I'm sure you recruitniks already saw that Georgia added its 20th commitment tonight.
Frostproof (Fla.) High scatback Carlton Thomas committed after visiting for Saturday's win over Ole Miss. He was one of two running backs scheduled to visit this weekend, although Heard County running back Dontavius Jackson didn't make it to Athens.
Thomas (5-foot-7, 172 pounds) is rated four stars by Scout.com and the No. 13 running back in the nation. Rivals.com gives him three stars and rates Thomas as the No. 11 all-purpose back in the country.
He picked Georgia over offers from a handful of colleges, including Auburn, Clemson, Iowa, West Virginia and Notre Dame.
Here's the Master Coaches Poll for the week:
1. LSU (9)
2. USC (8)
3. California
4. Ohio State
5. Wisconsin
6. Florida
7. Boston College
8. Oklahoma
9. South Florida
10. Oregon
11. Georgia
12. Kentucky
13. West Virginia
14. South Carolina
15. Virginia Tech
16. Hawaii
17. Texas
18. Arizona State
19. Missouri
20. Clemson
21. Rutgers
22. Cincinnati
23. Purdue
24. Nebraska
25. Miami
Other teams receiving votes ... Kansas State, Michigan State, UCLA, Michigan, FSU, Illinois, Auburn, Arkansas, Texas Tech, Georgia Tech, Alabama, TCU and Connecticut
Dropped from last week's poll ... Alabama, Michigan State and Penn State
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Richt Sunday teleconference transcript
OPENING COMMENTS
I just wanted to get one thing clear, and I think it's clear, but I just wanted to be sure. Reshad Jones not playing there for a quarter, I might've made it sound like he did something real bad, but that's not the case at all. I thought I said that coach Martinez, I did say he was in his doghouse and he just wanted to make sure he was doing things just the way he wanted. I think sometimes Internet things get going and people start thinking, 'Well what did he do? What did he do?' He didn't do anything other than coach wanted him to give a little more effort in practice. We think he's a very, very talented guy who's got a tremendous upside and we want him to be the special player that he's gonna be. So that's all I wanted to say on that. There's actually nothing to be concerned about with Reshad other than we want him to pick up the pace just a tad in practice.
On how the Auburn-Florida game changes the complexion of the SEC East race:
For us, we still don't really have control of our destiny. South Carolina controls that still, when it comes to us. But I guess everybody now except for Kentucky's got a loss in the East with a great majority of our schedule left, so it probably makes everybody feel like it's more of a free-for-all than it was. I think everybody feels like they've got a realistic chance -- and they do. Everybody should have the belief that they're in it.
On whether a two-loss team might win the division:
With as many people having one loss at this point and not even playing half the games, I think there's a very good chance a two-loss team could be the one to come out of it.
On where he thinks Georgia's secondary stands:
Well, we did get beat one time, which got us to maybe play a little bit softer coverage and they were able to pound the ball a little bit better. But I wouldn't say better than we thought, because we knew they could run the ball well. Ole Miss, they do a very good job. In fact Ole Miss has had a lot of success offensively against everybody they've played. They're much improved. Our secondary is coming along. Last game we started two true sophomores at corner and Kelin Johnson was out very early with a head injury -- well, I call it a head injury, he had a concussion. He's find now, we think he'll be fine for this ballgame. But we have played a couple of young safeties. But we're doing OK. I'm not gonna sit here and say that we're playing lights out at that spot right now. All secondaries play better if your defensive line plays good too, so that's a big part of it for us too. We've got to get more pressure on the quarterback.
On the run game and who blocked well:
Well there were a few times where we really blocked it good and we sprung them into the secondary, but there was a lot of times the backs just made some great runs. A couple times we were running play side and it wasn't there and they spin out of there and cut all the way against the grain and all of a sudden there's some space out there. I don't know if our line blocked for 300 and something yards, but I'd say Southerland blocked very well and the tight ends, they did decently well.
On whether the Georgia-Tennessee game is an elimination game in the SEC East:
I don't think it's that. Only time will tell if it eliminates somebody, but whoever does lose the game, I don't think they'll feel like, 'Hey we're out of it. Let's just start thinking about other goals.' That would not happen because the mathematics of it all is still there. Everybody would still have a shot at making it and would still hold out hope if they kept banging away that they could still win the East. It would definitely be a blow, though.
On Marcus Washington's status:
Marcus is a little more questionable than Kelin. I think Kelin is more probable than Marcus right now.
On Thomas Brown's shoulder injury:
Thomas will be fine. Thomas came through pretty good.
More on Marcus' injury:
I don't know if it was a separation or a sublexation or whatever, but it's definitely a shoulder and I'm not exactly sure of the term.
On whether Dannell Ellerbe moves back to middle linebacker if Washington can't go:
Probably. I would say probably. Dannell there and Dewberry at will. But that's not etched in stone, but that'd be my guess.
On Haverkamp's status:
Well, we're hoping. We're hoping. I'd say he's questionable. He was very doubtful the last two weeks. I'd say he probably went up to the questionable range. But that is one guy that I actually did not -- I talked about more current stuff -- I didn't say, 'Hey how about Haverkamp?' to Ron just a little bit ago. We're hoping.
On feeling about the defense's play with Tennessee on deck:
Well Tennessee's offense is outstanding. Of course last year we got taken to task pretty good. That's with a couple guys that got drafted and are gone now, so I would think it's gonna be maybe even a greater challenge this year now that we're playing at their place and we lost some of those guys that were pretty darn good. It's hard to say how this thing's gonna go, but I believe that our guys will get prepared and get excited about playing and that's all we can hope for.
On whether Asher Allen's assessment that the defense played faster later in the game was correct:
Well, I don't know. Sometimes guys don't know what to say when the mic's in their mouth. But you say, 'Well yeah you held them to no points in the fourth quarter' or whatever it was and they'll say, 'Yeah, we played faster.' I don't know if we did or not to be honest with you, but we did make more plays and we got a little more penetration up front, which made a difference in the whole thing. We played a little bit of a different coverage than we'd played before on the interception by Brandon Miller. It was something that Seth hadn't seen and I think it was just a good call and a good job by Miller. So we got them to where they had to punt, we got them to where we got a turnover and then our offense continued to play well, so that was the big thing.
On playing Erik Ainge and trying to get more pressure on him this year:
I hope so. A guy like Ainge, if he has all day, it's over. You can count on that. So we'll have to try to find a way. But they're pretty good running the ball too. We've still got to start out by trying to stop the run.
On Brandon Miller showing more consistent emotion:
Well I think this year more than ever that he's really played with that passion, just like you would expect a senior to do. I think the coaches notice it, the players notice and I'm just happy that it's happening right now.
On the impact of last year's Tennessee game:
The more I think about it, I said that and certainly our defense had some issues, but now that I kinda remember exactly how it happened, we definitely made some big mistakes offensively that put our defense in a bad way, too. I don't want to sit here and say the defense got whipped. The offense certainly put the defense in some bad, bad field position situations and the offense didn't do a good enough job of sustaining the ball and controlling the ball. So it was a team thing.
Did it linger to Vanderbilt and Florida?
That loss stung us pretty good and we didn't recover quickly enough to win some games. We won one of the next five.
On Kregg Lumpkin's cast possibly coming off:
We're gonna give it a try. We'll have a splint to put on his thumb to see how that works and how comfortable he feels with that. There's no guarantee what he'll have on his hand on Saturday until we kinda go through practice here a little bit.
On contingency plan if Thomas' injury had been more serious:
Well, the next back was Shaun Chapas and then Kalvin Daniels was there. I don't know if he'd have been the next. Jason Johnson might have been the one to go in prior to Lumpkin because of the club. But I got a little more confidence with him carrying the ball after he got that squib kick and he tucked it in his left arm and came out of it OK. I think if Thomas would've been done, out for good, we were definitely getting Kregg on the...I don't know if we actually verbalized it to him, but we were thinking we might better get him thinking he may get in here.
Were they targeting Lumpkin with the squib kicks?
The first two went right at him.Um, I don't think that was their plan to go at him, per se. I think it was just to make sure the ball bounced around enough to where we couldn't really set up a good return. They had been struggling on their coverage team.
On parity from top to bottom in the SEC East:
It's definitely...You say it's not the top two or three. Mathematically I think everybody's in it. We've gotta keep a close eye on it. And now we're kinda into the meat of it. I think just about every week from here on in, we're playing each other, so we'll learn a lot.
On Quintin Banks' play:
Not bad. Not bad. Considering that was the most time he's had since he's been here, he didn't do bad. He's got a ways to go, but it was just good to get him out there and let him be in a little bit and let us observe it. I think it was very positive for him.
I just wanted to get one thing clear, and I think it's clear, but I just wanted to be sure. Reshad Jones not playing there for a quarter, I might've made it sound like he did something real bad, but that's not the case at all. I thought I said that coach Martinez, I did say he was in his doghouse and he just wanted to make sure he was doing things just the way he wanted. I think sometimes Internet things get going and people start thinking, 'Well what did he do? What did he do?' He didn't do anything other than coach wanted him to give a little more effort in practice. We think he's a very, very talented guy who's got a tremendous upside and we want him to be the special player that he's gonna be. So that's all I wanted to say on that. There's actually nothing to be concerned about with Reshad other than we want him to pick up the pace just a tad in practice.
On how the Auburn-Florida game changes the complexion of the SEC East race:
For us, we still don't really have control of our destiny. South Carolina controls that still, when it comes to us. But I guess everybody now except for Kentucky's got a loss in the East with a great majority of our schedule left, so it probably makes everybody feel like it's more of a free-for-all than it was. I think everybody feels like they've got a realistic chance -- and they do. Everybody should have the belief that they're in it.
On whether a two-loss team might win the division:
With as many people having one loss at this point and not even playing half the games, I think there's a very good chance a two-loss team could be the one to come out of it.
On where he thinks Georgia's secondary stands:
Well, we did get beat one time, which got us to maybe play a little bit softer coverage and they were able to pound the ball a little bit better. But I wouldn't say better than we thought, because we knew they could run the ball well. Ole Miss, they do a very good job. In fact Ole Miss has had a lot of success offensively against everybody they've played. They're much improved. Our secondary is coming along. Last game we started two true sophomores at corner and Kelin Johnson was out very early with a head injury -- well, I call it a head injury, he had a concussion. He's find now, we think he'll be fine for this ballgame. But we have played a couple of young safeties. But we're doing OK. I'm not gonna sit here and say that we're playing lights out at that spot right now. All secondaries play better if your defensive line plays good too, so that's a big part of it for us too. We've got to get more pressure on the quarterback.
On the run game and who blocked well:
Well there were a few times where we really blocked it good and we sprung them into the secondary, but there was a lot of times the backs just made some great runs. A couple times we were running play side and it wasn't there and they spin out of there and cut all the way against the grain and all of a sudden there's some space out there. I don't know if our line blocked for 300 and something yards, but I'd say Southerland blocked very well and the tight ends, they did decently well.
On whether the Georgia-Tennessee game is an elimination game in the SEC East:
I don't think it's that. Only time will tell if it eliminates somebody, but whoever does lose the game, I don't think they'll feel like, 'Hey we're out of it. Let's just start thinking about other goals.' That would not happen because the mathematics of it all is still there. Everybody would still have a shot at making it and would still hold out hope if they kept banging away that they could still win the East. It would definitely be a blow, though.
On Marcus Washington's status:
Marcus is a little more questionable than Kelin. I think Kelin is more probable than Marcus right now.
On Thomas Brown's shoulder injury:
Thomas will be fine. Thomas came through pretty good.
More on Marcus' injury:
I don't know if it was a separation or a sublexation or whatever, but it's definitely a shoulder and I'm not exactly sure of the term.
On whether Dannell Ellerbe moves back to middle linebacker if Washington can't go:
Probably. I would say probably. Dannell there and Dewberry at will. But that's not etched in stone, but that'd be my guess.
On Haverkamp's status:
Well, we're hoping. We're hoping. I'd say he's questionable. He was very doubtful the last two weeks. I'd say he probably went up to the questionable range. But that is one guy that I actually did not -- I talked about more current stuff -- I didn't say, 'Hey how about Haverkamp?' to Ron just a little bit ago. We're hoping.
On feeling about the defense's play with Tennessee on deck:
Well Tennessee's offense is outstanding. Of course last year we got taken to task pretty good. That's with a couple guys that got drafted and are gone now, so I would think it's gonna be maybe even a greater challenge this year now that we're playing at their place and we lost some of those guys that were pretty darn good. It's hard to say how this thing's gonna go, but I believe that our guys will get prepared and get excited about playing and that's all we can hope for.
On whether Asher Allen's assessment that the defense played faster later in the game was correct:
Well, I don't know. Sometimes guys don't know what to say when the mic's in their mouth. But you say, 'Well yeah you held them to no points in the fourth quarter' or whatever it was and they'll say, 'Yeah, we played faster.' I don't know if we did or not to be honest with you, but we did make more plays and we got a little more penetration up front, which made a difference in the whole thing. We played a little bit of a different coverage than we'd played before on the interception by Brandon Miller. It was something that Seth hadn't seen and I think it was just a good call and a good job by Miller. So we got them to where they had to punt, we got them to where we got a turnover and then our offense continued to play well, so that was the big thing.
On playing Erik Ainge and trying to get more pressure on him this year:
I hope so. A guy like Ainge, if he has all day, it's over. You can count on that. So we'll have to try to find a way. But they're pretty good running the ball too. We've still got to start out by trying to stop the run.
On Brandon Miller showing more consistent emotion:
Well I think this year more than ever that he's really played with that passion, just like you would expect a senior to do. I think the coaches notice it, the players notice and I'm just happy that it's happening right now.
On the impact of last year's Tennessee game:
The more I think about it, I said that and certainly our defense had some issues, but now that I kinda remember exactly how it happened, we definitely made some big mistakes offensively that put our defense in a bad way, too. I don't want to sit here and say the defense got whipped. The offense certainly put the defense in some bad, bad field position situations and the offense didn't do a good enough job of sustaining the ball and controlling the ball. So it was a team thing.
Did it linger to Vanderbilt and Florida?
That loss stung us pretty good and we didn't recover quickly enough to win some games. We won one of the next five.
On Kregg Lumpkin's cast possibly coming off:
We're gonna give it a try. We'll have a splint to put on his thumb to see how that works and how comfortable he feels with that. There's no guarantee what he'll have on his hand on Saturday until we kinda go through practice here a little bit.
On contingency plan if Thomas' injury had been more serious:
Well, the next back was Shaun Chapas and then Kalvin Daniels was there. I don't know if he'd have been the next. Jason Johnson might have been the one to go in prior to Lumpkin because of the club. But I got a little more confidence with him carrying the ball after he got that squib kick and he tucked it in his left arm and came out of it OK. I think if Thomas would've been done, out for good, we were definitely getting Kregg on the...I don't know if we actually verbalized it to him, but we were thinking we might better get him thinking he may get in here.
Were they targeting Lumpkin with the squib kicks?
The first two went right at him.Um, I don't think that was their plan to go at him, per se. I think it was just to make sure the ball bounced around enough to where we couldn't really set up a good return. They had been struggling on their coverage team.
On parity from top to bottom in the SEC East:
It's definitely...You say it's not the top two or three. Mathematically I think everybody's in it. We've gotta keep a close eye on it. And now we're kinda into the meat of it. I think just about every week from here on in, we're playing each other, so we'll learn a lot.
On Quintin Banks' play:
Not bad. Not bad. Considering that was the most time he's had since he's been here, he didn't do bad. He's got a ways to go, but it was just good to get him out there and let him be in a little bit and let us observe it. I think it was very positive for him.
Injury update
Real quick, before I go to bed, I thought I'd update on the injuries from today.
* Kelin Johnson suffered a concussion today in the first quarter. I wouldn't say he's doubtful for Tennessee, but it didn't sound like Richt knew what to predict for next week after the game.
* Marcus Washington told me his left shoulder came out of joint. I saw him on the sidelines with the arm in a sling late in the third quarter, but I'm not sure when the injury occurred. He said he didn't think it was terribly serious after an X-ray during the game. He said he'll have an MRI today.
* Thomas Brown played a good portion of the game with a (left?) shoulder injury, suffered when he hit the turf at the end of his first touchdown run. I know I've typed this a time or two, but Thomas is an impressive kid. He's run like his hair was on fire the last two weeks.
* Knowshon Moreno wasn't seriously hurt when he went down briefly after a big hit by Ole Miss oversized defensive tackle Peria Jerry. Mark Richt called it a "one-man dogpile." It was fairly amusing. Wouldn't say it's a big deal.
* Don't know where things are going with Kregg Lumpkin. It seemed like Ole Miss was kicking off directly to him, presumably to try to pry the ball away on returns. Maybe he'll be back this week or next, but I wouldn't expect to see him carrying the ball until he gets that cast off.
* If you noticed Reshad Jones wasn't on the field much today, it apparently wasn't because of injury. He took the field for the first time with 1:20 left in the third quarter. He was apparently being punished for poor effort this week in practice, per his and Willie Martinez's comments to Josh Kendall. Quintin Banks played a good bit in his place, with Kelin Johnson also sidelined.
* Kelin Johnson suffered a concussion today in the first quarter. I wouldn't say he's doubtful for Tennessee, but it didn't sound like Richt knew what to predict for next week after the game.
* Marcus Washington told me his left shoulder came out of joint. I saw him on the sidelines with the arm in a sling late in the third quarter, but I'm not sure when the injury occurred. He said he didn't think it was terribly serious after an X-ray during the game. He said he'll have an MRI today.
* Thomas Brown played a good portion of the game with a (left?) shoulder injury, suffered when he hit the turf at the end of his first touchdown run. I know I've typed this a time or two, but Thomas is an impressive kid. He's run like his hair was on fire the last two weeks.
* Knowshon Moreno wasn't seriously hurt when he went down briefly after a big hit by Ole Miss oversized defensive tackle Peria Jerry. Mark Richt called it a "one-man dogpile." It was fairly amusing. Wouldn't say it's a big deal.
* Don't know where things are going with Kregg Lumpkin. It seemed like Ole Miss was kicking off directly to him, presumably to try to pry the ball away on returns. Maybe he'll be back this week or next, but I wouldn't expect to see him carrying the ball until he gets that cast off.
* If you noticed Reshad Jones wasn't on the field much today, it apparently wasn't because of injury. He took the field for the first time with 1:20 left in the third quarter. He was apparently being punished for poor effort this week in practice, per his and Willie Martinez's comments to Josh Kendall. Quintin Banks played a good bit in his place, with Kelin Johnson also sidelined.
Now THAT was an interesting day...
Holy cow. This might be the dangdest day of college football I can remember in quite a while.
Among the top 25 teams to lose:
3. Oklahoma -- 27-24 to Colorado (unranked)
4. Florida -- 20-17 to Auburn (unranked)
5. West Virginia -- 21-13 to South Florida (No. 18)
7. Texas -- 41-21 to Kansas State (unranked)
10. Rutgers -- 34-24 to Maryland (unranked)
11. Oregon -- 31-24 to California (No. 6)
13. Clemson -- 13-3 to Georgia Tech (unranked)
21. Penn State -- 27-20 to Illinois (unranked)
22. Alabama -- 21-14 to Florida State (unranked)
And then you add in a couple of close wins like No. 1 USC's 27-24 win over Washington, No. 9 Wisconsin's 37-34 win over Michigan State, No. 12 Boston College's 24-14 win over Division I-AA UMass and No. 17 Virginia Tech's 17-10 win over North Carolina. And let's be honest, I feel crazy typing this, but I've never seen a less decisive 28-point win than Georgia's over Ole Miss today.
Georgia led 17-10 at halftime today, but didn't it feel like the Bulldogs were down by a touchdown or two? They buried a less talented team after Ole Miss tied it at 17 in the third quarter, but that game had the feel of a much closer game until the final minutes...Although I have to say I was impressed with Ole Miss early on. They have some players -- they just don't have enough to grind one out against a much deeper team.
More on the game later.
* I went 6-2 straight up and 4-4 against the spread this week. That makes me 33-10 straight up and 20-21 ATS in SEC games.
Among the top 25 teams to lose:
3. Oklahoma -- 27-24 to Colorado (unranked)
4. Florida -- 20-17 to Auburn (unranked)
5. West Virginia -- 21-13 to South Florida (No. 18)
7. Texas -- 41-21 to Kansas State (unranked)
10. Rutgers -- 34-24 to Maryland (unranked)
11. Oregon -- 31-24 to California (No. 6)
13. Clemson -- 13-3 to Georgia Tech (unranked)
21. Penn State -- 27-20 to Illinois (unranked)
22. Alabama -- 21-14 to Florida State (unranked)
And then you add in a couple of close wins like No. 1 USC's 27-24 win over Washington, No. 9 Wisconsin's 37-34 win over Michigan State, No. 12 Boston College's 24-14 win over Division I-AA UMass and No. 17 Virginia Tech's 17-10 win over North Carolina. And let's be honest, I feel crazy typing this, but I've never seen a less decisive 28-point win than Georgia's over Ole Miss today.
Georgia led 17-10 at halftime today, but didn't it feel like the Bulldogs were down by a touchdown or two? They buried a less talented team after Ole Miss tied it at 17 in the third quarter, but that game had the feel of a much closer game until the final minutes...Although I have to say I was impressed with Ole Miss early on. They have some players -- they just don't have enough to grind one out against a much deeper team.
More on the game later.
* I went 6-2 straight up and 4-4 against the spread this week. That makes me 33-10 straight up and 20-21 ATS in SEC games.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Not-so-perfect picks, Week 5
Just starting to feel back to normal today, so the picks are a bit delayed. I'm sure you were waiting with baited breath for my thoughts on Florida Atlantic-Kentucky.
Anybody watching this South Florida-West Virginia game on ESPN? The Bulls are putting it on 'em, 14-0, and ESPN has a camera in the replay booth. It's interesting to watch the replay process, like on this touchdown catch just now where they reviewed whether the receiver stepped out before he reached the end zone. Never have seen this side of the replay thing. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more to it.
LSU at Tulane, Noon, ESPN2
Line: LSU by 41
My guess: I didn't realize former UCLA coach Bob Toledo was the coach at Tulane until just now. I also didn't realize Tulane had a player arrested for stabbing five people in a French Quarter brawl about a week ago...And people complain about all the opportunity for players to get in trouble in Athens...The Green Wave barely beat Division I-AA Southeastern Louisiana 35-27 a week ago, so I think it's safe to guess it might be a long afternoon for Tulane. LSU 45, Tulane 3
Mississippi State at South Carolina, 12:30 p.m., LF Sports
Line: South Carolina by 13.5
My guess: This has been a pretty rocky week for South Carolina. Jasper Brinkley out for the season, turmoil at quarterback. Surely Sylvester couldn't Croom another big-name SEC coach this week, could he? I know you Georgia fans are hoping for it, as that puts the Bulldogs nearer to the top of the heap in the SEC East. But I can't see it happening, although Mississippi State's 3-1 right now. South Carolina 23, Mississippi State 14
Ole Miss at Georgia, 1 p.m., No TV
Line: Georgia by 15
My guess: I'm not sure I love this spread, but I'll go with the Bulldogs...for this reason: Ole Miss' defense is as bad as its offense was last year. The Rebels are giving up 30 points a game and rank last in the SEC in total defense with nearly 400 yards allowed per game. They played Florida tough last week, which is exactly why I think Georgia won't take them lightly. Georgia 30, Ole Miss 14
Florida Atlantic at Kentucky, 1 p.m., No TV
Line: Kentucky by 24.5
My guess: Florida Atlantic has quietly put together a decent start to the season (3-1). The Owls can't beat Kentucky, but it wouldn't shock me if they beat that 24.5-point spread. Interesting side story: Florida Atlantic cornerback Tavious Polo leads the nation with six interceptions. Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson broke a national record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception, now with 296. I predict Woodson throws his first pick, but the Wildcats cover the spread. Kentucky 42, Florida Atlantic 17
Alabama at Florida State, 5 p.m., CBS
Line: Florida State by 1.5
My guess: I know this is being played in Florida, but I can't believe the Seminoles are favored in this game. I will be very surprised if Alabama leaves Jacksonville without a victory. I think Florida State's defense is pretty good, but the offense is putrid. Alabama's no great shakes either, but I think the Tide will be tough enough to win this one. Alabama 20, Florida State 13
North Texas at Arkansas, 7 p.m., No TV
Line: Arkansas by 36
My guess: Did you know that coach Todd Dodge has already lost three times as many games this year (3) at North Texas than he did in the previous five seasons as head coach at Southlake Caroll High School in Texas (1)? It's interesting to me when teams hire a high school coach. Maybe he'll get something going there. I thought it was dumb when Arkansas hired Gus Malzahn to be its offensive coordinator last year, but he seemed to do a pretty good job before bolting for Tulsa. It ain't happening overnight though at North Texas. They gave up 79 points in the opener to Oklahoma and haven't given up less than 30. I'll go out on a limb and say the Hogs won't cover, though. Arkansas 52, North Texas 20
Eastern Michigan at Vanderbilt, 7 p.m., No TV
Line: Vanderbilt by 21.5
My guess: There are some really horrible matchups in the SEC this week, but this one might be the least appealing. Not that it's that lopsided. Vandy's not going to intimidate too many teams and Eastern Michigan has won its last two. But the Commodores picked up a nice win over Ole Miss two weeks ago and are coming off a bye. I think they'll win handily. Vanderbilt 34, Eastern Michigan 10
Auburn at Florida, 8 p.m., ESPN
Line: Florida by 17.5
My guess: It's funny how quickly everyone assumes Auburn has become sisters of the poor. They're gonna shock somebody this year. But it won't be Florida. My only hope is that Auburn keeps it close enough for ESPN's Mike Patrick to make a completely random pop culture reference at a crucial point late in the game, throwing off Todd Blackledge and the home viewing audience who later post video of the entire bizarre sequence on YouTube. Wait that already happened? If lightning strikes in the same place twice, Auburn wins. Otherwise, Florida 30, Auburn 14
Anybody watching this South Florida-West Virginia game on ESPN? The Bulls are putting it on 'em, 14-0, and ESPN has a camera in the replay booth. It's interesting to watch the replay process, like on this touchdown catch just now where they reviewed whether the receiver stepped out before he reached the end zone. Never have seen this side of the replay thing. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more to it.
LSU at Tulane, Noon, ESPN2
Line: LSU by 41
My guess: I didn't realize former UCLA coach Bob Toledo was the coach at Tulane until just now. I also didn't realize Tulane had a player arrested for stabbing five people in a French Quarter brawl about a week ago...And people complain about all the opportunity for players to get in trouble in Athens...The Green Wave barely beat Division I-AA Southeastern Louisiana 35-27 a week ago, so I think it's safe to guess it might be a long afternoon for Tulane. LSU 45, Tulane 3
Mississippi State at South Carolina, 12:30 p.m., LF Sports
Line: South Carolina by 13.5
My guess: This has been a pretty rocky week for South Carolina. Jasper Brinkley out for the season, turmoil at quarterback. Surely Sylvester couldn't Croom another big-name SEC coach this week, could he? I know you Georgia fans are hoping for it, as that puts the Bulldogs nearer to the top of the heap in the SEC East. But I can't see it happening, although Mississippi State's 3-1 right now. South Carolina 23, Mississippi State 14
Ole Miss at Georgia, 1 p.m., No TV
Line: Georgia by 15
My guess: I'm not sure I love this spread, but I'll go with the Bulldogs...for this reason: Ole Miss' defense is as bad as its offense was last year. The Rebels are giving up 30 points a game and rank last in the SEC in total defense with nearly 400 yards allowed per game. They played Florida tough last week, which is exactly why I think Georgia won't take them lightly. Georgia 30, Ole Miss 14
Florida Atlantic at Kentucky, 1 p.m., No TV
Line: Kentucky by 24.5
My guess: Florida Atlantic has quietly put together a decent start to the season (3-1). The Owls can't beat Kentucky, but it wouldn't shock me if they beat that 24.5-point spread. Interesting side story: Florida Atlantic cornerback Tavious Polo leads the nation with six interceptions. Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson broke a national record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception, now with 296. I predict Woodson throws his first pick, but the Wildcats cover the spread. Kentucky 42, Florida Atlantic 17
Alabama at Florida State, 5 p.m., CBS
Line: Florida State by 1.5
My guess: I know this is being played in Florida, but I can't believe the Seminoles are favored in this game. I will be very surprised if Alabama leaves Jacksonville without a victory. I think Florida State's defense is pretty good, but the offense is putrid. Alabama's no great shakes either, but I think the Tide will be tough enough to win this one. Alabama 20, Florida State 13
North Texas at Arkansas, 7 p.m., No TV
Line: Arkansas by 36
My guess: Did you know that coach Todd Dodge has already lost three times as many games this year (3) at North Texas than he did in the previous five seasons as head coach at Southlake Caroll High School in Texas (1)? It's interesting to me when teams hire a high school coach. Maybe he'll get something going there. I thought it was dumb when Arkansas hired Gus Malzahn to be its offensive coordinator last year, but he seemed to do a pretty good job before bolting for Tulsa. It ain't happening overnight though at North Texas. They gave up 79 points in the opener to Oklahoma and haven't given up less than 30. I'll go out on a limb and say the Hogs won't cover, though. Arkansas 52, North Texas 20
Eastern Michigan at Vanderbilt, 7 p.m., No TV
Line: Vanderbilt by 21.5
My guess: There are some really horrible matchups in the SEC this week, but this one might be the least appealing. Not that it's that lopsided. Vandy's not going to intimidate too many teams and Eastern Michigan has won its last two. But the Commodores picked up a nice win over Ole Miss two weeks ago and are coming off a bye. I think they'll win handily. Vanderbilt 34, Eastern Michigan 10
Auburn at Florida, 8 p.m., ESPN
Line: Florida by 17.5
My guess: It's funny how quickly everyone assumes Auburn has become sisters of the poor. They're gonna shock somebody this year. But it won't be Florida. My only hope is that Auburn keeps it close enough for ESPN's Mike Patrick to make a completely random pop culture reference at a crucial point late in the game, throwing off Todd Blackledge and the home viewing audience who later post video of the entire bizarre sequence on YouTube. Wait that already happened? If lightning strikes in the same place twice, Auburn wins. Otherwise, Florida 30, Auburn 14
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Quick Thursday notes/Bobo q/a
Quick notes:
Talked with Richt before practice, as per our typical Thursday routine. Because of the nasty weather in Athens today, they only went for about an hour. Apparently got about three-quarters of the way done.
* Prince Miller could be in line for his first career start this week. Richt wouldn't guarantee it, but he said Prince and Asher Allen were the starting cornerbacks ahead of Thomas Flowers and Bryan Evans on Wednesday.
* I was asked to ask about Kiante Tripp. I put it in my notebook for tomorrow. Richt said he's coming along fine since moving from DE to OT last month, but that he still needs reps. He has appeared in two games, vs. Oklahoma State and vs. Western Carolina. He said he'd probably be in the regular rotation if they'd made the move in the spring rather than mid-August. I don't know that I'd expect to see a ton of Kiante this season, although injuries later in the year could always change that.
* Lumpkin will probably still play special teams only with that club over his right hand. Haverkamp (ankle) and special teams man Rowdy Francis (hamstring) are questionable). Bryan Evans (knee) said he's pretty much back to 100 percent healthy yesterday.
* Richt said A.J. Bryant is making progress on his injured knee, but he isn't sure what the timetable would be for a return, if he returns this year. He said they discussed a medical redshirt with him after the injury, but no decision has been made.
And here's some stuff I had left over from Mike Bobo on Tuesday that I wasn't going to use:
On varying up playcalls and being able to run some plays out of numerous formations:
You want to keep 'em guessing. If they're thinking run, you want to throw it and if they're thinking pass, you want to run it, but everything defensively is based on personnel that comes in the game and formations. They have a hit chart -- this formation, they do this this percentage of the time. We're aware of that as an offense and we try to keep them off-balance and try to steal a couple first downs and some big plays here or there by breaking some tendencies.
On the first drive against Alabama:
It was a good drive because guys made plays. It started out with the first play, had a little pressure and Matthew did a nice job stepping up in the pocket and Mohamed made a nice catch. It got the guys feeling good, catch made Stafford feel good, made the receivers feel good and gave the guys some confidence and some belief. Then we made plays on third down that drive, and really made plays on third down all night, which enabled us to execute a little better.
On his thinking on going for a TD on the first play of overtime:
Like I said Saturday, I just felt like we needed to go ahead and take a shot at winning it right there. If we were to get stuffed on a run, I thought the place would go crazy. I just felt like the time was right. We were close all night and finally made a play.
On whether he wanted any specific receiver on the OT playcall:
Naw not really, we'd been trying to match personnel all night and I just said, 'Whoever goes in there goes in there.' Coach Eason picked it, but Mikey is our best guy at running those. He's got speed and moves off the line and he did a nice job and Stafford threw a nice ball and nice protection.
On whether defenses seem to play Mikey Henderson tighter at the line because of his ability to catch quick hitches and screens:
He's just fast. He's extremely fast. I think it's easier to play a guy on a deep ball if you're press coverage. You can get your hands on, it's gotta be more of a perfect throw. Where if you're playing off, a guy can get stepped on real quick and not get out of his backpedal. So it's tougher to play off-man or off-coverage than press, really. And I think that's why they do it. They do a good job of that. It just makes you execute as a quarterback and a receiver that much more.
Talked with Richt before practice, as per our typical Thursday routine. Because of the nasty weather in Athens today, they only went for about an hour. Apparently got about three-quarters of the way done.
* Prince Miller could be in line for his first career start this week. Richt wouldn't guarantee it, but he said Prince and Asher Allen were the starting cornerbacks ahead of Thomas Flowers and Bryan Evans on Wednesday.
* I was asked to ask about Kiante Tripp. I put it in my notebook for tomorrow. Richt said he's coming along fine since moving from DE to OT last month, but that he still needs reps. He has appeared in two games, vs. Oklahoma State and vs. Western Carolina. He said he'd probably be in the regular rotation if they'd made the move in the spring rather than mid-August. I don't know that I'd expect to see a ton of Kiante this season, although injuries later in the year could always change that.
* Lumpkin will probably still play special teams only with that club over his right hand. Haverkamp (ankle) and special teams man Rowdy Francis (hamstring) are questionable). Bryan Evans (knee) said he's pretty much back to 100 percent healthy yesterday.
* Richt said A.J. Bryant is making progress on his injured knee, but he isn't sure what the timetable would be for a return, if he returns this year. He said they discussed a medical redshirt with him after the injury, but no decision has been made.
And here's some stuff I had left over from Mike Bobo on Tuesday that I wasn't going to use:
On varying up playcalls and being able to run some plays out of numerous formations:
You want to keep 'em guessing. If they're thinking run, you want to throw it and if they're thinking pass, you want to run it, but everything defensively is based on personnel that comes in the game and formations. They have a hit chart -- this formation, they do this this percentage of the time. We're aware of that as an offense and we try to keep them off-balance and try to steal a couple first downs and some big plays here or there by breaking some tendencies.
On the first drive against Alabama:
It was a good drive because guys made plays. It started out with the first play, had a little pressure and Matthew did a nice job stepping up in the pocket and Mohamed made a nice catch. It got the guys feeling good, catch made Stafford feel good, made the receivers feel good and gave the guys some confidence and some belief. Then we made plays on third down that drive, and really made plays on third down all night, which enabled us to execute a little better.
On his thinking on going for a TD on the first play of overtime:
Like I said Saturday, I just felt like we needed to go ahead and take a shot at winning it right there. If we were to get stuffed on a run, I thought the place would go crazy. I just felt like the time was right. We were close all night and finally made a play.
On whether he wanted any specific receiver on the OT playcall:
Naw not really, we'd been trying to match personnel all night and I just said, 'Whoever goes in there goes in there.' Coach Eason picked it, but Mikey is our best guy at running those. He's got speed and moves off the line and he did a nice job and Stafford threw a nice ball and nice protection.
On whether defenses seem to play Mikey Henderson tighter at the line because of his ability to catch quick hitches and screens:
He's just fast. He's extremely fast. I think it's easier to play a guy on a deep ball if you're press coverage. You can get your hands on, it's gotta be more of a perfect throw. Where if you're playing off, a guy can get stepped on real quick and not get out of his backpedal. So it's tougher to play off-man or off-coverage than press, really. And I think that's why they do it. They do a good job of that. It just makes you execute as a quarterback and a receiver that much more.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Richt Wednesday comments
This isn't the full Q/A from today's postpractice, but it's most of it.
OPENING COMMENTS:
I thought it lacked some emotion, but I guess that's understandable about this time of year. We're going into game five and haven't had much of a break. It was a Wednesday that didn't have a lot of fire to it. I think we probably got the work done, but I just didn't see a lot of energy. But again, I guess you can't expect it every single day. These guys are human and all. But the coaches pushed 'em pretty good and there were some guys that did a good job. As a whole, I would have liked to do a little bit better. We came out of it with no injuries, which was good. You can ask me anything you want.
On where Vance Cuff and Rennie Curran are in regard to getting more playing time:
Where? They're close to getting more time. They're practicing with the first and second units, which is good. They're not doing any scout team work. They're preparing to play. When they get far enough along where the coaches feel comfortable enough, they'll play and they'll play more than they have to this point. That's kinda where they're at.
On Sean Bailey's increased strength:
He's definitely stronger. I don't know how much weight he's gained. He's more focused. I would say focused is the word -- you've got to have concentration to make those catches and keep your feet and kinda trust your blocking a little bit. And it takes some bravery to do that. He's done a very good job with that.
On improvement in kickoff coverage against Alabama:
They did very well this last game. The worst field position was the poorest kick. We had one kick that really didn't go very deep at all. They were there to cover that too. I don't think anything really broke out of there, which was great, because a game like that, let one spring free, even if they don't score, you've given them a lot of momentum, short field, boom, they score. So they did a very good job. A lot of people say, 'Are you gonna change personnel? You've gotta change personnel,' and usually that's the worst thing you can do unless you have other experienced personnel you can put in. But if you have a guy with two or three years of experience and you yank him out of there and then you throw another guy in there that's just not sure how to do it right, you're just gonna have the same mistakes all over again. I think we did the right thing and the guys responded well. We've just gotta keep it up.
On Ole Miss' difficulties defending the kickoff:
Hopefully we can take advantage of that, but just like us last week trying to shore it up, I'm sure they're doing the very same thing. A lot of times that's the group that plays the best is the one that was kinda the biggest concern because you might've emphasized it more than others.
On NaDerris Ward's return/tight end situation:
NaDerris practiced today. Tight ends have been practicing pretty good. I wouldn't say anybody's done anything to overcome Tripp at this point, although I didn't really study today's. I was watching yesterday's practice. Today might have been a little different in coach Johnson's eyes, but yesterday I didn't see anybody come take it away from him.
On Wallace Gilberry's comments last week:
That helped. (You think so? Does that help?) Yeah, I think the guys took a little offense to that.
No sacks last week...No sacks, but a lot of that had to do with Stafford getting rid of it. There were a few pressures. They did a good job.
On not playing on TV on Saturday:
I wish we were on TV. I think our players wish we were on TV. I think everybody enjoys being on TV. I think there's a lot of non-conference games this week. (Florida State-Alabama). That was one that kind of hurt us...I'd rather be on TV. Even if it means playing at night. I like it. I think it's good for the program.
On whether it would bother him at all if a neutral-site game like Florida State-Alabama was played in the Georgia Dome:
Yeah. (Is that some kind of unwritten rule?) No, it's not an unwritten rule. I'm surprised more of that doesn't happen -- and it probably will happen. I'll say this, the Atlanta Sports Council, they do a great job of trying to think out of the box a little bit and try to attract people to do those kind of things. Gary Stokan is on the ball and I'm sure that's where it's all coming from.
Teams like that would want to do it primarily for recruiting:
I'm sure they would love it. Most people want that home and away, that return, a lot of people don't want to do that. They're just like well, we'll do a one-time shot like that -- although this one's not like that -- but you could see two teams saying, 'We'll just play one time. We'll play right here, we don't have to worry about a return game.' I don't want to encourage anybody, though.
OPENING COMMENTS:
I thought it lacked some emotion, but I guess that's understandable about this time of year. We're going into game five and haven't had much of a break. It was a Wednesday that didn't have a lot of fire to it. I think we probably got the work done, but I just didn't see a lot of energy. But again, I guess you can't expect it every single day. These guys are human and all. But the coaches pushed 'em pretty good and there were some guys that did a good job. As a whole, I would have liked to do a little bit better. We came out of it with no injuries, which was good. You can ask me anything you want.
On where Vance Cuff and Rennie Curran are in regard to getting more playing time:
Where? They're close to getting more time. They're practicing with the first and second units, which is good. They're not doing any scout team work. They're preparing to play. When they get far enough along where the coaches feel comfortable enough, they'll play and they'll play more than they have to this point. That's kinda where they're at.
On Sean Bailey's increased strength:
He's definitely stronger. I don't know how much weight he's gained. He's more focused. I would say focused is the word -- you've got to have concentration to make those catches and keep your feet and kinda trust your blocking a little bit. And it takes some bravery to do that. He's done a very good job with that.
On improvement in kickoff coverage against Alabama:
They did very well this last game. The worst field position was the poorest kick. We had one kick that really didn't go very deep at all. They were there to cover that too. I don't think anything really broke out of there, which was great, because a game like that, let one spring free, even if they don't score, you've given them a lot of momentum, short field, boom, they score. So they did a very good job. A lot of people say, 'Are you gonna change personnel? You've gotta change personnel,' and usually that's the worst thing you can do unless you have other experienced personnel you can put in. But if you have a guy with two or three years of experience and you yank him out of there and then you throw another guy in there that's just not sure how to do it right, you're just gonna have the same mistakes all over again. I think we did the right thing and the guys responded well. We've just gotta keep it up.
On Ole Miss' difficulties defending the kickoff:
Hopefully we can take advantage of that, but just like us last week trying to shore it up, I'm sure they're doing the very same thing. A lot of times that's the group that plays the best is the one that was kinda the biggest concern because you might've emphasized it more than others.
On NaDerris Ward's return/tight end situation:
NaDerris practiced today. Tight ends have been practicing pretty good. I wouldn't say anybody's done anything to overcome Tripp at this point, although I didn't really study today's. I was watching yesterday's practice. Today might have been a little different in coach Johnson's eyes, but yesterday I didn't see anybody come take it away from him.
On Wallace Gilberry's comments last week:
That helped. (You think so? Does that help?) Yeah, I think the guys took a little offense to that.
No sacks last week...No sacks, but a lot of that had to do with Stafford getting rid of it. There were a few pressures. They did a good job.
On not playing on TV on Saturday:
I wish we were on TV. I think our players wish we were on TV. I think everybody enjoys being on TV. I think there's a lot of non-conference games this week. (Florida State-Alabama). That was one that kind of hurt us...I'd rather be on TV. Even if it means playing at night. I like it. I think it's good for the program.
On whether it would bother him at all if a neutral-site game like Florida State-Alabama was played in the Georgia Dome:
Yeah. (Is that some kind of unwritten rule?) No, it's not an unwritten rule. I'm surprised more of that doesn't happen -- and it probably will happen. I'll say this, the Atlanta Sports Council, they do a great job of trying to think out of the box a little bit and try to attract people to do those kind of things. Gary Stokan is on the ball and I'm sure that's where it's all coming from.
