Files "mysteriously disappear" from Rich Rodriguez' office

The already messy divorce between Rich Rodriguez and the University of West Virginia football program seems to have hit another snag: nearly all of the files from Rodriguez' tenure as head football coach are missing.

The way this headline on ESPN's Bottom Line read seemed like Rodriguez destroyed the files himself, and it certainly looks like he has (or at least someone who worked for him). However, the article leaves things up in the air; I'm sure they'll keep us posted on further developments.

Regardless of what comes out, there are a couple possible reasons it happened. A justifiable reason would be that Rodriguez has a very specific system, and it's plausible that he wanted no one to be able to steal any of his secrets. Yet, I wonder if there's that much information available in all of the player information missing — like "contact information, scholarship money awarded, class attendance records and personal conduct records. At first glance, it seems like a cover-up for NCAA violations.

However, ESPN does report that Rodriguez' camp suggests not everything is missing, and as the details unfold we'll be able to speculate better.

At best, though, I think Rodriguez looks crazy, guilty of violating NCAA regulations or not, if it turns out he was responsible for destroying the files. By doing so implies guilt, justified reason or not. If he wasn't guilty, then why do it?

Who Will Get 2nd Pick in the 2008 NFL Draft?

So, last night, while I was watching the pitiful Falcons lose their 10th game of the season, I started wondering what team will get the 2nd pick in the 2008 Draft?

For those of you who don't follow, the NFL ranks the teams from worst to best to determine the draft order for the following year. Miami has virtually wrapped up the 1st pick with their 0-13 performance this year, but there are 4 teams with 3-10 records in line for the second pick, and another three with 4-9 records. After doing some research, I found that the first tie-breaker will be based on strength of schedule.

Since exams are over and I have nothing constructive to do with myself, I decided to figure out the strength of schedule for each of the teams in the race for the 2nd pick. Here is what I found out (SOS = Combined wins of all past and future opponents to this point in the season):

Jets (3-10) – SOS = 109
- Remaining Opp. = @NE (13-0), @TEN (7-6), KC (4-9)
Falcons (3-10) – SOS = 107
- Remaining Opp. = @TB (8-5), @ARIZ (6-7), SEA (9-4)
49ers (3-10) – SOS = 100
- Remaining Opp. = CIN (5-8), TB (8-5), @CLE (8-5)
Rams (3-10) – SOS = 107
- Remaining Opp. = GB (11-2), PIT(9-4), @ARIZ (6-7)
Baltimore (4-9) – SOS = 107
- Remaining Opp = @MIA (0-13), @SEA (9-4), PIT (9-4)
Oakland (4-9) – SOS = 106
- Remaining Opp = IND (11-2), @JAX (9-4), SD (8-5)
Kansas City (4-9) – SOS = 106
- Remaining Opp = TEN (7-6), @ DET (6-7), NYJ (3-10)

Looking at this information, I have to figure that the 49ers (now without Alex Smith for the remainder) are the odds on favorites to have the 2nd pick. The Falcons will probably grab the 3rd spot, assuming they don't do something absurd like win out the season (This seems, um, unlikely now).

So what does it mean? Check here for ESPN's draft board, including a ranking of the top 100 players who are likely to throw their names in. Some highlights:

Darren McFadden, Glenn Dorsey, Matt Ryan, Brian Brohm, and Andre Woodson.

Heisman Hopefuls '07

I was going to put up an actual photo of the Heisman trophy, but this photo from GoogleImages is far superior. I think it's the look on the baby's face that gets me.

In case you've been under a rock, this year's BCS race was insane, if nothing else, and the final selection of LSU and Ohio State for the BCS Championship is not without controversy. I'd like to think of the BCS ranking criteria as much like the Electoral College: mysterious, ethereal, byzantine, and the correction of which is likely an exercise of futility.

Emerging from the fray this year are four standouts:
1. Colt Brennan of Hawaii
2. Chase Daniel of Mizzou
3. Darren McFadden of Arkansas
4. Tim Tebow of--ahem--that hated team to the south that shall remain nameless

ESPN has an insightful piece on the individual candidates' successes and reasons why they will/will not win the Heisman. Enjoy.

