Dawg Sports

Georgia Bulldogs Drop in BlogPoll, S.E.C. Power Poll

2008-12-04T21:30:04Z

The interesting point about this week’s BlogPoll isn’t the fact that Alabama received 48 first-place votes to retain the No. 1 ranking, or the fact that Florida took the top spot on 13 ballots to hold fast at No. 2, it’s the fact that Oklahoma, with eight first-place votes, comfortably beat out Texas, with five first-place votes, for the No. 3 slot.

Georgia dropped five spots to No. 18 and the Bulldogs’ likely bowl opponent, Michigan State, stayed put at No. 20. My ballot figured somewhat prominently in the running for the extracurricular ~~awards~~ designations, as I was the bronze medalist for "Mr. Bold," the silver medalist for "Mr. Manic-Depressive," and the gold medalist for "The Straight Bangin’ Award." At long last, I appear to have struck a much-needed balance, preserving my independence of thought without coming across as completely crazy.

There were some interesting developments in the final regular-season S.E.C. Power Poll, as well, as the Rebels moved past the Bulldogs into third place. The Gators (with ten first-place votes) and the Crimson Tide (with seven) finished first and second, respectively. We’ll know Saturday whether the BlogPoll or the S.E.C. Power Poll is right about the respective rankings of Alabama and Florida.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Tuberville Out At Auburn: A Brief Postmortem And What It Means For You.

2008-12-04T16:30:04Z

I know, I said that I'd be back with basketball coverage. But that was before our neighbors to the west decided to metaphrically torch The Barn to kill the rats. I've been waiting so long to type that . . .

As has been widely reported across the interwebs, and first reported here at Dawgsports by SG Standard, Tommy Tuberville appears to be out as the Head Football Coach at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute.

After their close loss against us it was looking like Tubs would save his job. It seemed the consensus among Auburn fans (at least those smart enough to manipulate a computer) that Ears deserved the chance to turn things around. After a shellacking soap and water won't wash off at the hands of Alabama, however, it looks like the Auburn administration decided it was time to see other people.

Internet rumor has it that Auburn AD Jay Jacobs may have asked Tuberville to make staff changes that Tuberville, out of loyalty, was not willing to make. This seems a little hard to believe given that in the past he has gladly jettisoned coordinators the way sailors of old would when mired in the horse latitudes. But he has kept some guys around for the duration, such as Georgia alum Hugh Nall. So maybe there is some credence to this one.

Back when Nick Saban was brought onboard at Alabama, I argued that it was fantastic long term news for Georgia fans. My reasoning was that a strong Alabama program hurts Auburn's, and hurting Auburn's football fortunes can never be a bad thing for us. It didn't take Henry Kissinger to see how the geopolitical gridiron battle between Saban and Tuberville was going to turn out. Like something from Mad Max, two men would enter the state of Alabama, and one would definitely leave. I figured it would be Tuberville, I just didn't figure it would be only two years later. That caught me totally by surprise.

Is this the right decision? I say no. Not because I thought Tuberville deserved another year, or that Auburn owed him a chance to turn it around. For better or worse college football is a business, and Tuberville did not produce this year. It was Auburn's perogative to send him shivering into the cold with a paltry $6 million dollars (the blogger typed with jealousy welling up inside).

No, it was the wrong move because I find it hard to believe that anybody else will do better. There's early interest in hiring the dread pirate Leach, who's been making eyes at the University of Washington. I can't imagine that he'd be too interested. He's just trying to wrangle a raise out of Texas Tech and he's enough of a contrarian to look at this job and simply pass on it. Because he doesn't need the drama. The expectations at Auburn are sky high, and Nick Saban isn't going anywhere. Anyone dumb enough to take the Auburn job under these circumstances is simply too dumb to be an SEC coach.***

It's what some would call a call a . . . you know.

Perhaps Jimbo Fisher will get tired of waiting for Bobby Bowden to nod off in his raisin bran. Perhaps they'll hire one of those nice mid-major guys with a resume stuffed with cupcake wins over Grand Valley State and Paducah Tech. Perhaps (the blogger typed gleefully) they'll go full-on mercenary and try to get Rich Rodriguez.

What about (most delicious of all) Bobby Petrino. Can you imagine the flack Auburn would take at this point for hiring the one guy who's probably the best fit for the job? Glorious. Unfortunately, it appears that Petrino's contract with Arkansas contemplates just such a scenario. Sad.

For we Georgia fans, this means that Auburn should be set to wander in the wilderness for a while. If that's what they want, let 'em have it. I suggest you sit back and enjoy it. The debacle probably helps us in recruiting as well. Two prospects in particular, DE Montez Robinson and TE Phillip Lutzenkirchen, appeared set to pick Auburn, but have backpedaled a little given Tubs' situation. Robinson was already planning to take a hard look at Georgia, and this can't hurt at all. I imagine he will look at our roster of defensive ends and see the possibility of immediate playing time. Lutzenkirchen was a solid Auburn commit until all this started, but now seems interested in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and a host of others. We'll almost certainly make a run at him as well, even though it will be tough to get into contention this late.

This firing smells a lot like David Cutcliffe's ouster at Ole Miss to me, and the public relations blowback will probably be similar. If the Auburn faithful aren't completely sold on the idea, you can imagine that convincing the rest of us that this is smart will be just about impossible. Kind of like the odds of Auburn reeling off six in a row against 'Bama again any time soon.

***Another fantastic angle to Auburn angling for Mike Leach? That spread-tastic offense he's running was developed by Leach while he was working under Hal Mumme at Kentucky alongside . . . Tony Franklin. The irony could only be more delicious if you covered it with chocolate chips and gumdrops.

The Case Against Willie Martinez

2008-12-04T10:00:11Z

On Saturday night, after much discussion and reflection during a roundabout drive home which afforded additional (and appreciated) time during which to ruminate and converse, I advocated firing Willie Martinez as Georgia’s defensive coordinator.

Although I had taken this position before, I did so more heatedly and angrily, and I later backed off from the position. I have now returned to it, but pensively rather than vengefully. Because my co-author, MaconDawg, for whom I have the utmost respect, disagrees with my position, and because we here at Dawg Sports take no small amount of pride in the quality of the discourse that takes place here, I thought my argument required further explication.

I write this in much the same spirit that George Will wrote Restoration, as a convert to a position with which I previously disagreed, who hopes not to fan the flames of passion to encourage hasty action in the heat of the moment, but to state a persuasive case in order to promote thoughtful discussion over a potentially divisive issue in Bulldog Nation, one which ends in a reasoned conclusion arrived at without acrimony. I have invited MaconDawg to craft a case for the other side, but, obviously, all of you are invited to respond, as well.

One point in need of being addressed concerns the validity of my previous argument about the number of games the Bulldogs have lost in the last four years in which the Red and Black scored what historically have been enough points to win. When Viper2369 posted a link to my posting at The DawgChat, Rockmart Dawg offered a sensible retort:

For a VERY LONG time offensive schemes were completely melded with an overall game plan so as to keep opposing offenses on the sideline, run the ball, run the clock, and control the clock. Low-scoring affairs were the norm.

When Eric Zeier was recruited to Georgia it officially signaled the beginning of a brand new era at UGA, that being a pass-heavy offensive game plan... for the FIRST TIME EVER. That was... what.... 1990/1991?!

Have that same person tell us how many times since Goff was at the helm that UGA has scored more than 28 points and I guarantee you the ratio will far exceed that of all of the previous 100 years of Georgia football. The same will be true for the entire nation.

The game has changed significantly in the past 15-20 years.

Undeniably, Rockmart Dawg makes a good point. In Vince Dooley’s first season as the Bulldogs’ head coach in 1964, Georgia went 7-3-1, never scored more than 24 points in a game, and won three games by the final margin of 7-0. Times have changed.

However, football is cyclical. Major league baseball can be delineated sharply between the "dead ball" and "lively ball" eras; the same cannot be said for college football, which is a constant tug of war between offensive innovation and defensive adaptation. Bear Bryant once ruled the Southeastern Conference with the wishbone; Paul Johnson’s triple option is effective, in part, because it is seldom seen and can catch an opponent unprepared, much like Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s swinging gate maneuver at Gettysburg.

Georgia football didn’t start scoring points in bunches until Eric Zeier was under center? Tell that to Wally Butts, whose first two S.E.C. championship teams won conference games by such scores as 33-14 (Florida in 1946), 35-7 (Georgia Tech in 1946), 34-0 (Georgia Tech in 1942), 48-13 (Ole Miss in 1942), 41-0 (Auburn in 1946), and 75-0 (Florida in 1942).

