TRAVELING COACH CLASS

It’s easy to tell when football coaches have been away from practice and their players for too long.

They start talking. And they say nutty things.

College coaches have been on display all week at various conference media days. They clearly need more to do with their time than entertain reporters.
 
Take Steve Spurrier of South Carolina. The State newspaper, with which he has had battles before, picked up a column from the Atlanta Journal Constitution that hinted that the 69-year-old coach may be reaching the end of his useful days after a 2014 season marred by blown leads. Spurrier was unhappy.
 
“Now that we’re 7-6, some of our enemies out there think Spurrier’s getting old and can’t do it anymore,” he said at a news conference. “We’ve got some enemies that write for the Atlanta paper. They cover the (Georgia) Bulldogs.”
 
Enemies?

Missouri’s Gary Pinkel decided that the college playoff system, which accommodates but four teams, should not take an independent (he means Notre Dame) over teams that play in conferences and specifically in conferences that have a championship game. That’s also a bit of a shot at the Big 12, which (oddly enough) has only 10 teams, not enough for the NCAA to countenance a championship game. Targets there: Baylor and TCU, which missed the four-team dance last season when Ohio State made its late surge en route to the national title.

Baylor won the Big 12 the last two years, but a media poll picked the Bears for second this season behind TCU.

“Getting chosen second, I mean, that’s OK,” Briles said, not meaning it. “Like I said, it’s better than getting third. I guess you’ve got to win it three times in a row to get picked first.”

Paul Johnson of Georgia Tech, perennially unhappy about being underrated, suddenly had to confront an ACC poll that picked his team first in the Coastal Division.

“I hope they finally got it right for once,” he said.

Please. Let practice start soon.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .