Wednesday Skull Session

Merry Christmas, movie house!

Merry Christmas, Emporium!

Merry Christmas, Eleven Warriors!

It's Christmas day and I can't imagine a lot of you will be spending time on the internet today. If you're not opening presents, or drinking eggnog, or spending time with loved ones, you'll probably be watching the NBA on ABC/ESPN or watching something else on TV.

For those of you coming by 11W to wish your fellow commentariat members a happy holidays, here are a few other things in the world of sports to consider on this day.

OREGON STATE ROLLS IN THE HAWAII BOWL. The line on the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl was -4.5 for the Beavers. If I were a betting man, I would've taken Oregon State to cover and cover easily. There was too much happening in the world of Boise State football to the Broncos' detriment for the Broncos to be competitive this game.

Indeed, that's what happened. Oregon State quickly accumulated a sizable first half lead on the heels of two defensive touchdowns by senior defensive back, Rashaad Reynolds. It was 31-6 Oregon State at intermission. It didn't improve much for the Broncos from there, at least not when it would have mattered.

That second touchdown for Rashaad Reynolds may have been emblematic of the day for Boise State. It was set up by a phone call that Steve Levy, Lou Holtz, and Mark May were trying to connect with new Boise State coach, Bryan Harsin. As they started to announce the call, ESPN telecasted a busy signal.

They eventually got a hold of Harsin, just in time for Boise State's Troy Ware to fumble a catch and possible first down. It was returned 70 yards by Reynolds for a touchdown to give Oregon State a 24-6 lead. Harsin was too immersed in coach speak to notice the Broncos' first half implosion. It was 31-6 at halftime

Despite 17 unanswered second half points to end the game, Oregon State still won mostly problem-free, 38-23.

EVERYONE HATES KENNY CHESNEY. I'm not a country music fan. It's fine if you are. Eleven Warriors is a judgment-free zone on most things, certainly matters of personal conviction or personal taste. It's your thing. Do what you wanna do. The Isley Brothers advised us as much on that.

With that in mind, one underlying element on college football Twitter is a broad, if perhaps not unanimous, disdain for Kenny Chesney, a country-pop music megastar. Country music can be polarizing already for people (call it an acquired taste), but Chesney seems to go above and beyond the call of duty to be irksome to some people.

His crime is one of front-running, or bandwagoning. I don't have the exact term for what exactly he does. Chesney plays largely to the regional audience that he would attract for his concerts. Whereas his audience is largely in "flyover" country, especially in towns in the South and with large public universities (like those in the SEC), Chesney will track down the local football celebrity and seek audience with him.

When in Tuscaloosa not long ago for a concert, this was naturally Nick Saban. Chesney professes to be a die-hard Volunteers fan, though not committed enough to the program to not fraternize with one of Tennessee's principal rivals. This infuriated Erik Ainge, an oft-trouble alumnus of the University of Tennessee's football program.

pic.twitter.com/032DmFBFMB Kenny Chesney, You disgust me. Touchdown Tennessee needs to be remade by a real Tennessee fan. Not a poser. Carry on
— Erik Ainge (@ErikAinge3) December 23, 2013

This led to a slew of supportive tweets from Ainge's followers, largely accusing Chesney of being a flake, or words to that effect.

Truth is: this is what Chesney does. It's what he's always done. Uproxx's With Leather accurately summarizes Chesney as follows.

I don’t even know when this photo is from, but it’s not the only time that Chesney has been photographed with Saban or celebrating another college team aside from the Vols. Hell, a scroll through the sports gallery on his official website reveals what we’ve all known for years now – that Chesney is basically the music industry’s biggest cleat-chaser. He’s like a Kardashian who is mildly talented.

Likening Chesney to a Kardashian sister is perfect. Calling him "mildly talented" might be a bit generous. Alas, you are free to agree or disagree with that as you see fit.

Kurt Roper

FLORIDA FINDS A NEW OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR. This news item became the fait accompli of the week, but Will Muschamp has found his replacement for Brent Pease at the offensive coordinator position. The successor is Kurt Roper, currently the offensive coordinator of the Duke Blue Devils.

Is it a wise hire? The Blue Devils had the 69th-ranked total offense in the country. While meager in the broad scheme of things, it far outpaces the 115th-ranked offense that the Florida Gators had in 2013. Further, Duke does not bring in the caliber of talent of even its peers in the ACC. The talent Roper will have in Gainesville will be a significant upgrade.

However, the competition will be a significant upgrade as well. Further, it may be difficult to separate what Roper contributed to Duke's renaissance from David Cutcliffe. Cutcliffe, the head coach, is the same guy who tutored and coached Peyton Manning at Tennessee and Eli Manning at Mississippi as an assistant and head coach respectively.

ESPN's Edward Aschoff summarized his credentials accordingly.

In 2012, Roper helped direct the Blue Devils to a school single-season record of 410 points and 31.5 points per game, the fifth-highest total in school history.

Roper has extensive history in the SEC. He got his coaching start at Tennessee while serving as a graduate assistant from 1996-98 and then followed current Duke head coach David Cutcliffe to Ole Miss, where he spent six years coaching quarterbacks and was the passing game coordinator during his final three seasons.

In 2005, Roper served as Kentucky's quarterbacks coach before serving as running backs coach at Tennessee in 2006 and 2007.

As long as he can coach Florida's offensive linemen to not block each other, my guess is he'll be fine? As for Muschamp? Well...

THE ONLY CHRISTMAS SONG THAT MATTERS. Merry Christmas, 11W. Make sure to give your heart to someone special this year, and not someone who, the very next day, will give it away.