Cheating makes Jonathan Crompton feel sad.

Is the probation pendulum swinging back the other way?

We all know about what happened to USC. We all found it hilarious. It’s the first major poll and bowl ban since Alabama early in the previous decade. And it as such, the anomalous nature of the punishment made it all the more awesome.

But in the past couple of weeks? A few more schools have been popping up on the radar. North Carolina’s professional level defensive anchor Marvin Austin was the most major player interviewed by NCAA investigators. And reports on that are that we could be looking at a major investigation for the Tar Heels.

And on Sunday? Reports came out that South Carolina Tight End, Marvin Austin friend, and key Stephen Garcia target Weslye Saunders is the subject of another investigation, and may have cost himself his senior season because of it. Spurrier says that this may be Saunders acting a fool, and I’m inclined to believe him.

But Dr. Saturday linked to a College Football Talk post that talked about the investigations of UNC and Saunders as a part of a larger investigation.

• According to a source, there’s the possibility that the names of at least two more prominent Div. 1-A schools could be made public over the next few days/weeks in relation to an NCAA investigation that has the potential to reach much, much further than its limited public scope right now.

It was a conspiracy theory as of yesterday, at least until the reports came out that former Florida Center Maurkice Pouncey received a 100k bonus from an Agent and was ineligible for the Sugar Bowl. And whereas the purported student-athletes of North Carolina and South Carolina may be the only victims of the net that the NCAA is casting, the Gators seemed to have turned a blind eye to it.

That’s what earned USC it’s punishment. And Florida’s one of those programs that has had the benefit of Tim Tebow being the face of the program the past four years. A good public face covers up a lot of private sins.

And there could very well be other SEC programs that will fall in this trap before this is over. Or not. But if Nick Saban takes a pro job, Bama fan?

I would worry about some other shoe dropping tootsweet.

UPDATE: And by 4 PM central daylight time? Suddenly Alabama Defensive End and 2009 National Championship clincher Marcel Dareus has been caught in this net.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — University of Alabama officials are investigating whether junior defensive lineman Marcel Dareus broke NCAA rules by attending an agent’s party in Miami’s South Beach earlier this summer, multiple sources told ESPN.com.

Dareus, ranked as the No. 7 prospect for the 2011 NFL draft by ESPN analyst Mel Kiper, is the latest prominent college football player to be entangled in an evolving NCAA investigation into illegal contact and conduct by sports agents.

Now this is like Saunders and Austin’s case. The event happened in May at the Fountinbleu in Miami. So the National Championship is safe. But in terms of the defense? The defense may be without one of their few experienced players for a while.

Yes, this may just be a whole lot of hullabaloo. But I tell you what? If you’re a fan with a team that has a marketable prospect. I would be worried.

Looking at you @summerofmallett, looking at you.

In Defense of the SEC Scheduling

The NCAA came out with its official listing of FBS versus FCS games. And as per usual? The SEC comes strong with the gimmes. The ACC has one more, but the fact of the matter is that when you have 12 games that are gimmes? Your nonconference record and reputation can be slightly inflated.

And as a football fan? It’s definitely a terrible thing. Beyond a shadow of a doubt there’s no real entertainment value for a game that’s likely to be 38-3 at the half. But that being said? The SEC does it a little differently.

There are 11 games of this ilk that are set to go off past September. The SEC has seven of these games. One is interesting in a sort of dynasty versus dynasty. (Appalachian State at Florida). One is interesting in a will Nick Saban put up 100 sort of way? (Georgia State at Alabama.) All are guaranteed wins.

But they are guaranteed wins that allow the teams breathing room. Georgia State comes before the Iron Bowl. Appy State comes before a seemingly sprightly Florida State. Mississippi State travels to Non-AQ superpower Houston right after they play Alcorn State. LSU gets McNeese State before Auburn.

In fact? Georgia and Auburn are both taking the gimmie before they play each other on November 13th.

I know, I know, cool story bro. I get it.

But you know what this is? This is a trend. You’ll see more teams jerryrig a schedule to get a tuneup before the big game. You won’t see a conference like the ACC schedule 12 September games with local FBS powers anymore.

It’s the wave of the future, and the SEC is out in front of it.

The Trap Games of the SEC Season

One of my favorite aspects of college football is the trap game. You have 20-something kids on a roll getting overconfident, and boom. There’s an upset. It’s what got me following the SEC, if we’re being completely honest. But since we’re not yet sponsored by EA sports?

That’s another story for another day. Today? We’re discussing trap games. The chance for a bad to decent team to beat a great team.

