Dadgum Good Blawg

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

2009-12-24T08:47:00.003-05:00

Sorry to have been "offline" for so long, but I had a lot of holiday stuff going on and after we swatted the insects (again), there hasn't been much to write about.

The DC coaching search (though I think the decision has been made, the deal done and it's just a matter of the season ending to make the announcements) is ongoing. The team has been practicing and preparing for Texas A&M for our (disappointing, yes...thankful to be going bowling, yes) bowl game in Shreveport. I understand that ticket sales are a little "stale", especially by UGA standards. That is a shame, but considering that it is played on the day after Christmas weekend and represents a good deal of travel it is a little bit understandable. Texas A&M has been somewhat irrelevant over the past few years, so the fact that their fan base is excited about it is easy to understand, as well. Besides, that "neck of the woods" over there is most-likely rife with LSU, Arkansas and Texas fans. Hopefully the SEC homers from that area will snap up a few tickets and at least make the crowd respectable.

The last bowl game like this one that I remember was the Music City Bowl against Boston College when we got "shafted" by a better bowl and had to settle. This year, we shafted ourselves by poor play, so hopefully the team will be better motivated in this game than they were in that Music City Bowl. If you will recall, a mediocre Boston College team beat a pretty good UGA team that year that played like they just didn't want to be there. I hope this year, the team realizes how "lucky" they are and plays like they are capable of playing. The fact that we are missing 3 defensive coaches, this time not only in the normal mental sense but also in physical presence may or may not even play into the outcome. A&M brings a pretty potent offense that we would most likely struggle with even fully staffed. A&M's defense is actually worse than UGA's has been, so I am holding out hope that UGA will bring their Arkansas offense with them to this game.

Our most valuable offensive weapon in A.J. Green returns and should help us on that side of the ball. You have to like how UGA's running game developed over the last half of the season. If Joe can cut down on the mistakes, they can keep A&M off the field and not hand them the ball via turnover, UGA should certainly out-talent them to a win. If the team plays like they don't want to be there, then we will see a replay of the better team losing to a lesser squad and fuel speculation going into next season about the the leadership of the program.

I think the Dawgs will win, but even if they don't, the year after that Music City Bowl loss turned out to be a very good season for the team. In any event, I will be watching, wearing my UGA gear and cheering the young men on to victory!

Go Dawgs and Go SEC! See ya' next year!

7-5...The Hard Way

2009-12-02T12:33:00.002-05:00

Well, the Dawgs made it to 7-5 despite their best efforts to throw the already disappointing season completely in the toilet after giving Kentucky the game the week before. I was hoping and praying for a 7-5 season before the Kentucky game, but figured they'd get there by way of beating the Wildcats and then being run over by the Gnats of North Ave. Wow...was I wrong and, honestly I could not be happier about it.

I didn't post anything after the Kentucky game for obvious reasons. Anyone who watched the game, and every Kentucky fan, coach and player knows why Kentucky won that game. It was not because Kentucky was the better team or because they played better than the Dawgs that night. Kentucky won the game because the team that the Dawgs had been all year manifested itself during halftime of that game and charged out of the locker room in full FAILURE regalia. They came out of the locker room with the same vigor and zest that American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert did as he busted out of "the closet". Full frontal assault including same-sex kissing and hip gyrations akin to the fumblitis, penalty-filled interception prone team we have seen all year. Enough about that pitiful excuse for a performance. (The Dawgs, not Adam Lambert, though both made my stomach churn)

So, the Dawgs silenced the chest beaters of the insect world, only to open the door for the excuse-laden bees to spew their continued hatred and jealousy of the only true "BIG BOY" football program that really matters in the state of Georgia. Try as they might (and did), GT will never be the flagship football program for the great state of Georgia. You heard it here first (or even if it was for the 1,000,000th time you heard it here).The Nerds were so full of themselves after a 3 point win in 8 tries this century. How fitting was it that UGA doubled the margin of victory they termed as a "beat down" or "a$$-kicking"?! I guess if 3 points was a beat down, then 6 points has to be viewed as an annihilation, right? I will enjoy this next year, flyswatter in hand for the lunatic fringe of the Techmite fan base as they try to look for any reason to be happy about being #2 in the state of Georgia. The only thing that would complete my satisfaction is if Clemson wins the ACC Championship game.

Go Tigers!!

Now the team sits and waits to see which bowl they will be invited to. The team and their fans travel well, so it may come down to a bowl that's further away since we, as fans are more apt to follow our team better than another fan base might be. Frankly, living in North Carolina, I will be hard-pressed to travel anywhere further than my La-Z-Boy, but I will watch regardless of where or when they play. The Chick-fil-A bowl would be a nice draw since it's a bowl with a little bit of prestige and it happens close enough to New Year's Day that it has THAT FEEL to it. Honestly, any bowl after how the team played this year is a blessing and I will be cheering the Dawgs on no matter what.

For now, enjoy the conference championship games, and may the best teams truly win their respective conferences so the bowl teams will at least be evenly matched against one another. Anything with a Clemson win and a Florida loss suits me just fine!

The "Not Ready for Prime Time" football Dawgs

2009-11-23T12:51:00.003-05:00

The season was summed up in one half of football. 30 minutes of 1st half satisfaction was abruptly replaced with 30 minutes of disgust as the Dawgs allowed a 20-6 halftime lead evaporate on the way to a bitter 34-27 defeat at the hands of the Kentucky Wildcats. Really....???? Kentucky....??? Yeah, really.

This loss cannot be attributed to the defense, which (to its defense...in defense of the defense) has shown improvement over the past 3 weeks. Not that 3 weeks makes up for 2 plus years worth of solid disappointment, but the defense has played a little better. The loss Saturday can be chalked up to youth and inexperience. The youth is in the forms of supremely talented freshmen Branden Smith and Washaun Ealey and inexperience in the form of 5th year senior Joe Cox. The former can be more easily rationalized and even excused than the latter. The fact is that Joe has, in more than one game this year, melted down when the team needed him the most. Joe was just not ready for prime time this year, plain and simple.

As I sat in believable disbelief watching the Dawgs fumble and stumble their way to one of the worst losses I have seen in quite some time, I was reminded that this was supposed to be a year of rebuilding. Would I have imagined a 7-5 or 6-6 season, even after losing almost all of the prior year’s offensive weaponry? Nope. The fact is that even though the team has recruited very well over the past few years, the coaching and the ability to “coach up” those recruits has declined. Truth be told, after last year Coach Richt should have dismissed a couple of assistants, but stuck with his friends and we have seen the end result of that decision. If the head coach lacks the fire and desire to make tough decisions and continue to compete with the likes of Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Houston Nutt and even Lane Kiffin, then perhaps he’s not the right man for the job. I say give him one more year to prove himself.

