The SEC has revised their ticket policy. You can read the entire policy if you like, but it boils down to these points:

No Bearer may produce or disseminate in any form a “real-time” description or transmission of the Event (i) for commercial or business use, or (ii) in any manner that constitutes, or is intended to provide or is promoted or marketed as, a substitute for radio, television or video coverage of such Event. Personal messages and updates of scores or other brief descriptions of the competition throughout the Event are acceptable. If the SEC deems that a Bearer is producing a commercial or real-time description of the Event, the SEC reserves the right to pursue all available remedies against the Bearer.

Absent the prior written permission of the Southeastern Conference, game action videos of the Event may not be taken by Bearer. Photos of the Event may be taken by Bearer and distributed solely for personal use (and such photographs shall not be licensed, used, or sold commercially, or used for any commercial or business purpose).

So if you’re not planning on setting up your own personal TV, radio, or picture studio from inside the stadium, you’ll be fine. I haven’t seen the media policy, so I wonder if credentialed photographers have the same restriction about selling their photos.

An interesting aside:

A Ticket may not be used for advertising, promotion (including contests or sweepstakes), or other trade or commercial purposes without the express written consent of the SEC or its member institution.

If I had a pair of tickets to the SEC Championship and wanted to raffle them off to raise money for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, I’d be in violation of the policy without getting the blessing of the SEC.

By and large, the media deals announced by the SEC and the University of Georgia during the offseason are going to be great for fans. There will be more Georgia sports available on television to more people. The deal has even led to one of the nation’s largest cable operators carrying a channel they should have had in the first place. Online content will also be enhanced with the coming SEC Digital Network. All good news for fans.

But the money poured in has come with the expectation of access, and it’s put the conference and schools into competition with the media. The SEC released rules last week which amounted to the conference wishing the media good luck, in the words of Don Corleone, “as best as your interests don’t conflict with mine.” The same exclusivity that applies to whomever is broadcasting a game has been extended to the locker room and practice field where media will be prohibited “from posting video from games, practices and news conferences” in deference to the SEC’s agreement with XOS Technologies and the SEC Digital Network.

Why should fans care though? I think David Hale gets to the main concern:

They think you’ll be satisfied with the controlled information you are given from them — essentially replacing the media with a public relations firm….I’m guessing after your favorite team gets spanked by a rival, you’re not looking for the watered-down version of what happened. Perhaps you really don’t care where the information is coming from, but my guess is that you value quality journalism a lot more than they give you credit for.

UGASports.com publisher Steve Patterson goes down the same road when he warns about “nicely packaged productions from marketing companies.” The Mark Richt Show is a nice inch-deep review of the past game and goings-on within the program, but a sterile packaged presentation like that shouldn’t be a template for covering the program on a daily basis.

Patterson’s distinction between marketing and journalism is an important one. XOS Digital and ISP Sports answer to their clients – the SEC and the member schools. As with any marketing company, it’s their job to manage and grow the “brand”, and that’s not necessarily in line with the traditional role of the media. The UGA beat isn’t especially adversarial, but you can usually count on some healthy skepticism where it’s called for. It’s not so insidious as spin or covering things up, but what would a marketing partner of the athletic department gain by questioning things?

Patterson’s account of how this policy is being implemented at Georgia is especially troubling. A camera peeking over the shoulder of a reporter doing a one-on-one interview isn’t exactly value-added content. At best it’s tacky, and really it’s just insulting to journalists. Not only can’t the reporters post their own video; they’re now roped into providing the content for the school’s “exclusive” video product. The pushback by the beat writers after Monday’s practice was a very necessary reaction.

Now the SEC is reconsidering the rules, and you’d expect them to after hearing from 35 to 40 media outlets. But if this Dr. Saturday piece is correct, the rules that impact the fans the most are the least likely to change. Restricting credentials to full-time, salaried members of the media was a ridiculous idea to begin with, but the media shouldn’t be mollified just by lifting that restriction.

