College football has done everything it can to keep itself on the front page of newspapers, magazines and websites this off-season. Whether it be from the never-ending discussion of the viability of a playoff system to the expected shifting of powerhouse schools to different conferences, football has proven quite well, that it will not be ignored. So where are we and where does Georgia Tech fit into things? Let's find out..
One of the big stories was the University of Southern California getting absolutely pimp hand slapped by the NCAA due to the school letting Reggie Bush play even though he was ineligible due to breaking rules on accepting gifts and money from outside entities. Does this really come as a surprise to anyone? When I first read that Bush's family was living in a swank house in Los Angeles and no one had any real income coming in, the verdict was obvious to me. Listen, let's be honest, every major college program has a little bit of dirt under its fingernails. I am not one of those fans that will scream bloody murder about how Tech is clean and everyone else is an unwashed heathen.
However, I did see something in the Internets that put Tech on the front of a couple of sports related sites. Robert Hall was suspended indefinitely for assaulting his girlfriend at one of the Tech dorms. I think the coaching staff did the best thing it could in that they didn't wait for the process to play itself out. They didn't hide behind the criminal justice system to take its sweet time before handing out a pretty darn severe punishment. I think this if further proof of CPJ and the rest of the staff making sure that players are responsible for their actions. You mess up = You no play. Simple. I have to respect that.
I honestly believe that CPJ and his staff are doing everything they can to do things the right way. They preach commitment, respect, honesty and team. Now before you start to think I am all gushing here, I do want to see what would happen if, say, Nesbit, got into serious trouble. I do wonder what the reaction would be then.
The other big elephant in the room was the dance hall known as conference shifting. Tons of rumors and threads were everywhere providing insight, thoughts and suggestions on what should happen. Everyone was expecting that as soon as the first team (domino) fell, the rest would scatter to seek bigger funding and television revenues.
And what did we get? As this point, a whole lot of nothing. Texas and their crew of Big 12 schools decided to dance with the one that brought them and, thus, secured the lifeblood of the Big 12 for a while. Nebraska left to go to the Big 10 (now with 12 teams) and the Big 12 (is now 10 teams) have simply traded mid-level schools. Conjecture even got to the point that cases were being made on-line for teams out of the ACC to come to the Big 12 to fill the gaps left over from the expected leaving of Texas.
And now it appears that all is as it should be, at least for now, but things can change. I will admit, that, for a while, I was thinking that the ACC would end up being pillaged with several schools going to a beefed up SEC and the remaining schools being aligned with either Big East or the WAC. My first thought was where would Tech fit in if that happened. My guess was the Big East. While there are no real rivalries for football, there could be some good basketball rivalries. Tech could be seen in the Northeast which is a deep talent pool of high school player and the basketball program could really benefit from that exposure. Sometimes we have to think bigger picture.
But because realignment or shifting won't take place on the scale the everyone was expecting, I guess it is time for us to start talking about what matters, the upcoming schedule!
And now, because you love it as much as I do:
The
AJC UGA Ridiculous Vent of the Week!
" I jumped on the Dawgs bandwagon last season and we made it all the way to Bogart."
Ok, that one was more funny than ridiculous.
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