All signs look postive going into fall

There appears to be no extreme concern going into the fall, as the team (at least from all reports I have read/received) is on schedule and the guys look competitive. One blurb that I particularly enjoyed was the concept of bringing Coach Ford and a host of former players to the Saturday scrimmage the Saturday. The article also reveals that Dabo is pleased enough with the Tigers to cancel the afternoon practice on Friday to take the players bowling. Coach Swinney is also confident that we will see a more close-knit group this season.

The team worked for nearly three hours this morning, then after lunch went
bowling rather than return for a second practice. Swinney said it was a further
opportunity for bonding.“What pleases me the most is I really believe this is a
close football team,” he said. “This is a group of guys that has each other's
back, that really care about one another and appreciate each other.“If you've
got that plus talent … as a coaching staff we can harness that, we've got a
chance when you go out there on Saturdays.”

Other apparent good news from Tigertown, out offensive line is, as expected, finally gelling. After blowing cock all last year, hopefully we will be able to blow people off the line of scrimmage. This OL is still fairly young (obvious exception is Thomas Austin), so I am still a little skeptical of what to expect in September.

The university also self reported four secondary violations this week...no big deal or anything out of the ordinary here.

Wouldn't you just love to be Dave Cutcliff? This guy goes from getting royally screwed at Ole Miss to fending off Fat Phil in the buffet line to coaching the worst team in college football. On top of these issues, his team is being attacked by the pig-flu? Get Coach K to pull some strings to get the good stuff to Durham.

Further, I am all for a playoff system, but doesn't Congress have better things to do than debate this issue now? As mentioned in this article, a playoff would be extremely entertaining (every year, it seems that someone says, "this would be a perfect year for a playoff..."), but the guaranteed money for the bigger conferences (with schools located in more populated and larger states) is too great to risk mucking up the current system (I differ from this opinion, as I believe that everyone involved would make boatloads more money with a hybrid bowl/playoff--including payoffs to the larger conferences).

Who is ready for some football???