Having taken myself off “the ledge” of rabid fandom a few weeks ago (if you’ll recall from a prior post), I have been able to sit back and make decisions based more on logic than emotion. I still love the Dawgs and will follow them until the day I die, but I can now remove the emotion and gain some objectivity that I was “blind” to before. Richt’s even keel served the Dawgs and their fans well in the first few years, but his loyalty to his assistants and his seeming lack of fire have made me realize that, unless he can get the fire back next year UGA may need to seek another head coach. UGA is one of those “cream of the crop” jobs that deserves a coach who can act as the CEO and make the tough decisions if it helps the team compete every year. This team/coaching staff has not been competitive when and with whom it needs to be for 2 years, now and when we can’t slam the door on a Kentucky team that was all but left for dead at halftime, the issues abound.

I believe Richt will right the ship and make the decisions he needs to make, or Damon Evans and the boosters will make the decision for and without him. He is a great man, a very good coach but loyal to a fault. He has earned the right to get things turned around and the future looks very bright with all of the young talent they have coming back. We’ll see if they are able to do anything with them. He has earned that chance, in my opinion.

The Oldest Rivalry in the Deep South

2009-11-13T14:17:00.001-05:00

The UGA/Auburn game this year marks the 113th time the two teams have played. "The Oldest Rivalry in the Deep South", as it is commonly referred to has been extremely competitive over the years (as shown below) but this years' game does not carry the normal "national attention" as it usually does since both teams are in somewhat of a state of flux or transition and the game holds no BCS or other major bowl implications, yet.

Over the past 112 meetings, Auburn holds a 2 game series advantage (53-51) and there have been 8 ties. Out of 3,445 points scored by both, only 49 points separates the two (1747 for UGA, 1698 for Auburn). Also, the visiting team seems to win this game most of the time, which makes picking a winner even more challenging. 25% of Auburn's roster comes from the state of Georgia which always adds to their motivation to do well against their home-state school. UGA has only 2 players on their roster from the state of Alabama.

Auburn's strength is their unique offense, coordinated by well-traveled Gus Malzahn.
Being one of the originators of the "wild (fill in the blank) offense", Coach Malzahn is a legend in the state of Arkansas and was a very successful high school coach in that state. In the college ranks, he has coached at Arkansas and Tulsa, bringing a twist to their offensive schemes and has been called, "one of the sport's most innovative offensive minds, not just in the college ranks, but in all of football". If there's one thing these Bulldogs have trouble with, it's a twist or even a "surprise" from the other team, such as the bootleg pass. (See the UGA vs. UT meltdown of 2009). Auburn's defense, normally a strength has been less than spectacular this year and is suffering through injuries as well as playing people outside of their normal positions. If that sounds familiar, think back to UGA last year. They are fairly solid in areas, but because some players are playing "out of position", they have been prone to give up a big play or two per game.

UGA comes into this game as healthy as they have been for a while. A.J. Green returns from the lung bruise (that even sounds painful) that he suffered while reaching for one of Joe's patented "over the head into triple coverage" throws across the middle of the field against Florida. Auburn has decent cover corners, but they are a bit undersized, as are their safeties, so that might be an area of attack for the Dawgs. I'd like to say that UGA has found their running game and that they have a feature back now in Washaun Ealey, but I have to remember that the most impressive game was against Tennessee Tech. No disrespect to Tennessee Tech, but they are not the Auburn Tigers.

I think UGA got a good confidence boost last week, and will come into this game motivated to, at the very least become bowl eligible (oh boy...game 10 and they are still not bowl eligible...ugh!). I would hope that Mike Bobo and Joe Cox have seen some areas that they can attack and that they will do so early and often. It would be nice to get up on them early in this game, get the crowd into it and put it in the "W" column. These games are typically pretty close, so picking a margin of victory is difficult.

UGA by 12.

I'm baaaack! Did you miss me?

2009-11-09T12:14:00.005-05:00

Okay. So I took a week off after the loss to Florida. Big deal. Who didn't know that the Dawgs would go to Jacksonville and lose the game, right? Why write about it or even care very much about it. This season is what it is and no amount of wringing hands or gnashing of teeth will change it, at this point.

I'm not going to lie to you; I watched the entire Florida game. This gave me the chance to really look at the team with more scrutiny and more objectivity than I had before. I knew going in that the Dawgs were going to lose the game. That was pretty much a given. The team had not played up to its potential all year. The closest they came was against a terrible Vanderbilt team, but even that "easy" win left me with a lot of questions.

Going into the Florida game, especially after seeing the team come out on black pants and black helmets, I knew the coaching staff had all but given up. Thankfully the team didn't and actually played a pretty good game. The exception being Joe Cox who completely lost his head in that game. The 2nd half would reveal that the wheels had, indeed come off the wagon and when they put Logan Gray in an impossible situation where he predictably laid the proverbial egg it was clear that not only did the wagon not have wheels, it had lost a couple of its drivers as well. Good teams don't need to resort to gimmicks (the uniforms) or tricks (Logan Gray in at an awful time of the game). So it just confirmed what I had already decided midway through the Tennessee game - this is just not a very good team.

So in comes Tennessee Tech. A team who had actually inquired about me when I was playing high school football back in Macon, Georgia. I was going to a small private school (our graduating class had 50 people in it) so me being a 6' 00", 225 lb. offensive and defensive tackle was not that strange. I held my own back then. Enough so that even only having played one year in a league where kids typically grow up in that league I garnered honorable mention for all-state honors. Tennessee Tech was one of 3 schools who gave me a look, only to decide that I was too small to be a lineman and too slow to be a linebacker. But enough about me...

Anyway, Tennessee Tech came to town for UGA's homecoming. It was expected that the team would perform well against a much-inferior opponent from a lesser football conference and division. The Dawgs did not disappoint and dismantled the Golden Eagles, just as they should have. The game was as much about boosting confidence, as anything else. In the years pre-Damon Evans, the team would typically schedule a couple of lesser teams to allow UGA to get their feet wet and find a groove. They were not allowed that luxury this year. In those same pre-Damon years, the fans got tired of hearing about the weak out of conference schedule so they put pressure on the Athletics Dept. to schedule tougher games, which they have done. I guess the fans should be careful what they wish for, huh? The team performed well, except for those dadgum, ever-present penalties and UGA coasted to an easy win.

This week, the Tigers/Plainsmen/War Eagles come to town with a revamped offense and a pretty good defense. I'll have more on the game as the week progresses, but suffice it to say that when a team UGA plays uses an offense that is a departure from the norm, under Willie Martinez, UGA struggles. I can remember times when I would wonder if Willie had even taken the time to review any film or do any game study on the opposition the week before a game. In a year where his fate is uncertain, why should we believe he would do anything differently than what he has done in the past?

More to follow...

Georgia-Florida week is here!

2009-10-28T12:21:00.003-04:00

I will make this post pretty quick and to the point. UGA will not win this game Saturday, unless....

