I remember when Bobby Petrino ditched Louisville to join the Atlanta Falcons in 2007. The writers for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution briefly mentioned Petrino’s penchant for leaving teams in the dust for bigger and brighter opportunities, then they moved right into breaking down his offense and how he could transform Michael Vick into an elite quarterback.

Not too long after Petrino left Atlanta in the middle of the night to go “Call Hogs” in Arkansas, those same writers ripped him for being a coward. He kind of has that way about him.

When he’s on your side (no matter how briefly), you want to overlook his many weaknesses. But as soon as he shows you his true colors, you hope he never wins another game.

Mike Zimmer, who was the Falcons’ defensive coordinator in Atlanta when Petrino performed his disappearing act, had some not-so-nice things to say about his former boss in a recent interview.

“I never even was there,” said Zimmer. “When a coach quits in the middle of the year and ruins a bunch of people’s families and doesn’t have enough guts to at least finish out the year … I am not a part of that.

“You can put that in the Arkansas News-Gazette. I don’t really give a (hooey). I am serious. He is a coward. Put that in quotes.”

“Most people in football have enough courage about them and enough fight to stick through something and not quit halfway through the year. It is cowardly,” said Zimmer. “He came in and said he resigned, he would talk to us all at a later date, walked out of the office and no one has ever talked to him since. Not that anybody wanted to.

“He’s a gutless (expletive). Quote that. I don’t give a (hooey).”

If you’re abreast of the situation, then you know that Zimmer spoke the truth. But apparently at least one writer in Arkansas is still blinded by Petrino’s lore and took exception to Zimmer’s comments.

These are excerpts from an article by Jim Harris of ArkansasSports360.com in reference to Zimmer’s comments:

Zimmer said earlier this week that Petrino ruined lives when he abruptly left Atlanta for Arkansas with three games left in the 2007 season. Please.

Zimmer’s had a very difficult four years of his life, both on the field and off it. Some of it tragic. His parting with Petrino was not among the tragic occurrences, as Zimmer had a contract and also was able to find work with Cincinnati.

Lives were ruined by Hurricane Katrina. Lives are ruined daily in Haiti, in the aftermath of an earthquake and now a cholera epidemic in a country with no money.

Harris’ mention of how Zimmer has “had a very difficult four years of his life” is in reference to the defensive coordinator finding his wife Vikki dead in their home in the middle of the football season. And while Harris has a good point about Hurricane Katrina and Haiti, let’s not mince words here.

I’m willing to bet that Harris doesn’t know Zimmer personally, so how would he know if the situation ruined Zimmer’s life or not? Besides, isn’t Harris being a little too literal here? I’m sure Zimmer would say that Hurricane Katrina was a bigger deal than Petrino leaving Atlanta, but the situation still affected his life in a profound way. It essentially cost him his job with the Falcons and while he still wound up on his feet in Cincinnati a year later, that doesn’t mean that Harris has the right to downplay the situation and go with the standard “life is bigger than sports” anecdote that some writers use these days.

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Here’s a quick and dirty look at how I see things playing out in the SEC this season:

#1 Alabama
Led by head coach Nick Saban and Heisman winner Mark Ingram, this is by far the best team in the country. While they don’t come weakness-free, the Tide have the best combination of talent and coaching in all of college football. They play in the nation’s toughest conference so there’s always a chance that they could lose a game during the season, but this is your clear national title favorite. Their defense might be even better than it was a year ago.

#2 Florida
The Gators lost Tim Tebow, Riley Cooper, Aaron Hernandez, Maurkice Pouncey, Carlos Dunlap, Jermaine Cunningham, Brandon Spikes, Ryan Stamper, Joe Haden and Major Wright from their squad last season. In one word: Ouch. Outside of running back Jeff Demps, they lost their top player at nearly every position, which would usually destroy a program’s chances of competing the next year. But this is Florida – they reload every year. This year’s crop of starters has seen time in either part-time action or spot starts over the last couple of years, so the Gators will compete. Are they a top 5 team? We’ll find out soon.

#3 Arkansas
All right, so I might be drinking too much of the Ryan Mallett Kool-Aid by ranking the Razorbacks ahead of Georgia and LSU. But even though Bobby Petrino is a turd, the man knows how to run an offense (a college football offense, that is) and Arkansas will be explosive on that side of the ball again this year. The question is whether or not their defense will step up so that this team can reach its full potential. As it stands now, it’s probably safe to say that Arkansas is going to have issues slowing teams down this year, but I just can’t stop starring at that offense. It’s like a tractor beam of hotness.

