Now, that was more like it!

It’s not that last week’s performance was bad; quite the contrary. It’s just that the win over Georgia Southern seemed to fall somewhat short of the hype. Saturday’s victory between the hedges, though, represented both a step up in the weight class of the opposition and a step-up by the Bulldogs, who looked yesterday like what they will be on my BlogPoll ballot tomorrow . . . namely, the No. 1 team in the nation.

From the booth, Mike Bobo called one of the best games of his brief career as his alma mater’s offensive coordinator, methodically building a 21-0 lead before Demarcus Dobbs’s 78-yard interception return appeared to break the game wide open. After the Chippewas clawed back to within two touchdowns on their first drive of the third quarter, Georgia did not hesitate to go for the kill; two plays, 62 seconds, and one 52-yard Knowshon Rockwell Moreno run later, the Red and Black had resumed a comfortable 35-14 lead.

From there, it was all Bulldogs. Central Michigan managed only a 30-yard field goal as the Classic City Canines pounded out three more touchdowns. An inopportune fumble on a poor center-quarterback exchange to second-stringer Joe Cox probably deprived Richard Samuel of his second score of the game, but that was one of few flaws exhibited by the ‘Dawgs on this day.

On the other hand, one of the flaws exhibited by the officials was their apparent ignorance of the fact that this is holding.

Much-ballyhooed double-threat signal-caller Dan LeFevour got his passing yards because Willie Martinez gave them to him in a swap the Georgia defensive coordinator was happy to make in the course of holding C.M.U. (Coach Martinez’s last stop on the road to Athens, incidentally) to 59 rushing yards and 2.7 yards per carry. Matthew Stafford, not hitherto known in these parts as the second coming of Fran Tarkenton, ran for more yards (25) than LeFevour (19), including a 22-yard scamper on third and long deep in Bulldog territory to sustain a scoring drive.

Stafford’s run produced one of 25 Red and Black first downs and represented one of the nine conversions the Athenians managed on a dozen third-down tries. The Chips, by contrast, saw their high-powered offense limited to 17 first downs and a mere half-dozen conversions on 15 third downs. Four of Central Michigan’s first five drives failed to produce so much as a single fresh set of downs.

The Bulldogs racked up 552 yards of total offense and demonstrated impressive balance in the process, throwing for 289 and rushing for 263. Moreno could do no wrong, averaging over nine yards per carry, collecting 168 yards and three touchdowns in 18 rushes, and at one point causing me to wonder whether Larry Munson was up in the booth yelling, "He’s jumping over people!" Moreno added 30 receiving yards on three catches for good measure.

Samuel made the most of his eight touches, racking up 44 yards and a score . . . which, based upon the third-string tailback’s reaction to the late turnover, was one touchdown too few in his book. When Caleb King’s 4.0 yards-per-carry average brings up the rear among the Bulldog backs, the ground game has had a good day.

Let’s not slight the passing attack, though. Cox came into the game late and the offense barely missed a beat. The backup quarterback threw five passes for five completions and 76 yards. Aside from a drop by Kris Durham over the middle, the ‘Dawgs looked sharp through the air all day. A.J. Green and Mohamed Massaquoi lived up to their billing and both Michael Moore and Israel Troupe had good games.

No, the game wasn’t flawless. Georgia was set back 70 yards on nine penalties, although much of Central Michigan’s limited success came on some questionable no-calls by the officials. The special teams were not as strong as we have come to expect, as the directional kicks Blair Walsh has been instructed to make yielded more and bigger returns than are acceptable. I agree with the always insightful SG Standard: if we can put it out the back of the end zone, why don’t we?

These, though, are decidedly minor quibbles. Georgia closed the deal in dominant fashion, producing a game which was fun not only for the fans but (judging by the dancing on the sidelines during a T.V. timeout and by the good-natured ribbing dished out by Dobbs during the postgame show) also for the players.

On a day on which Southern California and Louisiana State both took the afternoon off (the latter, by necessity; the former, by design), Ohio State struggled mightily with overmatched Ohio (Ohio) in the national game of disinterest, and Florida led depleted Miami (Florida) by six points after three quarters before classlessly leaving Tim Tebow in the game to tack on trash (and trashy) points at the end, there appeared to be no genuine challengers to Georgia’s standing atop the sport outside of a couple of strong performers in the Big 12. (No, Texas and Texas Tech, I’m not talking about you!)

Nothing personal, coach, but . . . a 28-13 halftime lead over U.T.E.P.? Really?

Beyond that, here are a handful of other random observations regarding the Saturday just behind us:

• I have attended both games this season as one-half of a father-son outing, but, because I went to the Georgia Southern game with a five-year-old and to the Central Michigan game with a 65-year-old, I was able to stay all the way to the end this time. When the Redcoat Band struck up "Krypton Fanfare," I was reminded how right my wife is when she says that, rather than own the fourth quarter, she would rather own the first, second, and third quarters and leave the fourth period to the scrubs. Better that than sleepwalking through the first 15 minutes or more and needing to turn it on late like some teams I could name.



• Speaking of the Saurians, does Tim Tebow not see the cognitive dissonance between being the sort of football player who writes Bible verses on his eyeblack and being the sort of football player who plays for Urban Meyer? Can the Gator Golden Child quote me chapter and verse on the part where Jesus said, "Blessed are they who leave their starters in during the final minute of the fourth quarter so they can run it up, for they shall inherit the earth"? Who knew that Florida would one day hire a coach that made us long for the graciousness and dignity of the Steve Spurrier era?



• While we’re on the subject of running it up, I hope no one thinks Georgia did that by hanging half a hundred on the Chippewas. As I pointed out earlier, breaking 50 on C.M.U. is hardly novel for a B.C.S. conference team playing at home and the fourth-quarter offense was pretty much straight up the middle; it only got out of hand because Samuel came to play (which is to his credit) and there’s only so long Michiganders can be expected to hold up in Georgia humidity. Here’s how much the ‘Dawgs weren’t trying to run it up . . . by the end of the game, we had a white guy "possession-type receiver" out there returning punts!



• Here’s how the postseason coaching dominoes are going to fall: Tommy Bowden will be fired; Bobby Johnson will replace Coach Bowden at Clemson; Skip Holtz will replace Coach Johnson at Vanderbilt; Steve Spurrier will replace Coach Holtz at East Carolina. Hey, it’s bound to yield better results than the last time he replaced a Coach Holtz at a directional Carolina.



• No, I’m not talking trash to South Carolina. The Gamecocks always bring their best game to the confrontation with Georgia, and they will have two extra days to prepare, a strong incentive to right the ship after losing to Vanderbilt, a very stout defense, and a home field advantage that no Bulldog fan could deny is genuine and daunting. The good news is that this is likely to be a defensive struggle in which the first team to 20 wins. The bad news is that, the last time the ‘Dawgs scored 100 or more points in a two-game span was against Vanderbilt and Kentucky in 2002. The next week, Georgia lost to Florida by a 20-13 final margin. The Red and Black will have to be extremely wary heading into Columbia.



• I always enjoy seeing national championship Georgia squads from other sports being honored at halftime of a football game, but it’s a little odd to see what other Bulldog teams look like. The men’s tennis team looked like any eight guys selected at random from a fraternity block of seats in the student section and, as a guy sitting in front of me pointed out, the equestrian team must be second only to the football team as the Georgia squad having the most members. "There’s 40 girls out there," the fellow in the row before me noted, "and that means there’s got to be 40 horses, too."



• I was disappointed in the presentation of the football lettermen holding their reunions. The groups were introduced by team year without further embellishment. Between the 1998, 1988, 1983, 1978, 1968, 1958, and 1948 teams, there were some accomplished squads out there, but only the "Wonderdogs" received special mention. There were two S.E.C. championship squads, a ten-win Cotton Bowl championship squad that narrowly missed out on a national title, and Vince Dooley’s final team out there. Those guys deserve more credit than they were given on Saturday.



• I was mildly nonplussed that the televisions in the Tate Center were showing Boston College-Georgia Tech and Auburn-Southern Miss before the game. At the time, Ohio State was locked in a real battle with a M.A.C. team nowhere near as good as the one the ‘Dawgs were getting ready to throttle. We need to start thinking of ourselves as a national program. The Tate Center televisions ought to be showing us the Buckeyes’ and the Trojans’ struggles. Do you think U.S.C. fans are following U.C.L.A. games more intently than, say, L.S.U. games?



• In week one, the preseason favorite to win the A.C.C. was manhandled by an average or slightly above-average S.E.C. squad on a neutral field. In week two, the successor squad to take over the position of A.C.C. frontrunner needed a last-second 41-yard field goal to avoid being upset on its home field by a below-average S.E.C. squad. Is the S.E.C. that good or is the A.C.C. that pitiful? Is it fair to treat the A.C.C. champion as this year’s "B.C.S. buster"?