1. UGA can come together as a cohesive unit and play as such for 60 full minutes.
2. UGA rushes for more than 150 yards.
3. UGA wins the turnover battle.
4. UGA scores with every opportunity to do so.
5. UGA's defense plays disciplined, sound football on every snap.
6. UGA remembers the humiliation they felt as Urban Meyer called 2 timeouts with a minute or less left on the clock of a "blowout" game simply to teach them a lesson about celebrating a touchdown. (This will go down as one of the most classless things a D-1 coach has ever done, in my opinion. Coach Meyer's ego must be the size of a cruise ship.) Every "child" who throws a temper tantrum needs to be dealt with accordingly. Coach Meyer acted childish and needs to be dealt with accordingly.
7. UGA gets the ball in the hands of its playmakers and allows them the opportunity to make plays.
8. UGA plays "all in". In other words, don't play "scared", play to win the game. If they lose this game, the season is not lost. If they win this game, they can turn it into a completely different season.
9. Coach Bobo and Martinez coach up to their potential as they have shown in the past. Willie, bring back the defense we saw against Hawaii.
10. UGA holds their heads high, proud to wear the red and black, regardless of the outcome.

Now, will they need to do all 10 of these? No. Will they need to, at least do half of them? Probably. Will the outcome of this game affect my mood? Very likely. Will I ever stop cheering for the UGA Bulldogs? No chance!!

Guys, go out, give it your all and make yourselves, the university and your families proud of you. True fans are here today and we will be here Sunday after the game. There is a very real opportunity to dethrone the #1 Florida Gators on Saturday. At this point, the struggles UGA has had against them is all in the fans' minds. You play your best games when you are the under"dawgs" and no one expects you to excel. Recently the rivalry has drawn closer and is almost always competitive. Both teams are very talented and have good coaches. Go play the game, have fun and leave it all on the field. That's all anyone can ask.

All of this to say - GATA!

Go DAWGS!

A Vandy win is music to any UGA fan's ears

2009-10-19T13:14:00.003-04:00

Well they did it! UGA went out and played a relatively good game against another D-1, SEC opponent. I know it was "only" Vanderbilt, but how many times in recent memory have we been able to say "only" Vanderbilt? Not many. The truth is, Vandy always plays the Dawgs tough, regardless of the talent differential. Let's face it - Vanderbilt is one of those "sneaky" teams that rise up to bite people when they are least expected to do so, and it could have been the Dawgs' time on Saturday, but thankfully it wasn't. The team needed that and so did the fans.

Even though the game was on TV up here (on NBC), I kept to my new "perspective" and watched bits-and-pieces of the game while helping to clean the house. My job is relegated to the bathrooms...Go figure. I can make 2-3 bathrooms last for the entirety of the house cleaning exercise like nobody's business. It's a gift, really. Anyway, I had the game on the TVs throughout the house so I could hear it while scrubbing and maybe take a glance if I heard any amazing plays worthy of instant replay. There are only a few things worth stopping whatever you're doing to watch, (unless your cleaning the toilet, and then EVERYTHING is worth stopping for)and one of those things involves A.J. Green catching (and running with) the football. The guy is just better than anyone else on the field. He, at his young age is simply the best player on the field on any given Saturday. Poetry in motion.

A couple of things I do get tired of seeing, however are Michael Moore (a.k.a. Ocho Dos) missing a needed catch and Bryan Evans trailing a long pass play. No offense guys, but you two are senior leaders. Can you try to set a good example for the younger players? Are you just trying to illustrate how NOT to do things? I'm sure these are quality young men, but if UGA expects to win games, it is becoming very apparent that they will need to do so with little to no help from the aforementioned duo. Another thing I get tired of seeing is the abysmal running game from this team. A supposed strength in the preseason has become excellent at protecting the QB while non-existent in run blocking through most games. It was nice to see some progress late in the game, when they needed to use clock, so maybe there's more improvement to come. They'll need it down the stretch.

With a week off before the WLOCP, the team can certainly use the rest. Coach Richt is taking his mandatory furlough and there's little doubt that going into a bye week, fresh off of a win is a good thing for everyone. I like the fact that Mike Bobo was on the sideline. There seems to be some merit to having him down there in the action with the young team. The defense played well, even if it was against a pretty mediocre offense. This off week comes at a good time and hopefully the team will be energized to put forth a good effort against the Gators. They don't appear to be as invincible as many might think, and perhaps the Dawgs finally found themselves in a sluggish, albeit convincing and relaxing victory against "only" Vanderbilt.

A little perspective from a friend and fellow Dawg fan

2009-10-13T16:45:00.005-04:00

I recently got an e-mail from a friend of mine that I met up here in North Carolina. He is a UGA alum and actually was the person who turned me onto the local UGA Bulldog Alumni chapter and urged me to join them for game viewing on Saturdays.

As I listened to the Tennessee game on XM last weekend, I had an epiphany regarding the Bulldogs football team and my seeming ability to equate their success with my happiness. I decided then to step back across "the line" I had apparently crossed, gain some perspective and realize what is truly important. The e-mail my friend sent me today, with no prompting or knowledge of my thoughts from this weekend let me know that I was definitely on the right track.

"Do you ever sit back and wonder where the line is between entitlement and fandom? At what point do we, fans, have the right to ask our coaches hard questions that hold them accountable---and at what point do we fans need to realize that we are not entitled to anything when it comes to our coaches answering our questions and we aren’t owed a damn thing.

I’ve come to this crossroads this year with the Dawgs. I am as die hard of a Dawg as there is. I am passionate, as informed as I can be for living out of state, and root for the Dawgs through thick and thin. Almost like a marriage---in good times and bad, for better and for worse. I live by the saying of “I’m bulldog born and bulldog bred. And when I die, by God, I’ll be bulldog dead.” So, on one hand, when the Dawgs are doing things on the field that even I, a complete nobody with no college football playing and/or coaching experience, can see—I become frustrated and confused. This leads me into asking questions—questions that I’d like answered by the man, the buck stops here man, the coach, the head coach.

But then I remember that I am just a fan. And this is just a game. And when I think about being passionate, am I more passionate about the Dawgs and getting the answers that I feel I deserve than I am about my family, my community, or my country? In the grand scheme of things, if I die and the Dawgs have not won another National Championship, will my life be unfulfilled?

I’m sure this line between entitlement and fandom is different for each of us. But I wonder how many of us have overstepped our bounds this year and crossed over from fandom to entitlement---and done so wrongly. Are we really entitled to get answers? If so, where is that line? Are we putting too much emphasis on things that are fleeting? If so, how do we get back to the land of sanity—where we care more about our family, community, and country than we do about offensive and defensive schemes?

I’m not sure about where to draw my line…but I’m sure I’ve crossed it this year and am pulling myself back as I type."

Folks, from my thoughts to his hands, this pretty much sums it up for me...thanks, Jason!

