our present culture is in love with the present.

Petrino's return, and links

Forgiving and forgetting sounds like a nice virtue and all, but anyone who can say they'll be able to forget the above image is lying.

Bad 'ole Rocky Top

The thought of Jon Gruden rescuing a slumbering program is the equivalent of crack cocaine to desperate, delusional fan bases.

In Gus they trust (again)

This past summer, one of the world's great mysteries I was trying to solve was:

The view from Baton Rouge

Amazing how different your perspective can be depending on where you're sitting.

Basketball thoughts

Some thoughts from last night's 73-61 loss to Purdue:

Maryland reaction

Assuming there's no chain reaction that leads to further ACC defections -- and right now that could be a shaky assumption -- the general reaction from Clemson fans to Maryland's departure has been, "Well ... bye."

Beyond their status as charter members of the conference, there's almost nothing in common between these two fan bases. And that much is apparent to anyone who has taken a trip to College Park for a football game.

Up there they don't give much of a rip about tailgating. And when the football program isn't doing well, they don't give much of a rip about football, period.

The unsettling thing about Maryland's defection is the sense that it's nothing more than a bailout from consequences of awful business decisions by the school's athletics department. They recently had to drop seven sports because of a budget crisis.

At Clemson, one of the biggest compliments to the athletics department over the last five or six years is that they've been smart with their money. Maybe too thrifty at times, but frugality is paying off right now with them sitting on healthy reserves and very little debt.

A small percentage of major athletics departments are making money these days, and it takes a lot of work to avoid going into the red. So imagine the reactions from these folks when they see Maryland jump at the chance for such a bailout.

I thought Pat Forde of Yahoo nailed it with this passage in yesterday's column:

Congratulations, Maryland. You have succeeded in turning a financial mess of an athletic department into a swank new home.

And congratulations to you, too, Rutgers. It appears you're next. Your reward for running up a staggering debt is a huge conference upgrade.

Location, location, location. That's what this latest round of conference realignment is about.

Two largely underachieving, financially irresponsible athletic programs are parlaying their geographic proximity to major metropolitan areas into membership in the Big Ten. They've done very little on the field of competition to deserve it. But that's not what drives conference affiliation these days.

College Sports, Inc., is no meritocracy.

Rutgers and Maryland might as well be the airline and automotive industries. They're losing money left and right, but because they have inherent value (thanks to their TV markets of New York, Washington D.C. and Baltimore), here comes the institutional bailout.

In the last decade, Maryland expanded its football stadium to 54,000 and built a palatial basketball arena in order to chase additional glory and cash. It acquired neither. While spending increased 24 percent over the last five years, according to the Washington Post, revenues increased only 15 percent.

Here's an analysis of Maryland's move, and a sobering bottom line:

Yet here Maryland stands on the precipice of severing a relationship with a conference it helped found nearly 60 years ago — not because its alumni are clamoring for it, and not because it’s in the interests of student-athletes but because it appears to remedy a bottom line that doesn’t add up.

Amid what should be a spirited, public debate, Maryland has no top administrator with a historical nor emotional tie to the ACC, having replaced its president, athletic director, football coach and men’s basketball coach in an 18-month span with four men who have no ties to the state of Maryland, its flagship university or its athletic conference.

In this piece, Maryland's president explains why he voted against the $50 million exit fee.

In Loh’s view, the $50 million charge for leaving the ACC, which equates to three times the annual operating budget, represents not an exit fee but an “exit penalty,” which Loh believes is “illegal and philosophically not a good idea.”

“The most important part is this is a great conference, and what we should be doing is making it so attractive that others want to join the conference and stay in the conference, rather than threatening them to stay,” said Loh, pointing out that the Big East’s exit fee is “something around $3 million to $5 million.”

Loh stressed that his objection stemmed solely from personal beliefs, and not a desire on Maryland’s part to protect itself in the event that it one day decides to leave the ACC. In fact, Loh repeatedly praised the relationship between Maryland and the ACC, saying that the school will continue to be a part of it for years to come.

