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 > 2008 > September
September 2008
Can Dogs make it back to top?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So could everybody have been completely wrong?
Now that we know with absolute certainty that Georgia is NOT going to go undefeated this season, the question now is whether the Bulldogs can still do what everybody seemed to think they were capable of doing at the outset — win a national championship.
Lest we forget, just a few weeks ago Georgia was the consensus preseason No. 1 pick of both the major polls. It was also tabbed by The Sporting News and Lindy’s, among others. Several others prognosticators had the Bulldogs No. 2, which would of course earn a spot in the title game.
Did they all just whiff?
To be sure, there have been extenuating circumstances. Georgia has been ravaged by injuries. By my count the Bulldogs will have had eight starters miss games with injuries by the end of the Tennessee game next week, and that doesn’t include Knowshon Moreno (elbow), who I don’t think is going to sit out. Two of those, Trinton Sturdivant and Jeff Owens, arguably their best offensive and defensive linemen, are out for the season.
Others to miss time include FB Brannan Southerland (foot), TE Tripp Chandler (shoulder), SE Kris Durham (ankle), DE Rod Battle (neck) and DE Jeremy Lomax (toe). Southerland is due to come back to full speed for the Vols. Backup TE Bruce Figgins is also banged up and may elect to have surgery and take a medical redshirt this year, leaving that position in a mess. Backup safety Quintin Banks (knee) is supposed to be back to full speed next week, too. The status of starting middle linebacker Dannel Ellerbe is up in the air He went from perhaps out a couple games with a sprained knee to “an outside shot” for Tennessee, according to coach Mark Richt.
Which brings me to another point. Is this a fragile Georgia team? Certainly no disrespect to Ellerbe, but we all saw him gallantly jump up and run off the field after hurting his left knee on the third play from scrimmage against Alabama. I thought for sure we’d see him back in the game after that. But he never did. Remember the old days when guys would say, “wrap it up and let me get back in there.” No question, Ellerbe’s absence hurt the defense.
But you won’t hear the Bulldogs making excuses. Just this week, Richt said, “I’ve never been one to complain a lot about injuries. I know they’re going to happen and I expect whoever’s there to step in and play well. Some guys are going to have some opportunities now they weren’t going to have.”
That’s for sure.
So do you think the Dogs can still get to the big game?
Meanwhile, here’s some links for you clicking pleasure:
How upset was Florida coach Urban Meyer over losing to Ole Miss? Well he had the Gators practicing until 10 p.m. on Sunday night… .
ESPN.com’s SEC expert Chris Low predicts no SEC teams will finish the season undefeated
Here’s some SEC video nuggets from ESPN.com… .
Chris Dufresne of the L.A. Times writes that BYU may be in best position to win it all… .
By the way, Georgia actually moved up to 118th out of 119 teams in penalties per game because Texas Tech, with which it was tied last week, was idle. If the Red Raiders manage less than 10 penalties in this week’s game, however, the idle Bulldogs will reclaim their spot at the bottom of the heap.
TUESDAY PRACTICE UPDATES INCLUDED IN COMMENTS BELOW.
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Back to drawing board for Bulldogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, it’s Monday and, for the second day in a row, the sun came up despite Georgia’s unsightly loss to Alabama Saturday night. Judging from some of the e-mails I received from some of you Bulldogs fans there seemed to be some doubt whether that would happen.
Yes, the Bulldogs’ 41-30 loss to the Crimson Tide was ugly and shocking and embarrassing, especially considering all the stock that was put into it with the blackout and all. But it also was very revealing and, at this point in the season, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
First, some perspective. Georgia is neither as bad as it looked in the first half when it was outscored 31-0 nor as good as it looked in the second when it did the outscoring 30-10. As ever the truth in such things always lies in between.
The first half represented a kind of perfect storm of bad things piling up on Georgia: All-star middle linebacker Dannel Ellerbe going out on the game’s third play; the personal foul penalty nullifying a turnover (no telling how that could’ve changed momentum); a horrendous day for punter Brian Mimbs. These were all exacerbated by what is a tremendous Alabama football team that got extremely hot. You see this in the NFL every Sunday.
The reality is — it was just one loss. And it’s not even as bad as the 35-14 defeat Georgia suffered at Tennessee last year and we know how that season ended. If the Dogs were going to lose one game — a big if indeed with the schedule that still awaits — dropping one to an SEC West opponent that is now ranked No. 2 in the nation was the best one to drop. Georgia, like Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Florida in the East, still controls its own destiny. Win the rest and it’s still in business. Do that and a chance at redemption will await in the Georgia Dome.
To be sure, some things have to change for the Bulldogs to have any shot at all of doing that. Thanks to Alabama we know:
(1) The offensive line is not good enough to line up and run the ball in the SEC (see also South Carolina game). As demonstrated in the second half, Georgia’s best option is to throw the football. With the tight end situation such as it is they need to go more to four wides or three-receiver, two-back sets anyway;
(2) The defensive ends aren’t good enough to get pressure on the quarterback. So the Dogs’ are going to have to play a little riskier on defense. Coach Willie Martinez’s defensive scheme is predicated on the front four creating pressure and that’s just not happening. Georgia’s strength is in its linebacking corps, interior D-line and defensive backs anyway. So turn ‘em loose and let them get after it. Yes, they may get burned here and there but they also might create some momentous plays and Georgia’s offense has proven it can score with the best of them.
(3) The penalties situation has gotten way out of hand. Georgia is averaging 10.6 flags for 87.4 yards a game, worst in the nation. CMR said getting a handle on that would be his top priority between now and Tennessee. Not sure how you go about that but they have to figure it out.
There are some other things you simply can’t do anything about. Georgia’s young on the offensive line and they’re not all the sudden going to grow older, stronger and more experienced. And the Dogs have been pretty unfortunate with the injuries. Including this latest onslaught they will have had six starters miss multiple games, and that doesn’t include the possibility of Knowshon Moreno having to sit out Tennessee.
That’s my theory on what needs to be fixed and how to fix it. Have I missed something? What suggestions do you guys have for righting Georgia’s ship?
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Bulldogs rolled as blackout backfires
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is why a lot of coaches wouldn’t consider hyping up a game the way Georgia did Alabama on Saturday.
It was already a big game just based on the the No. 3 and 8, rankings, respectively, and the national television audience and all that. Then coach Mark Richt added the blackout element at the behest of his senior players. Can’t fault him for that as he traditionally listens to his seniors and it worked well the two other times they did it, most notably the first time last year against Auburn (45-20).
But Saturday it blew up in the Bulldogs’ collective faces as Alabama came in blitzed them with a 31-0 first half en route to a 41-30 victory. Tide coach Nick Saban made no secret of his ploy to use the whole concept as motivation for his team, as the early-week “dressing for a funeral” comment his strength coach made.
That said, let’s be clear about this: Georgia’s decision to have a blackout didn’t lose it the game. Alabama’s offensive and defensive fronts and the Bulldogs’ penalties, mistakes, dropped passes, etc., is why the Bulldogs lost this game and lost it the way it did.
Richt was asked if we’d seen the last of the black jerseys:
“It didn’t work this time. If your looking at the atmosphere, we had atmosphere. That’s as loud as it gets anywhere… But I’m not going to make any statements about it I might have to take back later.”
No, this was about the lines of scrimmage, and the Dogs got whipped on both. I asked CMR if Bama just got hot or it exposed some fundamental flaws.
“I don’t think we got exposed per se,” Richt said. “I think we’ve got a bunch of young pups up there fighting like mad… . We’re young up front and it showed.”
Based on what I’m seeing in the polls and who won and lost Saturday, I think Georgia will fall significantly. It’d be seventh at best, maybe out of the Top 10. I’d put Bama way up there after seeing who it played against the Dogs. They should go up to at least 5th but might even climb as high as second. There was some talk in the press box of first. Why not? Two big road wins. See anything you didn’t like about them?
The final numbers don’t reflect the whipping we witnessed: Total offense — Alabama 334, Georgia 324; first downs — Bama 21, Georgia 18. This one pops out: Rushing — Alabama 45-129, Georgia 16-50.
Thirty-one to zip first half — that one says it all.
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Can Dogs blackout Bama for W?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Greetings once again from the press box at Sanford Stadium. An absolutely gorgeous night for football. I’m not sure you could pack many more elements into this game. Georgia-Alabama. The nation’s No. 3 and No. 8-ranked teams. National television. ESPN GameDay in the house. And, of course, The Blackout.
Looks like they have another 99.5 percent participation rate. That’s about what it was the first time they tried this last year against Auburn. Nearly everybody in black other than a few stragglers in red or white.
Alabama, obviously aware of the whole blackout plan — at least their strength coach seemed to know — is countering with all their fans in white shirts, or at least most of them. So no problem looking into the stands and knowing who is for whom.
Players are clearly fired up for this one as well. Several of them — including tailback Knowshon Moreno — decided to get Mohawk haircuts this week. Not sure what that’s all about but, like always, we’ll try to find out after the game.
Obviously Georgia can put some distance between itself and the rest of the SEC pack with a win here tonight. When Florida went down 31-30 to Ole Miss earlier today, roars went up simultaneously all over campus. I even saw an Alabama fan and a Georgia fan exchange high fives. Guess there’s at least one thing everybody in the league can agree on.