Vince Dooley’s teams were purely about rock-ribbed defense, sound special teams, and a ball-control offense that kept the ‘Dawgs on the right side of low-scoring affairs? Tell that to the 1981 Tennessee and Georgia Tech teams and the 1982 Florida squad, which lost to Georgia by margins of 44-0, 44-7, and 44-0, respectively.

I will grant, however, that those scores are somewhat aberrational over the long course of Bulldog football history. These scores, though, are not:

13-7. 27-25. 18-13. 48-17. 52-24. 13-20. 31-17. 24-21. 30-3.

Those are the final scores of Georgia’s nine Southeastern Conference games (including the S.E.C. championship game) from the 2002 season.

In Brian VanGorder’s second season as the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator, the Red and Black held two conference opponents in the single digits, allowed three more to score in the teens, and gave up more than 21 points just twice.

In 1986, for the first time in his then-23 seasons in Athens, Coach Dooley’s Bulldogs began the season by passing out of the shotgun formation. In order to let his team know he was serious about fielding a balanced attack, Coach Dooley publicly announced before the season started that Georgia’s first play from scrimmage would be from the shotgun.

He was true to his word. Against Duke in the opener, James Jackson took the snap and threw a nine-yard completion to Tim Worley. Georgia again lined up in the shotgun on the following play. It was a handoff to Keith Henderson, who picked up eight yards. The ‘Dawgs would not use the shotgun for the remainder of the game. Afterwards, Coach Dooley told the media, "You didn’t think we were going wild, did you?"

One week later, after David Treadwell’s last-second field goal gave Clemson its second win ever between the hedges and Georgia its second loss ever in which the Bulldogs scored 28 points, defensive coordinator Bill Lewis said, "28 points should be enough for us to win two football games." To reiterate, times have changed.

They haven’t changed that much, though. They haven’t changed so much that Coach VanGorder couldn’t figure out how to make halftime adjustments. During the aforementioned 2002 season, Georgia had to survive a number of second-half comebacks, eking out wins against Clemson (by the same 31-28 score by which the ‘Dawgs lost to the Tigers in 1986), South Carolina (13-7), Alabama (27-25), and Tennessee (18-13).

After the midpoint of the regular season, though, the Red and Black started slamming the door after intermission, surrendering just seven second-half points to Vanderbilt, none to Kentucky, eight to Florida, none to Ole Miss, seven to Auburn, seven to Georgia Tech, three to Arkansas, and six to Florida State.

How does this year’s defense compare to that year’s? After the break, Willie Martinez’s 2008 Bulldogs gave up 21 to the Bayou Bengals, 35 to the Gators, 24 to the Wildcats, seven to the Plainsmen, and 33 to the Yellow Jackets in their last five games. Even allowing for offensive and special teams miscues, that represents a clear regression, over the course of the season and over the course of Coach Martinez’s tenure as defensive coordinator. Maybe we no longer live in a world in which it is reasonable to expect to hold an opponent to three touchdowns or fewer over the course of a game, but surely it is not too much to ask that our defense not give up 21 or more points in the second half in four of their last five regular-season outings.

In saying so, however, I am focusing on Coach Martinez’s worst efforts. MaconDawg’s measured argument against firing the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator includes the fair point that Coach Martinez deserves to be judged on his entire body of work. Writes MaconDawg:

I am not a proponent of firing Willie Martinez. It's amazing how quickly people have forgotten his "brilliant" gameplans against Hawaii, Florida and Oklahoma State in 2007. However, if we're going to win with his system we have to have all the parts.

Coach Martinez does deserve the credit for the Bulldogs’ defensive efforts in those games; indeed, the performance of the Georgia D during the 2006 stretch run against Auburn, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech had much to do with my having reversed course on the idea of letting him go two years ago.

Coach Martinez’s problem isn’t that he’s bad, it’s that he’s maddeningly inconsistent and becoming less reliable with the passage of time. For every great defensive game plan that has been executed well, there has been another defensive effort which was lacking in game planning, execution, or both. When you compare the performance of his defensive unit with the performance of Mike Bobo’s offensive unit (and particularly Stacy Searels’s offensive line) as the season has progressed, the contrast is obvious and undeniable.

Coach Martinez’s performance as defensive coordinator reflects, and is reflected in, the way his charges have played on the field. Their inconsistency mirrors his own. Rockmart Dawg is right that teams score more now than they did a decade and a half ago, but that only means the standards for defensive success are lower than they were before. With Matthew Stafford, Knowshon Rockwell Moreno, Mohamed Massaquoi, and A.J. Green lining up on the offensive side of the ball, Willie Martinez’s defense doesn’t have to shut opponents down the way Erk Russell’s Junkyard ‘Dawgs did, yet, even with a lower bar to clear, Coach Martinez is failing to live up to a reduced standard. His continued employment in his present capacity suggests that his retention is the result of a "No Coach Left Behind" policy.

If it’s unfair for me to claim that a team that scores 28 points ought to win a football game, fine. How about 30 points? Georgia scored 30 or more points in a losing effort five times in the 111 seasons prior to Willie Martinez’s elevation to defensive coordinator in the Classic City; Georgia has scored 30 or more points in a losing effort five times in the four years since.

If 30 still is too low, fine. How about 33? Brian VanGorder was Georgia’s defensive coordinator for four years during the 20th century and, during those four years, the Red and Black never lost a game in which they scored more than 17 points. Surely it is not unreasonable to say the Bulldog D ought to perform well enough for the ‘Dawgs to win a game in which the Classic City Canines score nearly double the number of points that sufficed week in and week out just five years ago, yet Georgia scored 33 or more points and lost two times between 1892 and 2004 . . . and Georgia scored 33 or more points and lost three times between 2005 and 2008.

However, MaconDawg makes a fair point that winning with Willie Martinez’s system (which is, after all, Brian VanGorder’s system) requires having the proper parts. This is a point similar to the one Mark Richt made when, in a disturbingly Donnanesque moment, he recently said this:

People don’t get it. People think they know but they don’t. I mean, if people really knew football, they’d know that we’ve been blitzing; they’d know that we’ve been playing zero coverage; they’d know we’ve been playing cover one; they’d know that we’ve been playing robber [coverage]; we’ve been go fire-zone with cover three behind it; fire-zones with cover two behind it. So if they really knew football they wouldn’t be saying the things they say. But they don’t.

It’s the same basic defensive scheme that we’ve had since we got here. You know, it’s not like a kind of philosophical issue. I mean, the philosophy of our defense hasn’t really changed hardly at all in eight years. And we’ve not been in this spot in the past. So that’s not the problem.

The emphasis added is mine, because I believe the point is rather telling. While I do not pretend to be an X and O guy, and while I freely admit that I don’t know one-tenth as much football as Coach Richt knows, there may be a problem with playing "the same basic defensive scheme" that "hasn’t really changed hardly at all in eight years."

Eight years ago, Dennis Franchione was the head coach at Alabama; today, Nick Saban is. Eight years ago, Al Borges had not yet been hired as the offensive coordinator at Auburn; now, Tony Franklin has been fired as the offensive coordinator at Auburn, and Tommy Tuberville followed not far behind. Eight years ago, Steve Spurrier was running the Fun ‘n’ Gun at Florida; today, Urban Meyer is operating the spread option in Gainesville. Eight years ago, George O’Leary was stalking the sidelines at The Flats; today, Paul Johnson has brought back the triple option at Georgia Tech. How many times has Tennessee changed offensive coordinators since the hobnailed boot was brought down in the checkerboard end zone?

The world has turned more than a few times since 2001. For whatever reason, Willie Martinez has not kept up, at least not consistently, and the types of offensive attacks against which his defenses historically have struggled are becoming more prevalent and prolific rather than less so. Has Urban Meyer’s tweaking of his offensive system made it more productive during his tenure in Gainesville? I believe it has. Will Paul Johnson’s triple option become even more effective as he recruits players specifically suited to running it? I believe it will. Can Willie Martinez out-plan, out-scheme, out-think, and out-coach the shrewd men who appear on the opposite sideline each and every Saturday? I no longer believe he can.

Willie Martinez is not an idiot. He is neither inflexible nor arrogant nor ignorant. Willie Martinez is a fine man. In many ways, he is a good coach all the time, and, in most ways, he is a good coach much of the time. I take no joy in taking the position I am advocating. Nevertheless, facts are facts and these numbers do not lie. Point out all the Matthew Stafford interceptions you like; take note of every directional kickoff that sailed out of bounds and set up the opposition with good starting field position; stress the fact that offenses historically have not scored as much as they now do; I concede all of that, yet still there is no denying this:

Scoring 30 points at home ought to win you a football game, but, against Auburn in 2005, it didn’t. Scoring 35 points in a bowl game an hour’s drive from your campus ought to win you a football game, but, against West Virginia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl, it didn’t. Scoring 33 points at home ought to win you a football game, but, against Tennessee in 2006, it didn’t. Scoring 30 points in a night game at home ought to win you a football game, but, against Alabama in 2008, it didn’t. Scoring 42 points at home ought to win you a football game, but, against Georgia Tech in 2008, it didn’t.