Philosophically, however, Loh disagrees with “punishing people if they simply exit a relationship.” Loh said he checked with other administrators on campus, including Athletic Director Kevin Anderson, to inform them of his intended vote.

“The law says that when you have liquidated damages, and in advance you anticipate a breaching of the contract, we will decide what the damages will be,” Loh said. “You talk about damages, not penalties, and it has to be a reasonable estimate. That’s the law. We live in a free economy. We want people to move freely in and out of relationships. That’s the philosophical principle. What constitutes reasonable? That’s for a court to decide.

“But if the damages are so huge that it prevents the mobility, the free movement of people, then I think it’s not good for society. Others may not be looking at it from this principle, and that’s their prerogative.”

Andy Staples presents some good analysis of how and why this happened, but I don't totally agree with this statement:

This happens all the time in business. Because of economic forces, government regulation, technological advances or all of the above, things can change dramatically.

Here's what also happens in business: People get fired for the relentlessly bad financial mismanagement that put Maryland in this desperate and soul-sucking situation to begin with.

At Maryland, they get rewarded.

LW

Spiller's return

C.J. Spiller is headed back to Clemson this weekend, and it just so happened last night that Dabo Swinney talked a good bit about other instances of ... well ... Spiller returning to Clemson.

Basketball observations

A few more reflections from last night's 77-44 win over Presbyterian:

Ten thoughts from the weekend

Ten thoughts from the college football weekend:

1. Clemson is making a fashion statement.

On ACC stature

Did a little bit of research yesterday for this column and came across numbers that underscored the lack of resistance Clemson faced in the ACC during the glory years.

Clemson and the bookies

Never totally understood the people who assailed newspapers for publishing the betting lines because such a practice allegedly promotes gambling.

Basketball thoughts

Went over to last night's basketball exhibition to get a glimpse of Brad Brownelll's third team in its 72-42 win over Lander. Tried to focus mostly on the freshmen.

A few observations:

Deep-fried turkeys

Earlier this week, Miami coach Al Golden called Virginia Tech "a beacon of consistency" and you wondered if he'd watched film of this year's Hokies ... or even last year's Hokies.

Courting jesters, football dads, and links

In today's blog, a couple of items from the "you can't make this up category."

Spurrier's shot

On Nov. 18, 1989, Steve Spurrier's Duke team went to Chapel Hill and trashed North Carolina 41-0.

Then the young, ascending coach took (Blue) devilish delight in trashing the Heels even more by orchestrating a team picture in front of the scoreboard. The grin on Spurrier's face for the photo is not captured in the above picture, but it was pretty darn wide. He loved it.

Spurrier has spent his career taking great satisfaction in gigging his rivals. When Florida made a rare trip to Athens and smashed Ray Goff's hapless Bulldogs, Spurrier tacked on a late touchdown on a trick play and explained afterward that he wanted to score 50 Between the Hedges because someone told him it'd never been done before. There was Free Shoes University, Can't Spell Citrus without UT, and a litany of other stuff.

Most of the stuff has made Spurrier one of the most compelling and interesting figures in college football history. There's always been an element of "Spurrier said what?" And to the detached observer who's not aligned with one of the teams he's gigging, it's been fun to follow.

What happened yesterday in Columbia crossed the line.

On Sunday, Dabo Swinney offered a lengthy, heartfelt show of support for Marcus Lattimore and the devastating injury he suffered a day earlier.

"Just absolutely took my breath away. It just breaks my heart. I just hurt for him and his family and his teammates. He represents all the things college football should be about. I know him personally. He's a class, class young man. Always has been. So is his family. It's devastating because I know how hard he's worked. If there's anybody I'd bet on it's Marcus Lattimore. I know it's going to be a long process, but I'd put my money on Marcus Lattimore in a heartbeat. I know when he can come to terms with this, he'll do everything he can to get himself healthy and well. He's a class individual and a great player. My prayers go out to him and his family. I've had a heavy heart for him ever since that happened. There are a lot of great things for Marcus Lattimore, as coach Spurrier said. We haven't seen the last of him from a football standpoint, hopefully. He's been a great representative of the game and his university. I just lift him up in my prayers."