My hope is that UGA will right the ship this weekend against a Vanderbilt team that seems to have reverted back to the Vandy of old. The players need a good win to lessen the sour taste the last two weeks have provided. The coaches could probably use the break from the fans and media demanding answers for questions which really have no answers, at least none that would satisfy either side of the argument. If I was a betting man, I would bet UGA beats Vandy this weekend by a couple of touchdowns. I'll be happy if they do, but I'll still love 'em if they don't.

I will continue to post on this blog, because I do love the Bulldogs, but if my posts lack a little of the "pinpoint accuracy" of someone who actually watched the game, it's because I was probably outside playing catch with my sons or driving my wife around the neighborhood on the golf cart.

Mr. Kiffin...can I have your autograph?

2009-10-12T12:43:00.003-04:00

I stated early in the season that I figured Lane Kiffin’s team was going to sneak up and beat someone that they were not supposed to beat. I feared that “signature” win would be against my beloved Bulldogs. Well, it happened. Not only did the tick-infested hounds from Obknoxiousville win the game, they dominated the game. There is no reason that Jonathan Crompton, as inept as he has looked prior to this game, should have looked like an All-American on Saturday. I was out and about with the family during the game since, to my knowledge, it was not being played on television up here and was listening to the Volunteer feed on XM. The commentators were in disbelief at how well he was playing. One of my Vol friends sent me an excerpt from a previously unpublished and apparently unabridged dictionary giving the definition of the word “InCrompetence” a few days prior to the game. He was certain that the Dawgs were going to go into Neyland Stadium and come away with a victory. I was cautiously optimistic at the time. That may be the final time I will be optimistic about any game this year.

This coaching staff is now at a crossroad. We have heard Coach Richt many times in the past state that he’s not sure how good his teams are, and that he can really tell by how well they handle adversity. Well coach, it’s your turn. How well will you handle the adversity of underachieving with talent that 98% of the schools in the nation would die to have? The current situation has not snuck up on anyone. If people (me) chose to stick their (my) head in the sand for the past couple of seasons in denial that this crossroad was coming, shame on them (me)!!

The crossroad is here and we, as a program stand in the middle with some tough decisions to make. Does the head coach continue on this same path of mediocre expectations for our coordinators, thus ensuring mediocre performance from a far-from-mediocre talent pool? Or does he make some inevitable tough decisions and make a change or two at the end of the year? I don’t expect any changes to happen during the season, so for anyone expecting that, you will likely be disappointed. Unless the coordinators come forth and offer themselves as a supreme sacrifice, we will have to endure the remainder of this season and hope for the best. Only time will tell.

I love my Dawgs! I love the players and up until Saturday, when they appeared to simply give up, I loved their effort. I will always support them. That’s just the way I am wired, I guess. It’s time for the team to come together and reach an agreement that they are going to play the rest of the season as if their lives depended on it. The coaches need to coach as if their livelihoods depend on it (and hopefully, for a couple of them it will) and we fans need to get behind them and support them like our happiness depends on it. Sadly, for many fans it does.

Final thought....is the turmoil down in Tallahassee clouding the judgment of our head coach? Would he rather be coaching somewhere other than Athens, Georgia?

Only time will tell...

Excessive celebration... No. Excessive inconsistencies...YES!

2009-10-06T13:19:00.001-04:00

The call on A.J. Green was terrible! No argument, there. It did not cost us the game, but it did change the game to the point where it made it easier for LSU to come back because it fueled their hope while at the same time, dampening ours. To go from sheer elation to total amazement and confusion was just too much to ask our young men to overcome. The LSU team had the opposite happen to them. They went from bitter disappointment when A.J. made the TD catch to jubilation knowing that we would have to kickoff to them from our 15 yard line, which would, based on our previous kicks put them, at worst on their own 40 or better. It would have made more sense to kick it out of bounds at that point, but hindsight is what it is.

The fact remains that if Joe Cox had been “on his game” in the 1st half, we might have been able to get up on them early, as our defense was playing very well. Joe was missing his receivers by a step or two the entire 1st half. He was just off on his timing. So much for us putting together a “complete game”. The O-line was giving him time to throw, but he just could not connect. Also, as good as our O-line was at pass blocking, they were about as bad at run blocking. It’s hard to have a good day passing when you can’t run, and vise-versa. I have been as staunch a supporter of Richard Samuel as anyone, but I think it’s time we put him on the defensive side of the ball and let him be what he is...a linebacker. I have never seen a more rigid running back in my life. He has no ability to shed tacklers or out maneuver anyone. He is constantly tripped up at the line of scrimmage trying to simply navigate the terrain there. There was one play, in particular, I believe it was the same play he ran for 80 yards against Arkansas, where the hole was there, but he tripped on someone’s leg or something because he just fell face first like someone threw a broom stick into the spokes of his bicycle. It’s no wonder we didn’t see him in the 2nd half. By the way, did anyone else notice how Washaun Ealey runs like Knowshon? Good vision, good feet and that burst through the crease? Caleb nor Richard has shown that this year. That was refreshing to see, and I believe it’s what sparked our comeback and near-win.

If we can ever put the pieces of this puzzle together, we can be scary good. When the offense clicks, the defense sucks, and when the offense sucks, the defense clicks. Our special teams, aside from Drew Butler and Blair Walsh (for the most part) are horrendous. Maybe a trip to Knoxville will help cure our ills. It is well-publicized that we have a better road record than home record. Tennessee has already lost 2 games in Knoxville and not looked very good doing it. Their offense is not playing well despite being a pretty good running team, but their defense is. Old man Monte Kiffin has proven, once again that you might not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but an old dog can teach some new ones a few. I figured before the season started that Tennessee was going to knock off a team they weren’t supposed to. I just hope that team is not my beloved Dawgs.

If we sulk around in practice all week, blaming the officials for the LSU loss and feeling sorry for ourselves, we will lose. I would prefer to think that we come out pissed off that we allowed LSU to win “our game”. It’s a sure bet that “Diddy” Kiffin will have the defense dialed-up to stop A.J. Green, so let’s get some other folks involved this week, while making sure A.J. gets “his”. I’m just afraid that we will attempt to go to A.J. one too many times and that the surface-to-surface missile, otherwise known as Eric Berry will try to decapitate him. We can ill-afford to lose A.J. at this stage of the season. Let’s let Orson Charles (sans the celebrations) play a bigger role. I don’t care who it is, or whose redshirt we need to “burn” to win this game, let’s just win it!! This is not your older brother’s Tennessee. They are vulnerable. They are ripe for the plucking. We cannot allow them to make their statement this year using UGA as the piñata.

Deep down, this game scares me to death. However, with all of our success over the past 8 years and the fact that I still believe in our coaching staff and roster full of high quality recruits I have to believe that we will, at some point in the season pull it together and become what we are capable of becoming. What better week than this one?!

UGA by 10.

