Things have been pretty busy the last couple days and I've been without Internet access while starting my move back to Columbus. I came back to Athens today since the team held its first practice since the GT game.
Anyway, we spoke with coach Richt before practice and things seem to be going OK. He thought Kregg Lumpkin would be able to get out there and run around. (They weren't going to have contact). He didn't think Coutu's injury was especially serious and he should be able to practice soon, he thought. Sean Bailey had a minor procedure today to clean up his knee. Should be able to play in the bowl. Said Knowshon is fine.
Also, he said Bo Fowler has been snapping on extra points for the last month, so Jeff Henson's replacement in the bowl will have had some game experience. I'll transcribe it tomorrow, but I'm a bit worn out today.
Posting should be a bit slow over the next week or two until they start practicing regularly again. I'll be back and forth between here and Columbus and it doesn't sound like the team will practice but a handful of times between now and graduation in two Saturdays. I'll still get my football coverage fix in the next couple days with the Athens Academy-Brookstone/SEC Championship Game doubleheader.
Seriously, if anybody who's into those two high school teams reads this, I'd love it if you'd e-mail me a scouting report if you have a sec or just post it in the comments section. It's always good to have a halfway decent idea of what to expect...
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Georgia No. 3 most-valuable football program
The National Football Foundation sends out a notebook each week of various little nuggets to members of the Football Writers Association. I always scan it to see if there's anything in there that might be worth writing about.
Today, there was mention of a recent Forbes magazine study that evaluated the most valuable football programs in the nation. Georgia ranked third. I started to read the story and realized it's the kind of thing my dad likes to read -- and the kind of thing that gives me a headache.
But I thought some of you might enjoy it if you haven't seen it already. The top 20 is as follows:
1. Notre Dame -- $101 million value
2. Texas -- $92 million
3. Georgia -- $90 million
4. Michigan -- $85 million
5. Florida -- $84 million
6. LSU -- $76 million
7. Tennessee -- $74 million
8. Auburn -- $73 million
9. Alabama -- $72 million
10. Ohio State -- $71 million
11. Oklahoma -- $70 million
12. South Carolina -- $69 million
13. Penn State -- $69 million
14. Southern Cal -- $53 million
15. Arkansas -- $53 million
16. Texas A&M -- $50 million
17. Washington -- $50 million
18. Nebraska -- $49 million
19. Michigan State -- $44 million
20. Wisconsin -- $43 million
Here's a link to the story.
Today, there was mention of a recent Forbes magazine study that evaluated the most valuable football programs in the nation. Georgia ranked third. I started to read the story and realized it's the kind of thing my dad likes to read -- and the kind of thing that gives me a headache.
But I thought some of you might enjoy it if you haven't seen it already. The top 20 is as follows:
1. Notre Dame -- $101 million value
2. Texas -- $92 million
3. Georgia -- $90 million
4. Michigan -- $85 million
5. Florida -- $84 million
6. LSU -- $76 million
7. Tennessee -- $74 million
8. Auburn -- $73 million
9. Alabama -- $72 million
10. Ohio State -- $71 million
11. Oklahoma -- $70 million
12. South Carolina -- $69 million
13. Penn State -- $69 million
14. Southern Cal -- $53 million
15. Arkansas -- $53 million
16. Texas A&M -- $50 million
17. Washington -- $50 million
18. Nebraska -- $49 million
19. Michigan State -- $44 million
20. Wisconsin -- $43 million
Here's a link to the story.
Texas A&M settles on Sherman
Whether Tommy Tuberville is staying at Auburn after this season, I don't know. But it doesn't appear as though he'll be leaving the Plains for College Station.
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Texas A&M will announce Mike Sherman as its new head coach on Monday. The Houston Texans assistant was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 2000-05 and has served as an A&M assistant in two separate stints. The one year between Sherman's stints there, 1994, was the one year Tuberville was the Aggies' defensive coordinator.
Link
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Texas A&M will announce Mike Sherman as its new head coach on Monday. The Houston Texans assistant was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 2000-05 and has served as an A&M assistant in two separate stints. The one year between Sherman's stints there, 1994, was the one year Tuberville was the Aggies' defensive coordinator.
Link
Henson arrested
It appears as though Georgia snapper Jeff Henson was arrested for driving under the influence and driving the wrong way on a one-way roadway early Sunday morning. Henson, 25, was arrested and booked by Athens-Clarke County police at 2:37 a.m. and released at 3:36 a.m. on $2,000 bond from Confidential Bonding Co.
Richt Sunday teleconference quotes
Here is most of the 20-minute teleconference. There might have been a question or two that I had no use whatsoever to type out.
On possibly practicing once a week until bowl practice starts:
I’m gonna consider that, even though the coaches are on the road recruiting, we might be able to get one or two to stick around and get a little work done.
On team's seemingly sunny attitude despite not getting to play in Atlanta:
We’re very thankful for what we have. We know we’ve had a wonderful season and we want to finish off on a real strong note. We know we’ll be playing against a really great opponent, we’ll be at a great bowl. It’ll be a great experience for our guys.
On still possibly playing in the BCS title game and whether he'll be watching Missouri and West Virginia's games:
I don’t know if I’ll be glued to a television – I’m not sure if I could stand that – but I’m sure we’ll all be mindful of it and hopeful that we get that chance. The bottom line is, the way college football is nowadays, everybody does have an opportunity to beat the next team. So there’s nothing in the bank. Everybody was predicting all these other scenarios and just about every one of them have gotten blown up to this point. So there’s always a chance, but I’m not gonna get my hopes too high.
On whether he's excited by the possibility of playing in the Rose Bowl:
Oh yeah. To go to the Rose Bowl would be a lot of fun just because, as you say, it’s one game that I have not personally been able to go to. Been to all the rest, although all of them are tremendous opportunities. But just purely from a chance to do something you’ve never done before, I would say that would be fun.
On Knowshon possibly being injured on Saturday:
I don’t know exactly what it was, but you could tell that he was not feeling well – not necessarily being sick, but I don’t know if it was his shoulder or what, he won’t say anything during the game and he didn’t really ever come out just holding onto something, but you could tell he looked like something was at least stinging a little bit. But my gosh, if you run into somebody real hard, it’s gonna hurt and usually after a while, it goes away. If you run full speed into the door, those muscles that get hit are gonna hurt for a while and usually it just subsides and you go back if you’re tough enough – and he’s certainly that.
On whether the 2-point pass to Kenneth Harris was the same one they ran against Tech at the end of the game last year:
It was a variation of it. We wanted to make sure we had a third option there. And that may have been exactly the way it was designed before, but we felt like there was a good chance it went to the third option. So I guess we repped it more with that in mind.
On Geno Atkins' season:
Just to play him as a true freshman, he was a little bit more advanced than the guys coming in, so we had confidence in that. And then the guy, even in camp, even in spring, was really doing some good things. You watch him just in the individual pass rush drills and all and he’s just running people back into the quarterback. It’s just what he does every day in practice. It wasn’t that surprising to me that he had a big year.
On what he'll do Saturday, whether he'll go to LSU-Tennessee game:
It just all depends. We may have some recruiting going on. Sometimes you have that. I don’t go do the Dome. Wouldn’t be able to stand that, unless my wife wanted to go.
On Brandon Coutu's hamstring injury:
Ron felt like Brandon’s hamstring is not a real serious hamstring pull. It was certainly pulled enough to where he couldn’t go anymore. A lot of times a hamstring can get right in just a week or two and Ron’s hoping that’ll be the case. He’s feeling confident to say he’ll kick in the bowl.
Asked for clarification on Knowshon's injury:
I have no idea. I don’t even know if he’s got an injury. Like I said, you’ll see a guy get hit real hard or hit somebody real hard, he’s carrying the ball and a lot of guys are trying to drill him. You take a helmet on the bicep or tricep or middle of the back or whatever – he pops up and isn’t gonna show anything – but a couple times as he got closer to the sideline or into the sideline, into our bench area, he looked like he was a little bit banged up, but I don’t think there’s anything serious. Ron woulda told me if there was.
On whether he was surprised to move up to No. 4 in BCS:
No, not with what happened. You had Arizona State losing, Kansas lost, and then LSU, and we were seven, right? So that made sense to me.
On whether it makes sense to him that UGA might wind up ranked ahead of the SEC champion:
It does because it’s just the way…I’ve seen that type of thing happen before. We saw Oklahoma lost their championship game and then played for the national championship on year, didn’t they? So just about anything I guess could happen.
On whether finding out about the Tennessee-Kentucky game might have affected the game against Georgia Tech:
I don’t know. If you knew you were 100 percent in the SEC championship game, I was gonna actually try to use it as a motivating factor in between the third and fourth quarter, but I wanted to check to make sure that was the truth and found out that it was not, so I’m glad I double checked before I called everybody up and talked to them about that.
On the recruiting benefit of the exposure from playing in the BCS:
It’s great. We’re right in the middle of a lot of the national talk and maybe not the national championship game, although we’re kind of a dark horse there. People are still making some mention of us, that there’s still that possibility, so that’s good for us. The BCS games get an awful lot of media attention for the longest time throughout the bowl season, so that’ll be good for us too. You know, our class is pretty much set. There may be a change here or there, but not much, and we’re not even allowed to talk to juniors at this point. But all the attention is very good for our program.
On what they do in recruiting right now:
You want to hold onto what you got, and if there’s one or two out there still that you’re working on, you hope to nail that down. And when you have this much time, which we may have, not having to chase 50 to get 25, we may have to chase 26 to get 25 or whatever, it ought to give us more time to do some evaluating of some juniors and get ahead of the game. Back in the old days – and I say the old days, not too long ago – back in the spring, we’d go searching for juniors for the next year’s class, and we’re gonna be able to get some of that work done now, which is not bad. They’ve had their junior season. Most of them, their seasons are over right now, so there’s a lot to evaluate. So I think we’ll definitely be able to get a little bit ahead of the next year’s class, also.
On whether Chan Gailey's situation at Tech might affect Georgia's recruiting:
We’re really just about done.
On Kregg Lumpkin playing in the bowl:
We really believe he will be able to play. We thought he coulda played next week if we were able to play for the SEC, so I don’t think there’s any question he’ll be able to play in the bowl game and that’ll be great to see, definitely.
On whether he'll be able to sleep now (he commented recently that he hasn't been able to sleep well since the Florida game):
Even last night, I couldn’t hardly sleep. It was probably 1:30 before I finally went to bed and I popped up about 5:30 and went back to bed till about 6:30 and after that I was done. So it’s too late for a nap today.
More on that:
I would think so. Once everything kinda dies down from the excitement of the season, I think we’ll be able to sleep a little bit better. The thing is, you don’t sleep when you win, I don’t sleep when we lose either. We always say we’ll sleep when the season’s over, so that’s what we’ll try to do.
On whether he has heard anything about one of his assistant coaches getting attention over one of the vacant coaching jobs:
Not yet. It may happen. We’ve got some great coaches and I wouldn’t be surprised to see if someone gets some attention, but I’ve not heard anything at all at this point.
On possibly practicing once a week until bowl practice starts:
I’m gonna consider that, even though the coaches are on the road recruiting, we might be able to get one or two to stick around and get a little work done.
On team's seemingly sunny attitude despite not getting to play in Atlanta:
We’re very thankful for what we have. We know we’ve had a wonderful season and we want to finish off on a real strong note. We know we’ll be playing against a really great opponent, we’ll be at a great bowl. It’ll be a great experience for our guys.
On still possibly playing in the BCS title game and whether he'll be watching Missouri and West Virginia's games:
I don’t know if I’ll be glued to a television – I’m not sure if I could stand that – but I’m sure we’ll all be mindful of it and hopeful that we get that chance. The bottom line is, the way college football is nowadays, everybody does have an opportunity to beat the next team. So there’s nothing in the bank. Everybody was predicting all these other scenarios and just about every one of them have gotten blown up to this point. So there’s always a chance, but I’m not gonna get my hopes too high.
On whether he's excited by the possibility of playing in the Rose Bowl:
Oh yeah. To go to the Rose Bowl would be a lot of fun just because, as you say, it’s one game that I have not personally been able to go to. Been to all the rest, although all of them are tremendous opportunities. But just purely from a chance to do something you’ve never done before, I would say that would be fun.
On Knowshon possibly being injured on Saturday:
I don’t know exactly what it was, but you could tell that he was not feeling well – not necessarily being sick, but I don’t know if it was his shoulder or what, he won’t say anything during the game and he didn’t really ever come out just holding onto something, but you could tell he looked like something was at least stinging a little bit. But my gosh, if you run into somebody real hard, it’s gonna hurt and usually after a while, it goes away. If you run full speed into the door, those muscles that get hit are gonna hurt for a while and usually it just subsides and you go back if you’re tough enough – and he’s certainly that.
On whether the 2-point pass to Kenneth Harris was the same one they ran against Tech at the end of the game last year:
It was a variation of it. We wanted to make sure we had a third option there. And that may have been exactly the way it was designed before, but we felt like there was a good chance it went to the third option. So I guess we repped it more with that in mind.
On Geno Atkins' season:
Just to play him as a true freshman, he was a little bit more advanced than the guys coming in, so we had confidence in that. And then the guy, even in camp, even in spring, was really doing some good things. You watch him just in the individual pass rush drills and all and he’s just running people back into the quarterback. It’s just what he does every day in practice. It wasn’t that surprising to me that he had a big year.
On what he'll do Saturday, whether he'll go to LSU-Tennessee game:
It just all depends. We may have some recruiting going on. Sometimes you have that. I don’t go do the Dome. Wouldn’t be able to stand that, unless my wife wanted to go.
On Brandon Coutu's hamstring injury:
Ron felt like Brandon’s hamstring is not a real serious hamstring pull. It was certainly pulled enough to where he couldn’t go anymore. A lot of times a hamstring can get right in just a week or two and Ron’s hoping that’ll be the case. He’s feeling confident to say he’ll kick in the bowl.
Asked for clarification on Knowshon's injury:
I have no idea. I don’t even know if he’s got an injury. Like I said, you’ll see a guy get hit real hard or hit somebody real hard, he’s carrying the ball and a lot of guys are trying to drill him. You take a helmet on the bicep or tricep or middle of the back or whatever – he pops up and isn’t gonna show anything – but a couple times as he got closer to the sideline or into the sideline, into our bench area, he looked like he was a little bit banged up, but I don’t think there’s anything serious. Ron woulda told me if there was.
On whether he was surprised to move up to No. 4 in BCS:
No, not with what happened. You had Arizona State losing, Kansas lost, and then LSU, and we were seven, right? So that made sense to me.
On whether it makes sense to him that UGA might wind up ranked ahead of the SEC champion:
It does because it’s just the way…I’ve seen that type of thing happen before. We saw Oklahoma lost their championship game and then played for the national championship on year, didn’t they? So just about anything I guess could happen.
On whether finding out about the Tennessee-Kentucky game might have affected the game against Georgia Tech:
I don’t know. If you knew you were 100 percent in the SEC championship game, I was gonna actually try to use it as a motivating factor in between the third and fourth quarter, but I wanted to check to make sure that was the truth and found out that it was not, so I’m glad I double checked before I called everybody up and talked to them about that.
On the recruiting benefit of the exposure from playing in the BCS:
It’s great. We’re right in the middle of a lot of the national talk and maybe not the national championship game, although we’re kind of a dark horse there. People are still making some mention of us, that there’s still that possibility, so that’s good for us. The BCS games get an awful lot of media attention for the longest time throughout the bowl season, so that’ll be good for us too. You know, our class is pretty much set. There may be a change here or there, but not much, and we’re not even allowed to talk to juniors at this point. But all the attention is very good for our program.
On what they do in recruiting right now:
You want to hold onto what you got, and if there’s one or two out there still that you’re working on, you hope to nail that down. And when you have this much time, which we may have, not having to chase 50 to get 25, we may have to chase 26 to get 25 or whatever, it ought to give us more time to do some evaluating of some juniors and get ahead of the game. Back in the old days – and I say the old days, not too long ago – back in the spring, we’d go searching for juniors for the next year’s class, and we’re gonna be able to get some of that work done now, which is not bad. They’ve had their junior season. Most of them, their seasons are over right now, so there’s a lot to evaluate. So I think we’ll definitely be able to get a little bit ahead of the next year’s class, also.
On whether Chan Gailey's situation at Tech might affect Georgia's recruiting:
We’re really just about done.
On Kregg Lumpkin playing in the bowl:
We really believe he will be able to play. We thought he coulda played next week if we were able to play for the SEC, so I don’t think there’s any question he’ll be able to play in the bowl game and that’ll be great to see, definitely.
On whether he'll be able to sleep now (he commented recently that he hasn't been able to sleep well since the Florida game):
Even last night, I couldn’t hardly sleep. It was probably 1:30 before I finally went to bed and I popped up about 5:30 and went back to bed till about 6:30 and after that I was done. So it’s too late for a nap today.
More on that:
I would think so. Once everything kinda dies down from the excitement of the season, I think we’ll be able to sleep a little bit better. The thing is, you don’t sleep when you win, I don’t sleep when we lose either. We always say we’ll sleep when the season’s over, so that’s what we’ll try to do.
On whether he has heard anything about one of his assistant coaches getting attention over one of the vacant coaching jobs:
Not yet. It may happen. We’ve got some great coaches and I wouldn’t be surprised to see if someone gets some attention, but I’ve not heard anything at all at this point.
Master Coaches Poll 11/25
This is the first poll I've seen where Georgia didn't rank fourth. I can see the 4/5 thing having gone either way. LSU has lost twice this year, both times in overtime. The master coaches penalized LSU less than the other pollsters, which I think is correct. There's no way Kansas should be ranked ahead of LSU. Whether LSU should be ahead of Georgia, I don't know. I probably would put Georgia ahead, but I don't have terribly strong feelings about that.
I think Georgia and USC are playing the best of anybody right now. Unfortunately it's not about that in college football. It's about where you were ranked before the season started, that you took care of business early as well as late and whether big media is willing to jump on your bandwagon. That's why college football, as much as I enjoy it, is a seriously flawed game.
* 1. Missouri (12)
* 2. West Virginia (1)
* 3. Ohio State (4)
* 4. LSU
* 5. Georgia
* 6. Oklahoma
* 7. Kansas
* 8. Virginia Tech
* 9. USC
* 10. Florida
* 11. Hawaii
* 12. Boston College
* 13. Illinois
* 14. Tennessee
* 15. Arizona State
* 16. Wisconsin
* 17. Clemson
* 18. Texas
* 19. Virginia
* 20. Oregon
* 21. Cincinnati
* 22. Boise State
* 23. BYU
* 24. Auburn
* 25. Texas Tech
Other teams receiving votes ... Arkansas 35, South Florida 24, Kentucky 20, Michigan 13, Connecticut 11, Penn State 5, UCLA 1, Air Force 1
Dropped from last week's poll ... Connecticut, Michigan
I think Georgia and USC are playing the best of anybody right now. Unfortunately it's not about that in college football. It's about where you were ranked before the season started, that you took care of business early as well as late and whether big media is willing to jump on your bandwagon. That's why college football, as much as I enjoy it, is a seriously flawed game.
* 1. Missouri (12)
* 2. West Virginia (1)
* 3. Ohio State (4)
* 4. LSU
* 5. Georgia
* 6. Oklahoma
* 7. Kansas
* 8. Virginia Tech
* 9. USC
* 10. Florida
* 11. Hawaii
* 12. Boston College
* 13. Illinois
* 14. Tennessee
* 15. Arizona State
* 16. Wisconsin
* 17. Clemson
* 18. Texas
* 19. Virginia
* 20. Oregon
* 21. Cincinnati
* 22. Boise State
* 23. BYU
* 24. Auburn
* 25. Texas Tech
Other teams receiving votes ... Arkansas 35, South Florida 24, Kentucky 20, Michigan 13, Connecticut 11, Penn State 5, UCLA 1, Air Force 1
Dropped from last week's poll ... Connecticut, Michigan
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Couple things
* Georgia is fourth in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. There's a little disparity at the top, though, with it going Missouri-West Va.-Ohio St.-Georgia in the AP Poll and West Va.-Missouri-Ohio St.-Georgia in the coaches. Also in the coaches, Kansas and Virginia Tech are tied for fifth, which seems funny to me since the Hokies and LSU have the same record and LSU beat the Hokies 48-7, yet they dropped LSU to seventh after Friday's loss to Arkansas.
So we'll have to wait a week to see what happens in the greater scheme of BCS things. My understanding is that Georgia's most likely destination will either be the Orange Bowl or the Rose Bowl. Matchup-wise, I think I'd enjoy UGA-USC much more than UGA-Boston College or, God forbid, Virginia Tech. It would be interesting to see how Georgia fares against the best and, truthfully, I think USC is better than whoever's going to play for the national title.
* Mike Bobo's really done a nice job this year, hasn't he? Sure, there are times where things don't seem to be working -- like the running game for much of the day yesterday -- but they kept hammering away and just wore Tech out by the end. That was the idea, apparently, because it worked pretty well.
* Last year, I used to hate that zone-option read play they ran because the quarterback never actually kept the ball and ran. He'd always hand it off and the back would get blown up in the backfield. But yesterday, Stafford let the defensive end get sucked up inside and then he pulled it back and took off on that long touchdown run. It reminded me a little of George Godsey's TD run against Georgia the last time Tech actually beat the Bulldogs. Not because it took Matthew so long to get to the end zone, but because he broke through that hole and you just thought, 'Wow, there's NOBODY anywhere near him.' I guess it goes without saying, but Stafford said that's exactly the same play he ran for a TD against Kentucky last week.
* Speaking of same plays, I never got around to asking this, but I'm thinking the 2-point pass he completed to Kenneth Harris might be the same one they hit at the end of last year's Tech game to Massaquoi (who made some key, key catches in the first half yesterday that could easily be forgotten because of all the crazy plays). They had Sean Bailey lined up where Mohamed lined up last year, kinda dragging across the goal line (and he was open, too), but Stafford found an even more open Harris in the back of the end zone.
* I mentioned it in the comments to the previous post, but Thomas Brown now ranks sixth all-time in rushing at Georgia with 2,573 yards. And good for him. It couldn't happen to a nicer kid. He's been through a lot and it's good to see someone have good things happen to them when they deserve it.
So we'll have to wait a week to see what happens in the greater scheme of BCS things. My understanding is that Georgia's most likely destination will either be the Orange Bowl or the Rose Bowl. Matchup-wise, I think I'd enjoy UGA-USC much more than UGA-Boston College or, God forbid, Virginia Tech. It would be interesting to see how Georgia fares against the best and, truthfully, I think USC is better than whoever's going to play for the national title.
* Mike Bobo's really done a nice job this year, hasn't he? Sure, there are times where things don't seem to be working -- like the running game for much of the day yesterday -- but they kept hammering away and just wore Tech out by the end. That was the idea, apparently, because it worked pretty well.
* Last year, I used to hate that zone-option read play they ran because the quarterback never actually kept the ball and ran. He'd always hand it off and the back would get blown up in the backfield. But yesterday, Stafford let the defensive end get sucked up inside and then he pulled it back and took off on that long touchdown run. It reminded me a little of George Godsey's TD run against Georgia the last time Tech actually beat the Bulldogs. Not because it took Matthew so long to get to the end zone, but because he broke through that hole and you just thought, 'Wow, there's NOBODY anywhere near him.' I guess it goes without saying, but Stafford said that's exactly the same play he ran for a TD against Kentucky last week.
* Speaking of same plays, I never got around to asking this, but I'm thinking the 2-point pass he completed to Kenneth Harris might be the same one they hit at the end of last year's Tech game to Massaquoi (who made some key, key catches in the first half yesterday that could easily be forgotten because of all the crazy plays). They had Sean Bailey lined up where Mohamed lined up last year, kinda dragging across the goal line (and he was open, too), but Stafford found an even more open Harris in the back of the end zone.
* I mentioned it in the comments to the previous post, but Thomas Brown now ranks sixth all-time in rushing at Georgia with 2,573 yards. And good for him. It couldn't happen to a nicer kid. He's been through a lot and it's good to see someone have good things happen to them when they deserve it.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Nervous yet?
So you folks getting a little case of the nerves? This is shaping up as Upset Weekend, Vol. 13. Tech's not gonna pull another one tomorrow, is it? If the Jackets ever end this streak, tomorrow would be the perfect time for them to do it. Georgia probably hasn't had more to lose heading into this game since Chan Gailey arrived on the Flats.
Here's where we stand as of this moment in the BCS standings.
1. LSU (10-2) -- lost to Arkansas on Friday
2. Kansas (11-0) -- playing Missouri (10-1) on Saturday
3. West Virginia (9-1) -- playing UConn (9-2) on Saturday
4. Missouri (10-1) -- playing Kansas (11-0) on Saturday
5. Ohio State (11-1) -- regular season complete
6. Arizona State (9-2) -- lost to USC on Thursday
7. Georgia (9-2) -- playing Georgia Tech (7-4) on Saturday
8. Virginia Tech (9-2) -- playing Virginia (9-2) on Saturday
9. Oregon (9-2) -- playing UCLA (5-5) on Saturday
10. Oklahoma (9-2) -- playing Oklahoma State (6-5) on Saturday
So, assuming Georgia beats Georgia Tech, the WORST Georgia can do is be ranked fourth in the country in Sunday's BCS poll, right? LSU, Arizona State and Missouri/Kansas will have lost. I doubt anybody's gonna jump Georgia if the Bulldogs win Saturday, although I fully expect USC (9-2) to start getting a heavy push after the way they dispatched Arizona State last night. I'm betting we have a lot more Oklahoma and UConn/Pittsburgh fans around these parts over the next week.
Updating a post earlier in the week, Georgia now needs the following to happen to play Ohio State in the national championship game:
1) Georgia to beat Georgia Tech
2) Oklahoma to beat the Missouri/Kansas winner in next weekend's Big 12 championship game
3) UConn or Pitt to beat West Virginia
4) It wouldn't hurt for Kentucky to beat Tennessee, enabling Georgia to play LSU in the SEC championship game; Virginia to beat Virginia Tech on Saturday; UCLA to beat USC next weekend. These things might not be absolutely necessary, but would greatly strengthen Georgia's case should items 1-3 take place.
Then we'll see what happens. Gotta beat Tech and see what happens in Lexington before you start going nuts, though. Like Matthew Stafford said the other day, "the stars have to align" and LOTS of things still have to go Georgia's way. They're not jumping Ohio State, but they don't need to. All they need to do is make it to No. 2.
Here's where we stand as of this moment in the BCS standings.
1. LSU (10-2) -- lost to Arkansas on Friday
2. Kansas (11-0) -- playing Missouri (10-1) on Saturday
3. West Virginia (9-1) -- playing UConn (9-2) on Saturday
4. Missouri (10-1) -- playing Kansas (11-0) on Saturday
5. Ohio State (11-1) -- regular season complete
6. Arizona State (9-2) -- lost to USC on Thursday
7. Georgia (9-2) -- playing Georgia Tech (7-4) on Saturday
8. Virginia Tech (9-2) -- playing Virginia (9-2) on Saturday
9. Oregon (9-2) -- playing UCLA (5-5) on Saturday
10. Oklahoma (9-2) -- playing Oklahoma State (6-5) on Saturday
So, assuming Georgia beats Georgia Tech, the WORST Georgia can do is be ranked fourth in the country in Sunday's BCS poll, right? LSU, Arizona State and Missouri/Kansas will have lost. I doubt anybody's gonna jump Georgia if the Bulldogs win Saturday, although I fully expect USC (9-2) to start getting a heavy push after the way they dispatched Arizona State last night. I'm betting we have a lot more Oklahoma and UConn/Pittsburgh fans around these parts over the next week.
Updating a post earlier in the week, Georgia now needs the following to happen to play Ohio State in the national championship game:
1) Georgia to beat Georgia Tech
2) Oklahoma to beat the Missouri/Kansas winner in next weekend's Big 12 championship game
3) UConn or Pitt to beat West Virginia
4) It wouldn't hurt for Kentucky to beat Tennessee, enabling Georgia to play LSU in the SEC championship game; Virginia to beat Virginia Tech on Saturday; UCLA to beat USC next weekend. These things might not be absolutely necessary, but would greatly strengthen Georgia's case should items 1-3 take place.
Then we'll see what happens. Gotta beat Tech and see what happens in Lexington before you start going nuts, though. Like Matthew Stafford said the other day, "the stars have to align" and LOTS of things still have to go Georgia's way. They're not jumping Ohio State, but they don't need to. All they need to do is make it to No. 2.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Week 13 picks
I went 4-2 straight-up and 3-3 against the spread on this week's SEC picks, running my record to 65-23 SU and 41-43 ATS.
Ole Miss at Mississippi State, 12:30 p.m. Friday, LF Sports
Line: Mississippi State by 6.5
My guess: How bout them Bulldogs? I show a little faith in them and then they go out and wet their pants against Arkansas. They're on the verge of a bowl bid, which would be a major thing for Sylvester Croom. They're 6-5 right now and a home loss to Ole Miss that would drop them to 6-6 and give Ole Miss its first SEC win of the year would not exactly look good on a bowl resume. I think they'll win ugly. Mississippi State 23, Ole Miss 14
Arkansas at LSU, 2:30 p.m. Friday, CBS
Line: LSU by 13
My guess: As a warning, I think I've incorrectly picked the outcome of Arkansas' games five or six times this season. Clearly I have no feel for what the Hogs are going to do. I think that's Houston Nutt's problem as well, which might be the reason for those "rumors" Nutt was decrying. A team with Darren McFadden and Felix Jones always has a chance, plus LSU's dealing with the distractions of coach rumors themselves. But I think the Tigers keep trucking for at least another week. LSU 35, Arkansas 24
Tennessee at Kentucky, 2:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS
Line: Kentucky by 2.5
My guess: There are lines sometimes that I simply don't understand. I get that Kentucky's been pretty good at home this year (5-2) and that Tennessee hasn't exactly been good on the road (1-3). But the Vols have won 22 straight games over Kentucky and haven't lost in Lexington since 1981. I feel the way about this game the same way I felt about Florida and Georgia earlier this year: Eecent series history tells me not to believe the team on the bad end of the streak will win until it happens. Of course, I was wrong about Georgia-Florida...Tennessee 26, Kentucky 23
Wake Forest at Vanderbilt, 2 p.m. Saturday, No TV
Line: Wake Forest by 1
My guess: The one SEC team that still has a chance to be bowl eligible and their game's not even going to be televised. That's Vandy for you. I read a couple of interesting things about this series. First, Vandy's won four straight over Wake. Second, they agreed last year to a seven-game series that ends in 2014. Seven games with a non-conference opponent? That's crazy sounding isn't it? Anyway, I'm kinda stumped by this game. I'm going with Vandy because they've played tough against some pretty good teams and the only decent team Wake has beaten is Florida State. Vanderbilt 23, Wake Forest 21
Georgia at Georgia Tech, 3:30 p.m. Saturday, ABC
Line: Georgia by 3.5
My guess: There's been a little too much BCS talk this week from Georgia folks who are counting their chickens before they're hatched. I watched some of the Tech-UNC game and the Jackets are not some pushover. Not with Tashard Choice healthy. I think Georgia wins and covers -- the defense continues to improve and the offense has mostly been good for the last month. Plus Tech stinks at throwing the ball -- but playing a rivalry game on the road is never a sure bet. Georgia 30, Georgia Tech 20
Florida State at Florida, 5 p.m. Saturday, CBS
Line: Florida by 14
My guess: Considering Florida's already questionable secondary is further depleted by injuries this week, I think the Seminoles will be able to move the ball through the air. But that doesn't mean they'll be able to outscore Florida. They're too inconsistent and Florida's too good at home. Can't say I love a two-touchdown spread, though. Florida 35, Florida State 23
Clemson at South Carolina, 7 p.m. Saturday, ESPN2
Line: Clemson by 2.5
My guess: South Carolina is falling apart. Have I typed those words before? Because the Gamecocks have lost four straight and have been lost in the wilderness ever since blowing it after an impressive comeback against Tennessee. They're at home this week and I'd never feel comfortable expecting Clemson to win a big game, but I'm taking the Tigers. Clemson 27, South Carolina 20
Alabama at Auburn, 8 p.m. Saturday, ESPN
Line: Auburn by 6
My guess: I have this crazy feeling Alabama's going to get it together after the disastrous last few weeks and win this game. This line is surprising to me given that Auburn lost its last game by 25 points. But the Tigers are coming off a bye week and Alabama's coming off consecutive losses to Mississippi State and Louisiana-Monroe. Those things work in Auburn's favor, so I'll take the Tigers to win and not cover. Auburn 20, Alabama 17
Ole Miss at Mississippi State, 12:30 p.m. Friday, LF Sports
Line: Mississippi State by 6.5
My guess: How bout them Bulldogs? I show a little faith in them and then they go out and wet their pants against Arkansas. They're on the verge of a bowl bid, which would be a major thing for Sylvester Croom. They're 6-5 right now and a home loss to Ole Miss that would drop them to 6-6 and give Ole Miss its first SEC win of the year would not exactly look good on a bowl resume. I think they'll win ugly. Mississippi State 23, Ole Miss 14
Arkansas at LSU, 2:30 p.m. Friday, CBS
Line: LSU by 13
My guess: As a warning, I think I've incorrectly picked the outcome of Arkansas' games five or six times this season. Clearly I have no feel for what the Hogs are going to do. I think that's Houston Nutt's problem as well, which might be the reason for those "rumors" Nutt was decrying. A team with Darren McFadden and Felix Jones always has a chance, plus LSU's dealing with the distractions of coach rumors themselves. But I think the Tigers keep trucking for at least another week. LSU 35, Arkansas 24
Tennessee at Kentucky, 2:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS
Line: Kentucky by 2.5
My guess: There are lines sometimes that I simply don't understand. I get that Kentucky's been pretty good at home this year (5-2) and that Tennessee hasn't exactly been good on the road (1-3). But the Vols have won 22 straight games over Kentucky and haven't lost in Lexington since 1981. I feel the way about this game the same way I felt about Florida and Georgia earlier this year: Eecent series history tells me not to believe the team on the bad end of the streak will win until it happens. Of course, I was wrong about Georgia-Florida...Tennessee 26, Kentucky 23
Wake Forest at Vanderbilt, 2 p.m. Saturday, No TV
Line: Wake Forest by 1
My guess: The one SEC team that still has a chance to be bowl eligible and their game's not even going to be televised. That's Vandy for you. I read a couple of interesting things about this series. First, Vandy's won four straight over Wake. Second, they agreed last year to a seven-game series that ends in 2014. Seven games with a non-conference opponent? That's crazy sounding isn't it? Anyway, I'm kinda stumped by this game. I'm going with Vandy because they've played tough against some pretty good teams and the only decent team Wake has beaten is Florida State. Vanderbilt 23, Wake Forest 21
Georgia at Georgia Tech, 3:30 p.m. Saturday, ABC
Line: Georgia by 3.5
My guess: There's been a little too much BCS talk this week from Georgia folks who are counting their chickens before they're hatched. I watched some of the Tech-UNC game and the Jackets are not some pushover. Not with Tashard Choice healthy. I think Georgia wins and covers -- the defense continues to improve and the offense has mostly been good for the last month. Plus Tech stinks at throwing the ball -- but playing a rivalry game on the road is never a sure bet. Georgia 30, Georgia Tech 20
Florida State at Florida, 5 p.m. Saturday, CBS
Line: Florida by 14
My guess: Considering Florida's already questionable secondary is further depleted by injuries this week, I think the Seminoles will be able to move the ball through the air. But that doesn't mean they'll be able to outscore Florida. They're too inconsistent and Florida's too good at home. Can't say I love a two-touchdown spread, though. Florida 35, Florida State 23
Clemson at South Carolina, 7 p.m. Saturday, ESPN2
Line: Clemson by 2.5
My guess: South Carolina is falling apart. Have I typed those words before? Because the Gamecocks have lost four straight and have been lost in the wilderness ever since blowing it after an impressive comeback against Tennessee. They're at home this week and I'd never feel comfortable expecting Clemson to win a big game, but I'm taking the Tigers. Clemson 27, South Carolina 20
Alabama at Auburn, 8 p.m. Saturday, ESPN
Line: Auburn by 6
My guess: I have this crazy feeling Alabama's going to get it together after the disastrous last few weeks and win this game. This line is surprising to me given that Auburn lost its last game by 25 points. But the Tigers are coming off a bye week and Alabama's coming off consecutive losses to Mississippi State and Louisiana-Monroe. Those things work in Auburn's favor, so I'll take the Tigers to win and not cover. Auburn 20, Alabama 17
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thanksgiving at the Garners + other Wednesday stuff
I imagine that just about everybody wrote about many of the players visiting Rodney Garner's house for Thanksgiving. It was a good story. I wrote my notebook lead for tomorrow about it. Rodney said they're gonna make him go broke, but it's a good thing that he does. Trust me, as someone who's had to work on Thanksgiving many, many times, it's really nice when somebody takes you in and fills you up with some turkey. I've had a lot of good friends -- including last year, a certain AJC sports writer you all know and love -- whose families have been nice enough to take in a stray for the afternoon. Despite how I appreciate those folks' generosity, I'm thankful to be sleeping on the couch tonight and staying home tomorrow. Because my mom and dad came up from south Alabama and are sleeping in my bed in the apartment the Ledger put me up in for football season.
Anyway, here's some of what Rodney had to say to several of the writers about Thanksgiving at his house. I also spoke to Chester Adams today about missing Thanksgiving at the Garners, which was a funny conversation. One of these days I'll figure out how to post audio on these things. You'd get so much better of a sense of how conversations/interviews go (in this case, they were very funny. Just the clip of Chester belly laughing at some of the questions would put a smile on your face) if you could hear them...
So here's coach Garner:
We hear Chester won’t be there.
Cheese, he held out. I got all them chitlins for him too. Them things are $10 a gallon.
How many did you buy?
Ten gallons. I paid my aunt $50 to clean ‘em, so he owes me.
How many did you have last year?
Last year about 60.
How many were players?
About 35.