Now imagine had Swinney said something like this:

"Even though he plays for that school that's not the real Carolina or USC, it just absolutely took my breath away. It just breaks my heart, even though I think his coach is a childish punk. I just hurt for him and his family and his teammates He represents all the things college football should be about, even if I think his coach does not. I know him personally. He's a class, class young man, and his coach could use his class as a lesson. Always has been. So is his familiy. It's devastating because I know how hard he's worked. If there's anybody I'd bet on it's Marcus Lattimore. I know it's going to be a long process, but I'd put my money on Marcus Lattimore in a heartbeat. I know when he can come to terms with this, he'll do everything he can to get himself healthy and well. He's a class individual and a great player. My prayers go out to him and his family. I've had a heavy heart for him ever since that happened. There are a lot of great things for Marcus Lattimore, as coach Spurrier said. We haven't seen the last of him from a football standpoint, hopefully. He's been a great representative of the game and his university even if his coach hasn't been. I just lift him up in my prayers."

The point of this is, there is a time and a place for typical barbs between coaches. Goodness knows we've seen plenty of it between these two over the last year.

Yesterday's ceremony to honor Lattimore was not the time or place.

Swinney offered his support for Lattimore without any snide caveats. It was unequivocal, and the reason for the absence of equivocation or gamesmanship from Swinney was because the tragically impaired health of a fine young man rises above rivalry between two schools and two coaches who don't like each other.

Here's a much more appropriate response:

"You all know that coach up there and I don't really like each other. But on the topic of Marcus Lattimore, we share common ground. We appreciate the support offered by Dabo Swinney and everyone else over the last two days."

Competition at the highest levels is a cut-throat business, and gigging is part of the nature of competition.

But the aftermath of the Lattimore injury presented one of those rare moments when grace and class should've superseded barbs and taunts.

One coach in this rivalry grasped that. The other did not.

LW

Gruden mania, and stuff

Every sports fan has a platform nowadays, and that's largely a good thing.

Sleeping on Wake Forest

So the plan for a part of yesterday afternoon was to study up on Wake Forest by checking out the Deacons' win over Virginia on DVR, and here's a pretty good illustration of how that turned out:

Managed to get through the first half and am planning to tackle the second half at some point today. But I'd make a sizable wager that no human, without the aid of controlled substances, can make it through a replay of that entire game without zonking out.

What price money?

The Pac-12 supposedly said no-thanks to Texas because of the Longhorn Network.

Brock Huard's lunacy, and links

Sometimes it's amusing when you hear a coach or a player or whoever, in the face of some criticism they don't like, use the "he never played the game" dig.

Catching up on ACC basketball, Blossomgame update, links

Meh.

That was the popular reaction when N.C. State AD Debbie Yow had to go to Plan Z in her search for a men's basketball coach.

Bud Foster, boogers, and links

Bud Foster probably never envisioned he'd have it this difficult against Clemson.

Ten thoughts from the weekend

Ten thoughts from the weekend in college football:

1. Clemson fans should be happy Texas Tech is 5-1.

Before the season, one of the popular questions fielded at Clemson-related speaking engagements was: “How long will Chad Morris be at Clemson?”

My standard response: “Pull hard for Texas Tech, Tennessee and whoever else has coaches on the hot seat.”

Morris isn’t going to leave for any old job; he’s the highest-paid coordinator in college football at $1.3 million, and he has an arsenal of playmakers with eligibility remaining beyond this year.

But Morris aspires to be a head coach at a BCS-level school, and Texas Tech would make a lot of sense given his long, strong ties to the state of Texas.

