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Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Coach February’s long-awaited January night at hand
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Los Angeles — Were this Rose Bowl a personality contest between head coaches, Southern Cal would win by four touchdowns. Pete Carroll is a great guy who sounds nothing like the typical football coach. Only Carroll would describe his first Big Game — he was 12, playing Pop Warner ball in Marin County — in these terms: “I was a single-wing tailback, backing up the mercurial Kenny Johnson.â€?
Mack Brown, by way of conspicuous contrast, talks and thinks like a buttoned-down football coach. (Indeed, he wore a crisp white shirt with his burnt orange tie for Tuesday’s media session. Carroll wore a sweatshirt and a leather topcoat.) Asked for a memory of his first Big Game, Brown cited the 1990 Wake Forest game — he was coaching North Carolina — for the rather personal reason that he believed he’d be fired if he lost. “And it was the fourth game of the year,â€? Brown said. “I didn’t think they did that in college at that time.â€?
Trailing 24-10 at halftime, the Tar Heels won 31-24 “on a wheel route to Bucky Brooks,� Brown said. “Not that I remember.�
Mack Brown is a detail man. (Carroll is a free-association kind of guy.) Brown remembers where he was when Carroll’s Trojans kicked off against Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl. “On a home [recruiting] visit,� he said, and here you smacked your forehead and said, “Of course! Where else would Coach February be?�
That’s the unfortunate (and unfair) nickname that has attached itself to Brown: He beats everybody on signing day but somehow never wins the Big Game. Forget that he and his Texas Longhorns are 55-8 over the past five seasons, which would indicate that he’s pretty good at winning games of some sort. Brown is simply another of those coaches/managers who get labeled a failure because they haven’t known the ultimate success. By that standard, Mark Richt is a similar failure.
There’s a difference, though. Where Richt is beloved by his fan base for lifting Georgia to the top of the SEC again, Brown has been less warmly received by some Texans. “Our media’s different,â€? he said. “Our state’s different.â€? He conceded Tuesday that the climb to the national championship game has taken longer than he’d have liked — this is Brown’s eighth season in Austin — but here the ’Horns are, in the Big Game at last. And Brown, who’s usually the essence of smooth, seems to have sprouted an edge.
“It’s a very difficult thing when people want to win so badly and people don’t think you have a very good chance,� Brown said, describing a pairing of No. 1 against No. 2 that has come to be seen as Chapter 2 of Southern Cal’s 55-19 Orange Bowl whipping of Oklahoma. But the Longhorns, no pun intended, aren’t chopped liver. They’ve won 19 consecutive games themselves and, for all the hosannas lavished on the Trojans’ gold-plated offense, have actually scored 11 more points. And Texas has the stronger defense. And the better special teams.
In sum, Brown is in the position every coach relishes — he has a splendid team that’s being given almost no shot. “I really appreciate you all,â€? he said, addressing the media and laying on the sarcasm. “You’ve been great. I won’t even need a pregame talk.â€?
And then, reverting to his polite self, Brown ladled out the compliments. “It’s not very often Southern Cal or Texas is the underdog, and I think we are the underdog. And rightfully so. I have no problem with people saying Southern Cal is a great team.�
But Texas can play some, too, and Brown, contrary to popular belief, can coach a little. If USC is to have its coronation tonight, it will earn it vs. the best team it has played during this three-year run.
Permalink | Comments (32) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Other
Reaction to Heatley understandable
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
No Tuesday Countdown this week.
Just a Tuesday opinion.
Some of Dany Heatley’s former teammates on the Thrashers were upset because he was booed in his return to Atlanta Monday. Well, guys: Get a helmet.
This is not meant to be an attack on Heatley. Hardly. The kid was involved in a horrible car accident that took the life of a friend and teammate, Dan Snyder. It was an accident, plain and simple, and it’s easy to understand why he believed a change of scenery would help him move on with his life and career.
But how could anybody not understand the other side?
Atlanta hockey fans — and non-hockey-fans — stood behind Heatley during his recovery and through his comeback and the legal process. When Heatley asked to be traded - and not until after the lockout — it’s natural that many supporters felt jilted.