Many problems bedevil the Bulldogs, not all of which begin or end with the defense. The most serious of these problems, however, concern Coach Martinez’s area of responsibility, and I have not yet heard a satisfactory justification for the proposition that Willie Martinez ought not to be held responsible for the poor performance of the Georgia defense this fall and for the steady decline of the exceptional unit he inherited from Brian VanGorder. Absent the making of a persuasive argument I have not yet heard, I must conclude---not at all happily, but nevertheless sincerely---that the time has come for a new man to be named the defensive coordinator at the University of Georgia.

I like Willie Martinez, but I love my team, and it is to my team that my first loyalty is owed. That same obligation is incumbent upon every person with an office in Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall.

Go ‘Dawgs.

Georgia Bulldog Football: The State of Things From One Fan's Perspective.

2008-12-03T15:00:06Z

The first time you quit, it's hard. The second time, it gets easier.
The third time, you don't even have to think about it.

----Paul "Bear" Bryant

I've watched the University of Georgia win a lot of football games over the years. There have been big wins and little ones. SEC Championship Games and early season tuneups against the directional school du jour.

I've also watched a good number of losses. Not so many in the past 7 years as before. Not as many as a South Carolina or Vanderbilt fan of comparable age, but still several dozen. Each of those losses has a different character when viewed in hindsight, a different bitter flavor that is unmistakable even years later. Some are more bitter than others.

Saturday's was more bitter than most. As several of you have noted, it's one thing to lose to what may well be the two best teams in the country. It's another to lose to a Georgia Tech team that was not only less talented, but also exceptionally depleted by injuries. My team, your team, our team did not play up to its potential on Saturday. Again.

Coach Bryant was right. Those who quit as a matter of habit scarcely even realize that they're doing it, or why. This team has made rolling over and dying an art form this season, and it's impossible for me to understand fully the reason. Corvey Irvin gave one clue when he said that "In the first half, we were all over the field having fun, and I guess we kind of lost our composure. I guess we thought we had the game wrapped up in our pocket, but we really didn't."

That's a brilliant deduction, Sherlock Holmes. This team got bludgeoned in the first half by Alabama before almost getting back into it in the second, then got smoked in the second half to cement an embarrassing loss to Florida. How they could possibly not understand that a football game consists of two halves, and that failing to play one of them usually means you lose, is beyond me.

And while I am among the bloggers least likely to call for coaching heads to roll, make no mistake, this one falls squarely on the coaches. When you listened to this coaching staff for most of this underwhelming season, you could detect a smidgen of satisfaction. A bit of blase. It was as if they didn't see all the little things that were going wrong, and were focused only on the wins and losses. But you can only win ugly for so long. Once in a while winning ugly is gritty. When you do it every week it's just ugly football.

It's hard to turn a football team around when it starts down the wrong path. And this team has. They play soft. They play stupid. And the coaches have tolerated it. Because of injuries and what we thought would be a grueling late season schedule, they dialed back on the contact in practice from the get-go. That was a terrible miscalculation, as Coach Richt (to his credit) has admitted. The result was a team playing lots of backups who weren't prepared for the intense competition they would face on Saturdays. We were just as injured, but less prepared. In retrospect, it was a strategic decision on par with making childrens' candy in the shape of Lego blocks. In both scenarios, some kid choked, but you couldn't really blame him.

The coaches have tolerated terrible special teams play. They've made excuses for it. What they haven't done is find a way to fix it. I've become convinced that what we need is a fulltime special teams coach. A veteran guy who has nothing to do but make sure that we have a handle on the little things in the kicking game, and who can occasionally scheme in a wrinkle or two that give us the edge in a close game. Like the one we just lost.

That guy might also consider putting somebody besides Richard Samuel back to return kickoffs. I think the guy has loads of potential as a bruising tailback, but he's miscast in this role. He doesn't have the shift or shake at 220 pounds to make the gunners miss. He's returned kicks he should have fair caught, and fumbled at the worst possible times. Why Asher Allen is no longer filling this role is beyond me, unless it's that our starters are too good to play special teams. We wouldn't want them to get tired, after all.

Urban Meyer sure doesn't want Chris Rainey to get tired, either. I can't figure out how the sneaky little devil keeps getting in the game on special teams. Oh yeah, his coaches are willing to do what it takes to win. And I'm not even going to address Blair Walsh's stupifying inability to kick a football into the endzone despite having, allegedly, one of the strongest legs in recent memory. Is it effort? Coaching? I don't know, but it's got to be fixed.

I hate to say it, Bulldog Nation, but we are at a crossroads. We should know in a matter of weeks whether we will be losing the only quarterback on our roster with significant game experience and the tailback who arguably kept this foundering ship afloat. My guess is that we lose both. We will be opening the season on the road in 2009 against an Oklahoma State team that could start the season in the top 5. Florida will be better next season behind a veteran offensive line, maturing defense, and a stable of returning skill players. Georgia Tech will have a full year of option offense and better personnel to run it.

LSU will be LSU, only with their new Jamarcus Russell clone at quarterback instead of a semiautomatic interception dispenser disguised as Jarrett Lee. Even Arkansas looks like a much better team under Bobby Petrino than they did in the early going. Anyone who tells you a 5-7, Auburn-style implosion is out of the question next year is sorely mistaken. Speaking of Auburn, does anyone really think they'll be worse than they were this season? Just another little something to chew on.

Inexperience in key positions and a tough schedule are bad enough. A lack of discipline and focus won't make things any better. As a preliminary list, here are things that one guy thinks need to happen if we are to put this disappointing season in the rearview:

Getting healthy. The injuries took their toll this season. Make no mistake about that. While injuries in fall camp are no excuse for phoning it in on defense in the second half of the twelfth game, they did deprive this team of a lot of momentum in the early going. It seemed like we spent a lot of time just trying to get our collective heads back above water while other teams (Florida comes to mind) swam past us Michael Phelps-style. This team will get a lot better if we can just keep the same 11 guys on the field at the same time.
A fulltime special teams coordinator. As noted above, our special teams put us in bad positions all year long. Missed field goals, bad kickoffs, poor coverage and poorer kick returning put this team behind the eight ball on a dozen or more drives. A coach of mine once told us that there are three phases to a football game, offense, defense and special teams. He believed that if you won two out of three of them, you would have a hard time losing. My subsequent observations have not proven him wrong. If we're going to play with an inexperienced quarterback and refuse to play consistent defense, we need to at least win the special teams battle. Coach Fabris is a great coach. Anyone who's seen him work up close knows that there's not a better motivator in college football. The guy can get you jacked up from 50 feet away. But asking him to handle both special teams and our young defensive ends is just too much. Speaking of which . . .
Better defensive end play. I am not a proponent of firing Willie Martinez. It's amazing how quickly people have forgotten his "brilliant" gameplans against Hawaii, Florida and Oklahoma State in 2007. However, if we're going to win with his system we have to have all the parts. This means somebody has to become a game changer on the outside. I'm less convinced than before that it's going to be Rod Battle. But Justin Houston looked better and better as the year went on, and may be the guy. Cornelius Washington is a fast, physical edge rusher, and Toby Jackson has as quick a first step as I've seen. Whoever we look to, Coach Fabris has a heck of a job ahead of him, one which needs to be his primary focus.
First Snap. Last Snap. Every Snap. It occurred to me over the weekend that the "Finish the Drill" mantra is a good one. But after 7 years it may have finally become so much background noise. This is my personal attempt at a new motto for this team, which has either failed to show up for the first snap or failed to hang around mentally for the last one. I'll be printing up the teeshirts later. Preorder now.
Contact and competition. This team looked soft to me. And football teams don't go soft overnight, nor do they toughen back up overnight. If I see another damned trip to the pool during fall camp, or hear about the players "deserving a day off" in August, I'm going to go apoplectic. This team needs a steel-toed boot jammed into it in the worst way. It needs to be reminded that "good enough" just isn't good enough. On the road of life, you generally wind up getting precisely as far as you're willing to carry yourself, and this team has shown a tendency to be pretty satisfied with itself prior to Saturday. We'll see if they still are come bowl season.

