UGA blog finds new home
Morning all. As I’ve said a couple of times this week, we’re converting this blog over to a WordPress platform and it will be a permanent move the first of next week.
Those of you who are regulars probably know that I’m not what you’d call techno-wizard when it comes to these things. But from what I understand the technology offered in this new format should make the blogging and commenting experience better for all. Of course, I’ll be learning as we go along, too. But I’m hoping to provide more pictures and video and things like that which should bring the blog more to life.
Of course, this blog is nothing without all you guys so I want to heartily invite (read: beg) you to come over to the new site by CLICKING HERE ON THE NEW ADDRESS and save it in your browsers. As of Monday, Feb. 23rd, this will be the permanent home of the UGA blog you so love or, in the case of some of you, love to loathe. If you’d prefer to copy and paste or just memorize, the new address is: http://blogs.ajc.com/uga-sports-blog/.
See at the new place!
AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2005 > October
October 2005
Mom’s math doesn’t quite add up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There was a little something that bugged me about Wanda Smith’s statement about her son’s decision to leave Georgia. In the statement she claimed Tavares Kearney had “200” offers to go to other schools. What doesn’t make sense is that there are only 117 Division I-A schools.
Now I know new math can be confusing and all, but unless Georgia and Mark Richt offered Kearney 83 times, something about her statement is amiss.
Permalink | Comments (43) | Categories: Football
Game of punts should favor Dogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
People have worked themselves into a frenzy with analysis and matchups of the Saturday’s game. (Yeah, I’m talking to you, geechee, or whatever your nifty breaker-breaker 1-9 CB handle is.) But one of the most important players has been grossly overlooked.
Punter Gordon Ely-Kelso could be the key to this game. The guy has been money when it comes to putting the ball inside the 20. And faced with a game that is going to be on defense and with field position, Ely-Kelso could be the key.
Against Tennessee, Ely-Kelso continued to pin the Vols deep and finally it paid off in the fourth quarter when Thomas Flowers hit the big punt return. The same thing might just happen against Florida.
Does Georgia have the advantage across the board in special teams?
Permalink | Comments (80) | Categories: Football
It may come down to pressure
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Look for Chris Leak to be far more productive than he was against LSU and Alabama, primarily because he will not be under as much pressure from the Bulldogs.
Georgia simply does not have the bodies to get after the quarterback, and Leak has one of the better arms in college football. So if he is given time he will pick apart the secondary.
If you think back to last week, had Arkansas had anybody who could throw a pass, the Hogs may have pulled off the upset. Georgia didn’t get solid pressure until the game was on the line late. And some of those pressure plays came because Razorback quarterback Robert Johnson just didn’t know what the heck to do with the ball so he ran around and got sacked.
Leak knows what to do with the ball and how to deliver it on the run if need be.
Permalink | Comments (22) | Categories: Football
Trick or treat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With Halloween just around the corner it’s time to have some fun with the coaches of the SEC. The following is a list of costumes for the merry band of men should they decide to hit some doorsteps and rings some bells.
Phil Fulmer: Baby Huey. It was suggested by an Alabama fan — that’s all I’m saying.
Urban Meyer: Town Crier. Anybody else see the end of that LSU game?
Mark Richt: Marcus Welby, M.D. Get him a quarterback. Stat.
Rich Brooks: Hobo. No doubt he will be wandering aimlessly without work in the very near future.
Steve Spurrier: Chicken Little. The sky might not be falling but his stature sure is.
Ed Orgeron: Stanley Kowalski. Just looks like a guy with some inner turmoil. Plus chances are he would look right at home in the outfit Brando made famous.
Houston Nutt: Planters’ Mr. Peanut. C’mon, too easy.
Bobby Johnson: Joseph Deiss, Swiss president. After all, the Commodores are never a real threat to anyone.
Tommy Tuberville Sports anchor. Given his recent outburst at the evil empire, ESPN, nothing else will do.
Mike Shula: Put him in all plaid. It’s not houndstooth but it’s close. About as close as he or anyone else is ever going to get.