On the background:
It’s something we started doing when I was at Auburn. We always used to play the Auburn-Alabama game that weekend and I knew one thing I always hated doing was eating in the dining hall for Thanksgiving. I thought it was the worst thing in the world. So when I started coaching, the players had to be there. Some of them couldn’t go home, so my mom and my aunt started a tradition. They used to cook Thanksgiving dinner. They did it when I was at Tennessee and they’ve been doing it every year I’ve been here. As long as the players come, we’ll do it.
On who is involved in the preparation:
My mom, my aunt, kim’s relatives. Everybody chips in and we’ll even get a little of it catered.
Who do you remember as having eaten the most since you’ve been here?
That’s a good question. We’ve got some eaters, now. Cheese ain’t bad himself with them chitlins. I know coach Searels is probably glad Cheese ain’t coming. The biggest thing is they have a good time. They enjoy the fellowship and it’s a home-cooked meal. We’ll bless the food and just have a good time together. We’ll hang out.
What’s on the menu?
They have everything. They have turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, black-eyed peas, greens, dressing, every cake you can think of, every pie you can think of. My wife bought little trays they can carry home. Everything. The only rule is that when they leave, all chitlins must leave my house.
You don’t eat chitlins?
No. I don’t eat chitlins. I’m from the country, but I do not eat chitlins. But when they leave, every chitlin must go with them.
Will Jeff be there? (Jeff Owens had just walked into the room and sat down)
Oh, Jeff will be there. Jeff’s probably eating all the chitlins. (Owens: Nah, I ain’t eating no chitlins, coach.) I’m surprised. Donavon Baldwin’s from south Florida and eats chitlins. It scared me last year.
And here's some of what Chester had to say. He's eating at his fiancee's house in Atlanta this year instead of at the Garners' house.
This may be my favorite quote I've ever used. It's Chester's response to being told he was the leading vote-getter on who would eat the most Thanksgiving food:
"I’m a big man, I’ve gotta eat. I can put away some groceries, now."
On the atmosphere of eating with his teammates:
"It’s awesome. It’s a good time. Everybody eats and laughs and sits down and watches the football games. It’s a great day. Everybody has fun, celebrating with a lot of food and laughing and talking at the table. It’s real fun."
On how many people go:
"It’s pretty packed over there. It says a lot about coach that everybody goes to his house. Everybody has fun over there. All the guys who can’t go home because they live so far away, they usually go to coach G’s house. Not saying anything about the other coaches, but everybody likes coach G’s house."
Here's some stuff from coach Richt's post-practice Q/A time.
On Asher Allen's skills as a kickoff return guy:
"I remember when we were at Florida State, we were not very good at returning kicks and then a guy named Tamarick Vanover showed up and we became like the best in the nation at kick returns. I think it just has a lot to do with the return man being brave enough to just get it going in there full-speed. And Asher has been doing that more and more. Asher, he’s very quick and very fast. Some guys are just fast, some guys are just quick, but he’s…You don’t usually see a lot of dancing on the kickoff, but he does make people miss and then be able to burst and be able to go further down the field. Usually once you decide to start making people miss, they get you. Then at the end of that run, I’m not sure if anybody even tackled him at the end.
I like the fact that he’s…The no. 1 thing I like is that he understands the ball security issue. That’s No. 1 with me. And then next he’s brave, fast, he’s got confidence. He wants it. A lot of guys don’t want that job."
On Brandon Miller's move to defensive end:
"I think it’s something that he’s interested in doing. I think people will want to see him at a defensive end position. I think he’s a guy that the NFL would look at his body type and say he might be an end and I think they’ll also look at him as a guy that if they’re a 3-4 scheme, then he’s an outside linebacker, so they’ll be able to see him play outside linebacker and they’ll be able to see him play D-end. I think it gives him more marketability in the NFL for them to see him play that position. I think it’s good for him."
Anyway, here's some of what Rodney had to say to several of the writers about Thanksgiving at his house. I also spoke to Chester Adams today about missing Thanksgiving at the Garners, which was a funny conversation. One of these days I'll figure out how to post audio on these things. You'd get so much better of a sense of how conversations/interviews go (in this case, they were very funny. Just the clip of Chester belly laughing at some of the questions would put a smile on your face) if you could hear them...
So here's coach Garner:
We hear Chester won’t be there.
Cheese, he held out. I got all them chitlins for him too. Them things are $10 a gallon.
How many did you buy?
Ten gallons. I paid my aunt $50 to clean ‘em, so he owes me.
How many did you have last year?
Last year about 60.
How many were players?
About 35.
On the background:
It’s something we started doing when I was at Auburn. We always used to play the Auburn-Alabama game that weekend and I knew one thing I always hated doing was eating in the dining hall for Thanksgiving. I thought it was the worst thing in the world. So when I started coaching, the players had to be there. Some of them couldn’t go home, so my mom and my aunt started a tradition. They used to cook Thanksgiving dinner. They did it when I was at Tennessee and they’ve been doing it every year I’ve been here. As long as the players come, we’ll do it.
On who is involved in the preparation:
My mom, my aunt, kim’s relatives. Everybody chips in and we’ll even get a little of it catered.
Who do you remember as having eaten the most since you’ve been here?
That’s a good question. We’ve got some eaters, now. Cheese ain’t bad himself with them chitlins. I know coach Searels is probably glad Cheese ain’t coming. The biggest thing is they have a good time. They enjoy the fellowship and it’s a home-cooked meal. We’ll bless the food and just have a good time together. We’ll hang out.
What’s on the menu?
They have everything. They have turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, black-eyed peas, greens, dressing, every cake you can think of, every pie you can think of. My wife bought little trays they can carry home. Everything. The only rule is that when they leave, all chitlins must leave my house.
You don’t eat chitlins?
No. I don’t eat chitlins. I’m from the country, but I do not eat chitlins. But when they leave, every chitlin must go with them.
Will Jeff be there? (Jeff Owens had just walked into the room and sat down)
Oh, Jeff will be there. Jeff’s probably eating all the chitlins. (Owens: Nah, I ain’t eating no chitlins, coach.) I’m surprised. Donavon Baldwin’s from south Florida and eats chitlins. It scared me last year.
And here's some of what Chester had to say. He's eating at his fiancee's house in Atlanta this year instead of at the Garners' house.
This may be my favorite quote I've ever used. It's Chester's response to being told he was the leading vote-getter on who would eat the most Thanksgiving food:
"I’m a big man, I’ve gotta eat. I can put away some groceries, now."
On the atmosphere of eating with his teammates:
"It’s awesome. It’s a good time. Everybody eats and laughs and sits down and watches the football games. It’s a great day. Everybody has fun, celebrating with a lot of food and laughing and talking at the table. It’s real fun."
On how many people go:
"It’s pretty packed over there. It says a lot about coach that everybody goes to his house. Everybody has fun over there. All the guys who can’t go home because they live so far away, they usually go to coach G’s house. Not saying anything about the other coaches, but everybody likes coach G’s house."
Here's some stuff from coach Richt's post-practice Q/A time.
On Asher Allen's skills as a kickoff return guy:
"I remember when we were at Florida State, we were not very good at returning kicks and then a guy named Tamarick Vanover showed up and we became like the best in the nation at kick returns. I think it just has a lot to do with the return man being brave enough to just get it going in there full-speed. And Asher has been doing that more and more. Asher, he’s very quick and very fast. Some guys are just fast, some guys are just quick, but he’s…You don’t usually see a lot of dancing on the kickoff, but he does make people miss and then be able to burst and be able to go further down the field. Usually once you decide to start making people miss, they get you. Then at the end of that run, I’m not sure if anybody even tackled him at the end.
I like the fact that he’s…The no. 1 thing I like is that he understands the ball security issue. That’s No. 1 with me. And then next he’s brave, fast, he’s got confidence. He wants it. A lot of guys don’t want that job."
On Brandon Miller's move to defensive end:
"I think it’s something that he’s interested in doing. I think people will want to see him at a defensive end position. I think he’s a guy that the NFL would look at his body type and say he might be an end and I think they’ll also look at him as a guy that if they’re a 3-4 scheme, then he’s an outside linebacker, so they’ll be able to see him play outside linebacker and they’ll be able to see him play D-end. I think it gives him more marketability in the NFL for them to see him play that position. I think it’s good for him."
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Wednesday news
I wasn't aware of this until Mark Richt said it today, but Thursday is the one-year anniversary of Mike Bobo taking over the offensive play-calling duties. He said he caught him by the stairwell at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning and told him about it.
Also, Brannan Southerland was in a walking boot after practice today. Richt said it was precautionary and that he should play on Saturday.
More later.
Also, Brannan Southerland was in a walking boot after practice today. Richt said it was precautionary and that he should play on Saturday.
More later.
Wednesday notebook
ATHENS, Ga. – This was supposed to be the week Kelin Johnson returned to Georgia’s lineup.
That’s what the team doctors expected, anyway, after the Bulldogs safety suffered an 80-percent tear of the lateral collateral ligament (LCL) in his knee in an Oct. 27 win over Florida.
There was even some thought that the injury – yet another in a litany of problems that have plagued him this year – might cost the senior the rest of his season.
“He thought at one time his season might be over, his career might be over. He went in the tank, you know,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “He’s a highly emotional guy and he probably overreacts a little bit one way or another, depending on what’s going on.”
After further tests, the prognosis was that Johnson would miss a month and be able to return in time for Saturday’s regular-season finale at Georgia Tech. Only Johnson wouldn’t have any of that. Not with so few games left in his college career.
“I felt like if I go in there in the training room and work two times as hard as what a regular guy would go in there and work, I knew I could be back sooner than what they were saying,” Johnson said.
And he did just that. The injury kept him out for only one game – the homecoming win over Troy the following week – but he immediately made a splash in his return to the lineup.
Two weeks after suffering the injury, Johnson intercepted a Brandon Cox on the first play of the Auburn game. He added another interception and nearly a third that afternoon, only to have cornerback Bryan Evans beat him to a tipped ball to make the pick.
He followed that with a momentum-swinging blocked punt last week against Kentucky, as well as another interception and half a sack in his final appearance at Sanford Stadium. And he wasn’t even supposed to be back on the field yet.
“I just wouldn’t allow that to happen,” he said.
In light of all the previous setbacks, his performances in the last two games made Johnson’s recent successes all the more meaningful.
“It was very rewarding,” Johnson said. “It helped me a lot as far as personally. It really did.”
Tailback’s career over
Tailback Jason Johnson said he has played his last game as a Bulldog after suffering a spinal injury in practice last Tuesday.
Johnson said he experienced temporary numbness after suffering the injury and tests showed he had a narrowing of his spinal column. Johnson said the injury is not considered a threat to his future health, but team doctors advised him against playing any more contact sports.
“It’s real disappointing when something you love is taken away from you prematurely,” Johnson said.
Johnson came to Georgia as a walk-on from Chicago, Ill., but earned a scholarship prior to last season. For the first time in his career, Johnson saw semi-regular action in the backfield this year after injuries sidelined fellow seniors Thomas Brown and Kregg Lumpkin. He finished the season with nine carries for 22 yards and one reception for 7 yards.
“I got a taste, but that doesn’t make it better. It makes you wonder what if,” Johnson said of finally working his way into the rotation before his injury.
Injury update
While one Georgia tailback’s career ended due to injury, another appears ready to return from a knee injury that forced him to miss most of the last five games.
Senior Kregg Lumpkin could be available if the Bulldogs reach the SEC championship game next weekend and will almost certainly be able to play in the bowl game.
“If we are fortunate enough to play next week, he’s got a realistic shot of playing,” Richt said. “I wouldn’t say I guarantee it, but he’s running around really pretty good right now. He’s very close.”
Richt said offensive lineman Trinton Sturdivant, who briefly left Saturday’s win over Kentucky with knee and ankle injuries, would not participate in all of the contact work on Tuesday, but should be cleared for all work today.
Linebacker Darius Dewberry (neck) practiced in a green no-contact jersey on Tuesday, but expects to play Saturday.
Keeping things uniform
Richt led reporters down a familiar road when asked Tuesday if his team had any new uniform variations in store – like wearing red or black pants instead of their traditional silver britches – for Saturday’s Georgia Tech game.
“We just can’t stitch new britches in a week’s time,” he said – mimicking the answer he gave two weeks ago when asked if the Bulldogs might wear black jerseys against Auburn, which they eventually did.
But the momentary cageyness gave way to a big grin and Richt then made it clear what the team will wear on Saturday.
“We’re wearing silver britches,” he said.
Quick hits
Richt said Georgia’s players will split up on Friday and visit patients at Atlanta’s Shepherd Spinal Center and Children’s Healthcare Hospitals on Friday. … The Bulldogs will arrive at Bobby Dodd Stadium’s Gate 10 at approximately 1:40 p.m. for a makeshift Dawg Walk. … Defensive coordinator Willie Martinez said former linebacker Brandon Miller played exclusively at defensive end against Kentucky and expects that to remain the case on Saturday.
That’s what the team doctors expected, anyway, after the Bulldogs safety suffered an 80-percent tear of the lateral collateral ligament (LCL) in his knee in an Oct. 27 win over Florida.
There was even some thought that the injury – yet another in a litany of problems that have plagued him this year – might cost the senior the rest of his season.
“He thought at one time his season might be over, his career might be over. He went in the tank, you know,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “He’s a highly emotional guy and he probably overreacts a little bit one way or another, depending on what’s going on.”
After further tests, the prognosis was that Johnson would miss a month and be able to return in time for Saturday’s regular-season finale at Georgia Tech. Only Johnson wouldn’t have any of that. Not with so few games left in his college career.
“I felt like if I go in there in the training room and work two times as hard as what a regular guy would go in there and work, I knew I could be back sooner than what they were saying,” Johnson said.
And he did just that. The injury kept him out for only one game – the homecoming win over Troy the following week – but he immediately made a splash in his return to the lineup.
Two weeks after suffering the injury, Johnson intercepted a Brandon Cox on the first play of the Auburn game. He added another interception and nearly a third that afternoon, only to have cornerback Bryan Evans beat him to a tipped ball to make the pick.
He followed that with a momentum-swinging blocked punt last week against Kentucky, as well as another interception and half a sack in his final appearance at Sanford Stadium. And he wasn’t even supposed to be back on the field yet.
“I just wouldn’t allow that to happen,” he said.
In light of all the previous setbacks, his performances in the last two games made Johnson’s recent successes all the more meaningful.
“It was very rewarding,” Johnson said. “It helped me a lot as far as personally. It really did.”
Tailback’s career over
Tailback Jason Johnson said he has played his last game as a Bulldog after suffering a spinal injury in practice last Tuesday.
Johnson said he experienced temporary numbness after suffering the injury and tests showed he had a narrowing of his spinal column. Johnson said the injury is not considered a threat to his future health, but team doctors advised him against playing any more contact sports.
“It’s real disappointing when something you love is taken away from you prematurely,” Johnson said.
Johnson came to Georgia as a walk-on from Chicago, Ill., but earned a scholarship prior to last season. For the first time in his career, Johnson saw semi-regular action in the backfield this year after injuries sidelined fellow seniors Thomas Brown and Kregg Lumpkin. He finished the season with nine carries for 22 yards and one reception for 7 yards.
“I got a taste, but that doesn’t make it better. It makes you wonder what if,” Johnson said of finally working his way into the rotation before his injury.
Injury update
While one Georgia tailback’s career ended due to injury, another appears ready to return from a knee injury that forced him to miss most of the last five games.
Senior Kregg Lumpkin could be available if the Bulldogs reach the SEC championship game next weekend and will almost certainly be able to play in the bowl game.
“If we are fortunate enough to play next week, he’s got a realistic shot of playing,” Richt said. “I wouldn’t say I guarantee it, but he’s running around really pretty good right now. He’s very close.”
Richt said offensive lineman Trinton Sturdivant, who briefly left Saturday’s win over Kentucky with knee and ankle injuries, would not participate in all of the contact work on Tuesday, but should be cleared for all work today.
Linebacker Darius Dewberry (neck) practiced in a green no-contact jersey on Tuesday, but expects to play Saturday.
Keeping things uniform
Richt led reporters down a familiar road when asked Tuesday if his team had any new uniform variations in store – like wearing red or black pants instead of their traditional silver britches – for Saturday’s Georgia Tech game.
“We just can’t stitch new britches in a week’s time,” he said – mimicking the answer he gave two weeks ago when asked if the Bulldogs might wear black jerseys against Auburn, which they eventually did.
But the momentary cageyness gave way to a big grin and Richt then made it clear what the team will wear on Saturday.
“We’re wearing silver britches,” he said.
Quick hits
Richt said Georgia’s players will split up on Friday and visit patients at Atlanta’s Shepherd Spinal Center and Children’s Healthcare Hospitals on Friday. … The Bulldogs will arrive at Bobby Dodd Stadium’s Gate 10 at approximately 1:40 p.m. for a makeshift Dawg Walk. … Defensive coordinator Willie Martinez said former linebacker Brandon Miller played exclusively at defensive end against Kentucky and expects that to remain the case on Saturday.
Tuesday stuff + Kelin conversation
I had an interesting talk with Kelin Johnson today. I asked him about the knee injury that knocked him out of the Florida game and kept him out the following week against Troy. He had an 80 percent tear in the LCL in his knee and initially there was some thought that it might knock him out for the year (you may have seen the quotes from Mark Richt about that from Saturday's postgame about Kelin going in the tank briefly when he thought he might be done for the year), but after some tests, they revised the prognosis to say he'd be out for about a month. That would have him back this week for Georgia Tech. Of course, you know by now I'm sure that Kelin only missed one game and intercepted a pass against Auburn on the first play of the game, picked off another pass against Auburn, made the game-changing punt block last week against Kentucky and also picked off another pass against the Wildcats. Not bad for a guy who wasn't even supposed to be playing. I wrote my lead note about that for tomorrow, as I'm not sure any of the other writers have fully covered just how serious that knee injury was. I'll post the Q/A at the end.
There were several interesting things from today's press conference and post-practice that I found interesting.
* Senior tailback Jason Johnson said his career's over because of a spinal injury he suffered in practice last week. Richt originally called it a "stinger," but obviously it was more serious than that...In hindsight, if you look back at the quotes I posted from Saturday's postgame, Rennie Curran made a comment about JJ that went right over my head. Rennie said Jason talked to the team before the game about how he'd never play again. I thought what he meant was that he knew he wasn't going to play pro football, but now I get it... Anyway, he didn't know how to explain the complexities of the injury, but said one thing he has is a narrowing of the spinal column. He doesn't expect it to jeopardize his health, but the doctors advised him to give up contact sports or risk serious injury.
I know I've posted several times on here about how much fun he has been to interview, so that was sad news to hear. He made it all the way to the last couple games of his career and this happens. Life's funny that way sometimes.
* I guess I'm getting into a lot of injury stuff today, but it sounds like Kregg Lumpkin would be good to go if they play in the SEC championship game and for the bowl. Also, Trinton Sturdivant was expected to be somewhat limited in practice today, but cleared for everything on Wednesday. Lastly, Darius Dewberry was in green today, but he appeared to be practicing. He told one of the other writers after practice that it was a neck thing and only precautionary and he expects to play on Saturday. I didn't talk to him, though.
* There was some funny talk among the players at the press conference about who they'd cast a vote for in the Heisman race. I was shocked that most of them didn't seem to want to vote for Tim Tebow. I won't be writing about it in an actual story, but I fully expect to see that stuff in the next day or two from a couple of the other guys.
* There was also some funny stuff from Rodney Garner about how he's hosting Thanksgiving dinner for family and a lot of the players at his house. He said he had about 35 of the kids there last year and something like 60 total. I haven't gotten around to listening to that tape, but it'll be in my notebook on Thanksgiving day. Apparently he's got 10 gallons of chitlins for them with one rule -- all the chitlins have got to be gone when the players leave because chitlins are disgusting and they stink, according to coach Garner. It was amusing to hear some stuff about who pounds down the most food. Popular vote seemed to have Chester Adams in the lead.
* Brandon Miller worked exclusively at defensive end against Kentucky and that will likely again be the case this week.
Here's the portion of the 11 minutes of tape I got from Kelin -- he's a good talker if you couldn't tell -- today where he talks about coming back from the knee injury:
On whether he thought his season was over at one point:
As a competitor, I felt that way. I felt like, ‘Dang, it’s my senior year and I’ve never been hurt since I’ve been here and why now?’ You think about your dreams and your goals and your ambitions, but I wouldn’t let that beat me as a person. I’m competitive and I’ve been through a lot. Growing up, my family’s been through a lot. It’s a lot of people out there who have it worse than me, so I felt like if I go in there in the training room and work two times as hard as what a regular guy would go in there and work, I knew I could be back sooner than what they were saying.
Explaining what happened to the knee:
I tore my LCL. I tore 80 percent of it. It was just one of those situations where I had to work. They told me it would be three or four weeks. I wasn’t supposed to come back until the Georgia Tech game. I just wouldn’t allow that to happen.
How long did you let it eat at you?
It ate at me for a while, especially that week I was out. But I know during that week I worked hard. It was one of those things where, ‘Dang Kelin, you’re out, but are you gonna let it beat you? Are you gonna let that dictate how you’re gonna let your day go? Are you gonna stop being a leader? Are you gonna stop being vocal? Are you gonna stop being at the coach’s right-hand side?’ It was one of those situations where none of those questions I said yes to.
In light of that, how much more rewarding was it to come back and play the way you did against Auburn and Kentucky?
It was very rewarding. It helped me a lot as far as personally, man. It really did. I just count my blessings every day and hope more will come.
There were several interesting things from today's press conference and post-practice that I found interesting.
* Senior tailback Jason Johnson said his career's over because of a spinal injury he suffered in practice last week. Richt originally called it a "stinger," but obviously it was more serious than that...In hindsight, if you look back at the quotes I posted from Saturday's postgame, Rennie Curran made a comment about JJ that went right over my head. Rennie said Jason talked to the team before the game about how he'd never play again. I thought what he meant was that he knew he wasn't going to play pro football, but now I get it... Anyway, he didn't know how to explain the complexities of the injury, but said one thing he has is a narrowing of the spinal column. He doesn't expect it to jeopardize his health, but the doctors advised him to give up contact sports or risk serious injury.
I know I've posted several times on here about how much fun he has been to interview, so that was sad news to hear. He made it all the way to the last couple games of his career and this happens. Life's funny that way sometimes.
* I guess I'm getting into a lot of injury stuff today, but it sounds like Kregg Lumpkin would be good to go if they play in the SEC championship game and for the bowl. Also, Trinton Sturdivant was expected to be somewhat limited in practice today, but cleared for everything on Wednesday. Lastly, Darius Dewberry was in green today, but he appeared to be practicing. He told one of the other writers after practice that it was a neck thing and only precautionary and he expects to play on Saturday. I didn't talk to him, though.
* There was some funny talk among the players at the press conference about who they'd cast a vote for in the Heisman race. I was shocked that most of them didn't seem to want to vote for Tim Tebow. I won't be writing about it in an actual story, but I fully expect to see that stuff in the next day or two from a couple of the other guys.
* There was also some funny stuff from Rodney Garner about how he's hosting Thanksgiving dinner for family and a lot of the players at his house. He said he had about 35 of the kids there last year and something like 60 total. I haven't gotten around to listening to that tape, but it'll be in my notebook on Thanksgiving day. Apparently he's got 10 gallons of chitlins for them with one rule -- all the chitlins have got to be gone when the players leave because chitlins are disgusting and they stink, according to coach Garner. It was amusing to hear some stuff about who pounds down the most food. Popular vote seemed to have Chester Adams in the lead.
* Brandon Miller worked exclusively at defensive end against Kentucky and that will likely again be the case this week.
Here's the portion of the 11 minutes of tape I got from Kelin -- he's a good talker if you couldn't tell -- today where he talks about coming back from the knee injury:
On whether he thought his season was over at one point:
As a competitor, I felt that way. I felt like, ‘Dang, it’s my senior year and I’ve never been hurt since I’ve been here and why now?’ You think about your dreams and your goals and your ambitions, but I wouldn’t let that beat me as a person. I’m competitive and I’ve been through a lot. Growing up, my family’s been through a lot. It’s a lot of people out there who have it worse than me, so I felt like if I go in there in the training room and work two times as hard as what a regular guy would go in there and work, I knew I could be back sooner than what they were saying.
Explaining what happened to the knee:
I tore my LCL. I tore 80 percent of it. It was just one of those situations where I had to work. They told me it would be three or four weeks. I wasn’t supposed to come back until the Georgia Tech game. I just wouldn’t allow that to happen.
How long did you let it eat at you?
It ate at me for a while, especially that week I was out. But I know during that week I worked hard. It was one of those things where, ‘Dang Kelin, you’re out, but are you gonna let it beat you? Are you gonna let that dictate how you’re gonna let your day go? Are you gonna stop being a leader? Are you gonna stop being vocal? Are you gonna stop being at the coach’s right-hand side?’ It was one of those situations where none of those questions I said yes to.
In light of that, how much more rewarding was it to come back and play the way you did against Auburn and Kentucky?
It was very rewarding. It helped me a lot as far as personally, man. It really did. I just count my blessings every day and hope more will come.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The biggest rival?
If you don't already, you people are really gonna love Rennie Curran. As frequently as he was at practices before he'd even enrolled at Georgia, you could tell that he couldn't wait to become a Bulldog. He's jacked about being here now that he is. And you never hear anybody say a bad word about him, including media folks, who can sometimes be a pessimistic bunch. He looks you in the eye when he's talking to you and is always polite and friendly. Aside from his apparent ignorance of UGA scooter regulations, he seems like exactly the kind of kid you want on your team. And, big plus for many of you, he doesn't care much for Georgia Tech.
I talked to him today about something Mark Richt said on Sunday -- that the freshmen who are from nearby understand the passion around the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry better than those who are from further away from Atlanta. For instance, I talked to my fellow Alabamian Chester Adams and my fellow Columbian (is that what you call someone from Columbus? I'm going with it) Bruce Figgins, and both of them came to Georgia believing that Auburn is Georgia's biggest rival. I think Bruce still feels that way, which is pretty understandable given the pretty much 50-50 split in Columbus between Auburn and Georgia fans. But Rennie's from Snellville and in metro Atlanta -- probably moreso than anywhere else -- Georgia and Georgia Tech is a truly big deal. He knows several guys on Tech's roster from having gone through recruiting and playing against them in high school. Here's some of what Rennie had to say about the Yellow Jackets:
"I grew up with Tech players, Tech folks, I grew up around them all. It’s either one or the other when you’re growing up. You’re either a Tech fan or a Georgia fan and there’s no in between. Luckily I grew up around mostly Georgia fans. My first coach was a Georgia fan. He took me to my first Georgia game when I was like 10 years old, so Georgia football is all I knew. So once I started finding out about Tech, I wasn’t too interested in them, being a Dawg fan and knowing the hatred for Tech, being in-state."
Did you think of Tech as Georgia's biggest rival growing up?
"I knew it was definitely Tech and Auburn that were the biggest rivals. Those were always the biggest games that I always remember watching. It was awesome."
Now that you're here, do you still see it that way?
"I still view them that way because of the in-state rivalry and then you’ve got players who played against each other and went through the recruiting process together. A lot of their players this year that are in our class over there, I know for a fact a lot of them were thinking about coming over here. A couple things just swayed them over there."
So there ya go. A local angle for us, which I mentioned in my Tuesday story, is that Mr. Figgins (who has also always been polite and friendly whenever I've interviewed him. another great kid.) is playing against a fellow Shaw High grad, Tech linebacker Philip Wheeler. Bruce said the Tech-UGA rivalry never meant much to him at all growing up, but he's been hearing a little trash talk from one of his high school buddies and former Shaw teammates, Chad Smith, Wheeler's little brother, which makes him want to win a little more:
"It really hasn’t been big at all to me, really. Probably the most right now, knowing Philip Wheeler and being from Shaw. This is the most I’ve ever really thought about it. I went to school with his brother all through high school. His brother’s talking mess before the game, so I’ve been thinking about it the most this year."
I talked to him today about something Mark Richt said on Sunday -- that the freshmen who are from nearby understand the passion around the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry better than those who are from further away from Atlanta. For instance, I talked to my fellow Alabamian Chester Adams and my fellow Columbian (is that what you call someone from Columbus? I'm going with it) Bruce Figgins, and both of them came to Georgia believing that Auburn is Georgia's biggest rival. I think Bruce still feels that way, which is pretty understandable given the pretty much 50-50 split in Columbus between Auburn and Georgia fans. But Rennie's from Snellville and in metro Atlanta -- probably moreso than anywhere else -- Georgia and Georgia Tech is a truly big deal. He knows several guys on Tech's roster from having gone through recruiting and playing against them in high school. Here's some of what Rennie had to say about the Yellow Jackets:
"I grew up with Tech players, Tech folks, I grew up around them all. It’s either one or the other when you’re growing up. You’re either a Tech fan or a Georgia fan and there’s no in between. Luckily I grew up around mostly Georgia fans. My first coach was a Georgia fan. He took me to my first Georgia game when I was like 10 years old, so Georgia football is all I knew. So once I started finding out about Tech, I wasn’t too interested in them, being a Dawg fan and knowing the hatred for Tech, being in-state."
Did you think of Tech as Georgia's biggest rival growing up?
"I knew it was definitely Tech and Auburn that were the biggest rivals. Those were always the biggest games that I always remember watching. It was awesome."
Now that you're here, do you still see it that way?
"I still view them that way because of the in-state rivalry and then you’ve got players who played against each other and went through the recruiting process together. A lot of their players this year that are in our class over there, I know for a fact a lot of them were thinking about coming over here. A couple things just swayed them over there."
So there ya go. A local angle for us, which I mentioned in my Tuesday story, is that Mr. Figgins (who has also always been polite and friendly whenever I've interviewed him. another great kid.) is playing against a fellow Shaw High grad, Tech linebacker Philip Wheeler. Bruce said the Tech-UGA rivalry never meant much to him at all growing up, but he's been hearing a little trash talk from one of his high school buddies and former Shaw teammates, Chad Smith, Wheeler's little brother, which makes him want to win a little more:
"It really hasn’t been big at all to me, really. Probably the most right now, knowing Philip Wheeler and being from Shaw. This is the most I’ve ever really thought about it. I went to school with his brother all through high school. His brother’s talking mess before the game, so I’ve been thinking about it the most this year."
Monday, November 19, 2007
Curran, Atkins garner SEC weekly honors
Add two more UGA players to the list who have received weekly honors from the SEC office. Today, Rennie Curran was named Freshman of the Week and Geno Atkins was named Defensive Lineman of the Week.
From UGA's release:
Two players on University of Georgia’s football team earned Southeastern Conference weekly awards after their performances against #22 Kentucky, according to an announcement by the league office on Monday.
While sophomore defensive tackle Geno Atkins was named the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week, freshman linebacker Rennie Curran was named the SEC Freshman of the Week after the Bulldogs beat the Wildcats 24-13.
Atkins, a 6-1, 290-pound native of Pembroke Pines, Fla., tied for third on the team with five tackles and added half of a sack and one and a half tackles for loss. In addition, Atkins was second on the Bulldog defense with six quarterback pressures. Atkins leads Georgia with 10 and a half tackles for loss on the year.
Curran, a 5-11, 220-pound native of Snellville, Ga., registered a career-high and a team season-high 13 tackles (12 solo) against the Wildcats. One of Curran’s tackles was for a loss and he also added two quarterback pressures from his weakside linebacker position. Curran is tied for fourth on the team with 40 tackles and has only started three games for the Bulldogs.
Atkins and Curran combined to hold Kentucky to only 29 rushing yards and just three points in the final three quarters. The Wildcats came into their matchup with the Bulldogs averaging 37.7 points, but could only manage 13 against Georgia.
This is the first weekly league award for both Atkins and Curran. Redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno has been named SEC Freshman of the Week three times this season and junior defensive tackle Jeff Owens garnered the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week award after the Western Carolina game.
From UGA's release:
Two players on University of Georgia’s football team earned Southeastern Conference weekly awards after their performances against #22 Kentucky, according to an announcement by the league office on Monday.
While sophomore defensive tackle Geno Atkins was named the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week, freshman linebacker Rennie Curran was named the SEC Freshman of the Week after the Bulldogs beat the Wildcats 24-13.
Atkins, a 6-1, 290-pound native of Pembroke Pines, Fla., tied for third on the team with five tackles and added half of a sack and one and a half tackles for loss. In addition, Atkins was second on the Bulldog defense with six quarterback pressures. Atkins leads Georgia with 10 and a half tackles for loss on the year.
Curran, a 5-11, 220-pound native of Snellville, Ga., registered a career-high and a team season-high 13 tackles (12 solo) against the Wildcats. One of Curran’s tackles was for a loss and he also added two quarterback pressures from his weakside linebacker position. Curran is tied for fourth on the team with 40 tackles and has only started three games for the Bulldogs.
Atkins and Curran combined to hold Kentucky to only 29 rushing yards and just three points in the final three quarters. The Wildcats came into their matchup with the Bulldogs averaging 37.7 points, but could only manage 13 against Georgia.
This is the first weekly league award for both Atkins and Curran. Redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno has been named SEC Freshman of the Week three times this season and junior defensive tackle Jeff Owens garnered the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week award after the Western Carolina game.
Richt Saturday postgame comments
I'm just now getting around to transcribing this. It's the complete postgame Q/A time with Mark Richt after the Kentucky game. You'll notice some points throughout where someone gave him score updates from the Vandy-Tennessee game. Carter was sitting in the interview room following the gamecast thing on his laptop and typing while people were asking questions. It made things a little more interesting...
So here we go:
I’m tired. I haven’t slept much since the Florida game.
Is that true?
Just about. I haven’t slept very well.
What you were worried over the celebration thing?
No, I’ve just been excited. Just a lot of adrenaline pumping and I think I’ve about run out. I feel very tired right now, but thankful for how things have gone. We’ve got a great, great bunch of guys, a great coaching staff. The Bulldog Nation has been phenomenal. This is year seven for me and it’s never been like this, just how the fans have responded. It’s been wonderful to this point. We’ve still got more games to play, but our Southeastern Conference play, the regular season is done, anyway. We hope to get to play again. But we’ve earned the right to cheer for Vanderbilt and Kentucky next week. It’s been good. I’m just tired and thankful. That’s about how I feel.
On the turnaround since the fumble late against Vanderbilt:
It’s amazing what happened since that point. Not a good first half against Vanderbilt. Got to the point where they got in close and they’re getting ready to finish us off. Get a big hit by Reshad Jones and the ball gets out away from the body of the runner. Darryl Gamble, redshirt freshman – two freshmen right there – Darryl bats it out, Dannell gets on it, we’ve still got a long way to go to get into position to kick the game-winning field goal, but we make it. We’re just thankful to get out of there alive. And then from that fumble on, though, it really has been nothing but great for us. We’re just fortunate.
On whether it’s the sign of a mature team to overcome four turnovers to beat Kentucky:
I think it’s mainly good defense. We had four turnovers and they got three points off it. That’s huge. Our defense played really, really good. First half, I thought they might have outfought us just a little bit, but still to hold a team like that to 10 is still pretty darn good. And then in the second half, our defense said there’s no way. It’s not gonna happen today. I’m real proud of coach Martinez and everybody else – coach Jancek and Fabris and coach Garner and all the senior leadership. It’s a great job defensively. We had our moments offensively, but we shot ourselves in the foot a few times and killed the momentum that the defense really was gaining for us at times. Blocked punt was big. Really great stop to start the second half, blocked a kick, set up a score, take the lead, get momentum. That was big. Defense/special teams/running game, that’s what it was today.
On Kelin Johnson’s season, particularly lately:
He’s playing great right now and he thought at one time his season might be over, his career might be over. He went in the tank, you know. He’s a highly emotional guy and he probably overreacts a little bit one way or another, depending on what’s going on. But he went in the tank pretty good there for a minute, and when he realized it wasn’t a season-ending or career-ending injury, his spirits came around.
On the team not being distracted by senior day:
I was hoping our seniors would be emotional and wanting to play their very best. Emotion’s good to keep your focus. I thought we came with a pretty good level of energy. I thought the fans had a great amount of energy. I thought Kentucky did too. And again, my impression early on was they were winning the battle up front. It was difficult to even grade what was happening with the skill guys because I just thought – like when they throw that long touchdown pass, he had all day. It’s hard to cover a four-vertical play with that much time to just scan the field and feel no pressure and just to be able to lay it in there perfectly. It’s tough to defend that. We need pressure to defend those types of plays. They did a good job of getting up there on first down and taking some quick hitches and running the rock and getting first downs. They were doing a nice job against us, but our defense finally bowed its neck late in the second quarter and the entire second half, I thought.
On Rennie Curran’s day:
Yeah, Rennie, he’s such a fun guy to be around, you know? A lot of people said he’s too short. We looked at production. He was averaging about 180 tackles a year. He was just a tackling machine in high school. Highly, highly productive and a fantastic human being. What a great kid. Just to see him succeed like that and move into the starting role as a true freshman, it happened because of his production. He was showing it in practice and and we gave him a little taste and he’d make a play and we gave him a little more and before you know it, he earned the starting job similar to what Knowshon did.
On the performance against the run:
They did, they stopped the run much better. I’ll say that, from the get-go, our line didn’t really allow them to run the ball like they would like to. They weren’t getting whipped in the run game, I just thought the quarterback had too much time early in the game, but we began to wear that down just a little bit.
On whether he thought Vandy could go in and handle Tennessee (Vandy was up 24-9 at the time):
Uh, Vanderbilt is a good team. Everybody keeps saying it. They’re a good team. They’re capable of beating anybody in our league. I think they’ve just about beaten everybody in the last couple of years. I’m not shocked because it’s just the type of year it is. That’s no bang on what I think about Tennessee. Tennessee I have a very large amount of respect for, the way they handled us. But to think that Vanderbilt could play well in a game like that doesn’t surprise me. I don’t know how it’s gonna be in the end, but I hope they keep going.
24-16 with 11 minutes left…
What’s that, eight points? Yeah, we’ll see…
On how trip to the Dome would affect his evaluation of the season:
I’m not saying anything about the Dome, but I’ll say this – we’ve done everything we can do since that Tennessee game to put ourselves back in position to at least be able to think about it. I think I can talk at least…at the end of league play, we’ve had a pretty darn good year and I think we’ve absolutely gotten better as the season’s gone along. We’ve got another regular-season game to play next week against a team that we have a high regard for and their coaching staff and their players and the amount of fight that I know they have and the amount of fight that we’re gonna need to win it. It’s gonna be a good game.