• If you even thought about being impressed by Florida’s 26-3 home win over Miami in a game in which the Gators managed seven offensive points in the first 45 minutes of play before cheaply pouring it on at the end, I would remind you of the following outcomes from the Hurricanes’ previous dozen outings: Oklahoma 51, Miami 13; Virginia 48, Miami 0; Virginia Tech 44, Miami 14. Pouring it on in the fourth quarter to beat the ‘Canes at home by 23? Please. The only thing remotely impressive about last night’s game in Gainesville was Erin Andrews.

It’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog.

Go ‘Dawgs!

As longtime readers of Dawg Sports know, it is my custom just prior to the Bulldogs’ weekly outing to preview Georgia’s upcoming opponent in full statistical detail---sometimes in positively excruciating statistical detail, in fact---but there’s a problem with doing that this early in the season.

At this point, there are no statistics, not to speak of, anyway, so what do I have to offer that Quinton McDawg and Doug Gillett didn’t tell you already?

That was a rhetorical question. I’m sure I’ll come up with something.

Dan LeFevour draws numerous comparisons to Tim Tebow, but one similarity that rarely receives adequate attention is the fact that neither has anywhere to go but down. LeFevour came in off the bench in the Chippewas’ 2006 season opener (a near-upset of Boston College in Mount Pleasant) and proceeded to set an N.C.A.A. record for pass attempts by a freshman before exploding in a sophomore season that was the statistical equal of the Gator Golden Child’s. What will he do for an encore?

Tebow may be a threat comparable to global warming, but LeFevour causes global warming.

In regular-season road outings against B.C.S. conference competition, though, LeFevour and his teammates on the offensive side of the ball have enjoyed little success, at least in the only aspect of the game that actually counts: scoring points. In LeFevour’s two years under center, the Chips have notched 17 points at Michigan, 36 at Kentucky, seven at Kansas, 22 at Purdue, and 14 at Clemson . . . the moral of the story being, if you play in a big-boy league and your defensive coordinator isn’t Mike Archer, you have it in you to shut down C.M.U.

That isn’t the phase of the game that ought to be of greatest interest to Red and Black partisans, however. The Chippewas will get their yards in Sanford Stadium on Saturday, and they will even get their points, to a degree we will find maddening at the time before realizing afterwards that Willie Martinez and his staff had this game in hand from the outset.

No, our focus ought to be on the Georgia O. In the aforementioned five road outings against B.C.S. conference competition in the Dan LeFevour era, Central Michigan surrendered 41, 45, 52, 45, and 70 points, respectively. As we have seen demonstrated repeatedly over the last seven-plus seasons---up to and including last Saturday---Mark Richt is too classy a guy ever deliberately to hang half a hundred on an overmatched opponent, but, unless the Chippewa D displays a stoutness not hitherto seen in recent seasons, the ‘Dawgs may break 50 for the first time since the 2004 Kentucky game in spite of themselves.

Why not? The Classic City Canines have been flirting with the big five-oh for a while now, having broken 40 in five of their last seven games. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want us to open up a can just because we can, but, against an opponent as capable of scoring at any time as C.M.U., C.M.R. may want to unleash Mike Bobo.

You know . . . the way I’d have unleashed Uga had I been the guy in the cap standing on the left-hand side of this picture. I hate Auburn.

It’s hard to gauge how good a team is based solely upon a season-opening outing against Division I-AA competition, but the early returns from Central Michigan’s first game versus Eastern Illinois were a mixed bag for the Chippewas. The Panther D held the home team to 389 yards of total offense and stopped the Chips on both of their fourth-down attempts. C.M.U.’s 7-for-14 performance on third down barely outpaced E.I.U.’s 6-for-14 stat line.

Likewise, Eastern Illinois quarterback Bodie Reeder (which may or may not be the best way to receive the Dawg Sports R.S.S. feed) played toe-to-toe with LeFevour: Reeder hit 19 of 28 attempts for 201 yards (7.2 yards per pass) while LeFevour went 21 for 31 for 217 yards (7.0 yards per pass).

Even though the Panthers were forced to settle for a pair of 29-yard Tyler Wilke field goals, E.I.U. held C.M.U. to a three-and-out at the start of the fourth quarter and went on a five-play, 44-yard touchdown march to cut the Chippewas’ lead to 12 points. I’m feeling pretty good about the ability of Matthew Stafford and Joe Cox---who, between them, completed 17 of 27 passes for 323 yards (12.0 yards per pass)---to fare pretty well against the Central Michigan defense.