I'll be back this evening to talk some hoops. Until then, feel free to add your suggestions in the comments, and . . .

Go 'Dawgs!!!

Don't Bet On It!: National Game of Disinterest

2008-12-03T13:45:06Z

It’s the final week of the college football regular season, so I have one last set of picks to make, but I’m deviating from the ordinary order by selecting the national game of disinterest first.

Before I explain why I’m doing so, let me offer a brief recap of what the national game of disinterest is. I love college football. I mean, this particular season, I can’t stand college football, but that’s mostly because my team is a colossal disappointment, which has sucked all the joy from my life.

Usually, though, I love college football, so I can always find a rooting interest, even in what would otherwise be a game of no importance to me. There is, however, one game each week about which I am so utterly indifferent, with respect to which I am so entirely devoid of reasons to root one way or the other, that I refuse on general principle to predict the outcome of the contest.

That game is the national game of disinterest and this week’s national game of disinterest is . . .

Middle Tennessee State at Louisiana-Lafayette

Now, before I get another comment from ScrewKyleKing or his buddies, BoltKyleKing, NailKyleKing, and ZipTieFastenerKyleKing, let me hasten to add that I am not ragging on the Sun Belt per se. (Well, O.K., maybe I’m ragging on Louisiana-Lafayette just a little.)

I’m sure both of these universities are fine educational institutions with much to offer in the way of academic instruction and extracurricular activities. I have no doubt that intellectually enlightening and socially useful research is being done on both campuses, and that, you know, they both have campuses. I have every confidence that each school has produced many fine alumni, such as Louisiana-Lafayette’s Ali Landry and M.T.S.U.’s George Clinton.

It’s just that, after an emotionally debilitating season culminating in just the twelfth Georgia loss to Georgia Tech of my lifetime---I turned 40 a month ago---I’m ready to reorient myself away from college football and think about something else for a while. I’ll dive back into college football this weekend, but, for now, I’d like to relax a little bit.

So what does ESPN do to me? The Worldwide Leader scheduled Sun Belt Conference football on a Wednesday night.

I’m good with Big East Thursdays and Conference USA Tuesdays and Mid-American Conference contests concurrent or consecutive on any day of the week, but ESPN is serving up Middle Tennessee State at Louisiana-Lafayette on a Wednesday?

It’s like the scene in "The Best of Times" where Kurt Russell and Robin Williams have dinner with their wives during the worst game of Monday night football of the N.F.L. season. It’s a test, to see if they can do without even bad football, and they flunk it by sneaking glances at the television during the game when they’re supposed to be proving they can be good husbands.

That’s what this game is to me. I don’t care about it . . . but I can’t look away.

Tonight, this demonic monstrosity will haunt my dreams!

I’m going to spend my evening watching Middle Tennessee State at Louisiana-Lafayette and loathing myself all the while. I despise you, ESPN . . . except for all the good stuff Paul Westerdawg mentioned, of course.

Coming Soon: National Games of Interest/Around the S.E.C.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Week 14 BlogPoll Ballot Revised

2008-12-03T02:43:01Z

As usual, I asked for feedback when I submitted my weekly BlogPoll ballot, and, also as usual, I received it; viz., drothgery raised these objections to my ranking of Missouri ahead of Oklahoma State:

Oklahoma State still has the same record as Missouri, still plays in the same conference, still beat them at their place, and still lost to better teams.

Although I had an explanation for that during my lunch hour, I revisited the issue once I got home and I concluded that drothgery was right, for these reasons:

Although the Tigers had the tougher non-conference schedule, that advantage was overcome by the Cowboys’ tougher Big 12 slate. Overall, the two teams compiled superficially similar resumes, as both went 9-3 and each claimed five victories over teams with losing records, three victories over teams with winning records, and one victory over a Division I-AA opponent from the Show Me State.

Mizzou and Okie State each won eight games by more than a touchdown and won one game by seven or fewer points. The Pokes’ nailbiter (at Missouri) obviously was more impressive than the Tigers’ (at Baylor).

The Cowboys had the better set of losses, to the three 11-1 teams tied atop the Big 12 South. Oklahoma State lost to Texas and Texas Tech on the road and fell to the Longhorns by a narrow margin. The Tigers’ setbacks came against five-loss Kansas, three-loss Oklahoma State, and one-loss Texas, with two of those defeats coming at home and the loss in Austin coming by a substantial margin.

Missouri’s best win was at four-loss Nebraska. Oklahoma State’s best win was, of course, at three-loss Missouri. Oklahoma’s overall body of work was adequate to overcome the fact that the Sooners lost to Texas, but the Tigers’ total resume was too similar to the Cowboys’ to overcome Oklahoma State’s head-to-head victory.

That’s good enough for me, so my revised top 25 looks like this:

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Oklahoma	2
2	Texas	--
3	Florida	1
4	Texas Tech	1
5	Alabama	4
6	Penn State	--
7	Southern Cal	--
8	Utah	--
9	Ohio State	1
10	Boise State	2
11	Georgia Tech	4
12	Cincinnati	2
13	Michigan State	3
14	Boston College	4
15	Oregon	6
16	Pittsburgh	4
17	Mississippi	7
18	TCU	4
19	Ball State	6
20	Oklahoma State	11
21	Missouri	8
22	Virginia Tech	4
23	North Carolina	--
24	Georgia	13
25	Oregon State	8

Dropped Out: Florida State (#19).

Once again, I thank drothgery and everyone else who regularly questions and critiques my weekly rankings.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Week 14 S.E.C. Power Poll Ballot Submitted

2008-12-02T01:45:04Z

Let’s be honest, now. This year, "S.E.C. Power Poll" is a bit of a misnomer. "S.E.C. Weakness Poll" would be more like it, complete with a countdown from worst to first, from "weakest" to "least weak team of the week." Unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to change the format of the balloting, so here are the teams of the Southeastern Conference, arrayed from best (such as it is) to worst:

1. Florida: Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings, and, every time a prominent Gator coach or player mists up in public, the Orange and Blue cut a swath of destruction through all in their path. If word gets out of Gainesville that Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow plan to spend Friday night watching the Lifetime Network with a box of Kleenex and a Sara Lee pound cake sitting on the table between them, you’ll know a truly epic thumping is coming in the Georgia Dome.

2. Alabama: The Crimson Tide finally took out their frustrations on someone by hauling Auburn behind the woodshed. As impressive as it was, though, ‘Bama was only approximately as dominant as Florida was against a much better team. Nevertheless, the Red Elephants are undefeated . . . and I seem to recall a Sugar Bowl at the end of the 1992 season that pitted poor old overmatched Alabama, a team that just scraped by and hadn’t beaten anyone, against an invincible squad from the Sunshine State that was going to ruin the Tide’s unbeaten season. Does anybody remember how that game turned out for Alabama?

Oh, right!

3. Ole Miss: The Rebels, who beat the Gators in Gainesville and very nearly defeated the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, are the third-best team in the conference. That’s not exactly a sign of the Apocalypse, but it ain’t far off. (I hope it’s just far enough off, though, because the last thing I want is for the world to end with Georgia Tech holding a one-game winning streak over Georgia, because you know we’d be hearing about that for all eternity, to the point where, ultimately, we’d have to have a "Best of Times"-style loser-leaves-Heaven rematch between the Bulldogs and the Yellow Jackets in the afterlife. Hey, if we’re going to sing "to Hell with" each other, we might as well make it literal.)

4. Georgia: This ranking should be taken as indicative of the fact that eight S.E.C. teams are even worse than we are and should in no way be confused with a compliment to the most disappointing Red and Black club since 2000. Nothing I’ve seen this season has been on a par with the Quincy Carter five-interception game in Williams-Brice Stadium or the ignominy of an O’ahu Bowl berth, but it’s worse than anything I’ve seen in the interim.

5. Louisiana State: How does that work, exactly? If you lose your starting quarterback, you start giving up 30+ points per game to every opponent with a pulse? I guess, if your new starting quarterback was designed in a Cal Tech laboratory to be a perpetual-motion pick-six machine, it could cause some scores to get out of hand.

6. South Carolina: I think some school consolidation is in order in the Palmetto State. As distasteful as it might be to both fan bases, think of the advantages of combining Clemson and South Carolina into a single school. That way, the university could field the Gamecocks from Labor Day weekend through mid-October, then field the Tigers from mid-October through Thanksgiving. The team would never go worse than 10-2!

It’s possible you could duplicate that effect by combining Vanderbilt’s early season with Tennessee’s late season.

7. Vanderbilt: A quarter-century of tireless effort has allowed the Commodores to break through the glass ceiling and achieve the genuine mediocrity of which every Vandy fan has dreamt for as long as he can remember.