On finding a way to tie for the East title after some rocky moments:
It’s exciting to think that we’re in it every year. That’s all you can ask for is does Georgia have a chance to win the SEC Eastern Division every year or the league title or even I think we’re at the point where we can say we have as good a chance as anybody else. I did say at the beginning of the year I thought we would be a lot better team from midseason on. I thought that if we won enough early, we’d have a chance to make a run at it. I said I hope we win enough to be in the race. It sure didn’t look like it or feel like it early on, especially losing two in the East. I don’t think any team has ever made it to the SEC championship game losing two in the Eastern Division – and it still hasn’t happened yet, but it could happen. There’s an opportunity today with Vanderbilt and Kentucky next week, so it’s still possible for that to happen. Again, to be this far in the season and as you say, we are at least co-champs. It’s awesome.
On the challenge in coaching after the Tennessee game:
We were feeling pretty low. We were wondering how good are we? Are we contenders or not? We had a rough year last year in that four-of-five-game stretch. We finished strong, thankfully, against three great football teams. And then we were, I don’t know, maybe getting right back into the mode that we had the year before and we needed to put a stop to it. But we had a lot of great teams to play yet. Somehow we turned it around. I’d have to look back and try to figure out what happened, I guess.
On Scott Haverkamp’s status:
Scott, he’s decided that he doesn’t want to play football anymore. I believe his plans are to transfer to, if he hasn’t changed his mind, he’s gonna transfer to Kansas State just to finish his degree. He just kinda lost his desire to play ball.
How did that happen in the middle of this?
I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him.
On Marcus Howard’s big sack, general good play:
Yeah, Howard has just been great. What a hard worker. He’s a pain in the rear to try to block, especially if you know it’s gonna be a pass. He’s just got a great attitude, great spirit. Guys really like Marcus. He’s got that accent and he’ll say something funny once in a while and it just cracks everybody up. For a guy who’s undersized and is probably not a prototype at that position, he sure is playing good. I think the NFL will have some interest in him because he’s a unique guy with tremendous speed and the ability to play low. And he plays hard, strong. He’s so strong for a guy his size. He’s a pretty amazing guy, because he’ll hold up against the run game pretty good against a 310-pounder. Good player.
How nervous did he get when Sturdivant came off with fewer backup linemen?
Well you know, we still had Josh Davis. Vince Vance went in, Josh Davis was ready, Kiante Tripp was ready to go. I think after that, everybody was, we’re trying to redshirt everybody else I think, so yeah it was getting thinner. I turned to a couple of those guys and I said, ‘You never know when you’re one play away, do you?’ They were like, ‘Oh yeah,’ and their eyes got a little bigger. I’m glad Trinton came back and finished. I still don’t know what happened to him. You may know better than me.
On being there next to Mikey Henderson’s pregame marriage proposal:
Yeah, Mikey asked his fiancé if she would marry him and she said yes and was boo-hooing and everybody was excited and he put her ring on. It was a pretty cool moment. Mikey’s made some good memories this year. He’s milked everything out of his 152-pound body.
On being there by Mikey’s side:
I doubt he wanted to do it because I was there. I think he was more concerned about doing it at a time and a place where it would be kinda unforgettable. I don’t think it was because…shoot, we coulda done that at the Butts-Mehre building or something.
Has anyone asked you to do that before?
No, no one’s ever done that before. I’m glad he was able to do it. I think he wanted to do it on the big scoreboard, but it was gonna cost too much. It didn’t fit his budget, and the NCAA wouldn’t allow us to just give him a freebie.
On whether he’ll look back at the South Carolina loss as the splinter under his finger:
Not really. I did watch that game again the other day. We absolutely missed a lot of wonderful opportunities. Both teams just kinda played fair, I thought. I thought both teams played fair offensively. The defenses played pretty darn good, both sides. We just didn’t make enough plays to win it.
Why did he watch it again?
I don’t even remember. I think I just wanted to…I watched it yesterday. I just wanted to see, I guess I wanted to see how many plays we missed.
Is it possible we’ve underestimated what Knowshon has done lately?
It’s pretty impressive. Five games, 100 yards each one. I guess the second man to do it next to Herschel. Coming with three freshmen linemen in front of you, that kinda gets you excited about the future. You hate to give all the props to him because it has been a team thing. No one man can win a game absolutely, but he has been a great catalyst for us. I still believe all the senior backs have contributed well. It takes everybody to win, but Knowshon certainly helped give us a spark.
On not being able to hit the deep ball against Kentucky:
They did a nice job. They didn’t double-cover people all day, they played man-to-man. Their corners played very well. They cut us off at the pass just about every time. We never really ran by them in my opinion. I thought they did a very nice job.
Was it before Coutu’s field goal that you could actually breathe?
Yes, the kick was big. When he lined up to kick it, I felt like if he made that kick, I just felt like we were gonna win it. But even then, you say that and then all of a sudden, you’re like, ‘Well, I wonder if they happen to just return this kickoff for a touchdown?’ or they get a big play early and then an onside kick. It could happen, but you felt a whole lot more comfortable when it became more than a one-possession game. I guess that’s a basketball term.
On Brian Mimbs:
He did very well. You know, the last couple games, he’s had to angle-kick the ball out of bounds for the most part against some of these great return teams we’ve played. But we’ve allowed him just to boom it again, kick it high...(garbled)…We’ve done a good job of protection. Coach Johnson has done a good job with the protection and it’s been a big surprise this year. He was a very inconsistent punter until this season and then all of a sudden he just grew up and punted great.
Is there a special plan for the Tech game?
Oh I don’t know. I read something in the paper about what trick is next and all that and I said, ‘Men, this thing isn’t about me, this thing isn’t about tricking people. This thing’s about blocking, tackling, playing Georgia football. We know what enthusiasm and energy can do to a gameplan, no doubt, but even in the game’s we’ve won where everybody’s talking about this thing and that thing, it settled into a game and we had to go play good football to win it. I just wanted to make sure they understood that this isn’t about tricking people, it’s about lining up and playing great football.
More on what turned season around:
Well, having the open date at the right time really helped a lot. Having that open date before Florida was huge. It allowed us to really think through what we wanted to do. It gives you a chance to pause and reflect on what’s happened to that point, not just strategy-wise, but emotion and everything else. I said after the Florida game we tried to gameplan emotion as much as we tried to gameplan strategy, the X’s and O’s, and I felt like something was missing on the enthusiasm radar, whatever you want to call it. We just didn’t have enough enthusiasm, we weren’t playing hard enough, we didn’t seem to be enjoying it. We seemed to be just tight. And I said, ‘You know, we’ve got to find a way to break this cycle.’ So whether or not that celebration thing was the big difference or not, I think if you had seen our team in the hotel before the game and in the locker room before the game and in that tunnel trying to get out, we were ready. The energy was there. I don’t want to give too much credit to what happened on the first touchdown. I think the energy was already there. That was the difference in the season is the amount of energy we brought to our execution and I think it helped us gain confidence. Of course, winning that game helped us gain confidence. Confidence, energy and maturity all kinda came together, I think, at the same time. That’s why we’re sitting where we are now.
What does 70 wins in seven years mean to you?
Wow. I never woulda dreamed it. It’s absolutely Georgia’s victories. Shoot, I’m doing less now than I’ve ever done, just kinda watching the coaches coach, and trying to keep everything together, making sure everybody’s doing what they ought to be doing. Just keeping the ship moving in the right direction kinda thing. But great assistant coaches, tremendous players. They’ve been willing to do what coach says do. I’m not talking about just coach Richt, I’m talking about all the coaches. Very, very few times we’ve had to handle an issue with a guy not trying to buy in and do what coaches ask him to do. We give ‘em expectations academically and socially and physically on the field and they’re trying hard to do what we ask them to do and that’s all you can ask for as a coach. Yeah they make mistakes on the field and they make mistakes off the field, but the guys are really trying to do right and do what we ask.
24-22 now. Vandy. Do you care to amend any previous remarks?
They’re going for two? (Right now). Oh I thought they missed it. Well nothing’s changed. I don’t think I’ve said anything…But I mean…Go Vandy. Do you know how much time’s left in the game?
7:14.
7:14. The Internet…
So here we go:
I’m tired. I haven’t slept much since the Florida game.
Is that true?
Just about. I haven’t slept very well.
What you were worried over the celebration thing?
No, I’ve just been excited. Just a lot of adrenaline pumping and I think I’ve about run out. I feel very tired right now, but thankful for how things have gone. We’ve got a great, great bunch of guys, a great coaching staff. The Bulldog Nation has been phenomenal. This is year seven for me and it’s never been like this, just how the fans have responded. It’s been wonderful to this point. We’ve still got more games to play, but our Southeastern Conference play, the regular season is done, anyway. We hope to get to play again. But we’ve earned the right to cheer for Vanderbilt and Kentucky next week. It’s been good. I’m just tired and thankful. That’s about how I feel.
On the turnaround since the fumble late against Vanderbilt:
It’s amazing what happened since that point. Not a good first half against Vanderbilt. Got to the point where they got in close and they’re getting ready to finish us off. Get a big hit by Reshad Jones and the ball gets out away from the body of the runner. Darryl Gamble, redshirt freshman – two freshmen right there – Darryl bats it out, Dannell gets on it, we’ve still got a long way to go to get into position to kick the game-winning field goal, but we make it. We’re just thankful to get out of there alive. And then from that fumble on, though, it really has been nothing but great for us. We’re just fortunate.
On whether it’s the sign of a mature team to overcome four turnovers to beat Kentucky:
I think it’s mainly good defense. We had four turnovers and they got three points off it. That’s huge. Our defense played really, really good. First half, I thought they might have outfought us just a little bit, but still to hold a team like that to 10 is still pretty darn good. And then in the second half, our defense said there’s no way. It’s not gonna happen today. I’m real proud of coach Martinez and everybody else – coach Jancek and Fabris and coach Garner and all the senior leadership. It’s a great job defensively. We had our moments offensively, but we shot ourselves in the foot a few times and killed the momentum that the defense really was gaining for us at times. Blocked punt was big. Really great stop to start the second half, blocked a kick, set up a score, take the lead, get momentum. That was big. Defense/special teams/running game, that’s what it was today.
On Kelin Johnson’s season, particularly lately:
He’s playing great right now and he thought at one time his season might be over, his career might be over. He went in the tank, you know. He’s a highly emotional guy and he probably overreacts a little bit one way or another, depending on what’s going on. But he went in the tank pretty good there for a minute, and when he realized it wasn’t a season-ending or career-ending injury, his spirits came around.
On the team not being distracted by senior day:
I was hoping our seniors would be emotional and wanting to play their very best. Emotion’s good to keep your focus. I thought we came with a pretty good level of energy. I thought the fans had a great amount of energy. I thought Kentucky did too. And again, my impression early on was they were winning the battle up front. It was difficult to even grade what was happening with the skill guys because I just thought – like when they throw that long touchdown pass, he had all day. It’s hard to cover a four-vertical play with that much time to just scan the field and feel no pressure and just to be able to lay it in there perfectly. It’s tough to defend that. We need pressure to defend those types of plays. They did a good job of getting up there on first down and taking some quick hitches and running the rock and getting first downs. They were doing a nice job against us, but our defense finally bowed its neck late in the second quarter and the entire second half, I thought.
On Rennie Curran’s day:
Yeah, Rennie, he’s such a fun guy to be around, you know? A lot of people said he’s too short. We looked at production. He was averaging about 180 tackles a year. He was just a tackling machine in high school. Highly, highly productive and a fantastic human being. What a great kid. Just to see him succeed like that and move into the starting role as a true freshman, it happened because of his production. He was showing it in practice and and we gave him a little taste and he’d make a play and we gave him a little more and before you know it, he earned the starting job similar to what Knowshon did.
On the performance against the run:
They did, they stopped the run much better. I’ll say that, from the get-go, our line didn’t really allow them to run the ball like they would like to. They weren’t getting whipped in the run game, I just thought the quarterback had too much time early in the game, but we began to wear that down just a little bit.
On whether he thought Vandy could go in and handle Tennessee (Vandy was up 24-9 at the time):
Uh, Vanderbilt is a good team. Everybody keeps saying it. They’re a good team. They’re capable of beating anybody in our league. I think they’ve just about beaten everybody in the last couple of years. I’m not shocked because it’s just the type of year it is. That’s no bang on what I think about Tennessee. Tennessee I have a very large amount of respect for, the way they handled us. But to think that Vanderbilt could play well in a game like that doesn’t surprise me. I don’t know how it’s gonna be in the end, but I hope they keep going.
24-16 with 11 minutes left…
What’s that, eight points? Yeah, we’ll see…
On how trip to the Dome would affect his evaluation of the season:
I’m not saying anything about the Dome, but I’ll say this – we’ve done everything we can do since that Tennessee game to put ourselves back in position to at least be able to think about it. I think I can talk at least…at the end of league play, we’ve had a pretty darn good year and I think we’ve absolutely gotten better as the season’s gone along. We’ve got another regular-season game to play next week against a team that we have a high regard for and their coaching staff and their players and the amount of fight that I know they have and the amount of fight that we’re gonna need to win it. It’s gonna be a good game.
On finding a way to tie for the East title after some rocky moments:
It’s exciting to think that we’re in it every year. That’s all you can ask for is does Georgia have a chance to win the SEC Eastern Division every year or the league title or even I think we’re at the point where we can say we have as good a chance as anybody else. I did say at the beginning of the year I thought we would be a lot better team from midseason on. I thought that if we won enough early, we’d have a chance to make a run at it. I said I hope we win enough to be in the race. It sure didn’t look like it or feel like it early on, especially losing two in the East. I don’t think any team has ever made it to the SEC championship game losing two in the Eastern Division – and it still hasn’t happened yet, but it could happen. There’s an opportunity today with Vanderbilt and Kentucky next week, so it’s still possible for that to happen. Again, to be this far in the season and as you say, we are at least co-champs. It’s awesome.
On the challenge in coaching after the Tennessee game:
We were feeling pretty low. We were wondering how good are we? Are we contenders or not? We had a rough year last year in that four-of-five-game stretch. We finished strong, thankfully, against three great football teams. And then we were, I don’t know, maybe getting right back into the mode that we had the year before and we needed to put a stop to it. But we had a lot of great teams to play yet. Somehow we turned it around. I’d have to look back and try to figure out what happened, I guess.
On Scott Haverkamp’s status:
Scott, he’s decided that he doesn’t want to play football anymore. I believe his plans are to transfer to, if he hasn’t changed his mind, he’s gonna transfer to Kansas State just to finish his degree. He just kinda lost his desire to play ball.
How did that happen in the middle of this?
I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him.
On Marcus Howard’s big sack, general good play:
Yeah, Howard has just been great. What a hard worker. He’s a pain in the rear to try to block, especially if you know it’s gonna be a pass. He’s just got a great attitude, great spirit. Guys really like Marcus. He’s got that accent and he’ll say something funny once in a while and it just cracks everybody up. For a guy who’s undersized and is probably not a prototype at that position, he sure is playing good. I think the NFL will have some interest in him because he’s a unique guy with tremendous speed and the ability to play low. And he plays hard, strong. He’s so strong for a guy his size. He’s a pretty amazing guy, because he’ll hold up against the run game pretty good against a 310-pounder. Good player.
How nervous did he get when Sturdivant came off with fewer backup linemen?
Well you know, we still had Josh Davis. Vince Vance went in, Josh Davis was ready, Kiante Tripp was ready to go. I think after that, everybody was, we’re trying to redshirt everybody else I think, so yeah it was getting thinner. I turned to a couple of those guys and I said, ‘You never know when you’re one play away, do you?’ They were like, ‘Oh yeah,’ and their eyes got a little bigger. I’m glad Trinton came back and finished. I still don’t know what happened to him. You may know better than me.
On being there next to Mikey Henderson’s pregame marriage proposal:
Yeah, Mikey asked his fiancé if she would marry him and she said yes and was boo-hooing and everybody was excited and he put her ring on. It was a pretty cool moment. Mikey’s made some good memories this year. He’s milked everything out of his 152-pound body.
On being there by Mikey’s side:
I doubt he wanted to do it because I was there. I think he was more concerned about doing it at a time and a place where it would be kinda unforgettable. I don’t think it was because…shoot, we coulda done that at the Butts-Mehre building or something.
Has anyone asked you to do that before?
No, no one’s ever done that before. I’m glad he was able to do it. I think he wanted to do it on the big scoreboard, but it was gonna cost too much. It didn’t fit his budget, and the NCAA wouldn’t allow us to just give him a freebie.
On whether he’ll look back at the South Carolina loss as the splinter under his finger:
Not really. I did watch that game again the other day. We absolutely missed a lot of wonderful opportunities. Both teams just kinda played fair, I thought. I thought both teams played fair offensively. The defenses played pretty darn good, both sides. We just didn’t make enough plays to win it.
Why did he watch it again?
I don’t even remember. I think I just wanted to…I watched it yesterday. I just wanted to see, I guess I wanted to see how many plays we missed.
Is it possible we’ve underestimated what Knowshon has done lately?
It’s pretty impressive. Five games, 100 yards each one. I guess the second man to do it next to Herschel. Coming with three freshmen linemen in front of you, that kinda gets you excited about the future. You hate to give all the props to him because it has been a team thing. No one man can win a game absolutely, but he has been a great catalyst for us. I still believe all the senior backs have contributed well. It takes everybody to win, but Knowshon certainly helped give us a spark.
On not being able to hit the deep ball against Kentucky:
They did a nice job. They didn’t double-cover people all day, they played man-to-man. Their corners played very well. They cut us off at the pass just about every time. We never really ran by them in my opinion. I thought they did a very nice job.
Was it before Coutu’s field goal that you could actually breathe?
Yes, the kick was big. When he lined up to kick it, I felt like if he made that kick, I just felt like we were gonna win it. But even then, you say that and then all of a sudden, you’re like, ‘Well, I wonder if they happen to just return this kickoff for a touchdown?’ or they get a big play early and then an onside kick. It could happen, but you felt a whole lot more comfortable when it became more than a one-possession game. I guess that’s a basketball term.
On Brian Mimbs:
He did very well. You know, the last couple games, he’s had to angle-kick the ball out of bounds for the most part against some of these great return teams we’ve played. But we’ve allowed him just to boom it again, kick it high...(garbled)…We’ve done a good job of protection. Coach Johnson has done a good job with the protection and it’s been a big surprise this year. He was a very inconsistent punter until this season and then all of a sudden he just grew up and punted great.
Is there a special plan for the Tech game?
Oh I don’t know. I read something in the paper about what trick is next and all that and I said, ‘Men, this thing isn’t about me, this thing isn’t about tricking people. This thing’s about blocking, tackling, playing Georgia football. We know what enthusiasm and energy can do to a gameplan, no doubt, but even in the game’s we’ve won where everybody’s talking about this thing and that thing, it settled into a game and we had to go play good football to win it. I just wanted to make sure they understood that this isn’t about tricking people, it’s about lining up and playing great football.
More on what turned season around:
Well, having the open date at the right time really helped a lot. Having that open date before Florida was huge. It allowed us to really think through what we wanted to do. It gives you a chance to pause and reflect on what’s happened to that point, not just strategy-wise, but emotion and everything else. I said after the Florida game we tried to gameplan emotion as much as we tried to gameplan strategy, the X’s and O’s, and I felt like something was missing on the enthusiasm radar, whatever you want to call it. We just didn’t have enough enthusiasm, we weren’t playing hard enough, we didn’t seem to be enjoying it. We seemed to be just tight. And I said, ‘You know, we’ve got to find a way to break this cycle.’ So whether or not that celebration thing was the big difference or not, I think if you had seen our team in the hotel before the game and in the locker room before the game and in that tunnel trying to get out, we were ready. The energy was there. I don’t want to give too much credit to what happened on the first touchdown. I think the energy was already there. That was the difference in the season is the amount of energy we brought to our execution and I think it helped us gain confidence. Of course, winning that game helped us gain confidence. Confidence, energy and maturity all kinda came together, I think, at the same time. That’s why we’re sitting where we are now.
What does 70 wins in seven years mean to you?
Wow. I never woulda dreamed it. It’s absolutely Georgia’s victories. Shoot, I’m doing less now than I’ve ever done, just kinda watching the coaches coach, and trying to keep everything together, making sure everybody’s doing what they ought to be doing. Just keeping the ship moving in the right direction kinda thing. But great assistant coaches, tremendous players. They’ve been willing to do what coach says do. I’m not talking about just coach Richt, I’m talking about all the coaches. Very, very few times we’ve had to handle an issue with a guy not trying to buy in and do what coaches ask him to do. We give ‘em expectations academically and socially and physically on the field and they’re trying hard to do what we ask them to do and that’s all you can ask for as a coach. Yeah they make mistakes on the field and they make mistakes off the field, but the guys are really trying to do right and do what we ask.
24-22 now. Vandy. Do you care to amend any previous remarks?
They’re going for two? (Right now). Oh I thought they missed it. Well nothing’s changed. I don’t think I’ve said anything…But I mean…Go Vandy. Do you know how much time’s left in the game?
7:14.
7:14. The Internet…
So you're saying there's a chance...
Take a moment to allow the irrational lunatic fan in you to take over for just a sec. Let's talk about how Georgia will make it to the BCS national title game (and of course, this talk only applies if Georgia beats Georgia Tech on Saturday). Let's not think about the long odds against all this stuff happening because it takes the fun out of our little game.
Here are the contenders currently ranked in the BCS top 10 and who they have remaining on the schedule:
1. LSU (10-1) -- Arkansas (7-4); SEC title game (either Georgia or Tennessee)
2. Kansas (11-0) -- Missouri (10-1); with a win, would play Oklahoma/Texas Big 12 Championship Game
3. West Virginia (9-1) -- UConn (9-2); Pittsburgh (4-6)
4. Missouri (10-1) -- at Kansas (11-0); with a win, would play Oklahoma/Texas Big 12 Championship Game
5. Ohio State (11-1) -- regular season complete
6. Arizona State (9-1) -- USC (8-2); Arizona (5-6)
7. Georgia (9-2) -- at Georgia Tech (7-4); with a Tennessee loss to Kentucky, would play LSU (10-1) in SEC championship game
8. Virginia Tech (9-2) -- at Virginia (9-2); with a win, would play Boston College (9-2) in ACC Championship Game
9. Oregon (8-2) -- at UCLA (5-5); Oregon State (7-4)
10. Oklahoma (9-2) -- Oklahoma State (6-5), with a win would play Kansas/Missouri in Big 12 Championship Game
* The best thing for Georgia would be for Kentucky to beat Tennessee on Saturday and then for Georgia to beat LSU in the SEC title game. Then the most likely scenario for Georgia to play Ohio State in the national title game would be for:
1) The Kansas-Missouri winner to lose to Texas or Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game,
2) West Virginia to lose to UConn (or Pitt)
3) Arizona State to lose to USC (or Arizona)
Considering Kentucky has lost 22 straight times against Tennessee and LSU has one of the most talented teams in the country, it's certainly no given that Georgia will even reach/win the SEC title game. I also don't expect UConn to beat West Virginia, but I could absolutely see Kansas/Missouri losing to Oklahoma/Texas and USC beating Arizona State. That stuff's not out of the realm of possibilities, though. Not in this completely unpredictable season of college football.
* If the first scenario is a longshot, the second scenario is longshot supreme. This is the one where Kentucky doesn't beat Tennessee and Georgia fails to play in the SEC title game. Then the Bulldogs would need:
1) Tennessee to beat LSU
2) Kansas-Missouri winner to lose to Oklahoma/Texas
3) West Virginia to lose
4) Arizona State to lose
5) Georgia to beat Georgia Tech, probably needing a rout
6) It probably wouldn't hurt for Virginia Tech to lose again, just to be on the safe side. I'm not a mathematician, so I don't know how possible it would be for the Hokies to leapfrog Georgia if the Bulldogs don't reach the SEC CG and the Hokies win the ACC CG. That wouldn't surprise me, though, because popular opinion would be on the side of the team that won its conference title game.
Basically, a lot of things have to happen for Georgia to make the big game, starting with a USC win over Arizona State on Thanksgiving, a Georgia win over Tech and an unlikely Kentucky win over Tennessee (although apparently Vegas knows something I don't, because Kentucky opened as a 2.5-point favorite). If those three things happen, it will really get interesting.
My personal feeling is that a team that doesn't win its conference has no business playing for a national title. Not even if they're playing better than all the other teams in the conference at the end of the year -- and it could be argued that Georgia's doing that right now. That's the kind of thing a playoff would solve, but we don't have one of those. My opinion doesn't really matter in all this, though. I asked Mark Richt on Sunday's teleconference what he thought about a team that doesn't win its conference playing for a national title...you know, hypothetically (wink, wink):
"I think the bottom line is the system is in place. There’s no rule that I know that would keep that from happening. If it happens, then that’s the way the rules are set up. If someone wants to make a rule that says you can’t go to the game unless you’re a conference champion and everybody agrees on that, then that’s great. But until that time, then those teams deserve to play because those are the rules laid out when it all began."
So we'll see what happens. All they can do is beat Tech and keep their fingers crossed. Gotta beat Tech, though.
Here are the contenders currently ranked in the BCS top 10 and who they have remaining on the schedule:
1. LSU (10-1) -- Arkansas (7-4); SEC title game (either Georgia or Tennessee)
2. Kansas (11-0) -- Missouri (10-1); with a win, would play Oklahoma/Texas Big 12 Championship Game
3. West Virginia (9-1) -- UConn (9-2); Pittsburgh (4-6)
4. Missouri (10-1) -- at Kansas (11-0); with a win, would play Oklahoma/Texas Big 12 Championship Game
5. Ohio State (11-1) -- regular season complete
6. Arizona State (9-1) -- USC (8-2); Arizona (5-6)
7. Georgia (9-2) -- at Georgia Tech (7-4); with a Tennessee loss to Kentucky, would play LSU (10-1) in SEC championship game
8. Virginia Tech (9-2) -- at Virginia (9-2); with a win, would play Boston College (9-2) in ACC Championship Game
9. Oregon (8-2) -- at UCLA (5-5); Oregon State (7-4)
10. Oklahoma (9-2) -- Oklahoma State (6-5), with a win would play Kansas/Missouri in Big 12 Championship Game
* The best thing for Georgia would be for Kentucky to beat Tennessee on Saturday and then for Georgia to beat LSU in the SEC title game. Then the most likely scenario for Georgia to play Ohio State in the national title game would be for:
1) The Kansas-Missouri winner to lose to Texas or Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game,
2) West Virginia to lose to UConn (or Pitt)
3) Arizona State to lose to USC (or Arizona)
Considering Kentucky has lost 22 straight times against Tennessee and LSU has one of the most talented teams in the country, it's certainly no given that Georgia will even reach/win the SEC title game. I also don't expect UConn to beat West Virginia, but I could absolutely see Kansas/Missouri losing to Oklahoma/Texas and USC beating Arizona State. That stuff's not out of the realm of possibilities, though. Not in this completely unpredictable season of college football.
* If the first scenario is a longshot, the second scenario is longshot supreme. This is the one where Kentucky doesn't beat Tennessee and Georgia fails to play in the SEC title game. Then the Bulldogs would need:
1) Tennessee to beat LSU
2) Kansas-Missouri winner to lose to Oklahoma/Texas
3) West Virginia to lose
4) Arizona State to lose
5) Georgia to beat Georgia Tech, probably needing a rout
6) It probably wouldn't hurt for Virginia Tech to lose again, just to be on the safe side. I'm not a mathematician, so I don't know how possible it would be for the Hokies to leapfrog Georgia if the Bulldogs don't reach the SEC CG and the Hokies win the ACC CG. That wouldn't surprise me, though, because popular opinion would be on the side of the team that won its conference title game.
Basically, a lot of things have to happen for Georgia to make the big game, starting with a USC win over Arizona State on Thanksgiving, a Georgia win over Tech and an unlikely Kentucky win over Tennessee (although apparently Vegas knows something I don't, because Kentucky opened as a 2.5-point favorite). If those three things happen, it will really get interesting.
My personal feeling is that a team that doesn't win its conference has no business playing for a national title. Not even if they're playing better than all the other teams in the conference at the end of the year -- and it could be argued that Georgia's doing that right now. That's the kind of thing a playoff would solve, but we don't have one of those. My opinion doesn't really matter in all this, though. I asked Mark Richt on Sunday's teleconference what he thought about a team that doesn't win its conference playing for a national title...you know, hypothetically (wink, wink):
"I think the bottom line is the system is in place. There’s no rule that I know that would keep that from happening. If it happens, then that’s the way the rules are set up. If someone wants to make a rule that says you can’t go to the game unless you’re a conference champion and everybody agrees on that, then that’s great. But until that time, then those teams deserve to play because those are the rules laid out when it all began."
So we'll see what happens. All they can do is beat Tech and keep their fingers crossed. Gotta beat Tech, though.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Dogs move up + new commit
Georgia is now ranked sixth in the Associated Press poll and seventh in the USA Today coaches poll. The BCS rankings will come out in a few hours. Georgia was eighth in the AP and ninth in everything else last week.
Also, they added a commitment today from Cordy Glenn. Glenn is a 6-foot-5, 310 pound offensive tackle from Riverdale (Ga.) High. Scout.com lists him at three stars and the No. 28 offensive tackle prospect in the country. Rivals.com gives him a four-star grade.
Glenn picked Georgia over numerous SEC offers, including Alabama, LSU, South Carolina and Florida. He's Georgia's 24th commitment. They'll probably add two more, I'd think, and I'd imagine they'll both be offensive linemen. Richt said a week or two ago that they wanted two more big offensive tackles. Well, they got one in Glenn. Now that Scott Haverkamp is leaving, that's another O-line vacancy that comes open and I'd think they'd want to add another lineman to fill it.
EDIT: Perhaps my logic on the Haverkamp thing was flawed. Richt said in his Sunday teleconference that since Haverkamp was going to be a senior that you wouldn't take his scholarship into account when planning for the future. That said, I think there are a couple of o-linemen who are considered Georgia leans that they'd accept commitments from if the kid decides he wants to be a Bulldog.
Also, they added a commitment today from Cordy Glenn. Glenn is a 6-foot-5, 310 pound offensive tackle from Riverdale (Ga.) High. Scout.com lists him at three stars and the No. 28 offensive tackle prospect in the country. Rivals.com gives him a four-star grade.
Glenn picked Georgia over numerous SEC offers, including Alabama, LSU, South Carolina and Florida. He's Georgia's 24th commitment. They'll probably add two more, I'd think, and I'd imagine they'll both be offensive linemen. Richt said a week or two ago that they wanted two more big offensive tackles. Well, they got one in Glenn. Now that Scott Haverkamp is leaving, that's another O-line vacancy that comes open and I'd think they'd want to add another lineman to fill it.
EDIT: Perhaps my logic on the Haverkamp thing was flawed. Richt said in his Sunday teleconference that since Haverkamp was going to be a senior that you wouldn't take his scholarship into account when planning for the future. That said, I think there are a couple of o-linemen who are considered Georgia leans that they'd accept commitments from if the kid decides he wants to be a Bulldog.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Saturday night notes and quotes
I'm pretty tired, but I'm going to drop a couple things here before I go to bed. Mark Richt's postgame press conference had some good stuff today. I'll transcribe that and post it sometime tomorrow. I only typed out what I needed tonight.
There are a lot of notable things from today's game. Macon's Josh Kendall writes the postgame notebooks for our papers and he wrote one that was chock full of great information today. I recommend you read the whole thing on the LE site or on macon.com on Sunday because he did a fantastic job.
Among the stuff he covered in there:
* Scott Haverkamp leaving the team after multiple violations of the University alcohol policy. He would have faced suspension after the second violation.
* Along those same lines, Georgia Military coach Bert Williams told Josh that linebacker Akeem Hebron -- who was suspended and dismissed from the team after two alcohol violations earlier this year -- plans on returning to Georgia after the season.
* No plans have been made for Larry Munson either returning to the booth or retiring after this season. It depends on his health.
* The Seiler family expects Uga VI to return next year.
* Dannell Ellerbe wasn't in disciplinary trouble when he didn't start today. He was a little banged up in practice this week, so he didn't get a lot of work according to LBs coach John Jancek.
* Mikey Henderson's pregame proposal to his girlfriend...or I guess fiancee now.
* A quick note Josh included at the end is that Asher Allen is now second all-time in single-season school history with 582 kickoff return yards after four for 126 today. Gene Washington had 669 yards in 1974. I gave Asher a little grief for not staying on his feet on that 82-yard return he had to open the game -- which was a fantastic return -- and he joked that between that and his interception that the refs overturned he wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight.
* Also not in Josh's notebook, Mark Richt became the eighth coach in Division I-A history to record 70 wins in his first seven seasons. Richt is now 70-19. Active coaches also on that list are Pete Carroll (73-14) and Bob Stoops (75-16, although it may soon be 17 if Texas Tech holds onto this two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter).
* Most importantly, I went 4-2 straight-up and 3-3 against the spread on this week's SEC picks, running my record to 65-23 SU and 41-43 ATS.
Here are some quotes I didn't use:
Asher Allen on what changed defensively in the second half:
"Just putting pressure on them with the D-line putting pressure on him. It could have gotten real ugly. In the first quarter when they put 10 up, he just had so much time when he was throwing the ball. He had all day to throw it. The DBs would cover for about six, seven seconds. But then they just turned it up. It was just great seeing that, them making him feel uncomfortable."
Kelin Johnson on the defense leading Georgia to the win today:
"As a defensive player, you like it that way. You want it that way. You don’t want to say you expect the defense to make more plays than the offense, but defense wins championships. I always feel that way. They just sell tickets, but our offense, they’ve been playing great ball. And they played great ball today in the second half. They had long drives, they scored, hit field goals. We can’t take anything away from our offense, because they’re a great offensive team and they play hard all the time. We’re all a team."
Marcus Howard, same subject:
"That’s what a team is all about. If one unit is not doing their best, the other unit has to step up. The offense had a couple bad breaks, they had a couple turnovers and fumbles. We just came together as a defense and said, ‘We’ve got to stop them and keep them out the end zone, and that’s what we did.’"
Marcus Howard, on rushing the passer:
"We knew today was gonna be a passing day and that’s what we wanted to do – come out there and play fast and do just like we do in practice. When it’s time to rush the passer, let’s rush the passer. We really didn’t call that many blitzes, it was just four down linemen and we just came out to play fast football today."
Marcus Howard on Rennie Curran (I used some of this one):
"I knew from when he came in during summer time that he was a beast. You see him without a shirt on, he looks like a beast. We call him Little Atlas. Once we started camp, he was flying around, just doing that during camp. But as a freshman, he has to work his way into the rotation. Once the coaches had faith in him, he came out there and started playing great football for us. Right now he’s one of the playmakers on our defense and I’m just glad he’s on our team."
Matthew Stafford, on the offense's day:
"We’re just battling now. It doesn’t matter how a win comes, we’re trying to get it. It ain’t gonna be pretty every time – it wasn’t pretty today – but we got a win and that’s all that matters."
Stafford, on keeping the ball away from Kentucky:
"It’s tough and they had a great offense and we were trying to keep it away from them and just pound the rock. I’m proud of our offensive line. We ran it I don’t know how many times today, it seemed like we were running it every play. How many times? (49). That’s quite a few carries. They did a great job. I’m happy for them and I’m happy for those backs. They’re helping us win some big ones."
Brandon Miller, on the defense's day:
"I think we pride ourself on getting the offense in a good situation. We try to put them in the best situation we can. We play for everybody. We play for each other on the team. Sometimes the offense does it, sometimes the defense does it. We’ve just got to pick each other up and play ball."
Brandon Miller, same subject:
"The first half, we weren’t focused enough. We had two interceptions, we had a lot of missed tackles, we had their receivers wide-open. In the second half, we came in and figured out what was going on, calmed down and just got focused and came out and played ball."
Mike Bobo on the offense's day:
"Anytime you turn it over four times, you don’t play well. I don’t think it was a lack of concentration, I think it was a lack of fundamentals. You can’t turn it over and expect to run up and down the field. They hurt us, but we made enough plays to win and that’s all that matters."
Mike Bobo, same subject:
"We wanted to control the clock. I thought we controlled the clock for the most part, but you need to get points when you control the clock, which we were not able to do much."
Rennie Curran on Kentucky's offense (Rennie, by the way, was credited with 13 tackles -- the most by a Georgia defender in any game this season):
"The coaches had a good game plan coming into the game. We knew what (Woodson's) tendencies were, that he was a looker. It really made the difference. We knew we could hold them. We really can hold anybody when we play together. For what we were playing for, for the seniors and everybody like that, I think it helped our defense play with enthusiasm, knowing that we couldn’t let them drive."
Curran on how this was the defense's best game:
"Definitely I think it was our best defensive game. It was the biggest test, playing against their big-play offense. I think it was definitely a test, showing how tough we can be."
Curran, on what they were playing for today and whether they thought they could shut Kentucky down:
"It’s always a possibility coming into a game like this. We came in with high emotions. We’ve got the seniors, obviously, their last home game. We’ve got a senior, Jason Johnson, who told us not long before the game that he’ll never be able to play football again. So we were all playing for the same thing – playing with love for each other and just caring about each other and what happens in our last home game, that really makes a difference."
Curran, on today's game:
"I was just trying to get out there and make plays for the team, just do whatever I can. The defensive tackles are great at keeping the linemen off of me and everything just works together. Dannell, he did a good job of picking up the blockers and all that stuff. Just flying around, that’s what I try to do, just make plays. I did it for the seniors and played all-out. I knew it would be our last home game and all that, so I knew I had to go balls out, just dig deep."
There are a lot of notable things from today's game. Macon's Josh Kendall writes the postgame notebooks for our papers and he wrote one that was chock full of great information today. I recommend you read the whole thing on the LE site or on macon.com on Sunday because he did a fantastic job.
