Assorted afternoon newslinks

Let's get this out of the way. Here's to hoping Eric Smith's timing in hitting the hole is better than his timing in getting freaking arrested. Eric, some of us are trying to get our holier-than-thou on out here, all right? This isn't helping.Punishment depends on whether the details go any further beyond a quick round of wrasslin' or fisticuffs or whatever in the bar. If not, he misses the La. Tech game, and we move on.Worth noting: I believe this to be Auburn's first player arrest of any kind in two years. All good things, I guess. Running backs on the loose! OK, wait, I should probably change that after the item above ... but ah, screw it, that's the been the theme of a couple of stories this week as Andy Bitter's looked at the way Malzahn's offense will get its many playmakers on the field and Luper's talked up the backs as "a strong point for our football team." It's not a shock, of course, and it would be tough not to be a strong point on this team the way the LBs, secondary, ...