Last year, Mizzou RB Larry Rountree III ran for 1,216 yards and 11 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt’s Ke’Shawn Vaughn put up 1,244 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Normally, I agree with our SDS national columnist, Mr. Connor O’Gara, but when I saw on Thursday that he ranked Vaughn as the No. 6 running back in the nation and didn’t even have Rountree in the Top 25, I was quite upset. Virtually identical numbers and Rountree, to quote Rodney Dangerfield, “can’t get no respect.”

So, a wager was struck. If Rountree has more yards from scrimmage than Vaughn during the 2019 season, Connor — a Chicago native — has to buy and wear a St. Louis Cardinals T-shirt for a day (date and location to be determined). On the other hand, if Vaughn has more scrimmage yards, I (who grew up an hour from St. Louis) have to buy and wear a horrible Chicago Cubs T-shirt for a day.

It’s not that I don’t like Vaughn (I was admittedly a little bit low on him in my post-spring top 10 SEC running back rankings), but to have him at No. 6 and Rountree nowhere on the list was an injustice I couldn’t accept. I have faith Rountree will prove me right, especially with QB Kelly Bryant leading the Mizzou offensive charge.

Anyway, here are your questions for this week’s SDS Mailbag:

Robert:

What are the most unnecessary awards shows? The ESPYs has to be up there, right?

I’ll be a little more lenient with the ESPYs, but only because it was one of the first sports awards shows. The Heisman Trophy presentation has been televised since 1977, so that’s the original, in my mind. The ESPYs came around in 1993, but I have no real problem with them. It gives sports fans something to watch (or complain about) during the MLB All-Star break, so that’s fine.

Now, the NBA, NFL and NHL (and every other) specific league postseason awards shows have come along much more recently and are much more annoying. I can only watch so many horrible sketches that make no one laugh once a year. Give me more of the Heisman-type shows, please.

As far as the world of entertainment goes, I’ve never understood the Golden Globes. They’re basically like the pre-Oscars. I get that the Golden Globes are given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (thus the whole globe thing), but they always end up basically going along with what the Oscars end up picking, too. Then the Academy Awards come along with their Oscars, which are given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Seems like it could all be combined into one giant seven-hour awards show that I also wouldn’t watch.

@Dobbe8:

With Urban Meyer hosting his own podcast now, and with other current and former coaches getting into the podcast business, which ex-coach do you think should be the next to jump into the world of podcasting?

For me, the answer is clear, and it’s also a man who once coached at Florida. Give me an hour or two of Steve Spurrier talking college football, golf and whatever else crosses his mind each week.

The Head Ball Coach has a lot of experience, having won a national title at Florida. I also think he’d spend a lot of his time trolling Georgia and Florida, and I’d appreciate that as well.

Plus, Meyer’s podcast sounds like it is going to be horribly boring. No one really wants to listen to Meyer talk about leadership each week. Everyone wants to listen to Spurrier discuss the state of football today, some of his career highlights, which new football league he’s going to coach in next (R.I.P. AAF) and more.

@SChinni12:

Media Days are coming up and you’ve covered them before. What was great and what could be better about it?

To me, the big issue is that the coaches get to decide who to bring to Media Days. I’d much rather the media members get to choose who makes the trip (this year, SEC Media Days are in Hoover, Alabama).

For example, over in the ACC, Clemson isn’t bringing star QB Trevor Lawrence, who many consider the Heisman Trophy favorite for the 2019 season. In the Big 12, Oklahoma is leaving new QB Jalen Hurts at home. Those guys should absolutely be repping their squads at these media events.

As far as what the Media Days do well, I think the SEC does it the best. Even last year, when it moved from Hoover to Atlanta, it’s nice to have so much time with each team. Instead of cramming half the teams into each day for a 2-day event (or all 12 teams in 1 day like the Pac-12), the SEC has 3 teams on the first day and last day and then 4 teams on Days 2 and 3. That allows for a little more time with the coaches and players.

It also allows more nights for media members to meet up and hang out, which is an added benefit. However, I think the big benefit of the way the SEC does it is that it leads to better stories since journalists have more time to pay attention to what each coach and player says.

@MichaelJtr8:

How many hot dogs could you eat in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest?

I actually really like hot dogs, but not in the way they have to eat them during the contest. I’d prefer mustard, chili, cheese, onions, etc. instead of water. It is disgusting that they dip the buns in water first and then down them. I definitely wouldn’t do that.

The contest gives you 10 minutes to eat as many dogs as you can, so I think I could tackle about a dozen in that time. That would probably make me sick later that day, but I do think I could keep 12 hot dogs down and finish the contest.

Now, I only need to work on those last 63 to beat Joey Chestnut’s record of 74 hot dogs in 10 minutes! Challenge accepted!

Have a question for next week’s Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at ASpencer@SaturdayDownSouth.com.