Obviously it’s still an issue in flux, and, despite warnings of draconian rules governing everything right down to your picture of the winning score on the scoreboard, it probably won’t affect your life that much on game day. But restrictions that impact how you follow your favorite team are likely to remain in place. Sources of news having that much control over outlets for that news is rarely a formula for quality coverage.

Forbes raised a few eyebrows with their feature on the five most expensive college football tickets this season according to StubHub.

Right there at #2 is Georgia with tickets for all home games going for as much as $2,000 on StubHub.

I’ll take their word for it, but PWD recently had a much more realistic look at the aftermarket for Georgia tickets. Tickets for all home games start at under $200 and “season ticket packages start at $700.” If you pay $2,000 for a single game ticket, you and your money were going to be parted soon anyway.

That’s the aftermarket, but what’s the real price of a season ticket for those who ordered them through UGA? The minimum donation for a renewable season ticket remains $250. With the season ticket package an additional $240, that comes out to about $81.67 per game for the least-expensive season tickets. Of course donation levels go up to as high as $2,000 per seat in the Champion’s Club, but the most a renewable season ticket holder will pay for a lower level seat on the 50 is just over $100 per game once the $400 minimum donation is figured in.

If you were a new season ticket holder this year, it took you a minimum Hartman Fund point total of $4,205 to get going, so someone starting fresh spent a whopping $740.83 per game on tickets this year.

David Hales answers a question today about the relatively quiet preseason Branden Smith is having. Hale brings us back to earth and notes that, “while most fans were expecting immediate results, (Smith)’s simply working on building a strong foundation.”

Smith has drawn Champ Bailey comparisons since Day 1. The two even chatted during the recruiting process. Smith, a potential star on both sides of the ball, would do well to have the same kind of career that Bailey had in Athens. So it’s worth remembering that Bailey, though he played often in his first year, didn’t even start at cornerback until the final two games of his freshman season. Champ’s first big game wasn’t really until the final game of the season where he had a couple of interceptions in a 19-10 win over Georgia Tech.

If the best cornerback of the post-Dooley era took a while to break the starting lineup, I’m not going to sweat Branden Smith flying under the radar in August. Few positions are as exposed as the defensive back, and it can be brutal for young guys. From Oliver to Allen to Jennings to Thornton to Wansley, I can’t remember any cornerback who didn’t take their lumps early in their careers.

Army and Georgia are reportedly in talks to set up a home-and-home series about a decade from now. Army has already announced a deal to play Oklahoma in 2018 and 2020. They’d like to play a program of Georgia or Oklahoma’s stature once a year, so it looks as if 2019 would be the earliest this series could start.

If you’ve never been, West Point is a tremendous destination not only for the history of the area but also for the scenery. If this deal with Georgia is finalized, hopefully the game will be played at Army’s Michie Stadium and not moved to someplace like Yankee Stadium. Though the stadium only seats around 40,000 the campus, cadets, and location right on the bank of the Hudson River make it one of college football’s best settings and would be a great trip for Georgia fans.

As if Mark Richt’s (and now Mike Bobo’s) track record with quarterbacks needed any more validation, we get this observation from the Detroit camp:

Peterson described for me a play last week in which Stafford seemed to be locked onto his intended target at tight end, but then fired an exquisite no-look pass to a different receiver on the other side once Peterson broke on the tight end. “I was like, ‘OK, I see that’s the reason you’re a No. 1 quarterback,”’ Peterson said. “He’s well above the learning curve. Whoever has coached him up before he got to this level, somebody’s done a good job of keeping him prepared, because he’s very prepared.”

(h/t organizednoize on the DawgVent)

Like an article about kickoffs. Read the comments. Every other team kicks through the endzone, but our opponents regularly start on the 45. September 5th can’t get here fast enough.

