Saban, Les Miles and the rest — SEC Media Days Day 3

Today was the banner day for the SEC Media Days, with three of the biggest coaches in the conference – and college football taking the podium. Sorry, James Franklin of Vanderbilt, we’re talking about Alabama’s Nick Saban, Georgia’s Mark Richt, and the ever-quotable Les Miles of LSU (if he needs further introduction). In an effort to kick things off with a bang, we’ll start with Les Miles. And no, he didn’t bring any grass with him. LES MILES (LSU) On Jeremy Hill, who’s been suspended indefinitely after getting into a fight in a car park, which he pled guilty for: “Jeremy Hill has a legal entanglement. At this point in time he remains indefinitely suspended. I have a track record with really disciplining

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Johnny Football & Co light up Day 2 at the SEC Media Days

Well, it was over early – unlike a lot of Johnny Manziel’s evenings this off-season. The Heisman-winning quarterback buzzed into the SEC Media Days, faced the media, and buzzed out. We would go in-depth about his riveting and enchanting interviews, but instead, we’ll pick out the best bits from everybody on the podium in Hoover, AL. JOHNNY MANZIEL On getting booted out of the Manning Camp: “I simply overslept. There’s nothing more to talk, and the rumors about the other things weren’t really true….Hearing Eli and Peyton afterward and the key thing was they wanted me to come back next year, that was great because I had such a great time working with the kids I had and doing some things we do at A&M.

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SEC releases first few weeks of TV schedule

We’ve gone crazy on our Twitter feed about the fact that ESPN has decided in its infinite wisdom to make the South Carolina vs Georgia grudge-match at 4.30pm kick-off time – a time despised by most tailgaters and college football fans who don’t tie themselves to a TV during the whole of a Saturday. We can only think that it’s because ESPN’s prime-time game on Week 1 is Georgia’s trip to Clemson, which will be an 8pm kick-off. Oh, and CBS is making Alabama vs Texas A&M in the searing heat a 3.30pm kick-off, unsurprisingly. And College Station will be loud enough for that one. Anyway, here’s the full schedule.   DATE                         GAME             

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SEC Media Days: What To Expect From Day 1

It’s Day 1 of the SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama, and with  Florida, South Carolina, Ole Miss and Missouri talking, it should be a bright start – especially with Steve Spurrier doing some mouthing. So we expect these coaches to be talking about these things: From Steve Spurrier (South Carolina): He’ll point out that South Carolina beat Georgia last year, but didn’t go to the SEC Championship Game. He’ll blame the tough 2012 schedule – but he’s not going to mention the 2013 one, where the Gamecocks don’t play Alabama, LSU or Texas A&M (we can only dream of Jadeveon Clowney vs Johnny Manziel). He’ll also point out that players need to get paid to play college football (his usual rant),

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Big Statues, Big SEC Rivals, Big Amusement

While we were watching the Brits celebrate their first-ever (male) Wimbledon crown since God was a boy (77 years, as it goes), this popped up on our Twitter Feed from Reddit: “If you could erect a statue of one person in front of your biggest rival’s stadium, who would it be and what would they be doing?” To say that we nearly urinated our underwear laughing would be an understatement. And then the imagination kicked in. So here are our ones for all SEC schools. SEC EAST FOR FLORIDA: We’re going with a big, long spear, which will be flamed up every time Florida and Florida State play each other. That’s because Bobby Bowden had a 7-4 record against Spurrier

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Should Les Miles Boot His Star LSU Running Back?

LSU starting running back Jeremy Hill has admitted to simple battering – along with a friend – for sucker-punching a 20-year old man outside Reggie’s bar in Tigerland, after video evidence emerged of his attack. He was sentenced to two years’ probation – although may still face jail time for a violation of probation for an earlier offence (details below), when he discusses his parole in late August. The video of the attack is here. It’s not pretty viewing.  Hill must attend anger management classes, has to stay away from social media, pay $375 in medical expenses to Connor Baldridge, and will be under a curfew – although will be ‘suspended’ for football-related activities.  He also must write a letter of apology

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NCAA rules on two Ole Miss players’ academic eligibility

After Ole Miss had a quite incredible recruiting year in 2012-3, they looked primed for another step up in fortunes in coach Hugh Freeze’s second year in Oxford. However, tight end A.J. Jackson, from Hampton, GA, won’t be part of this year’s festivities, after being ruled academically ineligible by the NCAA. There were thoughts that Jackson could have started for the Rebels immediately. But it’s not all bad news. Antonio Conner, a safety who was the top recruit in the state of Mississippi, was ruled eligible to enroll in Oxford. According to Rebels site ‘Red Cup Rebellion’, Conner played “safety, receiver, quarterback and really any other position that could have benefited from his ideal frame, speed, and grit.” The blog added

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Losing badly: Bad SEC memories

—- OUR GUEST WRITER ALEX FERGUSON WRITES FROM BLOG ‘VIEW FROM AMERICA’ WRITES——  It’s not the only time that I’ve written an anti-SEC piece – I’ve been going on and on about the SEC’s lack of red-hot non-conference schedule competition since God was a boy (and will probably continue to do so!!), but this article comes because as college football fans, we remember the bad times just as well as the good times. And as June 18th in my birthday – I’m 35 today (so remember to say Happy Birthday! to me after reading this) – I thought it was a bit of time to remember the bad times. I’m going through EVERY SEC team – that includes you too,

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SEC APR scores see Alabama, Missouri top the standings

The Academic Progress Rate scores for the Southeastern Conference have just come through for football teams, and it seems that although they haven’t done a lot right on the football field, the Missouri Tiger are doing good things in the schoolroom. The NCAA says the APR “holds Division I institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through the Academic Progress Rate, a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete, each term.” It adds: “Each student-athlete receiving athletically related financial aid earns one retention point for staying in school and one eligibility point for being academically eligible. A team’s total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by one thousand to equal

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Gee, Gordon…Thanks for the social commentary

           SEC Football Blog, SEC  Land, Somewhere  In The Southland. Dear Gordon Gee, You’ve proved to be pretty special, haven’t you? At a time when a university wouldn’t have minded keeping its collective head down, you make some comments to an athletic counsel that some might describe as being offensive, but everybody can agree is downright stupid. You said about us SEC boys: “You tell the SEC when they can learn to read and write, then they can figure out what we’re doing.” We’ll remind Vanderbilt to do that, when they aren’t slapping  your athletic graduation rate by over 10% (85% to 74%, folks). You added: ” I’ll tell you something. It’s shameful. It really is. You

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