Kotaku, a videogame website, has simulated their own version of a combined Bowl-Playoff system with some pretty interesting results.

As the opening paragraph explains, these are ten non-X's and O's reasons why Texas will win, and next week will feature Ten Reasons Why Bama Will Win. Most of them focus on recent trends in the title game, with a few focusing on players/strengths. Regardless, I'd rather read this than slap a "13" sticker on my car.

Chris Low relays information from his SEC contacts that say Meyer will receive some form of punishment under the new "Kiffin Rule" for criticizing officials who did not call a late hit on Tebow in the UF-UGA game.

A suspension for 1/2 a game sounds about right, don't you think?

Looks like skigator was right. Half of a game against Vandy is the going rate for gouging eyes. Supposedly he was retaliating for having his eye poked earlier, but should that really matter?

From the story:
"After the SEC put a muzzle on South Carolina's rooster crow a couple years ago, USC athletics director Eric Hyman was surprised to hear Alabama pumping up its crowd last weekend with what the SEC refers to as artificial noise.

After Alabama played the opening bars of AC/DC's "Hell's Bells" before a few first-half plays in the Crimson Tide's 20-6 victory against USC at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the SEC is sending a memo to all conference schools this week reminding them when pumped-in noise is permissible."

Anyone else ready to get rid of the cowbells at State this year?

Spurrier: "Their holder on extra points and field goals had a little piece of white tape. ... And he put (the tape) down and that was their spot," Spurrier is quoted as saying by The State newspaper. "And the guy kicked it, and occasionally he'd go way over there and grab it (after the kick). I'd never seen that before. So I think we've gotta call the head of officials to see if that's legal."

The NCAA rulebook states that: "Any device or material used to mark the spot of a scrimmage place kick or elevate the ball makes the kick illegal."

Think anything will come of this? I had never noticed it before, nor did I know it was illegal.

Now we know what all of that preseason shuffling was about:

"The loss of Hightower was handled with equal efficiency. Cory Reamer, Eryk Anders and Courtney Upshaw all pitched in to help the Tide continue to run a pressure-heavy, coverage-disguising scheme designed by Saban and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart to confound Mallett. That Alabama replaced such an important cog in its defense so seamlessly would be surprising if the Tide hadn't practiced for just such an occasion during the preseason. Reamer said that some days, the Tide would play as if one defensive starter or another had been lost for the season. So when Hightower went down, Alabama players knew exactly what to do. "We had practices where we'd all have to play different positions," Reamer said. "It didn't surprise anybody. We were ready to go right off the bat.""

From the NCCA Statement:

The NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff has reinstated the eligibility of University of Alabama football student-athletes Julio Jones and Mark Ingram based on a condition of repayment.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this just happened across the street. Of course, our thoughts and prayers go out to Brandon and his family. By all accounts, this was a random act of violence that occurred when he resisted an armed robbery.

"With his baseball cap squeezed tightly around his head, he shouts at players, referees and, who knows, the fates themselves.

However, it appears that he doesn't feel he says enough. Or, perhaps, that he isn't heard enough. For Miles has now decided he needs to Twitter."

"The 80-degree weather played a big role in the attendance [95,722], which topped the 92,138 Alabama drew for Nick Saban's coaching debut in 2007."

I bet you wish you hadn't watched A-Day on ESPN now, don't you?

You think they know something we don't?