Don't Bet On It!: Week Ten College Football Forecasts for the National Games of Interest
by T Kyle King on Nov 1, 2010 9:33 PM EDT
in Football
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PrintMy SEC Power Poll and BlogPoll ballots have been cast scrapped, and I have taken you lacked the will to take you around the SEC, but now it is time to buck up and look at the national games of interest. All right, Saturday stunk, but, as was pointed out in one of the comment threads, tomorrow is another day, so it’s time to climb off the mat and get back to being college football fans again.
I was 3-3 in last week’s non-conference forecasts, which dropped my national prognosticating ledger for the season to 29-18, which ought to make it clear why I issue the following weekly warning: Don’t Bet On It!
Here are this week’s national contests of note, all of which will be played on Saturday, November 6, unless otherwise indicated:
Nope, I’m still not there yet. Like Rhett, my efforts to give a damn have been wholly unsuccessful. I have been left feeling hollowed-out from my neck to my knees, nursing a sense of aching emptiness reminiscent of the "phantom pain" experienced by amputees in missing limbs, as I wrestle to accept the the most agonizing Georgia loss since the 2008 Alabama game. If anything, I feel worse tonight than I felt this morning, and I felt worse today than I felt yesterday.
As Doug Gillett so eloquently put it, the one-sidedness of this rivalry in recent years positively boggles the mind and defies all rational explanation. Granted, there have been plenty of years in which the Gators clearly were the better team, but there haven’t been that many years, and there just as clearly have been years where superior Georgia squads fell to Florida squads they ought to have beaten (1992, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2010 spring to mind).
At the end of the day, there’s just no getting around this fact: a Georgia fan born on November 12, 1989, is preparing to celebrate being old enough to drink legally, yet that fan has had just three occasions to celebrate a victory over the Sunshine State Saurians in his lifetime. That’s not a lot of opportunities to drink for the right reason, and way too many opportunities to drink for the wrong reason.
Consequently, I remain today where I have been since Saturday. There’s simply no way the Bulldogs should have lost last Saturday’s game, and, until I come to grips with the fact that they did, I just don’t care what one set of teams is or is not going to do against another set of teams next Saturday. While one of MaconDawg’s and my SB Nation colleagues co-workers has accused me of being up on my high horse because I dared to echo criticisms of Urban Meyer he also offered, I’m not riding high, I’m at rock bottom bottom and wallowing from side to side.
Will I succeed in overcoming my funk and abandoning this theme before the end of the week? Don’t Bet On It!
(Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to call it a night. I have contracted the cold my wife is just now getting over, I sleep even worse than usual in the wake of a disheartening loss, and, frankly, I feel bad in just about every way a person can feel bad. I’m taking something that will knock me out and I’m going to bed. We’ll see if the situation improves tomorrow, but signs are not hopeful.)
Go ‘Dawgs!
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i have to admit...
we could win the rest of the games this season by a 4 TD margin and I won’t feel any better. What do I have to look forward to? Next season we’ll have a highly ranked team. We could go undefeated going to Jacksonville. UF may have bus wreck the third week of the season and still manage to field a team that beats UGA.
Chew on this… when was the last time UGA won a meaningful game against the Gators? A game that won us the conference? Or put us in a position to win a National Title?
Well, in the spirit of the headline...
On Thursday it will be nice to Georgia Tech get beat down by Virginia Tech.
The two best out of conference games on Saturday ought to be TCU/Utah (will this even be on TV?) and Oklahoma/A&M. Those will both be in-conference games played at the underdogs home stadiums. I’d bet the favorites pull it out, but they should both be fun games to watch.
Of course, everyone on this site ought to be toggling between USC/AR & LSU/Bama.
CBS College Sports
Actually, they’re doing a free preview this weekend so you should be able to see TCU/Utah if your cable or satellite provider carries the channel.
You know,
It really is hard to take all of this “fire Mark Richt” talk seriously when I look to the other team I support (and it is a long story why I support them, but don’t worry fellow Dawg fans, the story begins with Mr. Fran Tarkenton) and see what is going on there.
This has been one hell of a long football season.
Go Dawgs!
Ok, I had to go and check out that Florida site for myself.
And I will never visit that site again. In parting:
If you're gonna do it, go ugly early.
The high horse
Yeah, I think Gator Nation’s collective response to your over-the-top character accusations against Meyer are a giant eye roll. Richt is no saint – 40 arrests in the same time period Meyer’s had 31. It’s sanctimonious, self-serving drivel, but you have every right to post it and even believe it if you want. My strongest mental image of Richt is of him clapping approvingly while his sanctioned endzone celebration did its best to start off a vicious on-field brawl that may well have spilled into the stands. As a father of a 5-year old boy who plays flag fooball, I was and remain appalled. I’ll take our coach any day of the week.
Orange and Blue Hue: The World through GATOR-colored Glasses -- http://www.orangeandbluehue.com
"Vicious on-field brawl that may well have spilled into the stands"?
Giant eye roll right back at you. Also comical: your attempt to reduce arrests to mere numbers, as though all arrests are legally and morally equivalent. Driving on a suspended license v. stealing and using a dead girl’s credit card? Underage possession of alcohol v. firing an AK-47? Emerging from alley v. text-messaging death threats? Don’t even pretend those are remotely the same thing, and, while Mark Richt dismissed Michael Lemon, Montez Robinson, Zach Mettenberger, and Demetre Baker from the team, Chris Rainey got a shorter suspension than SB Nation’s Florida weblog said he should get.
By the way, if I’m turning out such “sanctimonious, self-serving drivel,” why are you bothering to read what I write in the first place?