This puzzle is still missing a piece or two, maybe we find them this weekend

2009-09-30T11:39:00.000-04:00

Well, our defense showed up a little against a “suspect” Arizona State offense. I say “suspect” because, to be honest, they didn’t look that good to me. Their QB appeared almost overwhelmed and actually had that “deer in the headlights” look on his face for most of the game. He didn’t have that “glide” that you often see with a player who has confidence in his ability. Think about Joe Montana. Now, I am certainly not trying to equate Danny Sullivan with Joe Montana, but when Joe moved, there was a certain smoothness to his motions. Even when Joe simply dropped back to pass, his motion was smooth. The same can be said about athletes like Michael Jordan, Randy Moss and our very own AJ Green. Most athletes have a sort of “glide” to them, and poor ‘ole Danny Sullivan, by contrast was jerky, clunky and downright stoic. So, I am not sure our defense was that much better as much as Danny Sullivan is just not a very good athlete/QB.

As the old saying goes – “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”, which really makes no sense to me, a win is a win and we should be happy about it. I am happy about it. I was very happy about it when we went up 14-3 in terrible weather. Our running game still leaves a lot to be desired, but we were moving the ball well in a downpour and weren’t making many mistakes. But then we seemed to take our foot off the pedal. It reminded me of when we played Florida State in the Sugar Bowl in 2003. There was a point in that game when it became obvious that we were the better team and that we were going to win, and we simply disengaged and coasted the rest of the way. I got the EXACT same feeling about mid-way through the 2nd quarter of this game. As it turns out, we would have done well to keep the momentum going and to have scored a couple more times, and then put it on cruise control. We came perilously close to losing a game we should have won, as they say “going away”.

That was then, this is now. This week, LSU comes to town. LSU, as you recall is coming off of a very disappointing (to them, normal for Georgia Tech) 7-5 season. So far, by all accounts, they have looked much like us, except they are undefeated and ranked #4. They have beaten a seemingly good Washington team and a resurgent Mississippi State team, both wins being fairly close. They appear to be in some sort of “talent limbo” like us, as well. We both have recruited well over the years, yet neither of us has been able to come out like the world beaters we should be and impress on both sides of the ball. Their offense is not firing on all cylinders and their defense has been so-so. They are struggling with their running game, just like us and both teams have a “stable” of capable talent. Their QB is a bit more mobile than ours and they have a good receiving corps, but I would give the edge to us with AJ Green. They hold the edge on defense, since they seem to be able to create turnovers while we have not shown that ability, to date. Just looking at this game, we appear to be fairly even across the board. That should mean that it will be a tight game. I mean, why would we want to break with tradition, right?!?!

However, something back in the cob-webbed, dark recesses of my mind tells me that this might be a “relaxing” game for one or the other of us. I hope it will be UGA, but it could just as well be LSU. Will LSU be yet another top-5 team to bite the dust? Will UGA actually play up to its potential and put together a complete game for the first time this year? Will LSU come in and utilize “super stud” Russell Shephard in the same manner that we should be using Logan Gray and make us pay for it? Was LSU looking ahead to us when they almost let Mississippi State win their game? Were we looking ahead to LSU with a lackadaisical win over a middle-tier PAC 10 school? Will LSU be looking ahead to Florida, who they play next when they come to Athens this Saturday? Will we be looking ahead to Tennessee? A lot of questions, but one thing is for sure – this game is always tough to predict.

Perhaps it is the eternal optimist in me that wants to believe in the Mark Richt system and in the coaching staff that averages nearly 10 wins per year, but I think UGA, at home will come out determined to win, hold onto the ball, gain a couple of turnovers in our favor for once and win the game. With all of the attention LSU is going to give AJ, look for someone else to make a statement in this game. Caleb should start and will hopefully get the majority of the carries early and then Richard can take over late in the game when we need to pound the rock and use the clock. (Nice, unintended rhyme, huh?).While I stated earlier that I had a feeling this game would be a comfortable win for one of us, logic tells me that the status quo for close games by both squads will prevail in this one, as well.

UGA by 4.

Welcome to Georgia, Sun Devils!

2009-09-24T13:35:00.000-04:00

I certainly hope all of the Arizona State fans enjoy their visit to the University of Georgia, except for one aspect of the trip – that being the game. I’ll leave the “Devil went down to Georgia” fodder for others.

What worries me is that the Sun Devils are coming in way under the proverbial radar. No one really expects them to come to our stadium and go home with a win. NO ONE! I know UGA supposedly plays better as the under “dawg” but I am hoping our guys have not gotten the message that this Arizona State team is not up to their own standard. We need to play sound football on both sides of the ball and try to achieve some semblance of a balanced football team. Teams with all offense or all defense rarely win many games in the SEC.

I have given up on the precise predictions as I am typically not even close, score-wise. I might get a few prognostications with regard to plays or players close to reality, but my scoring has been abysmal, so no more of those.

I think we come into this game a little flat, honestly. I wouldn’t be surprised if they took the early lead (imagine that). The Dawgs have played in two very close, very long shootouts back-to-back, and their legs and minds are bound to be tired. My hope is that our defense will have something to prove in this game and get after Arizona State early and often. I also hope that we establish our running game and get that settled so we can begin to find our groove there before we get into the meat of our schedule. Caleb King showed better vision and balance than Richard Samuel did last week. This is probably because Caleb is a more “natural” running back, whereas Richard is more an athlete who can really run. Richard is a “downhill” runner as was shown on his 80 yard TD run. He hit that hole quickly and was gone. I hope we run more between the tackles with Richard and Caleb, and allow Carlton Thomas to get into space more. The little fella has a lot of heart, but he doesn’t have a lot of mass to justify running him into players twice his size. We’d do well to get him out on screens and sweeps and let him create.

On defense, I hope we become smarter with our recognitions and disciplined with our assignments. There were times last week when the coverage was there, but Mallett and his WR corps were just on their game. Of course, there were a couple of times where we just looked clueless. Here’s an idea; let’s get lined up before the other team gets to the line of scrimmage so we are not at “...set” (as in dowwwwwwn, ...set...hut) before we get where we are supposed to be. And another thing, let’s cover their players and not cover each other (Vance Cuff and Reshad Jones...). It’s not likely the opposing QB is going to choose one of our players to try and complete a pass to. Just a guess on my part, really.

There’s no logical reason that we should lose this game. That being said, logic is typically not a factor in college football, these days. We have the better players, and we are at home to a (hopefully) loud crowd. We can show them a little southern hospitality before and after the game, but let’s show them a lot of southern football between the hedges.

No score, but UGA by 17 points.

Letter to the kind folks in Stillwater Oklahoma:

2009-09-21T10:57:00.000-04:00

Dear Oklahoma State Cowboys,
Please see if you can find and return our SEC defense to the University of Georgia. We seem to have left it behind in or near your fair stadium. We have asked Willie Martinez who was supposed to keep up with it where he dropped it, but he has no clue. It might be in the visiting teams’ locker room or perhaps we dropped it on the way to the buses after the game. The last time we actually saw it was last year during the first half of the UGA/GT game, but it got away at halftime. We got it back for the Capital One Bowl, and brought it back to Athens with us and had it during most of our game with your team on Sept. 5th.