8. Kentucky: The Wildcat fans are going to basketball games, the rest of us are ignoring U.K. completely, Rich Brooks is pouring himself a Scotch, and Joker Phillips is counting the days. The fact that this team merely inspires utter indifference from all concerned earns Kentucky a No. 8 ranking in the league, because it’s better to be inconsequential than bad.

9. Tennessee: When the Volunteers’ rallying cry became, "Let’s go out and beat Vandy and Kentucky!" it was official that Rocky Top had hit rock bottom. The Lane Kiffin hire doesn’t impress or scare me. If you think hiring an underwhelming coach is a good idea because of who his father is, I’d like to introduce you to a fellow by the name of Mike Shula.

10. Arkansas: The win over L.S.U. was huge. Good for the Razorback players for sending Bobby Petrino out a winner in his last game before bolting for whichever job he’s taking later this month.

"I’m proud to be the new head coach at ~~Tennessee~~ ~~Clemson~~ Auburn! Wait . . . the Auburn job isn’t open yet? Well, that never stopped me from accepting it before!"

11. Auburn: It’s a good thing the Plainsmen lost last Saturday, because, if they hadn’t, the Yellowhammer State would have reverberated for the next year with the cry, "Fear the ring finger of the other hand!"

12. Mississippi State: Class act that he is, Sylvester Croom recognized that last season was a statistically anomalous aberration and fell on his sword like a good soldier should. Sly, you have just been self-Croomed.

That’s how it looks from here, but, then, I’m cold and mad and dejected, and that may have affected my judgment, so, by all means, let me know whether and where you take issue with any of the foregoing.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Week 14 BlogPoll Ballot Submitted

2008-12-01T03:59:17Z

It’s official: 2008 stinks. More specifically, both the S.E.C. generally and Georgia specifically stink in 2008, and, frankly, if both the S.E.C. and Georgia are going to be down in the same year, well, to my way of thinking, that’s synonymous with the whole year stinking in toto.

Perhaps for the first time ever, being a member of the Southeastern Conference actively operated against a team’s prospects for being ranked in my top 25. At the end of the day, this is the BlogPoll ballot I cast, which remains open for revision through Wednesday morning, so I invite your critiques of the following:

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Oklahoma	2
2	Texas	--
3	Florida	1
4	Texas Tech	1
5	Alabama	4
6	Penn State	--
7	Southern Cal	--
8	Utah	--
9	Ohio State	1
10	Boise State	2
11	Georgia Tech	4
12	Cincinnati	2
13	Michigan State	3
14	Boston College	4
15	Oregon	6
16	Pittsburgh	4
17	Mississippi	7
18	TCU	4
19	Ball State	6
20	Missouri	7
21	Oklahoma State	12
22	Virginia Tech	4
23	North Carolina	--
24	Georgia	13
25	Oregon State	8

Dropped Out: Florida State (#19).

Yes, Oklahoma (11-1) lost to Texas (11-1) head to head. The Sooners also annihilated Texas Tech (11-1) and the Red Raiders beat the Longhorns. Accordingly, the retort to everyone brandishing a "45-35" sign is: "39-33."

Texas beat Oklahoma, Missouri (9-3), and Oklahoma State (9-3), in that order of impressiveness. That is a weightier set of victories than that compiled by Texas Tech, which beat Texas, Oklahoma State, and Nebraska (8-4). However, the ‘Horns also assembled a resume less impressive than that put together by Oklahoma, which beat Texas Tech, Cincinnati (10-2), Texas Christian (10-2), Oklahoma State, and Nebraska. Thus, the Sooners are No. 1, the Longhorns are No. 2, and the Red Raiders are No. 4.

The only team able to keep the Big 12 South from locking up the top three spots on my ballot was Florida (11-1), which continued to make good on Tim Tebow’s teary-eyed promise to beat the crap out of everyone after the Gators’ increasingly forgivable loss to Ole Miss (8-4). Despite U.F.’s devalued wins over Georgia (9-3), Florida State (8-4), and Miami (7-5), the thoroughness with which the Saurians are dominating the opposition enabled them to inch up a notch.

Alabama (12-0) fell to fifth despite the Crimson Tide’s dominant performance against the Plainsmen because the team’s marquee win at Georgia looks increasingly meaningless, leaving as the only sparkling jewel in the Red Elephants’ crown a four-point home win over Mississippi.

Admittedly, that win’s looking better and better.

The sixth, seventh, and eighth spots on my ballot remained the property of Penn State (11-1), Southern California (10-1), and Utah (12-0) because their respective resumes remained unchanged. The Nittany Lions and the Utes had open dates and the Trojans faced Notre Dame (6-6), which has been the functional equivalent of a bye for most of the last decade and a half.

Ugly losses (and subsequent plummets) by the teams I had ranked ninth, eleventh, and 13th enabled Ohio State (10-2) and Boise State (12-0) to sneak upwards slightly and, after sitting out in the cold and rain for four hours on Saturday watching it all unfold, I had no choice but to rank Georgia Tech (9-3) eleventh, awarding the Yellow Jackets the ranking previously belonging to the ‘Dawgs. Yes, that makes me want to puke, too. We lost to a guy named Josh Nesbitt who kneels down so far under center that he looks like a duck being stuffed inside the turkey’s butt in preparation for the cooking of a turducken. If we were Japanese instead of Georgian, we’d have to kill ourselves with seppuku swords to restore the lost honor of our ancestors. Did I mention that 2008 stinks?

Incremental gains were made by Cincinnati, Michigan State (9-3), and Boston College (9-3), who remained in the same sequence relative to one another, and performances of varying degrees of impressiveness and significance allowed reasonably large leaps to be made by Oregon (9-3), Pittsburgh (8-3), Ole Miss, and Ball State (12-0). Due to a dearth of otherwise qualified teams, T.C.U. came along for the ride, landing at No. 18.

Nothing in the win over Duke posted by North Carolina (8-4) gave me cause to move the Tar Heels, who stayed parked at No. 23, and canings of various levels of severity and shame caused a substantial drop in the value of the stock of Missouri, Oklahoma State, Georgia, and Oregon State (8-4).

The Civil War, brought to you by "What Not to Wear."

That left me with 24 teams for 25 spots, so Virginia Tech (8-4) sneaked into the No. 22 slot, just ahead of the U.N.C. squad V.P.I. defeated. Yes, I know the Hokies lost to the selfsame Seminoles whom I dropped from the poll, but Frank Beamer’s bunch beat Georgia Tech and Nebraska in addition to the Tar Heels, whereas F.S.U.’s only other even vaguely impressive pelt was that of the Hurricanes.

I gave thought to ranking Northwestern (9-3), Iowa (8-4), Brigham Young (10-2), and Nebraska, who, respectively, are my de facto 26th through 29th teams.

I watched the Ball State-Western Michigan game on Tuesday and the Texas-Texas A&M game on Thursday. On Friday, I watched all of the Mississippi-Mississippi State and Arizona State-U.C.L.A. games and parts of the Pitt-West Virginia, Arkansas-Louisiana State, and Boise State-Fresno State games. On Saturday, I attended the Georgia-Georgia Tech game and was not thereafter tempted to watch any college football for the remainder of the day.

Let me know what about that ballot appears to you to be amiss or uncertain. I will happily answer any questions, address any constructive criticisms, and make appropriate adjustments if presented with sufficiently persuasive arguments.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 45, Georgia Bulldogs 42

2008-11-30T04:15:12Z

I begin in the only way it is appropriate for me to begin, by congratulating Paul Johnson and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on a well played game of football in which they were the better team and received the victory they had earned.

Having said that, let me also say this: I have had a long day. We had out-of-town relatives in the Atlanta area for Thanksgiving, one of whom went with me to the game. Despite the weather and the outcome, we had a nice outing, as I went to Sanford Stadium with the husbands of both of my sisters-in-law---I call them my brothers-in-law, although, technically, that is not correct; they are the men who are married to the women who are my wife’s sisters---but, because different people had to be gotten to different places afterwards, I left my house at 7:30 this morning and returned home around 9:45 tonight.

Consequently, I have not read any FanPosts or comments left at Dawg Sports since roughly 11:00 last evening. If anything needs addressing, it will be addressed tomorrow; if any of what follows repeats points already made, I regret the redundancy, although I believe these points bear making and reiterating, so I will not be saddened to learn that others are entertaining similar thoughts---not visceral reactions; thoughts, arrived at over a period of years and after sober reflection---and I hope a cogent conversation follows.