With players reporting today, it’s the official start to the 2009 season and the beginning of preparations for the first game. Now it’s time to see whether things really are different this season, and intangibles like leadership will be put to the test on the field. For the next month, we’ll hold our breath every afternoon and cross our fingers that the inevitable injury reports aren’t causes to find the highest convenient point from which to jump.

If the season is getting going, that also means that the offseason is over. For what it’s worth, the Dawgs didn’t tally a single arrest during the offseason. A trio of players did earn suspensions and ultimately cost Tony Wilson his spot on the team, but those were incidents involving internal team rules. Of course a lot can still happen over the next month, but after a season in which the team saw ten arrests before and even during the season it’s been a dramatic (and welcome) change.

Will it make a difference? The next five months are all about finding out.

Lots to talk about on the media front lately…

Dowdle takes over postgame

First, Chuck Dowdle, retiring from WSB-TV in Atlanta, will be handling the postgame locker room interviews. The locker room was previously the domain of Loran Smith, but Loran’s not going anywhere; he’ll still be on the sideline and present the pregame show. Personally I miss most of the locker room show walking back to tailgate, but it might be interesting to see if those who listen notice a different style to the softball (and quirky) questions coaches and players usually get after a game.

SEC Network

It’s a bit of old news, but the affiliate list for the regional ESPN-produced SEC “network” continues to grow. The partnership was officially unveiled at SEC Media Days last week, but we’ve been following many of the details for a while now. One update is that the early games will kickoff at 12:21 p.m. ET with coverage starting at noon.

As expected, there will be a Macon affiliate added to bring the total of Georgia markets served to six:

• Albany: WALB
• Atlanta: WPCH (Peachtree TV)
• Augusta: WRDW; My 12
• Columbus: WXTX; WTVM, WLGA
• Macon: WGXA
• Savannah: WTGS

You can see the current nationwide list of affiliates for the “SEC Network” here. The impressive breadth of the network will reach as far as Phoenix, Chicago, and New York – at least for football games. Since this “network” is a confederacy of independent stations, the advice to “check local listings” will still have to apply, especially when it comes to programming beyond football. I would hope that those stations that aren’t specifically listed as football-only would have to carry the entire package, but you never know.

SEC Digital Network

Down the road the conference will be adding an SEC Digital Network which looks to be a Hulu.com for the SEC fan – video archives, highlights, replays, press conferences, and news. It’s just vapor for now but could easily be a winner if it lives up to its billing. Will I eventually be able do things like watch the 1976 Georgia-Alabama game?

Comcast adds ESPNU

We knew it was coming, but I turned on my TV last night to finally find ESPNU added to the Comcast lineup (ch. 298 in Gwinnett). No HD yet, but hopefully that will be added by the season. It’s already happening in other areas of the country. Even the JP games were in HD, and no one wants to take that step backwards. Within the next week, Comcast subscribers should also gain access to the ESPN360 web site and the online content there.

With a trio of weapons like Zac Robinson, Dez Bryant, and Kendall Hunter (not to mention probable All-American tackle Russell Okung clearing the way), you’re going to be hearing an awful lot about the Oklahoma State offense leading up to the season opener. Dismiss the buildup in “HAHA 35-14 2007 WE’VE HEARD THAT BEFORE” style if you like, but at the very least the experienced playmakers on the OSU offense are going to leave the much less experienced Georgia offense with very little room for error.

Put it this way: the Cowboy offense averaged 29 points in their losses last year and never scored fewer than 20 points. If the Georgia defense can’t hold them well below that average, the pressure will be on Joe Cox and the Georgia offense to be both efficient and productive out of the gate in Cox’s first start since 2006.

The Georgia Sports Blog started it off with a look at the matchups in the trenches when OSU has the ball. It’s a formidable line, especially at tackle, but he noted that Georgia should have the advantage in the interior. Chris Brown added to the discussion yesterday with a look at the Cowboy scheme and what plays are most effective. He observes that, despite the spread and the notoriety of a high-profile QB and WR, they are still very much a run-first team and led the Big 12 in rushing with over 3,000 yards in 2007 (and 2008).