Here’s a short description of what it looks like, to help you in locating it for us:

It’s very strong with visibly sharp teeth. It has a pretty mean disposition and does not like to give up the long play. It’s fast, so you might need to sneak up on it to snare it, but that is easier said than done because it is very alert and hard to sneak up on. It is always prepared. Its coverage skills are among the best in the nation and rarely out of position. It is extremely intelligent and can often outsmart its opponent by bringing pressure from multiple spots on the field. The ends are very physical and quick and are often able to overpower the opposition using fundamental technique and explosion. The safeties are decent in pass coverage and excel in stopping the run. The safeties are always in a position to make plays. There are NEVER 2 players running side-by-side 15 yards down the field as a tight end is underneath them wide open. The SEC defense is a thing of beauty and strength, yet is always mean and nasty at the same time. It normally doesn’t allow any more than 20 points per game, and certainly should never allow 78 points in a 2 game stretch against inferior competition.

Anyway, if you don’t mind looking around for it, we’d appreciate it! We have a couple of weeks before we will really need it, so there’s no rush. We might be able to continue playing Big 12 defense against the upcoming PAC 10 opponent, but we will certainly need it the week after that. We have our offense helping us look for it over here, just in case Willie brought it back with him and just misplaced it, again. Understandably, the offense is getting a little tired of having to work so hard to cover the ineptitude of our Defensive Coordinator, though.

Honestly, I think Mark Richt needs to find someone else to be in charge of keeping up with our defense. Someone who is a little better equipped to take charge of it and bring it out when we need it instead of letting it wander around, aimlessly. It’s really not good for our program to spend valuable time trying to find it when we should be preparing for the next game.

Thank you for your help,
The Bulldog Nation

Let the Big Dawg eat some Hawg!

2009-09-17T10:13:00.006-04:00

The best pulled pork in the nation (to me) is right here in Eastern North Carolina. I love the smokiness and the vinegar-based sauce with a hint of red pepper flakes and topped with some good, old fashioned cole slaw. Man-oh-man, I do love me some BBQ pork. I’m hoping the “pork” in Fayetteville Arkansas tastes more like victory.

I read on Rex Robinson’s web page “roughingthekicker.com” where he called Arkansas, the other white meat and I added my recipe for some tasty Hog over in Ar-Kansas. I’ll repeat that recipe here –

Start off with a heaping helping of Rennie Curran
10-15 more touches by Richard Samuel
0 Directional kicks
2 WR (Brown and Wooten) added early in the “cooking” process
1 linebacker jamming their TE at the line of scrimmage
1 linebacker in coverage once the TE is released
Several doses of solid kickoff coverage
A pinch of positive turnover ratio
Stir in a little luck and season with mistake-free play to taste.

It is absolutely paramount to our efforts to get Richard Samuel the ball at least 20-25 times per game. We read all off-season how much stronger he gets as the time rolls on. We know he’s got speed. We saw last weekend that he has power. Why we are not giving him “the rock” early and often is a complete mystery to me. Okay, enough about that. We have to assume the coaches know what they are doing. They are intimately familiar with all aspects of the program and the players and for me, or anyone else to speculate is merely that – speculation.
In keeping with my “new way” of predicting these games, I have tossed and turned my thoughts in such a way that it may be what I write as a prediction, is a complete mess and makes no sense, but in the end will be closer to what happens than what I actually think might happen. Make sense? No? Good!!

UGA rolls into Fayetteville Arkansas fresh off of our first SEC win of the season. What made that even sweeter is that it was against the Evil Genius and the fact that our Georgia State Patrolmen executed a perfect fist bump in the ‘ole Ball Coaches face!

UGA has found a bit of offense since the debacle in Boone Pickens Stadium and knows it can move the ball. Joe’s arm looked plenty good especially on that rocket that Norwood returned for 6 points...but I digress. I believe we see some of the “new guys” come more into focus since, surely Arkansas’ defense will be paying a lot of attention to A.J. Green (a.k.a. Shakespeare). This will open things up for Tavarres King, Marlon Brown, Rantavious Wooten and especially Orson Charles. We have “toyed” with Charles over the past couple of games, but this guy is a STUD and we are about to start using him to take some pressure off our other receivers. BELIEVE THAT!

We should arrive with bad intentions and leave with a very convincing win. Our defense will dominate Arkansas with Houston and Washington coming off the edge. We should get 6-8 sacks in this game. This game will be reminiscent of the Sugar Bowl against Hawaii. There will be no doubt when we leave that the other teams will have to account for the fact that at some point, perhaps on that last play when Rennie knocked the ball away we figured out how to play GEORGIA FOOTBALL again!

Big plays and solid defense, along with a serious reliance on the running game puts this one in the bag early, and Mallett’s attempt to rally them back with long passes results in +5 turnover ratio as the Dawgs cruise.
UGA – 34
ARK - 13

Who are U (GA)...who-who, who-who...? (just like the song)

2009-09-14T12:58:00.024-04:00

I believe I am going to spend time thinking about how I envision a game will play out, write it all down and then post the polar opposite opinion in hopes that I will be remotely close to looking like I know what I am talking about. The Okie State game turns into a defensive struggle and the South Carolina game turns into a track meet....who knew?!?!?

UGA vs. SC - The Good, the Bad and the Unknown.

It's tough to look at a win as anything other than what it is....a victory. However, if we don't go back and review what we did right, we can't expect to remember everything and find some "builds" to make those things even better. And if we don't go back and review what we did wrong, how can we expect to not to repeat the same mistakes? I saw some good, and I saw some bad (some VERY bad), but all-in-all, I finally realized that we have no idea who we are as a team. And that may be the most disturbing thing to find out after 8 years with (essentially) the same coaching staff.

