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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2008 > September > 04
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Time for the D to step up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Saturday the Dawgs face another high-octane spread offense led by a non-BCS conference quarterback with incredibly gaudy statistics that have Georgia’s players comparing him with Heisman winner Tim Tebow.
Good, I’m glad the UGA coaches have made sure Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour has the Bulldogs’ attention. There’s always the danger of not taking these early games against a team from a lesser conference seriously enough.
Last time Georgia tangled with one of these statistical supermen, he wound up sitting slackjawed on the sideline as his team was completely demolished by a relentless Dawg rush in the Sugar Bowl.
Something tells me LeFevour, who ran for over a thousand yards last season in addition to passing for more than 3,600 yards, might be a bit tougher to handle than the more highly publicized Colt Brennan, who pretty much just stood back there and slung the ball on every play.
I don’t have any doubt Georgia can score on Central Michigan, but it would be nice (especially considering how slippery it is up there near the top of the polls) not to get into a shootout with these guys. As Coach Richt said after last week’s game, Georgia’s down linemen will need to do a better job of bringing pressure against a veteran quarterback this week. Because of the heat and humidity, some of the Dawgs defense appeared to check out early during the Georgia Southern game. Here’s a chance for them to make up for it and live up to their preseason billing by shutting down the Chippewas’ Mr. Everything decisively for an entire four quarters.
BETWEEN THE HEDGES: Nicest thing about walking into the stadium for last week’s season opener in Athens was finding the price of something actually had gone down! The game programs, which had been going for $6 in recent years, are now just $5. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes has taken over UGA program sales, which had been slipping, and my brother Jon, who’s involved in the FCA, tells me the organization will get some of the proceeds that it plans to apply to scholarships for athletic camps. With all the new faces showing up in the lineup, a program comes in handy, and now there’s more reason to buy one. … One change at Sanford Stadium wasn’t an improvement. Instead of following up the increasingly popular “Saturday Night’s Alright” video highlights reel (which the crowd has really started getting into) with the usual classy “Baba O’Riley” kickoff lead-in, they went for a forgettably generic heavy-metal approach that pretty much dissipated the excitement. “Baba” instead was used in abbreviated form before the fourth quarter. Not a good move. … Fans driving home after the game now have a choice of UGA call-in programs. The WSB-led Georgia Bulldog Radio Network has incorporated a “Dog Talk” feature into the post-game show, leading Athens affiliate WNGC (106.1 FM) to cut out early and move up the start of its traditional “Fifth Quarter Show” with David Johnston and UGA kicking legend Kevin Butler. Flipping back and forth between the two during the first week, I found the somewhat more loose-cannon comments by Butler more entertaining, but it’s nice to be able to switch from one to the other during the many commercial breaks.