I’ve known Heatley since the Thrashers drafted him. I watched him play and spoke to him several times when he was in college before he signed with Atlanta. I covered him his first three seasons with the Thrashers. Trust me when I tell you that he’s a good kid.
My problems with Heatley have less to do with him asking to be traded than how he handled matters during and after the legal process:
*He flew into town for court appearances and quickly left, rather than spend time in a community that stood behind him.
*He signed to play in Europe during the lockout rather than begin doing his court-ordered community service.
*When he finally started his community service, he did NONE OF IT in Atlanta. The predominant number of hours have been done in his hometown of Calgary. Wouldn’t it seem that this was the best place Heatley could send a message to kids about the dangers of driving too fast?
Heatley will deal with difficult issues for the rest of his life. But it’s better to face those issues than run away from them.
Cheer Heatley.
Boo Heatley.
Either emotion is understandable.
Permalink | Comments (40) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
Dogs too relaxed at Dome
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Maybe this whole Atlanta thing was starting to get old.
I mean, you drive into town, dump Georgia Tech and drive home. You drive into town, wax LSU and drive home.
You drive back into town, visit the aquarium, go back to the hotel, loaf around town, drive back to the game — hey, a team’s entitled to get carsick, isn’t it?
Well. No.
Three years ago, coach Mark Richt elevated the Georgia program to its greatest heights in two decades, winning the SEC title and then the Nokia Sugar Bowl. It’s difficult to determine what was more surprising this season: That the Bulldogs, despite significant player losses, were conference champions again this season — or what happened on their return trip to the Sugar Bowl.
Seemingly set up for a crushing — with a transplanted bowl game in their backyard and an opponent considered the undermanned remains of the Big East — Georgia found an Atlanta ditch to drive into. The Dogs fell behind 28-0, pulled back onto the road to make a game of it, but fishtailed to the finish and lost 38-35.
Thank you, and drive home safely.
“We made them sweat a little bit, anyway,� Richt said.
Thank goodness for small victories.
West Virginia, outnumbered in the stands and thought to be outmanned on the field, rushed for 382 yards. Or was that furlongs? Steve Slaton accounted for 204 of that and scored three times, twice from 52 yards out. Again, twice from 52 yards out.
“If I wasn’t coaching against them,� Richt said, “I would’ve enjoyed watching them.�
In truth, Georgia watched for a little too long. It was 28-0 after 16 minutes. The Mountaineers had four touchdowns on four possessions. The Bulldogs had a balanced attack: two punts, two fumbles.
Somehow, the Dogs rallied. They closed to 31-21 by the half, but seemed dead with 8:32 left when Slaton broke open another 52-yarder to restore the 10-point lead. But D.J. Shockley, playing in the game he waited five years for, answered with a 43-yard touchdown pass with 5:13 left.
But that was it for comebacks on this night. A successful fake punt enabled the Mountaineers to kill the clock.
The some-15,000 West Virginia fans in the 75,000-seat dome went nutso. “I think the players took to heart some of the criticism of the league,� West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said.
So much for Georgia’s home-turf advantage. With this game moved from New Orleans because of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, organizers tried to give the game a Crescent City feel. They had a Sugar Bowl parade. They painted Sugar Bowl on the field. They even played “Saints� at halftime. Sell it, baby.
In reality, the Georgia Dome was just a few hedge bushes this side of Athens. The crowd had at least an 80-20 split in favor of the Bulldogs. Richt even had the players do a “Dawg Walk� from one of the parking lots.
As it turned out, that hometown feel didn’t help a lot at the outset. Georgia punts. West Virginia goes 53 yards in three plays for a touchdown. Georgia punts. West Virginia goes 64 yards in six plays for a touchdown. Georgia fumbles. West Virginia goes 26 yards in five plays for another touchdown. Georgia fumbles. West Virginia drive 50 yards to make it 28-0, the largest deficit ever for a Richt team. School president Michael Adams maintained control. He fired the entire athletics department. (Kidding.)