Teams like that would want to do it primarily for recruiting:
I'm sure they would love it. Most people want that home and away, that return, a lot of people don't want to do that. They're just like well, we'll do a one-time shot like that -- although this one's not like that -- but you could see two teams saying, 'We'll just play one time. We'll play right here, we don't have to worry about a return game.' I don't want to encourage anybody, though.
Tuesday notes
I made it to Richt's press conference today, but went home and went to sleep through the early part of practice that they allowed the media in. Apparently it was fairly entertaining today, but I wasn't there to see it. Still feeling pretty bad.
But I spoke with lots of folks today at the press conference and after practice and will have some stuff from them over the next couple days. Vince Vance (who's featured in my lead for Wednesday), Asher Allen, Knowshon Moreno, Dannell Ellerbe, Kelin Johnson, Tony Ball, Mohamed Massaquoi and Bruce Figgins...several of those guys figure into the story I'm doing on Knowshon for Thursday.
* As I mentioned in the comments on an earlier thread, it sounds like the new practice policy is that we'll get to watch about 20 minutes on Tuesdays. Different time in practice so they won't be working on anything strategic. Doesn't really affect that much -- basically we go from watching a little piece of four days' worth of practice to only one. I guess it gives us an idea of who's dealing with injuries, so that's helpful.
* Richt said Knowshon isn't ready to be the starting tailback, plus he likes what Thomas is doing.
* Kregg Lumpkin will probably be limited to special teams again this week and may well play with the club on his right hand that protects that broken thumb.
* Larry Munson turns 85 on Friday if you didn't know.
* Busy day for the tight ends today. Richt said Tripp Chandler is the starter as of today, but that could always change. He's had an issue with some dropped passes lately, but he did make a big catch that could have set up the game-winning field goal, too. Spoke with Tripp about it yesterday. To his credit, he said his play on Saturday was unacceptable. You have to figure he remains the starter, but he said he feels like he has something to prove this week -- to redeem himself and all that. I like Georgia's tight ends. Tripp's always frank about what's going on and Figgins and Ward have always been nice, polite kids.
* Speaking of tight ends, NaDerris Ward is back in practice this week. He's been troubled by a groin injury that kept him out of the Western Carolina game. He didn't make the trip to Tuscaloosa, but I'm not sure if he was medically cleared. NaDerris apparently attended a family member's funeral in California over the weekend.
* The Georgia-Ole Miss game will be carried on two XM Radio stations. XM 200 (Georgia call) and XM 231 (Ole Miss).
* Oh and one last thing, I was told to ask if Georgia was offered a 9 p.m. timeslot for Saturday's Georgia-Ole Miss game to air on ESPN. No. That was not the case, according to official word from the sports communications staff. Apparently the way it works is you have to have very rare or special circumstances to decline to have a game shown by one of the SEC's broadcast partners if they select to air your game. Nothing like that happened for Saturday. On the other hand, they could be showing the game on PPV if they wanted, but it would have to be in the evening and I think the school would just as soon not have it on TV. I wouldn't expect the Troy game to be on TV either.
But I spoke with lots of folks today at the press conference and after practice and will have some stuff from them over the next couple days. Vince Vance (who's featured in my lead for Wednesday), Asher Allen, Knowshon Moreno, Dannell Ellerbe, Kelin Johnson, Tony Ball, Mohamed Massaquoi and Bruce Figgins...several of those guys figure into the story I'm doing on Knowshon for Thursday.
* As I mentioned in the comments on an earlier thread, it sounds like the new practice policy is that we'll get to watch about 20 minutes on Tuesdays. Different time in practice so they won't be working on anything strategic. Doesn't really affect that much -- basically we go from watching a little piece of four days' worth of practice to only one. I guess it gives us an idea of who's dealing with injuries, so that's helpful.
* Richt said Knowshon isn't ready to be the starting tailback, plus he likes what Thomas is doing.
* Kregg Lumpkin will probably be limited to special teams again this week and may well play with the club on his right hand that protects that broken thumb.
* Larry Munson turns 85 on Friday if you didn't know.
* Busy day for the tight ends today. Richt said Tripp Chandler is the starter as of today, but that could always change. He's had an issue with some dropped passes lately, but he did make a big catch that could have set up the game-winning field goal, too. Spoke with Tripp about it yesterday. To his credit, he said his play on Saturday was unacceptable. You have to figure he remains the starter, but he said he feels like he has something to prove this week -- to redeem himself and all that. I like Georgia's tight ends. Tripp's always frank about what's going on and Figgins and Ward have always been nice, polite kids.
* Speaking of tight ends, NaDerris Ward is back in practice this week. He's been troubled by a groin injury that kept him out of the Western Carolina game. He didn't make the trip to Tuscaloosa, but I'm not sure if he was medically cleared. NaDerris apparently attended a family member's funeral in California over the weekend.
* The Georgia-Ole Miss game will be carried on two XM Radio stations. XM 200 (Georgia call) and XM 231 (Ole Miss).
* Oh and one last thing, I was told to ask if Georgia was offered a 9 p.m. timeslot for Saturday's Georgia-Ole Miss game to air on ESPN. No. That was not the case, according to official word from the sports communications staff. Apparently the way it works is you have to have very rare or special circumstances to decline to have a game shown by one of the SEC's broadcast partners if they select to air your game. Nothing like that happened for Saturday. On the other hand, they could be showing the game on PPV if they wanted, but it would have to be in the evening and I think the school would just as soon not have it on TV. I wouldn't expect the Troy game to be on TV either.
Quick conversation with Scott Howard
Play-action fake to Brown. Stafford wants to go for it all right here. He throws to the end zone…TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN! Georgia wins! Mikey Henderson on the reception. One and done, baby! And there’s a huge dogpile in the far corner of the end zone, as Georgia has beaten Alabama 26-23!
So there's the text of Scott Howard's first game-winning touchdown call as Georgia's play-by-play man. Not a bad night to make your debut, huh? I saw Scott today at the press conference and asked if he wouldn't mind sitting down to discuss the call and his and Eric Zeier's debut as the road broadcast team. Also led my notebook for tomorrow with it.
My take on the call? It's not poetry, like Scott said, but as far as pure emotion, I think he pretty much pegged what every Georgia fan was doing at that moment -- going 100-percent bonkers. That's what you want from the guy, right?
The replays of the Alabama call are everywhere. How many messages have you gotten since Saturday night?
Quite a few. A lot of e-mails from friends and some phonecalls. It’s been good. We were fortunate to have a game end like that. Out of the blue, I mean how lucky can you get to be broadcasting and get a finish like that? We’re very lucky. I felt like the whole crew did a really good job, from a technical standpoint to on-air. I thought Eric and I blended pretty well. Eric added some terrific insight. He picked up on defensive schemes immediately and threw that out for the audience to listen to. It was good.
There was a lot of talk last week about how you'd handle it if another Hobnail Boot came along. Looking back on it, how do you think you handled it?
Going in, I just wanted to get it right. I wasn’t concerned about being fancy. A lot of people asked me if I had catch phrases and all that stuff, and I wasn’t concerned about that. I’ve never really been concerned about that. I try to react to what’s going on in front of me. Whatever comes out comes out. If it’s some sort of poetry, then that’s one thing, but with me it’s usually not. It’s usually just a lot of emotion. That’s just what I wanted to do. I just wanted to get it right and I think we got it right.
Did you find you were a little more hoarse afterwards from all the extra talking?
A little bit. You might be able to tell now. I think a little bit of strain, because I haven’t had to talk that much for three hours.
When did you find that the nervousness had subsided and you realized things were moving along?
I probably had a little bit of that. The pregame show Saturday started at an odd time, it was about 45, 50 minutes before kickoff. At that point, I opened the pregame show and I’d written out some notes to start with, just to kind of make a presentation. At that point, I realized I was a little bit nervous. I had some butterflies there. But once I got through the stuff that I read and Eric and I got back and forth and we walked it up to kickoff, it was gone. We were just excited to do the game. Once we got beyond that, we were OK.
I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post this video or not. But if this violates something or another, they can tell me they want it down and I'll take it down.
So there's the text of Scott Howard's first game-winning touchdown call as Georgia's play-by-play man. Not a bad night to make your debut, huh? I saw Scott today at the press conference and asked if he wouldn't mind sitting down to discuss the call and his and Eric Zeier's debut as the road broadcast team. Also led my notebook for tomorrow with it.
My take on the call? It's not poetry, like Scott said, but as far as pure emotion, I think he pretty much pegged what every Georgia fan was doing at that moment -- going 100-percent bonkers. That's what you want from the guy, right?
The replays of the Alabama call are everywhere. How many messages have you gotten since Saturday night?
Quite a few. A lot of e-mails from friends and some phonecalls. It’s been good. We were fortunate to have a game end like that. Out of the blue, I mean how lucky can you get to be broadcasting and get a finish like that? We’re very lucky. I felt like the whole crew did a really good job, from a technical standpoint to on-air. I thought Eric and I blended pretty well. Eric added some terrific insight. He picked up on defensive schemes immediately and threw that out for the audience to listen to. It was good.
There was a lot of talk last week about how you'd handle it if another Hobnail Boot came along. Looking back on it, how do you think you handled it?
Going in, I just wanted to get it right. I wasn’t concerned about being fancy. A lot of people asked me if I had catch phrases and all that stuff, and I wasn’t concerned about that. I’ve never really been concerned about that. I try to react to what’s going on in front of me. Whatever comes out comes out. If it’s some sort of poetry, then that’s one thing, but with me it’s usually not. It’s usually just a lot of emotion. That’s just what I wanted to do. I just wanted to get it right and I think we got it right.
Did you find you were a little more hoarse afterwards from all the extra talking?
A little bit. You might be able to tell now. I think a little bit of strain, because I haven’t had to talk that much for three hours.
When did you find that the nervousness had subsided and you realized things were moving along?
I probably had a little bit of that. The pregame show Saturday started at an odd time, it was about 45, 50 minutes before kickoff. At that point, I opened the pregame show and I’d written out some notes to start with, just to kind of make a presentation. At that point, I realized I was a little bit nervous. I had some butterflies there. But once I got through the stuff that I read and Eric and I got back and forth and we walked it up to kickoff, it was gone. We were just excited to do the game. Once we got beyond that, we were OK.
I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post this video or not. But if this violates something or another, they can tell me they want it down and I'll take it down.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
As yet unposted UGA notebook
Can't get this to post on our Web site right now, so I'll post it here for now. I'll delete this later and just link to the notebook once it's posted on the Ledger Web site.
dc
ATHENS, Ga. – Things quickly went from dream sequence to nightmare scenario for Mikey Henderson after Saturday’s win over Alabama.
He had barely come down with the game-winning touchdown reception on the Bulldogs’ first play in overtime before he bounded to his feet in search of teammates to celebrate with. Unfortunately for Henderson, 335-pound offensive tackle Chester Adams was first on the scene, taking down the 156-pound receiver with a resounding bellyflop.
And if that wasn’t nightmare enough, several tons worth of Georgia teammates weren’t far behind, creating a massive pile of humanity – coach Mark Richt called it “Dogpile Maximus” – on top of the undersized receiver and oversized lineman.
“I felt sorry for poor Mikey down there. Me and him were about to suffocate down there and I was telling people to get off me, I couldn’t breathe and let us get up,” Adams said. “There’s no protocol about it. A win like that right there, everybody should be in the dogpile, coaches included.”
It’s humorous in hindsight, but several Georgia players said the dogpile quickly became scary while they were trapped underneath their teammates. Few were likely as scared as Henderson, however.
“It probably took about 0.23 seconds (for fear to set in) as I saw (Adams) coming and as I started seeing me go back and (Adams) come on top,” Henderson laughed. “I pretty much wanted to just close my eyes and faint, go ahead and get it over with. But it wouldn’t happen, so I was struggling on the bottom to get air.”
Other players suffered minor injuries in the pileup, although they easily could have been more serious. Offensive lineman Chris Davis injured his shoulder somewhere within the pile. Tight end Tripp Chandler limped away with a thigh contusion and feared his leg would break while awkwardly stuck between teammates.
“It was pretty wild. I had a helmet on my thigh and I just got a deep contusion,” said Chandler, who believes he’ll be fully recovered shortly. “It was pretty scary underneath all those people.”
But as Richt pointed out in his Sunday teleconferences, such opportunities for teammates to celebrate don’t come around often. This was the first such celebration since he became Georgia’s coach in 2001.
Because of that – and because he came out of the pile relatively unscathed – Chandler said it was worth it.
“It was pretty tough, but I guess it was for a good reason,” he said.
Techno savvy
It’s a good thing Henderson survived, as he now can attest to the storage capacity of the iPhone.
A self-professed technology geek, Henderson purchased the high-dollar Apple cell phone for himself when it was released late this summer. It’s never been put to greater use than after Saturday’s game.
Henderson said he received 52 text messages and 32 voice messages on his phone – which he believes might have exceeded what the average cell phone could hold.
“I didn’t know my phone could hold that many, so I’m glad I got the iPhone to hold them all,” he said.
Injury update
Middle linebacker Marcus Washington, who had a career night with eight tackles and a sack against Alabama, limped off in the second half with assorted injuries. He said he practiced Monday and should be healthy for Saturday’s game against Ole Miss.
“I had a couple little bangs on me. My groin was messing with me a little bit and I actually banged up my knee a little bit – just bruised it,” Washington said. “But I’m fine. I should be good.”
He was one of a number of Bulldogs dealing with injuries after the Alabama game. They ranged from Davis’ and Chandler’s relatively minor injuries sustained in the dogpile to Jeff Owens’ sprained ankle suffered in the second half against the Crimson Tide.
Richt said offensive lineman Scott Haverkamp is “highly questionable” to play against Ole Miss after missing the Alabama game with an ankle sprain, while freshman offensive lineman Clint Boling should play after making a last-minute recovery from his sprained left ankle to take the field against the Tide.
Boling suffered the injury last Tuesday and barely practiced the rest of the week before recovering enough to suit up on Saturday.
“He’s a real tough kid. He didn’t complain one bit,” senior center Fernando Velasco said. “I know his ankle was hurting him out there, but he didn’t complain one bit. He just went out there and kept fighting and played a (great) game.”
Tennessee on TV
The Oct. 6 Georgia-Tennessee game will be televised by CBS at 3:30 p.m. as part of a day-night Southeastern Conference double-header on the network.
Florida’s visit to LSU that night will air at 8:30 on CBS as well.
Other SEC games that week include Vanderbilt at Auburn at 12:30 p.m. and the ESPN Thursday night game between Kentucky and South Carolina at 7:30.
Quick hits
Knowshon Moreno is the recipient of SEC Freshman of the Week honors after tying Thomas Brown for the team rushing lead against Alabama with 74 yards. Moreno ran for a 6-yard touchdown in the third quarter. This season, he leads the team 342 rushing yards and an average of 85.5 per game, which puts him ninth in the SEC and 56th in the nation. … Georgia kicker Brandon Coutu was named as one of three Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Stars of the Week on Monday. Coutu was 2-for-4 on field goals against Alabama, hitting from 45 and 47 yards. Texas Tech’s Alex Trlica and UCLA’s Kai Forbath were also honored this week. … Georgia’s captains against Ole Miss will be Sean Bailey (offense), Marcus Howard and Jeff Owens (defense) and Chris Gaunder (special teams. … On Monday in Dallas, former Georgia football coach and athletic director Vince Dooley received the Homer Rice Award from the Division I-A Athletic Directors Association. The award – named for a former Georgia Tech AD – is presented annually to a retired athletic director who made a significant impact on the profession. Georgia won 78 SEC titles and 20 national titles while Dooley was AD between 1988 and 2004.
dc
ATHENS, Ga. – Things quickly went from dream sequence to nightmare scenario for Mikey Henderson after Saturday’s win over Alabama.
He had barely come down with the game-winning touchdown reception on the Bulldogs’ first play in overtime before he bounded to his feet in search of teammates to celebrate with. Unfortunately for Henderson, 335-pound offensive tackle Chester Adams was first on the scene, taking down the 156-pound receiver with a resounding bellyflop.
And if that wasn’t nightmare enough, several tons worth of Georgia teammates weren’t far behind, creating a massive pile of humanity – coach Mark Richt called it “Dogpile Maximus” – on top of the undersized receiver and oversized lineman.
“I felt sorry for poor Mikey down there. Me and him were about to suffocate down there and I was telling people to get off me, I couldn’t breathe and let us get up,” Adams said. “There’s no protocol about it. A win like that right there, everybody should be in the dogpile, coaches included.”
It’s humorous in hindsight, but several Georgia players said the dogpile quickly became scary while they were trapped underneath their teammates. Few were likely as scared as Henderson, however.
“It probably took about 0.23 seconds (for fear to set in) as I saw (Adams) coming and as I started seeing me go back and (Adams) come on top,” Henderson laughed. “I pretty much wanted to just close my eyes and faint, go ahead and get it over with. But it wouldn’t happen, so I was struggling on the bottom to get air.”
Other players suffered minor injuries in the pileup, although they easily could have been more serious. Offensive lineman Chris Davis injured his shoulder somewhere within the pile. Tight end Tripp Chandler limped away with a thigh contusion and feared his leg would break while awkwardly stuck between teammates.
“It was pretty wild. I had a helmet on my thigh and I just got a deep contusion,” said Chandler, who believes he’ll be fully recovered shortly. “It was pretty scary underneath all those people.”
But as Richt pointed out in his Sunday teleconferences, such opportunities for teammates to celebrate don’t come around often. This was the first such celebration since he became Georgia’s coach in 2001.
Because of that – and because he came out of the pile relatively unscathed – Chandler said it was worth it.
“It was pretty tough, but I guess it was for a good reason,” he said.
Techno savvy
It’s a good thing Henderson survived, as he now can attest to the storage capacity of the iPhone.
A self-professed technology geek, Henderson purchased the high-dollar Apple cell phone for himself when it was released late this summer. It’s never been put to greater use than after Saturday’s game.
Henderson said he received 52 text messages and 32 voice messages on his phone – which he believes might have exceeded what the average cell phone could hold.
“I didn’t know my phone could hold that many, so I’m glad I got the iPhone to hold them all,” he said.
Injury update
Middle linebacker Marcus Washington, who had a career night with eight tackles and a sack against Alabama, limped off in the second half with assorted injuries. He said he practiced Monday and should be healthy for Saturday’s game against Ole Miss.
“I had a couple little bangs on me. My groin was messing with me a little bit and I actually banged up my knee a little bit – just bruised it,” Washington said. “But I’m fine. I should be good.”
He was one of a number of Bulldogs dealing with injuries after the Alabama game. They ranged from Davis’ and Chandler’s relatively minor injuries sustained in the dogpile to Jeff Owens’ sprained ankle suffered in the second half against the Crimson Tide.
Richt said offensive lineman Scott Haverkamp is “highly questionable” to play against Ole Miss after missing the Alabama game with an ankle sprain, while freshman offensive lineman Clint Boling should play after making a last-minute recovery from his sprained left ankle to take the field against the Tide.
Boling suffered the injury last Tuesday and barely practiced the rest of the week before recovering enough to suit up on Saturday.
“He’s a real tough kid. He didn’t complain one bit,” senior center Fernando Velasco said. “I know his ankle was hurting him out there, but he didn’t complain one bit. He just went out there and kept fighting and played a (great) game.”
Tennessee on TV
The Oct. 6 Georgia-Tennessee game will be televised by CBS at 3:30 p.m. as part of a day-night Southeastern Conference double-header on the network.
Florida’s visit to LSU that night will air at 8:30 on CBS as well.
Other SEC games that week include Vanderbilt at Auburn at 12:30 p.m. and the ESPN Thursday night game between Kentucky and South Carolina at 7:30.
Quick hits
Knowshon Moreno is the recipient of SEC Freshman of the Week honors after tying Thomas Brown for the team rushing lead against Alabama with 74 yards. Moreno ran for a 6-yard touchdown in the third quarter. This season, he leads the team 342 rushing yards and an average of 85.5 per game, which puts him ninth in the SEC and 56th in the nation. … Georgia kicker Brandon Coutu was named as one of three Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Stars of the Week on Monday. Coutu was 2-for-4 on field goals against Alabama, hitting from 45 and 47 yards. Texas Tech’s Alex Trlica and UCLA’s Kai Forbath were also honored this week. … Georgia’s captains against Ole Miss will be Sean Bailey (offense), Marcus Howard and Jeff Owens (defense) and Chris Gaunder (special teams. … On Monday in Dallas, former Georgia football coach and athletic director Vince Dooley received the Homer Rice Award from the Division I-A Athletic Directors Association. The award – named for a former Georgia Tech AD – is presented annually to a retired athletic director who made a significant impact on the profession. Georgia won 78 SEC titles and 20 national titles while Dooley was AD between 1988 and 2004.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Marcus Washington Q/A, practice notes
Here are some post-practice notes first:
* Some commenter asked about this today: practice was again closed this afternoon. I asked the sports communications folks about it and they were not sure what the future holds. I would imagine practice will remain closed throughout the week and it wouldn't surprise me if it went on longer -- perhaps even permanently. Them winning last week surely didn't do anything to dissuade them from doing it, I'm sure.
* Wanted to talk with Vince Vance today, but apparently Stacy Searels was none too happy with him today. Made him unavailable for postpractice interviews. So I spoke with Chester Adams and Fernando Velasco about him. Velasco told me Vince had been getting a few reps at guard before last Wednesday, but not a ton. All things considered, he said he did OK there in the 20 or so snaps he played.
* I love old pro wrestling, so it always amuses me to hear people throw out wrestling references...really whenever possible. I called out Rod Battle (who reportedly used to dig wrestling himself) one time for stealing from Ric Flair when he said to be the best, you've got to beat the best. Anyway, Thomas Flowers cracked me up today when he said Chester Adams did the Eddie Guerrero frogsplash (a flying leap the former WCW/WWE wrestler used to do off the top rope onto laid-out opponents) onto Mikey Henderson after the winning touchdown. The image of Chester doing the frogsplash on anybody is funny enough, but when the victim is poor little Mikey?...let's just say that Mikey should be happy to be alive.
* I overheard Dannell Ellerbe say he and Kelin Johnson made the right decision by running toward the Georgia fans' section on the opposite end of Bryant-Denny rather than for the dogpile. Not because of the injury risk, but because "we had the whole crowd to ourselves." Good thinking either way. Tripp Chandler said it was getting scary in the pile and he was momentarily worried his leg was going to break. Said he has a hip contusion that's going to be fine. Chris Davis also suffered a minor shoulder injury in the pile, Chandler said.
* Mikey said he had 52 text messages and 32 voicemails on his iPhone after Saturday's game.
Sniffled my way through a handful of interviews after practice today. Also spoke with Marcus Washington and Matthew Stafford.
I wanted to talk to Marcus today mostly to see how he's feeling. He aggravated groin and knee injuries while recording eight tackles (including a sack and tackle for loss) against Alabama, but he said he'll be fine. I may not use much of this for any other purpose this week, so I figured I could just post the Q/A here in case somebody wanted to read it.
On his injury issues in the Alabama game:
I had a couple little bangs on me. My groin was messing with me a little bit and I actually banged up my knee a little bit – just bruised it. But I’m fine. I should be good.
You’ll be able to go this week.
Yep.
Didn’t practice in green?
Nah.
On how he played on Saturday:
I think I did pretty well. I didn’t make many mental errors, didn’t miss many tackles, so I think I did OK.
On the dogpile:
I didn’t get in on the top, but I did manage to get in on the action. I was in on the side of it.
Was that the craziest ending of a game you’ve been involved in?
Yeah, it is. It’s great to come out with a victory like that. It just does wonders for the confidence of this team, because at first after the loss to Carolina, things were looking bad as far as the SEC race, but now we’re back in it.
Was winning a close game like that something they needed for an inexperienced team to grow?
Yeah I think it always helps to know that we can win a close game. Being put in that situation and coming out on top lets you know that there’s really not much that we can’t accomplish if we stick together as a team.
Did doubt ever creep in there in the last minute or two when they scored?
Nah, honestly it didn’t. Really I was believing when our offense went back out on the field that Coutu was gonna make the kick. I had no doubt in my mind that was gonna happen. Then he missed the kick and I was fully confident after he missed the kick that our defense would stop them and hold them to a field goal. So I thought it was gonna turn into a battle of field goals for a little while. But our offense came out and made a big play.
That was a lot of confidence that they put in you guys to come out and hold them first in overtime. Y’all won the toss right?
Yeah, that’s good that they had that type of confidence in the defense. But traditionally Georgia’s been a team that has been very strong defensively, so I don’t see why it should change now. So we went out there and we stopped them and held them to a field goal and then the offense went out there and did their thing and scored a touchdown. And we came out with a victory.
* Some commenter asked about this today: practice was again closed this afternoon. I asked the sports communications folks about it and they were not sure what the future holds. I would imagine practice will remain closed throughout the week and it wouldn't surprise me if it went on longer -- perhaps even permanently. Them winning last week surely didn't do anything to dissuade them from doing it, I'm sure.
* Wanted to talk with Vince Vance today, but apparently Stacy Searels was none too happy with him today. Made him unavailable for postpractice interviews. So I spoke with Chester Adams and Fernando Velasco about him. Velasco told me Vince had been getting a few reps at guard before last Wednesday, but not a ton. All things considered, he said he did OK there in the 20 or so snaps he played.
* I love old pro wrestling, so it always amuses me to hear people throw out wrestling references...really whenever possible. I called out Rod Battle (who reportedly used to dig wrestling himself) one time for stealing from Ric Flair when he said to be the best, you've got to beat the best. Anyway, Thomas Flowers cracked me up today when he said Chester Adams did the Eddie Guerrero frogsplash (a flying leap the former WCW/WWE wrestler used to do off the top rope onto laid-out opponents) onto Mikey Henderson after the winning touchdown. The image of Chester doing the frogsplash on anybody is funny enough, but when the victim is poor little Mikey?...let's just say that Mikey should be happy to be alive.
* I overheard Dannell Ellerbe say he and Kelin Johnson made the right decision by running toward the Georgia fans' section on the opposite end of Bryant-Denny rather than for the dogpile. Not because of the injury risk, but because "we had the whole crowd to ourselves." Good thinking either way. Tripp Chandler said it was getting scary in the pile and he was momentarily worried his leg was going to break. Said he has a hip contusion that's going to be fine. Chris Davis also suffered a minor shoulder injury in the pile, Chandler said.
* Mikey said he had 52 text messages and 32 voicemails on his iPhone after Saturday's game.
Sniffled my way through a handful of interviews after practice today. Also spoke with Marcus Washington and Matthew Stafford.
I wanted to talk to Marcus today mostly to see how he's feeling. He aggravated groin and knee injuries while recording eight tackles (including a sack and tackle for loss) against Alabama, but he said he'll be fine. I may not use much of this for any other purpose this week, so I figured I could just post the Q/A here in case somebody wanted to read it.
On his injury issues in the Alabama game:
I had a couple little bangs on me. My groin was messing with me a little bit and I actually banged up my knee a little bit – just bruised it. But I’m fine. I should be good.
You’ll be able to go this week.
Yep.
Didn’t practice in green?
Nah.
On how he played on Saturday:
I think I did pretty well. I didn’t make many mental errors, didn’t miss many tackles, so I think I did OK.
On the dogpile:
I didn’t get in on the top, but I did manage to get in on the action. I was in on the side of it.
Was that the craziest ending of a game you’ve been involved in?
Yeah, it is. It’s great to come out with a victory like that. It just does wonders for the confidence of this team, because at first after the loss to Carolina, things were looking bad as far as the SEC race, but now we’re back in it.
Was winning a close game like that something they needed for an inexperienced team to grow?
Yeah I think it always helps to know that we can win a close game. Being put in that situation and coming out on top lets you know that there’s really not much that we can’t accomplish if we stick together as a team.
Did doubt ever creep in there in the last minute or two when they scored?
Nah, honestly it didn’t. Really I was believing when our offense went back out on the field that Coutu was gonna make the kick. I had no doubt in my mind that was gonna happen. Then he missed the kick and I was fully confident after he missed the kick that our defense would stop them and hold them to a field goal. So I thought it was gonna turn into a battle of field goals for a little while. But our offense came out and made a big play.
That was a lot of confidence that they put in you guys to come out and hold them first in overtime. Y’all won the toss right?
Yeah, that’s good that they had that type of confidence in the defense. But traditionally Georgia’s been a team that has been very strong defensively, so I don’t see why it should change now. So we went out there and we stopped them and held them to a field goal and then the offense went out there and did their thing and scored a touchdown. And we came out with a victory.
Richt sunday teleconference
I just finished typing this out. Sorry it's late, but I'm still not feeling too hot.
On the pressure up front and who played well:
Marcus Howard absolutely did. Marcus has been really very productive for us. He’s been playing the way a Georgia defense should play, he’s been doing it every game. He’s one of the few guys winning in some one-on-one situations…He wasn’t the only guy, but he certainly was one of ‘em. We got some good push up front from Jeff Owens and Geno Atkins again. Those are the main guys I would say right now.
On whether the overtime TD pass had the same feel as Verron Haynes’ touchdown against Tennessee in 2001 or Michael Johnson’s TD catch at Auburn in 2002:
Yeah it definitely did. Will it be as significant as those games, I don’t know. Although you know the Tennessee pass to Haynes didn’t really propel us to the championship that year, but I thought it helped define our program. Some of the other ones – the Pollack strip in the South Carolina game and the play you talked about to Michael Johnson, those plays kinda sent us to a championship. So I don’t know if this will have that type of result, long-term, but if you just take it one game, one memory, it’s up there with those.
What this win means now:
It just means we’re back in the race. It means we’ve gotta win next week, really.
On what Jeff Owens’ situation is:
His ankle, little bit. I don’t think it’s too serious. I think he’s probably trying to get out of agility drills on Monday, so…If you write that, just say ‘Coach said that jokingly.’ But I don’t even mind you writing it, but just say coach was tongue-in-cheek when he said that. But I wonder sometimes…I think he’ll be fine.
On whether wind played role on Coutu’s kick and how quickly he thinks Brandon will bounce back:
I think he’ll snap back pretty quick. But I don’t think the wind was a factor. It could’ve been, though. It coulda been. The ball, now that I think of it, I did see an end zone shot of it, it coulda got pushed just a little bit because when it started out, it looked like it had a pretty good chance…It looked like it had a little bit of hook on it, just a tad.
On any possible injuries in the postgame dogpile:
Well, I don’t know. I think we had a few guys get banged up in there. Tripp Chandler had a sprained ankle and there was a few bruises in there anyway. I don’t think there was anything serious.
On enjoying watching the players celebrate:
It was one of the few times that you could ever truly have a dogpile like that and not get called for excessive celebration because it was the last play of the game – so they took full advantage of it.
On celebration in the locker room:
Was it on the TV show? Yeah, I was gonna enjoy it too. I was serious when I came in the pressroom, this whole dogpile thing…My brother-in-law Brad Johnson had come to a practice a while back and he addressed the team. It was two years ago, three years ago, maybe four years ago, I don’t remember. And he started to talk to the team about what he enjoyed the most about football, and he didn’t talk about trophies or even winning a championship, he talked about the dogpile. He didn’t really mean it as the Georgia dogpile, he just meant the dogpile and he explained what the dogpile was. He said the dogpile is when somebody makes a big play and his teammates come and celebrate with him. One guy just making a big hit and a few guys coming to celebrate with him. And you get the dogpile maximus or whatever you want to call it like we had in that sense, those are the best memories of opportunities to celebrate after a hard-fought battle and victory. Nothing like it.
You look at those with some trepidation. Mikey was on the bottom of that…
Yeah it can get scary in there. It can get scary in there. I can’t imagine that ever happening again. That’s probably the first dogpile we’ve had in seven years. Unless we win one again on the last play of the game, I doubt we’ll have any kind of scene like that again.
On whether he has coached anyone similar to Knowshon Moreno at Florida State:
Well, there were some pretty good ones out there. Warrick Dunn was a special guy, tremendous speed and he had power. For a small guy, he had power. He was a very special back. Sammie Smith was at Florida State. He was a big giant, a super-fast guy with power. Gosh, guys like Marion Butts, there was a guy named Greg Jones who was just a big powerful back, with not quite the agility of Knowshon. There’s been some special backs, and Knowshon, he’s definitely been exciting to this point. But he still has a ways to go to learn how to finish runs a little bit better. But he’s still young, he’s still learning.
Was he out of bounds on the play where he hit the safety and flipped the ball? (Long second-down run to third-and-1)
I don’t remember him tossing the ball, I remember him hitting the guy and kinda stepping out of bounds. That’s one example of him not finishing the run like he should. If he’d have cut back inside or just drove his feet a little bit, he woulda got a first down there. We ended up going third down and not making it and had to punt. That really hurt us. But when he caught that one little out route and kinda reached the ball to the first-down marker on their sideline, that was a great example of learning your lesson in a hurry. I don’t know. I don’t recall him flipping the ball, I just remember him hitting the safety and kind of stepping out of bounds kind of on his own, really. Then he might have flipped it at that point.
On Scott Haverkamp’s prognosis:
Not real good for this week. He’s questionable at this point, which is not to say he won’t come around, but right now we’re not projecting him to practice tomorrow.
Was Boling nicked up in that game?
Yeah he was. Tuesday last week both of ‘em got hurt, both in the same drill. Haverkamp couldn’t go anymore, Boling finished the day, but then the next day, Wednesday-Thursday, he didn’t practice. Couldn’t go. Wednesday anyway, he might’ve gotten a little bit Thursday. But it was very, very questionable that he was even gonna play. He just kinda made a good turnaround Friday and Saturday, it was a night game, a lot of treatment. And then the guy’s tough. The guy was not 100 percent and he played just about the whole game and played pretty stinkin’ good. He really showed me something.
Was that when you guys started working Vince at guard?
That’s why Vince was working guard. Vince, in his defense, he only practiced two days at guard. He practiced Wednesday and Thursday at guard and he’s been practicing the whole time at left tackle. He moved to right guard and it was just not ideal for him to really have a great feel of what he’s gonna do on every play.
Keep him there till Haveramp returns?
Yeah he’s gonna have to keep working there. And tackle. This last game, he was the No. 6 man. If anybody got hurt, he was going in. Not at center, but if the center got hurt then we were moving Davis and he’d have gone in at left guard. If Davis went out, he was going behind Davis, if Trinton went out, he was going behind Trinton, if Cheese went out, he was going behind Cheese. If Boling went out, he was going behind Boling. He was a backup all the way across the board.
On Ole Miss:
They were very impressive. I watched just about every snap. I was in my room and I was kind of getting sick to my stomach watching it because they really looked good. They ran around real good on defense and of course Florida stretched them like they do most people. But early on, they played extremely well against their offense. And then their offense started to play well, made a couple plays to close the gap to 24 to 27 or something in the fourth quarter. Got the ball and had a chance and then they went to a six-point deficit and had another chance for a one-possession game. They took ‘em to the wall and I was very impressed with them.
The biggest difference in Ole Miss this year:
They’re a little bit more multi-dimensional, I guess, more balanced, whatever you want to say. They were really just gonna run that rock last year and they were not passing the ball as well as they are this year. But they’re passing the ball much better. It’s opened up their running game, too.
How hard is it to build offense solely around offensive line and pounding the run:
Can’t do it. Can’t do it unless your QB can run. If your QB’s part of the run game, you can do it. If he’s not, I don’t think you can win big doing it. Again, you go back a couple years and you look at when Auburn said, ‘You know what? We’re gonna smash everybody in the mouth with these two great backs and I think when they lost to Southern Cal and Georgia Tech back-to-back, I don’t even know if they scored a touchdown the first two games. You remember that? And then Borges came in and they became much more diversified in what they did and then all of a sudden you couldn’t stop either one. I just don’t think you can say we’re gonna go hammer the ball in a traditional set where the QB just hands it off to a back. Defenses just won’t allow it. You’ve got to be able to make plays throwing it or you’ve got to have a QB that can run.
Are defenses more conscious of Brannan Southerland this year?
Well, we had a missed assignment on third-and-short. We just flat-out turned a guy loose and he took the brunt of it unfortunately. He’s not Superman. We just didn’t block very good.
On Tripp Chandler’s drops and competition at various positions:
I would have to say that Tripp’s gotta…he’s definitely gotta improve. Really, I think we’ve kinda proved that everybody’s job is up for grabs, you know? Not just picking on Tripp. We’ve got linebackers competing, we’ve got tight ends competing, we’ve got running backs competing. We’ve got everybody across the board competing. You know, corners, we’ve had a lot of guys, a lot of opportunities still. I don’t think that’s a slam dunk for him or anybody else. I think our guys have just gotta keep fighting hard and competing, and the good thing is we’ve been able to play a lot of people because of the competition level. That’s healthy for us.
Is there a downside to still looking for guys to step up or an upside to having guys ready to fill in behind your starters?
Yeah I think it’s more like that. We have more than one guy that can play well, and so now who’s gonna play the best? Who’s gonna practice the best, who’s gonna play the best? That’s what it comes down to on a weekly basis. That should be very healthy for us, good for the team.
Are you sick or tired…?
Yeah I got home about 7. I got about maybe two hours of sleep and then we got up and went to church. I’ve been back in here reviewing tape and now we’re getting ready to move onto Ole Miss. We were kinda knocking out this last ballgame and now we’re doing that. I really haven’t been tired much yet. A lot of adrenaline I’m sure. I’m sure I’ll crash here in the next day or two.
On concern of a letdown after Saturday’s emotional win.
The players I’m sure can enjoy the day. The coaches, this is kinda the cut-off time. We’re enjoying the victory, once we put it to rest, which we have. We kind of have dinner right around now and then you begin to focus on Ole Miss. The players, we don’t see them till tomorrow, and again we’ll spend some time watching film with them of what happened in the ballgame. We’ll go through that in the time that we have them tomorrow, so that’ll be kind of it there. The last thing we do is a little honor roll. We talk about the good things that happened and then move on. I guess they’ll have a little time still to feel good about it, but we felt good after the Oklahoma State game and you saw what happened there…We’d better get ready to go because there’s nothing in the world that makes me think it’ll be nothing more than another 60-minute battle.
On decision to use Mikey on final play:
Well, Mike was talking about wanting to do it and coach Eason was like, ‘Is there any guy in particular that you want?’ and Mike said, ‘No, just throw one of them out there and let’s see what happens’ basically. He did not dictate who he wanted there, he said just put somebody out there who’ll make a play and John told Mikey to go. I think Mikey was slated to go anyway, and he was our starter in the game at flanker, so he got the call.
Any hesitation about putting a guy out there who’s that size on that kind of play?
Yeah, when he was out there, I just knew Mikey’s strengths. And Mikey used his strengths, which is his quickness and his speed. His quickness got him clean off the jam and his speed allowed him to keep separation just enough to where the ball didn’t have to be a jump ball. As you can see from the photographs, it was very, very close, but football is as they say a game of inches. Whereas if Demiko was in there, he might’ve maybe gotten a jump ball situation, or Durham, or somebody like that. When Michael Johnson was in there, Michael wasn’t so much a speed thing but the ability to go up strong for a ball and come down with it. We thought first-and-10, we would probably get man coverage, whereas when Michael Johnson was in the game, we were pretty sure we were gonna get cover-two. When you get zone, you kinda want…speed doesn’t play as much of a factor in zone as it does in man coverage.
On protection for QB and if it’s ahead of what he expected:
Yeah they are, but Matthew made some spectacular throws under pressure. He really did. The first play of the game, there was a little bit of pressure and he stepped up to his right and made a beautiful throw. There was a third-down throw that he threw to Mohamed that we didn’t hardly block a soul. There was a third-down situation where he hit Tripp, the one that he dropped, that would’ve been a first down. There was more than those where the protection was beginning to squeeze him, but he did a good job of making the throw under pressure. The one pick that was an overthrow was very good protection, that was the second pick. The first pick that he threw, he actually had to muscle out of a sack and then he bought time and he should’ve just thrown it away, thrown it out of bounds. He actually saved a sack right there. So it’s not like we’re just doing an unbelievable job of giving him all day long, but we have done a good job – not a great job, but a good job – and he’s done a nice job of getting rid of that ball.
On the pressure up front and who played well:
Marcus Howard absolutely did. Marcus has been really very productive for us. He’s been playing the way a Georgia defense should play, he’s been doing it every game. He’s one of the few guys winning in some one-on-one situations…He wasn’t the only guy, but he certainly was one of ‘em. We got some good push up front from Jeff Owens and Geno Atkins again. Those are the main guys I would say right now.
On whether the overtime TD pass had the same feel as Verron Haynes’ touchdown against Tennessee in 2001 or Michael Johnson’s TD catch at Auburn in 2002:
Yeah it definitely did. Will it be as significant as those games, I don’t know. Although you know the Tennessee pass to Haynes didn’t really propel us to the championship that year, but I thought it helped define our program. Some of the other ones – the Pollack strip in the South Carolina game and the play you talked about to Michael Johnson, those plays kinda sent us to a championship. So I don’t know if this will have that type of result, long-term, but if you just take it one game, one memory, it’s up there with those.
What this win means now:
It just means we’re back in the race. It means we’ve gotta win next week, really.
On what Jeff Owens’ situation is:
His ankle, little bit. I don’t think it’s too serious. I think he’s probably trying to get out of agility drills on Monday, so…If you write that, just say ‘Coach said that jokingly.’ But I don’t even mind you writing it, but just say coach was tongue-in-cheek when he said that. But I wonder sometimes…I think he’ll be fine.
On whether wind played role on Coutu’s kick and how quickly he thinks Brandon will bounce back:
I think he’ll snap back pretty quick. But I don’t think the wind was a factor. It could’ve been, though. It coulda been. The ball, now that I think of it, I did see an end zone shot of it, it coulda got pushed just a little bit because when it started out, it looked like it had a pretty good chance…It looked like it had a little bit of hook on it, just a tad.
On any possible injuries in the postgame dogpile:
Well, I don’t know. I think we had a few guys get banged up in there. Tripp Chandler had a sprained ankle and there was a few bruises in there anyway. I don’t think there was anything serious.
On enjoying watching the players celebrate:
It was one of the few times that you could ever truly have a dogpile like that and not get called for excessive celebration because it was the last play of the game – so they took full advantage of it.
On celebration in the locker room:
Was it on the TV show? Yeah, I was gonna enjoy it too. I was serious when I came in the pressroom, this whole dogpile thing…My brother-in-law Brad Johnson had come to a practice a while back and he addressed the team. It was two years ago, three years ago, maybe four years ago, I don’t remember. And he started to talk to the team about what he enjoyed the most about football, and he didn’t talk about trophies or even winning a championship, he talked about the dogpile. He didn’t really mean it as the Georgia dogpile, he just meant the dogpile and he explained what the dogpile was. He said the dogpile is when somebody makes a big play and his teammates come and celebrate with him. One guy just making a big hit and a few guys coming to celebrate with him. And you get the dogpile maximus or whatever you want to call it like we had in that sense, those are the best memories of opportunities to celebrate after a hard-fought battle and victory. Nothing like it.
You look at those with some trepidation. Mikey was on the bottom of that…
Yeah it can get scary in there. It can get scary in there. I can’t imagine that ever happening again. That’s probably the first dogpile we’ve had in seven years. Unless we win one again on the last play of the game, I doubt we’ll have any kind of scene like that again.
