Thoughts of the Day: October 20, 2021

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:

THINKING OUT LOUD ON A WEDNESDAY

Bells, whistles and brand new buildings do matter when it comes to recruiting … : Oregon fired a shot across the bow of any ship that wishes to land Mario Cristobal as its next head coach Tuesday when it detailed plans to build a brand new 130,000 square foot indoor practice facility that will replace the state-of-the-art building that currently exists. A 40,000 square foot connector building will be added to this project that goes from the outdoor practice fields to the football operations center. You can translate this to mean Uncle Phil will cash however much Nike stock he needs to make sure Mario doesn’t go traipsing off to Southern Cal, LSU or Miami. Oregon will keep Mario, at least as long as he’s winning, but there is a deeper intent of this building and that is to make sure Oregon continues to outrecruit everyone for the best prospects on the west coast.

Now transport your thoughts from Oregon to Gainesville where Florida is in the final stages of construction on a stand-alone football facility that is years overdue. Whether you wish to admit it or not, Dan Mullen has been recruiting with his hands tied behind his back. It was the same at Mississippi State where facilities handicapped his recruiting efforts. This isn’t like it was in the 1990s when Florida, Florida State and Miami were landing top classes every year. Nowadays, you can’t get that thing if you don’t have the bling and Florida hasn’t had the bling.

Recruiting is going to change for the better at UF because of the new facility. Some of you might think that is the “sunshine pumper” in me, but it is a fact. Florida’s facilities are only now beginning to emerge from the stone age mentality “it’s Florida, we don’t need great facilities and we’re not going to get into an arms race” of the pre-Scott Stricklin years.

Sticklin gets it. There is an arms race and you either join it or fall way behind. Since Florida’s last national championship in 2008, there have been six SEC championships won by Alabama and one each by Auburn and LSU. All three have better football facilities than UF. You will also find better football facilities at South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Georgia and Arkansas.

That Florida’s lack of facilities has seriously harmed recruiting is not an excuse. It’s reality.

I grind my teeth every time I think that Derrick Henry went to Alabama …: I remember watching Derrick Henry run for more than 200 yards as a junior for Yulee in a playoff loss to Trinity Catholic. Although Trinity Catholic won the game, Henry was a man among boys and thought by some on the Florida coaching staff to be too big (6-3, 240) to play running back in college. Florida’s staff thought Henry would make a dandy defensive end or outside linebacker. Nick Saban obviously thought Henry would be a fine running back, which is why Henry snubbed the Gators and signed with Alabama. His 3-year Alabama career rushing totals were 3,591 yards for 42 touchdowns. When he won the Heisman Trophy while leading Alabama to the 2015 national championship, Henry ran for 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns. So much for being too big to play.

In 5-plus seasons in the NFL, Henry has already run for 6,643 yards and 65 touchdowns. He’s already being touted as a future Pro Football Hall of Fame lock. I grind my teeth every time I look at Henry’s career because after talking to him that night in Ocala, he made it quite clear that he had grown up a Gator fan.

More tooth grinding … : One year later, Dalvin Cook was committed to the Gators up until December 31 when he decommitted UF and then committed to Florida State. This one is easier to understand than the whiff on Henry since FSU won the 2013 national championship and had Heisman Trophy QB Jameis Winston coming back. Florida, meanwhile, lost to Georgia Southern that year and the prospects for Will Muschamp keeping his job beyond the 2014 season seemed rather bleak. FSU didn’t win another national championship but Cook put together three consecutive seasons with more than 1,000 yards, finishing his collegiate career with 4,464 yards and 46 touchdowns. In the NFL he’s gained 4,027 yards while running for 35 touchdowns. He’s made the Pro Bowl twice. When he decommitted Florida, it was a 9-inch stiletto into Muschamp’s career.

Jeremy Pruitt’s lawyer is threatening Tennessee … : The lawyer for former Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt has given UT until October 29 to pay buyout money from when he was fired or else a lawsuit will be filed. KnoxNews.com reported that attorney Michael Lyons wrote, “If Coach Pruitt is forced to file a lawsuit it is inevitable that this information will become public, embarrass UT and those associated with it, including its largest donors, and result in debilitating NCAA sanctions.”

We can deduce two things from this threat: (a) A whole lot of cheating was going on when Pruitt was the head coach and (b) Pruitt has determined that he will never again coach college football either as a head coach or as an assistant.

OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC Alabama (6-1, 3-1 SEC): Edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. was named the Bronko Nagurski Award Player of the Week after his 4-sack performance against Mississippi State.

Arkansas (4-3, 1-3 SEC): Saturday’s game with D1AA Arkansas-Pine Bluff isn’t a conference game but you can’t understate the importance to Sam Pittman and the Razorbacks. With a win, the Hogs are one game away from bowl-eligible, something almost unimaginable when Pittman seemed like a desperation hire after Chad Morris was fired following a second straight 2-10 season in 2019.

Auburn (5-2, 2-1 SEC): Auburn’s defense is on pace for substantial improvement from 2020 when the Tigers allowed 406 yards per game and 5.62 per play along with 24.7 points per game. Currently, the Tigers are giving up only 341.9 yards per game and 4.9 per play and just 19.7 points.

Georgia (7-0, 5-0 SEC): Kirby Smart says JT Daniels is throwing more in practice, but would Smart be dumb enough to play Daniels right now when Stetson Bennett has the Bulldogs on such a roll? Bennett is 57-82 passing (69.5 percent) for 996 yards (12.1 per attempt) for 11 touchdowns with only two interceptions. He has also run for 148 yards, averaging 7.79 per carry. You don’t tug on Superman’s cape and right now Stetson Bennett is Georgia’s Superman.