Does pwd’s confidence in Georgia’s ability to stop the run hold up against a productive running game? If you put any stock in the 2007 game it does. Georgia held OSU to 70 rushing yards (99 yards total by the running backs). That’s not a shutdown on the Ron Dayne or Javon Ringer level, but it was a quality result against a team that would prove to be productive on the ground.

As pwd points out, that same job is easier said than done this time against a pair of senior offensive tackles, one of whom is a sure first-round NFL pick next year. The positive news is that a healthy Rod Battle has done it before against Oklahoma State. He and Marcus Howard were relentless in 2007 and helped lead the Georgia defense to record five sacks. Battle is back and healthy, but Howard of course is long gone, and Justin Houston won’t be available.

All of this leads me to think that the biggest challenge facing the Georgia defensive ends might be as much containment as it is pure pass rush. Even if Owens and Atkins are effective up the middle, Oklahoma State will test Georgia’s ends, linebackers, and secondary with the speed option and zone read. We’ll find out quickly whether Georgia’s tackling woes could be cured during the offseason.

Containment is just as important against the pass – with a mobile quarterback like Robinson, it’s going to be tough to affect him just from a push by the tackles. There are few things more demoralizing for a defense than watching a quarterback scramble out of a sure sack only to run for a first down or buy extra time to find his receiver.

Brown notes that “The Cowboys’ best pass play last year was often ‘Just throw it up to Dez'” and stresses the need for OSU to find a bit more diversity in the passing game. We saw this in action two years ago. Georgia did a fair job keeping Adarius Bowman from breaking out in 2007 (4 catches, 65 yards, 1 TD). OSU’s leading receiver that day was actually TE Brandon Pettigrew (7 catches, 85 yards). No other player caught more than one pass. This year, though, Pettigrew is gone, and expected TE replacement Jamal Mosely was arrested during the summer and might be suspended. For the Cowboys to find much diversity in the passing game, they’re going to have to turn to some receivers who put up fewer than 20 catches last season.

Information about new season tickets and a few specific games was released earlier this month, and now we get a little more information. Three games still don’t have cutoff levels determined, but here’s what UGA had to say about the rest of the games:

SEASON TICKETS

Renewable Season: Contributors who ordered and have a cumulative score of 4,205 or higher will receive adjacent renewable season tickets.

HOME GAMES

South Carolina: No single game tickets are available because South Carolina receives the maximum allotment for visiting team.
Arizona State: All contributors who ordered with a cumulative score of 18,050 and higher will receive tickets.
LSU: All contributors who ordered with a cumulative score of 32,500 and higher will receive tickets.
Tennessee Tech: All contributors who ordered will receive tickets.
Auburn: No single game tickets are available because Auburn receives the maximum allotment for visiting team.
Kentucky: All contributors who ordered with a cumulative score of 10,000 and higher will receive tickets.

OUT-OF-TOWN GAMES

Oklahoma State: All contributors who ordered with a cumulative score of 4,000 and higher will receive tickets.
Arkansas: All contributors who ordered will receive tickets.
Tennessee: All contributors who ordered with a cumulative score of 21,950 and higher will receive tickets.

Cutoffs for Vandy, Tech, and Florida tickets are still to be announced once UGA gets their allotment from those schools and allocates them. More information (and faculty/staff cutoffs) here.

Yes, Steve Spurrier (or, more accurately, the South Carolina ballot) was the one who made the unforgivable omission and didn’t include Tim Tebow as their first-team quarterback. It’s really pretty sad to watch this play out with a mealy-mouthed apology and actually attempting to correct the “mistake”.

Pat Forde has a good point…when we talk about credibility and the coaches’ poll, we’re usually talking about the secret ballot stuff and transparency. But even if the ballots are public, does it matter that they’re really being filled out by an SID or the director of operations or anyone but the head coach whose name is on the ballot?