Going to be late before this one is finished but we’ll know a lot more when the game is over. Hang here with us all night and I’ll be providing updates and insights throughout the game.
Here’s a couple of links to checkout: CMR dropped by the GameDay set and presented Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso with a couple of personalized black Georgia jerseys… . Also, CMR was calling on Dogs’ fans to make a difference Saturday and the Marck Richt Blog.
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No. 1 slot back up for grabs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How ‘bout dem Beavers?!
A 25-point underdog beat the nation’s No. 1-ranked team.
So I’m lying in bed watching the USC-Oregon State game, trying to be quiet and not disturb my wife and waiting for the Trojans to make their inevitable comeback so I can watch SportsCenter.
Only the comeback never comes. Then No. 44 for Oregon State picks off a Mark Sanchez pass and nearly returns it for a touchdown. Then little Jacquizz Rodgers punches it into the end zone for a touchdown. Then the Beavers miss the extra point. Then USC almost returns the kickoff for a touchdown. Then the Trojans score. Then the Beavers handle the onsides kick.
And then it was done. No. 1 USC was goes down 27-21 in Corvallis to a team that lost to Penn State 45-14 just last week. Rogers — 37 carries, 186 yards. Monumental upset. History repeats itself two years later.
My first thought: Georgia drops a spot winning by 28 at home and then drops another spot after winning by a touchdown at South Carolina; so what happens to Southern Cal after goes down to a team that lost to Penn State by 31? Proof yet again you can’t play the score game.
Anyway, the easy answer is the Dogs will go back up to at least No. 2 IF they can get by No. 8 Alabama Saturday night in Athens. And that’s a huge, bold-faced IF. Who knows, with a very strong showing against the Crimson Tide they could leapfrog Oklahoma back into the top spot. As fickle as voters seem to be this year, anything could happen.
But that’s getting way ahead of things. More than anything last night’s events set the tone for the college football season. It indicates it may be like last season, when everybody was losing to anybody. We’re getting into the meat of the conference schedules and, as was reiterated yet again, crazy things happen in intraconference play.
Anyway, back to Georgia-Alabama. You can bet Thursday night’s game got both teams’ attentions. It’s not like they needed anything more to be jacked about this game, what with the blackout, 7:45 p.m. kickoff, ESPN’s “College GameDay” in the house and all.
I was going to test you bloggers’ creativity and ask for your best sign ideas for holding up behind the GameDay’s set Saturday morning. I guess Saturday night’s happenings can only spice those up. So let’s hear it.
Let me hear your best sign ideas. Let me hear what you think the outcome is going to be Saturday night in Athens. Name the score. Tell me what kind of effect, if any, you think Thursday’s USC-Oregon State will have on this one.
No. 1 goes down. Let the dominoes fall. Gotta love college football!
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What should be UGA’s top priority?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It was really interesting seeing and reading about all the athletics facility expansion plans the architectural firm that Georgia hired came up with in its recent 16-month study, the findings of which were delivered to the athletics board on Wednesday.
The growth and the expansion of athletics faciliies — or the Facilities Arms Race as some of us have come to call it — have become as important to overall athletic success as having premier athletes, or so major Division I colleges seem to have concluded. The Bulldogs certainly are one of the nation’s leaders when it comes to facilities. They have everything they need to succeed. But many of them are becoming a little aged. So sooner are later they’ll all need to be renovated, expanded or replaced.
Certainly the most interesting to our readers, according to overnight page views, was the findings about the expansion of Sanford Stadium. With new donors having to lay out more than $10,000 just for the right to buy season football tickets this year, clearly it’s just a matter of time before they’ll need to add more seats. They have 92,746 now, which is the fifth-most among on-campus stadiums in the country.
Probably the most fascinated aspect of the study to me was the unwillingness of the board to consider closing in the West End of the stadium. I think all of us just assumed that’s what they’d have to do one day. But Damon Evans has always told me how they like the way the stadium opens into the rest of campus. And the way you can drive or walk down Sanford Drive and see into certainly is unique.
So we find out they have a plan that will allow them to expand to 101,766 seats without messing with that end. To be sure, it’s an elaborate plan that apparently will including building out and over East Campus Road and they will have to go to a lot of trouble and expense to pull it off. But clearly they’re putting a lot of time, effort and money into figuring this out.
Of course, it was a comprehensive study of all of Georgia’s facilities. Another interesting aspect was it doesn’t call for the building of a new basketball arena. That’s been heavily-debated point for as long as I’ve been around. In my opinion they missed the boat when they built the Ramsey Center over on College Station Road. But these latest plans call for extending the giant roof and expanding Stegeman Coliseum outward so they can build bigger and drastically improved rest rooms and concession areas.
There were contingencies for an indoor practice facility for football, which I’m sure coach Mark Richt noted. One plan calls for it to be on the current grounds where the track is (they’d move that) and another has it going up out on South Milledge Avenue near the softball and soccer complexes. But with the expansion of the Butts-Mehre Building already approved and halfway funded, I’m not sure how much of a priority that actually is.
So what do you think should be the top priority? Expanding Sanford? Renovating Stegeman? Blowing up Stegeman? Building an indoor practice facility for football?
Some links …
Paper calls for Spurrier’s head
You know things aren’t going well when the campus paper starts calling for the football coach to be fired, as the Daily Gamecock is Steve Spurrier at South Carolina… .
NCAA closing eyes to cheating?
Interesting take on the NCAA over at Yahoo, where columnist Dan Wetzel infers that cheating still goes on at the major college level but the NCAA is just turning a blind eye to it… .
Medical redshirt scam
My buddy Joe Person over at the State newspaper in Columbia writes an interesting piece about how coaches make up injuries for players so they can get medical redshirts for players who may have played in the first four games… .
What’s wrong with Chandler?
That’s the question the Chattanooga Times-Free Press tries to answer in David Paschall’s piece today… .
Bama targeting Peach State
You recruitniks will no doubt enjoy this piece in the Mobile Press-Register on how Alabama is targeting Georgia as its main recruiting area outside the state. One commitment from Snellville does not speak highly at all of UGA or its fans.
UGA student invades blogosphere
Adam Rosenberg is a college student who studies journalism at UGA. He has created his own Georgia sports blog and he promised he would send to me “all five of my readers” if I linked to his blog, which he calls Off The Record. Talk about an offer that couldn’t be refused! Adam is a brilliant young writer who strings for a few newspapers and has ignored all our advice to choose a vocation that doesn’t include long hours, deadline pressure and low pay. Welcome to the club Adam… .
Who to blame
Here’s a website that shows how all the AP pollsters voted for any particular team in any particular week. That way you’ll know who to get mad at if the Dogs drop again in the polls. You’ll see that ESPN’s Chris Fowler picked the Dogs No. 2 this week behind USC. So much for the conspiracy theories.
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Trench warfare will determine winner
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A tale of the trenches. That’s what Saturday’s game between No. 3 Georgia and No. 8 Alabama is going to come down to.
It could be argued that every football game is decided along the offensive and defensive lines and to a great extent that’s true. But rarely is it as exaggerated as it will be this weekend at Sanford Stadium.
Start with the Crimson Tide’s defensive line. Anchoring their front is nose guard Terrence Cody. Georgia center/guard Chris Davis described him simply as “a large human being. Huge.” The 6-foot-5 JUCO transfer apparently weighed 425 pounds when Bama recruited him out of Gulf Coast Community College. Now he’s listed at 365 pounds, though there is considerable debate about how much he actually weighs. Regardless, Cody is quite agile for that size and has been blowing up opposing offenses.
“He’s a beast,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “No one man has blocked him and I haven’t really seem any double teams block him either. He’s a problem.”
Chiefly responsible for blocking Cody will be Georgia’s new starting center, Ben Jones. Jones (6-3, 304) is a true freshman. He’s also from Centreville, Ala.
“Ben’s a good ol’ country boy and he loves a challenge,” said Davis, who’ll likely team up with Jones against Cody often. “He’s not scared at all, you can see it in his eyes. He’s anxious. It’s his hometown team, Alabama, and I think he’s accepting this well.”
The problem with a guy like Cody is he’s pretty much guaranteed to take up two blockers. This shorts you a lineman to block the linebacker, and the Tide has a tough one in the middle in sophomore Rolando McClain (6-4, 249).
“He’ll pierce you,” Richt said. “That’s the term our offensive coaches used. He pierces people.”
Meanwhile, Georgia’s defensive front gets by far its stiffest test versus an O-line. Bama features an all junior and senior line anchored by left tackle Andre Smith and center Antoine Caldwell. Both are likely NFL first-rounders, according to Richt, especially Smith, who has started every game he’s played for the Tide.
By the same token, Alabama has not faced a defensive front of the caliber of the Georgia’s, particularly in the interior. And that’s where the Tide does its business. Very seldom do they attempt to beat defenses around the corner or throw the ball downfield. They pound big running backs Glen Coffee (6-1, 198) and Mark Ingram (5-10, 215) between the tackles. That tact has resulted in an SEC best rushing average of 236.8 yards, or 5.9 per carry.
“It’s smash-mouth football,” Georgia defensive tackle Corvey Irvin said. “We get to show what Georgia’s made of right here. They’re explosive, yeah, but we’re pretty good, too.”
