Tag: UGA

Several sites are projecting that UGA will square off against Conference USA Champion, University of Central Florida (10-3, 7-1 C-USA), in the Liberty Bowl.

I am sure Georgia (6-6, 3-5 SEC) is not terrible excited about playing in Memphis, TN on New Year’s Eve (afternoon), however at this point they should be damn well grateful if they receive any invite. Georgia’s cause is probably helped because some other conferences may not be able to fill their allotment of teams. Regardless of where the Bulldogs play, expect to hear that Bowl Committee’s Chairperson talk about what a rare and unique opportunity it is to have a quality team such as Georgia fall into their laps. That is becoming the norm of late for the Bulldogs; hope I do not hear it again for a while!

You will also hear a decent amount of backdrop on George O’Leary, who once upon a time put out decent Tech teams to face off against the Dawgs. Should be an interesting matchup, and really, this is an opportunity for Coach Richt to get his team up, show that this year was a fluke, and take things back up a notch for the 2011 season.

I am really looking forward to watch Oregon and Auburn square off in the BCS Title Game. I have very mixed emotions pulling for the Tigers, but unless something strange happens (like Texas vs. Alabama last year), I always support the SEC. It would appear that SEC fans are rabid that way.

Once upon a time I would attempt to watch every Bowl game; doubt I will get to that point this year, but there should be some decent action throughout the Bowl season, which starts December 18. Of course with the advent of the BCS title game, with each passing year, there is a matter of indifference towards the plethora of Bowl games. To the casual fan, these other games are just meaningless. In the immortal words of Ricky Bobby, “If you ain’t first, you’re last. You know, you know what I’m talking about?”

At least SEC fans (yours truly included) can fuss for the next 6 weeks over Cam Newton. That should be fun.

The city decided to officially declare Saturday night as “trick or treat” night. You know we cannot have any of the devil’s work happening or witches’ scurrying about on Sunday. That sort of foretold what would happen to my beloved Dawgs and Horns.

First up was the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, which we all know “is what it is” no matter the Presidents of UGA and UFL wanting to call it something different. The Gators own the Bulldogs, winning 18 of the last 21 games. While a lot of Georgia fans thought this year would be different. I entered the game with dread; knowing that this is the year we should win, but could we?

Four turnovers doomed Georgia, the last one on the Bulldogs’ first possession of overtime, resulted in a 34-31 loss. Make no mistake that this was a good game, but as a fan I am ready to throw up (and not just because of the assortment of delicious adult beverages that I had yesterday).

The AJC’s Jeff Schultz sums it up best …

But this program should not be about gauging the degree of severity of losses.

But here’s the reality check. This is not a great Florida team. It entered with its worst regular-season losing streak in 22 years. This is certainly the worst team Urban Meyer ever has fielded. It’s so bad that a 4-4 Georgia team on the wrong end of a lopsided rivalry was favored.

The Dogs lost anyway.

At 4-5 overall, they are clinging only to mathematical possibilities for a lower-tier bowl.

The Liberty Bowl never should be the objective.

Time to move along …

Baylor 30 – Texas 22
I didn’t see the game, but looking at the box score was not a happy experience. Every team has down years, but Texas (4-4, 2-3 Big 12) is supposed to re-load, not re-build. I know this next part is going to sound like crazy talk because the Big-12 does not play defense, but defense should carry the day for Texas. Instead the Longhorns lost the 4th quarter 13-3. To f’ing Baylor (7-2, 4-1 Big 12).

Probably too much of that devil’s work happening on the Austin campus, which explains why the Baptist Bears won on the witches’ night.

Sigh. Still waiting for the sun to come up.

What a wacky week in the SEC, and across the nation. Let’s jump to UGA first; UGA VIII (Big Bad Bruce) started his career with a 43-0 rout over Vanderbilt. After last week’s solid 41-14 win over the Volunteers, it was nice to see the Dawgs not suffer a letdown, which would have been a major step back.

Welcome Big Bad Bruce! Sic ‘em!

Have the Bulldogs turned the corner? Depends on what happens next week with Kentucky. Speaking of the kittens, they decided to roast some chicken last night …
Of everything that transpired over the weekend, I never would have guessed that South Carolina would blow an 18 point halftime lead, not score in the second half, and eventually fall 31-28 to Kentucky. This was the year for Steve Spurrier to finally win the SEC East, return to Atlanta in glory, and put the Fighting Chickens at the top of the college football heap.

Auburn gave up 43 points to Arkansas, but Auburn still outscored the hogs by 22 points. Ouch! It is hard to believe that this one was a two-point game at the end of the 3rd quarter. Auburn looks to be back in a big way. Next week’s showdown with LSU will be huge. The Tigers from the Plains get the better end of the stick since this one will be an afternoon game at Jordan-Hare Stadium instead of a dreaded night game in Baton Rouge.

Alabama, still licking their wounds after last week’s debacle at the hands of South Carolina, went through the motions in their 23-10 win over Ole Miss.

