The Recycle Bin

I’ll start off with this caveat. While recruiting is the life blood of college football programs, you always have to take a wait and see approach. I have written about it many times before, so I will spare you the agony of me spewing my recruiting spill one more time.

By all counts, Georgia has a top class; maybe not stellar, but one that any university that is not Alabama, FSU, Texas, or Florida would appreciate.

At last check, Georgia’s class was ranked No. 5 by ESPN, No. 6 by 247Sports, No. 12 by Scout, No. 19 by Rivals and No. 20 by Tom Lemming. Take it for what it’s worth.

Exactly. Take it for what it is worth, but the 2012 class is a nice building block, and momentum springboard.

Even if it did lose to the four best teams it played last season. Even if it did blow its bowl game. Even if it didn’t get every single recruit it wanted. Quibble all you want, but Georgia in 2012 resembles the Georgia of 2002. And the very nice haul of this signing day, even if it wasn’t quite so dazzling as last year’s Dream Team, showed a program primed to move from strength to strength.

Hopefully these guys will contribute right away, adding depth, and in some cases competing for playing time.

Go Dawgs!

At least for one more year, the SEC is still the top flight conference on the face of God’s Green Earth. Nice. Too bad the Dawgs failed to participate in the conference stomping activities.

SEC Winners: Arkansas (Cotton), Florida (Gator), Auburn (Chick-fil-A), Mississippi St. (Music City)

SEC Losers: Georgia (Outback), Vanderbilt (Liberty). Let’s face it, Georgia screwed up. It’s really hard to say they got outplayed. They were out coached, but not outplayed.

Vanderbilt was 6-6 (2-6 SEC), so they received a Bowl invite just because someone felt sorry for the Commodores. That or there were not enough teams to fill out the full plate of Bowl match-ups.

BCS: Alabama or LSU. SEC fans always say that SEC schedules forces teams to cannibalize and beat each other up. Case in point, tonight an SEC team will fail to win the Championship at the hands of another SEC team. I know that’s just rubbing salt into the wounds of non-SEC fans. I guess I am not so nice that way.

Wait until next year? Missouri (Independence), and Texas A&M (Texas) may not be SEC stalwarts (honey please; dripping with sarcasm) until next year. Just saying that they also won.

Go Dawgs!

I was too distraught (pissed off would be a better description) after yesterday’s 33-30 3OT debacle to Michigan St. to bother throwing up (literally) and article on the disappointing day.

The game was indicative of everything that has been wrong with Georgia over the last 2-3 years. No, I’m not forgetting the nice little 10 win run, but the book-ends of two losses at the start and end of the season are really hard to swallow. Especially when you consider that things could have been different if the Bulldogs had one ounce of creativity.

And again, playcaller Mike Bobo seemed incapable of adjusting to the realities of what was happening on the field and stubbornly stuck with what wasn’t working.

With the middle of the Spartan’s defensive line as solid as a brick wall, Bobo continually called for runs up the middle — often with delays that turned into tackles for loss since State was getting into the Georgia backfield so quickly. Early on, Georgia was able to have some running success on the outside, but once MSU adjusted to stop that, the Dogs basically were no threat on the ground.

I kept yelling at the TV – run a f’ing pitch, toss, or sweep play. Go side-to-side for gosh sakes, and stop going up the middle because we were getting manhandled. In general the play calling was terrible.

Georgia coach Mark Richt has often been criticized for being too conservative, and it almost cost him, as he ran just two plays after Bacarri Rambo’s interception before sending Walsh out for the 42-yard field goal attempt on Georgia’s first overtime possession. Walsh missed, and Michigan State eventually won in triple overtime … after a Walsh kick that was blocked.

…

For Georgia, this loss will sting for a while. The conservative play calling late and the missed field goal likely will be brought up a lot with this team.

I hope the Dawgs find a running game this offseason, and get creative on offense. One can always hope …

Go Dawgs!

That was a nice 21-10 win for Texas Wednesday night over Cal in the Holiday Bowl. By nice I mean, at least Texas won. Unlike the pathetic showing by the Falcons on Monday Night Football …

Yes the Saints are good, but 45-16 is disgraceful. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I suspect that the Falcons’ win percentage is sub 0 when Ryan has to chunk the ball 50+ teims.