Said linebacker Dannell Ellerbe: “I’m looking forward to that type of game. I play middle linebacker. That’s the kind of game I like, between the tackles. Just man up.”
So there you have it, football in its purest of form. Something has to give. Which side do you think it will be.
Attending a funeral
Alabama strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran’s high-energy histrionics might have gotten him into the middle of a minor controversy. A microphone on a video camera at practice this week picked up Cochran telling the team during warmups that the Bulldogs “are wearing black because they’re going to a (hyphenated-expletive) funeral.” It’s at about the 1:04 mark on the video here at YouTube if you care to listen to such a thing. Not that big a deal to me because I’ve heard all sorts of off-color things uttered on practice fields. But you can bet it will make Georgia’s bulletin board. Or should that be “bulletin video player?” …
ASU’s 12-man D
This may explain why Georgia couldn’t get into the end zone on its next-to-last offensive possession against Arizona State. The video clearly shows the Sun Devils had 12 men on defense. Tough night for those Pac-10 officials… .
Early Heisman watch
I hesitate to even bring this up because it’s much too early even to think about it but here’s Gene Menez, one of the hundreds of supposed national experts that are out there in cyberspace these days, breaking down the Heisman Trophy race. At the moment he has Knowshon Moreno fifth, MIssouri QB Chase Daniel first and Tim Tebow 10th. Whatever… .
Knowshon leads voting
If you want to cast your own lot on the Heisman Trophy race you can do so at the official Heisman website. For what it’s worth, Moreno leads in the early voting. But keep in mind, yours is not an official vote and will not determine the eventual winner… .
Out of the red and into the black
I sort of went down this road earlier this year when I wrote about the retail phenomena created by Moreno’s back No. 24 jersey. But the Athens Banner-Herald has a report today on the mini-economic boost Georgia’s decision to blackout Saturday’s game will give to local retailers.
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Now what can Georgia do for Munson?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There really is no way to put a value on what Larry Munson has done for the University of Georgia, or the other way around for that matter. Suffice it to say that theirs has been a truly symbiotic relationship and a very successful one at that. Neither biology nor psychology could explain what these two entities have done for each other.
And now, we all know, that relationship must come to an end.
Now Georgia must move on without Larry Munson, and that won’t be an easy thing. My good friend Scott Howard is a capable and talented fill-in, a real pro if there ever was one. If you’ve ever had the chance to listen in, I’m sure you’ll agree that he’s an excellent broadcaster, very sharp, articulate, quick-witted, like Munson quite excitable, loves his Dogs.
But it won’t be the same. Can’t be. Shouldn’t be.
Munson’s announcement Monday was sudden and unexpected. UGA knew it could come at any time because they’d left it up to Larry, but the cold reality of it was like a slap in the face. The question now is, what will Georgia do to honor Munson? AD Damon Evans said in separate sentences the Bulldogs would do “something appropriate” at the “appropriate time.” But what and when should that be?
Chip Folendore, a loyal Georgia fan I’ve gotten to know over the years, said he thought the Bulldogs should make Larry be an honorary captain for one of the games this season, maybe this next one against Alabama if he feels up to it. Take him out there on the field in a golf cart if need be, Folendore said, let him stand at midfield and tip a hat to the crowd. Could you imagine the ovation that’d get?
That got me to thinking. I’m probably wrong about this — and I know our alert readers here will let me know if I am — but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Larry on the field at Sanford Stadium before a game. Even last year, when Damon presented Munson with an honorary Georgia letter and a letterman’s jacket, it was done at his ever-present spot in the radio booth. Might be nice to see him front and center for a change, don’t you think.
But the inside word I was getting Monday was that Munson doesn’t want Georgia to do anything. Don’t make a fuss, he’s telling them. Don’t go to any trouble for me. And I can’t honestly say I know whether Larry would be up for it with all he’s gone through health-wise.
So what do you think Georgia should do? Is there a single gesture that could appropriately capture what Munson has meant to UGA and its people? Or should they just let him walk away in quiet dignity? Tough call.
A couple o’ links:
Not too impressed
Alabama’s Javier Arenas didn’t seem too impressed with Georgia’s Knowshon Moreno when asked about the Bulldogs’ tailback at the Tide’s weekly press conference Monday… .
Saban ‘blacks out’ news conference
Alabama coach Nick Saban swears it was unintentional but the local media called him out for wearing a black shirt to “black out” his weekly news conference in Tuscaloosa Monday. Saban was then asked what he thought of Georgia deciding to black out their game.
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Bulldogs back in black for Bama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So the Bulldogs are going to “blackout” the Alabama game. SEC contest, top 10 opponent, night game, national television, ESPN GameDay in the house. I guess that makes sense.
I’ve kind of gone back and forth on the whole blackout phenomena. Without question last year’s stunt was one of the cooler things I’ve seen Georgia do over the years. Thinking back, it’s still pretty amazing how they pulled that off, coming out to warm up in red jerseys and then coming back out in black ones for the game. Then Knowshon runs roughshod over Auburn and suddenly having a black No. 24 Georgia jersey is all the rage in the Bulldog Nation.
All of which is one reason why I thought they might let it be for a while. You know how hard it is to capture such magic more than once. Of course, the Dogs “blacked out” the Sugar Bowl, too, so they’re 2-0 in black. But I thought they might store the black jerseys for a while and whip them out again against an unsuspecting opponent — and fanbase — in a few years.
But clearly the Dogs’ fans love it. There had been talk since last season about if and when Georgia might orchestrate a blackout again this season. Had I been betting on it, I would’ve laid my money on the Tennessee game. Why? Just because it’s an Eastern Division opponent and they humiliated the Dogs pretty good in Knoxville last year. You have to remember, the Vols put a ton of emphasis on that game against Georgia last year. They sent out letters asking ticket holders to wear orange and get there early and be extra loud, etc. I figured the Dogs might go for some payback.
Then again, with the circumstances as they are and the night game and the Georgia seniors asking for it, I can see coach Mark Richt’s logic. He basically said it was what the players wanted so he just went with it. Here’s some of what he said when he was explaining it on his Sunday evening teleconference call with reporters:
“I don’t think you do it too much, but I think our fans really enjoyed it. Our players certainly enjoyed it and the seniors, they want to have a little ownership of that type of thing. I always meet with them at my home during preseason camp and [the blackout] always seems to be a topic of conversation. That’s basically the main thing they wanted to talk about. ‘When are we gonna do it? When are we gonna do it?’ So we talked about the possibilities that it could be. At that time, I was just saying that I didn’t want to do it in September because of the weather. There’s the possibility of a hot day and a 3:30 kickoff or even earlier, so I said, ‘let’s not really think about that one.’ But then as everything transpired the way it did, we got a night game, they found out there’s a very good chance the GameDay crew was coming, they just thought it was the time to do it. And I’m fine with it. Whatever those guys want on that deal is fine with me.”
So there you go. What do you think? Glad to see them breaking out the black jerseys again? Is this the right time? Would you rather see them stick to traditional Georgia home red? Do you think that the black jerseys should become a yearly tradition? And what if the Bulldogs ever do make it to the ultimate game — a national championship contest? Do you wear them then or go with the traditional Georgia red?
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Dogs bring the heat to the desert
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TEMPE, AZ. — Heat. What heat?
While it may not be the signature win people were hoping for, Georgia’s 27-10 win over Arizona State was certainly solid and made a statement that their lofty rankings and expectations weren’t all hype.
The Bulldogs came 1,900 miles to play last year’s Pac-10 runners-up in the desert heat and were clearly the dominant team all night. Rudy Carpenter and the Sun Devils’ offense got a few yards but the numbers that matter in this game were these: Knowshon Moreno 23 carries for 149 yards and two touchdowns, A.J. Green eight catches for 159 yards, Matt Stafford 285 yards passing and — THE DOOZY — ASU 4 rushing yards on 19 carries.
Georgia outgained them 461 to 212 and had two drives end on the 1 without getting into the end zone, including the last play when Shaun Chapas did not get into the end zone for the TD.
That was a notable play in that Georgia coach Mark Richt in the past usually would take a knee with the game won there. But maybe he’s paying attention to the polls and going for that six more points.
All and all a very solid victory. Of course, Alabama looked positively dynamic in its 49-14 win at Arkansas today. So that sets up for a colossal SEC matchup next Saturday in Athens.
ESPN GameDay was considering heading to Athens this week. Think they should?
And what about those penalties? With 12 on Saturday, Dogs are averaging close to 11 per game. That’ll get them beat eventually. To be sure, some of those Saturday were reaching deep in the refs’ technical bag.
What’s your thoughts on the game? Dogs make a statement or just taking care of business?
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‘Dry heat’ every bit as hot
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Greetings from the press box at Sun Devil Stadium, which is fully enclosed and air-conditioned and I am very happy about that.
You’ve probably heard all you want to hear about the desert heat out here in Tempe, where Georgia and Arizona State will meet in a rare regular-season intersectional clash. And I have to. But just for observation purposes, I must tell you that I sweated just as much, maybe even more, on my three-block walk from the parking lot up a steep hill to the media entrance at the stadium. It was 99 degrees on the nose at the time. I know because I checked weather.com while wiping off sweat after reaching the press box.
Dry heat my elbow.
