NCAA Football Sec

Bobby Petrino's offense is not easy to learn. In fact, it is complicated.

It's not uncommon for a Petrino team to be able to run the same play out of as many 10 different formations, creating confusion for the defense. That's why Arkansas tailback Michael Smith, a 1,000-yard rusher in 2008, viewed spring drills as a blessing. Sure, Smith would rather have practiced but he was sidelined with a hamstring injury.

So Smith studied practice from a new vantage point.

Over the weekend, the Florida Gator brain trust decided one way to respond to the 24 football player arrests in the past four years was to send the football team on ride alongs with the local Gainesville police. The theory, apparently, is that if players can see what police do on a daily basis from the front seat of a police cruiser they'll be more likely to stay out of the back seat.

Of course, it also makes it more likely that the police will know the name of the player they happen to be arresting. So everybody wins.

Last week, the NCAA's Committee on Infractions brought the "hammer" down on Alabama. They vacated wins, turned a lampshade askew in the football offices, fined the University for the improprieties related to the textbook scandal, and turned the windshield wipers on Nick Saban's Mercedes so they pointed towards the sky. Up instead of down! Oh, snap. The NCAA got straight crazy up in the joint. Oh, and the fine the multi-billion dollar NCAA levied? Try $43,900. That's less than it costs a parent to send his or her kid to Vanderbilt.

I'm sure Alabama is trembling deep beneath the brim of their houndstooth hats. Especially given that Alabama had a total athletic department revenue of $88.9 million in 2007-2008. What's the NCAA penalty for major infractions represent within the context of Alabama's overall budget? Try .0004938 of the overall total.

In 1990, Notre Dame signed a glitzy football television contract with NBC. The deal revolutionized college athletics and brought millions into Notre Dame's bank account. It was a huge financial windfall that guaranteed the Fighting Irish would remain independent from other conferences.

Chances are, you still think that Notre Dame is banking major revenue from this agreement in comparison to other teams. Chances are, you're wrong. What do Vanderbilt and Northwestern have in common when it comes to football? Answer: They likely both get more money for their televised football games than Notre Dame does. As does every other team in the Big Ten and the SEC.

Jevan Snead refuses to get caught up in the hype churning around the Ole Miss Rebels.

The late-season success by the Rebels in 2008 is still the talk of college football as summer approaches. They have gone from homely doormat to a sexy pick for the Top 10. Snead, a junior quarterback, also continues to attract national attention. He was recently named the 20th-best player in college football by The Sporting News and his name has started to appear on preseason Heisman Trophy watch lists.

"Honestly, I've heard people mention things but I don't really look at all those preseason magazines and try to put too much into all of that stuff," Snead told FanHouse.

I don't know if the NCAA will officially release a statement acknowledging that their Web site overloaded this afternoon at 2 PM CT when the penalties against Alabama were posted, but for one hour around that time, it was impossible to access the site.

It would be fascinating to see the data of where the site traffic was coming from. My guess is the state of Alabama in first place, and the state of Tennessee in second place. Third place? The state of Louisiana. Followed by Mississippi and Georgia in fourth and fifth place. Seeing data on a day like this would serve to objectively catalog the relative hate and strength of rivalries in the Southland once and for all. But that's too much to ask, the NCAA can't even keep their Web site functioning. This was the message on the front page of the site:

NCAA.org is experiencing temporary technical problems. Please try again in a few minutes. Some services can still be accessed through the links below.

It's come to this, Alabama fans are tailgating outside of a new play based on Bear Bryant's life. Which is an improvement over what they would have been doing if Mike Shula was still coach, lighting themselves on fire with their red and white pom-pons in the parking lot. The play, entitled Bear Country, will be playing at Birmingham's Shakespeare Festival from August 6-20. It's already debuted to rave reviews and sellouts in Montgomery, Ala. In honor of the Bear, I decided that nothing would make more sense than a play about four fans tailgating before Bear's play begins. So here goes.

Characters:

Dale -- A 45-year old owner of an auto-body repair shop who fixes cars while wearing a houndstooth cap. His first child was named Bear, his second was named Bryant. He is now divorced.

Last summer, the SEC signed a new $2.25 billion television rights deal with ESPN. The amount was staggering. ESPN is now on the hook for $150 million per year for the next 15 years. Now we know that every SEC football game will be televised on the network's broadcast partners, infinitely more basketball games will arrive on the network, and sundry lesser sports will also be featured.

It's a deal of tremendous implications that catapults SEC sports coverage into the realm of professional sports. What's been left unexamined is how this will change ESPN's news coverage of the league, and how that resulting coverage is going to make the SEC the de facto national college league of choice. Why? Because ESPN has spent so much money on the rights packages, the SEC has to be front and center.

Don't believe me? It's already happening.

In all honesty, this story shouldn't be viewed as one of sadness, anger, bitterness, or back-stabbing.

Instead, it should serve as a cautionary tale. After all, the pressures and rigors involved with big-time college football aren't for anyone. As offensive coordinator Tony Franklin learned last year at Auburn, it certainly isn't for him.

DeMarcus Milliner has Alabama and Auburn fans in his family. The rivalry didn't stop Milliner, considered the nation's top prep cornerback by recruiting analysts, from displaying his sense of humor around family members when it came to his recruitment.

There were days when Milliner told his father, a devoted Alabama fan, he had decided to attend Florida. The next day it might have been Georgia. Or LSU. Milliner's good-natured personality actually helped him deal with the pressures surrounding the recruiting process.

On Thursday, however, the joking stopped -- but Milliner's smile was just as bright. That's when Milliner, from Millbrook, Ala., verbally committed to attend Alabama in 2010. Milliner made the announcement in front of family, friends, fans and various media outlets in his school gymnasium at Stanhope Elmore High.