Blame this guy when Oklahoma doesn’t have 3rd string long-snappers in 2009

Oklahoma got what I consider to be a slap on the wrist yesterday for the Rhett Bomar business. Other than the loss of two scholarships for a couple of seasons and some minor recruiting restrictions, the only other penalty was the requirement that Oklahoma forfeit its 2005 season. When boosters are paying players, the penalties can be much more severe. Still, Oklahoma will appeal.

Is forfeiting games the most toothless penalty there is? It’s like not being able to pay the tab at a restaurant and, as punishment, having to say that you really didn’t eat the meal.

Rogue boosters are the worst nightmare for any program, and there are often few consequences for them when NCAA rules are violated. It’s usually the current student-athletes who have to pay the piper, and that’s the case again here. Bomar took the improper benefits, but the Oklahoma teams three and four years removed from Bomar’s transgression will be the ones to suffer.

The Falcons’ capable color man Dave Archer has signed on with Lincoln Financial to be part of the broadcast team for the regional SEC Game of the Week broadcasts. Archer replaces Dave Rowe. He’ll join Dave Neal and Dave Baker for the 12:30 broadcasts. This change is definitely an improvement.

I guess the AJC felt as if they couldn’t let Mark Bradley’s column go unanswered, so they woke Furman Bisher up to write some sort of response. The result is one of the more timid, mealy-mouthed, and noncommittal columns you’ll ever read from someone paid to be an opinion columnist. Of course it’s July and we don’t know what Tech and Georgia will look like in November. Who cares about Saratoga? This is the South, the preseason magazine have hit the stands with their prognostications, and we’re talking college football a month before practice starts. Either dive in and embrace it or go into hiding until the British Open.

But Bisher quickly leaves the subject of this year’s Tech-Georgia game and turns wistful as he joins in the "what if Taylor Bennett had played more" fantasy. It’s not the first time Bisher’s been down this road. He declared that Chan Gailey owed the Tech old guard an explanation after the Gator Bowl.

In Bisher’s efforts this time to paint this picture of a golden arm left "chained to the sideline", he takes some pretty big liberties with recent history. First, he lauds Bennett for "(keeping) the ship afloat against Connecticut," a game in which Bennett completed 11 of 30 passes for 142 yards against the formidable Husky defense.

I can’t believe that I’m not piling on Reggie Ball here, but it’s not as if he was without accomplishments after his freshman season. It’s true that he didn’t have the expected progression from that impressive debut to a mature, consistent, and efficient signal-caller. He was famously bad against Tech’s most important opponent. He did manage to beat teams like Clemson and Miami twice, added a win this season on the road over Virginia Tech, a second win over Auburn, and got his team into the ACC Championship Game. He reminded no one of Vince Young or even Joe Hamilton, but Bisher’s claim that Ball "was better when he got there than when he left" doesn’t stand up.

Bisher makes a reference to the 2004 Georgia game. "When Ball was crashing — and oh, how many crashes he had, not the most crucial of which was losing count of the downs and making a throwaway pass against Georgia — why not Bennett?" Well, for one, Bennett was redshirting in 2004 as a true freshman. He didn’t see his first game experience until 2005. Placing that "crash" completely on Ball is another questionable recollection. That series was a meltdown of the entire Tech offense, culminating in Ball’s blunder but highlighted by confusion on the sideline where offensive coordinator Patrick Nix inexplicably ordered Ball to spike the ball on third down.

That 2004 Georgia game does provide a good lesson in this grass-is-greener game. Bisher asserts that "Chan Gailey stubbornly stuck with Ball," but Gailey did try someone else when Ball was struggling, even if it wasn’t Bennett. Damarius Bilbo got a chance against the Dawgs and was even worse. 3 completions, 10 attempts, and 29 yards. Gailey eventually gave up and went back to his starter. The quarterback position was up for grabs several times during Ball’s four years, and each time he held off the competitors. Against challenges from Bilbo, Pat Clark, and Bennett, Ball stood out time after time. Tech’s own official site declared the position up for competition entering the 2005 spring practice, but Ball emerged again with a clear-cut victory.