Anyway, the sun has set considerably since then which has left almost the entire field — and all of Georgia’s sideline — in the shade. Don’t know if that will provide any relief or not. And also according to weather.com, the temperature will only be about three degrees cooler in the second half, not the 11 or 12 degrees CMR said he had heard about.
The first thing I’ll be looking for is how Georgia lines up on the offensive line. Then, of course, whether its defense is able to get any pressure on Rudy Carpenter. Let me know what you’re seeing and hearing on the ABC telecast, too. I can’t hear it in here where I am.
But the air conditioning sure does feel good!
UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE GAME.
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Dogs need to make a statement
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Phoenix — “Devils look to attack suspect Georgia line.”
That was the headline stripped across the top of the sports page in the Arizona Republic newspaper on Thursday. If that doesn’t fire up and motivate the Bulldogs I don’t know what what will.
And the Bulldogs definitely need to be fired up. They need to be supremely motivated. They need to play great. They’ll need to in order to handle the competition and they’ll need to to do what they need to do, which is to play impressively.
Arizona State has had this game circled every since it was scheduled years ago. I’m telling you the whole Valley out here is buzzing about the game. Yes, the Sun Devils lost to UNLV, but that was primarily because it was looking ahead to Saturday’s matchup with the Dogs. The fans really want to see their team take down a Top 3 team.
And based on my interactions, many believe ASU will do it. I’ll say this: Everybody seems to know the Dogs through and through. They’ll say things like “don’t y’all have some issues on the offensive line?” and “You better figure out a way to get some pressure on Rudy [Carpenter] or he’ll light you up.” So they’ve definitely been paying attention.
No, the Bulldogs need to come in here and play like the team everybody thought should be ranked No. 1 in the preseason. They need to bully. They need to impress the pollsters and re-appeal to all those people that at one time voted them No. 1. They need to make a statement.
But can they?
Your morning links …
Carpenter: Dogs ‘just guys in uniforms’
You get a pretty good glimpse inside the personality of ASU quarterback Rudy Carpenter in Ted Miller’s blog at ESPN.com. Carpenter told Miller Georgia didn’t look on film any faster or bigger than other teams the Sun Devils play, “they looked like guys in uniforms.” He also said he didn’t “get any juice” from knowing Matthew Stafford is a top-rated quarterback. The kid’s pretty intense. See for yourself… .
Gators get Vols online
Seems some Florida fans got hold of the Wikipedia page for “Tennessee football” and had some fun with it. It’s been fixed now but thewizofodds.com has a screen capture on its webpage. Warning for vulgarity… .
Georgia on ESPN’s mind
ESPN Gameday planned to be in Tempe for the Arizona State-Georgia game until the Sun Devils bit it last Saturday against UNLV. Now, of course, they’re at LSU-Auburn on The Plains. But ESPN’s Chris Fowler hints in his weekly column that they’ll be in Athens next for Georgia-Alabama. That is, of course, if the Bulldogs take care of business this weekend.
LIVE UPDATE FROM TEMPE DOWN IN THE COMMENTS!
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Could Georgia do more with less?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By the time this is posted I’ll be on my way to Phoenix, Ariz. At some point when I get there I’ll be sure to visit and let you know what I’m seeing and hearing out West. In the meantime …
Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford completed passes to 10 different receivers in the win over South Carolina this past Saturday. One school of thought for such a stat is that it illustrates a mighty good job of ball distribution. Another is, perhaps the Bulldogs have too many different receivers going out for passes.
In three games, 14 different receivers have caught balls for the Bulldogs. Out of those nine are wideouts. Several more than that have gotten into games but haven’t caught a pass. And this is with senior starter Kenneth Harris sidelined the last two games with an injury. He’s back this week.
I bring this up because I’ve read some folks here and in other forums wondering if Georgia should streamline its receiving corps and run fewer wideouts in and out of the games. Wouldn’t six, or two at each position, be enough to get the job done?
Clearly Mohamed Massaquoi is Georgia’s best all-around receiver and we’ve all heard how CMR and Mike Bobo want to get the ball more to freshman flanker A.J. Green. Green, who was considered one of the top wide receivers in America coming out of Summerville (S.C.) High School, has caught just eight passes for 141 yards in Georgia’s first three games. For comparison’s sake, the Gamecocks’ Moe Brown had seven receptions for 130 yards in one game against Georgia.
I asked Richt about that this week and, in a nutshell, he said his philosophy is to play as many players as have proven they are capable of playing. Here was his extensive reply:
“The bottom line is if a guy’s ready to play, and is preforming well, then we’re gonna let him play,” Richt said. “Early in the season with these games being as hot as they’ve been, if you decide to run your top two receivers ragged, they wouldn’t make it. And that’s not an indictment on their conditioning. Would I say that I want to get A.J. more opportunities? Yeah. But you know what? Going into that game [against South Carolina] we had a young guy who was going to start for the first time in his home state. Sometimes guys struggle, but you could tell early on he wasn’t gonna struggle. He was ready to play. We did throw more balls at him. We just didn’t catch them. We didn’t protect well enough or we didn’t get it to him in a place where he could catch it.
“And like I’ve said too, there aren’t many pass plays where you can say throw it to that guy no matter what. If they line up in a double coverage, you can force it in there if you want. But even one of the deep balls that we threw later on, they had a free safety that was playing deep center and that guy from the snap started to run where A.J. was, even prior to Stafford looking that way. I think they had a little bit of a plan to make sure that cat didn’t beat them.”
So there it is directly from the Big Dog’s mouth. You like his philosophy or would you rather see the Bulldogs focus on throwing more balls to a smaller number of receivers?
Now, for some links …
Pac-10 takes a pounding
There will be more than a little conference pride on the line for Arizona State when it plays host to Georgia on Saturday. After the pounding the Pac-10 has taken from the Mountain West recently, the Sun Devils could earn some redemption for the league against the top-ranked team from the nation’s top conference… .
Georgia game ‘huge’ for ASU
East Valley (Phoenix) Tribune columnist Scott Bordow calls Georgia the “land of opportunity” as far as Arizona State and quarterback Rudy Carpenter earning some national street cred. According to him the Sun Devils have traditionally flopped in games like this… .
Numbers game at Bama
Proving once again that Alabama coach Nick Saban will do anything to sign a recruit, he has been limited in his player pool for special teams because so many are wearing duplicate jersey numbers. It seems he promised too many they could have the same number that somebody else had and any of those two players can’t play on the same special teams unit together. It’s complicated but the Tide is dealing with it… .
Auburn dean: No booing, please
That’s toward the home team, according to a letter he supposedly sent to students.
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How much will heat be a factor?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Is it just me or do you also think too much is being made about the heat in Tempe, Ariz., for Georgia’s game Saturday night against Arizona State?
Based on everything I can read, it will be close to 100 degrees when the teams kickoff at 5 p.m. Tempe time/8 p.m. EST on Saturday. And we all know it’s a different kind of heat, very dry. But I find it hard to believe that anything could be any hotter or more taxing physically than what Georgia and South Carolina endured this past Saturday in Columbia.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford told me yesterday it’s the hottest he’s ever been anywhere. And he has, I should add, played several baseball tournaments in Arizona.
“I couldn’t stop sweating,” Stafford said of last Saturday. “No matter how much fluid I took in it seemed like it just sweated it right back out. It was miserable.” He said the heat he encountered in Arizona wasn’t so bad because “you’re not sweating all over the place.”
The other thing is the time of the game. While the heat of the day certainly will be reaching a zenith at 5 p.m. local time, coach Mark Richt said it’s his understanding that temperatures could drop as much as 11 or 12 degrees in the second half and that it cools very rapidly out there.
I’ve been out to Arizona and Phoenix in particular a few times — granted, not this time of year — and I just don’t recall it ever being uncomfortably hot. Maybe I’m just being naive. I sure would like to hear from some folks who live or have lived out there for some personal insight.
So what do y’all think? Will the heat be a major factor that Georgia has to overcome or not so much?
Meanwhile, here’s some links to check out… .
Carpenter ‘wanted the ball’
Think Georgia was too conservative on defense late in the game against South Carolina? Well apparently Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter thinks the Sun Devils got too conservative offensively after taking a 10-point lead on UNLV in their game last weekend in Tempe. ASU ended up losing 23-20 in overtime.
Dogs also 3 in ‘power rankings’
Stewart Mandel of sportsillustrated.cnn.com has Georgia at No. 3 in his “power rankings.” It’s not a recognized poll or anything but just shows what someone with a national view is thinking about the Bulldogs in the grand context. Southern Cal No. 1, Oklahoma No. 2 and Missouri No. 4 in his rankings… .
Donovan without a contract
The Orlando Sentinel informs us that Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan still has not signed a contract with the Gators since his sudden about-face on the Orlando Magic. Two years after that episode AD Jeremy Foley says they’re “very close” to coming to a signed agreement. I’d hope so… .
Dogs vs. S. Florida
According to coacheshotseat.com, if the season ended today Georgia would open a 16-team playoff for the college football national championship against No. 12 South Florida. Interesting concept … that will never happen.
PRACTICE UPDATE COMING LATE THIS AFTERNOON.
