1. At the Heisman Trophy press conference Saturday, Texas A&M offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury was asked if he had been contacted about the head coaching job at his alma mater, Texas Tech. Kingsbury smiled and said no but that he had gotten a lot of texts from friends. Kingsbury, 33, is Red Raider royalty. A fan base that never wanted to see Mike Leach go, now gets his first quarterback to return and presumably run a version of the offense they loved. That love may need to buoy Kingsbury and fans alike through the rough waters of inexperience.
2. In his 16 years as Cal’s running back coach, Ron Gould has sent Marshawn Lynch, J.J. Arrington, Shane Vereen and Justin Forsett to the NFL, and I’m sure I missed a few. But the new coach has the prerogative to clean house, and when a guy like Sonny Dykes is hired to bring in a new offensive system, the Ron Goulds of the coaching business know what that means. The Old Blues, as Cal alums are known, aren’t happy, but with that résumé, Gould won’t have any trouble finding work.
3. Georgia coach Mark Richt played the Homer Smith card in explaining his decision not to stop the clock in the final seconds of the SEC Championship Game. Smith, the offensive guru who died last year, tutored Richt after clock mismanagement cost Georgia the Auburn game in 2001, Richt’s first season as head coach. My thought: To put it in red and black terms for Dawg fans, Richt spun the roulette wheel and the ball landed on the green 00. A deflected pass? Caught? Time expires? The odds of that are at least 38-to-1.