On whether he has coached anyone similar to Knowshon Moreno at Florida State:
Well, there were some pretty good ones out there. Warrick Dunn was a special guy, tremendous speed and he had power. For a small guy, he had power. He was a very special back. Sammie Smith was at Florida State. He was a big giant, a super-fast guy with power. Gosh, guys like Marion Butts, there was a guy named Greg Jones who was just a big powerful back, with not quite the agility of Knowshon. There’s been some special backs, and Knowshon, he’s definitely been exciting to this point. But he still has a ways to go to learn how to finish runs a little bit better. But he’s still young, he’s still learning.
Was he out of bounds on the play where he hit the safety and flipped the ball? (Long second-down run to third-and-1)
I don’t remember him tossing the ball, I remember him hitting the guy and kinda stepping out of bounds. That’s one example of him not finishing the run like he should. If he’d have cut back inside or just drove his feet a little bit, he woulda got a first down there. We ended up going third down and not making it and had to punt. That really hurt us. But when he caught that one little out route and kinda reached the ball to the first-down marker on their sideline, that was a great example of learning your lesson in a hurry. I don’t know. I don’t recall him flipping the ball, I just remember him hitting the safety and kind of stepping out of bounds kind of on his own, really. Then he might have flipped it at that point.
On Scott Haverkamp’s prognosis:
Not real good for this week. He’s questionable at this point, which is not to say he won’t come around, but right now we’re not projecting him to practice tomorrow.
Was Boling nicked up in that game?
Yeah he was. Tuesday last week both of ‘em got hurt, both in the same drill. Haverkamp couldn’t go anymore, Boling finished the day, but then the next day, Wednesday-Thursday, he didn’t practice. Couldn’t go. Wednesday anyway, he might’ve gotten a little bit Thursday. But it was very, very questionable that he was even gonna play. He just kinda made a good turnaround Friday and Saturday, it was a night game, a lot of treatment. And then the guy’s tough. The guy was not 100 percent and he played just about the whole game and played pretty stinkin’ good. He really showed me something.
Was that when you guys started working Vince at guard?
That’s why Vince was working guard. Vince, in his defense, he only practiced two days at guard. He practiced Wednesday and Thursday at guard and he’s been practicing the whole time at left tackle. He moved to right guard and it was just not ideal for him to really have a great feel of what he’s gonna do on every play.
Keep him there till Haveramp returns?
Yeah he’s gonna have to keep working there. And tackle. This last game, he was the No. 6 man. If anybody got hurt, he was going in. Not at center, but if the center got hurt then we were moving Davis and he’d have gone in at left guard. If Davis went out, he was going behind Davis, if Trinton went out, he was going behind Trinton, if Cheese went out, he was going behind Cheese. If Boling went out, he was going behind Boling. He was a backup all the way across the board.
On Ole Miss:
They were very impressive. I watched just about every snap. I was in my room and I was kind of getting sick to my stomach watching it because they really looked good. They ran around real good on defense and of course Florida stretched them like they do most people. But early on, they played extremely well against their offense. And then their offense started to play well, made a couple plays to close the gap to 24 to 27 or something in the fourth quarter. Got the ball and had a chance and then they went to a six-point deficit and had another chance for a one-possession game. They took ‘em to the wall and I was very impressed with them.
The biggest difference in Ole Miss this year:
They’re a little bit more multi-dimensional, I guess, more balanced, whatever you want to say. They were really just gonna run that rock last year and they were not passing the ball as well as they are this year. But they’re passing the ball much better. It’s opened up their running game, too.
How hard is it to build offense solely around offensive line and pounding the run:
Can’t do it. Can’t do it unless your QB can run. If your QB’s part of the run game, you can do it. If he’s not, I don’t think you can win big doing it. Again, you go back a couple years and you look at when Auburn said, ‘You know what? We’re gonna smash everybody in the mouth with these two great backs and I think when they lost to Southern Cal and Georgia Tech back-to-back, I don’t even know if they scored a touchdown the first two games. You remember that? And then Borges came in and they became much more diversified in what they did and then all of a sudden you couldn’t stop either one. I just don’t think you can say we’re gonna go hammer the ball in a traditional set where the QB just hands it off to a back. Defenses just won’t allow it. You’ve got to be able to make plays throwing it or you’ve got to have a QB that can run.
Are defenses more conscious of Brannan Southerland this year?
Well, we had a missed assignment on third-and-short. We just flat-out turned a guy loose and he took the brunt of it unfortunately. He’s not Superman. We just didn’t block very good.
On Tripp Chandler’s drops and competition at various positions:
I would have to say that Tripp’s gotta…he’s definitely gotta improve. Really, I think we’ve kinda proved that everybody’s job is up for grabs, you know? Not just picking on Tripp. We’ve got linebackers competing, we’ve got tight ends competing, we’ve got running backs competing. We’ve got everybody across the board competing. You know, corners, we’ve had a lot of guys, a lot of opportunities still. I don’t think that’s a slam dunk for him or anybody else. I think our guys have just gotta keep fighting hard and competing, and the good thing is we’ve been able to play a lot of people because of the competition level. That’s healthy for us.
Is there a downside to still looking for guys to step up or an upside to having guys ready to fill in behind your starters?
Yeah I think it’s more like that. We have more than one guy that can play well, and so now who’s gonna play the best? Who’s gonna practice the best, who’s gonna play the best? That’s what it comes down to on a weekly basis. That should be very healthy for us, good for the team.
Are you sick or tired…?
Yeah I got home about 7. I got about maybe two hours of sleep and then we got up and went to church. I’ve been back in here reviewing tape and now we’re getting ready to move onto Ole Miss. We were kinda knocking out this last ballgame and now we’re doing that. I really haven’t been tired much yet. A lot of adrenaline I’m sure. I’m sure I’ll crash here in the next day or two.
On concern of a letdown after Saturday’s emotional win.
The players I’m sure can enjoy the day. The coaches, this is kinda the cut-off time. We’re enjoying the victory, once we put it to rest, which we have. We kind of have dinner right around now and then you begin to focus on Ole Miss. The players, we don’t see them till tomorrow, and again we’ll spend some time watching film with them of what happened in the ballgame. We’ll go through that in the time that we have them tomorrow, so that’ll be kind of it there. The last thing we do is a little honor roll. We talk about the good things that happened and then move on. I guess they’ll have a little time still to feel good about it, but we felt good after the Oklahoma State game and you saw what happened there…We’d better get ready to go because there’s nothing in the world that makes me think it’ll be nothing more than another 60-minute battle.
On decision to use Mikey on final play:
Well, Mike was talking about wanting to do it and coach Eason was like, ‘Is there any guy in particular that you want?’ and Mike said, ‘No, just throw one of them out there and let’s see what happens’ basically. He did not dictate who he wanted there, he said just put somebody out there who’ll make a play and John told Mikey to go. I think Mikey was slated to go anyway, and he was our starter in the game at flanker, so he got the call.
Any hesitation about putting a guy out there who’s that size on that kind of play?
Yeah, when he was out there, I just knew Mikey’s strengths. And Mikey used his strengths, which is his quickness and his speed. His quickness got him clean off the jam and his speed allowed him to keep separation just enough to where the ball didn’t have to be a jump ball. As you can see from the photographs, it was very, very close, but football is as they say a game of inches. Whereas if Demiko was in there, he might’ve maybe gotten a jump ball situation, or Durham, or somebody like that. When Michael Johnson was in there, Michael wasn’t so much a speed thing but the ability to go up strong for a ball and come down with it. We thought first-and-10, we would probably get man coverage, whereas when Michael Johnson was in the game, we were pretty sure we were gonna get cover-two. When you get zone, you kinda want…speed doesn’t play as much of a factor in zone as it does in man coverage.
On protection for QB and if it’s ahead of what he expected:
Yeah they are, but Matthew made some spectacular throws under pressure. He really did. The first play of the game, there was a little bit of pressure and he stepped up to his right and made a beautiful throw. There was a third-down throw that he threw to Mohamed that we didn’t hardly block a soul. There was a third-down situation where he hit Tripp, the one that he dropped, that would’ve been a first down. There was more than those where the protection was beginning to squeeze him, but he did a good job of making the throw under pressure. The one pick that was an overthrow was very good protection, that was the second pick. The first pick that he threw, he actually had to muscle out of a sack and then he bought time and he should’ve just thrown it away, thrown it out of bounds. He actually saved a sack right there. So it’s not like we’re just doing an unbelievable job of giving him all day long, but we have done a good job – not a great job, but a good job – and he’s done a nice job of getting rid of that ball.
Coutu receives Groza Award weekly honor
Georgia's Brandon Coutu has been named one of three Lou Groza Award stars of the week. He was 2-for-4 against Alabama, hitting from 45 and 47. The timing of the honor seems a bit odd, though, doesn't it? I think Brandon's a very good kicker and all, but he DID miss the potential game-winner at the end of regulation.
FROM UGA RELEASE:
Georgia senior Brandon Coutu has been named a Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Star of the Week, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission announced Monday.
Coutu booted two field goals in the Bulldogs¹ 26-23 overtime win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa. His 45-yarder gave Georgia a 10-0 lead in the second quarter, and his 47-yarder gave the Bulldogs a 20-10 lead with 12:23 left in the fourth quarter.
The Lawrenceville, Ga., native leads the team with 34 points scored and has connected on 7-of-10 fields goals this season.
Coutu was honored along with Texas Tech¹s Alex Trlica and UCLA¹s Kai Forbath.
The 2007 winner of the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award will be announced on Dec. 6 during the ESPN Home Depot College Football Award Show in Orlando, Fla. The top three finalists will be honored during the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Banquet and Silent Auction on Dec. 4.
All Division I-A kickers are eligible for the Award named for NFL Hall of Fame Kicker Lou "The Toe" Groza. Voters for the award include Division I-A head coaches, sports writers and sportscasters, conference representatives, professional kickers and previous Groza Award finalists.
FROM UGA RELEASE:
Georgia senior Brandon Coutu has been named a Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Star of the Week, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission announced Monday.
Coutu booted two field goals in the Bulldogs¹ 26-23 overtime win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa. His 45-yarder gave Georgia a 10-0 lead in the second quarter, and his 47-yarder gave the Bulldogs a 20-10 lead with 12:23 left in the fourth quarter.
The Lawrenceville, Ga., native leads the team with 34 points scored and has connected on 7-of-10 fields goals this season.
Coutu was honored along with Texas Tech¹s Alex Trlica and UCLA¹s Kai Forbath.
The 2007 winner of the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award will be announced on Dec. 6 during the ESPN Home Depot College Football Award Show in Orlando, Fla. The top three finalists will be honored during the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Banquet and Silent Auction on Dec. 4.
All Division I-A kickers are eligible for the Award named for NFL Hall of Fame Kicker Lou "The Toe" Groza. Voters for the award include Division I-A head coaches, sports writers and sportscasters, conference representatives, professional kickers and previous Groza Award finalists.
Georgia-Tennessee on CBS
The Oct. 6 game between Georgia and Tennessee in Knoxville will be carried on CBS at 3:30 p.m.
Craig Bolerjack and Steve Beuerlein will call the game. Georgia is 31-21-1 on CBS.
Other games that week:
Thursday, Oct. 4: Kentucky at South Carolina, ESPN, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 6: Vanderbilt at Auburn, LF Sports, 12:30; Florida at LSU, CBS, 8:30
Craig Bolerjack and Steve Beuerlein will call the game. Georgia is 31-21-1 on CBS.
Other games that week:
Thursday, Oct. 4: Kentucky at South Carolina, ESPN, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 6: Vanderbilt at Auburn, LF Sports, 12:30; Florida at LSU, CBS, 8:30
Moreno named freshman of the week
From the UGA release:
ATHENS, Ga. --- University of Georgia redshirt freshman tailback Knowshon Moreno has been named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week, according to an announcement by the league office on Monday.
Moreno, a 5-11, 207-pound native of Belford, N.J., tied senior Thomas Brown with a team-leading 74 rushing yards during the Bulldogs¹ 26-23 overtime win over then-No. 16 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Moreno also scored the second touchdown of his career on a 6-yard run in the third quarter, giving Georgia a 17-10 edge, and had two catches for 22 yards.
Through four games, Moreno leads Georgia with 342 rushing yards for an average of 85.5 yards per game, which is ninth in the SEC (second for freshmen) and 56th in the nation. Also, Moreno is second on the team with 120 receiving yards and was part of a Georgia offense that generated 377 total yards against the Crimson Tide.
ATHENS, Ga. --- University of Georgia redshirt freshman tailback Knowshon Moreno has been named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week, according to an announcement by the league office on Monday.
Moreno, a 5-11, 207-pound native of Belford, N.J., tied senior Thomas Brown with a team-leading 74 rushing yards during the Bulldogs¹ 26-23 overtime win over then-No. 16 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Moreno also scored the second touchdown of his career on a 6-yard run in the third quarter, giving Georgia a 17-10 edge, and had two catches for 22 yards.
Through four games, Moreno leads Georgia with 342 rushing yards for an average of 85.5 yards per game, which is ninth in the SEC (second for freshmen) and 56th in the nation. Also, Moreno is second on the team with 120 receiving yards and was part of a Georgia offense that generated 377 total yards against the Crimson Tide.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Master Coaches Poll 9/23
Master Coaches Poll
* 1. Southern Cal
* 2. LSU
* 3. Oklahoma
* 4. Florida
* 5. West Virginia
* 6. California
* 7. Ohio State
* 8. Wisconsin
* 9. Texas
* 10. Oregon
* 11. Boston College
* 12. Clemson
* 13. Rutgers
* 14. Georgia
* 15. Virginia Tech
* 16. Penn State
* 17. Kentucky
* 18. South Florida
* 19. Hawaii
* 20. South Carolina
* 21. Alabama
* 22. Missouri
* 23. Michigan State
* 24. Arizona State
* 25. Miami
Other teams receiving votes ... Michigan, Purdue, Nebraska, UCLA, Cincinnati, Texas A&M, BYU, Arkansas, UCF, Kansas, Florida State, and Virginia
Dropped from last week's poll ... Nebraska, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Arkansas, Texas A&M
* 1. Southern Cal
* 2. LSU
* 3. Oklahoma
* 4. Florida
* 5. West Virginia
* 6. California
* 7. Ohio State
* 8. Wisconsin
* 9. Texas
* 10. Oregon
* 11. Boston College
* 12. Clemson
* 13. Rutgers
* 14. Georgia
* 15. Virginia Tech
* 16. Penn State
* 17. Kentucky
* 18. South Florida
* 19. Hawaii
* 20. South Carolina
* 21. Alabama
* 22. Missouri
* 23. Michigan State
* 24. Arizona State
* 25. Miami
Other teams receiving votes ... Michigan, Purdue, Nebraska, UCLA, Cincinnati, Texas A&M, BYU, Arkansas, UCF, Kansas, Florida State, and Virginia
Dropped from last week's poll ... Nebraska, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Arkansas, Texas A&M
Post teleconference notes
I'm fairly sick today, the result of stupidly cutting my grass in Columbus in the pouring rain on Friday (had no choice. had to be done while I was in town), so I'm not going to transcribe all of Richt's teleconference today. I'm about to go take some NyQuil and see if I can't sleep it off. I'll do it by tomorrow afternoon, though.
Here are some quick highlights from his comments today:
* Loves the way Marcus Howard is playing. Marcus was pretty big-time yesterday.
* Jeff Owens and Tripp Chandler both tweaked ankles, but he doesn't think they will be terribly serious.
* Scott Haverkamp (who didn't make the trip because of an ankle injury, if you didn't know) is still highly questionable for Saturday. He and Clint Boling both got hurt on the same drill in Tuesday's practice.
* Boling didn't practice on Wednesday and Thursday, but Richt said he had a turnaround on Friday and got treatment the whole time through Saturday. Playing Saturday night apparently helped because of some extra time. Richt was very pleased with the kid. Said "he really showed me something." Dean over at the Dawgpost has really talked him up for a long time. Guess old Dean was right. The kid's done well.
* Richt said the injuries to Haverkamp and Boling were the reason why Vince Vance played some right guard last night. He only started practicing there last Wednesday. Richt said he's the backup at both guard and tackle spots at this point. If something were to happen to any of those guys, Vince would replace them. If something happened to Velasco, Chris Davis would slide to center and Vince would move into Davis' spot.
* He said watching Ole Miss in his hotel room on Saturday made him "sick to my stomach." They did play well. I watched a good portion of that game before I went to Tuscaloosa and they absolutely had the Gators on the ropes going into the fourth quarter.
* Said Tripp Chandler's got to improve after a couple drops last night. Wasn't singling him out really, but he talked about how they have competition at lots of positions right now (I remember him also mentioning LB, RB and CB, but that's probably not it) and you have to produce or someone might take your job.
* Said Mikey Henderson's size on the last play was a concern, but Mikey's quickness was what helped it not have to be a jump-ball situation. Bobo didn't call for a particular receiver on the playcall, so the decision to go with Mikey was John Eason's. Looks like coach Eason's many fans have one more reason to sing his praises on the message boards this week.
* Said pass protection is improving and better than he expected for this point, but also complimented Stafford on some "spectacular throws under pressure."
* I went 6-1 straight-up and 4-3 against the spread with Saturday's picks.
Here are some quick highlights from his comments today:
* Loves the way Marcus Howard is playing. Marcus was pretty big-time yesterday.
* Jeff Owens and Tripp Chandler both tweaked ankles, but he doesn't think they will be terribly serious.
* Scott Haverkamp (who didn't make the trip because of an ankle injury, if you didn't know) is still highly questionable for Saturday. He and Clint Boling both got hurt on the same drill in Tuesday's practice.
* Boling didn't practice on Wednesday and Thursday, but Richt said he had a turnaround on Friday and got treatment the whole time through Saturday. Playing Saturday night apparently helped because of some extra time. Richt was very pleased with the kid. Said "he really showed me something." Dean over at the Dawgpost has really talked him up for a long time. Guess old Dean was right. The kid's done well.
* Richt said the injuries to Haverkamp and Boling were the reason why Vince Vance played some right guard last night. He only started practicing there last Wednesday. Richt said he's the backup at both guard and tackle spots at this point. If something were to happen to any of those guys, Vince would replace them. If something happened to Velasco, Chris Davis would slide to center and Vince would move into Davis' spot.
* He said watching Ole Miss in his hotel room on Saturday made him "sick to my stomach." They did play well. I watched a good portion of that game before I went to Tuscaloosa and they absolutely had the Gators on the ropes going into the fourth quarter.
* Said Tripp Chandler's got to improve after a couple drops last night. Wasn't singling him out really, but he talked about how they have competition at lots of positions right now (I remember him also mentioning LB, RB and CB, but that's probably not it) and you have to produce or someone might take your job.
* Said Mikey Henderson's size on the last play was a concern, but Mikey's quickness was what helped it not have to be a jump-ball situation. Bobo didn't call for a particular receiver on the playcall, so the decision to go with Mikey was John Eason's. Looks like coach Eason's many fans have one more reason to sing his praises on the message boards this week.
* Said pass protection is improving and better than he expected for this point, but also complimented Stafford on some "spectacular throws under pressure."
* I went 6-1 straight-up and 4-3 against the spread with Saturday's picks.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Perfect picks: Man enough edition
I'm making another go at perfection this week. 5-3 straight up last week and 2-5 against the spread (the Alabama game was a push, so I incorrectly listed myself at 2-6 on Monday). That makes me 21-7 straight up and 12-14 against the spread. Pretty dang good.
I'm gonna make this quick because I've got a long day ahead tomorrow (or I guess today, since it's almost 5 a.m.)
Florida at Ole Miss, 12:30 p.m., LF Sports
Line: Florida by 23
My guess: I'm not sure if the Gators are as good as they've looked so far, but holy cow they've looked good so far. That game at LSU in two weeks looks like it might be for the league's regular-season title. This game surely won't affect that. Florida 42, Ole Miss 14
South Carolina at LSU, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Line: LSU by 16.5
My guess: South Carolina doesn't have the firepower to win this game. LSU has given up seven points. Total. I don't expect this one to be close, but Steve Spurrier has surprised me before. LSU 38, South Carolina 20
Kentucky at Arkansas, 6 p.m., ESPN2
Line: Arkansas by 7
My guess: Other than Alabama-Georgia, this is the week's most intriguing matchup to me. I figure lots of points will be scored and lots of yards will be rolled up. I enjoy Kentucky, so I'm going to hop on the bandwagon and call for an upset. Kentucky 30, Arkansas 28
New Mexico State at Auburn, 7 p.m., PPV
Line: Auburn by 16.5
My guess: I'm sure the PPV is selling like hotcakes for this one. There's some serious self-doubt going on on the Plains. Should be interesting to see how they respond. Considering the way Auburn's offense has struggled, this line seems like an easy way to steal some money. Auburn 20, New Mexico State 14
Gardner-Webb at Mississippi State, 7 p.m., No TV
Line: Mississippi State by 31
My guess: The Fighting Crooms pulled off the upset last week in Auburn and now draw a pretty so-so Division I-AA team (and did you know Gardner-Webb's nickname is the Runnin' Bulldogs? That's awesome). Say it ain't so...The Bulldogs will be 3-1 heading up to South Carolina next week? Mississippi State 38, Gardner-Webb 14
Georgia at Alabama, 7:45 p.m., ESPN
Line: Alabama by 3.5
My guess: I have absolutely no idea what to expect in this game. Georgia's got a ton of inexperience and it's playing its first road game at sure-to-be-crazy Bryant-Denny Stadium. A win is asking for a lot, but who knows? Alabama 26, Georgia 23
Arkansas State at Tennessee, 7 p.m., PPV
Line: Tennessee by 19.5
My guess: The Vols are surely still reeling from that whomping they took last weekend in Gainesville. Good thing they're playing this bunch of nobodies (although yes, they did lose to Texas only 21-13). Tennessee 28, Arkansas State 7
I'm gonna make this quick because I've got a long day ahead tomorrow (or I guess today, since it's almost 5 a.m.)
Florida at Ole Miss, 12:30 p.m., LF Sports
Line: Florida by 23
My guess: I'm not sure if the Gators are as good as they've looked so far, but holy cow they've looked good so far. That game at LSU in two weeks looks like it might be for the league's regular-season title. This game surely won't affect that. Florida 42, Ole Miss 14
South Carolina at LSU, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Line: LSU by 16.5
My guess: South Carolina doesn't have the firepower to win this game. LSU has given up seven points. Total. I don't expect this one to be close, but Steve Spurrier has surprised me before. LSU 38, South Carolina 20
Kentucky at Arkansas, 6 p.m., ESPN2
Line: Arkansas by 7
My guess: Other than Alabama-Georgia, this is the week's most intriguing matchup to me. I figure lots of points will be scored and lots of yards will be rolled up. I enjoy Kentucky, so I'm going to hop on the bandwagon and call for an upset. Kentucky 30, Arkansas 28
New Mexico State at Auburn, 7 p.m., PPV
Line: Auburn by 16.5
My guess: I'm sure the PPV is selling like hotcakes for this one. There's some serious self-doubt going on on the Plains. Should be interesting to see how they respond. Considering the way Auburn's offense has struggled, this line seems like an easy way to steal some money. Auburn 20, New Mexico State 14
Gardner-Webb at Mississippi State, 7 p.m., No TV
Line: Mississippi State by 31
My guess: The Fighting Crooms pulled off the upset last week in Auburn and now draw a pretty so-so Division I-AA team (and did you know Gardner-Webb's nickname is the Runnin' Bulldogs? That's awesome). Say it ain't so...The Bulldogs will be 3-1 heading up to South Carolina next week? Mississippi State 38, Gardner-Webb 14
Georgia at Alabama, 7:45 p.m., ESPN
Line: Alabama by 3.5
My guess: I have absolutely no idea what to expect in this game. Georgia's got a ton of inexperience and it's playing its first road game at sure-to-be-crazy Bryant-Denny Stadium. A win is asking for a lot, but who knows? Alabama 26, Georgia 23
Arkansas State at Tennessee, 7 p.m., PPV
Line: Tennessee by 19.5
My guess: The Vols are surely still reeling from that whomping they took last weekend in Gainesville. Good thing they're playing this bunch of nobodies (although yes, they did lose to Texas only 21-13). Tennessee 28, Arkansas State 7
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Richt pre-practice Thursday comments
I believe the team is practicing right now at Sanford Stadium. A group of about five or six writers sat down with Mark Richt about an hour ago and talked for a bit before they got on the buses for the final pre-Alabama practice. This is almost the complete Q/A. I left out maybe one question or two and some chit-chat.
dc
I don’t know what to say. I rarely do on Thursday before practice, but we’re getting ready to get our last little bit of preparation in for this ballgame. So far I think we’ve practiced well and I’m kinda excited about getting on to Tuscaloosa here. We’re gonna get our last little bit of prep work in today and hopefully we’ll be good, nice and focused and all that good stuff.
Do you expect Brandon Miller or Akeem Dent to start at strongside?
I don’t know. That’s a good question, though.
On withstanding the early emotion in the game:
Yeah, the beginning of all games are very important, but I think there will be an awful lot of excitement there in that stadium, just knowing it’ll be a night game, knowing that Alabama’s fans are excited about the start of the season, knowing that GameDay’s there. I’m sure they’ll be getting worked up all day long, so it would certainly help us to have a good start, no doubt. And like you say, if something doesn’t go our way, we’ve gotta be strong. We’ve just gotta be strong. So it truly is a 60-minute game. We can’t let the first few moments decide it one way or another.
…Some discussion of whether the weather would allow them to practice at the stadium…
On Marcus Washington coming back from injury to start on Saturday:
Marcus has been a big surprise for us, really, because we weren’t sure. Like in the spring, even in the spring you’re talking about guys that are injured that were going through rehab. And then some time in the summer, we’ll ask Ron, ‘Who do we think will be ready by the time camp starts?’ Trying to make plans way in advance. And he basically felt like everybody’d be ready, but the one he wasn’t sure about, he kept saying he wasn’t sure how Marcus would come around. So in the back of your mind, you’re saying maybe he’ll be there, maybe he won’t. You hope he’s there, but for him to play as well as he has has been great for him and great for us.
He’s a guy y’all always felt could fit that role, isn’t he?
Yeah, he is. He has been, but anytime – like you say, you prefaced it right – anytime you have an injury like that, it can take you on a big detour and it takes you a long time to get back. He’s done a good job.
When did you start to see that he was back at 100 percent?
Even when you start practicing, you don’t know…the knee, well it’s getting puffy, it’s swollen, it’s getting sore, you’ve gotta hold off for a couple days before you can go again. Even Demiko was going through that a little bit, and you just don’t ever know when a guy’s really going strong. But a couple, maybe first or second scrimmage, just watching him move, watching him make plays, gave you a lot of encouragement.
You guys sold on Davis and Boling to start at guard this week?
Yeah…Yes.
Have you spoken to Munson this week?
Just briefly. When I do the coaches show Monday night, we talked just a little bit. He doesn’t like to talk about that kinda stuff. Even when people…about half the callers when they call in brag on Larry and say how great Munson is and has been to Georgia football and you can tell he doesn’t feel real comfortable when all that stuff happens and I don’t think he wants to even think about getting too sentimental or anything like that. He’s just kinda business as usual.
I know this doesn’t really affect you guys, but this is the first time since you’ve been here that he hasn’t gone with you guys to call the game.
First time in a long time.
Yeah, it’s like the second time in 40 years?
Yeah. How many years has he been here? Forty… (42, this is year 42)…That’s a long, long time. There’s a lot of fans that are going to be going through withdrawal.
He was waxing nostalgic earlier this week about General Neyland punting on third down. Has he communicated that to you?
Was he talking about that? Yeah, he was saying something…
Do you have any plans to punt on second down?
I could do it in his honor, maybe.
He’s a big fan of Mimbs, by the way.
Brian’s done great. Brian has really done great. We thought it was a very, very tight race and we think Butler’s gonna be a heck of a punter, too.
Will Butler travel this week?
No. Coutu will back up punter. Andy Bailey backs up at kickoff and extra point/field goal.
Any tough decisions this week on picking the travel squad?
It is. You get down to the end and it’s hard to draw the line, but you absolutely have to do it. I’m not gonna get into who’s 71 and who’s 72.
Do you bring any freshmen that haven’t played just for emergency situations? Caleb?
I don’t think we’ve got Caleb on there, but Justin Anderson I think will be on there. Yeah, there’ll be a couple guys that we’d prefer not to use if possible, just for the ability to redshirt ‘em, but that could change?
Seventy is your limit for SEC games?
Seventy.
How’s Justin been looking in practice?
Getting better. He’s getting better. He’s just progressing slowly but surely.
Is he getting to the point where he might eventually play?
I don’t know if we’ll do it this year, but with the right combination of guys getting banged up, it could happen.
His biggest obstacle right now is learning the plays and knowing which way to go?
Yeah, just learning the system, getting used to it.
It’s not a physical thing…he’s big and strong enough?
Well you know, none of those freshmen should be playing to be honest with you. They really shouldn’t, but they are.
Have y’all done anything different this week in the secondary in preparation for Alabama’s receivers?
Not really. Certain coverages I’m sure will be emphasized more than others. You still want to make sure you’re strong against the run. You’ve gotta start with stopping the run with this football team, like most. A few times they’re more balanced than that. Not to say Alabama’s not balanced, but Alabama’s definitely gonna try to run that ball. They’ve got a good back too…He’s a talent. I’m impressed with him.
Is Clint naturally strong to be playing guard?
I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s weight-room strong, but he’s sturdy. He’s just a sturdy-built guy. I don’t think he ever had any high school injuries. You’d like all those guys to have about a year or two under their belt before they have to go do what he’s doing, but so far, he’s been pretty…he’s been strong enough to handle the physicality of the game.
dc
I don’t know what to say. I rarely do on Thursday before practice, but we’re getting ready to get our last little bit of preparation in for this ballgame. So far I think we’ve practiced well and I’m kinda excited about getting on to Tuscaloosa here. We’re gonna get our last little bit of prep work in today and hopefully we’ll be good, nice and focused and all that good stuff.
Do you expect Brandon Miller or Akeem Dent to start at strongside?
I don’t know. That’s a good question, though.
On withstanding the early emotion in the game:
Yeah, the beginning of all games are very important, but I think there will be an awful lot of excitement there in that stadium, just knowing it’ll be a night game, knowing that Alabama’s fans are excited about the start of the season, knowing that GameDay’s there. I’m sure they’ll be getting worked up all day long, so it would certainly help us to have a good start, no doubt. And like you say, if something doesn’t go our way, we’ve gotta be strong. We’ve just gotta be strong. So it truly is a 60-minute game. We can’t let the first few moments decide it one way or another.
…Some discussion of whether the weather would allow them to practice at the stadium…
On Marcus Washington coming back from injury to start on Saturday:
Marcus has been a big surprise for us, really, because we weren’t sure. Like in the spring, even in the spring you’re talking about guys that are injured that were going through rehab. And then some time in the summer, we’ll ask Ron, ‘Who do we think will be ready by the time camp starts?’ Trying to make plans way in advance. And he basically felt like everybody’d be ready, but the one he wasn’t sure about, he kept saying he wasn’t sure how Marcus would come around. So in the back of your mind, you’re saying maybe he’ll be there, maybe he won’t. You hope he’s there, but for him to play as well as he has has been great for him and great for us.
He’s a guy y’all always felt could fit that role, isn’t he?
Yeah, he is. He has been, but anytime – like you say, you prefaced it right – anytime you have an injury like that, it can take you on a big detour and it takes you a long time to get back. He’s done a good job.
When did you start to see that he was back at 100 percent?
Even when you start practicing, you don’t know…the knee, well it’s getting puffy, it’s swollen, it’s getting sore, you’ve gotta hold off for a couple days before you can go again. Even Demiko was going through that a little bit, and you just don’t ever know when a guy’s really going strong. But a couple, maybe first or second scrimmage, just watching him move, watching him make plays, gave you a lot of encouragement.
You guys sold on Davis and Boling to start at guard this week?
Yeah…Yes.
Have you spoken to Munson this week?
Just briefly. When I do the coaches show Monday night, we talked just a little bit. He doesn’t like to talk about that kinda stuff. Even when people…about half the callers when they call in brag on Larry and say how great Munson is and has been to Georgia football and you can tell he doesn’t feel real comfortable when all that stuff happens and I don’t think he wants to even think about getting too sentimental or anything like that. He’s just kinda business as usual.
I know this doesn’t really affect you guys, but this is the first time since you’ve been here that he hasn’t gone with you guys to call the game.
First time in a long time.
Yeah, it’s like the second time in 40 years?
Yeah. How many years has he been here? Forty… (42, this is year 42)…That’s a long, long time. There’s a lot of fans that are going to be going through withdrawal.
He was waxing nostalgic earlier this week about General Neyland punting on third down. Has he communicated that to you?
Was he talking about that? Yeah, he was saying something…
Do you have any plans to punt on second down?
I could do it in his honor, maybe.
He’s a big fan of Mimbs, by the way.
Brian’s done great. Brian has really done great. We thought it was a very, very tight race and we think Butler’s gonna be a heck of a punter, too.
Will Butler travel this week?
No. Coutu will back up punter. Andy Bailey backs up at kickoff and extra point/field goal.
Any tough decisions this week on picking the travel squad?
It is. You get down to the end and it’s hard to draw the line, but you absolutely have to do it. I’m not gonna get into who’s 71 and who’s 72.
Do you bring any freshmen that haven’t played just for emergency situations? Caleb?
I don’t think we’ve got Caleb on there, but Justin Anderson I think will be on there. Yeah, there’ll be a couple guys that we’d prefer not to use if possible, just for the ability to redshirt ‘em, but that could change?
Seventy is your limit for SEC games?
Seventy.
How’s Justin been looking in practice?
Getting better. He’s getting better. He’s just progressing slowly but surely.
Is he getting to the point where he might eventually play?
I don’t know if we’ll do it this year, but with the right combination of guys getting banged up, it could happen.
His biggest obstacle right now is learning the plays and knowing which way to go?
Yeah, just learning the system, getting used to it.
It’s not a physical thing…he’s big and strong enough?
Well you know, none of those freshmen should be playing to be honest with you. They really shouldn’t, but they are.
Have y’all done anything different this week in the secondary in preparation for Alabama’s receivers?
Not really. Certain coverages I’m sure will be emphasized more than others. You still want to make sure you’re strong against the run. You’ve gotta start with stopping the run with this football team, like most. A few times they’re more balanced than that. Not to say Alabama’s not balanced, but Alabama’s definitely gonna try to run that ball. They’ve got a good back too…He’s a talent. I’m impressed with him.
Is Clint naturally strong to be playing guard?
I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s weight-room strong, but he’s sturdy. He’s just a sturdy-built guy. I don’t think he ever had any high school injuries. You’d like all those guys to have about a year or two under their belt before they have to go do what he’s doing, but so far, he’s been pretty…he’s been strong enough to handle the physicality of the game.
Satellite Radio Saturday schedule
I just received a schedule for all of this weekend's games, so I figured I'd post the SEC ones.
XM
6:45 Georgia-Alabama XM 140
7:45 Georgia-Alabama XM 144
6:00 Kentucky-Arkansas XM 199
12:30 Florida-Mississippi XM 200 or 232 (Ole Miss)
3:30 South Carolina-LSU XM 201 (LSU)
7:00 Arkansas State-Tennessee XM 232
7:00 Gardner Webb at Mississippi State XM 200
SIRIUS
12:30 Florida-Mississippi Sirius 114 (Florida)
3:30 South Carolina-LSU Sirius 122 (South Carolina)
7:45 Georgia-Alabama Sirius 122 (Alabama)
7:00 Auburn-New Mexico State Sirius 123
I make no claims as to the accuracy of this information. It's cobbled together from a press release I received and from the SEC weekly release. Just figured I'd post it, since I know it's hard sometimes to find the game you're looking for...at least it is on Sirius.
XM
6:45 Georgia-Alabama XM 140
7:45 Georgia-Alabama XM 144
6:00 Kentucky-Arkansas XM 199
12:30 Florida-Mississippi XM 200 or 232 (Ole Miss)
3:30 South Carolina-LSU XM 201 (LSU)
7:00 Arkansas State-Tennessee XM 232
7:00 Gardner Webb at Mississippi State XM 200
SIRIUS
12:30 Florida-Mississippi Sirius 114 (Florida)
3:30 South Carolina-LSU Sirius 122 (South Carolina)
7:45 Georgia-Alabama Sirius 122 (Alabama)
7:00 Auburn-New Mexico State Sirius 123
I make no claims as to the accuracy of this information. It's cobbled together from a press release I received and from the SEC weekly release. Just figured I'd post it, since I know it's hard sometimes to find the game you're looking for...at least it is on Sirius.
Larry Munson teleconference transcript
I can't imagine it's anywhere near as interesting to read this stuff off the screen as it is to hear Munson's responses in that old familiar growl. I didn't grow up in Georgia listening to Munson, but we used to occasionally visit my aunt Sally in Woodstock in the fall and I can remember the radio being on in the kitchen and we'd listen to him calling the games. This is when Georgia was really good, when I was a little kid in the early 80s, and I can still remember hearing that voice coming out of her little radio. It kind of takes you back to another time when you hear the guy, which I think is part of the reason why so many folks love the guy.
I don't guess that's either here nor there when it comes to this transcript, it's just that listening to the tape just now makes you a big nostalgic and reminds you why you started liking this stuff to begin with. And it had nothing to do with the too-big-for-their-britches control freaks who are so prevalent in the game today.
On his plans for Saturday’s game and where he will be:
Well, I’ll be in the state of Georgia. The thing that I’ve had planned for years, and the small group of hunters and fishermen that I hang out with know about this, for at least 10 or 15 years I have talked about that when the time came, I was gonna get in a boat and I was gonna fish. I was gonna put a radio in the boat because I’ve never heard a Georgia broadcast, and I was gonna check the crew and listen to the whole first half at least, in a boat, fishing, during the daytime. Of course that whole thing has changed because television made a nighttime game out of it. So the fishing’s probably gonna have to go away and I’m not so sure now exactly what I’m going to do. I didn’t really give that a thought that that would happen. Now I did give some thought to the fact that they might go to a 3:30 game or something, but I was still gonna be able to use it that way. I can’t do it the way it is. I may wind up in a movie.
And miss it altogether?
No, I would do an early movie. I would find some way to listen to it or watch it, but what I planned to do, which I really worked on, again was listen to it on the radio. That’s what I really wanted to hear was the whole thing.
Can’t fish for crappie at that time of night?
No, I don’t believe so. If I was up a little bit farther north, I probably could’ve gotten some help and hung some lanterns outside and done some night fishing or something, but that wouldn’t be easy to listen to the ballgame. I have, because of the night-time angle, I think the fishing angle has been shot right out of the saddle.
On how he expects Scott Howard to fare doing play-by-play:
I think Scott’ll do fine. I’m sure he’s started to feel a little bit of the excitement, but I’ll bet you he comes alive. Very much so. It remains to be seen if he’s fortunate enough to have some highly crucial play that goes our way on a positive side which has a lot to do with the ballgame. And if he gets one of those, how he’s gonna handle it. And I imagine he’s had to give that some thought. And I don’t mean planning anything, but he has to give it some thought because those things happen in football games just as they do in basketball games. It’s sudden when it comes. He’s gonna have to be prepared for that, but he’s got a lot of people rooting for him and that oughta really help.
On whether he had to adapt his announcing style to modern pass-happy offenses:
No, I didn’t have to adapt style. I saw the changes coming. They almost came piece-by-piece. One of the main things they did made it hard on the spotters more than the announcer, they went ahead and put three, four, five receivers out there, which they never did when you and I were younger. All of a sudden, you had a guy go in motion and he’s in place and then they flip-flop a tight end, but on the next down there might be three new receivers on the field. This is the way it is now. And there are people moving constantly all the time. The game has changed so much and I think it’s made it twice as tough on the spotter as it has on anything else. I miss certain things of the old football. I’ve been extremely fascinated by this so-called spread-option offense. I watched Florida a week ago run some of that. The way they line theirs up, it’s about half of an old Notre Dame box and it’s about half of an old double-wing formation. And I noticed that last year in the national championship game. That’s really interesting to me. The other day they were running the option so extremely well that it made me think what I’d do if I had to work one.
On reaction from fans looking ahead to this Saturday:
There’ve been a lot of people that have asked me what I’m gonna do. It’s never been a long conversation, but the thing that sticks in my mind has been the many people recently that I don’t know who they are. They’ve stopped me outside the stadium and inside in the tunnels down below and also in the lobby of movie theaters, thanking me for whatever I did for the school and maybe saying they’re gonna miss listening to me or whatever. I’ve had people at the movie get out of their seats and come over and bend over and thank me for whatever I did.
What he’s feeling as Saturday draws near:
Well, I miss it a lot. I got to thinking about, I had a discussion the other night with coach Richt on our punting and the new punter’s kicking the dog out of the ball. And that made me think of General Neyland up in Tennessee, the old famous coach, and how Neyland used to kick on second and third down. This is back when so many of us were little kids or something. But Neyland used to punt if you remember as a weapon, and he had a lot of quick kicks. And I’ve thought about that a lot because Georgia had open competition for punters this year. We had to have a new punter and this kid has won it and he’s kicking very, very well. And then I got to think about bad, rainy weather and stuff and wondered how a game would go. People used to let the weather dictate everything and they pulled their offense back. Even General Neyland did that. But I don’t think they do that now. They just won’t, and they won’t kick early on third down either. It was nothing for Neyland to kick on second or third down the whole ballgame long, waiting for somebody to make a mistake and lay the ball down.
On how the rise of TV impacted the broadcasting of games on radio:
I don’t know if it’s broadcast, working the games on the radio, the television angle. You know, it’s hard to do both, it’s hard to cover both. The radio angle, car radio is such a strong, forceful thing. And so is the radio that’s behind the counter at the golf course, where you pick up your golf balls and stuff. While you’re waiting for tee time, while you’re waiting to tee off, there’s a radio in all those shops running. And I had to be taught that and had to learn that and it took me a long time. You think 90 percent of your audience got destroyed and I’m sure a lot of it did, but the car radio audience is a huge thing. I don’t think it’s really changed that much. I think you really need to stay on top of it a little bit better. You have to be careful that you’re on top of it. Play-by-play, to stay with television, is a little tough. That’s why you don’t see or hear, the play-by-play announcers that are working television are not right on the play. They’re relaxed and they’re laid back. They are not following the play closely.
On how he decided this was the time for this change:
Oh, probably decided a couple years ago. I’ve had some health issues and some of them are kinda stupid and I just knew the time was gonna come. I probably didn’t do it the right way. I spent a sudden meeting with Damon Evans and Damon didn’t know it was coming. We talked about it and I had to tell him that I just didn’t think I was gonna handle it. Then I had a minor mishap thing in a well-known restaurant here in Athens where I went down at the end of the meal. I got up and I went down before I got to the front door. That was really scary, so I just decided I was gonna have to get rid of it. I was aware that the level of my work was not at the level where it used to be. At least I felt quite positive that it wasn’t. I never gave a thought to having things change so abruptly. I remember when Cawood Ledford said something to me some years ago, and I thought he was getting out way too early, too soon. He first said to me, ‘Munson, I can’t see.’ And that didn’t bother me so much because I thought I was still seeing right, and then it started on me. But the next year, he said, “Munson, I can’t get up the first step in the bus.’ And I’m in that now, where you put your foot up and you get on that first step of the stupid bus and then you’ve got to pull on that railing hard to pull yourself up till you’re at a level with the driver. And I never ever thought anything like that was gonna come along. It’s just…And night football is hard to see. Night football is really hard to see. We have sometimes four men on the play with binoculars. Four guys have got field glasses on it and Scott not only was sitting there with field glasses on it, Scott had about a 12-inch television set there. We didn’t always get our replays put on that particular set, but he had it for stats. But we were a whole group of guys staring at it with binoculars. I wasn’t doing it, but the spotters were and it helped in some ways. But it’s not enough. At night time, it’s not enough.