We finally come to Bennett’s masterpiece – the 19-for-29, 326 yard performance in the Gator Bowl. I’ve talked about that game here recently, so we’ll avoid going back over that ground. What Bisher doesn’t tell us is that Bennett’s "dazzling day" in the Gator Bowl fizzled as the game went on. The nascent Young-to-Rice of Bennett-to-Johnson combination was held scoreless for the final 28 minutes of the game.

Bisher believes that "Georgia Tech hadn’t seen a passing combination like (Bennett and Johnson) since Joe Hamilton and Harvey Middleton." Hmm. Johnson’s performance against West Virginia certainly was a great final performance. He had 9 receptions, 186 yards, and 2 touchdowns. It was also hardly his only explosive performance of the season. He had six receptions for 115 yards and 2 touchdowns against a much better Virginia Tech defense. He had 9 receptions for 168 yards against NC State. He shredded Virginia for 165 yards and 2 more touchdowns. Was it really the quarterback?

We’ll let Bisher build Bennett up and watch Tech fans cling onto the hope that it just has to get better with Bennett. Behind Choice and another quality defense, I think they’ll be rather good actually. Bennett might just turn out to be better by default if he avoids the disasters that plagued Ball, but I’m not convinced that Bennett will be the right answer in those times when Tech needs the quarterback to carry them. It will be an entertaining story to watch in the fall especially knowing that the best quarterback in the state still is in Athens.

Why is everyone so hung up on schedules?

No, I know it’s July and we have little else to talk about. Scheduling debates are right up there with playoff proposals when it comes to pointless offseason parlor games. This week alone, scheduling – weak, strong, or otherwise – is mentioned in no fewer than three pieces in CFR’s weekly must-read Pundit Roundup.

So what is it about scheduling that has everyone weighing in? For most, I think it comes down to plain, old machismo. Manhood. Basically you have fans and pundits across the country calling each other chicken.

"Playing NW Georgia State, huh? Must be afraid to go outside your ZIP code for a real opponent."

"Oh yeah? At least we’re playing someone else who’s seen the Top 25 this decade. When was the last time that Wyoming Tech beat anyone?"

"We have to play them. They’re our traditional rival. It’s not our fault that they’re not Miami. ESPN still says we have the #20 schedule."

And so it goes. You’ve seen or heard that same "debate" countless times on message boards, talk radio, and so on, and now it’s bleeding into the punditry. Challenging a diehard fan’s manhood (in this case, their team’s schedule) is a quick and surefire way to provoke a response and generate some spirited discussion. But does it really change anything if you’re able to prove to the world that you really do have a tough schedule?

Who you schedule really doesn’t matter nearly as much as winning. Unless we’re dealing with a true BCS outlier like Boise, Utah, etc., an undefeated team from a BCS conference will almost always trump a team with a loss regardless of who the undefeated team scheduled out of conference. The quality within most any major conference (yes, even the PAC 10) will take care of that. Even when two teams share the same record, it’s my belief that their relative preseason rankings matter more than a strength of schedule metric.

A team certainly doesn’t need a grueling schedule in order to win the national title. In fact, Florida is the only champion in the 2000s with a Top 10 schedule. Most of the others were in the high teens to 20s. It should be noted that the strength of Florida’s schedule last year came from its conference schedule which required the Gators to play LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia (plus two other bowl-bound teams in Kentucky and South Carolina). Florida’s nonconference schedule in 2006 was quite unremarkable with a struggling FSU as its highlight.

