Linking Up: April 22, 2011

*Texas landed a big commitment last night from hyped running back recruit Johnathan Gray.

*Spurred by talk of Bob Stoops' dominance of the Big 12, Michael Felder at In The Bleachers ranks his top five coaches in the country, as well as a couple that are on the fringe.

*Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution on the game theory behind cutting the budget deficit.

*Did new Florida coach Will Muschamp take a shot at former boss Mack Brown yesterday? Who's to say. Makes you wonder if all that learning Boom was supposedly doing at Mack's right hand was more a process of discovering what didn't work for Muschamp as a head coach than taking cues from Texas' head honcho.

*Homerism associates Mark Ennis and Patrick Johnston have launched a new meta-Big East blog over on SBNation, Big East Coast Bias. While I realize the heartland's interest in the Big East is limited, you should still check this site out early and often – Mark and Pat are two sharp and entertaining cats.

*And finally... The public flogging of Crimson Tide tree terrorist Harvey Updyke somehow manages to get more spectacular.

(At this point, if someone on Capitol Hill introduced a bill to excommunicate the state of Alabama from the union, wouldn't it at least merit a little bit of thoughtful discussion? I mean, it's on a coast. It could be a poor man's Mexico.)