Thoughts of the Day: August 25, 2021

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:

GATORS ARE RANKED RANKED BUT ONLY FOUR ON COACHES ALL-SEC?

The Gators are ranked 11th in the Coaches and 13th in the Associated Press polls, yet they get very little respect from the SEC coaches. You want proof? Consider the fact that unranked Arkansas, coming off a 3-7 season, had three first team selections and six overall on the Coaches preseason All-SEC team. Or how about Auburn, also unranked and with a new coaching staff and a roster depleted by what seems a gazillion transfers. The Tigers have only one first teamer but another nine who made the second and third teams.

The Gators? Making the first team were D-lineman Zachary Carter and corner Kaiir Elam. Linebacker Ventrell Miller was selected second team and wide receiver Jacob Copeland made third team.

That’s it for Florida. Ole Miss and Kentucky both had five.

It’s true the Gators lost Kyle Trask, Kyle Pitts, Kadarius Toney and Evan McPherson to the NFL and there will be a bunch of new faces, but only four total on the first, second and third teams? And one of the four isn’t Brenton Cox Jr.?

It’s worth mentioning that the Gators placed only five on the final All-SEC first and second teams by the Coaches and the AP in 2020, which was one more than 2019 and two more than 2018. Perhaps I see things through orange and blue tinted glasses but I see a pattern here. It would be one thing for the Gators to be in the lower half of the SEC East, but the Gators finished second in 2018-19, won the East last year and have made a New Year’s Six bowl all three years. Something just doesn’t seem right and hasn’t seemed right for awhile.

WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG, BAD SEC?: THE BIG TEN, PAC-12 AND ACC For all the bluster about how remarkable is this alliance between the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC, the reality is it accomplishes absolutely nothing of significance. It’s designed to put the squeeze on Greg Sankey and the big, bad SEC which had the audacity to accept Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12. That’s laughable.

Here is what Matt Hayes calls “The Spiteful Three” in his Saturday Down South column and what they hope to accomplish: (1) Form a scheduling alliance that will limit SEC schools’ ability to play football and basketball games against teams in their leagues; (2) outvote the SEC 3-1 whenever there are decisions that have to be made regarding the College Football Playoff; and (3) limit the SEC to three teams when the playoff does expand.

Let’s start with the scheduling alliance. Basically, the idea is for The Spiteful Three to schedule a couple of games a year against teams from each of the other two leagues in the alliance, leaving very little room for the SEC to schedule games outside the league with alliance members. There are a couple of murky little details here: (1) The scheduling alliance really wouldn’t kick in for at least five to seven years because of existing schedules; and (2) the Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 don’t have enough highly-regarded teams to provide weekly marquee games that will keep people from tuning in the SEC, which has eight absolute money makers and ratings grabbers in Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M, Texas and Oklahoma. Which do you think more people would watch: Ohio State-Clemson or Alabama-Oklahoma? Florida-Texas or Miami-Michigan? Georgia-LSU or Oregon-Florida State? And, let’s say Alabama wants to play Ohio State in a kickoff classic game or maybe Florida and Southern Cal or Georgia and Clemson want to play. Those games are big bucks for The Spiteful Three. What are the odds they would turn those games down? Try slim, none and perhaps non-existent. Do The Spiteful Three really think the TV viewing public will hold their breath five years waiting for the alliance or that they’ll be watching the SEC?

When it comes to the playoff, the only two voices that will be heard consistently are those of ESPN and Greg Sankey. Since 2000, the SEC has won 12 national championships. The Big Ten (1), ACC (3) and Pac-12 (2) have combined for six. The SEC has won four of the seven national championships in the playoff era including the last two. The SEC has clout that The Spiteful Three don’t have.

The geniuses in the Spiteful Three have concluded that the SEC should be limited to three teams when the playoff expands to 12 teams with the idea that each of their leagues will also get three. Of course, in this theory the Group of Five would be shut out and it doesn’t take into account that the Big 12 might resurface as a 16-team league that will be just about as good top to bottom as the ACC and Pac-12 if it adds the right eight teams.

From a financial standpoint, the SEC will be the top revenue producer once Texas and Oklahoma are no longer in the Big 12 with the Big Ten coming in second. The Pac-12 and ACC are bottom feeders. The Pac-12 doesn’t have any real hope for a lucrative media deal when its contract with Fox and ESPN expires in a couple of years and the ACC is locked in with ESPN until 2036. Matt Hayes writes, “Does the ACC, and to a lesser extent, the Big Ten, really want to cause strife between the largest media rights provider of college football?”

Not if they are smart, they won’t, but nobody is really accusing commissioners Kevin Warren (Big Ten), Jim Phillips (ACC) and George Kliavkov (Pac-12) of being the sharpest tools in the collegiate athletics shed. They want us to think they’re strong. What they really are is afraid.

NOW THAT THE BIG 12 HAS BEEN FORMALLY SHUNNED …

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips is a regular comedian. Listen to this knee-slapper: “We want and need the Big 12 to do well.”

Phillips actually said that on the day the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 formed an alliance that doesn’t once address the fact the Big 12 is on life support. If anything, the alliance is already licking its chops, trying to figure out how to slice and dice the remaining eight orphans in the Big 12. Speculation remains hot and heavy that the Big Ten will add Kansas and Iowa State while West Virginia goes to the ACC. The Pac-12 doesn’t have any really good options but it’s thought the foursome of Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Baylor and TCU could be invited.

