Stewart Mandel's Mailbag

SI.com's Stewart Mandel posted his latest college football mailbag column today, and he groups all 66 BCS conference teams (except Louisville) into four tiers (Kings, Barons, Knights, and Peasants). The Hogs fall squarely in the Knights group with luminaries such as Illinois, Missouri, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, old SWC foe, Texas Tech, and current SEC rivals, Ole Miss and South Carolina.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/stewart_mandel/08/08/cfb.bag/index.html

The Latest from Everydayshouldbesaturday

The guys at EDSBS love Houston Nutt. I'm thinking they may be paying Broyles just to keep him around. The comments from readers are also fun. This from a self desrcibed yankee from connecticut.

"And who doesn’t love watching Arkansas play? From the wacky Wildcat game against Tennessee, to the odd game against LSU where Humanity Advanced was born and the SEC title game where NOTHING MADE ANY SENSE(!!!), they are my favorite non-rooting interest team to watch. They need an NBC contract. They need a reality show. They need constant ESPN coverage. They should have Gameday live from Fayettville on a Tuesday for fun."

I must say, a reality show starring Houston Nutt would be solid gold.

http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/?p=3696#more-3696

Safety Help

No, not this guy.

Walter Leandre, JUCO transfer at safety, has been cleared to practice. Hopefully, he's more like Matt Hewitt than John West (whatever happened to that guy)?

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/08/08/razorback_central/080707uafbpracrpt.txt

College Football Roundtable

Collegefootballnews.com features a great roundtable discussion this morning among some of the foremost experts on college football. The roundtable includes Pete Fiutak and Richard Cirminiello from cfn.com, CBS Sportsline's Dennis Dodd, SI's Stewart Mandel, ESPN's Joe Schad, and Teddy Greenstein from the Chicago Tribune. It is a three part story that covers everything about college football - on the field and off.

http://cfn.scout.com/2/665998.html - Part I

http://cfn.scout.com/2/666001.html - Part II

http://cfn.scout.com/2/666004.html - Part III

WildHog

Houston explains the decision to change the name of the Wildcat to the Wildhog.

"We've got a lot of people who wanted to name it the WildHog, a lot of letter to Coach Broyles, David Lee, our players."

Who are these people mounting the grass roots Wildhog campaign? I'd like to read those letters.

"Dear Coach Broyles,

Why are we calling an Arkansas formation the Wildcat? We are HOGS, not cats. Change the name immediately, or I will never buy another $6 sleeveless Razorback shirt from the Mena Wal-Mart."


http://www.wholehogsports.com/adg/197992/

Hogs' Impact Freshmen?

Nate Allen gives a run down of possible freshman contributors, with the most obvious being Alex Tejada simply because Jeremy Davis is the incumbent.

My vote for break out freshman is DJ Williams - he should be second team FB by the end of camp and should get some reps, especially considering Hillis' injury prone past.

Who's your freshman to watch?

http://www.wholehogsports.com/nwat/55887/

LaMarcus Coker Suspended

Tough break for the Vols. LaMarcus may be the second most talented back in the SEC, but can't seem to stay out of trouble.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/ncaa/08/07/tennessee.suspension.ap/index.html

Dennis Dodd has quip about Coker and his alleged inability to "stay off The Tree" today in regular "Dodds and Ends" column.

http://www.sportsline.com/columns/weblogs/entry/10278418

Joe McKnight

Think LSU fans have a little Trojan envy?

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=feldman_bruce&id=2964077

Finebaum's Column on Saban's star power

Paul Finebaum takes a look at Nick Saban and Alabama's decision to focus less on the past.

The Florida Gators must re-tool their defense if they are to make a run at consecutive SEC and BCS Championships. Mark Schlabach writes about the Gators new faces on D and tells of Urban Meyer's concerns in his latest column.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview07/news/story?id=2964388

I know Ohio State replaced nine defensive starters last year and still made it to the BCS Championship Game, but Florida will have a hard time duplicating last year's success with so many new starters on the defensive side of the ball.