15 Thoughts Bought Some Fool's Gold

Part of my daily routine is to check out Dictionary.com and their "Word of the Day" feature.  Today's entry does not disappoint:

Word of the Day:  Crapehanger

\ KREYP-hang-er \ , noun;

a person who sees the gloomy side of things; pessimist. Also, crepehanger.

I did (sure, it was mostly tongue in cheek) try to warn everyone.

I'm going to be brief because it's a beautiful, unusually chilly day in south Florida - a real treat for so early in the "dry" season.  I think I'll take a nice, long walk and not dwell on this one minute longer than I have to. Life is good, folks.

1. Great start to the game.  We moved the ball on our first and second drive.  We scored a touchdown and took the lead early; a recipe for success against a reeling team.  The accolades end here.

2. This annual football game is the most psychological contest on our schedule.  It has been and always will be.  In the history of this rivalry, a single play often flips the momentum as clearly as the boundary between a coal seam and sandstone.  Pardon me, but I must Munson rant...

Why we decided to kick a field goal on 4th and 3 in a howling clear-air hurricane is one of the more stupid decisions in the Mark Richt era.  We just recovered a fumble.  We are 2nd and 4 at the Florida 23.  We throw two passes in that spot that nets us a single yard.  Trot out the ill-advised field goal unit and there rest is history.  I just do not understand the play calling in this situation.  I never will.  We have to run it, put the ball in the end zone and Florida goes into a 14-0 hole.  The Gators gave us a gift, and we killed it with conservatism.  The field goal attempt may or may not have been good...we'll never truly know unless some new technology akin to "goal line" technology that they use in the English Premiere League is adopted and that will never happen.  One official ruled the kick good; the other directly underneath naturally decided the ball drifted wide.

At that moment, did you feel it?  Did you feel the doubt of an entire generation creep back in?  Could you see it on the face of our Leader on the sideline?

That is when, at least in my mind, all was lost.  Of course it would take another 48 minutes of football for this to totally play out.  Alea iacta est. The die was cast. As surely as in 1976 when Doug Dickey decided to go for it on 4th and dumb, the game flipped at that instant.

Our sideline died.  Theirs was reborn.  Game over.

2A. I guess the apocalypse is nigh.  I agree with Jeff Schultz.

3. Defense wins championships.  Until we build one, we ain't gonna win squat.  We can collectively bitch all we want about our offense, but when your defense literally gets run over for more yards gained on any Georgia team since 1978, you will always lose.

4. Maybe David Andrews is truly our offensive MVP, because without him we withered on the vine.  Great skill players are a luxury.  Excellent lineman are bread and water.  His loss was huge.

5. Nick Chubb is a great running back.  He's also a freshman.  He had the inevitable freshman game yesterday.  I believe Nick will be better off for it.  As much as his turnovers hurt us, this is hardly why we lost.

6.  Someone explain how our defensive ends were never in position to stop either Matt Jones or Kelvin Taylor on the edge?  With not threat of a real vertical passing attack, how could our 2nd and 3rd level of defense been so out of position all game long?

7. I must credit Florida.  It was a perfect storm of emotions for the Gators.  I've never seen a team so dejected as the Gators were just two short weeks ago after their collapse In the Swamp vs. Mizzou.  Physicists have proven the potential energy of a single atom.  Florida was down to their last atom, and we allowed them to tap it.

8. It was mentioned in the post-game discussion, and it bears repeating:  We are not getting the job done after a "bye week."  This is on the coaching staff.  If we play Florida a week ago, as opposed to an extra week of reading about how great we are and overcoming the loss of Gurley, do we beat Florida?  I think our chances are probably better but still would much rather have an extra week to prepare.  However, much like the criticism of the Super Bowl, that extra week - in the case of the NFL between AFC & NFC Championship games - one team tends to get flat and the other tends to refocus.

9. Having said that how is it possible that you play the flattest game of the season in that venue against your Arch Rival?  Florida is our biggest rival.  Always has been.  Inexcusable.

10. Will the Georgia Bulldogs ever have a season where the synergy of all available parts is, attrition by injuries notwithstanding, present from start to finish?  Does Todd Gurley help us in this game?  I don't know the answer to that, but I suspect he would have.  Perhaps we score on our first drive?  Our third?  Maybe we amass a lead and the seed of doubt creeps back into the collective UF mindset.  Will we ever have the luxury of all of our Todd Gurley's we recruit, feed, train, coddle, and worship available from the start to finish of any given season?  Is it too much to ask for that we have the weapons at our disposal at the beginning of the first battle available at the end of the campaign?  I really wonder if this will ever happen.

11. There is no doubt in my mind that we do things the right way at Georgia.  It also puts us at a competitive disadvantage because of the feckless and selective enforcement of the rules by the current iteration of the NCAA.  It is enough to put me on the verge of walking away from it all.

12. I would have liked to have seen Brice Ramsey get some snaps.  It would have like to have seen our future QB feel the Everbank Field turf underneath his feet; to feel the pressure of a defender breaking through on him in that venue; to experience the vistas that he will now have to look upon with virgin eyes next season.  Just a few snaps would have done him wonders.  There was never going to be any comeback.  Why couldn't we experiment a little for the future & greater good?

13. As bad as it was, Malcolm Mitchell was a sight for sore eyes.  He's truly a talent.  I hope he can help us down the stretch.

14. Who shows up at Kentucky next week?  We are going to find out a little something about character.

15. Personally, I'm not consumed about winning the SEC East anymore.  I don't especially care.  What I do care about goes back to point #14 above:  What do we do now?  How do we process this?  Will Florida beat us twice next week?  I am coming up for the Auburn game in a few weeks.  I don't want to see any "blackout."  I want to see some inspired, well-coached football.  Win or lose.  Anything is better than what just went down yesterday.

I guess this ended up not being as brief as I thought.  Please add your comments and I encourage you to vent.  Please try to remember a few basic tenets that we try to maintain on Dawg Sports:  Agree to disagree, but please watch the language (just think of George Carlin and "The 7 Words You Can't Say on TV" as a basic guide and you'll be fine).

Keep the Faith...as hard as it is to do at times.  Oh, and that goes for our football team, too.
/insertsmileyface.jpg

Go Dawgs!