SB Nation's Texas A&M Blogger Reviews Independence Bowl
Methinks someone is suffering from just a wee bit of SEC envy. If it bothers Big 12 fans so much that we're so proud of our league, they may want to stop all the premature bragging about how they've surpassed us.
By the way, "Glory, Glory" is set to the tune of a campfire spiritual written circa 1855. It was not until five and six years later, respectively, that the tune was used along with the lyrics to the songs that became "John Brown's Body" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
In other words, we didn't borrow our fight song from the U.S. Army; both we and the U.S. Army borrowed the music from a religious song and appropriated it to our own purposes.
Go 'Dawgs!
about 2 years ago
T Kyle King
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I was away...
on vacation in Malaysia, but I thought Georgia won the game. However, when I read the A&M blogger’s review, I was sure A&M crushed UGA and gloriously defended the Big 12 name.
Curious review of the game
I think we can all agree the SEC Speed thing is silly. Of course, we were all agreeing about that back in 2004 when the CFB blogosphere was starting to get big. I really thought we’d all moved on from that, except to occasionally make fun of the MSM. Our DL was plenty fast though; their QB was impressive but we chased him around all night. One wonders what our defense might have done with a good defensive coaching staff in place, yes?
AJ did not have his best game, but by his own comments I believe was far from 100%, and well our passing game is sort of hit and miss on account of inconsistent line and QB play. He’s right that the current SEC QB crop is unspectacular. . .but I think we all agreed on that preseason as well. And our unspectacular offense still hung 37 points on them, special teams aided or not.
I appreciate game takes from other parts of the virtual world, but it does come off a little sour grapesy.
May the wings of liberty never lose a feather
Agreed, peacedog
While we certainly have our conference pride (as most conferences do), it has been my experience that the ratio of non-SEC fans who grumble about “SEC speed” to SEC fans who tout it runs somewhere in the neighborhood of twelve or 15 to one.
I’ll put it this way: I respect the Big 12 as a conference and I think I’m as critical of the SEC during its down years as I am of other leagues, but my postgame writeup had a lot more to do with Georgia and Texas A&M than it did with the SEC and the Big 12.
Go 'Dawgs!
It was a down year for the SEC, but we could also say the same about the Big 12. Outside of Florida and Bama which even had their own weaknesses, it was a group of mediocre to pretty good teams, all with definite flaws.
I think the blogger used an example of their running back being fast, but that isn’t really what the SEC speed argument was about. Everyone agreed that most conferences had speed at the skill positions. It was the SEC’s perceived/legitimate advantage in fast big guys like DEs, DTs, etc.
Furthermore, I couldn’t help but remember the TT-Bama game (Cotton Bowl) a few years ago when it was the high-flying offense vs. a staunch SEC defense and Bama won that game and shut down Tech’s air assault.
And this is a crappy group of SEC QB’s.
Scenarios under which A&M wins
1. Yards count, but points don’t.
2. Scoring stops at the end of the first half, special teams touchdowns don’t count, neither do field goals.
Under either scenario, I’d be happy to admit that we would have lost. A&M played a fine game in two phases (and played terribly on special teams). They played ably, cleanly, and with discipline that shows that they are well-coached. They have great athletes on both sides of the ball and seriously over-achieved on defense in the first half.
But UGA won by 24, and it would have been 30 if the starters stayed in. It was a beat down, even if the game was closer than the scoreboard.
That said, I kind of admire a dude who will call out A.J. Green as “average.” That kind of criticism – following on the heels of the only average game he played all year – will hopefully motivate him to elevate his game even beyond its current dominance. Big players make big plays in big games. Average is is average does, game by game.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if most teams in the Big XII would trade all of their receivers and their QB to have A.J. on the team. As he showed this year, a great WR makes an average QB afloat.
Why are you mentioning an article from the preseason?
It was a down year for college football overall. SEC was still the best conference IMO. Not saying a lot this year but still the best.
I said before the game that I wanted A&M to face UGA because I wanted our freshmen to get an idea of what kind of athletes they will be facing if they want to compete on a national level. I was a little surprised at how well we acquitted ourselves. If we don’t melt down on special teams it woulda been a he’ll of a game. Still a big plus for our guys to see what kind of effort is needed against teams with top 15 talent. Once yal get a QB your team will be excellent again (gotta belive this coming season).
Would like to thank all the classy UGA fans I ran into. Was an enjoyable weekend.
The SEC chant does get old. Think y’all should cheer your team on more than the conference. No other conference in America chants out there name after their team wins (or in your case after your team makes a big play).
Wish we could play you guys the next two years to see how we have advanced as a program. This may have been a mediore year for your team overall but your talent is still good so you are still a good measuring stick.
by miketag on Jan 2, 2010 7:16 PM EST via mobile reply actions
I appreciate that, miketag . . .
. . . and I cite the preseason article because it illustrates a mindset that grates on SEC fans as much as the “S! E! C!” chant evidently grates on non-SEC fans. Beergut, who is a friend and colleague of mine, spent most of his postgame recap running down the SEC. I spent none of my postgame recap running down the Big 12. When every other fan in college football appears to hate your conference, it instills a sense of “us against them” league-wide pride. If non-SEC teams that played Georgia could just make it about playing Georgia and not about playing the SEC, we’d spend a lot more time chanting “U! G! A!”
Games between Georgia and Texas A&M the next couple of years would indeed be fun to watch. Clearly, there is a ton of talent at the skill positions for the Aggies and the steady improvement of a young team in College Station this season certainly suggests that good coaching is having its intended effect. The Big 12 South is a tough division, but Texas A&M clearly is a program on the rise and I wish the Aggies the best of luck in the future.
Go 'Dawgs!
I think y’all will have a noticable improvement in play at the QB spot next year. Along with that Da-Rick whatever his name is arriving at WR, y’all should be a 10+ win team next year. That’s what I expect to see anyways.
by miketag on Jan 3, 2010 11:51 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
that would be nice, but if it is our Redshirt, I just hope he's protected well and the run game is solid
to gve him a good starting year. He doesnt have to lead the offense in yards, just run it effectively. The O line and run game need to be strong to allow him to grow and gain confidence next year.
thanks miketag for the postive vibe
"Sometimes, you just can't get rid of a bomb." - batman
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