With that in mind, why aim to have a tough schedule at all? In terms of the goal of winning a national title, what is the payoff versus the unnecessary risk of a loss? If Texas can go through the Big 12 undefeated this year, I can virtually guarantee them a spot in the national title game even though their nonconference schedule consists of Arkansas State, TCU, Central Florida, and Rice. Sure, they’d have to have someone like LSU or Southern Cal lose along the way, but we rarely have multiple undefeated BCS teams. With this year’s Narrative already shaping up though ("USC and LSU have to play for the national championship this season. It is no longer possible to envision any other satisfying conclusion,") would bulking up the Texas schedule really do anything to sway a punditry already selling us on an LSU-Southern Cal title game? Nope.

So what does Mack Brown care if Mark Schlabach or I or some Dallas talk radio station or Raleigh sportswriter thinks that the Texas schedule is weak? All he knows is that if he wins, he’s in the national title game. Texas or any other major program won’t be lacking for exposure and airtime. What’s his incentive for another series with Ohio State or a similar team? Put in another light, if "the regular season is our playoff", why wouldn’t you make your "bracket" as easy as possible?

I will admit that I’ve come around just a bit on this subject. Though I still think that seeking out a regular season matchup between two Top 10 teams isn’t very rational (though it might be great for fans), I’m no longer 100% sold on the "path of least resistance". I can see the place for regional rivalries. I accept that you do have to placate the fans sometimes and schedule a game in South Bend. I can even buy that a tougher opponent might prepare you for other challenges down the road – perhaps even in a different season. Is it coincidence that Georgia’s three recent SEC Championship appearances have come in years when they’ve had a "real" opening game opponent? Probably, but I’m hoping that’s the case again this year.

Those unhappy with this scheduling reality can complain about weak schedules all they like and try to change things with a campaign of shame, but in the end we have to get down to talking about incentives. Which behaviors get rewarded (in terms of titles and money), and which are penalized?

Even though he was admitted by UGA and is enrolled in classes at this very moment, the NCAA Clearinghouse has ruled that incoming freshman defensive back Vance Cuff of Moultrie did not have the required number of core classes to meet their eligibility requirements. There was confusion whether a “Oral/Written Communication/Speech” course would be accepted by the Clearinghouse. Cuff was eligible by every other standard (indeed, even Georgia’s).

I don’t think this story is finished yet. Was the Clearinghouse unclear or misleading about this course being accepted? Cuff’s people seem to think so. They claim that similar courses in nearby counties have been accepted. Was the academic counseling Cuff received at Colquitt County up to par? I sure hope so.

This leaves Cuff in a bit of limbo. He’s enrolled at UGA, but the worst case is that he’d have to drop out and attend a junior college in order to meet NCAA eligibility requirements (for want of a single high school core class).

Everyone’s pointing to Mark Bradley’s latest (and greatest). I agree that it’s more flamebait than anything else, but it’s still our flamebait, and the replies from Tech fans are pure gold.

I’m glad to see someone a little more high-profile than I questioning the popular assumption that things can’t get worse than Reggie Ball. "Georgia’s No. 1 quarterback beat out three teammates for the job. Tech’s No. 1 quarterback couldn’t beat out Reggie Ball." Yep.

While we’re enjoying the current of muck flowing in the other direction, Dawg fans should pay close attention to Bradley’s point #7.

For all the fuss made over Jon Tenuta’s defense, it should be noted that the Georgia D, coached by the unappreciated Willie Martinez, finished ahead of Tech last season in total defense, scoring defense, pass defense and turnovers created.

Tenuta is a very good defensive coordinator, appreciated by both Tech and Georgia people. But many Georgia fans would take Tenuta (or just a car Tenuta once owned) over Willie Martinez in a second. They’re morons.

The AJC’s Michelle Hiskey recently spent a day on the UGA golf course with our resident BFFs Matthew "I never slice" Stafford and Joe "Wang, no offense" Cox. Don’t worry, those red tees don’t mean what they usually mean.

It’s a great story. Is it more than coincidence that this aw-shucks piece runs just a few months after that amusing account of Matt and Joe’s weekend in Talladega this past April? Whatever UGA’s SID role was in arranging this interview with the dynamic duo, they have to be a little more pleased with the outcome of this appearance in the paper.

