Late in Saturday's game against Vanderbilt, Tennessee's Dennis Rogan appeared to intercept a pass in the end zone. Only a questionable pass interference call was made. Vanderbilt received a first and goal and eventually kicked a field goal on the series. Lane Kiffin commented on the call in his post-game by telling Commissioner Slive he appreciated the call. Not content with that statement, the next morning Kiffin appeared on the Lane Kiffin Show alongside Vol announcer Bob Kesling and this was the transcript of their discussion of that play:Kesling: This is third and goal.
Kiffin: [Heavy Sigh]
Kesling: The ball looks like it's intercepted.
Kiffin: The ball is intercepted. I thought that was a great call by the ref throwing the pass interference there. I'm sure that we were at fault.
Kesling: Here it is again.
Kiffin: You can say whatever you want. [Mike Slive] can't fine you.
Kesling: No, I think I'm under the same umbrella.
Kiffin: No, he can't fine you, don't worry. Go ahead, say what I wanted.
Kesling: Under the same umbrella.
Fortunately, I've got Lane Kiffin's solution: independent officiating criticizers who aren't affiliated with the university in any respect to do a coach's bidding.
Think about how sought after these positions would be. You'd be the de facto officiating commenter for the coach! It's like every message board poster's dream come true.
Anyway, as you can see by Lane Kiffin's comments, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive is the equivalent of a seventh grade substitute teacher trying to stop the blue word game from erupting in his classroom. (You know when one person says, for example, a euphamism for a man part and then someone else says it a bit louder until they get to the point where the teacher hears it and penalizes someone.) Basically every SEC coach is challenging the intent of the rule.
What if one coach just turned into a tremendous champion of the referees. Imagine, for instance, a postgame comment: "Boy, that call was one of the best I've ever seen in all my years of coaching," and denied that he was being sarcastic. Can you fine a coach for sarcasm, for being overly complimentary?
Anyway, with that question we're off and running with the Starting 11.
1. Much has been made of Les Miles/Col Jessep's decision on Saturday. But without the tape from the headset conversation we're in an difficult position. Much like the Watergate investigators after President Nixon cut out the 18 minutes.
Fortunately, and I expect major props for this, I've been e-mailed the existing tape and will be posting portions of it for your review throughout the Starting 11.
Immediately after the tackle as the clock begins to tick:
26, 25, 24
Booth: Coach!
Les Miles: Lemme finish.
Booth: Coach!
Les Miles: And so you're telling me that they have recreated the final "Seinfeld" episode inside of a new show called "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and they are playing it on Home Box Office?
2. I've been threatened with death over my Uga VII piece, but I'm not letting the overreaction over a dog's death go gently into that good night.
Did ESPN's announcing team really need to say that Georgia's players were playing on Saturday with "heavy hearts."
I mean ... come on.
Do you really think that Uga VII's death impacted the players at all?
Nope, not one single bit. Now, if Uga's players were playing with heavy hearts because they gave up four turnovers in the second half and lost at home to Kentucky for the first time in 30 years, well, I can see that.
3. Twenty-three seconds, 22 seconds, 21 seconds
Booth: Coach!
Les Miles: What is a Home Box Office? Do I have one of those?
Booth: Coach!
4. No one is talking about this but Heisman hopeful Mark Ingram is very close to being passed in a yards-per-game average by, get this, another player in the SEC.
Anthony Dixon rushed 24 times for 176 yards against Arkansas. Dixon now trails Ingram by 1.38 yards per game. The only reason these two players aren't completely interchangable in terms of total running yardage is because Dixon didn't play in Mississippi State's first game of the season.
In fact, against common SEC opponents, Kentucky, LSU, and Arkansas Dixon has rushed for 534 yards to Ingram's 334. So against the exact same defenses, Dixon has been almost twice the runner that Ingram has. After this upcoming week, we'll be able to add Ole Miss and Auburn to the common opponent mix, but look for Dixon to finish the season with substantially more yards than Ingram playing against the same competition.
Leaving me with this question,what if they just held the Heisman in abeyance and could save it for future years when two better players deserve it?
5. 20 seconds, 19 seconds, 18 seconds
Les Miles: Calm down y'all. Do you want me to push the buzzer? I love that buzzer. Sometimes, when I get bored over here, I just push the buzzer to give the refs a little jolt. Imma do it now.
Pushes buzzer.
Booth: Coach!
Less Miles: Buzzzzzzzzzz. You know bumblebees have a queen. Not a king. You know what else, that buzz sound, that's the sound that Ryan Perrilloux's going to hear every time he leaves his cell.
Booth: Coach!
Les Miles: Buzzzzzzzz. Look at that old official, he's looking at me like he expects me to do something.
Sucker.
6. Question: Can you use the family bathroom at a football stadium if there isn't a family presently there?
I think so.
But what do you do if you come out and there's a mom waiting with a baby?
She's going to curse you for all eternity. Maybe not out loud, but in her mind. Your karma is ruined.
7. 17 seconds. 16 seconds, 14 seconds, 13 seconds
Les Miles: Can you believe that Spencer Pratt got his Vas Deferens snipped? One year I went to a Halloween Party dressed as a Vin Diesel. But I thought I was the Vas Deferens. Kids got me all confused. So I stood up at the party and said, "I thought I was a part of the man part, but I'm really not. I apologize to all of the ladies for saying, 'My man part could use some punch.' What I should have said, you know to be more accurate, was, 'Little Vin is happy to see you.'"
8. How disappointing is playing coaching dominoes going to be if Brian Kelly leaves Cincinnati for Notre Dame?
You'll recall that I said playing coaching dominoes was one of my favorite past-times when I'm bored in my car. This means I'm lame. But chance are, you're lame too.