Doesn’t look like there will be an opening there anytime soon, though. The Red Raiders are the biggest surprise of the Big 12 after Saturday’s complete throttling of West Virginia.

Classic Tommy Tuberville. He’s 6-2 all-time against Top 5 teams after the 49-14 bulldozing of the Mountaineers.

2. The SEC is on the verge of major coaching turnover.

Speaking of Tennessee, Derek Dooley has quickly lost the momentum he gained with a supposedly crucial opening victory over N.C. State in Atlanta.

Auburn is a dumpster fire producing hot garbage on a weekly basis.

And Joker Phillips is a punch line at Kentucky.

The SEC’s upper crust is in great shape thanks to some distinguished coaches, but it’s easy to forget the league has suffered some major losses of bright minds in recent years with the departures of Urban Meyer and Bobby Petrino.

It’ll be very interesting to see what direction SEC schools take to fill vacancies. Alabama, LSU, South Carolina and Florida are winning with physical, ball-control offense and stout defense, and that goes strongly against the national trend of hurry-up, spread offenses.

Don’t underestimate the power of seeing your rivals win a certain way. Surely Alabama’s style influenced Auburn in its desire to move away from Gus Malzahn’s philosophy, and that shift is blowing up in Gene Chizik’s face.

The bet here is Tennessee will be influenced mostly by Florida and Alabama if it makes a change.

Dooley’s record in SEC games, by the way: 4-15.

3. Underestimate Les Miles at your own peril.

You can rip the guy for his zany antics and his bizarre game management. But that stuff overshadows some real substance to his coaching style.

It’s hard not to field a great defense with all those freakish athletes LSU has running all over the place every single year.

Yet the Bayou Bengals won Saturday night more because of a persistent, physical, determined effort by their offensive line.

LSU was missing three linemen going in, and that was an ominous development going up against a South Carolina front that completely overwhelmed Georgia a week earlier.

But Miles knows how to develop and coach offensive linemen, and he knew the Gamecocks had some vulnerabilities Georgia did not expose.

LSU was down 7-3 at halftime, and that’s when a lot of coaches lose their patience. But Miles stuck with his power running game, going right at Jadeveon Clowney and then getting to the corners when the Gamecocks packed their linebackers inside to stop the between-the-tackles stuff.

You can’t base an offense on I-formation unless you’re really, really good on the offensive line. LSU certainly fits that criteria, and that’s a credit to Miles.

4. Brent Musberger should consider hanging up his microphone.

It almost hurts to type that, because Musberger is an institution. Think of high-stakes football in the 1980s, and Musberger’s voice is an essential part of that soundtrack.

Musberger knows the intricacies of the game better than, say, Verne Lundquist, but he tends to slip during some rather big moments.

He completely botched a late-game situation Saturday at LSU, failing to recognize that South Carolina picked up a first down on a fourth-down pass that reached the goal line. Kirk Herbstreit had to correct him, and such instances have become more common over the years.

Musberger is far from bad, but he’s losing his fastball.

5. John Swofford was pulling hard for Virginia Tech last week – or at least he should’ve been.

Duke is a nice story and all with its five wins and its approach toward bowl eligibility.

And while the Blue Devils aren’t necessarily vastly inferior to anyone in the mess of a Coastal Division, it’d be really bad for the ACC if that team ended up playing for the ACC championship.

Six years ago, Wake Forest won the conference and the nation snickered. Two years ago, the same Virginia Tech team that lost to James Madison won the ACC.

Florida State and Clemson are regarded as the class of the conference, but imagine the Seminoles or the Tigers squaring off with Duke in Charlotte.

Such an occurrence was looking like a distinct possibility after the Devils went up big early in Blacksburg on Saturday. But the Hokies rebounded to drop Duke to 2-1, and now the Devils’ remaining schedule looks quite foreboding: North Carolina, at Florida State, Clemson, at Georgia Tech, Miami.

Virginia Tech has looked awful at times this year, but the Hokies are 2-1 and still very much in it. Their schedule isn’t exactly easy, though: at Clemson, at Miami, Florida State, at Boston College, Virginia.

