It's no secret that Johnny Manziel is Outkick the Coverage's favorite SEC football player of all time. 

But even we continue to be amazed by his feats of athletic excellence.

Last night he homered during San Diego Padres batting practice while wearing jeans and boat shoes. Then he executed one of the most amazing first pitches in history.

How so?

He reenacted his fumbled touchdown pass against Alabama.

Really, he did.

Watch.  

Raise your hand if you're going to need alcohol to make it through your Thanksgiving weekend. (Hand raised). I'm headed up to Lexington, Kentucky today where my two hellion boys under the age of three will be melded with my twin 1.5 year old nephews. Yeah, four mobile boys under the age of three? It's like a symphony of squeals, a cacophony of cries. This is no exaggeration -- every waking moment will be filled with loud yelping of some sort. It's like an infant version of D-Day. We're only spending one day storming the bluegrass of Lexington because any more time with four boys under the age of one qualifies for post-traumatic stress. 

"You're only staying one day?" my mom asked, disappointed, when I told her we were driving up and back quickly.  

She asked this because women are impervious to screaming children. It's innate, the same biological instinct that sees a window and thinks, "Good Lord, these windows need treatments." (Yes, we're doing window treatments again in my house. Silly me, I had no idea our windows were so sick. I'm contemplating hooking up an I.V. bag to one. Next time she mentions treatment, I'll say, "No worries, got it covered. I've got some saline dripping on the downstairs windows.) Men, sadly, are not immune to screaming children. My dad, the most optimistic man on the face of the Earth, took one look at last year's quad-infant Christmas melee and said, "It's only going to be worse next year."

Our boy Vinnie Verno is back with early picks this week to get you ready for Thanksgiving. What did Bobby Petrino do to get his team ready for LSU? Did he blare music? Nope, he had them practice with the scent of corndogs emanating across the Razorback practice field.

And in the final Texas-Texas A&M game?

Vinnie Verno sees a massacre coming. How much so? Yep, he bet the baby.

Need to make some real money on picks? Go check out my guys at Prediction Machine. They're nearly 80% against the spread this year and they'll also break down fantasy, survivor league odds, and more on the site. Check it out here.  

And now, on to Vinnie.

UT fans are finally starting to realize that going 152-52 at Tennessee isn't that easy. Remember back in the day when we used to bitch and moan about Citrus Bowl trips? Times have changed.

But I have to admit, I didn't see this Outkast spoof, "Sorry Phil Fulmer," coming.

Enjoy.

This took a hell of a lot of effort and is really well done. Vol fans can bump this at the second consecutive Music City Bowl tailgate.

One of the great flaws of college football is that perception often governs reality. That is, what we think about teams often dictates what they're capable of actually doing. In no other sport does our collective wisdom -- or lack thereof -- matter as much in truly determining a champion. Every other sport settles its champion on the field, court, or rink. Not college football. We decide who we think should play and then let those teams play for the title. So our lazy biases truly matter when it comes to finding a football champion.

In particular, those biases often dictate outcomes. 

Which brings me to two biases that have gotten a ton of attention lately. Both are lazy.

First, the national consensus has been that Alabama and LSU shouldn't rematch because the 9-6 game was so boring. Seriously, that's an argument. One of the stupidest arguments that anyone of moderate intelligence could make, but an argument regardless.

Second, Arkansas is the red-headed stepchild of the SEC West's trio. Even ranked number three in the country, no one -- myself included -- has been willing to give the Razorbacks much of a shot at the national title. Even if, mind you, Arkansas wins at LSU. This got me wondering, what if Alabama was in Arkansas's cleats? Would the national opinion be so clear cut on the Razorbacks lack of realistic contention? 

Before we commence the Starting 11, let's all say goodbye to Larry Munson, one of the last, great voices of Southern football. There was a day and there was an age when SEC announcers brought games to people all over the Southland who didn't have the opportunity to watch the games live. These men were fearless, and they weren't afraid to offend, and they were probably broadcasting with a whiskey bottle under the desk. Above all else, they were characters who brought football to the masses and did it in an entertaining fashion.

Now most radio game announcers are bland, corporate accoutrements whose primary goal is not to offend sponsors.

You think Larry Munson cared about sponsors? Nowadays talking about St. Simon condos being destroyed would lead to a demand for an official apology from a sponsor. Back then? Not hardly.

One of the things we've lost as leagues like the SEC have become corporatized is announcers like Munson, men who reveled in the moment and weren't politically correct and didn't pretend to be something that they weren't. Men who never seemed to get over the childlike glee that this was real, this was what they did for a living -- sit in the best seats in a football stadium and get to describe what they saw.

Saturday Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 27-21 in overtime. It was an emotional win for the Vols, who had previously been winless in the SEC. So emotional, evidently, that the team lifted Derek Dooley skyward while chanting his name in a post-game locker room celebration -- Dooley punching the T on the ceiling is destined for Internet immortality. The last time Tennessee was this excited after a win the Vols had just claimed the 1998 national title.