Sylvester Croom: Sanitation engineer. He’s got a huge mess to clean up.
Les Miles: Ned Beatty from Deliverance. Remember that scene … wait, wait of course you do. Everybody does. Well, that would have been Miles if he didn’t get the overtime win over Auburn.
I’m sure some of you oh-so-clever bloggers can come up with better ideas, so have it.
Permalink | Comments (39) | Categories: Football
We’ve got spirits, yes we do!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ah, autumn in the South. Cool weather, the changing leaves, Thanksgiving draws near — a time when families come together to celebrate a sense of kinship and unity and…
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. It’s Cocktail Party time, y’all. Time for a different sort of communal outpouring.
Last year, 84,753 partied it up in Jax for the annual Georgia-Florida hookup, finding time somewhere in their busy tailgating schedules for, you know, that football game that happens during the weekend. And the above number is the official statistic for the folks who were counted as having bought or received tickets. Who knows how many party animals, Dawgs and Gators alike, were just there to soak up the atmosphere? Or something 80 proof, anyway.
And so, in the spirit of, well, getting in the spirit of The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, we here at the AJC want to know how y’all get in the spirit for Georgia-Florida. Whether you hit the road and head on down, up or over to Jacksonville for the total tailgating experience or if you just tear off the tinfoil on a TV dinner while watching the game on the big screen in the comfort of your own living room, we’re sure you’re mixing it up with friends and we’re curious as to exactly what “it” is.
Share your favorite Cocktail Party cocktail recipes here so we can all cowboy up (or nightingale it) and get lashed to the past while reliving Belue-to-Scott in ‘80 or all those Evil Genius ’90s-era rompfests.
Permalink | Comments (40) | Categories: Florida Week
Awards often odd, meaningless
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s what is wrong with weekly conference awards:
Against Arkansas, Georgia didn’t run the ball very well or really pass protect all that great. Even the coach, who usually is more effusive in his praise, noticed.
“We didn’t block very good when you look at the film,” said Richt. “But when we got space we didn’t have a back make anybody miss or break a tackle.”
Nevertheless, the Bulldogs were honored with another SEC offensive lineman of the week award, which apparently are about as hard to get as a Daytime Emmy. This is time guard Max Jean-Gilles was given the award. It’s his second of the year and line’s fifth.
Arkansas, by the way, is the leading rushing in the SEC in rushing and had a back run for a freshman school-record 190 yards against Georgia. The Razorbacks have yet to get an offensive lineman of the week award. Makes you go hmmm, doesn’t it?
But the RB in question, Darren McFadden, did get named freshman of the week for the second straight week.
Permalink | Comments (27) | Categories: Football
Look for UGA to dare Leak
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After the injury to quarterback D.J. Shockley, Georgia went from a likely favorite to a decided underdog against Florida (5 to 6 points, depending on your bookie).
But this is not a game that will be won or lost by the Bulldog offense. Instead, it may be up to Florida’s offense.
The Gators have been pitiful moving the ball in the passing game with Chris Leak. They can run it, but Georgia is not afraid to stack the box and allow DeMario Minter and Tim Jennings to hold down the corners.
The Gators have had an extra week to prepare, but don’t expect any wholesale changes in philosophy. The game will still fall on the shoulders of Leak. And to date those have been unsteady at best.
Keeping it on the ground
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A couple of things to watch for Saturday:
Georgia will come out and establish the run early with Danny Ware and Thomas Brown. Arkansas hasn’t proven it can stop anyone in the run game, and despite Mark Richt’s love of the pass, the coach will most likely go to the ground before he takes to the air.
Additionally a run game will keep Georgia’s defense on the field. With a thin defensive line and linebacker corps that defense needs as much rest as possible.
Twice this year Georgia has had scoring drives that consisted of nothing but rushing plays. The third could come against the Hogs.
Permalink | Comments (38) | Categories: Football
Disappointing week for Swain
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Injuries to Kedric Golston and Gerald Anderson have put a hole in the middle of Georgia’s defensive line, with run-happy Arkansas coming to Athens.