Miami really has to be kicking itself for a home loss to North Carolina. Win that game, and the Canes are 4-0 in the ACC with games remaining against Florida State (home), Virginia Tech (home), Virginia (road) and Duke (road).

6. The (Black) Eyes of Texas.

Once upon a time, the Longhorns were considered the model college football program.

From 2004 to 2009, Texas lost a grand total of nine games while claiming a BCS title (2005) and playing for another (2009).

Over their last 31 games, the Longhorns have suffered 14 losses. Eight of those losses have been by double digits, including two absolute beatdowns at the hands of Oklahoma by a combined score of 118-38.

And don’t forget 63-14 against the Sooners in 2000, and 65-13 in 2003. Mack Brown has a statue outside his home stadium, and given the one-sided nature of the Red River Rivalry perhaps it’s time to emblazon “Property of Bob Stoops” on the forehead of Brown’s bust.

When Florida was at its ascent under Meyer, the Gators seemed too big and powerful to fail anytime soon. Same deal with Texas a few years ago. You just assume two national powers will only get stronger as a result of such prominence.

Not necessarily. Elite status can be a lot more fragile than we think, even for the programs with all the resources in the world.

7. If I’m a Georgia fan, I’m not happy with Mark Richt and Mike Bobo.

Did you see how LSU attacked South Carolina’s defense from the beginning? The Bayou Bengals successfully ran running back screens and draws to use the Gamecocks’ over-pursuit against them while testing the linebackers’ ability to get to the corners.

LSU’s brain trust believed Georgia didn’t work hard enough to test South Carolina on the corners. Granted, convention goes out the window when you find yourself in an early 21-0 hole as Georgia did. But the Bulldogs’ offensive game plan becomes more baffling in light of LSU’s success.

8. It’s now permissible to start talking about bowl games.

Seems ESPN starts its weekly bowl projections in, like, March. A comical endeavor but not pointless because, hey, they get a lot of hits.

Mid-October is a good time to start paying some attention, though.

ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach has Florida State playing Rutgers in the Orange Bowl (ugh) and Clemson playing Mississippi State in the Chick-fil-A.

9. Some of these point orgies are becoming boring.

Texas A&M beat Louisiana Tech 59-57 on Saturday. Yawn.

This game lasted four-and-a-half hours and ended at 12:45 a.m. The teams combined for 187 snaps and 1,293 yards. A bunch of Louisiana Tech fans left late in the game.

10. Is Maryland really at the top of the Atlantic Division?

Technically, yes. The Terps are 2-0 in the ACC with wins over Virginia and Wake Forest.

But Terps supporters – both of them – aren’t making reservations for the ACC title game just yet. Remaining schedule: N.C. State, at Boston College, Georgia Tech, at Clemson, Florida State, at North Carolina.

The Valley Dispute

With all the cynicism about our political process, the state of the economy and other stuff going wrong with this country, sometimes it's not easy to recognize how good we have it.

Larry Fedora and the HUNH

Not much reason for Clemson fans to pay a whole lot of attention to North Carolina this season. The Heels aren't on the schedule, and thanks to sanctions there's no chance of facing them in Charlotte with a conference title at stake.

Uh-oh Jimbo

It's really surprising that we continue to exaggerate accomplishments after so many instances of those exaggerations falling flat on their faces.

The Chessmaster speaks

When Al Groh arrived at Georgia Tech a couple years ago, we heard rumblings that it didn't exactly help team chemistry.

Big trouble in little Chapel Hill

The revelations are coming out of Chapel Hill at such a rapid-fire pace that you tend to lose track of them.

The up-in-arms race

Maybe it's because they have to deal with more stupid questions now than before.

Swofford's story

A friend recently called my attention to a lengthy article on John Swofford in a magazine called Business North Carolina.

