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 > October > 20
Monday, October 20, 2008
Dogs deal with BCS, LSU, DUI
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s a lot to get to regarding Georgia football this week, what with the first BCS standings coming out, that little trip to Baton Rouge on Saturday and the unexpected disciplinary news early Sunday morning. So I’m just going to kind of clear it all out at once based on our Sunday night teleconference call with Coach Mark Richt. Then we’ll have a nice clean slate with which to dive into the rest of the week.
Sound all right? OK. Here’s your Monday Morning Ten to go with your morning coffee:
(1) I would assume foremost on most Bulldogs’ minds is the DUI arrest of defensive tackle Brandon Wood in the wee hours Sunday morning. According to CMR, Wood had been parked in his car on the edge of downtown Athens waiting to pickup his girlfriend and another friend to take them home. He had his parking lights on as he waited and forgot to turn on his headlights as they drove back to East Campus Village dormitory. UGA police pulled over Wood for driving without headlights. Wood, who is 21, was determined to have alcohol in his system and was arrested for DUI. (Note: It was UGA police and the report wasn’t available Sunday. We’ll get it sometime Monday.)
Meanwhile injured offensive lineman Vince Vance also was arrested but for an incredibly minor offense. He allegedly had an expired driver’s license (his birthday was the 11th and he didn’t have it renewed, CMR said). Apparently state law recently changed where that’s an now an arresting offense. If that’s all it is I hate to even bring it up.
Anyway, for those keeping count that’s 10 football players arrested in 2008. To be fair, three had charges dropped or dismissed and one had a DUI charge reduced to reckless driving. Three players were dismissed from the team.
CMR seemed more disappointed than outraged over this latest setback. He was asked if there was anything he could do to prevent such incidents. “I don’t think I can. It’s individuals that are making decisions. When they make a mistake we discipline them and we educate them. It wasn’t like he wasn’t aware. He knew the deal and he made a bad judgment.”
Wood, a 6-1, 290-pound redshirt sophomore from Buchanan, was playing a lot as part of a four-man rotation at the two interior tackle spots. CMR said Wood will miss at least the LSU game. It didn’t sound like it’d be much beyond that. CMR reminded reporters that athletic association policy dictated an automatic one-game suspension.
(2) The good news for the Dogs is junior DT Kade Weston is back. He was available but didn’t play against Vandy due to a sore knee that forced him out of some games earlier this season. CMR said Kade is OK and will definitely be ready Saturday… .
(3) LB Dannell Ellerbe (knee), TE Tripp Chandler (shoulder) and WR Kris Durham (ankle) all have a “good chance” of playing against LSU, CMR said.
(4) Dogs are glad LSU game was set for 3:30 EST rather than 7:45. “Mainly so we could get home at a decent hour and get a decent night’s sleep,” CMR said. Never mind that you NEVER want to play the Tigers at night in Death Valley.
(5) CMR on the Dogs’ No. 7 ranking in the BCS (which was actually better than most projections I saw): “Seven games in I think it’s good that we’re ranked in the top 10. But as we all know there’s so much more to be played. And I don’t know how meaningful it is right now. We’re really just concentrating on the LSU game, period. We’re trying to go 7-1. We’re just trying to keep ourselves in good shape in the SEC East.”
(6) CMR is concerned about the matchup with LSU’s D-line, pointing out that the Tigers start three seniors and a junior and back them up with two seniors, a junior and a sophomore. “Their youngest matches our oldest,” he quipped.
(7) CMR said he’d taper down contact in practices the next few weeks because they’re so thin. “We have to make sure we get to the game without losing anybody else. This is about the time you have to be real careful.” Understandable since Georgia has had 10 different players miss games with injuries.
(8) Asked why no tight ends have caught passes in the last few weeks, CMR said it was a byproduct of pass protection and injuries. Chandler’s out and Bruce Figgins (shoulder) is playing hurt. But mainly they’re using seven-man protections by keeping in a TE and a back and just throwing to three wideouts. He noted that the OL is doing well and there have been no sacks the last two games.
(9) Asked why so many toss sweeps lately, CMR said “we block it well” and noted that Knowshon Moreno runs them well. “It allows Knowshon to really stretch things and all the sudden there’s a vertical seam. He’s just good at putting his foot in the ground and knowing when to crease it.”
(10) CMR acknowledged sophomore CB Vance Cuff played a lot in the second half for junior Bryan Evans and could play more going forward. So could freshman Brandon Boykin. “Coach Martinez has been wanting to play Cuff more and Boykin more because they are high-energy guys and have ability. Games get so tight sometimes you don’t get as many guys in as you’d like. But to say [Cuff is] going to be a mainstay would be premature.”
So there ya go, 10 quick hits. Hit back all y’all want.
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