Jackie Sherrill speaks to MTGY Quarterback Club

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http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/p.../609200376/1002

Jackie Sherrill doesn't speak loudly, but his words still carry weight. He had the crowd at the Montgomery Quarterback Club staying overtime Monday night to hear his remarkably candid comments about college football.

"He was surprising," said QB Club board member David Bowen. "I liked him because he didn't give you the politically correct answer. He was very candid."

Sherrill had said before the meeting that he likely wouldn't go back into coaching because being a coach today requires the public relations skills of politician.

"I'm not a politician," he said. "There's no gray with me. I see things as black or white."

That was clear Monday night at the Embassy Suites.

Among the more intriguing topics Sherrill spoke on was a possible national championship playoff. Sherrill contends it's coming -- soon. And he reminded everyone that he was the one who predicted before anyone else that the old Southwest Conference would disband. Of course, it did.

The way Sherrill sees it, this season is essentially a "dry run" of the process that eventually will include a "plus-one" title game. There is an added BCS game this season, held at the site of the national championship game. All it does this season is add two more teams to the BCS mix.

Sherrill believes eventually the top eight or 10 teams will play in the BCS bowls, with the teams emerging as the consensus top two advancing to play in a title game maybe 10-14 days later.

This type of modified playoff would actually enhance the importance of the BCS bowls, all but one of which each year has insignificant matches under the current setup. And each of the four BCS sites still would get a national title game on a rotating basis.

Sherrill also talked about several SEC coaches. He said the new clock-management rules hurt wide-open offensive teams like Urban Meyer's Florida Gators, because they reduce the number of plays each team runs on offense. Sherrill added that the rules favor running teams but that most coaches don't like the new rules because they reduce the opportunity for backups and other reserves to get valuable playing time.

Sherrill also said Mike Shula is safe at Alabama right now because the school doesn't want to make changes in the aftermath of the Dennis Franchione and Mike Price departures. But Sherrill added Shula doesn't have forever.

"He's 0-3 against Auburn," he said. "If he goes to 0-5, they might make a change."

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Big winner: Dr. Felix Tankersley was the big winner of the QB Club's "pick'em and win" contest, but it came after a bit of personal sacrifice. Tankersley, a huge Alabama fan, won the contest because he picked Auburn to beat LSU and won the tiebreaker by coming closest to picking the actual score.

When Sherrill got up to speak a few minutes later, he singled out Tankersley for a little good-natured ribbing.

"I've got some ties to Montgomery, I know some people here from way back," he said, "and I never remember Dr. Tankersley picking Auburn to win anything,"

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"I've got some ties to Montgomery, I know some people here from way back," he said, "and I never remember Dr. Tankersley picking Auburn to win anything,"

That's really funny. Dr. Tankersley delivered all my nieces and nephew. Good guy but HUGE SPUAT fan. Very down to Earth no nonsense kind of guy.