Social Media Saturday: Riling The Tide At Texas A&M

Last year’s A&M-Alabama showdown in Tuscaloosa was the Tyson-Holyfield I of college football: a heavily favored and seemingly unbeatable champ goes down to a massive underdog, in the process generating the most demand perhaps ever seen for a rematch. And, coincidentally, A&M-Alabama was almost 16 years to the day of Tyson-Holyfield I.

Kevin Sumlin brought his spread offense into Bryant-Denny Stadium and proved its worth against “big boy football,” in the process elevating Johnny Manziel to the Heisman Trophy. There couldn’t possibly be any more intrigue for the rematch, right?

Well, the Week 3 heavyweight showdown pitting the Texas A&M Aggies against the Alabama Crimson Tide has an added kick thanks to A&M’s athletic director Eric Hyman. He trolled Nick Saban and the two-time defending national champions when he said, “we control the Tide.”

Tyson-Holyfield II had the infamous ear bite; the SEC has Paul Finebaum.

Saban’s taste for Twitter is probably akin to his opinion of the spread, so don’t expect a social media response from the Tide head coach. Conversely, Sumlin is one of the most social media-savvy sideline generals in the game, setting the tone for 21^st century coaches.

Sumlin hasn’t, and assuredly won’t, add to the trash talk. But Sumlin is notable for a growing trend among coaches on Twitter.

For the uninitiated, Sumlin’s “YESSIR!” tweets are subtle nods to recruiting commitments. Coaches cannot comment on athletes before they ink their National Letters of Intent. This is a fun way for Sumlin to acknowledge the recruiting process to fans and prospects. Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian has his own signature:

Enjoy it while you can. It’s probably only a matter of time before the small-stuff-sweating NCAA handcuffs coaches’ Twitter accounts.

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The North Carolina Tar Heels unveiled a logo and theme for the 2013 season, complete with hash-tag. Below is the hype video from the official UNC football YouTube page:

The “Fedora’s Freaks” logo is reminiscent of an Insane Clown Posse album cover. Judge for yourself:

ICP’s annual music festival “The Gathering of The Juggalos” is coming up, which means the 2013 edition of the infomercial Saturday Night Live parodied should hit YouTube in a few days. In the meantime, ICP could be seen on Twitter passing time with Vanilla Ice. H/T to my groomsman, Vegas cohort and Yahoo! Sports editor Cody Brunner for the link:

Assuming he has an eligibility remaining the Insane Clown to the right might make a decent offensive guard recruit.