Anyway, hopefully Tebow will issue absolution and we can move on with our lives. But before we do…Tebow (or anyone else) wasn’t a unanimous choice by the media either. Just as bad, one media ballot named Ole Miss their choice for SEC champion instead of Florida. We look forward to the investigation.

And by the way…why was Julio Jones a unanimous pick by the coaches and not A.J. Green? Huh? HUH?

I’m kind of looking forward to Friday afternoon after every SEC coach has denied voting Tim Tebow anything but Supreme Lord and Master. Anyone want to lay odds on a reporter calling for the ballots to be published?

As Chris Low points out, the coaches might be the wrong people to be asking.

Talking about whether Georgia really did still have open slots in its 2010 recruiting class, we speculated yesterday that “at this stage that Georgia knows exactly whom they’d like to take those remaining scholarships, and those few know who they are.” Sure enough, not 24 hours have passed and two more commitments have come out of the woodwork. They’re both significant.

The first was Florida athlete Nickell Robey. Robey was one of Georgia’s top cornerback targets, and he got his family’s blessing to commit after visiting last weekend for Dawg Night. He’s the cousin of Bulldog tailback Carlton Thomas and, like Thomas, could be considered on the small side for his position. At 5’8″ and 165 lbs., he’ll draw comparisons to Tim Jennings, but Robey’s offer sheet was much longer than Jennings’. Everyone from Virginia Tech to Florida had offered Robey before he settled on the Bulldogs.

Robey’s commitment was followed this morning by word from SW DeKalb defensive end T.J. Stripling. Stripling, rated the nations #28 player by Rivals.com, stands 6’6″ and had offers from almost all of the area’s top programs. Some had expected a commitment from Stripling a few weeks ago when SWD teammate Kendrun Malcome committed to Georgia, but Stripling chose to wait. In the meantime, Georgia received a commitment from defensive end Dexter Morant, and many assumed that the Bulldogs were finished at the position with four DE commitments. The Dawgs had room though for one of the nation’s top players, and it’s possible that one or two of the five DE commitments could end up at either defensive tackle or even linebacker.

The Dawgs now have 18 commitments, and all but five are on the defensive side of the ball, and there might be more defenders yet to come. If nothing else, the Dawgs should have one hell of an intramural basketball team with defensive end commitments going 6’5″, 6’6″, and 6’7″.

If it’s time for the annual preseason polls, it must be time for the annual griping about preseason polls. This year BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall adds a “philosophical” objection.

“I don’t think it’s possible to pick, nor do I think philosophically there ought to be a preseason poll, period,” BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “There shouldn’t be a preseason conference poll nor a preseason national poll. Maybe after game six, then possibly there would be enough information to make a determination. The rest of it is just speculation, things to talk about that don’t matter much until we know something.

Given the way we decide our champion, it should be no surprise that college football fans obsess over polls. The body of the previous season is barely cold before the media start lining the teams up for the next season. Why? Well, yes, lists and rankings are easy pieces to bang out, but fans eat it up. We line up to buy our Steele, Athlon, and Lindy. We know they’re guesses, but who cares? Even if you delay official polls, nothing at all is going to derail the fans’ appetite for polls or the industry that feeds it. There will just be two fewer polls in a sea of dozens.

Mendenhall and others so set against preseason polls should try this exercise: halfway through the season, sit down and jot down your rankings. (No peeking!) See how much they differ from the rest of the polls which have had six weeks to adjust. My guess is that the two sets of rankings will be almost indistinguishable.

The AP poll after week 6 of the 2008 season had a top 5 of Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, LSU, and Texas. Eventual national champion Florida wasn’t even in the top 10. What is it about delaying the poll a few weeks that’s supposed to give us a better read on the season versus the preseason polls? At least the preseason AP poll had both national championship participants in its top 5.