A final point bears making about the Chips, who play their home games at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. The facility was named for C.M.U. coach Bill Kelly and C.M.U. alumnus and benefactor Perry Shorts, making it second only to Purdue’s Ross-Ade Stadium as the college football venue that most sounds like its name was the result of an ill-conceived corporate sponsorship deal, but wasn’t.

Central Michigan represents a significantly tougher test than Georgia Southern and I expect the visiting team to gain far more than the 290 yards of total offense conceded to the Eagles. However, another 500-plus yards and 40-plus points ought to be on tap for the Bulldogs this weekend, as well. The score will be similar to last Saturday’s but the Chippewas’ points will not come at garbage time, so expect a few nervous moments along the way to a convincing yet not overwhelming victory.

My Prediction: Georgia 48, Central Michigan 27.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Where actual defeat is all but unthinkable, what constitutes victory? On August 10, I answered that question in this manner:

From where I sit, a win, all by its lonesome, will prove nothing; I will need to see four of the following five things occur before I am willing to call any victory over Georgia Southern on August 30 an encouraging sign:

• Georgia scores at least 45 points



• Georgia Southern scores no more than 17 points



• Georgia scores on the Bulldogs’ first possession of each half



• Georgia Southern does not score on the Eagles’ first possession of either half



• Georgia’s offense has at least four plays covering 20 or more yards

Well, Georgia scored exactly 45 points, but Georgia Southern scored four more than 17 points. (Credit MaconDawg with correctly predicting the margin of victory, if not the actual final score.) The Bulldogs’ first drive of the first quarter covered 57 yards in five plays for seven points and their first drive of the third quarter covered 71 yards in two plays for seven points. The Eagles’ first possession of the first half was a three-and-out that lost four yards and their first possession of the second half was a three-and-out that gained seven yards.

Finally, the Red and Black had four plays of well more than 20 yards---namely, a 36-yard completion from Matthew Stafford to A.J. Green, a 61-yard completion from Stafford to Kris Durham, a 37-yard completion from Stafford to Knowshon Rockwell Moreno, and a 47-yard completion from Stafford to Mohamed Massaquoi---ere the opening minute of the third period had elapsed.

All right, that’s four out of five. Mission accomplished, right? So why do I feel as (relatively) badly as I do about what was, according to every indicator, a fine day for the ‘Dawgs?

It certainly isn’t that I had a rough day; far from it. My kindergarten-age son, Thomas, and I left at an early but not unreasonable hour, made the trek to Athens, and were in our seats in time for the initial festivities of the 22nd consecutive home opener I have attended between the hedges. (I am proud of that record; in 1996, I had to leave a friend’s wedding reception early and change clothes in the car in order to get to Sanford Stadium in time. Don’t get me started on weddings that take place during football season. . . .)

As father-son outings go, this was one of the best, just the boy and me, there to see Uga VII anointed and the top-ranked team in the land on the field. As on-field efforts go, this one was pretty solid. Stafford had what was statistically his best day ever in a Bulldog uniform, hooking up on 13 of 21 attempts for 275 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. Despite a disastrous early series that was as inefficient in its execution as it was premature in its timing, Joe Cox was passably effective in the backup role, completing four of six passes for 48 yards and another score.

Offensive line issues aside, the Georgia ground game’s production (212 yards) more than doubled up the Eagles’ rushing output (102), with Moreno making the most of his eight carries by tallying a trio of touchdowns and Caleb King living up to the early hype by racking up 95 yards on a dozen rushes for a higher per-carry average (7.9) even than that managed by the fellow whose jersey (or, at least, a replica thereof) I was wearing (7.4).

Blair Walsh, the true freshman placekicker whose position was the subject of so much preseason angst, got off to the best start of any Bulldog, burying the opening kickoff deep in the end zone for a touchback and making good on a 52-yard first-quarter field goal attempt that would have been the stuff of Kevin Butler-like legend had it been tried from ten yards farther away (and it certainly had the distance to have been good from that much farther out) and against an actual rival. More than half of the third quarter had passed before Georgia Southern scored its first points of the contest.