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Pass defense a problem for Dogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UPDATED
Coming into the season this was supposed to be a strength for Georgia. But heading into the fourth game — and the first against a truly prolific passing attack — there the Bulldogs sit, 86th in the nation and 11th in SEC in pass defense (236 ypg).
I have to admit I’m kind of surprised to see that. Considering the talent and experience in the secondary, the supposed skill at linebacker and the depth up front, I just didn’t think the Bulldogs would be at the bottom of the league in any defensive category this season, particularly pass defense. Granted, defensive end was a question mark from the beginning and no one has really emerged as a premier pass rusher so far. But if you recall that was a concern this time last year and eventually Marcus Howard stepped up and Georgia ended up leading the SEC in sacks. So that could still pick up (or not).
But after going back and reviewing a replay of Saturday’s game against South Carolina (thank you, TV gods, for the miracle of DVR), I would have to conclude that most of Georgia’s problems in the fourth quarter were strategic.
The Gamecocks gained 166 of their 271 passing yards — or 61.3 percent — in the final quarter alone. Most of that production came on the final two drives as Georgia lined up in a three-man front, dropped eight into a deep zone coverage and occasionally sent a linebacker on a delayed blitz (which never worked). Not until South Carolina got deep into Georgia territory did the Dogs pop out of that and go back to a four- or five-man front and some man-to-man or Cover 1 (single safety, man underneath). Coincidentally or not, that’s when the Bulldogs created the two turnovers.
In retrospect, probably the biggest factor was South Carolina quarterback Chris Smelley. He was dead on and in rhythm like no one has ever seen him before. Ehen Georgia gave him even the tiniest target, he zipped it in there. At least a couple of the Gamecocks’ big plays came on busted coverages by linebackers, one by Darius Dewberry trying to cover big tight end Jared Cook, who’s a special player and one by Rennie Curran getting beat by a running back on a wheel route. They also got big chunks with wideouts running short posts and simple slants to the inside of Georgia’s corners. And three times the Bulldogs were flagged for interference, one on CB Asher Allen, one on LB Dannell Ellerbe (covering Cook) and one on FS Reshad Jones.
All in all, it wasn’t really as bad as I first thought. But the Dogs better tighten it up considerably in practice this week. You can bet Arizona State’s Rudy Carpenter — the active Pac-10 leader in passing attempts, completed passes, passing yards, touchdown passes and 300-yard games — is licking his chops in anticipation.
What would be your strategy? More aggressive packages to get pressure on Carpenter (with the obvious risks if you don’t get there) or stay cautious and make them pay underneath?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR WILLIE MARTINEZ WASN’T AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS UNTIL AFTER TUESDAY’S PRACTICE. IN FAIRNESS, HERE’S MOST OF WHAT HE HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE BULLDOGS’ DEFENSIVE BREAKDOWNS LAST SATURDAY:
On being ranked 86th nationally against the pass:
“Are we ranked 86th nationally? OK. Where are we in the rush? [12th, he’s told]. That’s where you’ve really got to concentrate. Most games are won defending the run. Last year we gave up 140 yards and one 40-yard carry against South Carolina. To us, we thought that was the difference because they were able to hold onto the ball at the end and really hurt us in the running game… . We want them to throw the ball. Again, we want to execute better against the pass. We’ve got to be better, no doubt about it. We’ve got to stop giving up big plays.”
On S.C.’s late success throwing the ball:
“We blew three coverages. That was huge. You can’t do that. One guy making a mistake just breaks down the whole defense. They had four big plays and three came on the last three series. What concerns us is that we gave it to them. You can say what you want but must of the big stuff we gave to them because we blew coverages. That’s on us… . What concerns me is we weren’t able to execute the defense. One guy effected each one of those drives. Whether we were rushing enough or not, we mixed that up. We were rushing three, we were rushing five. We did six, we did seven. We knew the go-to guy was Jared Cook.
“The bottom line is we won and guys found away to make a play. That’s exciting. We needed some adversity. We needed to play a close ballgame. Those are positives you take from that. The concerning thing was we didn’t execute the defense. You can always talk about what-ifs.”
On whether line-up changes are imminent:
“There could be (personnel moves). But some of the guys that made mistakes earlier in the ballgame came back to make some big plays in the game, too. Heck, we’ve just got to execute better. That’s your challenge as a coach.
Were they too cautious going to a three-man fronts late in the game:
“No, because we bring pressure out of that. You sit there and do enough studying and ask enough offensive guys, they don’t know where the pressure is going to come from. It’s really a 3-4 defense. There could be eight guys coming or seven guys coming. There’s some illusion to it, too. You don’t klow who’s coming. You can rush, three, you can rush five, you can rush two.”
That’s enough about that. Here’s some links for your perusing pleasure:
Sun Devils down but not out
Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson said he hadn’t slept in two days at his weekly news conference on Monday. But him and Carpenter sound very motivated for Georgia… .
Ticket buzz in Tempe
According to georgiasports.blogspot.com via stubhub.com, the price of tickets for the Georgia-Arizona State game dropped because of the Sun Devils’ loss to UNLV. Of course, most Georgia fans snapped up their tickets long ago. Many resorted to buying ASU’s season-ticket special from earlier this year for just $99… .
Callaway battling
Here’s some good insight from Birmingham columnist Ray Melick on the work former Georgia line coach Neil Callaway is doing as head coach at UAB.
Wanna good laugh?
Check out the “look-alike threads” going back and forth on Arizona State’s Scout site. You’ll have to click on it to understand what it is but it’s definitely all in good fun.
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Richt: Polls won’t change his style
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m assuming that most of you out there were like me and not all that surprised that Georgia dropped yet again in the polls and now is No. 3. Tim Tucker, Jeff Schultz, Tony Barnhart and I were all talking about it as soon as we finished writing our stories after Saturday’s game in Columbia.
It’s just kind of the nature of the beast nowadays that pollsters treat their votes like a weekly beauty contest. Ralph Russo, who manages the Top 25 football poll for The Associated Press admitted as much.
Technically this latest setback does mean that Georgia could effectively be locked out of the BCS Championship game even if it escapes the regular season undefeated if Oklahoma and Southern Cal also remain unbeaten. But both Russo and coach Mark Richt were doubtful that could happen. As Richt said, he’s just trying to win the next game.
Anyway I wasn’t able to use most of what Richt had to say about it in my Sunday reportings so I’ll share the fully unabridged version of it with you here in Q&A form. As always, let me know what you think about it after you read through… .
Q: Were you surprised or disappointed that you dropped again?
Richt: “I’m really not worried about it. We can’t control it. We can control trying to win the Eastern Division, I said that way back. When you set goals you have to set goals you can control. That’s the only thing we can really control in this whole thing. You can control whatever game you’re playing. Like this week it’s a non-conference game. It doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not we win the East. But we want to win everygame we can and put ourselves in position to possibly be there in the end if we’re able to win the league. But so much time has to pass. So many games have to be played. We all know we have the type of schedule that will put us back in business if we’re able to take care of business. The question is, are we going to take care of business. But that’s everybody.
Q: Did you expect it?
Richt: “I’m not surprised that it could happen because you see that before. Everybody kind of wants to settle in and see where everybody thinks everybody belongs. It’s hard. Shoot, I’m a voter, too. It’s hard to know where to put everybody. You’ve got to play a few games. Once the games get started you get a little bit better taste but you still don’t know. You have people playing all over the place, different regions, different conferences. Some teams start with tougher opponents than others. It’s just very difficult to get a gauge on where everybody else is. Think about last year. How many Top 5 teams got beat last year? Everybody kept moving up by default.”
Q: Since the pollsters are so fickle, would you change your approach to games in which you’ve clearly gotten a team beaten in the fourth quarter? Would you leave in starters longer or kick an otherwise meaningless field goal?
Richt: I don’t think so. If it’s the 12th game of the year, maybe. But not before then.
Q: Are you concerned your players may feel the need to earn style points during games?
Richt: “They better worry about winning.”
Q: Has all the poll talk been a distraction in the locker room?
Richt: “It’s not been that bad in the locker room. It’s been harder outside the locker room with fans,” Richt said. “Like I told the team, the preseason polls are just kind of an arbitrary stab in the dark. As the season rolls on, everybody has a better idea who they want to vote for. There’s still an awful lot of football to be played. Our goal is just to continue to win.”
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Dogs pull out ugly 14-7 win
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Welcome to SEC play, Bulldog fans. Coach Mark Richt referred to Georgia’s games with South Carolina as bloodbaths. The teams left Williams-Brice Stadium with the field stained red.
This one followed the script of all the others. Tight. Ugly. Physical.
And most importantly for Georgia, a win for the 45th time in 61 games against the Gamecocks.
The No. 2-ranked Bulldogs needed an interception by safety Reshad Jones inside the Georgia 10 to preserve a 14-7 victory. The Bulldogs scored their first touchdown in nine quarters in the series on a fairly remarkable 4-yard Knowshon Moreno run. Moreno had only 79 yards on 20 carries. Stafford sacked four times.
South Carolina offense carved up Georgia’s secondary in second half. The Bulldogs will have to get that shored up before next Saturday’s game at Arizona State.
But like in NCAA basketball, the season is about survive and advance and the Bulldogs survived.
I’ll update with more stats soon but have to hustle down for interviews.
Until then… .
