Unclaimed football baggage

Traveling the treacherous college football triangle -- Charleston to SEC Football Media Days in Hoover, Ala., to the ACC Football Kickoff in Greensboro, N.C., and back -- all in one predominantly 100-degree week:

Work ethic

Birmingham, Ala.

Tourist attractions here include the Sloss Furnaces and a 56-foot hilltop statue of some cast-iron Vulcan dude. Yes, it's a working man's town (suburbs included). Which brings up the work ethic contrast of Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier.

Meyer, at SEC Media Days, had to answer questions about managing the stress that led to his temporary resignation last winter.

"The issue was there was something wrong and what was that?" said Meyer, 46. "That's been solved. The wear and tear of being a football coach; I've just got to be a little smarter."

Spurrier, 65, has said outside interests are a key to coaching longevity. Read: Don't work too hard. Excess was one of the reasons Spurrier didn't like the NFL.

"There are a lot of coaches, man, they love coaching football," Spurrier said in Hoover. "They can sit in the film room or video room and they can watch tape all afternoon and love it year-round. I can't do that year-round. That gets to me a little bit. I'd rather be doing other things."

Such quotes make people question Spurrier's drive. If a potentially good 2010 South Carolina team doesn't do well, the moaning will get very loud and Spurrier might be working from home next year. But the Head Ball Coach is bullish.

"I'm pumped up about this year," Spurrier said. "I like our team. I don't know what's going to happen but we got a lot of players that you really like at South Carolina."

Small towns

Scottsboro, Ala.

Greetings from the Unclaimed Baggage Center!

Wish you were here to help pick through some of the million items that pass through this massive discount store annually -- clothes, books, electronics, DVDs, baseball cards. The very heart of Scottsboro

is bustling with long lines on a sizzling Saturday.

Can't help but think of Robbie Caldwell, a big boost to another small town -- Pageland.

Vanderbilt's interim head coach was proud to dig up his roots.

"You had to like watermelon, No. 1, because it was the watermelon capital of the world -- we proclaimed anyway," Caldwell said. "You had to like hunting and fishing. Frog-gigging. If you played a sport, you didn't have to work during a practice time. That's why I played basketball. I was probably the worst there's ever been, but I played so I wouldn't have to go pour concrete. My first hourly paying job was on the turkey farm. I don't know if I could tell you what my job was but I was on the inseminating crew. That's a fact."

Unfortunately, Caldwell's unclaimed baggage includes a limited pool of player talent and an ambitious schedule that probably will lead to a 1-11 record.

Orange Bulldogs

Tallapoosa, Ga.

The Georgia Bulldogs bumper stickers tell you this isn't Alabama anymore.

Which begs the question: How will legendary former Dawgs head coach Vince Dooley look in the orange gear he plans to wear when his son Derek leads the Volunteers against Georgia on Oct. 9 in Athens?

"I'm amazed at how interested people are in what my parents are going to wear," Derek Dooley said. "(Barbara Dooley) made no bones about it in Atlanta at a Big Orange caravan event, walking in with an orange boa."

Still ramblin'

Greensboro, N.C.

Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson is asked about the challenges of recruiting at a school surrounded by SEC heavyweights and Clemson, and with his unique triple- option offense.

"It's really not that difficult," Johnson said. "We are in the state of Georgia and we recruit primarily against Georgia. Those choices are pretty clear. You are not going to confuse Georgia Tech with Georgia. You either like Georgia or you like Georgia Tech."

Remember, such simplicity got the Ramblin' Wreck all the way to the Orange Bowl last season.

Stars collide, again

Greensboro, N.C.

It was one of the top YouTube college football plays of 2009. Clemson safety DeAndre McDaniel intercepted a pass and went shoulder-to-shoulder with Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder at the end of a 27-yard return. Ponder lost the collision, separating his right (throwing) shoulder late in the Tigers' 40-24 victory at Death Valley.

The two crossed paths against at the ACC Football Kickoff event.

"We talked about it. We're cool," McDaniel said. "To be honest, I think he's one of the top three quarterbacks in the country with (Washington's Jake) Locker and (Arkansas' Ryan) Mallett."

ACC footprint

Columbia

"Footprint" is the most annoying, overused word when conference officials talk about how their league fits into the big picture. ACC commissioner John Swofford used it a few times during his state of the ACC address, and said he tries to "read the tea leaves" when it comes to positioning the ACC in the best possible way for expansion -- or non-expansion.

But here's an idea: Williams-Brice Stadium as the site of a future ACC championship game. It makes perfect sense.

Charlotte is too far north.

Florida is too far south.

The SEC owns the Georgia Dome.

The only title banner at Williams-Brice honors the 1969 ACC champions.

Columbia is smack-dab in the middle of the ACC footprint.

Williams-Brice, after all these years, would finally host a game with championship implications.

Reach Gene Sapakoff at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com or (843) 937-5593.