Bitch and Moan Session: How can ATL’s D not even bother to show up on third down? Special teams (kickoff and punt return coverage) also completely sucked. Roddy cannot hold onto the freaking rock. Untimely penalties (as if there is every a good time to rack up 7). Last, but certainly not least, the offense still cannot convert a solitary yard on 4th f’ing down.

I digress, back to Texas …

And as Mack Brown said, “There is a huge difference between 8-5 and 7-6.”

Agree. 8 is higher than 7. Hopefully Texas will recruit a Championship caliber QB. I saw screw it; throw ‘em in as a true freshman because I doubt that David Ash (or even Case McCoy) will make some major off season improvements.

“We’re not throwing Gatorade,” he said. “We’re not jumping up and down and screaming.

“But hopefully this is a step forward.”

To illustrate his point, Brown pointed to 2003 and ‘07. Texas played in the Holiday Bowl both years. In 2004, Texas was in the Rose Bowl. In 2005, it was in the national title game. The progression was the same in 2008 and ‘09. [Source: Same as previous]

The difference was that those teams had a decent QB situation, unlike this current squad. I still say Hook ‘em, but Good Lord, without a decent QB, Coach Brown is going to have a long 2012 campaign.

UGA Skips Out On Bamma …
And LSU, and Arkansas, and anything else worth a lick in the SEC West. If you are a Dwags fan, you have to like the way the 2012 schedule falls.

Back to the here and now. I skipped out on Bowl predictions this year, but I expect UGA to win, covering the 3.5. Love this article from the AJC:

Georgia has had a good week. There has been no news of academic suspensions — fill in name of oft-speculated freshman running back — and I think the Dogs already have clinched the 2012 SEC East title, given Alabama has been dropped from the Hostess-wrapped schedule.

Here’s a nice consolation prize for having their limbs ripped off by LSU: sunshine (Outback Bowl) and Michigan State (good defense but No. 60 offense). And to think, 12 months ago, Georgia was losing to Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl.

A season completed in the alternate universe: Dogs cover 3½.

Funny. Any week where players are not suspended is a good week in my book. It’s bad when it comes to keeping score of which players didn’t toke on lefty wacky weed, which ones didn’t get an unnecessary traffic violation, which ones didn’t get a night in the county jail for underage drinking and bar fighting, and so on and so forth.

Go Dawgs!

As longtime readers know, I never put much stock into rating recruiting classes. What does it mean if a university lands a Top 5, Top 10, or subpar class? It is all based on conjecture and predictions, only no one can predict how a young kid is going to react once they get away from home for the first time.

With that said, how can you not like UGA signing RB Keith Marshall, who some pundits have rated as the #1 RB prospect in the nation?

At a minimum, Marshall should add depth, and dare I say hope, that UGA can have one of the top backfields in the nation. Aaron Murray + (a healthy) Isaiah Crowell + Keith Marshall could be something special.

Go Dawgs!

As I write this, UGA is stomping the Bumbling Bees of Tech, 31-10 (2:57 left in the 3rd Qtr).

Heading to Wal-Mart Mr. Johnson?

Near the end of his show, a caller, presumably a Georgia Bulldogs fan, came on the air and said, “Hello? Hello?” and then began barking before either hanging up or being cut off. Johnson responded, “Hello? Hello? He just got off from Walmart.”

Whatever. Woof, woof, woof!

Go Dawgs!

Just win baby. At the end of the day, can any self-proclaimed Dawg loving fan say that today’s matchup in ATL against Tech doesn’t really have any significance? Can anyone say that next week’s date with LSU via the SEC Championship is more important?

To quote myself “Let’s beat the *^$# [call it snot for the underage crowd] out of the Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech” …

Today state bragging rights are on the line. Pride. Good Old Fashioned Hate.

You could go 11-0 but if you lose to Georgia Tech it’s not going to be a good season. You could see that in 2008. A lot of people would say going 10-3 and winning the Capital One Bowl was a successful season for a program. But that loss to Tech really ruined that season and left a sour note in everybody’s mouth.
– Senior tight end Aron White [Source: ajc.com]

I hope the Bulldogs are not looking past Tech in favor of the SEC Championship game. If they are not, this season can be very special as Georgia continues to recover from their 0-2 start.