EDIT: Are there any members of the UGA--or any other college--team that you would support for the Heisman if you could?

A Ragin' Cajun' start to your day (though it's almost noon)

As you've probably noticed this week, we here at The Pasty Quail are immersed in exam and paper season, so our usual posting efforts have been slower and more sporadic than usual. However, we hope our well-informed (?!) insight on the random topics of the day are helping you through this tough time of year, whether you're in school yourself, or working and trying to push through the holiday season.

Today, we have the famous James Carville, noted political analyst, going off on the BCS College Football system, despite the fact that his alma mater, LSU, is a chief beneficiary of the debacle this year. Enjoy!

Can't Spell "Sugar" without "UGA"

Though this phrase has lost some of its meaning — seeing as the old adage usually comes in context with winning the SEC Championship to make the Sugar Bowl — our good ol' Georgia Bulldogs are headed to New Orleans on New Years' Day for the 3rd time in 6 years.

Thanks to The Great Pumpkin and his underachieving set of bastards some call a football team, we didn't get a chance to play LSU in the SEC Championship, and therefore didn't have a chance to go to the National Championship game, even though we were ranked #4 going into the week, and numbers 1 and 2 lost this weekend. However, I'm proud of LSU and our fine conference, which will have another chance to wax Ohio State, keeping the BCS crystal trophy in the south. Just wish it could have been us.

That said, I'm excited for us to play Hawaii, which remains the only unbeaten team in Division I-A. Here's ESPN's breakdown of the game. There is some concern about overlooking this team, as they haven't gained much respect due to their soft schedule and weird lifestyle out there in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. However, their quarterback Colt Brennan is the NCAA's all-time leader in touchdown passes, and there's not much else to speak of on their team, so I think we should be able to handle focusing on stopping him — the only problem will come if we can't do that.

As an addendum, I heard we're going to break out our black jerseys again; hopefully Evil Richt will show up with them and remember the last time we played a team in the Sugar Bowl with a high-flying offense and virtually no defense.

Finally, GO DAWGS!

BCS Conference Championship Preview

As we descend upon the conclusion of the NCAA Football season, here's a quick round-up of the major BCS Conference championship games, with apologies to the Pac-10 and the Big East, because while both are lame and do not have conference championships, at least every team plays each other team in a conference game. No apologies to the "Big 10," which has 11 teams and does not have a schedule designed to prove which team is best.

So, without further ado, and with many thanks to the Worldwide Leader for its previews, here's a quick rundown of Saturday's three major championship games:

ACC Championship: Boston College vs. Virginia Tech

Saturday, 1:00pm Eastern, Jacksonville, Florida


These two teams played earlier in the season, with No.2 (at the time) Boston College winning a miracle game 14-10 by scoring two touchdowns in the last 2 minutes. Since then, BC has lost two games and Va. Tech has remained solid (it's only other loss coming in the second game of the season against a then-unstoppable LSU).

It looks like Tech is the stronger team coming into this game, and if this Atlanta BC fan is right, the Eagles' lack of a fan base in Jacksonville may end up hurting their chances in the Championship. I guess that's what happens when the closest team in your conference is 500 miles away.

Anyhow, the winner of this game will play in the Orange Bowl unless something strange happens and they end up in the title game. This is unlikely.


SEC Championship: LSU vs. Tennessee

Saturday, 4:00pm Eastern, Atlanta, Georgia

In actuality, this column was inspired by my desire to post this article, explaining how Tennessee is an embarrassment to the SEC Championship.

Further, in another mostly negative article, an LSU source explains the team's declining state going into the game.

Both of these suggest that UGA is better than both teams, which I like, but unfortunately we won’t get the chance to prove it. Regardless, hopefully the entire game will be embodied in a similar manner to this:



Tennessee and LSU have not played this year, so there's no follow-up on that front. The winner of this game goes to the Sugar Bowl. If Tennessee wins, I might slit my wrists.