We’ll start with the NCAA Football 11 Preseason National Champions. There’s been a lot said about the fact that a lot of teams have bye weeks before they’re rolling up on Alabama. But only one team has the power and the timing to go up against the Crimson Tide before they seem to have jelled. That’s when they travel to Fayetteville  on September 25th to take on the Razorbacks.

One week before Florida rolls into town.

Does Florida have a trap game? Yes and no. It’s like I said in April. Kentucky is intriguing. In my bolder days, I would say that Kentucky could take them down, but today I am not feeling so bold. They can keep it close in Ben Hill Griffin on the 25th.

Kentucky’s real shot at a trap win is when Georgia comes to Lexington on October 23rd. It’s one week before the bete noir of the Georgia faithful a.k.a. The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. And it may actually not be considered an upset even if Kentucky doesn’t shock the Gators.

Arkansas has their own trap game worry the week before they play Auburn as well. October 9th. In front of the worlds largest television screen. They play the one offense they can stand toe to toe with them in Texas A&M. Why is this interesting? Because neither team has a great defense, but A&M has a pass-rusher in Von Miller. And he generated 17.5 sacks literally all by himself. He gets rolling and the Hogs fall.

The lucky ones are Auburn and LSU. Auburn’s schedule is built for a run at insurging the two-team power trip. And if you consider Tennessee’s issues? LSU’s losses can be boiled down to ill-preparation.

Rating the Indoor Practice Facilities of the SEC.

I know what you’re thinking. LOL what? Is this even a post. And I say unto you, mister and missus hypothetical reader. I like to challenge myself. Sometimes, I want to see if I cannot make something interesting. And when Auburn tripled the size of their indoor practice facility? I have an excuse!

In one of the strangest one of these things is not like the other sort of scenarios? Two out of the twelve? Don’t have indoor practice facilities. One of them is Vanderbilt. Guess the other one. Come on.

I’ll even add to it that it’s nobody in the SEC West. When Auburn’s expansion is complete? There will be nobody who has to work a short field either. You might guess Kentucky. But you’d be wrong.

South Carolina and Tennessee are both working off of short fields. But they’ve got something to work with.

So at this point? The fact that Georgia and Florida don’t have an indoor facility is strange. These are the Eastern powers of the SEC, after all. They should be top of the line in everything they do. But one of them has plans for a new indoor facility.

And guess what? It’s not Florida.

Let me say that again. The team of the previous decade has found their way into the best high school recruits of this generation. And their facilities are lacking. There is an obvious lesson to it.

But I’ll leave that to you to figure out.

The “Little Ten” of the SEC

The narrative coming out of the SEC, besides Alabama’s general ailments of the bye week disadvantages, is that we are in the midst of a duopoly. There’s Florida, there’s Alabama, and then there’s the other ten teams. I come to you with one question. Can anybody charge in and steal a spot?

10. Vanderbilt (Nope. A running game and a decent defense means you have a punchers chance against the majority of the league, but that got Mississippi State five wins last year. That’s seven wins too little.)
9. Mississippi State (2%. Mullen may be building off of last season, but the team still needs more at WR than Chad Bumphis and an Anthony Dixon replacement. They won’t steal anything more than the Liberty Bowl this year.)
8. Tennessee (5 percent. They won’t m9iss Bryce Brown, and you may not be able to throw too well on them. But these are underdogs who made their bed and has to lie in it.)
7. Ole Miss (5 percent. They have a solid run defense. But their team is too young. Nathan Stanley doesn’t have a great offensive line to protect him either. And Raymond Cotton? He has the shoulder of the Tubervillian Chris Todd. They’ll be interesting again. But not this year.)
6. South Carolina (10 percent. In terms of talent? They may surprise. Ellis Johnson has a defense that reloads every season. And the offense is intriguing in terms of Jarvis Giles and Marcus Lattimore carrying the rock, and the catching the ball? Alshon Jeffrey isn’t gonna be pumping gas anytime soon. The problem? Stephen Garcia’s general incosistency plus program inertia equals Pizza bowl.)
5. Kentucky (They have a 1 in ten shot of beating Florida. And if they do that? Their number rises exponentially. But at this point? Hartline-Cobb-Matthews-Locke are a lot more interesting to me than they are to you. As such? This is the one that could rise in unlikelyhood.)
4. Arkansas (20 percent. Alex Tejada plus a road game at Auburn could pose a problem. The Defensive Front Seven could pose a problem. Ryan Mallett’s inconsistency? Also problematic. But you answer one of the questions? And they’re a dangerous middle of the road SEC West Team.)
3. Georgia (25 percent. Freshmen don’t win the SEC. In that respect? Aaron Murray’s weight is better than the other 10 returning starters. A defensive switch in scheme doesn’t help either. And even a Freshman Matt Stafford couldn’t beat Kentucky in Lexington in the pre-Raylan Givens era.) 
2. LSU (25 percent. I don’t trust Jordan Jefferson, and the line lost its players of value as well. But they have a lockdown pass defense and considering the state of the SEC West? That’s worth a lot to the party right there.)
1. Auburn (50 percent. Here is your last, best hope for an insurgency. And as such? It’s 50-50. Either they beat The Crimson Tide or they don’t.)