Yes, UGA overcame a 0-2 start to finish the drill and capture the SEC East crown.

On Saturday, his Bulldogs finished this latest drill. Yes, they were aided by a schedule that eased after the back-to-back whammy of Boise State and South Carolina, but it isn’t as if Georgia backed into anything. It has won nine consecutive games, beating Tennessee and Florida and Auburn en route, and it finished 7-1 in SEC play. (Let’s note that South Carolina took the East with a 5-3 record last season.)

Richt: “It’s hard to win nine in a row. We’ve done something special.”

Yep; regardless of some these SEC stalwarts having a down year (no one outside of the SEC wants to read this), it is still very difficult to win week in and week out.

Even after 11 games and nine victories, it’s hard to know just how good Georgia is. The Auburn victory was the only time the Bulldogs thrashed an SEC opponent, and for long stretches Saturday they flailed against the worst Kentucky team of the new millennium. But they won. Since the night of Sept. 10, they’ve done nothing except win.

Said Richt: “I don’t know if we’re a great team, but we’re SEC East champs.” [Source: Same as previous ajc reference]

Not to look past the wrecking wreck of Tech next weekend, the team to capture the SEC West will be strongly favored; however I like the Bulldogs chances.

It doesn’t end there. Arkansas can beat LSU Friday and move all the way to No.1 – and still not play in the SEC Championship Game. A Hogs win would force a three-way tie in the West Division, and the conference tiebreaker is reduced to head-to-head when two teams are within five spots of each other in the BCS rankings.

If Arkansas and Alabama are Nos. 1 and 2, Alabama would play in the SEC Championship Game by winning the SEC tiebreaker. Of course, Auburn could still beat Alabama next weekend and take the Tide out of the equation – and after what happened Saturday, would it really be a surprise?

Should be a fun time watching how this plays out.

Go Dawgs!

Cyclones. Cowboys. On ‘paper’ not really worth watching. Friday night I kept checking in on the game during the first half, between Skyrim sessions, and didn’t see anything captivating, worth holding my time or attention. However, it had been a long week, so I decided to just veg out, have a few cold ones, turn off Skyrim for the night, and watch the beat down in the second half. What a reward!

Somehow, Bedlam arrived two weeks early, and it was delivered by the most unlikely of teams. Iowa State, which had been 0-56-2 against opponents ranked in the top six of the Associated Press top 25 poll since 1936, stunned the No. 2 Cowboys 37-31 in double overtime at Jack Trice Stadium.

Saturday. First, Georgia escapes, which allowed the Dawgs to capture the SEC East. This is a much different team than the one that started the season 0-2.

Saturday night I was watching the Texas game (very disappointing) of FX, and checking in on the USC – Oregon game, and FX would post the occasional coverage of ‘… those Baylor Bears are beating the Sooners …’

What a crazy two days of college football, which is why I love college football.

This season has officially lost its mind, which isn’t such a bad thing. We thought we had clear-cut national title matchup (unbeaten LSU against unbeaten Oklahoma State). Now we have LSU and BCS bedlam.

There are the once-beatens — Bama, Arkansas, Oklahoma State and, sure, why not, Stanford, Virginia Tech and Boise State. And by the way, Houston is 11-0.

So here’s what we know going into the final two weeks of the regular season: we don’t know anything.

From a UGA standpoint, they gave to travel to ATL to take on the Bumble Bees, and they damn sure better bring their A-Game, or there will be an upset. Then of course there is that little date in the Georgia Dome for a BCS birth.

Go Dawgs!

Was Georgia that good, in their 45-7 thrashing of Auburn, or did the Tigers forget to War Eagle, instead rolling over offering up one of the most lopsided losses in this series?

Georgia finished with its biggest win in the series since a 41-0 triumph in 1946.

Probably a little of both, but in this crazy world of starting the season 0-2, just a few weeks back, Auburn was our favorite bitch …

Fortunately for Georgia, the Tigers did win one game away from Jordan-Hare Stadium — a 16-13 upset of South Carolina back on Oct. 1. That could turn out to be the difference in the SEC East.