Among the stuff he covered in there:
* Scott Haverkamp leaving the team after multiple violations of the University alcohol policy. He would have faced suspension after the second violation.
* Along those same lines, Georgia Military coach Bert Williams told Josh that linebacker Akeem Hebron -- who was suspended and dismissed from the team after two alcohol violations earlier this year -- plans on returning to Georgia after the season.
* No plans have been made for Larry Munson either returning to the booth or retiring after this season. It depends on his health.
* The Seiler family expects Uga VI to return next year.
* Dannell Ellerbe wasn't in disciplinary trouble when he didn't start today. He was a little banged up in practice this week, so he didn't get a lot of work according to LBs coach John Jancek.
* Mikey Henderson's pregame proposal to his girlfriend...or I guess fiancee now.
* A quick note Josh included at the end is that Asher Allen is now second all-time in single-season school history with 582 kickoff return yards after four for 126 today. Gene Washington had 669 yards in 1974. I gave Asher a little grief for not staying on his feet on that 82-yard return he had to open the game -- which was a fantastic return -- and he joked that between that and his interception that the refs overturned he wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight.
* Also not in Josh's notebook, Mark Richt became the eighth coach in Division I-A history to record 70 wins in his first seven seasons. Richt is now 70-19. Active coaches also on that list are Pete Carroll (73-14) and Bob Stoops (75-16, although it may soon be 17 if Texas Tech holds onto this two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter).
* Most importantly, I went 4-2 straight-up and 3-3 against the spread on this week's SEC picks, running my record to 65-23 SU and 41-43 ATS.
Here are some quotes I didn't use:
Asher Allen on what changed defensively in the second half:
"Just putting pressure on them with the D-line putting pressure on him. It could have gotten real ugly. In the first quarter when they put 10 up, he just had so much time when he was throwing the ball. He had all day to throw it. The DBs would cover for about six, seven seconds. But then they just turned it up. It was just great seeing that, them making him feel uncomfortable."
Kelin Johnson on the defense leading Georgia to the win today:
"As a defensive player, you like it that way. You want it that way. You don’t want to say you expect the defense to make more plays than the offense, but defense wins championships. I always feel that way. They just sell tickets, but our offense, they’ve been playing great ball. And they played great ball today in the second half. They had long drives, they scored, hit field goals. We can’t take anything away from our offense, because they’re a great offensive team and they play hard all the time. We’re all a team."
Marcus Howard, same subject:
"That’s what a team is all about. If one unit is not doing their best, the other unit has to step up. The offense had a couple bad breaks, they had a couple turnovers and fumbles. We just came together as a defense and said, ‘We’ve got to stop them and keep them out the end zone, and that’s what we did.’"
Marcus Howard, on rushing the passer:
"We knew today was gonna be a passing day and that’s what we wanted to do – come out there and play fast and do just like we do in practice. When it’s time to rush the passer, let’s rush the passer. We really didn’t call that many blitzes, it was just four down linemen and we just came out to play fast football today."
Marcus Howard on Rennie Curran (I used some of this one):
"I knew from when he came in during summer time that he was a beast. You see him without a shirt on, he looks like a beast. We call him Little Atlas. Once we started camp, he was flying around, just doing that during camp. But as a freshman, he has to work his way into the rotation. Once the coaches had faith in him, he came out there and started playing great football for us. Right now he’s one of the playmakers on our defense and I’m just glad he’s on our team."
Matthew Stafford, on the offense's day:
"We’re just battling now. It doesn’t matter how a win comes, we’re trying to get it. It ain’t gonna be pretty every time – it wasn’t pretty today – but we got a win and that’s all that matters."
Stafford, on keeping the ball away from Kentucky:
"It’s tough and they had a great offense and we were trying to keep it away from them and just pound the rock. I’m proud of our offensive line. We ran it I don’t know how many times today, it seemed like we were running it every play. How many times? (49). That’s quite a few carries. They did a great job. I’m happy for them and I’m happy for those backs. They’re helping us win some big ones."
Brandon Miller, on the defense's day:
"I think we pride ourself on getting the offense in a good situation. We try to put them in the best situation we can. We play for everybody. We play for each other on the team. Sometimes the offense does it, sometimes the defense does it. We’ve just got to pick each other up and play ball."
Brandon Miller, same subject:
"The first half, we weren’t focused enough. We had two interceptions, we had a lot of missed tackles, we had their receivers wide-open. In the second half, we came in and figured out what was going on, calmed down and just got focused and came out and played ball."
Mike Bobo on the offense's day:
"Anytime you turn it over four times, you don’t play well. I don’t think it was a lack of concentration, I think it was a lack of fundamentals. You can’t turn it over and expect to run up and down the field. They hurt us, but we made enough plays to win and that’s all that matters."
Mike Bobo, same subject:
"We wanted to control the clock. I thought we controlled the clock for the most part, but you need to get points when you control the clock, which we were not able to do much."
Rennie Curran on Kentucky's offense (Rennie, by the way, was credited with 13 tackles -- the most by a Georgia defender in any game this season):
"The coaches had a good game plan coming into the game. We knew what (Woodson's) tendencies were, that he was a looker. It really made the difference. We knew we could hold them. We really can hold anybody when we play together. For what we were playing for, for the seniors and everybody like that, I think it helped our defense play with enthusiasm, knowing that we couldn’t let them drive."
Curran on how this was the defense's best game:
"Definitely I think it was our best defensive game. It was the biggest test, playing against their big-play offense. I think it was definitely a test, showing how tough we can be."
Curran, on what they were playing for today and whether they thought they could shut Kentucky down:
"It’s always a possibility coming into a game like this. We came in with high emotions. We’ve got the seniors, obviously, their last home game. We’ve got a senior, Jason Johnson, who told us not long before the game that he’ll never be able to play football again. So we were all playing for the same thing – playing with love for each other and just caring about each other and what happens in our last home game, that really makes a difference."
Curran, on today's game:
"I was just trying to get out there and make plays for the team, just do whatever I can. The defensive tackles are great at keeping the linemen off of me and everything just works together. Dannell, he did a good job of picking up the blockers and all that stuff. Just flying around, that’s what I try to do, just make plays. I did it for the seniors and played all-out. I knew it would be our last home game and all that, so I knew I had to go balls out, just dig deep."
Week 12 picks
Went 3-3 straight up and 3-3 against the spread last week running the old record to 61-21 SU and 38-40 ATS.
Here we go:
Florida Atlantic at Florida, Noon, PPV
Line: Florida by 35.5
My guess: The Gators can name the score. It'll be interesting to see if Urban Meyer leaves Tebow in there to pad his stats some more for the Heisman chase. He might be the leading contender for the award now that Dennis Dixon's done for the rest of the season. Florida 49, Florida Atlantic 13
Kentucky at Georgia, 12:30 p.m., LF Sports
Line: Georgia by 7.5
My guess: I don't know if Georgia has faced a better set of skill players this year than Kentucky's. The other contenders would be Florida, Tennessee and Oklahoma State. I really think I might take Kentucky's over all of them. So while I don't think Kentucky's defense will be able to stop Georgia's offense consistently, I think Kentucky's gonna put up some points as well. I'd be concerned about a slow start if I were a Georgia fan, as the 12:30 kickoff doesn't exactly create much of a home-field advantage with crowd energy. But as long as Georgia's offense clicks early, I expect the Bulldogs to put up a healthy point total. Georgia 38, Kentucky 24
Mississippi State at Arkansas, 2 p.m., No TV
Line: Arkansas by 11
My guess: This isn't exactly a great matchup for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs have been able to pick up some ugly wins over more talented teams by turning games into a street fight. I don't think Arkansas has much heart, which would seem to give the Bulldogs a chance, but I'm not sure State has the horses to bring down McFadden and Jones, particularly away from home. State's either gonna win another close one or lose big. Arkansas hasn't lost to Mississippi State since 1998, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict another Crooming. Mississippi State 23, Arkansas 21
Louisiana-Monroe at Alabama, 2:30 p.m., No TV
Line: Alabama by 24.5
My guess: Boring. Starters play two and a half quarters and then start thinking about how to beat Auburn. Alabama 44, Louisiana-Monroe 14
Vanderbilt at Tennessee, 2 p.m., PPV
Line: Tennessee by 12
My guess: I can't figure Tennessee out. Every time I think the Vols are finished, they come out and beat the tar out of a team I think will beat them. Every time I think Tennessee's starting to look good, they wet the bed. So what I'm saying is that I think Tennessee will win this game easily, but I'd never put money on a UT game these days. Tennessee 35, Vanderbilt 21
LSU at Ole Miss, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Line: LSU by 19
My guess: This OUGHT to be a blowout. Top-ranked team in the country against the worst team in the SEC. But don't discount hatred and Ole Miss hates LSU for some reason. LSU's won five straight against the Rebels, but four of those games were decided by a field goal. I don't get it. I can't predict another three-point game because it just doesn't make sense. I can, however, predict Ole Miss will beat that spread. LSU 30, Ole Miss 13
Here we go:
Florida Atlantic at Florida, Noon, PPV
Line: Florida by 35.5
My guess: The Gators can name the score. It'll be interesting to see if Urban Meyer leaves Tebow in there to pad his stats some more for the Heisman chase. He might be the leading contender for the award now that Dennis Dixon's done for the rest of the season. Florida 49, Florida Atlantic 13
Kentucky at Georgia, 12:30 p.m., LF Sports
Line: Georgia by 7.5
My guess: I don't know if Georgia has faced a better set of skill players this year than Kentucky's. The other contenders would be Florida, Tennessee and Oklahoma State. I really think I might take Kentucky's over all of them. So while I don't think Kentucky's defense will be able to stop Georgia's offense consistently, I think Kentucky's gonna put up some points as well. I'd be concerned about a slow start if I were a Georgia fan, as the 12:30 kickoff doesn't exactly create much of a home-field advantage with crowd energy. But as long as Georgia's offense clicks early, I expect the Bulldogs to put up a healthy point total. Georgia 38, Kentucky 24
Mississippi State at Arkansas, 2 p.m., No TV
Line: Arkansas by 11
My guess: This isn't exactly a great matchup for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs have been able to pick up some ugly wins over more talented teams by turning games into a street fight. I don't think Arkansas has much heart, which would seem to give the Bulldogs a chance, but I'm not sure State has the horses to bring down McFadden and Jones, particularly away from home. State's either gonna win another close one or lose big. Arkansas hasn't lost to Mississippi State since 1998, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict another Crooming. Mississippi State 23, Arkansas 21
Louisiana-Monroe at Alabama, 2:30 p.m., No TV
Line: Alabama by 24.5
My guess: Boring. Starters play two and a half quarters and then start thinking about how to beat Auburn. Alabama 44, Louisiana-Monroe 14
Vanderbilt at Tennessee, 2 p.m., PPV
Line: Tennessee by 12
My guess: I can't figure Tennessee out. Every time I think the Vols are finished, they come out and beat the tar out of a team I think will beat them. Every time I think Tennessee's starting to look good, they wet the bed. So what I'm saying is that I think Tennessee will win this game easily, but I'd never put money on a UT game these days. Tennessee 35, Vanderbilt 21
LSU at Ole Miss, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Line: LSU by 19
My guess: This OUGHT to be a blowout. Top-ranked team in the country against the worst team in the SEC. But don't discount hatred and Ole Miss hates LSU for some reason. LSU's won five straight against the Rebels, but four of those games were decided by a field goal. I don't get it. I can't predict another three-point game because it just doesn't make sense. I can, however, predict Ole Miss will beat that spread. LSU 30, Ole Miss 13
Friday, November 16, 2007
Housecleaning
Some stuff I forgot to mention, or if I did mention it, will mention again.
* The Fort Benning-based Silver Wings Parachute Team will fly into the stadium to present the game ball for the Georgia-Kentucky game. That's always kinda neat to watch, plus there's that local angle.
* Mike Bobo was named the Master Coaches' Offensive Coordinator of the Week after the big win over Auburn. He's among the weekly honorees listed here.
* Georgia's 23 seniors will be honored before kickoff on Saturday. Mark Richt encouraged fans to be in their seats 20 minutes before kickoff. I believe he said the seniors will be honored at the 16-minute mark, which should be between 12:15 and 12:20. Here's the list of seniors who will be recognized: Chester Adams, Andy Bailey, Sean Bailey, A.J. Bryant, Thomas Brown, Brandon Coutu, Thomas Flowers, T.J. Gartrell, Chris Gaunder, Mikey Henderson, Marcus Howard, Jason Johnson, Kelin Johnson, Kregg Lumpkin, Justin Lyles, Brandon Miller, Mitchell Pittman, Fernando Velasco, Coleman Watson, Andrew Williams, Patrick Williams and Ben Wilson.
* The Fort Benning-based Silver Wings Parachute Team will fly into the stadium to present the game ball for the Georgia-Kentucky game. That's always kinda neat to watch, plus there's that local angle.
* Mike Bobo was named the Master Coaches' Offensive Coordinator of the Week after the big win over Auburn. He's among the weekly honorees listed here.
* Georgia's 23 seniors will be honored before kickoff on Saturday. Mark Richt encouraged fans to be in their seats 20 minutes before kickoff. I believe he said the seniors will be honored at the 16-minute mark, which should be between 12:15 and 12:20. Here's the list of seniors who will be recognized: Chester Adams, Andy Bailey, Sean Bailey, A.J. Bryant, Thomas Brown, Brandon Coutu, Thomas Flowers, T.J. Gartrell, Chris Gaunder, Mikey Henderson, Marcus Howard, Jason Johnson, Kelin Johnson, Kregg Lumpkin, Justin Lyles, Brandon Miller, Mitchell Pittman, Fernando Velasco, Coleman Watson, Andrew Williams, Patrick Williams and Ben Wilson.
Eason, WRs talk drops
Briefly, poor Dennis Dixon, huh? You folks who were devaluing his performance should have been watching tonight. Oregon was well on the way to WHIPPING a fairly mediocre Arizona team until Dixon hurt his knee in the first quarter. Pretty much immediately, the Ducks absolutely fell apart with Ryan Leaf's injured brother playing QB. It's too bad. I'd say the Heisman race is wide open again.
My story in Friday's paper is on the receivers' improvement this year at holding onto the ball. Very, very few drops since midseason and some very impressive grabs, too. Mikey Henderson's TD catch against Florida and a couple of Sean Bailey's catches against Auburn immediately come to mind. Come to think of it, so does Demiko Goodman's catch against Tennessee, although it wasn't quite as significant as the other ones I just mentioned. Anyway, I talked to a whole bunch of these guys about it and they all said it was a product of growing confidence after deciding in the preseason to not dwell on drops if they happened.
Here's some of what receivers coach John Eason had to say to me and Chattanooga's David Paschall on the subject this week:
On whether he can remember the last time a WR dropped a pass:
"I don’t know. It’s been a while."
On how nice it is to say that:
"Yes, it’s very nice. No doubt about it, it’s really nice."
On what he attributes the improvement to:
"Maturity. I think all these guys have been to battle before, the quarterback has been to battle before and maturity, I just felt like at the time, give them time and they would be OK. But a lot of times, we don’t want to give them time, and that’s what they needed."
On the value of having one quarterback to work with predominantly instead of rotating between three or four like last year:
"felt it made a huge difference, but at that time you just had to accept the fact that you were dropping passes. I think, like you said, one quarterback throws a soft, easy ball and the next time, boom, it’s coming out there. As a wide receiver, you don’t look to see who’s throwing the ball, you just run the route and sometimes it just catches you off guard. But again, it’s our job to catch the football. That’s what we’ve still got to do."
More on not being asked about drops very frequently anymore:
"I was constantly reminded of how many we had in the past and this year no one’s bringing it up, thank goodness."
Here are a couple of other receivers/coaches talking about the subject.
RICHT:
"Usually you hope the more they mature, the more they make plays. I think Stafford, I think he’s finally beginning to relax a little bit, knowing he doesn’t have to throw it 100 miles an hour every time he throws it. I think that was part of the problem. Last year we had three different quarterbacks start throughout the year. Not really knowing who the guy is and how that ball’s coming at you sometimes. Just takes a little getting used to."
SEAN BAILEY:
"It hasn’t been a big issue, I think just because of the way I came into the season. I wasn’t gonna allow myself to make a big deal if I dropped a pass. I think in ’05, I think my confidence took a hit. I think I let one drop affect me and it led to other drops. That’s one thing I was determined not to let happen this season."
"I think we’ve learned the hard way. We’ve been critiqued and watched so hard and a lot of pressure has been put on us and a lot of things have been built up about the drops, so it was harder last year and the year before to get it out of your mind because it’s what everybody was asking. Of course, it was a big concern and everything. But coming into this year, we just had the mindset that we’re gonna come out and play ball and we’re all capable, we’re all highly recruited, we’re all talented. Yeah, there are gonna be drops here or there, but just forget it and keep playing."
MIKEY HENDERSON:
"It definitely seemed like it was contagious once it started happening. That’s what it was, for whatever reason. I just felt like if we dropped one, we may not get another chance or maybe you might not get to play anymore because it played such a huge role in dropping one. But now, it still may be that way, but it doesn’t go through our mind anymore."
MIKE BOBO:
"I just think it’s a confidence thing. I think guys are starting to have some confidence at receiver. I know we struggled a little bit early in the year both at quarterback and receiver, but we challenged these guys for their expectations to be great – not to just catch the ball, but catch it and make plays. We need explosive plays. We don’t need a guy that’s gonna catch it and fall down, we need a guy that’s gonna catch it and score. And they’ve risen to the challenge in that area as well as blocking. A lot of these runs that Thomas and Knowshon are having are a result of their blocking downfield. They’ve really bought in and coach Eason has done a great job of challenging these guys this year."
"I think a lot of it has to do with maturity. Those guys were relatively still young last year, but maturity, a year of getting stronger, a year of more confidence, and just believing – believing in what we’re doing and buying in. They’re doing a good job of that."
My story in Friday's paper is on the receivers' improvement this year at holding onto the ball. Very, very few drops since midseason and some very impressive grabs, too. Mikey Henderson's TD catch against Florida and a couple of Sean Bailey's catches against Auburn immediately come to mind. Come to think of it, so does Demiko Goodman's catch against Tennessee, although it wasn't quite as significant as the other ones I just mentioned. Anyway, I talked to a whole bunch of these guys about it and they all said it was a product of growing confidence after deciding in the preseason to not dwell on drops if they happened.
Here's some of what receivers coach John Eason had to say to me and Chattanooga's David Paschall on the subject this week:
On whether he can remember the last time a WR dropped a pass:
"I don’t know. It’s been a while."
On how nice it is to say that:
"Yes, it’s very nice. No doubt about it, it’s really nice."
On what he attributes the improvement to:
"Maturity. I think all these guys have been to battle before, the quarterback has been to battle before and maturity, I just felt like at the time, give them time and they would be OK. But a lot of times, we don’t want to give them time, and that’s what they needed."
On the value of having one quarterback to work with predominantly instead of rotating between three or four like last year:
"felt it made a huge difference, but at that time you just had to accept the fact that you were dropping passes. I think, like you said, one quarterback throws a soft, easy ball and the next time, boom, it’s coming out there. As a wide receiver, you don’t look to see who’s throwing the ball, you just run the route and sometimes it just catches you off guard. But again, it’s our job to catch the football. That’s what we’ve still got to do."
More on not being asked about drops very frequently anymore:
"I was constantly reminded of how many we had in the past and this year no one’s bringing it up, thank goodness."
Here are a couple of other receivers/coaches talking about the subject.
RICHT:
"Usually you hope the more they mature, the more they make plays. I think Stafford, I think he’s finally beginning to relax a little bit, knowing he doesn’t have to throw it 100 miles an hour every time he throws it. I think that was part of the problem. Last year we had three different quarterbacks start throughout the year. Not really knowing who the guy is and how that ball’s coming at you sometimes. Just takes a little getting used to."
SEAN BAILEY:
"It hasn’t been a big issue, I think just because of the way I came into the season. I wasn’t gonna allow myself to make a big deal if I dropped a pass. I think in ’05, I think my confidence took a hit. I think I let one drop affect me and it led to other drops. That’s one thing I was determined not to let happen this season."
"I think we’ve learned the hard way. We’ve been critiqued and watched so hard and a lot of pressure has been put on us and a lot of things have been built up about the drops, so it was harder last year and the year before to get it out of your mind because it’s what everybody was asking. Of course, it was a big concern and everything. But coming into this year, we just had the mindset that we’re gonna come out and play ball and we’re all capable, we’re all highly recruited, we’re all talented. Yeah, there are gonna be drops here or there, but just forget it and keep playing."
MIKEY HENDERSON:
"It definitely seemed like it was contagious once it started happening. That’s what it was, for whatever reason. I just felt like if we dropped one, we may not get another chance or maybe you might not get to play anymore because it played such a huge role in dropping one. But now, it still may be that way, but it doesn’t go through our mind anymore."
MIKE BOBO:
"I just think it’s a confidence thing. I think guys are starting to have some confidence at receiver. I know we struggled a little bit early in the year both at quarterback and receiver, but we challenged these guys for their expectations to be great – not to just catch the ball, but catch it and make plays. We need explosive plays. We don’t need a guy that’s gonna catch it and fall down, we need a guy that’s gonna catch it and score. And they’ve risen to the challenge in that area as well as blocking. A lot of these runs that Thomas and Knowshon are having are a result of their blocking downfield. They’ve really bought in and coach Eason has done a great job of challenging these guys this year."
"I think a lot of it has to do with maturity. Those guys were relatively still young last year, but maturity, a year of getting stronger, a year of more confidence, and just believing – believing in what we’re doing and buying in. They’re doing a good job of that."
Select Richt Thursday comments
Here's some of what Mark Richt had to say this afternoon. One of the writers ran the idea by him of doing the Soulja Boy dance. It was a funny conversation. Richt corrected him that it's "Soulja" not "Soldier" and was kiddingly impressed with himself that he knew that much. Some of that stuff's toward the bottom and in the lead of my Friday notebook:
On practicing at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday:
It might’ve been nicer in the morning than it was later in the afternoon. I know the wind was whipping pretty good today. We got most of it in without a lot of wind and we got most of it in before the sun came up. It came up around 6:55 a.m. if anybody’s wondering when it came up. It was funny. We wanted to make sure we warmed ‘em up real good so we took an extra five minutes to warm ‘em up. And then the very first thing we do after that is, during period one, the first thing we did is a pass skeleton drill. I think the very first play was a long bomb to Mohamed and coach Van, he was cringing because he was in charge of warming them up and if he’d have pulled a hamstring on the first play on a cold morning at the crack of dawn, he’d have probably gotten blamed for it. But he was thankful that nothing bad happened. He was like, ‘Why are you throwing a bomb on the first play?’ And I said, ‘Hey, you’re in charge of warming them up. They need to be ready.’ But anyway, we’re ready.
Did the players drag at all because of the hour?
I’m sure in the locker room they were dragging around, but once we got rolling, it wasn’t bad at all. When the weather’s a little cool, you can’t help but move around a little bit quicker even if you don’t want to. But it wasn’t just terribly cold or anything. The wind was really fairly calm most of the time. It got whipping a little bit, but nothing like it did later in the day.
On Rennie Curran:
Rennie’s catching everybody’s eye, I see, and rightfully so. We had him down for 11 tackles last game and I think Dannell also had 11, if I didn’t forget exactly what they had. But when Rennie and Dannell are in there, they’re both playing very fast right now. But to answer your question directly, Rennie does have a good nose for the ball and he can go get it. He plays low. I would say he was born in a football position and he’s ready to strike at anytime. He just kinda slithers his way through there and gets in on a lot of tackles, hustles. He’s gonna be pretty good – and he’s only a freshman.
You guys come through the week pretty well?
Yeah, pretty good. I don’t think (Jason Johnson) will play this week – he has a burner kinda deal, neck. Other than that, no other injury issues. I’m trying to think if somebody’s coming back. I know we’ve mostly got guys back from previous things. But I don’t think we had anymore setbacks. (He said Quintin Banks, Tony Wilson and Donavon Baldwin should all be availabl on Saturday).
On discovering what the Soulja Boy dance is:
I did a thing for Hero for Children, a little fundraiser thing or helping them get ready to do a fundraiser on campus. Backstage they were like, ‘Coach, you’ve just gotta do the Soulja Boy dance.’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I had no earthly idea what they were talking about. That’s when I first heard about that. Of course, I’m learning rapidly what that is. I’m not learning how to do it, but at least I know what it is. I think I could recognize the song that they dance to.
On the Richt family trying to get him to do the dance:
They’re working on me, not practicing it, they’re working on me trying to get me to learn how to do it. But see I don’t even know how to do the electric slide yet, so I don’t know if you’re allowed to jump right into the Soulja Boy dance or not. I don’t know if there’s a progression there.
On what him dancing would mean:
That would be out of character, OK. All this other stuff, I didn’t do anything that far out of character.
More on that:
If I’m dancing on the sidelines, someone needs to … I won’t even say.
A little more on that. He was understandably amused by the prospect of him dancing:
If I felt like I could do it and it would look like what it’s supposed to look like, I might consider it.
On some opponents' fans' opinions that this dancing stuff is disrespectful or unsportsmanlike:
I don’t think it’s being disrespectful. I don’t think anybody’s trying to rub something in. It’s not like that’s the first time it ever happened. Those guys have been doing a little bit of that getting ready for a kickoff or something. I’ve seen other teams get their kickoff team and do their little thing and jump up and get fired up. I don’t think anybody’s trying to disrespect anybody. I don’t think you can probably go through the season without making somebody mad at you, but we’re not trying to.
On whether he'd consider moving their practices to the morning:
I would do anything I could to make our schedules better for our players, where they could get to where they need to get and be able to eat. I think we have a very tight schedule right now in the fall, especially for a true freshman. I talked to other people and it just seems like everybody’s true freshmen are just getting worn slap out because of all the mandatory study hall and all the things you’ve gotta ask ‘em to do. I don’t know if trading the time would make it better for them, but if it would, I would consider that. I think sometimes teams do it just because of their university class schedules. Sometimes you do it because you have to do it, this is the only time we could make it work type thing. But I really do want to dig into our fall schedule. Our spring schedule’s not too bad, but our fall schedule’s so busy, I’m gonna look into seeing if there’s a better way. And if it includes doing it in the morning every morning or a couple mornings a week, I’d consider doing that.
That’s not a bad thought. I don’t disagree with that. And the hot days, the early season days where it’s super hot out there, it’d probably be a welcome change to get ‘em in the cooler temperature and like you say more time to recover.
On which players on the team might make good coaches:
When I left Miami, I was by far the least likely to ever become a coach, so I don’t know if you can tell right now. But there’s some guys that would be outstanding and there’s some guys out and about right now that have been through our system that are in high school coaching or just finishing up an opportunity to play in the NFL or whatever, or at least to try to make it, that would be good coaches too. There’s some good candidates out there. I would love to have more University of Georgia guys become our graduate assistants. The ones especially that have been through our system, the way we like to do things, and bought into what we do.
On practicing at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday:
It might’ve been nicer in the morning than it was later in the afternoon. I know the wind was whipping pretty good today. We got most of it in without a lot of wind and we got most of it in before the sun came up. It came up around 6:55 a.m. if anybody’s wondering when it came up. It was funny. We wanted to make sure we warmed ‘em up real good so we took an extra five minutes to warm ‘em up. And then the very first thing we do after that is, during period one, the first thing we did is a pass skeleton drill. I think the very first play was a long bomb to Mohamed and coach Van, he was cringing because he was in charge of warming them up and if he’d have pulled a hamstring on the first play on a cold morning at the crack of dawn, he’d have probably gotten blamed for it. But he was thankful that nothing bad happened. He was like, ‘Why are you throwing a bomb on the first play?’ And I said, ‘Hey, you’re in charge of warming them up. They need to be ready.’ But anyway, we’re ready.
Did the players drag at all because of the hour?
I’m sure in the locker room they were dragging around, but once we got rolling, it wasn’t bad at all. When the weather’s a little cool, you can’t help but move around a little bit quicker even if you don’t want to. But it wasn’t just terribly cold or anything. The wind was really fairly calm most of the time. It got whipping a little bit, but nothing like it did later in the day.
On Rennie Curran:
Rennie’s catching everybody’s eye, I see, and rightfully so. We had him down for 11 tackles last game and I think Dannell also had 11, if I didn’t forget exactly what they had. But when Rennie and Dannell are in there, they’re both playing very fast right now. But to answer your question directly, Rennie does have a good nose for the ball and he can go get it. He plays low. I would say he was born in a football position and he’s ready to strike at anytime. He just kinda slithers his way through there and gets in on a lot of tackles, hustles. He’s gonna be pretty good – and he’s only a freshman.
You guys come through the week pretty well?
Yeah, pretty good. I don’t think (Jason Johnson) will play this week – he has a burner kinda deal, neck. Other than that, no other injury issues. I’m trying to think if somebody’s coming back. I know we’ve mostly got guys back from previous things. But I don’t think we had anymore setbacks. (He said Quintin Banks, Tony Wilson and Donavon Baldwin should all be availabl on Saturday).
On discovering what the Soulja Boy dance is:
I did a thing for Hero for Children, a little fundraiser thing or helping them get ready to do a fundraiser on campus. Backstage they were like, ‘Coach, you’ve just gotta do the Soulja Boy dance.’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I had no earthly idea what they were talking about. That’s when I first heard about that. Of course, I’m learning rapidly what that is. I’m not learning how to do it, but at least I know what it is. I think I could recognize the song that they dance to.
On the Richt family trying to get him to do the dance:
They’re working on me, not practicing it, they’re working on me trying to get me to learn how to do it. But see I don’t even know how to do the electric slide yet, so I don’t know if you’re allowed to jump right into the Soulja Boy dance or not. I don’t know if there’s a progression there.
On what him dancing would mean:
That would be out of character, OK. All this other stuff, I didn’t do anything that far out of character.
More on that:
If I’m dancing on the sidelines, someone needs to … I won’t even say.
A little more on that. He was understandably amused by the prospect of him dancing:
If I felt like I could do it and it would look like what it’s supposed to look like, I might consider it.
On some opponents' fans' opinions that this dancing stuff is disrespectful or unsportsmanlike:
I don’t think it’s being disrespectful. I don’t think anybody’s trying to rub something in. It’s not like that’s the first time it ever happened. Those guys have been doing a little bit of that getting ready for a kickoff or something. I’ve seen other teams get their kickoff team and do their little thing and jump up and get fired up. I don’t think anybody’s trying to disrespect anybody. I don’t think you can probably go through the season without making somebody mad at you, but we’re not trying to.
On whether he'd consider moving their practices to the morning:
I would do anything I could to make our schedules better for our players, where they could get to where they need to get and be able to eat. I think we have a very tight schedule right now in the fall, especially for a true freshman. I talked to other people and it just seems like everybody’s true freshmen are just getting worn slap out because of all the mandatory study hall and all the things you’ve gotta ask ‘em to do. I don’t know if trading the time would make it better for them, but if it would, I would consider that. I think sometimes teams do it just because of their university class schedules. Sometimes you do it because you have to do it, this is the only time we could make it work type thing. But I really do want to dig into our fall schedule. Our spring schedule’s not too bad, but our fall schedule’s so busy, I’m gonna look into seeing if there’s a better way. And if it includes doing it in the morning every morning or a couple mornings a week, I’d consider doing that.
That’s not a bad thought. I don’t disagree with that. And the hot days, the early season days where it’s super hot out there, it’d probably be a welcome change to get ‘em in the cooler temperature and like you say more time to recover.
On which players on the team might make good coaches:
When I left Miami, I was by far the least likely to ever become a coach, so I don’t know if you can tell right now. But there’s some guys that would be outstanding and there’s some guys out and about right now that have been through our system that are in high school coaching or just finishing up an opportunity to play in the NFL or whatever, or at least to try to make it, that would be good coaches too. There’s some good candidates out there. I would love to have more University of Georgia guys become our graduate assistants. The ones especially that have been through our system, the way we like to do things, and bought into what we do.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Thoughts on Bizarro Richt
I wrote a story today about Mark Richt's supposed new personality today. It seems a lot of people think that because he ordered the touchdown celebration that got out of hand, finally gave in to let the team wear black and is more excitable on the sidelines that it means he's a new man. I don't think I buy that, although it makes good copy for people who aren't around a whole heck of a lot.
My belief was that we weren't seeing a new Richt at all, that the idea that there's a "new" Mark Richt is a bunch of overblown sports columnist tripe. Yes, he's been more active on the sidelines because now he CAN. Yes, he let the team wear black the other day, but he's been planning that for more than a year. This is not a brand-new guy we're seeing here. It's someone who's learning how to adapt to his new role.
Plenty of people say he'd get fired up in practice or the locker room in that way. But on gameday, he always said he had to keep it together because he had a game to call. Now that Mike Bobo's taken that role, Richt has been able to try to motivate players/yell at the refs/try to get the crowd up. Who's to say he wouldn't have been doing that all along? I think he would have, if he could have.
So I talked to people who know him much, much better than I do to see what they thought -- strength and conditioning coach Dave Van Halanger, who's known Richt since he came on as a grad assistant at Florida State in 1985, and Richt's wife of 20 years, Katharyn.
Here's a Q&A I did Tuesday with coach Van Halanger. I thought he'd have about as good a perspective as anyone:
Everybody’s writing about how coach Richt’s a changed man and all that. Is that something you see?
I really don’t. Mark hasn’t changed to the degree of his character. He’s still coach Richt, he’s still by the numbers. We’re gonna do it right. I think he put a couple things in there that make it look that way, but if you really look, there really isn’t much difference. What is it, two events? So I really don’t see a change. I work out with Mark and No. 1, he loves Georgia and he wants the kids to have the best of everything – character, education and the football. That’s his goals. We know that winning around here is very, very important, so we’re gonna do what he feels takes to get the ‘W,’ give the guys the fire. And after Tennessee, we needed something.
So you think that stuff’s overblown.
Oh yeah, I think so. For sure. Mark’s Mark. We were winning a championship his second year and we were 13-1. He was doing some great things then too, it just wasn’t as up front. But he was doing things behind the scenes all the time to get kids fired up, get ‘em motivated. That’s what I see. And in 2005 he did some great things.
Some of the kids say he’s looser these days. Would you agree with that?
I don’t know. He started practice today with 25 up-downs because he wasn’t too happy, so I don’t know if he’s looser or not. You know, if you’re winning that stuff makes you better. But you’d better keep winning, then.
Here's a little sampling of what Katharyn Richt had to say:
"I don’t think he’s that much different than before, I just think he maybe has more time to do things and think about them and maybe do a little bit extra. And we’ve needed it. Now we’re having parity, parity is here, and you have to find the edge and what it is that’s gonna make your different than the other team."
On the players dancing:
"His big thing is he doesn’t want you dancing in the face of the other players or the other team. If you’re having fun, if you’re having your own fun with your own team, that has never bothered him. He likes that. I just think he did at the beginning of the year have to find out what he could do, but I don’t really think he’s changed that much. That’s just me."
Take it as you will. I guess my opinion on the matter is that the guy didn't become this motivational genius after they lost to Tennessee. He was already a good motivator. He just needed some time to figure out what to do with himself now that he's got the extra time on his hands. It's a still-developing process, as his comments yesterday about backing off the referees in the future indicate.
My belief was that we weren't seeing a new Richt at all, that the idea that there's a "new" Mark Richt is a bunch of overblown sports columnist tripe. Yes, he's been more active on the sidelines because now he CAN. Yes, he let the team wear black the other day, but he's been planning that for more than a year. This is not a brand-new guy we're seeing here. It's someone who's learning how to adapt to his new role.
Plenty of people say he'd get fired up in practice or the locker room in that way. But on gameday, he always said he had to keep it together because he had a game to call. Now that Mike Bobo's taken that role, Richt has been able to try to motivate players/yell at the refs/try to get the crowd up. Who's to say he wouldn't have been doing that all along? I think he would have, if he could have.
So I talked to people who know him much, much better than I do to see what they thought -- strength and conditioning coach Dave Van Halanger, who's known Richt since he came on as a grad assistant at Florida State in 1985, and Richt's wife of 20 years, Katharyn.
Here's a Q&A I did Tuesday with coach Van Halanger. I thought he'd have about as good a perspective as anyone:
Everybody’s writing about how coach Richt’s a changed man and all that. Is that something you see?
I really don’t. Mark hasn’t changed to the degree of his character. He’s still coach Richt, he’s still by the numbers. We’re gonna do it right. I think he put a couple things in there that make it look that way, but if you really look, there really isn’t much difference. What is it, two events? So I really don’t see a change. I work out with Mark and No. 1, he loves Georgia and he wants the kids to have the best of everything – character, education and the football. That’s his goals. We know that winning around here is very, very important, so we’re gonna do what he feels takes to get the ‘W,’ give the guys the fire. And after Tennessee, we needed something.
So you think that stuff’s overblown.
Oh yeah, I think so. For sure. Mark’s Mark. We were winning a championship his second year and we were 13-1. He was doing some great things then too, it just wasn’t as up front. But he was doing things behind the scenes all the time to get kids fired up, get ‘em motivated. That’s what I see. And in 2005 he did some great things.
Some of the kids say he’s looser these days. Would you agree with that?
I don’t know. He started practice today with 25 up-downs because he wasn’t too happy, so I don’t know if he’s looser or not. You know, if you’re winning that stuff makes you better. But you’d better keep winning, then.
Here's a little sampling of what Katharyn Richt had to say:
"I don’t think he’s that much different than before, I just think he maybe has more time to do things and think about them and maybe do a little bit extra. And we’ve needed it. Now we’re having parity, parity is here, and you have to find the edge and what it is that’s gonna make your different than the other team."
On the players dancing:
"His big thing is he doesn’t want you dancing in the face of the other players or the other team. If you’re having fun, if you’re having your own fun with your own team, that has never bothered him. He likes that. I just think he did at the beginning of the year have to find out what he could do, but I don’t really think he’s changed that much. That’s just me."
