Headlinin': Decision day for Georgia stars, Plus! Gratuitous Notre Dame pinin'
from
Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
• We're not saying they're leaving, but ... OK. They're leaving. Matt Stafford and Knowshon Moreno have
made up their minds about the NFL, or will make them up by 3 p.m. Eastern, when they've scheduled a press conference to announce whether they plan to stay or go from Georgia. It's not a tandem deal, of course -- one could stay, one could go -- but the duel presser is a tip that they're staying or going together, and
the Georgia rumor mill ($) is already bidding
adieu to its stars based on an anonymous source and an "e-mail floating around" by a member of Stafford's family. If that's not convincing, just know that certain first-rounders -- in Stafford's case, a certain top-five pick, barring a combine meltdown or something -- don't return to school very often, or call press conferences to announce they're coming back. Stay tuned.
• Charlie Weis has no comment, if anyone's wondering. Urban Meyer's getting ready to coach in his second mythical championship game in three years with Florida, but the Chicago Tribune knows what the Gator boss
really dreams of at night:
The Tribune used the opportunity of media day in Miami to mock up that "illustration" for today's edition, which includes nothing more than a few more whacks at the carcass of a horse that died in December 2004, when Meyer spurned the Irish, and was badly rotting when
the "dream job" flap (if it even qualified as a "flap") was sparked by a radio interview last month. The Bulls are still in Chicago right? And that one team that does that thing with the sticks and the ice? I mean,
Mouthpiece is going strong. I'm sure if the Tribune tried really hard and used its imagination, it could come up with something that didn't spring, you know, purely from its imagination.
• The BC hostage crisis, Day Four. By all reports, Jeff Jagodzinski
went through with his interview with the Jets Tuesday, which apparently means
his fate is sealed when he finally
sits down with Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo -- if DeFilippo can even
get ahold of his coach, who is essentially AWOL from the program. BC message boards openly wonder if Jags is having
some sort of breakdown ($).
There should be some resolution today that replaces Jagodzinski with someone from his staff -- coordinators Steve Logan and Frank Spaziani and o-line/assistant head coach Jack Bicknell all remain in play, with the unfortunately named "Spaz" the new clubhouse leader -- but this looked like it would be settled on Monday, too, and no one's heard a peep from Jagodzinski since he denied contact with the Jets over the weekend. Maybe that's why the storyline is turning from "
This AD is crazy" to "
What a sneaky rat coach." They're still just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
• Gophers join the counterrevolution. Minnesota
lost both of its coordinators Tuesday, with offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar resigning and defensive guru Ted Roof
signing on to Gene Chizik's staff at Auburn. Roof's departure my "hit harder" for the Gophers, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune -- despite allowing 37 points per game during a five-game losing streak to end the season, the defense made a leap under Roof from the unit that finished dead last in the Big Ten in every possible category in 2007 -- but Dunbar's exit is more interesting because it likely signals a
shift away from the spread Dunbar helped pioneer under Randy Walker at Northwestern. After finishing last in the Big Ten in rushing, head coach Tim Brewster hired USC and Alabama veteran Tim Davis as offensive line coach and running game coordinator after the regular season, which ESPN's Adam Rittenberg sees as a move
back to the more physical offensive identity Minnesota had under Glen Mason.
If so, the Gophers are the first spread adopters in the conference and one of the first in the nation to take the revolution in the opposite direction.
Quickly ... We hardly knew ye, James Casey and Jerraud Powers: The
24-year-old Rice utility man and
Auburn cornerback are leaving early for the NFL. ... Mike Balogan will
start at middle linebacker Thursday for Oklahoma, but gimpy Mike Box is still likely to play. ... Conference solidarity be damned, Will Muschamp
ain't rooting for Oklahoma, and Bob Stoops
doesn't even want to hear about Texas' claim to No. 1. ... Less Dick at Arkansas: With Ryan Mallett in the wings at quarterback, Casey Dick's little brother, Nathan, is
transferring to Central Arkansas. ... Mark Sanchez
hasn't made a decision on his pro future, but new USC offensive coordinator John Morton
expects his quarterback to return. ... BYU and Oklahoma will
open the 2009 season in the
Dallas Cowboys' new space palace. ... New Washington defensive coordinator Nick Holt calls the Huskies "
a sleeping giant." ... And you can
rewatch the Fiesta Bowl in its entirety, courtesy of Hulu and the Dallas Morning News.
by Michael David SmithFiled under: Florida, Oklahoma, Utah
Jeff Jagodzinksi
Sam Bradford
