Monday, September 6, 2010 at 12:33PM 
+ Don't get me wrong; I absolutely adore the Mark Herzlich story. So great to see the Boston College linebacker suited up and flying around on Saturday. But do you think his story would get as much attention if he was, say, a Miami wideout?
Friday, October 30, 2009 at 11:33AM 
By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season
EUGENE, Oregon -- After deleting some vulgar comments left below the video I posted of Oregon coach Chip Kelly welcoming USC quarterback Matt Barkley to Autzen Stadium, I noticed a couple of funny comments that did not need to be deleted:
+ 666TheScarecro666 said, "Barkley's gonna piss his pants on Saturday."
+ MJaxsun25 said, "Barkley has been running his mouth and showing his ignorance. Everyone in College Football knows that Autzen Stadium is the loudest stadium in the Country. It set the record. 127.2 decibels. Bring it Barkley."
Other notes for a Friday:
+ I can't remember a weather forecast having the kind of an impact on a game that Saturday's probably will here in Eugene. Most reports I've heard indicate rain during the morning and early afternoon, but the wet weather should move on by kickoff at 5 p.m. PT. And while one would think a wet game would slow down USC's athletes, I think it would actually do more harm to Oregon, whose smaller quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, could have trouble gripping and throwing a damp football. So if the rain passes, the Ducks' chances are improved.
+ I hope Virginia Tech's coaching staff can restore running back Ryan Williams' confidence. The talented freshman has surpassed all expectations filling in as the No. 1 back for the Hokies this year, but his late fumble last night led to North Carolina's game-winning field goal as time expired. Williams has a bright future ahead, and I hope he runs for 200 yards on Nov. 5 at East Carolina.
+ Dez Bryant did not violate any rules with his association with Deion Sanders, but because the NCAA has so many rules, Bryant thought he broke one of them, so he lied to cover a up a dinner he had at the former football star's home. Can you blame him?
By all means, punish him, but the NCAA got this wrong like it so often does. If part of its mission is to help its student-athletes, suspend him for two or three games, but not for one full year. It continues to amaze me how out of touch the rich, old, white men in suits are when it comes to doling out discipline. Bryant will get the last laugh, however, when he gets drafted among the top 12 picks in next spring's draft. All the NCAA ensured was that it lost some star power for about eight games this season, including Saturday's huge, nationally televised game against Texas in Stillwater.
+ I've reached out to some friends, fellow writers and athletic department people, asking them to rank their top 10 coaches. I'll have a full story on this next week, but you might be surprised to learn that Les Miles and Jim Tressel aren't getting a whole lot of love.
+ Another story I'll push out next week is a Q&A I had on the phone yesterday with Florida strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti. He said it's not Brandon Spikes who rules the weight room in Gainesville. I'll tell you who does in a few days.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 10:48AM By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Though it's nice to be sleeping in a bed again -- the last two weeks I was on couches -- where I'm staying this week in Baton Rouge is probably the worst hotel I've visited so far.
When I arrived, I noticed a dead cockroach on its back on the rug ... in the front lobby. I also saw a small bug crawling around on the bathroom floor a minute after checking into my room, then saw another dead bug on that same bathroom floor that could have been cleaned up by the housekeeping staff.
The front desk staffer is always in the back on a personal phone call or watching television. Trust me, I don't want be the annoying guy ringing the bell either.
And the free morning breakfast is more municipal than it is continental.
Below are some other tidbits from my first 36 hours in Baton Rouge:
CONVOY: As I was departing the LSU indoor football complex mid-afternoon Monday, a bunch of players were hustling in for practice. Car after car after car turned into the sprawling facility. I think I may have heard a hip-hop beat or two pounding from within the tinted windows. I did hear a little country music too, probably from the cars of offensive linemen.
ONE GREAT INTERN: One Great Season welcomes Kevin Theiss, a junior at Concordia College in Bronxville, New York. We'll have more about Theiss and the work he'll be doing here later this week.
WEATHER REPORT: It's October. Please lose the humidity, Louisiana.
SEPARATED AT BIRTH? I'd always thought this just from how Les Miles looks on television. But it's even more apparent when you see him in person that if he had a little more hair, he'd look exactly like actor Kurt Russell:
Baton Rouge, LSU, Les Miles, Separated At Birth Monday, October 5, 2009 at 5:59PM By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season
BATON ROUGE, La. -- In most cases, a coach of one team heaping praise on the backup quarterback of another team is merely an exercise in gamesmanship.
But at the LSU football weekly media luncheon Monday, you knew coach Les Miles was sincere in his flattery of No. 1 Florida's John Brantley, who would start in Saturday's heavyweight bout at No. 4 LSU if Tim Tebow can't answer the bell.
Below is a quick soundbite from Miles about how comfortable he thinks Florida is at the quarterback position, and in the video clip below that, the coach says he hopes Tiger Stadium will prove to be Death Valley for Florida, as it did the last time the Gators visited in 2007.