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One would have thought that Tim Tebow and Florida learned from their loss to Ole Miss last year to never take an opponent for granted. Maybe that wasn’t the case on Saturday, but it sure seemed like it.

The Gators are extremely lucky to still be undefeated and when the BCS releases its standings for the first time on October 20, Florida will be extremely lucky if they’re still ranked No. 1.

The word “lucky” might not sit well with some Gator fans, but most teams that play as bad as Florida did in its 23-20 win over Arkansas on Saturday usually don’t win. The Gators turned the ball over four times, benefited from two Razorback missed field goals and had no answer for backup running back Dennis Johnson, who broke so many tackles the stats people will need a calculator to add them all up.

Tebow was good – damn good. He threw for 255 yards on 17 of 26 passing with one touchdown and also added 60 rushing yards on 24 carries. But the key in this game wasn’t Tebow – it was that Arkansas didn’t capitalize on Florida’s mistakes. For all intents and purposes, it was a game they probably should have won.

But “should have” and “did” are two different things. Bobby Petrino’s squad didn’t win and that’s the bottom line. They could have shocked the college football world by beating the No. 1 team in the nation but in the end they choked. That said, this is one of the most dangerous unranked teams in the nation, which they’ve proved over the past two weeks by routing Auburn and hanging with Florida.

Back the Gators. If Alabama comes out and absolutely crushes South Carolina, does the Crimson Tide deserve to be No. 1? Alabama hasn’t suffered one setback this year – not one. I realize Florida still won today, but the Gamecocks are ranked and would therefore prove to be a more worthy opponent than Arkansas.

If ‘Bama produces a rout tonight, Nick Saban’s squad has an argument that it deserves to be No. 1. Tonight should be interesting.

One of the greatest unsolved crimes in sports history now has a resolution. We can now put our children to bed at night without this shroud of mystery hanging over our heads and breathe a sigh of relief knowing that a major villain has been outed for his crime against humanity.

That’s right, folks: We now know the one person who didn’t vote for Florida’s Tim Tebow as All-SEC quarterback. And it wasn’t that punk Lane Kiffin, nor was it that weasel Bobby Petrino either. Hell, it wasn’t even Nick Saban, who can’t step one foot inside Baton Rouge or Miami without somebody wanting to shove a first down marker where the sun don’t shine.

Nope, it was Steve Spurrier…well, kind of. Apparently it wasn’t actually him, but the director of football operations he had vote for him. Whoops.

Spurrier explained that his director of football operations had filled out the ballot and brought it in to him. Spurrier said he glanced at it, signed off on it, and then realized his mistake much later.

The ballot submitted to the SEC from South Carolina had Mississippi’s Jevan Snead as the first-team quarterback, and not Tebow.

“I take full responsibility,” he said, emphasizing that he believed Tebow to be one of the best quarterbacks in Florida history. “I’m embarrassed about it, I feel badly about it … I apologize to Tim Tebow.”

SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom confirmed to ESPN.com that Spurrier called within the past 24 hours and asked that his ballot be changed to include Tebow as the first-team quarterback. Spurrier told Bloom that his initial ballot, with Snead as the first-team quarterback, was a mistake.

If you couldn’t tell by the sarcasm I used at start of this article, I don’t think this is a big deal. It’s just a preseason honor and I highly doubt Tebow is losing sleep over this. It’s nice that Spurrier tried to correct the mistake and owns up to it, but again, this is hardly worth getting upset about.

But perhaps an underlying issue (and Pat Forde touched on it in the ESPN article) here, is that these coaches continue to let other people in their programs vote for things like all-conference nominations and even the USA Today Coaches Poll. So you have a director of operations having a stake in which teams could potentially play for a national title, and not the coaches themselves.

This is just reason No. 1,900,340,000 why the BCS system is an absolutely joke. We need a playoff.

By the way, how does Jevan Snead feel right about now? If I’m him I’m like, “A mistake? Gee, thanks Spurrier – tell me how you really feel you son of a bit…”

The SEC recently released its preseason coaches All-SEC team and unsurprisingly, Florida’s Tim Tebow was everyone’s choice as first team quarterback.

Well, not everyone’s choice apparently.

Only three players were unanimous choices on the first team: LSU offensive lineman Ciron Black, Tennessee defensive back Eric Berry and Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones. Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner who led the Gators to a national championship in 2008, was not a unanimous choice.