Catching up with Magnum

(Dear Boston College administration: Please don't fire Frank Spaziani. He might not be a very good coach, but that's beside the point. If you get rid of this dead ringer for Magnum PI, that effectively eliminates about 20 percent of my yearly blog fodder. So give the man a raise.)

Paul Johnson's problem

A few years ago when Paul Johnson was winning far more games than he is now, I didn't hesitate to point out those successes and what made them possible.

How OU did it, and caught in the act of picking

Got a chance to look at this video from last year's Oklahoma-Florida State game, and while it's a collection of Sooners highlights it's still enlightening in showing how Oklahoma was able to win that game by 10.

Jim Grobe weighs in

Weren't many warm and fuzzy vibes for Jim Grobe last week in Tallahassee, where his team was shredded 52-0 by a Florida State team many people are casting as a juggernaut.

Tommy's take

Tommy Bowden has been in the public eye quite a bit recently. Part of it's because he has a book out. Part of it's because he's a studio analyst for ACC football. And part of it's because he's always been an accessible guy and doesn't mind doing interviews.

FSU intel, and links

So many storylines to this Clemson-FSU showdown in Tallahassee.

Notre Dame reaction

In early July, we came across a very reliable piece of information indicating that some ACC presidents, including Clemson's James Barker, were meeting with Notre Dame in Winston-Salem.

Unconventional thinking, and links

Arkansas' shocking loss to Hyphen Speed last week rocked the college football world, but there's a fascinating sidebar to it that hasn't been discussed a whole lot.

On never forgetting, and links

Eleven years is a long time, long enough to make us not think about 9-11 as much as we used to. It's human nature, and it's not unforgivable.

Ball State brush-up

Hasn't been much discussion on Ball State this week, and I'll take some responsibility for that. Just not as much need for analysis of a team that comes in as almost a four-touchdown underdog.

Cupcake limits

Excessive cupcake consumption is a problem in college football ... and not just inside press boxes.

GT-VT thoughts

Is it me, or did Paul Johnson hurl at least one obvious f-bomb every single time the ESPN cameras zoomed in on him last night? There's a drinking game in there somewhere.

Ten thoughts from the weekend

1. Super, super atmosphere Saturday night inside the Georgia Dome.

Opening-day thoughts

During the NCAA basketball tournament or College World Series -- or, heaven forbid, opening day in Major League Baseball -- I always get a kick out of it when folks call it the best time of the sports year.

No.

This, folks, is the best time of year. And it ain't even close.

Welcome back, college football. Gonna be a fun ride. Always is.

A few thoughts from opening day:

-- Tremendous effort by Connor Shaw, fighting off excruciating pain to help lead his team to a hard-fought win at Vanderbilt. There are questions about this kid's ability to make pressure throws from the pocket. There are questions about his durability over the course of a season (more on that in a moment). But there should be no questions about his toughness and commitment, and that goes a long way with teammates. He seems to be everything Stephen Garcia wasn't in that category.

-- The obvious positive to running the zone-read stuff with Shaw and Marcus Lattimore is that defenses have to honor both as running threats. Shaw is the jitterbug type, and he's capable of picking up large chunks if you focus too much on Lattimore.

The negative to this is Shaw's exposure to injury. Think of past SEC teams that have made the zone-read thing a staple, and most have done it with big, physical quarterbacks who could take a pounding. Garcia was one of those -- essentially a fullback who could lower his shoulder and plow linebackers and safeties. Shaw is not one of those, and he's going to take a lot of shots.

-- Looks like South Carolina's offensive line has a long way to go, particularly at left tackle. Brandon Shell was beaten repeatedly before getting benched in the second half. When you're having to replace your starting left tackle with your starting right tackle in the middle of an opener, there has to be concern there. And Vanderbilt was getting regular penetration with a four-man rush.

-- Jadeveon Clowney is a man among babies. And there were a lot of babies trying to block him. He toyed with them in the first half, doing just about everything he wanted.

Sammy Watkins and Jadeveon Clowney might be exhibits A and B for college players being NFL-ready as freshmen and sophomores.