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Stafford key for Dogs today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Greetings from the press box high above the field at South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium. For the third week in a row the Bulldogs are going to encounter extremely hot and humid conditions. Nice blue sky dotted with fat cumulus clouds that look like they could grow into thunderheads given the chance. Fortunately for me — and I realize you all are concerned first and foremost about me — this is an enclosed and air-conditioned press box. But a beautiful day for football.
OK, to today’s game. While most eyes are going to be on Knowshon Moreno for Georgia — I’m sitting here watching him field punts in pregame warmups, by the way — the player Bulldogs fans need to be focusing on today is Matthew Stafford.
Quite frankly, Stafford hasn’t played well at all in his two games against the Gamecocks. Combined, he’s 27 of 63 (.429) for 384 yards with zero touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Based on those numbers the real surprise is that Georgia won either game.
Now Stafford’s first game against South Carolina is understandable. He was a true freshman thrown into the fire when senior starter Joe Tereshinski went down in the first quarter with a foot injury. He threw three interceptions in that one but none of them led to points in Georgia’s 18-0 win.
Last year he threw 25 incompletions in 44 attempts and, though victimized by a couple of drops — at least two of which would have been touchdowns — he was off target all day. Stafford will be facing virtually the same front seven for South Carolina that harassed him in that game last year. So, simply put, he has to play much better, more like the quarterback we’re used to seeing late in the season. And, of course, Georgia’s line has to give him time to operate.
That said, you can bet we’ll see a lot more of Moreno than we did last season, when he had 16 touches. Unlike last year at this time, he’s unquestioned as The Man. But if his game is working or not, Stafford’s will have to be.
STAY TUNED AS I’LL BE WITH YOU THE WHOLE GAME. CONTINUAL UPDATES PROVIDED IN COMMENTS BELOW!
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All signs point to close Georgia win
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, there’s not much left to say about Saturday’s game between No. 2 Georgia and South Carolina other than “something has to give.” Georgia leads the SEC in scoring (50.5 ppg) and offense (543.5 ypg). The Gamecocks lead the SEC in total defense (181.5 ypg) and pass defense (69.5).
I’ve been going over to Williams-Brice Stadium for years and have seen all kinds of wild things there. My first trip ever was the time Georgia’s James Jackson dropped the ball on the turf on the game’s last playing thinking the game had ended while it was still a live ball. Then David Pollack makes the sack-and-swipe touchdown at 2002 that required seeing a slow-motion replay on television to tell what happened. Last time the Bulldogs were over there quarterbak Joe Tereshinski gets hurt on like the first series and true freshman Matt Stafford ends up playing and throwing three interceptions. Somehow the Dogs pulled out an 18-0 win.
So I expect it to be wild and wacky because it usually is. Georgia would appear to be the much better team but that’s usually the case and it never usually works out that way. So I’m thinking the Dogs by less than a touchdown in a fairly low-scoring game.
But that’s just me. Let’s hear your predictions.
Here’s some other stuff from around the league… .
S.C. beat guys pick Dogs
Nothing really unusual about that. But Joe Person and Seth Emerson are good friends and I had to give them a hard time about their video preview of Saturday’s game. So enjoy.
Security issues for star players
It hasn’t happened yet to Knowshon Moreno or Matthew Stafford, but it seems just a matter of time before opposing fans bomdard their cell phones with nasty text messages — or do something worse. Apparently that’s the new trend in college sports. Florida’s Tim Tebow has had it happen more than once and now requires extra security. Even South Florida’s Matt Grothe has had similar issues. Price of fame I guess.
Tigers settle on quarterback
Chris Todd’s performance for Auburn this past weekend pretty much closed the book on the quarterback competition with Kodi Burns but coach Tommy Tuberville explains how both could still play in Saturday’s game against Mississippi State.
How to win your next argument
The next time someone says “We should have won but…,” here’s a handy guide on how to turn that point around and impress your friends. You have to scroll about halfway down.
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Does Spurrier strike fear in Dogs?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With South Carolina’s 16-12 win over Georgia in Sanford Stadium last season, coach Steve Spurrier improved to 12-3 against the Bulldogs in his head coaching career. That’s a fairly gaudy .800 winning percentage.
But obviously Spurrier hasn’t been able to work much magic since he’s been with the Gamecocks. They slipped to 6-6 and missed a bowl game last year and were 15-10 his first two seasons.
Oddly enough, offense has been South Carolina’s biggest shortcoming under Spurrier. Their defenses have been great but it seems every season they’ve been unsettled at quarterback and inconsistent on offense. Spurrier was actually asked this week by AP writer Rick Scoppe if he thought the modern-day offensive game had passed him by. I thought Spurrier was fairly gracious in the way he answered that.
“The way we play offense you’d say that,” he said. “But there’s a lot of teams sputtering a lot now on offense Two years ago our offense was pretty good, but it ain’t been good enough. When I had a bunch of guys running around scoring a bunch of points I was a real good coach. Right now I don’t have a bunch of guys scoring a whole lot of points and I’m not a good coach. That’s just the way life is and I accept it. I have no problem with the complaints.”
So what do you Bulldogs fans think? For you, is Spurrier stilled the feared “Evil Genius” that has terrorized Georgia for so many years? Will he ever be able to do at South Carolina what he did at Florida? Is it just a Georgia thing for him?
Meanwhile, here’s a look at some other stories
Might Garcia play vs. Dogs?
According to the Columbia State newspaper there is at least an outside chance the Bulldogs could see redshirt freshman quarterback Stephen Garcia on Saturday. Until the middle of this week, the talk had been of quarterbacks Chris Smelley and Tommy Beecher sharing snaps against Georgia. But the State quotes Beecher as saying he hasn’t been getting much work with the first team offense but Garcia has. Garcia, you may recall, was a four-star recruit out of Tampa but was suspended indefinitely after several run-ins with the law. National TV against No. 2-ranked Georgia in a rivalry game would be one heck of a way to get started.
Devils: Bring on Georgia
An interesting sidebar developing out in Tempe. Seems some of Arizona State’s fans didn’t like Chick-fil-A breaking out “Bring On Georgia” signs during the Sun Devils’ game against Stanford last weekend, especially when they learned Chick-fil-A is headquartered in Atlanta. As it turns out it was merely the local operators out there trying to drum up enthusiasm and not a grand conspiracy to fire up Georgia.
Lumpkin to play for Packers
It looks like former Bulldog tailback Kregg Lumpkin has landed on his feet in Green Bay. An undrafted free agent after an injury-marred career at Georgia, Lumpkin made the Packers’ roster and now is running first team after injuries to Green Bay’s top two running backs. The hope out there is that Ryan Grant and Brandon Jackson may get back. But Lump and his coaches believe he’s ready if needed.
Dogs fall to 8th in merchandising
Alan Thomas, Georgia’s marketing and promotions czar, told me not long ago that the Bulldogs had fallen from the top few spots nationally when it comes to merchandising. Just a few years ago Georgia was third and led all SEC schools. According to the latest figures from Collegiate Licensing Company UGA has fallen to eighth. Texas, as it has been for a while now, remains No. 1 and Florida and LSU are 3 and 4, respectively. Asked about the drop, Thomas asked a rhetorical question: “What have those schools done lately that we haven’t?” That’d be win a national title, of course.
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Dogs’ D: Just average or still undetermined?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s hard to draw many conclusions off of two games whether they come against a pair of Top 10 teams or a couple of Sisters of the Poor. But early returns on Georgia’s defense after games against Georgia Southern and Central Michigan don’t offer much evidence that coach Willie Martinez’s unit is going to be much more than average this season.
After playing a rebuilding Division I-AA team and the two-time MAC champions the Bulldogs are ranked in the bottom third of the SEC in almost every defensive category. Entering Saturday’s game at South Carolina, they stand ninth in the league in points allowed (19.0 pg), eighth in rushing defense (80.5 ypg), ninth in passing defense (219.0 ypg) and ninth in total defense (299.5 ypg).
Again, Georgia hasn’t played a BCS conference team yet.
Comparatively, Saturday’s opponent, South Carolina, has played N.C. State and Vanderbilt. The Gamecocks lead the league in total defense (181.5) and pass defense (69.5). Florida is giving up just 6.5 ppg and ranks 12th nationally in total defense after games against Hawaii and Miami. Auburn has allowed a total of 13 points to Louisiana-Monroe and Southern Miss. Kentucky has allowed only five points after facing Louisville and Norfolk State.
Now granted, very little in football is like comparing apples to apples or even apples to oranges. Obviously Georgia was ahead 38-0 in the Georgia Southern game and 28-0 against Central Michigan. And the Chippewas will likely be one of Division I-A’s most prolific offenses again this season behind quarterback Dan LeFevour. But let’s face it, if you’re the No. 2 team in the land and defense is supposed to a big reason for that ranking, you expect to see them shut down non-BCS opponents and probably a few conference teams as well. So far that hasn’t happened.
Martinez has been Georgia’s D-coordinator since Brian VanGorder bolted after the 2004 season. In the NCAA rankings his units have finished 8th, 20th and18th against the score and 18th, 8th and 14th in yards allowed the last three seasons. Currently they’re 48th and 45th, respectively.
So what do you think you think? Does Georgia have issues on defense this season? Do you have confidence in Martinez as coordinator? Do you need to see a couple more games to form an opinion?