Then all we've got left open is a Cincinnati job that won't be attractive enough to really set the dominoes falling anywhere. It's the coaching dominoes equivalent of the Tyson-Spinks fight, a complete let-down.
Selfishly I'm rooting for Notre Dame to pry away Urban Meyer just so we can have a colossal explosion.
9. 12 seconds, 11 seconds, 10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds
Les Miles: Easy, easy, the state trooper just called the timeout. You know how we do these things. I'm the deputy clock man. He's the clock man.
Les Miles: Okay, here's the play, everyone runs down the field and you throw it up in the air really high and we'll pray to God that someone catches.
Jordan Jefferson: A Hail Mary, Coach?
Les Miles: Lord no, Mary was just the vessel for the Lord Baby Jesus. No sir, I'm calling this the Hail Jesus.
10. If Boise State and TCU wanted to play an unscheduled game against each other, could they?
I was sitting around doodling in the dentist's office the other day, when I wondered about this. What if both teams decided to play the weekend after the conference championship games? I mean, Boise is already playing 13 games this season so what does one more, a cool 14, hurt?
If Boise didn't already have a game scheduled on Dec. 5, they could have played against each other and tried to stick a thumb in the eye of the BCS rankings. Regardless, wouldn't it be great if two small conference teams agreed to a playoff-level game just to spit in the eye of the BCS?
And then got a major corporation to sponsor the game and award the winner the national championship?
In the meantime, you can head over to twitter and read the new social media strategy of the BCS: Starting up a pro-BCS twitter feed called @insidethebcs
Totalitarianism meet social media, lovely.
11. Meanwhile, has the Pac 10 had a crazier finale than a Dec. 3 Oregon-Oregon State Civil War hate-fest for a trip to the Rose Bowl?
On a Thursday night?
I watched the end of Oregon-Arizona from a bar and it had to be the craziest game of the year.
At least the craziest game with a ton at stake.
Now I feel like Oregon-Oregon State is going to be craziest.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
It's ridiculous that coaches cannot talk about offciating after the game. As long as it's factual and they don't make personal attacks, then what's the beef?!?
Think of it this way - coaches are constantly hammering the officials during the game after a missed call or bad call. And they're politicking for a "make-up" call. And we can all read lips - we see the coaches throwing cuss words at the officials. So it's okay during the game, but once you do it after the game, in front of a camera/microphone, then it's gone too far..... uh, whatever.
Heisman - there's a better RB than Ingram?!? No way, say it isn't so!!! In all the politics and bullsh$$ propagated by the SEC Network...er, I mean ESPN, I cannot believe most of the country has no idea who Dixon is. Oh wait, yes I can because the Heisman is all politics and the SEC Net...dang, I mean ESPN has their head up the a##'s of Tebow, Florida, Bama, and Ingram.
I certainly agree that officials should not be above the law (and that coaches shouldn't be able to say ANYTHING derogatory), but that's not really the issue in my opinion...not when it comes to Kiffin. Kiffin was coming out saying that the refs "were out to get him". He wasn't just questioning a call or two...he was complaining each game that they lost, that refs were throwing the games due to some personal vendetta (or that he was afraid to call a play because he knew that the refs would intentionally "get him"). I believe that Slive was trying to stop a trend before it started. You can't have a conference running around all saying that the refs are out to get them...that's a habbit that needs to be nipped in the bud immediately.
As for Dixon, I agree that there are some politics involved (Dixon is a great back)...but as much as anything, it's because Dixon is running for a losing team. If Bama were unranked, then you probably wouldn't hear much about Ingram. But (just like McCoy in Texas or Tebow for that matter), the constant attention simply leads to greater attention from those that vote for the Heisman (or have a say in the matter). Lots of better (statistically) QBs and RBs are out there that are better ON PAPER than the Heisman front-runners...but that's not just an SEC thing...that's a college football thing. If that's the case, then place blame where it belongs...with all of the NCAA.
Kiffin has a big job...he needs to act like a big boy...
Gee, Bobby Bowden could not protect all of his sons or make any of them long term football coaching successes.
Monte Kiffin wont be able to do it with Lane either.
Once a losing cry baby - always a losing cry baby.
And I ask myself...."Why do I read this crap? Clay Travis is only a UT homer. He's only a UT homer. He's only a UT homer.........."
Dixon also has 23 more attempts than Ingram. Ingram barely played in one game because of the flu and he could have had 450 yds against UTC last week if he would have played the last 3 quarters. That's right, he left the game with 9:52 to go in the second and he had 102 yds on 11 carries. Dixon is a great RB, no doubt, but the numbers you posted do not do justice. A lot of intangibles play a part in a game. How many carries they get? How long they stay in a ballgame? Remember that Ingram also has the #2 RB recruit backing him up in Trent Richardson, who could probably start on just about every SEC football team.
I understand what your saying and I totally agree that Dixon is a fine RB, but I will disagree to put him ahead of Ingram and apparently everyone else does to.
Agreed Chris. Dixon is a great RB; he certainly deserves more recognition. Hell, even McCluster from Ole Miss is a monster (now that he's playing every game). Ingram shares quite a few carries with Richardson (freshman from Pensacola)...he's going to be a stud too once he officially takes over (all 4'9" of him). Hell, Upchurch (3rd string) is really good as well...even the 4th stringer (Grant) was the starter two seasons ago. Bama is deep at running back for sure. I think Ingram would definitely have more touches (and yards) if he didn't have such a deep bench to share time with. I'm certainly not complaining though :)