Hiding just beneath the surface in this whole Les Miles / Southern Cal dustup is the story of the 2004 Auburn team. That team of course finished the season undefeated but neither played in the BCS championship game nor finished first in a major poll.

It bugs me a bit whenever I see the story of that Auburn team used in the context of conference strength or strength of scheduling discussions. To me, Auburn’s story is simply a lesson in the value and importance of preseason polls. This sidetrack into recent history might be a little random, but I might as well get this out while it’s at the top of my stack.

It’s not that I think that the 2004 Auburn team wasn’t deserving of a shot at the national title. Of course they were. I’m not going to say that they were better or worse than Southern Cal or Oklahoma because reasonable arguments could be made either way. But watching from my perch at Jordan-Hare Stadium while Auburn rolled over a Top 10 Georgia program, they looked pretty damn good to me.

The whole Auburn strength of schedule thing is the part that always rings very hollow with me. There’s the implication that Auburn was punished for a weak nonconference schedule, but I have never bought it. To understand why, you have to go back to the end of the 2003 season. LSU beat Oklahoma in the BCS Championship game and earned the #1 ranking in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. Meanwhile, Southern Cal beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl and claimed the #1 ranking in the AP poll. It was a split title. Auburn, on the other hand, had what was considered a disastrous 2003 season and nearly fired coach Tommy Tuberville (remember that whole Petrino debacle?).

That 2003 controversy aside, the results meant that Southern Cal, Oklahoma, and LSU started the 2004 season at the top of the polls. Pretty reasonable, right? Southern Cal was #1, Oklahoma was #2, and LSU was #4. Auburn started the season around #10. OK so far?

So SoCal and Oklahoma started the year #1 and #2 and went undefeated. Not only that, but SoCal had been left out of the BCS Championship in the previous season, and Oklahoma was a title game participant. With those facts in mind, I maintain that Auburn could have played three NFL teams as its nonconference opponents and still not have jumped Southern Cal or Oklahoma. There was no way that an undefeated Southern Cal team snubbed the year before was going to be left out. That left Oklahoma, and as a runner-up the previous season and preseason #2 in 2004 they got the benefit of the doubt and got another crack at the title game. That’s it. It had nothing to do with conferences and nothing to do with the quality of the teams’ respective schedules.

Does that mean I believe that Oklahoma and Southern Cal were better than Auburn or that Auburn’s perfect season was less impressive than any we’ve seen in the past decade? Again, no. That’s what sucks about the whole thing. The table was set for the national title game in July and August. As long as the preseason favorites kept winning, there was nothing that Auburn or any team behind them could do to have a part in the process. You know where this is headed. "Every game counts," my ass.

When Les Miles "said Auburn was the victim of an injustice and repeated his assertion that an unbeaten SEC champion should play for a national championship," we have to be careful just what kind of "injustice" we’re talking about. Auburn didn’t get jobbed because they were Auburn or from the SEC or played some directional Carolina schools. Interestingly, LSU might be the beneficiary of a similar outcome this year. We have a while until the "real" preseason polls come out, but if the consensus holds LSU appears to be #2 heading into the season. If they and the Trojans just win, it won’t matter what West Virginia or Michigan or anyone else does – Miles will see Southern Cal up close and personal, and it won’t be because he’s coaching an SEC team. But there’s a lot of football between now and then.

In hindsight, I’m just glad that it was Auburn and not Georgia. The Dawgs started the 2004 season at a consensus #3 and would have been in the same boat as Auburn had the Dawgs won out. That’s not a pain I would have liked to have known.

UGA will host the second annual Countdown to Kickoff tomorrow (Saturday July 7th) from 3-6 p.m. at the Woodruff Practice Fields. What started out as a little idea by Matt and Jon Stinchcomb and a few friends brought out over 1,500 fans last year and raised over $100,000 for charities. This year’s event should be even bigger. Over 50 former Georgia football players (several of which are in the NFL) will be on hand. Current players will be there too.

