Morning Six Pack: August 11, 2012

THREE SATURDAYS, y’all. Here are six college football stories from around the country to whet your appetite.

Auburn's Coleman practicing after fighting off leukemia

Even us bammers are cheering hard for this guy.

Kiffin USC vote sparks Coaches' Poll controversy

Coaches’ votes are confidential, except if they make what appear to be “false or misleading” comments about their vote publicly.

Les Miles makes still another call many of his peers wouldn't have

Are you serious, Clark? Miles enabled this kid’s apparent addiction by withholding discipline following multiple failed substance abuse tests. Sheesh.

SEC fatigue still there

Tom Arenberg predicts that the national anti-SEC sentiment that was prevalent at the end of the 2011 season will rise once again.

Walk-on challenging veteran for MU kicking duties

Last year’s efforts weren’t enough, or so it seems.

Quotable:

LSU was able to reach the national title game last season with such an anemic offense (86th nationally) in part because Mathieu provided so much offense of his own, scoring four touchdowns and creating the short field that led to many others. That security blanket is gone. The word all offseason has been that new quarterback Zach Mettenberger has the strong arm and pocket poise Miles' teams have lacked for four years. The coaches say they'll finally be able to stretch the field and generate more explosive passing plays because of it.

They better be right.

LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis can do any number of things to mask Mathieu's absence. Beckham Jr. can return a touchdown or two. But there's simply no replacing the rare and intangible impact Mathieu had on games. The Tigers don't need to reinvent themselves, but they do need to find new ways to swing momentum and break open games.

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