On whether he’d describe his style as unique:
It might be unique, but a lot of guys from all around, including in our conference and including in our state, said that I’m a homer. And I probably am a homer. And probably one of the worst in the country. Because I know that the press has never agreed with people that are homers, but that’s just the way it is. But again, I defend the situation by saying that in 40-odd years, whatever it is, if I’ve said some strange things in the heat of the battle, and they were let’s say on the positive side, it was only because we won suddenly in some funny way. That was part of it. But the main thing is in 40 years or more, all those plays and all those hours, I’ve only made really 10 or 12 so-called funny calls that are kinda standing out in history. The hob-nailed boot will be around a while. And look how long Lindsay Scott and Buck Belue have gone. But those things, they happened one time and that was years and years ago. I am a homer, though, I really was, and I think I learned to be a homer with the Wyoming basketball team. It’s a long time ago, but I think that’s where it started.
On if he’s pessimistic:
Yeah. Negative or pessimistic or both. Yes, I think so.
Do you think that helps or hurts your call?
Well, no I don’t think it does. I don’t think it has yet. I’m still up out of my seat and saying something that is not good broadcasting, even though I’m negative and things might be going bad. But I will sit there and I’ll virtually cry if we’ve lost our starting linebacker or something and it’s a crucial game and we really need everybody we could dig up. I will complain about it. I don’t think it affects the announcing, I really don’t, because I’m too wrapped up in it.
Thoughts on Saturday’s game:
It’s gonna be a devil of a ballgame. A really good ballgame. I saw a little bit of Alabama a week or two ago, trying to glance over at that screen that I saw in front of Scott and trying to see what they were doing. And at that moment when I looked at them, they were throwing the ball, which really surprised me. I had no idea they were gonna do that. Alabama’s been physical on the road in recent years, or trying to be. I understand they’ve been under probation, they’ve lost scholarships and stuff, but I feel that they’ll run it hard at us. All they have to do is look at our first couple films and they’ll see that somebody’s already been running on us. And we are shy all the linebackers from last year and a healthy piece of the secondary is gone and there’s really no depth on that defensive front, not really. And I’m pessimistic about that. I think it’s scary. Too many brand-new situations going. When you think about it, here we are and we are already shuffling and changing linebackers and it’s been that way since the first day. We’ve never been sure of the linebackers. And look at what we’ve had to do with guard and tackle in the offensive line. And we’re having trouble on the offensive line. This is a scary year and we’ve got to see what we’ve got left when we come out at the end of the year and hope we’re still standing.
On whether broadcasting Herschel Walker’s games added to his broadcasting career:
I don’t know if it had anything to do with the career. No, I just think working for a major school suddenly and the fact that they started to win. If they win, you sound good. And if they win in some wild, fluky way right at the end when you’ve been whipped all day and you suddenly steal a game and you win it, you sound even better. Georgia has been a fine assignment. I was working at Vanderbilt and we were really struggling up there – at least we were struggling in football, and I had a long stretch up there. Even longer in basketball. But Georgia was a big, major winning program. Again, some of those sudden victories that happened in a strange way, they meant an awful lot.
On his personal favorite call:
The Tennessee call has become the personal favorite. We switched finally away from Buck and Lindsay and wound up with the hobnail boot. Tennessee people know that and they are not overly fond of the call. I’ve had some members of the press up there tell me about it.
What kind of things do they tell you?
They’re negative. And I’ve had them call me after they beat us here a year or so ago, and they beat us pretty good. That was the night we had the good lead. We jumped ‘em. And they turn around and they eat us alive in the second half, just looked like doing the stuff they’d already been doing. They were very much aware of that and I had phonecalls at my house and stuff and some were members of the press. They really are wrapped up with that football team up there.
…Some inane rambling from a columnist from Tennessee…
Do those sayings just come to your head and you don’t even realize it?
Yeah they show up. You don’t realize it and you don’t plan them. But again there’s only been about a dozen of them, seriously. Like the sugar falling out of the sky thing, again that happened one time. We’re probably in a situation where there’ll never be another one as far as that’s concerned. But you don’t plan those. They turn out to be too rewarding.
On what his role will be, if any, on the road games:
They’ve asked me to call in Saturday. I don’t know yet if I’m gonna do it or not. The nighttime television thing has thrown a real monkey wrench in my plans. Where I was gonna go, I was probably gonna spend part of the night, get up and fish hard and again get a couple of quarters of daytime radio. That’s what I really wanted to do. Now I have no idea what I’m gonna do. I have no idea how I’m gonna handle Saturday, I really don’t.
I don't guess that's either here nor there when it comes to this transcript, it's just that listening to the tape just now makes you a big nostalgic and reminds you why you started liking this stuff to begin with. And it had nothing to do with the too-big-for-their-britches control freaks who are so prevalent in the game today.
On his plans for Saturday’s game and where he will be:
Well, I’ll be in the state of Georgia. The thing that I’ve had planned for years, and the small group of hunters and fishermen that I hang out with know about this, for at least 10 or 15 years I have talked about that when the time came, I was gonna get in a boat and I was gonna fish. I was gonna put a radio in the boat because I’ve never heard a Georgia broadcast, and I was gonna check the crew and listen to the whole first half at least, in a boat, fishing, during the daytime. Of course that whole thing has changed because television made a nighttime game out of it. So the fishing’s probably gonna have to go away and I’m not so sure now exactly what I’m going to do. I didn’t really give that a thought that that would happen. Now I did give some thought to the fact that they might go to a 3:30 game or something, but I was still gonna be able to use it that way. I can’t do it the way it is. I may wind up in a movie.
And miss it altogether?
No, I would do an early movie. I would find some way to listen to it or watch it, but what I planned to do, which I really worked on, again was listen to it on the radio. That’s what I really wanted to hear was the whole thing.
Can’t fish for crappie at that time of night?
No, I don’t believe so. If I was up a little bit farther north, I probably could’ve gotten some help and hung some lanterns outside and done some night fishing or something, but that wouldn’t be easy to listen to the ballgame. I have, because of the night-time angle, I think the fishing angle has been shot right out of the saddle.
On how he expects Scott Howard to fare doing play-by-play:
I think Scott’ll do fine. I’m sure he’s started to feel a little bit of the excitement, but I’ll bet you he comes alive. Very much so. It remains to be seen if he’s fortunate enough to have some highly crucial play that goes our way on a positive side which has a lot to do with the ballgame. And if he gets one of those, how he’s gonna handle it. And I imagine he’s had to give that some thought. And I don’t mean planning anything, but he has to give it some thought because those things happen in football games just as they do in basketball games. It’s sudden when it comes. He’s gonna have to be prepared for that, but he’s got a lot of people rooting for him and that oughta really help.
On whether he had to adapt his announcing style to modern pass-happy offenses:
No, I didn’t have to adapt style. I saw the changes coming. They almost came piece-by-piece. One of the main things they did made it hard on the spotters more than the announcer, they went ahead and put three, four, five receivers out there, which they never did when you and I were younger. All of a sudden, you had a guy go in motion and he’s in place and then they flip-flop a tight end, but on the next down there might be three new receivers on the field. This is the way it is now. And there are people moving constantly all the time. The game has changed so much and I think it’s made it twice as tough on the spotter as it has on anything else. I miss certain things of the old football. I’ve been extremely fascinated by this so-called spread-option offense. I watched Florida a week ago run some of that. The way they line theirs up, it’s about half of an old Notre Dame box and it’s about half of an old double-wing formation. And I noticed that last year in the national championship game. That’s really interesting to me. The other day they were running the option so extremely well that it made me think what I’d do if I had to work one.
On reaction from fans looking ahead to this Saturday:
There’ve been a lot of people that have asked me what I’m gonna do. It’s never been a long conversation, but the thing that sticks in my mind has been the many people recently that I don’t know who they are. They’ve stopped me outside the stadium and inside in the tunnels down below and also in the lobby of movie theaters, thanking me for whatever I did for the school and maybe saying they’re gonna miss listening to me or whatever. I’ve had people at the movie get out of their seats and come over and bend over and thank me for whatever I did.
What he’s feeling as Saturday draws near:
Well, I miss it a lot. I got to thinking about, I had a discussion the other night with coach Richt on our punting and the new punter’s kicking the dog out of the ball. And that made me think of General Neyland up in Tennessee, the old famous coach, and how Neyland used to kick on second and third down. This is back when so many of us were little kids or something. But Neyland used to punt if you remember as a weapon, and he had a lot of quick kicks. And I’ve thought about that a lot because Georgia had open competition for punters this year. We had to have a new punter and this kid has won it and he’s kicking very, very well. And then I got to think about bad, rainy weather and stuff and wondered how a game would go. People used to let the weather dictate everything and they pulled their offense back. Even General Neyland did that. But I don’t think they do that now. They just won’t, and they won’t kick early on third down either. It was nothing for Neyland to kick on second or third down the whole ballgame long, waiting for somebody to make a mistake and lay the ball down.
On how the rise of TV impacted the broadcasting of games on radio:
I don’t know if it’s broadcast, working the games on the radio, the television angle. You know, it’s hard to do both, it’s hard to cover both. The radio angle, car radio is such a strong, forceful thing. And so is the radio that’s behind the counter at the golf course, where you pick up your golf balls and stuff. While you’re waiting for tee time, while you’re waiting to tee off, there’s a radio in all those shops running. And I had to be taught that and had to learn that and it took me a long time. You think 90 percent of your audience got destroyed and I’m sure a lot of it did, but the car radio audience is a huge thing. I don’t think it’s really changed that much. I think you really need to stay on top of it a little bit better. You have to be careful that you’re on top of it. Play-by-play, to stay with television, is a little tough. That’s why you don’t see or hear, the play-by-play announcers that are working television are not right on the play. They’re relaxed and they’re laid back. They are not following the play closely.
On how he decided this was the time for this change:
Oh, probably decided a couple years ago. I’ve had some health issues and some of them are kinda stupid and I just knew the time was gonna come. I probably didn’t do it the right way. I spent a sudden meeting with Damon Evans and Damon didn’t know it was coming. We talked about it and I had to tell him that I just didn’t think I was gonna handle it. Then I had a minor mishap thing in a well-known restaurant here in Athens where I went down at the end of the meal. I got up and I went down before I got to the front door. That was really scary, so I just decided I was gonna have to get rid of it. I was aware that the level of my work was not at the level where it used to be. At least I felt quite positive that it wasn’t. I never gave a thought to having things change so abruptly. I remember when Cawood Ledford said something to me some years ago, and I thought he was getting out way too early, too soon. He first said to me, ‘Munson, I can’t see.’ And that didn’t bother me so much because I thought I was still seeing right, and then it started on me. But the next year, he said, “Munson, I can’t get up the first step in the bus.’ And I’m in that now, where you put your foot up and you get on that first step of the stupid bus and then you’ve got to pull on that railing hard to pull yourself up till you’re at a level with the driver. And I never ever thought anything like that was gonna come along. It’s just…And night football is hard to see. Night football is really hard to see. We have sometimes four men on the play with binoculars. Four guys have got field glasses on it and Scott not only was sitting there with field glasses on it, Scott had about a 12-inch television set there. We didn’t always get our replays put on that particular set, but he had it for stats. But we were a whole group of guys staring at it with binoculars. I wasn’t doing it, but the spotters were and it helped in some ways. But it’s not enough. At night time, it’s not enough.
On whether he’d describe his style as unique:
It might be unique, but a lot of guys from all around, including in our conference and including in our state, said that I’m a homer. And I probably am a homer. And probably one of the worst in the country. Because I know that the press has never agreed with people that are homers, but that’s just the way it is. But again, I defend the situation by saying that in 40-odd years, whatever it is, if I’ve said some strange things in the heat of the battle, and they were let’s say on the positive side, it was only because we won suddenly in some funny way. That was part of it. But the main thing is in 40 years or more, all those plays and all those hours, I’ve only made really 10 or 12 so-called funny calls that are kinda standing out in history. The hob-nailed boot will be around a while. And look how long Lindsay Scott and Buck Belue have gone. But those things, they happened one time and that was years and years ago. I am a homer, though, I really was, and I think I learned to be a homer with the Wyoming basketball team. It’s a long time ago, but I think that’s where it started.
On if he’s pessimistic:
Yeah. Negative or pessimistic or both. Yes, I think so.
Do you think that helps or hurts your call?
Well, no I don’t think it does. I don’t think it has yet. I’m still up out of my seat and saying something that is not good broadcasting, even though I’m negative and things might be going bad. But I will sit there and I’ll virtually cry if we’ve lost our starting linebacker or something and it’s a crucial game and we really need everybody we could dig up. I will complain about it. I don’t think it affects the announcing, I really don’t, because I’m too wrapped up in it.
Thoughts on Saturday’s game:
It’s gonna be a devil of a ballgame. A really good ballgame. I saw a little bit of Alabama a week or two ago, trying to glance over at that screen that I saw in front of Scott and trying to see what they were doing. And at that moment when I looked at them, they were throwing the ball, which really surprised me. I had no idea they were gonna do that. Alabama’s been physical on the road in recent years, or trying to be. I understand they’ve been under probation, they’ve lost scholarships and stuff, but I feel that they’ll run it hard at us. All they have to do is look at our first couple films and they’ll see that somebody’s already been running on us. And we are shy all the linebackers from last year and a healthy piece of the secondary is gone and there’s really no depth on that defensive front, not really. And I’m pessimistic about that. I think it’s scary. Too many brand-new situations going. When you think about it, here we are and we are already shuffling and changing linebackers and it’s been that way since the first day. We’ve never been sure of the linebackers. And look at what we’ve had to do with guard and tackle in the offensive line. And we’re having trouble on the offensive line. This is a scary year and we’ve got to see what we’ve got left when we come out at the end of the year and hope we’re still standing.
On whether broadcasting Herschel Walker’s games added to his broadcasting career:
I don’t know if it had anything to do with the career. No, I just think working for a major school suddenly and the fact that they started to win. If they win, you sound good. And if they win in some wild, fluky way right at the end when you’ve been whipped all day and you suddenly steal a game and you win it, you sound even better. Georgia has been a fine assignment. I was working at Vanderbilt and we were really struggling up there – at least we were struggling in football, and I had a long stretch up there. Even longer in basketball. But Georgia was a big, major winning program. Again, some of those sudden victories that happened in a strange way, they meant an awful lot.
On his personal favorite call:
The Tennessee call has become the personal favorite. We switched finally away from Buck and Lindsay and wound up with the hobnail boot. Tennessee people know that and they are not overly fond of the call. I’ve had some members of the press up there tell me about it.
What kind of things do they tell you?
They’re negative. And I’ve had them call me after they beat us here a year or so ago, and they beat us pretty good. That was the night we had the good lead. We jumped ‘em. And they turn around and they eat us alive in the second half, just looked like doing the stuff they’d already been doing. They were very much aware of that and I had phonecalls at my house and stuff and some were members of the press. They really are wrapped up with that football team up there.
…Some inane rambling from a columnist from Tennessee…
Do those sayings just come to your head and you don’t even realize it?
Yeah they show up. You don’t realize it and you don’t plan them. But again there’s only been about a dozen of them, seriously. Like the sugar falling out of the sky thing, again that happened one time. We’re probably in a situation where there’ll never be another one as far as that’s concerned. But you don’t plan those. They turn out to be too rewarding.
On what his role will be, if any, on the road games:
They’ve asked me to call in Saturday. I don’t know yet if I’m gonna do it or not. The nighttime television thing has thrown a real monkey wrench in my plans. Where I was gonna go, I was probably gonna spend part of the night, get up and fish hard and again get a couple of quarters of daytime radio. That’s what I really wanted to do. Now I have no idea what I’m gonna do. I have no idea how I’m gonna handle Saturday, I really don’t.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Quick Wednesday note
The reporters just talked with Mark Richt.
Here are a couple quick things:
* Saw Kregg Lumpkin for a minute. His right arm looks like a club. He's got a huge cast that covers his hand like a big ball. I told him it looked like he had a snowman on his arm. He said he's not sure what role he'll play this week, but I talked to Tony Ball about it and Richt also talked about it...Definitely on special teams and if they had to have him carry the ball, he could.
* Richt said Bryan Evans is competing for the starting cornerback spot, but he wasn't sure that Bryan's 100 percent yet.
So that's all for right now. UGA set up a teleconference for reporters to talk with Larry Munson today and there was a handful of folks on that. I imagine there may already be a couple stories up on that in various locations. Mine won't come till Saturday, but I'll probably transcribe that tape and post the Q/A later tonight.
Here's Richt's comments on Kregg playing Saturday:
"We’re letting Kregg take snaps as a running back and just trying to watch, to be quite frank with you. Even during the run polish, it’s a little bit different for him. Even protecting, pass protection, everything’s just a little bit different for him and we’re observing him just to see what we think he can do. But we also want to make sure he’s up to speed on what to do. I can’t really say for sure how we feel because I haven’t really sat down with the staff, but we at least want to make sure he knows what to do. My guess would be more of an emergency situation, just off the top of my head. I haven’t seen anything that really made me nervous as I watched him, though. He probably handled it a little bit better than I thought he would. You’d have to be careful if you throw a pass to him, though."
And a little more on that:
"I think he’ll play on the special teams for sure. Whether or not he’ll be carrying the ball much, I’d say right now I just don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m leaning more towards if the other two guys are fresh and healthy and ready to go, I’d feel more comfortable with them because they’ve got the ability to wrap it up with two hands and if there is a pass they can use both hands to catch and all that. I wouldn’t count him out right now at tailback, but I would definitely count him in the game in the special team area."
Here are a couple quick things:
* Saw Kregg Lumpkin for a minute. His right arm looks like a club. He's got a huge cast that covers his hand like a big ball. I told him it looked like he had a snowman on his arm. He said he's not sure what role he'll play this week, but I talked to Tony Ball about it and Richt also talked about it...Definitely on special teams and if they had to have him carry the ball, he could.
* Richt said Bryan Evans is competing for the starting cornerback spot, but he wasn't sure that Bryan's 100 percent yet.
So that's all for right now. UGA set up a teleconference for reporters to talk with Larry Munson today and there was a handful of folks on that. I imagine there may already be a couple stories up on that in various locations. Mine won't come till Saturday, but I'll probably transcribe that tape and post the Q/A later tonight.
Here's Richt's comments on Kregg playing Saturday:
"We’re letting Kregg take snaps as a running back and just trying to watch, to be quite frank with you. Even during the run polish, it’s a little bit different for him. Even protecting, pass protection, everything’s just a little bit different for him and we’re observing him just to see what we think he can do. But we also want to make sure he’s up to speed on what to do. I can’t really say for sure how we feel because I haven’t really sat down with the staff, but we at least want to make sure he knows what to do. My guess would be more of an emergency situation, just off the top of my head. I haven’t seen anything that really made me nervous as I watched him, though. He probably handled it a little bit better than I thought he would. You’d have to be careful if you throw a pass to him, though."
And a little more on that:
"I think he’ll play on the special teams for sure. Whether or not he’ll be carrying the ball much, I’d say right now I just don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m leaning more towards if the other two guys are fresh and healthy and ready to go, I’d feel more comfortable with them because they’ve got the ability to wrap it up with two hands and if there is a pass they can use both hands to catch and all that. I wouldn’t count him out right now at tailback, but I would definitely count him in the game in the special team area."
Tuesday notes and whatnot
This whole espionage issue is already kinda boring to me, if for no other reason than it allows paranoid people to further indulge their paranoia. However, it's something you have to write about. And I think there's something to it, personally. It's naive to think there's not some significance to the timing of this new closed-door policy.
The impression I get is that somebody thinks South Carolina somehow knew the failed rooskie play and the reverse pass to A.J. Bryant were coming. I don't have anything to base that on, considering they vehemently deny on the record that they think anyone spied on them. That's sure not the way it sounded in that ESPN.com story, though.
If you refined the nearly one-third of today's press conference that was spent discussing closed practices into one thought from Mark Richt, it's this one:
"The reality is what we do is big. People care. Winning and losing has a profound effect on people’s careers and everything else. Sometimes information can…like the saying is, ‘Loose lips can sink ships,’ and it’s very true."
But here's another thought from him for good measure:
"If you look at our scores, it’s like this (holding his fingers a few inches apart). It’s that much that decides winning and losing. A lot of times it’s one play. I think if they get a one-play advantage, it could cost you."
Quote machine and tight end extraordinaire Tripp Chandler's take on Richt closing practices:
"I wouldn’t say it’s an issue for me. I guess that’s why he gets paid the big bucks, because he has to worry about those types of things. I’m just here to play ball and answer some questions here and there."
And that's enough of that for me. You can read the numerous stories that will continue to come out about this whole thing. I imagine there'll be at least five or so in tomorrow's newspapers.
* Sounds like more change is in order at linebacker this week. Last week, Akeem Dent replaced Brandon Miller at strongside linebacker. Whether he remains a starter this week, he and Miller will likely split time at the position this week. The other two LB positions might have new starters this week. Dannell Ellerbe may move over from the middle to start at weakside this week, where he'd replace Darius Dewberry, while Marcus Washington might move in to start in the middle. Richt said he played his best game yet at Georgia last weekend. I'll be writing more about the LBs shortly.
* I did something yesterday on the difficulty the young linemen might have playing in the loud road environment at Bryant-Denny Stadium. I didn't wind up using it, but Scott Haverkamp's response, about his days playing at Kansas, amused me:
"KU's stadium only holds 50,000 and I think it only has 25,000 in it half the time, so… "
Scott didn't think he ever played in a road game in the one season he played there. I asked him what he thought this experience will be like:
"I try not to think about stuff like that. You just go in there and once the first play or two’s over, you try to settle down and just play like there’s nothing surrounding you. "
* There are a lot of people working on stuff on how they want to throw the ball deep a little more this week -- including me -- but I'm holding off it it for a day or so until I can check something out first. Want to have all my ducks in a row. But here's a quote from Mike Bobo that's pretty much the premise of what I'll eventually write:
"There’s no doubt you’ve got to do it. I’ve probably been a bit conservative in my playcalling just because I try to keep the lost-yardage plays from happening, try to keep us above the chains where we can really have some success. But there’s no doubt we’ve got to take some shots downfield."
* Here's another Bobo quote on whether it helps to have Trinton Sturdivant and Clint Boling off-limits to the media:
"I think so. Your five guys up front, they’ve got to be a unit and play well together. And I think them talking to Bubba and Cheese and really letting those guys explain the ropes to them and teach them the ropes instead of overwhelming them with five of y’all guys sitting around asking them, ‘Hey, you’re going to Tuscaloosa’ and getting them thinking about it instead of just focusing on their job and their task at hand, and that’s the big thing. No matter how young you are, you’ve gotta just do your job. You can’t worry about the crowd, you can’t worry about the surroundings, you’ve gotta just go out there and play ball like you’ve been doing ever since you were a little kid."
The impression I get is that somebody thinks South Carolina somehow knew the failed rooskie play and the reverse pass to A.J. Bryant were coming. I don't have anything to base that on, considering they vehemently deny on the record that they think anyone spied on them. That's sure not the way it sounded in that ESPN.com story, though.
If you refined the nearly one-third of today's press conference that was spent discussing closed practices into one thought from Mark Richt, it's this one:
"The reality is what we do is big. People care. Winning and losing has a profound effect on people’s careers and everything else. Sometimes information can…like the saying is, ‘Loose lips can sink ships,’ and it’s very true."
But here's another thought from him for good measure:
"If you look at our scores, it’s like this (holding his fingers a few inches apart). It’s that much that decides winning and losing. A lot of times it’s one play. I think if they get a one-play advantage, it could cost you."
Quote machine and tight end extraordinaire Tripp Chandler's take on Richt closing practices:
"I wouldn’t say it’s an issue for me. I guess that’s why he gets paid the big bucks, because he has to worry about those types of things. I’m just here to play ball and answer some questions here and there."
And that's enough of that for me. You can read the numerous stories that will continue to come out about this whole thing. I imagine there'll be at least five or so in tomorrow's newspapers.
* Sounds like more change is in order at linebacker this week. Last week, Akeem Dent replaced Brandon Miller at strongside linebacker. Whether he remains a starter this week, he and Miller will likely split time at the position this week. The other two LB positions might have new starters this week. Dannell Ellerbe may move over from the middle to start at weakside this week, where he'd replace Darius Dewberry, while Marcus Washington might move in to start in the middle. Richt said he played his best game yet at Georgia last weekend. I'll be writing more about the LBs shortly.
* I did something yesterday on the difficulty the young linemen might have playing in the loud road environment at Bryant-Denny Stadium. I didn't wind up using it, but Scott Haverkamp's response, about his days playing at Kansas, amused me:
"KU's stadium only holds 50,000 and I think it only has 25,000 in it half the time, so… "
Scott didn't think he ever played in a road game in the one season he played there. I asked him what he thought this experience will be like:
"I try not to think about stuff like that. You just go in there and once the first play or two’s over, you try to settle down and just play like there’s nothing surrounding you. "
* There are a lot of people working on stuff on how they want to throw the ball deep a little more this week -- including me -- but I'm holding off it it for a day or so until I can check something out first. Want to have all my ducks in a row. But here's a quote from Mike Bobo that's pretty much the premise of what I'll eventually write:
"There’s no doubt you’ve got to do it. I’ve probably been a bit conservative in my playcalling just because I try to keep the lost-yardage plays from happening, try to keep us above the chains where we can really have some success. But there’s no doubt we’ve got to take some shots downfield."
* Here's another Bobo quote on whether it helps to have Trinton Sturdivant and Clint Boling off-limits to the media:
"I think so. Your five guys up front, they’ve got to be a unit and play well together. And I think them talking to Bubba and Cheese and really letting those guys explain the ropes to them and teach them the ropes instead of overwhelming them with five of y’all guys sitting around asking them, ‘Hey, you’re going to Tuscaloosa’ and getting them thinking about it instead of just focusing on their job and their task at hand, and that’s the big thing. No matter how young you are, you’ve gotta just do your job. You can’t worry about the crowd, you can’t worry about the surroundings, you’ve gotta just go out there and play ball like you’ve been doing ever since you were a little kid."
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
LATE Monday update
Due to some self-inflicted computer problems (because I'm a complete idiot, I basically erased everything on my computer on Monday), I've been behind on everything. Didn't get around to posting the quotes I would have typically posted tonight. I'll drop a couple notes here quickly before I go to sleep. Richt's weekly press conference is in less than seven hours, so I want to get to sleep here in a minute.
Here are the links to my two Tuesday stories:
On spy games and closed practices: Link
Notebook: Link
* Georgia has closed its practices this week for the first time since Mark Richt became coach in 2001. You can read more on that in a separate post below.
* Chester Adams said he's hardly repping at guard and wouldn't expect to play there in a game "unless something drastic happens." Chris Davis said he and Clint Boling worked with the starters on Saturday. Will do more on that bunch later this week.
* Spoke with the always loquacious Kregg Lumpkin today. He's still got his hand in a cast and isn't sure what he's going to be cleared to do this week, if anything. He said he wasn't sure whether he could be comfortable carrying the ball this week:
"I’m not sure. That’s up to the coaches and Ron Courson and Dr. Moore, if he releases me or not. That’s just something I’d have to work on this whole week, if I get an opportunity to get a chance. While I’m out here practicing, I just try to work on it."
He said he'd have to carry the ball -- if he carried the ball -- pretty much exclusively in his left arm because of the cast and the still-healing right thumb.
* Didn't interview Kelin Johnson today, but I saw him briefly and asked him how he was feeling and he said he's doing good. Coach Richt said he expects Kelin to play this week after missing last week with a rib injury. Kelin said after the game he could have played if necessary.
* The Ole Miss game will kick off at 1 p.m. and will not be televised. They could have carried the game on PPV at another time that did not conflict with either the LF Sports game or the CBS game. You can only carry a PPV game that conflicts with a typical SEC timeslot once per season per timeslot, so if UGA wanted to air the Ole Miss game on PPV, it would have had to be in the evening and conflict with the ESPN timeslots. They're not doing that. Won't happen for Troy most likely, either, on Nov. 3.
* ESPN GameDay will be televised from Tuscaloosa at 10 a.m. on Saturday. It will be the first time the show has originated from the site of a Georgia game since the 2005 Cocktail Party with Florida in Jacksonville. Show site I'll bet Carter Strickland's left arm that Lee Corso's wearing an elephant head at noon.
All for now. Bedtime...
Here are the links to my two Tuesday stories:
On spy games and closed practices: Link
Notebook: Link
* Georgia has closed its practices this week for the first time since Mark Richt became coach in 2001. You can read more on that in a separate post below.
* Chester Adams said he's hardly repping at guard and wouldn't expect to play there in a game "unless something drastic happens." Chris Davis said he and Clint Boling worked with the starters on Saturday. Will do more on that bunch later this week.
* Spoke with the always loquacious Kregg Lumpkin today. He's still got his hand in a cast and isn't sure what he's going to be cleared to do this week, if anything. He said he wasn't sure whether he could be comfortable carrying the ball this week:
"I’m not sure. That’s up to the coaches and Ron Courson and Dr. Moore, if he releases me or not. That’s just something I’d have to work on this whole week, if I get an opportunity to get a chance. While I’m out here practicing, I just try to work on it."
He said he'd have to carry the ball -- if he carried the ball -- pretty much exclusively in his left arm because of the cast and the still-healing right thumb.
* Didn't interview Kelin Johnson today, but I saw him briefly and asked him how he was feeling and he said he's doing good. Coach Richt said he expects Kelin to play this week after missing last week with a rib injury. Kelin said after the game he could have played if necessary.
* The Ole Miss game will kick off at 1 p.m. and will not be televised. They could have carried the game on PPV at another time that did not conflict with either the LF Sports game or the CBS game. You can only carry a PPV game that conflicts with a typical SEC timeslot once per season per timeslot, so if UGA wanted to air the Ole Miss game on PPV, it would have had to be in the evening and conflict with the ESPN timeslots. They're not doing that. Won't happen for Troy most likely, either, on Nov. 3.
* ESPN GameDay will be televised from Tuscaloosa at 10 a.m. on Saturday. It will be the first time the show has originated from the site of a Georgia game since the 2005 Cocktail Party with Florida in Jacksonville. Show site I'll bet Carter Strickland's left arm that Lee Corso's wearing an elephant head at noon.
All for now. Bedtime...
Monday, September 17, 2007
Patriot games
You know that saying that goes something like, "I wouldn't be paranoid if everybody wasn't out to get me?" That's kind of what Georgia's coaching staff is going through right now. And maybe they have reason to be. At least that's what they're thinking by closing practice this week in preparation for Alabama. I think it goes without saying that they're concerned about being spied on by folks aligned with the Tide. Don't take my word for it, check out this story from ESPN.com, although it was fairly obvious that was their concern beforehand. I have a feeling it might come up tomorrow at Richt's news conference.
They believe someone has already spied on them, so they're closing things down this week to try to cut back on that. Hmmm, remind me again. Who did they lose to this season?
Honestly, I don't think this is directed at the four newspaper guys who are there on a daily basis as much as it is at the TV cameras and microphones that can pick up sensitive things they don't want to get out like special teams formations, various techniques and snap counts. Mark Richt has basically said as much in the past. Nothing against the TV folks, he said. They probably don't even notice the tiny details of what they're filming, although a good coach might be able to look at it and see little nuances...I might be wrong there, though. Most of us paper folks have blogs where we post specific things they'd probably prefer people not see, so that could have some influence on this, too. I don't think so, though.
They'll probably try to feed the line of bull that they want the players to have a week of practice without any distraction, but don't believe that noise. The players I talked to after practice about it (Matthew Stafford and Jeff Owens) didn't even know or notice we weren't out there. It's not like there's an enormous throng of media members surrounding the field. There are only a few of us most days.
Truthfully, I'm surprised any college football coach lets any media members watch any part of practices. The vast majority of them are ridiculously hypersensitive as to what gets out there. And I know that that level of hypersensitivity at Georgia has increased because of some of the inside stuff you see popping up in various spots. That would probably make me paranoid too. Loose lips sink ships and all that...
I think if you took an informal poll of the media folks who cover this team, you might be surprised at the level of indifference to this decision. I might be the only one who doesn't like it, in fact, because I felt like it was a bit insulting. It's their prerogative, though. This is a huge game for them and you can definitely tell that by the mood around here this week. I'm pretty frequently the last person to leave Butts-Mehre after writing whatever I'm writing from postpractice that night. When I left at 10 tonight, there were still several second-floor coaches offices with the lights on, which is almost never the case. They know if they lose on Saturday and they fall to 0-2 in the SEC, their season is pretty much shot. At least as far as contending for anything meaningful.
They believe someone has already spied on them, so they're closing things down this week to try to cut back on that. Hmmm, remind me again. Who did they lose to this season?
Honestly, I don't think this is directed at the four newspaper guys who are there on a daily basis as much as it is at the TV cameras and microphones that can pick up sensitive things they don't want to get out like special teams formations, various techniques and snap counts. Mark Richt has basically said as much in the past. Nothing against the TV folks, he said. They probably don't even notice the tiny details of what they're filming, although a good coach might be able to look at it and see little nuances...I might be wrong there, though. Most of us paper folks have blogs where we post specific things they'd probably prefer people not see, so that could have some influence on this, too. I don't think so, though.
They'll probably try to feed the line of bull that they want the players to have a week of practice without any distraction, but don't believe that noise. The players I talked to after practice about it (Matthew Stafford and Jeff Owens) didn't even know or notice we weren't out there. It's not like there's an enormous throng of media members surrounding the field. There are only a few of us most days.
Truthfully, I'm surprised any college football coach lets any media members watch any part of practices. The vast majority of them are ridiculously hypersensitive as to what gets out there. And I know that that level of hypersensitivity at Georgia has increased because of some of the inside stuff you see popping up in various spots. That would probably make me paranoid too. Loose lips sink ships and all that...
I think if you took an informal poll of the media folks who cover this team, you might be surprised at the level of indifference to this decision. I might be the only one who doesn't like it, in fact, because I felt like it was a bit insulting. It's their prerogative, though. This is a huge game for them and you can definitely tell that by the mood around here this week. I'm pretty frequently the last person to leave Butts-Mehre after writing whatever I'm writing from postpractice that night. When I left at 10 tonight, there were still several second-floor coaches offices with the lights on, which is almost never the case. They know if they lose on Saturday and they fall to 0-2 in the SEC, their season is pretty much shot. At least as far as contending for anything meaningful.
Jeff Owens named SEC DL of the Week
University release:
University of Georgia junior defensive tackle Jeff Owens was named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Lineman of the Week, according to an announcement by the league office on Monday.
Owens, a 6-3, 298-pound native of Sunrise, Fla., led the interior of Georgia’s defense during the Bulldogs’ 45-16 win over Western Carolina. Starting his 15th game for the Bulldogs, Owens registered a career-high five total tackles (all solo) and two tackles for loss (-3 yards). In addition, Owens forced a fumble in the second quarter against the Catamounts.
Owens and the Georgia defense held Western Carolina to only 201 total yards on offense and are No. 15 nationally (No. 2 in the league) in total defense through three games, allowing just 260.3 yards per game. Also, the Bulldogs have allowed only one touchdown in the second half during the 2007 season and are No. 17 in the nation (No. 3 in the league) in scoring defense allowing 15.3 points per game.
University of Georgia junior defensive tackle Jeff Owens was named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Lineman of the Week, according to an announcement by the league office on Monday.
Owens, a 6-3, 298-pound native of Sunrise, Fla., led the interior of Georgia’s defense during the Bulldogs’ 45-16 win over Western Carolina. Starting his 15th game for the Bulldogs, Owens registered a career-high five total tackles (all solo) and two tackles for loss (-3 yards). In addition, Owens forced a fumble in the second quarter against the Catamounts.
Owens and the Georgia defense held Western Carolina to only 201 total yards on offense and are No. 15 nationally (No. 2 in the league) in total defense through three games, allowing just 260.3 yards per game. Also, the Bulldogs have allowed only one touchdown in the second half during the 2007 season and are No. 17 in the nation (No. 3 in the league) in scoring defense allowing 15.3 points per game.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Richt Sunday teleconference
These are coach Richt's complete answers from this evening's teleconference.
Among the notable notes:
* Chester Adams will most likely start again at RT
* Kregg Lumpkin will most likely be back in some capacity. Probably on special teams, although he believes they could get medical clearance to let him carry the ball if they want.
* Kelin Johnson and probably Bryan Evans will be back this week as well.
* They're undecided about whom to start at OG. Will decide out of Haverkamp, C. Davis and Boling based on how they practice this week.
* He believes Sean Bailey and Mohamed Massaquoi have been the most consistent receivers so far and that Demiko Goodman figures to see more playing time now that he's back and healthy.
Now here's Richt...
On the Alabama game:
A lot will be learned for sure because we just haven’t played away No. 1. You don’t worry about that much with a veteran team. We know we’ve got some veterans on it, but there’s an awful lot of guys that will be playing away from home for the first time. They’ll be playing in a very hostile environment for the first time. There’s a lot of things that we are gonna learn about this team, absolutely.
On what this game means for the rest of the season:
Yeah it’s very important. We all know how important it is to get it going. We have actually won a tiebreaker with two losses in the league, but that doesn’t happen often.
On how Alabama’s win over Arkansas can affect the Tide this year:
I think when you have a win like that, it gives you a lot of confidence that you can handle adversity. They started hot, got a big lead and then all of a sudden they lost it. Without a lot of time left, they came back and won it. As a matter of fact, coach Saban actually made the same decision I made with about 5 minutes to go, to kick the field goal and play defense and hope to get the ball back and try to score at the end. It worked for them because they put it in the end zone with 8 seconds to go. Those kinda games I think do nothing but give the team confidence that they can handle just about any situation.
On whether it gets exciting to him watching a game on TV like Alabama-Arkansas:
I’ll tell ya, you start feeling the emotion of the game like the fans do. That’s why college football is so great and football in general is so great. It is a very emotional game, but as a coach we’ve lived through those games before. Any situation you can think of, start out fast, whip somebody or they start out fast and whip you. You get a lead and then they come back. All those things, when you get to those close ballgames, it just spends you as a coach when you’re living through it. But just watching it, it brings back memories of other games. And you know those guys are going, ‘Oh my gosh,’ you know? Here it looks like we’ve got it under control and then shoot, we’ve lost control. Now all of a sudden, we came back to life and made a play. It’s just very emotional so just watching it, you could feel the emotion of that game.
On how things are going for Alabama right now:
Momentum. You said it. That’s the word. They’ve got it right now. They’ve got a lot of momentum. It’s hard to get it started sometimes, but once you get it rolling, it’s also very difficult to slow down. So that’s gonna be our challenge.
On difference between this Alabama team and last year’s:
To try to make that comparison would be hard to do. But I just know that what I’ve seen of them this year, they are well-coached, they are playing hard and now of course they’re playing with an awful lot of confidence. It came down to one throw and catch last night and they made it. Their confidence level I’m sure is shot through the roof because of that. But it took a lot of plays to get them to that position to be able to win it. And to do it in the fashion that they did, again is I’m sure something that’s gonna make ‘em stronger down the road.
On John Parker Wilson:
I like the guy a lot. I’m real impressed with that kid. You could see it in him last year, he’s got touch, he doesn’t get flustered at all. I think he set some school records last year for passing if I’m not mistaken. Because they lost some of the close games last year, I think some of his play kinda got overlooked a little bit. I think he’s an outstanding player and it seems like he, just watching him, he knows what he’s trying to accomplish and rarely does he make a mistake.
Our run blocking is really improving. I think it’s really improving. We’ve got a tremendous challenge with Alabama, not only from a physical standpoint, but also scheme-wise. They’ll do some things that will make it tough on you to run the ball. I don’t think we’ve scared anybody with our wide receiving corps and our passing game to make anybody think stop the pass first. I think everybody would think stop the run first. They know scheme-wise how to make it tough on you.
On Boling and Sturdivant’s progress:
Sturdivant, of course he’s got just about every rep. Not all of ‘em, but he’s probably got 80 percent, 85 percent of the reps in the games and he’s getting better. He’s getting more comfortable with his assignments. Again he’s not as strong as he will be one day. People will try to bull rush him a little bit…He does have athleticism. For the most part he doesn’t make a lot of missed assignments. He’s holding up, really he’s holding up pretty good. Boling’s playing two positions. He’s probably because of that, he’s probably not quite as far along as Trinton. And Trinton also had spring and he did not. But he’s earning more playing time. He played pretty well and he’ll play more. He’ll continue to play more.
On whether Chester Adams was suspended early and when they told him he wouldn’t start:
He wasn’t suspended, but he did lose his starting role because of that…Oh, I don’t remember if it was Tuesday or Wednesday, one of those days, we were pretty sure what we gonna do.
More on Chester:
It was not a suspension, you don’t play. He just didn’t start. He lost his starting job, he was not suspended. He played.
On whether Chester will start this week:
Do I think he’ll start this week? Yeah. Yeah I think he will, unless something changes between now and then. But right now he would be slated to start at right tackle.
On whether Boling and Haverkamp will be the starting guards this week:
Not necessarily. As a matter of fact, any two of those three could start. I think we’ll have to base it on how practice goes. It could be Boling-Davis, it could be Boling-Haverkamp, it could be Haverkamp-Davis. I would say those three will play, regardless of who starts. We’ll just decide who gets the honor of starting by how they practice.
On whether NaDerris Ward and Kelin Johnson will be back this week:
NaDerris I would think. I would think NaDerris would be healthy, but hamstrings are a little funny injuries. Who was the other name?
Kelin:
I would think Kelin will be back. Bryan Evans will be back possibly.
What was Corvey Irvin’s deal?
Did he have a deal? You know what? I don’t know.
On whether Kregg Lumpkin will play:
Lumpkin, I think we’ll be able to cast him up and let him go special teams. If not, even if we’re willing to let him stick it in the healthy hand and go, I think we’d have the OK to do that too. I’m just not sure if that’s what we’ll do yet or not. But I’m pretty sure Lump will be able to help us win.
On whether he’s considering a change as the starting tailback:
No, I like the way it’s going right now. Thomas is our starter.
On whether he thinks Caleb King is probably going to redshirt:
Yeah.
On whether this game – even more than usual – will probably be won or lost at the line of scrimmage:
It will, at least a big part of it. I think that the fans don’t see sometimes. They’ll say, ‘Boy that quarterback had a crummy day,’ or ‘Gosh that back didn’t run worth a darn’ or ‘That linebacker, he didn’t make a hit all day.’ But the reality is when the offensive line plays great, the back looks great. ‘Wow, that back did super!’ No the line did super. ‘That quarterback had a big day.’ Well, he had a lot of time back there to see what was going on. ‘Linebacker made seven unassisted tackles and five assisted tackles.’ Well that’s because the d-line kept the double-teams off of him. So yeah, I don’t think there’s any doubt about it, the d-line play and o-line play will be huge.
On whether Kentucky, Vandy and Troy’s wins made him worry about the schedule:
We’ve all got a tough schedule. We all play each other. As you can see, there’s some really good teams out there.
