Don’t look now, but it appears another college football tradition might be dying

Random notes:

▪ Are depth charts another dying college football tradition?

Issuing a list of first-teamers and second-teamers for public consumption was a staple of a program’s game week itinerary. The chart was eagerly scrutinized by fans and media members alike for clues about what might happen on Saturday.

Alabama didn’t issue a depth chart on Monday before its season opener against Middle Tennessee on Saturday, however. Having not yet named a starting quarterback, Bama coach Nick Saban said he didn’t want the “distractions” a public depth chart would bring.

“It creates a lot of guys thinking that, well, this guy won the job now and I’m not going to play or whatever,” Saban said Monday. “And quite frankly, we don’t need that.”

New Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said the depth chart the media received this week for his team’s opener against UMass was a product of his media relations department. “I don’t even have a depth chart. I don’t do depth charts,” Freeze said.

Meanwhile, neither Penn State nor West Virginia are releasing depth charts before their season opener (7:30 p.m. Saturday on NBC).

“I think it needs to be across the board,” said West Virginia coach Neal Brown, the former UK offensive coordinator, when asked about depth charts. “And I think what we should do is we should mandate depth charts and the depth charts can have ORs in them or whatever. And we should mandate injury reports for the gambling stuff. I would be in favor of that. If they ask me for an opinion, I’d be all for mandatory depth charts, mandatory injury reports.

“Until everybody does it, it’s not fair and balanced. But that’s the way I think it should be done. We’re moving more and more to a professional model and the NFL does that. But until everybody does it, we’re putting ourselves at a competitive disadvantage by doing it.”

By the way, Kentucky released its first 2023 depth chart Monday. And, as has been pointed out by others, Nick Saban is 16-0 in season openers after releasing a depth chart.

▪ Reports on Tuesday said former Kentucky wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson is to be activated from the physically unable to perform list (PUP) and placed on the New York Giants’ 53-man roster for the NFL opener. The second-round pick in the 2022 draft caught 23 passes for 227 yards and one touchdown last year as a rookie before tearing his ACL.

▪ The Jeff Brohm coaching era at Louisville begins Friday in Atlanta when the Cardinals face Georgia Tech. It’s a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on ESPN. U of L opened as a 7.5-point favorite.

▪ With 13 horses having died during the Saratoga meet, expect more debate over whether American thoroughbred racing should abandon dirt racing for synthetic surfaces.

Trainer Mark Casse told Thoroughbred Daily News, “I think we really, seriously, need to look at more synthetic tracks. I believe in them. I believe they’ve got plenty of data to back that up, and I think if anybody‘s an expert on them, it should be me.”

Casse said he currently has approximately 90 horses training on dirt and 75 horses at Woodbine in Canada training on synthetic.

▪ Old Friends Farm in Georgetown announced Monday that 2022 Belmont Stakes winner Sarava has died at age 24. That was quite a Triple Crown series for Lexington trainer Kenny McPeek. After favorite Harlan’s Holiday ran seventh in the Kentucky Derby and fourth in the Preakness for McPeek, owners moved the horse to Todd Pletcher’s barn the Wednesday before the Belmont. Three days later, McPeek won the Belmont with Sarava, a 70-1 shot.

In fact, I remember trainer Bob Baffert visiting McPeek’s barn on the Sunday morning after the race to congratulate the winner. This was after Baffert’s War Emblem ran eighth in the Belmont after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

Six months later, Sarava owner Gary Drake moved the horse to Baffert’s barn. Drake said he wanted Sarava to compete on the West Coast. Raced eight more times, Sarava not only never won another race, he never even hit the board.

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