The Bulldogs fell behind in the division with their 45-42 loss to the Gamecocks in the second week of the season. Georgia hasn’t been beaten since, while South Carolina dropped another conference game at Arkansas last week to clear the way for Georgia to take the East.

One more win will do it.  [Source:  Same as previous link]

What does it all mean? Bandwagon jumpers can hop back on in time for the Dawgs to squash the wild kitties from Kentucky, and capture the SEC crown. Who would have thought it after the rough 0-2 start? Certainly not me. I thought the 3-4 was not going to work; the team lacked heart, made too many mental mistakes, and was ready for a change. One poor showing over the next three weeks (assumption – wins over Kentucky, at the Bumbles Bees in ATL, and of course the SEC Championship) and we will all call for Richt’s head, because let’s face it, that is what armchair QB’ing is all about.

On a more serious note, I’m glad all the Boise St. talk is over. Yes they spanked Georgia, in the Dome no less, but that was Labor Day weekend, and the Dawgs were clearly not in form. There is no way any serious pundit could claim that the Blue Horsie boys would carry a win out of the Dome if the two teams were to play in the next three weeks.

Go Dawgs!

Over the history of this website (10 years and change), I have only been able to relish and bask in the Sunday glory of Saturday afternoon win over the dreaded Gators three times. For that matter, my oldest son (13) has only been around for three wins.

It wasn’t this way when I was growing up; hate writing that this is Georgia’s fourth win over Florida in the last 22 years! Did Head Coach Mark Richt save his job by putting down the demons of Florida? Probably …

… when a team has failed so often in this venue, any break in the pattern is major news. “Now that it’s over,” Richt said, “I can say, ‘Yeah, it was a big deal.’ It was a big deal for me personally.”

Georgia’s (6-2, 5-1 SEC) remaining schedule is very manageable, with three consecutive home dates (New Mexico State, Auburn) before ending the season against the hated bumble bees. If Georgia wins out, a once lost season, may actually end with merit, and (hopefully) a springboard to a 2012 SEC title run.

Go Dawgs!

This is an interesting article (via ajc.com) discussing where the UGA football program suffered a misguided step that setup the current downturn.

UPDATE: I asked Coach Richt at his presser Tuesday what he would point to as the main reason for the recent downturn. Here’s what he said:

“Last year we went through all that, and we talked about things that are a year old. Those are old. This season is the only thing I’m really concerned about, and obviously, we turned the ball over. Not only were they turnovers, they were turnovers for points. I guess there was five yards they had to track one time. Our defense basically gave up 17 points to a pretty darn good football team. They had no responsibility for the fake punt, the pick six or the fumble for a touchdown. They could have stopped them on the five yard line going in. Sudden change – that’s their job to turn it into a field goal. We just gave that one away.”

In general, the team has become undisciplined, does not seem to be ‘hungry’ which at some point has to fall on the coaches. UGA year in and year out has a top recruiting class, which at a minimum means Richt and company are bringing in quality athletes. It is up to the staff to put these young men in a position to win. Seems to be a lost cause.

Of course, win out and all is forgiven with the fan base.  Well, most will forgive, a few will still call for Richt’s head to be placed on a platter.

Tough loss last night for the Dawgs; South Carolina 45 – 42 Georgia. On many levels I did not expect Georgia to win, but I never expected the Bulldogs to virtually give the game away.

In every game there are always several ‘what ifs’ …

Walsh, one of the best FG kickers in the country missed a 33 yard FG attempt that would have put Georgia up 9-0. What if he did not go wide left?

• What if the refs didn’t call UGA off-sides when the Dawgs recovered a surprise on-side kick?
• What if true freshman Isaiah Crowell doesn’t fumble the ball away with Georgia up 20-14 and driving?
• What if Georgia’s o-line could actually block and doesn’t completely miss an assignment allowing SC to cream Murray, force a fumble, and put SC up by 10 with 3 minutes and change left in the game?

Ultimately, taking nothing away from South Carolina (I could still call ‘em the Fighting Chickens, but why bother), the Dawgs gift wrapped a win for South Carolina.

It sucks to already start looking towards next year.