On how Saban being at Alabama will affect recruiting:
I don’t know yet. It’s hard to say. Shoot, there’s just X amount of kids out there and we’re all going after them. Not everybody can get them all. I really think everybody’s gonna get their share of good players and have enough good players to win and that’s gonna be a matter of how you coach ‘em and how fortunate you are when it comes to injuries, what kid decides to stay instead of go pro – all those little things decide winning or losing. As you can see, just in that game last night, how close was that thing? Either team coulda win easily. Both teams you could tell were coached well, both teams had players that could make plays. I mean, it’s just that was all around the league.
On Saban’s decision to kick a field goal instead of go for it while trailing with about 5 minutes left against Arkansas…and how it was similar to Richt’s decision against South Carolina:
I thought it was the right thing to do for us and it turned out to be the right thing to do for them because they got their stop with three-and-out, I think. They got the ball back with plenty of time and were able to work it down the field. We got the ball back with enough time to win and didn’t do it. We had less time and more yards to travel, but we had our opportunity too. I think I would do that, again with almost 5 minutes and two timeouts, you’re almost 100-percent assured of getting another chance at having the ball in your hand. You’ve got to expect your defense to get a stop. But the other thing too that came into play, that could change my mind is if it’s fourth-and-5 or something like that…Fourth-and-15 I thought was, I thought it was a no-brainer, quite frankly, when I decided.
On how Demiko Goodman coming back helps at WR:
It helps us a lot if he continues to make those kinds of plays. The touchdown catch was an outstanding play. He ran the route properly, he really turned it on at the end and showed a burst and made a fine catch. But I really like the first catch he had. It was what we call a seam route that’s usually thrown on rhythm of time and Joe either had something in his vision or something he didn’t like and he kinda double-clutched before he threw it, which put Demiko dangerously close to a safety. But even so, he reached out, extended his body, snatched it in his hands and got it inside right as he was taking a hit by two defenders. That was an impressive catch to me. And just to see him finish it off with that long bomb was great. I think he’ll definitely get more work.
How crucial was that to establish a deep threat?
I think it was important. I think I mentioned it after the game that we probably haven’t taken enough shots. I think it’s good for everybody to see there’s someone who can run by you.
On kickoff coverage problems:
It can either be execution. I don’t think it’s scheme. It’s very sound, what we’re doing. It’s either execution or it could be personnel. Got to look at that. But you’ve gotta have guys that…we have so many guys that have a lot of experience at that, it’s hard to throw another guy in there with none and then he starts making rookie mistakes and all of a sudden you’ve got problems. I believe we’re gonna stay with the personnel we’ve got for the most part and just continue to work hard at getting better at it.
On receiver depth:
We just had a hard time having someone really stand out. I still wouldn’t be shocked to see any one of those guys be the guy that week. I just don’t think we’re at the point where we’re gonna hammer the ball to any one guy, although the guys that have been most consistent lately are Sean, Mo – those have probably been the two most consistent.
Among the notable notes:
* Chester Adams will most likely start again at RT
* Kregg Lumpkin will most likely be back in some capacity. Probably on special teams, although he believes they could get medical clearance to let him carry the ball if they want.
* Kelin Johnson and probably Bryan Evans will be back this week as well.
* They're undecided about whom to start at OG. Will decide out of Haverkamp, C. Davis and Boling based on how they practice this week.
* He believes Sean Bailey and Mohamed Massaquoi have been the most consistent receivers so far and that Demiko Goodman figures to see more playing time now that he's back and healthy.
Now here's Richt...
On the Alabama game:
A lot will be learned for sure because we just haven’t played away No. 1. You don’t worry about that much with a veteran team. We know we’ve got some veterans on it, but there’s an awful lot of guys that will be playing away from home for the first time. They’ll be playing in a very hostile environment for the first time. There’s a lot of things that we are gonna learn about this team, absolutely.
On what this game means for the rest of the season:
Yeah it’s very important. We all know how important it is to get it going. We have actually won a tiebreaker with two losses in the league, but that doesn’t happen often.
On how Alabama’s win over Arkansas can affect the Tide this year:
I think when you have a win like that, it gives you a lot of confidence that you can handle adversity. They started hot, got a big lead and then all of a sudden they lost it. Without a lot of time left, they came back and won it. As a matter of fact, coach Saban actually made the same decision I made with about 5 minutes to go, to kick the field goal and play defense and hope to get the ball back and try to score at the end. It worked for them because they put it in the end zone with 8 seconds to go. Those kinda games I think do nothing but give the team confidence that they can handle just about any situation.
On whether it gets exciting to him watching a game on TV like Alabama-Arkansas:
I’ll tell ya, you start feeling the emotion of the game like the fans do. That’s why college football is so great and football in general is so great. It is a very emotional game, but as a coach we’ve lived through those games before. Any situation you can think of, start out fast, whip somebody or they start out fast and whip you. You get a lead and then they come back. All those things, when you get to those close ballgames, it just spends you as a coach when you’re living through it. But just watching it, it brings back memories of other games. And you know those guys are going, ‘Oh my gosh,’ you know? Here it looks like we’ve got it under control and then shoot, we’ve lost control. Now all of a sudden, we came back to life and made a play. It’s just very emotional so just watching it, you could feel the emotion of that game.
On how things are going for Alabama right now:
Momentum. You said it. That’s the word. They’ve got it right now. They’ve got a lot of momentum. It’s hard to get it started sometimes, but once you get it rolling, it’s also very difficult to slow down. So that’s gonna be our challenge.
On difference between this Alabama team and last year’s:
To try to make that comparison would be hard to do. But I just know that what I’ve seen of them this year, they are well-coached, they are playing hard and now of course they’re playing with an awful lot of confidence. It came down to one throw and catch last night and they made it. Their confidence level I’m sure is shot through the roof because of that. But it took a lot of plays to get them to that position to be able to win it. And to do it in the fashion that they did, again is I’m sure something that’s gonna make ‘em stronger down the road.
On John Parker Wilson:
I like the guy a lot. I’m real impressed with that kid. You could see it in him last year, he’s got touch, he doesn’t get flustered at all. I think he set some school records last year for passing if I’m not mistaken. Because they lost some of the close games last year, I think some of his play kinda got overlooked a little bit. I think he’s an outstanding player and it seems like he, just watching him, he knows what he’s trying to accomplish and rarely does he make a mistake.
Our run blocking is really improving. I think it’s really improving. We’ve got a tremendous challenge with Alabama, not only from a physical standpoint, but also scheme-wise. They’ll do some things that will make it tough on you to run the ball. I don’t think we’ve scared anybody with our wide receiving corps and our passing game to make anybody think stop the pass first. I think everybody would think stop the run first. They know scheme-wise how to make it tough on you.
On Boling and Sturdivant’s progress:
Sturdivant, of course he’s got just about every rep. Not all of ‘em, but he’s probably got 80 percent, 85 percent of the reps in the games and he’s getting better. He’s getting more comfortable with his assignments. Again he’s not as strong as he will be one day. People will try to bull rush him a little bit…He does have athleticism. For the most part he doesn’t make a lot of missed assignments. He’s holding up, really he’s holding up pretty good. Boling’s playing two positions. He’s probably because of that, he’s probably not quite as far along as Trinton. And Trinton also had spring and he did not. But he’s earning more playing time. He played pretty well and he’ll play more. He’ll continue to play more.
On whether Chester Adams was suspended early and when they told him he wouldn’t start:
He wasn’t suspended, but he did lose his starting role because of that…Oh, I don’t remember if it was Tuesday or Wednesday, one of those days, we were pretty sure what we gonna do.
More on Chester:
It was not a suspension, you don’t play. He just didn’t start. He lost his starting job, he was not suspended. He played.
On whether Chester will start this week:
Do I think he’ll start this week? Yeah. Yeah I think he will, unless something changes between now and then. But right now he would be slated to start at right tackle.
On whether Boling and Haverkamp will be the starting guards this week:
Not necessarily. As a matter of fact, any two of those three could start. I think we’ll have to base it on how practice goes. It could be Boling-Davis, it could be Boling-Haverkamp, it could be Haverkamp-Davis. I would say those three will play, regardless of who starts. We’ll just decide who gets the honor of starting by how they practice.
On whether NaDerris Ward and Kelin Johnson will be back this week:
NaDerris I would think. I would think NaDerris would be healthy, but hamstrings are a little funny injuries. Who was the other name?
Kelin:
I would think Kelin will be back. Bryan Evans will be back possibly.
What was Corvey Irvin’s deal?
Did he have a deal? You know what? I don’t know.
On whether Kregg Lumpkin will play:
Lumpkin, I think we’ll be able to cast him up and let him go special teams. If not, even if we’re willing to let him stick it in the healthy hand and go, I think we’d have the OK to do that too. I’m just not sure if that’s what we’ll do yet or not. But I’m pretty sure Lump will be able to help us win.
On whether he’s considering a change as the starting tailback:
No, I like the way it’s going right now. Thomas is our starter.
On whether he thinks Caleb King is probably going to redshirt:
Yeah.
On whether this game – even more than usual – will probably be won or lost at the line of scrimmage:
It will, at least a big part of it. I think that the fans don’t see sometimes. They’ll say, ‘Boy that quarterback had a crummy day,’ or ‘Gosh that back didn’t run worth a darn’ or ‘That linebacker, he didn’t make a hit all day.’ But the reality is when the offensive line plays great, the back looks great. ‘Wow, that back did super!’ No the line did super. ‘That quarterback had a big day.’ Well, he had a lot of time back there to see what was going on. ‘Linebacker made seven unassisted tackles and five assisted tackles.’ Well that’s because the d-line kept the double-teams off of him. So yeah, I don’t think there’s any doubt about it, the d-line play and o-line play will be huge.
On whether Kentucky, Vandy and Troy’s wins made him worry about the schedule:
We’ve all got a tough schedule. We all play each other. As you can see, there’s some really good teams out there.
On how Saban being at Alabama will affect recruiting:
I don’t know yet. It’s hard to say. Shoot, there’s just X amount of kids out there and we’re all going after them. Not everybody can get them all. I really think everybody’s gonna get their share of good players and have enough good players to win and that’s gonna be a matter of how you coach ‘em and how fortunate you are when it comes to injuries, what kid decides to stay instead of go pro – all those little things decide winning or losing. As you can see, just in that game last night, how close was that thing? Either team coulda win easily. Both teams you could tell were coached well, both teams had players that could make plays. I mean, it’s just that was all around the league.
On Saban’s decision to kick a field goal instead of go for it while trailing with about 5 minutes left against Arkansas…and how it was similar to Richt’s decision against South Carolina:
I thought it was the right thing to do for us and it turned out to be the right thing to do for them because they got their stop with three-and-out, I think. They got the ball back with plenty of time and were able to work it down the field. We got the ball back with enough time to win and didn’t do it. We had less time and more yards to travel, but we had our opportunity too. I think I would do that, again with almost 5 minutes and two timeouts, you’re almost 100-percent assured of getting another chance at having the ball in your hand. You’ve got to expect your defense to get a stop. But the other thing too that came into play, that could change my mind is if it’s fourth-and-5 or something like that…Fourth-and-15 I thought was, I thought it was a no-brainer, quite frankly, when I decided.
On how Demiko Goodman coming back helps at WR:
It helps us a lot if he continues to make those kinds of plays. The touchdown catch was an outstanding play. He ran the route properly, he really turned it on at the end and showed a burst and made a fine catch. But I really like the first catch he had. It was what we call a seam route that’s usually thrown on rhythm of time and Joe either had something in his vision or something he didn’t like and he kinda double-clutched before he threw it, which put Demiko dangerously close to a safety. But even so, he reached out, extended his body, snatched it in his hands and got it inside right as he was taking a hit by two defenders. That was an impressive catch to me. And just to see him finish it off with that long bomb was great. I think he’ll definitely get more work.
How crucial was that to establish a deep threat?
I think it was important. I think I mentioned it after the game that we probably haven’t taken enough shots. I think it’s good for everybody to see there’s someone who can run by you.
On kickoff coverage problems:
It can either be execution. I don’t think it’s scheme. It’s very sound, what we’re doing. It’s either execution or it could be personnel. Got to look at that. But you’ve gotta have guys that…we have so many guys that have a lot of experience at that, it’s hard to throw another guy in there with none and then he starts making rookie mistakes and all of a sudden you’ve got problems. I believe we’re gonna stay with the personnel we’ve got for the most part and just continue to work hard at getting better at it.
On receiver depth:
We just had a hard time having someone really stand out. I still wouldn’t be shocked to see any one of those guys be the guy that week. I just don’t think we’re at the point where we’re gonna hammer the ball to any one guy, although the guys that have been most consistent lately are Sean, Mo – those have probably been the two most consistent.
Bama game on ESPN
Release:
The Saturday, Sept. 22, SEC football game between Georgia and Alabama in Tuscaloosa will be televised by ESPN with kickoff set for 7:45 p.m. ET.
This will be Georgia's 49th appearance on ESPN all-time with the Bulldogs owning a 24-23-1 record.
Other SEC televised games on Sept. 22 include:
Florida at Ole Miss, 12:30 ET, Lincoln Financial;
South Carolina at LSU, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS;
Kentucky at Arkansas, 6:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2.
The Saturday, Sept. 22, SEC football game between Georgia and Alabama in Tuscaloosa will be televised by ESPN with kickoff set for 7:45 p.m. ET.
This will be Georgia's 49th appearance on ESPN all-time with the Bulldogs owning a 24-23-1 record.
Other SEC televised games on Sept. 22 include:
Florida at Ole Miss, 12:30 ET, Lincoln Financial;
South Carolina at LSU, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS;
Kentucky at Arkansas, 6:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2.
Western Carolina notes, observations
* First of all, holy crap my "perfect picks" didn't go so well. I was 5-3 straight up this week and 2-6 against the spread. I liked Kentucky in their game, but I didn't have the guts to pick them. And Alabama had a win gift wrapped and handed over by the referees. That makes me 21-7 straight up and 12-15 against the spread.
* Coach Richt talked today about how big Georgia's last drive of the first half, first drive of the second half were. Think about that. A 17-9 game became 24-9 at the break and then 31-9 after the first series of the third quarter. Things were not exactly going according to plan until that point...That's what I wrote one of my stories on for tomorrow.
* Did you know Matthew Stafford was 8-for-8 for 127 yards and two touchdowns in the second quarter? He threw red-zone touchdowns to Thomas Brown and Sean Bailey in the quarter as well.
* Thomas, by the way, went over 2,000 rushing yards in the game. He is one of 12 Georgia running backs to reach that mark in his career. He reached 2,000 yards on his 4-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. I believe he has 2,006 now.
* Did you know that Georgia held Western Carolina to minus-1 yards of offense in the third quarter?
* I don't know what Chester Adams did to get himself "in coach Searels' doghouse" as Richt put it, but I don't think it was a mediocre performance in the second half last week. He said the fact that he didn't start was not performance-related, just that they wanted to get Clint Boling some snaps as the starting right tackle. But I feel fairly confident saying there's more to it than that. He was being punished for something by not being inserted until the third series of the game, with only a couple minutes left in the first quarter. However, my guess is he'll be back in the starting lineup this week.
* Even if Chester reclaims his starting tackle spot next week, you might see Boling starting anyway. He can play guard or tackle and I think it goes without saying (which is good, since Stacy Searels isn't saying anything to the media) that they're not exactly pleased with the guards' play right now.
* Georgia was 5-for-5 in the red zone today. After a field goal on their first possession, they scored four straight touchdowns -- second-quarter touchdown passes to Thomas Brown and Sean Bailey, third-quarter runs by Brown and Brannan Southerland. Although they sputtered inside the 30 last week, Georgia was 2-for-2 on red-zone chances against South Carolina. They were 5-for-6 in the first game. That makes the Bulldogs 12-for-13 in the red zone (nine TDs, three FGs) thus far. Not bad.
* Talked to Brandon Miller, Akeem Dent and John Jancek after the game. Obviously they were trying to light a fire under Brandon by benching him today and starting Dent at sam linebacker. Both of them played pretty well today, tying for the team lead with six tackles. Brandon said he didn't play with enough fire last week and Jancek said he wasn't being consistent enough. They both seemed pleased with his play today. I'd never spoken to Dent before today. Liked him. Jancek said he played well except that he was out of position on one bootleg.
* Richt and Bobo both said that the sack and fumble in the first quarter where Stafford was basically hit untouched was Matthew's fault. That he called the wrong protection. I didn't get a good look at it, but the writer who sits next to me said Sturdivant passes the pass rusher off to Chris Davis, but Davis was turned inside and didn't lay a hand on the guy who came through and hit Stafford for the sack and fumble. That was pretty ugly...the kind of play that can make a huge difference against a better opponent.
* Knowshon was great again today. He went over 100 all-purpose yards for the third straight game. 94 rushing and 33 receiving today. had more than 100 rushing last week. I think it was like 70 rushing and 50 receiving in the opener. That kid's gonna be very, very good.
* Injury update: Kelin Johnson (ribs) and Bryan Evans (knee) both said they could have played after the game, but neither did. NaDerris Ward (groin) did not dress, but he told me he'd be all right this week. Corvey Irvin was walking very awkwardly out of the locker room and had a big bag of ice taped to his ankle.
It's been a long day. I'll probably post some quotes on Sunday, as well as some notes and quotes (or maybe a transcription if it's interesting) from Richt's teleconference tomorrow evening.
* Coach Richt talked today about how big Georgia's last drive of the first half, first drive of the second half were. Think about that. A 17-9 game became 24-9 at the break and then 31-9 after the first series of the third quarter. Things were not exactly going according to plan until that point...That's what I wrote one of my stories on for tomorrow.
* Did you know Matthew Stafford was 8-for-8 for 127 yards and two touchdowns in the second quarter? He threw red-zone touchdowns to Thomas Brown and Sean Bailey in the quarter as well.
* Thomas, by the way, went over 2,000 rushing yards in the game. He is one of 12 Georgia running backs to reach that mark in his career. He reached 2,000 yards on his 4-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. I believe he has 2,006 now.
* Did you know that Georgia held Western Carolina to minus-1 yards of offense in the third quarter?
* I don't know what Chester Adams did to get himself "in coach Searels' doghouse" as Richt put it, but I don't think it was a mediocre performance in the second half last week. He said the fact that he didn't start was not performance-related, just that they wanted to get Clint Boling some snaps as the starting right tackle. But I feel fairly confident saying there's more to it than that. He was being punished for something by not being inserted until the third series of the game, with only a couple minutes left in the first quarter. However, my guess is he'll be back in the starting lineup this week.
* Even if Chester reclaims his starting tackle spot next week, you might see Boling starting anyway. He can play guard or tackle and I think it goes without saying (which is good, since Stacy Searels isn't saying anything to the media) that they're not exactly pleased with the guards' play right now.
* Georgia was 5-for-5 in the red zone today. After a field goal on their first possession, they scored four straight touchdowns -- second-quarter touchdown passes to Thomas Brown and Sean Bailey, third-quarter runs by Brown and Brannan Southerland. Although they sputtered inside the 30 last week, Georgia was 2-for-2 on red-zone chances against South Carolina. They were 5-for-6 in the first game. That makes the Bulldogs 12-for-13 in the red zone (nine TDs, three FGs) thus far. Not bad.
* Talked to Brandon Miller, Akeem Dent and John Jancek after the game. Obviously they were trying to light a fire under Brandon by benching him today and starting Dent at sam linebacker. Both of them played pretty well today, tying for the team lead with six tackles. Brandon said he didn't play with enough fire last week and Jancek said he wasn't being consistent enough. They both seemed pleased with his play today. I'd never spoken to Dent before today. Liked him. Jancek said he played well except that he was out of position on one bootleg.
* Richt and Bobo both said that the sack and fumble in the first quarter where Stafford was basically hit untouched was Matthew's fault. That he called the wrong protection. I didn't get a good look at it, but the writer who sits next to me said Sturdivant passes the pass rusher off to Chris Davis, but Davis was turned inside and didn't lay a hand on the guy who came through and hit Stafford for the sack and fumble. That was pretty ugly...the kind of play that can make a huge difference against a better opponent.
* Knowshon was great again today. He went over 100 all-purpose yards for the third straight game. 94 rushing and 33 receiving today. had more than 100 rushing last week. I think it was like 70 rushing and 50 receiving in the opener. That kid's gonna be very, very good.
* Injury update: Kelin Johnson (ribs) and Bryan Evans (knee) both said they could have played after the game, but neither did. NaDerris Ward (groin) did not dress, but he told me he'd be all right this week. Corvey Irvin was walking very awkwardly out of the locker room and had a big bag of ice taped to his ankle.
It's been a long day. I'll probably post some quotes on Sunday, as well as some notes and quotes (or maybe a transcription if it's interesting) from Richt's teleconference tomorrow evening.
Friday, September 14, 2007
How bout them Trojans?
I don't know if anyone else is watching the Troy-Oklahoma State game on ESPN2 right now, but the Trojans are in the process of making Georgia's win over the Cowboys look a lot less impressive. Troy's up 20-3 early in the second quarter. Could be even more, except that Troy's QB threw an interception in the OSU end zone. Still a lot of football to be played and all that, but...
Of course, Okie State has benched QB Bobby Reid because of injuries/ineffectiveness and RB Dantrell Savage isn't playing because of a groin injury, so that's part of it too. I prefer to believe it's the home-state advantage from my home state. People have gotta know that you don't come to Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium (which I think is an entertaining combination of corporate/traditional stadium naming) and expect to leave with an easy win.
Of course, Okie State has benched QB Bobby Reid because of injuries/ineffectiveness and RB Dantrell Savage isn't playing because of a groin injury, so that's part of it too. I prefer to believe it's the home-state advantage from my home state. People have gotta know that you don't come to Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium (which I think is an entertaining combination of corporate/traditional stadium naming) and expect to leave with an easy win.
Picks of perfection
This is my week, I can feel it. 7-2 overall and 5-4 against the spread last week and 16-4 overall and 10-9 ATS total. It's only gonna get better starting tomorrow. You can bet on it. Go ahead, do it.
MISSISSIPPI STATE AT AUBURN, 12:30 p.m., LF Sports
Line: Auburn by 13
My guess: This is a get-well game for Auburn. Either that or things are going to get a lot worse. Mississippi State just isn't very good. LSU kept things really vanilla and absolutely destroyed the Bulldogs. Auburn doesn't appear to be anywhere as near as good as LSU, but they should still be able to win by a couple touchdowns. Auburn 31, Mississippi State 14
WESTERN CAROLINA AT GEORGIA, 1 p.m., PPV
Line: Georgia by 45
My guess: Georgia has beaten a team by 45 points or more only once in Mark Richt's tenure (Kentucky, 62-17 in 2004). The Bulldogs have scored 45 points or more 10 times in those six seasons, six of which came in the previous three seasons. But the fact of the matter is Georgia doesn't typically put an embarrassing point total on an undermanned opponent the way other programs might. The Bulldogs can name their score like Alabama did a couple weeks ago against this pitiful Western Carolina team, but my money's on the spread falling short of 45. Georgia 48, Western Carolina 7
TENNESSEE AT FLORIDA, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Line: Florida by 7.5
My guess: I don't think Tennessee's got enough defense to stop the Gators. That simple. The Vols' offense has been pretty good, so I think they'll keep it close. Tennessee is going to have to force some mistakes from Tim Tebow and he hasn't made many of those yet. Whoever wins this one is the favorite to win the SEC East in my book. The series is 3-3 in the last six -- and the weird thing is that Tennessee has won two of the last three in the Swamp. My eyes tell me Florida wins this by double digits, but my head says it's close. Florida 20, Tennessee 17
ARKANSAS AT ALABAMA, 6:45 p.m., ESPN
Line: Alabama by 3
My guess: This is the game that will decide a lot about Alabama this year. I watched a good portion of last week's game against Vanderbilt and I was surprised by how poorly the Commodores played. We don't have a big enough sample size to tell whether it was that Alabama's for real or that Vandy is bad. I think we'll tell a lot more this week when they run up against Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. I don't think they can stop those guys. Arkansas 26, Alabama 23
OLE MISS AT VANDERBILT, 7 p.m., PPV
Line: Vanderbilt by 5
My guess: Vandy stunk last week and quarterback Chris Nickson was injured in the game. Meanwhile, Ole Miss' offense was actually pretty good against a mediocre Missouri defense last week -- BJ Green-Ellis ran for 226 yards and Seth Adams passed for 305. Nickson's hamstring is still bothering him and if he's not mobile, he's not dangerous. He's not a good passer, so Mackenzi Adams might be a better option if Nickson's not close to 100 percent. If he's not, I'm not sure Vandy will win. I'll guess Nickson will go and the Commodores will skate by, but all bets are off if he doesn't. Vanderbilt 24, Ole Miss 21
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE AT SOUTH CAROLINA, 7 p.m., PPV
Line: South Carolina by 35.5
My guess: You never know what to expect from South Carolina in this kind of game. There's Louisiana-Lafayette this year (28-14) and Wofford last year (27-20) and then there's Florida Atlantic (45-6) and Middle Tennessee (52-7) last year. I'm gonna go with buttkicking, but not covering. South Carolina 41, South Carolina State 7
LOUISVILLE AT KENTUCKY, 7:30 p.m., ESPN Classic
Line: Louisville by 6.5
My guess: I love this matchup. It's a shame it's buried over on ESPN Classic. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Louisville got a bit of a scare from Middle Tennessee last Thursday. I think that was the wake-up call Kentucky didn't want the Cardinals to get just yet. In last Thursday's game, Louisville and MTSU combined for 100 points. I think this could be that kind of game. The over-under on this game, by the way, is 77. I think it's going over, but I can't predict Kentucky to win. Louisville 45, Kentucky 35
MIDDLE TENNESSEE AT LSU, 8 p.m., PPV
Line: LSU by 40.5
My guess: MTSU got beat 59-0 by Oklahoma and 52-7 by South Carolina last year, which makes me expect a similar curb stomping on Saturday. However, those are the only times in the last six seasons that the Blue Raiders have lost by at least 40 points. I hate 40-point spreads, but you have to figure if LSU beat Virginia Tech by that many, Middle Tennessee shouldn't be quite as difficult. But LSU QB Matt Flynn is questionable this week and, while I don't think there's much of a dropoff (if any) between Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux, I don't think LSU will open it up QUITE as much if Flynn doesn't go. LSU 40, MTSU 7
MISSISSIPPI STATE AT AUBURN, 12:30 p.m., LF Sports
Line: Auburn by 13
My guess: This is a get-well game for Auburn. Either that or things are going to get a lot worse. Mississippi State just isn't very good. LSU kept things really vanilla and absolutely destroyed the Bulldogs. Auburn doesn't appear to be anywhere as near as good as LSU, but they should still be able to win by a couple touchdowns. Auburn 31, Mississippi State 14
WESTERN CAROLINA AT GEORGIA, 1 p.m., PPV
Line: Georgia by 45
My guess: Georgia has beaten a team by 45 points or more only once in Mark Richt's tenure (Kentucky, 62-17 in 2004). The Bulldogs have scored 45 points or more 10 times in those six seasons, six of which came in the previous three seasons. But the fact of the matter is Georgia doesn't typically put an embarrassing point total on an undermanned opponent the way other programs might. The Bulldogs can name their score like Alabama did a couple weeks ago against this pitiful Western Carolina team, but my money's on the spread falling short of 45. Georgia 48, Western Carolina 7
TENNESSEE AT FLORIDA, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Line: Florida by 7.5
My guess: I don't think Tennessee's got enough defense to stop the Gators. That simple. The Vols' offense has been pretty good, so I think they'll keep it close. Tennessee is going to have to force some mistakes from Tim Tebow and he hasn't made many of those yet. Whoever wins this one is the favorite to win the SEC East in my book. The series is 3-3 in the last six -- and the weird thing is that Tennessee has won two of the last three in the Swamp. My eyes tell me Florida wins this by double digits, but my head says it's close. Florida 20, Tennessee 17
ARKANSAS AT ALABAMA, 6:45 p.m., ESPN
Line: Alabama by 3
My guess: This is the game that will decide a lot about Alabama this year. I watched a good portion of last week's game against Vanderbilt and I was surprised by how poorly the Commodores played. We don't have a big enough sample size to tell whether it was that Alabama's for real or that Vandy is bad. I think we'll tell a lot more this week when they run up against Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. I don't think they can stop those guys. Arkansas 26, Alabama 23
OLE MISS AT VANDERBILT, 7 p.m., PPV
Line: Vanderbilt by 5
My guess: Vandy stunk last week and quarterback Chris Nickson was injured in the game. Meanwhile, Ole Miss' offense was actually pretty good against a mediocre Missouri defense last week -- BJ Green-Ellis ran for 226 yards and Seth Adams passed for 305. Nickson's hamstring is still bothering him and if he's not mobile, he's not dangerous. He's not a good passer, so Mackenzi Adams might be a better option if Nickson's not close to 100 percent. If he's not, I'm not sure Vandy will win. I'll guess Nickson will go and the Commodores will skate by, but all bets are off if he doesn't. Vanderbilt 24, Ole Miss 21
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE AT SOUTH CAROLINA, 7 p.m., PPV
Line: South Carolina by 35.5
My guess: You never know what to expect from South Carolina in this kind of game. There's Louisiana-Lafayette this year (28-14) and Wofford last year (27-20) and then there's Florida Atlantic (45-6) and Middle Tennessee (52-7) last year. I'm gonna go with buttkicking, but not covering. South Carolina 41, South Carolina State 7
LOUISVILLE AT KENTUCKY, 7:30 p.m., ESPN Classic
Line: Louisville by 6.5
My guess: I love this matchup. It's a shame it's buried over on ESPN Classic. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Louisville got a bit of a scare from Middle Tennessee last Thursday. I think that was the wake-up call Kentucky didn't want the Cardinals to get just yet. In last Thursday's game, Louisville and MTSU combined for 100 points. I think this could be that kind of game. The over-under on this game, by the way, is 77. I think it's going over, but I can't predict Kentucky to win. Louisville 45, Kentucky 35
MIDDLE TENNESSEE AT LSU, 8 p.m., PPV
Line: LSU by 40.5
My guess: MTSU got beat 59-0 by Oklahoma and 52-7 by South Carolina last year, which makes me expect a similar curb stomping on Saturday. However, those are the only times in the last six seasons that the Blue Raiders have lost by at least 40 points. I hate 40-point spreads, but you have to figure if LSU beat Virginia Tech by that many, Middle Tennessee shouldn't be quite as difficult. But LSU QB Matt Flynn is questionable this week and, while I don't think there's much of a dropoff (if any) between Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux, I don't think LSU will open it up QUITE as much if Flynn doesn't go. LSU 40, MTSU 7
Richt talks about Pats scandal, signaling plays
This is BIGTIME inside-baseball stuff. I can't imagine everyone would find it interesting, but somebody asked Mark Richt about his thoughts on the New England Patriots stealing signals scandal this afternoon. It turned into a discussion on the ethics of the issue and just how much trouble coaches are willing to go to to make sure that opponents can't steal signals and figure out what plays they're going to run. I found it interesting and, although I didn't really write about it, I figured it might make for a timely Q/A today.
On his general thoughts about the issue:
I think every coach has thought, ‘Someone’s got my signals.’ I don’t think there’s a coach in any sport that doesn’t think that, ‘Man, they must have our signals.’ If someone’s playing good against you and it seems like they’ve got the perfect call against what you’ve got going on, I think people think that. I think coaches think that. But I don’t know if they really believe it as much as they’re trying to explain why they’re having a rough day. But I have, and I’ve mentioned it before, I’ve gone from signaling plays to running them in. That’s why a lot of times you’ll see me get in a guy’s ear and run the play in. It’s tough to get that. When we were no-huddling a lot, you almost had to signal it in. And a lot of times, even if someone had your signals, it could make a difference certainly, but if you’re trying to teach your players all your signals and what to do – because when we were no-huddling, a lot of our signals were right at the line, kinda last-second, and it would almost have to be the players seeing what was going on. If you’re giving the players 60 hand signals to try to learn them this week, I think you’d probably drive ‘em nuts. But NFL, you play each other twice a year, you’ve got a lot more time to study, you’ve got full-grown men that aren’t going to class, they’ve got all day, I can see where that could become a real issue.
Ever change them from first half to second half?
Well, lately the other thing you do is wrist bands. We’ve got our wrist bands now, which you can change. All you gotta do is signal a number. You might signal 43. He looks on his wristband at 43. I’ve had first-half wristbands, second-half wristbands.
Just in case…?
You just never know, you know? I’ve done that in big games. Coach Bobo’s using them now for the first time. I don’t think we’ve used ‘em since I’ve been at Georgia. We might’ve tried it once or twice. I know at Florida State a couple times, I had a first-half and a second-half wristband. At times, we’ve given wristbands to the entire team also. When we were no-huddling, if you look at your wristband and it’s play 43, then he still has to communicate to the guys on the field and call out to the line, hand signal to the receivers, so you still might can see a signal in. But then if we got real paranoid, we’d give everybody on the team a wristband so if they saw play No. 43, the whole team would look at it so we wouldn’t have to signal anything. I think everybody sits there and has been, ‘I wonder if somebody’s got my signals.’
Has there ever been a time in your coaching career where you’ve seen evidence somebody was stealing signals?
No, but I’ve seen…what did I see one time? It was years ago. Being up in the box and…I don’t know if I thought I saw somebody with polaroids or something and (thought), ‘I wonder if’… It wasn’t a guy wearing the other team’s jersey or coaching garb, but you’re like, ‘Huh, I wonder what’s going on here?’
What’s the ethics on that in coaching?
I think the (gist?) is, during the game, and I don’t even know what the rules are. Probably not supposed to or even ethics, I don’t know that. But I would think if I’m on offense and I’m signaling in plays and they’ve got a coach in the booth trying to watch the signals and by the second quarter, they’ve cracked the code they think, and they’re like, ‘Hey, when he does this, it’s this and that,’ I’d think that that’s probably OK. I don’t know, some people might think I’m crazy…If they’re watching as it’s happening and they say, ‘Hey, so-and-so’s coming.’ If someone did that to us, I wouldn’t be too mad, I guess. I think if they filmed it ahead of time and they illegally had a guy in your stadium the week before and they filmed your stuff, I think everybody would get upset about that. But as the game’s going on, that’s why most people have two guys signaling at the same time, so they’re not sure which guy’s live. If the quarterback’s at the line of scrimmage and he calls out the same code three times. We had a play, our 44 play, Hollingshed is No. 44 and if we called out ‘Shed, Shed’ or whatever, that was 44. If we did that three times in a row and they figured it out by No. 2 or 3, you can’t act like you didn’t hear or see something. You might have a little signal, like (making a roof symbol with his hands), that was the old sign for Shed, it looked like the roof of a shed. So ‘Shed, Shed,’ well 44’s coming. You figured it out by the second or third time around. I can’t sit there and blame somebody in the game. But if you went beforehand…You’re not supposed to have scouts. It used to be you could send scouts to an opponent the week prior. You could legally send a scout and they quit doing that after a while. But if somebody had a scout there illegally and was filming your signals and also filming the game, and the week before you’ve got the signal and the call and you could absolutely know for sure exactly what’s going in, I don’t think that’s right.
Do y'all do anything during the game to try to figure out the signals?
I don’t know what they’re doing in the box, to be honest with you. I don’t know if our coaches, I don’t know if they have somebody trying to see the signals. But I’m certain if our players are on the field and they hear some code names going on and they hear something that they think they can recognize the second time around, I’m sure they do that.
On his general thoughts about the issue:
I think every coach has thought, ‘Someone’s got my signals.’ I don’t think there’s a coach in any sport that doesn’t think that, ‘Man, they must have our signals.’ If someone’s playing good against you and it seems like they’ve got the perfect call against what you’ve got going on, I think people think that. I think coaches think that. But I don’t know if they really believe it as much as they’re trying to explain why they’re having a rough day. But I have, and I’ve mentioned it before, I’ve gone from signaling plays to running them in. That’s why a lot of times you’ll see me get in a guy’s ear and run the play in. It’s tough to get that. When we were no-huddling a lot, you almost had to signal it in. And a lot of times, even if someone had your signals, it could make a difference certainly, but if you’re trying to teach your players all your signals and what to do – because when we were no-huddling, a lot of our signals were right at the line, kinda last-second, and it would almost have to be the players seeing what was going on. If you’re giving the players 60 hand signals to try to learn them this week, I think you’d probably drive ‘em nuts. But NFL, you play each other twice a year, you’ve got a lot more time to study, you’ve got full-grown men that aren’t going to class, they’ve got all day, I can see where that could become a real issue.
Ever change them from first half to second half?
Well, lately the other thing you do is wrist bands. We’ve got our wrist bands now, which you can change. All you gotta do is signal a number. You might signal 43. He looks on his wristband at 43. I’ve had first-half wristbands, second-half wristbands.
Just in case…?
You just never know, you know? I’ve done that in big games. Coach Bobo’s using them now for the first time. I don’t think we’ve used ‘em since I’ve been at Georgia. We might’ve tried it once or twice. I know at Florida State a couple times, I had a first-half and a second-half wristband. At times, we’ve given wristbands to the entire team also. When we were no-huddling, if you look at your wristband and it’s play 43, then he still has to communicate to the guys on the field and call out to the line, hand signal to the receivers, so you still might can see a signal in. But then if we got real paranoid, we’d give everybody on the team a wristband so if they saw play No. 43, the whole team would look at it so we wouldn’t have to signal anything. I think everybody sits there and has been, ‘I wonder if somebody’s got my signals.’
Has there ever been a time in your coaching career where you’ve seen evidence somebody was stealing signals?
No, but I’ve seen…what did I see one time? It was years ago. Being up in the box and…I don’t know if I thought I saw somebody with polaroids or something and (thought), ‘I wonder if’… It wasn’t a guy wearing the other team’s jersey or coaching garb, but you’re like, ‘Huh, I wonder what’s going on here?’
What’s the ethics on that in coaching?
I think the (gist?) is, during the game, and I don’t even know what the rules are. Probably not supposed to or even ethics, I don’t know that. But I would think if I’m on offense and I’m signaling in plays and they’ve got a coach in the booth trying to watch the signals and by the second quarter, they’ve cracked the code they think, and they’re like, ‘Hey, when he does this, it’s this and that,’ I’d think that that’s probably OK. I don’t know, some people might think I’m crazy…If they’re watching as it’s happening and they say, ‘Hey, so-and-so’s coming.’ If someone did that to us, I wouldn’t be too mad, I guess. I think if they filmed it ahead of time and they illegally had a guy in your stadium the week before and they filmed your stuff, I think everybody would get upset about that. But as the game’s going on, that’s why most people have two guys signaling at the same time, so they’re not sure which guy’s live. If the quarterback’s at the line of scrimmage and he calls out the same code three times. We had a play, our 44 play, Hollingshed is No. 44 and if we called out ‘Shed, Shed’ or whatever, that was 44. If we did that three times in a row and they figured it out by No. 2 or 3, you can’t act like you didn’t hear or see something. You might have a little signal, like (making a roof symbol with his hands), that was the old sign for Shed, it looked like the roof of a shed. So ‘Shed, Shed,’ well 44’s coming. You figured it out by the second or third time around. I can’t sit there and blame somebody in the game. But if you went beforehand…You’re not supposed to have scouts. It used to be you could send scouts to an opponent the week prior. You could legally send a scout and they quit doing that after a while. But if somebody had a scout there illegally and was filming your signals and also filming the game, and the week before you’ve got the signal and the call and you could absolutely know for sure exactly what’s going in, I don’t think that’s right.
Do y'all do anything during the game to try to figure out the signals?
I don’t know what they’re doing in the box, to be honest with you. I don’t know if our coaches, I don’t know if they have somebody trying to see the signals. But I’m certain if our players are on the field and they hear some code names going on and they hear something that they think they can recognize the second time around, I’m sure they do that.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Wednesday notes
Real quick:
* I don't know if there'll be a shakeup at LB this week, but they're at least giving Akeem Dent some run with the starters at strongside linebacker. It's probably safe to see him a good bit this week. Lots of young guys are probably going to get that chance, most likely. Sounds like Darryl Gamble and Marcus Washington might be among those guys, too.
* I'd been meaning to ask Richt about this since Saturday, but it kept slipping my mind. Blake Barnes was suspended for the opener for his summer alcohol-related arrest with Tripp Chandler. But he didn't dress on Saturday, either. I finally asked about it today and Richt said it was for something else:
"It was another issue, but it's all resolved. Everything's OK."
So he'll be back this week. You might even see him play if they build a big lead. And it's probably safe to expect that, considering Western Carolina has lost 11 straight games and has been outscored 383-12 in seven previous games against SEC opponents. Blake didn't play last year, but he appeared in three games in 2005. He went 2-for-3 for 9 yards.
* Spoke with Jason Johnson and Shaun Chapas today. My 11-cent prediction for Saturday: Chapas will be Georgia's leading rusher Saturday against Western Carolina. I would have bestowed that glorious prediction on Johnson, but he won't play after tearing his hand up when he fell down last Saturday night after slipping on some rocks. He went out with his old buddy Ken Shackleford after the game and was walking back to the car when he fell. Cut his hand up pretty bad and has a small fracture. His hand is all bandaged up with the pinky and ring finger taped together. He's also taking antibiotics to prevent an infection. It's too bad because he hasn't gotten much of a chance to play.
* Chapas said he and Caleb King are splitting time behind Knowshon Moreno and Thomas Brown at tailback. Richt said former Dodge County star Kalvin Daniels, a walk-on, might also play some this week...which makes it sound like they still don't want to play Caleb. We'll see...
* Injury report: Kelin Johnson tried to go in practice today. Richt said "He did OK, but he's still questionable at best." He said Bryan Evans twisted his knee when he slipped on the wet turf in Tuesday's practice and he's also questionable for Saturday. If you look close at practice, there are several guys with jammed thumbs and other various hand injuries. Mikey Henderson, Darius Dewberry, Knowshon and probably a few others that I can't think of right now are on that list. I don't think it affects their status for Saturday.
* I don't know if there'll be a shakeup at LB this week, but they're at least giving Akeem Dent some run with the starters at strongside linebacker. It's probably safe to see him a good bit this week. Lots of young guys are probably going to get that chance, most likely. Sounds like Darryl Gamble and Marcus Washington might be among those guys, too.
* I'd been meaning to ask Richt about this since Saturday, but it kept slipping my mind. Blake Barnes was suspended for the opener for his summer alcohol-related arrest with Tripp Chandler. But he didn't dress on Saturday, either. I finally asked about it today and Richt said it was for something else:
"It was another issue, but it's all resolved. Everything's OK."
So he'll be back this week. You might even see him play if they build a big lead. And it's probably safe to expect that, considering Western Carolina has lost 11 straight games and has been outscored 383-12 in seven previous games against SEC opponents. Blake didn't play last year, but he appeared in three games in 2005. He went 2-for-3 for 9 yards.
* Spoke with Jason Johnson and Shaun Chapas today. My 11-cent prediction for Saturday: Chapas will be Georgia's leading rusher Saturday against Western Carolina. I would have bestowed that glorious prediction on Johnson, but he won't play after tearing his hand up when he fell down last Saturday night after slipping on some rocks. He went out with his old buddy Ken Shackleford after the game and was walking back to the car when he fell. Cut his hand up pretty bad and has a small fracture. His hand is all bandaged up with the pinky and ring finger taped together. He's also taking antibiotics to prevent an infection. It's too bad because he hasn't gotten much of a chance to play.
* Chapas said he and Caleb King are splitting time behind Knowshon Moreno and Thomas Brown at tailback. Richt said former Dodge County star Kalvin Daniels, a walk-on, might also play some this week...which makes it sound like they still don't want to play Caleb. We'll see...