This posting might have been, but is not, the 82nd installment of the Mark Richt Victory Watch. Certainly, Mohamed Massaquoi, playing in his last game between the hedges, performed at a level fully deserving of victory. Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Rockwell Moreno, also probably playing in Sanford Stadium for the final time, showed grit, heart, and determination that were worthy of a win. The Bulldogs’ much-maligned offensive line generally played capably and the criticisms of Mike Bobo as an offensive coordinator hopefully were silenced by the former Georgia quarterback’s fine play calling. The offense, in short, played well enough to have produced an eighth straight victory over our in-state rival.

Offense, however, is not the only phase of the game. It’s just the only phase of the game at which the Bulldogs performed as well as or better than the Yellow Jackets.

The following facts all are facts:

In the first century of Georgia football (1892-1991), the Red and Black lost two games in which they scored at least 28 points. During that same period, the Classic City Canines never lost a game in which they scored at least 29 points.

During the Ray Goff and Jim Donnan eras (1989-2000), the Bulldogs lost seven games in which they scored at least 28 points, falling 34-31 to Tennessee in 1992, 42-28 to Auburn in 1993, 29-28 to Alabama in 1994, 43-30 to Vanderbilt in 1994, 37-31 to Auburn in 1995, 45-34 to Auburn in 1997, and 51-48 to Georgia Tech in 1999.

During the aforementioned Ray Goff and Jim Donnan eras, Georgia had five defensive coordinators: Richard Bell (1989-1993), Marion Campbell (1994), Joe Kines (1995-1998), Kevin Ramsey (1999), and Gary Gibbs (2000).

During the four years in which Brian VanGorder served as Georgia’s defensive coordinator (2001-2004), the Bulldogs lost ten games. In those ten games, the ‘Dawgs scored nine, ten, 17, 16, 13, ten, 13, 13, 14, and six points, respectively.

During the four years in which Willie Martinez has served as Georgia’s defensive coordinator (2005-2008), the Bulldogs have lost twelve games. In those twelve games, the ‘Dawgs scored ten, 30, 35, 33, 22, 14, 20, twelve, 14, 30, ten, and 42 points, respectively.

To reiterate: Georgia scored 28 points in defeat just twice in the first 100 years of Red and Black football; Georgia never scored more than 28 points in defeat in the first 100 years of Red and Black football; Georgia scored 28 or more points in defeat seven times in the twelve years of the Ray Goff and Jim Donnan eras, during which the Bulldogs had five different defensive coordinators; Georgia never scored more than 17 points in defeat during the four years that Brian VanGorder served as Georgia’s defensive coordinator; Georgia has scored more than 28 points in defeat five times during the four years that Willie Martinez has served as Georgia’s defensive coordinator; and Georgia has not scored 28 or more points in defeat more than twice during the tenure of any previous defensive coordinator in Bulldog history.

Injuries have played a role in the failure of this Georgia team to live up to expectations. However, the offensive line has been hit hard by injuries, yet Stacy Searels appears to have found a way to get his players who are healthy enough to play to perform well as a unit and Mike Bobo appears to have found a way to put together an effective offense despite the loss of some key players. This is called coaching.

Injuries do not excuse all shortcomings. Injuries do not explain defensive players being out of position. Injuries do not justify an inability to make open field tackles. Injuries cannot account for why teams are able to outscore Georgia in the second half when Brian VanGorder’s defenses made a habit of slamming the door after intermission. Injuries are not the reason why an option team is able to make big gains despite the fact that everyone in the stadium knows (or ought to know) that the ball is going to the pitch man.

Georgia Tech had possession of the ball seven times in the second half in Athens this afternoon. The Yellow Jackets’ first drive went 60 yards in one play for a touchdown. Their second drive went 56 yards in ten plays for a touchdown. Their third drive went 23 yards in one play for a touchdown. Their fourth drive went 76 yards in seven plays for a field goal. Their fifth drive went six yards in three plays and ended in a punt. Their sixth drive went 70 yards in six plays for a touchdown. Their seventh drive picked up the first down that allowed the visitors to run out the clock.

If two of the Engineers’ seven second-half drives had ended in punts, Georgia would have won the game. Just a pair of three-and-outs would have put the ball back in Matthew Stafford’s hands and the offense would have found a way to finish the drill. The defense did not give the offense that chance. I do not lay this at the feet of the young men wearing silver britches, who played with passion and who managed to avoid some of the foolish penalties that have plagued the ‘Dawgs this season. I lay this failure at the feet of the defensive coaching staff, of the coordinator charged with the responsibility for that side of the ball, and, if sufficient steps are not taken, of the head coach charged with the ultimate responsibility for everything that happens in this program.

Georgia Tech deserved to win the game and a commitment to class even in the face of defeat compels us to tip our caps to the best college football team in the Peach State, which today calls North Avenue and not the Classic City home. However, a decent defensive effort on the Bulldogs’ part would have produced a victory, and that calls upon us as fans to ask reasonable questions in a responsible manner.

As I noted earlier, I have not yet read any of the FanPosts or comments to have appeared at Dawg Sports in roughly the last 24 hours. I will get to them later, but it is my hope that a civil and sensible tone has been maintained. I have not ventured elsewhere in the blogosphere this evening, so I do not know what has been written in other parts of "The Dawgosphere." I regret it if the foregoing is repetitive, although this a subject of sufficient significance to warrant our ongoing attention.

The act of addressing harsh realities requires the act of asking hard questions. Many good men are being compensated handsomely to mold the talented student-athletes enrolled at the University of Georgia into a championship-caliber team and most of these men are succeeding admirably at their jobs.

Georgia gave up 41 points to Alabama, 38 points to Louisiana State, 49 points to Florida, 38 points to Kentucky, and 45 points to Georgia Tech. It is time for one of the good men mentioned above to explain why he deserves to continue collecting a paycheck for serving as the defensive coordinator of the Georgia Bulldogs and it is time for another of those good men to perform his duty as the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs by taking the only appropriate step if that explanation proves to be inadequate.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Georgia Bulldogs v. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Game Day Open Comment Thread

2008-11-29T16:00:04Z

Now that the Bulldogs are done with their lengthy trip away from Athens, it’s time once again to tee it up between the hedges! Feel free to join in the conversation by posting your thoughtful critiques, visceral reactions, and emotional exclamations in the comments below.

This is also the occasion for announcing this week’s honorary game captain. Honestly, it seemed to me that there could be only one choice for this distinction:

Go ‘Dawgs!

Inside Georgia Tech Football: With Special Guest Howard Wolowitz

2008-11-29T06:45:05Z

If you haven't really been paying a heck of a lot of attention to Georgia Tech football this season, don't feel bad. The rest of us haven't either. Thankfully, someone has. Fans will recognize special guest Howard Wolowitz as the suave lady's man from the CBS Monday comedy The Big Bang Theory. Not surprisingly, this hunky aeronautical engineer did his master's work at Georgia Tech. He's graciously agreed to fill you in on all things, um, Techy.

How do you say "menage a trois" in Klingon? I have no idea. But this week we're talking football with the one man who does.

Dawgsports: First things first. Do all Tech students in fact play Dungeons and Dragons?

Wolowitz: Please. Georgia Tech students are far more advanced than that. Why don't you just call us neanderthals? We're an online gaming force. A dynasty. Our Halo team has won the NCAA championship two years running. Chicks dig a guy who gets 40% of kills with his battle rifle. Especially in Halo 3, because with the new artificial intelligence . . .

Dawgsports: Of course. So Paul Johnson seems to have been embraced quickly by the Georgia Tech community. Is that in fact the perception inside the hive?

Wolowitz: Yes, one would think that. But he still must prove himself in several critical facets of the head coaching racket. Unlike Coach Friedgen for example (whose Jabba the Hut outfit was legendary around campus), he has yet to stake out a clear position on the Star Trek/Star Wars issue. Of course, on the Flats, it doesn't really matter which one you're for, just so long as you're consistent. Bill Lewis for example went trick-or-treating as Mr. Spock on Halloween 1994, after showing up at the previous night's faculty party dressed as an Ewok. That's no good. He was canned immediately. Tech fans prize consistency over all other deontological maxims. That last sentence, by the way, explains the Chan Gailey era in far less time than that epoch took to actually unfold.

Dawgsports: Will the triple option be as successful next year once everybody in the ACC has had a chance to see it up close?

Wolowitz: Is DragonCon one heckuva party !?!

Dawgsports: OK, moving on then . . .

Wolowitz: To answer your question, critics of the triple option make the logical mistake of thinking that defenses will learn from their mistakes after the first time they face it. This is incorrect for two distinct reasons. One, it attributes far too much institutional memory to the average college football defensive unit. Two, it attributes far too much intelligence to the average college football defender individually. As I've learned designing apparati for use aboard the space shuttle, building a device that withstands the rigors of space is easy. Building one that withstands the rigors of human stupidity is the real challenge. Take the Mars Rover for example . . .