When things calmed down Dooley applauded the team for not quitting. More chanting ensued, perhaps some white men danced, the video is unclear. And then Dooley took the floor once more to drive the dagger deep in to Vanderbilt's gut. "The one thing that Tennessee always does is kick the shit out of Vandy," Dooley said.

Which is, to be fair, a completely true statement.

Generally.

I'm not sure that a six-point overtime win classifies as "kick(ing) the shit out of Vandy," but that's mere semantics.

This video, initally uploaded by YouTube user, 1dreamsports, who appears to be involved in recruiting, stayed up on YouTube for a very short amount of time before it was taken down. But it wasn't taken down before several OKTC readers emailed us the link. One of those tippees recorded the YouTube video with his own phone. 

Voila, the video below.  

According to 1dreamsports website, UT recently received a commitment from one of their kids, Rivals three star safety Keithon Redding. 

It seems likely that Redding or another recruit was in the locker room and someone at 1dreamsports was surreptitiously filming on a phone.

Is talk like this abnormal in a locker room? Certainly not. But does it usually get out without being vetted by the school? Nope.

So, enjoy.

If nothing else, Dooley punching the T on the ceiling while being born aloft by his team -- still wearing the fleece and hair still intact! -- after the Vols beat Vanderbilt at home in overtime is absolute gold.

Coming in to this season the SEC had won five consecutive national titles in football. That was an astounding accomplishment. The most astounding part of that accomplishment? It wasn't just one or two teams on a roll. Florida (twice), LSU, Alabama, and Auburn have all won titles as well. Entering the 2011 season it seemed impossible for five straight titles to be beaten. Then the nearly incomprehensible happened -- LSU, Alabama, and Arkansas -- three teams from the same division -- all took over the top three positions in the AP and Coaches Poll. (When the BCS is released this evening it will happen there too.) This has never happened before. And it may not ever happen again. (Want an additional crazy fact? If Georgia doesn't choke away a home game against South Carolina, the SEC would have the top four teams in the country.)

It's the culmination of ManifSECt Destiy, the Pax SECana era of college football. 

The South has truly taken over the nation's second most popular sport.    

To know Lee Corso is to love him. Especially when he's making his picks at the end of College Gameday. In making today's pick between SMU and Houston, Corso initially pretended to go with SMU. Then tossed aside a megaphone and said, "Ah, f---, it." Co-hosts Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit absolutely lost it. I was off Twitter and when I checked it again so many of you had Tweeted me about Corso's f-bomb that I thought someone had been assassinated.

i've always been of the opinion that the curse word restriction on television is pretty stupid. I mean, every CSI episode is about a stripper being gruesomely murdered in a sex game gone awry yet our virgin ears can't hear a curse word?

Anyway, Corso has already apologized for the f-bomb. But here it is in all its glory. 

By the way, anyone else blame Carl Lewis for this? I do.  

Yep, Bronco fans are really buying #15 jerseys and putting "Jesus" on the back.

After last night they'll sell even more.

Last night Tim Tebow Tebow'd the NFL. Every single person who watched him play four years in the SEC was not surprised at all when Tebow slipped outside the pocket on a Jets blitz and scored a rushing touchdown from twenty yards out. The play, the culmination of a 95 yard touchdown drive for the win, sent veteran NFL media into paroxysms of joy. But it also brought forth the haters once more. And for the life of me, I just don't get it. Why does Tim Tebow have so many haters?

Why?

Of all the people in sports you could hate, how can you really hate Tebow?

The only reason I can think of is his religious faith. Some people think Tebow's faith is a fraud. It isn't. Is Tebow perfect? I'm sure he isn't. But is he a welcome antidote in a sporting universe that grows more sordid each week? Yeah, I think so. And if you aren't religious, why do you care that other people are? Why can't you just shrug off his religion and enjoy him on the field? As I Tweeted last night, replace every Tebow God reference with the McRib. "I'd like to give all the glory to the McRib."

"The McRib gives me my strength."

Would the haters still be furious?    

The Game to Watch

Vanderbilt at Tennessee (7 ET/ESPNU) – Tennessee and Vanderbilt typically have little more than state pride on the line when they meet every November. Typically, Tennessee is a heavy favorite and  the Vols usually win when they face the 'Dores. This year has been anything but typical, though. Vandy rides in sky high, and for perhaps the first time in history, will walk into Neyland Stadium as a slight favorite. Tennessee is winless in the SEC, but the Vols will look to break this year's run of bad luck by claiming their sixth win in a row versus their I-40 rivals.

Pre-snap reads: Which team's bowl hopes will still survive after Saturday night? The post-season fate of both teams will likely be determined in Knoxville this weekend. A win for Vanderbilt not only gives them a year of bragging rights against their in-state rival, but it would also make them bowl eligible for the first time since 2008. The Commodores don't have to win against Tennessee to still make a bowl appearance in the 2011 season, but with a road trip to Wake Forest looming next week, there's no time like the present. They need to win one of two, and a case could be made that the Tennessee game might be a better opportunity. Tennessee must win out against Vanderbilt and Kentucky to avoid finishing with a losing season for the fourth time in the past seven years (2005, 2008, 2010.)