* Injury report: Kelin Johnson tried to go in practice today. Richt said "He did OK, but he's still questionable at best." He said Bryan Evans twisted his knee when he slipped on the wet turf in Tuesday's practice and he's also questionable for Saturday. If you look close at practice, there are several guys with jammed thumbs and other various hand injuries. Mikey Henderson, Darius Dewberry, Knowshon and probably a few others that I can't think of right now are on that list. I don't think it affects their status for Saturday.
Academics stories for Thursday
I wrote two long stories today on academics, as well as a practice notebook, so be sure to check out the Ledger-Enquirer Web site for that. It was fun working on that stuff. Seriously, I could have done five or six stories on the academic side of life for Georgia football players because I had a ton of stuff and I find it fairly interesting -- perhaps because I didn't know much about it. It was fun to get a better idea about the requirements the players face. They definitely keep them busy. It's one of those situations where every effort is made to make things easier for them and provide the resources for them to succeed in the classroom. It's up to them to take advantage.
I focused on tight end Bruce Figgins, partially because he's a true freshman and mostly because he's our guy from Columbus and a nice kid on top of it. He was good enough to let me go to physics tutoring with him Tuesday morning at 7 a.m., and his tutor Joe Cozart was nice enough to let me sit in and watch him work with Bruce, Clint Boling, Chris Little, Israel Troupe and Walter Hill.
Also got an older guy's perspective for the story, although I went with the most extreme example -- Thomas Brown. You may have read about Thomas taking 21 hours this semester -- that's seven classes, which is slightly crazy during the season -- so he can graduate in December. Coach Richt told me yesterday he doesn't know of a player he's coached who took that many hours in a semester. Thomas wants to be done with school at the end of the season so he can take a run at the NFL and already have his degree. It's a lot to ask of himself, but that seems to be the kind of guy Thomas is. As coach Richt said, "If he does it, that's a pretty good story. Amazing."
Anyway, I know the majority of Georgia football fans probably aren't interested in non-football stuff, but you can probably tell by now that I think off-the-field stuff is more interesting most of the time. I think people sometimes forget these are human beings, not football-playing or coaching robots. I don't pity them by any means because there are a lot of privileges that come with an ability to play or coach a game well. It's just that the attention that accompanies that ability comes with a lot of strings attached.
Thanks also to Ted White and Wally Richardson at the Rankin Smith academic center. They were happy to help and I think Ted was appreciative that someone in the media was interested in that side of things. It's quite an endeavor they've got going over there. It can't be easy to keep that many people in line -- or at least try to.
I focused on tight end Bruce Figgins, partially because he's a true freshman and mostly because he's our guy from Columbus and a nice kid on top of it. He was good enough to let me go to physics tutoring with him Tuesday morning at 7 a.m., and his tutor Joe Cozart was nice enough to let me sit in and watch him work with Bruce, Clint Boling, Chris Little, Israel Troupe and Walter Hill.
Also got an older guy's perspective for the story, although I went with the most extreme example -- Thomas Brown. You may have read about Thomas taking 21 hours this semester -- that's seven classes, which is slightly crazy during the season -- so he can graduate in December. Coach Richt told me yesterday he doesn't know of a player he's coached who took that many hours in a semester. Thomas wants to be done with school at the end of the season so he can take a run at the NFL and already have his degree. It's a lot to ask of himself, but that seems to be the kind of guy Thomas is. As coach Richt said, "If he does it, that's a pretty good story. Amazing."
Anyway, I know the majority of Georgia football fans probably aren't interested in non-football stuff, but you can probably tell by now that I think off-the-field stuff is more interesting most of the time. I think people sometimes forget these are human beings, not football-playing or coaching robots. I don't pity them by any means because there are a lot of privileges that come with an ability to play or coach a game well. It's just that the attention that accompanies that ability comes with a lot of strings attached.
Thanks also to Ted White and Wally Richardson at the Rankin Smith academic center. They were happy to help and I think Ted was appreciative that someone in the media was interested in that side of things. It's quite an endeavor they've got going over there. It can't be easy to keep that many people in line -- or at least try to.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Kelin Johnson on Good Works Team
Georgia's Kelin Johnson was named today to the American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team for his community service work. Johnson is the 11th Georgia named to the team which ties UGA with Nebraska for the most all-time selections with 11.
Here's their bio info for Kelin: Volunteered for field day event sponsored by HERO for Children, which is a non-profit dedicated to improving the quality of life of children infected with HIV/AIDS ... Assisted with Camp Well Springs, a camp for children with disabilities ... Assisted with a home building project in Athens with Habitat for Humanity ... Active member in the Boys and Girls Club mentor program ... Speaks an numerous elementary, junior and high schools around Athens area about the importance of education
Along with Kelin, there are two Georgia natives also on the team. Ole Miss fullback Jason Cook played for North Gwinnett High in Suwanee and Central Michigan linebacker Red Keith played at Heard County High in Franklin.
Criteria: Nominations were submitted to the AFCA by the college sports information departments. Nominees have to be actively involved and committed to working with a charitable organization, service group or involved in other community service activities. Candidates have to display sincere concern and reliability, while also having made a favorable impression on the organizations with which they are involved. Athletic ability is not a criteria.
2007 AFCA Good Works Teams®
Division I-A
Name Cl. Pos. School Head Coach Hometown (High School)
Jason Cook Jr. FB Mississippi Ed Orgeron Suwanee, Ga. (North Gwinnett)
Alex Derenthal Jr. C Temple Al Golden Davie, Fla. (Western)
Casey Flair Jr. WR UNLV Mike Sanford Anchorage, Alaska (East)
Nic Harris Jr. DB Oklahoma Bob Stoops Alexandria, La. (Alexandria)
George Hypolite Jr. DT Colorado Dan Hawkins Los Angeles, Calif. (Loyola)
Kelin Johnson Sr. SS Georgia Mark Richt Daytona Beach, Fla. (Mainland)
Adam Kadela Sr. LB Northwestern Pat Fitzgerald Dublin, Ohio (Coffman)
Red Keith Sr. LB Central Michigan Butch Jones Franklin, Ga. (Heard County)
Tom Schneider Sr. PK California Jeff Tedford Walnut Creek, Calif. (Las Lomas)
Paul Smith Sr. QB Tulsa Todd Graham Owasso, Okla. (Owasso)
Tom Zbikowski Sr. S Notre Dame Charlie Weis Arlington Heights, Ill. (Buffalo Grove)
Here's their bio info for Kelin: Volunteered for field day event sponsored by HERO for Children, which is a non-profit dedicated to improving the quality of life of children infected with HIV/AIDS ... Assisted with Camp Well Springs, a camp for children with disabilities ... Assisted with a home building project in Athens with Habitat for Humanity ... Active member in the Boys and Girls Club mentor program ... Speaks an numerous elementary, junior and high schools around Athens area about the importance of education
Along with Kelin, there are two Georgia natives also on the team. Ole Miss fullback Jason Cook played for North Gwinnett High in Suwanee and Central Michigan linebacker Red Keith played at Heard County High in Franklin.
Criteria: Nominations were submitted to the AFCA by the college sports information departments. Nominees have to be actively involved and committed to working with a charitable organization, service group or involved in other community service activities. Candidates have to display sincere concern and reliability, while also having made a favorable impression on the organizations with which they are involved. Athletic ability is not a criteria.
2007 AFCA Good Works Teams®
Division I-A
Name Cl. Pos. School Head Coach Hometown (High School)
Jason Cook Jr. FB Mississippi Ed Orgeron Suwanee, Ga. (North Gwinnett)
Alex Derenthal Jr. C Temple Al Golden Davie, Fla. (Western)
Casey Flair Jr. WR UNLV Mike Sanford Anchorage, Alaska (East)
Nic Harris Jr. DB Oklahoma Bob Stoops Alexandria, La. (Alexandria)
George Hypolite Jr. DT Colorado Dan Hawkins Los Angeles, Calif. (Loyola)
Kelin Johnson Sr. SS Georgia Mark Richt Daytona Beach, Fla. (Mainland)
Adam Kadela Sr. LB Northwestern Pat Fitzgerald Dublin, Ohio (Coffman)
Red Keith Sr. LB Central Michigan Butch Jones Franklin, Ga. (Heard County)
Tom Schneider Sr. PK California Jeff Tedford Walnut Creek, Calif. (Las Lomas)
Paul Smith Sr. QB Tulsa Todd Graham Owasso, Okla. (Owasso)
Tom Zbikowski Sr. S Notre Dame Charlie Weis Arlington Heights, Ill. (Buffalo Grove)
LONG day
I'll definitely have some stuff left over and will post some of it later this week. But tonight I'm going to sleep early because I've got a lot of writing to do in the morning.
I would note this: A.J. Bryant could miss the next month after having meniscus surgery today on his left knee. Richt said it cleaned up some damaged cartilage and that there was a serious bone bruise. Someone asked about the possibility of a redshirt and Richt said he didn't know whether A.J. would be interested in that. He's scheduled to graduate next spring.
Other quick stuff:
* Tony Ball said Thomas Brown remains the starter at tailback and that Caleb King isn't quite ready to receive carries -- if that's going to happen this year at all. They make it sound like they're hoping nobody else gets hurt so they can redshirt him. Jason Johnson and Kregg Lumpkin both have injured thumbs and I assume both are out.
* Richt said Shaun Chapas will get some looks at tailback just to have some depth there. Nothing new there, but just saying that because he might be the guy playing the position in the second half on Saturday. We'll see.
* Talked to Reshad Jones about playing free or strong safety. He said he played some of both, but mostly free, last week vs. USC. Said he feels comfortable at both. Sounds like Kelin Johnson will play some on Saturday, but I'd expect to see Jones playing early and Quintin Banks to get in there quite a bit.
* Richt also said he would like to see more of the young tight ends and offensive linemen Vince Vance and Clint Boling this week.
* Tony Wilson (ribs) is probable this week. Kade Weston (shoulder) was in green, but should be fine. Jeremy Lomax wasn't wearing pads at practice today, but I don't know what was wrong with him. He didn't seem to be favoring anything.
I would note this: A.J. Bryant could miss the next month after having meniscus surgery today on his left knee. Richt said it cleaned up some damaged cartilage and that there was a serious bone bruise. Someone asked about the possibility of a redshirt and Richt said he didn't know whether A.J. would be interested in that. He's scheduled to graduate next spring.
Other quick stuff:
* Tony Ball said Thomas Brown remains the starter at tailback and that Caleb King isn't quite ready to receive carries -- if that's going to happen this year at all. They make it sound like they're hoping nobody else gets hurt so they can redshirt him. Jason Johnson and Kregg Lumpkin both have injured thumbs and I assume both are out.
* Richt said Shaun Chapas will get some looks at tailback just to have some depth there. Nothing new there, but just saying that because he might be the guy playing the position in the second half on Saturday. We'll see.
* Talked to Reshad Jones about playing free or strong safety. He said he played some of both, but mostly free, last week vs. USC. Said he feels comfortable at both. Sounds like Kelin Johnson will play some on Saturday, but I'd expect to see Jones playing early and Quintin Banks to get in there quite a bit.
* Richt also said he would like to see more of the young tight ends and offensive linemen Vince Vance and Clint Boling this week.
* Tony Wilson (ribs) is probable this week. Kade Weston (shoulder) was in green, but should be fine. Jeremy Lomax wasn't wearing pads at practice today, but I don't know what was wrong with him. He didn't seem to be favoring anything.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Monday stuff
Nothing major today. Kade Weston (shoulder) and Jeff Owens (bruised thigh) both said their injuries are not serious and they should be back at practice on Tuesday. Kelin Johnson looks OK. He came into the interview room after practice, but I didn't get by to talk to him. Like I said earlier, I can't imagine he'll play a ton this week.
Jeff said today was the first practice he's missed since he's been at Georgia, which knocked him off the team's "Ironman" board. First time he's been in the training room on consecutive days, he said. That's pretty durable.
I wrote a note about how well Kade played last Saturday. He set a new career high for tackles (4), recorded his first career sack, made 2.5 tackles for loss and forced a fumble. They got mashed a bit in the middle at the end of the game, though, and I asked Owens about that.
"It was very disappointing because we know we coulda stoned 'em early and got the ball back. But they had momentum and things didn't go our way. That's what happened, we can just reminisce over it."
Also spoke with Caleb King today for the first time that I could actually talk to him individually, not when there was a crowd around. Said he thinks he's in pretty much the same position as last week. He's ready to play if they need him. He ran with the ones and twos in practice last week just in case, but he didn't play against South Carolina. I tend to believe that if he doesn't play this week against Western Carolina that he probably won't play this season...barring another tailback injury.
Also talked to Vince Vance for a second. He played a series against SC and felt pretty good about it. Said he graded out at 80. He thinks the playing time he's likely to get this week will be very important for him to show he deserves more down the road.
Separate from practice, I had an interesting interview today with Wally Richardson, the former Penn State and Baltimore Ravens QB, who serves as Georgia's academic counselor to the entire crop of freshman football players. I imagine it's not easy keeping all those kids in line. But it would be interesting to see how I'd have fared in college if I had all those advantages available to me -- and requirements to meet each day -- that these players do. Can't help but figure I'd have finished with a bit better GPA. It's a pretty busy existence these guys lead. I'll be writing about that in the next few days. Going to a freshman tutoring session at 7 a.m., so I'm calling it quits for now. More tomorrow.
Jeff said today was the first practice he's missed since he's been at Georgia, which knocked him off the team's "Ironman" board. First time he's been in the training room on consecutive days, he said. That's pretty durable.
I wrote a note about how well Kade played last Saturday. He set a new career high for tackles (4), recorded his first career sack, made 2.5 tackles for loss and forced a fumble. They got mashed a bit in the middle at the end of the game, though, and I asked Owens about that.
"It was very disappointing because we know we coulda stoned 'em early and got the ball back. But they had momentum and things didn't go our way. That's what happened, we can just reminisce over it."
Also spoke with Caleb King today for the first time that I could actually talk to him individually, not when there was a crowd around. Said he thinks he's in pretty much the same position as last week. He's ready to play if they need him. He ran with the ones and twos in practice last week just in case, but he didn't play against South Carolina. I tend to believe that if he doesn't play this week against Western Carolina that he probably won't play this season...barring another tailback injury.
Also talked to Vince Vance for a second. He played a series against SC and felt pretty good about it. Said he graded out at 80. He thinks the playing time he's likely to get this week will be very important for him to show he deserves more down the road.
Separate from practice, I had an interesting interview today with Wally Richardson, the former Penn State and Baltimore Ravens QB, who serves as Georgia's academic counselor to the entire crop of freshman football players. I imagine it's not easy keeping all those kids in line. But it would be interesting to see how I'd have fared in college if I had all those advantages available to me -- and requirements to meet each day -- that these players do. Can't help but figure I'd have finished with a bit better GPA. It's a pretty busy existence these guys lead. I'll be writing about that in the next few days. Going to a freshman tutoring session at 7 a.m., so I'm calling it quits for now. More tomorrow.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Nothing major
Mondays are usually kinda slow from our perspective. It's a short, late-afternoon practice and we usually only watch the conditioning runs at the start and see who's injured...that type of stuff.
Didn't notice any big depth chart things. Mostly I was just thankful it wasn't me running laps around the practice field.
In green: Kade Weston, Jeff Owens, Brandon Wood, Charles White, Walter Hill, Neland Ball. Kelin Johnson came out during stretching, but I'm not sure that that means anything. I tend to believe he probably wouldn't play much this weekend even if he's at 100 percent.
Jason Johnson was in a normal red jersey, but he was riding a stationary bike during stretching. Not sure of his injury, but this would be a good week for him to be healthy, I'd say.
Didn't notice any big depth chart things. Mostly I was just thankful it wasn't me running laps around the practice field.
In green: Kade Weston, Jeff Owens, Brandon Wood, Charles White, Walter Hill, Neland Ball. Kelin Johnson came out during stretching, but I'm not sure that that means anything. I tend to believe he probably wouldn't play much this weekend even if he's at 100 percent.
Jason Johnson was in a normal red jersey, but he was riding a stationary bike during stretching. Not sure of his injury, but this would be a good week for him to be healthy, I'd say.
Alabama kickoff time...
is still undecided...(Gotcha!)
From UGA:
CBS has elected to use a six-day selection for games of Sept. 22.
The following two games are being held by CBS: Georgia at Alabama and South Carolina at LSU. CBS will televise one of these two games at 3:30 ET; ESPN will televise the other at 7:45 p.m. ET. The selections should be made by Sunday afternoon based on the outcome of Saturday, Sept. 15, games.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22:
Lincoln Financial 12:30 ET Florida at Ole Miss
CBS 3:30 ET Georgia at Alabama OR South Carolina at LSU
ESPN2 6:00 ET Kentucky at Arkansas
ESPN 7:45 ET Georgia at Alabama OR South Carolina at LSU
I think I might have put in the UGA schedule in our preseason issue that the Bama game was set as a 3:30 kickoff. If I did, whoops. Looks like we're waiting six days to find out if I was right.
From UGA:
CBS has elected to use a six-day selection for games of Sept. 22.
The following two games are being held by CBS: Georgia at Alabama and South Carolina at LSU. CBS will televise one of these two games at 3:30 ET; ESPN will televise the other at 7:45 p.m. ET. The selections should be made by Sunday afternoon based on the outcome of Saturday, Sept. 15, games.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22:
Lincoln Financial 12:30 ET Florida at Ole Miss
CBS 3:30 ET Georgia at Alabama OR South Carolina at LSU
ESPN2 6:00 ET Kentucky at Arkansas
ESPN 7:45 ET Georgia at Alabama OR South Carolina at LSU
I think I might have put in the UGA schedule in our preseason issue that the Bama game was set as a 3:30 kickoff. If I did, whoops. Looks like we're waiting six days to find out if I was right.
Dogs add 18th commit
I was standing next to Dean Legge from Dawgpost on the sidelines yesterday before the game when Nick Williams walked by and I asked who he was. Dean said something like, "That's probably the next guy that's going to commit to Georgia."
Turns out he was right. Williams committed this afternoon. He's a four-star safety according to Rivals and one star at Scout, where it doesn't sound like they were very sure about his position.
He plays quarterback at Bainbridge High, but it's probably safety that he'll play in college. At any rate, his commitment brings Georgia's total to 18.
Turns out he was right. Williams committed this afternoon. He's a four-star safety according to Rivals and one star at Scout, where it doesn't sound like they were very sure about his position.
He plays quarterback at Bainbridge High, but it's probably safety that he'll play in college. At any rate, his commitment brings Georgia's total to 18.
Richt Sunday teleconference
Here's Mark Richt's complete Sunday Q/A.
Oh and while I'm thinking about it, I saw Nick Jones on the sidelines yesterday and spoke with him for a second. He's looking to catch on with a team right now. Said he started out with Seattle and got cut before camp in a numbers move and then signed with the New York Giants and got cut there as well. Said teams have told him to stay ready and you never know what might happen. It's a tough game. I like Nick, so here's hoping he catches on with somebody for a bit and makes some money. Just thought I'd drop a quick update on him...
Anyway, here's Richt:
On Kelin Johnson's status and thoughts on Saturday's missed opportunities:
Kelin, he's questionable right now. He took a good rib shot. Don't know if he's probable. I'd say he's questionable right now for the game...Yeah, missed opportunities, no doubt. That was I'd say the No. 1 thing in that ballgame. Certainly could've blocked better early on and there's a lot of little things that need to be better. You're gonna win some battles and lose some battles in any ballgame. But the opportunities were there to make a big play. It didn't have to be a spectacular play. It was just either hitting your target or catching the ball. I think that hurt us more than anything. But I think South Carolina did a nice job.
On talking to team about loss and how it affects SEC race:
I'm not gonna talk much about the conference race this week especially because we're not playing a conference game. We're just gonna work on continuing to improve, I think is the main thing, just playing hard-nosed Georgia football, really. We'll work more on just getting better. I won't talk much about the conference right now. Maybe the week after that when we have a conference game I'm sure it'll come up.
On whether last year's lessons can help this year:
I think so. I don't think there's any doubt about it. We're certainly not in the position right now that we were a year ago in that streak of five games. But I certainly don't want this one to last that long, that's for sure, and I think our guys gained resolve (?) from that.
On whether he'll talk to Bobo about the criticism he's facing:
No, I don't think we need to say anything. I think it's what coaches call an occupational hazard. It's just a given. Anybody who's in a playcalling responsibility, he's gonna get criticized and critiqued. It's just human nature. It's part of the business. I don't think many guys...I don't think Mike is naieve enough to think that was never gonna happen, so I don't think we need to talk about it. He knows I've been there. Gosh. It's just part of the job.
On whether he thought plan was sound:
Oh yeah. I thought we had plenty of opportunities to score touchdowns. There's no doubt about that. Again, we've got to execute. I can think of one, two, three, four for sure plays that could've easily scored if we just threw better or caught the ball better.
On whether the receivers will rebound or whether this could snowball:
They should rebound. They need to. I'm not gonna predict a snowball effect. I can't do that. They've just gotta concentrate. It's not just one guy. It's a physical game and you've gotta catch the ball knowing you're gonna possibly take a shot too and we made some. Mohamed made a beautiful grab in traffic and took a hit on that one third-down play. That was a great grab. We've seen a lot of good things happen, we've just gotta be more consistent. South Carolina dropped a couple balls too and if we woulda won the game, they'd have been looking at that probably a little harder than they are right now. Blake put it on the money a couple times and they dropped it and coulda kept drives going, things of that nature. And again they had a couple of really great stabs and snags. Not many teams have a group of receivers that never drop the ball.
Update on A.J.?:
A.J.'s gonna be out a little while. When I say that, I'm not exactly sure how long, but it won't be this week for sure and it may be longer than that.
Cartilage issue?
Yeah. There might be some bone bruise issues on it too. It could set him back even longer.
On whether Massaquoi's not getting the ball enough because he's lining up inside:
Well, he's playing both inside and out. A lot of times it's just...it's not so much luck of the draw, but it's just a reaction to a coverage. We have certain progressions in our system. If a safety rolls strong, we're gonna throw weak. If he rolls weak, we're gonna throw it strong. Sometimes reads are our high to low reads or inside to outside receivers. As we progress through our reads, if he happens to be the one who's open, he'll get it. But it's not like we're not trying to get it to him.
On whether Kade Weston had his best game at Georgia:
It could be. I did like what I saw. He really asserted himself and played as big as he is this last game. I really like what I saw from Kade.
How he'd assess the defense's play:
I thought it was pretty good overall. The only disappointing thing, that last drive, for them to run the ball as well as they did was pretty disappointing. But again, we did make the stop. We did get the stop, we got the ball back with a minute, 20, whatever it was, 80 yards to go. We were on about midfield with 50-something seconds to go after Mohamed's catch. We had plenty of time to get it in the end zone. Our defense did the job getting one more stop. The decision to kick a field goal on fourth-and-15 down there was one I made because I was confident that our defense would get the ball back to our offense with enough time to win, which they did. Overall I thought the defense played pretty good.
On explanation on flag was waved off after low block on Dannell Ellerbe:
What I was told was one official, from the way Dannell landed or whatever, he maybe assumed or saw the end of it, and he assumed it was a clip or an illegal block. Another official saw it from the very beginning and didn't agree with that and called it off. He said he saw it and told the other official he saw it from the very beginning and didn't think it was a foul. That's what they said and...we've been doing a little recruiting this weekend and I haven't really seen all the film that I'd normally see by now. I just finished with the offense and I'm getting ready to look at the defense here when I hang up.
On possible personnel changes:
I haven't really sat down with the defense yet. Offensively we talked just a little bit about who ought to play maybe a little bit more. I don't know if anybody knocked anybody out of the box.
On Ramarcus Brown's role now and whether Donavon Baldwin will play corner or safety:
Good question. I would say right now with Kelin out, I think Donavon may have to be a safety. But I have not talked to coach Martinez about that. Ramarcus will certainly help us with corner and special teams.
On whether he considered playing Joe Cox Saturday and how much he'll play this week:
Well, I didn't really think about getting him in the game. We were just going, trying to win the darn thing and believing in Stafford that he could get it done. As far as this week, who knows? It would be nice for Joe to play, but there's no guarantee of that.
Was there a set number of drops you saw after looking at the film?
Well, the one drop that Tony Wilson had, I guess that would be considered a drop pretty plain and simple. Michael Moore's was a tough catch. He had to lay out to go get it. He made a similar catch like that in one of our scrimmages. Almost identical. He was actually breaking in the other direction, from left to right instead of right to left. But just about made the exact same catch on the same type of route and actually landed in the end zone. But I think it was catchable. It was a little bit of a tough catch.
Did Tripp have one too?
It was behind. It would have been a tough catch. Tripp also had kind of a high and hard one at him. It could have been caught, but we thought it was pretty hot. A little high and a little hard, but probably could have been caught. If you get your hands on it, you've got a chance to catch it.
On illegal shift call on punt:
Well, it was close but I can see why he called it. When they double up your gunners, like I mentioned last night, you want your gunners to get to that punt returner to force him to fair catch it. If they're gonna double them up, it's very difficult to get off, but if you put a guy in motion, then it's tougher to jam a guy and it frees him up to get out underneath that return man. That was our strategy -- to get him in position, but when we were shifting one guy back and one guy up to allow the guy who went back to go in motion, Mikey Henderson, they didn't feel like we were set at least one full count after the shift. It was close.
How deep is too deep to not return a kickoff?
There's no set rule on how deep really anymore as much as do we think the ball...you've gotta kinda gauge a little hangtime issue there. If a kicker kicks a line drive, he can kick it farther. So if he kicks it farther, does that mean you should still not return it? Well, no if you think it's flat enough and not enough hangtime to get the coverage team down there, then you can still take it out of there. It used to be, you'd probably say x amount of yards and then you wouldn't take it out. But I think you've gotta gauge the hangtime a little bit. Now Succop's hangtime was pretty good, but Thomas was just bound and determined to make a play. And he did, I think he got past the 20 every time. You take a risk when you go back there. I'd say at the end of game if you're looking for something big to happen, you might say all bets are off when you catch it eight yards deep, you can go. You might just need something big to happen on the return. So there's some times you just say you return that sucker if at all possible.
On inexperience working against them Saturday night:
We knew that we just don't have a lot of experience to draw on in some areas. We're playing some guys that are living through those types of games for the very first time. Sometimes that's just enough to get you beat. But I do believe we've got the right guys in there and I know we're gonna improve in a hurry. Young guys that are as talented as the guys we have, they get better in a hurry. We're gonna hit our stride here pretty soon, I would hope, to where everybody's got enough experience under their belt to where they're ready to play these types of battles, these types of wars, and I think we'll fare a lot better when that happens.
On whether missed tackles are a concern:
Well, you're always concerned about that. There weren't just a massive amount, but there was enough. That touchdown run, we had an opportunity to make a tackle in the open field. There was space enough to where he had the ability to go either way, a two-way go like we say, and it's very difficult to hem that guy up with that much space. But we've just gotta do a better job of not allowing the back to get through there with that much of a head of steam and that much space before the safety fills in there and they'll make the tackle. But overall, when didn't tackle that poorly. Where we struggled was in the space issue. We rarely made a hit on a guy and didn't bring him down. Most of it was just an issue of a guy making them miss ... out there rather than getting all locked up on a guy and him just breaking out of your arms. There wasn't much of that going on.
Oh and while I'm thinking about it, I saw Nick Jones on the sidelines yesterday and spoke with him for a second. He's looking to catch on with a team right now. Said he started out with Seattle and got cut before camp in a numbers move and then signed with the New York Giants and got cut there as well. Said teams have told him to stay ready and you never know what might happen. It's a tough game. I like Nick, so here's hoping he catches on with somebody for a bit and makes some money. Just thought I'd drop a quick update on him...
Anyway, here's Richt:
On Kelin Johnson's status and thoughts on Saturday's missed opportunities:
Kelin, he's questionable right now. He took a good rib shot. Don't know if he's probable. I'd say he's questionable right now for the game...Yeah, missed opportunities, no doubt. That was I'd say the No. 1 thing in that ballgame. Certainly could've blocked better early on and there's a lot of little things that need to be better. You're gonna win some battles and lose some battles in any ballgame. But the opportunities were there to make a big play. It didn't have to be a spectacular play. It was just either hitting your target or catching the ball. I think that hurt us more than anything. But I think South Carolina did a nice job.
On talking to team about loss and how it affects SEC race:
I'm not gonna talk much about the conference race this week especially because we're not playing a conference game. We're just gonna work on continuing to improve, I think is the main thing, just playing hard-nosed Georgia football, really. We'll work more on just getting better. I won't talk much about the conference right now. Maybe the week after that when we have a conference game I'm sure it'll come up.
On whether last year's lessons can help this year:
I think so. I don't think there's any doubt about it. We're certainly not in the position right now that we were a year ago in that streak of five games. But I certainly don't want this one to last that long, that's for sure, and I think our guys gained resolve (?) from that.
On whether he'll talk to Bobo about the criticism he's facing:
No, I don't think we need to say anything. I think it's what coaches call an occupational hazard. It's just a given. Anybody who's in a playcalling responsibility, he's gonna get criticized and critiqued. It's just human nature. It's part of the business. I don't think many guys...I don't think Mike is naieve enough to think that was never gonna happen, so I don't think we need to talk about it. He knows I've been there. Gosh. It's just part of the job.
On whether he thought plan was sound:
Oh yeah. I thought we had plenty of opportunities to score touchdowns. There's no doubt about that. Again, we've got to execute. I can think of one, two, three, four for sure plays that could've easily scored if we just threw better or caught the ball better.
On whether the receivers will rebound or whether this could snowball:
They should rebound. They need to. I'm not gonna predict a snowball effect. I can't do that. They've just gotta concentrate. It's not just one guy. It's a physical game and you've gotta catch the ball knowing you're gonna possibly take a shot too and we made some. Mohamed made a beautiful grab in traffic and took a hit on that one third-down play. That was a great grab. We've seen a lot of good things happen, we've just gotta be more consistent. South Carolina dropped a couple balls too and if we woulda won the game, they'd have been looking at that probably a little harder than they are right now. Blake put it on the money a couple times and they dropped it and coulda kept drives going, things of that nature. And again they had a couple of really great stabs and snags. Not many teams have a group of receivers that never drop the ball.
Update on A.J.?:
A.J.'s gonna be out a little while. When I say that, I'm not exactly sure how long, but it won't be this week for sure and it may be longer than that.
Cartilage issue?
Yeah. There might be some bone bruise issues on it too. It could set him back even longer.
On whether Massaquoi's not getting the ball enough because he's lining up inside:
Well, he's playing both inside and out. A lot of times it's just...it's not so much luck of the draw, but it's just a reaction to a coverage. We have certain progressions in our system. If a safety rolls strong, we're gonna throw weak. If he rolls weak, we're gonna throw it strong. Sometimes reads are our high to low reads or inside to outside receivers. As we progress through our reads, if he happens to be the one who's open, he'll get it. But it's not like we're not trying to get it to him.
On whether Kade Weston had his best game at Georgia:
It could be. I did like what I saw. He really asserted himself and played as big as he is this last game. I really like what I saw from Kade.
How he'd assess the defense's play:
I thought it was pretty good overall. The only disappointing thing, that last drive, for them to run the ball as well as they did was pretty disappointing. But again, we did make the stop. We did get the stop, we got the ball back with a minute, 20, whatever it was, 80 yards to go. We were on about midfield with 50-something seconds to go after Mohamed's catch. We had plenty of time to get it in the end zone. Our defense did the job getting one more stop. The decision to kick a field goal on fourth-and-15 down there was one I made because I was confident that our defense would get the ball back to our offense with enough time to win, which they did. Overall I thought the defense played pretty good.
On explanation on flag was waved off after low block on Dannell Ellerbe:
What I was told was one official, from the way Dannell landed or whatever, he maybe assumed or saw the end of it, and he assumed it was a clip or an illegal block. Another official saw it from the very beginning and didn't agree with that and called it off. He said he saw it and told the other official he saw it from the very beginning and didn't think it was a foul. That's what they said and...we've been doing a little recruiting this weekend and I haven't really seen all the film that I'd normally see by now. I just finished with the offense and I'm getting ready to look at the defense here when I hang up.
On possible personnel changes:
I haven't really sat down with the defense yet. Offensively we talked just a little bit about who ought to play maybe a little bit more. I don't know if anybody knocked anybody out of the box.
On Ramarcus Brown's role now and whether Donavon Baldwin will play corner or safety:
Good question. I would say right now with Kelin out, I think Donavon may have to be a safety. But I have not talked to coach Martinez about that. Ramarcus will certainly help us with corner and special teams.
On whether he considered playing Joe Cox Saturday and how much he'll play this week:
Well, I didn't really think about getting him in the game. We were just going, trying to win the darn thing and believing in Stafford that he could get it done. As far as this week, who knows? It would be nice for Joe to play, but there's no guarantee of that.
Was there a set number of drops you saw after looking at the film?
Well, the one drop that Tony Wilson had, I guess that would be considered a drop pretty plain and simple. Michael Moore's was a tough catch. He had to lay out to go get it. He made a similar catch like that in one of our scrimmages. Almost identical. He was actually breaking in the other direction, from left to right instead of right to left. But just about made the exact same catch on the same type of route and actually landed in the end zone. But I think it was catchable. It was a little bit of a tough catch.
Did Tripp have one too?
It was behind. It would have been a tough catch. Tripp also had kind of a high and hard one at him. It could have been caught, but we thought it was pretty hot. A little high and a little hard, but probably could have been caught. If you get your hands on it, you've got a chance to catch it.
On illegal shift call on punt:
Well, it was close but I can see why he called it. When they double up your gunners, like I mentioned last night, you want your gunners to get to that punt returner to force him to fair catch it. If they're gonna double them up, it's very difficult to get off, but if you put a guy in motion, then it's tougher to jam a guy and it frees him up to get out underneath that return man. That was our strategy -- to get him in position, but when we were shifting one guy back and one guy up to allow the guy who went back to go in motion, Mikey Henderson, they didn't feel like we were set at least one full count after the shift. It was close.
How deep is too deep to not return a kickoff?
There's no set rule on how deep really anymore as much as do we think the ball...you've gotta kinda gauge a little hangtime issue there. If a kicker kicks a line drive, he can kick it farther. So if he kicks it farther, does that mean you should still not return it? Well, no if you think it's flat enough and not enough hangtime to get the coverage team down there, then you can still take it out of there. It used to be, you'd probably say x amount of yards and then you wouldn't take it out. But I think you've gotta gauge the hangtime a little bit. Now Succop's hangtime was pretty good, but Thomas was just bound and determined to make a play. And he did, I think he got past the 20 every time. You take a risk when you go back there. I'd say at the end of game if you're looking for something big to happen, you might say all bets are off when you catch it eight yards deep, you can go. You might just need something big to happen on the return. So there's some times you just say you return that sucker if at all possible.
On inexperience working against them Saturday night:
We knew that we just don't have a lot of experience to draw on in some areas. We're playing some guys that are living through those types of games for the very first time. Sometimes that's just enough to get you beat. But I do believe we've got the right guys in there and I know we're gonna improve in a hurry. Young guys that are as talented as the guys we have, they get better in a hurry. We're gonna hit our stride here pretty soon, I would hope, to where everybody's got enough experience under their belt to where they're ready to play these types of battles, these types of wars, and I think we'll fare a lot better when that happens.
On whether missed tackles are a concern:
Well, you're always concerned about that. There weren't just a massive amount, but there was enough. That touchdown run, we had an opportunity to make a tackle in the open field. There was space enough to where he had the ability to go either way, a two-way go like we say, and it's very difficult to hem that guy up with that much space. But we've just gotta do a better job of not allowing the back to get through there with that much of a head of steam and that much space before the safety fills in there and they'll make the tackle. But overall, when didn't tackle that poorly. Where we struggled was in the space issue. We rarely made a hit on a guy and didn't bring him down. Most of it was just an issue of a guy making them miss ... out there rather than getting all locked up on a guy and him just breaking out of your arms. There wasn't much of that going on.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Quick update from Richt teleconference
* Kelin Johnson "took a good rib shot" and is questionable this week.
* A.J. Bryant is out this week and probably some time after that. Richt said he damaged cartilage in his knee and possibly has a bone bruise after getting hit in the knee in one of the ugliest wideout lateral-pass plays ever attempted (that last part's my observation, not Richt's)...
* Now that he's off academic suspension, Donovan Baldwin may have to be a backup safety this week with Kelin questionable. He'd been filling in at corner, but Vance Cuff has slid in there, so Baldwin can be a swing man for now.
* He said he never thought about replacing Stafford with Cox. Not that that's news, exactly. I think it would be news if he said he did consider that option.
* A.J. Bryant is out this week and probably some time after that. Richt said he damaged cartilage in his knee and possibly has a bone bruise after getting hit in the knee in one of the ugliest wideout lateral-pass plays ever attempted (that last part's my observation, not Richt's)...
* Now that he's off academic suspension, Donovan Baldwin may have to be a backup safety this week with Kelin questionable. He'd been filling in at corner, but Vance Cuff has slid in there, so Baldwin can be a swing man for now.
* He said he never thought about replacing Stafford with Cox. Not that that's news, exactly. I think it would be news if he said he did consider that option.
In hindsight....
Well, I went 7-2 overall and 5-4 against the spread on this week's picks, running my record to 16-4 overall and 10-9 ATS.
Both games I missed yesterday, Auburn and Georgia, could have been a lot uglier misses than they were. Both defenses played fairly well. Both offenses continuously shot themselves in the foot. Auburn turned it over five times and kept getting bailed out by missed field goals. Georgia kept dropping touchdown passes, screwing up cutesy plays and overthrowing open receivers and managed to stay in it when South Carolina could only get field goals...And both teams wound up blowing the chances an inferior opponent provided and lost the games. It happens.
I think Georgia's folks really thought they were on the verge of a special season. I'll admit, I bought into that hype. I guess a team with as many youngsters as this Bulldogs team has is going to have its flat performances. And that's exactly what Saturday's was. One of the writers who sits next to me made the comment in the first half that Stafford looked disinterested. I thought he threw the ball much better in the second half, but there were just too many missed opportunities. You can't keep tripping over your own two feet against a Steve Spurrier team.
I still think this can be a 10-win Georgia team. If you run down the schedule, there are lots of very difficult opponents remaining. But the only one where I think Georgia doesn't have at least equal talent is against Florida. It's not a stretch to anticipate a record similar to last year's at this point, but I think if this young team improves as the year rolls along -- and there's no reason to expect that won't happen -- they can still bounce back to beat some very good teams.
Both games I missed yesterday, Auburn and Georgia, could have been a lot uglier misses than they were. Both defenses played fairly well. Both offenses continuously shot themselves in the foot. Auburn turned it over five times and kept getting bailed out by missed field goals. Georgia kept dropping touchdown passes, screwing up cutesy plays and overthrowing open receivers and managed to stay in it when South Carolina could only get field goals...And both teams wound up blowing the chances an inferior opponent provided and lost the games. It happens.
I think Georgia's folks really thought they were on the verge of a special season. I'll admit, I bought into that hype. I guess a team with as many youngsters as this Bulldogs team has is going to have its flat performances. And that's exactly what Saturday's was. One of the writers who sits next to me made the comment in the first half that Stafford looked disinterested. I thought he threw the ball much better in the second half, but there were just too many missed opportunities. You can't keep tripping over your own two feet against a Steve Spurrier team.
I still think this can be a 10-win Georgia team. If you run down the schedule, there are lots of very difficult opponents remaining. But the only one where I think Georgia doesn't have at least equal talent is against Florida. It's not a stretch to anticipate a record similar to last year's at this point, but I think if this young team improves as the year rolls along -- and there's no reason to expect that won't happen -- they can still bounce back to beat some very good teams.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Saturday afternoon update
Thought I'd post a few last-minute details while I'm watching Alabama put it on Vanderbilt.
* South Carolina defensive end Jordin Lindsey will not play this year. The NCAA denied Lindsey's appeal to become academically eligible, meaning he'll redshirt this year and play next season.
* Lindsey's twin brother, Dustin, will play. He tore his ACL in the spring game and didn't play last week, but he's going to give it a go today.
* USC safety Emanuel Cook will also apparently play today. A freshman all-SEC performer last year, Cook missed the first game after an appendectomy two weeks ago. He also dealt with the repercussions of a suspension after an arrest on gun charges -- which has since been removed. A diligent reader told me he was in Richland County (S.C.) court this week asking a judge to amend his bond so he could travel to Athens. I e-mailed South Carolina's sports information director, Steve Fink, about his health and his legal ability to travel out of state and his response came in typical SID fashion:
"He practiced Thursday and is on the travel list for this weekend."
* Injury report:
USC -- OG Kevin Young (ankle), LB Yvan Banag (knee), RB Bobby Wallace (collarbone) and QB Chris Smelley (shoulder) are out; SS Emanuel Cook (appendectomy) and OLB Cody Wells (leg) are questionable; LB Melvin Ingram (ankle) is probable.
Georgia -- RB Kregg Lumpkin (thumb) is out.
* South Carolina defensive end Jordin Lindsey will not play this year. The NCAA denied Lindsey's appeal to become academically eligible, meaning he'll redshirt this year and play next season.
* Lindsey's twin brother, Dustin, will play. He tore his ACL in the spring game and didn't play last week, but he's going to give it a go today.
* USC safety Emanuel Cook will also apparently play today. A freshman all-SEC performer last year, Cook missed the first game after an appendectomy two weeks ago. He also dealt with the repercussions of a suspension after an arrest on gun charges -- which has since been removed. A diligent reader told me he was in Richland County (S.C.) court this week asking a judge to amend his bond so he could travel to Athens. I e-mailed South Carolina's sports information director, Steve Fink, about his health and his legal ability to travel out of state and his response came in typical SID fashion:
"He practiced Thursday and is on the travel list for this weekend."
* Injury report:
USC -- OG Kevin Young (ankle), LB Yvan Banag (knee), RB Bobby Wallace (collarbone) and QB Chris Smelley (shoulder) are out; SS Emanuel Cook (appendectomy) and OLB Cody Wells (leg) are questionable; LB Melvin Ingram (ankle) is probable.
Georgia -- RB Kregg Lumpkin (thumb) is out.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Don't bet on it, Week 2
Went 9-2 straight-up and 5-5 against the spread last week. Maybe I'll fare a little better when those spreads are a little more manageable this week.
ALABAMA AT VANDERBILT, 12:30 p.m. LF Sports
Line: Alabama by 3.5
My guess: I like Vandy and if the spread was a bit larger, I'd take them. But I can't take 3.5. The Commodores make things interesting, but don't quite pull off the upset. Story of the program. Alabama 24, Vanderbilt 17
SOUTH CAROLINA AT GEORGIA, 5:45 p.m. ESPN2
Line: Georgia by 4
My guess: I watched South Carolina-Louisiana-Lafayette. The Gamecocks couldn't tackle Ragin Cajun runners, so I think Knowshon Moreno and Thomas Brown might be a bit more difficult. Yeah, they ran the option...blah blah blah. If you're a bad tackler, you're a bad tackler. I think Steve Spurrier's a genius and the Gamecocks have two great running backs and are going to be tough to beat because they typically are, but I think Georgia wins and covers. Georgia 22, South Carolina 17
MISSOURI AT OLE MISS, 6 p.m., No TV?