Dawgsports: Guy who answers with a non sequitur says what?

Wolowitz: What?

Dawgsports: Nevermind. Say, one of the regular features here at Dawgsports is called "5 Things". It's a list of five players or events we think that our readers will see during the upcoming game. How would you like to do the honors and list them this week?

Wolowitz: Certainly, my good man. I'm fairly certain you'll see Roddy Jones. Tech's slippery "A" back. While all of you seem to be worried about Jon Dwyer, it's easy to forget that Jones has 400 plus rushing yards and is averaging in the neighborhood of 20 yards per catch through the air. He should worry you folks like pre-calculus. Haha, a little MENSA humor. Also, don't be surprised to see us throw the ball. We've gained over 1100 yards through the air this season. Usually when you least expect them. Alas, you'll also see us turn the ball over, at least twice. The question is whether you'll be able to do anything with those turnovers. Especially since you'll also see Matthew Stafford throw at least one interception. Unfortunately, I don't think our banged up defense will be able to stop you. In the end, I foresee a final score of UGAG (haha, more humor) 38, Georgia Tech 31.

Dawgsports: Thanks Howard.

Wolowitz: By the way, didn't you say something about introducing me to the cheerleaders . . .

Dawgsports: No. Gotta go. Bye.

Too Much Information: Georgia Bulldogs v. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

2008-11-28T17:47:18Z

I hope everyone had a healthy and happy Thanksgiving. We are on the eve of Clean Old-Fashioned Hate and the time has come for me to offer my weekly pregame statistical and historical breakdown of the Bulldogs’ upcoming opponent.

This time, it’s pretty straightforward:

We’re Georgia. They’re Georgia Tech.

My Prediction: Georgia 31, Georgia Tech 20.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Don't Bet On It!: National Game of Disinterest

2008-11-27T14:30:04Z

Together, we have traveled around the S.E.C. and gone through the national games of interest. Ere I get to my upcoming breakdown of historical and statistical minutiae concerning Georgia’s upcoming game against Georgia Tech, however, I have the responsibility of announcing the national game of disinterest.

This, quite simply, is the least intriguing game of the week, one which features teams about which I do not care in a clash with respect to which I do not feel moved either to declare a rooting interest or even to take the effort to learn the outcome after the fact.

This week’s national game of disinterest is . . .

Florida International at Florida Atlantic

As far as I know, this game may settle the conference championship of the Sun Belt and decide which team goes to the New Orleans Bowl. On the other hand, it could just as easily be a clash of winless teams to determine which will secure its elusive first victory. It also is possible that these are two equally-matched mediocre teams or two mismatched squads at opposite ends of the league standings.

None of that, though, is the point. The point, rather, is this:

I can’t tell these two teams apart, and neither can you.

One of them has Howard Schnellenberger, but you have no idea which. One of them won the conference title last year, but you’re not sure if it was F.A.U. or F.I.U.

Let’s be honest, now. Not only do you not know where either of these schools is located, you’re not even entirely convinced either of them has an actual honest-to-goodness campus. I mean . . . Florida Atlantic and Florida International? Those sound like internet-based correspondence-course colleges whose accreditation is judged suspect even by the folks at the University of Phoenix.

In defense of the University of Phoenix, though, their mascot rocks!

Back in the day when the Plainsmen had trouble getting their rivals to come play in the so-called Loveliest Village, Auburn coach Shug Jordan was fond of saying, "College football is meant to be played on campus and on grass." I agree with him about the latter---like most college football fans (and Willie Nelson), I prefer grass to artificial turf---and, while I believe strongly that the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party should be kept in Jacksonville, I will concede Coach Jordan’s point at least insofar as a college football team at least ought to have a campus.

If two Division I-A teams play on any given Saturday and I can’t state for certain that either of them has a home with libraries and classrooms and dormitories and student centers and suchlike, though, that game qualifies as the national game of disinterest.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Cocktail Thursday: Thanksgiving Edition.

2008-11-27T10:45:06Z

Happy Thanksgiving, Dawgsports readers! I don't have to tell you that these are not the best of times. No, I'm not talking about the Florida game. Or the Kentucky game.

The fact is we Bulldog fans have a lot more things to be thankful for this holiday season than we do to be bitter about, including:

The fact that we're 9-2 with some considering it a "down year", while our in-state rivals are 8-3 and feel like they're on top of the world.
Nick Saban is apparently building a powerful program over in Tuscaloosa and rotating the heck off our schedule for the time being.
We have a quarterback who we're publicly beseeching to come back for another year, rather than one everybody wishes had already graduated.
Even with 1/3 of our team on crutches and 1/4 either in traction or suffering from ebola, rickets, or monkeypox, we're still better than we were during the Donnan Era.
Baba O'Reily.
The last time Georgia lost to Georgia Tech, our current freshman class was in the 5th grade.
Speaking of which, A.J. Green is a freshman.
So are Cordy Glenn, Ben Jones and Deangelo Tyson.
We haven't lost to Syracuse.
Or gone 3-9 under our supergenius spread-erific new coach.
Sanford Stadium hasn't been hijacked by Somali pirates.
Or the Dread Pirate Leach. Yar.
Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, waffle fries and an ice cold Coca Cola.
Fried chicken, potato salad and an ice cold Coca Cola (with bourbon).
The Lone Bugler.
Rennie Curran, the Liberian Dream.
Mo Massaquoi not saying "To hell with this" after his sophomore season.
Beating Auburn, no matter how small the margin or inconsequential the result in the SEC title race.
The best crop of bloggers in intercollegiate sports. I don't know if we have any Heisman winners in the bunch, but we've got more quality depth than I could possibly link to. I'm not even going to try.
David Greene's hidden ball play fake. It still makes me smile.
Mark Richt changing his mind and calling Vince Dooley in the middle of the night to accept the Georgia job.

And as for me personally, I'm thankful for my family, especially my wife (who allows me to tell her that my blog posts will take "5 more minutes" when she knows that in fact that's merely how long it will take me to find the right synonym for "palaverous"). I'm thankful that Kyle King gave me a call and said, roughly "Come give this site a try. I can't guarantee you money or fame, but you'll have a good time." He was right. About the money, the fame, and the fun.

I'm thankful for the first time one of my posts was linked by the Washington Post online edition. Because, in all candor, we filthy bloggers do enjoy the occasional hat tip from those mainstream media types, even though we do occasionally give them unshirted hell. I'm thankful for all of you who click over to read this site with your morning coffee. You have no idea what an honor that is. The fact that there are 2,500 or more of you on a daily basis still hasn't sunk in, even now. That's about 2,498 more than I envisioned when I started MaconDawg's Blawg.

And finally, I'm thankful that I live in a country where I can enjoy the tailgating beverage of my choice, so long as I don't set foot on the sidewalk with it or enjoy so many of them that I start dancing like Christopher Wulkan in a Fatboy Slim video.

Therefore, in honor of Thanksgiving, I urge you to imbibe the pregame cocktail of your choice. And I urge you to post its recipe in the comments section, along with a list of the things you're thankful for on this very special day. Here's to you, Dawgsports readers. I'm raising a glass to you today. Until later . . .

Go 'Dawgs!!!

Don't Bet On It!: National Games of Interest

2008-11-27T01:39:29Z

Yesterday, I took you around the S.E.C., so the time has come for me to provide you with the national picks for the upcoming holiday weekend. I actually went 3-1 in last week’s nationwide prognostications to improve to 40-31, but I was way wrong about the one I missed, so my usual disclaimer still very much applies. Whatever you do . . . Don’t Bet On It!

Here are this week’s national contests of note, the first of which will be played on Friday, November 28:

West Virginia at Pittsburgh: Both Big East teams sport 7-3 records. The Mountaineers are half a game out of first place in the league. The Panthers are in fourth place in the conference. Can someone remind me again why I think Pitt is having a better season than W.V.U.? There may not be a game anywhere in America involving two B.C.S. conference clubs that features two head coaches in whom I repose less faith than this ~~chess~~ ~~checkers~~ ~~tic-tac-toe~~ rock-paper-scissors match between Bill Stewart and Dave Wannstedt; there has not been so little sideline acumen assembled in a single stadium since Bill Curry coached alone. I’m going with West Virginia for no particularly good reason.

