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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > October > 15
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Florida celebration backfiring on Dogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but probably not. Ever since Georgia’s silliness in the end zone last season against Florida, the Bulldogs have gone from ranking as one of the most disciplined teams in the country to whatever they are now.
Whatever they are now isn’t pretty, by the way. They are the only Division I-A football team in double digits (11) when it comes to the average number of penalties per game. They have more penalties overall than anybody not named TCU (67 to 64). They also have an absolutely ridiculous number of personal fouls (13) after six games.
“I don’t think [the Florida game] had anything to do with this, but I guess it’s up for people to debate,” said Georgia coach Mark Richt on Wednesday, despite the overwhelming numbers that show there isn’t a debate. We’ll share those numbers in a moment, but Richt wished to add, “I do know that since the Florida game, we’ve won, what, 12 out of 13 or 13 out of 14 [actually it’s 10 out of 11]? I don’t know what that record is, but you might want to throw that in there.”
Duly noted. The same goes for this: Only one team had more penalties than LSU last season, but the Tigers still won the national championship. The previous year, no one was penalized more than the Gators, but Florida also won it all.
It’s just that neither LSU nor Florida (both averaged eight penalties for 63 yards per game) was penalized anything close to Georgia’s current rate of 11 penalties for an average of 86 yards per game.
None of this should be surprising. A guy predicted such sloppiness for Georgia a year ago in Jacksonville.
I was that guy, and I wrote during the short-sighted joy after Georgia whipped Florida for just the third time in 18 tries: “So much for discipline, poise and class. They could return as staples of Georgia’s football program under Mark Richt, but it’ll take a while. They vanished on Saturday at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, where the Bulldogs kept making fools of themselves early and often. They were fools by choice. That’s the scary thing.”
It was this scary: Richt ordered his players during the week to storm the field after their first touchdown. He suggested that they go nuts enough to force officials to litter the stadium with flags. It happened, and what was a composed group under Richt during his previous six seasons at Georgia became a bunch of self-inflicted crazies.
Against Florida, Georgia had seven penalties for 77 yards. That included four personal fouls, ranging from Mohamed Massaquoi nearly triggering worse than Florida boos with his version of the Gator Chomp to two facemask penalties by Bulldogs on the same kickoff.
And consider this: In the seven games before Florida last season, Georgia had an average of six penalties for 43 yards per game. In the five games after Florida last season, Georgia had an average of eight penalties for 76 yards per game.
Those numbers are much uglier this season. That’s because since Richt built and then turned his red-and-black monster loose against Florida, he hasn’t been able to tame it. “Even the smallest of penalties can make the biggest of differences. We know that,” Richt said. “But I do believe that we are getting better, and we’ll continue to get better at reducing them.”
The Bulldogs haven’t a choice. Otherwise, that red-and-black monster will keep chomping away at their title hopes.
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Blank’s right - Vick should return to NFL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Everything that Falcons owner Arthur Blank told ESPN.com in a recent interview about what should come next for Michael Vick was exactly right.
First, Vick should be allowed to play in the NFL again following his stay in prison next summer. Second, Vick’s return shouldn’t involve having the Georgia Dome as his football home again.
The Falcons already have a quarterback, and he’s pretty good.
“We’re committed to Matt Ryan,” Blank told ESPN.com of his strikingly composed rookie who has led the Falcons to a surprising 4-2 record with an 82.9 passer rating. “Even before his early success, we were committed to Matt Ryan. We made that decision when we drafted him. When you select someone in the draft at that level and pay him what we’re paying him, you expect him to be successful, and you expect him to be a leader.”
It makes sense to me.
Once Falcons officials anointed Ryan as the new face of their franchise, there was no turning back - and certainly not back to Vick who earned a trip to the slammer over his dogfighting mess.
Even so, Blank was correct when he told ESPN.com about the virtues of second and third chances. Added Blank, “That doesn’t mean I believe in forever chances.” Then again, Blank came close to doing just that with Vick over the course of months, ranging from that water-bottle silliness to the flipping off of hometown fans during a game to that stolen-watch thing at the airport.
Vick is the Falcons’ past, though. Ryan is the Falcons present and future, but that doesn’t mean Vick can’t have a future …
With somebody else.