Line: Missouri by 6
My guess: I'll admit it, I watched some of Ole Miss-Memphis last weekend and the Rebels weren't as bad as I thought they'd be while I was watching. But then they turned around and nearly blew it at the end. Missouri won a 40-34 shootout with crappy Illinois last weekend, although I would have been interested to see what would have happened had Illini quarterback Juice Williams not been knocked out of the game with an injury. The difference here is that I don't think Ole Miss can score with a pretty decent Mizzou team. Missouri 30, Ole Miss 21
KENT STATE AT KENTUCKY, 6 p.m., PPV
Line: Kentucky by 13
My guess: Kent State pulled off a mild upset by going on the road last week and beating Iowa State in Ames (or maybe it wasn't...it surprised me just a bit). It's an improving program (they went from one win in 2005 to six last year), but I think Kentucky may have made even greater strides. The Wildcats are dangerous. I don't think they'll pound Kent State into the ground like that 50-10 whipping they put on Eastern Kentucky last weekend, but I think they'll cover that spread. Kentucky 34, Kent State 20
TROY AT FLORIDA, 6 p.m., PPV
Line: Florida by 26.5
My guess: Troy faced an offensive juggernaut last weekend in Arkansas' Darren McFadden and Felix Jones (and got lit up) and now it stands to get trampled by Tebow and Co. Troy couldn't match Arkansas' speed and it sure can't match Florida's. I'm a little concerned to pick Florida because of that huge spread, not because they can't cover, but because they won't. It won't be a good game, though. Florida 40, Troy 14
SOUTHERN MISS AT TENNESSEE, 7 p.m., PPV
Line: Tennessee by 10.5
My guess: Tennessee played one of the more exciting games of the weekend, but they couldn't score with Cal. I'd be a bit concerned about that defense if I was a Tennessee fan. When was the last time the Vols gave up 45 points? That might be more recent than I'm guessing, but I'm not going to look it up. Southern Miss isn't terribly scary, though, considering they didn't exactly bury Division I-AA Tennessee-Martin last weekend. Despite USM having a pretty good RB in Damion Fletcher, I'm a bit surprised the spread isn't larger. Tennessee 30, Southern Miss 14
MISSISSIPPI STATE AT TULANE, 7 p.m., CSS
Line: Mississippi State by 6
My guess: I think Sylvester might have Croomed himself last Thursday, leaving Michael Henig in the game to throw a school record-tying six interceptions. Everything about that game was embarrassing. LSU didn't even try to open it up on offense, really, and still walked past MSU. With all that said, I still can't pick Tulane to repeat its 32-29 win over the Bulldogs from last year. State's defense isn't that horrible and Tulane hasn't played yet. If the Bulldogs can just do a little something on offense, I think they should win this game. Mississippi State 24, Tulane 17
SOUTH FLORIDA AT AUBURN, 9 p.m., ESPN2
Line: Auburn by 7
My guess: A lot of Auburn people are worried about this game and they should be. South Florida has beaten Louisville and West Virginia in the last two seasons, so they aren't sneaking up on anybody. Don't need to. They're dangerous...and Auburn didn't look great last weekend. Which is exactly why the Tigers will win and cover this week. They're frustrating that way. Plus, the day I pick Auburn to lose to South Florida is the day I turn in my diploma. Auburn 27, South Florida 17
VIRGINIA TECH AT LSU, 9:15 p.m., ESPN
Line: LSU by 12.5
My guess: Both of these teams' offenses looked bad last week. Thing is, I think LSU's offense will wind up being pretty decent. Virginia Tech's...not so much. You might attribute the Hokies' flat performance to all the emotion of the first game in Blacksburg since the campus shootings, but I think it's more because Sean Glennon's their quarterback and their offensive line wasn't great. That defense is pretty stout, though. I hate this spread. I'm picking LSU to win, but I don't know that I can pick the Tigers to win by 13. LSU 20, Virginia Tech 10
ALABAMA AT VANDERBILT, 12:30 p.m. LF Sports
Line: Alabama by 3.5
My guess: I like Vandy and if the spread was a bit larger, I'd take them. But I can't take 3.5. The Commodores make things interesting, but don't quite pull off the upset. Story of the program. Alabama 24, Vanderbilt 17
SOUTH CAROLINA AT GEORGIA, 5:45 p.m. ESPN2
Line: Georgia by 4
My guess: I watched South Carolina-Louisiana-Lafayette. The Gamecocks couldn't tackle Ragin Cajun runners, so I think Knowshon Moreno and Thomas Brown might be a bit more difficult. Yeah, they ran the option...blah blah blah. If you're a bad tackler, you're a bad tackler. I think Steve Spurrier's a genius and the Gamecocks have two great running backs and are going to be tough to beat because they typically are, but I think Georgia wins and covers. Georgia 22, South Carolina 17
MISSOURI AT OLE MISS, 6 p.m., No TV?
Line: Missouri by 6
My guess: I'll admit it, I watched some of Ole Miss-Memphis last weekend and the Rebels weren't as bad as I thought they'd be while I was watching. But then they turned around and nearly blew it at the end. Missouri won a 40-34 shootout with crappy Illinois last weekend, although I would have been interested to see what would have happened had Illini quarterback Juice Williams not been knocked out of the game with an injury. The difference here is that I don't think Ole Miss can score with a pretty decent Mizzou team. Missouri 30, Ole Miss 21
KENT STATE AT KENTUCKY, 6 p.m., PPV
Line: Kentucky by 13
My guess: Kent State pulled off a mild upset by going on the road last week and beating Iowa State in Ames (or maybe it wasn't...it surprised me just a bit). It's an improving program (they went from one win in 2005 to six last year), but I think Kentucky may have made even greater strides. The Wildcats are dangerous. I don't think they'll pound Kent State into the ground like that 50-10 whipping they put on Eastern Kentucky last weekend, but I think they'll cover that spread. Kentucky 34, Kent State 20
TROY AT FLORIDA, 6 p.m., PPV
Line: Florida by 26.5
My guess: Troy faced an offensive juggernaut last weekend in Arkansas' Darren McFadden and Felix Jones (and got lit up) and now it stands to get trampled by Tebow and Co. Troy couldn't match Arkansas' speed and it sure can't match Florida's. I'm a little concerned to pick Florida because of that huge spread, not because they can't cover, but because they won't. It won't be a good game, though. Florida 40, Troy 14
SOUTHERN MISS AT TENNESSEE, 7 p.m., PPV
Line: Tennessee by 10.5
My guess: Tennessee played one of the more exciting games of the weekend, but they couldn't score with Cal. I'd be a bit concerned about that defense if I was a Tennessee fan. When was the last time the Vols gave up 45 points? That might be more recent than I'm guessing, but I'm not going to look it up. Southern Miss isn't terribly scary, though, considering they didn't exactly bury Division I-AA Tennessee-Martin last weekend. Despite USM having a pretty good RB in Damion Fletcher, I'm a bit surprised the spread isn't larger. Tennessee 30, Southern Miss 14
MISSISSIPPI STATE AT TULANE, 7 p.m., CSS
Line: Mississippi State by 6
My guess: I think Sylvester might have Croomed himself last Thursday, leaving Michael Henig in the game to throw a school record-tying six interceptions. Everything about that game was embarrassing. LSU didn't even try to open it up on offense, really, and still walked past MSU. With all that said, I still can't pick Tulane to repeat its 32-29 win over the Bulldogs from last year. State's defense isn't that horrible and Tulane hasn't played yet. If the Bulldogs can just do a little something on offense, I think they should win this game. Mississippi State 24, Tulane 17
SOUTH FLORIDA AT AUBURN, 9 p.m., ESPN2
Line: Auburn by 7
My guess: A lot of Auburn people are worried about this game and they should be. South Florida has beaten Louisville and West Virginia in the last two seasons, so they aren't sneaking up on anybody. Don't need to. They're dangerous...and Auburn didn't look great last weekend. Which is exactly why the Tigers will win and cover this week. They're frustrating that way. Plus, the day I pick Auburn to lose to South Florida is the day I turn in my diploma. Auburn 27, South Florida 17
VIRGINIA TECH AT LSU, 9:15 p.m., ESPN
Line: LSU by 12.5
My guess: Both of these teams' offenses looked bad last week. Thing is, I think LSU's offense will wind up being pretty decent. Virginia Tech's...not so much. You might attribute the Hokies' flat performance to all the emotion of the first game in Blacksburg since the campus shootings, but I think it's more because Sean Glennon's their quarterback and their offensive line wasn't great. That defense is pretty stout, though. I hate this spread. I'm picking LSU to win, but I don't know that I can pick the Tigers to win by 13. LSU 20, Virginia Tech 10
Mitchell to start Saturday
From the stunning, shocking and unbelievable news department, Steve Spurrier announced today that Blake Mitchell will start at quarterback for South Carolina on Saturday.
Link
Spurrier also said safety Emanuel Cook, a freshman all-SEC honoree last year, could play Saturday if he's cleared by doctors. The State reported today, though, that South Carolina secondary coach John Cooper said Cook would have a limited role Saturday, even if he's allowed to play. Also, backup QB Chris Smelley is out with a separated shoulder, meaning the QB depth chart is Mitchell, sophomore Tommy Beecher and an emergency third-stringer, true freshman Stephen Garcia.
It's been a rocky few weeks for Cook. He was suspended from school on Aug. 24 after his arrest on gun charges (he said the gun wasn't his), but he was reinstated to school and the team last Tuesday. In the days between the suspension and reinstatement, he spent the weekend in the hospital having his appendix removed because of appendicitis. He's apparently been practicing this week, but you have to figure he isn't 100 percent less than two weeks removed from an appendectomy...much less if everything's legally clear for him to make the trip. We'll see about all that.
Link
Spurrier also said safety Emanuel Cook, a freshman all-SEC honoree last year, could play Saturday if he's cleared by doctors. The State reported today, though, that South Carolina secondary coach John Cooper said Cook would have a limited role Saturday, even if he's allowed to play. Also, backup QB Chris Smelley is out with a separated shoulder, meaning the QB depth chart is Mitchell, sophomore Tommy Beecher and an emergency third-stringer, true freshman Stephen Garcia.
It's been a rocky few weeks for Cook. He was suspended from school on Aug. 24 after his arrest on gun charges (he said the gun wasn't his), but he was reinstated to school and the team last Tuesday. In the days between the suspension and reinstatement, he spent the weekend in the hospital having his appendix removed because of appendicitis. He's apparently been practicing this week, but you have to figure he isn't 100 percent less than two weeks removed from an appendectomy...much less if everything's legally clear for him to make the trip. We'll see about all that.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Talk of redshirts, Caleb King
Aside from Darryl Gamble, that vehicular menace to society, getting pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt, today was a fairly slow news day. We talked to Mark Richt before practice and watched the early part of practice like usual. No real big developments I noticed with injuries. Jason Johnson was out of a green jersey. That's all I saw, really.
We didn't have a lot to talk to the coach about today. Tempo in practice, general stuff. He was planning on going to make his annual visit with the band after practice. No offense to the Redcoats -- in fact, I was just enjoying listening to them practice "Who Are You?" (I think) by The Who here at Butts-Mehre while I was finishing up my stories for tomorrow -- but when the football coach is talking about going to visit the band after practice, it's been a quiet news day.
Oh and I almost forgot about this, after someone was asking about Fernando Velasco, I asked him about something I saw in the game. Velasco came out of the game (turned out he was having an issue with his knee brace) and Chris Davis jumped in to play center, with Clint Boling coming in at guard. Richt said Searels wanted to call a timeout until they could get Velasco back in, but it was pretty much too late, so they just let Davis roll with it and he did a pretty good job. Said he had several good plays at center and only one bad one. It doesn't sound like he's necessarily the backup center, but he took the job on the fly and apparently did a good enough job with it.
Here's what Richt had to say on how he approaches the subject of redshirting, which someone followed up by asking about where Caleb King fits into their plans for the near future:
I talk about it in general terms at times to everybody. And then it's a little bit more of a reactive thing. Some guys just tend to handle it well. Some guys might have a good talk with their position coach. I just don't want to bring up the subject if it's not an issue. If I think it's an issue, we'll talk about it. A lot of it is watching guys' body language and things like that, attitudes, effort levels. I talk to the entire team about how crucial it is to have a good look. Everybody on this team is vital, everybody has a role to play in any given year, and just play it the best you can. I was telling them if you don't like the job you have now, you need to apply enthusiasm to the one you have and usually that will help you get to where you want to go. If you pout about it or get an attitude about it, it's probably not gonna help your cause.
On what Caleb has done in practice this week:
He's working with our varsity. He's working with our No. 1 unit, our No. 1 and 2 unit. He's not on the scout team for the defense. He's with the offense right now, working and learning.
He would be behind Jason (Johnson) at this point?
Right now. Right now he's behind Jason.
On scenario it would take for Caleb to play. Injuries?:
That would definitely do it. That might not have to happen to get him in the game, but that would be the most obvious one.
Ideally, you'd like to not use him and have Kregg come back and get back in the mix...
Yeah. Again, Lumpkin's injury is not a season-ending injury, so I don't want to get Caleb going for a game or two and then all of a sudden, everything diminishes and you're like, 'Why did we do that?' So we're not gonna be in a rush to play him right now, but I'm not counting it out.
We didn't have a lot to talk to the coach about today. Tempo in practice, general stuff. He was planning on going to make his annual visit with the band after practice. No offense to the Redcoats -- in fact, I was just enjoying listening to them practice "Who Are You?" (I think) by The Who here at Butts-Mehre while I was finishing up my stories for tomorrow -- but when the football coach is talking about going to visit the band after practice, it's been a quiet news day.
Oh and I almost forgot about this, after someone was asking about Fernando Velasco, I asked him about something I saw in the game. Velasco came out of the game (turned out he was having an issue with his knee brace) and Chris Davis jumped in to play center, with Clint Boling coming in at guard. Richt said Searels wanted to call a timeout until they could get Velasco back in, but it was pretty much too late, so they just let Davis roll with it and he did a pretty good job. Said he had several good plays at center and only one bad one. It doesn't sound like he's necessarily the backup center, but he took the job on the fly and apparently did a good enough job with it.
Here's what Richt had to say on how he approaches the subject of redshirting, which someone followed up by asking about where Caleb King fits into their plans for the near future:
I talk about it in general terms at times to everybody. And then it's a little bit more of a reactive thing. Some guys just tend to handle it well. Some guys might have a good talk with their position coach. I just don't want to bring up the subject if it's not an issue. If I think it's an issue, we'll talk about it. A lot of it is watching guys' body language and things like that, attitudes, effort levels. I talk to the entire team about how crucial it is to have a good look. Everybody on this team is vital, everybody has a role to play in any given year, and just play it the best you can. I was telling them if you don't like the job you have now, you need to apply enthusiasm to the one you have and usually that will help you get to where you want to go. If you pout about it or get an attitude about it, it's probably not gonna help your cause.
On what Caleb has done in practice this week:
He's working with our varsity. He's working with our No. 1 unit, our No. 1 and 2 unit. He's not on the scout team for the defense. He's with the offense right now, working and learning.
He would be behind Jason (Johnson) at this point?
Right now. Right now he's behind Jason.
On scenario it would take for Caleb to play. Injuries?:
That would definitely do it. That might not have to happen to get him in the game, but that would be the most obvious one.
Ideally, you'd like to not use him and have Kregg come back and get back in the mix...
Yeah. Again, Lumpkin's injury is not a season-ending injury, so I don't want to get Caleb going for a game or two and then all of a sudden, everything diminishes and you're like, 'Why did we do that?' So we're not gonna be in a rush to play him right now, but I'm not counting it out.
Darryl Gamble arrested
Redshirt freshman linebacker Darryl Gamble was arrested this afternoon by UGA PD for driving without wearing a seatbelt and driving with a suspended license. Gamble, 19, was booked at 10:46 a.m. and released at noon on $1,750 bond.
My guess would be he'll not face any game punishment, but I'll ask about that in a bit.
UPDATE: Richt said he won't face game punishment. He had an unpaid ticket that eventually got paid late, but his license was suspended in the interim time. Richt said he was unaware that his license was suspended until today. At any rate, sounds like it was a "wrong place at the wrong time" situation and won't be a big deal.
My guess would be he'll not face any game punishment, but I'll ask about that in a bit.
UPDATE: Richt said he won't face game punishment. He had an unpaid ticket that eventually got paid late, but his license was suspended in the interim time. Richt said he was unaware that his license was suspended until today. At any rate, sounds like it was a "wrong place at the wrong time" situation and won't be a big deal.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
More on the no-huddle
I spoke with DT Jeff Owens and CB Bryan Evans today for the notebook item I was doing on the no-huddle offense that Oklahoma State used some and that South Carolina likely will work in as well. Georgia struggled against it in the first half -- particularly on OSU's second touchdown drive that quickly went 75 yards and ended with Dantrell Savage's 5-yard touchdown run -- before getting things together as the game rolled on. So here are a couple of quick conversations with those guys about what happened:
JEFF OWENS
On why OSU had success with it:
"You can't get the calls in fast enough because you're trying to figure out the personnel and then you're trying to figure out the strength of the offense. Really there were a lot of plays where we're standing up and they're already on the line. You just have to hurry up to get down and get set, especially if you don't have the call. That hurt us big."
On what they did to disrupt it:
"Just speed. Fly around. Even if we can't get lined around, just fly around and make plays. That'll disrupt any offense."
On what they need to improve:
"I'd say we just need to get the calls in quicker and be more prepared. We've just got to practice this week on a fast pace, so that'll help us out a lot."
On whether they expect it Saturday:
"Oh yeah, we're expecting it."
On whether defensing a no-huddle offense is tougher on the defensive line or the secondary and linebackers:
"I think it's more for us. If we can't hear the call or see the call, we can't get lined up. And if we can't get lined up, then we get gashed. We have to get lined up, so I think it's a bigger problem on us than the secondary. They can just play man, and we have to know what we're gonna do."
BRYAN EVANS
On the early difficulties against the no-huddle:
"They were moving so fast we were having to look to the sideline to get the calls, so a lot of us weren't getting the calls in time. We actually weren't set and lined up on the right people and in the right gaps, so they made some plays and took advantage of that."
On whether they were surprised by it:
"We kinda knew they were gonna go to it, but at that certain time, we just weren't prepared for it. It just happened that quick. We thought it would probably happen later in the game, but it kept working so they kept using it."
On how they turned things around:
"After a while, we just had to calm down and just line up on the side that we were gonna play. That made it easier, instead of running side to side across the field. I think that helped a lot."
On whether they expect it this week:
"I'm pretty sure they're gonna look at this film and try to execute a lot of the same plays, probably, mixed with their own plays using a no-huddle offense. Right now we're just trying to prepare for that."
On whether he feels more confident against it after ironing out some of the problems last week:
"I'm glad that it happened in the first game rather than the second game, being that the second game is a conference game. We really need this game. I'm just happy we got that out of the way and got all that situated so we can just come out and play."
JEFF OWENS
On why OSU had success with it:
"You can't get the calls in fast enough because you're trying to figure out the personnel and then you're trying to figure out the strength of the offense. Really there were a lot of plays where we're standing up and they're already on the line. You just have to hurry up to get down and get set, especially if you don't have the call. That hurt us big."
On what they did to disrupt it:
"Just speed. Fly around. Even if we can't get lined around, just fly around and make plays. That'll disrupt any offense."
On what they need to improve:
"I'd say we just need to get the calls in quicker and be more prepared. We've just got to practice this week on a fast pace, so that'll help us out a lot."
On whether they expect it Saturday:
"Oh yeah, we're expecting it."
On whether defensing a no-huddle offense is tougher on the defensive line or the secondary and linebackers:
"I think it's more for us. If we can't hear the call or see the call, we can't get lined up. And if we can't get lined up, then we get gashed. We have to get lined up, so I think it's a bigger problem on us than the secondary. They can just play man, and we have to know what we're gonna do."
BRYAN EVANS
On the early difficulties against the no-huddle:
"They were moving so fast we were having to look to the sideline to get the calls, so a lot of us weren't getting the calls in time. We actually weren't set and lined up on the right people and in the right gaps, so they made some plays and took advantage of that."
On whether they were surprised by it:
"We kinda knew they were gonna go to it, but at that certain time, we just weren't prepared for it. It just happened that quick. We thought it would probably happen later in the game, but it kept working so they kept using it."
On how they turned things around:
"After a while, we just had to calm down and just line up on the side that we were gonna play. That made it easier, instead of running side to side across the field. I think that helped a lot."
On whether they expect it this week:
"I'm pretty sure they're gonna look at this film and try to execute a lot of the same plays, probably, mixed with their own plays using a no-huddle offense. Right now we're just trying to prepare for that."
On whether he feels more confident against it after ironing out some of the problems last week:
"I'm glad that it happened in the first game rather than the second game, being that the second game is a conference game. We really need this game. I'm just happy we got that out of the way and got all that situated so we can just come out and play."
Select Richt questions, answers
I didn't transcribe every solitary second of Richt's Q/A today, but I did with what I thought I might use. Here are some of the highlights:
I thought we looked tired and the scout team had a real hard time getting lined up. (It was) just kinda sloppy. I know the season's a long grind, but I don't think we shoulda looked that tired today. But I guess there's a lot of Wednesdays that don't look good. Tonight we'll have to decide if we need to toss a few things out of the gameplan. We'll probably reduce it a little bit because some things haven't looked good for the last couple days as we tried to install it. So we'll try to simplify it a little bit, see if we can just execute well. The more things you have, usually you don't execute as well. We'll try to reduce the gameplan a little bit, hopefully execute well, protect the ball and we'll be OK.
Only four are allowed to step up for coin toss, so Marcus Howard will step back. He'll also be wearing No. 17 to honor Antavious Coates instead of his typical No. 38. Richt's thoughts:
He is gonna wear Coates' number in the ballgame. He wants to honor Coates by wearing his number so we're gonna let him wear No. 17. I don't want anybody to think we're trying to pull a fast one on anybody, so we'll announce it today. He asked if he could do it. I said, 'No problem.'
Is that because they're both from South Carolina?
I know that's part of the connection there. Every guy comes here with the same dream, to play, to hopefully win some championships and play between the hedges and just see how good you are and maybe even have a chance to play in the NFL. For a guy to never even get started, I think they all relate to that and feel for Antavious.
Did they take this injury harder than others?
It was hard for everybody because the guy has been through three surgeries since he's been here and had nothing but a great attitude. He was practicing all summer, going full-speed all summer, excited. You could see it in his eyes, how excited he was to have his opportunity, went through enough of camp for everybody to see his talent, and then for him to get hurt again, it was tough.
Is Brandon Wood at defensive end now?
We moved him back to buck and he looks good. He looks more comfortable there. By moving him and Wynn in there, it was probably too much to move inside and not enough to keep outside. Quite frankly he wanted to move back out and when he asked to move back, we said sure.
On Wood's performance at DE:
He got a tackle, played good. Just watching him in practice, I think he's really taken to that. For a guy that was really letting his body get a little bigger to move inside -- because he'd kind of known it was gonna be happening for a while -- I think he was all for it, he was fine with it, but he still moves real good. He's gonna be a good player.
On South Carolina putting a great deal of importance on this game:
It is to us too. It really is. We know the value of winning this game in the conference. Just what history has proved that the winner has had and the loser has ended up with. It's not been very good for the loser. It's been pretty prosperous for the winner, so we think it's a huge game.
On the value of having faced the no-huddle before playing South Carolina:
I'm glad we worked against it last week. You're always concerned if a team grabs momentum with tempo. That's what Okie State I thought did in the first half. They grabbed momentum by quick snapping it on us. They snapped it at least three times where we weren't even in a stance, and you can't play defense that way. We knew they could do it and you can try to simulate it all you want with a scout team. It's hard to do. The other thing is they weren't doing it much in the very beginning, and then every once in a while they'd do it. And then I think they kinda realized we really weren't doing a very good job of getting lined up, and then they just bang-bang-bang-bang on their second touchdown drive. We were like, 'We'd better get this thing straight.' There was a heightened sense of urgency at halftime, to make sure we at least got lined up and had our pads down.
On improvement vs. no-huddle in second half:
We did a lot better. I don't think they caught us with our pants down once, and we had the big hit by Miller. I actually on my coach's show, I had that as the big play of the game because I felt like that was...they were having success no-huddling, quick-snapping and all of a sudden they did it again and bang, hit 'em for a 3- or 4-yard loss. They knew we were ready and I think they said it's not worth doing anymore. They might have done it once or twice after that, but not very much.
On Katharyn's question on the coach's show becoming a regular feature:
She'll be a regular. Water girl wants to know. Did y'all see that? She's a piece of work. Actually it was a friend of mine, back who played with me at Miami. He came up for the Final Four and he thoguht of the idea actually and (I thought), 'Hey, that might work,' so hopefully people'll enjoy it. She'll ask the tough questions that I don't like you guys to ask, but I can't do much about it if she asks them.
Is she taking suggestions? Can we feed her stuff?
She probably would. But the goal is to have a question of what happened in the game. You could have generic questions all you want like what's cover two, but that's kinda boring. We're trying to get it to where something that happened in the game where might people might wonder, 'Why did you not do that?' We'll see how it goes. After a win, it's OK. After a loss, I don't know how it's gonna go. I might say, 'I'm not answering any questions.'
I thought we looked tired and the scout team had a real hard time getting lined up. (It was) just kinda sloppy. I know the season's a long grind, but I don't think we shoulda looked that tired today. But I guess there's a lot of Wednesdays that don't look good. Tonight we'll have to decide if we need to toss a few things out of the gameplan. We'll probably reduce it a little bit because some things haven't looked good for the last couple days as we tried to install it. So we'll try to simplify it a little bit, see if we can just execute well. The more things you have, usually you don't execute as well. We'll try to reduce the gameplan a little bit, hopefully execute well, protect the ball and we'll be OK.
Only four are allowed to step up for coin toss, so Marcus Howard will step back. He'll also be wearing No. 17 to honor Antavious Coates instead of his typical No. 38. Richt's thoughts:
He is gonna wear Coates' number in the ballgame. He wants to honor Coates by wearing his number so we're gonna let him wear No. 17. I don't want anybody to think we're trying to pull a fast one on anybody, so we'll announce it today. He asked if he could do it. I said, 'No problem.'
Is that because they're both from South Carolina?
I know that's part of the connection there. Every guy comes here with the same dream, to play, to hopefully win some championships and play between the hedges and just see how good you are and maybe even have a chance to play in the NFL. For a guy to never even get started, I think they all relate to that and feel for Antavious.
Did they take this injury harder than others?
It was hard for everybody because the guy has been through three surgeries since he's been here and had nothing but a great attitude. He was practicing all summer, going full-speed all summer, excited. You could see it in his eyes, how excited he was to have his opportunity, went through enough of camp for everybody to see his talent, and then for him to get hurt again, it was tough.
Is Brandon Wood at defensive end now?
We moved him back to buck and he looks good. He looks more comfortable there. By moving him and Wynn in there, it was probably too much to move inside and not enough to keep outside. Quite frankly he wanted to move back out and when he asked to move back, we said sure.
On Wood's performance at DE:
He got a tackle, played good. Just watching him in practice, I think he's really taken to that. For a guy that was really letting his body get a little bigger to move inside -- because he'd kind of known it was gonna be happening for a while -- I think he was all for it, he was fine with it, but he still moves real good. He's gonna be a good player.
On South Carolina putting a great deal of importance on this game:
It is to us too. It really is. We know the value of winning this game in the conference. Just what history has proved that the winner has had and the loser has ended up with. It's not been very good for the loser. It's been pretty prosperous for the winner, so we think it's a huge game.
On the value of having faced the no-huddle before playing South Carolina:
I'm glad we worked against it last week. You're always concerned if a team grabs momentum with tempo. That's what Okie State I thought did in the first half. They grabbed momentum by quick snapping it on us. They snapped it at least three times where we weren't even in a stance, and you can't play defense that way. We knew they could do it and you can try to simulate it all you want with a scout team. It's hard to do. The other thing is they weren't doing it much in the very beginning, and then every once in a while they'd do it. And then I think they kinda realized we really weren't doing a very good job of getting lined up, and then they just bang-bang-bang-bang on their second touchdown drive. We were like, 'We'd better get this thing straight.' There was a heightened sense of urgency at halftime, to make sure we at least got lined up and had our pads down.
On improvement vs. no-huddle in second half:
We did a lot better. I don't think they caught us with our pants down once, and we had the big hit by Miller. I actually on my coach's show, I had that as the big play of the game because I felt like that was...they were having success no-huddling, quick-snapping and all of a sudden they did it again and bang, hit 'em for a 3- or 4-yard loss. They knew we were ready and I think they said it's not worth doing anymore. They might have done it once or twice after that, but not very much.
On Katharyn's question on the coach's show becoming a regular feature:
She'll be a regular. Water girl wants to know. Did y'all see that? She's a piece of work. Actually it was a friend of mine, back who played with me at Miami. He came up for the Final Four and he thoguht of the idea actually and (I thought), 'Hey, that might work,' so hopefully people'll enjoy it. She'll ask the tough questions that I don't like you guys to ask, but I can't do much about it if she asks them.
Is she taking suggestions? Can we feed her stuff?
She probably would. But the goal is to have a question of what happened in the game. You could have generic questions all you want like what's cover two, but that's kinda boring. We're trying to get it to where something that happened in the game where might people might wonder, 'Why did you not do that?' We'll see how it goes. After a win, it's OK. After a loss, I don't know how it's gonna go. I might say, 'I'm not answering any questions.'
Few things
Marcus Howard will wear Antavious Coates' No. 17 on Saturday as a tribute to his injured teammate.
Brandon Wood is back at defensive end -- a move he wanted to make. He's playing the buck (strongside) end position.
Talked to Richt some about the no-huddle offense, which OK State used with some success and South Carolina also used some last week. He said he's glad they got some work against it last week. I'll be doing a note on it for tomorrow.
Practice was apparently sloppy today. He said the players looked tired and the scout team was having a hard time getting lined up correctly. Said they might have to take some things out of the gameplan that have looked bad in practice and aren't getting a lot better.
All for now.
Brandon Wood is back at defensive end -- a move he wanted to make. He's playing the buck (strongside) end position.
Talked to Richt some about the no-huddle offense, which OK State used with some success and South Carolina also used some last week. He said he's glad they got some work against it last week. I'll be doing a note on it for tomorrow.
Practice was apparently sloppy today. He said the players looked tired and the scout team was having a hard time getting lined up correctly. Said they might have to take some things out of the gameplan that have looked bad in practice and aren't getting a lot better.
All for now.
Handful of quotes, other stuff
There was lots of talk about the Thomas Brown-Knowshon Moreno duo carrying the lumber now without Kregg Lumpkin for at least the next couple weeks. So I'm sure you're going to see some of that in the next few days.
I got a chance to speak with Brannan Southerland, David Johnson, Tony Ball, Thomas Brown, Knowshon Moreno, Matthew Stafford, Brandon Miller, Kelin Johnson and Mike Bobo today. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Got some stuff for a story on what Tripp Chandler returning from suspension means to the offense. Will have that later this week.
Other stuff:
* Sounds like there's gonna be quite a bit of turnover in South Carolina's starting lineup...maybe as many as five starters will be different from a week ago. Steve Spurrier said Tuesday that Kevin Young will replace Lemuel Jeanpierre at right guard, Freddie Brown will replace Moe Brown at receiver and Darian Stewart will replace Stoney Woodson at safety. He hasn't said it yet, but Blake Mitchell is a heavy favorite to start at quarterback in place of Chris Smelley (who may not play after injuring his shoulder against Louisiana-Lafayette) and Dustin Lindsey might start ahead of Rodney Paulk at outside linebacker.
* I was surprised by the way Richt talked about Stafford today. Not because I disagree with him by any means, but it just surprised me that he would put that kind of stuff on the kid right now. I'm sure he has a reason for that. I'll post some more stuff he said about Matthew in a second. There was a lot about him today, I guess because last year's South Carolina game was kind of his coming-out party.
* Here's something I thought was interesting: Richt said today that when the coaches graded film, they awarded Dannell Ellerbe with 11 tackles. That's the number the NCAA would have used except for one thing -- the NCAA requires that schools turn in their official stats on Saturday night after the game, so Georgia had to (and will continue to have to) submit the stats their spotter in the pressbox totaled, rather than what the coaches tallied after reviewing film on Sunday. (Obviously the numbers the coaches can come up with after reviewing film would be more accurate than what somebody had to surmise on one live viewing). They used to be able to submit the official stats on Sunday, meaning they could have used the coaches' stats, but that's not what the NCAA wants now. So Dannell Ellerbe officially has seven tackles, rather than 11...I guess the point I'm making here is that the tackles leaders that the NCAA goes by this year will probably be incorrect all year. Anyone who's tried to keep stats live at a game knows how hard it is to get an accurate read on who makes the tackle on each play. The only way to get it close to exact is to go back and watch the film. And that's not going to happen if the stats have to be in on game day.
So with that rant over, here are a couple quotes I don't know if I'll use:
Mike Bobo's assessment of the offensive line's play vs. Oklahoma State:
"I thought we played hard up front, but we just had way too many missed assignments, one guy here or there, but we weren't really a cohesive unit up front, everybody blocking assignment-wise. But it's the first game. I thought the effort was good up front. I thought they played hard and tried to get after it, we've just got to get on the same page on a few things."
Bobo, on how much of the playcalling was meant to accommodate the new O-line:
"Just like I said going into the beginning of the season, I think we're young and we've gotta do some things that we can have success at. The worst thing I think could happen is, we're obviously gonna go three-and-out sometimes, but we want to have some positive plays and try to get it in our playmakers' hands and let them makes some plays and not put it all on Matthew and our offensive line to stay in the pocket and throw a lot of down-field routes."
CJ Byrd, on how the secondary played in the opener:
"I thought it was pretty good. I thought we played fast. I think there were a lot of errors, but our speed made up for it. It was a good offense we were playing against and the defensive line was playing great. That helped us out a lot, getting us out of big holes. We'd lose coverage and they'd get a sack, so we appreciated our defensive line for everything."
Richt on Stafford, vol. 1:
"I was very pleased with Stafford. I just watched him real close. The plays where things weren't there, he threw it away. He took a sack one time when I know he didn't want to, but he did. I don't think he made any balls that coulda or shoulda gotten picked. He did a nice job checking. It's tough for me to see sometimes from the sidelines, but I can hear Mike speaking out loud when we've got a check-with-me at the line and they're describing where he should go and that's where he went, it should be a change from one play to another and then he'd do it just the way Mike had hoped. So he just did a real nice job. He hit 75 percent of his passes and we caught 'em all...Of course we had a 25-yard pass to Moreno that got called back. So he was close to what coulda been around a 300-yard game and maybe 80-percent passing, no picks and a couple TDs. A couple passes we got tackled on the 1-yard line. Could easily have been four touchdown passes."
Richt on Stafford, vol. 2:
"I think the more you play, the better off you'll be. You can play a guy before he's ready and set him back. I don't know if we ever set him back. I think he just had to learn the hard way that you don't have to be the hero. You don't have to put the team on your back. You need to manage the game properly because turnovers are devastating in a game. I just over and over and over get back to mentioning that. It's not that way. You can't recover the field position and the momentum and usually the points that are involved in it, it's hard to overcome. I think that's the greatest lesson that he learned. And now like I said, if he just relaxes and will let it flow, he'll do great. I thought he had a very good game. I thought that was the best game of his career last game."
Richt on Thomas Brown:
"I will say I do believe the guy's better than he was a year ago. He's a better football player than he was a year ago. Some people don't understand it takes a lot of energy to return kicks, but he's also on that punt team. He's out there as a gunner. He's flying down 100 miles an hour while the ball's in the air trying to make that guy make a fair catch or to be there to make a tackle if he decides not to. That guy is going 100 miles an hour. He just loves football, he loves this team and he does everything he can to help us win and be the best he can at everything he does."
Richt on whether he had reservations about Brown playing special teams:
"I didn't want to be the guy to tell him he couldn't do it. You just don't want to do that. I think football we all know is a pretty high-risk sport. There's no medical reason why he can't do it. If he's got a burning desire to do it, that's who you want on there. You want a guy who's got a burning desire. Some guys don't belong out there because they're timid. He's not that. He's very far from that."
I got a chance to speak with Brannan Southerland, David Johnson, Tony Ball, Thomas Brown, Knowshon Moreno, Matthew Stafford, Brandon Miller, Kelin Johnson and Mike Bobo today. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Got some stuff for a story on what Tripp Chandler returning from suspension means to the offense. Will have that later this week.
Other stuff:
* Sounds like there's gonna be quite a bit of turnover in South Carolina's starting lineup...maybe as many as five starters will be different from a week ago. Steve Spurrier said Tuesday that Kevin Young will replace Lemuel Jeanpierre at right guard, Freddie Brown will replace Moe Brown at receiver and Darian Stewart will replace Stoney Woodson at safety. He hasn't said it yet, but Blake Mitchell is a heavy favorite to start at quarterback in place of Chris Smelley (who may not play after injuring his shoulder against Louisiana-Lafayette) and Dustin Lindsey might start ahead of Rodney Paulk at outside linebacker.
* I was surprised by the way Richt talked about Stafford today. Not because I disagree with him by any means, but it just surprised me that he would put that kind of stuff on the kid right now. I'm sure he has a reason for that. I'll post some more stuff he said about Matthew in a second. There was a lot about him today, I guess because last year's South Carolina game was kind of his coming-out party.
* Here's something I thought was interesting: Richt said today that when the coaches graded film, they awarded Dannell Ellerbe with 11 tackles. That's the number the NCAA would have used except for one thing -- the NCAA requires that schools turn in their official stats on Saturday night after the game, so Georgia had to (and will continue to have to) submit the stats their spotter in the pressbox totaled, rather than what the coaches tallied after reviewing film on Sunday. (Obviously the numbers the coaches can come up with after reviewing film would be more accurate than what somebody had to surmise on one live viewing). They used to be able to submit the official stats on Sunday, meaning they could have used the coaches' stats, but that's not what the NCAA wants now. So Dannell Ellerbe officially has seven tackles, rather than 11...I guess the point I'm making here is that the tackles leaders that the NCAA goes by this year will probably be incorrect all year. Anyone who's tried to keep stats live at a game knows how hard it is to get an accurate read on who makes the tackle on each play. The only way to get it close to exact is to go back and watch the film. And that's not going to happen if the stats have to be in on game day.
So with that rant over, here are a couple quotes I don't know if I'll use:
Mike Bobo's assessment of the offensive line's play vs. Oklahoma State:
"I thought we played hard up front, but we just had way too many missed assignments, one guy here or there, but we weren't really a cohesive unit up front, everybody blocking assignment-wise. But it's the first game. I thought the effort was good up front. I thought they played hard and tried to get after it, we've just got to get on the same page on a few things."
Bobo, on how much of the playcalling was meant to accommodate the new O-line:
"Just like I said going into the beginning of the season, I think we're young and we've gotta do some things that we can have success at. The worst thing I think could happen is, we're obviously gonna go three-and-out sometimes, but we want to have some positive plays and try to get it in our playmakers' hands and let them makes some plays and not put it all on Matthew and our offensive line to stay in the pocket and throw a lot of down-field routes."
CJ Byrd, on how the secondary played in the opener:
"I thought it was pretty good. I thought we played fast. I think there were a lot of errors, but our speed made up for it. It was a good offense we were playing against and the defensive line was playing great. That helped us out a lot, getting us out of big holes. We'd lose coverage and they'd get a sack, so we appreciated our defensive line for everything."
Richt on Stafford, vol. 1:
"I was very pleased with Stafford. I just watched him real close. The plays where things weren't there, he threw it away. He took a sack one time when I know he didn't want to, but he did. I don't think he made any balls that coulda or shoulda gotten picked. He did a nice job checking. It's tough for me to see sometimes from the sidelines, but I can hear Mike speaking out loud when we've got a check-with-me at the line and they're describing where he should go and that's where he went, it should be a change from one play to another and then he'd do it just the way Mike had hoped. So he just did a real nice job. He hit 75 percent of his passes and we caught 'em all...Of course we had a 25-yard pass to Moreno that got called back. So he was close to what coulda been around a 300-yard game and maybe 80-percent passing, no picks and a couple TDs. A couple passes we got tackled on the 1-yard line. Could easily have been four touchdown passes."
Richt on Stafford, vol. 2:
"I think the more you play, the better off you'll be. You can play a guy before he's ready and set him back. I don't know if we ever set him back. I think he just had to learn the hard way that you don't have to be the hero. You don't have to put the team on your back. You need to manage the game properly because turnovers are devastating in a game. I just over and over and over get back to mentioning that. It's not that way. You can't recover the field position and the momentum and usually the points that are involved in it, it's hard to overcome. I think that's the greatest lesson that he learned. And now like I said, if he just relaxes and will let it flow, he'll do great. I thought he had a very good game. I thought that was the best game of his career last game."
Richt on Thomas Brown:
"I will say I do believe the guy's better than he was a year ago. He's a better football player than he was a year ago. Some people don't understand it takes a lot of energy to return kicks, but he's also on that punt team. He's out there as a gunner. He's flying down 100 miles an hour while the ball's in the air trying to make that guy make a fair catch or to be there to make a tackle if he decides not to. That guy is going 100 miles an hour. He just loves football, he loves this team and he does everything he can to help us win and be the best he can at everything he does."
Richt on whether he had reservations about Brown playing special teams:
"I didn't want to be the guy to tell him he couldn't do it. You just don't want to do that. I think football we all know is a pretty high-risk sport. There's no medical reason why he can't do it. If he's got a burning desire to do it, that's who you want on there. You want a guy who's got a burning desire. Some guys don't belong out there because they're timid. He's not that. He's very far from that."
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
App State named FWAA team of week
I thought this was interesting because the Mountaineers are the first I-AA team to ever win this Football Writers Association weekly award -- just as they're the first I-AA team to beat a ranked I-A team. That was pretty awesome.
DALLAS (FWAA) - With their 34-32 win at Michigan, the Appalachian State Mountaineers (1-0) are the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week for games of the weekend of Sept. 1.
DALLAS (FWAA) - With their 34-32 win at Michigan, the Appalachian State Mountaineers (1-0) are the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week for games of the weekend of Sept. 1.
Julian Rauch kicked a 24-yard field goal with 26 seconds left and Corey Lynch blocked a Michigan field goal attempt in the final seconds as Appalachian State, which led, 31-20, before a late Michigan rally, pulled off the miraculous upset. It was Appalachian State's 15th straight win.
Someone said it might be one of the big victories in college football," Appalachian State head coach Jerry Moore said after the game. "It may be the biggest."
The Mountaineers, the two-time defending Division I Championship Subdivision national champions, became the first team from that division (formerly Division I-AA) to beat a ranked team from the Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A). They are also the first team from the FCS to win the honor in the six-year history of the national team of the week.
Other Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Bowl National Team of the Week nominees for the weekend of Sept. 1 included:
· California (1-0): DeSean Jackson returned a punt 77 yards for a score Justin Forsett ran for 158 yards as the Bears topped Tennessee, 45-31, to avenge a 35- 18 defeat from a year ago.
· Georgia Tech (1-0): Tashard Choice ran for 196 yards and two scores as the Ramblin' Wreck dismantled Notre Dame on the road, 33-3.
Interesting Richt quote
Richt was talking in his press conference today about how good Stafford is. Check this out:
"He's still kinda becoming what he's gonna be so to speak. It's hard to really gauge. I can gauge his talent level. I've been gauging that. He is the most talented guy, overall, that I've been able to coach. Will he be as successful as a winner, as a championship quarterback? Only time will tell. But he's got all the things that you want in a quarterback. It's just like going into last game, I felt like we prepared well and I felt like our team has got a great attitude. I was like, 'Everything seems to be just right, but we've still got to go win.' That's kinda how it is with Stafford. I think he has everything you need to win, but now we've just gotta win. He's got to win to really define himself as great."