And South Carolina's defensive line as a whole looks darned stoudt even without Melvin Ingram and Travian Robertson.

-- Lattimore looked good to me, but I agree with David Pollack that the presence of a bulky knee brace creates some doubts.

-- Alshon Jeffery was a tremendous weapon, even last year when he seemed overweight and out of shape. His size and playmaking ability downfield made it imperative for defenses to devote extra attention to him, and his biggest strength -- lunging and ripping down passes that were thrown in his general vicinity -- made life so much easier on his quarterbacks. They don't have that option anymore, and it hurts them.

-- A little surprised South Carolina didn't do more to get Bruce Ellington involved.

-- Big fan of James Franklin, and looking forward to the day that he presides over a program with maximum resources. But it looked like Vandy got a bit too cute with its play-calling at times, particularly the throwback pass that resulted in an interception when the 'Dores were poised to score in the first quarter.

-- Player South Carolina's defense misses most from last season: Antonio Allen.

-- Pretty good first run by Pollack. Anyone is better than Craig James, and Pollack is knowledgeable. But a major point deduction for saying "peel their ears back" at one point last night.

-- We knew Mike Leach had a tough task at Washington State, but raise your hand if you thought his team would go without a touchdown last night at BYU.

That had happened just twice in his 10 years as a head coach before last night.

-- Our Rivals friends in Auburn present an optimistic view and pessimistic view of Saturday and beyond.

Some of the former:

The defensive front: Defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder has established an entirely new paradigm along the line of scrimmage and it has nothing to do with allowing opponents to dictate tempo.

Auburn will aim to dictate tempo by challenging the offense at every turn. There will be blitzes, sure, but opponents will be feeling heat most of the time regardless. VanGorder will play the guys who get up the field and undermine the opponent's plan.

If that happens with any semblance of consistency, the Tigers will surprise people this season. A proper pass rush, not one that begins and ends with Corey Lemonier, will lower rushing yards allowed and will help the secondary cut pass yards allowed by a significant margin.

The depth is there. The strength is there. The belief is there. The numbers will be there, too.

Some of the latter:

Scot Loeffler will be learning on the fly. Prior to landing a job at Auburn earlier this year, Loeffler had less than one full season of experience as a coordinator.

It was at Temple, where he had a dominating back named Bernard Pierce. The junior rushed for 1,481 yards, 27 touchdowns and parlayed that performance into an NFL contract worth $2.65 million.

Loeffler knew he had a star in Pierce, knew he lacked front-line talent at quarterback and didn't overthink anything. Temple ran the ball 77 percent of the time and went 9-4.

It was a great season.

Loeffler has experience in the NFL (one season as a quarterbacks coach with the Detroit Lions) and worked closely with Tim Tebow at Florida, so it's not like he's a newcomer to the world of coaching. The more pressing issue is that he hasn't been a play-caller for very long and it's reasonable to assume that he's going to make mistakes along the way - particularly during his first month in that role.

It's easy to simulate situations in an office. Making adjustments on the fly in a crowded stadium with every player hanging on your words presents a far more challenging obstacle.

The truth is that nobody knows if Loeffler has what it takes to be a cunning strategist. At this point, he's a quarterback guru with the aptitude, experience and confidence to become a sharp play-caller.

-- Special thanks to the folks at the Cherokee, Anderson and Columbia Clemson clubs. Did speaking engagements at all three this week, and a lot of good folks at each stop. Flattering to see how many people out there are loyal, longtime subscribers to TI. Thank you all for the support, and hope I didn't put anyone to sleep.

LW

Checking in with Auburn

By Thursday morning of game week, most of the game-week preparation is done. Players and coaches get to decompress, relax and freshen up for Saturday.

Catching up with Brownell

Here we are, three days away from the season opener, and basketball isn't on the minds of many Clemson fans. That's usually the way it works here; football is king, and only when it is over do people really start talking about and thinking about basketball.