New Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen must have put something in the water out in Madison. Badger players took part in a dance-off during spring practice, and the results were just as entertaining as you’d imagine. These guys have some moves, even in pads.
Our co-author and resident Campus Union dance expert is moving this week, but I think she’d be proud of big man Warren Herring, a redshirt junior defensive lineman who steals the show at the end of the video. Enjoy.
Yes, that is a Florida Gators helmet prominently featured on this extensively tattooed Ultra Music Festival attendee’s person. RELATED: We are kinda mad not to be at Ultra right now.
• Well played, Hairy Dawg. Well played. Are we tiring of this meme in record time? Yes. Did Georgia’s football team have a lot of ground to make up to even come close to the greatness of UGA’s swim team video? Absolutely.
Did the Dawgs earn a place in the pantheon for including a scooter in their video? You bet your sweet underbelly lying on a bag of ice in August they did. (We assume overenthusiastic Athens cops swarmed the mascot just after the camera cut off.)
• TRIAL OF THE MILLENIUM, INCOMING.Harvey Updyke’s bond has been revoked; an April trial date has been set, and wherever it ends up taking place, we promise you now that we will be there covering the thing like a plucky character in a Harper Lee novel.
• Good morning. If you’re reading this, you’ve survived a weekend without football of any sort. Army’s Black Knights, bless them, begin spring practice tomorrow, but until then keep up your winter conditioning with Florida’s spirit squads.
Dennis Erickson, who compiled a 179-96-1 record in 23 seasons as a head college coach and won two national championships, has joined Utah’s staff as the co-offensive coordinator. The 65-year-old Erickson, whose background also includes six years as an NFL head coach, will share the coordinator title with 26-year-old Brian Johnson.
BUDDY COP STORY, BUT WITH COACHES. SITCOM WAITING TO HAPPEN. HIJINX ABOUT TO ENSUE. Brian Johnson and Dennis Erickson becoming besties is now all we want out of the 2013 season.
There are 11 conference races in FBS football, and heading into what will be their final Saturday of the regular season, only one — the WAC — has already crowned its champion. In every other league, and even among the independents where Army and Navy don’t play until next week, there’s at least a little room for movement at the top, if not an outright battle for the conference title. (For more in-depth preview content of this weekend’s SEC title game and other contests, visit Andy Staples’ Walkthrough.)
Georgia has a big game coming up. Of course there’s a song.
Actual Conference Championship Games, Actually
• Central Florida at Tulsa, 12:00 p.m. ET. In keeping with our tiebreaking theme, this game will serve as a best-of-three supremacy determiner: The Knights and Golden Hurricane are 1-1 all-time against each other when playing for the C-USA championship.
• Alabama vs. Georgia, 4:00 p.m. How many bowl scouts from games that can’t possibly hope to take Alabama or Georgia d’you reckon were awarded press credentials for this?
• Nebraska vs. Wisconsin, 8:00 p.m. If you like conference championship games featuring fewer than two division champs, this is the contest for you. Ohio State will celebrate its 12-0 regular season next Friday.
• Florida State vs. Georgia Tech, 8:00 p.m. It is technically still possible for a 6-6 team to receive a BCS bowl bid, at which point it would be a 7-6 team, which makes it all better, right? The majesty of the BCS!
• Duck hunts. Not to be outdone by the LSU-Alabama trailer that dropped earlier this week, Oregon has released its own hype video in honor of the Ducks’ upcoming trip to USC. Among its highlights: The Duck learning to play Oregon Trail and doing the team’s laundry under threat of dysentery from a school employee, the Duck searching for a watch he does not wear, a covert laundry detergent handoff from gold-medal decathalete and Oregon grad Ashton Eaton and the implication that the Duck possesses a commercial driver’s license, which wouldn’t actually surprise anyone. Our one quibble is spelled out neatly by YouTube commenter “ChocolateJesus2K:
Wash uniforms? Oregon doesn’t wear the same thing twice.
Sunday, in the Coaches’ Poll: The Longhorns move up two slots, from 24 to 22. We will choose our words more carefully when next taunting the spider-gods responsible for college football lists.
Elsewhere in rankings news: Alabama, Kansas State, Notre Dame, Oregon and LSU make up the new BCS top five, with the Ducks dropping two slots and the Wildcats and Fighting Irish rising. That dream of Bill Snyder using a crystal football as a hard candy dish draws ever nearer. … Louisiana Tech appears at BCS No. 25, a program first. … Along with LaTech, Nebraska, Arizona and Oklahoma State move into the rankings this week, replacing the departed Rutgers, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.
• Catlab. For the moments of your lives. Frank Solich and Rufus star in a Wednesday dance break that could only have come from catlab.
• Devon Walker update. And now for something completely serious: a hello from Walker himself. ”Thank you everyone for your prayers and well-wishes. This has been so hard on my family and friends. I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for your generosity and support. I especially want to thank everyone who sent cards and letters. I read each and every one. They give me the inspiration to keep on pushing. Your words of encouragement are helping me so much. Thank you also to those who organize, attend and contribute in countless ways to the many fundraisers being held in my honor. I am truly blessed. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. — Love You All, Devon Walker #18″
• Bleep, bloop, Buckeyes. Ohio State’s marching band did a video game-themed halftime show, and if you haven’t seen it yet, be reassured: Your Monday is made.
If your heart doesn’t skip a beat at their Tetris formations, we cannot be friends. Sorry. [Via.]
• Injury report story hour. Missouri’s James Franklin will miss the Alabama game with an MCL injury, which is good news for James Franklin’s limbs and less good for his teammates.
We know. We KNOW, OK? We were over Gangnam Style and convinced no one would ever top what the Duck got up to on his day off. But Army’s offering comes awfully, awfully close. Cute kids! A real horse! Serious-faced cadets dancing with imaginary lassoes! A big-ass American flag! Party in the USA, y’all. We’re not sorry.
• WHAT IS THE LAMESTREAM MEDIA HIDING IN ITS HASH BROWNS?? A tweet we’re not going to bother to verify (because we’re having too much fun) blows the doors off yesterday’s blockbusterWall Street Journal Waffle House report:
A cursory examination of a map of Tuscaloosa shows that if one is measuring from, say, the Saban statue, Alert Reader Shane may be onto something. More on this story as it develops.