PRACTICE UPDATES COMING LATER.
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Now we see what Dogs are made of
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The first two games of the season have been fun and somewhat revealing for Georgia. In general, you’d have to say the Bulldogs’ offense looks a little better than expected and the defense not quite as good as expected.
But even those conclusions are more hypothesis than fact. We’ll know a lot more after Saturday’s game against South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium.
“We’re starting Southeastern Conference play and that’s really a new beginning for us,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said at his weekly news conference Tuesday. “The first conference game of the year is very meaningful us. It’s a source of excitement for our players and our staff. I can feel it already and it’s only Tuesday. And it comes against the team we always play first and one that’s always kind of a bloodbath for some reason.”
Say what you will about what the Gamecocks’ defense did at Vanderbilt. It still leads the SEC in almost every defensive category — including total D (181.5 ypg) — and South Carolina always plays Georgia tough, especially in Columbia. Conversely, the Gamecocks are still struggling on offense and unsettled at quarterback. Who would have thought that would be the annual theme for Steve Spurrier at South Carolina?
But the tests don’t stop with the Gamecocks. The Dogs are now getting into the teeth of the schedule so many people are saying might be the toughest in the land. After South Carolina, Georgia is at Arizona State (2-0, vs. UNLV this Saturday), then back home against Alabama (2-0, v. W. Kentucky) and, after a week off, gets Tennessee (0-1, v. UAB) at home.
So which of those next four opponents concerns you the most? Let’s hear your thoughts.
EDITOR’S NOTE: To continue this conversation, join Chip Towers’ Tuesday UGA Blog by clicking here.
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Richt: ESPN ‘didn’t do their homework’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For those of you wondering why ESPN didn’t run Knowshon Moreno’s hurdling highlight on either SportsCenter or its College Football Final shows highlights Saturday night, Georgia coach Mark Richt was wondering, too.
Moreno literally leaped over Central Michigan safety Vince Agnew in full stride during the Bulldogs’ 56-17 win at Sanford Stadium. You can see the play RIGHT HERE via YouTube. Afterward Richt said it was one of the most amazing moves he’d seen in all his years and he looked forward to seeing it on SportsCenter that night. Trouble was, ESPN didn’t bother showing it.
ESPN buried Georgia’s game deep within its broadcast and, when it finally got around to the nation’s No. 2 team, quickly ran through the 78-yard interception return by Demarcus Dobbs, the first TD catch by Mohamed Massaquoi and Moreno’s 52-yard TD run in which he stiff-arms a defender to spring him down the sideline.
But the play that left everybody awestruck was a no-show.
I asked Richt about its omission on his weekly Sunday teleconference call and it initiated a pretty interesting exchange between me, him, an “ESPN guy” and a “Fox guy.”
Was he surprised they didn’t show it?
Richt: “Yeah. They missed the boat or didn’t do their homework or whatever. I don’t know how they couldn’t have noticed that as thorough as it seems like that are most of the time. But it’s going to make our highlights for a long time.”
Then Brett Jensen of “TotalUGA.com,” a website that covers Georgia athletics for ESPN, piped in.
Jensen: “I spoke to some people up in Connecticut about that today. They said Fox, who had control of the game, didn’t put that in that highlight in the highlight package they sent up to the satellite.”
Richt: “You’re kidding me? [Starts laughing] Oh, so you throw Fox under the bus? I threw you under the bus and now you throw Fox under the bus. That’s the way it works.”
Then Dean Legge, whose website georgia.scout.com is in the Fox family, chimes in? “They had cameras there. They could have pulled it off the satellite.”
Richt: “Maybe it just wasn’t that good of a play. I don’t know. I thought it was pretty good.”
Another reporter asks: “So ESPN is back under the bus?”
Richt: [Laughs] “I think they’re both under the bus now.”
What do you think? Minor oversight? Major oversight? ESPN conspiracy against Georgia?
For what it’s worth, Moreno told reporters after practice Monday hadn’t heard about the oversight and doesn’t watch TV anyway. “I’m not here to make highlights,” he said.
Some other notes:
Demarcus Dobbs said he timed his 78-yard touchdown interception and it was “a respectable” 12 seconds… .
Saw Jeff Owens in the weight room Monday — yes, he’d been lifting — and he said he was undergoing knee surgery Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. at St. Mary’s Hospital. Said he was “a little scared” but not looking forward to no food or drink after midnight.
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Moreno hurdles Dogs to 56-17 win
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Knowshon Moreno’s Heisman Trophy campaign was officially launched here at Sanford Stadium.
Literally.
His leap over the head of the poor, unfortunate safety from Central Michigan (Vince Agnew) was a play for the ages. That it came on a third-down in the middle of a 99-yard scoring drive about three-quarters of the way through a 56-17 win over Central Michigan is merely icing. Moreno finished with 168 yards on 18 carries and three touchdowns.
Coach Mark Richt told me last week that Georgia wasn’t going to throw up any billboards promoting Knowshon for college football’s big prize. “We prefer to let their performances speak for themselves,” Richt said.
That little run did some talking.
“Those kinds of numbers and that kind of style gets people’s attention,” Richt said after the game. “He has some of those ingredients, playing on a that’s winning, getting a lot of yards rushing and receiving and doing it with style.”
Moreno actually hasn’t played much so far, roughly about four quarters in the first two games. But he has 310 all-purpose yards and six TDs in that time.
On a different note, I was shocked to see that ESPN SportsCenter did not run the highlight of Moreno’s hurdling run. It wasn’t among Georgia’s game highlights and, again, shockingly, didn’t make their Top 10 Plays of the Day. Obviously the “World Wide Leader” wasn’t paying attention and completely dropped the ball.
How about Georgia’s overall result Saturday? Do you like that better than the Georgia Southern game?
There was a lot of grousing after Georgia gave up 21 late points in a 45-21 win of Division I-AA opponent Georgia Southern last week. This week, the Bulldogs gave up 17 points in the middle quarters on the way to a stress-free victory.
College football fans know the Chippewas are no chumps. Offensively they’re one of the nation’s top-producing teams behind their skillful quarterback Dan LeFevour. He was pretty good today, too: 23-of-43 for 250 yards, 2 TDs and an interception. Also 19 yards rushing.
But that all paled to Georgia’s offensive onslaught. Last week they had 535 total yards. This week it was 552. Another solid game from QB Matt Stafford — 18-28 for 213 and 2 TDs.
Should be interesting when they meet a real defense in South Carolina next week.
I’ll be back. See you then!
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Dogs hope to handle heat better
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s an hour before kickoff here at Sanford Stadium and it looks like it’s going to be another scorcher for Georgia-Central Michigan.
Strength and conditioning coordinator Dave Van Halanger was telling me he was extremely concerned before last week’s game against Georgia Southern when the Georgia players came into the locker room after the first session of warmups with their sweat puddling at the knees of their football pants. He said started running yelling “hyrdrate, guys, hydrate.” As we all know now many Dogs cramped up, including one named Knowshon, and Georgia seemed to run out of gas late, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
Conditions are remarkably similar today. CMR was glad to see a heatwave pass through Athens earlier this week and he made of point of working the Bulldogs hard on the Field Turf practice fields so they’d have to endure maximum temperatures. The hope is that they’ll be better conditioned for today’s game.
And they’ll need to be. Central Michigan’s spread offense, led by record-setting quarterback Dan LeFevour, is going to test the Dogs’ defense way more than it was last week against Georgia Southern. You can bet they’ll be having to cover some ground to keep the Chippewas at bay.
But let’s be clear. I think there is about a 1 percent chance of CMU pulling off an upset today. What hasn’t been talked about this week is how bad its defense is. Hence, 45, 52 and 70 points in games against Purdue and Clemson last season. And whatever heat the teams are having to endure today, it has to be worse for the team from Mt. Pleasant, Mich.
But as we found out last week, style points matter to fickle pollsters. With that in mind, let’s hear it folks. Name the score. Do the Dogs win big? How many points do the Chippewas score? Does Georgia have to win by 50 to keep its No. 2 national ranking?
REMEMBER, I’M GOING TO BE WITH YOU ALL GAME LONG, RIGHT HERE ON THE 50-YARD LINE IN THE PRESS BOX ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF SANFORD STADIUM… .
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Return to No. 1 could be a while
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, but there’s a good chance Georgia will not regain the No. 1 ranking until after the bowl games even if it goes undefeated this season.
The fact is, if Southern Cal beats Ohio State on Sept. 13 (the Trojans have a bye this week) they’re very unlikely to lose again. As long as they don’t it will be difficult for the Bulldogs to overtake them.
If Georgia also manages to go undefeated it will have negotiated a much more difficult schedule. But that doesn’t necessarily mean pollsters will adjust accordingly, not if they still believe USC is the more talented squad. Here’s the remaining schedules side-by-side:
Date —USC —Georgia
9/6— off —Central Michigan
9/13 —Ohio State — @South Carolina
9/20—off—@Arizona State
9/25,27—@Oregon State—Alabama
10/4—Oregon—off
10/11—Arizona St. —Tennessee
10/18 —@ Wash. St—Vanderbilt
10/25—@Arizona—@LSU
11/1 —Washington—Florida (Jacksonville)
11/8—California—@Kentucky
11/15—@Stanford—@Auburn
11/22—off—off
11/29—Notre Dame—Georgia Tech
12/6—@UCLA—SEC Champ.