Big 12 Championship: Oklahoma v. Missouri

Saturday, 8:00pm, San Antonio, Texas


This is possibly the most hyped game of the weekend, seeing as Missouri is ranked #1 for the first time since 1960. Unfortunately, their one loss was to Oklahoma. If Missouri wins, they stamp their ticket to New Orleans for the National Championship game. If they lose, there's going to be a wrench thrown into the BCS machine to figure out what to do with all the two-loss teams as West Virginia and Ohio State battle it out for the title.

In the meantime, here's an article about Missouri not choking this year like they usually do. Don’t speak too soon. . .

And finally, a quick piece on Oklahoma from the AP. Surprisingly there isn't much presence in the blogosphere regarding Sooner football. Maybe there's a market out there for it.


Enjoy your weekend watching!

More news from the wide world of sports, or football

Keeping the light news separated from the heavy, here are a couple news items of the weird from the last couple days in the sports nation.

- Due to a rain delay last night, The NFL decided to forego the National Anthem before last night's game between Pittsburgh and Miami. This is just an interesting oversight of a time-honored tradition. Though I'm sure whatever C-list celebrity they had to sing before the Steelers played the 0-10 Dolphins was happy he or she did not have to be out there in the cold rain, how long does the Anthem really take? Three, maybe four minutes?

- And now for something completely different, but awesome nonetheless. I have the video of yet ANOTHER Auburn player being bitten by a dog during a game. Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville claims this is the first instance he's seen of a dog bite in a game, but, obviously he doesn't remember Uga going after an Auburn player back in 1996, which, luckily, is also shown in the video. Oh, and the dog bite is listed on the injury report. Enjoy!

NFL Player dies from gunshot wound

In a bit of disheartening news from the sports world, Washington Redskins defensive back Sean Taylor died overnight from a gunshot wound inflicted on him in his home in Miami.

This is the kind of news that makes sports journalism difficult, I think. For example, how else to segue from this back to halftime of a meaningless and boring Monday Night Football game that ESPN had to hype up ridiculously to get any ratings?

I make fun of ESPN constantly for over-dramatizing stories that are not really all that serious, and there is a difference when they make things serious when they should not be. It’s easy to blast sportswriters for sensationalizing, but do they do this because the rest of the content is light, and to make a smoother transition to reporting this kind of news?

Either way, I wish Mr. Taylor a peaceful rest, and it’s a sad way to see such a talented young man go.

Georgia's #3!

Looks like the Fighting Irish can be #1 in something this year. Forbes made a list of the Top 20 most valuable college football teams in the country. There's also a link to a slideshow here.

To save you the energy of making the jump, the top five are:
1. Notre Dame Irish (Value: $101M)
2. U. Texas Longhorns (Value: $92M)
3. UGA Bulldogs ($90M)
4. U. Michigan Wolverines ($85M)
5. U. Florida Gators ($84M)

Tennessee Sucks, Yeah!

In some sort of attempt to make us all feel better about Tennessee manhandling UGA a couple weeks ago, this article on The Great Pumpkin, Phil Fulmer and his lack of winning an SEC title since '98 is pretty inspiring.

My hatred for Tennessee runs deep, of course, but even long before I was a UGA fan. When I first moved to Georgia in middle school, there was a kid on our bus that loved Tennessee. His dad would always wait outside their house with him, and the entire place (including the car) was all decked out in UT crap (the images of that puke-orange/yellow Power T are burnt in my head for life). So, in response, as retarded middle-schoolers tend, we'd yell out the window every day "Tennessee Suuuuuucks! Yeah!" Pointless story, sure, but I shed a tear for my UT-hating nostalgia.

So, even though stupid Erik Ainge has owned us three out of the past four years (which is an atrocity unto itself), I don't want Phil fired. I'd much rather see him wade in his own lard for the next 15 years without another ring.

UGA's Richt Concerned About Spies

In the wake of the Bill Belichick spying scandal, UGA has put its practices into full lockdown mode. It appears to be no coincidence that this act coincides with the team's upcoming trip to Tuscaloosa, where former NFL coach (and Belichick assistant) Nick Saban is now at the helm. The AJC has some coverage of the unprecedented move from the UGA coaching staff, and also hints that a failed 4th and 2 play against South Carolina was the result of spying.