Tickets are $30 each. A "Family Pack" costs $100, which includes four tickets, four meals from Chick-fil-A and a special football for getting autographs. Also, free pizza and soft drinks will be available.

Countdown to Kickoff will benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the Georgia Transplant Foundation, as well as the Children’s Tumor Foundation and the University of Georgia College of Education.

The weekend has expanded to include a full host of related events including a related golf tournament tomorrow morning and an auction this evening at Foundry Park Inn at 7 p.m. Check out some of these items up for auction tonight:

1. Dawg for a Day: Unbelievable behind-the-scenes access, do everything the team does on gameday (except play!), 4 people, ride bus with team to Sanford Stadium, dawgwalk with the team, pregame locker room access, and sideline access.
2. Press Pass: 2 people in Press Box for Oklahoma State game, (ESPN crew, Larry Munson) eat pre-game press meal, watch game from Press Box (no tickets needed), attend Coach Richt’s post game press conference
3. Legacy Year: 2 people spend 1/4 of game in broadcast booth with Larry Munson and Scott Howard, headphones on to listen to him call the game, and photos
4. Pre-game flyover: Thrill ride for any Dawg Fan, 2 people fly in open cockpit Red Baron Squadron bi-planes when they do their pre-game fly-over of the stadium on gameday.
5. Red Coats: Climb the Ladder to Conduct the Red Coat marching band when they perform the traditional spelling of G-E-O-R-G-I-A at halftime, scoreboard big screen shot of you doing it, and an authentic Ken Modak print to commemorate the occasion
6. UGA/NFL experience: Fly to New Orleans for the Saints/Falcons game featuring UGA greats DJ Shockley, Jon Stinchcomb, Charles Grant, stay at the 5 star Royal Sonesta Hotel, champagne brunch, dinners at finest New Orleans eateries, airfare and game tickets included (2 people)
7. Air Dawg: Two round trip tickets on your own Wings Air Executive Charter to Destin, Charleston, St. Simons, Asheville, Nashville, Knoxville – fly to go see the Dawgs play Vandy, Tennessee, or the Gators or visit the beach without the drive or the hassle of Hartsfield (www.flywingsair.com)
8. Homecoming: Gameday Penthouse w/view of stadium, entertain and enjoy homecoming weekend with fellow Dawgs in penthouse of Gameday Condominiums, includes tailgate party and overnight stay.
9. Pampered Pup: View the season opener ESPN Game in style with 4 luxury suite tickets to the Oklahoma State game, eat and drink at your leisure, keep from sweating like a dawg in the air conditioned comfort of a Sanford Stadium sky suite (on home bench side of stadium).
10. Queen of Southern Cooking: Visit Savannah and Miss Paula Deen, star of Paula’s Party on the Food Network, and highest authority of all things Southern and fried, a 2 to 3 day "Paulathon", 2 or 4 seats to taping of Paula’s show, Lunch or dinner at Lady and Sons restaurant, Lunch or dinner at Uncle Bubba’s (Paula and her brother).
11. The Outdoorsman: Experience the old southern tradition of wing shooting at Ashburn Hills Plantation, 4 hunters stay overnight at beautiful bed and breakfast in Thomasville GA, step back in time and enjoy a full day of world-class quail hunting from horseback and mule drawn carriage (www.ashburnhill.com)

Damn.

I’ve written about this before, but UGA has officially announced its relationship with XM satellite radio.

XM Satellite Radio is now the official satellite radio home of the University of Georgia Athletic Association under a five-year sports broadcasting and marketing agreement starting in 2007.

