Friday links: Kiffingate & Recruiting links

Lane Kiffin made a fool of himself Thursday, and the sports world took notice.

KIFFIN ‘APOLOGIZES’ FOR DOUCHINESS, writes CollegeFootballTalk.com. CFT spares no punch it its analysis of Kiffin, “Both Florida and the SEC reacted swiftly to the ill-informed accusations, sending out scathing press releases that, in essence, called Kiffin out as a newbie assclown (thank you, Jason Whitlock). That forced Kiffin into what’s expected to be the first of many acts of contrition as he issued an “apology” worthy of a… well… an assclown.”

If you don’t read Blutarsky, you are missing out on the best blog in the SEC. Blutarsky provides a detailed analysis of the Kiffin drama and refutes one Tennessee Volunteer theme, that everyone in the SEC is afraid of Kiffin. “Seriously, Vol fans, give this whole ‘the SEC is skeered of Lane Kiffin’ stuff a rest. People slow down all the time to look at car wrecks. That doesn’t mean they’re afraid of the guy who crashed his three year old Volvo fourteen year old Chevy pickup with the busted tail light.” There is much more to read, so check it out.

ESPN’s Chris Low provides a 25-point examination of Kiffingate. “10. It’s no coincidence that Kiffin included Alabama coach Nick Saban in the fray. Alabama and Florida are the two schools everybody in the SEC is chasing right now, and they’re the two schools Tennessee has to play every year.”

Here is the AP story on Lane Kiffin and Florida’s Urban Meyer. According to the AP, Florida pointed out Lane Kiffin doesn’t even know what he was talking about: “NCAA and Southeastern Conference officials said it is not against recruiting rules to contact a recruit while they are on an official visit to another school. Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley rushed to his coach’s defense, delivering a quick and harsh response to Kiffin’s statement and called for him to apologize. ‘It is obvious that coach Kiffin doesn’t know that there is not a rule precluding phone contact with a prospect during an official visit on another campus during a contact period,’ Foley said in a statement.”

Gene Chizik has Auburn fans cheering for the recruiting class. However, I would caution Auburn fans that Chizik’s class will have serious academic casualties and was worse than Tommy Tuberville’s class prior to his termination. This class looks good, but don’t celebrate until you get the players enrolled. That bit of advice comes from watching years of Mike Shula and other Alabama coaches who couldn’t get people into college.

One last link. Roll Bama Roll has a post for anyone who remembers last year’s blog fight between Brian Cook and some Auburn fans against Alabama. In the comments section you will once again find an Auburn fan who cannot or will not produce one shred of evidence to buttress his point.