Cam speaks
In his first comments since early November, Heisman front runner Cam Newton sat down and spoke with ESPN on Thursday.
He spoke about his recruitment and his father and issued a vague no-thanks when asked about the reports that he referenced money when he called Mississippi State caoches to tell them he was signing with Auburn.
Newton also spoke of his father Cecil, who has been linked to a pay-for-play scheme involving his son.
Newton said he loved his father unconditionally and said he was very confident that all of his success and his team's success this season would stand.
Auburn defections?
Last guy left in Auburn needs to turn out the lights.
Newton's unbelievable run toward the Heisman has been a big part of Auburn's run to the BCS title game. Newton, a junior, is almost assuredly headed to the NFL draft after this season.
Auburn Nick Fairley, also a junior, is also a pretty sure bet to take his talents to the next level. Each player has been honored with conference and national awards already, and it has been pretty safe bets for the last month or so that this would be their final run in Auburn.
Another hot commodity on the plains is offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, who won the Broyles Award, which is given to the top assistant coach in college football.
Well, his time in Auburn looks to be coming to an end sooner rather than later.
According to the Tennessean, Vandy has offered Malzahn its head coaching job with a salary at $3 million. Wow.
OK, couple of things: First, that is roughly six times what Malzahn makes now (and while he's due a big raise, still). Second, this may mean Vandy is actually going to try in football for a while. Third, five-plus years ago, Malzahn was a high school coach in Arkansas and now he's one of the five hot names out there. And he's being offered $3 million. Read that last one again.
OK, that was curious
Ted, one of the friends of the show, had some coin on the Colts last night. Indy was a 4-point favorite, and beat the Titans 30-28 after Tennessee scored a meaningless touchdown on the final play of the game.
Couple of things, first, Ted's location will be kept secret for a few days until he can get some debts collected and checks cashed.
Second, they call it gambling for a reason.
Third, as someone who has dabbled with picking games in the past, let's just say there are a lot of folks that are very good at their jobs. High on that list are the guys that set point spreads.
Similar but not congruent
Pardon me for using an old Geometry term (shout out to Ms. Monfort at Campbell High), but this last point of the Titans-Colts finish deserved its own blurb.
Fourth, and this has nothing to do with gambling, but Titans Jeff Fisher seriously mismanaged the end of that game last night. Titans have the ball, driving in Colts territory down 30-21. It's a long shot to win at that point either way, but here's what you have to have: Score, successful on-side kick, score with at least one of the scores being a touchdown.
The way it played out, the Titans scored the TD as the game ended. They had used all their timeouts and needed two scores - every kid who has ever played NCAA football on anything this side of a Sega Genesis knows you kick the field goal as soon as possible. Sure the field goal is the easier of the two scores to get, but you still have to have two scores. Please repeat that... You have to have two scores (and some luck either way).
Fisher should have kicked the field goal as soon as possible, then rolled the dice.
As it turned out, the score was meaningless - unless your name used to be Ted of course.
Prediction review, part II
In yesterday's 2:00 Drill, we predicted the college football award winners that were announced Thursday night. Let's see how we did. Here's the list - Award (designation) - Actual Winner (our prediction):
Bednarik (top defensive player) - Patrick Peterson, LSU (Nick Fairley, Auburn)
Biletnikoff (top receiver) - Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State (Blackmon)
Groza (top kick) - Dan Bailey, Oklahoma State (David Ruffer, Notre Dame)
Guy (top punter) - Chas Henry, Florida (Henry)
Maxwell (top all-around player) - Cam Newton, Auburn (Newton)
O.Brien (top quarterback) - Cam Newton, Auburn (Newton)
Outland (top interior lineman) - Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin (Rodney Hudson, Florida State)
Thorpe (top defensive back) - Patrick Peterson, LSU (Peterson)
Walker (top running back) - LaMichael James, Oregon (James)