XM will have all regular season Georgia football games, most men’s and women’s basketball games, and select games from other sports. They’ll also broadcast the football and basketball SEC championships. Though all football games will be available, a satellite provider only has so many channels to use, and they can’t do both home-and-away broadcasts of all games. They commit that "a minimum of eight games will feature the Georgia broadcast crew of Larry Munson, Scott Howard, and Loran Smith." In 2007, XM will also carry games for Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Tennessee, so it’s possible that you’ll only hear the Tennessee broadcast crew when we play in Knoxville. XM also has the ACC, so the Tech game might be another instance where XM won’t have the Georgia broadcast (with or without Munson).

Part of my reason for choosing Sirius last year was that most of the SEC schools were there, and it seemed reasonable that the remaining few (Georgia, Arkansas) would follow suit. Now not only will Georgia go with XM; the SEC itself will go with XM, and the remaining schools will come on board when their current agreements expire.

Georgia fans can go to http://www.xmradio.com/dawgs for a special offer on XM radios. With the investment I’ve already sunk into Sirius, I’m going to hold out hope that the proposed Sirius/XM merger goes through.

Former Auburn (and Clemson) basketball coach Cliff Ellis will be coaching again for the first time in three years. Ellis was recently named the new coach at Coastal Carolina – just down the road from Bobby Cremins at the College of Charleston. If we ever see Nolan Richardson surface at the Citadel, we can then say with some certainty that the Southern Conference has become the recycling center of college basketball.

For SEC fans, that means a new announcing crew coming to Lincoln Financial regional broadcasts. Ellis will now be luring high school prospects with promises of "sharing the candy" and plenty of trips to the "bonus-sphere".

We all like to pick on Reggie Ball, and he’s an easy target. But as poorly as he played against Georgia over his career, he was still a four-year starter with wins over teams like Auburn, Miami, and Virginia Tech.

So for all of the amusement we get reading lines saying that Tech has to be better in 2007 now that Reggie Ball is gone, is it really a given that Taylor Bennett will be markedly better?

Bennett is getting a lot of mileage from the first half of last season’s Gator Bowl. As Bennett threw jump ball after jump ball to Calvin Johnson en route to a big halftime lead, it was natural to wonder why he wasn’t tried before Ball became ineligible.

But I am not yet a believer that Bennett will be an improvement at quarterback over the long term. You’d expect a QB to improve over the course of a game, but Bennett did not in his moment in the spotlight. Tech went from 340 yards of offense in the first half of the Gator Bowl to 133 in the second half. They had four drives of 60+ yards in the first half and none in the second half.

It could be argued that West Virginia wasn’t expecting a backup to find Johnson with such ease, but he did. Once they adjusted and realized that Bennett could throw the ball, he wasn’t as effective. After the world gets a few games of film on Taylor Bennett this fall, we’ll find out if he really is an improvement over a four-year starter.

That’s six and counting, guys.

With the 2006-2007 academic and athletic year completed, Georgia finished a respectable 12th in the 2007 Director’s Cup – not the best showing in recent years, but nothing to be ashamed of either. Two national titles (gymnastics and men’s tennis) were at the top of the highlights, and we’ll get to those top stories soon. But first, we’ll take a look back first at some of the lower points from the past year.

10. "I’m Georgia!"

OK, I understand the proceeds went to a really, really good cause. I bought a few towels myself for that reason alone. But manufactured enthusiasm always seems a little artificial and often cheesy. The "I’m Georgia" campaign was both. It became painful watching former Georgia greats trying to rally the Sanford Stadium crowd in their middle-aged monotones. "You want me to wave this towel and say what?!" But because they distributed so many towels and the kids love them – kids love anything free – the "I’m Georgia" towels are barnacles on the Georgia program that will be hanging on for several years.

9. Basketball collapse at Alabama.

It’s unfair to label any particular game as the reason why Georgia missed the NCAA basketball tournament. It’s not even clear that another win would have made the difference. Still, a double-digit lead against Bama represented a rare chance to get a quality road conference win. The questionable finish only made the missed opportunity more painful. This game wasn’t the only time that the Dawgs blew a decent lead late in the game; Western Kentucky handed Georgia its first loss of the season with a late rally from ten points down. Either one of those wins would have been nice to have. Both together might have earned the Dawgs a bid.