 I will make a more formal predsiction this Summer. And I will further the individual season previews in the weeks upcoming. So yeah. It’s coming kids.

FUHBAW!

Alabama: Best Offense Ever?

One of the things that we’ve seen in this day and age is a lack of purely historical context. For the sheer fact that Duke and Butler is called to be the best Championship game of all time is the fact that there’s weight to my hypothesis.

But when it comes to the Alabama Crimson Tide’s offense this year? Paul Scarbinsky claims that this offense will be better than the days of Wilbur Jackson and Steadman Shelley. And you know what? In terms of reputation. There’s something to the skill position talent having a very strong rep.

Julio Jones is going to go stride for stride with A.J. Green in a duel to be the top receiver in the conference as well as the top receiver to be picked in the 2011 NFL Draft. And while some would disagree, the tag team of Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson has to be considered the best in the conference. Add to that a quarterback of the Brodie Croyle-John Parker Wilson phylum in Greg McElroy with a potential redshirt freshman senation on the come in A.J. McCarron, and you have what Carl Weathers would consider to be a real stew going.

And the offensive line?  When you consider the fact that D.J. Fluker is going to come in and fill the hole at tackle, you have to like their chances to reload rather than rebuild. So you know what? I’ll cosign and affirm the potential.

However? The defense is still in need of questions to be answered. And while I’ll expound on that further at a later date? There’s a reason to believe that this team could do an impression of a quality Big 12 team.

Why I Want Cameron Newton To Succeed.

In terms of full disclosure, I did not grow up as a fan of an SEC team. It’s just me. But as I’ve found my way down toward the SEC, fun factor is something that is just as important as alliegance. And I’m here to tell you, a successful Cam Newton is good for the SEC.

Why? Well, that’s why we’re here, isn’t it?

First of all? When you have someone who had the physical gifts of a 250 pound guy who runs a 4.5 40 yard dash, there is no doubt that you are the sort of physically gifted triggerman who would make the Gus Malzahn offense sing. He nearly combined for 3500 yards in total offense last year at his junior college. If he can translate this? There will be some big Saturdays in his future.

And if you steal the show? You get your own parody of the Bill Brasky facts. That’s just win.

Cameron Newton Fact: Alligators kill themselves for the chance to be worn by Cam Newton.

REASON THE SECOND! A part of the fun of the SEC is rivalry weeks. The Third Saturday in October, the Iron Bowl, the Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Cameron Newton only makes this history more fun. Remember, Auburn almost beat Alabama with a rag armed pocket passer. Imagine how the games going to go with the man destined to run Gus Malzahn’s basketball on grass.

But that’s not all…

Yes, that is Tim Tebow’s hip colliding with the form of Cameron Newton. And yes, this was the man who beat out John Brantley before he transferred. For you see? He bought a stolen laptop and wasn’t nearly cool enough about it to stay within the Urban Meyer family.

So now? He’s a War Eagle. And for the next two years, he’s the sort of guy who’s potentially good enough to change the game and make music with the rivalries.

Reason the third? Because there is no way that a successful Cam Newton can make the common fan sick of the high praise and hosannas that the news of the mainstream media would undoubtedly rain down on him.

Of course? I could be wrong. But I really don’t want to.

Colt McCoy Injured in BCS Title Game, Video. The score is currently 6-7. Texas came out and had everything going there way. They looked like they were going to go up 10-0 in the 1st. Colt McCoy the 4 year Texas starting QB runs into a little bit of trouble by the name of Alabama defensive lineman Marcell Dareus.

Texas was held to a field goal and Bama scored a TD. The score is now 24-6 going into the 3rd. Colt will not return. Texas had Bama on the ropes. This injury might be the biggest part of Bama getting, what they call, # 13.