Take it as you will. I guess my opinion on the matter is that the guy didn't become this motivational genius after they lost to Tennessee. He was already a good motivator. He just needed some time to figure out what to do with himself now that he's got the extra time on his hands. It's a still-developing process, as his comments yesterday about backing off the referees in the future indicate.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Select Richt postpractice comments
Mostly uneventful postpractice today. The team's practicing at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow because of some kind of Swahili culture thing in the day and academic meetings in the afternoon. Also, Thomas Brown didn't practice yesterday because of knee tendinitis, but he was back today. Marcus Howard (ankle) was also available today, but Richt said DEs coach Jon Fabris elected to not use him much.
Here's some of what he had to say today. Make note of the plea for people to be in their seats for the senior day stuff. That will be held 16 minutes before kickoff on Saturday, at approximately 12:18 p.m.
On how Darryl Gamble's forced fumble against Vandy was the catalyst for the defense's recent opportunism:
We’ve been getting some turnovers since then. On that play, Reshad Jones hit the runner pretty hard – hit him hard enough to where his ball security got poor and then Darryl knocked it out and of course Ellerbe got on it. That play is etched in my mind for a long time. It was huge. It was the catalyst for everything. Without that, we wouldn’t be having as much fun as everybody says we’re having.
Does Reshad get enough of the credit for that play?
On my coach’s show I know I mentioned it because I did get a chance to see it a couple times on TV copy and realize that Reshad had a lot to do with the ball coming out. Darryl did a beautiful job too. They all did. It took all three of them to get it.
On the Senior Day celebration Saturday:
At the 16-minute mark, the seniors are gonna be honored. It sure is a lot better honoring them when everybody’s in the stands. I know it’s asking a lot, it’s early, but if everybody can get in the stands 20 minutes prior to kickoff and be settled in time to really honor our seniors when they go through the gauntlet of their teammates to the 50-yard line to meet their parents, that’d be big. I don’t know if you guys can mention that or not. I know you guys have got editors and all that stuff. But it’d be nice to make that plea to the Bulldog Nation to be there and help create some excitement and to also be able to thank those seniors for everything they’ve done for us.
On talking to the team about the Billy Humphrey situation, where the UGA basketball player was arrested for having a butterfly knife with a long blade in his dorm room:
You’ve just gotta keep reminding them of the rules. We actually read a memo out today just to help remind anybody. I think they understand the big items or whatever, but there’s some items on there that if you have a paintball gun or a BB gun or an air soft gun, whatever that is, I don’t even know what that is. They even said a potato gun or something. I don’t know what that is either. Or anything that even resembles a weapon, you just can’t have it there. And also, some people have permits to have weapons, but even with a permit, you can’t have one on campus period. Just because you have a permit, whether it’s a hunting rifle or whatever it is, you just can’t have it. So it’s good to remind everybody.
On what it was that he read to the team:
There was a memo that came from the chief of police sent throughout the university. Not just the athletic association, but the entire university. So we kinda read off the details to them. We stuck them in their little mailboxes, but I don’t know how many guys just sit and read a memo. So we read it out to them.
On defending against Kentucky's screen pass after Troy threw it well against UGA:
Everybody who runs those has had a fair amount of success against us – a fair amount to a lot of success. Over the years I think we’re getting a little better at it. We worked really hard on those, offense and defensively. Ever since camp, we’ve been working just a two-on-two drill, it’s just receivers versus DBs and we inserted linebackers in the drill to play, to work on those screens for us and to play those screens. We’ve actually gotten better at running those types of screens, not that we’re as good as Troy is, but we’re better at it offensively and we’re getting better defensively at stopping those plays. It just really comes down to you’ve gotta defeat a block on defense and we’ve just got to keep getting better at it.
On practicing that drill frequently:
We do it every day we put pads on. We might’ve missed one or two in there, but the goal is to get it in there just about every day that we have pads.
On his behavior toward the officials:
I’ve been getting a little too carried away, probably, on that end. I don’t know if you noticed me in the second half – I just kept my mouth shut. I told the coaches in the staff meeting, if you want me to try to get to an official about this that or the other, I said, ‘Don’t expect me to try to get after anybody. If I do talk to them, it’ll be in the proper tone and I’m just gonna calm down on the official thing.
Does he think it's been hurting them?
Since I’ve kinda cut loose a little bit in some areas, I cut loose a little bit in that area. I probably went a little overboard on that, so I’ve just been convicted that I don’t need to do that anymore, so I will be strictly polite and gentlemanly from here on out.
Here's some of what he had to say today. Make note of the plea for people to be in their seats for the senior day stuff. That will be held 16 minutes before kickoff on Saturday, at approximately 12:18 p.m.
On how Darryl Gamble's forced fumble against Vandy was the catalyst for the defense's recent opportunism:
We’ve been getting some turnovers since then. On that play, Reshad Jones hit the runner pretty hard – hit him hard enough to where his ball security got poor and then Darryl knocked it out and of course Ellerbe got on it. That play is etched in my mind for a long time. It was huge. It was the catalyst for everything. Without that, we wouldn’t be having as much fun as everybody says we’re having.
Does Reshad get enough of the credit for that play?
On my coach’s show I know I mentioned it because I did get a chance to see it a couple times on TV copy and realize that Reshad had a lot to do with the ball coming out. Darryl did a beautiful job too. They all did. It took all three of them to get it.
On the Senior Day celebration Saturday:
At the 16-minute mark, the seniors are gonna be honored. It sure is a lot better honoring them when everybody’s in the stands. I know it’s asking a lot, it’s early, but if everybody can get in the stands 20 minutes prior to kickoff and be settled in time to really honor our seniors when they go through the gauntlet of their teammates to the 50-yard line to meet their parents, that’d be big. I don’t know if you guys can mention that or not. I know you guys have got editors and all that stuff. But it’d be nice to make that plea to the Bulldog Nation to be there and help create some excitement and to also be able to thank those seniors for everything they’ve done for us.
On talking to the team about the Billy Humphrey situation, where the UGA basketball player was arrested for having a butterfly knife with a long blade in his dorm room:
You’ve just gotta keep reminding them of the rules. We actually read a memo out today just to help remind anybody. I think they understand the big items or whatever, but there’s some items on there that if you have a paintball gun or a BB gun or an air soft gun, whatever that is, I don’t even know what that is. They even said a potato gun or something. I don’t know what that is either. Or anything that even resembles a weapon, you just can’t have it there. And also, some people have permits to have weapons, but even with a permit, you can’t have one on campus period. Just because you have a permit, whether it’s a hunting rifle or whatever it is, you just can’t have it. So it’s good to remind everybody.
On what it was that he read to the team:
There was a memo that came from the chief of police sent throughout the university. Not just the athletic association, but the entire university. So we kinda read off the details to them. We stuck them in their little mailboxes, but I don’t know how many guys just sit and read a memo. So we read it out to them.
On defending against Kentucky's screen pass after Troy threw it well against UGA:
Everybody who runs those has had a fair amount of success against us – a fair amount to a lot of success. Over the years I think we’re getting a little better at it. We worked really hard on those, offense and defensively. Ever since camp, we’ve been working just a two-on-two drill, it’s just receivers versus DBs and we inserted linebackers in the drill to play, to work on those screens for us and to play those screens. We’ve actually gotten better at running those types of screens, not that we’re as good as Troy is, but we’re better at it offensively and we’re getting better defensively at stopping those plays. It just really comes down to you’ve gotta defeat a block on defense and we’ve just got to keep getting better at it.
On practicing that drill frequently:
We do it every day we put pads on. We might’ve missed one or two in there, but the goal is to get it in there just about every day that we have pads.
On his behavior toward the officials:
I’ve been getting a little too carried away, probably, on that end. I don’t know if you noticed me in the second half – I just kept my mouth shut. I told the coaches in the staff meeting, if you want me to try to get to an official about this that or the other, I said, ‘Don’t expect me to try to get after anybody. If I do talk to them, it’ll be in the proper tone and I’m just gonna calm down on the official thing.
Does he think it's been hurting them?
Since I’ve kinda cut loose a little bit in some areas, I cut loose a little bit in that area. I probably went a little overboard on that, so I’ve just been convicted that I don’t need to do that anymore, so I will be strictly polite and gentlemanly from here on out.
Heisman survey
I participated in a Heisman poll this week conducted by George Schroeder, a sports columnist for the Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore. Basically he asked 122 college football writers throughout the country who they plan to vote for in the Heisman Trophy race.
Basically, things are looking good for Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon right now. He received 89 of the 122 first-place votes and had the highest percentage of the vote in each region, with the closest being the South, where he got 55.6 percent versus 37 percent to Tim Tebow.
TOTALS:
Dennis Dixon (89) 325 points
Tim Tebow (26) 191
Darren McFadden (5) 69
Chase Daniel (1) 57
Pat White (0) 28
LSU's Glenn Dorsey received the other first-place vote.
I don't want to give away too much of the guy's work here. Schroeder said the story will be in Wednesday's paper, but it's not online yet. I'm sure you can find it here during the day on Wednesday. It's interesting stuff. It's not necessarily a lock to predict the eventual outcome of the balloting -- remember, something like 800 or 900 people vote for the Heisman -- but it's probably a pretty decent gauge.
Here's the link to the story right here.
My vote, by the way, went Dixon, Tebow, McFadden.
Basically, things are looking good for Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon right now. He received 89 of the 122 first-place votes and had the highest percentage of the vote in each region, with the closest being the South, where he got 55.6 percent versus 37 percent to Tim Tebow.
TOTALS:
Dennis Dixon (89) 325 points
Tim Tebow (26) 191
Darren McFadden (5) 69
Chase Daniel (1) 57
Pat White (0) 28
LSU's Glenn Dorsey received the other first-place vote.
I don't want to give away too much of the guy's work here. Schroeder said the story will be in Wednesday's paper, but it's not online yet. I'm sure you can find it here during the day on Wednesday. It's interesting stuff. It's not necessarily a lock to predict the eventual outcome of the balloting -- remember, something like 800 or 900 people vote for the Heisman -- but it's probably a pretty decent gauge.
Here's the link to the story right here.
My vote, by the way, went Dixon, Tebow, McFadden.
Tuesday news
Nothing terribly mindblowing came out of today's press conference and practice. Thomas Brown and Marcus Howard weren't practicing when we were on the field watching, but I don't think either is in jeopardy of missing Saturday's game. Thomas said yesterday he's feeling fine and Marcus told Josh Kendall from Macon that he has an ankle injury, but he'll play against Kentucky.
Working out in green today were Quintin Banks (knee), Kelin Johnson (knee), Tony Wilson (shoulder) and Shaun Chapas (????). Mark Richt said earlier in the week that he expects the first three to play. Don't know what the story is with Chapas, and Richt's not available after Tuesday practices. Also, I talked to Tripp Chandler about his knee and he said it's OK, although a lot of his teammates were amazed that he didn't hurt it badly when it hyperextended against Auburn. He's wearing that brace on it as a precautionary measure.
Otherwise, it seems like they're plugging right along.
* Did you know Kentucky hasn't won in Athens since 1977? Coincidentally that's the last time Kentucky had back-to-back seasons with at least seven wins (1976-77). Until this year.
* Got some good stuff for a story later this week on dropped passes from Sean Bailey, Mikey Henderson, John Eason and Mike Bobo. It's pretty remarkable the turnaround they've made this season in that regard. Sean and Mikey seem to believe that it's a product of experience -- developing the maturity to have a short memory and put a drop behind you when it happens, rather than let it snowball. I imagine developing that instinct is easier said than done.
* Richt jokingly called for a "Red-Out" today, after Saturday's blackout went so well. I think what he was getting at was not so much that he cares about the color scheme Saturday (I think he meant everybody pretty much wears red anyway), but that he'd like to see the stadium full before kickoff like it was last weekend and for the fans to be as involved as they were against Auburn. I'd bet the farm that neither happens, but feel free to prove me wrong.
* Richt mentioned today that Kentucky had six defensive starters from Georgia, which struck me as crazy talk at the time. Turns out that was correct for last week's game against Vandy. They did in fact start six Georgians -- DE Travis Day (Columbus) started for the first time this year, LB Sam Maxwell (Hartwell) made a somewhat rare start, and regular starters LB Braxton Kelley (LaGrange), LB Wesley Woodyard (LaGrange), SS Roger Williams (Rockmart, who you may remember is former Georgia running back Danny Ware's cousin) and CB Trevard Linley (Hiram) were all in the lineup. I made that the second note in my Tuesday notebook.
* I wrote a story for Wednesday on Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson, whose "Army brat" childhood has to speak to a lot of the Army folks who live in Columbus and those who've shuttled from military base to military base. Woodson lived in Germany, Hawaii, Washington, Pennsylvania and Illinois before his mom settled in Kentucky when she was stationed at Fort Knox and eventually retired there after 20 years in the Army to do defense contract work. It's not "the" Andre Woodson story by any means, but I tried to shoehorn all the relevant stuff in there in one moderate length story. He's been through a lot, which makes the guy interesting. I spoke with him some at Media Days and he seemed like an impressive kid. He kind of attributes his turnaround going into his junior year to the wakeup call he received when his best friend from high school nearly died in a car wreck. ESPN GameDay did a nice little feature on it:
* Many of you may have seen this already, but ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. has Knowshon Moreno as his fifth-place Heisman candidate right now and says Knowshon will be one of the front-runners for next season. Speaking of the Heisman, I'm going to post separately in a sec about a poll of Heisman voters that I participated in this week. What it indicates? Basically, unless Dennis Dixon falls apart in the next few weeks, get used to hearing the words "Heisman Trophy winner Dennis Dixon."
Working out in green today were Quintin Banks (knee), Kelin Johnson (knee), Tony Wilson (shoulder) and Shaun Chapas (????). Mark Richt said earlier in the week that he expects the first three to play. Don't know what the story is with Chapas, and Richt's not available after Tuesday practices. Also, I talked to Tripp Chandler about his knee and he said it's OK, although a lot of his teammates were amazed that he didn't hurt it badly when it hyperextended against Auburn. He's wearing that brace on it as a precautionary measure.
Otherwise, it seems like they're plugging right along.
* Did you know Kentucky hasn't won in Athens since 1977? Coincidentally that's the last time Kentucky had back-to-back seasons with at least seven wins (1976-77). Until this year.
* Got some good stuff for a story later this week on dropped passes from Sean Bailey, Mikey Henderson, John Eason and Mike Bobo. It's pretty remarkable the turnaround they've made this season in that regard. Sean and Mikey seem to believe that it's a product of experience -- developing the maturity to have a short memory and put a drop behind you when it happens, rather than let it snowball. I imagine developing that instinct is easier said than done.
* Richt jokingly called for a "Red-Out" today, after Saturday's blackout went so well. I think what he was getting at was not so much that he cares about the color scheme Saturday (I think he meant everybody pretty much wears red anyway), but that he'd like to see the stadium full before kickoff like it was last weekend and for the fans to be as involved as they were against Auburn. I'd bet the farm that neither happens, but feel free to prove me wrong.
* Richt mentioned today that Kentucky had six defensive starters from Georgia, which struck me as crazy talk at the time. Turns out that was correct for last week's game against Vandy. They did in fact start six Georgians -- DE Travis Day (Columbus) started for the first time this year, LB Sam Maxwell (Hartwell) made a somewhat rare start, and regular starters LB Braxton Kelley (LaGrange), LB Wesley Woodyard (LaGrange), SS Roger Williams (Rockmart, who you may remember is former Georgia running back Danny Ware's cousin) and CB Trevard Linley (Hiram) were all in the lineup. I made that the second note in my Tuesday notebook.
* I wrote a story for Wednesday on Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson, whose "Army brat" childhood has to speak to a lot of the Army folks who live in Columbus and those who've shuttled from military base to military base. Woodson lived in Germany, Hawaii, Washington, Pennsylvania and Illinois before his mom settled in Kentucky when she was stationed at Fort Knox and eventually retired there after 20 years in the Army to do defense contract work. It's not "the" Andre Woodson story by any means, but I tried to shoehorn all the relevant stuff in there in one moderate length story. He's been through a lot, which makes the guy interesting. I spoke with him some at Media Days and he seemed like an impressive kid. He kind of attributes his turnaround going into his junior year to the wakeup call he received when his best friend from high school nearly died in a car wreck. ESPN GameDay did a nice little feature on it:
* Many of you may have seen this already, but ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. has Knowshon Moreno as his fifth-place Heisman candidate right now and says Knowshon will be one of the front-runners for next season. Speaking of the Heisman, I'm going to post separately in a sec about a poll of Heisman voters that I participated in this week. What it indicates? Basically, unless Dennis Dixon falls apart in the next few weeks, get used to hearing the words "Heisman Trophy winner Dennis Dixon."
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Stafford talks Kentucky, other stuff
Real quick, spoke with Matthew Stafford, Bryan Evans, Kelin Johnson, Sean Bailey, Tripp Chandler and Thomas Brown today. Sounds like they're really enjoying being a team these days. Winning helps in that regard, I'm sure.
Kelin said he'd heard from Tra Battle, who wanted to talk some trash since Kelin didn't get his third interception against Auburn when Evans snatched a tipped ball out of the air first, just before Kelin got there. I wrote my notebook lead for tomorrow about that. Tra, you'll recall, tied a school record with three picks against Auburn last year.
Thomas said the previously injured shoulder felt good after the Auburn game. Tripp had his left knee in a brace, but he practiced today. I don't remember the play, but it apparently looked like he hurt it pretty badly after one of his fourth-quarter catches against Auburn. I'll try to remember to talk to him about it tomorrow if he's at the press conference.
Here are me and a couple other writers talking to Matthew about a variety of things. I asked him the first few things about running the toss sweep in the second half against Auburn, as both coaches acknowledged it made a big difference on Saturday.
Q&A:
Tuberville and Richt both talked about how well the toss sweep worked for y'all in the second half. How many times did you run it?
Four or five times. They were good. When they were getting in that 55 or their three-down (?) set, we thought we could run it. We did a pretty good job of it.
Yeah, it apparently worked pretty well when you ran it...
That’s a good play for us sometimes. They were big and strong up front and we were having a tough time manning up, just trying to push ‘em and we’ve got some athletic guys up front. Getting ‘em out and letting them run a little bit and then throw at some guys was good for us.
Tuberville said that wasn't something they'd seen you guys run much on film. Had y'all not been using it a lot?
We’ve run it from the gun, same blocking scheme. Underneath, we ran it a little bit versus Florida, I think we ran it a couple times. It’s been working for us.
On how much the recent offensive surge is the players making more plays and how much is Mike Bobo having more confidence in them and calling plays more aggressively:
I think it’s a little bit of both. I think there’s times where he gets us in the perfect play and makes us look good and I think there’s times where we’re not in a great play and we end up making a play and making him look good. It works both ways. I know it’s easier for him when we’re out there making plays. He doesn’t have to call the perfect play every time and right situation. I think it’s just both, everybody feeding off him, knowing that he’s gonna call a good game and get guys matchups that are good for us and try to get some guys the ball. I think it just works both ways, I guess.
On the opinion that the offense is streaky:
I don’t know. I hope we’re a little more consistent than we are streaky, but I think when we get going, we can put up points in a hurry. (We’re) trying to avoid the lulls in the game, but the way football is, you’re not gonna score every time you get the ball. But I think when we get on a streak and we get going, we can put up some points in a hurry.
On sticking with what had been working when there are lulls:
I think that has a lot to do with the confidence thing, knowing that it’s gonna come back and knowing somebody’s gonna make a play and we’re all believing in each other. That’s really all it took last game was that long pass to Sean Bailey kinda got us going again and everybody just being confident that the offense is gonna click again, and it did.
On how much of the postgame scene he saw last year at Kentucky:
I just kinda walked off the field, I don’t know… got trampled by a bunch of fans.
That was the game where your helmet got ripped off, wasn't it?
It got ripped off and I looked pretty ugly. It wasn’t a good scene.
Did you know your face was messed up like it was?
Not really. I think it was kind of a fluke deal, just my helmet coming off. I didn’t even know I looked like I looked until after the game. I didn’t look at myself at halftime.
Didn't coach Richt take you over to the offensive linemen during the game to show them your face?
Yeah. I really didn’t know. I thought I only had a fat lip. I was like, ‘why is he showing me (to them)?’
On his reaction to the loss last year:
I felt bad. That was a tough loss for us. We were able to bounce back from it last year, which is nice. But they’re a good football team and I think they’ve got a lot of confidence, definitely, coming from that game into the season for them.
On whether they need to use the memory of that loss as motivation this year:
It’s nice to always have something to think about – something to prepare for and something to work for. But I think we’re maturing as a team and realizing that it doesn’t matter who we’re playing or what we’re playing for, we’ve gotta come out and put a good effort and get ready for Kentucky.
On whether it will feel like something is missing if they win out and don't make it to Atlanta for the title game:
I don’t know. We’ve still got two games to play, this one being the last SEC and then Tech. All we can think about right now is taking care of business for us and whatever happens happens. We’d love to be in that game and if we’re not, I’m sure it’ll be a little disappointing. But our main focus right now is just trying to win the next two.
Kelin said he'd heard from Tra Battle, who wanted to talk some trash since Kelin didn't get his third interception against Auburn when Evans snatched a tipped ball out of the air first, just before Kelin got there. I wrote my notebook lead for tomorrow about that. Tra, you'll recall, tied a school record with three picks against Auburn last year.
Thomas said the previously injured shoulder felt good after the Auburn game. Tripp had his left knee in a brace, but he practiced today. I don't remember the play, but it apparently looked like he hurt it pretty badly after one of his fourth-quarter catches against Auburn. I'll try to remember to talk to him about it tomorrow if he's at the press conference.
Here are me and a couple other writers talking to Matthew about a variety of things. I asked him the first few things about running the toss sweep in the second half against Auburn, as both coaches acknowledged it made a big difference on Saturday.
Q&A:
Tuberville and Richt both talked about how well the toss sweep worked for y'all in the second half. How many times did you run it?
Four or five times. They were good. When they were getting in that 55 or their three-down (?) set, we thought we could run it. We did a pretty good job of it.
Yeah, it apparently worked pretty well when you ran it...
That’s a good play for us sometimes. They were big and strong up front and we were having a tough time manning up, just trying to push ‘em and we’ve got some athletic guys up front. Getting ‘em out and letting them run a little bit and then throw at some guys was good for us.
Tuberville said that wasn't something they'd seen you guys run much on film. Had y'all not been using it a lot?
We’ve run it from the gun, same blocking scheme. Underneath, we ran it a little bit versus Florida, I think we ran it a couple times. It’s been working for us.
On how much the recent offensive surge is the players making more plays and how much is Mike Bobo having more confidence in them and calling plays more aggressively:
I think it’s a little bit of both. I think there’s times where he gets us in the perfect play and makes us look good and I think there’s times where we’re not in a great play and we end up making a play and making him look good. It works both ways. I know it’s easier for him when we’re out there making plays. He doesn’t have to call the perfect play every time and right situation. I think it’s just both, everybody feeding off him, knowing that he’s gonna call a good game and get guys matchups that are good for us and try to get some guys the ball. I think it just works both ways, I guess.
On the opinion that the offense is streaky:
I don’t know. I hope we’re a little more consistent than we are streaky, but I think when we get going, we can put up points in a hurry. (We’re) trying to avoid the lulls in the game, but the way football is, you’re not gonna score every time you get the ball. But I think when we get on a streak and we get going, we can put up some points in a hurry.
On sticking with what had been working when there are lulls:
I think that has a lot to do with the confidence thing, knowing that it’s gonna come back and knowing somebody’s gonna make a play and we’re all believing in each other. That’s really all it took last game was that long pass to Sean Bailey kinda got us going again and everybody just being confident that the offense is gonna click again, and it did.
On how much of the postgame scene he saw last year at Kentucky:
I just kinda walked off the field, I don’t know… got trampled by a bunch of fans.
That was the game where your helmet got ripped off, wasn't it?
It got ripped off and I looked pretty ugly. It wasn’t a good scene.
Did you know your face was messed up like it was?
Not really. I think it was kind of a fluke deal, just my helmet coming off. I didn’t even know I looked like I looked until after the game. I didn’t look at myself at halftime.
Didn't coach Richt take you over to the offensive linemen during the game to show them your face?
Yeah. I really didn’t know. I thought I only had a fat lip. I was like, ‘why is he showing me (to them)?’
On his reaction to the loss last year:
I felt bad. That was a tough loss for us. We were able to bounce back from it last year, which is nice. But they’re a good football team and I think they’ve got a lot of confidence, definitely, coming from that game into the season for them.
On whether they need to use the memory of that loss as motivation this year:
It’s nice to always have something to think about – something to prepare for and something to work for. But I think we’re maturing as a team and realizing that it doesn’t matter who we’re playing or what we’re playing for, we’ve gotta come out and put a good effort and get ready for Kentucky.
On whether it will feel like something is missing if they win out and don't make it to Atlanta for the title game:
I don’t know. We’ve still got two games to play, this one being the last SEC and then Tech. All we can think about right now is taking care of business for us and whatever happens happens. We’d love to be in that game and if we’re not, I’m sure it’ll be a little disappointing. But our main focus right now is just trying to win the next two.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Sinkwich in black
A reader named David Hawk e-mailed me this picture from the cover of the 1942 annual issue of Football Illustrated with Georgia great Frank Sinkwich on the cover. There was a lot of discussion in the pressbox of whether Georgia had actually worn black jerseys before. I don't believe a consensus was ever reached, so most of what you saw written was that Saturday was the first time in MODERN Georgia football history that the Bulldogs wore black jerseys. I thought that was the safest way to do it.But this picture shows that someone from Georgia wore black before in some capacity, even if it was simply to pose for the cover of a magazine. Which I don't guess settles much of anything.
EDIT: I added a second photo that another reader, Carter McInnis of Lawrenceville, sent me of Sinkwich. Again in the black jersey.
UGA-GT kicks at 3:30
Here's the SEC TV schedule for Thanksgiving weekend. Georgia-Georgia Tech is a 3:30 game and will be televised by ABC Sports.
Fri., Nov. 23
Ole Miss at Mississippi State 11:30 a.m. CT LF Sports
Arkansas at LSU 1:30 p.m. CT CBS Sports
Sat., Nov. 24
Tennessee at Kentucky 1:30 p.m. ET CBS Sports
Georgia at Georgia Tech 3:30 p.m. ET ABC Sports
Florida State at Florida 5 p.m. ET CBS Sports
Clemson at South Carolina 7 p.m. ET ESPN2
Alabama at Auburn 8 p.m. ET ESPN
Fri., Nov. 23
Ole Miss at Mississippi State 11:30 a.m. CT LF Sports
Arkansas at LSU 1:30 p.m. CT CBS Sports
Sat., Nov. 24
Tennessee at Kentucky 1:30 p.m. ET CBS Sports
Georgia at Georgia Tech 3:30 p.m. ET ABC Sports
Florida State at Florida 5 p.m. ET CBS Sports
Clemson at South Carolina 7 p.m. ET ESPN2
Alabama at Auburn 8 p.m. ET ESPN
Velasco SEC's OL of the Week
From Georgia's release:
University of Georgia senior center Fernando Velasco was named the Southeastern Conference Offensive Lineman of the Week for the second time this season, according to an announcement by the league office on Monday.
Velasco, a 6-4, 318-pound native of Wrens, Ga., anchored the Bulldog offense during Georgia’s 45-20 rout of No. 18 Auburn. Velasco and the rest of the offensive line paved the way for 417 total yards on offense, including the fourth straight 100-yard rushing game for redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno.
In addition, the Bulldog offensive line allowed only a single sack on sophomore quarterback Matthew Stafford and gave him time him to register a season-high 237 passing yards. Georgia has now scored 40+ points in three straight games, which marks the first time that has happened since 1942.
Velasco, who has started a team-leading 23 consecutive games, last earned this award on Sept. 3 after the Bulldogs’ 35-14 win over Oklahoma State.
University of Georgia senior center Fernando Velasco was named the Southeastern Conference Offensive Lineman of the Week for the second time this season, according to an announcement by the league office on Monday.
Velasco, a 6-4, 318-pound native of Wrens, Ga., anchored the Bulldog offense during Georgia’s 45-20 rout of No. 18 Auburn. Velasco and the rest of the offensive line paved the way for 417 total yards on offense, including the fourth straight 100-yard rushing game for redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno.
In addition, the Bulldog offensive line allowed only a single sack on sophomore quarterback Matthew Stafford and gave him time him to register a season-high 237 passing yards. Georgia has now scored 40+ points in three straight games, which marks the first time that has happened since 1942.
Velasco, who has started a team-leading 23 consecutive games, last earned this award on Sept. 3 after the Bulldogs’ 35-14 win over Oklahoma State.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Boogie down, Verne
I have to say it's funny hearing someone from the country club set ... or pretty much 87 percent of everybody else ... say the words "Soulja Boy" or "Crank Dat." But that's not as funny as watching Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson breaking it down in the booth. I believe the shark is in the air for Mr. Soulja Boy (EDIT: Looking back, that doesn't make any sense. Soulja Boy's gotta be the one in the air if he's jumping the shark. But you know what I meant.). He's Billy Ray Cyrus for 2007, achy breakying his way into Georgia fans' hearts.
11/11 Master Coaches Poll
I may or may not transcribe Richt's teleconference tonight before I go to bed. There's nothing that's terribly newsworthy except he thinks Tony Wilson (shoulder), Quintin Banks (knee) and Donavon Baldwin (hip flexor) will probably be able to go Saturday against Kentucky.
Georgia moves from 10th to ninth in the BCS and is also ninth in the Harris Interactive, coaches poll and computer polls. The Bulldogs moved up from 10th to eighth in the Associated Press poll. They're the highest-ranked two-loss team in the nation.
Here are the new standings in this week's Master Coaches Poll:
* 1. LSU (14)
* 2. Oregon (3)
* 3. Oklahoma
* 4. Kansas
* 5. Missouri
* 6. Ohio State
* 7. West Virginia
* 8. Georgia
* 9. Arizona State
* 10. Virginia Tech
* 11. USC
* 12. Texas
* 13. Hawaii
* 14. Florida
* 15. Boise State
* 16. Clemson
* 17. Tennessee
* 18. Virginia
* 19. Illinois
* 20. Boston College
* 21. Michigan
* 22. Cincinnati
* 23. Wisconsin
* 24. Kentucky
* 25. Penn State
Other teams receiving votes ... Auburn 30, BYU 15, Connecticut 9, California 8, South Florida 5, Air Force 3, UCF 2
Dropped from last week's poll ... Alabama, Auburn, California, Connecticut
Georgia moves from 10th to ninth in the BCS and is also ninth in the Harris Interactive, coaches poll and computer polls. The Bulldogs moved up from 10th to eighth in the Associated Press poll. They're the highest-ranked two-loss team in the nation.
Here are the new standings in this week's Master Coaches Poll:
* 1. LSU (14)
* 2. Oregon (3)
* 3. Oklahoma
* 4. Kansas
* 5. Missouri
* 6. Ohio State
* 7. West Virginia
* 8. Georgia
* 9. Arizona State
* 10. Virginia Tech
* 11. USC
* 12. Texas
* 13. Hawaii
* 14. Florida
* 15. Boise State
* 16. Clemson
* 17. Tennessee
* 18. Virginia
* 19. Illinois
* 20. Boston College
* 21. Michigan
* 22. Cincinnati
* 23. Wisconsin
* 24. Kentucky
* 25. Penn State
Other teams receiving votes ... Auburn 30, BYU 15, Connecticut 9, California 8, South Florida 5, Air Force 3, UCF 2
Dropped from last week's poll ... Alabama, Auburn, California, Connecticut
FYI: On SEC East Tiebreakers
In case you were wondering, Georgia only wins the SEC East if it wins and Tennessee loses. The Bulldogs lose all tiebreakers with Tennessee and Florida, should the Gators creep into a three-way tie or four-way tie with Kentucky.
From the SEC football notebook on the league's main page:
Three of the six teams in the Eastern Division are mathematically alive for the SEC Championship Game berth. Tennessee is the team in the Eastern Division that controls its own destiny. If the Vols win out, they will be in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 1 in Atlanta. Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt are eliminated from contention in the Eastern Division. Georgia can clinch the Eastern Division title with a win against Kentucky and a Tennessee loss to Vanderbilt this weekend. If Georgia and Tennessee both win out, the Vols would be the Eastern Division representative based on its victory over the Bulldogs earlier this year. Florida wins a four-team tie-breaker between Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and Kentucky at 5-3 since it and Kentucky has the best mark against the tied teams (2-1) and Florida defeated Kentucky earlier this season. Florida wins a three-team tie-breaker between itself, Tennessee and Florida because of its better record inside the Eastern Division (4-1). Florida also wina a three-team tie-breaker between itself, Georgia and Kentucky because of its better record inside the Eastern Division (4-1).
From the SEC football notebook on the league's main page:
Three of the six teams in the Eastern Division are mathematically alive for the SEC Championship Game berth. Tennessee is the team in the Eastern Division that controls its own destiny. If the Vols win out, they will be in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 1 in Atlanta. Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt are eliminated from contention in the Eastern Division. Georgia can clinch the Eastern Division title with a win against Kentucky and a Tennessee loss to Vanderbilt this weekend. If Georgia and Tennessee both win out, the Vols would be the Eastern Division representative based on its victory over the Bulldogs earlier this year. Florida wins a four-team tie-breaker between Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and Kentucky at 5-3 since it and Kentucky has the best mark against the tied teams (2-1) and Florida defeated Kentucky earlier this season. Florida wins a three-team tie-breaker between itself, Tennessee and Florida because of its better record inside the Eastern Division (4-1). Florida also wina a three-team tie-breaker between itself, Georgia and Kentucky because of its better record inside the Eastern Division (4-1).
Stat of the night
I put this in my gamer last night, but it's a pretty striking statistic, so I figured I'd post it here as well.
After Wes Byrum hit a 33-yard field goal to put Auburn up 20-17 with 6:47 left in the third quarter:
* Georgia's offense totaled 308 yards of offense in the next quarter and a half and scored touchdowns on each of its next four possessions.
* Auburn totaled 39 yards on 19 plays, with three drives ending on interceptions, one with a punt and one with a turnover on downs.
After Wes Byrum hit a 33-yard field goal to put Auburn up 20-17 with 6:47 left in the third quarter:
* Georgia's offense totaled 308 yards of offense in the next quarter and a half and scored touchdowns on each of its next four possessions.
* Auburn totaled 39 yards on 19 plays, with three drives ending on interceptions, one with a punt and one with a turnover on downs.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The worst-kept secret in UGA history
How bout them black jerseys? I have to admit, I had a pretty strong feeling this black jersey thing was coming this week. And then I found out on the field before the game that, sure enough, it was. So I stayed down on the field until the players ran out to watch. It was pretty crazy.
Turns out, they've been planning it since this summer and the seniors all knew. Richt told them on a Sunday meeting at his house and they had to keep the secret. The underclassmen didn't know about it until they went through their little team ritual before the game. They turn down the lights in the dressing room and say a prayer. When they turned the lights back on, the black jerseys were everywhere.
Here's Rennie Curran's retelling of the moment:
"It felt like Christmas. You wake up and you’ve got presents and all that stuff. It just rose all our emotions. Everybody was going crazy. I almost got knocked over."
I talked to several of the other players, but haven't transcribed most of it yet. I'm sure you'll read more than you ever wanted to know about black jerseys in the next few days. But here's what Fernando Velasco had to say:
"We went to coach Richt’s house one Sunday and he told the seniors that we were gonna wear black jerseys for the Auburn game, just because of the way the schedule fell. He didn’t want us to wear black jerseys the first couple of games (because of the heat)."
"It’s just real amazing how the seniors were able to keep this secret. The underclassmen had no idea. Even a lot of the fans, they speculated. A lot of my classmates were coming up and asking me if we were wearing black jerseys. I think we had everybody fooled. Even when the captains went out in the red, everybody was still fooled."
So there's that. You'll probably see those things again sometime. Richt said the players are already lobbying to keep them:
"The guys are already trying to work on me. They’re like, ‘We’re 1-0 in black.’ So I’m sure they’ll want to wear them again. I don’t know if we’ll wear them next week or not. I’m sure that’ll be a discussion, but I doubt we’ll wear them."
That's all for tonight. More tomorrow.
Turns out, they've been planning it since this summer and the seniors all knew. Richt told them on a Sunday meeting at his house and they had to keep the secret. The underclassmen didn't know about it until they went through their little team ritual before the game. They turn down the lights in the dressing room and say a prayer. When they turned the lights back on, the black jerseys were everywhere.
Here's Rennie Curran's retelling of the moment:
"It felt like Christmas. You wake up and you’ve got presents and all that stuff. It just rose all our emotions. Everybody was going crazy. I almost got knocked over."
I talked to several of the other players, but haven't transcribed most of it yet. I'm sure you'll read more than you ever wanted to know about black jerseys in the next few days. But here's what Fernando Velasco had to say:
"We went to coach Richt’s house one Sunday and he told the seniors that we were gonna wear black jerseys for the Auburn game, just because of the way the schedule fell. He didn’t want us to wear black jerseys the first couple of games (because of the heat)."
"It’s just real amazing how the seniors were able to keep this secret. The underclassmen had no idea. Even a lot of the fans, they speculated. A lot of my classmates were coming up and asking me if we were wearing black jerseys. I think we had everybody fooled. Even when the captains went out in the red, everybody was still fooled."
So there's that. You'll probably see those things again sometime. Richt said the players are already lobbying to keep them:
"The guys are already trying to work on me. They’re like, ‘We’re 1-0 in black.’ So I’m sure they’ll want to wear them again. I don’t know if we’ll wear them next week or not. I’m sure that’ll be a discussion, but I doubt we’ll wear them."
That's all for tonight. More tomorrow.
Week 11 Picks
Went 7-0 straight-up and 2-2 against the spread last week, running the record to 58-18 SU and 35-37 ATS.