8. Women’s golf embarassment.

The mysterious resignation of women’s golf coach Todd McCorkle turned into an uncomfortable if not creepy story filled with charges of harrassment and other conduct inappropriate for someone in his position (and most anyone over the age of 14). McCorkle resigned his position but remains with the athletic association, an arrangement that I agree creates a lose-lose situation.

There’s another angle to the story that didn’t get much play – the spokesperson-parent. Art Leon, father of star player Taylor Leon, triggered an investigation by complaining to administrators "after his daughter said she was berated by McCorkle at the Bryan Intercollegiate (tournament)." While I consider the harassment charges very serious and worthy of the reaction they received, I am not so quick to sympathize with parental claims of "verbal abuse" that resulted because a coach got in a player’s face.

Mr. Leon comes across a bit differently in this quote from the AJC following McCorkle’s resignation: "I’m shocked, surprised, just flabbergasted…Todd’s a great coach. I just saw him at SECs and everybody was happy and jubilant." A week later, Leon told the ABH, "He’s the type of guy you feel like you’d like to have a beer with, but he has no place being a coach of women’s golf." Hm. OK.

7. UGA: home of the minor alcohol-related incident.

From Akeem Hebron to Ian Smith to Tasha Humphrey, the campus crackdown on underage drinking left its mark on Bulldog athletics. For the football team, the incidents resulted in another round of early-season suspensions, and Hebron was suspended by the University. In the case of Humphrey, her suspension led to chemistry issues on the team that weren’t really sorted out until the final month of the season. Given the climate withing the campus administration, the overzealousness of local police, and the automatic suspensions mandated by the athletic department, you’d think the message to be smarter about drinking might be getting out to student-athletes. But this next academic year hasn’t gotten off to a great start either.

6. Quarterback indecision.

A year later, it seems like a hazy dream. But a year ago, Georgia fans were debating whether or not Joe Tereshinski’s unproven ability to "manage the game" (whatever that meant) was enough to give him the nod at quarterback over less-experienced but more talented options. Ideally, the question would have played itself out in August. Unfortunately, the quarterback question ended up dragging into the middle of the season and not settled for certain until the Mississippi State game, the eighth game of the season. Along the way we had an injury to the starter, a solid debut from the freshman phenom, an off-the-bench rescue by a third quarterback, and several close calls. Eventually the job was won by Matthew Stafford, but his on-the-job training during the middle part of the season included some very harsh lessons. It’s impossible to say how the season would have turned out had Stafford started the whole time, but that doesn’t keep fans from wondering.

5. Big Three vs. Florida.

0-fer. Sweep. Georgia’s "big three" men’s sports of football, basketball, and baseball all played their part in the Year of the Gator. The Gator football team held off a second-half comeback from the Dawgs en route to SEC and national titles. Florida’s outstanding basketball team was never seriously challenged in three games against Georgia including the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. Georgia’s best chance for a win was against a struggling Gator baseball team, but even a Florida team that would finish under .500 and fire its coach managed to sweep a three-game series in Athens. Thank goodness for other sports like tennis, gymnastics, and women’s basketball which took care of their own business against Florida, but a turnaround in the "big three" can’t come quickly enough.

4. Baseball roller coaster hits bottom.

I guess we should have seen it coming. Georgia baseball has had a strange pattern of feast and famine lately, and the calendar said that they were due for another downturn in 2007. But the severity of the downturn was the news this year. The talent drain after the 2006 trip to Omaha hurt, and those expected to carry the team this year didn’t. Georgia produced no all-SEC players this season, and they clearly lacked the clutch star power they’ve enjoyed recently. Georgia finished the season under .500 with their worst record in several years and far out of contention for the postseason.

The season was in trouble out of the gate as the Dawgs dropped early series to PAC 10 members Oregon State and Southern Cal. A sweep of Auburn to start SEC play provided a small glimmer of hope, but reality set in quickly. Taking two of three games from Georgia Tech was one of the few bright spots of the season, and those two wins might have had the added benefit of keeping Tech out of the NCAA Tournament.