Okay, the Good -
- Branden Smith was possibly the fastest person in the entire stadium on Saturday. When he broke through the first level of the defense EVERYBODY watching the game knew he was gone! He may have been running as fast as he could, but it looked like he had a sneaky 6th gear he could have engaged, if needed. That run was very fast, but looked effortless for him. Gotta love speed!
- Brandon Boykin has been anointed (by me) to be the kick returner for his entire tenure at UGA. Can we see him in the backfield? He seems to have the vision that Samuel lacks (more on that later).
- Joe Cox played just like I think we all expected him to play this year. He managed the game well and made the plays that needed to be made. His arm looked fine to me and seemed to have decent zip on it when he needed it.
- My youngest son has nicknamed A.J. Green "Shakespeare" because anytime he goes for the ball, it is a silky smooth masterpiece. I'm just glad NCAA rules dictate that he has to be with us next year (must be 3 years removed from high school to be NFL draft-eligible) because he is only going to get better.
- Orson Charles is a "special" player. Anyone watching him and not able to see that is lacking in any functional reasoning ability. (Mike Bobo...Bobo...?....).
- We got a sack, we got a sack!!
- Our defense is really strong against the run. (See "The Bad" below)

Okay, The Bad -
- If Branden Smith is going to field a kick 5 yards (or deeper) in the end zone, he really needs to take a knee. That's 3 of these that I have seen, and this last one (hopefully) was a turnover that should have never happened.
- Joe Cox has been in the system for 5 years, now. He should know the offense well enough to call audibles. There was one play when we were driving, trying to use some clock and he looked completely lost and had to call a timeout. Timeouts in tight games are like having Tic Tacs leaving the smoking section of an airport...they are valuable. Don't waste them. Call any kind of audible that rhymes with "Richard Samuel in the gap between right center and right guard". The fact that he looked lost in that situation is scary.
- Turnovers against better teams will "kill" us this year.
- We WILL have to play Florida, eventually.
- Yet another game where we forget how to call a running play. Why-oh-why are we calling an out route to the sideline with @ 13 minutes left in the game with our defense basically on life support? We need Coach Richt to take back the "first right of refusal" on Bobo's play-calling. If that's not evident by now, well...see below in the "Unknown" section.
- We only got 2 sacks. Although we got 2 sacks, we had a few chances, but Garcia proved as slippery on the field as he apparently is off the field.
- Our defense really sucks against the short pass. These little dink and dunk passes to receivers doing quick, button hooks and big tight ends crossing the middle of the field, 6 yards off the line of scrimmage, uncontested has to stop! Garcia's average yards per completion was 5.6 yards per completion on 53 pass attempts. Imagine Florida's speed across the middle of the defense in the open field....did I already mention that we DO have to play Florida later this season? Can we sneak a linebacker out or a safety into the middle to at least present a presence there? South Carolina ran the same couple of passing plays over and over last night with great success. Willie....one word.....ADJUST!
- I still see way too many shoulder bumps and arms flailing to feel comfortable about our tackling.

Okay, The unknown -
Are we a good team or not? NC State held South Carolina to 7 points. They scored 37 on us. South Carolina held NC State to 3 points, but allowed 41 to us. We only scored 10 points on an Oklahoma State team that allowed 45 points to Houston and only scored 11 more points than they did on us. I live in Raleigh...NC State nor Houston are the UGA that I have spent the majority of my life loving and following!!

See what I mean?

Coach Richt has enabled Georgia to, once again become relevant every year. We average 10 wins per year, and have been to numerous SEC Championship games and major bowl games. It's hard to throw stones at something like that. There are about 109 other D-1 programs in the nation that would love to have our success.
That said, we have top-10 recruiting classes every year. We recruit as well as anyone in the nation and bring in top level talent every year. Some of those recruits realize their potential while at UGA, but most do not. One thing is pretty obvious, at least to me. The other teams in the country seem to coach their players up to a higher level than our coaching staff is able to do. We look unprepared for games we should be prepared for (Alabama, GT last year and Ok. State this year). We have had, in prior years, the better team in the UGA/Florida "rivalry" over Richt's tenure, yet we hold a 2-6 losing record to the lizards. Why???
In some games, heck, in some series' within a single game we go from "world beater" to "second tier" in our performance. How we can march down the field in the first 7 minutes of a game, only to spend the next 53 minutes looking totally inept?It is beyond logical reasoning.

Coach Richt has spent the last 8 years turning UGA into a perennial top-15 team, but can he (and his current staff) consistently take us to a championship level, like other teams with similarly gifted players do? I'm not so sure. Folks, we are not playing Georgia football, lately. Many of our on-the-field actions come across to the casual observer as "afterthought", or someone tossing a lifeline just before we go under for the final time. We have no identity on offense. We have no identity on defense. We finally kick the ball into the end zone a few times, but then spend time using the ever-wasteful directional kick, as if the field is Skeletor's (Fabris') own lab experiment. We bend to the point of breaking on defense and allow teams to score, in one way or another on almost every drive. South Carolina had 90 plays of offense and punted (not counting the fake) 2 times. Our #1 running back is running hard and picking up nearly 5 yards per carry behind what was touted as our best O-line since 2002, yet he only carries the ball 15 times, is absent in the middle of the game and is forgotten when we need to use up the clock. We have play makers coming out of our ears who might be able to take some of the double and triple team off of A.J. Green, but we either forget about them, or we don't put them in until very late in a tight game.

Who are we and what have Richt, Bobo, Martinez and Fabris done with our Bulldogs??

Coach Richt needs to take off the blind loyalty glasses and make some tough decisions. If we are going to reach that next level, like we should be capable of, there has to be some changes made.

Don't you think some prominent boosters are sending a similar message to Damon Evans? I'll bet they are and probably using a lot more colorful language than I just did and several more $$ than I am capable of.

Arkansas prediction (reversed, spun around, tilted and squeezed for freshness) forthcoming...

I've come in off the ledge (for a bathroom break)

2009-09-11T13:12:00.002-04:00

Okay, I have come back from the edge of despair. I, like many Dawg fans saw what happened last week in Stillwater and was left scratching my head (or other, less desirable areas) wondering where our offense went. When you go back and look at the game, I think it's not so much where our offense went as much as where our focus went. Anyway, enough about last week. I need to get to this week's prediction so I can "go potty" and open the window in preparation for stepping back out on the ledge, should our focus get lost against South Carolina this weekend.

This could turn out to be one of the ugliest games of the year. If both teams' offenses play like they did last week and both defenses play like they did last week, this game might come down to special teams. For anyone who has been paying attention to UGA's special teams the last couple of years (led by Skeletor Fabris) this does not bode well for UGA. On a positive note, it doesn't look like there was anything "special" about the kicker for SC, either, but when it's apparent we have no idea what we are doing on a simple kickoff, we open ourselves up for a plethora of unpleasant possibilities.

Their QB, Garcia showed more poise and "command" of their offense than last year, but still has a knack for giving up on a play too early. They didn't really show a running game to speak of, and since Garcia is often not willing to allow a play to develop before pulling it down and running, their passing game does not scare me, either. Heck, we were able to hold one of the most prolific offenses in the nation with more experience than last year to nearly 200 yards less than their average from last year. South Carolina's offense does not scare me.

On the other hand, South Carolina's defense is much better than Oklahoma State's, and the Pokes were able to hold us to 10 points....man, that's hard to write or even think about. 10 points....WTF?!?! (Whew...deep breaths....in through the nose, out through the mouth.....okay).
Eric Norwood has been a thorn in our side for a couple of years now and is a beast. Their backup defensive ends were the stars of their game last week. I don't remember even seeing our defensive ends in our last game, regardless of who was lined up there. They are young in the DB spot, but appear to be athletic with good coverage skills. You couldn't get one AJ Green out of 3 of the NC State receivers, but the coverage, for the most part was there.