Coaches weren’t allowed to vote for their own players, so a unanimous pick got 11 of 12 votes. Tebow got 10 of 12 votes, which means one of the SEC coaches doesn’t think that he’ll be the best quarterback in the conference this season. But which coach that was is uncertain.

Of all the quarterbacks in the SEC, the only one who might draw a vote away from Tebow is Ole Miss’ signal caller Jevan Snead. But if the Rebels’ Houston Nutt couldn’t vote for him, then who did?

If we could hold a blame storming session for a second, I’d like to blame either Lane Kiffin or Bobby Petrino – Kiffin because he’s proven to be a pimple on every SEC coaches’ ass since becoming head coach at Tennessee, and Petrino because he’s essentially the Hans Gruber of the college football world.

Not that this is a huge deal because after all, it’s just a preseason All-SEC team. But any time we get the opportunity to throw Petrino under the bus for something, it must be fully taken advantage of.

The Atlanta Falcons are owners of this season’s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year and now they’re the owners of the AP Coach of the Year as Mike Smith took home the honors on Sunday.

Atlanta’s Smith edged Miami’s Sparano by one vote Sunday for The Associated Press 2008 NFL Coach of the Year award.

Both coaches oversaw sensational turnarounds, leading their teams from last-place finishes in 2007 to playoff berths this year. Their achievements were reflected by the closeness of the balloting, with Smith getting 23½ votes and Sparano 22½ from a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL.

After improving from 4-12 to 11-5 and making the NFC playoffs as a wild card, the Falcons fell 30-24 at Arizona on Saturday night. That should not detract from a memorable season that bodes well for the football future in Atlanta.

“I think we have tried to establish that we’d be very systematic in how we did things, that we were going to have a plan,” said Smith, who helped guide quarterback Matt Ryan to the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

Considering the Dolphins were 1-15 last year, Sparano was just as deserving. But what put Smith over the top was the job he did with a rookie quarterback and the fact that Atlanta’s problems last year were more nationally covered, from Michael Vick’s arrest for dog fighting, to Bobby Petrino’s escape to Arkansas.

Some football purists are going to be steamed with Smith edging Sparano, but he was truly just as deserving. Both of these coaches were miracle workers this season and equally deserving of the award.

Nina Mandell of FanNation ranks the five biggest traitors in sports.

1. Nick Saban: We all know that sports figures, and public figures for that matter, are capable of denying the truth at any given time. But none did it quite as brazenly as then-Dolphins coach Saban before jumping to a multi-million dollar offer at ‘Bama, after five weeks of repeated denials. “I guess I have to say it. I’m not going to be the Alabama coach. … I don’t control what people say. I don’t control what people put on dot-com or anything else. So I’m just telling you there’s no significance, in my opinion, about this, about me, about any interest that I have in anything other than being the coach here,” he said on Dec. 21, 2006. Less than three weeks later, came this statement: “What I realized in the last two years is that we love college coaching because of the ability that it gives you to affect people, young people. … If I knew that my heart was someplace else in what I wanted to do, I don’t think it would be fair to the [Dolphins] organization if I stayed.” Thus proving, Nick Saban’s heart = his wallet.

2. Bobby Petrino: When the going got tough, this former Atlanta Falcons head coach got going. Coming off a blowout loss and strapped with a team that was reeling from the Michael Vick dogfighting scandal, Petrino took off to become the head coach at Arkansas, piling onto the Falcons’ woes. “He preached team and he preached family and then he quit on us. That’s not what a man does. He lied to us,” said then-quarterback Joey Harrington.

5. Carlos Boozer: Looking for a raise? Try what’s been deemed the Carlos Boozer negotiating tactics. After two years in Cleveland, Boozer was about to move up to the penthouse after reportedly making a verbal agreement to a $40 million deal. That’s when the Utah Jazz suddenly announced they’d locked up Boozer for six years at $68 million. “We are both very surprised and very disappointed by what is now being reported,” said the Cavaliers in a statement. Apparently the hatred spread worldwide. When one Cleveland Plain-Dealer reporter decided to revisit the betrayal at the Beijing Olympics, she found that Boozer was known as “Fan Gu Zai,” which, loosely translated, means “Betrayal Skull Dude” in China.

And now Nick Saban is a hero in Alabama. Guess he got what he deserved.

College football coaches might be the greediest men in sports. They’ll sell their souls to the highest bidder and then lie through their teeth any chance they get. As it turns out though, Petrino did the Falcons a favor. Mike Smith has done a great job in Atlanta so far and Petrino was overmatched in the NFL from the start.