The odd-even schedule that seems to rule the Diamond Dawgs lately says that Georgia baseball should be back on top next year, but they’ll be looking for answers and improvement at nearly every spot.

3. Mike Mercer’s season-ending injury.

Ouch. You knew the moment it happened that Mike Mercer’s knee injury at South Carolina was severe. In fact, it was considered "good" news that the injury was only season-ending. Similar injuries have ended careers. A lot of Bulldog programs had significant injuries last year, and some like Thomas Brown’s were season-ending too. But a major injury to a basketball starter is magnified, and Mercer’s injury turned out to be too much for the fragile Georgia depth to handle down the critical stretch run. Though they fought until the regular season finale against Tennessee, Mercer’s injury gave them very long odds for a postseason bid with no margin for error. Still, the team scrapped by and were able to record their first postseason win in nearly five years.

2. Football losses to Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

We sensed that inexperience at the quarterback position would cause problems, but few would have guessed that the defending SEC champions would fall to the traditional doormats of the SEC East. Even worse is that Georgia held the lead in each game but saw Vandy and Kentucky drive late in the game for the winning scores against a relenting Georgia defense. Following the loss at Kentucky in November, things were as bleak as they’ve looked at Georgia since 1996. How the Dawgs turned things around to beat three consecutive ranked teams is an incredible story, and I don’t think we’ll ever know just how much negative momentum the team had to overcome in order to make that turnaround happen.

1. The death of Kevin Brophy.

The Georgia basketball world was rocked in July when point guard Kevin Brophy was killed in an auto accident. The Australia native was driving to Savannah when he wrecked during a rainstorm south of Athens.

Though I consider the death of Brophy the bottom story of the past academic year, the response by the team and the fan base was far from a low point. The team embraced the memory of the popular player, and an emotional win over LSU in the presence of the Brophy family topped off a season dedicated to Kevin. Fans and the University worked together to start a Kevin Brophy Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund, and its trademark circular "3" patch was a ubiquitous reminder all season on the court and in the stands.

Usually it’s left to Tommy Tuberville to stick his foot in his mouth about a tough schedule or an unfair system before they actually play the games. Now it’s Les Miles’ turn. Miles, who doesn’t have an SEC title to his name yet, is already knocking down other preseason contenders and flashing his SEC membership card (H/T: Get the Picture).

"I can tell you this, that they have a much easier road to travel," Miles said of the Trojans. "They’re going to play real knockdown drag-outs with UCLA and Washington, Cal-Berkley, Stanford – some real juggernauts – and they’re going to end up, it would be my guess, in some position so if they win a game or two, that they’ll end up in the title (game). I would like that path for us."

"I think the SEC provides much stiffer competition."

Has anyone checked the LSU schedule? There are two, maybe three games which should give a preseason Top 10 team any problems. Virginia Tech, yes. Florida, yes. Auburn, maybe. Arkansas, maybe. They don’t play Tennessee or Georgia. There will be a ridiculous amount of hype with the Alabama game, but there is no reason why a rebuilding Bama team, even under Saban, should be on the level of this LSU squad. That Bama game is LSU’s only challenge on the road this year while the Trojans visit Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oregon, and Cal. Southern Cal is not the team to be picking on.

So LSU’s position can be said to be much the same. Win a game or two – at home – plus the SEC championship, and they’re in the title game.

Look, Les. The SEC is cool. Great football and fans. Don’t lean on the conference too much though. Just find a quarterback, win your games, win the mighty SEC first, and then we’ll see where things stand.

If the Tuberville Rule holds, bet the house on Virginia Tech.

PS…Can you blame him though? If he can convince a pollster or two that the 2007 LSU schedule is a death march, good for him. It might even help to swing things his way should there be another batch of one-loss teams at the end. That’s how the process works.