Speaking of going through the motions, LSU had a ho-hum 32-10 victory over McNeese St. If you are going to play a lower division team, you may as well beat their pants off to impress the pundits, voters, and yours truly.

And then there is Florida, who fell 10-7 at home to the hands of Mississippi St. Wow. Ouch. Shocker.

Buckeyes Fall
Around the nation it was nice to see the early Ohio St. National Championship talk squished-squashed by Wisconsin 31-18. Outside of the South I know everyone is sick and tired of the SEC, and really wants another team to step up. Inside the South, I have to say that I am sick and tired of always seeing the media lift up Ohio St. as the great hope. Call it even.

Longhorns Win
Finally we come to Texas; huge 20-13 victory in Lincoln over the not so fearsome Cornhuskers. The Longhorns finally played they way they were expected to play, behind a really stingy defense. Hook ‘em!

What a disastrous weekend for my top two teams. Georgia really sucks for the first time in years; no other way to describe a disappointing start and equally poor play. Not only is Georgia failing to grasps the basic concepts for the newly installed 3-4 defense, the Bulldogs continue to make serious mistakes (mental, turnovers, and penalties). I never thought I would say that it was time for a change at the top, but maybe this team has stopped responding to Richt. What a damn shame …

I didn’t see Texas getting throttled at the hands of UCLA. Taking one on the chin 34-12 at home is disgraceful. Before this one, everyone was talking about Texas making this a payback from the 1997 63-3 thrashing. Of course no one associated with Texas was playing or coaching on that team, so the talk was much ado about nothing. At any rate, Texas has been living on the edge the first few games, so it was time to step up or pay the price. This young Longhorn team is obviously not ready to compete.

Well, there is always North Texas (1-3, 1-0 Sun Belt) who beat Florida Atlantic (1-2, 0-1 Sun Belt) 21-17. Good to see the Mean Green get a victory.

Tennessee survived UAB in overtime. I would write about how bad Tennessee must be, but at least they have actually won two games!

St. Saban showed why he is worth the money, pulling off a nice 13 point comeback on the road over Arkansas 24-20.

Florida whipped Kentucky 48-14; no surprises here.

South Carolina put up a real fight against Auburn, but ultimately fell 27-35 on the road in a hotly contested, and equally entertaining game. I think the Ol Ball Coach screwed up royally in this one. Granted, Garcia fumbled twice, but when you get hit often and hard, you are going to eventually lay the ball on the ground. Putting in freshman backup Connor Shaw did not give the fighting chickens the best chance to win.

In non-conference play, 15 LSU defeated 22 West Virginia 20-14. Good for the Tigers. Thanks for representing the SEC in a manner that the conference deserves.

Mississippi showed some spunk laying some wood on Fresno St. 55-38. I figured Ole Miss would not show up.

Georgia (1-3, 0-3 SEC) earns the Calvert Games Shame of the Week honors, which is normally reserved for teams that embarrass the SEC in non-conference play. 24-12 at the hands of Mississippi St. (2-2, 1-2 SEC) is beyond reprehensible.

Regardless of the losses and the rough start to the 2010 campaign, the sun still came up. Go Dawgs!

Georgia limps into Starkville tonight desperate for a win. The Western Bulldogs are also in the same position. History says that Georgia will win, but the line is even, so the Dawgs could fall to 1-3 (0-3 SEC), which, to put on my Captain Obvious hat, would be entirely unexpected.

Georgia hasn’t lost any of the four games it has played in Starkville, Miss., since 1951, nor any of the nine games it has played against Mississippi State anywhere since 1974.

All of which should be pretty comforting for a win-starved team — except that Georgia hadn’t lost at South Carolina in 10 years before losing there two weeks ago and hadn’t lost to Arkansas in 17 years before doing so last week and hadn’t lost to Kentucky in Sanford Stadium in 32 years before doing so late last season.

Last week against the dreaded Hogs from Arkansas, I probably did not expect a victory, which was why I was not disappointed when the Dawgs looked like a bunch of sick puppies. After their comeback to draw even, and eventual loss, I was bitterly disappointed. This team lacks something; and I am not just referring to the absence of A.J. Green.

Inexperience at the QB position certainly does not help, but the Dawgs should have enough athletes to overcome a new QB. Maybe South Carolina will win the East, Arkansas the West, and Georgia will go on a torrid pace winning nine in a row. It’s morning; I’m not loaded yes, but in stranger things could happen … just hope Mississippi St. winning is not one!

Go Dawgs!

Bummer of a day for the Dawgs. The mighty Fighting Chickens from South Carolina got the better of Georgia on this day. Of course you can always play the “if only” or “what if” cards, but at the end of the day a loss is still a loss.

Of course A.J. Green was missed, but it is really hard to say that Green’s presence would have made a huge difference with an inexperienced Murray at QB. The game belonged to Marcus Lattimore; what a phenomenal performance (182 yards on 37 carries, with 2 TDs).

Next week UGA has a realistic chance of falling to 0-2 in the SEC at the hands of the piggies from Arkansas. Let’s hope the Dawgs figure some things out before Sooie comes calling.

