Make sure you make it to the end, because he starts to freak out a bit when he realizes he’s gonna be hangin’ out in Wal-Mart for awhile.  Enjoy.

Credit BB&T for the tip.

Georgia fans are desperate to find out whether former Dawg, Kirby Smart, will be the next Defensive Coordinator in Athens.  Some of them over at Scout’s free boards are even tracking planes and flight plans, like this one, which is set to land in the greater Atlanta area (not too far from Athens) in about 15 minutes (8:17 ET).  According to that thread, this plane belongs to a Georgia booster, and, given that this information is coming from Georgia’s free board, you can bet that this is highly reliable. (make sure you’ve got your sarcasm switch set to “On” for that one).

Speaking of reliable sources, Smart’s Wikipedia page was updated today to state that on January 10th he’d accepted the postion of Defensive Coordinator at UGA, signing a 4 year contract that will pay him in the region of $800,000 annually.  This sentence has since been deleted within the last hour or so, staying true to a heated editing war on Smart’s Wikipedia page that’s been going on for the past 72 hours (Seriously, go to the page and refresh every half hour or so.  Pretty funny).

Check back for updates…after the Frump.

9:27 PM, 1/10/10:  Unless Kirby Smart was disguised as either a pilot or mechanic, he apparently wasn’t on that plane.  Most Georgia fans still appear to be optimistic, however.

10:43 AM, 1/11/10:  Reports are hitting mainstream media outlets that Smart has certainly been officially offered the position, and at about the price range speculated upon above ($800k/year).  Some are saying it’s already done deal, but I’ve been able to find nothing from a public, reliable source on that front.  This would put Smart in the Top 5 of assistant coaches’ salaries in NCAA football.  Word is Smart is mulling the offer over, as well as potential counter offers from the Crimson Tide, who apparently are quite eager to keep him in Tuscaloosa.

11:27 AM, 1/11/10:  More planes being tracked by the Georgia faithful (same forum link from above).  This time it’s a plane that left for Tuscaloosa from Athens and landed about 2 hours ago.  Press conference this afternoon?  We’ll see…

12:02 PM, 1/11/10:  Smart is reportedly conflicted about the offer from Georgia according to Zach Klein (Kirby’s been with Saban quite awhile, after all).  Plane is still on the ground in Tuscaloosa; Smart’s Wikipedia page has taken a beating today…

1:19 PM, 1/11/10:  Bit of a lull in reliable, public info out there, so figured it might be a good time to address this question:  Why would Kirby Smart, fresh off a MNC and Broyles Award winning season with Alabama, make what  many would consider, at best, a lateral move to become DC at Georgia?  Here are some facts to consider: 

Smart is from Georgia; his family is from Georgia; his family still lives in Georgia; Smart grew up a Georgia fan; Smart played football at Georgia; Smart met his wife, also from Georgia, and a former Lady Dawgs basketball player, at the University of Georgia; Smart coached at Georgia on two separate occasions after graduating from Georgia; Smart’s wife has reportedly expressed a desire to move back to Georgia (potentially HUGE).

Here are some possibilities to consider:  Smart is often perceived as Saban’s puppet; “It’s Saban’s defense,” is something you’ll hear quite a bit, and thus Smart may think getting out of Saban’s shadow could be good for his career.  There are also rumors that Mark Richt may retire from coaching, sooner that his age of 49 would suggest, in order to concentrate on his faith and missionary work.  If that’s the case, it’s possible Georgia could lure Smart with a Head Coach in Waiting title.

All of this is also ignoring the fact that Georgia’s offer apparently at least doubles Smart’s current salary.  Not that Alabama can’t afford to match that, obviously, but if it’s really Saban’s defense, and Saban’s alone, would they be willing to?  Only time will tell.  If Smart does decide to stay in Tuscaloosa, expect the Dawgs to already have a backup candidate in place rather quickly.  Rumors would suggest that the most likely name would be Cowboys’ DL coach, Todd Grantham.

1:44 PM, 1/11/10:  And the Wikipedia Wars continue!  Smart’s page just updated to say he’s accepted the Georgia offer (screen capture).  By the time you read this, and check the page yourself, I’m sure that line will be nuked.

 2:50 PM, 1/11/10: BamaBeat reporting that Saban has said Smart is staying with the Crimson Tide.