Go 'Dawgs!
Because normally I really like what you write.
Dawgsports is one of the better college sports blogs out there, and I enjoy your writings. When your tone turns in such a way I’ve described, it’s annoying, and I may comment on it. Believe it or not, I would rather have civil discussions rather than nasty arguments, but it’s hard when we both care so passionately about our respective programs.
Orange and Blue Hue: The World through GATOR-colored Glasses -- http://www.orangeandbluehue.com
Dude, go back to your swamp!
Whatever TKK wants to post on his blog is his perogative. He didn’t post it on a gator blog to incite gator sensitivities. And it certainly wasn’t defamatory! Go make peace with you corch, your values and GFY. I love bottom-feeders…I mean really, who are you?
When your tone turns in such a way I’ve described
Pardon us if we don’t kiss your ass!
If you're gonna do it, go ugly early.
As a father of no children,
I thought and still think that the end zone celebration was awesome. Although I wish we didn’t wait until 2008 to make them pay for it on the field.
And count me among those a little embarrassed by the Alligator Army post and comments that get WAY over-defensive and over the top. Coaches are aggressive, competitive people, and so are their players? Oh no, hide the children!
Thanks, Gator Cub.
I appreciate the sentiments. Much obliged. Good luck going forward . . . not that the Gators will need it; y’all are going to trounce everyone you face for the rest of the regular season!
Go 'Dawgs!
You're right Gatorpilot, CMR loves taunting the opposition's fan base!
Urbane would never do that!
Hint for D.A. Gators: Read above with sarcasm!
If you're gonna do it, go ugly early.
The one who's name we do not mention (AJC writer)
has posted a story up today making a big to-do over CTG’s use of a choking gesture when the FL field goal kicker was about to make his attempt in overtime.
Am I the only one that is happy that we have a coach that gets fired up and seems to actually, really CARE how we do on the field. I think its a good thing. Heck, everyone on that half of the stadium was hoping he would choke.
CBS also showed a brief half second shot of CMR after the kick was made, and he spit on the field. As disappointed as I was in the result, I was happy to see him show as much displeasure and disgust in any sort of Gator victory.
I don’t think it makes them bad people. They’re football coaches, not politicians. They’re supposed to do stuff like that.
Was that really the intent of CTG though?
I think that may be a play call or some sort of gesture to the kick block unit because I feel like I’ve seen him do it before when he is communicating to the defense.
Of course, I watched from the stands so I didn’t see it real time and don’t know the exact circumstances, whether the defense was getting set up, was already set up or if UF’s kicker was just about to kick when he did that.
And about the dancing thing, I remember UF dancing in the endzone after the OT interception and Trey Burton pelvis pumping the crowd (again, what it looked like from the stands, I’m not going to put myself through a reply of that heartbreak) earlier in the game. It’s just an emotional game for both sides so I’m not going to hold those displays of emotion against either team as Penn Wagers has done for the past few years. Though I do think UF was lucky that no celebration penalty was called after that INT run back.
I don't know...
The video shows him grabbing his neck and what looks like a play call during a time out. Not an “audible” as was suggested after the gators were lined up, trying to “intimidate” Chas Henry.
I think there is a difference between the choking gesture to an opposing player and doing the Gator chomp to opposing fans after you have won the game. The UGA coach pictured is trying to intimidate Chas Henry.
mlmintampa
UF C/O 06
http://www.alligatorarmy.comby mlmintampa on Nov 1, 2010 7:00 AM PDT up reply actions
If you're gonna do it, go ugly early.
I'm reserving judgment until . . .
. . . Seth Emerson gets an answer from Todd Grantham, but I’m not sure I understand how the distinction mlmintampa draws breaks in favor of the Gator coach’s behavior. During the course of the game, attempting to intimidate the opposing team in order to gain a psychological advantage is an aspect of gamesmanship; making obnoxious gestures to opposing fans (as opposed to celebrating with your own fans, players, and coaches) after the game is just rudeness for the sake of rudeness.
I’m from the Winston Churchill “in victory, magnanimity” school; I would rather celebrate a win with my own kind than go make the other side feel worse about the loss, but that may just be me. Again, I am reserving judgment until I hear Todd Grantham’s explanation, but I’m not sure how the distinction mlmintampa draws favor his side. There may or may not be a defense for what Coach Grantham did; what Coach Meyer did, while not a huge deal, was crass by any definition.
Go 'Dawgs!
I believe he was making a choking gesture and I'm not sure why thats an issue.
There is a substantial difference between making a threatening gesture that you are going to choke someone (which seems to be what the moral posturing seems to be based upon) and making a gesture which indicates you want the kicker to choke (as in miss the kick). The latter is an extremely common gesture/term in sports and one which does not have malicious intent beyond a desired outcome in the game. If Grantham had pantomimed a hangman’s noose, for example, there would be other intentions there which are not based upon common sporting terms and I would understand the concern.
However, if, as the folks at Alligator Army claim, we are in no position to judge Rainey or the other Gator arrests (due to our own disciplinary issues), surely they are in no position to judge Grantham regarding on field coaching antics.
"I want anything wearing red and black to tear the head off anything that isn't." - Lewis Grizzard
they are desporate for anything to throw the word "class" back in our face. And that is what they came up with.
"One thing I will never do as long as I’m at Georgia is lose to Florida." - Herschel Walker
Seth Emerson reports he did exactly what everyone thought
just posted the Fanshot along with my initial thoughts. I’m going to go get some lunch and contemplate this.
I can bake like a demon.
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