The question wasn’t so much whether normalcy would interrupt this game, but — at 28-0 — whether normalcy even would make a difference. But the Dogs gave it a shot, and Shockley made it possible. (Then again, down by four touchdowns, the Brannan Southerland off-tackle run figured to be ripped out of the playbook.) After starting the game 0-for-4, he closed the half completing 11 of 14. Kregg Lumpkin (34 yards) and Thomas Brown (52) each had long touchdown runs. Georgia had three straight touchdown drives of 80, 90 and 80 yards. If nothing else, West Virginia fans had to put down their beers for a minute.
But in the end, the ditch was too deep.
Permalink | Comments (288) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, UGA / SEC
One season not enough
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
He had one, two, three chances to transfer, but he didn’t.
And he should have.
Maryland wanted him. So did N.C. State and North Carolina. Such news was revealed for the first time Monday night at the Georgia Dome from the upper deck. There, according to Don Shockley, the high school football coach at North Clayton and the father of Georgia quarterback D.J. Shockley, his son had all of those chances during the past three seasons to leave his stifling role as a backup to David Greene and start along the way to instant fame for any of those teams.
And he should have. Instead, D.J. waited for his opportunity with the Bulldogs, and then he waited some more. That he just finished punctuating his one and only shot at getting it right with a slew of splendid moments is irrelevant. For instance: Leading the SEC in passing efficiency. Taking Georgia to a conference title. Doing enough in the Nokia Sugar Bowl on Monday night against a surprisingly potent West Virginia team to make pro scouts wonder if he should be closer to a third-round pick than something much worse in the NFL draft.
Once, when Shockley was on the verge of getting splattered against the artificial turf for a loss and a headache, he dipped around defenders and leaped to complete a pass of 32 yards. Later, with Georgia trying to complete its sprint from a large deficit to the edge of an improbable victory, he weaved down field for 21 yards on one play before throwing a 34-yard touchdown pass on the next. He kept drives moving with his legs as well as his arm. He was the same guy who finished as a semifinalist behind only the great Vince Young for the Maxwell Award, given to the best college player.
He should have left Georgia, all right, but he stayed. He foolishly stayed, and Tanya Shockley shrugged from her seat in the upper deck when asked whether she agreed with my humble opinion. “I never voiced to him what I thought he should do one way or the other, because I wanted it to be D.J.’s decision,” said Tanya, smiling, wearing a replica of her son’s No. 3 jersey. “He was the one who would have to live wherever he was going. He had to like his coaches. He had to like his teammates. If he didn’t, all of those things could have been detrimental to his play on the field.”
So Shockley stayed, because he liked his coaches and his teammates. Mostly, he liked the Bulldogs. His father did, too. Said Don, sitting next to Tanya, “I always thought Georgia was the right place for him, and I thought it would be in his best interest, because I knew he could to well at this level. It’s just that he came at the wrong time.” The father’s reference was to his son spending most of his Georgia career watching Greene become the winningest quarterback in NCAA history.
Which brings me back to my point: He should have left. Since Shockley didn’t, he was around for this one inside what was Sanford Stadium West. Well, minus a large and loud contingent of West Virginia loyalists. Remember: The Sugar Bowl is usually a New Orleans thing, but Hurricane Katrina blew it north for a year. As a result, here was an opportunity for many in the Bulldog Nation to hug Shockley during his last collegiate game.
The thing is, Shockley had to do something to deserve it. West Virginia kept embarrassing anything else in red during the opening 16 minutes by zipping to a 28-0 lead. For his part, Shockley threw four times during that stretch for zero completions. He also lost a fumble. Not that he was getting much help.
On the game’s first play, Shockley delivered a perfect spiral of 45 yards to Kenneth Harris.
It was dropped.
Another one of Shockley’s passes was batted down. Plus, the fumble resulted from shaky pass protection allowing defenders to crash into his arm as it nearly was going forward for an incomplete pass. In other words, Shockley wasn’t that far away from doing what he eventually did. He became Shockley The Magnificent again. Just like that, he led Georgia on enough touchdown drives to pull to within 31-28 near the end of third quarter.
Then again, Shockley could have produced the same feats at Maryland, N.C. State or North Carolina.
Like last year, or the year before that, or the year before that.
Permalink | Comments (203) | Categories: Terence Moore, UGA / SEC