FINAL UPDATE 4:15 PM, 1/11/10:  Kirby Smart explains his decision for staying with the Tide in this article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

 And now for the big one.  The one for all the marbles.  The only marbles, depending on who you ask.  The BCS Championship.  Nick Saban and Mack Brown are both seeking their 2nd BCS Title tonight; Texas, its 5th Mythical National Championship…Alabama, its 37th (depending on who you ask).

After Central Michigan could only give us a push last night against Troy, Frumpzilla is sitting at 9-6-2 for our feature.  With that in mind, we’re definitely in the playmoney regardless of what happens tonight, and that’s always nice.  Still, think it’s time to press our luck a bit more than usual and try to get us to 11-6-2.  Frump it here for how we’re gonna do this in a BCS Title game that packs a bit more drama than usual…

BCS Championship: Texas vs. Alabama, 8 PM ET, ABC.  Current Line: Alabama -4, O/U 46

First, I just need to get this bit out of the way.  As a Georgia fan, it’s great, in a sense, to see a BCS Championship game that features two former Dawgs that also happen to be two of college football’s brightest young Defensive Coordinators.  The Longhorns’ DC, and Head Coach in Waiting, Will Muschamp, walked on at Georgia as a safety back in ’91.  He eventually rose to co-captain of the defense as a Senior, and, upon graduating, began his rise to becoming the 2nd highest paid DC in the land.  Let’s not forget he spent 5 years with Saban either, winning a BCS Championship at LSU in the process, which adds a little extra thread of drama here.

Crimson Tide DC, Kirby Smart, also happened to play safety for the Dawgs, making All-SEC as a Senior in 1998.  Like Muschamp, Smart has spent several years cutting his coaching teeth under the tutelage of Nick Saban and has even been on the same staff as Muschamp on two separate occasions (juicy).  Smart was co-defensive coordinator for Alabama last year with Kevin Steele, and took over full DC duties this year after Steele left to become DC at Clemson. 

Now if Georgia could just get one of these guys back, maybe they’d find themselves in this game at some point.  Curiously, there’s a lot of smoke with regards to Smart being announced as Georgia’s next DC (with the HCIW title) soon after tonight’s game, so we’ll see.

Moving onto the game itself, you really couldn’t ask for a much better matchup on paper.  Both teams have Top 3 defenses (Bama 2nd, Texas 3rd), and are absolutely loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. Alabama is 5th in the NCAA with a +16 Turnover Margin, but the Longhorns are right there with them, sitting at 8th with +12.  Goes without saying, then, that we should see elite levels of efficiency and be treated to quite a chess match tonight.

Some may think there’s a bigger gap on the offensive side of the ball, presumably with Texas exhibiting a substantial edge there.  Those people would be mistaken.  Alabama has been unfairly pigeonholed, in some circles, as a team that must rely on defense to win.  I guess having such a stout defense, and a guy like Saban at the helm, potentially lends itself to such an interpretation, but it’s unwise to forget that the Tide produce 413 yards of total offense a game and present a very balanced offensive attack (32nd in the country).  The Longhorns fare only slightly better on O, despite the press, with 432 yards a game, good for 16th. 

The star power is obviously in full effect here, too.  Mark Ingram, Alabama’s first Heisman Trophy winner, will obviously be on display tonight, as will the media starlet that shines perhaps only second to Tim Tebow: Texas’ Colt McCoy.  Ingram accounted for over 1,500 yards rushing and 15 TD’s this year on his way to becoming the third consecutive Sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy, and it will be interesting to see if that success carries over tonight against a Longhorns’ defense that allows just 62 rushing yards a game.

Now, Colt McCoy may look like an extra from a Frosted Frakes commercial, but he typically plays like he belongs on a box of Wheaties.  We all know about his ridiculous stats the past two years, but, even as Senior, he also seems to be developing a reputation for not being able to reproduce such magic when he’s staring at a defense with teeth (see Oklahoma and Nebraska this year).  The fact that Bama’s defense ranks 1st in passing efficieny defense certainly doesn’t bode well for Colt’s hopes of breaking out of this trend tonight, but then players of his caliber often rise to the occasion, I guess, in farewell games.

So who wins/covers tonight?  I’m doubling up on Alabama -4 and Under 46.  Texas is actually a pretty remarkable 7-0-1 against Alabama all time (ownage), but then the two teams haven’t played since 1982.  I’m tossing that mark out the window.  Texas is just 5-7-1 ATS this year, dropping 3 of their last 5, and 3-7 ATS in their last 10 bowl games.  The Longhorns are also 3-7 ATS in their last 10 bowls games that were played on grass.