Alabama at Mississippi State, 12:30 p.m, LF Sports
Line: Alabama by 4.5
My pick: I like Mississippi State's scrappy team, but I don't see they taking down Alabama yet again. The Tide seems to be playing fairly well these days. Alabama 24, Mississippi State 17
Arkansas at Tennessee, 12:30 p.m., LF Sports
Line: Pick 'em
My pick: Tennessee was favored by a point earlier in the week and I would have been all about that if I were a bettor, being that I think Tennessee has no chance of stopping Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. Arkansas' offense is clicking and I think they'll take down the Vols and put the onus on Georgia to win out. Arkansas 28, Tennessee 24
Kentucky at Vanderbilt, 2 p.m., No TV
Line: Kentucky by 3.5
My pick: This game being away from Kentucky makes things interesting, but I still think the Wildcats' offense eventually takes command. They've got more weapons than Vanderbilt, so I'll stick with Kentucky. Kentucky 30, Vanderbilt 20
Auburn at Georgia, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Line: Georgia by 2
My pick: I could base my opinion on a coin flip and be as confident as I would be on actually trying to predict a winner. In fact, that's what I just did. I got Auburn on heads and I'll take them by one since I flipped a penny. How'd you like that cop(per)out? Auburn 24, Georgia 23
Louisiana Tech at LSU, 8 p.m., No TV
Line: LSU by 36
My pick: Everyone plays and LSU wins. Did you know La Tech gave undefeated Hawaii its toughest game of the year before losing 45-44 in the second week of the season? (Dang you LaTech for not ending that circus early.) Yeah, well that's not happening today, and I don't care if their coach's last name is Dooley. LSU 44, Louisiana Tech 7
Florida at South Carolina, 7:45 p.m., ESPN
Line: Florida by 7
My pick: South Carolina's falling apart and I don't think the Cocks will be able to do enough against the Tebow-Harvin machine. Who do you root for in this one, Bulldog fans? Really, I'm asking...Florida 30, South Carolina 21
Alabama at Mississippi State, 12:30 p.m, LF Sports
Line: Alabama by 4.5
My pick: I like Mississippi State's scrappy team, but I don't see they taking down Alabama yet again. The Tide seems to be playing fairly well these days. Alabama 24, Mississippi State 17
Arkansas at Tennessee, 12:30 p.m., LF Sports
Line: Pick 'em
My pick: Tennessee was favored by a point earlier in the week and I would have been all about that if I were a bettor, being that I think Tennessee has no chance of stopping Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. Arkansas' offense is clicking and I think they'll take down the Vols and put the onus on Georgia to win out. Arkansas 28, Tennessee 24
Kentucky at Vanderbilt, 2 p.m., No TV
Line: Kentucky by 3.5
My pick: This game being away from Kentucky makes things interesting, but I still think the Wildcats' offense eventually takes command. They've got more weapons than Vanderbilt, so I'll stick with Kentucky. Kentucky 30, Vanderbilt 20
Auburn at Georgia, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Line: Georgia by 2
My pick: I could base my opinion on a coin flip and be as confident as I would be on actually trying to predict a winner. In fact, that's what I just did. I got Auburn on heads and I'll take them by one since I flipped a penny. How'd you like that cop(per)out? Auburn 24, Georgia 23
Louisiana Tech at LSU, 8 p.m., No TV
Line: LSU by 36
My pick: Everyone plays and LSU wins. Did you know La Tech gave undefeated Hawaii its toughest game of the year before losing 45-44 in the second week of the season? (Dang you LaTech for not ending that circus early.) Yeah, well that's not happening today, and I don't care if their coach's last name is Dooley. LSU 44, Louisiana Tech 7
Florida at South Carolina, 7:45 p.m., ESPN
Line: Florida by 7
My pick: South Carolina's falling apart and I don't think the Cocks will be able to do enough against the Tebow-Harvin machine. Who do you root for in this one, Bulldog fans? Really, I'm asking...Florida 30, South Carolina 21
Bobo discusses Stafford
I wrote a story about Mr. Stafford that stands as our game preview for Saturday's paper. I spoke to lots of UGA folks about Matthew for the story this week and figured I might drop some of the quotes here. I didn't use much of a short conversation with Mike Bobo, but I thought it was interesting. Here it is (and there'll be more from others below):
People talk about last year's Auburn game being his breakout game. Is that the way you see it?
I think he grew up a lot last year in that game. He turned it over, two fumbles, but I think ability to manage the game after a mistake and come back and play well. I think that helped him. I think against Georgia Tech, the last drive helped him a lot. Virginia Tech, struggling in the first half. I think all that, I think it’s still a process, I can’t say one game did it. If we’d lost that game, if we lost 40-37, I don’t know. He still has not arrived in my opinion. I think he’s got a lot of potential and he’s nowhere near reached his potential. I don’t think he’s arrived. I think he’s got a lot of work to do to be the kind of quarterback that he wants to be, and the kind of quarterback that we want him to be.
The easy thing somebody like me sees is that he's not turning it over as much. What's something that maybe a novice doesn't see in his growth?
I think the knowledge of the game of what we’re trying to do offensively. The ability to get us in the right running play has improved tremendously. We were very basic last year. We just didn’t want to put too much on him. This year, there’s a lot he has to do at the line of scrimmage and I think that would be the biggest thing from last year to this year.
The offense depends a lot more on him making a decision at the line and getting the team into the right play this year doesn't it?
It has. It has a lot to do with him, his maturity, and we’re doing a lot of things with the running game where the quarterback has got to get us in the right play, which is a credit to…Knowshon has 1,000 yards, but like I told those guys, we’re getting better blocking downfield, we’re getting blocking at the line of scrimmage, we’re getting blocking from the fullbacks, tight ends and the running back’s running hard and the quarterback’s getting into the right play. That’s got a lot to do with it. A lot of those touchdown runs we’ve had are checks that he’s made and got us in the right play.
If he's making all these decisions at the line, what percent would you say he's made the wrong decision at the line this year?
I would say probably about 10 percent this year. It’s tough. I tell them all the time on Monday watching the film, you’ve got it froze and you say, ‘Hey, look at this,’ but his hands are under the center and I’m sitting in the box, and sometimes guys are gonna see things a little bit different and sometimes you’ll make a mistake. That’s when you’ve got to be smart with the ball or realize that they mighta got you on this one and protect the football.
If you're talking about a veteran, experienced quarterback, what percentage would he reach? Surely nobody's always gonna put the team in the right play at the line. Is that about as good as you can do?
Close to it. They’re always gonna give you a look that you weren’t ready for, a look that mighta fooled you. So I would say you’re never gonna be 100 percent right. That’s why you play a full game. You’re gonna punt, you’re gonna make mistakes and a veteran defense is gonna win a lot of times in this league. You’ve gotta come back and play the next play or the next series.
I didn't use Mark Richt's quote about Matthew's progress since the Auburn game last year:
"Mainly he’s just done a great job of protecting the football. Steadily he has just improved in all areas of his responsibility – fundamentals, knowledge of the game, leadership, all those things are coming together very well for Matthew. The one thing that really changed from that Auburn game on is respect for the football. Rarely has he thrown a ball that you’re like, ‘You know what, that was irresponsible.’ I can’t hardly think of many at all. I can’t think of any right this second. I’m sure there’s one or two where we were like, ‘Why’d you do that?’ but not many. That’s so crucial."
Here's a little Tommy Tuberville talking about Matthew as well:
"They've taken the pressure off of him a bit running the ball. Moreno is running the ball more, a little play-action. They have a real good short passing game. He stands in the pocket and throws it well. He looks like he did last year when he played us. He's a much more seasoned player."
People talk about last year's Auburn game being his breakout game. Is that the way you see it?
I think he grew up a lot last year in that game. He turned it over, two fumbles, but I think ability to manage the game after a mistake and come back and play well. I think that helped him. I think against Georgia Tech, the last drive helped him a lot. Virginia Tech, struggling in the first half. I think all that, I think it’s still a process, I can’t say one game did it. If we’d lost that game, if we lost 40-37, I don’t know. He still has not arrived in my opinion. I think he’s got a lot of potential and he’s nowhere near reached his potential. I don’t think he’s arrived. I think he’s got a lot of work to do to be the kind of quarterback that he wants to be, and the kind of quarterback that we want him to be.
The easy thing somebody like me sees is that he's not turning it over as much. What's something that maybe a novice doesn't see in his growth?
I think the knowledge of the game of what we’re trying to do offensively. The ability to get us in the right running play has improved tremendously. We were very basic last year. We just didn’t want to put too much on him. This year, there’s a lot he has to do at the line of scrimmage and I think that would be the biggest thing from last year to this year.
The offense depends a lot more on him making a decision at the line and getting the team into the right play this year doesn't it?
It has. It has a lot to do with him, his maturity, and we’re doing a lot of things with the running game where the quarterback has got to get us in the right play, which is a credit to…Knowshon has 1,000 yards, but like I told those guys, we’re getting better blocking downfield, we’re getting blocking at the line of scrimmage, we’re getting blocking from the fullbacks, tight ends and the running back’s running hard and the quarterback’s getting into the right play. That’s got a lot to do with it. A lot of those touchdown runs we’ve had are checks that he’s made and got us in the right play.
If he's making all these decisions at the line, what percent would you say he's made the wrong decision at the line this year?
I would say probably about 10 percent this year. It’s tough. I tell them all the time on Monday watching the film, you’ve got it froze and you say, ‘Hey, look at this,’ but his hands are under the center and I’m sitting in the box, and sometimes guys are gonna see things a little bit different and sometimes you’ll make a mistake. That’s when you’ve got to be smart with the ball or realize that they mighta got you on this one and protect the football.
If you're talking about a veteran, experienced quarterback, what percentage would he reach? Surely nobody's always gonna put the team in the right play at the line. Is that about as good as you can do?
Close to it. They’re always gonna give you a look that you weren’t ready for, a look that mighta fooled you. So I would say you’re never gonna be 100 percent right. That’s why you play a full game. You’re gonna punt, you’re gonna make mistakes and a veteran defense is gonna win a lot of times in this league. You’ve gotta come back and play the next play or the next series.
I didn't use Mark Richt's quote about Matthew's progress since the Auburn game last year:
"Mainly he’s just done a great job of protecting the football. Steadily he has just improved in all areas of his responsibility – fundamentals, knowledge of the game, leadership, all those things are coming together very well for Matthew. The one thing that really changed from that Auburn game on is respect for the football. Rarely has he thrown a ball that you’re like, ‘You know what, that was irresponsible.’ I can’t hardly think of many at all. I can’t think of any right this second. I’m sure there’s one or two where we were like, ‘Why’d you do that?’ but not many. That’s so crucial."
Here's a little Tommy Tuberville talking about Matthew as well:
"They've taken the pressure off of him a bit running the ball. Moreno is running the ball more, a little play-action. They have a real good short passing game. He stands in the pocket and throws it well. He looks like he did last year when he played us. He's a much more seasoned player."
Friday, November 09, 2007
Unposted Friday notebook
Not sure why it didn't make it online, but here's the notebook I wrote yesterday.
ATHENS, Ga. – When you’re the head coach of a Southeastern Conference football program, there’s no shortage of people offering motivational reading for the team.
It could be a coach showing him an article that contains a quote that might be bulletin board material. It could come from a friend or fan over e-mai.
“If I just sit there, it’s coming to me,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “Use this, use that, use this.”
Richt won’t deny that he and his staff use any motivational angle they can before a big game. That certainly applies as the 10th-ranked Bulldogs prepare to face their oldest rival, 18th-ranked Auburn, Saturday at Sanford Stadium.
“We’re always looking for something good that can get guys excited or mad or whatever,” Richt said. “I know people over the years have made stuff up just to try to get somebody riled up.”
Asked if he or one of his coaches would stoop to such a thing, Richt laughed and said they may have stretched the truth a time or two.
“I’ve heard some of our coaches make some stuff up. Like right before the game, you’re in the locker room and just start spreading a rumor around the room trying to get ‘em mad,” he said. “But I’ve never really concocted an article or something like that.”
Of course, that works in reverse as well. Georgia’s coaches know their counterparts in Auburn are searching for any controversial quote, any perceived slight to show their players as a means of getting them angry for Saturday’s game.
Richt said he’d prefer that his players avoid giving an opponent any extra motivation through the media. But when it does happen, he said, it becomes the player’s responsibility to live up to his big talk.
“Usually if a guy says something, it’s like, ‘All right, you’d better go back it up, son. You said it, so you’d better go do something about it,’” Richt said. “But you’d rather not say things to get people jacked up.”
Injury update
Richt reversed opinions from Wednesday when he said it now appears that defensive tackle Kade Weston will be able to play Saturday.
Weston hadn’t practiced until Thursday, but in his pre-practice interview with reporters, Richt said the redshirt sophomore’s left ankle has healed enough that he should be able to play.
“Kade’s gonna be allowed to practice today, to his tolerance, whatever that might be. Hopefully he moves around great. I don’t know how he’s gonna do,” Richt said. “But when he was off to the side of the field working with trainers (at Wednesday’s practice), doing some of his functional stuff, they thought he did pretty good. Enough to say, ‘Let him go full today.’”
Richt reiterated that he believes tailback Thomas Brown will be cleared, as well, after missing a month with a broken collarbone. Brown took contact for the first time in Wednesday’s practice and said he’s confident he’ll be able to play on Saturday, taking some of the load off Knowshon Moreno, who has carried 87 times in the last three games.
“It’s nice to have those fresh legs back,” offensive guard Chris Davis said. “It’s exciting to have a guy like Thomas back. I’m looking forward to Saturday to see what he does.”
Richt all but ruled out safety Donavon Baldwin, who has missed practice all week with a hip flexor, calling him “very doubtful at best.”
Black jerseys, Vol. 3
Richt has grown weary of questions concerning whether the Bulldogs would wear special black jerseys to coordinate with the fan “blackout” Georgia’s seniors requested for this week.
He has responded several times this week that it would be difficult to get such jerseys on short notice, but never directly said the Bulldogs wouldn’t wear them.
Asked point blank what color jerseys the team will wear on Saturday, Richt said, “You’re gonna have to refer to any answer that I’ve given to this point. That’s my comment. I’m tired of the question.”
Bowl projections
As bowl season approaches, nearly every college football-related Web site has a standing feature where its writers project the upcoming bowl matchups.
What about where the combatants in this weekend’s key SEC matchup between Auburn and Georgia land? Much of the projection depends on whether Saturday’s victor can win out.
Many of them foresee Georgia winning out and earning an at-large bid to a Bowl Championship Series bowl. For instance, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Ivan Maisel predict Georgia will face undefeated Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. CBS Sportsline concurs, as does SI.com columnist Stewart Mandel.
Meanwhile, Maisel says Auburn will play Illinois in the Outback Bowl and Schlabach has Auburn in the Cotton Bowl against Texas. CBS Sportsline has Auburn in the Capital One Bowl against Michigan, while Mandel has Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Bowl against Clemson.
Rivals.com has Georgia playing Illinois in the Outback and Auburn squaring off with Missouri in the Sugar. And Scout.com affiliate College Football News has Georgia in the Sugar against West Virginia and Auburn in the Outback against Wisconsin.
Quick hits
Georgia punter Brian Mimbs is a member of ESPN The Magazine’s academic all-district football team, which puts him on the ballot for academic all-America honors. Members of the College Sports Information Directors of America will vote over the next month and the team will be announced on Nov. 29. … CSTV’s Chick-Fil-A SEC Tailgate show will air live from Athens on Saturday from noon to 1 p.m. The show is hosted by former Georgia great David Pollack and Greg Amsinger. This week, they’ll welcome another former Bulldog, offensive lineman Matt Stinchcomb, as a guest. The show will tape outside of Sanford Stadium in the Meyers Hall quad, next to Sanford Drive between Rutherford and Mary Lyndon halls.
ATHENS, Ga. – When you’re the head coach of a Southeastern Conference football program, there’s no shortage of people offering motivational reading for the team.
It could be a coach showing him an article that contains a quote that might be bulletin board material. It could come from a friend or fan over e-mai.
“If I just sit there, it’s coming to me,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “Use this, use that, use this.”
Richt won’t deny that he and his staff use any motivational angle they can before a big game. That certainly applies as the 10th-ranked Bulldogs prepare to face their oldest rival, 18th-ranked Auburn, Saturday at Sanford Stadium.
“We’re always looking for something good that can get guys excited or mad or whatever,” Richt said. “I know people over the years have made stuff up just to try to get somebody riled up.”
Asked if he or one of his coaches would stoop to such a thing, Richt laughed and said they may have stretched the truth a time or two.
“I’ve heard some of our coaches make some stuff up. Like right before the game, you’re in the locker room and just start spreading a rumor around the room trying to get ‘em mad,” he said. “But I’ve never really concocted an article or something like that.”
Of course, that works in reverse as well. Georgia’s coaches know their counterparts in Auburn are searching for any controversial quote, any perceived slight to show their players as a means of getting them angry for Saturday’s game.
Richt said he’d prefer that his players avoid giving an opponent any extra motivation through the media. But when it does happen, he said, it becomes the player’s responsibility to live up to his big talk.
“Usually if a guy says something, it’s like, ‘All right, you’d better go back it up, son. You said it, so you’d better go do something about it,’” Richt said. “But you’d rather not say things to get people jacked up.”
Injury update
Richt reversed opinions from Wednesday when he said it now appears that defensive tackle Kade Weston will be able to play Saturday.
Weston hadn’t practiced until Thursday, but in his pre-practice interview with reporters, Richt said the redshirt sophomore’s left ankle has healed enough that he should be able to play.
“Kade’s gonna be allowed to practice today, to his tolerance, whatever that might be. Hopefully he moves around great. I don’t know how he’s gonna do,” Richt said. “But when he was off to the side of the field working with trainers (at Wednesday’s practice), doing some of his functional stuff, they thought he did pretty good. Enough to say, ‘Let him go full today.’”
Richt reiterated that he believes tailback Thomas Brown will be cleared, as well, after missing a month with a broken collarbone. Brown took contact for the first time in Wednesday’s practice and said he’s confident he’ll be able to play on Saturday, taking some of the load off Knowshon Moreno, who has carried 87 times in the last three games.
“It’s nice to have those fresh legs back,” offensive guard Chris Davis said. “It’s exciting to have a guy like Thomas back. I’m looking forward to Saturday to see what he does.”
Richt all but ruled out safety Donavon Baldwin, who has missed practice all week with a hip flexor, calling him “very doubtful at best.”
Black jerseys, Vol. 3
Richt has grown weary of questions concerning whether the Bulldogs would wear special black jerseys to coordinate with the fan “blackout” Georgia’s seniors requested for this week.
He has responded several times this week that it would be difficult to get such jerseys on short notice, but never directly said the Bulldogs wouldn’t wear them.
Asked point blank what color jerseys the team will wear on Saturday, Richt said, “You’re gonna have to refer to any answer that I’ve given to this point. That’s my comment. I’m tired of the question.”
Bowl projections
As bowl season approaches, nearly every college football-related Web site has a standing feature where its writers project the upcoming bowl matchups.
What about where the combatants in this weekend’s key SEC matchup between Auburn and Georgia land? Much of the projection depends on whether Saturday’s victor can win out.
Many of them foresee Georgia winning out and earning an at-large bid to a Bowl Championship Series bowl. For instance, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Ivan Maisel predict Georgia will face undefeated Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. CBS Sportsline concurs, as does SI.com columnist Stewart Mandel.
Meanwhile, Maisel says Auburn will play Illinois in the Outback Bowl and Schlabach has Auburn in the Cotton Bowl against Texas. CBS Sportsline has Auburn in the Capital One Bowl against Michigan, while Mandel has Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Bowl against Clemson.
Rivals.com has Georgia playing Illinois in the Outback and Auburn squaring off with Missouri in the Sugar. And Scout.com affiliate College Football News has Georgia in the Sugar against West Virginia and Auburn in the Outback against Wisconsin.
Quick hits
Georgia punter Brian Mimbs is a member of ESPN The Magazine’s academic all-district football team, which puts him on the ballot for academic all-America honors. Members of the College Sports Information Directors of America will vote over the next month and the team will be announced on Nov. 29. … CSTV’s Chick-Fil-A SEC Tailgate show will air live from Athens on Saturday from noon to 1 p.m. The show is hosted by former Georgia great David Pollack and Greg Amsinger. This week, they’ll welcome another former Bulldog, offensive lineman Matt Stinchcomb, as a guest. The show will tape outside of Sanford Stadium in the Meyers Hall quad, next to Sanford Drive between Rutherford and Mary Lyndon halls.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Richt pre-practice Thursday Q/A
Here's most of the beat writers' conversation with Mark Richt before practice today. The good news for you guys is it looks like defensive tackle Kade Weston will play after all. Richt seemed less than positive about that possibility yesterday.
So here you go:
We’re ready to have a great dress rehearsal and hopefully we know what the heck we’re doing by now. I’m sure by the end of the day we’ll know better as to what might get tossed out of the gameplan and what’s gonna stay. That’s really what today’s all about, and also just wanting to get that last little bit of focus before we go play the game. It’s important what they do from the end of this practice till Saturday too. We’ll have meetings tomorrow and all that, but they’ve gotta do a good job of keeping their focus. We’re not all together. That’s kinda the challenge of a home game compared to an away game sometimes. More distractions.
Thomas and Kade? Have you made a final decision on them?
I think they’re both gonna play. Yes sir. At our staff meeting this morning, we’re hoping, expecting them to play, hopefully play well and play as many reps as they can stand.
Is Kade gonna be limited?
Kade’s gonna be allowed to practice today, to his tolerance, whatever that might be. Hopefully he moves around great. I don’t know how he’s gonna do. But when he was off to the side of the field working with trainers, doing some of his functional stuff, they thought he did pretty good. Enough to say, ‘Let him go full today.’
Is Baldwin out?
Yeah, I’d say that. I think he’s very doubtful at best.
What color jerseys are y’all gonna wear on Saturday?
You’re gonna have to refer to any answer that I’ve given to this point. That’s my comment. I’m tired of the question, but I like everybody.
On whether Auburn will come out with extra intensity because of last year:
You would think. Yeah, we definitely need to match intensity. We need to execute well, too. Intensity creates energy, but you’ve still gotta execute. You’ve still gotta execute. It’ll be more than emotion. Emotion’s gonna be a big part of the game, but you need more than that to win in a game like this.
What is your belief as to why the road team in this rivalry has had so much success?
I just can’t hardly figure it. Probably, some of it has to do with the fact that both teams are pretty evenly matched every year and you just don’t know who’s gonna win it. I don’t know. It’s a great question. I have no earthly idea why it would happen that way. Anybody have a theory?
Y’all are both pretty good on the road…Bobo explained it as best as I’ve heard (that’s Josh Kendall from Macon talking).
What’s he say?
That it’s virtually the same. It’s such a short trip. The stadium looks the same. It’s a situation where it just feels very much like you’re playing at home.
We are a mirror image in a lot of ways, I think. I’ve always thought that.
How much do you get into bulletin board material?
Oh we try, yeah. Oh yeah. We’re always looking for something good that can get guys excited or mad or whatever. I know people over the years have made stuff up just to try to get somebody riled up.
You ever made stuff up?
I’m trying to think of anything specific. I’ve heard some of our coaches make some stuff up. Like right before the game, you’re in the locker room and just start spreading a rumor around the room trying to get ‘em mad. But I’ve never really concocted an article or something like that. You can embellish sometimes. Like a quote can be read…you can read the quote, but you can use any kind of emphasis on a certain word or say, ‘Reading between the lines, this is what he’s really saying.’ You might be able to do some of that. But you know, that stuff works for a little while, but then you’ve gotta play.
Are there any things you say to the players to try to prevent them from giving the other team bulletin board material?
Yeah, we try to get them to do that, but every once in a while…Usually if a guy says something, it’s like, ‘All right, you’d better go back it up, son. You said it, so you’d better go do something about it.’ But you’d rather not say things to get people jacked up.
Did you see what was in the Athens paper about Quentin Groves saying he wanted to go tear up the hedges?
Oh did he? Golly. I gotta read the paper. No I didn’t see that, but I’m gonna get it. I’m sorry Marc (HAHA. Take that Weiszer). I read it every day till today. … I thought I read the paper this morning. … I’ve gotta get that. I think I’ve got it in my car or office or something. I have read more articles this season than ever, because I have had a little more time to do that kind of thing. Usually I always say I don’t read the papers and I really didn’t very often, because I was just too busy and most of the times I didn’t want to hear what everybody had to say. But I’ve read a little more than usual this year, just being able to have a little more time. Usually like Joe T. or Fab or somebody gives me the good stuff. I don’t have to go find it, like, ‘Coach, what about this one.’ Or fans, they’ll shoot me something on an e-mail. If I just sit there, it’s coming to me. ‘Use this, use that, use this.’ But I’ve actually read a little more than I usually do.
So here you go:
We’re ready to have a great dress rehearsal and hopefully we know what the heck we’re doing by now. I’m sure by the end of the day we’ll know better as to what might get tossed out of the gameplan and what’s gonna stay. That’s really what today’s all about, and also just wanting to get that last little bit of focus before we go play the game. It’s important what they do from the end of this practice till Saturday too. We’ll have meetings tomorrow and all that, but they’ve gotta do a good job of keeping their focus. We’re not all together. That’s kinda the challenge of a home game compared to an away game sometimes. More distractions.
Thomas and Kade? Have you made a final decision on them?
I think they’re both gonna play. Yes sir. At our staff meeting this morning, we’re hoping, expecting them to play, hopefully play well and play as many reps as they can stand.
Is Kade gonna be limited?
Kade’s gonna be allowed to practice today, to his tolerance, whatever that might be. Hopefully he moves around great. I don’t know how he’s gonna do. But when he was off to the side of the field working with trainers, doing some of his functional stuff, they thought he did pretty good. Enough to say, ‘Let him go full today.’
Is Baldwin out?
Yeah, I’d say that. I think he’s very doubtful at best.
What color jerseys are y’all gonna wear on Saturday?
You’re gonna have to refer to any answer that I’ve given to this point. That’s my comment. I’m tired of the question, but I like everybody.
On whether Auburn will come out with extra intensity because of last year:
You would think. Yeah, we definitely need to match intensity. We need to execute well, too. Intensity creates energy, but you’ve still gotta execute. You’ve still gotta execute. It’ll be more than emotion. Emotion’s gonna be a big part of the game, but you need more than that to win in a game like this.
What is your belief as to why the road team in this rivalry has had so much success?
I just can’t hardly figure it. Probably, some of it has to do with the fact that both teams are pretty evenly matched every year and you just don’t know who’s gonna win it. I don’t know. It’s a great question. I have no earthly idea why it would happen that way. Anybody have a theory?
Y’all are both pretty good on the road…Bobo explained it as best as I’ve heard (that’s Josh Kendall from Macon talking).
What’s he say?
That it’s virtually the same. It’s such a short trip. The stadium looks the same. It’s a situation where it just feels very much like you’re playing at home.
We are a mirror image in a lot of ways, I think. I’ve always thought that.
How much do you get into bulletin board material?
Oh we try, yeah. Oh yeah. We’re always looking for something good that can get guys excited or mad or whatever. I know people over the years have made stuff up just to try to get somebody riled up.
You ever made stuff up?
I’m trying to think of anything specific. I’ve heard some of our coaches make some stuff up. Like right before the game, you’re in the locker room and just start spreading a rumor around the room trying to get ‘em mad. But I’ve never really concocted an article or something like that. You can embellish sometimes. Like a quote can be read…you can read the quote, but you can use any kind of emphasis on a certain word or say, ‘Reading between the lines, this is what he’s really saying.’ You might be able to do some of that. But you know, that stuff works for a little while, but then you’ve gotta play.
Are there any things you say to the players to try to prevent them from giving the other team bulletin board material?
Yeah, we try to get them to do that, but every once in a while…Usually if a guy says something, it’s like, ‘All right, you’d better go back it up, son. You said it, so you’d better go do something about it.’ But you’d rather not say things to get people jacked up.
Did you see what was in the Athens paper about Quentin Groves saying he wanted to go tear up the hedges?
Oh did he? Golly. I gotta read the paper. No I didn’t see that, but I’m gonna get it. I’m sorry Marc (HAHA. Take that Weiszer). I read it every day till today. … I thought I read the paper this morning. … I’ve gotta get that. I think I’ve got it in my car or office or something. I have read more articles this season than ever, because I have had a little more time to do that kind of thing. Usually I always say I don’t read the papers and I really didn’t very often, because I was just too busy and most of the times I didn’t want to hear what everybody had to say. But I’ve read a little more than usual this year, just being able to have a little more time. Usually like Joe T. or Fab or somebody gives me the good stuff. I don’t have to go find it, like, ‘Coach, what about this one.’ Or fans, they’ll shoot me something on an e-mail. If I just sit there, it’s coming to me. ‘Use this, use that, use this.’ But I’ve actually read a little more than I usually do.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Black jerseys?
I raised the subject of the team wearing black jerseys in today's postpractice Q/A, just because of how crazy the message board stuff has been over it in the last couple days. I have to say I wasn't satisfied by Mark Richt's response -- not enough to say I'm sure one way or another. He could just say no if he wanted, but he hasn't done it. All the cageyness (I think that's a word) definitely makes me suspicious.
Quickly on the injury front, spoke with Thomas Brown. He said he's feeling confident and ready to roll. Richt said Kade Weston (ankle) and Donavon Baldwin (hip flexor) are doubtful. Kelin Johnson (knee) is probable. Quintin Banks (knee) is out.
Here's the notebook item I wrote on black jerseys for tomorrow:
Richt didn’t exactly dispel the Internet rumor that the Bulldogs will accompany Saturday’s fan “blackout” by wearing special black jerseys.
While discussing his seniors’ request that all Georgia fans wear black on Saturday in a visible show of unity, Richt has been asked at least twice whether the team would break trend from its normal red jerseys and silver britches by wearing black jerseys for the first time in modern Georgia football history.
Each time, he responded that it would be too difficult to get the jerseys on short notice.
“Like I said, you can’t just snap your fingers and get ‘em,” Richt said Wednesday. “You can’t do it.”
Told of the rumor that UGA already had the jerseys, Richt made a face and responded, “I knew that would happen. Every time somebody calls for a blackout … last time we had a blackout, there was no black jerseys.”
Nowhere in the response was a decisive “no,” however.
Quickly on the injury front, spoke with Thomas Brown. He said he's feeling confident and ready to roll. Richt said Kade Weston (ankle) and Donavon Baldwin (hip flexor) are doubtful. Kelin Johnson (knee) is probable. Quintin Banks (knee) is out.
Here's the notebook item I wrote on black jerseys for tomorrow:
Richt didn’t exactly dispel the Internet rumor that the Bulldogs will accompany Saturday’s fan “blackout” by wearing special black jerseys.
While discussing his seniors’ request that all Georgia fans wear black on Saturday in a visible show of unity, Richt has been asked at least twice whether the team would break trend from its normal red jerseys and silver britches by wearing black jerseys for the first time in modern Georgia football history.
Each time, he responded that it would be too difficult to get the jerseys on short notice.
“Like I said, you can’t just snap your fingers and get ‘em,” Richt said Wednesday. “You can’t do it.”
Told of the rumor that UGA already had the jerseys, Richt made a face and responded, “I knew that would happen. Every time somebody calls for a blackout … last time we had a blackout, there was no black jerseys.”
Nowhere in the response was a decisive “no,” however.
Counterfeit ticket warning
Georgia sent out an announcement to be careful of counterfeit tickets for Saturday's Auburn-Georgia game. They mention there were some counterfeits going around for last weekend's Troy game. I noticed in the UGA PD police reports a few days ago that several people were ripped off by unknowingly buying fake tickets to that game, so be careful. Remember that the majority of these weasels selling tickets outside the stadium are scumbags. They're not there to cut you a deal -- only to leech as much money as possible out of your pockets. I always have this urge to punch 'em in the head every time I have to wade through a pack of them on the way to my gate at the stadium. Anyway, be careful with who you fork over the dough to if you're buying tix this weekend.
Here's Georgia's release:
Fans attending Saturday’s Georgia-Auburn football game are warned about potential problems with counterfeit tickets being circulated.
At last week’s Troy game, counterfeit tickets were printed and unsuspecting fans purchased them. These tickets were Ticketmaster replicates, but Georgia officials remind fans that Ticketmaster does not print Georgia football tickets.
Additionally, fans should not purchase any type of credential or pass for the Georgia-Auburn game. Media credentials are not for sale, and they do not guarantee the bearer a seat within Sanford Stadium or a spot on the sidelines.
“Ticket scalping is against the law, and it causes a lot of problems on game day,” said Arthur Johnson, Georgia’s Associate AD For Internal Affairs. “The bottom line is fans should be very, very careful. You can get burned and taken advantage of. And by the time you get back to the corner where you spent your money, they’ll be gone.”
Added Georgia Ticket Manager Tim Cearley, “Fans are taking a risk anytime they purchase from a secondary market source.”
Fans are reminded that in addition to not having Ticketmaster markings, legitimate tickets, credentials and passes also do not have the time listed on them as they were printed before the season began. Legitimate tickets have foil markings for authenticity.
Earlier this week, it was announced that three Atlanta men had been arrested for their involvement in what is believed to be a nationwide ticket-counterfeiting ring. When the three men were arrested, law enforcement officials found more than 190 fake tickets for the Indianapolis-New England game as well as hundreds of fake tickets for NFL and college games.
Here's Georgia's release:
Fans attending Saturday’s Georgia-Auburn football game are warned about potential problems with counterfeit tickets being circulated.
At last week’s Troy game, counterfeit tickets were printed and unsuspecting fans purchased them. These tickets were Ticketmaster replicates, but Georgia officials remind fans that Ticketmaster does not print Georgia football tickets.
Additionally, fans should not purchase any type of credential or pass for the Georgia-Auburn game. Media credentials are not for sale, and they do not guarantee the bearer a seat within Sanford Stadium or a spot on the sidelines.
“Ticket scalping is against the law, and it causes a lot of problems on game day,” said Arthur Johnson, Georgia’s Associate AD For Internal Affairs. “The bottom line is fans should be very, very careful. You can get burned and taken advantage of. And by the time you get back to the corner where you spent your money, they’ll be gone.”
Added Georgia Ticket Manager Tim Cearley, “Fans are taking a risk anytime they purchase from a secondary market source.”
Fans are reminded that in addition to not having Ticketmaster markings, legitimate tickets, credentials and passes also do not have the time listed on them as they were printed before the season began. Legitimate tickets have foil markings for authenticity.
Earlier this week, it was announced that three Atlanta men had been arrested for their involvement in what is believed to be a nationwide ticket-counterfeiting ring. When the three men were arrested, law enforcement officials found more than 190 fake tickets for the Indianapolis-New England game as well as hundreds of fake tickets for NFL and college games.
AU-UGA by the numbers
There's a section of Georgia's weekly notes package that has a page called "The last time," which runs down the last instances where a certain team or individual statistical plateau was hit in a game. It's interesting stuff that appeals to the stat nerd in me...and the Auburn-Georgia series is all over the list, both good and bad.
Here's a rundown of each Auburn-Georgia mention on the list:
THE LAST TIME IN A SINGLE GAME THAT GEORGIA HAD...
300-399 passing yards: Auburn 2005 (304)
50 or fewer passing yards: Auburn 1990 (28)
Zero passing yards: Auburn 1976
Two 100-yard receivers: Auburn 2005 (Massaquoi 108 and Pope 102)
THE LAST TIME IN A SINGLE GAME THAT A GEORGIA PLAYER...
Caught 10 or more passes: Michael Johnson vs. Auburn, 2002 (13)
Returned an interception for a TD: Tra Battle vs. Auburn, 2006 (30)
Attempted a fake field goal: Quincy Carter vs. Auburn, 1998 (int in end zone)
Missed or had a PAT blocked: Gordon Ely-Kelso vs. Auburn, 2006
Intercepted three passes: Tra Battle vs. Auburn, 2006
THE LAST TIME IN A SINGLE GAME THAT AN OPPOSING TEAM HAD...
40-49 points: Auburn 1997 (45)
Blocked a field goal: Auburn 2001 (twice, Bennett)
THE LAST TIME IN A SINGLE GAME THAT AN OPPOSING PLAYER...
Rushed 40 or more times: Carnell Williams, 2001 (41)
Rushed 35-39 times: Kenny Irons, 2005 (37)
Rushed for 150-199 yards: Kenny Irons, 2005 (179)
Caught for 200 or more yards: Ronney Daniels, 1999 (249)
Interestingly, last week's Troy game supplied 10 new entries on the list:
Georgia player rushed for 150-199 yards: Knowshon Moreno (196)
Georgia player had rush of 80 yards or more: Knowshon Moreno (80)
Georgia player scored three TDs: Knowshon Moreno (3)
Georgia player rushed for three TDs: Knowshon Moreno (3)
Georgia player scored 10-14 points kicking: Brandon Coutu (14)
Oppnent had 350-399 passing yards: Troy (373)
Opponent had two 100-yard receivers: Troy Gary Banks (102) and Jerrel Jernigan (102)
Opponent attempted 45-49 passes: Troy Omar Haugabook (45)
Opponent caught 10-14 passes: Troy Jerrel Jernigan (11)
Opponent caught for 100 receiving yards: Troy Jernigan, Banks (102)
Opponent scored 10 points kicking: Troy Greg Whibbs (10)
Here's a rundown of each Auburn-Georgia mention on the list:
THE LAST TIME IN A SINGLE GAME THAT GEORGIA HAD...
300-399 passing yards: Auburn 2005 (304)
50 or fewer passing yards: Auburn 1990 (28)
Zero passing yards: Auburn 1976
Two 100-yard receivers: Auburn 2005 (Massaquoi 108 and Pope 102)
THE LAST TIME IN A SINGLE GAME THAT A GEORGIA PLAYER...
Caught 10 or more passes: Michael Johnson vs. Auburn, 2002 (13)
Returned an interception for a TD: Tra Battle vs. Auburn, 2006 (30)
Attempted a fake field goal: Quincy Carter vs. Auburn, 1998 (int in end zone)
Missed or had a PAT blocked: Gordon Ely-Kelso vs. Auburn, 2006
Intercepted three passes: Tra Battle vs. Auburn, 2006
THE LAST TIME IN A SINGLE GAME THAT AN OPPOSING TEAM HAD...
40-49 points: Auburn 1997 (45)
Blocked a field goal: Auburn 2001 (twice, Bennett)
THE LAST TIME IN A SINGLE GAME THAT AN OPPOSING PLAYER...