Unless Bob Bowlsby can make a pre-emptive strike to add eight teams his league will be defunct within a couple of years. Because the Big 12 has autonomy as a Power Five league it would be particularly attractive for teams in the American Athletic Conference, Mountain West and independent BYU. It’s the perfect opportunity for Bowlsby to make a deal with Texas and Oklahoma, strongarming them into paying early exit fees that would allow them to leave for the SEC and him to cover the exit fees of seven AAC teams, for example.

With a 16-team league that includes metro areas like Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Kansas City, Oklahoma City added to Tampa, Orlando, Philadelphia, Memphis, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City, Bowlsby might have a good enough league to get a fairly decent TV contract. He could probably get Greg Sankey to give him a boost by throwing a scheduling bone for both football and basketball, particularly if he were to let Texas and Oklahoma leave by 2023.

The question as we move forward is whether Bowlsby is willing to move fast enough? If he doesn’t he won’t have anything left to negotiate.

PRESEASON ALL-SEC FOR EACH TEAM

Alabama: Selected first team preseason Coaches All-SEC were WR John Metchie III, OL Evan Neal, DL Phidarian Mathis, LB Christian Harris, LB Will Anderson Jr., DB Malachi Moore and DB Josh Jobe. Selected second team were TE Jahleel Billingsley, OL Emil Ekiyor, LB Henry To’o To’o, and DB Jordan Battle. On the third team were RB Brian Robinson Jr., DL LaBryan Ray, LB Christopher Allen and PK Will Reichard.

Arkansas: Selected first team preseason Coaches All-SEC were WR Treylon Burks, C Ricky Stromberg and LB Grant Morgan. Picked for the second team was DB Jalen Catalon while OL Ty Clary and OL Myron Cunningham made third team.

Auburn: Selected first team preseason Coaches All-SEC was RB Tank Bigsby, who was also selected as the all-purpose (AP) back on the second team. Also selected second team were C Nick Brahms, LB Zakoby McClain, DB Smoke Monday and PK Anders Carlson. Selected third team were QB Bo Nix, OL Brodarious Hamm, LB Owen Pappoe and DB Roger McCreary.

Georgia: Selected first team preseason Coaches All-SEC were DL Jordan Davis and P Jake Camarga. Selected to the second team were QB JT Daniels, RB Zamir White, WR George Pickens and OL Jamaree Salyer. Selected third team were WR Jermaine Burton, DL Travon Walker, LB Nakobe Dea, DB Lewis Cine and RS Kearis Jackson.

Kentucky: Selected first team preseason Coaches All-SEC was OL Darian Kinnard. Selected second team was DL Josh Paschal. Selected third team were RB Chris Rodriguez, OL Luke Fortner and DB Yusuf Corker.

LSU: Selected first team preseason Coaches All-SEC were PK Cade York and DB Derek Stingley Jr. Selected second team were WR Kayshon Boutte, OL Ed Ingram, WR and DB Elias Ricks. Selected third team was OL Austin Deculus.

Mississippi State: Selected second team preseason Coaches All-SEC was OL Charles Cross.

Missouri: Selected second team preseason Coaches All-SEC was DL Trajan Jeffcoat. Selected third team were QB Connor Bazelac, C Michael Maietti and P Grant McKinnis.

Ole Miss: Selected first team preseason Coaches All-SEC were QB Matt Corral and AP Jerrion Ealy. Ealy was also selected first team return specialist and third team RB. Selected second team was P Mac Brown with OL Nick Broeker third team.

South Carolina: Selected first team preseason Coaches All-SEC was DL Kingsley Enagbare. Selected to the second team was RB Kevin Harris. Selected third team was TE Nick Muse and DL Zacc Pickens.

Tennessee: Selected first team preseason Coaches All-SEC was OL Cade Mays. Selected second team was P Paxton Brooks. Selected third team was DB Alontae Taylor.

Texas A&M: Selected first team preseason Coaches All-SEC were RB Isaiah Spiller, TE Jalen Wydermeyer and OL Kenyon Green. Selected second team were DL DeMarvin Leal and RS Ainias Smith. Smith was also selected third team at WR and AP. Also named third team were DL Jayden Peevy and DB Leon O’Neal Jr.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Back in the 1970s, the late, great Don Shula was asked if he thought he could be a good Major League Baseball manager. After all, Shoes was brilliant at managing in-game situations in the NFL so some in the media thought he would be a natural managing in the big leagues. Shula replied that he didn’t think he could do it because he couldn’t get accustomed to the amount of losing that goes on in Major League Baseball where outstanding teams win maybe 60-65 percent of the time. I’m applying the same logic to Urban Meyer’s leap to the NFL. I think Urban will adapt to the rules changes and to the fact he doesn’t have to stake his future to 18- and 19-year-old kids but how is he going to handle the losing? He has a major rebuild ahead of him in Jacksonville where it could take three or four years to turn the small market Jaguars into contenders. I’ve met few coaches or managers in any sport that take losing as hard as Meyer, whose head coaching career (187-32 record) at the collegiate level produced only two seasons in which he lost more than three games (four in 2007, five in 2010). There is a good chance he will lose as many games this year as he lost in seven years as the head coach at Ohio State (9). I wonder how he will handle it?