That said, it’s not that there’s necessarily a particularly strong trend towards Alabama here, though they are 8-4-1 ATS this season.  The biggest knock for me regarding Texas is their struggles against teams with solid defenses.  They’ve played two this year, Oklahoma and Nebraska, and they barely got out alive, mustering just a combined 29 points.  Alabama’s offense, world’s better than Nebraska’s and comparable to Oklahoma’s, won’t allow an escape tonight if/when the Longhorns experience similar struggles against the Tide defense.

On the Over/Under front, Texas is 6-2 Under in their last 8 games at a neutral site.  Alabama is 5-2-1 Under in their last 8 games overall.  I think that 46 is a bit high, and we see a relatively low scoring game with Bama’s defense in control throughout most of the contest.  The Crimson Tide gets its first victory over Texas tonight, its 38th National Championship (depending on who you ask) and the SEC gets its 5th BCS Championship (4th consecutive) in the 12 years since the BCS’ inception.  Somebody get Charles Barkely a drink…

Yep, at at least $3.751 million a year for the next 5 years, a raise of nearly $2 million per year, Leslie has become the highest paid coach in the SEC.  Apparently he’ll be making exactly $1,000 more than the last guy that led LSU to a MNC, Nick Saban, who is currently in charge of restoring Alabama’s once proud tradition after failing to accomplish the same for the Miami Dolphins. 

So, $1,000 more, eh?  Really?  This may be the biggest “ego raise” I’ve ever seen, and the whole Saban-Miles-LSU thing just makes it that much more juicy.  But let’s not forget what Miles has done since he took the LSU job in 2005:  He’s gone 11-2, 11-2 and 12-2, and, of course, has that MNC in the case now, so he’s no slouch necessarily.  But is he worth $3.751 million?

Well, the MNC is probably the best argument that he is, but then it came in a truly bizarre year.  The Bayou Bengals managed to lose 2 games over the last 6 weeks of the regular season, including their last game, against Arkansas (whatever happened to the idea that losing late kills you?).  Yet at 12-2 they played for the SEC Championship and then the BCS Championship and came out on top.  Fair enough, but you know,  6 other teams finished the 2007 season with 2 losses:  BYU, Ohio State, Missouri, West Virginia, USC, and Georgia.  Two others actually finished with one loss, Hawaii and Kansas, though the Rainbow Warriors, and BYU for that matter, probably don’t bolster the point here.  What is the point, you ask?  Well, is it possible that Leslie is simply a victim, or perhaps “victor”, of circumstance? 

Miles has yet to go undefeated, or even post a 1 loss season; a feat that Jim Tressel, Mark Richt, Rich Rodriguez, Pete Carroll, Mack Brown, Urban Meyer, Tommy Tuberville, Phillip Fulmer, Steve Spurrier and, of course, Nick Saban have all managed.  That’s not an exclusive list by the way, just notables.  Hell, two of those cats are in Leslie’s division, let alone conference, and yet all of them, with the exception of Carroll and Saban, will be making, at best, close to $1 million less than Miles next year.  Mark Richt just got a raise after going 11-2 and winning his 2nd Sugar Bowl.  He’ll now be banking around 2.8 million a year.  He’s 1-0 against Miles.  $3.751 million?

But I’ll be honest, though I do think Miles is now overpaid, I’m really just using him as a vehicle to convey how flawed college football’s system of rewards is.  If things don’t change reasonably soon after the nature of the 2007 season (which deserves its own article), they probably never will, and that would be an unfortunate fate for my favorite sport.  The decision of who plays for the Mythical National Championship seems alomst completely arbitrary at this point, and driven by preconceived notions about what teams are really the “best”.  With his $2 million raise, Leslie has benefited from that after hauling in his MNC in 2007 (LSU was ranked #2 in both the AP and Coaches’ pre-season polls), but he’s obviously not to blame.

So, $3.751 million.  Wow.  That probably puts Leslie at #3 in the country.  Carroll reportedly edges him at around $3.8 million, but both he and Miles trail significantly behind one man:  Charlie Weiss, reportedly at around $4.3 million.  And we think Leslie is overpaid?  Sheesh…