Maryland at Boston College: The only reason this game doesn’t represent a crucial contest in the determination of the Big East bowl pecking order is that both of these teams inexplicably find themselves in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Go figure. In a league as topsy-turvy as the A.C.C., I’m hesitant to pick the better team to win, but surely nothing in nature suggests that a Terrapin is capable of fending off an Eagle, right?

The namesake of the oldest college of the University of Georgia may have wanted our national symbol to be the bird we’ll all be eating tomorrow evening, but there’s a reason no one ever advocated making a turtle an American emblem.

Fresno State at Boise State: Remember back in the preseason when we thought this one would be worth circling on the calendar? A funny thing happened on the way to the Golden State Bulldogs’ full-fledged return to Western Athletic Conference prominence. The West Coast F.S.U. isn’t a bad team by any means, but the Broncos are the class of the league by a good-sized margin and that fact will not change this Saturday, as Boise State will improve to 12-0. Do not doubt the mojo of the blue turf.

Oregon at Oregon State: This year’s ~~Battle of the Color-Blind Equipment Managers~~ Battle of the Webbed Feet (sorry; "Civil War" is not a term my people use, although I’ll be happy to call it "The War Within the State") carries extra added significance, despite the fact that Jacquizz Rodgers’s shoulder injury may represent a departure from the expected script for the Beavers, who are one win away from plunging over the precipice separating the they-haven’t-been-to-the-Rose-Bowl-in-how-long? feel-good story of the college football season from the they’re-being-rematched-in-a-bowl-with-a-team-that-beat-them-how-badly-in-September? ratings-deflating disappointment of the college football postseason. Although the Ducks have matched their in-state rivals in overall record (8-3) and are but a game behind O.S. in the conference standings, Oregon’s wins have come over teams with a combined ledger of 27-62, which is why I resisted ranking the squad from Eugene for so long. Even with Rodgers sidelined, I like Oregon State to close the deal in Corvallis.

Oklahoma at Oklahoma State: Was ever there a team in a more prime position for a letdown than the Sooners in Stillwater this Saturday? The Cowboys, being the "little brothers" in this series, likely take the game more seriously than O.U. Bob Stoops’s troops are coming down off of a huge victory in Norman that has everyone talking about division crowns, poll rankings, and national championships . . . everything, in short, except for Saturday’s game. The Pokes are coming off of an open date and O.S.U. is playing at home. The problem, though, is that Coach Stoops reminded us last weekend how he got the nickname "Big Game Bob," whereas Mike Gundy’s lifetime record against Oklahoma, both as a quarterback and as a head coach, is 0-7. This weekend will make it 0-8 as the visitors register the victory, Sooner or later.

As long as we’re working a Stephen Colbert theme here, I’d like to remind everyone that Oklahoma is on notice!

I feel ~~pretty good~~ ~~all right~~ utterly uncertain about ~~some~~ ~~most~~ all of those picks, so, if I’m not sure, you clearly shouldn’t be. The lesson to be learned from my self-doubt is simple: Don’t Bet On It!

Coming Soon: National Game of Disinterest.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Don't Bet On It!: Around the S.E.C.

2008-11-26T03:58:22Z

The final weekend of the regular season is upon us, so every team in the league is diving into the deep end for a final 60 minutes’ worth of action. Even with what I erroneously thought was a bold prediction that Ole Miss would beat L.S.U. (with respect to which C&F quite reasonably asked whether it was an upset if everyone saw it coming), I still only broke even in last week’s S.E.C. picks to fall to 62-16 in conference contests. At this point, I shouldn’t even have to tell you this, but, then again, no one should need a warning label anymore to know that smoking cigarettes is bad for their health, so let me reiterate: Don’t Bet On It!

These are the games on the docket for this week, the first two of which will be played on Friday, November 28, in order to make us even more thankful:

Louisiana State at Arkansas: Does anyone else remember when this game used to be a big deal? You know, like, last year? Although the Tiger faithful have concerns about the direction of their program, this is strictly a brief downcycle for an elite team; that’s a very different thing from being in the position of the Razorbacks, who are suffering the consequences of decades of mismanagement by a self-serving athletic director who hung on too long, tolerance for a climate of rabid fan animosity towards a successful coach that got out of hand even by S.E.C. standards, and the hiring of a quick-fix artist whose commitment issues would make him a fit subject for a Cosmo quiz. Add to that the fact that the Bayou Bengals are looking to end their season on a high note and have revenge on their minds, and it all adds up to an L.S.U. victory.

Mississippi State at Ole Miss: My sister-in-law and her husband are University of Mississippi alumni and we’ll be seeing them at Thanksgiving, so this is a game to which I particularly am looking forward, as it combines family, football, and Thanksgiving leftovers. Who among us doesn’t enjoy watching the Egg Bowl while eating from the deviled egg bowl? I’d pick the Rebels on general principle, but it helps that they’re good and M.S.U. is bad.

That David Cutcliffe is doing a fine job in Oxford. Oh, wait. . . .

Florida at Florida State: I’ll admit it; I had given the Seminoles up for dead, not just as a team, but as a program. It had been my belief that F.S.U. might never be good again, and certainly wouldn’t return to national prominence until Bobby Bowden ceased to stroll the sideline. The ‘Noles, however, have improved substantially. They just haven’t improved nearly enough to compete with Florida.

Vanderbilt at Wake Forest: It seems to me the math on this one is pretty simple. The Commodores beat Ole Miss by six points in Oxford. The Demon Deacons beat Ole Miss by two points in Winston-Salem. Taking home field advantage into account, Vandy ought to be about a touchdown better than Wake. Of course, my math skills weren’t good enough to get me into, say, Vanderbilt or Wake Forest, so I’m going with the Deacs to conquer the Commies.

Kentucky at Tennessee: I have an interesting exercise I would challenge you to attempt. Try to identify the latest date on which you would have looked at me funny had I said to you: "Rich Brooks will outlast Phillip Fulmer as a head coach in the Southeastern Conference." For all the disappointments this season has held in Knoxville, however, the Volunteers proved in their win over the ‘Dores that they are not done fighting for the Great Pumpkin, at least insofar as division rivals the Big Orange historically have owned are concerned. This week will be no exception, as Tennessee will send Coach Fulmer out a winner in his last game at the U.T. helm.

South Carolina at Clemson: I will confess to having a disproportionate degree of interest in this game. Because Georgia will visit Fort Hill in 2013, the Tigers’ next head coach almost certainly will be on the sideline in Memorial Stadium when Mark Richt leads the Red and Black back into Death Valley. Although Clemson football owes its genesis to Auburn through such figures as Walter Riggs and John Heisman, it is to the other half of the Iron Bowl that the Country Gentlemen have been beholden in their modern incarnation: Jess Neely and Tommy Bowden both served as assistant coaches at Alabama; Frank Howard and Hootie Ingram both played for the Crimson Tide; Charley Pell and Danny Ford each played and coached for Bear Bryant in Tuscaloosa. That is why I hope Ron Morris is right that Dabo Swinney will be the next head football coach of the Clemson Tigers. Coach Swinney walked on at ‘Bama as a wide receiver in 1990, was a scholarship player for the Tide from 1990 to 1992, made academic all-S.E.C. and earned two degrees from the University of Alabama, served as a graduate assistant at his alma mater from 1993 to 1995, and coached wide receivers and tight ends for the Red Elephants from 1996 to 2000. As an Alabama guy, he’s just a natural fit for a program at which six of the nine coaches to have served since 1931 have had ties to the Tide. Because I’m rooting for the symmetry that Coach Swinney’s hiring would bring, I’m picking Clemson to win by the shores of Lake Hartwell against the Palmetto State Poultry.

I will, however, concede the possibility that I may just like my team’s chances against a longstanding rival if that opponent is coached by someone who looks like Jack from "Will and Grace." (Associated Press photograph by Mary Ann Chastain.)

Auburn at Alabama: Don’t think this one won’t be close. Every last one of the Plainsmen’s S.E.C. outings this autumn has been a tight ballgame. The Red Elephants are winning ugly without really overpowering anyone. Auburn has had the psychological edge in this series for the last several years and the Tigers may be battling to save their head coach’s job. Auburn will give the Tide faithful more than their fair share of nervous moments. In the end, though, ‘Bama isn’t about to have its perfect season ruined by its fiercest rival. Naturally, I’ll be rooting for the Crimson Tide, because anybody who hates Auburn is all right by me.

Those are this weekend’s S.E.C. picks, for whatever limited value they may have. While I hope they kept you at least somewhat entertained, and maybe even made you a little bit better informed, I must emphasize---and I cannot stress this strongly enough---that, whatever transpires, you must remember this one thing: Don’t Bet On It!

Coming Soon: National Games of Interest.

Go ‘Dawgs!