No other real surprises in Week 2. Auburn escaped an improving Mississippi State squad. Florida eventually got chomping against South Florida. LSU easily dispatched Vanderbilt. Arkansas took care of business against inferior competition; same for the Wild Cats from Kentucky. Even Mississippi bounced back after a disastrous opening week.

Did anyone really expect Tennessee to show well over Oregon? I was debating if the Volunteers should be awarded the Calvert Games Shame of the Week, but they did hang close early on, so I guess the boys in Orange can hang their hat on some semi-sort of mini first half victory.

As expected, the Tide Rolled over the Nittany Lions. Yawn. I still do not understand why anyone made this one out to be a big deal, however I admit that I would rather see these types of match-ups along with the likes of Tennessee/Oregon, Miami/Ohio St., and Florida St./Oklahoma, then some of the opening weekend dribble that the SEC typically throws at us with their non conference cupcake schedule. Of course other conferences do the “easy dance” too, so I’ll shut up on the Alabama/Penn St. match-up.

Georgia (the state) had a miserable weekend with Georgia Tech falling to Kansas; on any other weekend I would love to gloat about, but alas I would rather the Bulldogs win than the Bumble Bees lose.

Thankfully one of my two teams did well. Texas started slow against those Wyoming Cowboys. So hook ‘em!

From a non-UGA perspective, it was a great weekend of college football. I just hope that Georgia can get back on track next weekend.

Go Dawgs!

Except for the LSU/North Carolina game, the first weekend of big boy SEC football was rather meaningless. Granted, Mississippi St. and Kentucky decided to step up and play decent teams. South Carolina brought in Southern Miss. while Vanderbilt decided to host Northwestern, which resulted in a loss; however in my opinion there is no shame in that loss. After all Northwestern was 8-5 last year.

Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee all dialed in very safe, subpar teams.

Ah and then there is Ole Miss earning the Calvert Games Shame of the Week honors by taking one on the chin in double overtime to Jacksonville State. Seriously? Are you kidding me? I watched the game as it moved to overtime and I was left thinking that the Mississippi AD should fire Coach Nutt on the spot. Ridiculous.

All in all, a 10-2 opening weekend for the SEC that was highlighted by subpar competition, a disaster in Oxford, poor execution by Florida, and a ho-hum LSU victory over a depleted North Carolina team.

SEC play starts next weekend featuring a pretty good looking UGA squad traveling to Columbia to play the always tough Fighting Chickens. Auburn goes on the road to see if Mississippi St. has improved, and LSU gets consecutive road games (Vanderbilt).

Florida better get its act together in a hurry or the South Florida Bulls may just ring ‘em, which would be a really bad start to the post Tebow era.

Of course the big one of the weekend sees Alabama hosting Penn St. This should be another embarrassment for the Big 10.

All for this week. Go Dawgs!

One day away from the season opener and A.J. Green, arguably the best player on the UGA roster, does not know if he will play. I did not realize that he was in trouble; or at least being investigated.

Seems like the Dawgs just cannot stay out of trouble.

You have to like Branden Smith’s attitude.

“I’ve been wanting to play punt return ever since I got up here,” he said.

He said he takes a three-pronged approach to the job: “The No. 1 thing is catching the ball. No. 2 is holding on to the ball. And No. 3 is just do my thing. With my speed and the blocking up front, it should not be that hard.”

Never heard someone describe returning punts as easy.

Go Dawgs!

Last year I thought it was a fluke that North Texas was not included in the various team previews for the Sun Belt conference. I did a quick site search and came across my Lindy’s post from last year.  WTF?  Déjà vu all over again? Once again North Texas is excluded from Lindy’s coverage.

I get it; North Texas is not geographically part of the Southeast, although I do not get why the publisher would not include at least a half page of Mean Green coverage as part of their Sun Belt preview. Not that I am bitter or anything.

Overall it is a college football annual that focuses on the SEC with a smattering of Conference USA, Sun Belt sans North Texas, and some fairly lightweight national coverage. As is always the case with Lindy’s Annuals, a few pretty sideline pictures are included; I suppose to help readers pass a long night without alternative materials. If you are looking for a review, you are probably not inclined to pay $7.99 to read about all things SEC.

It’s that time of year again, when I swear off purchasing college football annuals, but always yield to temptation. The Phil Steele annual is always my favorite, for the sheer amount of content and the entertaining commentaries. A week or so ago, the ajc.com posted this Phil Steele blurb about the 2010 Dawgs:

“If I was going to pick another one out of the stack there,” [off the radar teams] Steele said Friday on ESPN’s College Football Live, “I would have to say the Georgia Bulldogs. I think they’ve got a shot of even winning the SEC East and could very well run the table.

Probably. Not sure how a team with a new QB can be on anyone’s radar, but it is always fun seeing your team has some degree of hope. The Phil Steele annual goes on sale today; I’m sure I will end up picking one up sooner rather than later.

Well, Georgia’s 77-64 win over a sub-par Arkansas squad was a surprise to me. I expected the Dogs to be one and done. They take on Vandy tonight, so Georgia’s season should draw to a merciful close.