Just three days after firing offensive coordinator Tony Franklin due to their inept offense, Auburn managed just 193 yards of total offense in a 25-22 loss to Arkansas on Saturday. The Tigers had just 137 passing yards and 56 rushing, while also turning the ball over three times and finished just 4 for 15 on third downs.

After firing Franklin, Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville said that his team’s offensive philosophy wasn’t going to change because it “is a good offense”, the players like it and that they are “getting better at it.”

Here’s a thought: If you don’t have the personal to run the spread offense, don’t run it. You don’t just fire a guy and think that all of a sudden your players are going to magically fit into the system. Maybe Franklin wasn’t the problem after all. Or maybe he was. But you can’t fit square pegs into round holes.

On a related note, isn’t it about time for Bobby Petrino to bolt Arkansas? My God, it’s been six games. Considering Petrino used to be the former offensive coordinator at Auburn, maybe he can leave Arkansas, become the new OC for the Tigers and eventually weasel his way into AU’s head coaching spot when Tuberville is eventually shown the door. That seems like the Bobby Petrino path to success.

Time to check out the big games, top matchups and potential upsets as college football heads into Week 5.

Top 25 Action:
No. 8 Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC) at No. 3 Georgia (4-0, 1-0 SEC), Saturday 7:45 PM ET ESPN
In their 27-10 win over Arizona State last week, the Bulldogs were able to physically dominate ASU in the trenches, but questions still remain about their inexperienced offensive line. After having trouble with South Carolina’s front four two weeks ago, UGA head coach Mark Richt made some changes that at the very least, worked in the win over ASU. But the Bulldogs’ offensive line will get another stiff test this week against a physical defensive front of Alabama. Tide head coach Nick Saban has his team believing they can win and their 328-92 rushing dominance in a win at Arkansas last week was nothing short of impressive. Last year ‘Bama gave Georgia everything they could handle before finally losing 26-23 in overtime in Tuscaloosa. So it should be another great SEC battle “between the hedges” this Saturday. Georgia is currently a 6.5-point favorite.

No. 24 TCU (4-0, 1-0 MWC) at No. 2 Oklahoma (3-0, 2-0 home), Saturday 7:00 PM ET
The Sooners wrap up their non-conference schedule by hosting an undefeated TCU team that ranks 13th in the nation in points scored. Of course, Oklahoma is the top ranked program in that category, so lets not get ahead ourselves in predicting an upset. The Sooners have outscored opponents 164-42 and are second in the nation with a 40.7 average margin of victory. OU head coach Bob Stoops has been around the block more than enough to know his team can’t relax before conference play. Oklahoma is an 18.5-point home favorite.

No. 22 Illinois (2-1, 0-1 away) at No. 12 Penn State (4-0, 3-0 home)
Entering the season, Ohio State and Wisconsin were considered the class of the Big Ten. While that might still be the case, the conference produces an underrated matchup this Saturday in Happy Valley when the Nittany Lions host the Illini. So far this season, PSU has one of the best offenses in the nation, ranking sixth in total yards, 31st in passing yards, eighth in rushing yards and third in points scored. But the last time the Lions squared off against Illinois, they turned the ball over three times inside the Illini’ 30-yard line in a surprising 27-20 loss in Champaign. Film of that game will almost certainly be shown to PSU players leading up to Saturday’s game. Illinois is currently a 15-point road dog.

Upset Watch:
Tennessee at No. 15 Auburn Saturday 3:30 PM ET CBS
Considering they were crushed 30-6 by Florida last Saturday, not too many people will give the Vols a chance this weekend against the Tigers, who are coming off a narrow loss to No. 6 LSU. But Tennessee played better against the Gators than the final score indicated. The UT defense surrendered only 16 first downs and 243 yards against the high-powered Florida offense. That bodes well this week when they take on an Auburn offense that has only managed 17 points in their first eight quarters against SEC opponents and is largely still a work in progress. Oddsmakers have established Auburn as a 6.5-point favorite.

Other notable games:
No. 1 USC at Oregon State, Thursday 9:00 PM ET ESPN
Remember the last time USC traveled to Corvallis? The Trojans certainly do.

Mississippi State at No. 5 LSU Saturday 7:30 PM ESPN2
The Tigers are coming off a huge win last week in Auburn. Will they have a letdown against unranked Mississippi State?

Arkansas at No. 7 Texas Saturday 3:30 PM ET ABC
Bobby Petrino’s bunch were hammered last week at home against Alabama. Petrino can probably count on similar results this week in Austin.