Rushed 40 or more times: Carnell Williams, 2001 (41)
Rushed 35-39 times: Kenny Irons, 2005 (37)
Rushed for 150-199 yards: Kenny Irons, 2005 (179)
Caught for 200 or more yards: Ronney Daniels, 1999 (249)
Interestingly, last week's Troy game supplied 10 new entries on the list:
Georgia player rushed for 150-199 yards: Knowshon Moreno (196)
Georgia player had rush of 80 yards or more: Knowshon Moreno (80)
Georgia player scored three TDs: Knowshon Moreno (3)
Georgia player rushed for three TDs: Knowshon Moreno (3)
Georgia player scored 10-14 points kicking: Brandon Coutu (14)
Oppnent had 350-399 passing yards: Troy (373)
Opponent had two 100-yard receivers: Troy Gary Banks (102) and Jerrel Jernigan (102)
Opponent attempted 45-49 passes: Troy Omar Haugabook (45)
Opponent caught 10-14 passes: Troy Jerrel Jernigan (11)
Opponent caught for 100 receiving yards: Troy Jernigan, Banks (102)
Opponent scored 10 points kicking: Troy Greg Whibbs (10)
Quick Tuesday notes
I have to do this quickly because blogger's going down for a scheduled outage in a few minutes...A "blackout" if you will...(wow, what a boring subject).
* Kade Weston (ankle) didn't practice today, although he's still considered probable.
* Safeties Kelin Johnson (knee) and Drew Williams (shoulder) were in green, but are probable for Saturday. Safety could become an issue if those guys aren't able to go. Backup Donavon Baldwin (hip flexor) didn't dress out today and his status for Auburn is uncertain.
* WR Tony Wilson (shoulder) was also practicing in green.
I was going to do a by-the-numbers post about this series, but it's going to have to wait. There are some crazy Auburn-Georgia numbers in the game notes that I'll get to at another time.
* Real quick, some stuff to be looking for in the next few days: Macon's Josh Kendall is working on a story on what Stafford is doing with checks and how much more responsibility he's being given at the line these days. It was really interesting to listen to Matthew discuss it while trying to not give anything away. He seemed to enjoy breaking it down and not have to do another interview with all the same old questions. I just listened in because I thought it was fascinating stuff. Also, Marc Weiszer from the Athens paper has something coming on Mike Bobo's friendship with Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. I listened to Weiszer and Bobo talking tonight and Bobo had some great stories. Hopefully Josh and Weiszer won't screw up that good material like I undoubtedly would.
* Kade Weston (ankle) didn't practice today, although he's still considered probable.
* Safeties Kelin Johnson (knee) and Drew Williams (shoulder) were in green, but are probable for Saturday. Safety could become an issue if those guys aren't able to go. Backup Donavon Baldwin (hip flexor) didn't dress out today and his status for Auburn is uncertain.
* WR Tony Wilson (shoulder) was also practicing in green.
I was going to do a by-the-numbers post about this series, but it's going to have to wait. There are some crazy Auburn-Georgia numbers in the game notes that I'll get to at another time.
* Real quick, some stuff to be looking for in the next few days: Macon's Josh Kendall is working on a story on what Stafford is doing with checks and how much more responsibility he's being given at the line these days. It was really interesting to listen to Matthew discuss it while trying to not give anything away. He seemed to enjoy breaking it down and not have to do another interview with all the same old questions. I just listened in because I thought it was fascinating stuff. Also, Marc Weiszer from the Athens paper has something coming on Mike Bobo's friendship with Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. I listened to Weiszer and Bobo talking tonight and Bobo had some great stories. Hopefully Josh and Weiszer won't screw up that good material like I undoubtedly would.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Unpublished Monday notebook
Marc Weiszer from the Athens paper was so kind as to inform me that my entire notebook didn't make it onto the LE Web site today (only the Thomas Brown lead note). So here it is in its glorious entirety. I'll be doing more late tonight, but I've been sitting at Butts-Mehre for far too long today.
ATHENS, Ga. – Thomas Brown hopes to play Saturday against Auburn, but he remains uncertain on whether it will happen.
Brown has missed Georgia’s last three games after breaking his left collarbone during a 180-yard performance against Ole Miss. He played the first half of the Tennessee game without pain the following week before halftime x-rays revealed the break and put Brown on the shelf.
Georgia coach Mark Richt said his staff will begin preparing Brown this week as if he’ll play against Auburn, but whether it actually happens will be determined by how he responds once he goes through contact. Today will be Georgia’s first full-contact workout of the week.
“Even after I hit, I still might not know,” Brown said. “It doesn’t hurt. It’s just certain situations that I might put my body in that kinda make me be a little bit more vulnerable than others. I’m not really worried about getting direct contact on it, it’s just maybe falling directly on that shoulder that would give me the most problems.”
An awkward landing after diving into the end zone caused the injury, which has still not healed completely after six weeks. Brown said a fracture will remain for several more weeks and he’s unsure whether the bone has healed enough to return to action.
He said the shoulder hasn’t hurt since the Tennessee game, but that pain level is not a factor in whether the bone has healed well enough to play.
“There’s no pain at all, which is not a real good indicator at all,” he said. “But we’ll just see how it goes.”
Cake party
Center Fernando Velasco said offensive coordinator Mike Bobo brought a cake to Georgia’s football building on Monday for the Bulldogs’ offensive players to celebrate Knowshon Moreno’s cracking the 1,000-yard mark this season.
In Brown’s absence, redshirt freshman Moreno has taken the reins as Georgia’s go-to back. Moreno has rushed for 541 yards and six touchdowns in the last three games and now has 1,003 rushing yards, making him the first Georgia back since Musa Smith in 2002 to reach that goal.
While he’d obviously prefer to be on the field, Brown said he takes a degree of satisfaction in Moreno’s accomplishments, quieting a criticism that has dogged Georgia backs throughout Brown’s career.
“I’m glad to see finally somebody being able to show what one back here at Georgia can do,” Brown said. “People are always talking so much about our running backs not getting 1,000 yards rushing because we were splitting carries three ways. One guy gets that bulk load and gets in a rhythm and gets 25, 30 carries a game, he can put up numbers like he’s been doing.”
Moreno was named the Southeastern Conference’s Freshman of the Week for the third time on Monday after his 196-yard, three-touchdown performance against Troy on Saturday.
Injury update
Senior safety Kelin Johnson missed last week’s Troy game with a knee injury suffered against Florida, but he hopes to return against Auburn.
If healthy, Johnson is one of only two Georgia defenders who started against Auburn last year to be likely to start against the Tigers on Saturday.
“I’m just gonna take it day to day and see,” Johnson said. “(It’s a) gametime decision.”
Safety Quintin Banks said he will not play Saturday after spraining the medial collateral ligament in his left knee against Troy. Banks said he hopes to return the following week against Kentucky.
Watching the band
Since he wasn’t playing last weekend, Johnson and fellow injured senior Kregg Lumpkin took in an aspect of Georgia’s gameday atmosphere that most players rarely experience.
Both players were tired from walking around on crutches all afternoon, so they decided to camp out on the Bulldogs’ bench at halftime and watch the homecoming festivities and the performance by the Redcoat Band rather than venture into the locker room.
“We’d been crutching all day, walking all day. His knee needed a rest, my knee needed a rest, so we just took the opportunity to just support the band a little bit,” Johnson said. “I knew our coaches had everything under control.”
Quick hits
Georgia’s Nov. 17 home game against Kentucky will kick off at 12:30 p.m. and will air on Lincoln Financial Sports. It will be the first time the Bulldogs have played on LF Sports this season. … ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd will visit Athens on Friday to broadcast his daily sports talk show from UGA’s Tate Student Center. The show, which airs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., is heard by approximately two million listeners each day.
ATHENS, Ga. – Thomas Brown hopes to play Saturday against Auburn, but he remains uncertain on whether it will happen.
Brown has missed Georgia’s last three games after breaking his left collarbone during a 180-yard performance against Ole Miss. He played the first half of the Tennessee game without pain the following week before halftime x-rays revealed the break and put Brown on the shelf.
Georgia coach Mark Richt said his staff will begin preparing Brown this week as if he’ll play against Auburn, but whether it actually happens will be determined by how he responds once he goes through contact. Today will be Georgia’s first full-contact workout of the week.
“Even after I hit, I still might not know,” Brown said. “It doesn’t hurt. It’s just certain situations that I might put my body in that kinda make me be a little bit more vulnerable than others. I’m not really worried about getting direct contact on it, it’s just maybe falling directly on that shoulder that would give me the most problems.”
An awkward landing after diving into the end zone caused the injury, which has still not healed completely after six weeks. Brown said a fracture will remain for several more weeks and he’s unsure whether the bone has healed enough to return to action.
He said the shoulder hasn’t hurt since the Tennessee game, but that pain level is not a factor in whether the bone has healed well enough to play.
“There’s no pain at all, which is not a real good indicator at all,” he said. “But we’ll just see how it goes.”
Cake party
Center Fernando Velasco said offensive coordinator Mike Bobo brought a cake to Georgia’s football building on Monday for the Bulldogs’ offensive players to celebrate Knowshon Moreno’s cracking the 1,000-yard mark this season.
In Brown’s absence, redshirt freshman Moreno has taken the reins as Georgia’s go-to back. Moreno has rushed for 541 yards and six touchdowns in the last three games and now has 1,003 rushing yards, making him the first Georgia back since Musa Smith in 2002 to reach that goal.
While he’d obviously prefer to be on the field, Brown said he takes a degree of satisfaction in Moreno’s accomplishments, quieting a criticism that has dogged Georgia backs throughout Brown’s career.
“I’m glad to see finally somebody being able to show what one back here at Georgia can do,” Brown said. “People are always talking so much about our running backs not getting 1,000 yards rushing because we were splitting carries three ways. One guy gets that bulk load and gets in a rhythm and gets 25, 30 carries a game, he can put up numbers like he’s been doing.”
Moreno was named the Southeastern Conference’s Freshman of the Week for the third time on Monday after his 196-yard, three-touchdown performance against Troy on Saturday.
Injury update
Senior safety Kelin Johnson missed last week’s Troy game with a knee injury suffered against Florida, but he hopes to return against Auburn.
If healthy, Johnson is one of only two Georgia defenders who started against Auburn last year to be likely to start against the Tigers on Saturday.
“I’m just gonna take it day to day and see,” Johnson said. “(It’s a) gametime decision.”
Safety Quintin Banks said he will not play Saturday after spraining the medial collateral ligament in his left knee against Troy. Banks said he hopes to return the following week against Kentucky.
Watching the band
Since he wasn’t playing last weekend, Johnson and fellow injured senior Kregg Lumpkin took in an aspect of Georgia’s gameday atmosphere that most players rarely experience.
Both players were tired from walking around on crutches all afternoon, so they decided to camp out on the Bulldogs’ bench at halftime and watch the homecoming festivities and the performance by the Redcoat Band rather than venture into the locker room.
“We’d been crutching all day, walking all day. His knee needed a rest, my knee needed a rest, so we just took the opportunity to just support the band a little bit,” Johnson said. “I knew our coaches had everything under control.”
Quick hits
Georgia’s Nov. 17 home game against Kentucky will kick off at 12:30 p.m. and will air on Lincoln Financial Sports. It will be the first time the Bulldogs have played on LF Sports this season. … ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd will visit Athens on Friday to broadcast his daily sports talk show from UGA’s Tate Student Center. The show, which airs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., is heard by approximately two million listeners each day.
Monday notes
The most newsworthy thing we went over today was talking with Thomas Brown about what he's expecting this week. I'd guess you would call Thomas "probable" for Auburn, but he seems to be hedging his bets. The shoulder is not completely healed, as far as still having a mild fracture, and won't be for several more weeks. He says it doesn't hurt and hasn't since the Tennessee game, but that has nothing to do with whether it's prudent for him to play. He said direct contact is not a concern, but that an awkward fall -- which is what caused the injury to begin with, when he fell funnily on his shoulder while diving into the end zone against Ole Miss -- could be a problem. So he's going to give it a go this week and see how the shoulder responds:
"It’s still up in the air. I’m not sure. We’ll see how it feels to get back in the groove of things and get my timing back."
* Kelin Johnson (knee) is hoping to play, but called it a gametime decision whether he'll play. You have to remember these guys need to go through some contact before they have an idea of what they can really do, and they don't have any contact until Tuesdays. We'll find out if he and Thomas go tomorrow or Wednesday and then how the injuries responded later in the week. That's when they'll be able to predict a little better how/if those guys might be used.
* Quintin Banks sprained his left MCL and will not play this week. He's hoping to be back for Kentucky.
* Fernando Velasco said Mike Bobo brought some cake for the offense to enjoy to celebrate Knowshon Moreno going over 1,000 rushing yards. It was funny that just as Fernando was discussing how the strength and conditioning staff wouldn't want him and the offensive linemen digging into the cake, one of the S&C staff members, Clay Walker, walked into the room and said it better have been a small piece. For some reason I doubt that it was, although maybe Fernando has more willpower than I do.
* The message boards are lighting up with discussion of how Mark Richt apparently said on his radio show tonight that the seniors are asking the fans to wear black for a "blackout" on Saturday. I figured I'd mention it for FYI purposes, although I find these kinds of gimmicks to be a little silly. This is turning into the year of the motivational ploy for Georgia. Whatever works I guess. They're always looking for any kind of a slight or source of extra motivation to pump up the team (I saw photocopies all over the place last week of a newspaper story from like 10 years ago that had a picture of Auburn players picking pieces of the hedge to celebrate a win in Athens). I would have thought a chance to win the SEC East is motivation enough.
* Speaking of that kind of thing, Georgia DT Jeff Owens might have provided a wee bit of bulletin board material for Brandon Cox when I was talking with him today. Not that anything he said was untrue. I was asking him about last year's win at Auburn and he reiterated a lot of the things Georgia's players were saying after the game last year.
On Ray Gant's sack on Auburn's first play, that appeared to hurt Cox's knee:
"That set the tone. That was a big momentum shift for the whole game. Right there we thought we put fear in their hearts. We knew that we could just keep jabbing, keep jabbing till they fall. That’s what happened last year. That locker room celebration was big."
On whether he thought Cox got rattled (he finished 4-for-12 for 35 yards, 4 Ints):
"I think he got rattled the first play. We were confident because we went downfield and scored and he knew it was on his shoulders to try and make a comeback and he gets sacked on the first play – nearly blew his knee out. So I think he was timid the whole game."
On his biggest memory from the win:
"My biggest memory was the locker room celebration. It was just a big momentum shift that we had. We were coming off a dramatic loss versus Kentucky. I remember leaving the field against Kentucky and they were tearing the goal posts down. Then pretty much guys were moping around that whole week, but we knew what we could do and what we were capable of. We knew we had to get ready for Auburn and we knew that if we wanted to get this thing back on track that we were gonna have to beat Auburn."
* I saw this story linked on Dawgbone today and thought I'd point it out, as it's quite an accomplishment: Georgia commit A.J. Green had six catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns in Summerville (S.C.) High's win over Colleton County last weekend. That pushed Green over 5,000 career receiving yards, apparently making him only the third person to ever do that. That gives him 254 catches for 5,029 yards and 57 career receiving touchdowns. He's 49 yards from second place all-time. Summerville has won 10 straight games since I went to watch their season opener, when they got throttled by Booker T. Washington from Florida.
* I saw some speculation about why Georgia-Kentucky wasn't selected for the CBS game on Nov. 17, including some people saying that Lincoln Financial contractually gets each school at least once every year. So I checked into it. As I understand it, LF Sports' contract calls for each school to play at least twice on their broadcasts between 2006 and 2007. Although Georgia hasn't played on LF this season, the Bulldogs played on LF four times last year (Western Kentucky, Colorado, Vanderbilt, Auburn). So that's not it. I think the main thing is that LSU-Ole Miss, which will be on CBS instead of Georgia-Kentucky, is a more significant national game of interest, considering that LSU seems in line to play in the BCS title game. Georgia-Kentucky is a game that's of regional interest at best. Plus Kentucky has lost three of its last four games and Georgia will have played three of its last five games on CBS. Take all that into account and it makes a little more sense that CBS went with the LSU game. I admit, the choice surprised me as well.
"It’s still up in the air. I’m not sure. We’ll see how it feels to get back in the groove of things and get my timing back."
* Kelin Johnson (knee) is hoping to play, but called it a gametime decision whether he'll play. You have to remember these guys need to go through some contact before they have an idea of what they can really do, and they don't have any contact until Tuesdays. We'll find out if he and Thomas go tomorrow or Wednesday and then how the injuries responded later in the week. That's when they'll be able to predict a little better how/if those guys might be used.
* Quintin Banks sprained his left MCL and will not play this week. He's hoping to be back for Kentucky.
* Fernando Velasco said Mike Bobo brought some cake for the offense to enjoy to celebrate Knowshon Moreno going over 1,000 rushing yards. It was funny that just as Fernando was discussing how the strength and conditioning staff wouldn't want him and the offensive linemen digging into the cake, one of the S&C staff members, Clay Walker, walked into the room and said it better have been a small piece. For some reason I doubt that it was, although maybe Fernando has more willpower than I do.
* The message boards are lighting up with discussion of how Mark Richt apparently said on his radio show tonight that the seniors are asking the fans to wear black for a "blackout" on Saturday. I figured I'd mention it for FYI purposes, although I find these kinds of gimmicks to be a little silly. This is turning into the year of the motivational ploy for Georgia. Whatever works I guess. They're always looking for any kind of a slight or source of extra motivation to pump up the team (I saw photocopies all over the place last week of a newspaper story from like 10 years ago that had a picture of Auburn players picking pieces of the hedge to celebrate a win in Athens). I would have thought a chance to win the SEC East is motivation enough.
* Speaking of that kind of thing, Georgia DT Jeff Owens might have provided a wee bit of bulletin board material for Brandon Cox when I was talking with him today. Not that anything he said was untrue. I was asking him about last year's win at Auburn and he reiterated a lot of the things Georgia's players were saying after the game last year.
On Ray Gant's sack on Auburn's first play, that appeared to hurt Cox's knee:
"That set the tone. That was a big momentum shift for the whole game. Right there we thought we put fear in their hearts. We knew that we could just keep jabbing, keep jabbing till they fall. That’s what happened last year. That locker room celebration was big."
On whether he thought Cox got rattled (he finished 4-for-12 for 35 yards, 4 Ints):
"I think he got rattled the first play. We were confident because we went downfield and scored and he knew it was on his shoulders to try and make a comeback and he gets sacked on the first play – nearly blew his knee out. So I think he was timid the whole game."
On his biggest memory from the win:
"My biggest memory was the locker room celebration. It was just a big momentum shift that we had. We were coming off a dramatic loss versus Kentucky. I remember leaving the field against Kentucky and they were tearing the goal posts down. Then pretty much guys were moping around that whole week, but we knew what we could do and what we were capable of. We knew we had to get ready for Auburn and we knew that if we wanted to get this thing back on track that we were gonna have to beat Auburn."
* I saw this story linked on Dawgbone today and thought I'd point it out, as it's quite an accomplishment: Georgia commit A.J. Green had six catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns in Summerville (S.C.) High's win over Colleton County last weekend. That pushed Green over 5,000 career receiving yards, apparently making him only the third person to ever do that. That gives him 254 catches for 5,029 yards and 57 career receiving touchdowns. He's 49 yards from second place all-time. Summerville has won 10 straight games since I went to watch their season opener, when they got throttled by Booker T. Washington from Florida.
* I saw some speculation about why Georgia-Kentucky wasn't selected for the CBS game on Nov. 17, including some people saying that Lincoln Financial contractually gets each school at least once every year. So I checked into it. As I understand it, LF Sports' contract calls for each school to play at least twice on their broadcasts between 2006 and 2007. Although Georgia hasn't played on LF this season, the Bulldogs played on LF four times last year (Western Kentucky, Colorado, Vanderbilt, Auburn). So that's not it. I think the main thing is that LSU-Ole Miss, which will be on CBS instead of Georgia-Kentucky, is a more significant national game of interest, considering that LSU seems in line to play in the BCS title game. Georgia-Kentucky is a game that's of regional interest at best. Plus Kentucky has lost three of its last four games and Georgia will have played three of its last five games on CBS. Take all that into account and it makes a little more sense that CBS went with the LSU game. I admit, the choice surprised me as well.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Georgia-Kentucky to kick at 12:30
UGA-Kentucky will air on Lincoln Financial Sports on Nov. 17. LSU-Ole Miss is on CBS and ESPN/ESPN2 will not televise a game.
From UGA:
The Saturday, Nov. 17, SEC football game between Georgia and Kentucky in Athens will be televised by Lincoln Financial Sports. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. ET.
This will be the first Georgia game televised by Lincoln Financial this year.
Broadcast team for the game will be Dave Neal (play-by-play), Dave Archer (color analyst), and Dave Baker (sideline).
Look here.
From UGA:
The Saturday, Nov. 17, SEC football game between Georgia and Kentucky in Athens will be televised by Lincoln Financial Sports. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. ET.
This will be the first Georgia game televised by Lincoln Financial this year.
Broadcast team for the game will be Dave Neal (play-by-play), Dave Archer (color analyst), and Dave Baker (sideline).
Look here.
FWAA All-America offense ballot
I mentioned in a post in the last week or so that the Football Writers Association sent out its all-America defense ballot and asked for input if anyone wanted to offer some. Same today, now that they've sent out the offense/special teams ballot. Like I said last week, I'm not binding myself to anything posted here, but I'm easily swayed. Let me know if you have any strong thoughts on possible candidates...
here's the format:
QB:
RB:
RB:
WR:
WR:
TE:
OL:
OL:
OL:
OL:
OL:
P:
PK:
ST:
I haven't given this a ton of thought, but I'll be submitting my ballot sometime late in the week. I'm certain I'll be voting for Oregon's Dennis Dixon and Arkansas' Darren McFadden in two of those spots. Honestly, I'm considering throwing a vote Knowshon's way at the other tailback spot instead of Michigan's Mike Hart. It would be a big-time homer pick, but you could make a case that no running back has been more valuable to a significant team over the last month than Knowshon has been to Georgia. Truthfully, there are a lot of good players who have better season stats, so I don't know what I'll do. But I haven't ruled out Knowshon, to be sure.
here's the format:
QB:
RB:
RB:
WR:
WR:
TE:
OL:
OL:
OL:
OL:
OL:
P:
PK:
ST:
I haven't given this a ton of thought, but I'll be submitting my ballot sometime late in the week. I'm certain I'll be voting for Oregon's Dennis Dixon and Arkansas' Darren McFadden in two of those spots. Honestly, I'm considering throwing a vote Knowshon's way at the other tailback spot instead of Michigan's Mike Hart. It would be a big-time homer pick, but you could make a case that no running back has been more valuable to a significant team over the last month than Knowshon has been to Georgia. Truthfully, there are a lot of good players who have better season stats, so I don't know what I'll do. But I haven't ruled out Knowshon, to be sure.
More notice for Knowshon
He was named today as SEC Freshman of the Week for the third time this season. From the UGA release:
University of Georgia redshirt freshman tailback Knowshon Moreno has been named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week for the third time this season, according to an announcement by the league office on Monday.
Moreno, a 5-11, 207-pound native of Belford, N.J., registered a career-high 196 rushing yards on 26 carries for three touchdowns during No. 10 Georgia’s 44-34 win over Troy in Athens. In addition to averaging 7.5 yards per carry, Moreno became only the 12th player in school history to have 1,000 yards rushing in a single season (he now has 1,003).
Moreno’s rushing total against the Trojans was the most for a Bulldog since Verron Haynes recorded 207 yards against Georgia Tech in 2001. It was Moreno’s fourth career game going over 100 yards and his third in a row after racking up a combined 541 yards during Georgia’s three wins over Vanderbilt, No. 9 Florida and Troy. Moreno moved to the No. 2 spot on the school’s all-time list for rushing yards for a freshman.
Through nine games, Moreno is third in the league and is second best out of the nation’s freshmen with an average of 111.4 yards per game. Moreno had already been named the SEC Freshman of the Week twice and the SEC Offensive Player of the Week once during the 2007 season.
University of Georgia redshirt freshman tailback Knowshon Moreno has been named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week for the third time this season, according to an announcement by the league office on Monday.
Moreno, a 5-11, 207-pound native of Belford, N.J., registered a career-high 196 rushing yards on 26 carries for three touchdowns during No. 10 Georgia’s 44-34 win over Troy in Athens. In addition to averaging 7.5 yards per carry, Moreno became only the 12th player in school history to have 1,000 yards rushing in a single season (he now has 1,003).
Moreno’s rushing total against the Trojans was the most for a Bulldog since Verron Haynes recorded 207 yards against Georgia Tech in 2001. It was Moreno’s fourth career game going over 100 yards and his third in a row after racking up a combined 541 yards during Georgia’s three wins over Vanderbilt, No. 9 Florida and Troy. Moreno moved to the No. 2 spot on the school’s all-time list for rushing yards for a freshman.
Through nine games, Moreno is third in the league and is second best out of the nation’s freshmen with an average of 111.4 yards per game. Moreno had already been named the SEC Freshman of the Week twice and the SEC Offensive Player of the Week once during the 2007 season.
Select Richt quotes from Sunday
Didn't get around to transcribing much of Sunday's teleconference till now, but here is some of what Mark Richt had to say yesterday:
On the offense's progress:
"We’re starting to play better. We’re starting to block better – that’s the big key. When you give the quarterback a little more time and give rbs a little more space, your skill tends to play better when those guys play well up front. I think that’s a big part of it. But we’ve held onto the ball I thought very well, I’m talking about catching balls thrown to us. You hate the turnovers that we had – we just have had so few until this last game. It didn’t get out of hand, but it sure came fast and furious there for a minute. But yeah, I think they’re gaining confidence."
On whether offensive linemen come to college more prepared to play early these days:
"Coming at the midyear helps a lot. Boling just got here at the normal time and he’s actually done pretty well, and thankfully his body’s held up to this point. That’s the thing your worry about with the young guys is playing before their bodies are ready to play. Some of them, even at the midyear, if they learn enough to at least compete, that’s great. But if their bodies can’t hold up to the banging and guys that are three and four years older and stronger and wiser, it makes it tough on ‘em. But to this point, we’ve been pretty fortunate in that regard."
On how they know Thomas Brown's injury is healing properly:
"We’ve been x-raying every week. Our doctors have been seeing the healing process go as planned. You could see on the x-ray that the bone is absolutely healing properly."
On how Thomas has been feeling lately:
"If there’s no such thing as an x-ray, he’s felt really pretty good all along. He’s not been limited in any of his lifting. He just says, ‘I really don’t feel it. I know it’s there because I saw it on the x-ray, but the soreness is gone. I feel great.’ So he’s been feeling good for a while."
On whether Kelin Johnson will play:
"We hope so. He thinks so anyway, and Ron’s not saying he won’t be back. Again, we’ve just gotta kinda see how he responds, how he moves around, and if he’ll be able to compete at the level we need him."
On Stafford maybe needing to be a bit more conservative in his running approach:
"He needs to finish his runs a little bit better, which may be sliding, which may be at least getting in a position where you’re not so upright. Put your pads down a little bit – not necessarily try to take somebody on, but at least be in a position where you don’t take a nasty shot to the body or the ball won’t spit out, too. You just want to be a little more compact when you’re getting towards the end of a run. Of course the end of a run is when you’re getting ready for contact. But I don’t have any problem with him sliding or just working his way towards the ground when he gets closer to contact."
On his finally learning to slide more last year:
"Towards the end there, I think the Auburn game, he slid a few times. But early on, he had two fumbles. He was on the sidelines scrambling left and all he had to do was throw it out of bounds – he would not have gotten hit and he would not have fumbled – and he didn’t do that. And then he did have a run that he thought he was gonna go to the house and didn’t realize that he was in the Southeastern Conference. Somebody ran him down from behind and punched the ball out. When that happened, we finally convinced him that, ‘Hey, maybe you oughta slide once you get the first down.’"
On working Asher Allen and Ramarcus Brown at kickoff return:
"We’re working both of them. Sometimes Asher’s just kinda gassed. He’s playing a lot of reps on defense, he’s of course playing corner and the nickel, so there’s not many opportunities for him to even get rest when the defense is out there. And sometimes if the opponent has a long drive, Asher may just be gassed, so you want to make sure there’s someone else there, so we gave Ramarcus a shot at it. There’s another time he woulda got it, but I think there was a TV timeout and Asher got rested enough to go in, so we put him in there. Ramarcus has got ability, no doubt, but any time a guy goes in there new or at least hadn’t done it in a while, there’s always a chance of getting hit extremely hard and the ball coming out. That’s the thing that you concern yourself with the most when you start interchanging guys back there."
On the offense's progress:
"We’re starting to play better. We’re starting to block better – that’s the big key. When you give the quarterback a little more time and give rbs a little more space, your skill tends to play better when those guys play well up front. I think that’s a big part of it. But we’ve held onto the ball I thought very well, I’m talking about catching balls thrown to us. You hate the turnovers that we had – we just have had so few until this last game. It didn’t get out of hand, but it sure came fast and furious there for a minute. But yeah, I think they’re gaining confidence."
On whether offensive linemen come to college more prepared to play early these days:
"Coming at the midyear helps a lot. Boling just got here at the normal time and he’s actually done pretty well, and thankfully his body’s held up to this point. That’s the thing your worry about with the young guys is playing before their bodies are ready to play. Some of them, even at the midyear, if they learn enough to at least compete, that’s great. But if their bodies can’t hold up to the banging and guys that are three and four years older and stronger and wiser, it makes it tough on ‘em. But to this point, we’ve been pretty fortunate in that regard."
On how they know Thomas Brown's injury is healing properly:
"We’ve been x-raying every week. Our doctors have been seeing the healing process go as planned. You could see on the x-ray that the bone is absolutely healing properly."
On how Thomas has been feeling lately:
"If there’s no such thing as an x-ray, he’s felt really pretty good all along. He’s not been limited in any of his lifting. He just says, ‘I really don’t feel it. I know it’s there because I saw it on the x-ray, but the soreness is gone. I feel great.’ So he’s been feeling good for a while."
On whether Kelin Johnson will play:
"We hope so. He thinks so anyway, and Ron’s not saying he won’t be back. Again, we’ve just gotta kinda see how he responds, how he moves around, and if he’ll be able to compete at the level we need him."
On Stafford maybe needing to be a bit more conservative in his running approach:
"He needs to finish his runs a little bit better, which may be sliding, which may be at least getting in a position where you’re not so upright. Put your pads down a little bit – not necessarily try to take somebody on, but at least be in a position where you don’t take a nasty shot to the body or the ball won’t spit out, too. You just want to be a little more compact when you’re getting towards the end of a run. Of course the end of a run is when you’re getting ready for contact. But I don’t have any problem with him sliding or just working his way towards the ground when he gets closer to contact."
On his finally learning to slide more last year:
"Towards the end there, I think the Auburn game, he slid a few times. But early on, he had two fumbles. He was on the sidelines scrambling left and all he had to do was throw it out of bounds – he would not have gotten hit and he would not have fumbled – and he didn’t do that. And then he did have a run that he thought he was gonna go to the house and didn’t realize that he was in the Southeastern Conference. Somebody ran him down from behind and punched the ball out. When that happened, we finally convinced him that, ‘Hey, maybe you oughta slide once you get the first down.’"
On working Asher Allen and Ramarcus Brown at kickoff return:
"We’re working both of them. Sometimes Asher’s just kinda gassed. He’s playing a lot of reps on defense, he’s of course playing corner and the nickel, so there’s not many opportunities for him to even get rest when the defense is out there. And sometimes if the opponent has a long drive, Asher may just be gassed, so you want to make sure there’s someone else there, so we gave Ramarcus a shot at it. There’s another time he woulda got it, but I think there was a TV timeout and Asher got rested enough to go in, so we put him in there. Ramarcus has got ability, no doubt, but any time a guy goes in there new or at least hadn’t done it in a while, there’s always a chance of getting hit extremely hard and the ball coming out. That’s the thing that you concern yourself with the most when you start interchanging guys back there."
Cowherd coming to UGA
Get your rotten vegetables ready to hurl. ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd will be broadcasting live from Georgia's Tate Student Center on Friday.
From the note UGA sports comm. just sent out:
ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd, whose show is heard by two million listeners each day, will originate his Friday, Nov. 9, show live from the Tate Student Center on the UGA campus.
The show will air nationally on ESPN radio affiliate stations, including 960 the Ref in Athens, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
From the note UGA sports comm. just sent out:
ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd, whose show is heard by two million listeners each day, will originate his Friday, Nov. 9, show live from the Tate Student Center on the UGA campus.
The show will air nationally on ESPN radio affiliate stations, including 960 the Ref in Athens, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Sunday notes
Injuries were the biggest subject on this evening's teleconference.
Here's a quick rundown of who was discussed:
* LB/ST Chris Gaunder (knee) is out for the foreseeable future, maybe as long as the rest of the season.
* S/ST Andrew Williams (shoulder) should be able to go against Auburn.
* DT Kade Weston (left ankle) is not expected to practice Monday, but Richt thinks he'll be able to play against Auburn.
* S Quintin Banks (left knee) is questionable.
* WR Tony Wilson (shoulder) sounds probable, although it may be a couple days before they can really tell how his shoulder responds.
* QB Matthew Stafford (knee) is OK. Richt said yesterday that Matthew's knee could swell up some overnight, but that the swelling wasn't too bad today.
Two more key injured guys could be returning. Richt said safety Kelin Johnson thinks he'll be able to go this week. And it sounds like they plan to have Thomas Brown back in some capacity. I saw Thomas a couple days ago and he said he's feeling good. Here's some of what Richt had to say about his role in returning:
"Tuesday will be interesting to see what he’s able to do. But we’re gonna start working him this week as if he’s got a shot to play."
Richt wouldn't predict how they might split reps between Thomas and Knowshon Moreno and truthfully, it's a little early for him to even hazard a guess there. Tuesday's their heavy work day, so they'll be able to gauge it better by how he fares then. My guess is that if Thomas is healthy, he'll see significant time -- although I'd expect Knowshon to get more carries. He's been doing too well lately (541 yards and six touchdowns in the last three games is nothing to shake a stick at) to not continue riding the horse that's been powering the offense. But for good reason, these guys love Thomas Brown. If he is ready to go, you can be sure he's not getting buried on the bench no matter how well Knowshon's been playing lately.
Something else I thought was interesting was what he attributes for the offense's explosing lately (86 points in the last two games) -- the offensive line's continued improvement. It's a simple thing, really, although it probably gets overlooked pretty frequently. For the most part, Matthew has had time to throw and Knowshon has been getting room to run and they've been able to make some good things happen. I mentioned Knowshon's recent yardage above. Matthew's missed a few opportunities, but he's fared pretty well, too. He's 28-for-47 for 434 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions in the last two games.
Here's a quick rundown of who was discussed:
* LB/ST Chris Gaunder (knee) is out for the foreseeable future, maybe as long as the rest of the season.
* S/ST Andrew Williams (shoulder) should be able to go against Auburn.
* DT Kade Weston (left ankle) is not expected to practice Monday, but Richt thinks he'll be able to play against Auburn.
* S Quintin Banks (left knee) is questionable.
* WR Tony Wilson (shoulder) sounds probable, although it may be a couple days before they can really tell how his shoulder responds.
* QB Matthew Stafford (knee) is OK. Richt said yesterday that Matthew's knee could swell up some overnight, but that the swelling wasn't too bad today.
Two more key injured guys could be returning. Richt said safety Kelin Johnson thinks he'll be able to go this week. And it sounds like they plan to have Thomas Brown back in some capacity. I saw Thomas a couple days ago and he said he's feeling good. Here's some of what Richt had to say about his role in returning:
"Tuesday will be interesting to see what he’s able to do. But we’re gonna start working him this week as if he’s got a shot to play."
Richt wouldn't predict how they might split reps between Thomas and Knowshon Moreno and truthfully, it's a little early for him to even hazard a guess there. Tuesday's their heavy work day, so they'll be able to gauge it better by how he fares then. My guess is that if Thomas is healthy, he'll see significant time -- although I'd expect Knowshon to get more carries. He's been doing too well lately (541 yards and six touchdowns in the last three games is nothing to shake a stick at) to not continue riding the horse that's been powering the offense. But for good reason, these guys love Thomas Brown. If he is ready to go, you can be sure he's not getting buried on the bench no matter how well Knowshon's been playing lately.
Something else I thought was interesting was what he attributes for the offense's explosing lately (86 points in the last two games) -- the offensive line's continued improvement. It's a simple thing, really, although it probably gets overlooked pretty frequently. For the most part, Matthew has had time to throw and Knowshon has been getting room to run and they've been able to make some good things happen. I mentioned Knowshon's recent yardage above. Matthew's missed a few opportunities, but he's fared pretty well, too. He's 28-for-47 for 434 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions in the last two games.
11/04 master coaches poll
No big changes for Georgia in this week's polls. The Bulldogs are 10th in the BCS, Associated Press and USA Today coaches polls and 11th in the Harris Interactive.
Here are the results of this week's Master Coaches Poll.
Master Coaches Poll
* 1. Ohio State (17)
* 2. LSU
* 3. Oregon
* 4. Oklahoma
* 5. Kansas
* 6. West Virginia
* 7. Missouri
* 8. Arizona State
* 9. Boston College
* 10. Michigan
* 11. Georgia
* 12. USC
* 13. Texas
* 14. Virginia Tech
* 15. Hawaii
* 16. Auburn
* 17. Florida
* 18. Connecticut
* 19. Alabama
* 20. Tennessee
* 21. Boise State
* 22. Clemson
* 23. Virginia
* 24. California
* 25. Illinois
Other teams receiving votes ... Florida State 14, Penn State 14, Texas Tech 9, Kentucky 9, Wake Forest 9, Cincinnati 7, South Florida 4, Arkansas 4, BYU 3, South Carolina 2
Dropped from last week's poll ... South Carolina, South Florida, Wake Forest, Wisconsin
Here are the results of this week's Master Coaches Poll.
