NCAA Football south carolina Gamecocks

It's been an eventful offseason for SEC football. The addition of Lane Kiffin to the coaching ranks gave the conference another huge name. Instead of taking his lumps at Tennessee after the disastrous end to the Phil Fulmer era, Kiffin came out swinging.

Not only did he and his staff work to sign a top-ten recruiting class, but Kiffin also managed to alienate virtually everyone outside of the Volunteers fan base.

The SEC coaches meetings rolled into Destin, Fla., this week, and Lane Kiffin washed ashore.

You know Kiffin, the man who brought a Molotov cocktail to the SEC tea party, the guy who coaches like tickets have to be sold for the latest WWE event. You halfway expect for him to enter press conferences wearing orange tights, grab the mike, scream invectives at his rivals, then spike the microphone, kiss his biceps, and leave without taking questions. Kiffin coaches college football like Vince McMahon helms the WWE, it's all about creating a buzz.

So this is how it's going to be for Charlie Weis from now on. Urban Meyer here, Urban Meyer there. The dark cloud that is Meyer has been hovering over Weis since he first started failing as Notre Dame's coach. Now, with Weis on his last chance, Meyer keeps looming even more than ever as a reminder.

Steve Spurrier was probably just trying to do his usual, sticking him thumb in someone's eye, in this case his former employer. Meyer has taken over his spot not only as Florida's coach, but also as the nation's top name. So Spurrier, now the South Carolina coach, was on the radio the other day, when he just so happened to bring up Florida and Meyer.

Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin is never far from the headlines, even when it's unintentional. So it goes with this story about his last-minute pitch to South Carolina receiver Alshon Jeffery. Deliberately holed up in a hotel on the eve of signing day by his coach, Jeffrey listened to desperate pitches from South Carolina, Tennessee and Southern California.

The one-time Southern Cal commit ultimately chose South Carolina, but not before Kiffin pledged "that if he chose the Gamecocks, he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life like all the other players from that state who had gone to South Carolina." And to that, Jeffery seems to have taken serious offense.

Heading into the combine, Brandon Pettigrew was easily the best tight end in this draft, while there was quite a battle to determine who was second-best.

Jared Cook may be changing that. The South Carolina Gamecock ran a blazingly fast 4.50 40-yard dash -- the second fastest time by a tight end this decade (topped only by Vernon Davis), while Pettigrew ran a very pedestrian 4.82 40. Cook wrapped up the title of best athlete among the tight end crop by also showing the best vertical leap (41 inches) and broad jump (10-foot-3) among tight ends while also bench pressing 225 pounds a very solid 23 times (two more than elite tackle prospect Michael Oher).

South Carolina has retired four numbers in their football history, yet Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks are now claiming that they do not have enough numbers for players. At least that's the story they told Sterling Sharpe and George Rogers.

The reality, however, is that it's about recruiting. Spurrier apparently promised one of his top recruits, wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, that he could wear No. 2 at South Carolina, according to one of Jeffery's high school coaches. He even indicated that Sharpe was fine with it. He's not.

Last year there was an enormous blowup in the blogosphere about whether or not Nick Saban's massive over-signing was ethical or not. A few months, one Jimmy Johns nose-candy arrest, and a half-dozen suspicious medical scholarships later, and Saban managed to cram his class in and even had scholarships left over.

This year Alabama is recruiting within reason, but it's another SEC coach messing with the kids he's in charge of: Steve Spurrier. First, he's told senior non-starters to GTFO:

FanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from Bowl Season '08.

So what do you want to hear, Iowa fans, the good news or the bad news? Since it's the first day of a new year, and everyone's feeling particularly cheery, let's start with the happier news.

Iowa kicked the bejesus out of South Carolina in the Outback Bowl, a 31-10 win that was not that close -- the Hawkeyes led 31-0 after three quarters before the Gamecocks decided to show up a little. It was an all-around effort for Iowa, which got 150 passing yards from Ricky Stanzi, 132 rushing yards from Shonn Greene and forced four Gamecock turnovers.

The stellar effort landed Iowa its ninth win, and was an emphatic performance against the mighty SEC.

There's the good. If you Iowa fans want to stop reading here, go ahead, because here comes the bad. Almost immediately after the game ended, Greene -- the only back in the FBS to top 100 yards in every game this season -- declared for the NFL draft.

Turkey Legs to Go is FanHouse's complete travel guide for all of the 2008-2009 college bowl games. Here, we cover the Outback Bowl (Tampa, Florida), which pits Iowa against South Carolina.

Overview/Matchup: There's something magnificently ironic about the Gamecocks and Iowa meeting up in a bowl game ... mainly because it means nearly three weeks of some certain writers making fun of a certain meme that revolves around a certain player with a certain stinky name from South Carolina. Oh yeah, and there's also football -- a pair of stout defensive teams square off in a game that should be full of grit and grind. And other fun stuff, like visors.

Hotels: From its long palm-lined driveway to the unobstructed bay views and luxuriously appointed guest rooms, the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay is the finest hotel in the city. Thankfully for football fans this first-rate property is just on the other side of the airport from Raymond James Stadium. The Intercontinental Tampa offers bowl-travelers the best bang for the buck. The hotel has great proximity to the stadium, the airport and Westshore Plaza Mall along with top-notch service, well-rounded facilities and elegant décor; a standard room for less than US$200 per night doesn't hurt either. The Comfort Inn Airport is the ideal option for budget travelers. Accommodations are meager, but the property is directly adjacent to the airport, two blocks from the stadium, and has rooms for less than US$100 per night.

Lane Kiffin, the new, hip, happening Tennessee Volunteers head coach, got an early welcome to the world of the SEC from one of its elder statesmen recently, as Ye Olde Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier, decided to point out that young Lane had spoken with recruits before he was actually introduced as head coach of the Vols.

The South Carolina coach, who had a history of taking verbal jabs at Kiffin's predecessor, Phillip Fulmer, questioned whether Kiffin broke NCAA recruiting rules by contacting Tennessee recruits before he was cleared to do so.

Jarvis Giles, a running back recruit from Gaither High School in Tampa, Fla., told several media outlets that Kiffin contacted him early Sunday morning - a day before he was scheduled to be introduced as the Vols' new coach.

Spurrier noted that he didn't retake the recruiting test until after he was introduced as the Gamecocks' new coach and joked that Kiffin might have called Giles as "an interested observer.''

That's the beauty of the OBC -- he manages to make a joke out of a pretty serious allegation, simply by using his charming Southern demeanor. And obviously Kiffin is covering up any potential wrong doing by pointing out that he took the test before his hire was actually announced; whether or not he acted in accordance with the rules seems irrelevant unless there's a dated test that can prove him otherwise.

The better part of all this is that right away, we have a heated coaching rivalry between two SEC would-be powerhouses, not to mention the makings of a super awesome visor war.