Except under the most extreme of circumstances, I probably err on the side of being overly positive rather than needlessly dour, at least where football is concerned. Nevertheless, I came away from this outing feeling that the glass was half-empty rather than half-full. (I freely concede that this may be attributable to the fact that Thomas didn’t last quite as long as I had anticipated, so I listened to the second half in the car on the way home. Short of the occasional miracle---the aforementioned Butler field goal; Buck Belue to Lindsay Scott; Verron Haynes’s touchdown catch in Knoxville; etc.---no Georgia game ever seems to be going as well in a Larry Munson play call as it is in person.)

These facts indisputably are facts:

• Georgia Southern matched Georgia score-for-score in the second half. Yes, it was against the scrubs, but if the Bulldog reserves are merely the equal of a Division I-AA team---even a good Division I-AA team (and it has yet to be established that G.S.U. is much more than average)---then the ‘Dawgs are not the equal of Auburn, Florida, or Louisiana State, much less Ohio State or Southern California.



• For all his statistical proficiency, Stafford was less sharp than he seemed on paper. Georgia Southern’s obviously intimidated receivers had the fear-induced dropsies; Georgia’s receivers weren’t failing to catch the ball, but the Bulldog quarterback overthrew open receivers on more than one occasion and the only reason the two-play scoring drive that opened the third quarter wasn’t a one-play scoring drive that opened the third quarter was that Massaquoi had to slow down to bring in the ball. Had Stafford hit him in stride, it would have gone 71 yards for six points.



• Jeff Owens was lost early in the outing, and, evidently, not just for the short term.

Get well soon, big guy. (Photograph by Kelly Lambert for Athens Banner-Herald.)

• Although Green and King undeniably had solid games, they also made freshman mistakes. Green incurred a false start penalty on second and three that caused a drive to stall, forcing Georgia to settle for a field goal when the ‘Dawgs were nine feet away from a first down at the G.S.U. 31. King’s subsequent failure to pick up a blitz could have gotten his quarterback killed had the opponent been from the Southeastern Conference rather than from the Southern Conference.



• Following a hot start, Walsh cooled considerably. His first kickoff went 70 yards, but his second went 50 (and was returned for four), while his third went 67 (and was returned for 45). His next five kickoffs set up the Eagles on the 24, 27, 30, 30 (before a 15-yard personal foul penalty against Georgia), and 32 yard lines, respectively; none made it into the end zone.



• Speaking of the 15-yard personal foul penalty, the Red and Black drew eleven flags, many for flinches at the line of scrimmage, as the offense incurred its share of false start penalties and the defense received more than its share of offside penalties.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not displeased with this afternoon’s effort. I’m not even not pleased in any meaningful way, if that makes sense. Arguably, this was Georgia’s best effort ever against a Georgia Southern squad, inasmuch as the Bulldogs neither allowed a 40-yard option run by the Eagle quarterback to give the visitors a 7-0 first-quarter lead (as in 1992) nor registered an underwhelming 29-7 victory (as in 2000) nor surrendered four touchdowns (as in 2004).

This was a fine game by a fine team. If Georgia had taken the field ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press poll, I might actually have been happy with this result.

However, Georgia didn’t take the field ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press poll, and, at this level, style points matter. Truly elite college football teams take on in-state opponents from lower divisions in their season openers and trounce them 43-0, or they beat the defending Division I-AA national champions 41-13, or they beat the defending W.A.C. champions 56-10, or, at a minimum, they shut out somebody from the Sun Belt. Some truly elite college football teams even travel across the country to face B.C.S. conference opponents that attended bowl games last season and thump the home team 52-7 in a trouncing so utterly routine as to be uninteresting.

On the plus side, my daughter, Elizabeth, had her game face (or, at least, her game outfit) on today.

The question is a stark and simple one, and it was stated plainly by Quinton McDawg: "So, was that the performance of a No. 1 ranked team?"

I have to state, in all candor, that it wasn’t. It was the performance of a top ten team, certainly. It was the performance of a team that is capable of finishing first in the land, undoubtedly. At this exact moment, early in the 2008 campaign, though, I cannot conscientiously claim that the Bulldog team that took the field in Sanford Stadium today would have beaten either the Buckeye team that took the field in Columbus or the Trojan team that took the field in Charlottesville.

Georgia will be in my top five, but, when I cast my BlogPoll ballot after all the gridiron action this Labor Day weekend is done, the Bulldogs no longer will be ranked No. 1. They will occupy that position in my heart, always, but, at this instant, my head knows better.

Go ‘Dawgs!