Master Coaches Poll
* 1. Ohio State (17)
* 2. LSU
* 3. Oregon
* 4. Oklahoma
* 5. Kansas
* 6. West Virginia
* 7. Missouri
* 8. Arizona State
* 9. Boston College
* 10. Michigan
* 11. Georgia
* 12. USC
* 13. Texas
* 14. Virginia Tech
* 15. Hawaii
* 16. Auburn
* 17. Florida
* 18. Connecticut
* 19. Alabama
* 20. Tennessee
* 21. Boise State
* 22. Clemson
* 23. Virginia
* 24. California
* 25. Illinois
Other teams receiving votes ... Florida State 14, Penn State 14, Texas Tech 9, Kentucky 9, Wake Forest 9, Cincinnati 7, South Florida 4, Arkansas 4, BYU 3, South Carolina 2
Dropped from last week's poll ... South Carolina, South Florida, Wake Forest, Wisconsin
Friday, November 02, 2007
Week 10 Picks
Trying to get on the right track. Maybe I'll make it over .500 against the spread this week. Went 4-2 both straight-up and against the spread last week, running my total to 51-18 overall and 33-35 ATS. We'll see...
Vanderbilt at Florida, 12:30 p.m., LF Sports
Spread: Florida by 14
My guess: I like Vandy and all, but it's hard to expect the Commodores to go into the Swamp and pull off ANOTHER huge road upset. Florida still has the problem that its defense is full of holes and its offense is suffering with Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin both a bit banged up. That gives Vandy a chance, but I just can't see it happening. Florida 31, Vanderbilt 14
Troy at Georgia, 1 p.m., No TV
Spread: Georgia by 15.5
My guess: Troy's only chance is if Omar Haugabook plays and plays well. It sounds like he's going to give it a try, but I can't see a running QB with a bum hamstring being able to do the kind of damage that would make this upset possible. Troy's probably a bowl team, so this is no homecoming cupcake, but I think Georgia rolls. Georgia 35, Troy 17
Northwestern State at Ole Miss, 2 p.m., No TV
Spread: No Line
My guess: Ole Miss is bad, but not bad enough to lose this one. Northwestern State -- the Orgeron's alma mater -- is a 3-5 Division I-AA team that gave up 75 points to Texas Tech and 58 to Nicholls State. So Ole Miss ought to at least be good for 21 points -- which would be roughly double the 11 they've totaled in their last two games. Ole Miss 42, Northwestern State 14
Tennessee Tech at Auburn, 2:30 p.m., No TV
Spread: No Line
My guess: Tennessee Tech can put points on the board...for a 4-5 Division I-AA team. The Golden Eagles have lost four straight, to the likes of Austin Peay, Tennessee State, Jacksonville State and Samford -- I-AA teams that are a combined 17-15. I'd think Auburn will take an early lead and be focusing on Georgia by halftime. Auburn 45, Tennessee Tech 10
Louisiana-Lafayette at Tennessee, 4 p.m., PPV
Spread: Tennessee by 27.5
My guess: The Ragin' Cajuns gave South Carolina a tough time in the season opener, but they've slipped to 1-7 since then. Tennessee hasn't exactly played great since throttling Georgia, but I think the Vols will win this one fairly easily. Louisiana-Lafayette is losing by an average of 21 on the road (to South Carolina, Central Florida and Arkansas State), so I'm guessing Tennessee covers. Tennessee 49, Louisiana-Lafayette 14
LSU at Alabama, 5 p.m., CBS
Spread: LSU by 7
My guess: I have a feeling this will be an ugly game and Alabama will give LSU all it wants. There is this -- LSU was in serious need of a week off to regroup and it got it last weekend. Alabama's coming off a bye, too, so neither side has had the benefit of more preparation time. LSU is a gifted team that hasn't dominated since the first third of the season. They might not dominate today, but I think if LSU wins this one, it's a safe bet the Tigers will win the West. LSU 28, Alabama 24
South Carolina at Arkansas, 8 p.m., ESPN2
Spread: Arkansas by 5.5
My guess: I find this line interesting. Yes, Arkansas is at home. Yes, the Hogs have won four of their last five. Yes, South Carolina has lost two straight. But let's not overlook that those four teams Arkansas beat in that run are a combined 5-28 and one of them is a Division I-AA team. The fact that they haven't gotten it done against legitimate competition makes it a bit of a surprise to me that the Hogs would be favored by more than a field goal or so. I'm picking Arkansas, but I don't feel strongly about it. Arkansas 26, South Carolina 23
Vanderbilt at Florida, 12:30 p.m., LF Sports
Spread: Florida by 14
My guess: I like Vandy and all, but it's hard to expect the Commodores to go into the Swamp and pull off ANOTHER huge road upset. Florida still has the problem that its defense is full of holes and its offense is suffering with Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin both a bit banged up. That gives Vandy a chance, but I just can't see it happening. Florida 31, Vanderbilt 14
Troy at Georgia, 1 p.m., No TV
Spread: Georgia by 15.5
My guess: Troy's only chance is if Omar Haugabook plays and plays well. It sounds like he's going to give it a try, but I can't see a running QB with a bum hamstring being able to do the kind of damage that would make this upset possible. Troy's probably a bowl team, so this is no homecoming cupcake, but I think Georgia rolls. Georgia 35, Troy 17
Northwestern State at Ole Miss, 2 p.m., No TV
Spread: No Line
My guess: Ole Miss is bad, but not bad enough to lose this one. Northwestern State -- the Orgeron's alma mater -- is a 3-5 Division I-AA team that gave up 75 points to Texas Tech and 58 to Nicholls State. So Ole Miss ought to at least be good for 21 points -- which would be roughly double the 11 they've totaled in their last two games. Ole Miss 42, Northwestern State 14
Tennessee Tech at Auburn, 2:30 p.m., No TV
Spread: No Line
My guess: Tennessee Tech can put points on the board...for a 4-5 Division I-AA team. The Golden Eagles have lost four straight, to the likes of Austin Peay, Tennessee State, Jacksonville State and Samford -- I-AA teams that are a combined 17-15. I'd think Auburn will take an early lead and be focusing on Georgia by halftime. Auburn 45, Tennessee Tech 10
Louisiana-Lafayette at Tennessee, 4 p.m., PPV
Spread: Tennessee by 27.5
My guess: The Ragin' Cajuns gave South Carolina a tough time in the season opener, but they've slipped to 1-7 since then. Tennessee hasn't exactly played great since throttling Georgia, but I think the Vols will win this one fairly easily. Louisiana-Lafayette is losing by an average of 21 on the road (to South Carolina, Central Florida and Arkansas State), so I'm guessing Tennessee covers. Tennessee 49, Louisiana-Lafayette 14
LSU at Alabama, 5 p.m., CBS
Spread: LSU by 7
My guess: I have a feeling this will be an ugly game and Alabama will give LSU all it wants. There is this -- LSU was in serious need of a week off to regroup and it got it last weekend. Alabama's coming off a bye, too, so neither side has had the benefit of more preparation time. LSU is a gifted team that hasn't dominated since the first third of the season. They might not dominate today, but I think if LSU wins this one, it's a safe bet the Tigers will win the West. LSU 28, Alabama 24
South Carolina at Arkansas, 8 p.m., ESPN2
Spread: Arkansas by 5.5
My guess: I find this line interesting. Yes, Arkansas is at home. Yes, the Hogs have won four of their last five. Yes, South Carolina has lost two straight. But let's not overlook that those four teams Arkansas beat in that run are a combined 5-28 and one of them is a Division I-AA team. The fact that they haven't gotten it done against legitimate competition makes it a bit of a surprise to me that the Hogs would be favored by more than a field goal or so. I'm picking Arkansas, but I don't feel strongly about it. Arkansas 26, South Carolina 23
Troy coach talks UGA, Haugabook
Here's the conversation Roger Clarkson from the Athens paper and I had with Troy coach Larry Blakeney after the Trojans' walk-through at Sanford Stadium. Sounds like they're cautiously optimistic that QB Omar Haugabook will be able to go.
First and foremost, how is Omar Haugabook?
Omar has practiced two days, of course sort of cautiously, but he looks like he’s gonna be able to play. I still think we’ll wait and see how he is at gametime and in warm-ups. We’ll see how he feels. It’s hard to gauge what a quick move out of the pocket or something like that might cause. We’ve got some important games down the road.
The timing of this game isn’t great, is it, being sandwiched between some big conference games?
I woulda done it different, but this is probably a good place as it turns out. I know Georgia back when this was made probably needed somebody to sandwich between those two rivalries. And we needed games period. We didn’t have a conference, we were trying to be I-A, so Johnny Williams at that time was taking all comers.
When was this game actually put on the schedule?
Oh this one’s been on there for a while. I don’t really know. I don’t do scheduling, but I always support ‘em because I know it’s the hardest job they’ve got, especially when you have to be four years out at least to be declared I-A.
With so much of Omar’s game being built on his mobility, I know a hamstring is just about the worst injury he could have…
Right, it is definitely gonna have to be something that he feels very confident in for him to start the game. We’ve got two good young kids. I don’t know if they’re ready for this stage yet, but they both have got things they do well and may play anyhow, even if Omar does play.
How many significant snaps have they taken in a game this year? Have there been many?
They’ve cleaned up in a few games. I think we took Omar out of the game at FIU with 12:42 left or something. They’ve both played, and in other games than that, not as long as that. And then last week, they played the last quarter basically. So we’ve had some occasions to get them out there, and they’ve done some good things, really. Tanner threw a deep touchdown pass against North Texas late in the fourth, to a kid from Columbus, (Justin) Bray.
You guys have a bunch of guys from Columbus, don’t you?
Yeah, we like Columbus. It’s good recruiting there.
First and foremost, how is Omar Haugabook?
Omar has practiced two days, of course sort of cautiously, but he looks like he’s gonna be able to play. I still think we’ll wait and see how he is at gametime and in warm-ups. We’ll see how he feels. It’s hard to gauge what a quick move out of the pocket or something like that might cause. We’ve got some important games down the road.
The timing of this game isn’t great, is it, being sandwiched between some big conference games?
I woulda done it different, but this is probably a good place as it turns out. I know Georgia back when this was made probably needed somebody to sandwich between those two rivalries. And we needed games period. We didn’t have a conference, we were trying to be I-A, so Johnny Williams at that time was taking all comers.
When was this game actually put on the schedule?
Oh this one’s been on there for a while. I don’t really know. I don’t do scheduling, but I always support ‘em because I know it’s the hardest job they’ve got, especially when you have to be four years out at least to be declared I-A.
With so much of Omar’s game being built on his mobility, I know a hamstring is just about the worst injury he could have…
Right, it is definitely gonna have to be something that he feels very confident in for him to start the game. We’ve got two good young kids. I don’t know if they’re ready for this stage yet, but they both have got things they do well and may play anyhow, even if Omar does play.
How many significant snaps have they taken in a game this year? Have there been many?
They’ve cleaned up in a few games. I think we took Omar out of the game at FIU with 12:42 left or something. They’ve both played, and in other games than that, not as long as that. And then last week, they played the last quarter basically. So we’ve had some occasions to get them out there, and they’ve done some good things, really. Tanner threw a deep touchdown pass against North Texas late in the fourth, to a kid from Columbus, (Justin) Bray.
You guys have a bunch of guys from Columbus, don’t you?
Yeah, we like Columbus. It’s good recruiting there.
Troy QB will play
Roger Clarkson from the Athens paper and I just spoke with Troy coach Larry Blakeney after the Trojans' Friday walk-through at Sanford Stadium. It looks like Troy's all-conference quarterback Omar Haugabook is going to try to play tomorrow, but they're not sure how much he'll be able to do. Backup quarterbacks Jamie Hampton and Tanner Jones will be on the ready.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Tech lies, cheats and steals
I've seen some of you make that claim before. Sounds like it may be fairly appropriate tonight -- at least the "steals" part.
Our columnist Troy Johnson sent our copy desk an e-mail tonight from the pressbox at Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech apparently sent out notice just before the game that four of their players' jerseys had been stolen from the locker room before the game -- including those of two quarterbacks.
I haven't been watching the game, but I'd imagine they've covered it fairly thoroughly on TV already. But if you want to read Troy's thoughts on it, you can visit Troy's blog at here.
Our columnist Troy Johnson sent our copy desk an e-mail tonight from the pressbox at Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech apparently sent out notice just before the game that four of their players' jerseys had been stolen from the locker room before the game -- including those of two quarterbacks.
I haven't been watching the game, but I'd imagine they've covered it fairly thoroughly on TV already. But if you want to read Troy's thoughts on it, you can visit Troy's blog at here.
Thursday notes -- Bailey will play
Here's a quick rundown of our prepractice conversation with Mark Richt today:
*Injury news:
He called Sean Bailey "iffy" for Troy before practice. I hung around until practice ended, though, and they said Sean practiced well and will play on Saturday.
Kelin Johnson and Thomas Brown are definitely out for Troy, but Richt hopes both will be able to go against Auburn. No changes there.
* He doesn't have a strong feeling one way or another about who will/should return punts on Saturday between Thomas Flowers and Mikey Henderson:
"If I had one real strong emotion one way or another, I’d mandate it, but I don’t."
* Someone asked about Bryan Evans, who has been nearly invisible of late:
"I’ve seen in yesterday’s practice or the last couple days’ practice, just high energy again and making plays and playing with some passion. I think he was a little bit down there for a minute and wore his emotions on his sleeve for a bit. Right now, I thought he had a very good week of practice."
I asked him if Evans' early season injuries were what had been the problem:
"I think the injury thing is what slowed him down and then other guys get chances and they do well. I guess it was a little of all that I think. You’d have to ask Willie to know for sure exactly what his thought process was. We’ve got some guys that can play – they’re all competing, they’re all fighting like mad. It’s like the punt return thing. Mikey has done a great job, but you know what, Thomas has done a great job when he’s had his opps too. Mikey kinda got the job when Thomas got hurt. Mikey got hurt and Thomas goes back in. So it’s good competition, you’ve gotta keep battling."
* There was more talk of Troy CB/KR Leodis McKelvin's abilities and what to do to combat his skills as a punt returner, but I'm not transcribing any more of that. I had already written my Friday story on the guy before practice, so you read more about him in tomorrow's Ledger-Enquirer. Something that didn't come up while we were talking about him today is that McKelvin is one punt return TD away from tying the NCAA career record. He's got seven so far. Richt talked about how you could try to angle your punts away from him -- which is risky because a shank means the punt could go only 15 yards -- or kick it high and try to cover. He said Troy often double-teams opposing gunners, which makes the alternative of booming it high to let the gunners get there less effective. Obviously he didn't get into which one they'll do.
*Injury news:
He called Sean Bailey "iffy" for Troy before practice. I hung around until practice ended, though, and they said Sean practiced well and will play on Saturday.
Kelin Johnson and Thomas Brown are definitely out for Troy, but Richt hopes both will be able to go against Auburn. No changes there.
* He doesn't have a strong feeling one way or another about who will/should return punts on Saturday between Thomas Flowers and Mikey Henderson:
"If I had one real strong emotion one way or another, I’d mandate it, but I don’t."
* Someone asked about Bryan Evans, who has been nearly invisible of late:
"I’ve seen in yesterday’s practice or the last couple days’ practice, just high energy again and making plays and playing with some passion. I think he was a little bit down there for a minute and wore his emotions on his sleeve for a bit. Right now, I thought he had a very good week of practice."
I asked him if Evans' early season injuries were what had been the problem:
"I think the injury thing is what slowed him down and then other guys get chances and they do well. I guess it was a little of all that I think. You’d have to ask Willie to know for sure exactly what his thought process was. We’ve got some guys that can play – they’re all competing, they’re all fighting like mad. It’s like the punt return thing. Mikey has done a great job, but you know what, Thomas has done a great job when he’s had his opps too. Mikey kinda got the job when Thomas got hurt. Mikey got hurt and Thomas goes back in. So it’s good competition, you’ve gotta keep battling."
* There was more talk of Troy CB/KR Leodis McKelvin's abilities and what to do to combat his skills as a punt returner, but I'm not transcribing any more of that. I had already written my Friday story on the guy before practice, so you read more about him in tomorrow's Ledger-Enquirer. Something that didn't come up while we were talking about him today is that McKelvin is one punt return TD away from tying the NCAA career record. He's got seven so far. Richt talked about how you could try to angle your punts away from him -- which is risky because a shank means the punt could go only 15 yards -- or kick it high and try to cover. He said Troy often double-teams opposing gunners, which makes the alternative of booming it high to let the gunners get there less effective. Obviously he didn't get into which one they'll do.
Wednesday stuff
The most interesting topic for today was Sean Bailey and his injured left knee. He said he has a partial tear in his meniscus. He's going to keep playing rather than get his knee scoped, because he's afraid it might reveal that the tear is more than partial and he'd have to get major surgery that would keep him out three or four months. He said he could keep playing for now and the injury wouldn't worsen. He played most of the Florida game with the injury and was able to make a handful of big catches.
Whether he plays Saturday will be determined by whether he practices Thursday. He said he ran some routes on Wednesday and the knee felt OK. Receivers coach John Eason said Sean will start if he can go, but that Kenneth Harris, Kris Durham and Demiko Goodman are all going to get more playing time going forward.
Here's some other stuff:
* I know I mentioned these two guys' hometown ties yesterday, but I wasn't aware of just how closely Knowshon Moreno and Troy's Kenny Cattouse were connected until after I wrote it (maybe a commenter on here alerted me to this): Moreno and Cattouse were Pop Warner football teammates. And they were on the same team as a running back who's currently at UConn (I think his name was Donald Brown? I'm not sure on those details). Knowshon was the quarterback and Cattouse was the running back. And Knowshon said they weren't very good. I thought that was fairly crazy.
* Speaking of Knowshon, here's a Mohamed Massaquoi quote on Mr. Moreno that I probably wasn't going to use:
"He was a guy when he walked in the door, everybody knew that he had a chance to be special, just the way he plays, the way he carries himself, the way he works. He’s just a guy that goes out there and you know for a fact that he gives you everything that he has."
* I spoke with linebackers coach John Jancek today about Rennie Curran and about who he expects to start on Saturday. Obviously he loved what Rennie was able to do against Florida and I'm sure we're going to see plenty of him for the rest of the season. The reason Rennie started on Saturday was that Georgia was in nickel defense. Jancek said Saturday's starters will be determined by what package they run to start the game, but he considers his top three to be Dannell Ellerbe (WLB), Marcus Washington (MLB) and Brandon Miller (SLB).
* Spoke with Mikey Henderson for a variety of reasons. Although he didn't return punts last week, he was back in his role as a gunner. That's an especially important role this week as Troy's punt returner Leodis McKelvin has the best return average in the nation. So we talked about that some and about whether he'll return punts on Saturday (he still doesn't know). He did say, however, that he thinks he's back at 100 percent after that hamstring injury that had been bothering him.
* You have to be pretty general when you discuss recruiting with coaches on the record, as NCAA rules prevent them from specifically addressing individual players until they've signed their letters of intent. But in the wake of Georgia adding two more commitments on Wednesday, from Heard County running back Dontavious Jackson and Westside-Augusta defensive back Sanders Commings, the recruiting class is nearly full. They've got 23 commits right now and it sounds like they're only looking to add a couple more:
"Offensive tackle. Two of ‘em," Richt said, later adding, "It’s just about it, unless someone bails out."
That's always a concern. A couple of the commitments are considered soft verbals, while another, Xavier Avery, could very easily end up being picked high enough in the MLB draft to go the baseball route. And then of course even if/when they get the OT commits they're looking for, then they have to focus on keeping the commitments in the fold:
"You’re not done. Once a guy commits, it’s almost like it just started in a lot of ways, so we’re really not done. We absolutely need to keep recruiting all the young men that have committed to us and hope that everybody stays true to their word. But it’s exciting to be where we are right now."
Where they are right now is with a class that ranks second in the nation according to Rivals.com and third by Scout.com. It will be interesting to see how they finish up. It's a great class if they stop right now and keep everyone in the fold. Adding the linemen they're reportedly after would be the icing on the cake.
* Since I mentioned it the other day, here's how I voted on the Football Writers Association All-America team ballot for the defense:
DL: Glenn Dorsey, LSU; George Selvie, South Florida; Chris Long, Virginia; Eric Norwood, South Carolina
LB: J Leman, Illinois; Wesley Woodyard, Kentucky; Curtis Lofton, Oklahoma
DB: Troy Nolan, Arizona State; Alphonso Smith, Wake Forest; D.J. Moore, Vanderbilt; Jamie Silva, Boston College
Whether he plays Saturday will be determined by whether he practices Thursday. He said he ran some routes on Wednesday and the knee felt OK. Receivers coach John Eason said Sean will start if he can go, but that Kenneth Harris, Kris Durham and Demiko Goodman are all going to get more playing time going forward.
Here's some other stuff:
* I know I mentioned these two guys' hometown ties yesterday, but I wasn't aware of just how closely Knowshon Moreno and Troy's Kenny Cattouse were connected until after I wrote it (maybe a commenter on here alerted me to this): Moreno and Cattouse were Pop Warner football teammates. And they were on the same team as a running back who's currently at UConn (I think his name was Donald Brown? I'm not sure on those details). Knowshon was the quarterback and Cattouse was the running back. And Knowshon said they weren't very good. I thought that was fairly crazy.
* Speaking of Knowshon, here's a Mohamed Massaquoi quote on Mr. Moreno that I probably wasn't going to use:
"He was a guy when he walked in the door, everybody knew that he had a chance to be special, just the way he plays, the way he carries himself, the way he works. He’s just a guy that goes out there and you know for a fact that he gives you everything that he has."
* I spoke with linebackers coach John Jancek today about Rennie Curran and about who he expects to start on Saturday. Obviously he loved what Rennie was able to do against Florida and I'm sure we're going to see plenty of him for the rest of the season. The reason Rennie started on Saturday was that Georgia was in nickel defense. Jancek said Saturday's starters will be determined by what package they run to start the game, but he considers his top three to be Dannell Ellerbe (WLB), Marcus Washington (MLB) and Brandon Miller (SLB).
* Spoke with Mikey Henderson for a variety of reasons. Although he didn't return punts last week, he was back in his role as a gunner. That's an especially important role this week as Troy's punt returner Leodis McKelvin has the best return average in the nation. So we talked about that some and about whether he'll return punts on Saturday (he still doesn't know). He did say, however, that he thinks he's back at 100 percent after that hamstring injury that had been bothering him.
* You have to be pretty general when you discuss recruiting with coaches on the record, as NCAA rules prevent them from specifically addressing individual players until they've signed their letters of intent. But in the wake of Georgia adding two more commitments on Wednesday, from Heard County running back Dontavious Jackson and Westside-Augusta defensive back Sanders Commings, the recruiting class is nearly full. They've got 23 commits right now and it sounds like they're only looking to add a couple more:
"Offensive tackle. Two of ‘em," Richt said, later adding, "It’s just about it, unless someone bails out."
That's always a concern. A couple of the commitments are considered soft verbals, while another, Xavier Avery, could very easily end up being picked high enough in the MLB draft to go the baseball route. And then of course even if/when they get the OT commits they're looking for, then they have to focus on keeping the commitments in the fold:
"You’re not done. Once a guy commits, it’s almost like it just started in a lot of ways, so we’re really not done. We absolutely need to keep recruiting all the young men that have committed to us and hope that everybody stays true to their word. But it’s exciting to be where we are right now."
Where they are right now is with a class that ranks second in the nation according to Rivals.com and third by Scout.com. It will be interesting to see how they finish up. It's a great class if they stop right now and keep everyone in the fold. Adding the linemen they're reportedly after would be the icing on the cake.
* Since I mentioned it the other day, here's how I voted on the Football Writers Association All-America team ballot for the defense:
DL: Glenn Dorsey, LSU; George Selvie, South Florida; Chris Long, Virginia; Eric Norwood, South Carolina
LB: J Leman, Illinois; Wesley Woodyard, Kentucky; Curtis Lofton, Oklahoma
DB: Troy Nolan, Arizona State; Alphonso Smith, Wake Forest; D.J. Moore, Vanderbilt; Jamie Silva, Boston College
Rodney Garner Q/A
Here's a nine- or 10-minute conversation that Georgia defensive line coach Rodney Garner had with a handful of reporters after Tuesday's practice. He's always an interesting interview.
On the rotation between Owens, Weston, Atkins and Irvin at defensive tackle:
They roll pretty good. The thing about it is we’re glad we’ve got the ability to do that. We feel like there’s three of them that could be starters. That’s pretty good.
On the DTs staying mostly injury-free, enabling the rotation to work:
The biggest thing we’ve had to deal with was Jeff’s banged-up ankle, having to fight that for three weeks. The week off, I think it helped it a lot. He still showed little signs of it in the Florida game and doesn’t have the power that he had prior to the injury, but I think he’s continuing to get better. If we can get him back to 100 percent and the development of Corvey and Geno and Kade, I think we’ve got a chance to be pretty decent.
On whether he's had a DT get into the 40s in snaps:
Yeah. I’d have to go back and pull it. Of course, Saturday we just didn’t have that many defensive snaps. We only had 56, 54 gradable plays. So it really wasn’t that many plays. In the first half, I think it was only like 24 gradable plays. It just wasn’t a high volume, which is great for us, especially when you’re playing against that type of offense. You would love to have that type of game this week. That’d be your goal.
On whether he rotated this way when Marcus Stroud and Richard Seymour were here:
I’ve rotated pretty much ever since I’ve been here. I think it’s just good for morale. I don’t have morale issues in my room. Nobody’s pouting, they all know they’ve got a chance to play and it’s all based on production, who’s doing well, who practiced well. That’s the way it is, sorta like you going to work every day and writing your story. You ain’t gonna write that story unless you know at the end of the week, you’re getting your check. So they come out there and work and their check is to get to play on Saturday. If they work hard and they’re doing their job and I feel like I can put them out there and trust them and they’re gonna help this program win, I’m gonna do that. I think just having fresh guys, if you’re able to rush the quarterback in the fourth quarter just like you could in the first quarter, it’s definitely gonna be to your advantage.
On having someone like LSU's Glenn Dorsey play 90-something snaps against Kentucky:
He’s a grown man. It’s a lot of snaps, but he’s a grown man. But I think when you sit there and you turn on film, and it’s just like when the people come in and look at it, our kids are running to the ball. They’re playing with energy. The ball turns over, there’s nine, there’s 10 red helmets around the football with the ‘G’ on it, that’s something that we’re really, really preaching. And playing with that effort and intensity, hopefully when an opponent turns it on, they see that. Maybe we can camouflage it and maybe we can intimidate somebody.
On whether he thinks Jarius Wynn belongs at defensive end:
I think it definitely helps us be better. It’s gonna help us be stronger out there at that point of attack, putting him out there and having him productive. When we moved him inside, like I told him, if you can play three, you can play five. That’s the bottom line. Three and five are the same. You’ve gotta deal with the same type of combos, except the five technique, you’re dealing with a combo with the tackle-tight end, the three technique, he’s dealing with two 300-pounders. But I think it’s really gonna help us.
On how Wynn and Brandon Wood moving back to end reduces the number of players he was rotating at DT:
We’re going down to four guys that we’re playing. And also, Wynn could in an emergency situation, he could always play tackle. We’re trying to crosstrain Wood so he can do both. It’s to their advantage and to our advantage.
On whether DE is Wynn's natural position:
I think he can play both, I really do. He had continued to get better. Inside is not the glamor thing. You’ve got all that banging and two 300-pounders. He wanted to play high initially. I think it’s helped him for when he went back outside. Even he said that, coming inside really helped him as far as keeping his pads down. It’s just the physicality of it a little bit. It’s not the glamour position – like Wood, he was in there and wanted to get back out. But I think it definitely helps us and it helps them, whether they realize it at this moment or not, it helps them become better players.
On the energy level he saw from Knowshon Moreno as a recruit:
Even when we were recruiting Knowshon, I thought he displayed a lot of energy. I remember just going up there watching him practice and I went up there and went to the state championship game and say a kid that played with a lot of energy, a lot of emotion. A lot of the things you see right now, it carries over from there. I was talking to coach Antonucci yesterday, his coach, because he’s got about eight coaches that are coming down this weekend. They’ve got a bye week and they’re driving in from New Jersey, gonna get here late Friday night. It’s really good to see a kid, because he really hasn’t changed a lot, and the thing you’re trying to do is just try to keep him grounded. I think he has a tremendous upside, we’ve just gotta keep him focused, keep his priorities in order and help him to mature. Because he’s going through a lot really quickly, and you need to make sure you keep him grounded.
On whether Knowshon compares to Cadillac Williams at Auburn:
That’s a great comparison. I think it ought to be a compliment to him, because I have a lot of respect for Cadillac and the type of player he was, and the type of person Cadillac was. I thought he was a fine person, fine young man.
On whether Knowshon's tenacity and tendency to pop back up and run to the huddle after he's tackled irritates a defense:
It has to. It has to. Psychologically, you have to love the way the kid plays the game – with a lot of passion, a lot of love. I know his grandmother, she came, she was at Jacksonville for her first Florida-Georgia game. His grandfather came to his first game. So it was awesome. I’m sure they’re beaming with pride, they raised their grandchild and to see him do those kind of things. I’m just happy for the kid. He’s a good young man.
On competing against one of his former Auburn coaches, Larry Blakeney, and former teammate Shayne Wasden this weekend:
I think it’s pretty neat. Coach Dennis, who’s the AD at Troy, he played here at Georgia, but he was the secondary coach at Auburn when I played. And he was the secondary coach when I came on staff under coach Dye. So I know him well, coach Blakeney, I love him to death. I have a lot of respect for him and Miss Janet, and (Wasden), he’s a great guy. It’s great, just to be able to get together and see those guys, but it’s not gonna take away how bad they want to beat us. And vice-versa. We need to play well. I think they’re doing a great job, I think they’re a really good football team. If you took the jerseys off of Troy and you put Tennessee or Florida on them, those are the caliber of athletes they’re dealing with.
On Blakeney's role when he was Garner and Stacy Searels' coach:
I guess we didn’t have an offensive coordinator, but he called all the plays and was the wide receivers coach. I always considered him the offensive coordinator and then he left with the Eric Ramsey thing and got the Troy job. But he’s a good person, good man. Really good man.
On what he recalls about Blakeney's coaching style:
Obviously coaching for coach Dye and all that, he was a tough, smashmouth – and that’s the same mentality they’re gonna come in here (with). They’re gonna come in here with the same Auburn-type mentality – we’re gonna go in there, we’re gonna kick their butts, we’re gonna tear down the hedges, take a piece of the hedge, get on the bus. That’s the thing. That’s what they were brought up on. Go in, win, hey all you guys when you win, we’ll tear up the hedges, get you some hedges, put ‘em in your mouth, and walk off the field. That’s what they’ve gotta be selling their kids, you know?
Joking about his impressions of Troy quarterback Omar Haugabook:
Good. I hope he’s hurt.
On whether Haugabook compares to Florida's Tim Tebow:
He’s about 100 times faster and quicker, though. ... It’s the same offense, except Tebow is gonna lower his shoulder and run over you and intimidate you like that. This kid’s gonna just juke you and go. You may not even touch him. I don’t know if the football gods are gonna shine on us another week, but we hope that coach Blakeney is aware that they can win their conference and they need him well.
On the rotation between Owens, Weston, Atkins and Irvin at defensive tackle:
They roll pretty good. The thing about it is we’re glad we’ve got the ability to do that. We feel like there’s three of them that could be starters. That’s pretty good.
On the DTs staying mostly injury-free, enabling the rotation to work:
The biggest thing we’ve had to deal with was Jeff’s banged-up ankle, having to fight that for three weeks. The week off, I think it helped it a lot. He still showed little signs of it in the Florida game and doesn’t have the power that he had prior to the injury, but I think he’s continuing to get better. If we can get him back to 100 percent and the development of Corvey and Geno and Kade, I think we’ve got a chance to be pretty decent.
On whether he's had a DT get into the 40s in snaps:
Yeah. I’d have to go back and pull it. Of course, Saturday we just didn’t have that many defensive snaps. We only had 56, 54 gradable plays. So it really wasn’t that many plays. In the first half, I think it was only like 24 gradable plays. It just wasn’t a high volume, which is great for us, especially when you’re playing against that type of offense. You would love to have that type of game this week. That’d be your goal.
On whether he rotated this way when Marcus Stroud and Richard Seymour were here:
I’ve rotated pretty much ever since I’ve been here. I think it’s just good for morale. I don’t have morale issues in my room. Nobody’s pouting, they all know they’ve got a chance to play and it’s all based on production, who’s doing well, who practiced well. That’s the way it is, sorta like you going to work every day and writing your story. You ain’t gonna write that story unless you know at the end of the week, you’re getting your check. So they come out there and work and their check is to get to play on Saturday. If they work hard and they’re doing their job and I feel like I can put them out there and trust them and they’re gonna help this program win, I’m gonna do that. I think just having fresh guys, if you’re able to rush the quarterback in the fourth quarter just like you could in the first quarter, it’s definitely gonna be to your advantage.
On having someone like LSU's Glenn Dorsey play 90-something snaps against Kentucky:
He’s a grown man. It’s a lot of snaps, but he’s a grown man. But I think when you sit there and you turn on film, and it’s just like when the people come in and look at it, our kids are running to the ball. They’re playing with energy. The ball turns over, there’s nine, there’s 10 red helmets around the football with the ‘G’ on it, that’s something that we’re really, really preaching. And playing with that effort and intensity, hopefully when an opponent turns it on, they see that. Maybe we can camouflage it and maybe we can intimidate somebody.
On whether he thinks Jarius Wynn belongs at defensive end:
I think it definitely helps us be better. It’s gonna help us be stronger out there at that point of attack, putting him out there and having him productive. When we moved him inside, like I told him, if you can play three, you can play five. That’s the bottom line. Three and five are the same. You’ve gotta deal with the same type of combos, except the five technique, you’re dealing with a combo with the tackle-tight end, the three technique, he’s dealing with two 300-pounders. But I think it’s really gonna help us.
On how Wynn and Brandon Wood moving back to end reduces the number of players he was rotating at DT:
We’re going down to four guys that we’re playing. And also, Wynn could in an emergency situation, he could always play tackle. We’re trying to crosstrain Wood so he can do both. It’s to their advantage and to our advantage.
On whether DE is Wynn's natural position:
I think he can play both, I really do. He had continued to get better. Inside is not the glamor thing. You’ve got all that banging and two 300-pounders. He wanted to play high initially. I think it’s helped him for when he went back outside. Even he said that, coming inside really helped him as far as keeping his pads down. It’s just the physicality of it a little bit. It’s not the glamour position – like Wood, he was in there and wanted to get back out. But I think it definitely helps us and it helps them, whether they realize it at this moment or not, it helps them become better players.
On the energy level he saw from Knowshon Moreno as a recruit:
Even when we were recruiting Knowshon, I thought he displayed a lot of energy. I remember just going up there watching him practice and I went up there and went to the state championship game and say a kid that played with a lot of energy, a lot of emotion. A lot of the things you see right now, it carries over from there. I was talking to coach Antonucci yesterday, his coach, because he’s got about eight coaches that are coming down this weekend. They’ve got a bye week and they’re driving in from New Jersey, gonna get here late Friday night. It’s really good to see a kid, because he really hasn’t changed a lot, and the thing you’re trying to do is just try to keep him grounded. I think he has a tremendous upside, we’ve just gotta keep him focused, keep his priorities in order and help him to mature. Because he’s going through a lot really quickly, and you need to make sure you keep him grounded.
On whether Knowshon compares to Cadillac Williams at Auburn:
That’s a great comparison. I think it ought to be a compliment to him, because I have a lot of respect for Cadillac and the type of player he was, and the type of person Cadillac was. I thought he was a fine person, fine young man.
On whether Knowshon's tenacity and tendency to pop back up and run to the huddle after he's tackled irritates a defense:
It has to. It has to. Psychologically, you have to love the way the kid plays the game – with a lot of passion, a lot of love. I know his grandmother, she came, she was at Jacksonville for her first Florida-Georgia game. His grandfather came to his first game. So it was awesome. I’m sure they’re beaming with pride, they raised their grandchild and to see him do those kind of things. I’m just happy for the kid. He’s a good young man.
On competing against one of his former Auburn coaches, Larry Blakeney, and former teammate Shayne Wasden this weekend:
I think it’s pretty neat. Coach Dennis, who’s the AD at Troy, he played here at Georgia, but he was the secondary coach at Auburn when I played. And he was the secondary coach when I came on staff under coach Dye. So I know him well, coach Blakeney, I love him to death. I have a lot of respect for him and Miss Janet, and (Wasden), he’s a great guy. It’s great, just to be able to get together and see those guys, but it’s not gonna take away how bad they want to beat us. And vice-versa. We need to play well. I think they’re doing a great job, I think they’re a really good football team. If you took the jerseys off of Troy and you put Tennessee or Florida on them, those are the caliber of athletes they’re dealing with.
On Blakeney's role when he was Garner and Stacy Searels' coach:
I guess we didn’t have an offensive coordinator, but he called all the plays and was the wide receivers coach. I always considered him the offensive coordinator and then he left with the Eric Ramsey thing and got the Troy job. But he’s a good person, good man. Really good man.
On what he recalls about Blakeney's coaching style:
Obviously coaching for coach Dye and all that, he was a tough, smashmouth – and that’s the same mentality they’re gonna come in here (with). They’re gonna come in here with the same Auburn-type mentality – we’re gonna go in there, we’re gonna kick their butts, we’re gonna tear down the hedges, take a piece of the hedge, get on the bus. That’s the thing. That’s what they were brought up on. Go in, win, hey all you guys when you win, we’ll tear up the hedges, get you some hedges, put ‘em in your mouth, and walk off the field. That’s what they’ve gotta be selling their kids, you know?
Joking about his impressions of Troy quarterback Omar Haugabook:
Good. I hope he’s hurt.
On whether Haugabook compares to Florida's Tim Tebow:
He’s about 100 times faster and quicker, though. ... It’s the same offense, except Tebow is gonna lower his shoulder and run over you and intimidate you like that. This kid’s gonna just juke you and go. You may not even touch him. I don’t know if the football gods are gonna shine on us another week, but we hope that coach Blakeney is aware that they can win their conference and they need him well.
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