If Bobo can call a complete game like he can call a 1st drive, we should be fine. If Joe C. can spread the field a little more, we should be fine. If Richard Samuel gets 10-15 more carries than he did last week, we should be fine. If our receivers can hold onto more of Joe's passes, we should be fine. If we can keep the pressure off of Joe, where he doesn't get sacked and if he holds onto the ball when/if he does get sacked, we'll be fine. If we can kick the DADGUM ball into or out of the endzone just once this season, I'll probably be hospitalized....but I digress...

Bottom line -

UGA, top-to-bottom has better players, is deeper in the right positions, is at home and should be VERY hungry after last week. As much as UGA lacked last week, South Carolina lacked more. SC didn't win their game as much as NC State let them have it. Two very good defenses, two very suspect offenses. We have the playmakers that they don't, they have a win, and we don't.

Edge goes to UGA in a tight, ugly battle royal to the finish -

UGA - 17
USC - 10

Who knew. The Big12 CAN play defense...well, sort of...

2009-09-07T14:03:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I have started my prognostication woes a lot earlier in the season this year. I thought we were going to see an offense come out onto the field, grab the early momentum and hold their high-powered offense down to well below their lofty output from last year. I was not entirely wrong, but I sure as heck wasn't very close, either.

As I watched our offense meticulously dismantle the Big 12 defense on that first drive, my heart swelled with pride as our SEC Dawgs showed those Cowboys how "we" do things down south. That drive could not have been much more impressive. A skillful mix of run and pass, Joe Cox commanded the offense with ease and Richard Samuel began to show us all what the "hub-bub" was about. Our line was dominant and we seemed to impose our will on the smaller defensive front for Oklahoma State. Before you knew it, we were up 7-0. Boy, was I feeling good about the rest of the game.

We all nervously watched the kickoff as it sailed to a corner of the field, but was closer to the 5 than the 35 of last season. Whew! Everything is looking good. Our defense comes out and pretty much shuts them down. I even told the guy sitting next to me at Sammy's Tavern, here in Raleigh, "They don't play defenses this fast in the Big 12", as I chuckled. True enough, this day it would not be the defense that would let us down, it would be the man up in the coaches box who would prove to be our ultimate failure, Coach Mike Bobo.

The next couple of series' saw the wheels come off of our offense. We, for some reason forgot how to call a running play, forgot how to catch and forgot how to hold onto the ball. After that first drive, we forgot how to play offense. We continuously put our defense into bad situations and simply expected them to bail us out. Coach Martinez' group was ready to play and did all that they could (save for 2 blown coverages) to help win the game. The defense played well enough to win, but their counterparts did not. Good teams follow up a first drive and defensive stop like we had by driving down the field again and letting the "other guys" know that we fully intended to win this game, and that this game will be played according to our wishes.

After all the off-season talk about how close this team was, and how we would play more like a cohesive unit, the defense far out shined the offense on this day. Even though we could not generate a pass rush to speak of, our defense held the Cowboys well below their average from last year. Of course, their defense held us, along with a little help from our poor play and play calling, well below our average from last year, as well. Their defensive coordinator deserves some credit for the adjustments he made as they took the game back from us.

Up next, South Carolina in what could be a very ugly, defensive struggle. Neither offense should scare anyone else on our schedules and it may come down to turnovers and who is able to take some advantage of them.

Until next week...

Out on a limb (again)

2009-08-31T12:49:00.003-04:00

I typically give my prediction the week of a game, and I will do the same this year. It seems that I am better at predicting these games earlier in the season than I am as the season progresses. We'll see how this pans out.

Here is how I think it will unfold this Saturday.

I believe UGA will arrive in Stillwater as the understated underdog. We should get the early momentum and take some air out of the sails of the Cowboys' "Grand Opening of Boone Pickens Stadium" early and then hold on as the Cowboys make a late charge. Joe Cox should be efficient and spread the ball around. Richard Samuel will have a "coming out" party and rush for more than 150 yards, with a good chunk of that yardage coming on a single run of 50+ yards and a TD. A.J. Green will be double-teamed all day, but will still come away with a few "WOW" catches and some incredible runs after the catch. We will introduce our "hybrids" Aaron White and Orson Charles to the world and the unexpected Arthur Lynch will make his first TD catch. Carlton Thomas will also do his part by catching some passes "in space" and show us why our version of "Thunder and Lightning" will be a force to be reckoned with.

On the defensive side, our D-line will absolutely dominate their running game, though we may have some trouble containing their QB as a runner. We may give up a couple of big plays (mainly later in the game) but by that time, we should have the game in hand. I truly believe the defense this year has something to prove and will prove it in this game. We have struggled with mobile QBs in the past, and there's no reason to think that this year will be any different. One thing is for sure, though...I would not want to be Zac Robinson once he breaks the line of scrimmage because you know Rennie will have a bead on him and missle in like he was shot out of a cannon.

Dawgs up early and often, Cowboys make a late charge, but it's too little, too late.

UGA - 38
OSU - 27

Next opponent - South Carolina

Dawn of a New Dawg

2009-08-26T13:15:00.003-04:00

Well...it’s almost here! The post-Stafford/Moreno era begins in a little over a week.

Both guys, along with a few of their teammates (MoMass, Ellerbe, Southerland, among others) will be missed, but are on their way to NFL stardom and the fortunes that will be made and lost as a result. I wish them all well, as I do any former Damn Good Dawgs! I find myself becoming a “fan” of whatever team they are with, if only for a split second.

It’s time to usher in the year of Joe Cox and I truly believe we will surprise some people who don’t give us too much respect this early in the season. Much has been made to try and equate Joe Cox to our last “Joe” (Joe T. III, a damn good Dawg, in his own rite) in that he will be a decent football player, with an average arm who is expected to come in and simply manage the gameplan. To these people, I say, “Joe C is no Joe T!” Joe Cox brings with him a winning tradition and attitude that goes back to his youth. Joe C. was
31-0 as a starting QB at Independence High School out of Charlotte, N.C. Anyone who follows high school football understands that, even though North Carolina is most known for its BBQ and Basketball, Independence is a major force in the state when it comes to some good, old fashioned football. A perennial powerhouse program in the state, Independence has a long tradition of winning and I believe this tradition and the atmosphere that the kids who come from that program grow up with is a big reason this year’s Joe is no Ordinary Joe.

I’ll have more thoughts on the season as we get closer to kickoff with Oklahoma State. Suffice it to say that Okie State has about as much hype heaped on it as the Dawgs did last year, comparatively speaking. Whereas the Dawgs typically start the season in the top 10 to 15, Oklahoma State has rarely, in its history started a season in the top 10, as they have this year. Will they be able to live up to hype, the expectations and the extravagant new “T. Boone Pickens Stadium” opening date with our Dawgs?

We’ll see...and not a moment too see!