I am not sure if I am more surprised, disappointed, or dangerously growing towards apathy. Or maybe some combo of all three …

• Surprised that the Dawgs didn’t compete in a meaningful way.
• Disappointed that the Dawgs didn’t compete in a meaningful way.
• Apathetic that the Dawgs continue on a downward spiral.

As a lifelong Bulldog fan, this trend makes my stomach churn. Something has to give … but there appears to be a glaring lack of progress during the fall camp. We read article after article about how the Bulldogs were going to be better conditioned. Didn’t see that show up on the field as the defense was often gasping, and at one point had to call a timeout because they were unable to stop the Broncos march towards another TD.

And it’s hard to say how much credit the Broncos will really get for beating Georgia, even if it was essentially a true road game. The Bulldogs are coming off a 6-7 finish in 2010, which ended with an ugly 10-6 loss to Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl.

Frankly, the Bulldogs didn’t look much different, aside from their Power Ranger-like jerseys and helmets. They committed untimely penalties and couldn’t run the ball effectively. [Source: ESPN]

It’s not that the Dwags lost, it is how they lost; more on that in the second quote from DawgSports, which sums up exactly how I feel.

UGA head coach Mark Richt is the nicest guy; all indications are he is a Christian, family-man, with great intentions. A real leader of young men. Unfortunately, of late, Richt seems to have lost his team. Richt loyalty to his staff, in this case offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, may ultimately be his undoing. The 3-4 experiment led by defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is clearly not working.

Is it time for a change? Things don’t get any easier for the Bulldogs, as they host the Fighting Chickens next week. 0-2? You bet, unless there are significant week-over-week changes, which is highly doubtful.

I am not going to go all brass balls on you and call for the ouster of Richt; it’s just that things have to change. Meaningful change. As in being competitive. There is no shame going down to a better team.

This article from DawgSports really sums up how I feel about the state of the program.

Please do not mistake this for excuse-making on my part; it is not. Boise State was the better team, they fully deserved the win that they got, and they won the game more convincingly on the field than the scoreboard suggested. The Broncos in many ways made the Bulldogs look so bad, which is to BSU’s credit. They are who we thought they were, and, even if Georgia had played well, Boise State still would have earned the win and gotten the win. I take nothing whatsoever away from Boise State.

The problem, from our perspective, is this: Boise State came into the game as a top five team, and the Broncos looked like a top five team, but Georgia came into the game as a top 20 team, and the Bulldogs did not look like a top 20 team. Again, a large part of the credit for that goes to Boise State, but our issue isn’t that the ‘Dawgs lost, it’s how they lost.

Nothing has been fixed, and few things have improved. While the defense probably played a bit better than the Broncos’ 35 points suggest, and the offense certainly played much worse than the Bulldogs’ 21 points indicate, essentially every problem that plagued this team before plagued this team still. This was the Liberty Bowl on a larger stage against a better team, which is why this game likely will mean much less to Boise State three months from now than it means to the Broncos tonight. Though the Broncos are as good as advertised, the Bulldogs remain less than the sum of their parts.

The focus has to turn 100% onto the coaching staff. Put together a solid game plan next week, put the players in a position to successfully execute on the plan, and the Dawgs will be competitive. Will they win? It’s hard to say, but starting the season 0-2 may just be the final straw in Bulldog Nation.

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend – baseball, college football, cold blue cans of wonderment, and BBQ. In tribute to the last gasp of summer, I give you eye candy for your summer closeout viewing pleasure.

Glod bless America!

Me? I started the weekend festivities a little early. I was in the ATL last night for the Falcons vs. Ravens game, which absolutely sucked. I’m going to demand a refund; not that it will happen or anything. The entertainment put on by the Falcons last night was disgraceful.

I bet Mel B is going to be sorely disappointed when she realizes that I am going to put back on those five pounds she helped me drop. Heck, after last night’s tailgate, I probably already ate my way to half of that fat. Easy come, easy go …

Speaking of tailgating, I’ll probably grill out every day over the long weekend, drink a truckload of beer, and catch whatever football action happens to come my way. There is that little game Saturday night at the Dome featuring my beloved Bulldogs taking on the blue turf boys from Boise St.

Hope you and yours have a great holiday!