Let's remember he coached two Heisman winners and the winningest quarterback in college football history. I'm sure you'll be reading lots of stuff based on that quote and another on how Richt thinks Stafford played his best overall game yet against Oklahoma State in tomorrow's papers.
"He's still kinda becoming what he's gonna be so to speak. It's hard to really gauge. I can gauge his talent level. I've been gauging that. He is the most talented guy, overall, that I've been able to coach. Will he be as successful as a winner, as a championship quarterback? Only time will tell. But he's got all the things that you want in a quarterback. It's just like going into last game, I felt like we prepared well and I felt like our team has got a great attitude. I was like, 'Everything seems to be just right, but we've still got to go win.' That's kinda how it is with Stafford. I think he has everything you need to win, but now we've just gotta win. He's got to win to really define himself as great."
Let's remember he coached two Heisman winners and the winningest quarterback in college football history. I'm sure you'll be reading lots of stuff based on that quote and another on how Richt thinks Stafford played his best overall game yet against Oklahoma State in tomorrow's papers.
Couple quick things
Kregg Lumpkin had surgery on his broken thumb today. He watched practice with his parents today. He should be out for a couple weeks and then they hope he can contribute on special teams. Richt figures it will be three or four weeks before he can carry the ball again.
The Western Carolina game on Sept. 15 will be carried on CSS pay-per-view and will kick off at 1 p.m. It will cost $29.99 to order.
Georgia was 13th in both the AP and coaches poll to start the season, but the Bulldogs moved up to 11th in the writers poll and 12th in the coaches.
The Western Carolina game on Sept. 15 will be carried on CSS pay-per-view and will kick off at 1 p.m. It will cost $29.99 to order.
Georgia was 13th in both the AP and coaches poll to start the season, but the Bulldogs moved up to 11th in the writers poll and 12th in the coaches.
Today in history
EDIT: An astute reader pointed out that the note in the press release I referred to was wrong. The UGA-Clemson game in 1982 was on Sept. 6, not Sept. 4. So it'll be 25 years from Thursday...
Twenty five years ago today, Georgia beat defending national champion Clemson to open the season. It was a matchup of the previous two national champions, Georgia (1980) and Clemson (1981)...
From the National Football Foundation's week in history press release:
"Sept. 4, 1982: Georgia edges Clemson 13-7 in a tussle between the two most recent national champions -Georgia in '80 and Clemson in '81. DE Stan Dooley runs back a blocked punt for the Bulldogs' lone TD of the contest while NFF College Hall of Fame PK Kevin Butler adds the decisive six points on a pair of field goals."
Twenty five years ago today, Georgia beat defending national champion Clemson to open the season. It was a matchup of the previous two national champions, Georgia (1980) and Clemson (1981)...
From the National Football Foundation's week in history press release:
"Sept. 4, 1982: Georgia edges Clemson 13-7 in a tussle between the two most recent national champions -Georgia in '80 and Clemson in '81. DE Stan Dooley runs back a blocked punt for the Bulldogs' lone TD of the contest while NFF College Hall of Fame PK Kevin Butler adds the decisive six points on a pair of field goals."
Monday, September 03, 2007
Quick Q/A with Lumpkin
Here's more than you ever wanted to know (except whether it will require surgery or how long it will keep him out) about Kregg Lumpkin's broken thumb, suffered Saturday against Oklahoma State. So now that I think about it, I guess this is not much of anything you wanted to know about the injury...(This was me and a few other writers asking the questions. Lumpkin seemed to be his typical even-keel self about the whole thing.)
What did you think had happened when it first happened?
I thought it was dislocated when I first looked at it.
When did you find out it was broken?
When I got back after the game, they took X-rays of it.
It's got to be disappointing for that to happen during your senior year.
It is (disappointing), but I've just gotta get healed up and bounce back.
How long are you expecting to be out?
I'm not sure. I'm just waiting to see if I have to have surgery or not.
When will you find out about that?
I guess after when Ron comes in after practice.
If you have surgery, then we're talking a month?
I'm not sure.
So you don't even know what the options are at this point.
No.
Do you remember the play where it happened Kregg?
I do.
What happened on the play and how did it happen?
I was running through the hole and got hit and tried to brace myself when I fell, and my thumb went into the ground at an angle.
What quarter was it that it happened?
I don't know...Third quarter I think.
This would have been your last carry of the game that it happened?
Yeah.
And the thumb popped out, is that what you said?
When I looked at it, it was leaning out of my glove.
Felt not good?
It felt kinda like a throbbing pain.
They popped it back in on the sideline?
I did it myself before I went to the side, and then they wrapped it up.
If you do have surgery, would that be a season-ending type thing?
I'm not sure.
What did you think had happened when it first happened?
I thought it was dislocated when I first looked at it.
When did you find out it was broken?
When I got back after the game, they took X-rays of it.
It's got to be disappointing for that to happen during your senior year.
It is (disappointing), but I've just gotta get healed up and bounce back.
How long are you expecting to be out?
I'm not sure. I'm just waiting to see if I have to have surgery or not.
When will you find out about that?
I guess after when Ron comes in after practice.
If you have surgery, then we're talking a month?
I'm not sure.
So you don't even know what the options are at this point.
No.
Do you remember the play where it happened Kregg?
I do.
What happened on the play and how did it happen?
I was running through the hole and got hit and tried to brace myself when I fell, and my thumb went into the ground at an angle.
What quarter was it that it happened?
I don't know...Third quarter I think.
This would have been your last carry of the game that it happened?
Yeah.
And the thumb popped out, is that what you said?
When I looked at it, it was leaning out of my glove.
Felt not good?
It felt kinda like a throbbing pain.
They popped it back in on the sideline?
I did it myself before I went to the side, and then they wrapped it up.
If you do have surgery, would that be a season-ending type thing?
I'm not sure.
Early practice note
Lumpkin was on the field with the team during flex, which I wouldn't think is a big deal. He has a black cast on his right wrist that stabilizes his broken thumb, so I can't imagine he could wrap up a football in that getup. Will try to talk to him after practice today and see what the prognosis is.
In green: Little, C. White, Boyd, Hill, Houston, J. Johnson, Stansell.
Looks like this will be a short practice, which is what I'm hoping, as I'd like to watch FSU-Clemson tonight. More later.
In green: Little, C. White, Boyd, Hill, Houston, J. Johnson, Stansell.
Looks like this will be a short practice, which is what I'm hoping, as I'd like to watch FSU-Clemson tonight. More later.
Velasco SEC OL of the Week and other stuff
Team's not practicing till 4:50 and I'm here early, so I figured I'd post a couple notes to kill some time.
First off, Georgia Fernando Velasco is this week's SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week -- in his first game at center. Georgia's OL allowed Matthew Stafford to be sacked only twice and the Bulldogs racked up 376 yards of total offense in beating Oklahoma State 35-14. The 6-foot-4, 318-pound Wrens, Ga., native also won the award last season for his work (while playing offensive guard) against Alabama-Birmingham.
Speaking of UAB, man the Fighting Neil Callaways took a licking over the weekend at Michigan State. 55-18 in East Lansing. I liked coach Callaway, so here's hoping he gets things going in Birmingham. That's a tough way to make your debut.
Georgia DE Rod Battle also made the "Notable Performances" list in the SEC's weekly press release that names the different players of the week. Battle had five tackles, half a sack and three QB pressures as UGA held OSU to 70 rushing yards (and that, in my opinion, is the key statistic of the game. They made the Cowboys one-dimensional and Bobby Reid's not a good enough pure passer to be as dangerous then).
For what it's worth, here's where some UGA guys rank nationally after one game in various statistics:
* Matthew Stafford, No. 14 in passing efficiency, 184.4 passer rating
* Matthew Stafford, No. 39 in total offense, 234 yards/game
* Mikey Henderson, No. 10 in punt return average, 22.3 yards/return
* Thomas Brown, No. 30 in kickoff return average, 26.7 yards/return
* Sean Bailey, No. 45 in receiving yards/game, 87 yards/game
* Thomas Brown, No. 63 in all-purpose yards, 135 yards/game
* Geno Atkins, T2 in tackles for loss, 3 TFL/game
First off, Georgia Fernando Velasco is this week's SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week -- in his first game at center. Georgia's OL allowed Matthew Stafford to be sacked only twice and the Bulldogs racked up 376 yards of total offense in beating Oklahoma State 35-14. The 6-foot-4, 318-pound Wrens, Ga., native also won the award last season for his work (while playing offensive guard) against Alabama-Birmingham.
Speaking of UAB, man the Fighting Neil Callaways took a licking over the weekend at Michigan State. 55-18 in East Lansing. I liked coach Callaway, so here's hoping he gets things going in Birmingham. That's a tough way to make your debut.
Georgia DE Rod Battle also made the "Notable Performances" list in the SEC's weekly press release that names the different players of the week. Battle had five tackles, half a sack and three QB pressures as UGA held OSU to 70 rushing yards (and that, in my opinion, is the key statistic of the game. They made the Cowboys one-dimensional and Bobby Reid's not a good enough pure passer to be as dangerous then).
For what it's worth, here's where some UGA guys rank nationally after one game in various statistics:
* Matthew Stafford, No. 14 in passing efficiency, 184.4 passer rating
* Matthew Stafford, No. 39 in total offense, 234 yards/game
* Mikey Henderson, No. 10 in punt return average, 22.3 yards/return
* Thomas Brown, No. 30 in kickoff return average, 26.7 yards/return
* Sean Bailey, No. 45 in receiving yards/game, 87 yards/game
* Thomas Brown, No. 63 in all-purpose yards, 135 yards/game
* Geno Atkins, T2 in tackles for loss, 3 TFL/game
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Richt Sunday presser
This is not all of Richt's sunday teleconference, but it's about 94.3 percent of it. Couldn't hear every last word exactly over the cell phone connection, so there are a couple of missing spots.
On Knowshon Moreno's performance on Saturday:
He ran with a lot of energy, like he always does, how he practices. He made some people miss out in space, where when there wasn't a lot there, he still stuck it in there and saw that little crease to get 3 or 4. Sometimes he had a linebacker unblocked that he won the human equation so to speak and drove him back a few yards after contact. Finished the runs extremely well.
On Knowshon's blocking vs. OSU:
Not bad. One time he kind of left his feet a little too soon on a cut block. He's got to learn to accelerate his feet through contact. When you make contact with the defender, if you stopped your feet, then you're definitely not gonna be a very good blocker. You've got to keep moving your feet through contact. He's got to continue to get better at that, but he had a nice game. He made a nice catch on a third-down scramble situation and actually stumbled a little bit at the end of that run, where I thought he might take it to the house. He also had a nice cut on one run where he ended up running into one of our linemen, where it looked like he might've slashed it upfield. He might could've gone the distance on that, too. So I think he's close to making some big runs.
On going 5-for-6 in red-zone opportunities:
That was very good, and they were touchdowns, that's the big thing. I think the last one, if I'm not mistaken, was maybe at the end of the game when we were just running the clock out. That was probably one of the red-zone opportunities that we didn't score on, so really in a competitive situation we were 5-for-5.
On Lumpkin's injury:
He broke his thumb. He's gonna be out a little bit, I don't know how long. He's not gonna be able to hold a ball in that hand for a while, but I don't know how long. He did break his thumb, so he's not gonna be able to carry the ball for a while.
Surgery?
That I don't know.
Does that affect Caleb's situation?
I don't know. We'll see how healthy Caleb is. He hasn't been 100 percent yet. I don't know if he's gone full-speed yet. I would think by tomorrow he will be. We'll definitely have to get him greased up and ready to go. But I think JJ, Jason Johnson, is also there and he knows the tailback position, along with Chapas -- he finished the game at tailback for us. He can do that. We'll just have to wait and see. Lumpkin is not a season-ending injury, so that probably would keep us from being in a rush with Caleb unless he's just ready to go, unless he's the best.
Which play was it where Lumpkin got hurt?
That's a good question, I don't know. I really don't know which play it was.
On how coaches work to fix special teams mishaps:
I think what happens is no matter how hard you try to simulate full speed with your scout teams, you just can't do it. It takes a little while to get used to game speed because everything's a whole lot faster with better athletes. And you do it live. You can't do your kicking every single day live. It's too violent of a play...It just takes a little getting used to. We had a special teams issue in that we didn't substitute very well and that's our fault. That's correctable, but that's also...I thought it was a poor job by us. We did let one return get to about midfield which we'll correct that either by more reps or by making a change.
On preparing for South Carolina's quarterbacks:
I think coach Spurrier's pretty much run his system every year, so whoever he plugs in is gonna run his system. I'll say he may have a guy that's just a lot more athletic than the rest and we might have to be concerned about that, but for the most part he's gonna do what he likes to do. We'll prepare more for his system than for who's gonna be in the game -- although I would think Blake's gonna be the guy.
On whether the screen passes were taking what the OSU defense was giving:
That was part of it. The other part was realizing that up front we weren't protecting all that well, really. We had to do some things that would take some pressure off that bunch. We did score 35 points. One of them was kind of a gift early in the game. But we've got a long way up front still. I think we all realize that. Part of it was that. But Mike did a very good job of taking what they gave him and also knowing that the longer we held the ball, the less Oklahoma State would hold it. That was part of the plan, too.
Does the problem require personnel changes or just more work?
It's just part of it. We pretty much played the guys that we thought we'd play. Like I said, Vance would probably play and Boling would probably play some downs that were more meaningful than the very end. We're still sitting with about seven guys we feel good about.
Did game have feel that 2006 team didn't have until Auburn?
That might be true. It was solid. And I use that word...Sometimes teams will do a bunch of things that will self-destruct and we didn't do much of any of that. We had a couple of things that could have been big. That 12 men on the field on that fourth down could have really hurt us if it was fourth-and-5 or less. We got away with that one. But I don't think there was a ball on the ground, I don't think there was any fumbles and no balls that really should have gotten picked. The defense just ran to the ball, we substituted a lot. There was no one or two true stars out there, but everybody collectively played extremely well. That's exciting, but again it's one game, we can't get too jacked. But if we can build off of what happened so far, I think we'll have a chance to be pretty good.
On good pass rush from Atkins and Howard:
They did. Defensive end, Marcus played very, very well and Roderick Battle did too. Jeremy Lomax. Those three really played well outside. And inside, just about every one of those guys, Geno was creating some problems, Jeffrey Owens was, Corvey Irvin was penetrating very well. Kade Weston, Jarius Wynn. All those guys inside I thought played well. It was very nice to be able to rotate that many guys and get that much production.
On how screen passes suit the skill players:
Well yeah, I think you want...We've got two guys right now that seem to do well at it with Mikey and Tony Wilson. Tony's a little more of a power runner. You throw some of those screens, you just need a guy that'll get yards after contact. If you do that, you'll get 3, 4, 5 yards, which is...shoot, you hand it off to your back and you get 4 or 5 yards, you're pretty happy. That kind of thing. Those screens don't necessarily have to go a long way, wide receiver screens. But all of our backs did a good job of catching out of the backfield. We had that one little quick screen to Moreno that went about 25 yards and got called back. It was a shame because our lineman was...a blitz was coming at him and he was getting ready to cut a linebacker coming at him and as he went to cut him, the defender saw the screen, turned and ran the other direction and it had the appearance that we were trying to clip the guy, but we actually whiffed. It looked like we made contact, but we didn't. Anyway, that was a shame we had that one called back. Yeah, you want to get the guys that really can make people miss, and that's what we're trying to do.
How many yards after catch last night?
It was 170-something.
Out of the 234?
Yeah. It was quite a bit.
What did you guys average last year?
I don't know.
Is that as high a percentage as you can remember?
That was pretty good. Yeah, that was very high.
On Marcus Howard and CJ Byrd biding their time to start:
Yeah, Howard more than Byrd. Byrd's still relatively young. If we'd redshirted him, he'd just be a sophomore right now. He helped us on special teams and so we know that he's into his third year and he's a junior, but kind of a young junior, I guess. But Howard's had to wait a little bit longer to get a starting role and it took us a little while to get him in a spot where he can really excel. He doesn't really have the body type that you would designate as a defensive end right away, but he's very fast and powerful. He holds up extremely well against the run and he's quick as a cat when it comes to pass rush, so he's earned it. And he's played a good bit. But gosh, we had Quentin Moses and Charles Johnson, more prototypical guys that kinda held him at bay a little bit.
On Reshad Jones' penalty:
I thought he was fortunate not to get thrown out of the game. And if you get thrown out of that game, then you miss the next game. That was some of the things I was trying to make sure he understood. First coach Martinez got a good piece of him and chewed him pretty good. What I wanted Reshad to do was to respond properly to what just happened to him. He didn't need to get bitter, he didn't need to get bent out of shape with how coach Martinez reacted to it. He needed to take it as what it was -- a foolish thing that could really hurt us and could hurt him too. I just wanted to make sure he understood that when you make a mistake like that, you're gonna hear about it and rightfully so. So now you've gotta decide how you're gonna react to it. Are you gonna get bitter about it or are you gonna learn from it? Those are some of the things I was talking to him about. Gosh, within a minute or two later in the game, he kinda walked up behind me and apologized and everything. I thought he handled it well. I think he'll learn a lesson from it.
On Chandler returning at tight end:
It was good to let Figgins get a little work and NaDerris. Even Coleman got some work. I don't think there's any question that Tripp will be our starter this week. He's paid the price and now he's back in the fold. Those guys, they're just not ready to play a real consistent ballgame like we think Tripp can. I think now that they won't be playing quite as much, you can pick your spots with them and it might be better for them to be able to succeed.
On offensive line's performance:
Not bad. Considering it was their first game, it wasn't bad. It was not by any means a dominating performance. We've got a lot of problems. We had some backs that made 'em look better than we were, we had a quarterback that probably made us look better than we were. We've just got to continue to get better. We're gonna be OK, but we've got a ways to go.
I would think so. These guys are very physical up front, strong. Southeastern Conference defenses, they're just better than everybody else's. There's a couple of defenses I'm sure around the country that could fit right in that mold, but for the most part, the best defenses in America are defenses in our league.
On Mimbs and if Butler is still on standby:
Mimbs did a good job. We felt no reason to make a change at that point and I doubt that we make any changes going into the game. We want Drew to be ready and he is. He was very...I saw him a couple times on the sideline, he was into the game. He was mentally ready. So that's probably how we're going to at least start this game.
On not trying a field goal:
We could have at the end there. We could've had a couple long attempts, but our protection on the PAT/field goal -- which will be very obvious to South Carolina -- had some holes in it. Our extra points could've gotten blocked. The quickest way to change the momentum of a game is to have a field goal blocked, scoop and score. All of a sudden, within 5 seconds, 15 seconds, they're on the board and attempting an onside kick to get it again. We just didn't think it would be wise at that point, and also our defense was playing so well. We coulda punted it and got it maybe down in there real tight, but 30-yard line, 70 yards is a long way to go. They had to do it three times to get back in it, so we felt pretty comfortable that our defense was playing well. And you hope you get the first down, which we didn't on a couple fourth-down attempts. That's something we've gotta get better at because if we absolutely had to get a first down to win the game, we weren't able to do it.
On Chapas playing tailback and fullback:
He's done both. We've been cross-training him at both because he is a pretty good runner. We wanted to make sure we have enough depth at tailback. If anything happened, we want to be able to withstand the injuries and have somebody solid....and who's capable.
Johnson too?
JJ, he can, we're training him to do both.
On Knowshon Moreno's performance on Saturday:
He ran with a lot of energy, like he always does, how he practices. He made some people miss out in space, where when there wasn't a lot there, he still stuck it in there and saw that little crease to get 3 or 4. Sometimes he had a linebacker unblocked that he won the human equation so to speak and drove him back a few yards after contact. Finished the runs extremely well.
On Knowshon's blocking vs. OSU:
Not bad. One time he kind of left his feet a little too soon on a cut block. He's got to learn to accelerate his feet through contact. When you make contact with the defender, if you stopped your feet, then you're definitely not gonna be a very good blocker. You've got to keep moving your feet through contact. He's got to continue to get better at that, but he had a nice game. He made a nice catch on a third-down scramble situation and actually stumbled a little bit at the end of that run, where I thought he might take it to the house. He also had a nice cut on one run where he ended up running into one of our linemen, where it looked like he might've slashed it upfield. He might could've gone the distance on that, too. So I think he's close to making some big runs.
On going 5-for-6 in red-zone opportunities:
That was very good, and they were touchdowns, that's the big thing. I think the last one, if I'm not mistaken, was maybe at the end of the game when we were just running the clock out. That was probably one of the red-zone opportunities that we didn't score on, so really in a competitive situation we were 5-for-5.
On Lumpkin's injury:
He broke his thumb. He's gonna be out a little bit, I don't know how long. He's not gonna be able to hold a ball in that hand for a while, but I don't know how long. He did break his thumb, so he's not gonna be able to carry the ball for a while.
Surgery?
That I don't know.
Does that affect Caleb's situation?
I don't know. We'll see how healthy Caleb is. He hasn't been 100 percent yet. I don't know if he's gone full-speed yet. I would think by tomorrow he will be. We'll definitely have to get him greased up and ready to go. But I think JJ, Jason Johnson, is also there and he knows the tailback position, along with Chapas -- he finished the game at tailback for us. He can do that. We'll just have to wait and see. Lumpkin is not a season-ending injury, so that probably would keep us from being in a rush with Caleb unless he's just ready to go, unless he's the best.
Which play was it where Lumpkin got hurt?
That's a good question, I don't know. I really don't know which play it was.
On how coaches work to fix special teams mishaps:
I think what happens is no matter how hard you try to simulate full speed with your scout teams, you just can't do it. It takes a little while to get used to game speed because everything's a whole lot faster with better athletes. And you do it live. You can't do your kicking every single day live. It's too violent of a play...It just takes a little getting used to. We had a special teams issue in that we didn't substitute very well and that's our fault. That's correctable, but that's also...I thought it was a poor job by us. We did let one return get to about midfield which we'll correct that either by more reps or by making a change.
On preparing for South Carolina's quarterbacks:
I think coach Spurrier's pretty much run his system every year, so whoever he plugs in is gonna run his system. I'll say he may have a guy that's just a lot more athletic than the rest and we might have to be concerned about that, but for the most part he's gonna do what he likes to do. We'll prepare more for his system than for who's gonna be in the game -- although I would think Blake's gonna be the guy.
On whether the screen passes were taking what the OSU defense was giving:
That was part of it. The other part was realizing that up front we weren't protecting all that well, really. We had to do some things that would take some pressure off that bunch. We did score 35 points. One of them was kind of a gift early in the game. But we've got a long way up front still. I think we all realize that. Part of it was that. But Mike did a very good job of taking what they gave him and also knowing that the longer we held the ball, the less Oklahoma State would hold it. That was part of the plan, too.
Does the problem require personnel changes or just more work?
It's just part of it. We pretty much played the guys that we thought we'd play. Like I said, Vance would probably play and Boling would probably play some downs that were more meaningful than the very end. We're still sitting with about seven guys we feel good about.
Did game have feel that 2006 team didn't have until Auburn?
That might be true. It was solid. And I use that word...Sometimes teams will do a bunch of things that will self-destruct and we didn't do much of any of that. We had a couple of things that could have been big. That 12 men on the field on that fourth down could have really hurt us if it was fourth-and-5 or less. We got away with that one. But I don't think there was a ball on the ground, I don't think there was any fumbles and no balls that really should have gotten picked. The defense just ran to the ball, we substituted a lot. There was no one or two true stars out there, but everybody collectively played extremely well. That's exciting, but again it's one game, we can't get too jacked. But if we can build off of what happened so far, I think we'll have a chance to be pretty good.
On good pass rush from Atkins and Howard:
They did. Defensive end, Marcus played very, very well and Roderick Battle did too. Jeremy Lomax. Those three really played well outside. And inside, just about every one of those guys, Geno was creating some problems, Jeffrey Owens was, Corvey Irvin was penetrating very well. Kade Weston, Jarius Wynn. All those guys inside I thought played well. It was very nice to be able to rotate that many guys and get that much production.
On how screen passes suit the skill players:
Well yeah, I think you want...We've got two guys right now that seem to do well at it with Mikey and Tony Wilson. Tony's a little more of a power runner. You throw some of those screens, you just need a guy that'll get yards after contact. If you do that, you'll get 3, 4, 5 yards, which is...shoot, you hand it off to your back and you get 4 or 5 yards, you're pretty happy. That kind of thing. Those screens don't necessarily have to go a long way, wide receiver screens. But all of our backs did a good job of catching out of the backfield. We had that one little quick screen to Moreno that went about 25 yards and got called back. It was a shame because our lineman was...a blitz was coming at him and he was getting ready to cut a linebacker coming at him and as he went to cut him, the defender saw the screen, turned and ran the other direction and it had the appearance that we were trying to clip the guy, but we actually whiffed. It looked like we made contact, but we didn't. Anyway, that was a shame we had that one called back. Yeah, you want to get the guys that really can make people miss, and that's what we're trying to do.
How many yards after catch last night?
It was 170-something.
Out of the 234?
Yeah. It was quite a bit.
What did you guys average last year?
I don't know.
Is that as high a percentage as you can remember?
That was pretty good. Yeah, that was very high.
On Marcus Howard and CJ Byrd biding their time to start:
Yeah, Howard more than Byrd. Byrd's still relatively young. If we'd redshirted him, he'd just be a sophomore right now. He helped us on special teams and so we know that he's into his third year and he's a junior, but kind of a young junior, I guess. But Howard's had to wait a little bit longer to get a starting role and it took us a little while to get him in a spot where he can really excel. He doesn't really have the body type that you would designate as a defensive end right away, but he's very fast and powerful. He holds up extremely well against the run and he's quick as a cat when it comes to pass rush, so he's earned it. And he's played a good bit. But gosh, we had Quentin Moses and Charles Johnson, more prototypical guys that kinda held him at bay a little bit.
On Reshad Jones' penalty:
I thought he was fortunate not to get thrown out of the game. And if you get thrown out of that game, then you miss the next game. That was some of the things I was trying to make sure he understood. First coach Martinez got a good piece of him and chewed him pretty good. What I wanted Reshad to do was to respond properly to what just happened to him. He didn't need to get bitter, he didn't need to get bent out of shape with how coach Martinez reacted to it. He needed to take it as what it was -- a foolish thing that could really hurt us and could hurt him too. I just wanted to make sure he understood that when you make a mistake like that, you're gonna hear about it and rightfully so. So now you've gotta decide how you're gonna react to it. Are you gonna get bitter about it or are you gonna learn from it? Those are some of the things I was talking to him about. Gosh, within a minute or two later in the game, he kinda walked up behind me and apologized and everything. I thought he handled it well. I think he'll learn a lesson from it.
On Chandler returning at tight end:
It was good to let Figgins get a little work and NaDerris. Even Coleman got some work. I don't think there's any question that Tripp will be our starter this week. He's paid the price and now he's back in the fold. Those guys, they're just not ready to play a real consistent ballgame like we think Tripp can. I think now that they won't be playing quite as much, you can pick your spots with them and it might be better for them to be able to succeed.
On offensive line's performance:
Not bad. Considering it was their first game, it wasn't bad. It was not by any means a dominating performance. We've got a lot of problems. We had some backs that made 'em look better than we were, we had a quarterback that probably made us look better than we were. We've just got to continue to get better. We're gonna be OK, but we've got a ways to go.
I would think so. These guys are very physical up front, strong. Southeastern Conference defenses, they're just better than everybody else's. There's a couple of defenses I'm sure around the country that could fit right in that mold, but for the most part, the best defenses in America are defenses in our league.
On Mimbs and if Butler is still on standby:
Mimbs did a good job. We felt no reason to make a change at that point and I doubt that we make any changes going into the game. We want Drew to be ready and he is. He was very...I saw him a couple times on the sideline, he was into the game. He was mentally ready. So that's probably how we're going to at least start this game.
On not trying a field goal:
We could have at the end there. We could've had a couple long attempts, but our protection on the PAT/field goal -- which will be very obvious to South Carolina -- had some holes in it. Our extra points could've gotten blocked. The quickest way to change the momentum of a game is to have a field goal blocked, scoop and score. All of a sudden, within 5 seconds, 15 seconds, they're on the board and attempting an onside kick to get it again. We just didn't think it would be wise at that point, and also our defense was playing so well. We coulda punted it and got it maybe down in there real tight, but 30-yard line, 70 yards is a long way to go. They had to do it three times to get back in it, so we felt pretty comfortable that our defense was playing well. And you hope you get the first down, which we didn't on a couple fourth-down attempts. That's something we've gotta get better at because if we absolutely had to get a first down to win the game, we weren't able to do it.
On Chapas playing tailback and fullback:
He's done both. We've been cross-training him at both because he is a pretty good runner. We wanted to make sure we have enough depth at tailback. If anything happened, we want to be able to withstand the injuries and have somebody solid....and who's capable.
Johnson too?
JJ, he can, we're training him to do both.
Lumpkin has a broken thumb
He's out indefinitely. Probably won't affect Caleb King unless somebody else gets hurt, although King is supposed to be back at full speed this week.
Jason Johnson and Shaun Chapas are other third-string TB options.
Tripp Chandler will start Saturday.
Said he was surprised R. Jones didn't get ejected last night after watching film. Thinks he learned a good lesson.
More later.
Jason Johnson and Shaun Chapas are other third-string TB options.
Tripp Chandler will start Saturday.
Said he was surprised R. Jones didn't get ejected last night after watching film. Thinks he learned a good lesson.
More later.
Quick thoughts
Richt's teleconference is in about 30 minutes, so I'll do more of an update later. Just a couple quick things.
* That game went about like I expected. Some media types are probably saying Oklahoma State's not as good as they were made out to be and that they were overrated and all that. That's a popular media habit that irritates the heck out of me. Build them up for days and days and then when they don't perform well, kick 'em in the nuts...Well I'll say I thought Oklahoma State had a very good offense coming into yesterday's game and I still think they have a very good offense. Georgia's defense is just a lot better.
* I hate night games. Used to love them as a student and fan because I could enjoy the gameday libations all day and the stadium, wherever I might have been, would be electric that night. But when you're covering a game, 12:30 is the best because you can talk to everybody you want to after the game and formulate your thoughts a lot better. I ran to the field to get a couple postgame quotes, asked a handful of bad questions to the people I needed to get something from, skipped Richt's postgame press conference and literally sprinted from the elevator back to the pressbox so I could get two stories and my game summary finished by deadline. If you ever wonder why writers' stuff from nightgames might not be journalistic masterpieces, no they probably weren't drinking in the pressbox. It's hard to get something in at all under those time constraints, and really hard to do it well.
* Our columnist talked to Andre from Outkast last night on the sidelines. How bout that? Apparently he's a Matthew Stafford fan. Troy wrote his column about the conversation.
* I was sitting next to Josh Kendall from our sister paper in Macon and he told me about how Adarius Bowman's parents were received last night for wearing OSU gear while attending the game with their other son, who was on a visit to UGA. It sounds like an unfortunate set of circumstances.
* Kregg Lumpkin dislocated his finger last night. We'll find out more in a bit. Andrew Williams also injured his leg while defending on a kick return and they took him out. He hobbled out of the dressing room last night. Interestingly, it looked like Fernando Velasco tweaked his knee or something and came out in a third-quarter series. Apparently the contingency plan in such a situation is for Chris Davis to slide over to center and for Clint Boling to replace him at guard. That's what happened then, anyway.
* Went 9-2 straight-up, but only 5-5 against the spread on the SEC picks. Another sterling performance.
That's all for now. We'll see if Richt has anything to say in a bit. I'll come back and post whatever relevant details that need posting later.
* That game went about like I expected. Some media types are probably saying Oklahoma State's not as good as they were made out to be and that they were overrated and all that. That's a popular media habit that irritates the heck out of me. Build them up for days and days and then when they don't perform well, kick 'em in the nuts...Well I'll say I thought Oklahoma State had a very good offense coming into yesterday's game and I still think they have a very good offense. Georgia's defense is just a lot better.
* I hate night games. Used to love them as a student and fan because I could enjoy the gameday libations all day and the stadium, wherever I might have been, would be electric that night. But when you're covering a game, 12:30 is the best because you can talk to everybody you want to after the game and formulate your thoughts a lot better. I ran to the field to get a couple postgame quotes, asked a handful of bad questions to the people I needed to get something from, skipped Richt's postgame press conference and literally sprinted from the elevator back to the pressbox so I could get two stories and my game summary finished by deadline. If you ever wonder why writers' stuff from nightgames might not be journalistic masterpieces, no they probably weren't drinking in the pressbox. It's hard to get something in at all under those time constraints, and really hard to do it well.
* Our columnist talked to Andre from Outkast last night on the sidelines. How bout that? Apparently he's a Matthew Stafford fan. Troy wrote his column about the conversation.
* I was sitting next to Josh Kendall from our sister paper in Macon and he told me about how Adarius Bowman's parents were received last night for wearing OSU gear while attending the game with their other son, who was on a visit to UGA. It sounds like an unfortunate set of circumstances.
* Kregg Lumpkin dislocated his finger last night. We'll find out more in a bit. Andrew Williams also injured his leg while defending on a kick return and they took him out. He hobbled out of the dressing room last night. Interestingly, it looked like Fernando Velasco tweaked his knee or something and came out in a third-quarter series. Apparently the contingency plan in such a situation is for Chris Davis to slide over to center and for Clint Boling to replace him at guard. That's what happened then, anyway.
* Went 9-2 straight-up, but only 5-5 against the spread on the SEC picks. Another sterling performance.
That's all for now. We'll see if Richt has anything to say in a bit. I'll come back and post whatever relevant details that need posting later.
Full UGA-Okla State gamer
I tend to write long anyway, but I'm using a word processing program these days that doesn't have a word counter on it...so sometimes I can't tell when I've written something that's far too long for the space we're likely to have planned for a story in the paper...such was the case last night when I turned in this way-too-long gamer for the UGA-Okla State gamer. As a result, what ran was about 60 percent of what I wrote. My own fault. But I figured I'd post the whole thing here just in case somebody wanted to read it.
dc
ATHENS, Ga. -- Which team was supposed to have the best offense in the world?
Oklahoma State's marketing department may have given the Cowboys' offense that lofty title, but they were largely overshadowed by Matthew Stafford and Georgia's offense in a 35-14 defeat Saturday night at Sanford Stadium.
Georgia moved the ball effectively all evening and outgained the Cowboys 376-266. In case you'd forgotten, it was Georgia that was 90th in the nation in total offense last year, while the Cowboys were 16th with more than 400 yards per game.
"We were looking forward to coming down here to find out about ourselves and we found out we are not ready for the big-time," Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said.
With a new season came a new swagger from a Bulldog offense that was often shaky a year ago. Gone were the costly turnovers, the failures to convert in key third-down situations, the uncertainties that plagued Georgia's passing game for much of the 2006 season.
"It's like night and day for me," Stafford said. "I just feel a whole lot more confident and I think the whole team does. We're ready to go."
Stafford showed poise in completing 18 of 24 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns, hitting nine different receivers -- including Shaw grad Bruce Figgins and receiver Michael Moore with touchdowns in their first career receptions.
He hit senior Sean Bailey with five passes for 87 yards -- both career highs -- and redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno ran 20 times for 70 yards and caught two passes for 51.
And don't forget the Georgia defense's role in the win. The Bulldogs sacked OSU quarterback Bobby Reid five times and harrassed him into several incompletions, stifling an offense that was one of only two to average both 200 yards rushing and passing a year ago.
The Bulldogs expected OSU to force the run more than they did. Jordan High product Dantrell Savage ran 10 times for 55 yards -- including a somersaulting 5-yard touchdown in the second quarter that cut Georgia's halftime lead to 21-14. Keith Toston had 11 carries for 44 yards and Reid had 10 for minus-21.
"I didn't realize they were gonna pass as much. I thought they were gonna run the option a lot more," Georgia defensive end Rod Battle said. "From a defensive end standpoint, that was our main goal, to stop the option. But as it turned out, we ended up pressuring the quarterback a lot too."
Under heavy pressure all night, about the only thing Reid was able to do with his legs was avoid more sacks. By taking away Reid's ability to run, the Bulldogs also limited his effectiveness in the passing game. He finished 16-for-30 for 191 yards and a 20-yard touchdown in the first quarter to Adarius Bowman. He was also intercepted once by Georgia's Kelin Johnson, who ended any hope the Cowboys might have had for a comeback with the fourth-down pick he returned 41 yards to the OSU 37.
Bowman caught the touchdown and a key 28-yard completion to set up Savage's score, but those were the only big plays the all-America candidate accounted for. He finished with four receptions for 65 yards.
"I thought we got out-coached and out-played and that's that. It hurts," Bowman said. "All around, they beat us up and down."
The Bulldogs scored on their first offensive play of the season -- on a 14-yard run by Thomas Brown, one of two Brown touchdowns -- thanks to great field position after an Oklahoma State mishap.
After a three-and-out on the Cowboys' first possession, Zach Allen's snap sailed over Matt Fodge's head and he tracked it down at his own 14. By the time he squared to punt, Georgia's Mohamed Massaquoi hammered him for a 20-yard loss, setting up Brown's scoring run on the next play.
It was another special teams play that put the win away in the fourth quarter. Mikey Henderson fielded a Fodge punt at his own 13 and retreated to his own 5 before finding a wall and working his way down the Oklahoma State sideline for a 63-yard return deep into OSU territory.
Stafford capitalized on the opportunity, hitting Moore with a 9-yard scoring pass that put the Bulldogs up by three touchdowns and pushed the Cowboys deep into the corner.
"If they had any chance, that was it," Henderson said. "It took time off the clock, we punched it in again and I think that pretty much made it tougher for them."
Henderson also nearly equaled his season total for catches last year, four, by catching three passes for 28 yards. That was part of a quick-hit offensive scheme that helped Georgia's all-new offensive line get its feet on the ground and utilized the playmaking ability of the Bulldogs' receivers.
"It was a little bit of both," Stafford said. "We've got guys on the edge that can catch it and run. Mikey Henderson, we try to throw it to him and say, 'Here's a punt return, go.' So we're trying to do a bunch of stuff like that and mix it up."
That they did, with new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo at the controls. In many ways, the Bulldogs' attack was reminiscient of that of another notable Southeastern Conference playcaller, South Carolina's Steve Spurrier.
Coincidentally, it's Spurrier's Gamecocks who will visit Sanford Stadium on Saturday.
dc
ATHENS, Ga. -- Which team was supposed to have the best offense in the world?
Oklahoma State's marketing department may have given the Cowboys' offense that lofty title, but they were largely overshadowed by Matthew Stafford and Georgia's offense in a 35-14 defeat Saturday night at Sanford Stadium.
Georgia moved the ball effectively all evening and outgained the Cowboys 376-266. In case you'd forgotten, it was Georgia that was 90th in the nation in total offense last year, while the Cowboys were 16th with more than 400 yards per game.
"We were looking forward to coming down here to find out about ourselves and we found out we are not ready for the big-time," Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said.
With a new season came a new swagger from a Bulldog offense that was often shaky a year ago. Gone were the costly turnovers, the failures to convert in key third-down situations, the uncertainties that plagued Georgia's passing game for much of the 2006 season.
"It's like night and day for me," Stafford said. "I just feel a whole lot more confident and I think the whole team does. We're ready to go."
Stafford showed poise in completing 18 of 24 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns, hitting nine different receivers -- including Shaw grad Bruce Figgins and receiver Michael Moore with touchdowns in their first career receptions.
He hit senior Sean Bailey with five passes for 87 yards -- both career highs -- and redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno ran 20 times for 70 yards and caught two passes for 51.
And don't forget the Georgia defense's role in the win. The Bulldogs sacked OSU quarterback Bobby Reid five times and harrassed him into several incompletions, stifling an offense that was one of only two to average both 200 yards rushing and passing a year ago.
The Bulldogs expected OSU to force the run more than they did. Jordan High product Dantrell Savage ran 10 times for 55 yards -- including a somersaulting 5-yard touchdown in the second quarter that cut Georgia's halftime lead to 21-14. Keith Toston had 11 carries for 44 yards and Reid had 10 for minus-21.
"I didn't realize they were gonna pass as much. I thought they were gonna run the option a lot more," Georgia defensive end Rod Battle said. "From a defensive end standpoint, that was our main goal, to stop the option. But as it turned out, we ended up pressuring the quarterback a lot too."
Under heavy pressure all night, about the only thing Reid was able to do with his legs was avoid more sacks. By taking away Reid's ability to run, the Bulldogs also limited his effectiveness in the passing game. He finished 16-for-30 for 191 yards and a 20-yard touchdown in the first quarter to Adarius Bowman. He was also intercepted once by Georgia's Kelin Johnson, who ended any hope the Cowboys might have had for a comeback with the fourth-down pick he returned 41 yards to the OSU 37.
Bowman caught the touchdown and a key 28-yard completion to set up Savage's score, but those were the only big plays the all-America candidate accounted for. He finished with four receptions for 65 yards.
"I thought we got out-coached and out-played and that's that. It hurts," Bowman said. "All around, they beat us up and down."
The Bulldogs scored on their first offensive play of the season -- on a 14-yard run by Thomas Brown, one of two Brown touchdowns -- thanks to great field position after an Oklahoma State mishap.
After a three-and-out on the Cowboys' first possession, Zach Allen's snap sailed over Matt Fodge's head and he tracked it down at his own 14. By the time he squared to punt, Georgia's Mohamed Massaquoi hammered him for a 20-yard loss, setting up Brown's scoring run on the next play.
It was another special teams play that put the win away in the fourth quarter. Mikey Henderson fielded a Fodge punt at his own 13 and retreated to his own 5 before finding a wall and working his way down the Oklahoma State sideline for a 63-yard return deep into OSU territory.
Stafford capitalized on the opportunity, hitting Moore with a 9-yard scoring pass that put the Bulldogs up by three touchdowns and pushed the Cowboys deep into the corner.
"If they had any chance, that was it," Henderson said. "It took time off the clock, we punched it in again and I think that pretty much made it tougher for them."
Henderson also nearly equaled his season total for catches last year, four, by catching three passes for 28 yards. That was part of a quick-hit offensive scheme that helped Georgia's all-new offensive line get its feet on the ground and utilized the playmaking ability of the Bulldogs' receivers.
"It was a little bit of both," Stafford said. "We've got guys on the edge that can catch it and run. Mikey Henderson, we try to throw it to him and say, 'Here's a punt return, go.' So we're trying to do a bunch of stuff like that and mix it up."
That they did, with new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo at the controls. In many ways, the Bulldogs' attack was reminiscient of that of another notable Southeastern Conference playcaller, South Carolina's Steve Spurrier.
Coincidentally, it's Spurrier's Gamecocks who will visit Sanford Stadium on Saturday.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Pregame stuff
Nothing especially shocking about pregame warmups. FB Jason Johnson and CB Donavon Baldwin are not dressed out. TE Coleman Watson stretched with the starters in flex line, but I'm not sure whether you should read anything into that. I saw another kid not dressed out and had to borroy some binoculars to see who it was, and then I saw it was Antavious Coates and I felt bad for the kid all over again. When the team all gathered around Richt before breaking into position drills a minute ago, Coates jumped in with them, waving a towel the whole time. That was cool to watch and sad all at the same time.
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