As you can see, the Dogs appear to have the tougher slate (who really knows until we get well into the season). But strength of schedule is an undefined intangible in human polls and not directly accounted for in the BCS formula.
The best news for Georgia is it would be no worse than No. 2, and No. 2 is all that matters with the system such as it is.
Now some links:
CMU QB blogs
Not that one. Dan LeFevour’s backup, senior quarterback Brian Brunner, puts up a weekly blog on the school’s website called Blogging with Brunner. Say this for the kid, he has a good vocabulary.
Games were shorter
According to a study done by cfbstats.com and wizofodd.com college football games were shorter as a result of the new 40-second clock. There also were fewer plays so, effectively, fans were getting less action for their buck.
And finally …
Mark Richt launches website
That’s right, the Bulldogs’ coach has joined the ranks of most of his brethren and launched his own website markricht.com. He’s supposed to have a weekly blog but, unless I missed it, he hasn’t started that yet. Be patient. It takes time to download because there’s a lot of bells and whistles on it it such as music and videos. Overall, though, pretty cool.
PRACTICE UPDATE BELOW IN COMMENTS.
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2009 Dogs could be even better
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It may seem early to be talking about this but there is a good chance that Georgia could be an even better football team next season.
Think about it. The Bulldogs will be returning their entire starting offensive line (with Trinton Sturdivant back at left tackle) and all the backups up front. A.J. Green and Tavarres King will be seasoned sophomore receivers. Should junior quarterback Matthew Stafford and sophomore tailback Knowshon Moreno come back, that’s a seriously explosive offense. And even if they don’t, with a line like that, Georgia should be just fine with Caleb King and Richard Samuel and incoming freshman Washaun Ealey in the backfield and Joe Cox or Logan Gray or Aaron Murray under center.
Defensively, now you have defensive tackle Jeff Owens coming back for a fifth season to start alongside Geno Atkins (provided be doesn’t bolt for the NFL) with Kade Weston and Brandon Wood and DeAngelo Tyson and Ricardo Crawford providing depth. Rod Battle and Justin Houson man the ends. The Dogs will miss Dannell Ellerbe at middle linebacker but will have seven returnees besides, including Rennie Curran. And you lose only CJ Byrd from the secondary (provided the Asher Allen and/or Reshad Jones don’t skip to the pros).
In all there are 53 freshmen and sophomores on scholarship on the current roster and the Bulldogs just played 20 freshmen in the season opener. So that’s a lot of experience coming back.
Meanwhile, the schedule also gets a little better, though it’s still a very attractive one. The Dogs open at Oklahoma State on Sept. 5, pick up Arkansas for Alabama, play Arizona State at home and have an open date before the Florida game.
The point is, it all adds up to another pretty good team. There is a lot of script still to be written this season but the Dogs ought to be in the championship conversation again next year.
Now, a brief look around the SEC… .
Gustav damages Tiger Stadium
More than likely it will not effect Saturday’s game between Troy and LSU in Baton Rouge but Tiger Stadium incurred some damage from Hurricane Gustav and has officials huddling about how to handle it.
Bama on SI cover
Specifically, tailback Glen Coffee as writer Austin Murphy features “the beatdown in A-Town,” as they’re calling the Tide’s 34-10 win over Clemson. Coach Nick Saban the Bama faithful frothing again. With only Tulane, Western Kentucky and Arkansas between the Tide and their Sept. 27th date at Georgia, it should be an undefeated, highly-ranked and confident bunch that arrives in Athens.
Smelley to start for Gamecocks
Chris Smelley will start under center for South Carolina tomorrow night at Vanderbilt. One’s left to wonder why Smelley, who takes over for an injured Tommy Beecher, wasn’t the starter all along. Columbia State columnist Ron Morris weighs in on coach Steve Spurrier’s seemingly never-ending quarterback controversies.
Harvin heals for Hurricanes
Florida wide receiver/running back Percy Harvin has healed from his heel injury just in time for Saturday’s game against Miami. Things are working out quite nicely for the Gators, who will have a bye week for heading up to Tennessee in Week 4.
Luck dries up for Vols
Nashville Tennessean columnist David Climer figures Tennessee must have used up all its luck last season during its surprising run to the Georgia Dome. All the breaks seemed to go UCLA’s way on Monday night.
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Coaches drop Dogs to No. 2
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So Georgia’s reign at No. 1 lasted one week. The Bulldogs fell to No. 2 in both the USA Today/Coaches’ and Associated Press rankings, which were released Tuesday. Southern Cal, which won 52-7 at Virginia Saturday, leapfrogged to the top spot. Georgia defeated I-AA opponent Georgia Southern 45-21.
Anticipating this, I had a chance to talk to coach Mark Richt shortly before the poll actually came out.
“That wouldn’t surprise me,”he said.
Asked if it’d matter to him, Richt said, “No, I don’t care. It’d probably be a blessing I’d think.”
The USA Today/Coaches’ poll is part of the BCS formula that determines what two teams play for the national championship. The AP, a poll of writers and broadcasters, does not.
I talked to several players at the press luncheon today and they, too, didn’t seem to concerned about it. Keep in mind, this was also before the rankings were actually released.
“The rankings right now are not too important,” said sophomore center Chris Davis. “I mean, it feels good to be No. 1 and you want to stay No. 1 the whole year. But it all depends on where you’re ranked in December. We’re just worried about Central Michigan eight now. It’s a good team that has the capability of beating us. So we can’t look at polls or this and that. We have to focus on Central Michigan and getting better.”
That was pretty much the same thing said by Matthew Stafford, Reshad Jones and Knowshon Moreno, who I also asked about.
I heard from a lot of you when I said this was a possibility. What about now that it’s reality? Were the Dogs wronged?
PRACTICE UPDATES BELOW!
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Dogs could get jumped in polls
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The new Top 25 rankings are not due to come out until Tuesday since Tennessee is playing at UCLA tonight. But there is already a lot of talk that Georgia could fall out of the No. 1 spot.
It’s not so much what the Bulldogs did or didn’t do in their opener against Georgia Southern as what the other Top 5 teams did. All of them won, some more impressively than others. Southern Cal was particularly impressive. The Trojans, ranked third in the AP poll (second in the USA Today/Coaches) won 52-7 at Virginia. That prompted one blogger I read to write, “if there are two teams better than USC they’re in the NFC East.”
No. 2 Ohio State won 43-0 over Youngstown State, No. 4 Oklahoma won 57-2 over UT-Chattanooga and No. 5 Florida won 56-10 over Hawaii. So everybody romped.
Georgia was pretty well cruising, too, until coach Mark Richt called off the Dogs late in the third quarter leading 38-0. The Eagles responded by scoring on touchdowns on three of their next four drives en route to a 45-21 final.
Richt has said repeatedly he’s not interesting in trying to “earn style points” with regard to performing for pollsters. But there’s a good chance there could be some poll movement because the Bulldogs’ margin by which they were named No. 1 was so slim. They got 22 No. 1 votes to Ohio State’s 21 and Southern Cal’s 12 in the AP poll. Georgia had 22 No. 1 votes in the Coaches poll with Southern Cal and Ohio State getting 14 each in that one.
The point is, it won’t take but a couple of folks to change their minds and suddenly the Dogs are looking up at somebody else in the polls. Should that be the case? Would you care if that Georgia dropped a spot or two? Many have said that’s bound to happen anyway in Week 3 when the Buckeyes play at Southern Cal.
Richt sees Bama up close
Alabama looked great in its 34-10 win over Clemson Saturday night. Georgia coach Mark Richt was there to see his son Jon Richt dress out for his first college game (Jon’s redshirting this season) and claims he didn’t notice much about the Crimson Tide.
“Watching that game I didn’t even notice the other team,” quipped Richt, who viewed from a Georgia Dome suite high above the field. “No, they were very impressive, but that’s for another day.”
Richt is cautious with his remarks about the game because he had to get a special waiver from the SEC’s scouting rule in order to be able to attend and see his son. Alabama visits Georgia on Sept. 27.
Tide O-lineman hurt
Speaking of Bama, star offensive lineman Andre Smith had to leave the game with a knee injury but early reports indicate it wasn’t that bad, according to the Mobile Press-Register.
Harvin to return
It looks like Florida may get WR Percy Harvin and LB Brandon Spikes back for this week’s game against Miami in The Swamp, according to the Gainesville Sun. Tim Tebow was impressive in the 56-10 win over Hawaii, particularly because he actually distributed the ball more than he carried it. Not that it should take away from the Gators’ performance but this year’s Hawaii team is a fraction of the one that lost only one game all last season to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl 41-10. No more June Jones, no Colt Brennan, most of their receivers, three of their starting linemen. You just can’t compare.
Kentucky looking strong
Don’t look now but Kentucky might be a team to contend with this season. The Wildcats’ D looked positively dominant in a win 27-2 win over rival Louisville on Sunday. Then again, the Cardinals haven’t looked very good at all since Steve Kragthorpe took over. According to the Lexington-Herald’s Mark Story they’re about ready to run Kragthorpe out of town.
REMEMBER PRACTICE UPDATES COMING BELOW LATER.
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