Kentucky (6-1, 4-1 SEC): Injured wide receiver Josh Ali (17-248, 1 TD) is moving well enough in practice this week that it seems likely he will be able to return to the field when the Wildcats play Mississippi State in two weeks.

LSU (4-3, 2-2 SEC): Coach Oeaux pointed out Tuesday that the resurgence in the LSU running game, which began at halftime of the Kentucky game and continued through the Florida game, coincides with the insertion of Jack Mashburn in at tight end. The former high school quarterback is a walk-on who spent the Florida game as the second blocker through the hole on the counter-trap play.

Mississippi State (3-3, 1-2 SEC): The reason Jack Abraham has not played a single snap for the Bulldogs is because he is recovering from post-concussion syndrome from an accident back in June. Abraham transferred to Mississippi State from Southern Miss where he threw for 7,607 yards and 41 touchdowns during his career.

Missouri (3-4, 0-3 SEC): The Missouri defense is dead last in the SEC and 127th nationally, allowing 489.3 yards per game and 6.78 per play.

Ole Miss (5-1, 2-1 SEC): One reason the Ole Miss defense is much improved this year is a better pass rush. The Rebels already have 18 sacks at the midway point of the season. They managed only 16 in ten games last year.

South Carolina (4-3, 1-3 SEC): Luke Doty, who reinjured his foot in the game against Vanderbilt, is done for the season. Zeb Noland, who started at QB in the two wins to open the season and engineered the comeback win over Vandy, is the starter.

Tennessee (4-3, 2-2 SEC): Speaking of Alabama quarterback Bryce Young Tuesday, secondary coach Willie Martinez said, “He knows what to do with the ball … does a good job of throwing the ball away and doesn’t take a sack and he makes good decisions, too, to run with it when he has to to get the first down or keep the chains moving.”

Texas A&M (5-2, 2-2 SEC): Offensive tackle Kenyon Green and defensive tackle Jayden Peevy will be able to play against South Carolina. Wide receiver Hez Jones will have season-ending surgery.

Vanderbilt (2-5, 0-3 SEC): Mike Wright who came off the bench when Ken Seals was hurt against South Carolina and threw for 206 yards and a touchdown while running for 41, will be Vandy’s starting quarterback Saturday against Mississippi State.

YOU REALLY DIDN’T THINK EXPANSION HAD ENDED, DID YOU? The American Athletic Conference, which is losing Cincinnati, UCF and Houston to the Big 12, is reportedly expanding by adding Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, Rice and UAB from Conference USA. Barring any defections from South Florida, Memphis, SMU, Tulsa, East Carolina, Temple, Tulane and Navy, that would create a 14-team league that would probably split into two divisions.

There seems little doubt the AAC will add all six teams, but the Big 12 probably is going to expand some more and could see some defections as well. If the Big 12 expands, expect it to add four teams, all probably from the AAC – SMU, Memphis, South Florida for sure, and possibly Tulane for the New Orleans metro TV market. Of course, the Big 12 could also see defections such as Kansas and Iowa State to the Big Ten and West Virginia to the ACC. Although it might be seen as throwing a lifeline, the ACC could also add UConn, which might save their football program while adding a powerhouse basketball program to the league.

Maybe the question that should be asked is will the Big Ten and Pac-12 stay idle? From a football only perspective, Notre Dame is the only school that could add serious value to the Big Ten but Notre Dame is contractually obligated to join the ACC if it opts out of independence before 2036 and right now, there seems to be nothing that would indicate any change in status in the near future. Kansas, however, would add serious value to the Big Ten in that its basketball broadcasts draw better than ESPN’s Saturday night football. Iowa State would be a logical choice to bolt to the Big Ten along with Kansas since, like Kansas, it is a member of the American Association of Universities. The only non-member of the American Association of Universities in the Big Ten is Nebraska which was removed in 2011. Nebraska would not have been asked to join the Big Ten in 2010 if it had not been an AAU member school.

The Pac-12 is in a difficult position. Its television contract with both ESPN and Fox expires in 2024 and there seems to be no rush by either network to negotiate a new deal, particularly since until Southern Cal and UCLA become national powers again the league is essentially irrelevant for football. The Pac-12 blew it when it wouldn’t add BYU because of the LDS Church stance on no sports on Sundays and because it isn’t at least classified an R1 Doctoral University (BYU is an R2) by the Carnegie Classification. BYU would have given Utah a natural rival and would have added a potential 16 million Mormon viewers any time BYU participated in any event, something the networks do pay attention to. The Pac-12 does not want to add San Diego State, Fresno State, UNLV or Boise State so it may be stuck with the same schools and the exact same problems which could lead it to a media contract that will pay the league less than it’s making now.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Jimbo is not leaving Texas A&M for LSU. Etch that in stone. Neither is James Franklin going to leave Penn State for LSU. Etch that in stone also. Southern Cal? There is a really good chance he’ll go there. If you’re into betting on such things, put your money on Luke Fickell staying right where he is unless Ohio State or Notre Dame open up, which they won’t. Dabo has a $45 million buyout. He’s not leaving Clemson. Mel Tucker has an almost $20 million buyout at Michigan State. LSU would have to be nuts to spend $20 million on top of the $17 million Coach Oeaux buyout and the $7-8 million buyouts for assistants plus spend the money to bring in a new coach and staff. LSU’s short list seems to be in need of some new faces.