Junior Dale Dixson and true freshman Jeff Owens will be the primary options to play next to Ray Gant at defensive tackle.
Darrius Swain, a senior who has not lived up to his potential, has been overshadowed by the other two in practice this week. Swain may still get playing time. But his week of practice did not exactly impress to the coaching staff.
To be fair, Swain is practicing with a broken left hand. On the other hand, this is the same player who has seen his playing time decrease every season he has been at Georgia.
Nutt out of favor?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here is the odd thing about college football: Houston Nutt had a chance to take the Nebraska job. And, depending on whom you believe, he was offered the job.
But Arkansas stepped up to the plate, found some extra money and kept Nutt. Nebraska settled for Bill Callahan.
A season and a half later, both schools are probably having second thoughts. And the coaches probably are as well.
As for the fans… well, they’re never happy unless Pete Carroll has been their coach the last two seasons.
Still, the grumbling from Arkansas shows how quickly coaches can fall from favor.
Permalink | Comments (56) | Categories: Football
Speedy Hogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Richt said Arkansas, top to bottom, might be the fastest team Georgia plays this season. These are the same Hogs who lost 70-17 to Southern Cal.
So just how fast is Southern Cal then? A lot faster than they appeared on Saturday against Notre Dame (a gazelle could not have run through the thicket that was the field at Notre Dame Stadium).
At any rate, at the least there should be a lot of speed on display in Athens.
Running table perhaps not so tough
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
According to Brad Edwards, ESPN’s BCS guru, Georgia’s best shot to get into the top two BCS poll will be for it to at least make it into the top three of the human polls.
That task might be easier than most think. Oh sure, Georgia has to win all its remaining games. But so too does Virginia Tech. And it looks like Tech has a tougher road ahead with a home game against Miami and a road game against Virginia. The Cavs just upset Florida State. Speaking of Florida State, that’s who V-Tech will probably have to beat in the ACC title game.
That game is played in Florida.
Permalink | Comments (85) | Categories: Football
One eye on Baton Rouge
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just before Georgia takes the field against Vanderbilt tomorrow night, the Bulldogs should know the outcome of the Florida-LSU game.
If Florida loses, it will be interesting to watch and see if Georgia has any sort of letdown. Mark Richt said he, too, is interested in watching the reaction of his team when and if it finds out the score of the Florida-LSU game. Richt said he believed the leaders on the team were strong enough not to let anything outside the Vandy game influence the way they went about things.
A Florida loss would not only keep Georgia in the driver’s seat for the SEC East, but into the fast lane as well. If the Gators win, the division likely will be decided in Jacksonville.
Permalink | Comments (104) | Categories: Football
Going Neil Armstrong
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tennessee’s players circled the T in the middle of the field at the end of the game last week to make sure Georgia’s players would not plant their flag in the middle of the logo. Those players must not have known the SEC office circled the wagons before that and instituted a rule banning the planting of flags or any other disrespectful postgame shenanigans.
Obviously, the rule was not in effect last season when several Vols made it to the G at Sanford’s 50 and went Neil Armstrong on everybody by planting the their flag there.
What do you think of the SEC’s rule?
Permalink | Comments (33) | Categories: Football
Aiding the enemy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The problem for Vanderbilt this week, as it is every week in the SEC, is going to be depth.
The Commodores, because they do have some frontline talent, will probably be able to hang in with Georgia for a half or maybe even three quarters like they did against LSU. But ultimately the body begins to wear down and that is when Vanderbilt can’t hang with the deeper teams in the SEC.
What could help Vanderbilt is if Georgia panics because the game is close in the first half or three quarters. That might take the Bulldogs out of their game enough for Vandy to overcome the depth issues in the fourth quarter.
Anybody foresee that happening?
Permalink | Comments (102) | Categories: Football
Vandy’s third-down success
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Against Tennessee, Georgia’s defense forced eight third downs of 7 yards or more. That allowed the defense to contol the game and force UT, more often than not, to punt.
The UGA defense might need to do the same to slow Vanderbilt. The Commodores are coverting a remarkable 47 percent of their third downs. The conversion rate is so high because Vanderbilt does not get put in a lot of third-and-long situations. A primary reason: Vanderbilt rarely commits a damaging penalty on offense.
Tennessee, on the other hand, seemingly did nothing but.
We’ll see if it makes a difference Saturday night.
Gators masters of their domain, too
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With all the hype about Georgia controlling its own destiny on its way to the SEC title game, one small fact may have been forgotten: Florida controls its own destiny as well.
The Gators do have a tougher schedule and haven’t looked as sound as Georgia. But there is plenty of talent there. And Urban Meyer is going to be on the hunt for some of those signature wins like Mark Richt got early in his Georgia career.
Permalink | Comments (133) | Categories: Football
Don’t expect LSU-type meltdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The reason Rick Clausen was so successful in the comeback against LSU were the one-on-one coverages that allowed the receivers to catch the ball in rhythm. That gave the offense confidence and pretty soon it was moving the ball all over the field.
The fault for that rests with defensive coordinator Bo Pelini, not LSU coach Les Miles. Pelini wasn’t able to change his defense to stop interrupt Clausen’s rhythm.
Georgia defensive coordinator Willie Martinez is not likely to make that same mistake. Georgia also has better cornerbacks than LSU and will be more physical with the Tennessee receivers.
Now as for Pelini, I was at every game the guy coached last season at Oklahoma and the one consistent trait was poor pass defense. Even when his team had better athletes, his secondary was beat over and over again.
It will be interesting to watch and see how many passing yards and big plays the Tigers give up this season. Arizona State already torched them for something like 450 yards in a game that LSU was able to pull out. Then Tennessee used Clausen and a short-yardage pass game to come from 21 down and win.
So if I were Bobby Johnson of Vanderbilt this week, I would go at the secondary every chance I got. Yeah, I know it probably won’t matter anyway.
Permalink | Comments (76) | Categories: Football
Running Shockley more
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If Georgia is going to win Saturday’s game it needs to use the legs of quarterback D.J. Shockley some more.
Shockley seems to be more comfortable passing after he has run the ball a couple of times and gotten that part of his game under control.
The plays where he freelances and does what is natural to him are the plays where he looks the best. When he just sits and concentrates on making a pocket pass, Shockley seems to overthink the process and miss his target.
As always, dissenting viewpoints are welcome.
Permalink | Comments (102) | Categories: Football
Big-game coaches
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With a big game on the horizon, the idea of what it takes to be a big-game coach comes to mind.
In my mind, small pea that it is, the most important aspect is to hold back your emotions and not let the players see what you are feeling. That extends to the assistant coaches as well. Players can sense when a coach loses control of his emotions — Mack Brown and Houston Nutt come to mind.
On the other hand, it appears as if the composed coaching staffs — Nick Saban’s at LSU and Pete Carroll’s at USC — always fare better in the big games.
Of course, having decent players doesn’t hurt either.
So what else does it take to be a big-game coach?
No history majors in football
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Most of the talk to the UGA players from the media Tuesday centered around past performances against Tennnessee. To which I have to say, so what?
Sure, some schools do have psychological edges over others because of the past (particularly when one school is coached by Mack Brown). But the past is the past, leave it be and move on.
The players forget about it a lot quicker than the rest of us. In fact, players are typcially the last people who can give you any historical reference, recent or decades old. They are usually live-in-the-moment-type people. And play that way.
Permalink | Comments (58) | Categories: Football
Shopping Shockley for…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As is usually the case with any quarterback, there appear to be those for and a few against D.J. Shockley. So with that in mind, who would you trade him for in the SEC?
Now in all fairness, you should know Shockley is the second highest-rated passer in the conference behind Chris Leak. He also accounts for more total offense than any other quarterback in the SEC.
Permalink | Comments (53) | Categories: Football
